Vae blinked, and suddenly the person was about 10 meters closer to him. He swore he didn’t see or hear them move. He decided to watch it for a bit longer, but then the creature was right in front of him.

Now he saw what was so wrong. This creature had no face. It was just a smooth, concave wall. 

A loud buzzing began to ring in his ears, and all around him. The creature _smiled…_ but the smile didn’t come from a mouth, its head just hinged at the neck, and a gaping maw began to open.

The buzzing intensified, and then Vae fainted. He awoke later on a cold, damp surface. Stone. He had no idea how much time had passed, but his stomach ached badly.

Stumbling back towards the village, he vomited several times. It seemed to be berries, thread, and other unidentifiable objects.

A search party intercepted him, he had been gone for three days!

Later that night, he vomited up some more thread, and a felted doll with red hair. After he finally fell asleep, he awoke to his brothers gathered around. A look of worry on their faces…

Vae wakes up ridiculously hungry, while his brothers around him discuss what to do. So hungry, in fact, that he interrupts them so that they get him something to eat. Eventually, Bar acquiesces and then they get to talking. Vincent (the eldest) is recently back from his six-month stint as a guard, so all the brothers are finally back together.

They begin to recount the strange occurrences that have happened to them. Lan spoke of his disturbing dream, wherein he also saw a faceless figure, although unnervingly in the form of Tasha. It was moving in an erratic fashion, and whispered “I have to go, Ebai. He’s here. He’s here…” Then he awoke in the reeds, and rushed home.

Furthermore, he spoke to Mr. Voore about it, and The Soothsayer told him:

“Lord of the flies and gnats, The Wendigo is here…” and seemed to allude to the fact that this was going to happen, but now it’s simply happening sooner.

For his part, Bar let the others know he had received a letter, a first for him. It read:

The stars do not wait upon the lethargic moon, but set their own pace into the night sky. It is almost time.

 – Q

After quite a bit of bickering, it was decided that Lan would go get the High Druid, Thalara, to see if she could help. Vincent and Bar would stay and look after Vae.

Lan sprinted over to the temple, and ran right in. Thalara was there (as per usual), and Lan proceeded to recount every detail that he could remember of what happened. She told him to go back home, and tell his mother of her impending arrival.  He then left the temple and _**promptly forgot everything she said**._

Going back upstairs, he continued to try to plan with his brothers, but everyone seemed to have a different idea of what to do, and how serious the situation was. Minutes later, Thalara walked in, casting him an icy glare.

“You were to warn your mother of my arrival, it is not proper that one should not know of incoming guests.”

Then her face shifted, and she returned to the kind, empathetic look she always had. She cast a couple of spells, and smeared a brown-green substance on Vae’s face and neck.  She looked troubled, and then very specifically asked Vincent to fetch your mother.  Once Selma arrived, she calmly explained that Vae had been cursed, and it was a powerful one. Beyond her ability to cure, sadly. The Ravenous curse would rather quickly starve him to death, if not removed.

She did speak of a Coven of witches, north of Lake Kinaskin, that were stronger with the Netherflow*, and she thought they might be able to help. She did not know them by name, only of their existence. Nevertheless the boys asked her for a letter, so she said she would provide one, and to seek her out before their departure.

Selma was devastated, because it was clear to everyone what must happen. They needed to get Vae out of town if they had any chance of saving him. Very quickly, everyone started scurrying about, getting things in order for their departure. Selma went about making care packages (mostly food) for them all.

Vincent stayed to watch over Vae.

Bar and Lan went to speak to the few villagers that had horses, in order to expedite their journey. With an effort that was half luck, and half money, with a side agreement of getting Petunia shod, they managed to actually procure all four horses in the village.

It didn’t take long for word to spread of Vae’s curse, and people got scared and angry that he may have brought ruin upon the village. Some of them expressed that anger at the boys parents, Albert and Selma. There was quite a bit of shouting, and Vincent came down to make sure everything was okay. He stood by his parents’ side, and managed to talk down the angry villagers, and they dispersed.

Albert went to the store to get tools and supplies for their trip.

