Main Session

More than happy to be tugged along and away from majority of the crowd. Ardira’s ask had Ophelia exhale, a subtle nod indicating that she was fine. “I played a card game.” The brunette replied and gaze flit over the tavern in search for their party, lingering on the older man Ardira was speaking to. “You?” She posed the same question.

It was unlikely that Ardira had a more harsh go at information gathering than Ophelia. The elf’s charm often carried enough charisma for the both of them. The difference between Fiora and Ardie—Ophelia was much more aware how to navigate a conversation with someone she was comfortable with.

“There’s goblins—apparently we’re the only few who hasn’t noticed the camp.” She saved a proper explanation until they reunited with Eris, Valeri, and Nezyn.

“It’s an eyesore,” she quoted Fiora.

“A card game?” Her face lights up in surprise. “I wasn’t aware you were the type… no— quite the opposite. Did you win?” Ardie gently nudges Ophelia’s arm in jest. “No, wait, don’t tell me. I hope you didn’t get rinsed of your coin. I can go and have a little word with them, you know—“ the elf stops herself, sighing. She was getting ahead of herself.

“I’d say I was quite successful. Found out a little more detail on the whole missing fishermen situation—“

“Goblins? Here?” her eyes widen slightly, crossing her arms and glancing around the room. “Do you think they have anything to do with the building we’re investigating?”

Vaeri bounds up behind Ardira and Ophelia, just about catching the tail end of their conversation.

“I believe I have information about that!” she announces brightly.

“They’ve apparently been eating that icky black fog-stuff/void energy” she continues without pause, gesturing vaguely as though scooping handfuls of mist into her mouth, “and it’s turning them into a massive problem for the guards. Not just goblins though! All sorts of creatures- including harpies that have been killing people and stealing from wagons by the river.”

Then she beams at both of them, hands clasped behind her back, clearly proud of the information she's brought back.

"I'm only a gold down." She reassured Ardie, adamant that she didn't need her to speak to Fiora on her behalf. "I don't recommend it. She's playing with fake coins—which is something I should've put together the minute she became defensive about legal—" A breath was inhaled and exhaled, giving up the matter entirely.

"I got information out of it. A gold well spent."

Ophelia opened her mouth to speak more on the goblins when Vaeri came up. "Eating?" she questioned, the drow's demonstration was unneeded but appreciated. "That could correlate to what Elric and Leona were discussing. If the creatures are ingesting that energy, it could significantly alter their behavioral aggression.”

She wondered if getting a sample would be viable. "We're still unsure what it does, but it's strong enough to create a creature—more so, sentient mass—with said aggression. Who's to say what it can't do?"

Ophelia couldn't rule out the energy to expedite aging.
"...I'd also like to visit the river." She'd been told it was pretty at sunset.

"For investigational purposes."

Eris slid free from the booth and conversation alike, a final word and smile gifted to the man still sat, before she came over to where the party gathered. "What's the consesnus?"

Nezryn eventually pushes herself to her feet. She approaches the group quietly and holds her violin close. Though listening, her focus seems to be on the instrument as it glows a soft golden color. For any of the spell casters, it's clear she's trying to mend it with magic.

“It seems that we have a few leads.” Ardira starts, folding one arm around her waist and elegantly gesturing as she speaks with the other. “Regarding the missing fishermen, it seems to all be happening at the lake here in Emberwynd— men going in, and coming out… well, dead. Undead.”

“Frank over there is one of the fishermen that came back with his body intact. I’m afraid the same can’t be said for his mind.” she frowns, nodding her head towards the man sat alone. “We might be better off speaking to the fishermen at the market if we want more information. Or, we could just go to the lake.”

Ardie crosses her arms and looks to Ophelia, then to Vaeri.

“Oh, and we have a situation with goblins, apparently.”

"And harpies!" Vaeri pipes up as Ardira finishes. "Again- they've been killing people transporting stuff and stealing their goods, for whatever reason- pretty sure they are also influenced by the void stuff we're looking into! But it does all seem to be congregating around the water here?"

