Eberron One

Frau Blucher is downstairs greeting the overnight guests as they come down. Many of the guests seem to be regulars or staying for the long-term, and they greet her with a hearty "Good morning Frau Blucher!" You hear many horses neighing outside as the town starts its day.

The inn is filled with the smell of baking bread and hot tal. The fare is the nigh-legendary East Karrnathi 'big breakfast' with hot bratwurst, fresh bread, strong hot tal, half a dozen different kinds of eggs, cheeses, cold sliced sausage, and the two signature items of the region,

kolatchies


and kifli bread


After breakfast, Karl will lead you up the main street, away from the train station toward a tall baroque stone fountain. You pass ornate storefronts and taverns setting up their beer gardens for later in the day, all decorated with bundled sheaves of grain and colourful cloth ribbons and banners. Around the tall fountain, it's cold waters not yet frozen for the year, and topped with a large statue of a knight, sword skyward, lies the intersection of the main street and the Orien Highroad. The whole intersection is paved with cobblestones, and the paving continues off along both directions of the Highroad. Cloth banners of orange and yellow ripple in the chill breeze from the high top of the statue up to the corner gargoyles of the buildings here.

Karl says "Vom is this way," and turns right, onto the highroad. You see soldiers and townspeople talking happily as you pass by a few more businesses and many large houses. You meet a formation of soldiers in heavy armor, marching toward the center of town. The people go silent, and take to the sides of the street as they pass. You notice a couple of the helms contain only skulls.

At the edge of town, you continue northeast along the cobbled highroad. The day very quickly becomes completely overcast with light grey clouds. A chill wind blows from the north, brushing the dry brown grass. The fields all around have been cut and harvested, and tall sheaves stand out in many of them, rustling in the wind. Occasionally, you can see the heavy pyramidal stones of the train line through low rolling hills and fields to the south, and at times the highroad comes within 30 or 40 yards of the train.

Later in the day, as a train goes past headed east, you realise you've seen no one at all on the road since you were a mile or so out of town, when you saw the last wagon headed into Vulyar. The road remains deserted for the remainder of the day, with only a couple of rabbits seen before nightfall.

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'd10' :

After spending more time with Karl, you're all starting to get a better picture of what's been going on. A short distance into the low, grassy, rolling hills north of Vom, there is a small ravine or gorge, probably not much more than 20 or 30 feet across. During the early to middle part of the war the Emerald Claw had some sort of small base there. It became abandoned when the Emerald Claw was outlawed for treason.

For many years now, children have been told not to go out there. The people of Vom avoid it, clearly considering it a mysterious and frightening place, and they surround it with shadowy tales of danger and gloom.

Recently, within the last few weeks, some teenagers from a nearby farm are rumoured to have gone out there exploring (or perhaps to drink beer and try to scare themselves). They haven't been seen since. There are some around Vom who say they ran away to Korth or somewhere, but even these seem frightened as they say this. At the Zeeg farm near Karl's, one of those furthest north around Vom, the family hasn't been seen in at least two weeks. Karl's father became certain that something terrible had happened to them when they failed to bring their crops in, and let their fields of barley go past harvest and to ruin.

Last week, out after dark finishing up chores, Karl saw lights on in the Zeeg house, but the next day there was still no one there. It was after this that Karl's father (also named Karl) sent him to Vulyar to try to find help from either the soldiers stationed at the barracks there, or from likely looking travelers.


Nothing comes near in the night, but at one point you thought you saw two red spots in the distance, like eyes. Then they were gone. The morning dawns grey and chilly.

Tagor enthusiastically volunteers to accompany Caby and Karl (and, presumably, Ducats) to Vom. He keeps a stream of chatter up for an hour or so at a time, but gets quiet as the landscape rolls on. At some point, he'll ask Karl if any soldiers or other travelers had been keen to follow up.

That night, assuming no objections from Ducats, he takes last watch, at the end of which he prays to the Host (picking up 'Protection from Evil' for now), and then starts cooking a meager breakfast for the group.

chaosclockwork wrote:

Tagor enthusiastically volunteers to accompany Caby and Karl (and, presumably, Ducats) to Vom. He keeps a stream of chatter up for an hour or so at a time, but gets quiet as the landscape rolls on. At some point, he'll ask Karl if any soldiers or other travelers had been keen to follow up.

That night, assuming no objections from Ducats, he takes last watch, at the end of which he prays to the Host (picking up 'Protection from Evil' for now), and then starts cooking a meager breakfast for the group.

Young Karl explains that the soldiers simply didn't believe him, and the few other travelers he talked to said they couldn't help "except one, who took 5 silvers to meet me at the edge of town, but then I couldn't find him."

You travel the rest of the 2nd day on the highroad, and you see 3 trains go by on their way east. One passes while the line is quite close to the road, and it's a windy, howling, thunderous experience. You camp the next night by the road again, and in the morning Karl says that after walking for about two hours there'll be a tree he recognises, and that's where you turn north.

You've seen very few trees, but after a couple hours you see one near the highroad which Karl points to, and Karl turns north onto a two-wheel dirt wagon track. You walk north along the tracks until late afternoon, when you see a town up ahead. Karl welcomes you to Vom, which looks to be a hamlet of perhaps 100-200 people.

Karl, sort of by default, since he's returning after at least 6 days away, will head for his father's farm. If you would rather stop in Vom first for anything, all you need do is let him know, and he will show you around.

ehiker133 wrote:

[IC]
Caby says, "Karl, we'll follow you to you father's farm first and talk to him. Then, we could either explore the neighbor's house at that point or if we need any supplies we can try to find them in town before we head out."

[OOC]
Eh... maybe we can find a local who has some military experience we could hire to go down with us? Don't all citizens of this realm have to do at least two years military service?

