Solstice Festival

We had rushed to the forest but took our time heading back to the village of Hightree. When we finally arrived back at the village their Solstice festival was in full swing with large bonfires, maypoles, musicians, dancing, and tables filled with various foods. There were also a number of the older men along the edge of the village on small platforms to keep a lookout for danger. Those that we passed were overjoyed to hear that the trolls were taken care of.

After we found the mayor we went back to his house to have a discussion about what had happened. Lariss pulled out the bodies of the gnomes from her Storage Bracelet. The mayor let out a heavy sigh when he saw them.

"Did you know them?" I asked.

"I did. They were orphaned at a young age after their parents died to dire badgers. Even before then they were on a bad path. Their father was a drunkard that often tried to scam people. His kids have mostly been better but have always been in trouble. They worked as laborers on various farms in the area. Recently a number of their former employers have complained about items going missing. When I tried to go and confront them, they ran off." The mayor said.

"It seems they were taking some potions to transform and used that extra strength to steal from the surrounding farms." Kay said.

"That's terrible. I wish it didn't have to end like this but they've caused a great deal of harm to our community." The mayor said.

"You and your citizens can rest easy now that the issue has been solved." Kay said.

I made eye contact with Lariss and Thelora and could tell that we all had the same thought. This was only the tip of the iceberg.

There were a few really advanced potions that could turn someone into a different person or a regular animal. I had never heard of potions that transformed someone into a monster. They were not something country bumpkins could have made. Plus there was that mysterious person that warned them that we were there.

"Well then I will send notice to the Union hall that you have completed the quest as asked. Thank you for your help." The mayor said.

"It was our duty to help." Kay said with a bow.

With nothing else to discuss, we left the mayor's house and joined in on the festivities.

"It looks like some of the hedge mages are playing some games with magic. I think I'll join them." Sundri said with an evil grin.

"I know this is a celebration but try not to over indulge." Kay gave me a stern look.

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him. The solstice is one of my favorite festivals." Thelora wrapped her arm around me, placed a hand on my chest, and laid her head on my shoulder.

"I'll also make sure he's fine." Lariss copied what the other did.

Kay opened his mouth to say something but the women steered me away. Once we were a ways away, Thelora loosened her grip but didn't let go.

"So do we head to the Baron's tonight or wait a day?" Thelora said.

"He'll also be celebrating tonight as well. That could make it easier to sneak in since there will be more people, some who aren't usually there." I said.

"But more people means there will be more eyes." Lariss said.

"Let's just go tomorrow night. The solstice only comes once a year and we've had a difficult past couple of weeks." I said.

We walked around the celebration enjoying the festivities. Many of the villagers recognized that we were adventurers and word had spread that the troll menace had been taken care of. Though the true nature of the threat wasn't mentioned. Everyone that stopped us wanted to thank us and have a drink with us. We obliged as long as it wasn't flugalanr mead.

At one point we were stopped by a woman with dried dirt in runic patterns on her face and twigs in her hair in the shape of antlers. She waved some burning herbs around us. Behind her was her teenage daughter with a similar appearance.

"May the heat never scorch and the cold never bite." She said.

It was obvious that she was the village witch and was in charge of the festival. I had immediately opened my spiritual senses as she pronounced her blessing to see what she was doing. It was hard to follow what she was changing the spiritual ripples, let alone follow how she had done it. In the end I did see a small glimmer of spiritual energy enter each of us.

"Blessed solstice." She said before moving on to the next group of people.

"I like this festival more than the one in Torinheim. It's like the ones we had in the villages I grew up in." Lariss said.

"I don't know, it's a little calm for my liking. I grew up in the port city of Thebta and we had large parades with elaborate costumes. And if you knew the right parts of the city there were no costumes. Maybe I'll have to take you there one year." Thelora said to me.

"Well the ones in Torinheim are nothing like that since they are mostly controlled by the Church of the Holy Light." Lariss said

"I'm surprised Duchess Torgeir let's them have that much control over such an important holiday." I said.

