Chapter 11: Strange Happenings in Fairmyr

Ambyrmont 15th 1014

With the aid of a villager, Darac, the heroes travelled on into the mountains, Aleanor's sigil pulled her in the same direction as Fairmyr so the aims of the heroes and the villagers coincided. At first the journey was uneventful with clear skies and still air making the journey as easy as it could be through deep snow in the mountains. Later the skies began to darken and a storm blew up from nowhere. Wind howled like wolves and snow stuck to skin and clothes alike. Within the twirling snow eyes like glowing red coals could be seen and the clouds of snow strange forms started to form. Then Victor shouted a spell to Solarios to give him light and as suddenly as the storm began, it ended. Clear skies and calm conditions returned to the mountains.

Towards evening they found themselves at a warm spring fed pool which Darac named the Maiden's Pool and from this he indicated that Fairmyr was not far away, they just had to follow the stream and they would reach their target. As they reached the outskirts of the village a group of men blocked the path and demanded that the strangers cut their palms to prove that they were not undead!
After a prolonged discussion all palms were cut, but Thanduil made sure that Aleanor was not forced to show her palm with the sigil, for some reason he did not trust the watch.

The large village inn, The Troll Under Cover, was full of joy and warmth but this subsided when the heroes explained what had ensued at the edge of the village. The people they had met had been thought dead in a disaster at the local mill though no bodies had been recovered.
The heroes, leaving warmth and refreshment behind, headed off with Jedon and Aleanor following the tracks left behind by the false watchmen and soon they found the bodies - brains removed and with illithid brands on their arms. Jedon found a fragmentary trail of a sled but there was not enough to enable them to follow the aberrations, especially at night and so they returned to the inn for a well earned meal and warm beds.

Journey Into The Mountains: Frozen Food

Ambyrmont 16th 1014

After a peaceful night's sleep the heroes were ready to press on into the mountains, following the sigil on Aleanor's palm. Darac had received the supplies his village needed and would be heading back that way with some of the villages of Fairmyr. He was also going to become a cleric of the Earth Mother in part to repay her for the bounty that remained in Fairmyr and the help that that village had offered his. The companions spent some time in the general store where Chloe had a good supply of mundane items, but little of the magic that Thanduil in particular craved. However she did have one scroll, one that had been scrawled over with strange characters, that she gave to Thanduil. Chang purchased a set of three silver and three cold iron shuriken.

They marched through the mountains under generally clear skies until towards evening they came across a deserted farmsted, the crops frozen in the soil under deep drifts of snow. The homestead was well maintained and was owned by Gurvis and Eina if a letter tucked under a plate was anything to go by.
"Gruvis, I've gone to visit Lethbron in Horfid, her sister is due to deliver soon. I've packed all the herbs we have but if you can find any ash bark or thyme I'm short. Eina."
Zan scratched the stubble on his chin. "Lethbron of Horfid, I've heard of her. She's a bard of some renown but she's not been out of the mountains for years."
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