SoA Session 1- The Great Hunt Report
General Summary
Our story begins in the small frontier village of Draughmere in the Duchy of Vichi. Our heroes have travelled a long winding road, over rolling hills, through tall pine forests, and finally over the roaring Vichi river to reach the village. The village itself is bustling, home to farmers, woodcutters and hunters. It seems on the edge of a boom, with merchants arriving to purchase the local produce and transport them around the Duchy. Draughmere sits on the edge of wilderness; surrounded by the ruins of a previous time. To the North and East, the village is surrounded by forest- the Great Draughmere Forest stretches for miles, bound only by the mountains. To the west lies the much smaller Bilberry Woods; foraged for the tart berry that gives the woods its name. The village itself boasts two inns; the Grateful Rest and the rougher Grog and Gruel.
Our party of adventures is a disparate lot; featuring a half-orc barbarian named Azo-groh, the half-elf ranger Brice, another half-elf named Aleandra, an assimar human paladin called Thandiel and Mordai a tielfing cleric.
They have arrived at the Village of Draughmere to attend the Festival of the Great Hunt. An event which occurs every decade, drawing individuals from all over the Dutchy. Some to participate for the festivities, others to join the Great Hunt. The Great Hunt itself is a wily affair, where groups of adventurous individuals seek a quarry determined by the Townmaster and Baron Fergal Ironwood. This year the quarry is a fearsome manticore. This year it is rumoured that the son of Duke will be participating in the Great Hunt.
As the party arrive in the Village of Draughmere, they immediately notice the bustle. The village green fenced off, home to tents of every size and colour. The excitement is palpable. As Thandiel and Mordai stride at the front of the group, they notice a group of youths loudly discussing their plans to hunt the manticore. Casting an experienced eye over the group Thandiel quickly realised that the teenagers are very much out of their depth, and describes in the most vivid and gruesome detail how manticores dismember their victims. Quickly catching on, Mordai, embellishes the story, causing the band of youths to reconsider their life choices.
As the group pass the Grapeful Rest, one of the two Inns in Draughmere, they notice two very drunk nobles emerging, flanked by several men-at-arms. The men-at-arms are wearing the green tabards of Vichi, decorated with the red rose of the Duke. Both nobles are holding a drunken conversation, succeeding in insulting many of the passers-by. It doesn’t take long before an older man emerges from the inn, casting an eye over the crowd he ushers both nobles back into the inn.
Deciding to investigate a little further, Mordai cast disguise self, taking the image of one of the guards and leads the party into the inn. Inside they find the nobles drunkenly chatting, and drinking more ale. Mordai introduces the party of the nobles, stating that they wished to register for the Great Hunt. Immediately met by indignation, the heavier of the young men demanding that he was appropriately addressed, by the group. One of the men-at-arms leaned over, introducing the group to Viscount Maximilian Emmanuel D’Marco, son of Duke Argon. Suddenly realising their mistake Thandiel steered the conversation, apologising and excusing the group, only being met by yet more insults from the Viscount. As they left the Inn, Mordai saught to take some revenge; casting mage hand on one of the tankards of ale causing it to spill all over the lap of Maximilian. In a drunken rage, Maximilian lashed out at the closest guard, claiming that he was responsible for the spill, and demanding a flogging. The final thing that the party witness as they left the inn was the older individual who ushered the nobles back into the inn appearing. He seemed to understand the situation immediately and started to smooth things over.
Leaving the inn, the party decided to head to the home of the baron, a fortified manor on the edge of town. Upon learning that Thandiel Silvercrest was with the party, they were immediately ushered to an audience with Baron Ironwood. The Baron registered them as contestants in the Great Hunt and asked Thandiel for his help. With the festival and the attendance of the Viscount, Ironwood’s men-at-arms are spread thin. There is a matter that needs to be investigated- the devastating explosion of a farmer’s oven. The Baron suspects foul play and offers the group two-hundred and fifty gold pieces to find the truth. Agreeing, the party head to the farmer’s home to investigate.