Bar and Lan were making one last stop, they went to the Soothsayer’s… carefully. One never really knows when Ol’ Thom is going to strike.
This time, it turned out to be once they were inside, he drew blood from Lan’s ankle.

But! Altean quickly patched him up, and then after a rather confusing few minutes while they tried to explain to the old man what was happening, his eyes lit up.

“Marthport, that’s excellent. Your big day has come!”

*more confusing conversation*

Then he led you through the maze that is his house, down into the cellar, **and very generously** gave you a bunch of weapons and armor, although he alluded to the fact that you would pay him back.

At one point, he walked up to Bar, put a hand on his forehead, and once again took the role of the Soothsayer. He muttered:

“I see a shadow rift, there’s a statue and it’s weeping tears of blood.”

Then he let go, and returned to his version of normal.

Finally, they had all four horses saddled, and made one last stop to see Thalara at the temple.  She gave them some berries, and told them they would help to tide them over while they traveled, and gave them some healing concoctions as well.  There was nothing more to be done, than to mount up and ride away. Except that none of them had ridden horses before.

After a someone difficult start, they finally managed to convince the horses to work with them, and were about to set off, when Lan jumped down, and sprinted off.

He had forgotten to tell Tasha that he was leaving, and then did so in the fastest possible manner, leaving her shouting at him as he raced back out the door.

Once he got back, and saddled up, they were off to Wavemeet, on the first leg of their journey.

Perhaps only an hour away from the village, the boys notice someone walking toward them on the road ahead. Only Vincent and Vae noticed that something was wrong. Horribly wrong. This person was no longer a person, what was clattering towards them had long since died, yet still walked!

Their first inclination was to flee, but Vincent cried out “HOLD YOUR GROUND! We can’t let this thing attack innocent people.”

They very bravely confronted the thing, Bar and Vae quickly learning that arrows were of little use against a thing made of bones. Still, they managed to vanquish it, but not before Vincent was wounded.

It looked as though he called up to the heavens, and a pale green light surrouned his uplifted hand, and when he placed it on his chest, the light suffused his being, and his wounds were healed!

Meanwhile, Lan quickly moved to calm the horses, as they were about to flee at the sight of the undead, this took him out of the fight, but probably saved Vae’s life. On foot, they likely never would reach Wavemeet, let alone the coven in time.

Out of respect for the body, Lan thought they should try some sort of burial, but with little time to spare, he instead built a cairn with some rocks that were about.

They moved along the road, more warily now.  Up ahead, they spotted Hubert’s cart, broken down on the side of the road, with two figures in front of it.

Lan, with his keen eyes, realised that once again, these were no longer to be considered people. They were rotting flesh and puss, and he could see that they were feasting on the unlucky horses.

Hubert was nowhere to be seen.

They decided that once again, they would have to eliminate these things, despite the danger to themselves.

This time, they had the good sense to tie up the horses, a little farther away, before creeping towards them.

Lan decided to pull out his sword, and started marching towards them. Behind him, Vincent cast a spell, and they both turned their glowing eyes toward the group, now aware of their presence. Lan and Vicent engage them with their melee weapons, while Vae and Bar fire at them. After a few missed shots, they start to get a feel for their weapons, and land some serious blows, staggering the zombies. It’s not long before they were defeated, and the brothers walked away, relatively unscathed. They searched the carnage, but there was no sign of Hubert, or his animal of unknown origin, Rexy. Only a bloody trail leading away to the south, where the lake was. Bar and Vae went slightly ahead, to scout things out, and Vincent decided to use his magic to create a tremor under them, thinking he could communicate, but as this was relatively new to him, he didn’t realize some prompting beforehand would have been useful. The other two came back, and asked about the ground shaking, but things were quickly cleared up. They then proceeded forward again, with Lan and Vincent about 20 or 30 paces back, talking. Finally, the two scouts saw the slope down towards the lake, and Hubert lying in the grass, with blood staining the ground around him. Bar noticed that he was still breathing! They weren’t too late! In his excitement, he decided to just run forward towards him, and Vae noticed, and did the same, being a little faster than his brother. Unfortunately, what they failed to notice was an ambush awaiting them, and two blue, tentacled creatures leapt out and attacked Vae, slashing at him with their claws. He very quickly succumbed and fell to the ground. Bar was quick to defend his brother, letting loose a bolt into the side of one of the creatures, hurting it badly. The others came running up as fast as they could.

They engaged the creatures, and Vincent healed Bar, saving his life. Though they were all fearful, they put on a brave show, trading blows back and forth, and began to understand their bodies and weapons a bit better.

This was a most difficult fight, as these creatures were both agile and strong, but in the end, they managed to defeat them as well.

They rushed over to tend to Hubert’s wounds, but Lan hung back, examining the scene for any other potential dangers, and while there were no other things moving about, he did notice a large glowing crystal from just beyond where Hubert was laying, and two broken ones beside it.

Vincent healed Hubert, returning his vitality, and he told the boys that he was attacked by those creatures, and that’s the last thing he remembered.

Lan then pointed out the crystals, and that another of the same species seemed to be growing inside it, so they decided to destroy it immediately.

Hubert was disconsolate after learning about his horses, and that Rexy was nowhere to be found, but they decided to get back to the cart, take what they could, and make their way to Wavemeet.

Once there, Lan decides he can fix it up well enough that their horses can pull it back to town, and the others start scouting about to see if they can find Rexy. As luck would have it, Rexy bounded up shortly after, sensing her friend’s presence. Hubert was overcome with Joy.

Lan was able to fix the cart much faster than he had anticipated, all his time spent doing manual labour was paying off, and he was much more adept than even he knew.

Vincent examined Hubert, and noticed there was a lasting effect from his attack, and that he was infected by something. The quicker they got to Wavemeet, the better.

There was a very long, drawn out conversation on what they should and shouldn’t tell Hubert about their story, Hubert looking on bemusedly.

Eventually, they spilled the beans, as it were, and though Hubert looked frightened, he took it all pretty well. He had never seen this level of oddity or violence on the roads, and cautioned that they should talk to Desidarius, and that he might know more.

They finally started their trek anew, almost at Wavemeet. Strange to think of all that happened in a day…

Lan noticed that Hubert quickly became jovial again, but was masking the fear that hides just below the surface. It seemed like he was trying to put on a brave face for the boys. The horses no longer seemed nervous, but Lan kept a close eye on the environment, worried something else would accost them.

They inquired about a ferrier, as they needed to move on quickly to lake kinsaskin. They also asked Hubert for any information he might have about their journey, mentioning the coven of witches that might be able to heal Vae.

He hadn’t heard anything about a coven of witches, but he did direct them roughly to Lake Kinaskin, telling them it was north of Marthport, the large city. They continued to prod, showing their naivety about the lands, and asking about safe houses, outposts, and orchards along the way. Hubert patiently explained that there was only the road cutting through a massive forest, and not much else. These were wild lands, with wild creatures in them.

Presently, they came upon Wavemeet. There were some outlying farms, leading up to town. A sizeable lake to the left of them, and nestled right up to the shore, a mix of red and blue tiled roofs, over stone and wood buildings. There were a few boats out on the water, some of them with sails, taking advantage of the strong breeze. A short fence wall surrounded the town, but it was not really defensive in nature. It was rather bustling compared to what they were used to. Two guards were posted at a gate opening, but they simply nodded to Hubert and the boys and let them pass through.

They part ways, Hubert stating that he needed to get his illness looked at, remembering that Vincent said he was diseased. It was now late in the day, but the boys decided to try to find a ferrier. They also asked about trying to buy a map, and Hubert told them to check The Falling Feather.

They interrupted the Ferrier’s dinner, and he was a little annoyed with them. So he told them to come back tomorrow morning.

Then Lan decided to go back, to stable the horses, but he didn’t have room, and sent them to the inn.

An inn that they didn’t know the name of, and hadn’t gotten directions to. They decided not to knock a third time, and so asked a passerby.

The inn was called the Riverclaw, and they were promptly guided there.

They discussed, a little too loudly, how much gold they had, and then realized their mistake and lowered their voices.
After some discussion (and haggling), they arranged meals and a room to stay.

