Party

Thrax fortunately was able to get out of his bodyguarding duty as one of Ailsa’s father’s associates picked her up to return home. The party also met Hardrada while forming up to take part in the “battle”. Everyone was enthusiastic to have a barbarian on the squad, especially a 6’9, 400 pound one.   Grabbing safety weapons for the battle, the referee explained that the party’s goal was to protect carts and tents from the “kobolds” touching them. Huxley, Hardrada, Thrax, and Kearic moved forward to defend the front (a cliff with stairs cut into it for the “kobolds” to come down from) as Mar and Cat took cover. Kearic struck first, nailing a kobold with an arrow that dropped it in one shot. Mar drew next blood, dropping a second kobold with a headshot with rogue sneak attack.   Kearic and Hardrada charged up the stairs to meet the kobolds and dispatched another. Hardrada’s wind-up alone was enough to scare a kobold into sitting down. Despite in-theory defending the area, half of the party charged forward behind Kearic and Hardrada. The remaining kobolds seemed hesitant to push further on the party, though one did take Kearic down before Hardrada and Nalgan followed him through to crash into the kobold back line. Nalgan found himself face-to-face with the same halfling from the arena. Nalgan swung and missed, Mar moved forward for a shot and also missed, and Cat decided to run through herself to risk the close-quarters combat to herself. She missed her Eldritch Blast and was laid out by the champion.   The kobolds’ accuracy was not much better, a caster in the back missing Nalgan and Mar with scorching rays but landing one on Hardrada. Huxley and Thrax pushed on the left flank, Thrax missing two swings but Huxley landing a solid mace blow that was not quite enough to “kill” him.   Hardrada meanwhile managed to defeat another kobold as Nalgan continued to dance with the halfling. Nalgan managed to Lay on Hands to Cat to bring her back up. Mar took another shot and missed as Hardrada fell to the kobold mage’s “spell”. Huxley and Thrax dropped two more Kobolds as Cat fell to the halfling. The “wizard” ran away from Thrax as Mar finally managed to land an arrow on the halfling. Unfortunately, a terrible Sneak Attack didn’t finish the job. Huxley closed to finally get Kearic up with Healing Word.   The kobold bonked Cat on the ground to finish her off. The crowd did not approve. Kearic landed a hit followed immediately by Hardrada, but the halfing remained standing. Mar landed a savage blow with his dagger but still the halfling fought on. He missed a swing at Hardrada but downed him with his second. Nalgan finally sent him to the dirt with a crit Longsword followed up by a Smite.   Thrax meanwhile found himself “mind controlled” by the mage and turned to attack Huxley, missing. Mar collected his bow to close on the “wizard”, the final remaining hostile. Huxley managed to override Charm with Command to make Thrax stop as Kearic landed a long bowshot on the wizard and then managed to finish the job on his next shot after Mar and Thrax missed. The crowd cheered.   Round two was against 4 humans pretending to be hobgoblins. 2 of them charged forward as Kearic attempted a long bowshot and missed. Cat and Mar took cover for prepared actions, as Thrax, Nalgan, Huxley, and Hardrada charged forward. Cat missed her Eldritch Blast and Mar was out of range as Hardrada charged the line. He killed one of the hobgoblins on his first swing, as Huxley followed behind. Kearic landed a hard hit with a Hunter’s Marked arrow. Thrax closed in, missing his swing followed up by Nalgan cutting deep. The “hobgoblin” returned the favor on Thrax, laying him out in a swing.   Mar missed an arrow, Cat moved to the north and missed an Eldritch Blast, Hardrada swung recklessly and missed as well. Kearic landed another solid blow but the “hobgoblin” remained standing. Nalgan took a hard shot himself but stayed on his feet just long enough for the second enemy’s swing to lay him out. Mar managed to finish off one with a quick shot, but things were looking bad. Cat took a glancing hit as she retreated with her Eldritch Blast. Missing, Hardrada at least managed to annihilate another of the hobgoblins from behind.   Two more ran in from the north, however. Kearic managed to land another hit on his target, but he remained on his feet. The “hobgoblin” retreated from Kearic, swinging at Hardrada on the way. He hit him hard, but the big Barbarian stayed on his feet just in time for Cat and Mar to miss. Kearic closed to continue raining arrows on his prior target, who somehow remained on his feet after 30 points of damage. With no healing due to Nalan being down, Thrax and Hardrada also fell, leaving Huxley, Kearic, and Cat still standing but unable to hit. Huxley hit the ground next followed shortly thereafter by Mar. Everyone else decided to call it a day because going 37 rounds of missing because AC 18 is basically impossible to punch through at level 2 was not fun and the session ended. At least everyone leveled up to 3 (Paint did HP, needs to pick spells).

