Sarenith 21st 01 - Squeel! Little Pi...gg.y?

The group had been travelling for two days straight and now find themselves back at a familiar ferry crossing, with a familiar crazy looking ferryman demanding 2 copper per horse and per person for the crossing.

After handing over the fee and just as they finished crossing the river the ferryman mentioned to the group "Ye just made it in time for the Founders Festival, ye'ave!".  "Founder's Festival?" questioned Otto.  "Aye!  Tis the festive celebratory day fer the founding of Ravenmoor village.  It'll be going on all day!".  Vaneer just sighed, he could see where this was going...

Entering the tiny backwards village the group notice the addition of colourful bunting across the simple houses, a nearby field had numerous small unlit bonfires around its perimeter and now housed several large tents, whilst plenty of outdoors seating and tables were being set up.  Their search for Ornigaard, the young lad whom owned Applesauce, had little success until they bumped into his father.  Viorec last saw his son this morning, though the stirge named Applesauce had been absent for the last week which has led to his son's change in temperament, becoming quiet and sullen, spending most of the day out looking for the missing insect.  Upon asking how the group already knew about the disappearance of Applesauce they handed Viorec the note that was delivered to them.  Though he didn't recognise the "Help Applesauce!" message as being in his son's handwriting he assured them that it was nothing to worry about; maybe one of his son's friend's had sent the message?  In the meantime Viorec was certain that the boy would be back for supper so he invited the entire group to stay and join the festival.

Miro, Otto, Natalia and Kyrander joined the festivities and took part in the first event of the festival along with several burly locals, knife throwing.  The first round involved of throwing a starknife at a bail hay located 20 feet away, which only Kyrander and another villager succeeded at.  The second round saw them both trying to hit bail of hay 60 feet away, this time it was just Kyrander that achieved this and so he along attempted the third round, throwing the starknife at a bail set at 100 feet.  Though Kyrander failed to hit the target in the third round he had been the only competitor to reach that round and so won the event and received a small handmade totem of Desna, the Goddess of Dreams.  This consisted of tightly woven dried plants and herbs, formed into a small butterfly figure that locals traditionally burnt before going to sleep in order to grant them dreams gifted by their goddess.

The second event was raven fighting where each party member placed a bet on their favourite bird to win the fight with Kyrander winning a pretty penny with his winning choice of 'Foolscap'.

The third event involved Bonfire leaping!  All party members took part with Miro and Natalia jumping over the tall fire with impressive acrobatic ability.  Kyrander and Vaneer only just manage to jump over with some slight hair burning, whilst poor Otto slipped and jumped into the fire but got out quickly enough without taking any serious burns, whilst locals quickly rushed over to put out any embers and cheer the attempt.

The final event before the founders feast involved trying to catch a greased up pig.  Otto was still licking his bonfire wounds and so stepped out of this event and offered to hold on to the party member's items whilst they rolled around in the mud with several locals and a local bred pig.

For the first half a minute all the participants failed to catch the large pig, with a notable face plant in the mud from Kyrander which brought about a lot of merriment from the onlookers.  Things soon got a lot more more exciting with Miro almost grabbing ahold of the swine, then Kyrander managed to grab the mobile bacon factory, only to let the greased critter slip through his slimy palms.   Natalia on the other hand not only managed to grab the pig but was able to hold on to the animal and won the event.

However...

Whilst holding on to the pig Natalia notices that the fat of the animal's belly was rippling when suddenly the beast sprouted two extra legs from it's belly and an extra head from it's back that looked similar to a Venus fly trap.  As the crowds around the mud pit screamed and ran for cover Otto threw a Scorching Ray spell at the mutating beast, which unfortunately resisted most of the magical flaming damage, the spell also has the unfortunate effect of setting alight the slightly greased participants standing close by.

Kyrander rushes over to Otto to retrieve his weapons so that he could join the fray whilst Natalia tries to roll away from the deformed creature only to bitten by the creature's mew giant maw.

