Kay’s Journal – 1/22
After the fight, we ended up back at the tavern with the mayor. The innkeeper was nice enough to offer us all mulled wine, except Abran, who got a lager. Probably not mulled, because that would be gross. In any case, we showed the body to Mayor Smelt. CornCob investigated the body further and determined that while it is very, very large, everything is correctly proportioned. He thinks some kind of magical growth was involved. We asked if any of the missing townsfolk had scars, birthmarks, tattoos, or other potentially recognizable marks, and we are told that the wainwright had a scar on his arm. We check the body, and sure enough, there’s a matching (if much larger) scar.
We decide to take watches on the mausoleum for the next few hours. Pujol and Abran go first, while the rest of us, well, rest.
The mayor agrees he needs to pay us for the work we’ve done so far, but also seems to grasp that there’s still something worse out there, and it kicked our collective butts. He seems concerned that we might bail. He tells us he had no idea about the graveyard golem.
We ask for some background on the cleric, Aubrey. She is relatively new in town, having been around for about a season or so. She was sent by her order after Matthew, the last cleric, passed away. Apparently, their church considers this a sacred place, and want to honor the dead in the graveyard and mausoleum. The town used to be a bigger trade hub, until the other towns grew up around it and started trading over the water. Aubrey lives in the upper floors of the church.
Over on watch, Pujol and Abran hear a big bass thump from under the mausoleum. Later, Gooseneck and Fathom take over. By the time of their watch, things seem to have calmed down over there. Fathom hears traffic from the town, but Gooseneck hears a grating sound of stone rubbing against stone coming from the mausoleum. They see that some of the graves are disturbed, like the fleshy creatures were sleeping there.
I wonder how the church feels about the sanctity of this place now. Clearly there’s been some amount of not-so-holy magic going on.
Fathom and Gooseneck sneak over to the mausoleum entrance to peek inside. Gooseneck sees relatively fresh scrape marks on the stone, like that golem has come and gone multiple times in the past few weeks.
CornCob and I take over the watch. We hear more of the grating sound, as well as another deep thump, almost like a tremor in the ground beneath us. CornCob thinks it’s a large stone being dropped.
We head back to the tavern for breakfast, and CornCob picks up some bread and wine to take back to the others on the way. The innkeeper kindly provides us with bread, warmed cider, and tea. I like this guy!
After breakfast, we decide to go talk to Crazy Joe in his shack on the edge of town. We don’t really think he’s involved, but it’s a loose end to tie off. As we approach the shack, CornCob feels a drag on his foot and hears bells ring as he steps off the road. Crazy Joe has alarmed his borders…because of course he has. Crazy Joe is outside with a sharp rake…CornCob tries to make nice by offering him lunch. Crazy Joe accepts the offering and invites CornCob and Pujol (who he thinks is CornCob’s ‘son’) in. Joe sees that CornCob has honey, and gets very excited about that.
I just want to see his conspiracy board. I’m sure he’s got one in there.
CornCob asks about what Joe saw. Joe says he saw something large moving through the trees, parting them like a big bear. He said it walked upright and was maybe 18’ tall. It didn’t leave footprints, it left chunks in the ground like a big boulder had been moved out of a spot in the ground. It sounds very much like the golem we saw.
Joe leads us to where this ‘footprint’ was – it definitely matches the golem. Joe thinks it was carrying something when it went through.
As we are leaving, Joe sells CornCob a set of magic otter fur pants. Very sharp. Or something.
Next, it’s time to go talk to Aubrey the Suspect Cleric. We decide to split up – Abran and I look for an alternate entrance while the others go knock on the church door. Aubrey invites them in. The interior of the church is stone, with a symbol of the local (good) deity prominently displayed. Fathom sees Aubrey is wearing an amulet, which glows with magic in her Special Mushroom Magic Sight. CornCob doesn’t see anything obviously out of place for a good-aligned church.
They ask Aubrey about everything that’s been going on, and she says there’s something under the mausoleum that would help her get control of the situation, if only she could get to it. She thinks there’s a necklace or brooch down there that would let her access, you know, Stuff. She’s tried to get the townsfolk to help her, but they haven’t wanted to get involved.
CornCob is pretty sure she’s not telling the whole truth. She also seems to be favoring her arm, and seems nervous when she’s told what Crazy Joe had to say about the golem. Pujol and Fathom look around the church, but nothing stands out. Fathom suspects that the golem may be trying to protect against Aubrey.
In the meantime, Abran and I climb up the church tower to get into one of the upper windows. I’m not really a second story person, so I have some trouble with the climb. Abran helps keep me from falling, and then we go in the window and find ourselves in Aubrey’s quarters. It looks very comfortable, if rather messy. There are some books and scrolls piled on a table, so I go look at those. The scroll is Aubrey’s journal, but the last entry is a few weeks ago. That entry talks about the daily services, who she talked to – all mundane daily matters. The books are all about the history of the town and church.
Abran finds a pile of dirty clothes on the floor. It seems like they’ve been there for a while, maybe are as old as the last journal entry.
Back in the church proper, CornCob tries to treat and heal the wound on Aubrey’s arm, except it doesn’t look like a real wound to him. CornCob calls Gooseneck over to help, and then grabs her. He tries to keep her held until the others can come over and help tie her up.
Abran and I are on our way down about then anyway. Abran runs in the back door and jumps on her to keep her held down. Fathom runs over and tries to rip the amulet off her, fails. Pujol also tries to grab the necklace, and he succeeds. Yay! I go in, get out some rope, and do my best to tie her up within this mound of people.
We finally get her restrained. She admits she’s not really Aubrey, but we get the sense that she might not be being completely truthful in her answers. She says she tied the real Aubrey up and dumped her in the crypts. Maybe she’s still alive, maybe not. She is actually Sora, a shape changer, and she’s been trying to get control of the powerful magics left behind by the church – something that apparently the real Aubrey either didn’t have the interest or possibly the ability to do. Fathom makes an illusion of the sound of the golem. Most of us get that it’s a fake, but Abran makes ready to fight, and Sora definitely seems afraid of it. She says she didn’t make the flesh constructs, they just appeared by ‘magic’.
So here we are with a shape changer who at best is semi-cooperative and at worst is lying to us, a cleric who may or may not still be alive down in the crypts, and a very large stone golem apparently operating under its own agenda.
I hope Mayor Smelt pays well.
