Favor, Episode 24: Our Town

## Starring

Sage Stafford as Aoife Flannery
Naseem Etemad as Fittonia 'Toni' Silvertail
Katie Budabin as Lluvyras 'Lu' Ssath
Celeste Conowitch as Dungeon Master

**Episode 24: Our Town** *(2x24)* is the 24th episode of the Venture Maidens Favor campaign.

## Synopsis

*Deeper into darkness now*

*No way but forward, to plow*

*Following chants of fever pitch*

*Demanding cries to burn the witch*

**Penny's Story:**

*"With the litany of St. Oslo safely in tow, the monster hunters set off on their journey back to Talemoor. But little did they realize that the growing situation facing the town had grown explosive overnight.*

*Unless the hunters can uncover the truth, the lives of friends both old and new hang precariously in the balance."*

#### False Accusations

The Maidens march down the muddy road, determined to complete their duty in taking the Litany in their possession to Bishop Hugo De La Mae. Without taking notice, they are dragged into another dream-like state. They sit wrapped in blankets, sitting on the floor of the cozy study in front of a raven haired woman. The other children around them are buzzing with chatter and excitement as the woman had just ended a chapter. She sips from a teacup she had propped on the side table. She asks if they are all enjoying the story so far. Aoife calls for more, eliciting bell-like laughter from the woman. Toni agrees with Aoife, wondering why the story has stopped. Lu admits that she thinks it is a good story as well, though she thinks more romance would be cute. The woman asks if they want to move on to chapter 2 and she is met with the cheers of the children as she begins to read:

> *With the litany of St. Oslo safely in tow, the monster hunters set off on their journey back to Talemoor. But little did they realize that the growing situation facing the town had grown explosive overnight.*
> *Unless the hunters can uncover the truth, the lives of friends both old and new hang precariously in the balance."*
>
>

The Maidens settle back into their new monstrous consciousness within the dreary gray world of fog and forest. A couple of hours of travel has passed, and they can make out the shape of a little town emerging from the fog in the distance. The cross that crests the steeple of the town church sits silhouetted against the gray haze. As they move towards the center of town, they can see a great deal of people are piling wood and hay against a tall stake embedded at the center. A grim-faced woman watches the proceedings, drawing the attention of the Maidens.

Aoife approaches her and informs the woman that they are on an important mission to deliver a parcel to Bishop Hugo De La Mae, and inquires to his whereabouts. The woman greets Aoife by name, jolting in Aoife the memory of knowing this woman as Mayor Vittoria. She plays it off and provides a quick run through of events and that they carry the Litany with them. She questions the woman about what events have occurred in their absence, gesturing at the pyre being built.

Vittoria tells them that her daughter is missing and they have caught the woman being accused. She is currently held and is scheduled to be burned at the stake the following day. Aoife asks if they are sure the woman took the daughter, and guesses that the woman was warring within herself over the circumstances. As a town official she has a duty, but she was also dealing with the personally devastating events that have transpired. She is trying to remain professional and can only give them facts.

The woman’s daughter, Gwen, had been missing and hadn’t come home during the night. Rook, the daughter of a woman named Lorelei had been missing as well. With Lorelei history, there was not much Vittoria could do to prevent the accusations from stacking up against the woman or Rook.

Aoife asks where Lorelei is being kept and the woman reveals that she was being kept in the cellar beneath the church since they don’t have a proper prison. She asks the Monster Hunters to find out what happened to her daughter. If her daughter is dead, she wants to at least know where the body is. Aoife reassures her that they will get to the bottom of this mystery, and asks that the woman reach out to them if she needs a chance to be a grieving mother. The woman reveals that Bishop Hugo is pushing hard for Rook to be burned at the stake and a lot of people are very anger, but there is little evidence and she hopes the Monster Hunters can figure out what is going on and set it right.

