Session Notes

It started in a tavern, where Feena and Sir Cumference met for the first time. Alosa introduced herself to them shortly after, and managed to pick Sir Cumference’s pocket in the process. Alosa left to explore the festival. Feena and Sir Cumference followed. Sir Cumference tried his hand at a few festival games and won 5 gold. Sir Cumference spotted Draco Rex and a group of dragon hunters moving through the crowd and approached him asking for a dragon to kill. Draco laughed him off. Alosa then approached Draco and flirted, which flustered him and gave his fellow hunters plenty to laugh about. Sir Cumference visited Zheril’s stall to buy a weapon but didn’t have the money for it. The players gathered to watch the fireworks display, and witnessed a battle in the distance between an ancient red dragon and a mysterious purple magical creature. Two dragon whelps crash-landed at the pier. The players, with Draco Rex’s assistance, defeated them and stopped the chaos.

The players explored the town separately for a while before meeting up at the town hall quest board. They took a job requesting assistance with a trade route disruption. Zheril used his merchant knowledge to track down the client, and the group found their way to a general store owned by a dwarven man named Arther. Arther explained that the trade route to Deephelm had been disrupted recently. The players agreed to take the job for an increased reward of 50 gold per person. On leaving the store, the group decided to travel on horseback. Not owning any horses, they attempted to steal some from a nearby stable. Sir Cumference’s attempt drew the attention of the guards. Alosa managed to slip away quietly, but then talked the guards round by claiming the horses had been requisitioned and that the guards were obstructing official business, securing Sir Cumference’s release in the process. The players left Anchorage and set off along the trade route. Shortly into the journey, they were ambushed. Alosa dodged an arrow.

The ambush resolved into a full bandit attack. The players defeated most of the group, but one bandit fled. Rather than pursue him, the party pushed on along the road. They made camp for the night. During the watch, the escaped bandit returned with reinforcements: the full bandit group, including two lieutenants and their leader. The players fought and won. All the bandits were defeated or scattered, and the group leader was captured alive.

Local inn: The Tide’s Inn. A 350 year old building. Staff: Sarah the barmaid. 5’4”, stocky, shoulder-length curly hair. Draco the Dragonhunter plus his 3 guards. Very experienced soldiers. 6’4” human, short black hair. Dual wielding swords (corrosive & lightning). Quest: When merchants travel along the route, either some goods or whole carts go missing. The things that go missing range from weapons of all types, general goods, and some rare items. The survivors mention that they have been attacked by arrows. The route in question is the main trade route between Anchorage and Deephelm — the North-West trade route. We decided to accept the quest to investigate the missing goods. We secured a horse and started travelling along the trade route at noon, arriving at the area around half two. We were ambushed by three bandits on the high ground. Zheril one-shotted one of the bandits, which triggered the remaining bandits to retreat. The party let them leave. We continued along the route and when the sun went down we camped for the night. During the night the party was ambushed by the full bandit group: 4 bandits, 3 lieutenants, and 1 captain. After a tough fight, we killed all bandits and lieutenants and pinned down the captain. During interrogation, we found the location of the main bandit camp: Ashcreek Cavern, 2.5 miles North East. Sir Cumference deduced there was probably a small stream running through the cave. We made our way towards Ashcreek Cavern. Unfortunately the captain wriggled free of his ropes, used Misty Step, and ran inside the cave. A horn sounded, followed by the sounds of armour being hastily donned and weapons grabbed — and then two Mastiffs, Nigel and Farrage, came from the cave. We quickly despatched the Mastiffs, and as we finished them off we saw a Half-Orc woman standing at the cave entrance. After another short struggle, we made short work of her. We moved further into the cave. We heard the sound of gushing water and, after a quick manoeuvre dodging a large wave, we battled two more bandits, Steve and Allan. Alosa used two Clouds of Daggers to eviscerate them. Sir Cumference almost got drowned by Feena.

The group got back together and discussed how to proceed. We moved further into the next room of the cave, where Sir Cumference saw the captain dead on the floor with a ceremonial dagger sticking out of him — which disappeared suddenly. He didn’t share this information with the group. We heard two voices further up in the cave. Zheril used Thaumaturgy to cast a voice further into the room, which was followed by lightning surrounding the body of the captain. Alosa sneaked around the corner and sent a message to one of the figures in the next room — a 7-foot mechanical humanoid creature. Feena cast Invisibility on Alosa, who stealthed into the next room. She spotted another figure, around 5’7”, sitting on a throne. Both of them periodically placed their hands on the floor, sending a shockwave of earth and lightning in a cone in front of them. We entered the room after a short standoff. Alistar made his mechanical humanoid heal us, then cast a shockwave on everyone except Alosa. He threw a rock at Sir Cumference and nearly knocked him out cold. Zheril cast Suggestion towards Alistar in an attempt to end combat. The mechanical creature then healed Sir Cumference. Feena Witch Bolted Alistar in the face. Alosa sent a message to encourage him to stop. In the conversation that followed, Alistar explained that he is looking for an artifact that allows someone to cast spells without components. Alosa convinced Alistar to allow us to help track it down. He showed the group an illusion of a red shard or gem, which slowly transformed into an orb, and said it is known by many names. They had already looked in Zhann’kar and Striodan, and were now in Nauthica. This was the first trade route they were investigating in Anchorage. We agreed to help them get leads after completing the trade goods quest. Alistar promised further rewards for solid leads. Zheril argued that returning to the city with the trade goods first would build goodwill with the townsfolk — useful for gathering information on the artifact. Alistar agreed. Zheril collected several items, which went into the party inventory. Feena also looted the captain’s body and found a magical ring. We went back to camp to find Muffins, but Muffins was nowhere to be seen — only tracks leading away from the city. We decided to leave Muffins be and returned to the city. As we entered the outskirts, Sir Cumference and Feena noticed a glow coming from Alosa’s backpack. To be continued…