"It's because they do a mass cleansing on that day. It keeps any undead energy from gathering in unkept places. Though there is a good chance you'll see members of clan Valhajahr since they come to help the Church. They usually do a combat demonstration during the festival which is always fun to watch." Lariss said.

"What's so special about them?" I asked. Thelora was also giving her a confused look.

"Oh, neither of you are from the north. Clan Valhajahr is one of the few ancient clans still in existence. Since before the kingdom was unified they have specialized in hunting the undead. It's considered a great honor to be laid to rest in their clan lands and most of the Dukes and Duchesses of the north have been." Lariss said.

"I have heard of them. Aren't they an all female clan?" Thelora asked.

"Not completely as far as I know but I have mostly seen women in their combat demonstrations. They actually use the fighting contests they put on to find worthy mates." Lariss' eyes widened when she realized what she said and she looked at me.

"I think we should avoid the solstice in Torinheim." Thelora said.

"Agreed, it's not very fun." Lariss gave her a serious look and nodded.

I could only sigh.

We weren't paying attention to where we were wondering and ended up in front of a stand with a number of kegs with burned engravings of bees on mugs. Realizing where we were I tried to steer us away as quickly as possible but a familiar voice hailed us.

"The heroes of the festival. Come, come we have plenty for you. Let's raise a mug in thanks." Brewmaster Asmundr said. We couldn't get away from him right away since a number of other people were there and wanted to toast us.

He handed each of us a mug of flugalanr mead and we reluctantly drank. Now that I knew what to expect, I could tell it was stronger than a normal mead would be for a non aura user. It may have just been in my head but I also started to feel the other effect of the mead.

"I do hope you put in a good word for me when you get back to Torinheim." He said.

"We'll let them know our thoughts." I said. Truthfully, now that I knew what to expect it would be nice to have a mead that didn't take much to get drunk on. There were a few alcohols that were already designed for aura users but none of the common or cheap ones worked as well as this. There was just that other side effects to worry about.

"I've been trying for a few years to get them to notice my goods but nothing came from it. Now I've been lucky enough to have two different adventuring parties agree to give me a referral. If you didn't kill those trolls I might have had a few more." He let out a laugh after he said that.

Thelora and I looked at each other. Why did he sound slightly disappointed at the end there? Did he want us to fail the quest? No, he couldn't have. That would mean he was benefiting in all of this. My psychic motes started to rotate as I started to ask questions.

"Did you give a letter to the last group of adventurers as well?" I asked.

"That I did. It's rather difficult to get your product sold in the Union and I've spent a lot of time and resources to domesticate those darned monstrous bees." He said.

"So if the quartermaster never buys your product, you'll be out pretty big?" I asked.

"You bet I would. Hell I'd be ruined. Now I have a bit of hope." He said.

I waited till he started to drink again before asking my next question. "Did the brothers Veg, Ard, and Narr ever work for you?"

He choked and spit out his mead. "What? No, I never hired those thieves."

"Are you sure? If we asked around, would we get the same answer?" I said.

"Why would you need to do that? I would know who I hired." He replied.

"It turns out that those brothers had something to do with the troll attacks." I said.

"Well that has nothing to do with me." He was getting visibly scared.

"We suspect that they weren't the masterminds behind the operations. So we'll have to ask around to find out who they worked for recently. That might be able to help us find who helped them." I said.

"Come to think of it, they may have worked for me in the past but I never really interacted with them." He said.

"So you wouldn't recognize this?" Thelora pulled out a vial of the orange Troll Transformation potion and his face went pale.

"I… Um.. That...I don't know what that is?" He stammered.

"If we came to your property would we find more of this potion? Or its ingredients?" I asked.

"No.. You don't have that right." He said.

"This potion has never been seen in the kingdom before and poses a risk to the safety of the north. That alone gives us the right to investigate this however we want. If we have to, we'll go to Baron Teinnroth." I said.

He looked scared then furious before sighing in resignation.

"Darn it. I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you adventures."

Wait, that sounded so familiar. And he said it right after he was unmasked for a money grab scheme with fake monsters used to scare people.