The Forever Flame - Rise of Veth Campaign Session 1 Report

General Summary

The first session of The Rise Veth campaign, 12/5/19. All players in attendance.
Each individual, Carter, Thrall, Braylin, Müeller, Sima, and Kharos were visited either by the person that had been training them, the mayor and/or their parents. They were informed that they had been chosen to be part of the group that would venture to the tomb of Derric Engleden and retrieve the Forever Flame . They were told to pack lightly, bringing only the essentials and to meet at the town square on noon of the following day, the 30th of Harvest, better known as Harvest Festival.
The group arrived at the town square the following day (after a short detour to acquire 2 chickens and some blood). They were surprised to find the space empty other than themselves. It was a nice fall day and the day of a festival after all. Soon the muted horn bleated out 12 blasts, announcing the noon hour. Shortly after that, people came slowly filing in to surround the square. They seemed solemn and serious, wearing black garb usually reserved for funerals. They walked with their eyes cast on the ground.
The crowd parted as mayor Oldef Thaner made his way to the center of town, accompanied by a small cart laden with supplies. He addressed the crowd asking who would be willing to undertake the dangerous journey to gather the relic this year. He looked to the group who eagerly stepped foward, Müeller accepting the tarnished, unlit silver lantern that would house the flame once it was retrieved. He addressed the crowd, calling you brave and saying some may not return from this perilous journey. The supplies on the cart were divvied up among the party and consisted of food, shelter in the form of tents and other mundane supplies.
The group set off shortly after noon, heading west from Lumberfell, crossing Engleden's Run on a sturdy rope bridge the group entered the western portion of Goblinkin Wood . Braylin filled the nervous silence by telling everyone the story of Derric Engleden and the Forever Flame in detail.
About 2 hours into their journey the group came across a log that had fallen across the trail. As they continued forward they were soon surprised by 3 orcs that jumped out from behind the log blocking their path. At first they hesitated by soon battle began. Thrall took a noticeable wound but dealt out even more, crushing an orc's chest and sending him flying off the side of the trail. Carter took serious wounds also and it looked like the group may be in trouble as 2 more orcs walked out of the woods onto the trail behind them.
It was then however when one by one the group started to notice that something was off about these "orcs". While they were speaking in the orc language the words seemed random and made little sense. The light was playing tricks, or when viewed from the side the orcs had no substance. One by one the young adventurers determined the orcs were illusions and as they did so the orcs disappeared as did any wounds the figments had inflicted. It was around this time when out of place sent of pipe tobacco was noticed in the woods. Suddenly something rustled nearby just off the trail and took flight through the trees. Kharos with his quick thinking, initially thinking it to be a fowl spooked by battle, launched a sling bullet at the fleeing object. It struck home and surprisingly a male voice cried out in pain, exclaiming "Owww dammit, that stung!'
Before moving on the group came to the consensus that it must have been a test by the townfolk, a way to see how they would fare should they meet resistance ahead, an illusionary combat of sorts put on by the magic users of the town. The gathered themselves and continued on knowing they had some ground to make up if they were going to reach the former site of Engleden's Hold before nightfall.
Sima with her half-elven eyes took the lead as the light began to fade. As it was getting dark she found the old signpost and overgrown side road that lead off to the former village. It was decided it would be a good place to camp for the night. As this discussion was going on, Thrall's desire for meat was getting the best of him so he scoured the nearby landscape for prey. Suddenly Thrall launched a javelin into the darkness and then cursed in orc as he charged forward off the path into the darkness. Soon the sound of a wounded animal could be heard, sharply and then silent. A few moments later Thrall returned, emerging from the darkness, blood covering him from mouth to loin cloth, many large quills sticking out of his chest. Slung over his shoulder was a sack, also dripping with blood.
As the party finished the last leg of their journey to the abandoned town, Thrall refused medical attention until camp was set up, a fire was going and his prey, a fat porcupine, had been rendered into a stew. The party settled in for the evening discussing the days events around the fire and boldly trying out Thrall's cooking. (Note I am fuzzy about this part so feel free to correct me). During the conversation Thrall made a comment that Sima found offensive. She indicated her offense by delivering a kick to Thrall which got Thrall's blood up. He sprung up and swung his maul at Sima, narrowly missing. The rest of the group intervened and settled things down before they got out of hand.
The group retired for the evening, posting watch in pairs of two. During the heart of the night a couple of the group's (Thrall and ??) sleepy thoughts were invaded by very vivid dreams in which an attack on the very spot they were sleeping was on display. The rest of the night was uneventful.
The morning dawned grey and overcast, eventually leading to big heavy rain drops. The group made their way across the town proper to a rise on the far side of the village that lead to the village keep. Sima climbed to the top and secured rope, allowing the others, although not without some difficulty, to scale the crumbling stairs to the keep.
The keep had seen better days, one of the three towers having eroded away from the base, the gate being completely destroyed and another section of the curtain wall also damaged. Making their way into the courtyard they found several barrack like buildings, a larger living structure a small shrine and a stable. The stable seemed to be fairly well preserved and possibly even repaired at some point more recently than the rest of the structure. The remains of an old campfire could be found by the stables as well indicating someone had at some point spent some time there. The group proceeded inside where Thrall dismantled the door leading to the kitchen. The group started a fire in the kitchen fireplace only to discover the chimney was no longer functional.
The keep was searched in detail. While there were points of damage overall the keep was not in terrible shape and could be salvaged with some repairs. Two of the towers were still sound and most of the internal rooms were intact. Nothing else of interest was discovered here.

Rewards Granted

5 "orcs" defeated @ 135 XP each = 675 xp / 6 = 135 xp each 100 xp for Sima's journal

Missions/Quests Completed

Given the quest to retrieve the Forever Flame from Derric Engleden cba1) tomb.

Character(s) interacted with

Orcs on the trail which turned out to be an illusion.

Created Content

Keep at Engleden's Hold was described in detail. The ruins are indicated on the map. The inside downstairs has a kitchen with oven and a dining/entertaining area. The upstairs had 4 smaller rooms and 2 larger rooms for living quarters.

Campaign

The Rise of Veth

Protagonists

Thrall

Orc
-Level Barbarian

Carter Jordan

Human
level 1-Level Arcanist

Player Journals

Our Adventure Begins by SIMA LIS

Report Date

10 Dec 2019

Primary Location

Goblinkin Wood

Secondary Location

Engleden's Hold