Kearic and Mar discussed the strangeness of the shared dream. Kearic, being an elf, did not normally sleep, so the situation was especially strange to him. Thrax recovered from his drugging and the field group decided to head to the tavern for breakfast.   Hardrada and Cat (and presumably Nalgan and Huxley but both were not here for the session) headed downstairs to eat. Kearic and Mar joined them shortly thereafter. Thrax headed to the market. Cat attempted to discern the meaning of the dream, unable to make heads nor tails of it. Thrax went off on his own to investigate, learning that a spell called “Dream” may have done something similar.   The party split up, going about their day at the fair. Mar decided to play some games and generally attempt to have a good time, because what is fate when you can cheat at carnival games with invisible mage hand? He won a Potion of Climbing and headed into the market to look at some of the fine blades for sale. Basically just enjoying himself and trying not to think too hard about raining blood and the Fortune Teller’s cryptic message. The exhaustion from the prior night made his attempts at tournament sneaking unsuccessful, so he enjoyed more of his drugs and went to watch some pro archers at work. While watching the archery contest, Mar overheard some gnomes mention that they had watched Kearic win the prior day, but also that he was a racist asshole towards gnomes.   Kearic and Hardrada went to find a cleric, priest, or paladin who might know about what happened the prior night or what the dream may have portended. Both were immediately distracted by a Red Hat. Hardrada engaged him in conversation as Kearic attempted to pick his pocket for coins. Kearic was successful, picking up 16 coins. He offered Hardrada 4 of them, because he apparently does not value his health trying to screw a huge barbarian. Hardrada proved to be an honest Barbarian though, and only took half of the coins, leaving both with 8.   Thrax and Cat went to find the Fortune Teller. Asking around, they realized that the Fortune Teller only appeared once per year to any individual person, so they would be unable to find it again. They realized Kearic was the only one of the group who had not seen the creature yet, so they went to find the elf. Grouping together, and with a whole lot of convincing (because for some reason Kearic decided he wasn’t going to believe in magic despite this being literally DnD), they tried to get Kearic to find the creature.   Kearic acquiesced, but did stop at the bowyer first. While speaking to the bowyer, Kearic noticed the Fortune Teller out of the corner of his eye and went off to speak with it. As he approached, he saw a family looking distraught as the Fortune Teller seemed to be comforting a child. Kearic approached and asked for his fortune to be told. The creature arrayed a deck of cards in front of him and Kearic chose one. The Fortune Teller was as cryptic with Kearic as he was with everyone else, telling Kearic to “Beware the hounds of war” though Kearic did score a Javelin of Lightning for his trouble.   The party minus Mar regrouped to visit Drogan’s Fineries, a large blacksmith shop that was an actual building. Inside the large building (clearly magical, as the inside of the store was much larger than the outside could possibly fit) were racks and racks of high quality weapons and armor of every variety anyone could want. Hardrada, being a blacksmith, recognized the quality. Cat tried to ask for Drogan and was turned away by the shopkeep. Thrax, being an idiot, decided to flash the Zhentarim gang sign which did not go over well.   Mar continued to watch the tournament fights, also managing to grab 13 coins from pickpocketing a passing Red Hat with his invisible Mage Hand. Hardrada and Thrax joined him in the stands to watch.   Cat tried to get Kearic to tell her what the Fortune Teller told him, but Kearic wasn’t paying that close attention to the Fortune Teller (and it was fairly cryptic anyway) but was pleased to find a Cleric in plate mail who served Torm. She explained the dream to him in the hopes that he would perhaps know something. The cleric suggested she ask her own god about what she was shown. Kearic paid him for a cast of Bless in order to fight well. The Cleric performed the blessing and then headed to the tournament to fight.   The party leveled to 5.

The party set off in the morning, deciding to go on foot because money concerns meant the party members who did not have a horse could not afford one. (Nalgan flexing on everyone with his Dire Wolf). After spending an hour realizing exactly why no one keeps track of survival bullshit and weight in other campaigns, the party finally got under way. The first night passed uneventfully, with the party setting camp and taking watch. Hardrada pulled Mar aside and showed him a picture of him, stating that his orders were to protect Mar, though he had no specifics as to why, how, or from what. Neither did Mar, though he was surprised that the picture was not a bounty notice. Hardrada pried a little into his story in an attempt to figure out why, but the tiefling had no idea how the Field Marshal of the Flaming Fists would know who he was.   Thrax’s watch passed uneventfully. Cat and Huxley were up next. Cat drew her usual warlock symbol in the dirt and presently a squirrel approached her, morphing into a small imp to chastise her for not following her master’s orders. The imp demanded that Cat tell at least one member of the party about what she was up to, this heard only by Mar, who had slipped out of his tent to observe. Having seen and heard all of this, he returned to his tent.   The rest of the night passed uneventfully and the party set off again the next day. Cat noticed a small group of orcs in the distance and the party stopped. Huxley recognized one as wearing markings of Gremmish, the orc god of combat/battle/general mayhem. This likely signified him as an Eye of Gremmish, a war cleric. The rest of the group came into view, with 8 orcs following the Cleric and two orogs (basically Captain orcs). Mar wanted to keep moving, but Kearic explained it would be an affront to his honor to leave orcs alive and the party seemed to be convinced.   Attempting to sneak closer resulted in disaster as instead of an ambush, the party would be fighting an encounter battle. Fighting 11 orcs with 7 players took the rest of the session.   Mar opened the battle with a sneak attack bowshot from cover at the cleric, rolling decidedly averagely for 15 damage. Nalgan, Huxley, and Hardrada closed to get in range. Thrax used his Wand of Magic Missile and expended all of its charges but one at the Cleric, killing him in the opening round. The orcs charged forward, hurling javelins but missing the characters in cover. Huxley let loose with a Fireball, killing 4 of the orcs outright but lighting some of the forest on fire.   One of the orogs closed on Nalgan and hit him hard, but Kearic closed in to stab at him with his sword. The second orog joined the fray, returning the favor to the elf. Hardrada dove in, swinging his glaive and landing a hit as Mar dove away for cover and loosed another arrow which found its mark. The orog proved to be made of tough stuff however, and remained on his feet.   Nalgan showed off Radiant Consumption, transforming into a blazing angel and burning everything near him. Thrax charged into finish the first orog off with Shocking Grasp, leaving one orog and 4 orcs still on the field. Cat hurled an Eldritch Blast at the remaining Orog, which remained on its feet but hurting. Huxley brained an orc with his mace to finish him off, but two more had rushed Cat and slashed at the woman.   Kearic Misty Stepped away from the Orog to help Cat out, throwing his Javelin of Lightning through one of the orcs and the orog.It hurt, but the Orog remained standing. Hardrada retreated to help defend Cat, running him through with his glaive. Mar finished the second one off with a shot to his eye from close range.   Thrax and Nalgan finished off the remaining two enemies, with Nalgan annihilating the final orc and Thrax frying the Orog with Shocking Grasp. The only sounds left were the crackling of the fire from the Fireball, spreading slowing across the trees. The party had no way to put the fire out, but were able to cut a fire break to prevent the flames from spreading. Kearic was upset at his home forest catching fire, but that should not have come as a surprise with the opening move being planned as “Fireball”. The party set camp, exhausted after the day of battling the blaze.

