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==== Journal ====
Because I'm the only one who can read & write!

==== Entry 1: pre-session 1 ====
I have finally found some steady work. A baroness needs a scout and additional security for a trip to somewhere in Sylvania. Her hiring agent seemed a little surprised at my willingness to go; perhaps I should have done a little more investigation about where exactly we are going. At least it will be some decent pay for once - none of these odd jobs I've taken on have paid very well or done much for my standing, Most of the Reiklanders seem to either be proficient enough at hunting or they just get their food from the butcher. We leave in two days time; I feel as though I should be excited but for some reason I feel a slight bit of anxiety and dread. 

==== Entry 2: Session 1: Setting out (09/14/19) ====
I have gotten a little behind in my journaling as these past few of days have been a little more exciting than I had hoped; my gut feelings of dread and anxiety were not unwarranted!

On the first day, our party set out shortly after daybreak from __Kreugenheim__. Our party currently consists of:

  * In the carriage: the __Baroness Claudia__ (of course!); one of her servants, a teenage girl named __Pauline__; and the Baroness's companion, __Greta__. Greta and Pauline seem to be close in age, though Greta is perhaps a bit ... shady from what I've seen so far. Pauline seems a little chatty, but good hearted. There is also the driver for the carriage.
 
  * A wine merchant and his hired hands (essentially, two body guards)

  * Then there is, __Rollo__, who seems to be a little more attentive to the situations we've found ourselves in though perhaps also a ruffian of some sort. I've heard him talk about pitfighting. I've also seen him sketching from time to time, though nothing that might be allowed in a gallery.

  * Myself! I am acting as scout on this trip - I guess I sold my skills well enough to the Baroness's man. I really should quit second guessing myself; if I can ramble around the Athel Loren without issue, surely a forest road in the human realms should be no problem?

Ultimately, we are hoping to reach Leersdorf for the wedding of the Baroness's cousin. Shortly after we left her keep, we had to ferry across the River Strir. The morning was already foggy and gloomy, and the ferryman did little to assay anyone's unease about the dark woods ahead of us. The cart and carriage were ferried across with no problems, but that was unfortunately the last of our good fortune. The woods didn't seem right to me at all - no birds chirping, no animals skittering around. Just... quiet and eerie.

While everyone's nerves were already on edge, a deer suddenly broke from the woodline chased by something. I don't even know quite what it was; if it was a wolf, it was large! The carriage horses took fright and immediately bolted further down the road, almost running over me in the process. I tried to jump onto the front one, but ended up slipping straight into the muddy road (did I mention how much it rains here in the spring?). Rollo also tried to grab hold with no luck. I eventually managed to get onto the carriage as it rode past, made it up to the steerage, then slipped off again as I tried to slip down to the horses to calm them. 

The driver managed to rein the horses in a little ways down the road. The wine cart was perfectly fine (huzzah for safe wine). After making sure everyone in the carriage was alright, we continued on our way and made it to the small hamlet of __Reindorf__, where we stayed at the inn for the evening. It is very weird being an elf in these parts - while elves are rare but not unseen in the Reikland, I don't think the people in Sylvania have seen elves at all by their reactions! I wonder why other elves do not come so far out this way?

{added into the margin here} **Oh, I almost forgot! While we were heading to the town, once it was dark, I could see a green flame in the woods a ways out. It reminded me of the wisps of the wood that lure man or elf alike to their doom in the Athel Loren, but more ominous and definitely less playful. 

The inns in these region are fairly typical - a small wall around the inn with a gate that's shut at nightfall. We conversed some with the innkeeper, then slept in the common room - except for the Baroness and her servant girl, who slept in their own room. I was able to get a decent glass of wine even in this remote place at least! 

The next morning, we readied the carriages and headed out at daybreak. There were no scared, running horses on this second day, However, we found a broken down merchant's cart and its murdered owners. The sight was not pleasant - the entrails of the poor humans were strewn about, and there were very odd tracks around the bodies. I wish I had my uncle's knowledge of such things; the tracks were almost bird like, but surely birds didn't do this. The horses had been led away, but the valuables of the cart owners remained. Not the work of bandits. At the time I had hoped that we would not run into whatever or whoever did this, but that was not to be the case.

