One by one, the party began to wake from their paralyzed state. As they woke, they noticed that Miri’s tattoos had “bled” away from her. But as she woke, the ink reformed the shapes covering her body as though it had never moved at all. They saw they were all clumped into one of the makeshift jail cells. Three cells with bone and metal bars were scattered around the small cave room. In one was the young woman Olasatra. She was dragged away by a hag (not the one they had seen at the house).

Bardo and Miri and Theo got to work making some lockpicks and creations in order to help bust them out. As they worked on that, Ellie, Torinn, and Siobhan spoke to those still in the third cell. There was an unconscious man (Caul), an extremely pregnant woman (Ulayra), and an older half orc adventurer (Elceran). Elceran greeted the group and quickly explained what he knew. Though it wasn’t much, he had been taken by a hag from the road. His equipment had been taken, and without going into too many details he explained he was worried for his fellow captors.

With their lore background, the party remembered that hags were known to take pregnant women and convert their pregnancies from normal babies to hags. The babies would be born with the appearance of normal children, and near their seventh birthdays they would be stolen away from the parents (who often bore no memories of what had happened). But Elceran was quick to make sure they didn’t panic the woman with them because she was so pregnant that any additional stress might cause an early delivery.

The group managed to get the doors open. they decided a quick escape would be best. Ellie looked for traps, while the orc helped them navigate out. With a lot of skill and a touch of good luck, they managed to get to the store room where they found their equipment and a few trinkets worth note as well.

Now they just had to get out.

On the way, Theo and Bardo worked to set some traps so that if they were followed the hags might be slowed down a bit. Elceran offered to provide a distraction as he was dying from a poison inflicted by the hags weapons. Torinn managed to stabilize the poison in him (buying him several days), and they woke the young man from his injuries. They were slower so they started out as the party worked on their plans. The others headed down the hall to see if they could spot Olasatra and see if they could rescue her.

The scene that played out before them was ghastly. Several hags stood around an unholy altar. Olasatra (whom no one had suspected was pregnant) was screaming as the hags worked their evil ritual on her. It was a sight that no one would ever want to see, and no amount of time would completely erase those images from the minds of those that saw them.

Sadly, the group knew that in their current state, they were far outmatched by this coven. They regrouped with the others and decided that they had to abandon Olasatra to her fate. It was a hard decision, but they felt that there was no choice. Fleeing out of the cave they were in, they reached the surface and got their bearings.

To say they were far from where they’d started their journey would be an understatement. A lush jungle stretched out before them. Their party had to move fast, so they started in the direction that seemed to steadily climb up. About an hour into their hike, they heard a soft boom behind them. the traps they’d left behind them must have worked and they saw a plume of smoke rising from the direction they’d come.

Making their way to higher ground, they got their bearings. All around them they saw unstable magic crackling. The island seemed to be completely shattered by these magical explosions and the strange creatures that had been born of it. They took a moment to get to know their acquaintances better, and they decided to head south toward the only indication of civilization that they had been able to see from where they were.

After a few hours of hiking, they were ambushed by several plant creatures. Bardo took the brunt of the attack as the creatures lifted him into the air and lashed at him. The others were quick to come to his defense as Caul and Elceran helped get Ulayra to safety. They managed to fight off the creatures and just in the nick of time.

Something was coming through the trees. Something big…

With the sound of crashing footfalls and evil screams surrounding the group, they fled up the hill to where a farmhouse stood. A lovely young blonde woman stood there and ushered them in. With hesitation they took her up on the offer of sanctuary. Olasatra hurried them upstairs as the creature coming through the trees after them made a full appearance.

A Bulette emerged from the woods and immediately began wreaking havoc on the barn. The young woman explained that each day for several weeks the farm had been targeted near dusk. The creature had eaten nearly all of their livestock (save one final chicken that she’d made into a soup that was bubbling away downstairs). Olasatra explained that the rest of her family had already fled and that she planned on joining them the following day. She had stayed to try to save what she could but she had to admit that she had failed.

