Shadows over Alonia- The Story so Far

Our adventurers are motley crew comprising of;

• Azo-groh Morrkul; a half-orc barbarian
• Bryce; a half-elf ranger whose parents were killed by a shadowy secret organisation.
• Mordi; a cleric of Halandras, who grew up on the streets.
• Aleandre; a sweet young girl who has fled her village from persecution.

The group travelled to Draughmere Village to take place in an event known as the Great Hunt. During which they would join teams of competitors to hunt and slay a fearsome manticore.

Arriving in Draughmere, they encountered Vicount Maximillian Emmanuel D'Marco, the son of the Duke of Vichi, and heir to the Dutchy. He was accompanied by his cousin Baronet Jacques Baccuet. The arrogant young nobles seemed to be causing a commotion and generally unliked by the population.
The party registered their intent with Baron Fergal Ironwood. He explained that with the increased footfall in the village and the nobles, most of his guards were busy. A mysterious fire had recently destroyed the house of a local baker, deputised the group and sent them investigating.
Jacksal Longboot's home had been torn apart; the fire seemed to have been caused by an explosion from the oven. Their investigations eventually lead them to Mortimer Wormstooth, another baker who had been acting out of character. The group soon learned that Mortimer was operating under the influence of a Demon of Gluttony. Under its instructions, he was baking fiendish maggots into his pies.
It became apparent that fiendish maggots infested Mortimer's body. After eating some of his apple pies, it became evident that Azo was also infected. The group eventually tracked down the demon; who was currently possessing the body of Carla Ruttenbury, a local herbalist. The group destroyed the warped form of Carla, driving the fiend out of Draughmere and freeing both Mortimer and Azo of the fiend's corruption.

Our intrepid band then took part in the Great Hunt, where they were eventually able to track the Manticore Graxxis down to lair in the Draughmount. Graxxis had enslaved a local kobold tribe, the Coppertooth tribe. After the slaying, of the tribe's leader; Zord, a winged kobold, the party convinced the rest of the tribe to aid them. They fought Graxxis and destroyed him.
After killing Graxxis, they discovered that he had laired in an old temple. The symbology was unfamiliar to Mordai, but he did find a secret passage which took the group further into the ruins. Following the tunnel, they found the resting place of the mummy Cinar.
Cinar claimed to worship an entity known as the Whispering One and sought to convert the heroes to the worship of this entity. Refusing to turn, Cinar attempted to destroy the group, only to be killed in the process.
Within Cinar's domain, the party found a wooden box, encased within several lengths of chain. Upon picking up the object, an entity started to communicate. It claimed that it was an enemy of the Whispering One, imprisoned long ago. It claimed that the keys to its freedom scattered throughout the world. Azo took the box.
Upon returning the village, they learned of the death of Viscount Maximillian during the great hunt. Only his cousin Jacques had managed to escape. A group of competitors had attacked the Viscount's group know as the Crushing Fist. The Fist is a group of mercenaries lead by a dwarf names Magnhild . With the Viscount's death, the line of succession was in doubt.
They met with the baron's steward Sir Acton Barley. Acton informed the group of the arson of a local orphanage. Also, Barnabas Cyras, the leader of a logging expedition, had requested the help of the guard. Sir Acton asked the heroes to help Barnabus.
On the way to the logging camp, the party decided to investigate the orphanage. They discovered that the doors and windows had been barred from the outside. They also found a pair of wolf and humanoid tracks heading into the Draughmere Forest. Following them into the woods, they quickly lost track of the footprint and decided to strike out of the logging camp.
Upon arriving at the logging camp, they met Barnabus who informed them that the logging camp had been under attack from spiders. These attacks seemed unusually coordinated. Many of the men had also reportedly seen a ghostly elf and a wolf before these attacks.
The group learned of a creature occupying a small grove to the north, who had killed one of the loggers. Some of the loggers believed the attacks where coming from a small commune located to the east.
In the grove, the party encountered Nephety, a dryad who had been attacked by a pair of loggers. During the attack Nephety had defended herself, which resulted in the death of one of the loggers. As the heroes were speaking to Nephety, an angry mob arrived baying for her blood. The party was able to subdue the crowd and foster peace.
The party then headed to the commune, which they discovered seemed to be unaffected by the spiders. They met the leaders of the group; Ariel and Lith. The other seven members of the comune where beautiful young women. It didn't take long for the group to become suspicious of the leaders, only to discover that they were vampires praying on the young women. Mordai was charmed by Lith, and used in a scheme to destroy Ariel. The group subsequently destroyed Lith.
Leaving the commune, the party headed back through the forest, only to encounter a wounded unicorn named Glorfinden. Glorfinden had been driven from his grove by a young green dragon. The party offered their help and drove the dragon, and it's druid ally away. Glorfinden lamented the desecration of his grove, upon being informed of the commune, he became its protector.
Under directions from Glorfinden, the party came upon the spider nest and captured a bizarre creature known as Qweebix. Qweebix revealed to them that its queen, Qhath'ur, was under the influence of an elf and her pet wolf. Qweebix led the group into the nest where they destroyed Qhath'ur.
After this, they encountered the elf and her wolf; Brice instantly recognised her as Lyraesel Greencloak, one of his parent's killers. The group managed to destroy Lyraesel, and upon her body discovered a series of letters suggesting that Thranduil, was close to Freetown. Brice recognised Thranduil as another who murdered his parents.

The group headed back to Draughmere Village to recuperate. As they awoke the next morning, they discovered that Aleandre was in a deep sleep, and despite all their attempts, they could not wake her. They eventually met Nox the dreamer, a halfling who identified their friends malady. Aleandre was trapped within her dreams, and they would need to enter her dreamscape to help her escape. To allow them to do this, Nox would need to prepare a concoction of herbs.
The group headed to the slopes of A'an Malesh, travelling through the village of Dunford beset by a powerful hag named Ban Ana and her accomplice Uncle Chortle. The group killed the witch and freed the children she kept prisoner. As they headed onto the slopes of A'an Malesh, they successfully gathered the herbs and returned to Draughmere, where they undertook the ritual.
In the dreamscape, the party explored Aleandre's home village of Lowehill where they learned that Alleandre was the prisoner of Abbadon, a powerful entity with whom who she had entered a contract. They met Aleandre's mother Hilda Nirnaed , who revealed more of her daughters past. Ser Blotten Ser Blotton took Aleandre's to his castle, in an attempt to force her hand in marriage. Aleandre made a deal with a powerful entity for the power to escape her dire situation. After escaping Blotton, Aleandre returned to her mother and shared all that has happened with her. Sir Blotten sent his men to track Aleandre down; in the resulting confrontation, Aleandre escaped; however, her mother was hanged.
They discovered more about her past, and eventually gathered the sections of a destroyed mirror that would allow Alleandre to break free of her dream. During this, they encountered the Dusk Queen, a dark reflection of Aleandre's innocence. They killed her, assembled the mirror and allowed alleandre to return to her body.