Unsurprisingly, Riverdale was super fucked up just like the farmhouse.   (Now Written from Thrax’s Pov)   As we approached the town of riverdale we spotted some Daleland hounds basically feral dogs/wolves rather large like a huskyish and they are headed toward the town. Oh look the town of riverdale has been absolutely decimated. The party then split off with Thrax and Kearic moving to a farmhouse that seemed to be absolutely wrecked.The other half of the party (Cat, Huxley,Hardra, Nalgan) went to investigate the mayor's house, with Hardrada promptly going mute due to fear and overwhelming horror.   Cat found out that there were two human factions that had hostilities against each other but once they started fighting a third force came in and killed both. Kearic then split himself from thrax and returned to the party at the mayor's house and tried to take out his flesh shroom and promptly maced himself and is now searching the dead bodies.   Thrax then decided to search more houses in search of people to enslave but was stopped when his brain stopped working after seeing a terrible scene. Meanwhile elsewhere the main party goes to the main building in search of things. With the remaining party are shoveling bodies trying to move through the main hall. With Kearic shoveling most of it and finding a mass of pestilence comprised of bodies covered with death shrooms with Kearic moving up this mound with a grappling hook. Thrax trying to find survivors keeps finding dead people instead of anyone that could be helped. Nalgan trying to help Hardrada is moving him out of the horror house. With Kearic moving up to the second story and then promptly vomiting once he got the second story he is now afflicted with filth fever. Thrax after trying to look for living people have came up with nothing has switched over to looking for gold and drugs. And now the wolves are attacking   (Back to Mar)   Huxley snapped out of his terror, Hardrada straightened up but was rendered mute, as Cat rushed back to the party with the wolves on her tail. She turned and fired Eldritch Blasts at the hounds, killing two. Huxley stepped up to one of the larger hounds and lit it on fire with Flaming Sphere, damaging it but not killing it.   Kearic, meanwhile continued to search the mayor’s office for any records of what may have happened here, but the masses of bodies and destruction inside made the search impossible. He retreated back to the group. The wolves continued to close in, biting at Kearic.   Nalgan healed the elf and Huxley dispatched another. Mar landed a sneak attack on the pack leader, which hurt it badly but did not finish it off. Hardrada demolished it with his glaive. Huxley and Cat killed two more, clearing the area around the majority of the party.   Thrax, meanwhile, stuck in a room away from the party, found himself set upon by three hounds and one of the big ones, biting him savagely. Thrax rushed outside and cast Burning Hands back into the building, burning the house and all the monsters inside. The three dogs died immediately, the big one remained standing. Thrax went after it for vengeance. He killed it with his Wand of Magic Missile and the town fell silent.   The party examined the remnants of the town and found few clues beyond the piles of bodies. Huxley and Cat managed to find the one trap still functional in the entire village, a Fireball. This laid Catalina out and severely injured Huxley. Huxley picked her back up and Cat, not learning from her mistake, decided to follow the passage the Fireball had opened up.   Mar did not do that because he likes not being on fire. Kearic joined Cat and Huxley and explored the new passage himself, managing to find a hidden, large room underground. Inside, a corkboard “conspiracy theory board” seemed to point towards the work of Cat’s scholar.   The boards and notes pointed to a connection between a group at Shadowdale, a group in Riverdale, and the elves of Cormanthor. Kearic looked at what she had read and did not think the connection was meaningful as it seemed to be about peasant farmers struggling. He did loot the remainder of the room, finding money, a scroll, and some potions. He could not identify the scroll but the potions were potions of healing.   Meanwhile, back outside, Hardrada spotted a person sneak around one of the buildings, who drilled Mar with a crossbow shot.

(Centron out on vacation. EC joining late)   The sun was setting as the party reached Essembra. Cat suggested the party spend the night in an abandoned building, finding the remnants of the city inn and figuring that was as good as anywhere to set up in. Hardrada managed to find some wine that had escaped the battle, which boasted elven writing on it (“Tears of Ishra”) with an old date. Thrax opened it and the party shared the bounty.   Cat and Thrax took first watch while everyone else found a bedroom to their own. The wine seemed to be keeping everyone awake because of course it did. Rain began to fall, but nothing of note happened. Cat and Thrax finished their watch and Cat went to wake Huxley for the next watch. Nothing of interest happened for him, and Huxley picked Hardrada next. Hardrada also could not sleep, and also had nothing interesting occur on watch. He tapped Mar next, who also had an uneventful watch.   As the sun came up, Mar noticed each building in the town had a crow or raven perching on it. He went inside to gather the party and told them of the birds. The party set off for Ashabenford, the next town on the way to Shadowdale. Some of the birds flew off to the east as the party left town. Davan brought one down with his bow to see if any they had any footband or other mark of ownership, but did not find anything.   The party continued on to Ashabenford. As they came upon the town, Mar noticed they had been followed by a crow for the entire day. Ashabenford was a rustic village that served as a stop on the way down the river to Highmoon, Shadowdale, and Scarsdeep. Mostly human and dwarves going about their day populated the town. It was early evening and the workers were closing up shops and warehouses for the day.   Huxley asked about an inn and learned there were several to service the trading traffic. The party first headed to the Velvet Veil so Mar and Hardrada could post letters to their respective contacts. Cat went with them. Thrax, Nalgan, and Huxley headed to the Ashabenford Arms, the nicest inn in town. Huxley was quick to bathe and have his tunic cleaned, having to keep up his fancy appearance. The rooms were well-appointed with fine furniture and baths. All three of them took advantage of this.   Meanwhile, at the Velvet Veil, a band was entertaining the crowd along with a belly dancer. Hardrada and Mar wrote out their messages and passed them to the courier, a halfling named Kepling, who was engrossed in the show. Hardrada managed to pull him away from the dancer and they headed to the back to discuss business. They paid him for the service (a steep 5 gold for 1 day delivery) and he took the messages. The dancer winked at Hardrada as she finished her show, and Mar encouraged Hardrada to hit that. Turns out, it wasn’t going to be free, but 4 gold is 4 gold.   4 gold is apparently worth it for Hardrada. He handed his coins off to Mar so they wouldn’t be stolen, and spent the night with her.   Hardrada and Mar continued to hang out at the bar as Cat headed off to the 6 Shields hostel, wanting to save money. Mar told her Hardrada would not be spending the night at the hostel, so he and Cat headed to the White Hart inn. There, they ate and drank and acquired rooms. Everyone slept in their separate lodgings.   Unfortunately, no one had told Hardrada where everyone had gone. He headed to the 6 Shields, but Mar and Cat had realized that they had not told him where they had decided to spend the night and quickly moved to meet up with him. The other three joined up and they set off for Shadowdale, deciding to charter a boat for the trip rather than walk.   The ship was captained by a dwarf named Hagan, who was heading to Shadowdale. For 15 gold, he offered to take the entire party and their mounts as long as they helped out on the ship for the two day trip to Shadowdale. The party leveled to 6.

Huxley, Nalgan, Cat, and Kearic arrived in Shadowdale at midmorning and headed to Mother Tara’s for food and drink after their three day walk through the woods. They ate and Huxley Sent Hardrada another message, telling them to meet up. Once reunited, the party discussed ways to find the Lord. Cat expressed some concern about her ability to get answers out of him, but Nalgan seemed intrigued at Goldeneye’s apparent love of high fashion. There would be ins, some way or another.   Conveniently, it just so happened that Lord Goldeneye himself came downstairs at that time. He seemed popular among the denizens of Mother Tara’s. Following him down the stairs was Hardrada’s conquest from back in Ashabenford. Nalgan immediately cornered him to ask him about his fine robes. The Lord reported that his clothes were tailored in Waterdeep. Nalgan brought up Essembra but Goldeneye dodged the question and departed. The party left to head back to the Skull for privacy   In Mar’s room, the plan was hatched. Nalgan would try and link up with Goldeneye later and distract him with a card game while Thrax would drink his Potion of Mind Reading and try that out. This was all interrupted by the prostitute knocking on the door. She seemed happy to see Hardrada again, surprising everyone. She introduced herself as “Christina” saving the awkwardness of Hardrada not knowing it. Cat explained the party was on business on retainer to her noble father.   Christina explained that Goldeneye had sent her his private yacht for the trip, which explained how she had arrived in Shadowdale so quickly. Christina made it clear that it was an open secret that Goldeneye had a mistress in an unhappy political marriage (apparently his wife actively encouraged this behavior, likely having her own sidepieces). This was immediately confirmed by Christina saying she also was employed by the Lady of Shadowdale as well.   She suggested that Hardrada join them that night. Apparently Goldeneye was the adventurous type. Hardrada agreed to this, for some reason and that’s how the party Barbarian accidentally agreed to a three way with a Lord and a prostitute. That seemed like as good an in as anything.   While this conversation occurred, Cat was busy carving her patron’s symbol into the wall. Mar decided this would be a good time to ask about her conversation with the imp a week ago and Catarina dodged all the questions he asked (not helped by Thrax derailing the conversation every time Mar pressed). Kearic, Nalgan, and Cat headed back to Mother Tara’s to drink while Mar and Huxley discussed Cat. Huxley confirmed that he had also noticed her react to her patron. Both of them seemed to be on the same page with their concerns.   Huxley headed back to Mother Tara’s while Mar went to turn in the gold from the prior night. He was rewarded with a comped room. Thrax and Hardrada headed to the Blacksmith’s to look at weapons. Thrax sold the scimitar he picked up off the bandit captain from Session 9, and Hardrada sold his javelins.   Huxley meanwhile headed off in search of artists as per his god’s will. He was directed to a sculptor named Bradley to patronize. Huxley succeeded in encouraging the boy to follow his dreams of sculpting (this kid was 15).   Mar decided to break into Goldeneye’s room in search of information. What he found instead was a passed out 16 year old farmer’s daughter, who was both naked and intoxicated. She had little to say, but hinted that Goldeneye had propositioned her father to have her dance for him and Chrisitina (and possibly Goldeneye’s wife as well). Mar was disgusted by this, being only slightly older than the girl, though this was not grossly illegal in town (guess age of consent is lower in the Dale Lands than in the US).   That was in itself not particularly useful, and with no other ideas the party decided to wait for Goldeneye’s arrival. As they did, a woman entered the bar. She was well-dressed, tall and slender, looking rather noble of indeterminate race (though probably human, half-elf, or elf of some stripe based on her frame).

The gnoll (pink) lunged at Hardrada, missing with a spear thrust. Thrax managed to keep most of his blood inside him on his roll, at least until the giant hyena decided to abscond with the fighter, tearing into him with his jaws to negate the first death save. Hardrada cut into the gnoll in revenge. Mar cast Sleep to try to decrease the pressure outside, but a bad roll meant only two hyenas were affected. Still, that was two fewer than were up initially.   Huxley brought Thrax up with a Healing Word, though the Fighter was still in the Giant Hyena’s mouth. Nalgan brought out a Smite on one of the conscious hyenas, though the beast stayed alive. Hardrada continued to battle with his hyena, this time taking a hit. Thrax tried to break free of the Hyena’s mouth, failing and being slammed by the Giant Hyena into unconsciousness again.   One of the gnolls had managed to enter the house and Catalina blasted it with Eldritch Blast. Mar finished it off with an arrow to the brain. Huxley engaged the second gnoll through the window, missing, but the windowsill hampered the return swing as well. Nalgan killed another hyena. Thrax woke up again, Second Winded, and then promptly died again.   Hardrada dispatched another gnoll and went to work on one of the remaining hyenas, cutting it badly but leaving it alive. Cat managed to crit fail and then crit success, which was pretty cool.   Unfortunately, Ted is an asshole, and said the crit fail prompted the bolt hitting Thrax, so the crit hit Thrax. Mar missed an arrow at the window gnoll, but Huxley met with greater success, bonking the gnoll solidly.   Finally, having thinned the herd in front of the building enough to clear a path, Nalgan rushed to help Thrax. With Command, he ordered the Giant Hyena to drop Thraxius and took up a defensive position, unleashing his Radiant Consumption as well. This knocked Thrax out again, but luckily CTE hasn’t been discovered yet and no one felt this was a problem. Thrax passed his death save and the Giant Hynea tried to chomp on Nalgan. It failed.   Unfortunately, the radiant flames had woken one of the sleeping Hyenas, which promptly chomped deep into Catalina’s thigh. Catalina killed Hardrada’s gnoll, leaving only the Giant Hyena, a sleeping hyena, the gnoll in the window, and the hyena chomping on Cat’s leg standing. Mar finished off Cat’s hyena and Huxley finished off the gnoll. The tide seemed to have turned.   Thrax finally managed to retreat back towards friendly lines, downing a potion on his way out while Nalgan dueled the Giant Hyena. Hardrada joined the frey and slammed his glaive into the monster twice. At this point, it was over but for the clean up. Mar’s precision arrow shots found the Giant Hyena’s brain to kill it and Huxley euthanized the remaining sleeping Hyena.   The hyena and gnoll corpses decomposed at an abnormally quick rate, turning into forests of fungi in front of the door. Catalina felt compelled to eat one of the mushrooms, which had the reaction everyone expected in that she started speaking Abyssal and vomiting ichor. Catalina recovered after that, seemingly having no idea what had just happened. Patrons, man.   The party moved away from the carnage and headed to the local church, which seemed to be in decent shape minus some damage due to time. Hardrada, Thrax, Mar, and Catalina decided to drink heavily to try to forget the horrors they just saw. Huxley and Nalgan discussed Catalina’s possession, remarking upon how rare it was for patrons to fully possess their warlocks. Catalina sulked in a corner by herself despite the offers of drugs and alcohol.   Having passed the time drinking and smoking their troubles away, night fell and the druid touched down on the back of a huge raven. Hardrada, Mar, and Thrax continued smoking and drinking, directing the druid to the adults (Huxley and Nalgan). Nalgan explained to Theros what the party had been up to and about the strange fungus and the hyenas and gnolls.   Theros said the behavior of the gnoll packs was unusual. Hardrada, Theros, and Nalgan headed back to the site of the battle for Theros to examine. The druid examined the remains and said it looked like the gnolls were cursed. Theros believed this to be the work of Zuggtmoy, the demoness mostly connected to death, decay, and fungus. Theros said he would take his findings back to the other druids in the area and suggested we spread this information to the nexuses of power that the party dealt with.   Night passed and the next morning the party woke to a blast of hot, fetid, wind. Looking across to the horizon, a gnoll howled and hundreds more joined in to charge the church. Just as they reached striking distance, they turned to dust. The illusion dropped away, leaving the party looking over Essembra as it currently was once again.   Unusually, this time the party was not asleep when it happened. Something powerful was out there to be able to cast that level of an illusion for the entire party. With no immediate ideas about how to chase that down, the party decided to return to Shadowdale to report to Goldeneye.   Everyone leveled up to 7.

