AKA “42% Tip”
AKA “One Holler, That’s a Dollar”

In the morning, we head for the stagecoach. It is us and a random woman. It is a 3 day journey. As we are leaving Vale’s End, we hear the driver and guards at the gate talking about a risk of bandits in the local area. On the guard’s station there is a small sign that says “Increase Patrols, Refugee Situation.”

We transition from city cobblestones to packed earth roads. We pass a working farm and see that the gate is open. We see wagon tracks leading out toward Vale’s End. Also the chicken coop is empty.

The family is packing up to leave. The father says that things are getting too bad here and they can’t stay. The mother says that he is overreacting but their daugter has been acting strangely after going into the woods. She has been obsessively drawing the same thing over and over.

We stop the carriage and go inside to see what the girl is doing. Her drawings are of trees with faces, a crystalline heart in a temple, and the same phrase “they remember everything.”

Gordon sees that she is under a mild enchantment. Celestiah checks her aura and sees something grasping her, but she can’t dispel it. We decide that we can’t help her and we head out.

A few hours later we cross the Silver Flow River via Bertram’s Ferry. We overhear Bertram speaking with someone, saying that the river started flowing backward. As we complete our crossing, the water goes completely clear and we see visions of the ferry being built, and then we see ourselves, older, crossing back this way. Korgrath, Celestiah, and Lupin are especially affected by the vision and suffer strain.

We glimpse the forest soon after. Later we pass a merchant who has very strange wares like a mirror that shows other people’s reflections.

As we are heading into the forest people pass us. They hand a map to Lupin and say “you will need this more than us.” The map supposedly shows safe paths through the forest. Similarly someone gives Felric a vial of Liquid Courage.

We approach a tower that is three stories. The temperature starts to drop, and mist rises up from the warm ground. The door is broken open and there is faint light coming from the windows. There are ancient carved warnings in multiple languages. Celestiah knows that it is very old, from the Mordun civilization, and was likely made by dwarves. The Mordun were the “first rememberers” and were more in tune with emotions than anything else. Their healers didn’t just mend bodies, they mended hearts and minds. Gordon’s great grandmother would have talked about these areas.

We decide to check out the tower for 20 minutes. We see carved everywhere the words “they remember.” The second floor is abandoned guard quarters. There are personal effects here left behind in haste. We find a journal entry and part of it says “day 12. The dreams are getting stronger. I can see her face. Tomorrow I go to find her.”

On the top floor we see an elf, and we startle him. He says his name is Malanis and he’s here to study the Mordun. In his journal he is sketching out the construction of the tower. He says that he is unaffected by the forest because of the pendant he’s wearing. He says that the pendant is from the order of Anamnesis. They are the “rememberers of the forgotten, the chroniclers of the lost.” He wants to understand why some things choose to be forgotten.

At night we hear music, like a child’s lullaby, coming from the forest. Celestiah summons her familiar to check out the forest.

Felric stays up to keep watch. He notices after a while that the coach drivers are humming the tune. Suddenly they get up and start walking toward the source. Lupin and Felric grab them and pull them back.

Celestiah casts a spell to create a dome around us to protect us from the music. It takes her a few moments to create it, but two more hours to make sure it is sustained for the next eight. Using her astrolabe and being under the open sky, her powers are greatly increased.