Saralas: Session 1

8 Elesias 1492

• Everyone is in Nimsy's house in Lonelywood to start, in the attic
• Morning of the 8th, waning moon
• Min showed up. She lied about how she got in but I didn't press the matter
• The Fighter can't be trusted (which since we never see him again whatever I guess)
• Went downstairs for breakfast from the mayor. Still pitch black outside
• The White Moose started its rampage about 2 months ago, and it has killed 6 people
• Typically attacks logging camps, though it has been seen on the edge of town once or twice
• Town has a sheriff and a militia
• Rogue asks if there are new people or suspicious people in town, but the mayor says, no, very few new people and Lonelywood doesn't get much visitors. Can still sell lumber and scrimshaw but things have taken a turn for the worse.
• Supply caravans come infrequently, and mishaps occur along the road, and trade suffers
• Loggers are reluctant to log because they keep getting attacked.
• Min asks about payment. Nimsy remembers the Cleric saying "A night's rest seems more than fair"
• Min threatens Nimsy's children in exchange for payment. We failed to persuade him to pay after already agreeing to do it for a night's rest and food
• Now it's about to get violent, we leave before it gets bad
• We leave at 9 am, aurora's in all colors, green, blue, purple, red, and shifting. Sky is still black
• I go look for moose signs, 1 hour. I take Rudra and Korag with me. We'll meet at the tavern
• Fighter is going to the Ramshackle Inn, he finds that it is in good condition and probably being used for storage
• We find a logging camp, about a dozen loggers sitting idle around a campfire, they seem surprised to see a giant but somewhat friendly. But they are sad Korag doesn't know his childhood friend.
• Logger tells us that Nimsy sent three 10-man parties of hunters after the moose, only 4 hunters came back.
• We meet an old logger who saw it and was mauled. Two others were killed. Those who look for it haven't been able to find it. It usually attacks remote camps, three or four men. But after they started sending larger more armed groups it started attacking at night.
• Logger says they can't pay very much, but he gives the Druid a hatchet, that he made himself from steel from somewhere but I didn't hear.
• Foreman asks what it took for us to take the job (other group turned down 250 gold and the deed to the inn). Druid explains that we would do it for a night's sleep.
• They have seen it in all different places in the forest. Reckons our best bet is to go into the woods not in force and the moose will probably find us. 4 or 5 people is probably getting to be a lot.
• Survivors are still in town. Maybe we should meet them. We head back to town to meet up with the other groups by the tavern.
• 10 am, see a dull sickly glow in the sky. Maybe it's "day", but it seems magical, and you almost hear something that goes with it.
• We go into the woods and find moose tracks, which we follow into a clearing. We find a moose, but it isn't the white moose. The druid goes into a trance for a short while and then appears to speak with the Moose. He explains that the white moose is the hero of the moose, as he avenges the deaths of moosekind. Blames the loggers for logging the forest and the townsfolk for killing the moose.
• The moose points to the northeast, says the white moose can be found in the ruins near Snow Hill. Then he bounds off.
• Saralas wants to find the moose. He's a ranger and he fights to protect people from creatures like this. Others seem sympathetic to the moose plight. Saralas is not.
• The gnome nearly falls out of a tree.
• Some suggest heading back to town while it's still light, but I convince people to go on, most of us have dark vision.
• We follow tracks to the edge of the trees, and at the edge of the trees we see a snowy hill, with what appear to be ruins around. From the middle of the site, we see a crystal at least 20 feet tall. We see what looks to be a sarcophagus in the snow, surrounded by six pillars
• We also see a row of marble statues atop granite pillars.
• In the semicircle we see a raised platform to the west that looks like a sundial. To the east of that we see the sarcophagus and the pillars.
• The snow is very deep. The fighter takes the staircase up onto the platform. He sees the sundial is actual moon phases. It's actually a moondial. The rogue puts on snowshoes and walks up the hill to surveil the site.
• She notices there is a doorway leading into the hill, adjacent to the moon dial.
• Written around each of the moon phase symbols they see text in elvish. The only inscriptions that are stable are those around the full and half moon.
  • Full moon: gaze upon your own face, and have seven questions answered
  • Half moon: unlock the tombs of the half moon
• There are faces on the statues but they are somewhat indistinct. Looking closely you see they appear to have pointy ears. With that and the elvish I conclude these are probably elves
• The door is a smooth stone door with no visible hinges, latches or other obvious signs. It is magic, we can feel it.
• A granite sarcophagus rests surrounded by five pillars. From north to south
  • Twig
  • Pine cone
  • Flame
  • Feather
  • Human hand
• About 40 ft to the north of the sarcophagus is another raised platform, and in the center of that platform there is a large brass brazier. The bowl is nearly 20 inches in diameter, and is full of snow and pine needles. It is adhered to the marble floor and cannot be budged. I clean it out. There's nothing obvious about the brazier. I can't tell if it is connected in any way to the door.
• This sounds arcane and I'm hesitant
• As the sun is setting the Fighter adds a twig and pine cone he found the forest, a feather pulled from an arrow, and lights a torch. I realize he's preparing to light his hand on fire and I shout STOP