Book 3: Act 1 - The Stuff of Legends

[Vardaen]

The inn would not have many customers if they trapped the stairs. Still, can't be too careful. Arenhal doesn't find any trip wires, old or new, planted along the path to the guest rooms up stairs.

While he's busy searching the stairs you have time to explore the books, etc...

[Othniel]

"I wonder what the purpose of their study here was," Nimiriel ponders aloud as she goes to examine the papers. "And these creatures remind me of gnomes, but...different. Were they simply looting this place, or are they behind the apparent disappearance of the residents?"

[Vardaen]

Nimriel goes to the papers and books, there is a clear indication that these Spriggans are NOT the original owners or writers of these tomes or the notes. Nim rifles through the papers then sits down, then digs in. Among these works is an incomplete ethnography of the indigenous tribes of the Iobarian steppes writen by someone named Pendrod. It seems he was working on a section on the Rashalka centaurs and speculated that a local tribe called the Nomens is an offshoot of the greater Rashalka population that broke away and relocated to the area of Varnhold at some time in the distant past. Mixed in with the books are a number of charcoal sketches of a heavy jade bracelet bearing peculiar markings that Maestro Pendrod has attributed to the premigration Nomen centaurs.

At the bottom of the stack sits a letter dated 2 months ago from Maegar Varn and addressed to Maestro Pendrod. (in spoiler) This letter describes Willas’s discovery of the jade “bracelet” on the banks of a “river of local provenance” and requests Pendrod’s presence for further study of the artifact. The “bracelet” itself, however, is nowhere to be found.

Letter Among the Notes

[ManWithDoor]

"Well, that's not ominous at all." Arent rubs his temples. "I know, I know, plenty of Legends are simple peasant tales that have no truth to them at all. Or exaggerate it until a big iguana turns into a fire-breathing dragon by the telling. But given what we're seeing here, any dire tales need to at least be considered." He leans in and considers it further. "Vordakai ... doesn't ring a bell immediately. But something might come to me."

OOC

Knowledge: History perhaps? Or maybe Nobility, as often places are named after powerful people.

[Graven]

Arenhal shrugs, "My areas of study tend more to the practical than this." He looks around, "If we clear upstairs, we can set up a place to rest and then discuss anything we you know."

[Othniel]

"That seems like a reasonable idea," Nimiriel agrees. "Perhaps the disappearance of the townsfolk has something to do with this legend? We could search for this island mentioned."

[Vardaen]

Upstairs. That's next, then you can spend time going over the books and scrolls.

So you move up to clear the second floor. You find it a typical inn, and in typical manner you can guess only one of the rooms was rented out when whatever happened here happened. An investigation of the personal effects that remain in the one occupied room indicate its occupant was Ervil Pendrod. Among the more mundane possessions in his travel trunk is a small library of further reference works. These tomes seem to be of less immediate relevance to his current work found down stairs. Arenhal and Arent both locate centuries-old geography book created by one Carmyn e’Brothasa, chronicler of Taldor’s Third Army of Exploration into the north. One passage is marked by Maestro Pendrod and reproduced nearby. Pendrod’s own handwriting in the margin of the text contains a simple but strange note: “Vordakai—perhaps a Nomen centaur god?” The book, frustratingly, does not provide a location to the semi-mythical island mentioned in the text, nor does it provide any further clues to Pendrod’s cryptic margin note.

[ManWithDoor]

"Huh. Well, that explains things. The Third Army of Exploration was something like ... three thousand years ago? Something crazy like that." He re-examines the text, making sure he didn't miss anything. "If even then this was barely a guess at a local legend or mythos, there's no way I would have heard anything. And even then it was truly a guess, so that's all we have now for that at least."

[Graven]

"Three thousand? It'll keep for the night then." Arenhal sets down his backpack in one of the rooms, "I wonder, did someone find something that angered the local centaurs? Stealing religious artifacts can cause you a bunch of problems, though if that happened, I'd expect more signs of battle." He appears to be thinking out loud.

[Othniel]

"The...hides...we found outside were centaur hides," Nimiriel reminds the others. "Do you suppose the people here ran afoul of them and were taken by centaurs in retaliation?"