Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold

Symania's countenance turns grim as she talks about this next part. "While Reptar was asleep, he was shot in the upper chest with a crossbow quarrel covered in drow sleep poison and then stabbed through the heart with a sword. Given the size and depth of the puncture wound I think it was a rapier. Almost a third of the fallen were murdered in their sleep. If one of the sleeping hunters hadn't emerged from his tent to go to the bathroom everyone might have died that way. Other than the necklace I didn't find anything else of particular interest inside his tent. There were only his effects and he'd been sleeping alone."

John looks sick but manages to ask, "How many died? And where did the Drow come from?"

Symania's eyes glow gold for second as she says in quiet anger, "Of the thirty-two hunters in the camp, only thirteen survived the slaughter and of that group, three will never hunt or fight again due to their injuries. Of their dependents, twenty men, women, and children were able to escape with Aymar out of fifty-three. Of those survivors, three men and two women died yesterday from their wounds. Ten children were taken by the drow of which only one survived the sacrifice Yorenan and his men interrupted and only then because of the drow in Yorenan's custody. That's twenty-nine survivors out of eighty-five. Those were our three largest hunting bands, we've been severely weakened.

As for the raiding party itself, Yorenan estimated their strength at thirty-two of which four were able to escape back to the Underdark. They wore heavy armor and carried powerful weapons.  An additional four to nine died or were seriously injured during the attack once Aymar was able to organize some resistance though I was only able to confirm the four dead. The bulk of their force attacked from the west while a smaller force from the east infiltrated the camp to slaughter who they could and to sow chaos once the fighting started.

After gathering up what captives they could, the drow ran them two miles to the east to some strange ruins in the Briar Hills. Yorenan said they looked of minotaur make but if this is so, this is the first I've heard of any this far south. I sent most of my band to secure it and after this business with Yorenan and the surviving drow is done I'll collapse that tunnel for good."

Kathryn frowns with her arms folded while listening to the account of the raid against the Moondancers. She doesn't say anything.

Carlos strokes his beard - "Maybe i'm just dim, but this was a whole lotta purpose for a raiding party to ambush this one camp, then take the children and..." - he stops himself from finishing - "Something about the whole thing doesn't look right, alright."

Hunter listens and nods, his countenance falling grim almost by proxy. He'll have to ask the folks in the cabin about what happened during that ritual...

"I thought they might have come from that way. Yeah, sounds like they really prepared for this. Did the ruins look old, or was that an illusion?"

"I don't know, I haven't been there yet and it was outside the scope of what Yorenan asked me to look into. You should ask him when you get the chance.

But I agree with Carlos. There's more to this than just a raiding party looking to cause some mayhem. Whatever they were after had something to do with the children. I suggest you ask our surviving drow about it."

"Aye, that we mean to, but... how come n'one else's questioned her yet?"

"Yorenan has been trying. Her throat was cut during the second battle and she is unable to speak, even after being healed. Add to that the lack of writing supplies and they've been having a frustrating time of it. She also only speaks and writes drow elven, which contains more than a few words and expressions we don't use ourselves anymore and in some cases, never used. Not an impossible problem, but it slows things down. I'm hoping you will take some paper to him. I have some in my tent."

Hunter nods enthusiastically. "That'll definitely help us! I have a bunch of stuff I need to write down before I forget. And checking whether that tunnel is disguised in any way could also tell whether this was just a well-planned raid or if they've been hiding all this time. That is, if you have to go out there right now," he adds, begging implicitly that she join them for a while.

"We might not need to go there, Hunter," Kat says. "We could just ask the drow about it."

"Shouldn' we get Salihn's side of the story 'fore we get to that, though?"

"Yes."

Kat's confusion elicits the faintest of twitches in Hunter's tail, and instead of correcting her, he stares off somewhere else to hide his reaction. He also has to try and hide it from the Moondancers, which (unfortunately) includes Symania.

Deception 8
He does a poor job of it.

