ViVi’s Journal: Blood of the Beautiful

The Open Road Pathfinder 2E campaign started with a character creation session in which we had enough time to run a Bounty mission entitled “Blood of the Beautiful.” I decided to write in-character journal entries for every session. This would be a character-building activity, a way to keep notes on the campaign for reference, and hopefully something fun for the other players and GM to read.

Rova 2, 4720

This is the first entry in a journal which is intended to act as a chronicle of my journeys into lost places, recovery of ancient artifacts, and resolution of mysteries. Upon my death, please deliver this journal to the Horizon Hunters liaison at a Pathfinder Society guild location. It is my hope that once any pertinent facts are transcribed the journal will be sent to Rada and/or Kazimir Vernyhora (my mama and papa), should they still be alive.

I had traveled to Druma and found myself in a small town in the southwest portion of the country called Petitioner’s Port. In the local tavern I encountered three friendly faces of other Society members: a half-orc gladiator named Tlali, a half-elf woodsman named Skitnik, and an elf “scout” named Merisiel. We did not share cups, but we were all eager to investigate a bounty the moment it was posted to the local board.

A farmer named Harjhack had reported a number of his alpacas had died mysteriously. The wool of these animals was not only important to the farmer, but to the community as a whole. I felt compelled to help not only for the thrill of a mystery–however barnyard related–but also for the sake of the people who lived in this hamlet. My society acquaintances had their own, untold, reasons for joining me. Perhaps the promise of the share of the 20 gold reward was all that drove them. It mattered not; if it came to combat, I’d not be one to refuse aid.

There was some minor confusion uttered by Tlali, who either lacked depth perception or severely misunderstood the lay of the land. She initially believed the walk to the alpaca farm was far outside of Druma and would a moon’s worth of travel. To her credit, she was willing to walk that far. We arrived at the farm while the sun was still high in the sky of that day.

Even before we saw the farmer, we all took note of a fairly impressive buck of an alpaca. It was clear the farmer had high quality stock and this was the alpha–inasmuch as grass-eating wool-cows have “alphas.”

We noticed an elderly farmer, exchanged waves, and greeted him in the field. Harjhack took us to that prior night’s victim. It seems that the north end of the farm is where, over the course of a week, four of his animals had died. This most recent was a male alpaca called Rockford. No mutilation was obvious and it retained 6 gold baubles on its ear (signifying its worth as a breeder). As the lamoid had not been mauled or gored, nor were wool or gold missing from its body, the cause of death was a mystery. Skitnik examined the animal and could find no external cause of death; it was if the creature had died of fright.

My mama had a rule: trust, but verify. A single animal dying of fright while the others went along their business is unusual. For the same event to happen over the course of a week to four animals of a pack and the rest not to act frightened strained credulity. I developed the theory that the animal could be victim to a blood-sucker; something that could affect multiple animals all at once or singularly without scaring the rest. I cut a small incision on an arterial vein and no blood welled, nor was there a sign of congealed blood. My theory had been proven: the animal was victim to a blood-sucker.

With this revelation, Skitnik was able to reexamine the carcass and found traces of beast-like fang marks. While the exact source of the indentations was still nebulous, this at least narrowed the type of killer away from monsters like stirges.

Though the night would be brisk, it would be possible to sleep without a campfire and all four of us could see well enough at night under the half moon’s light. We would keep watch over the flock at night in the hopes of catching the creature(s) in the act. The watch was assigned as such: me, Tlali, Skitnik, and Merisiel. The farmer returned to his cabin as the flock began to congregate in the north end of the farm. The rest bedded down and I watched the animals sleep, some rolling on to their backs to satisfy itches that could not be otherwise sated. If the bite marks had been stirges, I would have worried, but this seemed to just be animals in their natural state. My watch was otherwise uneventful and I woke Tlali.

I had scarcely fallen asleep when I was roused. Tlali had spotted a humanoid figure approaching from the north end of the farm. Unsure if this was a solitary creature and without true evidence that this was the killer (though it most likely was), we crept towards the figure. Its keen senses alerted it to our presence and it began to run away. All stealth was lost as we engaged in pursuit, following it into the woods.

The creature was a chupacabra, a magical and solitary beast that drains the lifeblood of farm animals. While it was too weak to harm the gladiator or rogue as they attacked it directly, it still took the four of us to defeat the monster. It was extremely nimble and was often able to dodge swords, arrows, and my lightning. But, not often enough. The vermin was vanquished, the mystery was solved, and the farm was now safe from this threat.

Tlali offered to cut a piece from the chupacabra as a trophy, but no one accepted. I find the idea of mementos from kills repugnant and, even if I didn’t, few would be impressed with a piece of an over-sized vampiric rodent. We collected our more usable reward and went our separate ways. But I have a feeling I would cross paths with some of my Pathfinder Society compatriots again soon–there are only so many directions the road goes.