They do indeed, that's a good point This hamlet, though small, is big enough to have an inn. Karl will take you out to meet his father, pointing out a few places in town along the way. Your path lies up the main street and out the north end of town, and their farm lies about 2 miles north and a bit west.

I'll update further tomorrow, but feel free to rp as you like

ehiker133 wrote:

[IC]
"So, Ducats...," Caby glances over at him as they walk, "What brings you and Cash to this part of the realm? Were you headed in a particular direction? Or was it more like an, 'Anywhere but here,' sort of thing?"

"Um, my uncle said maybe I better get on a train for a while and then he said maybe he'd just better go and buy me a ticket, because, he, was, uh, tired of me, uh, 'overweighing my options.' So I guess that's the third one."

"I got no use for these Emerald Clawers, though, every one I ever seen's been full of some shit."

As you walk through town, people seem somewhat tense, but it's not aimed at your small group. They greet you warmly. You notice the inn, which is also apparently the only tavern, has a sign bearing a giant with bushy hair and masses of wooly hair on its arms and legs. None of the shops have writing on their signs.

You make it out to Karl's family's farm as the day nears sundown. His father, Karl Sr., is out working, and trots over to meet you all and happily greet his son. He's very proud that he's brought help, and after some basic introduction he invites you inside for a hot dinner. He says he'll explain more over the meal.

DM wrote:

As you walk through town, people seem somewhat tense, but it's not aimed at your small group. They greet you warmly. You notice the inn, which is also apparently the only tavern, has a sign bearing a giant with bushy hair and masses of wooly hair on its arms and legs. None of the shops have writing on their signs.

You make it out to Karl's family's farm as the day nears sundown. His father, Karl Sr., is out working, and trots over to meet you all and happily greet his son. He's very proud that he's brought help, and after some basic introduction he invites you inside for a hot dinner. He says he'll explain more over the meal.

"Somewhere I ought to do with my dog?"

Cole wrote:

"Somewhere I ought to do with my dog?"

Karl Sr. starts to say you can let him run around, but then a worried look crosses his face "you'd better bring him inside." and he smiles.

Around the table you meet the rest of the Erhurr family. In addition to Karl and his father, there are Frau Erhurr and 3 other young children.

Karl Sr. explains that everyone in Vom is starting to get concerned. They worry about what happened at the Zeeg place, but they aren't sure what to do about it. A few men got together and went over to the house, but it looked like it had been abandoned. They talked about going out to take a look at the old Emerald Claw base, but they ended up deciding not to do it.

"Too many of dem think it's haunted, and won't go out dere. Dey say the knights didn't leave quietly, and now dere spirits linger, vaiting to push people into de pit, or verse. Now, I don't know about any spirits.. but I know it's strange out dere. When de knights left, someting stayed behind." The younger children seem familiar with the story, and are suitable spooked. "I tell you dis. The Emerald Claw, everyone knows, dey vere de ones who brought Karrnath the dead guard. You tink dey have success on the first try?" He nods ominously, and his wife says "oh, Karl!" exasperated with him, and shaking her head. He tells her "no, it's true!" but she shakes her head again and goes to get the pumpkin pie. Karl Sr. leans in closer and says "Dey say de entrance is in an old tree. I can show you where it is, but she'd kill me if I vent in."

ehiker133 wrote:

[IC]
Caby says, "I wonder if we shouldn't check out the Zeeg's farm first. We might be able to find some clues there as to what is going on. Then if you could show us the entrance to the tree, that would be helpful."

She stops to take a bite of pie and then smiles broadly. "Excellent pumpkin pie, Frau Edhurr!"

As she eats a few more bites, she contemplates what they might do and finally says, "Why don't you point us in the direction of the Zeeg farm and we'll check it out first thing in the morning. Then you just need to show us the tree when we return from the Zeeg's. You have a family, Karl, and we don't want you or them to be put in any danger."

Ducats whispers "what you think we might find at that old farm?"

After supper and washing up, the Erhurrs prepare a room for the two men to stay in, and make space in the girls' room for Caby to sleep.

The family is up before dawn, and the breakfast is even bigger than at the inn in Vulyar. One of the additional items is traditional Karrnathi lahthkas (potato pancakes.)

After breakfast, Karl Sr. heads out with you to take you to the Zeeg farm, but you're able to re-iterate and convince him to just point you in the right direction. He takes you to the edge of his land, within sight of the Zeeg farmhouse, and wishes you luck.

ehiker133 wrote:

[OOC]
Just to get my bearings, what general direction are we headed when leaving the Erhurrs homestead to go to the Zeeg farm?

[IC]
Caby asks, "Karl, about how far is it? Are there any landmarks that will let us know when we're close to it or at least headed in the right direction?"

Once she has the information they need, she'll lead the group out to the Zeeg farm. When making the journey there, Caby will simply be alert, but she won't have any weapons drawn. But as soon as she makes it to any landmarks given by Karl that indicate they are close to the farm, she'll pull out her bow and nock an arrow.

She whispers to the other two, "Let's observe from a distance for a bit and see if we see any activity. If we don't see anything, then we can approach the house and check it out."

It's north and a bit west of the Erhurr place. He took you far enough so that you could see the actual Zeeg house before he left you.

[OOC]
Ah, sorry.

Then we'll still monitor the house from a distance for a bit (say, a half hour) to see if there is any activity there.

[IC]
After watching the house for a bit, Caby whispers to the others, "I'm going to circle around to the back of the house and see what I can see there. I'll be back in a short while."

Caby circles the house, keeping a safe distance, and makes her way to the other side of it to see if she notices anything unusual there.

Rolling in case I need to make a Hide roll...

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'd10' :