The Cedarspoke Debt

On a rare visit to Rockdale, Farnorin received two items of dire news at once: his old friends, the storied heroes, had made the ultimate sacrifice whilst on a myserious quest to prevent a magical apocalypse; and on top of this, his old debt to Cedarspoke Scholar's Guild had come calling. With this information weighing heavily on him, Farnorin retreated to his home in Shilmista, and began making plans to return to adventuring. Detailed below are the exploits of Farnorin and the group of adventurers he brought together to pay off his debt.

Session 1 - 26/04/2022

Farnorin arrived at The Pickman's Rest in Rockdale to find a number of unusual looking individuals there. After a few slightly awkward introductions, the group were all introduced to each other. All in all, there were five members - Farnorin, Oxana, Caio, Himari, and Hollyhock. They each agreed to try and pursue a few adventuring contracts together, and split the profits.

Moments later, a gang of tax collectors from Cedarspoke arrived at the tavern, and requested Farnorin come with them for failing to pay his debts - a noted change from the agreement Farnorin had established with them previously. The barman, Gregor, requested that the group take the matter outside, and it was there that a fight kicked off after Farnorin refused to go with the tax collectors. The tax collector's thugs and hounds were dispatched remarkably swiftly by the group, and the head tax collector was captured alive. Unfortuantely, the party were barred from The Pickman's Rest for causing such a distrubance.

Upon interrogation, the headman revealed that there had been a change of management at the guild, so not only was Farnorin's debt due far sooner than originally agreed, but it had also had an intrest rate applied to it. Farnorin's debt now stood at three hundred and fifty silver pieces. As the party were gagging the tax collector so they could not cause any more trouble, a stranger, later revealed to be Il Cuithe the Minstrel, approached the party. The bard had seen the altercation and heard mention of Cedarspoke, which led to him offering the group a contract for escorting to him to a few locations en-route to the town. He sought passage to Sanctuary and then on to Lord Ironhurst's manor, who was his patron. The group agreed to the contract, with a deposit of five gold pieces.

The journey started that very evening, after Caio had said farewells to the family he had in Rockdale. On the road, shortly before night fell, the group came across an overturned cart. Hollyhock righted the cart, freeing the three individuals trapped beneath: Bit Barden, a dwarven merchant, and their two companions, one orc, and the other human. Bit explained that their cart had been attacked by goblins a day prior, and the three of them had been trapped there since then. Farnorin healed the human of their broken rib, and was promptly rewarded with a little silver and an antidote - a crate of which was what the merchants had been carrying when they were attacked. The two travelling parties camped together that night for the sake of safety in numbers.

The merchants set off the next morning, and told the adventurers to look up the Finch Guild when they got to Sanctuary. They accepted the shipment as a loss, and told their saviors to salvage whatever they could for themselves if they chose to go after the goblins.

The group chose to track down the goblins to their camp, which turned out to be little more than a circle of tents with a rickety palisade gate at the "entrance". After approaching quite stealthily, the adventurers dispatched the guards at the gate, and then went on the face the goblin tribe's deputy boss, Big Krutz. After a brutal battle in which both Hollyhock and Oxana were badly wounded, the group defeated Big Krutz and his lackeys. Strangely though, upon a search of the camp, no alchemical supplies were found.

Session 2 - 03/05/2022

Himari and Farnorin healed Oxana and Hollyhock whilst Caio refocused. The group then pottered around the camp, with some members taking guard posts in case the rest of the golbins returned. Hollyhock identified some of the tracks on the trail as that of an ogre.

The group returned to their camp to find that same ogre attacking Il Cuithe the bard, hanging him up in the air. The ogre seemed docile in a strange way, but still set his goblin entourage upon the adventurers. After it was defeated, and after apologising to the minstrel, they struck camp and set off on the way to Sanctuary again.

The party eventually arrived at the city to see the famed walls glowing with the last light of the day. In the queue for the gates, the party were approached by a shady looking gnome peddling a crate of alchemical supplies - a crate emblazoned with the Finch Guild's emblem. Farnorin came straight out and accused the gnome of theft. Luckily, Hollyhock floored the gnome as he tried to run, and a nearby Knight of Sanctuary quickly arrested the wrongdoer, after a small confusion regarding Caio.

When the minstrel entered the city, he, along with the party, was swamped by fans. They escaped the crowd, but the bard was spiked in the process. Hollyhock carried the bard to the inn he had mentioned as being "good for locals". The Old Bastion Inn turned out to be the classic boozer, simple but friendly. Cat was deemed to be inappropriate for entry, though Hollyhock managed to sweet talk the bartender, a intemperate dwarf, into letting the bear in. The group brought a room, and Himari checked the bard over once they got to their beds. Il Cuithe had only been knocked unconscious, nothing worse. As she took her armour off, Hollyhock noticed she had also been pricked.