Exhausted and tired, she offered the group some of the soup. She ate some, as did several of the others. It was actually pretty excellent soup. Their vantage point on the second floor offered them some safety and so they all went to sleep to try to wait it out.

Late that night, they woke up with an intruder in their midst. A horrifying hag stood in the hallway watching everyone sleeping. She had a gnarled and horrible visage and even in the moonlight she was a horrifying figure. The party called to action, but it wasn’t long before they realized that everyone who had eaten the soup (even the young woman) was petrified.

Thinking fast, Ellie, Miri, and Bardo leapt into action. They attacked the hag. Bardo summoned an elemental, and it helped to block much of the damage that was directed at the party. Hearing the commotion, the Bulette decided to make an appearance. It burst into the upstairs and started to fight the elemental.

Unfortunately with half their party incapacitated, they were unable to fend off both the hag and the bulette. It fled toward the woods with the elemental in hot pursuit and the hag put the remaining party members into a state of paralysis as well.

The last words they heard were the hag’s voice singing them to sleep with a terrifying lullaby. “Above black crows wheeling, All of a sudden swooping, My little baby stealing, Sleep little ones, sleep. Above the birds ascending, My baby’s flesh they’re rending, And all I am attending, Sleep little ones, sleep.”

And then, all was darkness…

The party started on the journey to Cydweli with a spring in their step. Some were happy to be on an adventure, some were just happy to be leaving Oakengate. But the spirits were high as they headed out on the start of their grand adventure.

They had traveled about two days when they realized that they were being followed again. Like a bad joke, apparently folks just wanted to know what they were up to at all times. This time Siobhan noticed their follower between the trees. Rushing toward them, axe raised she was somewhat surprised to see a tiny little fae flying there. As round as she was tall, she was layered with dozens of flower petals, leaves, twigs, moss, and pretty much anything she could find in order to make her puffy and round.

With extreme enthusiasm, she greeted the group and explained that they had been ever so hard to find but that her mistress would be quite pleased. The group learned that her mistress (whom she didn’t want to name for fear that the group was being “watched”) worshiped the god of fate and that she had intervened on their behalf in order to make sure they were safe.

The pixie herself was not the best messenger ever and sadly couldn’t tell them too much about the other group or what the vision of their future had shown. She did tell them that the man they were approached by was named Lysander, but that was about it. She then offered to take a message back. Siobhan wrote one out and the group continued on.

As they entered into the first town they came to on their travels, they stopped in at “The Horses Main”, which was the only inn in the whole town. There, they met a chicken named Steve who was the owner. He’d been polymorphed by his ex wife in a jealous spat. And he’d been this way for many years. He seemed reasonably alright with this, but he did say that he hoped she’d turn him back sometime before she died of old age. Bardo knew a lot about polymorph spells due to his time pirating, and he figured that it was the sort of spell that must be undone by the caster. Which is an extremely high level spell indeed and seemed out of the realm of possibility for most average housewives. The group offered to keep an eye out for his wife, and they spent the night.

As they prepared to leave the next morning, they got word that about a day ahead there had been rumors of goblin activity. And two days ahead something had scared a bunch of farmers out of their homes. Undeterred, the group continued onward.

Soon they found themselves in the area where the goblin activity had been reported. Sure enough, they heard commotion ahead. After some wrangling, they convinced Siobhan not to run ahead so that they could get the element of surprise and she grudgingly agreed. Miri and Torinn snuck ahead and observed two passengers fighting off five goblins as one of the passengers lay gravely injured on the ground.

They headed back to the group, and Bardo snuck ahead. He created an extremely effective illusion further down the road in order to lure out any other goblins that might have been waiting to ambush. Luckily there were none, and he managed to thin the herd by luring two away. The group all got into position and started to ready their attacks.

As the battle started, the entire group went full bore on the goblins. They managed to dispatch them all since they took them by surprise. As the dust settled, Torinn and Ellie healed up the injured and Torinn helped them find their horses so they could get back on the road. The group was very thankful and rewarded them with some money. After saying farewell, the group continued on the road.