"And a bandit group? Called the Scarlet Hand? Somewhere over there too-" Nezryn adds.

“We haven’t come across one yet,” Ophelia replied to Eris, glancing over at Nezyrn as she approached and began a spell she recognized—though not one she practiced herself. Knowing a mending spell would’ve eased her worry over the tear in her cloaklet.

“What happened?” she asked the draconic woman, her gaze flicking to the violin in her hand.

Ardira had left quite a few possibilities open, not to mention the obvious question of where the undead were coming from. “The undead are the missing fishermen,” Ophelia said with a tsk, clearly perturbed she hadn’t pieced it together sooner.

She nodded. “The goblins are upset over a relic. That’s why they’re causing trouble, from what I’ve gathered. It’s plausible that the relic—its properties still unknown—could’ve been the cause of the void energy, or the rapid aging but that’s just a theory.”

"I fell," Nezryn grumbles, "... And snapped one of the strings." Though listening to what the others found out, Nezryn doesn't add anything further.

“The so-called cursed lake is a big problem for the town. It’s severely affecting the livelihood of a lot of the people.” she explains calmly, giving an empathetic look to Nezryn as she speaks.

“I’d say that’s where our priorities lie. We can’t fix everything at once.”

Unfortunate.
Ophelia had given Nezyrn a once-over in search for a visible injury. “Are you alright?” She kept a close eye on her magic as she mended. “Have you used that spell for your instrument before?”

In no position to go against Ardira, and the fact that she agreed. Ophelia nodded along.

“Then, the lake is our next stop?”

The girl nods, energy much more subdued compared to earlier in the day. "I've used the spell on it, yes. It's been accidentally scorched... Just a little. That, or my brother accidentally breaking one of the tuning knobs off. The spell doesn't work on magic items, but a regular old violin? Works well enough-"

A sigh, "Lake it is, sure. Will any of our new friends be accompanying us? Or just us? Oh, I suppose we're also new friends-"

Vaeri nods in agreement at going to the lake, but is looking over at Nezryn, a little concerned. She weaves her way over to her side.

"Hey, Nezryn? I think you've got something-" She reaches behind the girl's ear and pulls out a gold coin, showing it to her with a smile, then placing it in her hand. "It's pretty bad luck that you tripped and broke your violin, but seeing you were hiding that back there, maybe it's a sign that bad luck is turning around..!"

In doing this silly bit of slight of hand, Nezryn does feel perhaps a slight shift in her luck, if only just for that moment.

The gold piece sparkles in her eyes. For the moment, she seems utterly dumbfounded. She touches her hair around the back of her ear, so sure that she hadn't kept a gold piece there... But-

"This must be a dream- first angry squirrels, then a weird undead thing, then this?" She should know how magic works - she practices it, "How-" different type of magic.

She tucks her belongings back into her bag and slips the gold coin into a different pocket. "Do you like hugs?"

The drow's face grows to a grin, as without responding verbally, she just opens her arms wide as an invitation for one.

Nezyrn had considered them friends? She thought about correcting the term, but focused on the task at hand rather than the assumption.

“Just us. Unless anyone would like to object—I don’t believe bringing in townspeople is a good idea. Harpies, goblins, void energy, unnecessary risk. They’re already down in numbers.” Overhearing Vaeri’s mention of luck had Ophelia’s eyes find Fiora’s table, and they lingered on her cards.

“Best to minimize potential casualties should we run into any trouble.”

Nezryn wraps the elf in a tight hug - the dragonborn's body radiating heat . She answers Ophelia from over a shoulder, "Not even Lily and Ulrich?" A pause, "That's not right... What were- Leona and Eric? Err... Elric!"

She lets Vaeri go and mouths, 'thank you'.

She mulled it over; there was a clear and subtle confusion at the sudden contact the two shared, but she thought nothing more of it. “We could track down our guides. They could lead us to the river.”

