Event Log

Event Log Novelization

Opening Scenes (Session 1 8/14/2023)

We started off by enjoying the 433rd Summer Solstice Festival. A yearly festival, many different people and citizens visit the town. The city gains an extra beat of life as many different muscial styles, dances, shops, vendors, and enthusiasts enjoy the serene and harmonious air. At the midday break, Cornelius O'Hare, the mayor of Bramble Grove, was set to make a speech. Many had anticipated him speaking about his upcoming election or some other banal platitude. However, it seemed that the mayor was working on something more concrete. At his side, stood two enigmatic figures: Archibald Hookbill, a kindly and well-respected Raptor warrior and an unnamed Otterfolk archdruid. As the mayor's speech seemed to come to its purposeful main point, tragedy struck.

The three figures were all cut down nearly instantly and the serene center grove that housed the The Sacred Tree was alight in alchemical fire. Asteria and Hootentag rushed to the aid of the archdruid and Archibald, respectively. As the archdurid laid dying, she whispered a parting challenge to Asteria. There seems to be more than meets the eye when it comes to the Star Druids of the grove. Meanwhile, Hootentag's aura seemed to be embraced by the dying Archibald as she was inundated with a flood of visions and emotional onslaught seeming to imply that she was the inheritor of a magical set of armor.

But, if the chain of events around the armor were to be believed, then at some point in her future, Hootentag herself is doomed to die a violent death.

Following the initial attack, the assistant mayor--now acting mayor--Greta Sunsunner approached the two suspicious individuals. In a bout of confusion and emotional onslaught, Hootentag was unable to come up with a good reason explaining her innocence wearing a dead man's armor. She was taken off to be held in the city jail cell pending further investigation. Meanwhile, Asteria took the passed archdruid to be buried in a traditional druid ceremony. Asteria's pain was momentarily salved as she watched the spirit of the archdruid drift up to join the stars in the night sky. She looked through the belongings of otter, only finding a few meager possessions and a letter from the mayor explaining his purpose in summoning her to a meeting, talking about combating dark forces building in the grove.

In the middle of the night, Hootentag was visited by a dark Lepu vigilante figure--Duskwatcher. He was able to pass through the bars of the jail cell with ease and, while threatening the bookkeper, seemed to be more knowledgeable about the true nature of events going on than many others.He said that he and Archibald Hookbill used to venture into the caverns below the city and that dark forces were amassign down there. Though the city refuses to believe him and their own investigations always seem to come up empty. Before he left, he gave Hootentag a black onyx gem that he said she could crush if she ever needed to speak with him again.

In the morning, the important players assembled at the town hall's main courtroom. Hootentag was given another chance, and with the help of townsfolk witnesses was able to clear her name as far as the Bramble Grove City Government was concerned. Though she was warned that those outside of the walls might not look as kindly on her as they have. Poignantly, a small group of Raptors who were present insulted Hootentag and stormed out, led by Faux Redtalon they seemed very displeased at the outcome. The council addressed the attack on the day before, citing the best lead being guards noticing a group of unknown species crossing at the water level rather than using the East Gate. The council is putting together a small group to follow and investigate, Hootentag and Asteria elected to join up with them.

The Mountain Pass (Session 2 8/17/2023)

After finalizing their inventory, the duo of Hootentag and Asteria set out alongside the noble Sir Lutrin Thornwhisker and a small cadre of guards from Bramble Grove heading east along the mountain path in search of the trail of the mysterious assassins. Passing by multiple small hamlets, the group came to a fork in the road. To their right, the path leading to Otter Country and to their left a road leading higher up in the mountains towards Harrier's Peak. After a survival check to find tracks, Asteria located a relatively fresh group of tracks leading higher up into the mountains. Without definitive evidence, Sir Lutrin split up his remaining soldiers as he and Korin went with the party up into the mountains, and three of the remaining guards went along the path towards Ripplebrook.

As the group made their way further along the road towards Harrier's Peak, they came across a questionably-sane Corvum who attempted to waylay the group for a price of 400 gold pieces. Defying the shakedown attempt, this only earned the Revenant's wrath as he summoned the zombies of previous people who had defied him. A unique thing was noticed, these zombies did not resemble a race known to inhabit Bramble Grove. The fighting was fierce, with Korin succombing to the undead onslaught. Sir Lutrin and the party managed to slay the Revenant, taking his decent stock of waylaid loot as recompense. Additionally, the party came across a set of notes seemingly issued to the zombified beings from a mysterious figure only signed "Benny."

Harrier's Peak (Session 3: 8/23/2023)

The party finalized the burial of Korin and attempted to make contact with the other guards who had been heading into Otter Country with no response. Unperturbed, the group continued East to the last major city in the region, Harrier's Peak. The group made contact with the guards at the base of the city and gained entry, being warned about a strict 7-day visitor time limit and given passports. The party climbed the encircling pathway up to the city proper and were met by a much different city than they anticipated.

Instead of the bustling hidden jewel, instead the city was eerily quiet and people gave furtive glances. Children were hushed into buildings and onlookers regarded the foreigners with a myriad of emotions. The group attempted to speak with the day laborers pawning their wares at the city market. The cobbler met with silence but seemed to indicate that the guards were watching. Further exploration seemed to confirm this as when the party was attempting to get some delicious rabbit stew and enjoying the company of the town vagabond, Jenkins, at The Healthy Stew, two extra whispered words from the bartender, Stewart, were all that was needed for the guards to take him away.

