Minutes for 2016-08-03
Around lunchtime, Renner comes back to the Ring and Bell. He says he thinks he has a lead for the party. "No one in town knows where Brogar's Barrow is, but Grandmother Owl who lives outside of town might have mentioned to a couple people in the past few years." Travelers mentioned to tavenkeepers that they'd heard about it from her when they passed through. He explains that Grandmother Owl is a witch who lives out in the woods somewhere.
Renner mentions that the bookbinder's guild might have a few maps too, and the small presence of the shipwright's guild (being that Dulcimer's not on the water) might have some. Also the magic sellers might have a lead.
(Out of character, the players dertermine that Bubbles's shop's name is "McHenry's Golden Bubbles" or just "The Golden Bubbles").
Ceridwen asks Renner how long Lt Kyramas has had her post, and he says about 4 years. The captain, he tells Lenora, will rotate out soon.
He explains that Grandmother Owl's on the other side of the dry creekbed and the dwarf tree stand, about a mile or two out of town. Mildred runs out quickly to buy some baked goods to bring to Grandmother. The party heads out of Dulcimer, leaving Renner and their mounts behind.
The trees are sparse, but are all evergreens. It doesn't take long to find the dry creekbed, and Renner's instructions seem accurate, though crossing the creekbed is a little hard. On the other side, there's an open field of heather leading up to a dense-looking forest.
Ceridwen spots a stand of dwarfwood, and leads the party over to it. The trees seem to be ringed in slime mold, rather than moss, which makes Ceridwen doubt her assessment. Mildred loudly calls out "We've come to meet Grandmother Owl and we mean her no harm!"
Noz casts Detect Magic, which reveals to her a faint greenish line which heads straight into the woods, deviating only to swing around trees. Noz starts to follow the trail. A pair of ravens land on a nearby branch. One caws out "HEWWO!", and then "DOOM AND FIRE. NAILS IN YOUR EYES. HEWWO!" And then it caws out "GOODBYE!" before flying away the same way Noz is heading.
The rest of the party follows Noz, and soon reaches a clearing. There's a low stone wall around a couple plots of vegetables. In the center of the clearing is a small stone hut with a thick thatch roof, and a plume of smoke billowing out of the chimney.
Ceridwen walks up to knock, and the door opens before her. A shriveled but very tall old lady stands there, with a bright red shawl and a grey cloak. She welcomes the party in, and asks "What can Grandmother Owl do for you today?". Mildred gives her the croissants and asks if she knows where Brogar's Barrow is.
After listening to the pastries, Grandmother Owl perks up and says "Renner sent them?" She asks Mildred, "How is 'Croix?"
Grandmother Owl's says she would be delighted if the party would go to Brogar's Barrow and fetch her some rubies. She "knows all about that awful place". She describes the route to Brogar's barrow, about a day to the south of hard travel. The site has apparently been taken over multiple times over the years. There were gnolls once, but apparently no longer. She can't say what might be living out there now. Maybe an owlbear or a griffin.
She hands out bowls of soup. Coll can tell it's a rabbit soup seasoned with mushrooms, carrots, and something he doesn't recognize, but Mildred tells him is a beet. Grandmother Owl corrects her, telling her they're spicer than regular beets. She calls them raven beets.
Lenora says the party should head back to town and make a trip of it. Coll proposes the party head out now. Most of the party agrees with Lenora, so they head back to town. The trip back is fairly uneventful, except for four shabbily dressed people watching from a distance, apparently with the heads of ravens. Noz and Mildred remember that raven-men, or Kenkou, are reknowned tricksters and imitators.
The party crosses the arroyo as Coll keeps watch. Down aways, most of the Kenkou cross. The last one watches Coll, waiting for him to go in, and crosses when he does. The party heads over towards the Kenkou. As the party approaches, they spread out, and tuck their arms in. One of them whistles at the party like a flute.
Rak hands his weapon to Noz, and, attempting to appear non-threatening, approaches. One of the Kenkou imitates his actions. Once close enough, Rak's telepathy kicks in. As far as he can tell, the Kenkou are trying to warn us about something dangerous back in Dulcimer. He tries to ask about Renner, and they immediately send back an image of a tabby cat, pouncing on a bird. An image of Butch makes then start screaming at each other and causes them to reply with a barrage of violent imagery. Then they turn tail and run down the arroyo.
Coll interprets the images of Dulcimer as the Kenkou saying that Dulcimer is a place where trouble comes from.