The group headed downstairs as the pub was starting to come alive, and Hollyhock asked the bartender about where she might have sustained the spiking wound from. He didn't know much about poisons, but did mention a local gang called the Rock Roughers. The party spent the night with a few drinks, until a loud knocking from upstairs let them know the bard was awake.

Session 3 - 17/05/2022

After an attempt by Farnorin and Hollyhock to open the door to their room, it was finally revealed that Caio was the one with the key, and thus Ilkeuth was liberated from his room. After Caio pressed him to be honest with the party, Ilkeuth explained that he had a history with Countess Viamark - a noblewoman who also wants his services, and may be willing to poison for them. The adventurers agreed to act as a security detail for Ilkeuth's performance in Sanctuary for an extra fee. With that matter explained, in order to be fresh for the next day, the party headed to bed. In Oxana's case, this was after prying Himari away from the gambling table downstairs.

The next morning, after patching themselves back up, the party prepared for a wander around the city. Oxana grabbed a strong drink, and Hollyhock checked with the bartender as to where she might track down a half elf child on the run. Furthermore, the adventurers agreed to head to the Finch Guild to return the merchants' lost crate.

In the guild district, the adventurers tracked down the Finch Guild's beautiful headquarters, and were greeted well by a gruff gnome who was greatly pleased to see his items returned. The group were recompensed and written down in the records of the Finch Guild. Furthermore, the CEO offered the group a discount on adventuring goods should they ever be in need.

After finalising the business at the merchants' house, Hollyhock slightly awkwardly led the party to the orphanage. There, the mistress of the orphanage told Hollyhock she had seen the half-elf boy, Falpha, but he had chosen to gone off into the world to try and fight giants. The old woman didn't know who had dropped the boy off, and didn't know the mother's name, nor had she heard of an Odella. When asked of her relation to the boy, Hollyhock explained that he was her son. Hollyhock was given some comfort in the fact that her boy appeared as strong as she was. In a state of distress, Hollyhock left the rest of the party to their own devices, and took the long way back to the bar.

The rest of the party made their way further into the city, and eventually found a place for lunch: Ruff n Tumbl’s Rough and Tumble Bread. They were greeted by the two slightly jittery, shady goblin proprietors of the bakery, who's sales tactics worked rather well on Farnorin. The goblins also let slip that they had some issues with a local baker, and that the guards were keeping a close eye on the pair.

After lunch, Oxana did some research into local knowledge, and discovered that Countess Viamark is a tiefling noble who lives outside the city, and is involved in a land dispute with Lord Ironhurst. Her informant reckoned that Ironhurst was a bit of a solitary figure, and Viamark may well be trying to get his attention.

Back at the bar, Himari found Hollyhock four pints deep into her sorrow, though unaffected by the alcohol.

Session 4 - 05/06/2022

After a quiet afternoon (a boozy one for Hollyhock), the party reunited at the inn, and Ilkeuth was relieved to see his security detail were stil intact, and, in Hollyhocks case, miraculously sober. A plan was hatched, albeit slightly roughly, and the adventurers agreed to take fixed positions for the night. Ilkeuth, happy with the plan, asked that they left promptly to head to his sound check.

At the Blazing Shield theatre, a well-kept establishment, the party found themselves in a large space, with none of Ilkeuth's horde yet arrived. Caio's dancing skills were, unfortuantely for the young man, brought up as a potential opening act for Ilkeuth's performance. After a slight debate, Caio was determinedly roped in to be the warm-up act. Thankfully, Caio knocked it out of the park during the sound check, much to Ilkeuth's amazement.

Half an hour before doors, Hollyhock was greeted by a brusque and elvishly illiterate knight of Sanctuary, who was reporting as a bouncer for the event. Ilkeuth deployed the knight to work with Hollyhock, and introductions were made between the security team.

At the seventh hour, a large crowd arrived, and though Hollyhock wasn't striking a particularly imposing presence, with Sir Billistram's help the door team managed to set up a bag search and pat-down service. Soon enough, this proved fruitful, as a sweaty-looking man tried to smuggle an alchemical item into the venue. Upon interrogation, the man babbled that he had been given the device by a hooded figure to let off at a set time through the performance. He tried to flee, but Hollyhock, with her apex dwarven acceleration, caught the shady bloke and apprehended him. Throughout the evening, Hollyhock apprehended three more individuals with these mysterious flasks.

On the inside, Oxana did not spot any wrongdoings, but ended up falling into a conversation about a missing ticket collector. According to the ticketer who was present, her colleague was not around doing his job, though she could have sworn she saw him approaching the building earlier. Hollyhock came inside to give Oxana the details about the alchemical devices - sticks with a twisting cap of some sort. Oxana returned to the ticketer to ask about her colleague - apparently somebody who was partial to a smoke, and may have been caught unawares outside.