Toni asks if they are allowed to question the suspect and Vittoria tells them that they are probably the most capable to do so since Lorelei has not been forthcoming with information, having neither confirmed nor denied any involvement with the missing girls. They also discover that Hugo is directly watching Lorelei so that she does not attempt to escape. They quickly leave the shadow of the would-be pyre and head for the modest church. A few people are seated among the pews, lost in the fervor of silent prayer. Statues dot the room, depicting heroes and other figures. Candles provide light in the gloom of the building.

Aoife tracks down an attendant wearing a religious stole and asks to be taken to Hugo, who she is told is down stairs, but the attendant knows of the monster hunters and is happy to lead them to where his is attending to business below the church. Toni can feel the discomfort of the beast inside her in the hallowed church grounds, but she pushes the feeling down and continues, following the group into the basement.

#### Season of the Witch

The group is met with kegs of wine and storage crates. On one side they see a heavy cold-storage door, but it has been converted into a makeshift cell. Crosses have been carved into the frame of the door, which has been crowned with a horseshoe, with braided garlic trailing down either side. Sitting on a wooden chair beside the door is the ornately dressed Bishop. He stands to greet them and asks if the bones are safe.

Aoife reassures him before turning her questions to Lorelei and the evidence that has been presented against her. The Bishop does not blame the monster hunters for not picking up on the creature because she was a crafty one, having hidden amongst the villagers for many years. He tells them that Lorelei stands accused of consorting with demons and with orchestrating the murder of one of the village young ones. They note the pure hatred in his eyes as he reveals this all to him.

Lu asks if they had seen her consorting with devils first hand, to which the Bishop responds that she has consorted with devil, demons, and fiends of all sorts. For years he has suspected that Lorelei obtained her own daughter, Rook, through a deal with one of these devils. Lu pushes him for actual evidence against Lorelei and he says that they found many implements of her craft when they searched her home upon her arrest. He specifically notes herbs, potions, spells, wands, athames, and numerous cats which are all things that the monster hunters would know.

Toni asks the Bishop how sure he is that the town does not suffer more misfortune by burning her, if she is a witch. The Bishop narrows his eyes and stands to his full height. He has given them all great breadth to ply their trade of monster hunting in this area, but warns them not to mistake his lenience for kindness. He strongly suggests that they do not question the will of God. He demands that they give him the bones he paid for them to retrieve and that they leave town as soon as they are able.

The faint scent of vanilla fills the air around them as Aoife taps into her inner Fey powers. She agrees that they were hired to retrieve the Litany for him, but she wants payment of another kind. She threatens to not come the next time he needs them to hunt the monsters that creep across the land unless he accepts the deal of trading the Litany for Lorelei.

Lu and Toni watch the Bishop’s pupils triple in diameter and he grows still. He agrees to the deal, reaching his hand out to take the box. Aoife stops him, telling him to release Lorelei to them first, pulling the box just out of his reach. He explains that he must not make himself available to being harmed by witches. He offers her the key to the cell in exchange for the box. Aoife is a bit unnerved that he is able to resist her powers, even to this mild of a degree, and wonders if it is the hate in his heart nor his faith in God that grants him this relief.

Aoife makes the trade and Hugo, reminiscent of a rat, scurries up the stairs. She unlocks the door, which creaks open to display a windowless cell. Hooks line the walls from the meat that was stored here at one point, and huddled on the other side of the room is a woman covered in dirt. A foul smell wafts from a corner and they note that she was not even provided a bucket to relieve herself in. She looks up at them and asks what they want.

Aoife announces that they are getting her out of there and she thinks that they are playing a cruel joke. Lu assures her that they are not joking and that they want to help find Rook and Gwen. Lorelei asks who the monster hunters even are and Aoife explains who they are and what they do. She explains that they bought her freedom in lieu of their recent payment, and are determined to have her prove her innocence under their protection.