Around dusk, we reached the town of __Potsendorf__, another small village of about 150 inhabitants. Something didn't seem quite right here at all - I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but again I should have trusted my gut instinct. The town square had a series of metal poles with manacles at the top. I think we had all hoped those might be for ne'er do wells, but any questions we asked about them at the inn were brushed away or ignored.

Not helping our feelings was that the Inn was named the __Green Man Inn__ - reminiscent of the green flame that I had pointed out to the others (not that they could see the flame at the time). The inhabitants here also seemed surprised to see an elf; I am not really a fan of all the attention. Once our lady Baroness was tucked away in her room, we had a bit of a conspiratorial discussion amongst ourselves (Rollo, Pauline, Greta, and myself) as we didn't quite feel like something was quite right in the inn. Once we noticed the patrons were paying attention to us talking, we went into action. I asked if they might like to hear an elven tune and, without waiting for a response, broke into song. 

The elven tune seemed to do its trick and lull some of them into a trance (as often happens with elven song and humans); the others went to investigate other areas of the inn. This is when things went a bit off plan - the humans in my party suddenly seemed tired. Eventually, it was impossible to stop the inn's patrons with my song; they grabbed whatever they could pick up and made ready to attack. I stopped my song abruptly to yell STOP - apparently I was persuasive enough that some of them did! One even made his way out the window. Others were only temporarily stayed by my aggression and started to attack us with mugs, plates, or silverware. 

Rollo, Pauline, and I did what we could to fend off the villagers. I think it might have been Pauline's first time wielding a sword; at least she held it by the right end and managed to fend off one of the fiends. Rollo also did admirably well. I... somehow managed to swing and get my sword stuck in a support beam. Must remember that there is not as much room indoors as there is when fighting in the woods.

Greta came downstairs in the midst of all this and was obviously not okay - see seemed half asleep, and some of the others seemed to be fighting off some sort of fatigue. Pauline ran upstairs to check on the Baroness and found her snoring away. The wine merchant and his other bodyguard eventually came downstairs, equally groggy, but just in time to witness Pauline vomiting over her first kill.

Next-- oh dear, I seem to have run out of ink!

==== Entry 3: Session 2: Potsendorf & the Lady of the Hungry Wood (09/28/19) ====

Ah, found another ink pot in my bag. Now, back to the story at hand. During the fight, I ended up with a faceful of soup, my sword stuck in the wall, Once we were all regrouped, I had decided to interrogate the innkeeper. I heard some banging around in the kitchen, and found the innkeep getting a cleaver out of the sink. I told him he could tell me what was going on or face my wrath and the manacles in the town square; I suppose I was too convincing. He ran out the back door into the night.

I shut and barred the kitchen door behind him, at which point we decided to further investigate the inn, in order to determine what might be going on. We found a hatch into the basement, which only confirmed our suspicions of evil goings ons. Three people were bound below - a toll keeper named Dieter, a priest of Morr (Morr is a god of the dead among the humans), and another young lady who had already lost a limb and was unconscious. There was also a large amount of goods in the basement, presumably from other travelers who had been poisoned by the innkeeper. This included a bow that I have claimed with a few arrows. Rollo claimed a "witch's" book (it's really just a book on herbal remedies - how do humans consider such things witchcraft?).

The people in the basement told us they were being held to be fed to the Lady of the Hungry Wood; not having had many travellers lately, they had started with the poor unconscious young lady's leg and arm. Deciding we needed more information, a few of us went to the stable to retrieve the stable boy,

We barely managed to get all of us, including Dietlief, back in one piece despite the short distance between the stable and the inn - a large bat-like creature swooped down and tried to get in with us! Pauline was handling the kitchen door, and was able to shut it in time. 

Dietlief informed us that the townsfolk have been sacrificing people to the Lady of the Hungry Wood for quite some time in exchange for not being eaten by her servants. They have been drugging and sacrificing visitors in the town square for a while, but sometimes children or limbs of townsfolk have been used in scarce times. About this time, we heard a *thud* on the roof, then the smoke from the fireplace started to back up into the inn. The bat-creature must be a little more intelligent than we have given it credit for, but we quickly doused the fire. 

