Quadroad Arc

== Arc Summary==

The party sets off for the capital of the empire, Falas, on their quest to deliver a letter to the emperor. Jorah stays behind to take care of some business. Along the way, they encounter and save a small family from a roving hill giant, and meet a curious knight named Keras who clues the party in on a dark force surrounding Reides. He also asks them about a band of orcs he's been tracking. The party offers to help track them with him, and he accepts.

Once they find the orcs in question atop a cliff, Keras goes on ahead to investigate. The party then sees a wave of arcane force expand from the clifftop that seemingly causes the trees nearby to wither and die. Then, a body falls from the cliff: The body of Keras.

The party slays the orcs with the help of Jorah, who reconnects with the party in the nick of time. Afterward, they interrogate the orc they managed to keep alive. He reveals that he works for Thorak, an orc war chief with a base in an abandoned abbey in the mountains northwest of Port Valor.

Finally, the party arrives at a town called Quadroad. There, they encounter a swarm of children who rush about the party, asking a flurry of questions. Once the dust settles, the party realizes they've been had - the children had a pickpocket among them. They decide to seek out the pickpocket, searching through the town. They stop by the Temple of Cysebelle in town, run by a priestess named Pandora. Pandora is saddened to hear of Keras's death and asks the party to keep his armor and journal. She's also able to identify the dark forces that Keras detected- Reides has become the target of a revenant, an undead creature driven by revenge against those who wronged it in life, starting with the one who struck the killing blow against it. The party decides that the revenant is most likely Tyrian Vordt, despite the fact that they all consider his death justified. Pandora can provide them with little assistance beyond her warning and the information that revenants are laid to rest after the passage of one year if they do not manage to kill their targets during that time.

The head paladin at the temple directs the party to a shanty town where the abandoned children of Quadroad live, with the pickpocket among them. The party tracks a child back to the shanty town and encounters Amelia, a fledgling wizard who summons a spectral hand to rob unsuspecting travelers. Realizing that Amelia has turned to crime to provide for her fellow children when the adults can't or won't, the party only negotiates for part of their stolen gold and returns to the Temple of Cysebelle to work out a more permanent solution. The party agrees to fund the temple's purchase of a farm to the north of Quadroad, where the children can live and learn to grow their own food. Amelia finds the arrangement acceptable, and Jorah decides to stay behind to help the farm get started. After some shopping and research on revenants, the rest of the party heads east to continue their journey to Falas. On the way to Vila's Watch, the party is attacked by a barghest who flees after his quickling companion is slain.

Session 10

 * Google Document (5-16-19)

In the morning, the party prepares to set out for Falas, the captial of Lyvernus. Erak and Slumberjack are already awake and at the bar as Kilwin, Reides, and Marcyra come downstairs, and Jorah is nowhere to be seen. We figure he’s fine and might have set out ahead of us- One of us will catch up to the other eventually. Marcyra leaves the inn to visit Victor, with plans to meet up with the rest of the party at the southern gates of Port Valor in two hours. Staying behind, Reides uses his new spell to learn that Nivex’s dagger is a Dagger of Poison with an extra enchantment to unscramble messages written in a certain ink, which he doesn’t have but could hypothetically make. He decides to use the dagger as his new weapon. Kilwin also uses his healing magic to alleviate Reides and Erak’s hangovers from their fun at the Ogre’s Pot.

Marcyra stops at Victor’s house, but sees that he’s still asleep through the window. To kill some time so he can wake up, Marcyra decides to visit her childhood home. As far as Marcyra can tell, there’s no recent signs of life, but there’s still a symbol of Alethus hanging above the doorway. Through the windows, she can only see dust, cobwebs, and stacked furniture, and when she tries the door, Marcyra discovers that it’s been nailed shut. Marcyra uses her staff to break through one of the windows (it takes three hits, plus two swings that miss- she’s very mad and very sweaty once it’s done) and goes through to find herself in her old kitchen. It’s been emptied out except for the furniture, and Marcyra can tell from the dust that it’s been about five years since anyone used it. The living room has also been cleared out. In her old bedroom, even the furniture has been cleared out, although Marcyra finds an aged letter on the floor addressed to her. It’s from her mother, who says that she’s gone and not sure where she’s going (and that they may never find each other again) but that she’s left to find “a cure” for Marcyra- not for Marcyra’s sake, but for her own. Marcyra burns the letter and punches a wall, cursing her mother and drywall and Alethus. When she reaches her mother’s room, the door is locked, but the same way it always was. With her experience breaking in to get some more spending money, she remembers how to pick the lock easily. Erena’s bed is covered in dust and there’s a painting hanging over it: Erena holding a painting of what Marcyra might look like as a human. Marcyra takes the painting down and checks the back for writing. Written in her mother’s handwriting are the words, “The Future.” Marcyra throws the painting down on the bed, which disturbs some of the dust on it and reveals holy auras painted behind Erena and the human Marcyra. Marcyra searches the room for valuables, but finds nothing. She burns the painting and leaves.

Marcyra makes her way back to Victor’s house and sees a teapot on the stove through the window. As she makes herself at home, Marcyra tells Victor that she visited her old house and explains what she found. Victor points out that Erena knew her well enough to know she’d eventually break in to look for valuables to sell. Marcyra says that Erena is either dead or should be, and Victor warns her that Erena is an odd one and the odd ones never die as easily as you’d expect. Marcyra also references “Big Old Scaly” while pointing at her head during the conversation. Victor puts his arm around Marcyra for another hug and thanks her for the money. (This is presumably when he slips 150 gold into her bag, which she won’t find until a while after the party has left Port Valor). Marcyra notices that Victor has already gotten fancier clothes. She tells him not to be a dumbass with his money and gives him an informal salute, which he returns.

Marcyra meets up with the rest of the party (sans Jorah) at the southern gates, very eager to leave this bad city behind. Kilwin thinks that’s a little harsh, but he’s ready to go too! As the party begins to leave, they hear a familiar voice behind them and turn to see Jorah running to catch up with them. He tells us that he has affairs that he still needs to settle in Port Valor and that he unfortunately has to stay behind, at least for now. We’re sorry to hear it, but Kilwin says he can probably catch up with us, and Jorah does point out that one person travels faster than a group of five. As we leave and are just barely within earshot, we hear him mutter “May you always find the right path, comrades.” Kilwin shouts back, “You too, Jorah!” and although Jorah has already gotten lost in the crowd, Kilwin gets the feelings he heard it. Marcyra does a last-minute check to make sure everyone has their bedroll and Kilwin mentions that he still just has a blanket but that’s fine. Marcyra says that he’s going to die (out of frustration) and Kilwin gets a little worried! He really hopes he doesn’t!

