Kulloda had missed the gnome completely and is almost surprised when he speaks. But when he hears Kedren mention not killing anything he nods his understanding. Perhaps these goliaths would be alright after all. 

But he has nothing more to add about the rituals since he didn't pay much attention to them in the first place.

"Fast pixies get angry and dark elves get angry if no ritual," Kulloda says and the nods at the chernomoi. "He too. Get angry then kill, kill kill. But not stay dead. Have to kill so many times."

He gestures back into the woods.

"Do rituals and they not kill. But not hurt bear. Bear just bear."

     "That's right, leave the bear alone and he'll leave you alone," Anachain confirms the point.  "Or... she.  I didn't really check.  Boundaries and all, yeah?"

     "But, umm... Yeah, there will be killing needed.  Repeatedly.  Unless you and your group find a way to break the curse.  For when the next ritual needs doing they will be angry and try to stop it and... Well, they do not listen to reason until the ritual is completed."  That said, she looks around to see if any of the darlklings are still nearby.  If so she will motion for them to come clearer and invite them to explain, if they wish.

Deniz smiles his thin, rare smile (which is becoming less rare of late) at Kulloda's explanation. If further details are required, Deniz is willing to elaborate, showing the goliaths (and the gnome) the book, and describing how this impacted the area upon the former warden's death and the lapse of the rituals. Then addressing Togar more so than the newcomers, Deniz asks:

Did the village agree to a long-term solution?

"They did not" the gnome Brimwattle squeaks out, "If I know that major then she's more concerned about not spreading panic than she is about actually solving the issue, As far as I can guess we are the only people in the town that have been told, though I am very interested... Say, Togar, you mentioned a druid that had been performing these rituals for a time... did he have an abode that I could look through?" the gnome turns to the chernomoi, thanking the fey creature before plucking a hair from the chernomoi's head and popping the sample in a vial...

Kedren opens a pouch which clanks with metal and pulls out what looks like hastily modified horse blinders, "when we gonna need to wear these? dunno why you asked me to bring 'em" he says to Togar before looking to Kulloda, "hey you look strong, wanna earn some coin? if you can find a couple crates that wont just break we can load up some o' this ore an' take it back to me smithy, hmm?"

The Darkling leader has been slow to react to Anachain calling him forth, but does slowly creep up and whisper to her, "how can I help?"

Kulloda looks at the horse blinders and laughs.

”Sometimes kill them and explode bright light. Then blind. Not good.”

Kulloda leaves the planning to the others and does decide to help Kedren find some crates that aren’t broken.

     "The mayor sent you all, are you not here to continue to do the rituals?" Anachain asks, hoping to clarify the situation.  "How many people know doesn't matter, so long as the ritual continues on and on and on..."

     Anachain is starting to wonder if these people came back just to plunder what they can instead of carrying on the needed rituals...

     "Oh, uh," She says, startled out of her pondering by the Darkling.  "I was just trying to point out that they will need work with you in order to keep the peace and all.  Though maybe you all should meet..."

"continue doing them?" Kedren asks confused, "we were told you guys needed help getting them done..." He looks to togar incredulously. 

As the newcomers ask questions, the Darkling leader steps forward and gives Kedren, Kia and Brimwattle a bow before eloquently describing how the rituals work, the need for repeating the rituals to stave off the cures of madness, he then begins to tell the story of why this curse has afflicted them to begin with.

"Ages past the unseelie of the feywild took power over certain areas and began treating the people they held power over very badly, enslavement, imprisonment, withdrawal of resources all because they had something we did not. An artifact that granted them protection. My group along with the Quickling's and the chernomoi decided to change that, with our talents we would heist the artifact, destabilise their power and unite the people to revolt. But we failed... We thought if we were caught we would be killed, that is something we had accepted but that was not to be our fate, they cursed us with a never ending resurrection, and a madness that would make us a threat to everyone around us... Then we were publicly released to the populace, to become a burden to them. The people took on our burden but we became hated, a symbol, a lesson to be learned, our failure became the people's failure. That was until the lizard man druid took us away. Jordgubb was able to tweak the bounds of our burden into rituals that would be easy to maintain. Making them any easier than he did was outside of his arcane ability but he did what he could, tied our fates to this land instead, gave us our lairs, kept us safe and was a damn good friend, he taught some of us the common language of this land too. And now he is gone" the Darkling leader lowers his head and waits for any response. Brimwattle listens eagerly and seems to be fascinated by the story, meanwhile kedren shrugs looking to kulloda, and Kia simply accepts the story with a bit of an exasperated sigh.

Kulloda nods to Kedren as he continues examining the remaining crates.