Through the windows, we could see gaunt, human-like creatures coming closer to the inn. Ghouls! All of us quickly took positions near doors or windows - the creatures started coming into the inn! The humanoid ones were clearly undead of some type; these managed to get in through the windows and the kitchen door, but they were easily defeated. Harder were the bat-like things that came in through the upstairs window; after barely managing to finish off one, another one arrived! Rollow took a great gash to the leg from one of them, but the rest of us were largely unharmed.

One of the ghoul creatures tried to flee out of a window; Pauline in her new found blood lust chased after the creature and managed to kill it. I followed to keep her safe. 

After these adventures, we spent the rest of the night in the basement with the hatch barred (and,  yes, we hauled the Baroness downstairs and got the wine merchant and his men down, too). An uneasy sleep, but sleep nonetheless.

==== Entry 4: Session 3: Rest and an unexpected noble (10/19/19) ====

After our uneasy sleep in the basement, we clambered out the next morning to see what awaited us. We found the townsfolk starting to stir - the innkeep had been torn in half between the inn and the square. As the townsfolk saw this, they began to slowly creep towards the now obviously wrecked inn (what with the busted in windows). An older woman seemed to be the elder and in charge of the town; she and the peasants were worried about what would happen now that some of the creatures had been killed and no sacrifices had been left. 

I think at this point, if you're willing to make that sort of deal with evil chaotic creatures, you have to accept that some evil will come back on you eventually.

The priest was insistent on us burying the dead lest they come back (that's a thing that can happen here?!). The elder woman allowed some of the towns folk to help us bury the creatures and dead humans from the previous evening. Pauline managed to find what looked like three poison bottles and perhaps three antidote bottles in the kitchen while we buried the bodies. She also insisted that we take Dietlief, as he has no other family members in town (his uncle was the innkeeper) and quite rightfully didn't think he should stay in this town.

On our way out (finally, around noon - I did not wish to tarry here any longer), with the villagers still watching us leave in fear, a lady at the town's edge insisted on us taking her baby. She did not want it to die when the creatures came back for their revenge. Oddly, Rollo was insistent on taking the child with us. So now we have become something of a babysitting service, with a baby and teenager. The priest of Morr has at least been taking care of the baby. 

The next town, Gruunwald, was about four hours away. We found quite the din once we reached the town - a lady Witch Hunter was conducting a burning in the square of a mother and her child. The child had "snake eyes", and clearly the father had infected both with Chaos and corruption (so goes the thought process of witch hunters, at any rate). Sadly, the father isn't the mother's husband - he and his other children watched the whole sad affair from a ways off. I'd say humans are cruel for making the whole violent affair a spectacle, but some kinbands in the Athel Loren aren't much better.

Rollo let the lady Witch Hunter know about the situation in Pottsendorf with the village's agreement with the Hungry Lady of the Wood. The Witch Hunter seemed far too keen to investigate the matter. Rollow said he hoped the whole town was set aflame, and I think the Witch Hunter would be most agreeable to do so.

We decided to be somewhat discreet (for the first time this trip!) and take our carriages around the town square to find an inn. Once there, we asked around for a physician - no proper doctors, but there is a healer on the outskirts of town! We left the baby and the priest of Morr at the inn (he has been most cute with his young charge and named him Karl) and took the Baroness to the healer. She said she hasn't been keen on coming to town with the Witch Hunter there. At least the healer was able to identify the root of the problem (no pun intended) once presented with the vials of poison - the sleeping draught is created with a root called Kurtz. The other bottles Pauline found were wound ointment.

The healer said she needs to work in moonlight, so the anecdote would be ready by morning. We hauled the lot of us back to the inn. After settling the Baroness back in, we headed back down to the main room of the tavern. Cue more awkward stares at the elf (me). At least Rollow was able to sell one of the bat heads to the inn keeper and claim it was slain by "Bella the Beast Slayer" (my new epitaph, apparently). We then proceeded to have a good game of darts, with final scores as follows:

  - Kyliethryn - 283 (of course)
  - Greta - 184
  - Dieter - 167 (at least he didn't use his crossbow)
  - Rollo - 161
  - Pauline - 73 (her aim would have been better with less giggling)

On our way out of town, we stopped by the healer's hut for the sleeping potion cure. It was a little pungent, but hopefully it will do the trick. Assuming, of course, the draught wouldn't just wear off on its own.

