Chapter 2

‘Entering the Happy Hare revealed the warm and roaring cheers of everyone settled inside.  While the Caravan travelers themselves filled up a good portion of the common room, the amount of tables in use looked as if a large portion of the town was hiding in here.  And what a stark contrast it was, for those that had been traveling from days on end were lively and celebrating, sitting at the bar counter or seats closest to the small stage where a minstrel performed.  Hoots and hollers mixed with the sound of the viol as a local tune carried a festive and upbeat air. The majority of the other tables all seemed completely sullen, and strangely enough most of the patrons appeared to be drinking water rather than ale.  Even the few dwarven patrons didn’t have any remarkable or potent brew mugs before them. Scanning the room revealed a rather shadowy table tucked in the corner not fully occupied. A singular stranger dressed in a hooded cloak sat by themselves, hood drawn.

With little else to pick from, it took some time to navigate past other congested tables to approach.  The occasional hushed word heard from the muttering villagers such as ‘trouble’ or ‘stream’ just breaking out loud enough to be barely perceptible in the din of the tavern.  Eventually the table was within reach.

The stranger raised their head in acknowledgement of the approach.  Motioning to the other seats with a dismissive hand indicating they didn’t mind additional company.

Once every seat was claimed, another strange face arrived.  While homely with oval eyes and a wide smile the face was much too angular to truly be considered human, but at the same time the ears were hardly pointed enough to be considered a true blooded elf.  The Half-Elf server smiled and offered a short bow. “Greetings kind travelers, may I offer you a drink or other refreshment?”

The cloaked ranger held up a hand to pause the server.  Reaching up to draw back their hood revealing a a rather raven-like head.  Black beak clacking a few times before opening to speak. Though instead of words the sounds of silver coins clattering on a table seemed to emanate perfectly from their open beak. ‘

-|-

“Okay.  Hold up a second.  What the hell is this now?”  Boetian gave an incredulous look over to Meirita after her strange outburst of noises.

“What?”  One of the vitili’s long ears had folded forward part way down, as she tilted her head to the side, giving an all too goofy look, with a telling smile showing she enjoyed the looks of confusion.  “I’m just doing what my character would do.”

“What does that even mean?  Act like an idiot and not speak like a normal person?”

Her smiled faded to a frown as both ears stood fully erect now.  “No! And because of that I won’t share why either.”

“If anyone would like to glean what is going on, roll a Nature check.  That’s the D20, and add the modifier next to the Nature skill to the die result.”  Robert interjected before the argument devolved any further. Noting how the Jahkatian worked his beak a bit before relenting to let this play out.

Neinja rolled her die.  “Seventeen after adding the modifier.”  She looked directly at Robert as she spoke the result.

He decided to quickly double check her sheet to confirm everything was in order before looking over at his long eared Guardian and regard her for a small time.  “Upon careful examination you can recognize this strange ranger belongs to a flightless avian race known as the Kenku. While they have a rather raven-like appearance they lack any means to communicate through spoken language.  What they are extremely capable of doing is repeating any sound or words they have ever heard perfectly, such as rattling coins, the turn of a wagon wheel or the clang of a blacksmith hammer. Creating a pseudo language one can carefully interpret with time and patience.”

Boetian blinked.  “That’s sorta cool, so now we know that at least.”

“No you don’t.”  The Tordenchi interjected rather quickly earning a questioning look.  “I am the stranger at this table, and not part of your group. This information I learned is my reflection and I haven’t shared it to the group out loud.”

He frowned.  “Well that’s silly, we could hear the human explain to you exactly what he just said, so we should know that information as well.”

“No, you listen here Bo.”  Neinja looked back in the griffon’s direction.  Her body language conveying she was rather close to standing out of her chair.  “This game lacks a haze like in a VRPG, and I think even the Humans that play this game knew what to consider known or unknown information.  Stop assuming everything is just handed to you here and try playing the game.” She resumed her usual posture.

