Poking The Badger

"Poking The Badger" (C1.S06.3) is a one-shot in the first campaign of The Vanguard.

## Synopsis

In the guild hall in Waterdeep, members and petitioners for membership are given access to the training rooms. Here Gribble Fiddlefingers the mage and his trusty companion James Franco, Vega the cleric, and Blaurus Snowtips a warlock found themselves speaking with Hulgrim and Skein Shadestrider, the elder of the WildWatch.

Skein is demonstrating stealth and infiltration along with information gathering that should be used in scouting missions in the future. As suddenly as the party arrives, Skein is taken aback as he heard a magical cry for help from a school of fieldcraft that he founded in a remote part of the Ardeep Forest. Skein immediately stopped the training and summoned a druid of the WildWatch, Vine Skiphoof, to send him using Transport Via Plants to the outpost. Skein tells Hulgrim to gather the guild members and initiates and follow him likewise as soon as they are ready.

When the party arrived, they emerged from a tree on the school grounds, about a quarter mile from the school itself. They've found that Skein has marked the trail leading them to school the school. As they approached the school, they saw a small group of enemies trying to work their way back up the structure to try and finish Skein off for good. There appear to be a number of dead bodies littering the ground as Skein had already made short work of the original group of around 20 or so. A fight ensued to finish the remaining stragglers of this Scourge Squad.

After the fight, they entered the school to find scenes of carnage around them. The high druid and her instructors were all found dead on the first floor in the great room along with a number of the enemies. As they made their way through the building, they found Skein at the top of the stairs badly wounded but alive and functioning.

Through investigation and interrogation, they learned an infiltrator drugged the students water barrel to render most of the resistance unconscious. Those affected by the drug were found murdered in their beds with precise wounds to their vital areas. The instructors seem to have fought valiantly before eventually being overwhelmed by superior numbers. It would seem the attacks on The Vanguard from these Scourge Squads are getting more brazen as the guild prepares for even more trouble as the months pass.

## Guild Dispatches

The following are messages from the guild members who participated in the mission. They contain valuable information the guild can use to piece together clues.

> *After our evening meal, Skein and I were in the Training Hall working off the post meal lethargy with exercise. Without warning Skein broke off and became very attentive to something I could not perceive. I soon found out that he had received a magical message, more of a cry for help that I can only assume came to him through the stone he wore around his neck on a leather string. His visage became quite terrifying, I can only imagine that look was the last thing many of his targets saw in his previous vocation. He informed me of an attack on his newly founded school, The College of Druidic and Wilderness Studies.*
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> *He was leaving immediately to aid the staff and students and tasked me, as his friend and being there with him, to gather a team and follow via a spell of transport via plant. One of his trusted druids would be waiting for us in the small Grove kept by House Wildwatch. After quickly gathering a team and fetching their gear we went to the Grove perhaps 20 minutes behind Skein and were transported by the Druid awaiting us, I believe her name was Vine something or other.*
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> *Upon emerging in the Grove of the school we set out upon the path leading to the longhouse that served as the school. As we approached we saw a group of warriors outside the door apparently arguing among themselves. One appeared to be trying to convince the other three to" Go in there and finish him off, he's wounded so you lot should be able to take him." The others were skeptical and suggested he lead the way. Before they could come to a decision we advanced. Gribble cast an illusion spell creating a large rock between us to obscure their line of sight. Then he and Vega crept closer. Meanwhile Blaurus became invisible and moved into position to attack their leader. Gribble and Vega proved to be not as stealthy as hoped in their approach and drew the attention of the three while Blaurus engaged the leader with magical fury. Gribble put one of the three to sleep and he, Vega and Hulgrim engaged and eventually overcame the warriors.*
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> *After concluding our melee we ventured cautiously inside only to find the bodies of the Head Mistress and her Druid and Ranger instructors surrounded by the bodies of six attackers. They appeared to have been trying to prevent access to the upper level of the longhouse as their bodies were at the foot of the great staircase. A quick check of the other rooms on the ground floor revealed no other attackers but the bodies of the cook and two house servants were in the kitchen. We then proceeded upstairs and into what I can only describe as a slaughter house.*
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> *There were three small bedrooms on the landing area at the top of the stairs for the Head Mistress and the two instructors. The remainder of the upper floor was one large bunk room beds down both walls and a row of beds down the middle. In many of the beds were the unmoving bodies of the students. In the middle distance of the right aisle there appeared to have been a ferocious battle of some sort. At various locations about the room we found the bodies of nine more of the attackers, all riddled with puncture wounds in their vital organs as if from arrows though no arrows were found. A few had what appeared to be a coup de grace or some type of finishing execution strike. At the area previously mentioned in the right aisle we came upon Skein sitting on one of the beds. He was severely wounded but still conscious and fully functional. He also had an unconscious man in armor, bound and gagged. This man he told us was the leader of this squad of killers and was to be taken back to The Vanguard Guild Hall for interrogation. It was noted that a tattoo was on the man's forearm of an increasingly familiar symbol.*
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> *- Hulgrim Gloamingguard*
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1. ↑ Be aware that this is told from the player’s perspective of the adventure. Details and happenings may have been presented with some liberties taken to fill in the blanks from poor memory and scribbled notes. Other players should be asked about their views of what happened, and are also welcome to type their stories to share.