The rest of the trip was blessedly uneventful until we got very close to Leersdorf. We found a couple of footmen cut down by very rough arrows - certainly not human or elf make. Beastmen, perhaps? I headed into the wood a little ways and found a carriage with the same colors of the footmen's livery - red with a bright yellow. There was a foot locker with a few fine dresses and a letter in it. Beyond the carriage, there was a body of a young lady in a glade - she looked EXACTLY like Greta! As though they could have been twins separate at birth.

The letter seemed to indicate the lady in the glade was a Lady Gabrielle, also about the same age as Greta, on her way to meet a Lady Anneka at the wedding in Leersdorf. I knew Greta was a little shady, but why I'm going along with this plan to pass her off as this Lady Gabrielle I don't know. Perhaps we'll find out what's really going on. Did this Lady Anneka want to off her and keep the lands to herself? Or is there something more sinister afoot to uncover? 

We have now dressed up Greta with one of the dresses from the footlockers along with the signet ring, buried the bodies, kept the letter, and haven't arouse the suspicious of the Baroness's driver or the wine merchant. Note to self: get more observant help next time I'm traveling deep into Sylvania.

We finally made it to Gunter Schultz's mansion, the home of the Baroness's cousin, in Leersdorf. Gunter has sent for a physician for his cousin; Pauline seems intrigued by this line of work and has been following the man about asking lots of questions. Maybe she has found a new line of work! At any rate, it looks like we might have a little bit of time to unwind before the wedding. 

Rollo and Gabrielle went off to find an inn so he could give her a tattoo to match the one on the poor girl that we found; hopefully, this rash decision for a tattoo doesn't come to some bad end.

==== Entry 5: Session 4 (11/02/19): a Wedding and a Kidnapping ====

The Baroness woke up two days after our arrival; it's hard to say whether this was due to the physician's aid, the healer's potion, or the draught finally wearing off. 

This town isn't very large; there are normally about 200 inhabitants here but the wedding has increased the place to capacity at around 1,000 folk! And there are even some elves here - and dwarves. You can hear when those two groups meet, ha. There is a very festive atmosphere and hopefully we can head out into town soon and see what all is going on.

Lady Anneka arrived to meet with "Gabrielle". Anneka is interesting - I feel as though she was quite feisty in her youth; she is now older with graying hair and an eye patch. She also wear all black armor and must be around 50. She has a son named Rudy who is studying to be a poet (you can tell his mother is so proud). 

I wanted to find out some more information about what we've been going through, but it seems as though there aren't any libraries, colleges, or temples in town. Rollo came along for the walk. Turns out I was right in my hunch about his pit fighting - we found a boxing match set up with bets on the side. Rollo jumped in and somehow managed to survive all three rounds, though he was a little worse for the wear.

Not finding any places with books, we opted for the blacksmith to pick up some gear then a bar so Rollo could get some liquid healing for his wounds. We ran into Dieter there as well; I suppose he had also gotten bored with the noble life back at the mansion. We spied a pair of adventurers in the corner - a great hulking dwarf with orange spiked hair and what appeared to be a human scribe. Dieter thinks the dwarf was the dwarf king; ha! Aesdiafin once told me that dwarves of that appearance are troll hunters (in one of his rare bouts of chattiness, or at least, what could be considered chatty for him). We decide it might be best to not engage them lest we get in a fight or drug into any other crazy adventures. The bartender / innkeep asked me if I was there to go to the elf tower; he didn't know anything else about it beyond elves sometimes coming through to visit it. I will have to make some inquiries.

Back at the manor, we find out we're expected at a pre-wedding party. Well, Gabrielle and the Baroness are so we're going along as well. The party is being hosted by a Sir Egon, whom I have decided must be a vampire based on description alone. While on the way to the party, a strange man popped into our route and started signaling to us. He ran off when he got no reply, and was fast enough that he even eluded me. 

At the party, Lord Egon gave Lady Gabrielle a garland of garlic for protection (how quaint). Gabrielle also made friends with a Lady R. whose parents and hunting party were "ex-sanguinated" by vampires. Lovely. I must try to get out of this country as soon as possible.

