A brief respite from horror and a tankard of ale or three of ale at the Sitting Duck are about the only joys a resident of Falcon's Hollow can look forward to. As summer wields to autumn, the leaves of Darkmoon Wood pale to jaundiced yellow or bloody crimson. They dying summer is another reminder that life is cheap in Darkmoon Vale. There is a saying in Falcon's Hollow: "Sorrow becomes joy, joy rots to misery, and so all things turn bloody in the end".
Many died during the carnival. Falcon's Hollow fell under a pall of mourning for months, and the town shrunk as many abandoned it as an accursed place. In addition, a good number of Syntira's followers were polluted beyond redemption (forever becoming dark ice fey). Still, our adventurers are heralded as heroes for preventing more death, and Syntira and her loyal followers were able to push her corrupted court members from Darkmoon Vale, banishing them as she once did their forebearers to the frozen wastes inhabited by the Witch Queen.
Although free from her torment, Tessa was forever changed (at least according to Namdrin) by her harrowing experience. She became a cold woman, stern, and quick to judge others. She grew to despise Namdrin for his weakness of love and falling for the cold rider's duplicitous plan. She left the half-elf, regretting her involvement with him, and sought companions unswayed by heady emotion - far more practical, and even iron-handed in the pursuit of law and control. After being snubbed by the heroes, she was seduced by Thuldrin Kreed, who impressed her with his ruthless pursuit of power and authority and his utter lack of whimsical notions.
When his love left him, Namdrin was crushed perhaps even more than when the cold rider took her from his side. He became a dangerous man, as fiery as his mistress had turned cold, prone to violent outbursts of drunken revelry given way to brawls and street battles. He soaked his pain in alcohol and whores, and soon ended up tied around Kabran Bloodeye's little finger. He in turn grew to despise Tessa.
The nymph queen was indebted to the heroes. Additionally, Syntira and her fey were blamed for the cold rider's assault on Falcon's Hollow. Thuldrin Kreed tried to harness the rage at the fey's attack on the town to galvanize his place at the helm of the town by calling upon the townsfolk to hunt down the fey and slaughter them to the last. Thuldrin has big dreams of being elected mayor of Falcon's Hollow in the settlement's first organized election, and he tried to use the people's hatred of the fey as a rallying point. Fortunately, the heroes successfully countered his fey propaganda and offered their own candidate for the mayor's office: Wrack.
A couple of festivals occur in Falcon's Hollow during this time as well. The first is held at the temple of Iomedae, celebrating Ascendance Day, the day the mortal Iomedae became a goddess. The second is Jestercap, a day of pranks and practical jokes, favored by gnomes.
One cold, misty morning a man came stumbling into town. Mutters Kondlan was the task master at Thuldrin Kreed's newest cutyard, 2 miles into the shadowy glens of Darkmoon Wood. The poor wretch arrived at dawn, his finery in tatters and his stringy hair matted with sweat and blood. His tidings soon reached every ear. He didn't see the horror that cut down his men, but he fled the cutyard pursued by screams and dying gurgles of his lumberjacks that echoed through the trees. Anxiously, the town waited for other survivors to appear, but only cold silence came from the forest through thinning mist. Fear gripped the town. Nearly two dozen men and women were missing in the darkness beneath the forest canopy, and the shouts and wails of their kin ringed across Falcon's Hollow. And on the perch looking over the rest of the town, Thuldrin Kreed, his interests threatened by this new incident, met quietly with advisors to discuss possible courses of action.
No comments:
Post a Comment