Zoom 2021-11-30 21:00

The party is dropped off at the base of the estuary (bottom of hex 199.040 or top of 199.041). The estuary is about a quarter of a mile to our North, other than that there are woods all around us for about 15 miles. There is a town on the west side of the estuary about 12 miles away, and at the limit of Khurak's flight (where the woods have given way to grasslands/savanna) there is a small town with a tower. It is to the north on the East side of the Estuary.

Given Greyel's warning 'yourselves protect', the party ensures that no other people have been dropped off along with us (such as some radical Thunder giants who wish to clean up 'loose ends'), and the woods themselves seem harmless enough - appearing to be 'normal' woods with the kind of natural animal population you would expect. Certainly the Druids and Francis are quite happy!

The party decide to head for the town with the tower and so travel Eastwards and make camp after about 5 miles. We have a peaceful night.

The next day, we carry on to the town, which is about half a mile east of the coast - and we don't get any nearer to the coast than that. Khurak can now see that the tower is battered and missing crenelations, but there is absolutely no sign sign of any life or movement.

As it is approaching evening, we decide to camp outside the town, leaving our investigation until the next day. Another peaceful night follows.

We investigate the town next day - sending in Caradoc first to check for hostiles, then Francis and Joshua (with Kirsten) to check for tracks or other signs or traces etc, followed by the rest of the party. We spend a full day investigating the town, and find:

* The 'town' comprises about 10 to 12 houses around the base of a slight hill, with the tower on top of the hill. The houses - fisherman's hovels - are dilapidated, some have missing roofs or are partially collapsed etc.  One 'house' is larger than the others - it appears to be a communal eating/drinking area. We decide to call it a 'pub', though that overstates it somewhat.  There is a small trail down to the coast where there are some waterlogged boats.
* Whenever someone approaches the tower for the first time, a magic mouth on the tower door says "**Welcome to Tarkeep. Suggest you head South**". Bazin reckons the magic mouth (and hence its caster) speaks with a Dwarven Hightower accent. (Taking the command literally and going directly south for a couple of hundred yards doesn't seem to do anything.)
* The gate of the tower is hanging loose. There are no bodies around. We reckon the tower could garrison about 20 people. In the communal dining area, the table is still laid out with food - which has now thoroughly rotted/perished. There are no valuables around - the place has either been looted, or people fled with their valuables.
* There are the normal animal footprints and spore around that you would expect for a deserted town.
* We reckon that the town has been abandoned for about 25 to 30 years judging by its state, and by how much it is overgrown - but some areas appear to be far more overgrown than others.
* Outside the 'pub', on the ground under some weeds, we discover what looks like an old pub sign - very fragile and with peeling paint. Using our non-existent archeological skills to the best of our inability, we gently clear away the weeds to read the name of the pub - '**The Troll & The Dwarf**'. We very carefully try to lift it to look at the other side - and we succeed in removing 3/4s of it intact. On the other side, there is something crudely scratched onto it - badly degraded, but a 'Comp Lang' spells allows us to read it is "**And the Ariel**". (Note: We know of a legend about a troll and a dwarf fighting a platinum dragon)
* We find a pewter tankard in the pub, that seems to be in somewhat better condition compared to the other mugs and stuff around. Det magic doesn't show anything, but here are some possibly runic markings on it.
* A more detailed look at the construction/stonework shows the tower was well built, but not up to Dwarvish quality. Our masons reckon is was Trollish. We do not find any evidence of any cellars in the tower or houses, or any other 'interesting' structural oddities. As for what destroyed the tower, it appears as if parts of the tower have aged far more than others - eg we find lines of particularly friable/unstable mortar as well as less degraded areas. However, Detect Magic doesn't show up anything (other than the magic mouth on the tower door.)
* Our general conclusion about this town is that it probably served as a semi-permanent nomadic camp - such as the Meeting Place at Far Have might have been originally. It is certainly well placed with a good supply of water (plus an artesian well, now clogged up, in the tower), surrounded by good grazing land.

At about 4:00pm, the magic mouth starts triggering again (once per person) with a new message: "**You really should be leaving, you know!"** We also notice that it is getting cooler than we would expect - and more noticeably so in the more decayed areas. The party decides to heed this advice, and retreats south back to our campsite - but Joshua does leave a trail of perishable food items to see what might happen to them overnight.

We have another quiet night at our camp - with normal watches (including Tooit). Looking at the Tarkeep, people with infravision do see patches of coolness moving about the village for about 15 minutes just after sunset, but before the 'halo' of the sun disappears. Similar observations are made for about 15 minutes in the false dawn before the sun rises.

In the morning, Garaf uses comp lang and an identify spell on the pewter tankard: The runic writing says "**Find two, Say cheers, Boom Boom :)**" (Yes, there really is a runic equivalent of a 'smiley emoji' at the end of it.) The identify spell just indicates an 'incomplete item'.

The party returns to Tarkeep: From about 100 yards from the village, the food left by Joshua has decayed and dried out - and in the more aged/overgrown areas (such as the pub) the food has aged even more.

We also investigate the boats at the jetty: There are four old, rotten, waterlogged fishing boats there. One is larger than the others, and there is also obviously a fifth boat missing . Our woodworkers believe that the workmanship is Trollish.

Khurak has been reporting on the surrounding area - the estuary continues to the north, and there are hills to the east, but no sign of any further settlements. And then at around 11am he hastily returns to Quercuis - he feels very unhappy about something.