“Sorry for the loss of your cousin. How recently did this occur? Was there anything that led up to this? Raids? Bad blood with rivals? Anything that might have predicated a full blown disappearance like this?”

I hold up my green crow bar for him to examine.

“On our route, we noticed something off with the water along the way - it produced this odd effect on the metal as you can see. Any chance the disappeance and the change in the water may be related?”

Bartram Shadecrest
Lvl 1 | Human | Rogue 

Feeling a little exposed standing outside in what is an deserted town speaks up, "Might I suggest we take this conversation inside. We are a little exposed out here and I would love to sit while we talk as we have been on the road for awhile. Might I suggest that we look for what was this towns inn."

"Something foul is afoot," says Fumbles. "My informant informed me of the information about this town flying the coop. There's an aura about us, magic is wild around here. As a collector of magical artifacts, my curiosity led me here, but alas, the place has been emptied. I cannot stay long, unfortunately, but you'll find the town's inn down that street."

He points further down a side road, where you can see a large hanging sign that simply says "INN".

When you look back, Fumbles McNilrog is gone, seemingly disappeared.

“Masters of obfuscation, these town folk. Anyone else getting weirded out by the overall vibe here? Let’s get to the Inn posthaste”

"He's just... gone? He couldn't have run off that quick. A weird aura about us indeed. I'd feel more comfortable inside, let's get to that inn."

"Let's hope this Inn is a bit more normal than everything else we've encountered recently." Karst begins to move forward scanning the area as he goes. 

Bartram Shadecrest
Lvl 1 | Human | Rogue 

Walking towards the inn with the others, Bartram keeps an eye out. "While we are here it might be a good idea to look for any supplies that we could use. I hate to say it, but since the place is abandoned they won't miss anything."

Meepo disarms his trap and places it back to his belongings after the gnome fled without trace.

He then follows Bartram's suggestion and offer his help in finding supplies at the direction where the inn was supposed to be found.

The inn is as desolate as the rest of town, missing any valuables, but containing plenty of food within the kitchen, enough to keep you fed for the night. Beyond a mess kit, tinderbox, and a dozen torches within the kitchen, 50 feet of hempen rope, and fourteen bars of soap within the baths, nothing else of value is found through the night. Curiously, there is also no sign of conflict within the town with the orcs camped in the Moon Pass you were tasked with gathering information on.

Meepo sets up a table for the party and sits to one of them as he prepare their food for the night. He then sets up his hunting trap behind the inn's main door.

"Earlier, I saw a suspicious rock gnome covered in black robes talking to a bugbear as if reprimanding it.

Minutes later, we saw another rock gnome in colorful robes looking for a halfling named Doramor. I can't believe that seeing two rock gnomes in an abandoned place for one day is coincidental.

Lastly, there's a river filled with unknown, wacky substance and a vanishing, floating tower we saw before we entered Rauvincross. 

The only good thing we know is the arrow we had from the kobolds and the senile old man's warnings.

This place is too bizarre for me to sleep through the night even when we're inside this comfortable building. Let's take watches till morning comes."

“I will take first watch.” I focus on any of the exposed entry points. 

"Gnomes? Bugbears? What is going on here? Hmm, worries for the next day I say."

"This place is too eerie. I think I'm gonna rest here in the common room, anyone else wanna stay in here?" Travus unfolds his bedroll and lays down in it, snacking on some rations and sipping on water, but can't find it in himself to fall into any deep sleep. "I'll take watch whenever, just tell me when we're shifting out."

Bartram Shadecrest
Lvl 1 | Human | Rogue 

"If we are looking for volunteers for guard shifts, I'll take the last one shift." Taking out the bell in his kit and some string, Bartram goes to the rear door of the inn. Attaching the bell to the string, he hangs it in front of the door so it will ring when the door is opened. 

"I will fit in wherever but we need to be alert, something is off, I agree two rock gnomes seemingly with quite different agendas in the same place is interesting to say the least. It could even be the same one attempting to deceive us with illusions, they are known for their skills in illusions I believe."

"Agreed that we should stay together. This place reeks of danger. Everyone get comfy. I will take first shift."

Karst - please take second shift. Meepos - do you want to help him keep an eye out?"

"Bartram - Please take last shift - if you want to assist him Travus, that would be great."

I take  a look around the common room with the intent to secure it from outside view. If there are any exposed windows, I look for blankets to hang over them. After I secure the room, I put my hand on the pommel of my blade and stand at the ready looking at any potential issue.

"I, Meepo, shall take the third watch since no one has taken it.

So I, Meepo, will bid the rest of you good night."

The desert kobold drops dead at his bedroll and starts sleeping.

Surprisingly, the night passes peacefully in the unnerving town, the alarm by the entrance unrung. The air has an unnatural silence to it as you pack up the following morning and head further into the Moon Pass. 

After a time, it appears that whatever caused the residents of Rauvincross to leave has also affected the surrounding area. Not one orc stalks the foothills. A tenday of searching shows that like Rauvincross, the empty orc encampments offer no clues. The game in the area likewise has disappeared; any edible plant life is gone, but you find enough food throughout the orc encampments to keep you from being forced to return to Rauvincross or rely on rations.

A mist has slowly formed throughout the area, further complicating the search. It is evening as you stumble upon a half-buried sword, but it reveals only the remains of an ancient battleground - another dead end. 

"Yup, another dead end, and the mysterious mist that the orcs were crazy about is starting to envelope this place."

Meepo feels exhausted after finding no more clues to what they came here for. He turns to Aradurk and makes a suggestion.

"Leader, it seems we have a few options we can take for now.

Meepo's favorite suggestion is to go back to Sundabar and report to Paladin Glendale on what we found, which is nothing except for a bizarre river, a vanishing tower, and the abandoned Rauvincross.

We could venture further into the mist, it would be risky but we could know more why orcs steer away from it. I highly not recommend it because I'm afraid and the mist would make our search perilous.

We could also go to another nearby settlement and check for rumors for the supplier of magic weapons. Rauvincross is not the only place of civilization around the Nether Mountains you know.

Lastly, there is also the cave the kobolds told us about. There is a slight chance we could find the orc they were talking about and ask more questions directly."

"We've managed on food stores left behind by orcs and they will not last indefinitely, if we head blindly into the mist we may starve. Returning to Glendale seems a failure to me but we cannot walk in circles forever - either we push on to another settlement if we can find one or we try and find this cave, but after all this time the chances of the orc still being there seems slim. There is one other possibility, maybe we try and wait out the mist, it could pass or it could bring something we could use to report to Glendale on."

“Meepos - you and the others are right. There is something maddening about these mists - magic in their origins. One of the things I wondered is if there is a connection between the taint in the river and the movement of the mists. Have we observed a correlation between the two?”

”I don’t think moving headlong into circles will bear fruit toward finding the answers we seek. I would be amenable to back tracking to see if anything reveals itself toward Glendale. Perhaps we reconnect with the fellows from the union or any of their comrades to see if there is any help they may provide.”