Bob and Spot rush into the fight and bite and claw at the creature whilst the creature bites Bob back, dealing a gashing wound to the feline.

Vaneer attempts to cast a hold spell at the creature only to find it has no affect on the creature.

Otto casts magic missile and thankfully it hits and damages the beast

Kyrander shoots and misses, whilst Miro manages to stab and injure the creature.

The pig creature faces the group and unleashes a shriek, sounding like an inhuman baby that has just been wounded.  The noise causes Spot to vomit but the rest of the group are able to resist whatever effect the shriek was trying to achieve, allowing Vaneer to cast Sound Burst, stunning the creature which gives Otto the chance to cast another fire spell which does enough damage to kill the creature.

After the fight the village folk was obviously in turmoil and in order to understand what had happened the group turned their attentions to the pig corpse in front of them.  Otto could sense a faint magical aura surrounding the creature, so whatever was going on it was most likely a set up of some sort, possible aimed at the visitors.

Believing that the attack was planned the group turned their attention to the pig breeder whom after an hour of questioning turned out to be just as confused as the group in what had happened to his prize pig, Sally.  With the breeder proving no help the group begin to question the general village folk hoping that someone may slip up and divulge some hidden morsel of information that they could use.

Questioning the village folk didn't pay off as much as the they had hoped, the only information that they had obtained was the location of the pig feed near a manor on the outskirts of the village.  The grain appeared to be normal and Natalia checked the few pigs that were feeding and they appeared to be normal with no signs of deformities.  It was however apparent that if the grain had been tampered with, it could have occurred without anyone noticing anything amiss.

Being one of the few fun and relaxing times during the whole year, the villagers had decided that they weren't going to let the pork-monster put off any more of their festival and so the feast proceeded as planned.  Taking a break, the group join in the feast, though they are slightly hesitant to try some of the dishes which included deliciously flavoured black mushrooms, a flayleaf salad tossed in vinegar which was also a mild intoxicant, fried silkworms, smoked tick legs and disturbingly delicious stirge blood sausage.  As the group looked to their druid to confirm the safety and edibility of the food (which was given the all-clear), they were visited by several young ladies who were all vying for the title of founder's feast queen.  Each lass was in her late teens and visited the tables of feasters, giving a rendition of how the village was saved from famine, several generations ago, by Iola Krieglar (the mayor's now deceased grandmother) who undertook a vision quest and with Desna's blessing she learnt of a ritual that ensure good harvests for the village.

After the feast, Shel Lupescu was voted the prettiest and most comely of the candidates and won the title of Founder's Feast Queen, which she was utterly delighted to receive.  After this, dancing commenced as night began to fall and Otto was quickly approached by Shel and the two spent some time dancing amidst a variety of merry village folk.

As the festivities came to an end and folk started to head back to their homes, the group wandered back into the heart of the village discussing what to do next when Natalia noticed the village's elderly weaver watching the group as they walked.  Discretely Natalia cast a spell and detected that the old woman had an aura of magic about her.  Once the woman was out of ear shot, the druid informed the group of her discovery and they soon made it their business to find out who she was and where she could be found.  After some questions it was soon revealed that the woman they sought was the village weaver whom Otto had previously met and purchased some simple clothes from and just moments later the party were at her door and asking her some pointed questions.

Alizna the weaver claimed innocence in relation to the earlier events and believed that the pig was fed something demonic in origin which incubated inside the pig and hatched during the wrestling competition in an attempt to get rid of the party.  Though she was not born here, Alizna came to Revnmoor several decades ago for her own interests and knew many interesting rumours.  When querstioned further about these rumours, the weaver revealed that there was an inner circle within the village who had different intentions or beliefs to the majority of locals and though she was not sure of their intentions, she knew that every dawn after the founders festival there was a gathering of robed people within the maize maze located on the edge of the village.

Leaving the weavers, Otto bumped into Shel, the founders feast queen, and making an excuse about 'pursuing new avenues of enquiry' he quickly left the group to their devices as he was led to a quiet haystack with the beautiful young lady.