Ophelia thought back to their run-in with the undead. “Although, in the face of danger, they didn’t intervene. An invitation would be suboptimal.”

"Li--eeeona did come back with a bunch of items though!" Then another thought, "... Wonder where she got them from..."

“Likely from the undead—ah—previously alive fishermen.” Ophelia glanced down at the ring on her finger, realizing this sort of topic might’ve required more emotional sensitivity.

“A team is all compromise. If you’d like to invite them along…” the wizard trailed off, indicating she wouldn’t have any qualms.

She smiles and pats Nezryn's arm as she lets go, waving off her thanks.

"I think I heard them say they'd maybe step in if things were looking rather bad?" She pauses, trying to think back to that hectic time running around the tents. "Also, well- it seems quite dangerous down by the river, so having some backup would be nice!"

“I wonder if it’d been a test of our fortitude, then?” Ophelia knew they worked for the guard captain, but not to an extent. Perhaps they were information gathering just as much as they were.

"Down by the river? What's dangerous?" A curious, feminine voice interjects as she leans on her arm against the nearby bar, only for another patron to shove it out of their way, causing her to stumble. "Oop!-" She catches herself then laughs it off, giving a small cough, "...If you don't mind me asking, that is!"

When she feels the party listening, she excuses herself, "Oh—sorry! Didn’t mean to eavesdrop, I just have really good ears.” She stretches her left cheek, pulling a face while using both hands to point up at her large pointy ears.

"Wait- 're you lot adven- adventurers?" He slurs his words, shouting over towards the party, "I got a thing or two ta say about adv..." Boris pauses with a look of deep concentration on his face before holding up a hand, raised into a pointed finger as he wills his mind to work, "Adventurers! Y'know it's always like this, ain't it? Someone should stop all this venturin', in fact! I'm gunna do it myself!" He says, walking over before tripping over an outstretched stool, spiralling to the ground in a heap.

"I'll 'ave... two tickets to the dance... please fin- fine sir!" With that, Boris promptly passes out on the ground, leaving Sara shaking her head from behind the bar.

She stifles a laugh, watching the spectacle unfold, turning back to the party, "I say we... just ignore that!"

She was about to answer the woman before the man stumbled towards them. Ophelia took a cautious, but singular step back closer to Ardira as he tumbled on the ground of the tavern.

She never much saw the appeal in drinking. Who would want to be intoxicated to a point they couldn’t hold their own weight—or worse, blackout entirely?

“Goblins, harpies and bandits.“ (edited)Wednesday, 3 December 2025 07:46

"Oh-I'll take bandits, what've you got on bandits? You look pretty smart, or pretty, smart." She laughs, "So I should probably expect big things from you!" Her grin is infectious as she puts both hands on her hips, "Y'know I've heard some things myself, I wanna see if they line up, see if I'm on the right trail!" (edited)Wednesday, 3 December 2025 07:50

She looked conflicted. Ophelia tried to piece together what exactly she meant by ”pretty, smart.” Considering there wasn’t a coherent way to phrase that—even as a compliment.

“What have you heard?” A small gesture was given to Wisper, an indication to take notes that followed the question.

She folds her arms, huffing, "Oh I get it! You're the hardball of the group, the tough talker?" She steps a few paces closer like she's about to push the subject, then simply switches target to Ardira, "Do you know about the bandits? If you go first I'll tell you what I'm all about- I'm searching for some people!"

Ardira pushes herself off of the wall, stepping in front of Ophelia as the girl comes closer and crosses her arms.

“All I know is that they attempted a robbery at a local jewellery shop.” she answers with a neutral expression and her head held high.

"Dang!" She gives a small swing of her fist by her chest in frustration, "They call themselves the Scarlet Hand, which is a bunch of people I've been looking for. It's pretty important to me." She explains before cupping her chin in thought, "Had no idea they were bandits though..." She muttered under her breath.