The first few days on the road are uneventful, with the party only passing trade caravans and other travelers and subsisting on their rations. The party then comes across some unusual tracks: Large, torso-sized feet. Reides figures out they’re from a giant and notices that they go through the trees (which are not in good shape) onto a small side path. Marcyra doesn’t want to run into this giant, although Kilwin and Reides suggest it might be friendly! Reides points out that giants eat people though, which kind of puts a damper on Kilwin’s giant friendliness expectations. Erak really wants to fight it, but the party decides to leave it alone and just keep their eyes out for signs of trouble for now.

On the sixth day out from Port Valor, the party passes a small building on a side path from the main road. Reides notices that the house and surrounding trees have sustained heavy damage. Kilwin and Reides want to check out the house to see if anyone’s injured and can be helped, Erak wants to fight the giant, and Marcyra wants to stay FAR away from all this. Marcyra decides to stand guard with Pepega while the lads check things out, but since Slumberjack also stays behind, she decides she’d rather go with the group than spend some quality alone time with them. Reides checks the stables and finds splatters of blood and dead livestock. There’s lots of flies and examining the remains, Kilwin figures out that the animals have been dead for at least a day. Marcyra looks in a window and sees that there’s a big hole in the opposite wall, as well as a foot peeking out from behind the bar. She doesn’t want to go in first, so Kilwin tries opening the door. As he touches it, the already-broken hinges collapse and the door falls inward. Marcyra jokes that he broke it, and Kilwin feels bad despite recognizing that she’s kidding. Floorboards are smashed in places, likely due to the giant’s weight, and the foot that Marcyra saw through the window turns out to just be a severed foot. There’s also bones, which Reides examines and realizes have been gnawed on and picked clean. No one likes it! Marcyra looks for valuables, but anything that might have been worth anything has been crushed. She also notices a staircase leading down. She takes a look, but there’s a sharp turn in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs, so she can’t see much. Kilwin and Erak lead the way down to the cellar, with Marcyra and Reides following. They hear hushed whispers that turn into screams, as the woman and child hiding in the cellar assume that the giant has returned. The party assures them that they are not a giant, and the woman tells them that the giant said it would come back next time it was hungry. The party try to convince them to come with them, but the woman is too scared and says that the giant can’t reach them when they’re downstairs. Kilwin and Reides try to convince her that the party can protect her and her child, but she’s too scared to leave and tells them that she has bear traps they can set up for the giant. Reides tells her that the bear traps won’t do anything and that her husband (eaten by the giant) wouldn’t want her to die here. This convinces her and she leaves the cellar with her child, Jacob. Reides asks her what her name is and she says it’s Melina. Reides introduces himself and shakes her hand, but she’s still in shock and doesn’t really respond. As we leave the ruins of the inn, we hear a thump behind us and start to hurry. Marcyra just books it. Reides tells Melina and Jacob to run, but they’re both frozen with fear, so he and Kilwin try to push them along as the giant appears, hungry and mad that we’re taking his food.

The giant immediately comes for Reides and knocks him out with a single swing of his club. Marcyra continues to run and casts False Life on herself. Erak and Slumberjack manage to do some damage to the giant. Kilwin heals Reides and summons his Spiritual Weapon (a giant mace like the actual one he uses), but his attack misses the giant despite his deep desire to distract it from Reides. The giant attacks Slumberjack because they hurt it the most and knocks them unconscious. Reides books it away from the giant. Pepega is hanging out in a tree. Marcyra, trying to be helpful because she thinks they should all run, casts Fog Cloud around the giant, obscuring it and Slumberjack’s unconscious body from view. Erak manages to hit the giant through the fog and Kilwin runs into the fog to find Slumberjack, heal them, and whacks the giant with his Spiritual Weapon. The giant leaves the fog (which Kilwin can only hear) and finds Reides again. It comes at Reides with its club twice, almost knocking Reides out again on the first strike and accidentally dropping its club on its own head on the second. Kilwin heals Reides again and casts Inflict Wounds for the first time, taking the emblem of Alethus off his shield and throwing it on the giant. Black veins spread over the giant’s body and then burst with holy light, which blows the giant into pieces. Kilwin collects his shield emblem again to reapply it, and looks for Melina and Jacob and finds them hiding in the same tree as Pepega. They almost can’t believe the giant is dead. Melina spits on what remains of the giant and kicks it, and Reides kicks at it too. Kilwin asks them to come with us to Quadroads, since he can’t imagine that they’d want to stay at the inn and they agree. Now that he’s had a chance to catch his breath, Reides tries to examine the giant’s body, but can’t glean much from what’s left of it. He writes “Giants- stupid” in his journal. For her part, Marcyra is a little freaked out about Inflict Wounds! Kilwin tries to reassure her that his magic only burns things if he wants it to, so she has nothing to worry about. He acknowledges that he didn’t mean to burn Tyrian’s body, but he’s pretty sure that was a special case! Marcyra doesn’t seem super reassured.

Session 11

 * Google Document (5-23-19)

In the aftermath of the fight with the giant, Kilwin asks Reides if giants travel in groups. Reides is pretty sure it varies, but isn’t totally sure. We all just have to hope this one was alone! Reides points out that giant was really rude, so he probably didn’t have any friends. Slumberjack tries to skin the giant, but only gets a relatively small square of skin off. No one gets mad at Marcyra about the bad Fog Cloud. Kilwin asks Melina if she has family living nearby or anywhere specific to go, and as it turns out, she doesn’t have a strong preference between Quadroads and Port Valor. Kilwin invites her and Jacob along with the party to Quadroads. Melina and Jacob briefly return to the inn to gather some belongings and the party heads out again.

