Session 1: The Start of Something New

General Summary

Four travelers arrive in the town of Pilf. Tork and Alena arrive via a caravan from the North while Kale and Rodan Spice arrived on Caravan's a few days previously. During the first session, four travelers met in a tavern in the small town of Pilf in the Doresak Desert. Pilf is a ramshackle town with only a few dozen remaining inhabitants, crumbling sandstone structures, and a dusty tavern whose door is only a weathered piece of burlap. The oasis in the middle of town was poisoned as the party arrived, appearing dark and murky green with a strong smell of sulfur. Inside the Tavern the travelers independently meet "Hannah", the middle aged human tavern owner. She informs the travelers town and tavern are planning on shutting down entirely because of the lack of fresh water. It is around this time, the travelers were approached by a Shadowy Figure who told of an old hermit priest living in the Cliffs of Shade, an hour East of the town. The figure suspected the old man might hold answers to cleansing the town's oasis. The Shadowy Figure offered the group 400gp upon cleansing the oasis, promising to appear in the tavern the night after it was cleansed to render payment.
The travelers joined together and headed to the Cliffs of Shade, lead by the Firbolg Druid Kale. At the base of the Cliffs of Shade, the party was attacked by humanoid size insects with thick carapaces who could also turn invisible for short periods of time. The party managed to kill all of their attackers before finding their way up the Cliffs to an opening they spotted. Following the tunnel back to a door that was ajar, the group discovered the body of the cleric with a dagger plunged into his chest. Searching the room did not reveal much, and the party took the priest's body to the base of the cliff and buried it (with the exception of Rodan Spice who did not see a purpose in burying the body).
The group of travelers, now a party to some degree, returned to the town of Pilf searching for answers to the poisoning of the oasis (and the identity of the Shadowy Figure who hired them). During their search, they met the towns guard captain (and the only guard in Pilf), a pudgy, dense, short human named Brad. When he wasn't able to shed any light on the source of the oasis' poisoning, they investigated (and did some shopping) at the town's Bazaar. Neither Thaddeus, the brightly adorned elven male proprietor of the Arcane Bazar nor Bailey, the monotoned and gruff dwarven blacksmith were able to provide any answers. However, overhearing their conversations in the Bazar, the party was approached by an old human man, Throm, who told the party of seeing a woman go to the oasis every night well after dusk and scoop a pitcher into it.
This convinced the party to stake out the oasis that coming evening, during which time they witnessed just what Throm described (however, unfortunately not before it appeared the Spiked Devil killed Throm). They followed the woman to a house at which point the façade of a woman vanished and what remained was a Spiked Devil. However, the devil took notice of the party and took flight at this point. The party pursued on a long chase, before eventually shooting the creature from the sky a bit outside of town. Together the party convinced Brad to drag the creature back to town for them, informed him of the murder of Throm at the hands of the Spiked Devil, and returned to The Tavern. Hannah said she hadn't seen the cloaked figure since they talked to the party, and so the party decided to go back and investigate the house they found the Spiked Devil within. After uncovering a trapped door within the house, they found a tunnel leading directly below the oasis but completely dark. Eventually it was uncovered that an orb of magical darkness was in the room which responded to touch. The party deactivated it and took it with them, though not before noticing the oasis was supplied magically by water which appeared under enchantment to flow upwards.
The Shadowy Figure reappeared in The Tavern at this point in time and paid the party their reward. While their face and distinguishing bodily features could not be made out, the figure was noted to have a ring with the symbol of a teardrop shape surrounded by a circle. The party then went back out to the Bazar for more shopping as a Caravan pulled into town around midday. This conacluded the first session.