Robert winced.  He watched Boetian work that massive beak in silence.  Clearly able to hear the sides clack together on occasion.  He held the pause just a bit longer before continuing and hoping for no further outbursts so early in the intro.

There was another roll as Mina spoke up.  “Uhm, thirteen on my Nature check.”

Letting the air cool a bit he sighed as silently as he could.  “You know the nature of Kenku’s Mina, though your information gathered is based off rumors and caravan gossip than hard learned facts.  So you also believe the rumor that Kenku are overly attracted to shiny things though you don’t know if it is true or superstition…”

-|-

‘ “Hey you’re a Kenku!”  The kitsune spoke up. “Cool we had a Kenku in our caravan this whole time?  Do another sound.”

“DO ANOTHER SOUND.”  The Kenku mirrored the Kitsune’s words back even down to the inflection and tone of her voice perfectly.

“Now that this one thinks about it, this is the first time we talked like this on the trip.”  The brown spotted cat person spoke up. “They call this one Jade Shoe of the Soaring Cliffs. But they prefer to call this one Jade.”

The Kenku created the sound of rushing water and the splash of a fish, followed by the twang of a bowstring.

After some deliberation the kitsune spoke up.  “River Bow?” She blinked. “Certainly exotic. I go by Tsukiko.”  She offered a small bow to everyone else before moving a few tails to her lap to pet and groom the fur.

“Zeed.”  The Aarakocra barked his own name.  Shifting in his seat to make sure his large mottled brown and white feathered wings fit comfortably in the chair.

“I am called Khafra.”  The stranger spoke last.  “The pleasure is mine to meet such interesting individuals.”

“Uh, it’s nice to have names I S’pose but any refreshments for you all this afternoon?”  The Half-Elf server spoke up to remind them that he was still there.

“A round of drinks from me.”  Tsukiko smiled and slid a few gold coins toward the server.  “I’m fine with just a simple ale.”

“You are most kind, but I will just have water.”  Khafra nodded his head.

“Mead!”  Barked Zeed.

“SIMPLE ALE.”  River used Tsukikio’s request to give their own.

“This one would prefer something softer… like milk.”

The server nodded one more time then went to fetch their drinks.

“Khafra, are you a local?  We didn’t see you with the caravan.” Tsukiko looked back to the stranger after the server had taken the coin and returned to the bar itself to get their orders.  Her one tail not being groomed bobbing to the music.

“I travel.  This is just a stop for me.”  He shook his head and tapped the table with a few gloved fingers.  “I’m looking to see if there is any trouble and this place simply speaks of it if you listen.” ‘

-|-

Robert was impressed.  Neinja had fully inserted herself into a role, one she just created and learned about today.  Reflecting on that and glancing around the table showed a rather high level of commitment from most players trying to roleplay.  The only one not engaged as much was Boetian, who was in the middle of idly scrolling through a holo screen display of some extranet article or otherwise, propping his head with one taloned hand.  Tahrena at least showed interest, the barely perceived wag of her tail the best indication she was enjoying this, since her roleplay had been rather reserved. Not speaking often but using a rather interesting accent to portray her character was a good sign she at least liked it.

“Everyone roll a Perception check.  At the mention of trouble you all recall the low mutterings when you passed by the villager’s tables.  Perhaps there was more to those stories than just idle gossip of who had the better crops or trouble forging an item?”

The chorus of D20s rattled in the space between speakers.

“Five!”  Mina whined at her first relatively low roll.  Her ears folding back. A quick look at the die revealed a ‘1’ on the exposed face. The lowest possible result, though it was fortunate this was a skill check and not something more serious or that could cause further issues the players would no doubt discover in time.

“Sixteen.”  Neinja spoke up.

“Can I just, choose not to roll?”  Boetian called out, not even bothering to look up from his display as he addressed the DM.  More fixated on whatever article he saw.