That evening, right as the party is starting to consider making camp, they start to hear music drifting through the woods. They’ve heard better! Slumberjack sneaks up on the source of the music, and discovers a clearing with a fire and a person playing a pan flute. Kilwin follows Slumberjack, and to his credit, he TRIES to be stealthy, he just does a bad job at it. The man (who is clad in extremely heavy armor) at the campfire notices him and invites him to sit at the fire. Kilwin feels some effect compelling him to sit at the fire, but he resists it and says he’s fine standing. The man also offers him food, which Kilwin also refuses since he has his own and the attempt at using magic to make him come over reminded him about stranger danger. Kilwin introduces himself, and the man introduces himself as Keras. Keras asks what a priest of Alethus is doing out in the woods alone, and Kilwin says adventuring! He drops a “we” in there, but manages to catch himself before saying that the party is heading to Quadroads, only that they’re heading south. Keras asks if he’s going to Quadroads, and Kilwin reluctantly answers truthfully. Slumberjack is watching this from the shadows and is very annoyed at Kilwin. Kilwin is stressed because he doesn’t know what to do in this situation! Since Kilwin sounds like he’s not alone, Keras looks around and manages to spot Slumberjack and invites them over to his fire, non-magically. They also refuse and try to ask him a bunch of questions in an attempt to buy time for the rest of the party to realize something up and back them up. Keras says that they have no reason to be suspicious of him and he’s doing his job by playing his music at this fire, and Slumberjack and Kilwin ask what job that could be and point out that that’s almost more suspicious. It turns out that he’s a paladin of the ancient oath, and that he’s a follower of Cysebelle. As far as Kilwin can tell, he’s being truthful! Slumberjack asks a bunch of questions that makes Keras question if they’re okay. The rest of the party (plus Jacob and Melina) come in non-stealthily, and Erak immediately makes himself at home by the fire. He sees that Keras is a young half-elf with the laugh lines of an older man. Keras offers him some mead and Erak drinks it, no questions asked. Erak gives Keras one of his meat chunks in return. Keras really isn’t sure what kind of meat it is, but starts cooking it and resumes his music. Erak contributes to the cooking and it turns out really well. Erak is redeemed! Reides and Kilwin try the meat. Marcyra and Slumberjack refuse to sit by the fire, but Melina and Jacob hide near Kilwin. Kilwin asks if Keras has seen any other giants, and Keras asks if the party has seen a band of orcs he’s been tracking. It turns out that they stole a magical item from some wizards that were traveling from Atemcester to Port Valor, and Keras is trying to get it back for them. He’s encountered the orcs several times, but he’s outnumbered so he hasn’t had much success getting the item back. Kilwin offers to help if the rest of the party is willing, and Reides agrees. Keras appreciates the offer, but uses Divine Sense to check us out. He senses an undead aura around Reides and asks if he’s a necromancer before telling him that there’s something undead attached to him. It’s apparently not Reides’s dagger or Pepega, so Reides isn’t sure what it could be.

From their spot in the shadows, Slumberjack hears a cracking sound. They see a baby owlbear approaching and get their axe out to try to shoo it away. The rest of the party then hears a much louder shriek as an adult owlbear approaches the clearing and spots a threat to its cub. Slumberjack almost immediately kills the baby owlbear, which enrages the adult. The adult owlbear focuses its attacks on Slumberjack for the most part. Reides chugs the last health potion just in case. Keras joins in the fight and tries to mercy-kill the owlbear. A second owlbear shows up where Marcyra and Reides are hanging back and it’s very stressful. Slumberjack uses their Necrotic Shroud and scares Kilwin and Keras. Kilwin tries to not look at Slumberjack, but the necrotic wings are distractingly horrifying up close- Erak’s presence helps him focus on the fight though. Keras has better things to do and runs to help Reides and Marcyra with the other owlbear- he manages to knock it down and back, which gives them some room to breathe. Keras is very mad that Slumberjack attacked the cub! He tries to convince the owlbears to back down and live to fight another day, but he’s ultimately unsuccessful. Erak kills the first owlbear, which makes the remaining one even more upset. Erak manages to cut off one of its claws, and it begins to retreat. The party and Keras let it leave without further injury. Keras is still very mad at Slumberjack, and Erak is kind of salty too. Melina and Jacob climb down from the tree they were hiding in. Keras, with some help from Reides and Kilwin, moves the dead owlbears away from the clearing, but they’re too large to properly bury with our current tools. The surviving owlbear might return, but Keras thinks it’s unlikely that it’ll come back that night. We’re really beat up, so Keras agrees to let us make camp with him. The night passes uneventfully, but on his watch, Kilwin notices that the trees seem to close in around them and shadows moving, as if the forest is watching them. He honestly thinks that’s fair.

In the morning, Keras seems to have a little trouble remembering who these people are, but it comes back to him. Kilwin apologizes for the group causing so much trouble for Keras the previous night and offers to help him with the orcs again. Keras accepts the help, but checks the party for magic first- He detects the undead aura around Reides again, as well as the fact that Reides’s dagger and an item on Slumberjack’s person are magical. Kilwin taps Reides’s shoulder (to see if he singes like Tyrian’s corpse did), but nothing happens. Kilwin has no idea what the aura might be, but Keras figures it could be a curse, a type of undead that can be set on someone, or a disease. He tells this to Reides, and Reides thinks it over and says that he “doesn’t think they’d go that far.” Kilwin asks Keras if the purpose of whatever the aura is could be to track Reides (he is VERY much thinking about hearing that voice saying “He will find you”), but Keras doesn’t seem to think that’s likely. With no apparent answers, the party breaks camp and starts tracking the orcs, with Keras leading the way.

Keras asks Slumberjack about their enchanted item, and points out that they don’t seem shy about using effective weapons. They tell him about the sword and explain that they don’t like using things when they don’t know for sure they’re not cursed. Kilwin asks why they took the sword if they weren’t even going to use it, and Slumberjack says they were considering selling it. Keras examines the sword and tells Slumberjack it’s a high-quality blade. They take the sword back but don’t equip it.

The orcs’ trail leads the party to a path leading to the side of a cliff. Keras goes ahead and sneaks up on the cliff, rejecting Kilwin’s offer to go with him. As he stealthily approaches the cliff, he begins to hear chanting and finds the orcs at the top of the altar with a scroll, engaged in some kind of ritual. Wanting to retrieve the scroll before it’s used so it can be returned to the wizards, Keras waves the party forward and climbs up to the orcs. From their position away from the cliff, the party sees a wave of arcane force erupt from the top of the hill and the trees in front of the party instantly wither and die. Something falls to the bottom of the cliff. Kilwin rushes forward and finds Keras’s lifeless body at the foot of the cliff.

Session 12

 * Google Document (5-31-19)

As Kilwin realizes that Keras is dead, the rest of the party hears rustling in the bushes behind them. Jorah appears at the top of the cliff behind them and is shocked to see us. He asks what we’re doing out in the woods, since we were heading to the capital. He’s apparently spent the last few days tracking us. We explain that Keras led us here and he was also tracking these orcs to help some mages from Atemcester. We hear something in Orc from the top of the hill, and Jorah is the only one who understands it. He asks if Keras being dead is a recent development and lets the party know that someone is coming down to check on the body. An orc surveys the clearing and spots us. Reides waves at him very nicely, but he alerts the other orcs to intruders anyway. Soon after we’re spotted, we hear a loud rumbling from over the hill and heavy footsteps as an ogre approaches to assist the orcs.