The first stop was Mistledale. Thrax went to acquire a bow while the rest of the party headed to speak to the Council of Six, an assembly of community leaders that were the government of the Dale. The Council was headed by a Chancellor, and so that was the person to find. The White Hart inn seemed as likely a place as any to ask after the Chancellor.   At the inn, Huxley was pleased to discover that Bradly, the peasant he had patronized when the party was last here, had completed a sculpture in wood of a local lord’s wife. The sculpture was made of multiple types of wood to give it color despite not being painted. Bradly was thrilled to see Nalgan and explained that the commissioned sculpture had allowed him to buy his father another cow for the farm and a new plow. He had even been offered a trip to Waterdeep, a high honor for a craftsman.   Asking the barkeep after the Chancellor, the barkeep directed them to the largest house in town (no surprise) and said his name was Harsak Malorn. Finishing breakfast, the party set off for the manor. Nalgan approached the manor guard and explained they were seeking the Chancellor. The guard told Nalgan that the Chancellor was tending to his vineyard, but would be available in the afternoon.   With time to kill, the party split to accomplish their own personal goals. Mar headed to Milthimmer’s, a local store that doubled as a fence. Huxley looked for more people to spread the word of Sune to along with Hardrada, who seemed confused but happy to be included. Cat and Thrax headed to Jarwyn’s Imports, a luxury goods store, in search of spices for the long trip to Harrowdale.   Mar spoke to the proprietor, asking about work or messages. The dwarf owner had no contracts immediately open, but suggested that Mar try back another time as he expected some later. He handed off a message to the rogue from the Birds of Prey. Mar accepted it and left after sending a letter back briefly updating the dragon on the current situation.   Huxley and Hardrada headed to Luwyn’s Leather to buy clothes for a family in need. Succeeding in this, they managed to acquire cloaks for a family (as well as some for themselves).   Having completed their shopping, the party reconvened at the manor. Lord Malorn waited for them at the vineyard. Cat explained in detail how the gnolls and fungus seemed to be working. She also returned the logbook of the Mistledale Emissary that they found in Essembra. Lord Malorn was kind of an asshole, barely even thanking the party for the information before dismissing them. With nothing else to do in town, the party decided to immediately set off for Battledale.   Three days later, the party arrived in Battledale, the dale Essembra lay in. Despite its name, Battledale was a sparsely-populated, peaceful place. The government was lax even by Dale standards, due to the sparse population across farms. A passing rider informed the party that the lord could be found in the woods to the south on his farm.   For some reason, the party nominated Mar to go speak to the Lord, who apparently did not like large groups of adventurers. He was a gruff half-orc named Ilma, who seemed to have little time for the party. Mar delivered the message from Goldeneye, being met again by suspicion, and the party moved on.   Down the road, a group of griffons set upon the party, hungrily after their horses. Thrax’s horse fell to one of the Griffons, which was a problem because it meant that the party was now fucked for carrying capacity. Six Griffons swooped in in total. A second horse fell to the beasts.

Scardale was heavily militarized, with multiple different fighting forces from across the other dales spread across several barracks, owing to its conflicted recent history. Despite its large scale, the city’s population stood only about 5,000, still recovering from the battles before. A market to the south of the docks proved busy, with citizens buying food and other goods. The Zhentarim had a large presence here, openly wearing their sigil on armor. While the Zhentarim and Gray Riders (the local constabulary) avoided each other, the Zhentarim noticed Thrax and seemed to recognize him. Thrax took off for an alley and doused himself in Dust of Disappearing to escape. The Zhentarim approached, not finding him in the alley and then turning to the rest of the party to ask about their business.   Dodging a conflict, the party decided to head away from the Zhentarim and head to the parliamentary buildings, figuring he might meet them there. They headed to Harborwatch Keep. The keep was on the coast, serving as the center of government. Thraxius popped back into visibility as the group approached, remaining evasive when questioned about his purpose. Nalgan’s Zone of Truth did not work either as Thrax passed the save.   Thrax did eventually volunteer the reason for the Zhentarim’s displeasure. He had taken a contract for a competing organization, though he did not specify who that was. Some probing later revealed the source of the issue was the woman Thraxius had been bodyguarding at the fair. Apparently, some letters detailing Zhentarim plans in Harrowdale that he had left for her were the cause of concern. At least, that seemed like the first cause for concern, but as the conversation continued it became clear Thrax had angered many other people.   After an extremely long and heated discussion revealing that Thrax’s character defects were many and his decision-making was poor in getting swept up by the Zhentarim, Hardrada and Thrax went to lay low at the Singing Siren tavern while everyone else headed to speak to the lords. At the inn, Thrax explained to Hardrada where the Zhentarim safehouses in Harrowdale were so the party could avoid them.   Meanwhile, at Harborwatch Keep, guards stood at attention. Catalina explained the reason for coming, and the guard said they would find the party at the Singing Siren when lords would hear them.   Meeting up with Thrax and Hardrada at the inn, they secured rooms and sat down to discuss. Hardrada attempted to get a message to Baldur’s Gate to get the Flaming Fist out to help secure the area. Mar simplified this process greatly by sending the information to Shadowkiss, and the party bedded down for the night in their rooms after a day of shopping.   Huxley and Mar waited at the Siren for word from Harborwatch, which arrived and invited them to speak in the afternoon the next day. The rest of the party arrived shortly thereafter, with Nalgan having successfully purchased some fine clothes. The party spent the night in the inn and awoke the next day to speak to the lords.   Mar received a letter at the Siren from Shadowkiss related to his prior update about the plague and the party’s mission to warn the dales.

