The Thrall

"Hi, I'm Magdella Dew, I'm from Old Weir! I heard you are too!"

Falka appraised the young half-elf. "Mmm....any sfos on you?"

"Um, what? No that's awful. I heard Old Weir does a lot of that. But I moved to Firsburg with my famly around twenty-five years ago." Twenty five years ago...hm. That would put her right on the cusp of when the Battle For Old Weir happened. If she's telling the truth...

Ironica, sorting through Magdella's belt pouches, found no sfos, nor were there any in her chest she was bringing on the caravan. She checked out. 

The rest of the party joined and the caravan set off, with the following travelers:

1. Magdella Dew, a Female Half-elf Arborist in Early Adulthood with Rough hands, but neat
2. Gander McNeel, a Male Halfling Roofer in Senior Adulthood with Missing teeth
3. Ordin Gains, a Male Dwarf Butler Adult, with a Trim haircut, fastidious dress
4. Belkellis Bek, a Female Half-orc Loan Shark, Adult with mottled skin
5. Feldar Tranknul, a Male Dwarf Monk Adult with a Distinctive, hooked nose
6. Lilac Cresculent, a Female Human Interpreter for Evil Cults in Middle Age with Neat makeup
7. Leknobbin Fenupreen, a Male Gnome Astrologer Adult with Piercings

Travel went smoothly and the companions were getting to know one another. Magdella was eager, and helped the dignified butler make dinner the first night. Leknobbin was a drunk. Lilac a terse professional, and Feldar prone to forecasting dark tidings. Gander didn't say much. They learned a bit about all of them, and curiously, it wasn't just Magdella that had a connection to Old Weir, they each mentioned some sort of time spent in or around the town. That was troubling, but otherwise, everything was going so well...which is just when someone around the party usually dies. 

And so it happened. They woke up on the second day to Ordin Gains, slain. It was the butler in his tent, by his own letter opener. 

It looked like they were up against a good old-fashioned whodunnit. Or a game of among us. Or mafia. Or guess-the-thrall. Or detect-magic-the-truth. Or roll-high-perception-check-and-win. Or -- what game exactly was it? Was that part of the game? 

They got back on the road and kept traveling, and began softly cataloguing everyone's connection to Old Weir. 

• Magdella Dew was born there, around 25 years ago
• Gander McNeel did a roofing job there about 20 years ago, on a manor that had burned down
• Ordin Gains accompanied the Lord of the house on a Midwinter Tourism trip some 10 years ago
• Belkellis Bek lent money to a man there once 5 years ago
• Feldar Tranknul stayed at the Wandering Wolf for a week in summer 2 years ago
• Lilac Cresculent checked out Lakeville when she was looking for work and it sounded culty 
• Leknobbin said he had never been, but he was from Innesbyr

It all seemed suspicious. Everyone pitched in for dinner again that night. And sadly, after forecasting dark tidings, Feldar Tranknul was found dead in his tent, strangled. Feldar had on him a strange scroll that Ironica seemed to recognize from a distant realm. Her eyes widened and she muttered "Shigatsu" under her breath as she skimmed over the text. She pocketed it. 

OK. So what was going on here. They sat down to interrogate interview the remaining travelers. Each one tried to offer up some bit of dirt on the others, but the party wanted to know what special talents each one had. Belkellis was good with animals. 

They kept traveling south, approaching the Fields of the Dead. They sat around making dinner together, and then decided no more sleeping separately. It would be a survivors sleep over. Try murdering when we're all together watching! 

But that night, another was slain. This time it was Lilac found dead, taken down by a cantrip in her sleep. 

Time to get serious. They attacked the remaining party members, trying to see if the game was to figure out how many hit points each had, the one with the highest would be the killer. But they all went down easy. Hm. After they were all knocked out, the party tied them up. It was Magdella, Leknobbin, Belkellis, and Gander remaining. 

Try killing someone now, murderer! 

And yet, in the morning, three more were dead. All were slumped against their trees, tied up and gagged, but only Magdella raised her head when the party approached. She smiled through her gag and the party removed it. Her demeaner was greatly changed. The once sweet and earnest Magdella was replaced by a woman grinning cruelly at them. 

"Please, come, join me. Now that we are alone, I have a message to deliver from my—OUR—masters."

So Magdella was the thrall. 

"You have two options. First, you can return to Old Weir peacefully, recanting your stories to any you may have told on the way, and reembrace the colony. The masters would be so delighted to have you back."

"Second, you can kill yourselves in front of me right now. I can help, or you can do some kind of death match, up to you," --she was mocking them!-- "and I will travel back to Old Weir and report that you are well and truly dead." 

"If you do not, or if I do not return to Old Weir, we will kill your entire family. Your children. Your lovers. Dead, all of them. Do you remember them?"

She then proceeded to list all of Dala'gse's kids, slowly pronouncing each name. 

All of Ironica's, staring coldly at the halfling. 

All of Slothrop's, smiling as she did so. 

All of Safad's imitating their childish voices. 

All of Zireael's. 

All of Nancy's including the firstborn, Landis. 

And all of Rya's, pausing after she did so to savor the last name she pronounced: D'Luk. 

"How’s that sound?" Magdella asked, smugly. 

Those were her last words. 

Ironica took her dagger and leaned it slowly into the thrall's heart, until the smirk on Magdella's face was replaced by sputtering blood.

That solved that. 

And maybe the colony was bluffing? 

They were as good as dead anyway. 

But, D'Luk!

The party cleaned up all the bodies, looted them, and burned them. Scattered among a number of the personal possessions they found incriminating bits of journal writing on Magdella, innocently noted by the others. For example, she only arrived in Dragonspear two weeks ago; she was seen selling jadeite at a pawn shop; she speaks Undercommon; she was overheard asking the bartender at the Brass Tacks to let her know if anyone from Old Weir arrived in town. 

She also had sewn into the hem of her shirt a vial of "courtier's choice" a slow acting poison Rya learned about from Kallax Fen. 

Onward, to Candlekeep.