Upon arriving at Jacksal Longboot’s home, they notice that the once exquisite manor has been devastated- it looks as though one the side of the building has been destroyed. Before knocking on the door, they decide to have a look around the property and discover Jacksal’s orchard. Azo picks several of the apples from the orchard, and passes them around the party, before striding to the front door and knocking loudly.
The door is opened by Jacksal, an arrogant middle-aged farmer who seems to have had some financial success. After explaining that they have been charged by the Baron to get to the bottom of the explosion, Jacksal welcomes them in. He leads them through the smoke damaged house, to a reception room. Upon questioning him, they learn that he has taken the day off to practise his apple pie recipes, leaving shortly after dinner to drink in the Grapeful Rest. Upon returning home, he baked more pies. The first he knew of the calamity was the green flames billowing out of the oven. Before he could react, he was knocked unconscious by a powerful explosion, waking with his neighbours dragging him out of the burning kitchen.
Questioning him further, the party discovered that Jacksal believes his rival, Mortimer Wormstooth, was behind the explosion. They also learned that the only people home at the time were Vanessa, his wife, and his six children. Aleandra and Azo both spoke to the distraught Vanessa, who was able to confirm that only her, her children, and some of the children’s friends were in the house. She didn’t see anyone or anything suspicious. Aleandra was able to learn from the maid, Giselle, that Jacksal’s eldest daughter, Jayda was friends with Mortimer’s son Timeo. Giselle hadn’t seen Jayda since earlier that morning.
Mordai, Thandiel and Brice took the opportunity to investigate the kitchen. They discovered that the stone oven had been melted, with a faint smell of sulfur on the pieces. Mordai examined the tracks surrounding the shell of the kitchen, but couldn’t see anything other than evidence of the neighbour who saved Jacksal and the bucket chain assembled to put out the fire.
With several leads now open to them the party, they decided to split up; Aleandra would search for Jayda and Timeo, and the rest of the group would head to Mortimer’s house.
Mortimer’s farm was in poor condition, very much in contrast with Jacksal’s farm, it looks as though Motimeri hasn’t been as successful. Again the group visited the farm’s orchard although only Azo sampled an apple this time, which she found to be delicious. Knocking on the door, it was opened by Mortimer, thin man in his forties, with a hawkish nose, and large black bags under his eyes. Thandiel identified that Mortimer seemed ill. They questioned Mortimer but didn’t learn much. He seemed sincere in his statement that he wasn’t involved with the destruction of Jacksal’s oven. Azo asked if she could inspect his oven, and couldn’t pick up any hint of the sulphurs smell that Jacksal’s oven had. The party left to meet back up with Aleandra, who had spent the last few hours learning about an abandoned windmill, often frequented by the children of the town.
Heading to the windmill they discovered Jayda and Timeo hiding out. After a good cop, bad cop routine from Aleandra and Brice, the group learned that Jayda put a substance in her father’s oven, this substance was acquired by Timeo, from his father’s storeroom. The children wanted the fathers to stop feuding- it seemed to Jayda the best way to do this was to scare her father. As the party was discussing their next steps, Azo was able to learn from Timeo that his father had been acting unusually for the past week; arguing with himself, refusing to let Timeo eat his pies and baking maggots into them. Learning this information, the group decided that they should bring it to the Baron’s attention.
On their way to the Baron’s manor, they passed the Grog and Gruel, a rough tavern. Brice noticed an advert chalked on the slate board outside ’Mortimer’s famous apple pies available today’. Fearing the worst, the party decided to head into the tavern to stop the consumption of the pies. Upon entering, they were met with a strange sight- all of the patrons seemed to be lying unconscious, surrounded by pools of vomit and half-eaten pies. Upon closer inspection, it appeared that the patrons where dead. The eagle-eyed Brice noticed movement, and as the pools of vomit moved, and struck at the party.
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