I did find a high elf at the party. Haughty as always, though at least he was not patronizing to me as a wood elf. He did not know about this elf tower either, but directed me to the town elder whose name he couldn't remember (Herman? Heinrich? He at least knows it starts with an H). The others got pretty trashed, which seems a little reckless considering our current predicament.

The next day, the others were packing up to move to other lodgings (the Baroness is going with her brother to rest up and heal. Even Pauline has been absolved of her service, so for now we will serve Gabrielle but got booted from Gunther's house). While they were getting things together, I went to find this H-named elder; turns out it is Humbert! His house was a little odd, with a dead chicken out front. He welcome me in and told me info that helps with some of our adventures:
  * Green Flames: beacons to the dead
  * Volgorfs (Volgulfs?) - vampires that have gone mad; our bat creatures
  * There was an elven city in the woods at one point, the tower is all that remains. Some see it as pristine, others as a crumbled down ruin. The children often taunt each other to get as close to it as they can in a sort of coming of age thing amongst themselves.

Our new lodgings didn't last for long. Once we were settled in for the night, someone chained our rooms shut and set the house on fire. We all managed to get our things and leap or climb from our windows. The ruffians threw a net around Gabrielle and tried to take off with her; I could hear Dieter and Rollow fighting from one side of the house, with Pauline fighting others on Gabrielle's side of the house (while also trying to keep poor Dietlief safe). I ran around the corner, shot the fellow trying to take off with Gabrielle twice, and fell him from his horse. We also managed to take one of the fellows alive; the city guard took him away. 

Tired and beaten up, we went back to Gunther's house. He somewhat reluctantly let us take over his library for the night as we had no other lodging options available. Why did I leave the forest again?


==== Entry 6: Session 5: The Elf Tower, pt 1 (11/23/19) ====

And finally we made it to the wedding. Perhaps we can head back to the Reikland soon and out of this forsaken country - though I kinda of doubt it.

Upon our arrival, Rollo was approached by a very large man from the north, Magnus Siggerton. He and his mercenaries (the Shattered Lances) are guarding a Gentleman Kratos for the wedding. He tells Rollo to look for the signs of the Bloodied Fist underground fighting group - the have roses on the inn and bar signs where they fight. "A Dozen Roses without Bleeding me Dry" is the pass phrase to get in. This sounds like a bad idea.

The wedding was really only open to nobles, so once we were done with formalities Rollo and I headed back to the jail to interrogate our lone prisoner that tried to burn us all out the night before. He was a bit more forthcoming than the night before. His name is "Dmitry" and said this was all a job gone wrong, no hard feelings (you know, other than the part where they tried to kill us). Said they had been hired by someone in rich clothes in the north; they are from Kislaev and are "sort of like mercenaries". They had been hired to kidnap the usurper (Gabrielle) and make sure she has a bat tattoo. They were to ride north with her and meet at a spring. The gang consisted of:
  * Piotor (Peter) - on horse, now deceased
  * Sasha - in charge
  * Alexei - a bit simple
  * Oleg - has a bow

The latter three might still be at large. The were staying about 20 minutes outside of town, west by the spring. The only thing Rollo and I found there was a leaf brooch. The camp appeared to have been abandoned for a day or more (probably fled after the failed house burning and kidnapping).

We headed back to the wedding, but left again around 3:30 pm. I quickly bought a chicken and, taking Rollo with me, headed back to Humbert's. Humbert was grateful for the chicken, though his current dead one was "still good for a couple of days" according to him. x_x He also let the chicken loose in the house, much to my amusement. I asked him how to get to the elf tower. He told me the tower is about 3 miles to the north east, near a woodcutter's house and down a game trail about five or six miles. There should be a stream to follow and a large rock as a land mark. I think we should find one of the towns children to lead us there, with payment of course for their bravery. I had Rollo draw us a map based on Humbert's description, just in case.

Rollo and I then went to the Shattered Lances mercenary camp, thinking they might have info about the brooch since they are also from the north. They recognize it as the "southern tree" (south to them, at any rate) - the Kyslovate Oak. Otherwise, they didn't know of any mercenary groups matching our kidnappers' description. We also did a little provisioning while Pauline and Greta tried to figure out what to do about our current travel situation, as we are without carriages or horses now. 