The party rendezvoused at the Sleeping Lion inn to meet Mr. Blue. The Sleeping Lion was entirely occupied by elves. This proved slightly problematic as only Huxley spoke the language. Noticing an elf wearing a blue scarf seated alone at a table, Huxley approached and made conversation, asking after “Mr. Blue.” This had the desired effect, with the elf inviting Huxley to sit. He told Huxley they would have to move quickly, swimming to the Sembian outpost to deliver an unspecified package and “hoping to avoid bloodshed.” Sketchy indeed. Directed to the sewers by Mr. Blue, the party was instructed to make sure the path was clear. The objective was to deliver him to the Sembians at the keep, though he did not explain why the secrecy was needed.   Hardrada rolled 3 natural 1s in a row, which resulted in the sewer grate clattering loudly.   The party moved quickly to enter the sewer before anyone investigated. A smelly, sneaky walkthrough later, along with some close calls, the party managed to get to the end, removing the far end grate and starting the swim. Fortunately, it was only a 15 yard swim, so even the guys wearing armor could make that. In theory, at least, the swim proved to be a struggle for most of the party but they did finally make it across.   Entering the next section of sewer, Mr. Blue was abruptly pulled under the muck by something unseen. He was torn apart by a tentacle monster, prompting sanity checks. The party now had no idea what it was Mr. Blue needed them to do. The sanity checks Frightened Mar and Paralyzed Nalgan, leaving Paint free to get some water as it would be a while before he could do anything in combat.   Whatever the horror under the water was, it was not surfacing to give anyone a clear shot, until popping up to use Mr. Blue as a shield (apparently still alive), who took an arrow from Mar and a Magic Missile from Thrax. Adding insult to injury, the creature (an Otyugh) chomped on the elf. Mar managed a solid Sneak Attack on the aberration, and Thrax landed Magic Missile shots as well, expending all of its shots and causing the destruction of the wand. Fortunately (unfortunately) Thrax had a second one.   Cat managed an Eldritch Blast that did little and a second Otyugh joined the battle, immediately slamming into Thrax for a critical hit and a grapple from its tentacles. Hardrada found himself tentacled as well. Mar slammed another arrow into the Otyugh despite his Fear as a Gibbering Mouther joined the fray and beelined for the tiefling, chomping him savagely. Thankfully, Uncanny Dodge negated some of that damage, but Mar had no way to disengage from the monster due to his fear of the Otyughs keeping him from moving away.   Hardrada and Thrax managed to break free of their grapples. Cat Blinded the second Otyugh, which thrashed around wildly and managed to hit Huxley. This managed to proc Sentinel from Thrax, but the Otyugh barely noticed. The Gibbering Mouther caused problems for Mar, rendered unable to react fortunately was not hit.   Hardrada managed to kill the first Otyugh, sinking into the sewer. He crossed to assist Mar, Glaiving into the Gibbering Mouther. Catalina moved to try to get an angle on the Mouther, failing to Blind it because the creature was immune. Nalagan came off of being paralyzed and then immediately was slammed into the ground and Stunned. Mar similarly was forced to skip a turn by the Mouther again. I am disappointed I finished my whiskey earlier.   The remaining Otyugh continued to thrash around at Huxley and Nalgan. Gibbering Mouthers kept throwing strength and wis saves at Mar, making him basically stuck in place for the entire fight and with no one close by to proc Sneak Attack, he was left with Shadow Blade. Thrax crit the remaining Otyugh and Nalgan used Command to force the Otyugh to stop grappling Huxley and Cat.   Combat will pick up on Mar’s turn.

The Zhentarim and Torm forces argued about what to do next, with the Zhentarim wanting to shut the tavern down to figure out what happened and the Torm troopers wanting to let it be. Huxley and Nalgan attempted to calm the situation. Nalgan managed to persuade them to leave and a fight was averted. Asking in the tavern about what kicked off the fighting revealed mixed answers. People seemed surprised at how quickly the fight had escalated. A general feeling of unease seemed to be going around, which the party realized was also reported in the journals found at the places where the gnolls had attacked. Gnolls were likely going to make an appearance soon. Nalgan and Huxley also inquired about the leadership of the Zhentarim while they were there, learning the local Zhentarim garrison was ran by a man named Field Marshal Bane. This was an astonishingly high rank for someone to run a random garrison, so Hardrada thought something might have been up in that regard.   Thrax and Mar decided to go in search of drugs and “skulk for pleasure and not business” as it had been a long few days of sewer shenanigans. As they tried the Dragon’s Tail, a group of Zhentarim engaged the two of them, turning on Thrax but losing Mar in the twilight. Mar made short work of an archer while Thrax dueled with their apparent leader.   One of the other thugs attacked Mar and was greeted with Hellish Rebuke in return while Thrax continued to slam blows into the leader, who was frantically blowing a whistle for reinforcements. They didn’t last long enough for the reinforcements to arrive, as Thrax and Mar ran for it back to the temple.   The next day, the party discussed their next actions. Mar and Thrax did not say anything about the Zhentarim they killed, and the discussion turned to the gnolls that may be in the area. One of the Gray Riders of Harrowdale was in the area, speaking with one of the Torm priests about sending extra forces to the docks that night to avoid any problems. Mar did not overhear what specific problems they were guarding against.   The party decided that trying to find the gnolls in the area was the winning move, though Hardrada was still hung up on Bane being a Field Marshal and desired to know more about what he was doing in such a seemingly-small command. After a lot of arguing, the party decided to go ask around in town to see what could be done to put the town in order in the hope that once the internal problems were solved it would be easier to get them to stand against the gnolls.   Mar and Hardrada went to speak to Khelvos about that, finding out that he was busy in meetings as the Zhentarim were very upset about their dead patrol the prior night. All of the factions were called to this meeting, so clearly it was a big deal.   The rest of the party spoke to the priests of Torm to ask about Gnoll incursions and the Miasma. A high priest named Sebastion answered Huxley when he brought up the concept of the Miasma the gnolls brought with them. They further confirmed the severity of the meeting with the factions, with Cat realizing that Thrax may have been involved in the deaths.