Marcyra and Reides generally keep their distance from the orcs. One of the orcs is blue and tries to attack Kilwin with magic, but it misses him. Jorah gets ready to attack the ogre, since he doesn’t like big tanky shitasses, but he trips on a rock and fires his crossbow into the dirt. More orcs appear from the top of the hill, including one who’s missing an eye. Jorah recognizes him as an Eye of Gruumsh, an orc who killed an elf and sacrificed his eye to Gruumsh in exchange for special powers. In the face of these reinforcements, Slumberjack asks if we’re running, but Kilwin wants to stay and see Keras’s last job through. The Eye demonstrates his special powers by summoning his Spiritual Weapon (in the form of a spear) and hitting Kilwin with it, and commanding Slumberjack to flee, which results in them hopping down the cliff to get away from the Eye as soon as they can. The blue orc notices that Reides is a spellcaster and targets him with an orb of radiant energy, which heavily damages him and leaves a faint dim light glittering on him for the next round. Jorah manages to take out one of the ogre’s eyes, but doesn’t kill it. The Eye orders Erak to bow, and he falls to the ground on his next turn. Reides stops glowing and freezes the ogre, who then crumbles into pieces. The blue orc takes out Reides with another Guiding Bolt, but Kilwin quickly revives him and whacks an orc that came down to attack him. The Eye attempts to compel Kilwin to “come,” but he manages to resist it. Erak cuts a regular orc’s head off, and Reides finishes off the one that was attacking Kilwin. The blue orc hops down from the cliff and touches Kilwin, sending tendrils of dark magic into him, but his inner light manages to repel it. Slumberjack leaves the orc they’re fighting (in hopes that Jorah will get it) to help Kilwin with the blue orc. He’s touched! The last normal orc rushes Jorah, since he’s open now and he shot the Eye earlier. Kilwin resists another command from the Eye, and the blue orc begins clawing at him. The regular orc attacks Jorah in the name of the Fireaxe clan, but it bounces off Jorah’s new cloak, which he took from Tyrian’s body. The blue orc claws at Kilwin again and hits him, knocking him unconscious for the first time in Dungeon Delvin’ history. Slumberjack revives him (much to Kilwin’s pleasant surprise) and Jorah heals him some more for good measure. Kilwin actually heals himself for once and uses his own Spiritual Weapon to attack the blue orc- he hits but the orc likes it because he’s nasty. The Eye misses his attacks on Kilwin and yells something in Orc at the blue orc. Kilwin asks Jorah for a translation, but the blue orc claws at him and knocks him out again. Erak cuts the blue orc open and he falls, clutching at his exposed innards. Jorah helpfully tells us that the Eye said “Kill the healer.” Jorah heals him again and Kilwin spends another turn healing himself and missing with Spiritual Weapon. The Eye attacks Erak and impales him all the way through with a spear, which Erak manages to break with it still inside him. As cool as that was, no one can seem to hit the Eye and he attacks Erak again, knocking him out. Kilwin takes a swing with his Spiritual Weapon, but focuses on channeling his last reserves of magic into healing Erak, only to bring his attention back to the Eye and discover that he knocked him unconscious.

Marcyra sees that the Eye is still breathing and wants to kill him immediately, but Jorah stops her because he wants to interrogate him. Kilwin backs him up, agreeing that we should learn what we can and if Marcyra wants to kill the Eye after, Kilwin won’t try to stop her. Jorah has some manacles and handcuffs the Eye with his arms behind him before he can wake up. Reides searches his body, but he only finds some coin.

Kilwin searches Keras’s body for anything that could identify him more specifically or lead the party to his family or friends. He finds a small journal that Keras kept, which appears to mostly document his travels in the wilderness. Kilwin decides to hold onto the journal to read in more detail later, mostly to see if it there’s any indication of someone who would want to know what happened to him. He also notices that Keras’s chainmail doesn’t make any sound as he’s searching the body. Marcyra takes Keras’s helmet off, but she immediately starts feeling bad as she realizes Keras has a face and was a person, so she puts it back on. Reides takes his helmet off again to get a better look at him, and his face seems familiar to us, but none of us can quite place who he reminds us of. Something about that bothers Kilwin, but he doesn’t say anything about it. Marcyra and Kilwin check the altar at the top of the cliff for the scroll, but they only find a small scrap of paper that crumbles into dust when Kilwin picks it up. The Atemcester mages aren’t getting their scroll back! Back at the bottom of the cliff, Marcyra uses some of the nearby dead wood and her fire magic to make some charcoal because she wants to draw on the Eye’s face. She writes “Nerd,” but he starts to wake up and move around, which messes up her handwriting. She also draws a dick on him.

Meanwhile, Jorah, Kilwin, and Reides bury Keras. Jorah takes Keras’s armor off since we don’t want to condemn Keras to doing battle eternally in the afterlife, and also because armored undead are awful to deal with. Jorah plants Keras’s longsword in the ground as a grave marker, and places Keras’s helmet on top of it and ties a green ribbon around it. He also marks the approximate location of the clearing on his map. Kilwin says some funeral rites, including asking Alethus to give Keras safe passage into the afterlife, and Jorah whispers a quick prayer to Cysebelle. Reides looks for some flowers to place on the grave, but they were all destroyed by the magic the orcs unleashed. Jorah, however, notices that some plants are already beginning to sprout where Keras was buried.

With Keras buried, the party turns their attention to interrogating the Eye. Jorah wakes him up with some baby talk in Orc, and the Eye calls him a filthy human. Jorah offers not to shoot the Eye if he answers some questions, but he initially refuses to talk. Marcyra heats up her charcoal and pokes him under his eye. He still refuses to talk and she threatens to go for his dick next. The Eye spits at Marcyra says he’s already lost an eye in service to his god, and he’s not afraid to lose another. Jorah asks if he’s really ready to become a Nut of Gruumsh, and the Eye relents and tells Jorah to ask his questions. Marcyra and Jorah keep taunting him for a bit, so he kicks at Jorah too. He tells Jorah that the ritual was the sacrifice of a powerful item to Gruumsh so that their attacks would strike true, and that the power of the scroll was to unleash the force that destroyed the plants and killed Keras. He also implies that his wasn’t the only orc band in this forest. Jorah asks for the name of his clan chief, and the Eye mocks him for not knowing Thorak Fireaxe. While he’s still speaking Orc, Kilwin and Reides catch the name “Thorak” and tell Jorah about their experience with the goblins at the mines. Marcyra digs her burning stick into the Eye’s neck, and he spits at her again. Kilwin moves between them to stop her from torturing him more. Jorah asks where Thorak’s base is, and the Eye initially refuses to tell him, but Jorah convinces him that Thorak would prefer that we attack him head-on rather than continue eliminating his war bands one-by-one. Thorak is in an abandoned abbey in the mountains near Port Valor. Jorah then gives the Eye a choice to walk away alive, but with one arm, or die as a warrior. The Eye questions what orc wouldn’t choose a warrior’s death and lifts his head so that Jorah can slit his throat, but Jorah shoots him in the face instead. He translates what the Eye said about Thorak for the rest of the party and points out that Thorak’s base is probably heavily fortified with orcs of a similar skill level to the ones we just fought, if not more. Kilwin suggests leaving Thorak for later since they still have a letter to deliver and it would be better if they did that before potentially dying. Not that Kilwin thinks we’re going to die, but it’s something to consider! Marcyra adds a finger circle to her art piece on the Eye’s face.

