Session 1: Meeting at Riverpond
Evening, 15th Summer Prime, 498 CE
- A young wizard named Ekhart Mayze traveled to the sleepy town of Riverpond.
- Baron Vanden, the town’s mayor, explained that the farmer Jack Baylen’s sheep had been going missing.
- He told Ekhart he knew his mother, and trusted her judgement in sending him.
- Sanglant, a traveling monk, had also arrived in Riverpond a few days earlier, having heard that the Baron was wanting to hire some mercenaries for a job.
- Two sellswords were waiting for a mission from the Baron as well;
- an old stoic foreigner named Egren Otter, and
- another impatient sellsword that stormed out of the town in frustration before anyone could get his name.
- Revana, a druid traveling at the behest of her deity Terra, stumbled upon Riverpond.
- She saw the Onward Inn and immediately knew whatever Terra wanted of her was in that Inn.
- She also saw two people; a large Inquisitor and a young cleric named Sister Remy Dane.
- Revana overheard the Inquisitor telling the cleric to find something and deliver it to him, and then left.
- Rev and the cleric had a short conversation before entering the Onward Inn.
- As Sang was serenading Kellen Brand, the pretty innkeeper, Ekhart entered the tavern.
- He proceeded to hire Sang, Rev, and Egren on a mission to hunt down whatever was stealing the sheep.
- Remy informed Ekhart that Baron Vanden had conceded to allow Remy to accompany them on the mission.
- The five of them set out, heading to the Boathouse for quick passage across the pond.
- They met Greg Newerth, a drunken ferryman, who ferried them across the pond.
- As they sailed, the party noticed hundreds of tiny floating lights in the water.
- Ferryman Newerth informed them that these little water lights had been in the town as long as anyone could remember.
- He said that people in the town believe the lights keep them safe.
- The party arrived at Jack Baylen’s farm.
- Rev and Egren went to investigate the destroyed sheep’s pen.
- Ekhart, Sang, and Remy talked to the destitute farmer.
- They learned that whatever had been attacking his farm, was way bigger than a wolf, and it even hunted during the day.
- No one had gotten a good look at it though.
- Rev began to follow the beast’s tracks north, while Egren took great interest in Rev’s ability to track.
- The group eventually reached a small, stony cliff where Rev proceeded to cast a Detect Magic spell, much to the amazement of the rest of the party.
- Ekhart tried to assure Remy (a Cleric with the Church) that all elves could cast magic, but Remy didn’t seem particularly disturbed.
- Rev detected a small, fist-sized object that was imbued with Transmutation magic.
- She also noticed a great amount of magical energy coming off of Ekhart and the religious symbol hanging around Remy’s neck.
- Egren tied a rope around a tree, Sang tossed a torch down the cliff to illuminate their way, and the party made their way down.
- At the bottom, they saw a cave.
- Knowing they were about to fight some kind of monster, Revana turned into a bear.
- This, again, shocked the party.
- As they began to travel into the cave, a massively grotesque dog tried to jump on Sang who deftly dodged out of the way.
- They began to fight the beast.
- Ekhart tried to cast a spell secretly, but was noticed by Egren.
- Sometime during the fight, Remy slipped away.
- After the beast was slain, Rev started tearing into the dog, ripping out a stone of blue quartz from the beast’s gullet.
- As soon as the stone was removed from the dog, however, it dissolved into blood and bones.
- Just then, Remy came out of the cave.
- Sang noticed her bag was open and a book was shoved in haphazardly.
- After some probing, Remy reluctantly showed the party the book the Inquisitor had instructed her to find.
- It was the journal of a deranged priest named Brother Waybrush, who apparently had fed the dog they had just killed the magic stone Rev had found.
- Remy appeared to be very ashamed of taking the journal and lying about it.
- As the party was looking around the cave, Sang suddenly had an out of body experience.
- He realized he was in the Faerealm.
- The runes that lined the walls of the cave were glowing, and several mysterious cuts were lacerating the air.
- As he peered into them, he saw that the cuts seemed to lead to the material plane.
- He also saw Ekhart’s true tiefling form.
- He eventually made his way back to the material plane, and realized that something about Ekhart and this blue quartz helped him travel into the Faerealm.
- Rev asked her god, Terra, for guidance and received a single cryptic word ‘TORN.’
- Ekhart paid Sang and Egren for their services and asked if they were up to travel to Old King’s Keep, a castle to the north, where the deranged Brother Waybrush was still at large, according to his journal.
- They both agreed, while Remy said she wanted to get to the bottom of what happened to Brother Waybrush.