Session 0: Gathering of Heroes Recap

For personal reasons unique to each, the heroes; story begins in the ancient city of Mara with each needing to leave sooner rather than later.   Answering posted flyers for caravan guards, they arrive with the rising of the dawn sun at the Heroes' Gate caravansary and take employment as guards and labor with Dugal Stonepick 's Long Road Caravan. The journey will take approximately 21-days without major mishap, traveling the Old Trade Road, often called the Longroad, along the fringes of the Tanglebrier Forest, stopping in at several settlements, towns, and other exotic locales.   The Heroes consist of:

• Staas Kraul, male half-orc barbarian hailing from the Eastering Heights mountain range north and east of Mara. Staas is a towering brute more human than orc, clad in scale mail and wielding a greataxe and a belt of orc skulls about his waist.
• Marvin "Marv" Goldfang, male half-orc pugilist from locations unknown. Dapper and gentlemanly in dress, speech, and attitude, Marv's elegant nature is belied by his scarred and broken face and a stout stone-banded club at his waist.
• Bun-Bun Chanski, Inquisitor of Ordo Caminus, Blessed of Moradin, male hill dwarf forge cleric from Stonefast on the northern Harpy Coast. Armored in chain mail, shield embossed with the symbol of Moradim, a dwarven warhammer, and a bear-skin cloak, Elder Chanski is a man on a mission.
• Jasper , male human druid, a former farmer from the eastern fringes of the Tanglebrier Forest just south of Bloom. This simple young man ("Call me Jas") looks unremarkable in his homespun clothing and simple dagger at his waist were it not for the cloak of living bark draped over his lean shoulders.
• Gaston Samedi, male half-elf divine sorcerer, claiming to be from the backwater bogs or Bowlsheet Swamp in the dar south of the Utter East. Rugged yet charming, clad in sturdy clothes and reptile skin boots, this silver-tongued spell-slinger can talk a snake out of its hiss.
• Griañna Starseeker, female human astrologian, traveling from the Utter East. A fortune-telling mystic in an extravagant gown and never without her deck of cards and bulky astrolabe, this raven-haired beauty seems to see everything and more. (A member of the actual caravan)

The caravan consists of:

• Dugal Stonepick , male dwarf caravan master.
• Borric Steelmelt, male dwarf renowned forge master.
• Talia Entwhistle, female wood elf caravan guard.
• Wanda Thistlethumb, female human tailor/cloth trader.
• Monsieur Odaire LaMerchante, male human perfumer.
• A'lan Bindlebrew, male half-elf ale merchant.
• Green Imsa, female human colored entirely green ...
• The Steelflower(npc) family, Charlesalathan (wood elf), Caroline (human), Mary )half-elf), Laurathalasa (half-elf), Kari (half-elf), and Mr Woofs, the sheepdog.

Day 1 -- May 15th

After the new guards spoke with Dugal and introduced themselves to many of the other travelers, the caravan left Mara on a brisk May 15th morning at around 8am. Traveling through the farmlands sustaining Mara and into the rolling foothills of the Eastering Heights, the caravan camped at midday to rest, repair, and repast. The heroes had more interaction with their fellow travelers and learned many things:  

• Talia Entwhistle is rude, arrogant, and dismissive while barely hiding her distaste for the half-elves in the caravan and bossing everyone around. She is however very good at her job.
• Wanda Thistlethumb is a diminutive woman, barely taller than halfling and elfin in appearance, she chatters away with a bright tone and follows her train of thought unless interrupted, to which she never seems to mind. She is very friendly and took on a task to make Marv a new set of fine clothes during the journey for the cost of only 10 gp.
• Odaire LaMerchante seems to be a bit snooty and private. He has kept to himself but Marv noticed something strange upon his first casual view of the rotund perfumer attending to his wagon before departure.
• A'lan Bindlebrew isn't trekking wares from one location to another. Rather, he sells his spirits along the trail to make his coin. He is friendly and a bit roguish in demeanor, though he so far seems to be holding true to disallowing the guards to imbibe to intoxication.
• The two older Steelflower girls are courteous but impish children. They sought out Griañne Starseeker for a reading, which showed the seer possible tragedy in their future, though she only told the children their fortunes were good. Griañne also has suspicions about Mr woofs, as she has twice now overheard the girls talking to someone with a cultured male voice, but when discovered, only the girls and their dog are seen ... who has apparently winked the soothsayer .. twice!

  The first day or the journey ended at a well-used campsite at 20 miles from Mara and at the edge of "civilization". The night passed calmly without issue, though it became apparent Talia was surreptitiously checking up on the guards on watch duty.    

Day 2 -- May 16

The day dawned damp and dewey with an uncomfortable chill in the air making the travelers unaccustomed to such travel uncomfortable, but still rested. The Long Road took the caravan out of the rolling foothills into more mountainous terrain and the lower passes of the Eastering Heights.   Near midday, among fitful and spattering fat droplets of rain, found the caravan moving through a narrow canyon with steeply rising walls not far to either side when the sounds of rolling rocks alerted hem all. Two boulder-sized elementals careened down the rocky slops to a stop before the Dugal's lead wagon, forcing a halt. Jasper attempted a greeting with the elementals after they showed no signs of aggression. After a strange exchange of almost-but-not-quite-common speech and gestures from the stony duo, it was determined they were asking for the caravan's help.   The heroes and the seer (against admonishments from Dugal and Talia against her following along) were led by the galeb duhr through an almost unnoticeable gap in the canyon wall into a small wash. They motioned to a small, steep rise upon which a shimmering magical barrier was seen along with a seemingly dead human, a pile of rocks which could once have been a galeb duhr, and several milling skeletons covered in dirt, grime, and moss.   The heroes cautiously moved forward to investigate, the elementals staying fearfully behind. Before they got too far, two skeletons burst from undergrowth behind boulders and a fray began. The boney assailants on the rise tumbled off the edge, collapsing into piles of bone, before reassembling and moving in to fight. There were six (6) skeletons, a perfect match for the six intrepid heroes.   It was not long before the first skeleton fell to the weapons and spells of the heroes, only to explode in a blast of bone shards after blue runes flared under the encrusted grime. The battle was difficult with the druid being brought low and the pugilist nearly so, only his half-orcish resilience keeping him on his feet ... until a skeleton exploded in his face after stabbing it through the skull with its own rib.   Before he fell, Jasper plied savage claws and thrown pebbles, while Griañne bolstered the group with brief looks into the future and a bit of mystical healing. The cleric brought down holy radiance with his prayers to Moradin and blunt force trauma with his warhammer to lay two skeletons low. Staas used javelin, axe, and unbridled rage to weather the battle and bring two skeletons down. Marv punched, clubbed, grappled, whipped with his belt, and took as much punishment as he gave, killing one undead creature with its own rib through its skull. Gaston cursed the undead inhibiting their attacks and flung bolts of fire, even stabbing one squarely in the back as it moved away from him in a stumbling miss of an attack against the half-elf.   When the battle was done, the heroes found the barrier only kept stone out, nothing else. Staas rolled the human necromancer's remains over, which trigged some effect which lowered the barrier upon which the galeb duhr rushed in and viciously pulverized the necromancer's corpse, shattering its staff and leaving only bits of gore and blood and bone. The elementals touched their fallen ally and sent him back into the earth below, turning to thank the heroes and offering six (6) fragments of the rare element dragonglass to them.   The heroes returned to the caravan and relayed the events before moving on and camping the evening in a set of caves obviously used for this purpose as rain slowly moved in overnight.