Lorelei stands and guesses that they used magic to convince the Bishop that she should be freed and that they think her freedom will make the situation better. There is nowhere for her or her daughter to go after these accusations, and if her death buys her daughter a life, then she will happily sacrifice herself. She says that they are much more capable of proving her innocence, and that she would be proving her guilt if she were to walk out of the church under these circumstances. She can tell them what she knows, but she doesn’t know where her daughter went. The last she had seen of her was several days prior when Rook went out to hunt. Lorelei wasn’t even aware that Gwen was missing until the Bishop’s men had woken her from her bed and dragged her to the cell.

Lu is curious where Rook normally hunts and Lorelei tells them that as far as she knows, her daughter stays close to the surrounding woods. The area is lush with beasts, and Rook has been one of the few that can consistently go out and bring food back with the abundance on monsters that roamed the shadows.

Toni still thinks that Lorelei would still be better off with them than sitting in the cell waiting to die, because after the town’s problems aren’t solved with her death, they would just look for a new victim to burn at the stake. Lorelei asks Toni if she has children and Toni admits she does not. The woman says that it is remarkable how limited a person is living in a small town full of small minded people. She can provide them with every piece of information she knows, but the only option is for them to find proof of her innocence and be back in town before she is due to be burned at the stake tomorrow.

Lorelei questions if she can trust the group, and Toni responds that they are the only ones here fighting for her. The prisoner admits that she has not repeated what she is about to say because it does not help her case, and would probably make things a lot worse. She knows Rook, and does not think she would be capable of harming anyone. Gwen and Rook were friends and Rook has always been a little different, and she thinks Gwen may also have been different. Recently Gwen has been around more than usual, and on several occasions she has spoken to Lorelei about magic. She thinks that Gwen might have the same gift that Lorelei has, but she isn’t sure. Aoife sits beside Lorelei and admits to her that she too knows what it is like to be burdened with a blessing and a curse, and what happens when the wrong people find out about it. She asks if someone might have found out about the gift. Lorelei has fought hard to keep the gift a secret, even from her own daughter, and had warned Gwen to never speak of it again and spurned her questions.

She knows that Rook wouldn’t hurt anyone, but there is no denying what she is. When she was young and playing in the woods, something bit her and now she changes. She stays far away from town when she changes, but she doesn’t know if Gwen saw her, or followed her. Aoife wonders if Gwen wasn’t trying to find a way to cure Rook, but Lorelei just says she doesn’t know. Lu promises that they will find Rook, and hopes to be back in time to save Lorelei. They leave, but Lorelei asks that they lock the door behind them so that she doesn’t cause any more trouble.

The Maidens take a moment to discuss the situation. Toni doesn’t understand why Lorelei would choose to stay. Lu surmises that if everyone in town thinks Rook is odd, then she would probably be burned at the stake next and Aoife reasons that if anything else happens, the townsfolk wouldn’t be able to pin it on Lorelei since she is locked up. Lu is baffled that the Bishop would jump to the conclusion of Rook being a demon spawn and not just a baby born out of wedlock. Aoife takes this opportunity to open the letter that Dorothea had handed to her. It is a letter of resignation. She feels she has failed to protect the people and church left in her charge. She was close to being yet another church that had fallen and lost its relics, and she no longer felt worthy enough to serve God any longer. Aoife leaves it opened on the Bishop’s seat.

#### Walk About Town

Toni, tired of the itchy-skinned feeling of being in the church, leads the charge back outside. Vittoria notices them coming out and asks if everything is okay. Toni says that the entire town is about to make a huge mistake, but they were going to find a way to stop them. Vittoria suggests they talk to the villagers for information. Something needed to be done to assuage the villager’s fears, and she prays that they will get to the bottom of this in time. Lu says that if there is anything that Vittoria can do to stall for time, Lorelei would be much appreciative to her. Vittoria agrees to do what she can, but the voice of one is easily drowned out by the voice of many.

Toni heads for the local tavern, where people are getting fired up about the witch burning. The town is on the verge of disaster. They are remote and the monsters have been taking out smaller towns. Here, the people feel they have some power, and mob mentality reigns supreme. They ask Toni, as a monster hunter, how she can tell if someone was a witch. Toni plays into their interest and says that there are many ways to spot a witch, but wonders how the villagers know that Lorelei is a witch. The surrounding villagers admit that it took a while, but they noticed that Lorelei and Rook were a bit different and that there had always been stories. When the townsfolk started putting the stories together, everything made sense to them. Now both Gwen and the witch’s demon daughter are both missing so it wasn’t hard for them to figure out at that point. They find it suspicious that the woman would choose to live in a cottage far removed from the town, tucked away in the forest. It is far too dangerous for someone to live out there unless they had magic. They say that Lorelei is unwed and has never been seen with anyone from the town, but one day she showed up with a baby. Nobody would claim the child as theirs so it was obviously a demon’s child. On several occasions she has placed a curse on men who have displeased her. She doesn’t go to church, so its clearly witchcraft. Rook is also awful because she wears pants and dresses like a boy. Toni declares that they clearly worship the devil, but tries to convince the villagers that it might be good to have a witch on their side and the villagers instantly recoil in terror and disgust.

Lu heads for Lorelei’s cottage on the edge of town. A lovingly tended vegetable garden once sat outside of the self-reliant cottage, but the house was now in near ruin. The door remains smashed open and everything is overturned in the small dwelling. The rogue’s eyes scanned the surroundings and she began to dig through the rubble. The search of the house does not yield much, so she heads into the yard. She soon spots a patch of recently-tamped earth near a hedge in the back corner. She quickly digs up the area and reveals things she would assume a dog would bury here, like a toy and a scrap of bone. She digs up a strange metal cylinder and sits in the dirt trying to open the puzzle. With the level of intelligence on display in the town, she was sure that the puzzle was a proper deterrent should they find the canister, but Lu was rather intelligent in her own regard and made quick work of the puzzle canister. The lid pops open to show a small scrap of paper rolled inside. It read:

> Gwen is in danger. I don’t have much time, but I am going after her.
>
>
> Love,
>
>
>
> Rook.
>
>

Lu is annoyed by Rook’s lack of context and direction and attempts to shove the note into her pocket but it slips through her ghostly fingers and out into the open. She drops to the ground and tries desperately to pick it up, but she can’t grasp it or even blow on it with her breathe. She isn’t sure why, but her ghostly manifestation has chosen now to make its presence known and she is rendered unable to manipulate Rook’s note further.

Aoife is walking down the road, wandering around to a local butcher shop where she picks up a few raw steaks. She entices the dogs around town to do her bidding. She figures that people tended to like dogs and wouldn’t be quick to shoo them away, and that she could use the dogs to be her eyes and ears around town. She taps into her Fey presence once more, drawing for a third time from the otherworldly creature inside of her so that she may speak to the beasts. She tells them that if they bring her back any information on Lorelei, Rook, or Gwen, she would have a tasty treat for their efforts. One of the dogs comes forward and excitedly tells her that its master was angry and road off in the night. He mentions the master was upset and that there was gold at night, and that the horse was gone when the girl was gone. Aoife gives him some chunks of meat and instructs the dog to take her to its master’s home and she will give him more. She shoos the rest of the dogs off to gather information and follows the excited dog to the local blacksmith’s home.