The Cormerians seemed about as at ease as the rest of the commoners, though the recent Zhentarim tensions were of concern. So was the surprise Harrowdale envoy, but there was no sense of panic or major concern. Nalgan did overhear that the local nobility was holding a social event that night which might allow Nalgan (or the party) to catch the ear of the prince.   The elf (Elias) Nalgan spoke to also seemed well-aware of the Zhentarim, explaining that the Field Marshal had designs on the rulership of the entire city but they were laying low as far as anyone knew recently because of the patrol Mar and Thrax had killed. With that, Nalgan joined up with the rest of the party and they discussed their next course of action.   Nalgan seemed most interested in continuing to explore the Zhentarim connection as information on them would be seen as a useful trade with the Cormerians (Cormerarians?) to potentially get them more firmly on the Torm and party’s side. Nalgan suggested Mar go sneak into the Zhentarim barracks to see what he could find out about the Field Marshal while he would go attend the elven party.   Mar and Cat cased the Zhentarim barracks and found them to be well-guarded with torches along the walls and guards patrolling heavily. Finding no obvious way in, Mar decided that relying on his +10 to Stealth and prayer was probably the move, and Cat offered no other ideas, so they returned to the party.   Meanwhile, Nalgan ran into “Davan” at the Sinking Siren. The mysterious “tiefling” suggested that the party finish up in Scardale quickly, as Harrowdale would be in need of their attention relating to the “chains issue”, likely the patron wars were taking place in earnest over there. “Davan” departed, but not before telling Nalgan that the party would likely each find a gift for themselves (presumably left by him or whoever’s patron) that day.   Huxley and Thrax went in search of a proper offering for him to cast Divination to Sune for guidance from the goddess. Finding a suitable piece of jewelry for the ritual, he performed the ritual. He asked Sune for guidance regarding the Zhentarim’s weakness in the area. Sune showed Huxley the location of one of the specific barracks buildings in the Zhentarim sector, a manor-looking house that was apparently Bane’s. Bane met with another Zhentarim officer, who stated a report for him was ready in his office and then furtively headed for the officer’s quarters. Huxley figured that that officer might be the answer. Unfortunately, he did not get a very good look at the man, beyond being able to identify the officer as “human”, there was no obvious way to identify him.   Hardrada went to remove the Zhentarim marking from his new blade and discovered that it was magic upon being worked on. The sword matched the strange scabbard that he had been given during character creation, revealing itself to be a +1 Greatsword that did +1d6 extra radiant damage to fiends and also allowed 1 round of Fly once a day. Nice.   After Huxley relayed his vision to everyone, the time had come for Mar to make his move. He crept up to the edge of the citadel on the north side where the officer’s quarters were. Hardrada put on a display of public drunkenness to assist with distracting the garrison. Mar had no issues sneaking in with the use of Thaumaturgy and his superb acrobatics and stealth. Listening in at the edge of the door, Mar overheard two officers complaining about the lack of supplies as the Zhentarim were confined to the barracks and further speaking about a heated argument occurring in the basement. Taking that as his cue to head to the basement, Mar snuck into the building and made his way down to listen to the Zhentarim’s arguments.   It turned out the Zhentarim were divided in their loyalty with Bane proving to be an unpopular leader with his immediate subordinates.   “One more fuckup by [Bane] will get him relieved of command.”   “I will kill him myself to get promoted and then my first order will be to get out of here.”   “Calm down Jameson, you can’t kill him. But maybe we can arrest him if the orders come.”   So the party had a name to focus on now. Jameson was clearly the seditious leader and, even better, seemed like he wanted to get the Zhentarim out. This would be useful information for the elves. Mar made it out of the building and over the wall, but an unlucky guard managed to spot him just as he reached the ground. He ran for it outside of the city wall to break line of sight in the dark just as Hardrada continued to distract the south side of the garrison.   Successfully making it out, the party reconvened and Mar relayed the info to Nalgan who took off for the party with the elves. The rest of the party bought a keg to bring back to the temple.

The plebs ate breakfast in the tavern (“The Iron Pan Inn” which I don’t think had a name previously), while those at the Shrine Maiden enjoyed room service-with-a-side-of-drugs. Thrax, purchasing some of literally everything with 100 gold, ended up with a collection of weed, “elf crystal” (probably meth), and “Some mushrooms a gnome said are good” (which I’m not even paraphrasing, that is actually how it was sold), or breakfast in the main dining room (Nalgan). Huxley, Thrax, Cat, and Hardrada headed to find the Captain Braxar, the investigator on the missing person case who they had previously asked about the day before. Having been told he usually was in in the mornings before starting his patrols, the party headed to the office again. Once again failing to convince the door guard to let them in (seemingly a recurring theme of Harrowdale), several attempts at Persuasion later got them a consolation “we’ll send a runner to the Shrine Maiden” for a meeting later.   With that proving to be a dead end for at least the immediate time, the party argued about what to do next. Hardrada, Thrax, and Mar went chasing after a dog Hardrada heard, while Thrax and Nalgan decided to actually attempt investigating the missing persons. Thrax bought a pearl for Identify to assist with that. Huxley tried what Mar did previously, listening for any conversations potentially related to the missing persons. He had no luck overhearing conversations, but did find some posters show an older man and a younger woman, both listed as missing and directing anyone with information to pass it along to Captain Braxar.   Huxley visited the temple of Ogma, the god of knowledge, and it was essentially a library. Given the party’s complete lack of useful knowledge about anything, this seemed like a good place to look for some. Huxley examined its archives for information about gnolls, as having more knowledge about the gnoll threat or miasma could always be relevant.   Mar told Cat about his dream of darkness falling over Harrowdale and a gnoll biting him awake and suggested she put in a word to her father about the gnoll threat to perhaps use his influence to convince the Burghers that the threat was real. Cat was as reluctant as ever to bring her dad into anything, and it became apparent the Tuors were not a close family (to the surprise of no one listening). Cat reluctantly offered to send a letter to her father to inform him of the gnoll threat.   Hardrada meanwhile had met up with some Flaming Fist officers and was led back to their current office.