This turned out to be the case, when Oxana and Hollyhock found the missing ticketer tied up and gagged in the side alley - apparently a drow had attacked and gagged her. The ticketer rushed off to do her job, and after a look-round, Oxana spotted an ajar sewer grate in the alleyway. Billistram explained the sewers under Sanctuary were of storied danger, and they should be careful if they were to descend into the depths of Sanctuary.

Farnorin had spotted little from his hiding spot in the wings, and was happy enough to come down into the sewers whilst Caio warmed up the crowd and Ilkeuth kept the performance going. Down in the sewers, in the darkness, the party found a wood elf and some sort of fungus creature, the latter immersed in the city's refuse. Hollyhock nearly ended the fight quickly enough, by splitting the wood elf in half, but the fungus creature fought on. After poisoning the party, the fungus leshy was dispatched. Farnorin identified the wood elf as a member of the Fleet Wolves, a militant band of wood elves from Shilmista.

Concerned for the security of the theatre, the group left Oxana to scout the sewers whilst they checked on Caio. As it transpired, Caio had performed with panache in the opening act, and was urged by Ilkeuth from the wings to keep the perfromance going. In the sewers, Oxana found something ominous sleeping, but little else. Caio finished off his tour de force on the stage with rapturous applause from the audience, and Ilkeuth, with a hint of jealousy, took over the performance.

At the start of Ilkeuth's set, two hooded figures on the front row stood up, and drew rapiers, sparking a fight. Despite an additional attacker shooting down from one of the boxes, the security team dealt with the attackers swiftly enough, with Ilkeuth playing on in the background. After the fight was resolved, a talent agent with a strange accent approached Caio and offered him his card. Sir Billistram released the panicked crowd from the theatre, and reassured them that the knights of Sanctuary would be on the case soon.

Session 5 - 20/07/2022

The morning after the theatre shift, Farnorin, Hollyhock, Caio, and Cat woke up to the familair sounds of the bar filling with patrons. Ilkeuth was keen to get moving towards Ironhurst's Manor, but he suggested Caio stop by the talent agent's address on Lonehand Way. There, Eddie Starmaker's shop was clear to see as its fancy frontage stood out from the surrounding smaller businesses. Inside, the whole group were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements whilst Ilkeuth and Caio negotiated a deal with Eddie. Eventually, it was agreed between the three that Caio would be allowed to finish his work with Ilkeuth, and would then be put on a tour of the Giants' Plain performance houses, finishing with a return to the Blazing Shield theatre.

The party set off on the road out of Sanctuary, but Hollyhock turned back to negotiate an appearance as the warm-up act for the Two-tooth Jim vs The Raptor cage fight. When she returned successfully, Ilkeuth and his entourage moved on out of Sanctuary, where they were met by Sir Billistrum on the road. With the knight as extra protection, they marched on, buoyed by a tuneful travelling ditty from Ilkeuth, and Hollyhock was taught the tale of The Storied Heroes en route.

Nary an hour later, the party were accosted by a gang of bandits, led by the gnome that they had arrested on the way into the city a few days before. After an exchange of threats and jibes, the two groups fought, and though the gnome's accomplices fought hard, one was slain along with the gnome, and the other fled. Moving on from the fight, on the next leg of the journey, it came to Ilkeuth's attention that Farnorin was the druid mentioned in his Ballad of the Apocalypse. Meanwhile, Billistrum made a bold plan to descend into the sewers of Sanctuary and slay the black dragon that claimed Caio Shin's life.

After only two more hours, the party arrived at the shoddy-looking sign marking the path towards Lord Ironhurst's estate. The path to the manor, however, was the same path as the one that led to Countess Viamark's estate, so the party led Ilkeuth carefully along the path, making sure not to step into the countess' land. Finally, at an ancient oak tree, the paths parted, but it was here that the party was ambushed by hunters from the Darklands. The bounty hunters were dispatched, but the whole group were grievously wounded, and Cat came to the edge of death.

Session 6 - 03/08/2022

After the hard battle against the bounty hunters, the party found that Oxana had caught up with them, and camped up nearby. The now full strength crew made camp, but Sir Billistrum was called back to Sanctuary by a sigil message on his shield. During the night, Farnorin adopted a lost frost leshy named Snowdrop.

The next morning, they continued toward Ironhurst's Mansion, although an unnatural sense of dread had settled over the party. The group reached the mansion without any further interruptions, and were greated by a spiked iron gate, open, and a looming dark-windowed house behind it.

In the courtyard through the gate, row upon row of stone statues of noblemen stood, and as the party advanced towards the door, one of the statues slashed down at Hollyhock. The stone devilry sprouted wings, and continued to execute hit-and-run tactics upon the party. It was eventually slain, but not before knocking Caio, Hollyhock, and Oxana unconscious. Whilst Farnorin managed to heal Hollyhock and Oxana, Caio was dragged inside the mansion by a suit of animated armour. The party chased their unconscious comrade inside, and eventually came face to face with a haggard maid, who healed Caio, claiming her master would want him alive.