The heat of the forge washes over Aoife when she steps inside the building. A powerfully built man, steps from the back room, covered in sweat and coal from a hard day’s work. He recognizes Aoife as a monster hunter and tells her that he does not have any silver left. Aoife cuts him off and asks him what his horse’s name was. He says that he has a few and asks her to describe it. The crafty bard pivots the conversation with a non-description and says she thought she had heard he was missing one, because she thinks she has seen it in the woods. The blacksmith admits that one of his horse’s was missing, a black riding horse named Midnight. He keeps saying Midnight was stolen, before amending himself that whoever had taken the horse has broken into his home and left gold on the counter, so in a technical sense the horse was never stolen. She asks if he thinks that whoever stole Midnight might be chasing after Gwen or Rook. The blacksmith is under the impression that Rook killed Gwen, but Aoife says that it makes no sense because the two girls were best friends. The blacksmith reasons that Midnight was a riding horse, and probably couldn’t carry 2 people, especially if one of those was dead weight, but Midnight did go missing the same night that Rook and Gwen disappeared. He then pauses and reasons that of anyone in the town, the mayor’s daughter would easily have gold to spare for a swift horse. No other horses have been reporting missing from town, causing him to wonder how Rook might catch up if she were to have chased after Gwen. Aoife thinks the man is onto something. He suggests that she report this to the mayor and not Hugo. He doesn’t blame the man for “going a little screwy”, what with the demons and monsters popping up all over the place, but only God could judge him. Aoife moves to leave, but he stops her, saying that he had been holding out on her, pulling a silver dagger from beneath the counter. She gratefully accepts it and then he offers her cold iron, because one could never be too safe. Everything inside of the satyr screamed for her not to accept, but she fought the sickening fear down enough to accept the offer. He quickly produces another dagger, though this one a dull matte metal. She picks it up and a wave of nausea passes through her as searing pain erupts from the hand holding the cold iron dagger. She drops it, knowing there is no way that the blacksmith hadn’t seen that. They make eye contact, and she can see that his are filled with fear as he slowly backs away. Aoife pulls a 15 gold piece bribe and slides it his way, for his silence, before taking her leave.

#### From the Lips of Hounds

Toni, attempting to calm the riled townsfolk in the bar, finishes her drink and says that she has to get some work done, because she had been tasked with hunting down evidence that Lorelei is a witch. There are still naysayers amongst them, and what better way to shut them up than to produce cold hard evidence of the woman’s wicked deeds. She asks if any of them know where she should head to next for information and is met with stony silence until someone shouts vulgarities at her. She demands to know who it was, but is met with more silence. She angrily leaves, meeting the other two nearby. Two dogs coming running around the corner towards Aoife. One dog tells her that a fancy girl that smelled nice left on a black horse two nights ago and was heading towards the castle. The second dog excitedly says that the chapel was broken into by someone that smelled like paper.

The name Castle Dread comes to each of them in turn. They ready themselves to leave town, now that their true nature had been discovered, and double back to speak with Vittoria. Lu informs her that they must leave, but informs her that they found a few leads about Gwen. The rogue asks Vittoria if she has ever heard of Castle Dread, and the woman is confused how they don’t know anything about it themselves. Lu explains that they had heard of it, but nothing specific about it. Vittoria explains that Castle Dread is a ruined castle about a day’s ride north of town, through the forest. It has been abandoned for years, and is where the Champion disappeared. Many think the place is haunted, and that it is the source of the monsters that plague them. If the Champion could not return from Castle Dread, Vittoria hopes that is not where her daughter has gone.

Lu reassures the grieving mother that the champion did not have three other fighters to have his back. Vittoria corrects her, as the Champion was a woman named Penny. Lu asks if Vittoria could use her connections to get them transportation to hasten their way to Castle Dread. Vittoria offers them the pouch at her belt, imploring them to bring her daughter back. Lu promises and they rush for the farrier to purchase some horses before leaving the town with all of its troubles, heading for Castle Dread, where the Champion was lost to the Lady of Shadow so long ago.

It is here that our tale comes to a close. Until next time! Venture Away!

## Featured Characters

### Player Characters

* Aoife Flannery
* Fittonia 'Toni' Silvertail
* Lluvyras 'Lu' Ssath

### Non-Player Characters

* Gwen (Mentioned)
* Hugo
* Lorelei
* Penny Dreadful
* Rook (Mentioned)
* Vittoria Stone

## Locations

* Penny's Dwelling
	+ Talemoor