Verdant Light's report from Moorsland - 0.3.21 agf

Hidden Tension

Six heroes from the guild answered a call from an ally who has been trying to save refugees fleeing the Glendale area from an undead horde sweeping the land. They needed help dealing with conflict with some members of the Eal Empire, odd deaths, and supplies that have gone missing.

On the way there the group got a bit lost and arrived at a crossroads. The left path had odd looking slime on some of the branches going down the path and an eerie feeling fell over the party whenever they got close. While the right path had numerous track marks in the ground from a caravan or cart. Unsure they went right. They followed the path for about 5 minutes before they heard swords swishing through the air, wild creatures roaring and an odd snapping sound. Eager to approach the group followed the sounds until they came to a clearing to see a chimera, owlbear and bulette fighting two humanoids surrounded by large broken metal cages and a few caravans that had Ivar’s Circus written across them in bright red and yellow paint. The group decided to jump in but weren’t sure on who to attack. The first few guild members attacked the Chimera and the caster humanoid, until Eldora spoke to the Chimera in Draconic and asked what happened. Boosted by her dragon amulet that helps dragonkin see the wearer as kin, the dragon head explained that they had been captured by these pathetic humans, kept down using powerful sleeping potions, and now free they were going to paint the ground with their blood. Eldora explained the situation to the group, and they fought the humans. They defeated the barbarian and the bulette took the caster underground but neither resurfaced. The owlbear ran off into the forest after his enemy went down but the Chimera turned to the group warlock who attacked it. Eldora tried to speak on the warlock’s behalf and apologize for hurting it, but the Chimera wasn’t completely swayed using a fire breath on the warlock before flying away.

Investigating the scene, the group found an exquisite painting of a noble looking woman in the back of one of the caravans. On the barbarian they found a note from Ivar promising a painful punishment if they didn’t get the merchandise to Eal in a fortnight as their buyers were jumpy, and a reminder to avoid the main roads and any big settlements.

The group carried on and headed to their rendezvous point in Moorsland. They came across two camps; one had tabards and emblems of the @Eal Empire and the other had a green emblem with two hands embraced covered in vines. Their contact, Paladin Athel, waved them over welcoming Morvull warmly having recognized him from the quest last week. However, guild member Urquhart decided to check on the Empire camp and was quickly halted by a distrustful looking legionnaire. He tried to convince them that he wasn’t with the green camp, but they didn’t believe him drawing their blade and promising that if he didn’t go with his friends he would be dead before he hit the ground. Not wanting to cause a fight Urquhart returned to the group. Athel explained that in the last week things had gotten out of hand. After the guild left last week the Empire have sent legionnaires to help fight the undead army. Unfortunately, since they arrived refugees that his scouts had been tracking had been slain with spears and swords, critical inventory traversing Moorsland has vanished, scouts have spotted odd people in blue robes, and his people (including a powerful cleric) have disappeared. When asked about his suspects he explains it was very unlikely they took their inventory or his people, and while some of the refugees have a negative history with the Empire, he doesn’t think they are to blame. When asked about the green tabards and emblems around the camp he explains that their group started as a random lot thrown together by Governess Riley over a week ago to help as many people as possible and save her family fleeing Glendale. However, they have grown since then now calling themselves The Verdant Light under the combined leadership of him, a druid and a rich storm sorcerer. Guild members Novak and Tung went to the injured members of Verdant Light and healed everyone they could. Athel gives them a map of the area with the rough idea of the last known locations of where important people and supplies were. Shortly after leaving the Verdant Light’s camp, they came across an odd spike sticking out of the sand. The group cautiously approached until the ground exploded and they were ambushed by an adult blue dragon. They fought the dragon until it flew off to its lair. The group chased it and killed it as well as the blue dragon cultists inside. It was a tough battle, nearly lost three guild members but everyone survived. Exploring the dragon’s lair, they found a desert caravan filled with supplies branded with the Verdant Light’s emblem which they then returned to a thankful Athel.