“If you feel your character is disinterested then I suppose it could be possible-”

“Yes.  Zeed shows no interest.”  The Jahkatian cut Robert off as he scrolled past another article.

Tahrena had a rather disgusted face in Bo’s direction though it appeared as if he didn’t see it or care.  Eventually she shifted her gaze back to her dice. “I got a ten.”

Meirita just kept a composed smile and she watched Robert’s station and gave a wink.  “Fourteen from me.”

-|-

‘Khafra, Jade & River were able to listen closely, discerning whispered talks from the distant music and cheers.  Tsukikio meanwhile had more an ear for the music, humming along as a foot tapped to the beats of the tune. Zeed, instead found interest in his tankard of ale. Ignoring all else besides a good drink.

“Tis a shame really.  It’s past spring melt but nothin’ to show for it.”

“It’s pure luck the meadows heaven’t wilted yet, but this is ominous times.  No telling the source.”

“Yer all daft!”  A dwarf almost stood out of his seat.  Despite the furious outcry his beard was hardly damp and held no traces of ale foam so this was hardly a drunken outburst.  In fact it was strange to spy his table place only had a glass of water. Brushing his braided hair and beard a bit he sat down and huddled up before resuming in a far more quiet tone.  “It’s just a little late. No need ‘ta worry your heads over it. Mah familie’s been in this town fer longer than most of your lines can count back. Sometimes the lake just runs dry fer longer.”

“Weather or omen, I give our wells another month. Then we’ll have to move before it’s too extreme for some of us to stay.”

The whispers continued for a time, though it seems something or someone was messing with the town’s water supply.  The only times the talks fully stopped was when a Barmaid or server crossed by, and the mumbling villagers would watch through glancing eyes for anyone trying to listen in on their musings.

“It seems that one spoke true..”  Jade absentmindedly scratched an ear.  “Is that the cause that drew that one to this town?”

“I help for all problems I can, this seems to be the one for this town and I intend to solve it.”

The sounds of a blacksmith hammer sounded from River before she mimed the clatter of coins on a table once more.

Kahfra turned their head in the kenku’s direction.  “Your kenku friend is a curious one, I’m afraid I don’t fully understand him-”

The Kenku mimed a girly giggle to cut off the stranger.

“-Her yet…  What was their previous statement?”

“She is offering our services to help that one and if that one is offering possible reward or payment of help.”  The tabaxi idly checked her clawed hands before taking a sip from their glass of milk. “She has slight fascination with coins.”

“I cannot vouch for the town, though I suppose if you ask the right person nicely, a reward is possible.  I usually just offer my help without request of payment.”

“I say we go now.”  Zeed slammed his empty mug on the table and rose in a single motion.  Flaring his wings a bit in agitation before pushing his way back out of the tavern.  Not waiting to see if the others followed after.

Tsukiko sighed.  She rose up and let her tails fall in place behind her.  “Best catch up before he causes problems not just for us and the caravan, but the town as well.”  Leading the way back to the door but lingering until everyone else left, ears turned to listen to the end of the current song as she hummed again.  Ducking outside as the gathered crowd clapped and encouraged another song.

Outside the golden sun bore down on the surrounding area seemingly hotter than when they first entered.  Now aware of both heat and the troubles of the town the sight seemed a lot more clear than just initial shelter and relaxation after traveling through the Crimson Woods.  The roads into town were dusty and sun baked, while the wooden portions of houses and roofs looked splintered and veiny as all moisture had been sapped from the timbers. Along with several areas being sun bleached and dry, the well in the center of town remained abandoned and unused, rope frayed and creaking in the all too still breeze.  Town dogs weren’t busy barking or running around, but hiding on porches or areas that offered even the smallest amount of shade. The only thing truly out of place was the woman across town, dressed in a dark shawl and holding a sort of light intricate patterned sun parasol over her head.