The next day, they reached the area where the farmers had been scared away from. Ellie and Theo recalled folk tales about a griffon and a bog hag in the area. Both were old tales, but they were something to go on. Bardo found a well used game trail and figured that was a likely spot that the creature (whatever it was) was using. And they spotted what looked to be an abandoned farm nearby and figured that could be helpful.

The group stayed on the road discussing their next move. They could choose to go to town and find out more about what had happened, or they could investigate the farm for clues, or they could head out on the path. Four of the group chose the farm and two chose the path. Siobhan was already starting down the path, however, so they called to her to try to get her to come back.

Unfortunately though, all their discussing (and the relative inability to work as a unit since they were still getting to know one another) meant that they had tarried a bit too long. They heard a horrifying gutteral scream and they all rolled for initiative to see what would happen next time.

After being accosted by the strange man in the alley with a single sentence, they were surprised also by his appearance. He looked almost necrotic with thick tattoos and bits of ragged skin that seemed far too leathery. However closer inspection made the group think that it was more likely an illusion than his actual skin. He repeated the question, and they surrounded him as Ellie flanked him at the far side of the alley.

The man proceeded to explain that the group should have perished during the explosion. After demanding to know who their protector was, the group had enough of his cryptic words. As it became clear that the group didn’t know what he was talking about, he said that his order would be watching. The group left him in the alley and continued on to the hospital.

When they arrived, the nurse on staff for the evening was a bit hesitant to let them in. But after some outstanding checks, she was swayed and let them in. They spoke first to the woman who’d been friends with the Galeb Dhur. She was now conscious, and after they discussed what had happened, they were able to convince her to vouch for their innocence with the town guard. She and the Galeb Dhur explained a bit about their knowledge of the events, but it was scarce to say the least. But they had secured a character witness.

Around that time, Bardo was overtaken by a horrible smell that seemed to emanate from his person. As he left to the privy, the smell faded and by the time he came back, it was gone.

The group then turned their attention to the guard who’d been injured during the attack. He was still hurting pretty badly, but the group spoke with him at length about what had happened. He also agreed to testify on their behalf and amend his statement to help secure their innocence. The group was able to make sure that they would no longer be dogged by the ‘wrong place wrong time’ accusations that had plagued the day’s events.

After asking some questions about the prisoner, the guard explained what he knew. He’d been accused of being part of a group that had been murdering government officials. Apparently he was the last one still to face trial, so they were taking him to Cydweli to face trial. The wagon had broken down and they’d paused in the city to get it fixed, and that’s when all hell had broken loose.

They thanked the man and all decided to leave. After speaking to Torinn they learned that his shellmate was missing after attempting to go north across the rift. He wanted to go look for her, and after some discussion, the others agreed on a tentative plan to do just that as they tried to figure out who their mysterious benefactor could be (and who the man in the alley was).

The next morning they spoke with Hareil and he explained that they were in the clear officially. As they started out of town, they ran into a noise complaint from the home nearest the town’s cemetery. Apparently there had been some serious complaints about the noise at all hours.

As they went in to investigate the sounds, they found a handsome yet harried looking young man in the home. He seemed hesitant to let them in claiming that his roomate was a musician. But the group was not fooled. They managed to get inside with some clever words, and they found a group of skeletons wandering around. The man was a novice necromancer and had forgotten the “obey” step in his conjuring. So the skeletons were just ambling around breaking things and such.

The group knew that the only way to stop the creatures was to break them. So they started to smash them up. The battle was pretty heavy as everyone chopped and shot and spelled their way through the brittle creatures. Bardo used a large spell in a small space, and unfortunately managed to hit Ellie. Upon seeing this, Siobhan was enraged and she knocked him unconscious. Torinn healed him up and got him back on his feet and the rest of the party left as Siobhan took an opportunity to sleep with the handsome young magician.

The group got paid for their work (as it was a adventure guild contract at that point), and they gathered their things and started out on the road to Cydweli…

Our campaign began in earnest as our intrepid adventurers found themselves doing the most important part of their journey… Running errands.

