The PCs

• Ambre Mangefer, dwarven fighter and jeweler.
• Elerossë Friedman, half-elven warlock and puppeteer.
• Koyaa Nisqatsi, human paladin.

All have just graduated to level 3.

Gathering information

This part was mostly played by email between sessions.

The PCs spent a few days trying to gather information about the Dead God. Here Elerossë had some success: he learned the robe the undead priest looked like the ceremony robes of the earth priests from the Temple of Elemental Evil.

They also watched events unfold in the north-east, near the Goblin mine; mostly, the local people were trying to recruit mercenaries whereas the Duke of Daggerford was gathering his forces; whether to raid the mine and free the slaves or to protect the nearby villages is unknown at the moment.

Finally, two more bits of information: the sister of the Duke seemed to be missing even though nobody seemed to be actively looking for her, and Ambre learned the local clergy was trying to heal a halfling adventurer who had been found feebleminded (cursed?) some distance north of Daggerford.

The tiefling

While Ambre was talking to the halfling, Elerossë and Koyaa managed to get permission to talk to the tiefling sorcerer they captured a few sessions ago. He was kept in a magic-safe dungeon under the ducal castle, and he was obviously insane. The players managed to learn a few things from his ramblings: he knew about the Dead God, and lots of nonsense about “they” (or “he”, that was really confusing) being both everywhere and dead, and something about stairs and a spider.

Up to this point the players had suspected the tiefling and his accomplices were related to the Dark God; now they knew for sure.

Lady Bronwyn

The PCs had requested an audience with Duke Daggerford, intending to talk about what they saw in the mine in the previous session; when they were granted this audience, the Duke told them about his sister.

It was well known at this point she had disappeared from the castle a few days earlier. The Duke told them she had gone after the slavers who sold people to the goblins of the mine, only escorted by two trustworthy soldiers. He wanted the PCs to look after her. Of course they accepted, and they were soon on the road.

They halted at their friend Furrik’s, who told them Lady Bronwyn had spent some time around and had only moved on in the morning. He accepted to lead them east and try to catch up with her.

Goblins, ambushes and skirmishes

That night, the PCs’ camp was attacked by goblins who tried to abduct Furrik (he was the one on guard at that time). The PCs easily routed the goblins but elected not to follow them in the night.

The next morning, the PCs had a look around and found out the goblins were dragging someone or something heavy with them. They could not determine if the tracks were going east-to-west or west-to-east, and they elected to follow them east.

They soon found an abandoned farm where Lady Bronwyn was hiding; the goblins had ambushed her the day before and captured one of her men before she and the second soldier finally routed them. The second soldier died in the fight, and Bronwyn stayed in the farm to heal her wounds.

So the PCs, along with Furrik and Bronwyn, pursued the goblins and caught up with them a few hours later. The goblins were camping in a cramped space between tall rocks, and the PCs could see a sentinel looking their way. The daylight was definitely an advantage for them, as the goblin had obviously not seen them.

Elerossë turned invisible and climbed on one of the rocks, while Koyaa, Ambre and Bronwyn approached from a less obvious direction. The fight finally broke out when a second sentinel spotted them, and the PCs managed to kill all the goblins, not letting a single one escape.

The wounded soldier was still alive and Furrik volunteered to bring him back home. Meanwhile, the PCs and Bronwyn headed back east, still hoping to find the tracks of the slavers.

Tracking the slavers

They elected to spend the night in the abandoned farm where they had found Bronwyn. There, they buried the dead soldier, with Koyaa leading a small ceremony for his memory. On the next day, the PCs got up to find Bronwyn talking with the druidess Vahn, who had somehow been able to get inside the house during the night.

Vahn led them to the place she had seen the slavers meet the goblins. From there, the PCs followed their tracks for one day and a half, first to farmlands, then to a small village where strangers had passed about a tenday before. They were about half a dozen, some of them on horses, and good horses at that, which was unusual by itself in these parts. One of them had an eyepatch, another one spoke with a foreign accent. They had left the village heading north, towards the old Silverymoon road.

We called it a night at this point. To be continued…