"If you go around dealing with all of that stuff and everything, be sure to be careful! Strange things have been going on around here, at least since I got here like a week ago..." She leans forward and covers her lips with her hands, "People keep talking about this weird mist stuff but honestly I think they're all just making it up cause they're bored." She rolls her eyes, giving her head a gentle shake of disapproval and pulls back again.

“Tough talker?” she repeated under her breath, directing the words toward Wisper for clarification and allowing Ardira to control the conversation with the investigative woman.

But at the insinuation that the mist was fake—nothing more than a rumor—the wizard shook her head. “It exists; we’ve seen it. We’re still uncertain about its nature or what it might do beyond influencing behavior.”

His eyes look to the side, then back to Ophelia to check if she's still looking, only to look away again. He was definitely avoiding saying anything about it.

"Really?" Her mouth falls open slightly in surprise, "Huh." She realizes, "Okay, that's actually pretty cool, is there really some paranormal mystery happening around here?" Darcie asks, her fists bunched up with muted excitement, "Sounds like a spooky story! So you're all about the river, not really the Scarlet Hand?" She asks, scratching the back of her head, her lips pressed into a soft pout as if she had been hoping for the alternative.

"Actually, this is kind of weird so it could totally be nothing at all-" Darcie shrugs, "But there was a fishermen crying by himself in the park by the market. Wait have you been there? It's this little place with a small lake and a tiny pier. I kinda wanted to say something...but, yknow, maybe he was just having a hard day cause no one has been fishing lately! Actually...maybe it's not a good idea to send a group of adventurers to check on a guy who's already troubled." Darcie gives a sheepish laugh

“His co-workers are either dead or missing; an emotional reaction isn’t out of the ordinary.” Ophelia probably would’ve done the same. It was rather sad. But thankfully, her own work hadn’t usually been the type to delve into dangerous situations—until now.

Oh.
That didn’t sit right with her.

“It’s something we can look into on our way?” she suggested. “Ask Leona and Elric to escort us.” Per Nezyrn and Vaeri’s request.

“Or we can ask…” It was then Ophelia realized she’d forgotten to ask for a name for the second time today.

“Is there a name you prefer to go by?”

"Hmm..." She thinks about it for a moment, the way Ophelia worded the question sounded more involved than she'd perhaps meant, "Like a cool codename? Do you guys do that?" She asks with an excited grin, feeling like part of the group.

"I've never had something like that before! Maybe something like...Red!" Her nose scrunches up in disatisfaction with her own lack of creativity.

"Then again I'd probably just forget...My name is Darcie, can we just use that?"

"Darcie, then." Eris gestured towards the tavern entrance, seemingly eager to see what this crying fisherman had to say. "Would you do the honors in leading the way?"

"Sure! I can help!" She beams, looking over the group, "I feel like this might be the most people I've met at once before, you should all introduce yourself as we talk."

"I'm not so bad once you get to know me" She shrugs, "Or maybe I'll be worse, but by then you might be too attached to send me away." Darcie gives a bright chuckle as she turns to the door, "The market really isn't far." She says as she heads to the door.

He places a hand on the shoulder of the man he's talking to, excusing himself to address the party, "Is there something you're looking into? I've mostly been told what we already know, missing fishermen and strange building no one has any ideas about." He explains, "If it's just something you're checking out, we can stay here or tag along, whichever you prefer."

She leans against Elric like a piece of furniture, earning an annoyed side eye, "That's basically a long way of saying, we don't feel like going back to our overlord Thea empty handed..." Leona smirks, "That woman can rant."

“Okay then, Darcie.”

She wasn’t yet sold on the idea of Darcie.

“I’m Ardira. Nice to meet you.” she introduces herself calmly, ushering Ophelia at her side as she began to step towards the exit.

“We decided to look into your cursed lake problem, first— so we’re heading to the market to gather more information.” she explains, looking to Elric and Leona — but soon turning her attention back to her intended destination.

“You’re welcome to come along.”

"Alright, we can come to the market if that's where we're needed." He nods, shuffling out of the door with Leona and Darcie.

The group walks in tow, introducing their names to Darcie, her sunlit amber eyes taking each one in with interest as you make your way up the comfortably busy main street.

Once again your met with the allure of home cooking, fresh fish, baked pies, home made steamed toffee puddings or fruit tarts, the market was a dangerous place for those trying to save coin.

The market murmurred peacefully as people took stock of each store, going about their daily business rather than being an overwhelming shoulder to shoulder crowd. The main square was nicely paved, a set of three bridges crossing a river that ran through it. The buildings around the square were much larger, like busy inns, taverns and stores.

The main market consisted of pretty stalls made of wood, decorated with eyegrabbing roofing of white and red stripes. The party were led towards the park, well within ear shot of the park.

The man was still there, sat in the lush green park, sobbing on the pier.

"It hasn't been that long but I honestly didn't think he'd still be here...poor thing.*" She whispers, bunching her hands up to her chest under her chin.

"He looks like me after gambling with my friend Fiora. Maybe I should talk to him?" She thinks aloud, only to be met with disapproval by Elric as usual.

The drow's attention was split between all the wonderous frivolities of the market, but then her gaze lands on the sobbing man on the pier. Vaeri frowns, and slowly approaches. She crouches next to him sitting on the edge of the peer and softly touches his shoulder.

"Excuse me, sir..? Are you alright?"

A startled sniff leaves the man and he quickly wipes his eyes with the back of his arm, using his coat. He turns suddenly, surprised to hear anyone talking to him, "Hm? Ah- yeah...yeah I'm fine..." The man looks distant before looking puzzled, "What are you after, you need somethin'?"

She ducks behind Ophelia, Wisper right there with her. She was feeling responsible for dragging all of these people over to bother this man in distress.

"We're looking into the missing fishermen." She says softly, "Our friend over there said you might me able to tell us about that..?" She gestures back to Darcie, throwing her under the wagon perse.

She watched the interaction closely. Being so close to the pier brought a cold draft, causing Ophelia to cross her arms against the slight bite of the wind. “What are—” Darcie moved to hide behind her, and she blinked in puzzlement.

Both Wisper and Darcie stood on either side. “Tough talker.” She repeated the phrase aloud, still trying to piece together what she meant by it.

Her ears droop down, "Ah- well! You're really the only fishermen I could find, that's all!" She says peaking up with two hands on the back of Ophelia's shoulders.

He waves his hand, "No...no it's fine. I'd help anyone lookin' into this typa thing however I could. Name's Fred, Fred Jones, but most people just call me Jonesy."

"Sorry to let meself be seen in such a state." His head lowers slightly and he wipes his eyes on his sleeves once more for good measure, "Ya see its me wife. Before all this gods forsaken nonesense started happening, she was out at the river...been 12 days now. Haven' seen her since."

Fred's words paint a pretty clear picture of what he suspected by now, especially with all the recent happenings with other fishermen.

"Was there somethin' you needed?"

"Well it's lovely to meet you Jonesy, I'm Vaeri." She gives a sad smile that then vanishes, becoming very sombre as he speaks of his wife. "I'm really sorry to hear that... If you could tell us anything you know about what's been going on at the river, that would help us a lot..."

"Ah, it's no bother of yours but thanks, I appreciate et." He replies giving a nod, "I just miss her, yknow? I've a mind to go out there and look for her meself, but you've probably heard the stories by now. Dead people, people who we worked with, seen everyday, gone without a trace only to be walking around dead? Doesn't seem like much a man like me can do over there 'cept join the rest of 'em." Fred admits, his eyes tracking to the ground in a mix of shame and hopelessness.

"Like I said, last time I saw her was 12 days ago, after that was when everythin' went all to hell over by the river."
be hard to even talk about." She turns to the rest of the party, "12 days ago was when the building was first reported as ruined..." She adds in a hushed tone with an out of character seriousness.

Vaeri nods along, taking note of what Leona says with an equal uncharacteristic seriousness. "That's okay, Jonesy. Could you tell us what your wife looks like? And what her name is? We'll keep our hopes up and an eye out for her..?"

"She was a blonde, used to tease her that it were white, she'd..." Fred stops himself from reminiscing, "Anyways—she was a small gal, bout this big." He holds up the side of his hand to the centre of his chest, probably around 5, 5ft 1inch tall. "She used to like going up there at sunset, there's this part in the river where it thins down to a nice shore like, you can see a bit of a cave and greenland across the small of the river. Still plenty deep mind, so wouldn't recommend it if you aren't much of a swimmer...aye, she used to love a good swim. Her name was Abigail Jones, called her Abi."

Eris had kept her distance, just enough to not overcrowd the poor man. At the mention of the cave, however, a knowing look was sent Leona's way, before the paladin asked in low tones, "That wouldn't be the same cave you mentioned, would it?"

"Cave?" Leona looks confused for a moment, "Oh maybe it was that guy you were speaking to, but the fact that something lines up means that we're probably on a good track!"

"There is an old cave down near the lake, usually kids talk about it being haunted...maybe that's starting to come true." Elric joins in, hoping to add a little bit extra information, "Is that the one you mean?"

"He and you both," Eris nodded, at first to Leona, then Elric as he joined in. "He mentioned just the same, about it being the kind of place parents tell their children to steer clear of. Perhaps we should take a look there, first?"

"Ahh~ now I remember. Maybe I had more ale than I thought..." She says, scratching the side of her head, "If that matches up with what Mr.Jones is saying, then I'd say we've got a pretty good course set!"

Ardira decided to leave the talking to Vaeri, trusting that she had it under control. She doubted it to be likely that the man would appreciate being bombarded by a group of strangers.

Hanging back beside Ophelia, she quietly listened to the conversation — raising a brow when Leona chimed in with more information.

"It's all connected." she states the obvious under her breath — partially to herself, but also to her friend next to her. "I really hope his wife hasn't met the same fate as all the others..."

She rests a hand on Ophie's shoulder for a moment, before speaking again. "I'll make a quick trip to the market. I'll be right back."

She shrugged Darcie's hands off her shoulders. Which, might've been the slightest bit difficult since the woman was taller than her. "A woman disappearing, a building coming to ruin by unnatural means on the same day? The chance it's not connected is slim." Ophelia spoke under her breath.

There could've been a explanation - like his wife had just left him.
But they needed to operate on the idea that everything was connected.

They couldn't brush off anything, not if they wanted leads as to why. Ardira excused herself and Ophelia nodded. "We'll wait for you."

"Thank you, we'll make sure to keep a watch out for her." Vaeri pauses, then corrects herself, gently touching his arm. "We'll do our best to find her."

She then turns to the others. "Is there anything else we need to know..?"

"If we think the cave is worth checking out, then I'd say we should head there! It does seem pretty suspicious. If you all have other plans you wanna follow though, we can go ahead with whatever you'd like...unless you'd rather us stay put in town?"

While Ophelia wasn’t keen on the idea of Elric and Leona joining them, Vaeri and Nezyrn made a fair point about strength in numbers. It wasn’t like she was properly built for combat. "You mentioned you wouldn’t want to go back empty-handed to your captain."

Even though she was quiet for most of that conversation, she listened.
"... I believe everyone is okay with you accompanying us."

"Since you asked so nicely I guess it would be rude not to come along." She smiles,"Though I'm kind of invested in the mystery at this point anyway."

"If anything like before happens, do you want our help in combat? Earlier we hadn't wanted to step on anyones toes or give the impression we didn't think you could handle yourselves, we've no problem fighting if that's what your team wants."

Eris gave a quick not towards Ophelia. "You'll hear no complaint from me. The more the merrier, as they say."

"Don't complain if we sneak a little of your pay check if we end up doing all of the work." She says with a cheeky chuckle, "Come on then, let's leave the man to his troubles and set out of town. Were there any stops along the way? The river isn't too far away but it's a decent little walk."