Breaking away from the group, Jade gave a light sprint to intercept the woman before she entered another building.  “Greetings! This one was curious if that one knows about the river going dry?” ‘

-|-

“The woman looks rather surprised, both at the strange person speaking to her and the subject of the question.”  Robert paused to roll a few dice and measured the response in his head, “ ‘Hello strange, cat, person.’ She looks past you at the strange gathering of people near the tavern you parted from, hands shifting the parasol a little more to keep any sun from her face and skin.  Looking away to the house she was about to enter. ‘Not that I can think of, the River is just a little drier than normal, it’s no major deal.’ “

Neinja cleared her throat, fixating Robert with a pointed stare with her large amber eyes.  “That’s a lie, what does she know.”

Robert threw his hands up, palms out but before he spoke someone else interrupted.  “Hold on Neinja, we just talked about this with Boetian regarding knowledge of Kenkus.  You’re not there for this conversation, so you won’t know if she is lying or not.” Tahrena looked to the Tordenchi.

“In that case Khafra will approach to find out her deceptions.”

Robert shook his head.  “Neinja, you can’t do that.”  Resisting the urge to duck down when her gaze shifted back onto him.

“It is within the actions of my character to seek out troubles and answers.  How am I not allowed to point her falsehoods out loud?”

He rubbed the bridge of his nose and eyes for a bit.  “While the actions may be to the character, your motive hinges on outside knowledge still.  That’s called Meta-gaming and is frowned upon in D&D. Also, other than my words and small tells, she hasn’t been discovered or revealed to by lying.  That requires a contested check of Insight against Deception.”

“Aha!  But the Deception skill tells us she is lying.”  Boetian sat up and set his yutri aside. A smirk forming on his beak from his believed loophole.

Robert shook his head.  “Again, player and character knowledge decisions are different from each other.  I merely explained which skill I will be using this time to get the idea for contested checks out of the way.  If you fail an Insight roll even if you, the players, know or suspect her to be lying; Your characters can be none the wiser.” He motioned toward the lupari and watched her ears go from resting back toward her head to springing fully upright.  “Currently Jade is the only one that can try to see if the woman speaks truthfully, and regardless of outcome, since no others followed you’ll need to take her returned information as she gives it. Unless she calls for help no one knows this woman may be lying.”

Neinja turned her gaze over to the wolf expectantly, though Tahrena made it a point to turn her head to not look at the amber eyes facing her direction.  “Honestly guys, I can’t believe I have to use Neinja’s statement against her. There’s no haze. Let the story play out.” She looked over to Robert with a toothy smile.  “I will try to insight though.” She rolled her die and looked at her sheet as a smug smile leveled in the human’s direction. “I’m not actually proficient in it but I think I got this.  Does a fifteen win?”

Robert picked up his own dice and read the stats he gave the woman.  Musing how this broke down sort of how he had expected if a Tordenchi was in the group.  Not that he could blame her and her knack for knowing falsehood statements. “Nope, she got a seventeen.”

“Augh!”  Tahrena whined.  “So close.”

-|-

‘Jade looked the woman over and nodded her head.  “This one apologizes for the disruption and wishes that one a nice day.”  Watching the woman make her way into her presumed home before returning to the group.  “This one is afraid the woman is not sure why the river dries either.”

“Lets just follow the river and get this over with.”  Zeed groaned and took a small detour to where the caravan wagons had been stowed.  Finding the one they used to stow their weapons and gear as he got everything as needed, including a tall greataxe nearly as big as he was.  Letting the great haft of the thing rest across his shoulders, axe head pointed toward the ground.

Only the stranger seemed to have their gear with them as everyone else grabbed what they needed.  The stranger seemed the most heavily armed in sheer volume of metal, their rather impressive shield with the symbol of some deity emblazoned on their shield and a hefty looking warhammer at their side as well as the heavy set of metal armor.  They seemed to still insist wearing their hood over their head. Regardless of what everyone wore the heat overhead felt unbearable and oppressive and just looking at the stranger in their heavy armor made most people feel even more uncomfortably hot.