On our way back from town, I found some children near a stable. One of them, Adolf, said he had been to the tower before (sounded like he was trying to one up his older brother in doing so). and said he could guide us there. I told him to meet us at the manor in the morning. 

The next morning, Little Adolf did indeed meet us at the manor! I was a little worried he might back out. I made sure he had breakfast along with the rest of us, then we set out. We ran into the woodcutter at his house. He said other elves have been through, saying they needed wood for their bows! Perhaps there is an ancient tree here? I need wood for a bow as well, so maybe this will be more than a pleasant sightseeing adventure.

After some while in the woods, we ended up in the glade with the tower. I paid Adolf, and he took off pretty quickly. There must have been an enchantment on the tower - I saw it in its dilapidated state, while the others see it as pristine and new. It's surrounded by waystones not dissimilar to the ones that surround the Athel Loren, but also has a high wall and gate. There's a huge tree growing through the tower, and through some sort of magic the ancient elves were able to get ithylmar to grown into the tree. Magnificent, even despite the tower's current condition.

After some walking around, we found a gate and were able to get through with a bit of courage (we couldn't manage to get through they foreboding way stones, for some reason). There are a couple of other buildings on the grounds - one appears to be an old smithy and the other is a stable. The stable might have still had something in it - at least, the others could hear something snorting inside. We decided to not risk fighting it (especially considering that they're seeing one thing and I another), and opted to head up the front steps to the tower.

In the courtyard, we found a fallen elf. Poor fellow. Dieter took his hand crossbow and bolts. I'm not sure how he's going to carry more projectile weapons if we find anymore!

Getting through the stairs anywhere in the tower proved a daunting task - I had to lead the way and have the others step exactly where I stepped or jumped due to the crumbling state of things. Poor Gabrielle banged up her face rather badly on the front stairs before we even made it in the tower! In the first floor of the tower, we found skeletal elven soldiers. The others had no fear of them since they saw regular, fleshed, living elves. It took me a few minutes to get my wits about me and charge in (one cannot have fear in these tasks - I need to get over this). 

After we took out the guards, we took stock of the first floor. I found a mirror here that's very cloudy and I couldn't seem to clear it up at all (didn't respond to voice commands or rubbing at it). We got some elven swords and a golden ink pot and quill.

On the next floor, we found a kitchen and dining area. OATH BREAKER was written in elvish on the wall - that's not disconcerting at all. Rollo also found vampire teeth in a drawer. 

Before heading up, we heard childish laughter from the floor above. The others started to see blood on the stairs which also manifested itself to all once it was stepped in! This floor had a library with maps, including war markers on the table. It looked as though a great host was coming for the tower at some point in time, probably several thousand years ago. I'm surprised the maps were in such good condition.

One more floor up and we started to discover additionally creepy things, like a harp made of bones and guts. Rollo and Pauline pushed it down the stairs to destroy it. From here, there were no stairs up to the top of the tower. We could see the boughs of the tree through this hole and an eerie green light atop the tree, but an additionally creepy blue glow on the fifth and final floor itself. This penultimate floor also had an office with a candle with a green flame (not again), a dagger with a blue sapphire, and a letter - "Land has turned against us, the dead are coming for us." With all these green flames, of course they were.

We knocked the green candle down, but turned around and found it back in its place. Somehow, the day had passed quickly and was already night! It didn't seem as though we had been in the tower quite that long. 

I did not realize how late it had gotten! I will continue this tale tomorrow.

==== Entry 7, pt 1: Session 6: Elf Tower pt. 2 & the Witch Hunters (12/14/19) ====

Before we headed up to the final floor and top of the tower, I tried to "talk" to the tree. In laying my hands on it, I could tell that it is special and very old. Sadly, I am no tree singer and could tell no more than that. 

We managed to get to the top using the grappling hook. Once there, we could see two undead high elven guards and a ghostly wizard (as well as what appeared to be an old gryphon aerie!). In my nervousness, I popped one of the guards with my arrow - they all turned to look at us, but made no movement until Dieter also took a shot with his crossbow. The wizard told us to leave and sent his guards after us. I tried to stop the fight and reason with them, but it seemed to be too late at that point.

