The Story So Far

Our heroes have been through quite a lot since our story began. Here are the highlights.

### Prelude: Paths Crossing

Our group begins to come together. To the west of Red Deer, a shifter and an elf meet a member of the Roger's Guard and close a portal; to the east, a gnome, a half-elf, and a lynx walk into a dungeon where a vampire's trying to stomp on a bunch of disembodied undead hands — stop me if you've heard this one before.

### Chapter 1: The Illness

The beginning of our tale. Our heroes meet at the May Day festival, and become aware of a strange illness taking over the town of Red Deer. As quarantine is enacted, our heroes go on a journey to find the cause of this mysterious, seemingly incurable illness. On their way, they find a mad druid, a friendly werewolf, and some sentient plants that have found themselves a long way from home.

### Chapter 2: The Mephistopheles Dungeon

Finding themselves in need of a guide to the Ethereal Plane and faced with the prospect of up to a week stuck in the town of Red Deer, our heroes take the only sensible path and decide to go back to the murder dungeon from the prelude. They all die. Whups.

### Chapter 3: Resurrection

Our heroes awaken to find themselves mysteriously resurrected and missing the better part of a month's time. In their absence, the town of Red Deer has been desperately trying to piece together what happened in that dungeon. Within 24 hours, our heroes manage to piss off both the local authorities and the sometimes-murderous religious monopoly. It's fine. Everything is fine. The Protagonist finally appears.

### Chapter 4: The Search for the Ethereal Plane

Finally, our heroes are allowed to leave Red Deer. However, finding a gate to the Ethereal Plane turns out to be a lot more time-consuming than any of them anticipated. Old acquaintances are found and killed; everybody does drugs together; Zohal and Rorrik win 5 gold apiece; the party is almost kidnapped by a group of drow rodeo riders; Gulo is briefly a statue.

### Chapter 5: The Ethereal Plane

Our heroes find the Ethereal Plane and lose one of their own. Searching for their lost paladin and a place to plant the thorns still embedded in Gulo and Zohal's jaws, they find the latter, with no sign of the former. Ambushed by living shadows and emaciated figures, they find an unexpected ally in the form of a halfling containing many souls, take out two hags, and get a fuckton of loot for their trouble.

### Chapter 6: Goodbyes and Hellos and Hello Agains

With Vyre still nowhere in sight, our heroes say goodbye to Theodard, who's decided to stay behind and help Yesphina survive in the Ethereal Plane. They find themselves back in Red Deer, and exit the Ethereal Plane in the office of none other than Francisca Crawford. Gulo offers his payment, and Francisca offers what she knows of his parents in return. They learn an old ally passed through town the day before, and pass an evening with their allies, planning to take on a lucrative Roger's Guard job the following day, then to follow Samsok south to Mohkintsis. These plans are disrupted when that night, Sam appears, offering Gulo a choice: she can take him to his parents, but only if he leaves right away. He agrees, and the party finds themselves with only three members left. After taking a day to process, they head to Pickphrey Manor to fulfill a job for Roger's Guard. They nearly die in the process, but they also acquire a new ally: Alja. After some discussion, Alja agrees to follow them south to Mohkinstsis.

### Chapter 7: Mohkinstsis

After a largely uneventful journey — save a chance encounter with an old vampire bard friend and his companion, and the news that they'll be staying at the Ornons' for Stampede — the party arrives and introduces themselves to Dak and Ref Ornon. Dak, an elderly dragonborn woman, is thrilled to meet them. Ref, a more elderly but more spry elven man, accepts that he will have to endure their existence. They meet up with Samsok, and the five of them discuss what to do, settling on a few courses of action: looking for Vyre, looking for her evil ex, looking for The Hot Ones who tried to mug Samsok, and fighting in the Arena of Champions. By the end of this chapter, they've prevailed in the arena and found Vyre's evil ex, though they may have lost another party member in the process.

### Chapter 8: The Many Sins of Sabina Sweetney

When Zo goes missing, the party's attention is divided between her absence and Trennen's presence. After some searching, they make contact with the Famous Five, Mohkinstsis's thieves' guild. They are offered information, and a little quid pro quo: it seems Zohal was taken by local vampire, city councilwoman, and secret humanoid trafficker Sabina Sweetney. If they can help take Sweetney down, the Five will help make sure they get Zohal back, and to help sweeten the deal, they'll throw in a private audience with Trennen and Bri. Several hijinks ensue, but the party's plans in Mohkinstsis are derailed when an escort quest from Sabina turns out to be a set-up, and they all die in the woods west of Mohkinstsis. Thankfully, they are saved by unexpected sources: a disciple of Gibbeth, and the village of Pigeon.

### Chapter 9: The Fox Force Five

Newly resurrected, the party meets another party: five beautiful young women with brightly coloured hair, on a quest to take down a Night Hag named Della. With both groups having a common enemy if Rorrik's recent nightmares are anything to judge by, they set off to hunt Della in the Ethereal Plane. They find Della and her coven and defeat the hags, only for Samsok to find himself charmed by the group's leader, Iris, and led to the Feywild. Through a clever use of allies — some powerful fey-familiar friends who happened to be on the same plane — the group is alerted to the fact that Iris is, in fact, a hag herself, the very one who was once destined to take possession of Samsok when her servant Wyk found him. The honeysuckle hag She is defeated, freeing Samsok and the Fox Force Four from her charms, and both parties go their own ways to pick up the pieces. While in the Feywild, the party is recruited to an unexpected cause, one Rorrik has apparently been working for all along.

### Chapter 10: Vengeance Quest, Take One

The party returns to Mohkinstsis, and begins to work with the Famous Five to take down Sabina Sweetney once and for all. Hiding in the sewers of the city under guard, presumed dead above-ground, they meet a tabaxi named Fiona, who also seeks to destroy the vampire (and possibly all vampires). Wary of their new companion but knowing they can use all the help they can get, they bide their time as Shamash and the rest of the Five plot a new course of action. Eventually, a plan is proposed, one that will rely on the testimony of others wronged by Sweetney, leveraging their powerful allies in the city, and an assault on Sweetney's home, a final attempt to find the evidence they need to end her reign. Before Operation Shocker can be executed, however, disturbing news from her hometown prompts Seth to take the party on a brief detour.