Trekking across the town took almost a half hour, finding what shade they could on the way while silently dreading the walk that would be in exposed sun.  As the outskirts neared, the group took a single detour to fill their water skins from a nearby well. Reaching the normal bank of the river revealed a sunken and dry crack of earth stretching north to south.  In the lowest corner was a trickle of water that amounted to a tiny stream as all around it cracked and dry dirt and clay laid exposed to the overbearing sun on high. After surveying the direction the stream flowed from, the party set off as Zeed shifting a few things around.  Large mottled white and brown wings stretched out and flapped, carrying him high into the sky as River the Kenku could only watch with envy.

With no clouds to be seen, the group quickly became thankful of their full and much needed water skins.

“Sho’ Khafra, why wear that hood still?  The sun won’t be any less harsh. Looking at the hood up seems uncomfortable.”  Tsukiko spoke up. Idly brushing her tails between small intervals of walking. Trying to keep them relatively dust free as she was nearer to the back of the group.

“Most find my appearance a distraction, and I find it easier to listen in secret if people can’t see where my gaze is focused.  Plus, most villagers will assume I have the same appearance as them as a natural reaction so I don’t have difficulty with any that might judge speaking to me based on race.”

“This one doesn’t fully understand avoiding attention.”  Jade dropped back to join the conversation. “This one finds any attention exciting to be under as it means more are watching this one for this one to show off.”  There was a sly smile. “Though this one also knows the importance of avoiding heat, unlike that one’s thick fluffy coat, this one has short fur and is perfectly fine in this hot air…”  She paused to scratch some fluff under her chin. “The only other this one saw dressed for this heat was the strange woman back in town.”

River emulated the sounds of a panting dog before they pulled their own hood back up and drank from their water skin. Not dropping back with the group but instead gaining more ground ahead.  Scouring the earth for any tracks or indications as to why the river was so dry. Not fully relying on just the airborne Zeed to spot everything.

“What was the conversation about anyways?  I tried to listen in but you spoke so quietly.”  The kitsune flicked a tail.

“This one thinks it is nothing.  She claimed no knowledge of the cause of the river drying up.”

“She was the only one out and about though, and she seemed overly prepared for the heat.”  Khafra spoke up.

“Yea but she looked well off, perhaps she knew how to dress, this problem has been going on for some time and she can afford the preparation necessary?”  Tsukiko mused.

“This one heard the problem has persisted since Spring.”  The tabaxi affirmed that line of thinking.

Despite flying high and ahead, other than spotting exactly where the lake was located, Zeed couldn’t spot anything or anyone up ahead or behind them to notify the ground below.  Taking more time to delight in the cool wind his flying created to escape the heat of the sun.

Tsukiko shielded her eyes to look at the cloudless sky and watch the Aarakocra for a time.  “We’ve traveled for almost a few hours, surely we are close?”

As if to answer the hanging question, cresting the bank just ahead revealed the edges of the earth stretch up higher as they entered a rather large dried out basin.  Just in front of them, over a small lip of earth was a shallow pond of accumulated water, the only source feeding the dry river as several slightly larger streams flowed into the pool from further back in the dry lake bed.  From the sky Zeed could also see the sources flowing into the lake and they seemed far more full and powerful than any exiting stream. Confused he flew down to land on the lake bed closer to the inlets to examine but quickly found the ground on the far side still completely moist and loose as he sank in up to his ankles in the soggy earth.

Watching the display the tabaxi broke into a surprisingly fast run to sprint the distance faster than the other three could hope to muster.  “Interesting find, bird!” She slowed as the ground grew softer before starting to try and walk the perimeter between hardened earth and far too wet earth to trace the size of the patch.  “Strange. This one thinks the lake bed has more moisture that this drought should allow.”

“The rivers flowing in also look particularly full, eugh…”  Zeed called out as he pried his sunken feet free and waded back to dryer land.