Seizing on the only lead they had managed to obtain, the rest of the group decide to head towards the cornfield maze and discover an old barn and disused farm house nearby and decide that the barn would make the ideal location to camp in for the evening which they could then use to stake out the nearby maze.  As they entered the barn old and new bloodstains could be seen all over the barn whilst a makeshift altar was at one end, with a tatty cloth butterfly, or moth, above it and a scattering of bones lying around it.

As the group explore the barn an young voice from behind spoke "Have you seen Applesauce?".  A chill ran down their spines as they turned around to find the young lad they had been searching for all day standing in the barn doorway.  The group try to question Ornigaard about the note he had sent, but the boy claimed it hadn't been him and that the person who had written it was in the abandoned farmhouse nearby.

Uneasy the group, minus Otto, decide to follow the lad to the farmhouse next door, though Vaneer was feeling uncomfortable with the child’s actions and manner... almost as if the boy wasn't really himself, he thought, and as such delayed the rest of the group from entering into the farmhouse, stating that something just didn't feel right with the situation.  At this moment Natalia just happened to notice that the scarecrow behind them was magically animated and was slowly moving towards them in an attempt at not being spotted.

After a rather pleasant time together, Otto was rather startled when Shel insisted that he met with her family, but being a gentleman and a lord he agreed and soon found himself back at her family house.  Shel's family was one of the few that were still awake - the vast majority were fast asleep with their hay and herb filled totems burning away, unknowingly releasing a harmless sleeping agent to keep them unaware of the activities that would be taking place on the outskirts of the village.  Slightly weary of the situation, Otto accepted a cup of tea from Shel's family, had a slice of cake and then dodged out of the way when the first attack came... the whole family had donned red robes, weird masks and crude weapons and seemed intent on rendering Otto unconscious!  Teafully Shel explained that she needed Otto to take her place tonight, otherwise she would end up sacrificed and her family had no intention of letting that happen!  Luckily the sorcerer had a sleep spell handy and in no time at all Shel's family were in their own magic-induced sleep.

Back to the outskirts of the village - As soon as Natalia pointed out the moving strawbag the party instantly flew at it.  Miro was the first to hit the scarecrow but as he did he dropped his weapon in the dark. Kyrander shot a flaming arrow at the construct, setting the straw alight.

Just as the scarecrow started to light up the lad shouted "That's NOT nice! You meanies!!" at which point he then began to change shape as he grew taller, slimmer and paler in skin colour till he stood there as a grey humanoid creature "Never mind though, as you'll all join us shortly" he said in a slithering voice.

Natalia attacks the faceless stalker [an evil changling with few discernible features] whilst Miro picks up his fallen weapon and positions himself to strike the stalker when the opportunity presents itself.

Running for his life, Otto approaches the group slightly bewildered to see what the rest of his party is fighting.

Kyrander destroys the scarecrow with another flaming arrow, causing the straw creature to disintegrate.  Spot attacks the stalker, biting a gaping hole in the stalker's throat and killing it outright.

Once Otto had been updated on the events that had just happened the group decide to investigate the farmhouse which was practically empty, barring a horticultural lab in which they find a slime creature being used to grow the delicious black mushrooms they ate earlier (though digesting such a species granted no ill-effect) [the group fail to notice that four strange puffballs being grown in the lab are in fact immature spores for extra-planar parasites that kill their host and transform them into a mutated monstrosity, such as had happened with the pig earlier that day].  They also find that there is a basement in the old building and within it is a statue to the god of parasites, Ghlaunder, amongst a pile of clothes, a number of dark red robes and mosquito masks.

The group decide to take the robes and masks in the hope that they matched what the other robe wearers would be garbed in at dawn.  The destroyed scarecrow and the corpse of the faceless stalker are dragged inside the farmhouse so that no-one would pick up on a fight having taken place and so with the area tidied up to resemble 'normal', the group return to the barn dressed in the robes to await dawn which was just a few hours away.