Day 2

The Ice Man cometh

The body lies face down on the ice. No-one from Moonrest has dared to touch the body.

Elder Saelin tells us "We do not let the tide take the dead but do not bury what we do not understand. Determine how the man died, take him to the fish house and examine him".

She tells us to record everything for the Moonrest arvices. "Do this carefully" she cautions "Do not let rumours circulate" .

We see a well dressed human male, frozen stiff with the sea frost clinging to his clothes. They are of a very high quality; he is obviously not a fisherman. His boots do not look worn and have not seen much wear. He has bruising around his wrists, but no other signs of injury.

Sebastian sees the body didn't drift here as he sees faint drag marks partially covered by the drifting snow. A bag looks like it has been dropped next to him. There are no foot/boot prints.

Bryn suggest moving him to the fish house now so we make an A frame strecher and carry him back there.

As we return to the fish house with the body, the villagers are outside watching. None help, they just watch.

As we  get close to the fish house a man in his mid 40s stops us and says "Your'e not bringing that into the village. You don't know what he's carrying." Aethlewynn doesn't know the man but asks him if he knows who the body is. Tha man does not know him. He calms slightly when Aethlewynn tells him we are doing this on Elder Saelin's orders.  An old lady tells the gatering crown to let him pass - "If the sea gave him back we take care of him".

We continue on. Passing between two houses we hear a group of children playing and singing a rhyme we recognise. "l hear what you say. He walks where oaths are torn in two, And smiles like friends you think you knew. Lock your door when moon’s gone thin, Don’t let a traitor’s shadow in."

TheWe villagerscan arehear the crowd asking if anyone knows him or what has happened.happened, Butnone do. Noone else stops and we maketake itthe body to the to the fish house and lay him out. 

ExamWe -start Headto first.exan nohim, head to toe. He does not look paniced expression,so sowe don't think he struggled. CheckWe check his chest,chest and Guru noticenotices water in his lungs, Salas thinks the water entered after death. Spine Salas notices a small puncture wound in his spine which looks itentional.

Wrists and hands - perception Slas and Guru sees the wrists are bruised which look like he was restrained - they see lavender marks under his finger nails which A and Seb believe is an alcheical residue, His hands seem to have reacted oddly to the cols

Spine puncture - Bryn says he's not seen anything like that from the seasea.

Outer Salas and Guru sees his wrists are bruised and look like he was restrained. They see lavender marks under his finger nails which Aethlewynn and Sebastian believe is an alchemicalresidue His hands seem to have reacted oddly to the cold.

His outer clothing -are high quality and we think they are probably from one of the main continents. His Jacket has reinforced seams, but in some areas they seem a lot thicker than you'd normally expect. SebSebastian and Guru can see the stiching is deliberatly reinforced with different thread.thread Feelsand looks out of place with the rest of the jacket. Guru uses a knife from the fish house and unpicks the seams. Bryn comments the stitching was done to protect something, SebSebastian thinks it was done to hide some thingsomething quickly. Guru finds a wax sealed packet.packet (pockets ofin the seam.  The jacket seempockets toappear beempty. empty)The Trousertrouser pocketpockets checkcontain -a scrap of cloth and a small piece of cord, but no coin. An inner pocket seems to ahve something inside it - seems to beholds a small metal ring, wrapped carefully in some cloth. SeemsIt seems to be a signet ring,ring but seemsand to have been intentionally hidden. It's well crafted,crafted and not local. Doesn'Aethlewynn doesn't seemthink to beits cult based or magic. NoThere is no insription in the ring.ring but Bryn thinks he's seen the inscritopninsignia before on crates from the mainland.
Guru open the letter from the jacket. Most has been worn away, but he can make out:

"Moonrest Isle classified low activity.”
“Threshold variance within tolerance.”
“reserves stable.”
“Knight oversight unnecessary at this stage.”

Guru thinks he's some sort of courier from the mainland.

We take a closer look at the needle mark in his spine. We know of plants that could be ground down and would casue paralysis and stop hearts and that could be the cause of death, then tossed into the water when dead. Seems to have had all ID removed apart from what was hidden.

Bryn asks us to write this down for Elder Sealin.

We record suspicious death, by persons unknow.