Curious as to the nature of the authoritarian regime, the party attempted their first stealth operation, successfully sneaking into the holding cells/city jail underneath city hall. There, they narrowly escaped detection, with Asteria's magic being the only thing keeping Sir Lutrin from being detected. Coming upon the holding cell, Asteria used her newly-looted scroll of Charm Person on the jailer. The jailer made Asteria tea amidst his rather impressive collection of Bird Erotica as she sussed out some information about the nature of the town.

Eventually, she asked her charmed friend to be a dear and get her some food. He was only going to be gone a couple minutes, but that's all they needed to bust out Stewart and Veera, an operative for the mysterious Phoenix Network.

A Meeting with Telmin (Session 4: 9/10/2023)

The party made its way through the back alleys of Harrier's Peak until they were eventually led to The Rook's Perch by Veera and Stewart. Their misdeeds were seemingly discovered, as their visitor passports burned away in the evening light. At the tavern, they met with Skylar Feathercrest, the leader of Phoenix Network who discussed the group's recent efforts to resist the magistrates' despotism. After their meeting, the tavern was interrupted by a small amorphous magical messenger bearing a letter of invitation from magistrate Telmin. Nervous about what that may mean for the organization, Skylar began coordinating a backup meeting to take place later in the night at a secret secondary location. Meanwhile, the party curiously took on Telmin's offer for parlay in his laboratory.
Downstairs, the party found Telmin hard at work in maintaining some form of magical machinery. Telmin claimed that it was only due to his actions that the machine, which was itself responsible for the mysterious time-dilation effects that they'd been noticing, stayed relatively stable and did not flatten Harrier's Peak and the surrounding areas. Telmin both warned about the dangers of interfering with him or his work and also offered the party a possible way to rectify the magical maladies: obtain three metallic rings from a dilapidated magical city to the East of the grove and bring them back to him. Using such materials, Telmin stated he could safely deactivate the machine. He also clarified a bit of the specifics regarding the history of the magistrates and their relations with each other.

Some Heads Are Gonna Roll (Session 5: 9/20/2023)

Following their meeting with Telmin, the party went back to pass along their findings to the Phoenix Network. Knowing that their actions have at least partially been known to Telmin, many of the members lost confidence in the group and abandoned it. Of those who remained, a plan was eventually settled on. Telmin and his machine could wait. Using the party's unique skills and place within the city's hierarchy, a plan was hatched to take out the other two magistrates. Using the faux capture of Veera as a ploy, the party met with the two other magistrates, Vanya and Krix. After some discussion, it seemed that there was not going to be a diplomatic solution to their meeting. The fight was aided by the secret originator of the Phoenix Network, Jenkins.

Beyond the Grove (Session 6: 9/24/2023)

The party met with the leaders of the Phoenix Network to discuss the future of Harrier's Peak after successfully removing the previous magistrates, Vanya and Krix. Plans were made to support the new magistrate, Telmin, who needs arcane metals to repair a vital machine.
Following their planning, the group ventured past “The Grove”, where they discovered large Ogre tracks.

This ominous sign didn’t deter them for long, as they soon encountered a village of friendly lizardfolk fishermen. These lizardfolk offered assistance to the party, providing them with passage to Vinewood in exchange for goods.
With the agreement settled, the party traveled aboard the lizardfolk’s fishing boats, heading towards their next destination and adventure in Vinewood. The shadow of the Ogre tracks and the anticipation of obtaining the arcane metals for Telmin's machine linger as they move forward.

Viperwood Arc (Sessions 7-11, September-November 2023)

The party made an agreement with the lizardfolk to secure safe passage to Viperwood. After traveling the distance by boat, the party met Tiny a Tuskman riverboat captain at the docks. The group attended the outer city market with the lizardfolk until it was clear that their presence was no longer welcome. They did learn about the basic structure of the city and had their first interactions with the fearsome Yuan-Ti.
After making their way into the city, they looked around the marketplace first, meeting Trick Whisperfoot, a purveyor of all kinds of only mildly-used and completely legitimately-sourced magical items. The party made some deals for gear that involved helping Trick to collect on some outstanding debts, most notable of Sampson, one of Benny Urcat's lieutenants.
The party passed by one of @Benny's rousing speeches in the town center and learned that he seemingly possesses two out of the three necessary keys to access the "Heart of the Grove" an artifact that he says leeches health and fertility from the surrounding area and funnels it into Bramble Grove as a source of the grove's prosperity at the cost of everyone else. His most recent efforts, those which kicked off the plot of the campaign, seem to have left him at a bit of an impasse. He is currently attempting to simultaneously construct a magical device that would act as the third key and simultaneously sending missions to gather more intelligence.
The party confronted Sampson at the Enchanted Mug. While confronting the man with his pants down, the party accidentally[?] killed him and proceeded to loot his body for trinkets to sell off to cover his debt. With their account balanced with Trick, the party directed their efforts at Benny forthright. They sent a letter to Benny offering a trade of information. Benny obliged, being accompanied by his bodyguards Crow and Stannus. Benny clarified some of his plans and intentions as the party masqueraded as potential new recruits. They were set up on a mission to accompany Lynx, Benny's right-hand-man, on an information gathering mission to Otter Country.
The mission set off with Lynx and Tiny piloting the small boat. The party met a Spiderling adventurer who went by the nickname Snips. A couple of days into their journey, the party was on watch when the boat was confronted by Fyrenrae, an orange dragon. He demanded tribute or payment for the journey. When Lynx tried to weasel his way around the topic, he was swiftly and voraciously consumed whole by the dragon. The party managed to buy their way out, aiding[kidnapping?] Snips in doing the same. They proceeded along the original map directions for the route to Otter Country, proceeding through a cave that had been taken up by a small band of ogres. With the ogres defeated, the party is currently making use of their abode as a launching off point back into the grove.