Chapter Four

## **The Times they are a-Changeling**

**Sjikraltdag 10th of Biriskjur 1770.**

After missing the meeting that he had scheduled for the previous day, Brandyr Greybeard awoke in the early hours of the morning and headed to Gart Steakhammer’s house to give him the news of his brother Algar’s passing.

Taking a moment to compose himself, Gart thanked Brandyr for the news and then produced a letter that he had received from Algar just prior to his demise. The letter spoke of a discovery that Algar had made whilst on a trip to Bezmadanbaor that had shaken him to his very core. Although he did not state what his discovery was, afterwards he believed that he was being followed and spied upon. Paranoid, he began to trust no one and bade his brother to do the same.

Back at The Flange and Whistle, the rest of the group were breaking their fast on honied oats in preparation for the day ahead. As they planned their next moves, Plymouth began to assess the parchment and tapestry, two of the five artefacts that they recovered from Shaft H.

The parchment was a page from a diary, informally written and relating to a planned picnic followed by strange happenings and the disappearance of several people before ending abruptly. The tapestry told of a great and prosperous civilisation that fell to the forces of darkness. A monument featuring prominently at the centre, bearing a remarkable similarity to The Agolith, appeared to be a portent of doom.

Booker asked jobless layabout Bertram Clyde where he could find a job. Bertram asked him to pass his trousers and said he probably wasn’t the best person to ask, but he could always try the general store. As the miners left for the day, a number of other patrons arrived at the bar for breakfast and refreshments. The first was a tall, haggard gentlemen with sunken eyes, a thick grey beard and wearing a fur lined coat and ushanka hat. The other was disheveled footman Delg, of Easy Delg’s Taxi Wagon fame.

In the most awkward example of social interaction ever witnessed, Nixe spoke to the man at the bar and learned his name was Combine Rostselmash and that he was a local trapper and hunter. They bonded over tales of their best kills and shared a potato-based spirit together.

Without provocation, Combine told Nixe about the *“men who are not men”* that he had witnessed, one of whom had been caught in a snare before “his skin went white as snow, and he slipped out of his clothes and my trap and made his escape”. “They take our places” he declared “Infiltrate us. Study us. I know not why”. Nixe’s interest suitably piqued, the two arranged to go on a hunt that night, to see what they could find.

The party passed the day through idle discussion, Fitz revealing what had brought him to Russet, and by writing letters. Booker posted a letter to his tutor at Bezmadanboar University of Technology, gently chastising him for the insufficient expenses that he had been provided with. Brandyr began to draft a letter to his friend Deonte Ravi, subtly probing for information about Algar’s visit to the capital, without letting on what he had learned.

Night came and the group of “archaeologists” set out with Combine on their hunt. Together they ate snow, checked traps and Nixe found a trail of human footprints that led them to a ravine. On the opposite side, several of the party could make out a man, his skin as white as snow, in discussion with Bertram Clyde, the vagrant from the Inn.

The two figures parted ways, the white-skinned man heading North and Bertram crossing the ravine to the South, back towards the party. The group efficiently hid themselves amongst the woods. All except for Booker, whose newly fashioned armour fumbled against the bushes. As luck would have it, Booker was on friendly terms with the man from their time at the Inn and managed to convince him that he was merely partaking in a late-night stroll.

As they walked back to town they chatted freely, each needling the other for information. A well-timed spell, cast by Nixe, charmed the man and soon they were all sat about the fire, partaking in conversation as if they were old friends. Booker and Nixe lead the enquiries, with Brandyr choosing to remain hidden in the bushes and Fitz keeping watch. Cracks soon began to appear in the man’s story of being from a fishing village near Armiste and with more probing he began to answer more freely.

Bertie cheerfully told them that he was a “Gatherer”, stationed in Russet to gather information (and the occasional artefact) and report back. He told them he came from the birthing pods on their arrival and took over the persona of Bertram Clyde. He told them that he was *not* a Spreader, those who share word of The Quern, and that the Followers of Quern gathered beneath The Agolith. He told them that once they had fulfilled this task they would depart and then this world would be destroyed. He said he did not know of a second Agolith, or a blue-skinned Elven woman, but then again, he was only two years old.

Their enquiries complete, Nixe indicated for Combine to kill the man. A lead that the trapper did not take. Booker, also coming to the conclusion that it was too risky to leave him alive and risk him warning others of his kind, decided to fulfil the task and struck him with his newly forged thunder-gauntlets. A peal of thunder echoed out as Bertram hit the floor, his head bleeding and the spell broken.

Nixe stepped forward to finish the job with his shortsword but Fitz intervened, sending forth a blast of Eldritch energy between the two and revealing himself as a wielder of magical powers to the group. Brandyr, also believing that killing this man was wrong, emerged from his hiding place to stand by his side. As Plymouth and Combine watched on passively, the group found itself at odds over what they should do next.

Next: Chapter Five. Close Encounters of the Furred Kind