"All safe happy until no more ritual," Kulloda says. "Then become killer pixies."

He waves his hand around at all the signs of chaos and carnage around them.

"And lure merchants to woods. Then kill and kill. Not good business."

Deniz adds other details that he heard from Pom. In his matter-of-fact tone, he explains:

These cursed creatures cannot perform the rituals for themselves. Only an external agent may do so. Some rituals are only required weekly, while others are every two days. The means and resources are present for the most part, although some perishable food ingredients need to be periodically supplied.

The elf looks at the gnome, trying to gauge his reaction, and whether he understands the nature of the situation, then adds:

This situation requires ongoing and dedicated support, in a similar way that an environmental threat to the town would require sustained effort and vigilance.

"yes yes, it all sounds rather dire" Brimwattle bristles with interest "...But I think for the time being someone should very much continue these rituals. But for the larger part, I'd like to look into this curse, maybe a wizard like myself with an age of arcane experience, research and experimentation under my belt can do a little more for these beings than the druid. Not to toot my own horn as the people say. But there may be options here. You there 'Darkling' would you be willing to sacrifice a hair Luke your friend the chernomoi has done, it will help in my experiments"

The Darkling looks to the group for some kind of trust in this gnome.

Deniz is a little taken aback. He hadn't considered the possibility of actually modifying or diminishing or even ending the terms of the curse. The elf had been somewhat of a pariah in his very traditional and fate-oriented community for even suggesting measures to defend against the hazards of nature. The idea of actually combating or altering nature itself had never crossed his mind, nor would he have condoned such an idea, seeing it as meddling with sacred powers.

This fey curse was similar to him in many ways - as inevitable and unsolvable as nature - and he was even willing to take Jordgubb's place and spend the next several centuries protecting the village from the bloodthirsty fey. The gnome's alternative seemed almost blasphemous. Research. Experimentation. Manipulating rather than channeling natural forces (and yes even fey magics are a kind of nature).

Deniz the druid looks blankly at the darkling. He can offer no confidence for or against the gnome's proposal.

Togar looks to Kedren, saying “Yes, I said clearly, my friends can’t stay here and keep doing this ritual over and over… they will exhaust and die.  And there are many other things that we need to do.  This is affection your village and your trade routes, so I feel that the mayor would have a keen interest in stopping this, before more bloodshed occurs, before it ceases the trade route completely and her town goes out of business.  She seemed to agree with me.”  Togar stops and clucks, fluffing his feathers.  

After the gnome outlines his plan for research and experimentation to end the curse, Togar nods saying “Exactly, that is what I was hoping for.  An end to this madness, that is what the mayor seemed to wish as well.  I, for one, am all in favor.  You have the experience and knowledge (You guys should have seen the mayor’s look on her face when she hit his levitate trap, it was priceless!) to pull this off, I would recommend that you proceed, with all speed.  Hrrrmmmph.”  Togar straightens his vest and looks at the scene, reminding himself of the mess that was left here, and the hope that it could be ended.  

Kulloda grunts at mention of the mayor again.

”We solved bridge problem. Should go get paid.” Kulloda says but then pauses, frowning deeply. “Or do still need kill more pixies on west road?”

     Anachain watching Togar and his explanation to Kedren and tries to gain some insight as to whether Togar was truly clear and specific with the mayor or not. (Insight: 7 - She likely has no clue at all.)

     "We should stay at least long enough to know our friends understand and can perform the rituals," Anachain says, a bit reluctantly.  "But yes, then we should all return to the mayor.  We need make sure she understands this is an ongoing thing her people need to take care of, if the curse cannot be broken.  And get paid..."  She adds the last bit specifically for Kulloda.

(Actually, does this bit complete everything we promised to do?  I do not recall...)

     Anachain also sidles up to Darkling leader, Kedren and Deniz as they talk.  She overheard the bit about the artifact and is eager to press for more information about that in specific.  "We ourselves are looking for an artifact that was taken," she explains.  "A pearl..."  She explains what little she knows about the pearl and it's theft and interrogates the Darkling a bit to see if there is any connection or similarities in the two stories beyond the obvious... (Investigation? 18) 

Before the group leaves, Kia gifts the Chernomoi with a half stale pastry and sees to it that the fey is sated for the next 48 hours, Kedren gives up on the ore for now as he sees the importance of this mission going on without him and decides that his ore can be returned to later.
As the group take time to escort the newcomers to the Druid's hut, the darkling follows and tells of several artifacts in the feywild, Brimwattle listens and when the Darkling leader is finished, the gnome regales the party on his knowledge of artifacts of this realm "This pearl you seek, is it perchance the Pearl of Aeloria?... yes I rremember being told of the offering by the god herself, artifacts like that when held in high regard in any given local, pass blessings upon the area, Aeloria has for ages now blessed the town of Eldershore with good weather for fishing, bountiful harvests and the like, until it disappeared... there are other artifacts of power like it in the realm, weapons that have felled great beasts, items crafted of significant resource that was once blessed or created by deities, I've even heard tell of an orb that imbues life to those who have lost theirs or that their time should have passed long ago... but this is all hearsay I suppose, You'd have to find some pretty powerful and knowledgable people to really verify this stuff, not that I'm not knowledgable, but this is dangerous dwellings, and I'm not too fussed about power, I find my fascinations in fun stuff instead, like this ritual predicament!"

