3rd quest of the Guild of Outskirt
(by Esme Khit’teen) This mission took the Outskirt Adventuring Guild trio to the not-so-end-of-the-road rural Road’s End Inn. A family of shepherds in that area had lost one of their flock – their daughter had gone missing with their sheep. Thus began a fine tale of how adventurers often find solutions that they were not even looking for. Visiting this rural one-stop inn was the first step to trying to find out more about the upset family and their missing daughter. Amazingly enough, the mission was solved before the first round of drinks had been drunk – the missing daughter was in the Inn. What Luck! However, there was more going on. Though the Inn seemed to be doing good business after being closed for several years – it had recently reopened and seemed to be thriving. People here seemed to enjoy it so much, that some even seemed disinclined to move on. So it was that getting Antellia home to her family was to be more of a challenge then it first seemed. She had actually been in the Inn for several weeks at this point - after returning from disposing of her family’s flock. She still seemed in no hurry to go home. Questions were asked, answers were given and some avoided. Arrangements for meeting someone who seemed to know what was going on were made for the next day. So rooms were purchased and sleep had. This is where the tale then took to the supernatural as Baazar, Leda and the scholar all woke up in the middle of the night in the same room. This was especially notable as Leda always slept outside and the other two had purchased separate rooms. The discoveries that followed were macabre and certainly disconcerting, but whether it was real or a dream they had no way to tell. As they progressed room to room to find a way out, it became obvious this was both similar and not at all like the Road’s End Inn they had fallen asleep in. After all, who builds a pond into one of their rooms? After each encounter being more weirdly disjointed than the last, the matter finally came to a crux. Though not readily apparent if the old hag in chains who suddenly appeared before them was a prisoner or the cause of this odd dream-like reality, the trio defended themselves. When the chains finally came to a rest on the floor after the epic battle, the hag dissolved into a key and the exit, while still guarded by witch hounds, became obvious. Once through the exit, they found themselves waking in their actual beds, no worse for wear and one inn basement key richer (the only feat still unexplained). What followed, was the piecing together of the tale – of an old woman accused & imprisoned unjustly. Her death causing people to be cursed to remain in the inn until one of two conditions were met. Needless to say, these outstanding Outskirt Adventuring Guild representatives had met the condition for permanent curse removal. While tidying up the gaps in understanding of the origin of the curse, with the person they arranged to meet, it was discovered that Antellia had already left for home as had a number of other “guests”. Once the team finished letting everyone know that any further odd problems might be solved by the reopened Outskirts Adventuring Guild, the trio checked Antellia had made it home and confirmed a satisfactory quest result, as reputable adventurers do. Soon triumphantly home again, the hardest working adventurers at the Outskirts Adventuring Guild ensured they were ready for the next opportunity to darken their doorstep. [Editors note: The innkeeper either had a part in the accusing of the old woman or their family had. Regardless, her shifty nature during this mission leads me to recommend that Adventurers pass this facility by, or at least be wary...who knows how flexible the morale character of that innkeeper is?]
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
CrewAaron, Adam, Cieran, Emily, Ken, Kelly, Louis Rebecca. Dream team extraordinaire. Archives
January 2025
Kritfayle Copyright 2022
|