Ravengro, Take Two, Part the Second
There's too much to say about what happened today, hence why I split up this log.
The Head Priest of the temple told us that the students went to the local school, so we headed there. A group of girls were jump roping together in front of the school. The song though...
Put her body on the bed.
Take a knife and lop her head.
Watch the blood come out the pipe.
Feed the stirge, so nice and ripe.
Drops of red so sparkly bright.
Splatters spell her name just right.
With a hammer killed his wife.
Now he wants to claim your life.
Tricksy father tells a lie.
Listen close or you will die.
Dear gods, what do they teach children here in Ravengro? Regardless, I took the time to learn the song while Mondai played with the children and Seph and the others went inside the schoolhouse to talk to the boys who found Professor Lorrimor's body.
The others went inside and were told to wait until classes were over to talk to the teacher. Once classes ended, the teacher reluctantly talked to them, as his pupils watched, intrigued by the novelty of new people in a small town. He allowed them to talk to the kids, but only if it was for a moment and he could watch. It seems it was just a bit of bad luck that had them find Prof. Lorrimor's body.
At the same time, I was just getting the hang of the schoolyard rhyme and started playing it on my instrument. It was just bad luck that a pair giant, cat-sized mosquitos attacked us in the yard. The kids, in their fear start to run around wildly as one of the giant bugs latched onto a girl. Mondai was able to sneak attack and hit one of them off of her and I was able to fascinate the mosquito. It was then that I noticed that the mosquitos were beating their wings to the song.
Well... that probably wasn't a very good thing, but I kept playing regardless.
Mondai was able to kill the mosquito easily just as the others and the teacher came outside in response to the children's yells. I stopped playing, as the teacher ran to the kids (or the kids ran to him, whatever...) He examined the children and the corpses and declared that the mosquitoes were actually sturges -- magical beasts that could possibly carry disease. We best get the children checked out quickly. I don't think my concious could take it if they were permanently harmed because of something I might have unknowingly done.
Of course, when the old man starts asking how the sturges got there, I played dumb and said I wasn't sure because, honestly, I really wasn't sure. It could have just could have been a cosmic coincidence, right?
Right?
We headed back to the Temple (jeeze, that priest must be sick of seeing me), teacher and several students in tow. It seems a sturge was an unusual thing to see and the children were too excited to just go home. I was able to talk to the children who found Prof. Lorrimor, and they continued their tale. They, naturally, ran back to town right away to tell someone. They're good kids, it seems, if a bit mischievous. The children also seemed to be very excited about me, personally, since I could play an instrument. They asked me to play, so I performed a small bit to their amusement before we entered the temple. The kids who were bit might have caught something, but it was a good thing the teacher could identify the bugs as sturges early, so that they would not be wandering around town. The priests at the temple could contain it, and hopefully keep them from going blind from Blinding sickness.
Thank Desna, they're okay.
It's late now, so let me wrap this up. I really, really hope I didn't summon those sturges.
Bard, Heiress of the House Galdana of Amaans, Fiancee of Count Haserton Lowls IV