Reaching the hut, the Lanternbearers seem to remain in their stones, their task of finding help now fulfilled. Brimwattle starts rifling through the things and assembling several tools, he takes note of the iron spikes and asks to see the book that Deniz has on him, from there the gnome starts carving an arcane circle into the table and begins small experiments on the hairs he has collected from the two types of fey, "I'll likely need to get some more things from my house but that I can do later, this will certainly do as a base of operations, and as long as someone else can keep up with the rituals then I can get my work done quickly, thank you all." 
Kedren and Kia sigh, resigning themselves to this ritual task, "I got just about no orders at the shop anyway" Kedren sighs, "...and I could use some hunting practice, this one probably wont feed himself if nobody else is here" Kia states gesturing to her bow and then Brimwattle in quick succession.


 

Togar nods approvingly, watching what Brimwattle is doing with interest.  He stands nearby, listening for snippets of information, offering his thoughts when he can.  “Do you have any spells that will help with this situation?  Are you familiar with any rituals such as this?”  He starts to delve into the magic behind what is occuring here, interested to learn more.  He brings out his spell book and wants to compare it, make notes, and review any sections in Brimwattle’s spell book if offered or if he takes it out for study.  After a while he becomes aware of time, the others gathered nearby, turning to Anachain, Deniz and Kulloda, saying “Fascinating stuff.  There is so much I could learn from this.  But perhaps we should head back to the mayor and on to our next task.  She gave me a feather and some dust as part of their magical stores.  There were other magical items that our friends here have.  Well.. what are our plans from here?  Do you need to rest and recover from the ordeal, I’ll keep working with Brimwattle… or should we head back?”

Kulloda watches the little gnome but loses interest when he starts experimenting with the hair.

He does pat the stones that house the lanternbearers and nods at the horse blinds the Goliath brought. 

"If lantern carriers come out, close eyes," Kulloda says. He thinks about how to explain the trance that ensues but eventually just shakes his head and says "Magic."

He laughs when Togar mentions getting a feather from the mayor.

"Ha. Togar already have feathers. Kulloda thinks mayor fooled you." He claps Togar on the shoulder. "Lets rest in town."

     Anachain has a slight interest in the magic experimentation and all but only slight.  She's not going to actually learn magic, after all.  Understanding what they are doing or talking about won't change her ability to tap into what she can tap into...  But she does find some interest in Togar mentioning magic items.

     "The mayor gave you some of the party's payment then?" she inquires when he brings up the feather and the dust.  "And also gave some of it to the others?"  This last bit is added in a hush.  It had been her understanding the party was to get all the town's magic items, if the mayor is doling them out to others then she is going back on the deal!

"it's only a loan, we're supposed to give them back when we return" Kia responds to anachain betraying the fact that the female Goliath was eavesdropping, "so you're all out after this pearl of alaria or something... What got you all wrapped up in that? Gesture of good will? Blackmailed by some noble? Perhaps a higher calling?" She continues highly curious despite herself.

Kedren smiles at kulloda and gives the bag of modified horse blinders an amused shake before grunting, "bloody magic, more trouble than it's worth eh?" 

After an hour, you are all able to get at least a short rest before heading off to town. Brimwattle's experiments continue, he becomes more and more focused, ignoring the goings on around him, after a while he has a jewelers loupe on one eye as he checks a the hue of a vial that he shakes in one hand with the distilled hair of the chernomoi suspended in some solution he brought from home. There are several dissatisfied grunts from the gnome before he looks around the room and locks eyes with the quiet Darkling leader standing in the corner, "you say you and your kin have been carrying this burden for an age, if the possibility of reversing the curse is beyond me, I could possibly concentrate solely on dispelling the continued resurrection of your bodies... This would mean that if you so choose, you would finally be able to be at peace... No chance of any of you hurting another person..." Brimwattle asks with a wan smile, this not being the option that he was hoping for but his frustrations give the insight that this may be the easiest path. The Darkling leader frowns and sits in thought for a moment.