SE06 : EP08 - Kidnapping in Mortenfield

The Adventuring Guild has requested the Meridians to help them out with a mission. A town requested help, and they are hoping to have them take a distress call from an off-world town. Having the spare personnel they send Ryder, Alder, Sentinel , Gavin, Merit, and Kayla.   Wulf Goldbrick meets them and pairs them up with a Guild Signal, Reggie. They are given instructions to meet the Mayor of a town just on the other side. A forest opens up across the portal they see a well-trod path. They pass through and follow the path until they come across a man pulling a single horse-driven cart. He seems shaken and terrified. He also seems brusk with Alder, calling him a member of the monster races. A little farther on, they meet a group of hunters traveling out to the forest. They are from the party's destination. Mortonfield. They point out that they don't see many elves around here, most of them living in the south. The locals are primarily humans and some halflings.   The forest opens up to a handful of fields spanning out for a collection of buildings. It is a small farming town but has some dozen family homes. They pass two hooded men driving a cart marked with the local merchants guild medallion. As they get to the center of town, they meet Harold Draymond, the Mayor, calming two of his citizens that "They will be here soon." As soon the party hails them, the Mayor gladhands them and ushers them into the town hall. He explains two members of the Rockfalls family were kidnapped while the town was fighting a fire in the fields. The Mayor suspects a local den of gnolls that have haggard the town before. They've only stolen the occasional head of cattle, but they have been bolder lately.   They meet the family and try to see if they have enemies or any reason why this may have singled their children out. The elven father fills them in on the details as his human wife cares for Willow, their youngest.   Dyantha age 5, and  Lornin age 3 were found lost after the town had pitched in to contain the fire last evening. The parents know of no one that holds ill against them. Only the oppressive views of his former empire, specifically of his marriage, darkens the father's doorway. They investigate the children's bedroom, where they are presumed to be taken from.  After the interview and looking around, the party leaves the family to the community members caring for them.   Ryder remembered a third person on the cart they passed on the way into town; since they were wearing a mask. This comes as a surprise to the party, especially Sentinel, as none of them saw the person. They discuss the predicament and the best path forward. They decide to split up to follow the various leads.   Alder and Kayla investigate the barn where the fire had begun. They find a burly man named William pulling the burnt planks of the barn floor up and working to replace them. He focuses on his work as they talk. There are signs of an accelerant which jives with Willaims comments on the fire seeming spontaneous. He hasn't seen the barn's owner all day.    Setinal and Gavin investigate the General store looking to get more information on the merchants that pass through town. Georgia, the proprietor, chats them up. At one point, out an ivory-handled fail that was left to her in trade. She does recall the two men in the merchant cart from earlier in the day, painting out they stopped and did trade with the inn.   Ryder and Merit look into the people around town, focusing in on two carts that just pulled into town. They have yet to determine anything out of the ordinary. After talking to the cart driver that is working for the woodcutter. They share some news from the road. Seems that unrest is rumbling to the south, closer to the lands of the elven empires.    As they reconvene, the sun is hanging lower in the sky. They see William rush towards the city hall.  Once they arrive, they see the Mayor yelling. The farmer who owned the barn, Rhymer, left a note that he was taking the fight to the gnolls for burning down his barn and taking those kids. "Damn saddle-bagging fool." Learning of this, the party heads out after him.    As they wade into the forest as night falls. They move well, led by Kayla. As they travel, they find a glass globe sitting on the forest floor.  After an hour's more of travel, they catch the trail of Rhymer. It leads them to a small encampment surrounding the maw of an underground passage. Gnolls.    They stalk closer to the camp; they see signs of a fire that was recently put out. Suddenly they hear a man's cry from inside the cave. The scream of the farmer Rhymer.