"Um, I think I'd best keep up my search for the Scarlet Hand." She says stepping out from Ophelia's shadow, "It seems like you've all got a lot to do, even if I am kinda curious about it...occult stuff is super cool, I wanna know what's happening! But I might just get in the way." She says, giving a smile.

"The reports say the bandits aren't far from town, the group could probably see to both, but it's really their call."

As Elric explains, Ardira arrives back with the group after visiting the market. She's bought a portion of Sticky Toffee Pudding for everyone in the party, ready to set off.

"You didn't fight because you were worried if we'd see it as an insult? I just assumed you were assessing our capabilities." Ophelia explained, viewing their hesitance as more of a test rather than anything else.

She'd taken the pudding from Ardira gratefully, turning to Darcie. "Did anyone ever ask why you were so adamant on finding this group?"

"Hiring a bunch of people and then getting in the midst of things when they're trying to do what you hired them to do might have been a little bold." She smirks, "But we get it, you'd like a little help from your new friends."

"Nope!" She leans forward, surprising Ophelia by removing personal space, sunburned amber eyes meeting her own, "But you can if you want." She says before breaking into a cheery laugh, pulling away.

"We were hired to investigate a building. The undead were a random occurance." Realizing that it might've come off in harsh way... she continued. "Help would be appreciated."

She leaned backwards slightly, eyes widening at the sudden invasion of Darcie. Ophelia had met... sociable people before. She seemed a bit similar to Vaeri. "The implication of that question was me asking."

Deciding to clarify for her, she phrased it directly.
"Why is that you're looking for them?"

"I heard the name Scarlet Hand before I came here to Emberwynd...as far as I know they've been hurting people. Let's just say I wasn't expecting them to just be some low time bandits using a symbol and everything." She lets loose a sigh, leaning to one hip as she folds her arms across her chest, "If it really is just a bunch of bandits, that'd be a relief, I guess."

"I wonder if they somehow are tied up with all of this stuff? I guess they're probably just thieves or something given what you heard in the tavern."

Eris hummed, lips pursed in mild disbelief. "It'd be an odd coincidence, to have so much ill falling on the town at the same time, with no shared threads between the causes. Not all, mind, but there's connections from one to the next, I'd bet. But-"

A hand raised in greeting as Ardira rejoined, then shifted to gesture towards the stream. Where she though it lay, at least. "Theorizing and debate'll only get us so far. IF we're lucky, perhaps we'll manage to find survivors of... whatever this turns out to be."

She seemed contemplative as she took in Darcie's words. Like Ophelia had been gauging which lead to follow. Of course, the party's thoughts mattered. They'd need to decide on where they were going. "Are you planning on finding that bandit camp on your lonesome, Darcie?"

"Aren't you worried for your safety?"

"I mean—yeah, a little!" She says, looking away for a moment, covering it with a nervous laugh "But someone has to do something about them, if they're hurting innocent people that isn't right. Someone should do something about it, don't you think?" There's a determination to her expression, before it softens, "I bet it's frightening for all the nice people who come here having a group running acting crazy, especially if they've been using some kinda scary symbol."

"Going alone isn't a good idea," Ophelia explained, while the river seemed like a priority, the bandits were still a factor. "You could get enslaved... killed..." There were a few other reasons, but she didn't believe it would've been necessary to list them all.

"If you intend to... confront them. You'll need a group."

"Don't worry, I'm more capable than I might look!" She beams, "But any help would always be a good thing for something like this, who knows, maybe we can stop whoever these guys are and then go do your thing near the river."

"Last I heard they were hiding out in an old hunting lodge, not sure how many of them there are, but I'm guessing there'll be a few. Let's head out."

Key NPCs

Key Locations

Important Info

Recap

The party consolidates leads and agrees the river/lake is the top priority. At the market, they meet Fred Jones, whose wife Abigail vanished 12 days ago, matching the timeline of the building’s sudden decay. He confirms undead sightings and points out a cave by the rive. Additional threats of harpies, goblins influenced by void energy, and the Scarlet Hand bandits all cluster around the water