Reides uses Identify to determine that Keras’s armor is mithral chainmail, which is lighter than regular chainmail and wouldn’t impose a stealth penalty on its wearer. Jorah offers it to Kilwin, who feels a little uncomfortable taking a dead man’s armor. He suggests that Slumberjack tends to do more sneaking around than he does anyway, and they might want it instead, but Jorah says he thinks Keras would want Kilwin to have it, which does remind Kilwin that Slumberjack started the owlbear fight, so he accepts that reasoning. He takes the armor, but doesn’t equip it just yet.

Session 13

 * Google Document (6-7-2019)

The party regroups after the fight with the orcs. Kilwin finds Melina and Jacob and tells them it’s safe. Melina asks why they keep getting into fights, and Kilwin has to admit this is a fair question. He apologizes that the party’s brought them into so many dangerous situations since meeting them and says that the rest of the trip to Quadroad will hopefully be calm. The party notices that the wave of magical force was essentially flat and the plant life below the plateau’s level was left unharmed. Erak poses by the orcs’ bodies and it looks really cool. Marcyra wants a leaf from one of the trees, but doesn’t care enough to climb a tree for it. Erak climbs up for her, but the leaf crumbles into dust. Erak gives the dust to Marcyra, and she discreetly throws it away without Erak noticing. Pepega lands on Kilwin’s shoulder and he pets her a bit.

Before we leave the clearing, Jorah whistles loudly and calls for “Julius,” who turns out to be his dog. We all love her, including Erak, who is secretly a cat person. Kilwin asks for permission to pet her, which Jorah grants. Kilwin and Reides pet Julius, and Erak feeds her one of his meat chunks, which she enjoys. We ask Jorah how long he’s had a dog, and he tells us he’s had her for years, but he didn’t bring her to meet us originally because all he knew about us was that we knew Victor, who isn’t the world’s most trustworthy person. Kilwin admits this is fair, but is slightly hurt regardless. Marcyra holds out her hand for Julius to sniff (which makes her sneeze because of the leaf dust) but ultimately ends up petting her while pretending not to love dogs, which fools no one. Kilwin tries to Bond with her as a fellow dog person, but she kind of brushes him off.

Jorah guides the rest of the party back to the main road easily, and the six days’ travel to Quadroad pass mostly uneventfully. Reides casts Identify on himself to try to find out if a curse has been placed on him, but discovers he’s not currently affected by any spells. Kilwin also examines him for signs of disease, but Reides isn’t sick with anything that Kilwin can recognize. One night over dinner, Kilwin asks the rest of the party for a favor in light of what happened to Keras: If something happens to him while the party is traveling together, he wants them to find a man named Glasny Whitehall who lives near Laketon and tell him, since he deserves to know. Reides isn’t sure what happens if he dies and understandably doesn’t like to think about it. He mentions that the triton funerals he’s heard about have been too much for him to handle really. Erak asks if we should salt him to preserve him, and Kilwin says that’s gross, but Reides is mostly flattered by the thought. Marcyra is fine if we just leave her wherever, and she doesn’t think anyone will care if she dies other than Victor, but she does request “no churches” in case of her death. Erak asks for no burial because he doesn’t want to be any closer to the drow in the Underdark, and Jorah asks that we find a woman named Julia in Atemcester and tell her that he won’t be coming back. Reides says he only has one friend and doesn’t even know his name, so it would be really hard to find him to tell him anything. Slumberjack says that there will be no release for them, no matter how we treat their body. Kilwin is glad the party had that talk, even though he doesn’t like thinking about any of them dying! Reides says he doesn’t want to meet Glasny (whoever he is) under those circumstances, but wouldn’t mind meeting him otherwise. Kilwin agrees, saying that he’s sure Glasny would like most of them at the very least (he’s only unsure about Slumberjack, although Marcyra assumes he means her), and he’d like the party to meet him someday. To break some of the tension, Erak tells a story about a drinking duel he had with a friar of Bacchanal. It’s pretty obviously exaggerated, but it’s a good story! Reides fully believes it though, and is very impressed.

As we approach Quadroad, the month has changed to Firstlight and we begin to pass a lot of merchant caravans. Erak asks one of the merchants what they’re carrying, and he explains that it’s mostly lumber and other building supplies to repair damage from the riots in Port Valor. Quadroad is surrounded by dirt roads, and the constant stream of travelers kicks up a perpetual dust cloud around the town. Just outside the town, we see a crowd surrounding a merchant. Before we can get a sense of what’s going on, the crowd (which is comprised entirely of children) notices us and rushes to surround us, asking us a bunch of questions. Kilwin tries very hard to answer as many questions he can, and Jorah and Marcyra back away uncomfortably. Erak almost immediately lifts his coin purse out of reach of the children, which Marcyra notices and also does. Reides lifts Pepega out of the children’s grasp too. A child asks Reides why he’s blue and he doesn’t really have an answer for that, and another tells Erak that his dad said drow were bad and asks if Erak is bad. Erak says he’s very bad and scares the kid off. Erak feels very bad about it, but the kid is gone before Erak can say he was kidding.

As the crowd of children disperses, the merchant cries out that his coin purse is gone. The party checks their belongings, and Reides and Jorah discover that their coin purses are missing as well. Everything else seems to be in place, though. Jacob and Melina approach the party and thank them for their protection on the road. Kilwin apologizes again for the first few days of their travels together, but Melina is just happy to have made it. She apologizes that she can’t repay the party for their help, but we’re just glad she made it and wish her luck in Quadroad!

Jorah is really mad that all his money is gone, and Reides is pretty upset too! Kilwin is pretty sure this can be talked out, though, especially since the thief was a kid. Marcyra is pretty sure this is a lost cause since the money might have already been spent. Erak is willing to help get the money back, but mostly he’s just glad he wasn’t robbed. Jorah attempts to track the kids, but since the road is made of dirt and heavily trafficked, the trail peters out quickly. From above, Pepega can see a few of the kids from the crowd, but none of them seem to have any of the gold on them. Jorah tries to get Julius to track his scent to find his coin purse, and she starts strong, but after a while, she starts getting distracted by the many scents of Quadroad and can’t find the purse. Erak suggests checking the market, since the kids are likely to use the money for food. Jorah asks a nearby guard where the kids might have gone. The guard, a human man, immediately guesses that Jorah was robbed and tells him that a lot of the passing merchants have too. Apparently, the children are very well-coordinated at this, so it’s been near-impossible to track them down. He does suggest asking around at the Temple of Cysebelle. He also warns us about rumors of strange wolves on the road to Vila's Watch. We thank him for the help and head to the temple, which Reides and Kilwin manage to find for the party.

The Temple of Cysebelle isn’t constructed like a typical building, but is instead a tree that has grown into the shape of a building. There’s lots of plant life around the temple too. Reides and Erak think it’s super cool! Kilwin points out that Alethus is also super cool, although Cysebelle is extremely cool! Inside the temple, trees also form the temple’s furniture. Near the front of the temple, there’s an elven woman wearing Cysebelle’s vestments, a heavily armored man, and another less heavily armored man. There’s also a variety of worshippers around the temple. Reides approaches the older, more heavily armored man and compliments his goatee before asking about the children. The man, who is named Tiberion and works with the temple’s paladins, explains that the children frequently visited the temple for aid, but he hasn’t seen any of them for a while, so they must be getting help elsewhere (ie, the pickpocketing). He also explains that because Quadroad is passed through so frequently, it’s a convenient spot for people to abandon unwanted children. Reides is furious at what’s happened to these kids, and this also seems to strike a nerve with Kilwin (beyond what you’d normally expect from him) and Marcyra (who is trying to hide it). Tiberion directs us to find a child named Arden, since he’s a good kid and very agreeable, since he’s the most likely to help us find the thief.

Kilwin approaches the elven woman and asks if there was a paladin named Keras serving the temple. After briefly teasing Kilwin for being shy, she confirms that Keras is one of the temple’s paladins and asks if he owes Kilwin money. Kilwin lets her know that he died actually. Her smile instantly fades as Kilwin describes the encounter with the orcs. He also tells her that he has Keras’s armor and journal if she’d like either of them. The woman says that Keras would want his armor (which was imbued with the blessings of Cysebelle) to be used and that, since Alethus is the closest of the gods to Cysebelle, Kilwin should have it. She offers to purify the armor for Kilwin. She also asks that he hold on to Keras’s journal and read it and learn about Keras’s life. He apparently only finished his vows a few months ago. Kilwin asks and learns that the priestess’s name is Pandora and also introduces himself to her. Pandora explains that when the true faithful of Cysebelle die, she leaves some kind of sign or miracle and asks if Kilwin noticed anything like that. He describes the destruction that the orcs’ ritual inflicted on the clearing, as well as the new plant life by Keras’s grave. Pandora is visibly relieved to hear this and says that Keras is on the eternal hunt by Cysebelle’s side.

Once Pandora is done purifying the armor, Reides asks her about the undead aura that Keras detected around him. Pandora performs a ritual and runes appear around Reides’s feet. When she’s done, she says the situation is very grave and asks if Reides has any enemies. Reides mentions that there was this one guy he killed (Pandora doesn’t seem bothered, but Kilwin does jump in to clarify that Tyrian was very much trying to kill them first), and Pandora explains that Reides is being pursued by a revenant, an undead spirit bearing a deep grudge. Revenants are extremely hard to kill and can’t be gotten rid of without the use of a very powerful spell. Additionally, anyone killed by a revenant can’t be revived through magic. The upside is that a revenant only has a lifespan of a year and if it fails to take its revenge by then, it loses its foothold on the mortal plane. Tyrian’s revenant is targeting Reides right now because he’s the one who struck the killing blow against him, but a revenant can bear a grudge toward multiple people, so Julius is probably safe, but Tyrian likely has it out for the rest of the party too. Revenants don’t need to sleep and are also immune to magic that turns other undead away. They also retain the intelligence they had in life, so Tyrian probably won’t attack us in a town, unless he has some kind of advantage. The party starts saying mean things about Tyrian, even though he can’t hear us. Reides feels a tap on his shoulder and a voice whispering “I’ve come,” but it turns out to be Pandora pranking him. Everyone is mad about it except Marcyra, who is Intrigued. We thank Pandora for her help, and she thanks us for letting her know about Keras, although the temple will miss him. We might be able to get help from the mages in Atemcester, but we should probably try to get that money back first!

Since the town is small, the market is easy to find and there’s several kids milling about. Kilwin approaches one and asks if he knows where Arden is. He promises Arden isn’t in any trouble! The kid declines to answer and mutters something under his breath, which Kilwin manages to hear with near-perfect clarity, and it’s just him calling Kilwin a dolt. Kilwin attempts to follow the child (with Reides and Jorah following- Erak and Marcyra stay behind at the tavern with Julius and Jorah threatens Erak if he gives his dog alcohol- Erak and Reides make plans to give Pepega some ale later) and somehow manages to do so without being noticed even though he hasn’t changed out of his noisy chainmail yet. The child has returned to a small, dusty shanty town in a back alley, where lots of other children also appear to be living. Kilwin sighs and asks what the plan of action is and if they’re really going to try to take the money back if it comes to that. We decide to just try to find out who’s in charge and work from there, and start brainstorming what children like to try to get us to talk to them. We settle on candy, so we backtrack to the market and Kilwin buys 11 pieces of saltwater taffy (10 for the kids, and an extra because Reides wants one) (saltwater taffy is his favorite, as was Previously Established). Back at the shanty town, Kilwin admits he’s not the best at talking to kids and asks if Reides wants to take this. Reides does, although he admits that he’ll be tempted to eat all the candy himself.

Reides finds a human boy who looks nice and approaches him, asking if he knows where to find Arden and promising that Arden isn’t in trouble. Reides explains to the boy that he and his friend lost something and Arden might be the only person who can help them get it back. The boy says that Reides seems nice and admits that he’s Arden. He slips up and mentions his sister, and he begins to catch himself before realizing that he heard a lady in the market talking about how some adventurers helped her with a giant and one of them was blue. He asks if that was Reides since Reides is blue, and Reides confirms that he did kill a giant and the giant also squished him good. Arden says that if we killed a giant, we must be good, and that he’s not supposed to know this, but the pickpocket is his sister, Amelia. He figures that what Reides is missing is his money and wants to help, but doesn’t want to get in trouble with his sister. Reides promises not to tell on him and just asks that Arden direct him to where Amelia is. He says she lives near the back of the shanty town. Reides gives him two of the candies for his help, and also helps Arden unwrap them. Returning to Jorah and Kilwin, Reides says that went well and also reminded him of his sister.

Reides, Kilwin, and Jorah go to the back of the shanty town and find a slightly larger shack decorated with baubles. Amelia, a 13-year-old human girl, is there. She asks what we’re doing there and says that the children don’t like or trust adults, so they should leave. Kilwin concedes that they have every reason to not like adults! She has a tome, as well as Reides and Jorah’s coin purses, and she refuses to return them, claiming they had more money than was good for them. Amelia explains that since the temple only accepts offerings of things from nature, they don’t collect gold, so they often don’t have enough food to feed all the orphans in Quadroad. Amelia provides for them and also protects them. She manages to conjure a small flame in her hand to demonstrate this point. Reides is excited that she has magic and uses Minor Illusion to make petals rain from the sky. Amelia is impressed and uses Mage Hand to reach into Reides’s bag. Kilwin is the only one who can see it and waves it away before Amelia can take anything else from Reides. Amelia notes that Kilwin has a good eye! Kilwin admits that Amelia has a reason for stealing, but argues that it’s really dangerous for her to keep doing this. She points out that the guards haven’t been able to figure out what she’s doing, but Kilwin counters that the party did and asks Amelia to hit him with some fire. She’s reluctant, but does so- Kilwin lets her hit him, but her attack barely does any damage. He admits that it hurt, but not enough to stop him if he was a less nice person. Reides points out that if he attacked Kilwin, it would hurt way more. Kilwin agrees! He’s seen Reides hurt people with magic! Despite trying to convince Amelia to stop stealing, Kilwin asks if she would be able to give back one of the coin purses, especially since she now has twice as much gold as Reides or Jorah originally did. Amelia is reluctant and gives Reides back his coin purse. Still, this feels like a very temporary solution and no one is happy with it. We thank Amelia for her willingness to do that and tell her we’ll try to work something out with the temple and that we’ll be back. Reides also gives her all of the remaining candy to give out to kids who need it.

Once they’re out of the shanty town, Kilwin reaches into his own coin purse and gives Jorah 350 gold to try to replace what Amelia kept. The party reconvenes at the tavern (minus Slumberjack who mysteriously disappeared at some point) and brainstorms for a bit, but then heads back to the temple. This time, the armored men are gone and only Pandora is watching over the temple. We tell her what we’ve learned about the orphans and ask if she has any ideas on a solution. Kilwin asks if they’ve thought of growing a food garden around the temple, but it’s near impossible to grow crops in Quadroad. She does mention that there’s a farm being sold a few hours north of Quadroad and that the temple was interested in buying it, but lacks the funds. Pandora suggests that, if the farm were purchased, it could be used to grow food for the orphans and provide a more stable home for them as well. The farm would cost about 1000 gold, and the party agrees to fund it, but we decide to check in with Amelia first.

Back at Amelia’s hut, Reides, Jorah, and Kilwin tell her about Pandora’s idea. Jorah does, however, know exactly how much gold Amelia and asks that she put 150 gold toward the farm, which is less than half of what she stole from him and leaves her with plenty to buy food while the farm gets set up. Amelia asks what can grow on a farm, specifically to Reides. Kilwin tries to help by suggesting corn, and Reides also adds in tomatoes. Amelia tries to convince Reides that tomatoes are really called bananas and he doesn’t really know enough about tomatoes or bananas to dispute it. Kilwin begins to wonder if bananas are just another name for tomatoes. Amelia agrees to the idea and hands Jorah 150 gold. On the way back to the temple, Erak tells us a story about his great-uncle Snafulgar (called “the Smelly”) who was a farmer and only grew garlic. Erak says that garlic has a powerful smell, but tastes great, especially raw.

Back at the temple, Pandora is haggling with the farmer who’s selling the farm, starting from the price of 1 gold. He insists that he was asking for 1500 gold, so Pandora offers 2 gold, then “2 gold and the tiefling.” Marcyra is trying very hard not to laugh at this. When the farmer asks if Pandora is dealing in slaves, she suddenly loses her joking demeanor but says the tiefling is hers, which makes Marcyra blush. Jorah steps in and says that he heard the farmer was willing to go down to 1000 gold. The farmer is initially reluctant because Tyrian’s cloak makes him assume that Jorah is rich, but Jorah explains that he’s not rich and also the farm is actually to provide food and a home for the orphans living in town. This convinces the farmer to lower the price to 900 gold. Erak wants us to inspect the land, but Pandora says that the priests of Cysebelle will use magic to make sure the land is good for crops. Each present member of the party gives the farmer 150 gold and we sign the deed for the farm as a group. We decide to name it Stardew Farm.

On our way back to the market, Erak talks about how much he loves bananas, and Jorah sets us right on our tomato-banana knowledge. We hear a town crier sharing news of gruesome deaths in Port Valor with little to tie them together other than missing body parts, as well as a warning to the people of Quadroad to lock their doors at night. Marcyra suggests that might be us actually! Kilwin isn’t convinced that we were quite that bad, but can’t really think of a better explanation either. Someone on horseback approaches the party and asks if any of them are Kilwin of Cowersby and presents Kilwin with a well-traveled envelope from Glasny Whitehall. Kilwin is worried at first, but briefly skims the letter and is relieved to see that it’s a nice one. He starts reading it out loud, revealing that he’s about halfway through his journey, but he stops after a paragraph because he doesn’t want to make Marcyra uncomfortable by talking about Alethus too much in front of her. He lets the rest of the party read it if they want (and is also willing to read it to Erak privately if he wants For The Record).

Session 14

 * Google Document (6-14-19)

Jorah volunteers to stay behind in Quadroad to help supervise the setup of Stardew Farm. Kilwin warns him to be careful, since even though Tyrian is tracking Reides, we don’t know that he won’t attack Jorah if he happens to find him alone. Reides seconds the caution. Jorah says not to worry though, especially since he’ll have Julius with him and she has better eyes than he does. Marcyra and Kilwin both get one last dog-pet in before parting ways with Jorah and Julius.

A dark figure lumbers toward the party, but it’s just Slumberjack. We briefly tell them about what happened since they wandered off. Kilwin is also very glad to see them back so he can warn them about Tyrian’s revenant, who is almost definitely after them too. Slumberjack is mostly just impressed that Reides managed to get a revenant’s attention. They say they know a guy and offer to get him a new identity, but he’s pretty sure that wouldn’t work.

Hoping to learn about something that would work, Reides searches the market and finds a bookseller carrying a book titled Revenants: A Dark Oath. Marcyra tells Reides he deserves some taffy. Since it’s 8 days to Vila's Watch, Kilwin, Marcyra, and Reides also stock up on rations, even though they’re a bit overpriced. Reides shows Kilwin his new book, but Erak hates it and tries to climb up a wall and falls down. Reides offers to read it out loud to him, or anything else that Erak wants him to read, and that he’ll even do voices, even if they’re not very good ones. Erak is genuinely thrilled. Kilwin also looks at bedrolls, with Marcyra hovering around him to pressure him into buying one. Fortunately, they’re priced very reasonably, so Kilwin can finally get a nice night’s sleep.

The party heads to the inn, where a night’s stay is a flat rate regardless of who’s rooming together, but it does include some stew and bread. Erak tells a story about how he fought a wolf gang: One night, after only a few ales, he wandered out of a tavern and came across a wolf person, whose presence was both unnaturally terrifying and dominating. Erak felt himself become transmogrified into a wolf and followed the wolf person for the hunt. The barkeep, Reides, and Kilwin are listening very intently. Erak and the wolf came across a magical white stag that Erak normally would have been reluctant to kill, but the hunt continued. During the hunt, Erak felt a searing pain throughout his body as he transformed back into his normal shape. He would have thought it was a dream, but the wolf and the stag were both still there. The wolf turned on him and bit his neck. Erak shows us some scars around his neck that could be from a wolf’s bite and also briefly rages to show off his wolf totem, attributing it to his encounter with the wolf. Someone in the tavern says it sounds like Erak made a trip to the Feywilds. We spot Pandora, listening in to Erak’s story. Erak buys her a drink and asks her for a story. She tells us how she found Keras lost in the wilderness and how he was saved by the vision of a stag. Because he refused to kill a stag for food while he was starving, he won Cysebelle’s favor. Reides reads out the relevant journal entry to Erak. Reides also thanks Pandora for warning him of his impending doom. Marcyra asks how long the temple’s been there and Pandora say it’s been at least an era (1000 years) and that she’s been with the temple for about 100 years. Marcyra was just wondering if she’s met her somewhere before! Pandora calls it a night, but not before throwing a wink in Marcyra’s general direction. Marcyra hopes it was for her, Reides kind of hopes it wasn’t for him, and Erak doesn’t really care and is having a good time either way.

Erak tries to use Speak with Animals to see if any of the wildlife around the city knows about the wolves on the way to Vila's Watch, but doesn’t even know what kind of animals to look for. Meanwhile, Reides starts reading the revenant book, with Kilwin reading over his shoulder and Marcyra chilling nearby. The book explains that people who become revenants were either victims of a cruel, undeserving fate or were risen by something greater. A revenant’s adversary can always recognize it, no matter what body it possesses, and a person being tracked by a revenant can’t hide from it, even through magical means. If a revenant is unable to take down its adversary on its own, it seeks allies to help it. If a revenant’s body is destroyed, its soul flies to the body of another dead humanoid and its quest continues. It also doesn’t need food, drink, or sleep. The only way to end a revenant’s revenge before its year is up is through the power of a Wish spell, which would require an incredibly powerful wizard to perform. Reides points out that the next time we encounter Tyrian, we might not want to kill him in case he finds an even stronger host. He suggests sealing him away somehow, preferably in a way where he wouldn’t be able to kill himself to find a new body, although even if he did that, it would at least eat part of the year. Unfortunately, we don’t know what happened to Tyrian’s body after we left it with Count Corvus, so we’re not sure what we’re working with. Trying to get more money out of Count Corvus or Emperor Eurystheos to help pay for an Atemcester wizard to cast Wish is another option. Erak wants to tie Tyrian up and toss him in the ocean, but we’re a little far away from the ocean right now. Slumberjack volunteers to room with Reides for the night, which passes uneventfully.

In the morning, Kilwin tries on Keras’s armor. At first, he’s not sure it will fit since he’s larger than Keras was. At first, it’s pretty snug, but it magically shifts to accommodate Kilwin’s size and fits him better than his regular chainmail did. It also has a blue tint to it. We decide not to check in with the kids since we trust Jorah to have that under control and we don’t want to risk leading Tyrian to the farm. On the road to Vila's Watch, the paths begin shifting up and the air gets chillier. The plains give way to denser forests. Two days pass uneventfully on the road. Erak tries to use Speak with Animals again to get information on the wolves from the forest creatures. He finds some deer tracks and tries to circle around it, staying downwind so the deer doesn’t catch his scent. He also spots the tracks of a single goblin, which appears to be following the deer. Erak lets the rest of the party know what’s up so they’ll stay on their guard, but isn’t too worried about a single goblin, so he goes it alone. He finds a goblin, alone, unarmed, and crouched down watching the deer from some bushes. The goblin walks out of the bushes, and Erak tries to follow stealthily but steps on a branch, which cracks loudly. He greets the goblin, but then hears a voice in his mind.

The rest of the party is minding their own business when Erak runs back screaming and telling us to run for our lives. He is being pursued by a wolf creature with the face of a goblin. Marcyra screams at Erak, asking what he did, but he doesn’t think this is the time for that! Slumberjack slaps it, but it seems to resist damage from their axe. Erak manages to realize what he’s doing and stops panicking and rages. The monster thanks Erak for leading it to its next meal and calls for assistance, but nothing happens immediately. It focuses its attacks on Erak. Seeing that Slumberjack’s axe is less effective than normal, Erak drops his own axe and takes out his quarterstaff. Kilwin’s Sacred Flame manages to connect, revealing that the monster doesn’t resist radiant damage. We hear a small voice responding to the monster’s call for help and a little blue man rushes out, stabs Marcyra and Reides, and then runs over to Kilwin and tries to stab him too, but he manages to shield himself. He’s moving so fast that Reides and Marcyra’s attacks of opportunity are at a disadvantage and miss him. Marcyra is possibly the maddest we’ve ever seen her, but Reides kind of likes the little blue man even if he did just stab him. Kilwin recognizes it as a quickling, a very fast fey that generally works for a larger evil creature. Quicklings are hard to hit when they’re moving, but are pretty easy to deal with if someone can hold them down. Kilwn gives Marcyra and Reides a concerned look as he heals Erak, who’s taken a bit more of a beating, and tries to hit the quickling, but it ducks out of the way and makes a funny face at him. It stabs Kilwin and then starts to run back to Marcyra and Reides, but Kilwin manages not only to hit it, but hits it much harder than he expected to, since he’s not used to the feel of his new armor yet. The quickling’s body flies off and crashes into the side of a cliff.

The monster leaves Erak and Slumberjack to target Kilwin. Erak manages to hit it with his quarterstaff, but it turns out it resists that damage too. It says that if it dies here, it’ll at least take one of us with it, but Kilwin manages to avoid its attack. Marcyra and Reides both hit it, revealing that it resists both fire and cold damage. Slumberjack and Erak close in on the monster, surrounding it, but it turns out that it actually loves to see it. He laughs and calls us fools before vanishing before our eyes. Reides goes to study the quickling as Erak explains that the goblin he followed suddenly turned into a wolf who spoke to him in Infernal and tried to charm him into leading it to the rest of us. He managed to stay in control, but then just kind of led it to us anyway. Reides and Kilwin recognize the creature as a barghest, a creature from Gehenna that absorbs the powers of those it kills until it’s strong enough to go home. Since it vanished, we figure that’s probably not the last we’ve seen of it and we decide to try to get some distance from the scene of the fight.