Something About Mary

Background

In the village of Kresk, at a fairly rough interval of once per month, a very special lady comes to town. She seeks out the best and brightest children and offers them space in her very special boarding school. There is no visitation permitted but they are offered the finest education and upon graduation the very best of them have been heard to return to the village and take their wise and trusting parents away to a life of ease in a land beyond the mist.

Rumors

Kresk is not a large place but it still manages to keep some secrets. Some people know little secrets. Some know big secrets. Some know things that are just plain wrong.

Roll a contested Persuasion against the chosen villager's Insight. Whether successful or not, roll 3d8 and consult the Rumors table (everybody has something to say, but not all of it is valuable). Add the difference on a success or subtract the difference on a fail. On a result lower than 3 the villagers are literally getting up, crossing themselves, and walking away when the character tries to talk. The bartender refuses to take their order and calls a serving girl over to ask them to leave because they have a "cursed smell" to them.

3	Go Jump in a Lake	14	Thy Neighbor's
4	False Kitty	15	Rough Sport
5	Hilltopping	16	Good Mary
6	Fool's Errand	17	A Good Game
7	Plaster Artifact	18	Regretful Heirloom
8	Snipe Hunt	19	Sweet Mary
9	Wolf Bait	20	Infatuation
10	Mary's School	21	Beacon
11	True Kitty	22	Watery Ghost
12	Good Joke	23	Mother Mary
13	My Problems Matter	24	Found Geode

Go Jump in a Lake

You find yourself talking at length with a man named Yavni Hannish. He tells you about the north pond which he claims is haunted by an evil spirit who takes the form of a particularly ill tempered goose. He warns you that the goose carries a curse. If the goose bites you, the wound will never heal and you will wake to fresh blood on your bandages until you eventually bleed to death weeks later. Only holy vestments will stop the bleeding but the curse cannot be lifted until the goose is slain but the goose is immune to metal weapons.

Truth: (Insight 12) The man is a frightful drunk, though well practiced in hiding it. He keeps talking as long as possible, adding sometimes conflicting details so long as the drinks keep flowing.

False Kitty

A young man named Terrin Vamil spins a tale of how his little sister Ekki has lost her pet cat. Terrin takes care of Ekki since their parents disappeared in the night some four years ago and while he has no great coin to offer for help he assures the character that he would offer his knowledge of the town and his servitude if they could help return the smile to his little sister's face. He begs the character to just meet Ekki, that the promise of a true adventurer's aid would give the poor dear hope.

On arriving at Terrin's shack, the character finds two straw mattresses on a dirt floor. On the larger one is a note written in charcoal on a board that reads

I have to find Kitkat. Please do not be angry with me. I come back fast. Pinky promise.

Terrin tells you that he cannot read and asks what the note says. If told he breaks down in tears, offering everything he has if only they would find his sister.

Truth: (Insight 16) Terrin and his comrades play this game to mock outsiders. The shack is not Terrin's but has been abandoned for years. Different boys continue leading the character in circles with sightings at Red's Mill, Mercy's Hospital, the Ghostly Goat, Picker Paula's, the North Pond, and the Black Church. If the character goes all the way to the Black Church, Terrin loses the game. If one of the other boys' clues are not followed, that boy loses. The loser has to wear a Donkey Hat and pay for the other boys' drinks the next night.

Hilltopping

You spend some time talking to a woman named Goody Hargriss. She tells you that her husband was healed by the Abbot of some terrible wasting disease and sure enough he was made whole but afterwards he could only speak of the Morninglord. He went and climbed the peak seeking solitude and the damn fool won't come down.

True Kitty

This story begins in the same manner as False Kitty, but as the last boy at the North Pond is giving his clue his voice goes dead and his eyes distant and he says "Look for her in the Liar's Tomb in the catacomb of the Black Church. She is afraid of the fire man."

After speaking the boy will pass out. Terrin rushes out, demanding to know what the character did to Toby. He will begrudgingly admit to following the party. He offers to take Toby to see Miss Mercy while they go on to the Church, hoping to finish the game.

In the tomb of Lord Folgin, the character encounters a Burning Ghoul clawing at it's own sarcophagus. After facing the burning ghoul the character will hear a small voice coming from the sarcophagus.

Inside is a seven year old girl cowering while holding a striped grey cat. She looks hungry but only speaks of being taken back to Terrin. She says he is likely in the cathedral with his friends.

Terrin is in in the balcony with his friends, all of the boys from the previous locations. They are laughing and drinking but at the sight of the girl they go silent. Terrin says "You're not real. Its a joke, you're not a real person. We just made that up to mess with the outsiders."

The girl says "You said Kitkat was in there but he wasn't Terrin. It wasn't funny Terrin. He tried to get me and I hid in the box but I couldn't get it open Terrin."

Terrin answers "No you are lying. I don't have a little sister."

"I'm not your little sister Terrin. I'm your big sister. Did you forget me? Or did you not want to remember?"

The girl rises up into the air at this, wind swirling around her. The cat vanishes from her arms and appears on the railing, hissing at the boys. The others scatter but Terrin is frozen in place.

If not stopped the girl will unleash a Banshee wail, blasting Terrin into the upper pews and knocking him unconscious. If he survives the battle he will ask to see the tomb, all mirth gone from his face. He will kiss the skull and whisper an apology. He expresses a desire to have the Abbot bless the bones and put his sister to rest. He says he doesn't remember what really happened but that he has fragments of memory of the face from his early childhood. His hand trembles when he speaks of her.

Locations

Red's Mill

Yusif "Red" Grovobska runs Red's Mill, a water driven sawmill that spans the River Running. He runs his own mule teams to keep the mill supplied with materials, and is rumored to be responsible for the burning of Biva's Mill some two miles downstream. He was encouraging some harrassment of Biva's customers but failed to anticipate the escalation that led to the fire. Red is paranoid that Biva is going to retaliate in kind so he is currently a soft touch for orphans, paying well for brush clearing and "keeping an eye out for trouble".

The mill operations begins with the sluice which receives logs from the river and the south bank which accepts carted and dredged logs. Once logs are recieved they are staged in the yard to dry and fed to the Wheels via a toothed ramp. Milled logs are segmented and ejected into carts and brought to the drying warehouse inside town.

Mercy's Hospital

Mercy's Hospital is actually a converted smokehouse being used as a crematorium. Families bring terminal patients to Mercy to ensure that the bodies do not rise up as undead later so Mercy has converted a wing to convalescence and basic care while her "patients" linger on.