Symania makes a sad halfgrin at Hunter trying to hide how upset he is about whatever it is Kat said but she doesn't want to embarrass him in front of his friends and cousin by asking about it so she instead says, "I'm not going anywhere except to my tent. I still need to study the magic on the necklace, remember? Speaking of which, I'll take that back Zoe."

"Oh, of course! Here." Zoe hands the necklace back to Symania, who pockets it again.

"So, will you guys come and get the paper first or will you go to Salihn now?"

The distraction helps Hunter transition back out of his frustration. "I definitely need the paper first. I also need something to write with." He directs that second statement to everyone.

Kat glances at Jojo; surely the merchant has something to write with. She will go to Salihn's tent once Hunter has the paper.

While they go, Hunter asks a few more questions about Salihn and Reptar. "How long were Salihn and Reptar 'together' before he broke it off? I'm assuming it was him, right? When did that happen? Did they have a falling out before?"

"I have my writing kit Hunter. Plenty of paper in there. Let me dig it out." Jo pulls his backpack off and starts pulling out his nice writing case while Symania answers Hunter's questions.

"They were together for about four months but she's pined over him since they were young. And yes, he broke it off. I don't know why, only that it was almost a year ago. She's tried to win him back at least three times now, possibly more. You could try asking Terron, they were best friends and sometimes rivals, always competing to see who could shoot the most accurately or sneak up on the other without being seen."

"Got it," exclaims Jojo, holding up his writing kit above his head in victory. The walnut wood case is a bit dinged up here and there but Jo always keeps it in great shape otherwise. He hands it to Hunter. "Just make sure you put everything back where it goes when you're done."

Kat smiles at Jojo's mannerism and continues to listen to Symania's answers.

"Thanks, Jo."

Hunter busies himself with writing down everything he remembers. He looks up for a moment to comment:

"Right, Aymar mentioned him. Him and his hunters took first watch..." He taps his chin thoughtfully with the pen. "We might want to go talk to Terron and Imizael before we talk to Salihn...but only if she's going to be here for a while."

"Oh, wait. Grandma, were you there that night?"

"No. I didn't become involved until Yorenan contacted me with a Sending spell. I was in the middle of a training exercise with my band when that happened. Fortunately we weren't that far off. Yorenan promised to come visit me when his patrol took him closer to our camp." She sweeps her hand around to indicate she means this area. "It's been too long since we shared a meal."

"Aye, we'll do our best that ya can rectify that soon." - Carlos cracks as much of a smile as he can, considering the situation, before going back to business - "I really think Salihn's the person of interest right now. Gotta good idea what may've happen'd, an' i reckon the lass might not be in a talkin' mood."

Hunter nods in agreement with Symania. "Yeah, it's really great to see you again. Thanks for coming to talk."
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"I think we'll come by later after you and Jojo study the charm. When do you think you'll be done?"

"Of course. I'll see my son out of this safely if it's the last thing I do. But it shouldn't take more than an hour or two. I'll keep you updated. In the meantime, Avandra's Luck to you all. Stay safe." She pulls Hunter and then John into a crushing grandma hug. She smells like wild flowers. After breaking off the hug, she shouts, "Come on Jo, step up! We march for my tent!" She marches off in good order with her men and it takes a moment for a surprised Jojo to realize he should follow. When he does, he laughs, waves to you guys, and then walks quickly after the troop of elves. They head northeast. It looks like their route will take them towards Aymar.

While Zoe is waving goodbye to Jo she says, "I agree with Carlos, we should hit up Salihn next. I want to see if she has anything to do with this and if she does, she might run if she hears about us talking to her friend." After you guys agree, you make the journey back to the southwest towards the clearing with the Ranger cabin.

It's much the same as earlier, with different groups of elves of various sizes loitering around the clearing. Kathryn starts drawing a crowd of lookie-loos again, putting Folan and his men back to work. There's no sign of Senior Hunter Zoras, but a group of his men are now watching you. What will you guys do?

Kathryn smiles and waves energetically at Zoras' men before continuing on her way to where Salihn is supposed to hang out. There are so many people here however that she has to stop and scan the small groups of people to find the elven woman.

If she can't find her, she'll politely ask a random woman or child if they've seen Salihn.

Perception: