An Unexpected Party
A charming bard with a penchant for soundtracking the scene, a hulking ranger with ZFGs, a philosophical-waxing sorcerer with a cherished amulet, a “not-from-around-here” barbarian with a hatred for donkeys, a drow charmer with a love of forgery, and a thief-turned-potter with a conflicted moral compass met on the road by Wade’s Bog in the Greypeak Mountains. Twilight was waning and the sun’s faded prominence was beginning to reveal the familiar constellation of stars that accompanied each of these travelers at pivotal times in their lives.
Just then Ziriel’s sixth sense for Undead noticed a Ghoul a couple hundred yards away with the ribcage of a child in it’s filthy maw. Next to the ghoul was a skeletal horse. A few of the party tried to charge through the mucky bog as the ghoul attempted to mount the horse—still others stayed back. Ziriel's silvered blade, some sorcerer firebolts, javelins, and roguish sneak attacks took down the ghoul before it could even mount the horse. The horse took down Ziriel before it fell.
After Z was stabilized the group carried off the body of the woman and buried her at a secret location a mile or so off the road. They drew her blood, it ran blue, and Detected Magic in it...seemingly a magical poison killed her. She wore fine textiles as the PCs covered laid her in the frozen ground and covered her with dirt. The dagger was also magical, and frigid to the touch.
The next day the PCs set out for Old Weir, toward the Gap of Lodun, and encountered a wandering merchant and his donkey destined for the region’s capital of Innesbyr. He stared at em funny, but Slothrup’s charm put him at ease, convincing the merchant they were a roving troupe of entertainers. Nancy’s prowess on the violin backed up the story. Safad attempted to add-on with a magical flare but landed in a thicket of Gorse (ok ok i know it was a cantrip and technically out of wild magic bounds...). Ironica sneaked around the back and discovered what amounted to a forgery kit. Ziriel crossed his brawny arms. Dalag’se javelined the donkey through the heart. The PCs then murdered the merchant in cold blood. Ironica ripped off his face to confound attempts at IDing the body.
The merchant had a letter with him meant for a “Bo” and signed “Meenar” asking for more of a cut next time. Of what, unclear. He also had a magical reagent that made documents look extremely aged in a matter or minutes.
The PCs carried on toward Old Weir and camped on the other side of the Gap of Lodun. They awoke to a group of soldier/guards passing, but stayed out of sight. Once on the road, they ran into a guard-patrol bearing crests in their cloaks that some knew as the seal of The Monarch, the region’s authority, based in Innesbyr. The guards mentioned some funny business on the road in the direction the PCs were coming from and demanded to search them. Nancy charmed them enough to be excluded from the frisk but as the others were about to get searched all hell broke loose and the seemingly demure Nancy Thunderwave’d the shit out of them. The PCs slew them all, stripped them of cloaks and valuables, and piled the corpses together. They set the funeral pyre alight and watched as the icy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking up the sky.
They also noticed a little boy running back to a nearby farm. Ziriel sighted him with his longbow but judged the distance too great, what with the way the wind was blowing down from the peaks and all. Instead they tried to press on to Old Weir but ended up getting hailed by the farmer who was impressed with what his son told him and sought their help with a problem of his own. The PCs agreed and Faelin Devers invited them in to deal with a carnivorous monster stealing sheep every night. Faelin wined and dined a few of em, while others retired to the bunkhouse. He told them in a brilliant Scottish accent about the guards who keep nabbing newcomers to the region with this trick of showing them Wanted posters with their own likeness on it and getting exiled...or worse. Also said he was sad to say they just missed his older son Tommy who ran off to Innesbyr (“Inns”) to go try to be a platinum miner...which is how he claims The Monarch made his money.
Ziriel and Slothrup set up in the rafters of the barn and watched at 2am a monstrous tentacled slimy wormlike centipede like creature burrow up from the ground. They wisely decided to hold off an attack.
The next day the PCs set an ambush for the monster with contingency plans to burn down the barn. The Carrion Crawler arrived on time and the PCs attacked, for the most part surviving the paralyzing tentacle poison, though Ironica was injured. Nancy unleashed a devastating Thunderwave attack, blasting the beast off a support beam and into the far wall, with Dalag’se taking advantage with an athletic leap, two-handed-hammer strike in mid-air, smashing it into the wall, dead.
The PCs harvested the poison from the glands. Faelin shared some local news—Myth Sveldin was the spot a lot of adventurers were headed these days—and sent them off with a letter of introduction for Julian Dunbar, who he promised would take care of them in Old Weir.
- The Seven Prongs of the Stag were there to guide Ironica to Shifu’s cabin after she left the city and was lost in the wilderness…
- The Heron’s bright star was overhead when Dala'gse boarded that ship to the mainland…
- Tymora’s Dagger inspired Nancy on that fateful night the lead violinist went too far…
- The Shephard was looking down on Safad when he set out for the North after Baldor’s death…
- The Maiden’s veil twinkled the night Zireael saved his daughter from execution…
- and Oghma’s Cross were the first stars Slothrop ever saw, as he emerged from the Underdark for the first time…
As the travelers rushed to see what was going on, they saw it was a middle-aged woman with dark hair, a few strands of silver shining through, with breath still rising and falling, albeit laboriously, in her chest. Her eyes were wild and one arm was twisted incongruously under her. Her gaze found the group and she breathed faster, face clearly in pain and near shock. It softened as she saw the six companions in this unexpected party:
“I…I…know you…I’ve seen you all of you…somewhere…” Her voice trailed off and clouds darkened her eyes. Suddenly they bolted open:
“Find my girl, find Rya in Old Weir!”
She implored them, the words choking out of her. The veins in her neck were swollen and stood out as spiderwebs of dark blue. A dark bile began to spill from her lips. She was clutching something tight in her good hand and held it out to the group…but her arm lost strength halfway and fell to her side. She was dead.
The item in her hand was a badger-hilted, frost-crusted dagger.
Just then Ziriel’s sixth sense for Undead noticed a Ghoul a couple hundred yards away with the ribcage of a child in it’s filthy maw. Next to the ghoul was a skeletal horse. A few of the party tried to charge through the mucky bog as the ghoul attempted to mount the horse—still others stayed back. Ziriel's silvered blade, some sorcerer firebolts, javelins, and roguish sneak attacks took down the ghoul before it could even mount the horse. The horse took down Ziriel before it fell.
After Z was stabilized the group carried off the body of the woman and buried her at a secret location a mile or so off the road. They drew her blood, it ran blue, and Detected Magic in it...seemingly a magical poison killed her. She wore fine textiles as the PCs covered laid her in the frozen ground and covered her with dirt. The dagger was also magical, and frigid to the touch.
The next day the PCs set out for Old Weir, toward the Gap of Lodun, and encountered a wandering merchant and his donkey destined for the region’s capital of Innesbyr. He stared at em funny, but Slothrup’s charm put him at ease, convincing the merchant they were a roving troupe of entertainers. Nancy’s prowess on the violin backed up the story. Safad attempted to add-on with a magical flare but landed in a thicket of Gorse (ok ok i know it was a cantrip and technically out of wild magic bounds...). Ironica sneaked around the back and discovered what amounted to a forgery kit. Ziriel crossed his brawny arms. Dalag’se javelined the donkey through the heart. The PCs then murdered the merchant in cold blood. Ironica ripped off his face to confound attempts at IDing the body.
The merchant had a letter with him meant for a “Bo” and signed “Meenar” asking for more of a cut next time. Of what, unclear. He also had a magical reagent that made documents look extremely aged in a matter or minutes.
The PCs carried on toward Old Weir and camped on the other side of the Gap of Lodun. They awoke to a group of soldier/guards passing, but stayed out of sight. Once on the road, they ran into a guard-patrol bearing crests in their cloaks that some knew as the seal of The Monarch, the region’s authority, based in Innesbyr. The guards mentioned some funny business on the road in the direction the PCs were coming from and demanded to search them. Nancy charmed them enough to be excluded from the frisk but as the others were about to get searched all hell broke loose and the seemingly demure Nancy Thunderwave’d the shit out of them. The PCs slew them all, stripped them of cloaks and valuables, and piled the corpses together. They set the funeral pyre alight and watched as the icy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking up the sky.
They also noticed a little boy running back to a nearby farm. Ziriel sighted him with his longbow but judged the distance too great, what with the way the wind was blowing down from the peaks and all. Instead they tried to press on to Old Weir but ended up getting hailed by the farmer who was impressed with what his son told him and sought their help with a problem of his own. The PCs agreed and Faelin Devers invited them in to deal with a carnivorous monster stealing sheep every night. Faelin wined and dined a few of em, while others retired to the bunkhouse. He told them in a brilliant Scottish accent about the guards who keep nabbing newcomers to the region with this trick of showing them Wanted posters with their own likeness on it and getting exiled...or worse. Also said he was sad to say they just missed his older son Tommy who ran off to Innesbyr (“Inns”) to go try to be a platinum miner...which is how he claims The Monarch made his money.
Ziriel and Slothrup set up in the rafters of the barn and watched at 2am a monstrous tentacled slimy wormlike centipede like creature burrow up from the ground. They wisely decided to hold off an attack.
The next day the PCs set an ambush for the monster with contingency plans to burn down the barn. The Carrion Crawler arrived on time and the PCs attacked, for the most part surviving the paralyzing tentacle poison, though Ironica was injured. Nancy unleashed a devastating Thunderwave attack, blasting the beast off a support beam and into the far wall, with Dalag’se taking advantage with an athletic leap, two-handed-hammer strike in mid-air, smashing it into the wall, dead.
The PCs harvested the poison from the glands. Faelin shared some local news—Myth Sveldin was the spot a lot of adventurers were headed these days—and sent them off with a letter of introduction for Julian Dunbar, who he promised would take care of them in Old Weir.
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