Rasha

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Hawthorn thanks the shady inn keeper as he opens the door to room 401. The room is nothing fancy–a bed, chair, dresser, and bathroom is all that’s present. The only signs that the room had been previously occupied are a knapsack on the chair and the unmade bed sheets.

Hawthorn scours the room for any hidden items, bugs, or recorders, but finds nothing of interest. The only thing he hasn’t checked is the knapsack. He approaches the chair, hand reaching slowly out for the pack. He hears footsteps in the hallway, turning his head to watch the doorway. His ears twitch nervously as he strains to hear the voices in the hallway, but his paranoia is proven fruitless as the shadows of feet go straight past the door frame.

He turns back to the knapsack and opens it quickly. The sound of glass clinking and fabric rustling is all he hears as he peers inside the pack. Inside, there is a smaller bag with a symbol for medicine on it, some loose paperwork, and a journal. The medicine bag contains ten vials of a golden liquid that Hawthorn doesn’t recognize, and medicine instructions: Take up to twice a day as needed.

An old, rusted key, reminiscent of something that might unlock a locker or padlock, sits in a hidden pocket. There’s a tag attached to it, but the tag’s text has faded with time.

The loose paper seems more random in nature; one is the check-in instructions for the Inn, one is a map of the local nature trails, another some kind of letter of permit regarding Pinstripe Caverns, and a few receipts. Nothing of note here, either. Finally, Hawthorn cracks open the journal, carefully reading the contents inside.

The journal is all hand-written, and the thoughts written down are a bit scattered. The journal isn’t so much a stream of consciousness as it is a list of plans, instructions, ingredients… Hawthorn isn’t sure what to make of it all.

One section that catches his attention talks of seven flowers that Lionheart intends to gather.

• snowfall orchid
• somnus peony
• 100-point star carnation
• Ingrid’s chrysanthemum
• illusory lavender
• Her Lady’s Opal
• hellfire snapdragon

There’s other items listed on this page that all appear to be ingredients. Hawthorn makes an educated guess that it must be for some kind of powerful spell or potion, but he doesn’t recognize half the items listed on the page, let alone what they could all combine to make. A few of the flower names seem familiar, but most of them are a complete mystery to the fae.

There’s details of an expedition to Ice territory–an expedition set up to climb Sharktooth Mountain. There’s brief details of contractors contacted, supplies bought, and other things that Hawthorn skims over. The next section talks of a hidden expedition, disguised as a game show, a security team hired to prevent the contestants from wandering ‘too far away’ as ‘we’ conducted a secret expedition. Judging from the messy scrawl under this section, it seems this expedition didn’t go as planned.

Hawthorn finds himself leaning in as he reads the next section of interest: a section undoubtedly written about the expedition into Pinstripe Caverns. It talks vaguely about obtaining permits to enter the cavern, and finding maps for the old tunnels below. (A later note laments Lionheart’s failure to acquire a decent map in good condition in time for the event.) The fae’s frills quiver as he reads Lionheart’s assessment of the situation, or what he thought would be the situation:

It’s been over a decade since the 100-point carnation took root. It should only have taken the carnation 6-8 years to dispatch the emperor completely, so the tunnels should be perfectly safe for expeditionists. Still, with what happened with the Thriver event, I’ve been working with Lylas to get emergency teleportation devices for this one. We don’t need another avalanche situation.

Hawthorn’s fingers grip the edges of the journal a little too forcefully, tearing the page slightly beneath his nails. Flinching at what he’s done, Hawthorn quickly closes the journal and puts everything back just as he found it, hiding all evidence he’d been there as best as he can. He quickly slips out of the room, leaving through the back of the hotel. He’ll have to investigate this Lionheart further with what he’s gathered.