We reord the suspicious pncture marks, the  bruising on his wrists, the hidden things

We record the hidden items that we found.

We try to leave nothing out of the report.

Bryn covers the body as we head out to see Saelin. Bryn suggests we have a chat with the locals to see if any of them saw/heard anything

A goes to talk to Edda. Edda saw nothing and doesn't recognise him. She believes "this one was not meant to come back" The sea does not often give back, Edda thinks  he must be dangerous if the sea did not want to keep him. You should be careful not to invite the s=danger heere.

Seb asks Bryn what he thinks about the guy who has died.. Bryn hasn't seen him before and no official ships.small boats haven't landed. Bryn says it's been quiet for many weeks.

A asks Bryn about the drag marks, waanting to know if he knew of anything that could have dragged the body up but left no marks, neither of them do. A begins to remember the blue eyed fish had sharp teeth.

Aethsw talks to the Lorekeeper - his sister is a herbalist so will know the Aeth siblings. Tovin has heard rumours, but ignores them. He has no writing or recollection of the dead person. Any knowledge of strange vessels or boats? - Tovin checks his ledgers and there are no records of entries in the last few weeks. 

Seb talks to Mara, the bar keep. She says the whole village is talking about the investigation. Seb asks what whispers? She mentions that we don't normally get visitors in winter, outsiders never stay long. She says quitely that the official people who come never travel alone, again they do what needs to be done and go quickly.

Tomas - not sure if knows anything at all. A sits down and tries to make it a cozy environment.  Seb sits down as well. Seb notices he seems afraid, seems to be trying to avoid answering questions and his eyes keep darting to the shoreline. Seb reckons it is in the direction where the body was found. A asks Tomas where he was from originally, says from one of the main continents, but his family has been travelling the seas since before he was born. Born at sea, but grew up on the island once his parents died. He says he hates the ocean and would rather keep his feet on dry land. A asks if reckognises the clothes on the man, he says he does not. He is hiding something. Aethswold asks if he was afraid of the body?  He's evasive, but he eventually cracks and says he'll tell. he couldn't sleep and the tide was arong. someone else was there, not using a lantern as though they knew where everything was. he saw a hoode cloaked figure leaning over the body semming to check for something. Tomas saw the figure walk away onto the sea then vanished into the fog. Tomas doesn't know anything about the cloak or the dead guys clothes.

A thinks that would explain the lack of footprints. Aeths has heard of ancient mythical creatures, but none that are humanoid figures.

We go to the Longhouse to see elder Saelin and give our report. Gure gives her the letter and ring, she recognises they are from the Port Authority - i.e. The Pale Compact, Elder Saelin is wondering why they are watching Moonrest. Aeths and Guru think he was undercover, Saelin says if he is Pale COmpact then someone will come looking for him. SHould we contact them or wait. Asks all of us what we think. All of us think there is more to uncover - Except Seb who thinks we should tell the authorities right away. Saelin, decides to wait for the time being. She says Compact Agents do not die and certainly don't die alone. If that is the case then something has gone wrong. She easks the other council members to leave. She asks if there is anything we didn't wish to say in front of the others A mentions the hooded figure. Guru mentions the odd sea creatures that seemed to be under control by something and the ritual at the smokehouse. The common thing is the archane violet residue. She summarises that the ring carries a lot of protection and it must be serious if he hid it. She wonders if the Compact have lost control so Saelin is wary. Guru wonders if there is something here that could help The Compact, Saelin thinks The COmapct act in there own interest. She asks us to keep quiet and would like us to see things through as Moonrest seems to be in danger. She gives us an Adventureers pack as a gift.

One of the SHorewatchers dashes through the door saying something is moving on the western shores - the ice is breaking where is shouldn't . She sends us to investigate.

At the SHoals we see a single set of prints heading out towards the ice, We see drag marks heading out to the cracks in the ice and see more of the lavender residue. The wind picks up and tide seems to have been pulled back further than it should be. Then we see hands puncture the ice and a body pulls itslef thethrough the ice - seemingly the drowned messenger how did he get here?

Drowned Messenger !

We defeat him and the water still and the cracks stop widening.

There is something on the horizon, a ship perhaps. Just for a fleetinf second we see a single figure before it fades into the fog....

To Be Continued