Session 16: Onwards to Pendle Report

General Summary

Our heroes started this session outside the crypt with the doppleganger little girl waiting for the authorities to arrive. Angelo was sent on his way with Johathan to alert the Guardians of Greyacre. After a short wait they do, marched forward by Big Freddie. Each of them take turn to question the PCs in isolation and their stories mostly check out. Orion's is slightly different, but they believe him.
One of the guards is Wesley, who's the nephew of Kelpy! What chance. He is sympathetic to the fight, although does ask that the PCs try not to kill in the city again. Wesley is happy to take the party to see Artemis von Brightwood.
They arrive at a large, expensive family home in the middle of many farms. The house itself isn't as large as some in the city, but the size of the estate is impressive. Artemis answers the door, whisky in hand, and Wesley proceeds to tell him that his daughter was killed and the Emerald Straws defeated the villains. Wesley takes his leave as the PCs speak to the grieving father. Artemis is enraged with the Lochburns and swears down that they did it. He offers anything in his possession if they burn down the estate, then doubles down and offers a 1,000gp if they can bring hard evidence that it was them. He tells them that the Lochburns come up and sell their goods at better markup than their farms can because they buy all the stock before it arrives in Norcastle.
Back at Big Freddie's house, he's unable to give them much info, just that their cloaks were dark maroon with green trim. Hank sends Angelo to see the crypt and he finds a hexagon tattoo on the wrist of one of the monks. Back at Castle Ardinham, most of the players set out to research what this is all about. Hank tries finding a religion and finds nothing, James looks into dopplegangers and there's some suggestion that Keppom Lifrie Llooney was a doppleganger, and Orion researches noble families and learns of the link between the Lochburn Family and the von Brightwood Family. The next morning, Joe finds further info that the hexagons were part of some kind of religious sect that was involved in the war, but it's not clear how.

Before heading to Pendle, our heroes stock up on some bread. They talk to Kelpy about Wesley, and share some farewells. Someone buys a new emerald straw for Orion and they decide not to take any horses. They finally leave for their journey. The road down is fairly easy. On the way they see some boys tipping an out house while someone is in it, and find a message on the floor saying "Good Luck for Tomorrow, You're Going to Need It!". The rest of the day passes uneventfully.
After a rest and a sleep, they head off again. A white speckled horse is tethered to a tree some miles down the road and the players investigate. Searching around the trees they find a corpse of a lady hanging from the tree. Jonathan sends a message to Reggie that the speckled horse has left! They rush back and a cloaked figure is galloping away. Jonathan bolts after it. After eldritch blasting the corpse off the tree, they set off in pursuit of the cloaked stranger. They also find a shopping list of potions on the ground. Who knows where that came from?!
Arriving at the sleepy village of Pendle, they quickly find the speckled horse with Jonathan's help. First, the lady must be reporter, which they do at the guards barracks. The elderly guard is sickened by the corpse, and pays them 5gp as a thank you for doing the right thing.
At the Dragonsfall Saloon, the bar is alive and kicking! People fight, people laugh, people drink! Upon entering, they're welcomed by Captain Stavos! He wants them to join his expedition to explore new lands. They talk for a while and he buys them all a large stein of ale. Orion scouts around for magic people and James asks the bar lady to sit with them for a few minutes. She obliges and talks about the Lochburns and how they're apparently disease ridden and keep themselves to themselves. Patty Lochburn has been on their deadpool for a while.
Other women (specifically) on the deadpool is Avon, the wife of a farmer drunk that works with a scythe, Bernice who was a hunter, and Zelroy who caused a ruckus with some of the local young men a while back. It looks like bernice died recently and the person who has won that money is Toth Lowscar (17gp).
Hank sends Angelo to scout out the gambling room. The barmaid says the guards turn a blindeye because it brings cash into the town. It's 5gp entry and it's a game called 38's tonight. Orion and James (pissed by this point) enter the game.
At the table is a cloaked elven guy, an angry halfling lady (Trynwyn), and Ryo, their friend from Blackwell! He speaks about how he was inspired by what they said to him before leaving Blackwell. James suggests he goes to Norcastle to join the night watch. Anyway, Orion absolutely cleans up, and Hank joins the game. After losing a modest sum, the cloaked man goes to his room upstairs (with Angelo on his cloak) and drops to his knees and stays there the whole night.
In the morning, Angelo reports back that he stayed like that, so our heroes decide to break into his room and confront him. They do, he's still on his knees, James tackles him, and realises it's not a man, it's a robot man thing... aka a Warforged. It's currently powered down, then lights flicker into its eyes and it turns to Reggie with "I wouldn't do that if I was you".
To be continued...

Rewards Granted

5gp from the guard after returning the corpse of the lady

Missions/Quests Completed

• The completed and received a reward for finding what happened to the von Brightwood girl
• Artemis von Brightwood gave them a quest to find hard evidence that the Lochburn  were behind it in exchange for 1,000gp. He also said he would give them anything he owns if they burn down the Lochburn estate.
• The players met the charming Captain Stavos and he 'convinced' them to go on a voyage with him in 9 days time from Cliffbeach.

Character(s) interacted with

The players bumped into Ryo at the gambling table in Pendle. He tells them he thought about what they said and decided to start travelling again!
They also met Artemis von Brightwood.

Created Content

The von Brightwood Family and the Lochburn Family. There's also a new section on the home page with links to the families of Greyacre that you've learnt about so far, including the Duralli Family and Bonnellon Family.
Captain Stavos has also been added.
Other content includes the game, 38's, and the Warforged race.

Campaign

Guardians of the Last Age

Protagonists

James Grom Jr.

Joe Smith

Reginald Jones

Hank Strongsoul

Orion De'Mac

Report Date

08 May 2020

Primary Location

Pendle

Secondary Location

Norcastle