Campaign 1 • Chapter 01

"*These dreadborn are unlike any we have records of. Not necessarily a bad thing of course, yes yes. By many accounts the demons our ancestors told stories of were much greater and much more terrible, but those are all gone, banished into the Slip of course, yes yes. How are these getting back through, you might ask? A good question! I don’t know...*"
 ― Elias Brimm

## The Dreadborn

The four original party members (Custos, Castiel, Namfoodle, and Tinkeder) meet for the first time in the small village of Hedgewood. They investigate rumours of strange fiends wandering the countryside, before getting caught in the middle of a sudden assault by dreadborn on the village, which ends with the village in ashes and the populace largely dead. A young elf girl named Evelyn who they meet in the village tavern is kidnapped by the dreadborn warband, and the party follows in an attempt to rescue her.

On their journey east, they come across a skirmish between a patrol of royal guards and a band of Separatist rebels. They intervene, fending off the rebels and meeting Alyssa Lynnwel (herald to Queen Cassandra) and Elias Brimm (an arcanist from the Iron Stylus), who inform them that they were headed up to Eboncaer to investigate rumours of dreadborn activity in the area. The party joins the surviving guards and travel up to the border keep, where the keep commander, a dwarf named Dormund Bharron, tells them that the dreadborn had congregated in an ancient temple further north.

While Alyssa is recalled back to the capital, the party and Elias Brimm go to the temple and venture inside. They come face to face with Salakai, who calls himself the Dread Prince, and has a bound and gagged Evelyn in the back of the temple. He appears to be attempting to open a rift from the material plane into The Slip, a plane of emptiness where the dreadborn had been banished after the last Dread War. With help from Elias and a small circular stone device called a soulstone, they close the rift and defeat a few waves of dreadborn. Enraged, Salakai kills Elias and turns on the party, but collapses to one knee in apparent agony and frustration before he can do any damage, and teleports away after vowing that their dealings weren't over.

After retrieving Evelyn, the party discovers hidden treasure in the temple, chief amongst which is an ancient bow of white wood and silver inlay, which is claimed by Namfoodle. Nursing their wounds and losses, they exit the temple and begin the walk back to Eboncaer.

## Transcript

### Hedgewood *(29th of Revel, 4E 102)*

The four adventurers arrive at the village in the early morning, wandering into a busy marketplace from separate directions. None of them have met before, aside from the two gnome brothers, but they all have the impression they've been brought here for the same reason. They are certainly not the likeliest of companions. A firbolg, a human and two gnomes. They draw strange look from the passers-by, but nobody has bothered to approach them, the villagers intent on their business.

The village is located well within elven territory, and as such the vast majority of the people around them are elves, but the more observant of the party notice that there is one prominent human, at the far end of the square, dressed in priestly black robes with a symbol of four interlocked circles in the shape of an even-sided cross emblazoned on his chest. The human is talking to a couple of elves who appear to be listening intently to his every word.

Interested in this, Castiel immediately wanders off in the direction of the robed man, passing through the marketplace and the various stalls and vendors, all of whom attempt to hawk their wares as loudly as possible. In the meantime, the two gnomes, curious about the giant blue-skinned firbolg in their midst, attempt to speak to him and discover his name. Custos assumes they are dwarves, and some confusion follows, which is further accentuated when Custos transforms into an elf in an attempt to blend in. This doesn't quite work, because he...did it in the middle of a marketplace...in broad daylight.

While the three northerners decide to head into the nearby inn, Castiel continues to (unsuccessfully) attempt to eavesdrop on the robed man's conversation with his disciples. His efforts are interrupted by an apple vendor who insists on Castiel buying some apples, which Castiel eventually does.

"*How much for an apple you ask! Why sir, I...will check...*"
 ― Somewhat Forgetful Apple Vendor

Castiel also uses this opportunity to ask about the robed man, whose name turns out to be Vigilant Tommen, a recent comer preaching the word of his gods. The vendor reveals that most people don't particularly enjoy the presence of such travelling priests, but that due to the recent peace treaty, their presence has to be tolerated.

Inside the inn, Custos, Namfoodle, and Tinkeder meet a young elven barmaid with vivid purple eyes and auburn hair, called Evelyn, who they strike up a conversation with. She discovers they are adventurers and, after bringing them some breakfast (with a healthy helping of gobbledygook), sits down to talk with them about their adventures. They convince Custos, who has never heard of alcohol, to take a shot of the extremely potent liquid. This does not end well. Castiel also ventures into the inn, sitting at the bar and chatting with the innkeep, a stout female elf called Edith. Between the four of them, the party learns about vague rumours of creatures roaming the nearby woods at night, although they are assured that these creatures are probably only wolves, and that the villagers have a tendency to exaggerate.

With Custos' disguise beginning to wear off, the group leave the inn, where they decide to look further around the village. While still distrustful of one another, especially of Castiel, they do realise that they've been brought here for the same reason, even if they do not yet know what that reason may be.

"*Perhaps it is not coincidence that we met this day.*"
 ― Custos

Shortly after, they end up talking to (interrogating) Vigilant Tommen outside the village sanctum. He does not take very kindly to heathens approaching his church, and refuses to answer their questions. The party does eventually wear him down to letting them
into the sanctum, though he does make them leave their weapons outside. Naturally, everyone manages to sneak weapons in.

Inside the sanctum, they do not find much. They encounter statues of the four deities of the Church of the Vigil which most are seeing for the first time. Namfoodle attempts to trick Vigilant Tommen into leaving the church by creating an illusion of the symbol of his gods slowly floating away, but is unsuccessful. While the human priest is scolding the gnome, Custos and Tinkeder sneak around him to investigate the chest behind the altar, but find it to be locked. Unfortunately, they are caught doing so and are made to leave.

Back in the marketplace, they find a more secluded spot and discuss the dreams that brought them here. They decide to go investigate the nearby forest to see if there is any truth to the rumours they heard. Checking for tracks, they find little out of the ordinary. Custos communicates with the trees around him and asks about the strange creatures, but he has no way of knowing if the trees respond, which makes the endeavour rather pointless. Namfoodle climbs a tree to look out across the landscape, and while he doesn't see anything, he smells a vague metallic odour on the breeze coming from the northeast, back towards the village.

With the suns setting, the group returns to the inn and meet up with Evelyn again. She discusses the rumours with them but cannot really provide them with more information, other than the fact that most of the creatures are spotted at night. Hearing this, they decide to return to the forest once night falls, and Evelyn, who seems eager to go on an adventure, asks if she could join them, which they accept.

While they eat, and make plans for the night, Castiel regales Evelyn with stories from his past, talking about his childhood and imprisonment, his subsequent escape, and the years spent bounty hunting. The evening seems to be passing uneventfully, but as the party is about to leave for the forest, they hear screaming from outside, and the night erupts into chaos. Custos warns Evelyn to stay put, and the party rushes to the door.

When they emerge from the inn into the marketplace, they find the village burning. