Welcome to Karnstown - Group 3, Session 4

s Dhraanng, Gambit, Tom, and Kleone had their dinner of dough-strings and red sauce, they discussed plans for approaching the investigation they were tasked with. They had already decided that a visit to the herbalist that was living somewhere in the city might be helpful. Identifying what sort of agents could be behind the strange affliction that appeared to be associated with food from the East Market Square would be a good start.

Upon finishing dinner, the party made their way back to Traveler's Hearth by way of the market squares. It was well after sunset, so th squares were now nearly deserted. The vendors had all packed away for the night and the only traffic was the occasional pedestrian. This was apparently also the time that the folk who lived around the squares went to the well to get their daily buckets of water for household use.

On a whim, Tom decided to check out the well itself when they got to the East Market Square. The well itself was circular and quite large - about fifteen feet across. A wooden cover prevented most city debris from finding its way into the well, and four boxlike structures housed simple winch systems with a crank and a rope wrapped around a thick wooden axle. A hook on the end of the rope was presumbly intended for a bucket. Casting his magic into the dark, Tom was surprised to see the entire bottom of the well light up with the aura of Enchantment - brighter than he had ever seen when he attempted to discern the nature of a magical item. Furthermore, there was clearly a source of the aura - something seemed to be floating atop the water, though it wasn't easy to be sure as the aura itself made picking out details difficult.

Further investigation with the help of Kleone's Dancing Lights showed there was indeed something floating atop the water in the well. This was retrieved by Tom, who scooped the item into a "borrowed" bucket while being lowered into the well via the winch, rope, hook, and Draanng's strength. They had retrieved a dark bag of some thick, viscous substance - a substance that was oozing out through the loose weave of the canvas bag in which it had been placed. Tom carried it back to the Traveler's Hearth in his hat. (He didn't want to touch it, but he didn't want to actually steal the bucket he borrowed either.)

In the morning, the strange bag of goo was tranferred to a pitcher borrowed from Dalfin Featherbottom, the inn's proprietor. The party decided that they definitely wished to consult with the herbalist; Dalfin provided directions to the small house outside the city gate where they would find the old lady.

The aging halfling woman, Hilda Smallburrow, was delighted to have visitors - especially since those visitors included two other halflings. She listened intently as the party explained what they had observed regarding the effects of the affliction, then she turned her attention to the bag of goo. After many minutes, she admitted that she did not know exactly what sort of magic was in play, but it was most definitely magic. While plants and herbs may have gone into the production of the goo, she could not determine which ones.

Hilda went on to explain that the this appeared to be some sort of magic associated with an Occult Tradition - not Arcane and certainly not Natural. Divine was always possible, too, of course, but she suspected a Sorcerer or perhaps even a Witch was behind the production of this bag. After apologizing for not being of more help, she asked to be kept abreast of any further developments, and then invited the group to stay for lunch. Before Dhraanng could even think about answering, the two Halflings heartily accepted the invitation and headed inside. Gambit also brightened up at the propsect of being fed. Lunch consisted mostly of what Draanng thought of as "the food of my food", but there was enough cheese and cold sausage to keep him happy too.

Returning to the city, the party decided to stake out the well at night to see if they could find out the culprit. They reasoned that since the effects seemed to last only a day, the perpetrator would have to continually "poison" the well. During their first night - the night after they had retrieved the goo bag - they saw nobody but the occasional water-retrieving citizen, and all of these were before the night got late.

The next day, a quick check of the market square showed that things were practically back to normal. Merchants were haggling with customers. Vendors were shouting over each other to hawk their goods and decry the quality of their competition's wares. Small arguments, fits of laughter and other shows of emotion and drive indicated that the city was returning to normal. A magical check of the foods in the market showed no contamination, but a check of the original goo bag itself showed that it was still quite potently magicked. Because of this, the party decided to continue the stakeouts. Now that it was appeared the curse was lifted, perhaps the source would try to re-poison the well.

Sure enough, on the second night, something did happen. The party had decided to split the night into two watches. First, Dhraanng and Gambit covered opposite sides of the square, while Tom and Kleone "rested" in the Almost Home tavern. Eventually, Tom and Kleone returned to take up their turns, allowing the half-orc and goblin to head to the Traveler's Hearth for some sleep.

Not long after, while Kleone fought to keep her eyes open, Tom spied what he first took to be a small animal - a rat or cat, perhaps - dashing into the square from the north. But he watched in amazement as this creature leapt onto the well cover, then onto one of the winch housings. Peering through the dark, Tom saw the creature open the housing door and appear to toss something inside. But as he began to move from his shadowy watch post, the creature spied him. It immediately dashed off back to the north from whence it came.

Tom rapidly sang out a cantrip in an attempt to stop of slow the creature, and his Daze song struck true. The creature suddenly tumbled, skidded, and rolled as it was stunned by the attack. But it recovered quickly - before Tom could reach it - and resumed its dash to the north. Tom tried to give chase - and by this time Kleone was also trying to catch up. Darting through narrow alleys, squeezing between houses, and finally clambering up a steep slope that separated the lower city from the upperclass homes on "the hill", Tom finally lost sight of his prey.

Returning to the market square, Tom magically examined the well while Kleone rushed to retrieve the half-orc and goblin from the tavern. The creature had indeed tossed another magical bag into the well, which the party retrieved the same way they had the first one. Now they had two bags of dark goo in their possession.

At this point, Draanng sought out a night guardsman and, dropping some of the codewords that indicated they were "Karn's people", convince him to have the well temporarily shut down. Then, the four adventurers retraced the steps Tom took in chasing the creature. At the top of the steep slope, Tom was actually able to find what he thought was a trail of the tiny creature - a creature he was now certain was a gremlin, and particularlyt a Jinkin. (The party had encountered these creatures before.)

Theye followed the trail as it led to the back of one of the manor houses ahead, but as they reached the back corner of the home, they were confronted by a member of the household staff who had apparently seen them skulking about through one of the windows. Challenged as trespassers up to no good, the party tried to explain that they were chasing a gremlin that was poisoning a city well, but the household staff (and by this time there were several outside) weren't buying this preposterous story.

Shortly, a full dozen city guardsmen arrived - apparently patrols on the hill are more serious than patrols in the lower city. The guardsmen weren't convinced by the party's story either, but the judicious use of a Karn codeword or two at least kept them from being arrested. Before the whole confrontation was over, the owner of the manor house, someone a guardsman identified as Fenric Morrikarn, made an appearance. He too expressed nothing but disdain and disbelief at the prospect of a gremlin running around his house after poisoning a well in the lower city, and demanded the party move along, or get arrested, or whatever.

The party was escorted off the hill by the guardsmen, and returned to the inn. They decided they might want to discuss their findings to date with the Karn, but that would wait till the morning.

In the morning, though, as they arrived in the common room for breakfast, a large, well-muscled, well-dressed human entered and approached them. He handed them a note which simply read, "Dinner. Sundown." While he didn't speak to the party directly, he was heard to be muttering as he left: "I wouldn't wanna be these guys. He was definitely not happy this morning."