We were able to take the guards down pretty easily, but the wizard was truly ethereal - we could not hit him with anything physical, though he could certainly hit us. Pauline took fright and ran away around the side of the tree; I yelled for her to find that sapphire hilted dagger thinking it might help us. She keep skirting around the tree and finally yelled for me to come look what she had found. I run around just as the wizard took note of whatever Pauline was looking at - it was a glowing blue elven sword, embedded deep through a long dead elf into the tree!

I got between the ghost and Pauline, put my foot on the tree and yanked the sword out. As soon as that happened, the ghostly apparition disappeared and the body tumbled down the tree - all the way to the first floor. The guards also fizzled out at this point, becoming skeletons. This seemed to destroy whatever illusion was on the place, as the others now saw it for its decrepit conditions. While the others explored the top floor in safety, I climbed into the boughs of the tree and eventually managed to get a few good branches for my bow.

We decided to stay up top for the night, just in case anything else creepy was waiting below. Nevermind that we totally forgot poor Dietlief was still in the courtyard. Rollo looked over the edge of the tower and saw a bald man in black armor looking back up at us; he eventually meandered off. Once we came back down the next morning, Dietlief said he had talked to the same black armored man, but that he left the boy along. Dietlief just told him his "friends had gone into the tower". We went in the stable this time, and found the skeleton of a long dead gryphon. It made me somewhat sad to see the remains of such a noble and rare creature. 

As we reached the woodcutter's cabin, we found that he had laid out a very large breakfast and was talking to someone though we couldn't quite see who. I scouted around the edge of the wood and saw two junior Witch Hunters in the road, and one older one being entertained by the woodcutter. We decided, as we hadn't done anything wrong, to head through the wood cutter's yard again. Unfortunately, the Witch Hunter (a Herr Lothar Schneemann) was waiting for Lady Gabrielle! Someone has reported her as being in league with vampires, particularly those who have a logo of a bat holding an arrow - the Magisterium Nocturnus. Great. Gabrielle was able to protest enough that her back wasn't checked, but we're going to have to get that thing removed (poor thing - the original one must still be sore. Bad decision on our part.) Pauline was called "impudent" by the Witch Hunter as well, but at least that isn't enough to burn someone at the stake! Not yet, anyhow.

Herr Schneemann and his apprentices (Brunhilde and Minerod) eventually left, though I doubt that will be the last that we see of them. We showed the woodcutter the wood from the tree and some of the leaves we had brought from it so he could finally see what the elves had been going there to retrieve.

Pauline and Gabrielle had arranged to borrow a cart from Lady R to at least get us to Stirfurt. We finish loading up the cart so we can leave in the morning (before Lady Anneka explodes from impatience as well). The next morning we head out of town to Nouseheim (we had to decide to head through Nouseheim and Mordheim, or cut back the way we came (no thank you)) - and who should be watching us head on but our good friend Herr Schneemann and his juniors. 

Nouseheim was one of the first quiet nights we have had - just a quiet logging and hunting town. The next morning, we left quickly for Mordheim and decided to rest again. The town proper was wiped out many decades ago by a meteor; a tent city has sprung up next to it, filled with folks of all sorts who are trying to find leftover riches in the dead city. Apparently there is some fear of the undead within Mordheim as well, as there's a large gate that's locked and barred every night leading to it. 

Much to Lady Anneka's dismay, we have rented a tent for the night. It is still a few hours on to the next stop, and we would rather not be stuck in the woods.

Rollo decided to have some fun and leave that green flamed candle from the tower in the outhouse. He also took that witch book to a temple of knowledge and left it with them for safekeeping. So much for not drawing attention to ourselves. 

The ladies (Pauline and Gabrielle) and I found an elven tavern - the Dandelion Flute - so that we could sell some of the things from the tower. We found a buyer in the tavern's owner - a proper lady Troll named Magdelina! She was very formal and knew a lot of elven history, though to how accurate her information is I cannot say. She said the tower we went to was probably Tennebore, once ruled by a wizard named Cannedore. Was that poor Cannedore we finished off? And if so, what had he done to warrant such an end?

==== Entry 7, pt 2: Session 7 (01/11/20) ====