Tricksters of the Summer's Night
| Tricksters of the Summer's Night | |
|---|---|
| Date | 12/19/23 |
| Storyteller | Sushi |
| Tier | Trainee, intro |
| Player Characters | Bonko, Niko, Melfyra, Batective, Boophis Bright-Eyed |
| Rewards | 300 xp, 20 gp each, sprite apple (pink) x 5, sprite apple (golden) x 5 |
| Result | Success |
| Author | Batective |
| Downtime | 6 |
Log
A cloudless sky in the midday was what greeted us as we arrived at Rootrest Rise, a rather small place of fourteen or so homes. The majority of those gathering for the festival were likely to be from the nearby farms and such, emphasizing what must be an event of genuine importance to the people of this area. Our goal upon arriving was to find one "Lady Remori" who could better explain the situation in-person. Melfyra tried speaking with a child to no success, while Niko obtained directions to a nearby tent. Apparently the lady wasn't the type to fully settle down, always living in that tent despite being in this town for years. We met with her in the smoke-filled tent, learning that the situation was one where friendly spirits of family buried nearby would normally join the festival this time of year. Something was off, however, and we were needed to investigate the lack of spirits nearby. She would send one of her wisps with us, apparently being an exorcist based on the soul jar I identified in her possession, to guide us to the source of the disturbance.
We were given time to rest before night fell and the spirits came out, but I elected to do some information gathering first. I learned two things of note during this investigation: First, most people in town know nothing of spirits, leaving that matter to Lady Remori. Second, someone did try to go up the hill to investigate. They came back temporarily blinded and confused, unable to reach the mausoleum. I checked back with the Lady and confirmed this lines up with what wisps can do, then went to rest up myself. Between solving this mystery and the all-night festival afterwards, we were going to have a very, very long night.
Melfyra collected the wisp from Lady Remori and met back up with us that night, the rest of us preparing for the job ahead. We followed after the incorporeal coalescence of yellow and blue lights, all the way up the hill. It stopped before the entrance to the mausoleum, which seemed to glow with an eerie blue light that functioned like a barrier of sorts. As we were plotting out a more sensible way to investigate this matter without walking away blind and confused, Bonko walked up to the front door without a care in the world. We moved to follow, but as our purple fey friend neared the entrance, he found himself surrounded by four wisps. They didn't attack immediately, and seemed to understand when Boophis spoke in Necril, but we struggled to understand their communications in-turn. Eventually Bonko covered his eyes and tried to just walk inside, which prompted them to move to attack.
The wisps were immune to magic. Magic couldn't affect them, but physical attacks could. It was a messy fight, including my getting confused and harming my own allies, but we made it through. After a quick rest and some re-preparation, we headed inside. The tombs seemed untouched, but there were a few skeletons strewn about on the ground. No magic appeared until we got deep into the tomb, when skeletons finally rose up with a blue glow within their skulls. The fight was vicious, with all of us struggling to stay standing throughout it despite the best efforts of Boophis, but we made it through without any losses. When we felled one the spirit inside would exit and try to possess another body, forcing us to try and destroy it before it could enter another skeleton and rejoin the battle. If we had brought more healing it might have been well-off, but many of us carried little to no healing options which forced us to rush to kill them before they killed us.
In the end, it turns out this all was started by a cracked jar. Boophis found it and repaired the crack as best he could, which helped alleviate the weight of the air to some degree. Returning to the Lady with our report, she confirmed this was likely the cause. These violent spirits had been sealed away, and the wisps outside were trying to stop people from going inside and being harmed. I do hope those wisps are alright, they just wanted to protect the people in the end. The Lady made it sound as if it would be fine, so I'll trust her word on the matter. All that was left was for us to join the festival, to which she covered our expenses as thanks. Times like this make me glad I do what I do.