RED OAK: ARCHIVE

[Longman]

wine

"Ah....it's big far, this place. Maybe I show you somewhere close, on your map. A real good place."

He indicates a particular spot in E13. You have spent at least 5EP in that hex and know the place he means.

"You leave wine there, we leave other things. It very safe there. We don't have much grapes, only a few."

He seems to be rejecting the wine-making lessons for the time being.

RE: Cruthy.

"We mostly don't know who else is down south or north. Not since my grandfather days. But there is a Chaliach (hag), on the Erin, this much we know good, and another on the Fold."

(The Fold is a large river to the south, outside of Brant, in no man's land.)

He tells you that the two goblins tribes around here are skull and boar which you kinda already knew. Skull are at D08, E10, F06, J08 and J06. There is a lot of fighting in the last two hexes with the Boar tribe who are from beyond the mountains. Skull do not go much north beyond E06 for fear of the wild trees that grow there, allies of the Chaliach. The Lucha avoid the place for the same reason.

The Boar goblins mostly live beyond the mountains and raid the Skull bases. But they have a stronghold at L11 which he calls the Mallagosbe, or Cursed Caves. Legend has it there is a network of caves that go all the way through to the other side of the mountains about twenty miles away. He doesn't know what the curse is about, though.

Then he says:

"Sometimes the goblins go to the castle, but they never stay. The dog men always drive them away, and you know goblins is frightened of magic. This is why it good you Old People have come back. You show them your trick with the wooden block, they run away, most likely. Specially the dumb ones. Make it safer for us of Cruthy, the Lucha and everyone else.

But them weasel men, they never be your friends. The Fitheach (Raven people) neither. If you meet them, you better fight or run, not talk. And the weasel men, they got something in the mountains. They go there all the time. Mostly before, they stay down past the Leakey, we got some cousins down there who tell us things. But now, just last year, the Nisha start coming up and going into the mountains near the Salmon Lake. We don't know why. We get too close, they smell us out, like we smell them."

Again, he looks over to Kilian at this reference but says no more about the dwarf.

RE: Magic.

"I can see magic, big easy. All of us can. But not do it. You Old People, the Wizards, and the Cilderu (Oak Priests). That's all. And the wizards all gone now. But maybe some of their magic is still around."


If you want to know about Anna's hair-pin, you will have to bring it up.

You get the feeling he is waiting for you to leave. He may want to go back down when you are not around.

[Woe]

"One last thing before we depart. Have you seen a hairclip in the forest?" Tiana points at Anna. "My friend Anna lost hers, and it's sentimental. It used to belong to her grandmother."

(and eventually, all's said that should be said)
"Thanks for your time, Master Lusha. I have my mapping to get back to. We will leave you to your journeys, and I greatly appreciate how much you've added to my map. Soon as I can, I'll leave you a quarter barrel of wine at (E13) for you to enjoy."

After saying goodbyes, the party will go back into the winery and open that trap door to hell.

[Longman]

"Oh. Sorry. I don't know nothing about her hair thing. Maybe she loses it. Sometimes humans lose things and they blame the little people but actually it just their big head don't work right."

On this note, the little muse-guy hangs about for a bit and then when he sees you are going back downstairs he finally says:

"Maybe I come back down. Just a look see? Any magic, I see it for you. How about this?"

Incidentally, there are two unexplored areas as far as you know. One is the trapdoor, the other a walled off alcove in the southern stair that does not connect to the lower level. (It is probably an alcove, Kilian thinks, but may not be.)

[Woe]

"Of course! I don't want my friends to make you nervous though. Do you want to walk with us, or you and I walk a bit behind them? Or if you want, you can change into your small form and I'd be happy to give you a ride on my shoulder."

Good point about the alcove. The party will explore that first. And when they go down, Tiana will ask about the box. If appropriate, she'll say it felt evil to her, but she can't explain why. No initial mention of the cups. The trap door to hell can wait. Maybe mouse guy is a paladin!

[Longman]

Mouse guy isn't into the shoulder ride idea and looks mildly offended but says nothing. He stays in Ilcruthach (half-animal) form and follows Tiana and Freya, well away from the dwarf.

He wants to explore the first level first and starts moving into the main room, looking at all the wine barrels.

"Oh, such a big big shame, a shame," he says, seeing all the wine which is probably bad.

When asked about the box, he says he doesn't know, but is curious about the animal designs on the outside. "Like to see them, me" he says. "You show me that box thing? You found it here? Why you think it is evil?"

Meanwhile, I presume Kilian and the other non-elves have headed down the dead end stairwell and are going to bash the wall down. You want me to just go ahead and roll for that? Kilian does not think it will be very hard but might take a bit of elbow grease.

[Woe]

Correct. And despite what mouse guy may think, I believe Kilian is not about to turn into a weasel!

[Longman]

I'll wait for you to answer the mouse's questions while Kilian opens up the alcove with the butt of his axe.

Bash. Bash. Bash. Crunch. Dust flies hither and yon and bits of old brickwork scatter all over the staircase.

It's an alcove. Not very big (5' deep). Looks like some poor guy got manacled to the in there and then walled in, a long time ago. He is wearing an old jester's cap. The only other contents are a cask of wine, on the floor near his feet, plus the leather belt he was wearing.

"Goodness, they make racket, your friends, they do" says mouse guy, still upstairs. "Missis, I do not see any magic here. Only wine, plenty good, if it were not bad, which it is. What is down this passage?"

[Woe]

When asked about the box, he says he doesn't know, but is curious about the animal designs on the outside. "Like to see them, me" he says. "You show me that box thing? You found it here? Why you think it is evil?"

Oh, I wanted to show him the box first, get his opinion, and then say "It feels bad to me" if he asks about it.

[Longman]

Sure. He look at at the box and...

...tells you that the symbols on the outside have some magic, not much.

"I got an idea what they is," he says. "Those are the main animal of Cruthy. But they drawn to look like something from a story book. The unicorn is horseman, Eachy. He don't really got no horn. This one, the eagle, Fireuna, but him made to look all like a dragon. See what I mean?"

Then he starts opening up another bottle of wine, seeing is it tastes any better than the previous. He has a knife for the purpose. It's slow going for the little guy, getting the cork out.

What about Kilian and the rest?

[Woe]

Tiana will say farewell to mouse guy and head downstairs to her friends. They should be done with the wall by now.