Lan accidentally hit on Dana, not realizing what he was saying. He then had to explain that he wanted to know about tipping.

They rest for the night, noticing that Vae had become even more gaunt, and decided to take watches.
He was fitful throughout the night, groaning and whining. Lan tried squishing one of the goodberries into his mouth, and he calmed slightly.

The next morning, they stopped in at the general store, and got provisions for the rest of their trip, then were finally underway.

As they entered the forest, a gloom settled on them. There was a sense of foreboding, and ominous feeling they couldn’t quite pinpoint. It was difficult to say if it was just their imaginations running wild, from all the stories they had heard.

Lan decided to appease the forest: “Hello mister forest, we’re here to cross through, we mean you no harm, and hopefully you mean us no harm.”

Bar heard, faintly in the distance, a sinister laugh… and for a brief moment, almost imperceptibly, the forest goes completely quiet.

After a little while, they were accosted by some extremely large insects. Vae decided to fight them, but his horse was having none of it. She spooked and bolted. They decided to all run past, luckily their horses were much faster than the insects.

After this, they realized they should dismount if there are any further altercations, wisely deciding one of them should try to hold the horses while the others fight.

Sure enough, they came upon something else shortly thereafter. There seemed to be a goblin encampment that had been built up over the road, loosely put together over a rocky outcropping.

Bar decided to say hi (in goblin) to see if they were friendly. They were not.

One of the goblins yelled: “Kreeka te flak CHO! Aveeeeeeen!!!”

Lan waved, and said his name.

“Aveen!”

Then the goblin fired an arrow at Lan, but it was just a grazing blow. The battle then ramped up, arrows flying all around, crude goblin weapons slashing out, but the boys managed to fend them off (with some difficulty).

One of them managed to run off into the forest, and they lost sight of them.

It was decided that they would dismantle the camp, making it harder for the goblins to reclaim the spot.
Luckily, the goblins had been roasting a deer, so this would give them lots of food for travel.
They also found a variety of weapons and armors, mostly in disrepair, but they found the coins the goblins had clearly stolen from other travellers.

The group decides dismantle the goblin camp a bit, and while doing so, Lan notices as he looks to the south, there’s a plume of smoke rising from Wavemeet.

They decide to move on, considering the situation that they’re in, hopefully the people of Wavemeet can deal with it.
They will let the guards know when they arrive in marthport.

They then came upon a pile of bodies, melted or fused together. As they rode by (they didn’t want to stop) they heard the same buzzing that Lan and Vae had heard in their earlier creepy encounters closer to Firge’s Harbour.

They fled, but Lan took one look back and saw a large antlered creature, with bloodied claws, standing atop the pile…

They galloped away as fast as they could. Much discussion was had about what was happening, and why.

Presently, they came to the crossroad, where they met the main road that connected the major cities. A few more hours, and they had their sights on Marthport. The city had an expansive wall surrounding it on the land sides. It was right up against the shores of a massive lake, and there was a lot of port and shipping activity, as it was a major hub for transport to the south of the nation.

When they got to the guards at the gate, they decide to tell the story of what they encountered on the road, taking turns speaking. They were asked their names; Vincent gave his, and the rest followed suit. At that point, one of the guards, Peter,  was sent to give message to “The Sergeant”.

They plied the guards, to ask for a suggestion as to where to stay, and are pointed to the Worn Sail, tavern and inn. While they are on the way to the inn, they are intercepted by the guard that was sent away, and were told that the Sergeant wanted to see them.

It turns out, the sergeant, Prevel Cadogan , didn’t want to see them about their story, but rather because Vincent had been asking questions about him in the weeks leading up to all his. The Sergeant was not impressed, and as the boys couldn’t seem to talk their way out of an open door, he became more and more agitated, threatening to have them jailed, or worse. Finally, he let them go, once he was satisfied that all inquiries into his activities would be halted.

They finally made their way to the inn, and got some rooms. Some of them were careful to guard the room against intrusion, hoping for a good night’s sleep. Somehow, they were robbed of their coin purses, although upon investigation nothing else was amiss in their rooms. They couldn’t tell how anyone could have gotten in.