River traced the other half of the outskirts and met Jade before the tabaxi could even hope to cover a quarter of the perimeter.  The kenku squacked a few times and hovered close to observe the deeper sections of the lake that still held moisture, following them back to one particularly active in flowing river.  The excess water pouring from the river into the lake bed like a miniature waterfall. The group having fallen silent to watch the flightless bird work. In the new found silence of the exploration the sound of something cracking and the sound of water rushing far more heavily became noticeable.  As one of the rivers suddenly fed a massive surge of water into the lake as well as massive boulders of ice melt. Just as they started to tumble into the lake, several hidden runes written in the lake bed began to blossom with red light. A massive wave of heat emanating from them as the ice chunks hissed and began to melt as all the water flash changed to steam.  The humid blast of hot air washing over the entire party. While everyone was caught off guard most were able to brace and weather the temperature spike until it cooled again. The group was left panting and exhausted, but only Tsukiko and Jade managed to avoid the same feeling.’

-|-

“And what does that mean?!”  Boetian groaned.

Almost everyone, except the Jahkatian, that had failed the saving throw were busy checking a box on their character sheets to mark their level of exhaustion.  Robert held back to see if the outburst continued, as he didn’t want to be interrupted like usual. “Because you failed your Constitution saving throw you now have one level of exhaustion.  This means all skill checks are made with disadvantage. The only way to remove exhaustion is with certain spells which none of you currently possess, or by taking a long rest.”

“And this disadvantage thing what does that do?”  Tahrena spoke up to spare the human listening to Bo gripe more.

“Uhm, Disadvantage and Advantage are a type of modifier for D20 rolls which means you either roll one D20 twice or two D20 together once.  On Disadvantage you take the lower of the two rolled results for your skill checks. On Advantage you take the higher of the two.”

Boetian made another loud groan.  “Great! More chances for more horrible rolls.  What a wonderful system this is…” He then muttered about not having such things in VRPGS but Robert decided to ignore that.

-|-

‘Jade moved over to where the rune had flashed red during that whole ordeal.  Examining the now dormant design thoroughly. “Glyphs of Warding. They seem to go off when excess water or ice passes by.  Someone is intentionally preventing water flow.” She stood up and peered around with a wary eye. “There must be hundreds of hidden glyphs in the lake to keep it this dry all the time.”

The kitsune meanwhile scoured the ground while her companions stood off to the side, drinking water and panting.  Scouring the lake bed she eventually spied a sort of seam in the wet ground. Using a hand to brush it away and reveal a large stone  trap door of sorts. Dragging it open took considerable effort but eventually she was rewarded in opening it up and revealing a dormant rune scratched on the bottom of the door.  Peering inside the sunlight illuminated a partially flooded underground stone lined tunnel that went who knew where. “Found something!” She waved everyone over. “Looks like a hidden base or passage.”

“This one agrees.”  The tabaxi tapped near the rune on the door after more observation.  “The runes look faded, the glyph is no doubt broken from time and erosion.  It matches the ones near the water flow. They must be connect-”

“Out of the way.”  Zeed shouldered past the pair, barely looking in before leaping down the opening.  Water splashing below.

“Truly a man of flowing intellect and tactics.”  Khafra intoned before following after. Offering little more than a shrug to the others.

River the kenku mimed the sound of a coin being flicked into a pool of water before joining the pair down below.

Tsukiko made a hapless face, hugging her tails close as she sat near the edge of the trap door and eased her way in, trying not make as much of a splash or fall on her companions.

Jade was last.  She scanned the surroundings warrily once more before slipping in herself.

Unnoticed on the far edge of the lake a woman with a black parasol watched the five adventurers jump into the hidden lake tunnel.  Raising her hand for a moment as the previously thought inactive glyph glowed faintly blue before the trap door began to grate and slide shut.  Only then did she turn to leave and head back toward the town.’