Pulyana 29, 1423.
The PCs notice something strange about the window clerk at the Jewelers, he has a strange sense of movement about him and always offers the same set amounts for exchanges (4gp, 40gp, or 400gp that they've heard). Still, Bjork manages to sell off some of the lower valued trinkets the party has accrued, like copper candle-holders, while the others consider the offers and decide to hang on to their items.
The PCs decide to follow up on a rumor they heard and inquire at the Novakovsky Farm about the owner's troubles. They arrive to find two lazy young humans fishing in a pond they built themselves, rather than working the spoiled harvest, and one anti-social mule chewing the crops. The humans offer Rucia some pie from the farmhouse and let him in on the racket they are running, scraping together just enough coin for gambling 'and whores' while giving the false impression that they're working. Rucia grabs one of the boys and the party approaches the farmhouse where they meet Sofiia Novakovsky. She has had troubles keeping employees on the farm for well over a year, a lot of them just up and disappear, she says she also hears strange singing on some nights.
Nebol'shoy finds some watery tracks near the edge of the Skorbi waterway parallel to the farm, and Aldren heads back into the town's walls to find something to protect the PCs ears in case the 'singing' has nefarious qualities...he ends up getting some rotka bottles at the Bolt Street Brewery for their corks. He is too late, however, as Bjork is caught under the spell of the strange farm song, once darkness falls, and decides it could be a hit! Nebol'shoy, Rucia and Mockleg follow him out of the farmhouse to the waterway, where he wades across to a strange looking female in a willow tree. Rucia notes that the being is undead, and something tries to snare Bjork beneath the water, but he breaks free! Rucia misty steps across to confront whoever is charming his minotaur companion, while Nebol'shoy summons up a pair of giant toads. He and Mockleg attempt to ride them as they leap across, but both plunge into the waterway, where they too are grappled by something below the water...
Rucia initiates combat with the strange woman, but she summons forth a watery humanoid creature and other drowned undead that crawl up from the Skorbi's banks. Though the dragonborn fights valiantly, he comes near to losing his life at the savage creature's attacks, all the while Bjork is fighting to protect her! Eventually the available heroes prove victorious, finishing off the watery temptress which causes the other undead and the elemental to collapse. Aldren rejoins the party, and they regroup back at the farmhouse, where they find that Sofiia has also collapsed! They search through the house, finding an old chest with some coins, baubles and a sketch book of a younger Sofiia with a black-haired daughter and a husband. The PCs think it would be a crime to leave behind her lovely pie and cooked goods, and even manage to find a recipe before they head back into Borgaborsk proper.
Rucia takes the old woman's body to Kaptain Krummel of the Soverat, who urges the dragonborn not to start a panic and keep the story simple, without the undead and curses and such. The rest of the group heads to the Hammer's Rest, where Aldren acquires three double rooms for the night, and Bjork ends up performing for the nightly crowd from the fist-fighting sport pit built into the floor. Rucia turns up after a bit, and the rest of the night is uneventful.
Pulyana 30, 1423.
The group heads back to the farm to search further, but first stops off at the Sleeper's Spinney shrine. When they arrive at Skorbi waterway, a shirtless Soverat soldier is digging graves for the bloated undead bodies the river-witch had called forth. He manages to convince Bjork and Rucia to do much of the work while he partakes of their leftover pie and a bottle of rotka. Our heroes then head across the waterway to search further. They find the faint reedy remains of the 'rusalka' that they had fought, but then Aldren stumbles upon a trio of booted tracks heading south along the water. The party finds a crate covered in foliage, trapped with a poison latch that they don't thankfully trigger. It's full of sets of clothes that look like they were discarded quickly, a couple of poison vials, and a piece of stationary inviting 'the Three of them' to the Cup and Quill at Arkany. The PCs surmise this might have been a stash belonging to the Bitter Berg sisters, and further tracks lead to what appears to be a boat launch.
Back in the town, they do some more exploring. Aldren and Mockleg returns to the Smeltworks to have a steel quiver custom-built from a suit of armor, while Nebol'shoy visits Rivet's Rings, where he learns that there are at least three magical rings for sale! Bjork and Rucia head over to Scoff's Pawn, where they manage to knock over some of the clutter before being confronted by the proprietor 'Scoff. Bjork notes a strange mechanical timepiece the owner wears, appearing to lack function, and he casts mend upon it...and soon it begins to tick...tock...tick...tock...
PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rucia
Kapitan Krummel (dwarf male): One of the
broadest dwarves you’ve ever seen, with shoulders so square that in the dark
you might mistake him for a crate or small building. He wears a suit of studded
leather armor beneath a Soverat duster that denotes his rank as Kapitan, but no
cap above his blocky skull. A cinnamon-orange wedge shaped goatee dominates his
stubbled chin, and his receding hair of the same color is combed up about his
bald pate to create an almost flame sensation. Scars from both burns and blades
are in plentiful supply on his cheeks, neck and forehead. A masterwork
battleaxe and warhammer are both slung from his belt, nearly dragging on the
ground as he lopes about with the confidence of his station.
Lucien (human? male): A reedy, bespectacled man looking to be in his 60s, he runs the window at Forge Row Jewelers, offering peculiar fixed rates for trades of gems and jewelry. Claims to be an employee of the F.R.J.A. (Forge Row Jewelers Association), and has a series of ticks or quirks to his movement that can make the observant suspicious of him.
Ozahlin Flaskbelly (dwarf female): A dwarf female that would be quite comely if not
for the mess in which she keeps her clothing and appearance. Her stained white
tunic is half-tucked into a belt that looks as if it’s about to drop her
breeches, and her golden-blonde hair, which seems as if it was tucked into a
neat, braided bun, is now spilling out everywhere and frizzy, mingling with her
considerable sideburns. The leather armor she wears beneath her clothing is
clearly too large for her, and she sways around a wooden mug full of dice that
makes an obnoxious rattling sound, while taking a drink from another that
froths over with ale. Her leather gloves have tears in them, barely covering
her left hand at all, but the one point of focus is the deadly-looking saber
through her belt, its pommel, hilt and blade, all polished and sharp.
Rivet Runeblender (??? male): A short, strange looking humanoid with cracked
gray skin, floppy ears, wide eyes and a long snout that covers up its mouth. A
pair of thick spectacles sit atop the snout, that occasionally slide off, and
have to be replaced by a thick set of nailed fingers bearing silver and
platinum rings of its trade, some of which glow with faint, fiery light. It
wears a dense leather vest with a few tools poked through it, and a pair of
boots with the toes sticking out since they are also of an unusual shape.
'Scoff' Scherbakov (human male): A trollish, pudgy human with a large, beak-like nose, his beady eyes lie between empty-rimmed spectacles, one of them white foggy and possibly diseased. His balding gray hair is slicked back, with a bit of grease or oil too much, so that it remains shining on his liver-spotted scalp. He wears a deep blue tunic, torn most likely from struggling to move about his own shop, and has the finest object in the shop, a strange timepiece, hung about his neck.
Sofiia Novakovsky (human female): A kindly but crooked old woman wearing a
hand-made but dirty dress, she has numerous beads and flowers glinting from her
braids in her knotted hair, and a pair of wooden earrings shaped like
cornucopias. Her hands have the scars of a crop-picker, but she wears some
colored wooden bead bracelets to distract the eyes away. More importantly, she
clutches a steaming, crusted pie in an iron pot and look as if she’s about to
offer you a slice!