They reported the theft to the innkeep, but decided not to involve the guards, after the previous day’s events. They went to leave the city, only to realize they didn’t know exactly where they were going.  They only vaguely knew where the coven was. So they decided to split up to try to find out more about their journey.

Lan and Bar went back to the inn, and asked if inkeep knew of the coven. She didn’t, but she suggested they speak to Phallon,  a fishmonger in merchant’s way.
He gives them decent directions, saying to go to the west side of the lake, go north and look for a tall standing stone with carvings on it.

Vicent and Vae, however, decided to go see Madam Syra, the seer, after asking a few people about town.

Madam Syra gave them some guidance (trust the centaur, above all else) and they asked for directions as well. She was able to direct them, but then they asked if there was any peril they would face on the way, and when she peered into their future, to read their fortunes, her eyes went white, and she started seizing.

Blood flowed from her eyes, nostrils, ears, and she immediately died in front of them. They covered her body as best they could, and then they fled, trying to wait until there was nobody around the tent, so they wouldn’t be discovered.

They met up with Lan and Bar, and tell them they need to leave the city, immediately. They mounted up, and found themselves on the footpath north out of the city.

Once outside of the city, Bar and Vincent had to explain what happened, and now the boys were certain they couldn’t step foot back in Marthport, as they would surely be held accountable for murder, even though they were innocent.

They had other matters to attend to, and so they set off to find the witches’ coven. Not long after they had started, they once again heard that disconcerting buzzing, filling their heads not only with overbearing sounds, but with disturbing images…

Each of the young men had their own unique, but terrifying vision, once the buzzing began.

Bar saw a stranger, a beautiful elven woman being mutilated with a knife.

Lan was met with an image of his best friend, Tasha, looking terrified, and huddling in the corner of a dark cave.

Similarly, Vae saw a cave as well, one he was familiar with. It was in Firge’s Grotto, a series of caves north of the village that he had explored a little.
In his vision, he saw his mother, Selma, cowering in the cave, with a dark figure standing over her.

Lastly, Vincent saw an image of his brother, Lan, being strangled to death by none other than Prevel Cadogan, the same man who he was certain killed his biological parents.

There was no time to discuss any of these visions, as they realized they were being pursued by some sort of hideous monstrosity. It was an amalgam of body parts, fused together. The same one they saw on the road up from Wavemeet, only this time it was animated and moving towards them at speed. Luckily, their horses were swifter, and they galloped away, leaving the horror behind.

They pushed their horses hard, not wanting to slow too much, lest it catch up with them. Presently they saw the standing stone in the forest, the one they were told about in their directions. They made their way towards it, not knowing much else.

 

After a short time, they came to an area filled with early spring daffodils, dotted lazily about. A lovely, bucolic scene that was very abruptly ruined, as a high pitched wailing began, stunning Vae in his weakened state. The others managed to compose themselves, and realized it was one of the daffodils (they later found out these were plant creatures called DaffoShrills). 

Almost immediately, an old crone stepped out, seemingly from nowhere, and silenced the flower-creature.  She greeted them, introducing herself as Thymea Cralen, and asked them why they had sought them out.  The boys initially waffled on what they should and should not say, but eventually Bar broke down, and told the entire story, omitting nothing. Thymea, seemingly moved by this, reluctantly allowed them to enter the grove.

She directed them to a small path leading away from the grove, and told them to seek the aid of Larkin Centauri. The path was a short one, leading to a smaller grove, with a small pond in it. Next to the pond, a woman and a horse were sitting, and as the boys approached, they stood up in unison, and walked towards them. Once again, Bar bared his soul and gushed out the story of their adventure up until now, and Larkin said they would help.  The boys questioned who “They” were, and Larkin explained that they were a centaur, that had been divided into two beings by an ancient curse, but still moved about and acted as one.

This, the boys deemed, was the centaur Madam Syra had spoken of before she died.