A sudden loud crack was heard, and upon investigating they learned that a prisoner transport wagon headed to Cydweli had broken an axle on the main road. Miri took to questioning the prisoner (Jack) inside (who she learned was both handsome and innocent of treason). Finellen, Siobhan, Bardo, and Theodore all worked to try to organize some assistance for the guards, and managed to earn 50 gold for their trouble. As they worked to get the supplies needed, Siobhan headed over to talk to her friend Torinn and fill him in on the details of the captured man.

Miri caught up with Bardo and Theodore as they were headed to get the new axle and she explained that the man in the wagon was innocent and she thought that he should be freed. Theodore was slightly hesitant, but he agreed to hear her out after they got the part back to the wagon.

As they approached, a huge explosion blasted apart a building about a block further down the road from the transport. Miri noticed a figure in blue standing there watching the cart. Before anyone could really react, a second explosion happened equidistant behind the transport. And within moments the transport exploded, sending it rocketing into the wall and shattering it, and knocking everyone down.

In the chaos afterward, Siobhan, Theodore, and Miri discovered that the prisoner had not been in the transport when it was broken. Theodore cast an illusion to lure some of the guards away so they could get a moment of peace. And Bardo used the ruse of “helping the injured” to pickpocket 7 gold from one of the unconscious victims of the explosions.

A Galeb Dhur was awakened in the chaos, viewed the nearest guard as a threat and knocked him out. Siobhan managed to help the guard not light on fire, Torinn lifted him up to prevent him from moving around and hurting anyone, and FInellen bonked him on the head to get him to relax. It worked. He started speaking Terran, and signaled he wanted to be put down. As soon as he could, he ran over to the woman near where he’d come from and he started to speak to her in terran. He shoved Bardo away from her (preventing him from stealing anything else from her).

The guards returned, and seeing the chaos (and the party standing in the middle of it), they asked the group to return with them. They managed to schmooze their way out of a cell and into the courtroom. Finellen expertly got the group a lovely dinner as well. And for three hours they waited as statements were collected. Soon the guards had collected the evidence.

They found themselves staring down the mayor, the leader of the town guard, and the leader of the adventurer guild. The news was not good. Too many conflicting statements (combined with their relative newness to town) put them as suspects in the man’s escape. Outrage was expected, and just as things were getting heated, Hareil vouched for the group. The guard captain and the mayor left, and Hareil explained the situation.

Though he did not believe that the group was involved, he could not risk the chance that he was wrong. He asked the party to do something in thirty days:

-Learn about who really had caused the accident and clear their names.
-If they truly have no connection to the Blue Flame, they could find information to damage their organization.
-Work to show that they have Oakengate’s best interests at heart and show that they are not the monsters that this act would otherwise imply.

Hareil explained that if they could not do any of these things in thirty days, that he would recant his statement and given the strict punishments involved, the party would be outlawed. If they were still in town, they would be hung, if they tried to leave this reputation would likely follow them. So in essence he warned that they deal with it now in Oakengate, or if they flee, they may deal with it later down the line.

Needless to say, the news was a bit grim.

The group banded together to go and look at the scene of the crime. Bardo and Theodore had a keen memory for teleportation spells, and they figured out the type likely used to save Jack before the explosion. They decided to go speak to the witnesses that were alive and they headed down to the healer.

On the way there, they were followed by a terrifying “man” in a blue cloak. He spoke cryptically, and his small companion was with him. He asked the party how they survived the explosion. And after conferring with the small fae with him, it said they should be dead. He explained that the fae doesn’t lie about the list. He looked at the party and spoke a single sentence.

“Who protects you?”

Our Campaign will begin on 7/28/16 with a session zero around 6:30pm!

It’s going to be a lot of fun, and I cannot wait to see what sorts of characters, backstories, and relationships that you all come up with!

Hopefully having access to our Obsidian Portal Wiki in advance will make it a little easier to get some ideas in advance about what sounds like fun to play.

See you then!

Our unofficial D&D theme song could be Ante Up, by M.O.P.

Fool, what you want? Your life or your Jewels?