The Wildemount Irregulars (2020)

Not today, Balto says firmly. Plenty of time for all that tomorrow. Whatever the ghost is doing, it hasn't hurt anyone yet. Maybe it's friendly. I suppose there are friendly ghosts in the stories, right?

You spend a pleasant afternoon and evening catching up with Alton's family. If there's a particular conversation you want to have, or any question you want to ask, let me know. Otherwise we'll skip to the following morning.

At some point in the evening, probably more than a few drinks deep, Silent will broach the subject of the conflict. 

Hell of a thing, eh? War on the doorstep. You folk seem to be keeping well away from the ruckus though - if the gods are good, it'll stay that way. Say, you ain't seen no Krynn 'round these parts, have you? 

Krynn? Alton's father looks a little alarmed. Do you mean, from Xhorhas? I shouldn't think they'd be interested in anything round here. I know there's danger from the war, but don't worry, son - I can't imagine any of those drow folks would know where we are.

We haven't seen anything dangerous, Alton's mother adds. Not round here. We had some Crownsguard pass through and warn us to report if anyone saw anything, but no. Not a thing, thank goodness.

Haha, fair enough! Can't be too careful in these times, but glad to hear they haven't been ranging this far west. Thanks much again for the hospitality, you've all been too kind. I'll let you get some rest. 

Silent will retire for the night. 

Alton lets out a sigh of relief that he had unknowingly held when Silent asked about the Krynn. "That's good to hear. Yeah, some rest would be a good idea. We don't want to be tired for our ghost hunt." He stretches and gets up to help with some of the cleaning before saying goodnight to everyone and retiring for the night. 

The family makes beds for Silent and Balasaar in the front room; Alton, your bedroom is immaculately clean but otherwise undisturbed from when you left it.  You all sleep well, the best in a long time, surrounded by comfort, warmth and goodwill.  You wake in the morning having completed a long rest, and sit down with the family for a typically generous halfling breakfast.

Fine weather for a ghost hunt, says Alton's father, whose name you have learned is Balton.

You be carefully, and don't do anything foolish, says Alton's mother, whose name is Anara.

Outside, the sun is up, it's a cool day rather than chilly, the sky is clear and the village already bustling with life.

Balassar just chuckles at Baltons comment as he walks in "Who knows maybe we will go ghost hunting. Is there gold for it?" he says shoving food that wasn't rations into his mouth.

Wanna go talk to Maxie Oldhill? Or should we just head straight for the woods, see what we find? 

"I don't think it would hurt to hear what Maxie has to say."

Silent will ask around to figure out where Maxie lives, unless Alton or his parents already know and can point them in her direction. 

Alton does indeed know where the Oldhills live, and a few minutes later you find yourselves seated in the front room. Maxina Oldhill sits on a chair; her mother Juniper stands behind her, looking concerned.

You're not going to kill the ghost are you? Maxina asks in a tone suggesting she would be very disappointed in you if you did. He seemed nice.

I don't think there are any nice ghosts, dear, Juniper says, in a manner indicating they have had this conversation before. But it's good that you're here to investigate dear, she says to Alton; I don't want Maxie going back there and getting in any trouble.

Alton gives them a reassuring smile, "We'll only kill the ghost if necessary. It would be fun to find a nice ghost. Do you know around what time of day you saw it, and maybe what it looked like?" 

Hmmph, says Maxie replies, looking unimpressed. I'm not going to tell you unless you promise...

Maxina Oldhill, that's not how we speak to guests! her mother says sharply.

Maxie looks unhappy, but reluctantly says: I saw him by the little pool in the middle of the woods. It was late, in the afternoon, but it was cloudy so kind of dark already. He looked like... I dunno. He was human, and old, old like grampa. He didn't look sad or angry. Maybe he looked like he was waiting for something.

Alton thinks for a moment, "Hmm, okay. Maybe they have unfinished business or something." He looks to Balassar and Silent, "What do you two think?" 

Must be waiting for us, grunts Silent. To the woods, then, let's see what gramps wants. 

Walking together, you pass through the little village - this doesn't take long - across the fields until you reach the smallish woods that lie nearby. Alton, you recall from your childhood that the woods are pretty safe, there would occasionally be sightings of a dangerous creature, but they were often skittish of halfling or human folk and kept their distance. You don't recall anything about ghosts. You do know where the pond lies, near the centre of the woods, fed by a little trickle of a stream down from the hills.

You stand at the tree line, looking in, seeing nothing surprising yet. How do you want to approach this?

What do you say, Alton? Think we need to be cautious? Don't look too scary to me, seems like we'd be fine just strollin' on in. 

Alton looks up at Silent, "I think we should be fine. These woods don't usually have anything dangerous in them. Also, from what it sounds like this ghost doesn't sound dangerous." He takes a glance around the clearing before stepping into the clearing and walks around the pond.

You walk less than half an hour under the trees; it's dark, but not oppressively so, quiet, but there are still small creatures running here and there, the sound of birdsong above you.

You reach the pond, and look around. Alton, it looks a little deeper, perhaps a little bluer than you remember it. The rocks near the edge look as slippery as you recall; you've swum in this pond after heavy rains when it was as deep as this perhaps.

Silent will manifest his Echo and say to the others, I can have him walk over the pond, see if anything wakes up and tries to grab him?