Larkin said they could ease Vae’s pain, but not fully remove the curse without a specific reagent: A blue amanita mushroom from a nearby cave. They wasted no time in heading off in search of said cave, but on the way, they were accosted by the gruesome walking abomination that had been chasing them earlier. Interestingly, they heard no buzzing sound as it approached.  They once again began to run away, but Bar tripped and fell, and his brothers bravely stood their ground to protect him.  Swords flashed, spells crackled from Bar’s finger tips, and they eventually managed to defeat the horrible creature.  During the fight, however, two other odd characters showed up, causing extra difficulty. One of them seemed to teleport in to grab a sword that had fallen, while the other simply stood there, mouth agape.

Vincent was horrified when he realized he recognized some of the corpses that made up this undead creature. One was certainly his former captain, Solomon Harper, and he was relatively sure the rest were made up from parts of his old contingent.  What power could cause them to animate, they didn’t know, although they speculated it was the terrifying deer creature Lan had seen.

They found the cave they were looking for, and perhaps out of some sense of self-preservation, Vae managed to find the blue amanita they needed immediately, recognizing it from one of this books on foraging. They were able to make good time getting back to the grove, where Thymea once again brought them past the border.

Larkin took the mushroom, and told them the ritual would take some time, and that Vae would also need some rest. Before she began, however, the boys plied them with questions about the strange happenings in the world.  Larkin seemed aware of them, but told them that the coven rarely interfered in the outside world. They suggested to consult with some sages in some of the bigger cities, and made a point of mentioning Embervale, though it was far off.

They left Larkin and Vae, and went back to the main grove, where Vincent pulled Lan aside to finally explain what happened in Marthport, and why the sergeant was so upset with him. He told Lan about the night their parents were murdered, that he saw this same man with the scar on his arm, and that Prevel Cadogan had that same scar, even though it was covered when he interrogated them.  They decided to let all the brothers know in time.

While they were mulling over what to do, Larkin came out of her sanctuary, which seemed to be rather pointed, as the other witches seemed to react in hushed tones.

They told the boys that Vae would need to rest overnight, and that even when he awoke, he would be catatonic for a short time, and it was unclear how long it would last.

Larkin suggested he either stay behind, or that the boys would have to protect him, as he would not be able to fend for himself. They once again asked for more information as to what was happening in the outside world, but Larkin suggested they speak to others, and to find some lore masters in the great cities.

When asked if the rest of them could stay the night in the grove, Larkin was unsure, but they went to speak to Thymea, who eventually acquiesced.

Having rested in comfort and safety for the first time in what felt like ages, the boys had a renewed sense of vigour upon waking, and felt stronger than ever.

They were escorted out, and while this was happening, they asked if they could return if they were in trouble, but Thymea seemed displeased at the prospect, she once again reiterated that the coven did not want to interfere with the outside world.  It was unclear if they would be allowed back in.

Undeterred,they decided to go back home, to check on everyone after their harrowing visions. They bid farewell to Thymea, and started heading back the way they came.  The decision was to skirt south east in order to avoid Marthport, as they didn’t want to risk the guards there recognizing them.

Realizing they didn’t want to sleep out in the wilds overnight, and that they would never make it back to Wavemeet before dark, they chose to find a farmstead that they might be able to trade work for lodging, as they no longer had any money.

They picked one of the easternmost farms outside of the city, and calling it a farm was a stretch. There was one farmhouse and a barn, and a few small fields.

There were a few people working in the field, and when asked for work, they pointed them to the farmhouse, where they could find the owner. There, the boys met Parker Davies, and older, grizzled man who was skeptical at first (given the boys’ armour and weapons), but said yes.

The boys quickly got to work, and since they had experience on the farm back home, made quick work out of the planting. Lan even had time to fix the roof on the barn.  Everyone was quite impressed by them, and once it was dinner time, they got to meet Parker’s wife Winnifred, who cooked everyone an amazing, if simple meal. The boys were to be put up in the barn, as there was no room anywhere else, but that suited them just fine.  They brought a meal back to Vae, but had to feed him by hand, as he was still in his frozen state, not really responsive.

They passed another comfortable night, without any worry. Morning came, and with it, a chill wind…