Does Kial feel like telling his story now?
We might want to have Cella do the liar/tear thing in addition to the healing.
I’m pretty sure that there will be tears either way.
Oh, I meant on the guy, not the kid.
Ah, OK. I have a feeling he’ll be crying not long from now too.
(psst - watch out for those daisies - they wouldn’t be in the title of the adventure if they weren’t dangerous)
I think the point of the title is that you don’t want to end up under the daisies. The field is a graveyard.
Probably not the best titled product they ever produced. Now Dead of Winter – that’s a great title!
So the Lord is on his way to the family’s house and we are heading there as well right?
Yes.
Haz Ingmar discoverink anythink about our new friend?
Not really, you haven’t asked him too many questions.
You know his name is Tarwal, his knee injured (from the creatures, he said), and the boy has identified him as his captor.
Gered will attempt to make small talk with Tarwal.
Ask him where he’s from. Ask him his general background, etc.
He figures the “Why was he in the cave?” type questions can probably wait since the Lord will no doubt interrogate him.
Although, if Tarwal wants to volunteer any of the info, Gered is fine with that.
Tarwal says that he is a poor grain merchant from nearby Blikle. He tried to sell some oats to miners at a nearby mine, but they wouldn’t buy. He was passing through Falkath, and sought shelter from a rainstorm. He found the cave and went inside. While in there, he decided to explore, and was set upon by “them 'orrible critters.” He ran in a “most brave and arsome way” through the caves, when he found he was trapped. He happened on the secret door and managed to open it, then close it behind the creatures, but not before one of them shredded his knee.
His rushlights were spent in the following days while he drank his wine to kill the pain. He also ate all of his oats.
What must have been days or weeks later (he couldn’t count the settings of the sun) he heard the screams of the child. He rescued the child from the attacking creatures and brought him into the secret room. The boy kept trying to escape, so he bound and gagged him, as he’d put both of them in danger.
The boy’s shirt was used as bandages and wicks for crude lanterns.
“Thank you so much for getting us out of there! I saved the boy from certain death, so give us some food and I’ll be on me way.”
"Sorry, not my decision to make on whether you go free or not. That will be for the Lord to decide. Plus, we have no reason to believe your side of the story without hearing the child’s, and he’s not really eager to talk, for understandable reasons.
I’ll try my best to make sure you get a fair chance to explain yourself, but other than that, it’s out of my hands.
You arrive at the Wylsen home. You see torches coming from the manor.
What’s in the chest, Tarwal?
And by what, I mean, what is it, not how do you feel about it.
“A dagger. A very evil dagger. It makes you want to do bad things.”
“Like kidnap little kids?”
“And gut them. That’s why I had it locked away.”
“Interesting, perhaps we should leave the chest locked until we find someone who can deal with such an item of evil. Where did you acquire this knife? It doesn’t seem like the type of artifact that people would leave lying around”
“I found it lying around. In a pond somewhere around here.”