Zoom 2021-05-13 21:00

==Post Blink-dogs (BDs) and the 'Lady In White' encounter:==
The ‘Lady’ in her humanoid form was described as being ‘Elfish’ - ie more slender than a human (and smaller than a giant! Thank you Darrell.)
The party heals up (J. and G. to full Hps, 5HPs to Bazin) – Kirsten is manifested and checks the scents of the ‘Lady’ and the BDs : There is the ‘scent of drake’ from the lady (from both human and drake forms) and the BDs smell of the same scent from around the ‘Owlbear’ farmhouse. The party collect the BD heads then rest up sufficiently to re-learn spells overnight.
Next morning (3rd watch, spell casters still asleep), a White Beach patrol comes past, and the same rider who we spoke to last time has a chat with us. Apparently there have been several reports of the ‘Lady’/Drake systematically and thoroughly eradicating the BDs in an area up to 10 miles north of here. All the BDs have been decapitated (and some frozen). The BDs appear to have been rounding up herd-animals rather than just taking down animals to eat themselves – though when attacked the BDs fight to the death. When we gave the direction that the ‘Lady’ flew off in, the patrol-man comments that that was in the direction of Tobar.
The party decided to track the BDs back to the place where Tooit got taken out – we recovered more BD heads along the way. We came to the area where there was a pile of various herd animal corpses (but no pigs) that had been ripped apart and pulverised (suggesting being eaten by a Drake) and about 25 BD remains (some with evidence of having been frozen) - none with heads. There was the same Drake scent here and Drake footprints – we carefully noted their size, stride length and indentation. There were tracks of the herd animals leading from the West.
All indications were of the BDs rounding up the herd animals to here, the Drake coming in for an impromptu feast (to the annoyance of the BDs) and then turning on the BDs after she had eaten. We also discussed the attack on Tooit, concluding that it was not a breath weapon or magic missiles, but most closely matched a ‘gaze’ attack.
The party then decided to follow the animal tracks to the West (but only so far as to ensure that they would return to White Beach by early evening.) A few miles west they came across the body of a large bison/aurochs type animal – far more intact than those at the previous site – looked as though it had been gnawed at by BDs. These animals (which form herds of hundreds) are normally found to the south of Dalzon, but not normally around here. However, the animal appeared to be ‘natural’ enough (normal herbivorous teeth etc) - but we grabbed it’s hooves anyway (for identification and then glue.) The party then headed back to White Beach.
==Back at White Beach:==
* The mounted patrols appear to have been reduced to parties of 10-strong (rather than 30)
* The farmers seem to be returning to their holdings along with their livestock.
* We got 26gp reward for the BD heads we turned in.
* A bounty of 10 gp was being offered for the ‘retrieval of some tools’ from the house on Sallahan – this was a ‘follow on’ from the previous investigation bounty. No mention was made of the well-dressed dwarf.
* A 5sp reward was being offered on information on ‘disappearances at the sea-front’.
* A 1sp reward was being offered on further information on the ‘White Lady’.
* Quercuis seemed to have done a great deal of ‘tidying up’ at the villa – especially in Onwen’s cellar rooms, and many plants in the the garden had been harvested.
* Quercuis had found out that the villa was costing Onwen 30gp a week to rent.
==The next day==
Using Det Traps, Wun, Quercuis, Caradoc, Bazin, Twoo, Garaf and Hamish conducted another thorough search of the villa. They found a heavily trapped area under Onwen’s bed – a plethora of magical and mechanical traps guarded the area.
Around noon, there was a knock on the door – a young lad in a messenger tabard delivered a written message from the Universal temple. The message had an Alveran seal on it. After the messenger had left with a few coppers tip, Garaf opened and read the message which simply said “Please return to Northlake – Gohde” with Gohde’s seal on it.
Meanwhile, Joshua, Francis, Brokev, Umar and Dougal went on a trip to the Drake Cliffs – looking for any evidence of the Cynod Bird. They didn’t see anything identifiable as such – though the locals confirmed there were several species of gannets around in the right season, including some quite large ones. The party did, at least, see some wild (small ‘w’) Drakes - they were smaller than the Drakes seen with the Ariel clan in Far Haven. Francis and Joshua believed that the Lady In White was far more closely related to these Drakes than to a Dragon – and their tracks were similar to hers. It was noted that Drakes are considered ‘natural’ creatures – Druids can polymorph into them (size restrictions permitting), or even train/ride them as natural animals.
==Party ‘To-do’==
* Obtain appropriate professional help to open the trapped area under Onwen’s bed.
* Find out more about the provenance of the letter from Gohde.
* Determine what to do/where to go next – current consensus is that if we do go back to Northlake we should go via Tobar rather than Far Haven.
* Learn any more (paid for spells) that we need: Knock, Continual Light ?
* Ensure we are fully ‘silvered up’ if we are going to go to Tobar.
* Perhaps find out a bit more about Sallahan before leaving.