The Bloodstone Hunters Locate The Missing Kosmina
After a fitful night of resting in an abandoned church, Cyril finally is able to get a Remove Poison from Wirshin. Ido scries on Dr. Stupiferous and sees him heading east through a mountainous pass. No one knows where that is. Outside the church, the townsfolk are surprised to see strangers in their midst. Arben tries to make pleasant conversation, but these people are terrible conversationalists. So instead, the party decides to book it straight to Baron Ovadu's castle.
They hike up the mountain trail (which is different from the one Stupiferous was on) and eventually find themselves in front of the Baron's ancestral home. There's a drawbridge with a portculis and a most full of Black Starfish. The starfish are undulating on top of one another in a disturbing fashion. The drawbridge is lowered and the portculis is raised. The party hesitantly heads inside.
The first room they enter has an ottoman and a well made tapestry featuring an Arab hurling children into an abyss. They are examining it by the light of Ido's lightstone, when suddenly, several starfish drop from the ceiling. One of them lands on the lightstone, but luckily, it is still day. Even with the barebones number of windows in the place, they can still see alright. Several starfish are crawling all over Ido, but they get cut up fairly easily. When they peel the one on the lightstone off, they find its light has gone out. They find another room with several golden icons in it. They've been calling this whole time, but there has been no answer. They agree to come back later, maybe once they meet up with the missing Cardinal Valentine. They leave a note to the Baroness, asking if they came looking for her, but did not want to go stampeding through her house like a herd of wild elephants. They would like to come back some other time, if she's free, and she can reach them in the abandoned church in the depressing hamlet beneath her castle on a mountain. Sincerely, Arben.
Once back in town, everyone looks at them like they're crazy again. Some one tells Arben there's a note for him at the barber's. They go down to the ol' barbershop, expecting some playful ribbing in this traditional male bonding center of the community. Instead they find a creepy looking gent shaving a man bald. "He's in mourning," he explains after the man has left. The barber introduces himself as Artur and tells Arben he's to receive a free shave. Great. He sits down and reads the note as Artur applies the straight razor. It's an invitation to dinner with the Baroness after sunset, and the letter is signed Baroness Vitaris-Kosmina. Turns out Baroness is Zombur Fotfrumous's lost love. Ha! Arben quickly pens a request for a raincheck and asks Artur to deliver it. Everyone grabs their shit and they book it out of town. With luck they can be out of the Kalalalt by tomorrow.
After a couple hours of hoofing it, they run across a bony, nude woman, face down in the mud. Costicu identifies her as a Yalee, which turns out to be the same thing as a Dryad. They give her a Goodberry, which helps her out a little bit, and Wirshin gives her tree a Cure Light. The poor tree is all rotted around the base. Before they can really figure out what to do next, six Werewolves come bounding out of the forest. One yells, "Hey assholes, get away from our urinal!"
That's a lot of werewolves! Except it turns out, they aren't werewolves. One of them is some sort of wolfman or wolfwere or something, and the other five are wolves. The talking one pees on Ido's armor, and the armor turns into pebbles. That's pretty surprising. Other than that, they are soon able to take care of these guys without much incident. They offer to try to figure out a way to move the tree out of the Kalalalt, but no one can think of anything. The Yalee thanks them for their kindness. Ido sets up a burnt offering and then they press on. Come night fall, Can sets up a Secure Shelter and they hit the sack.
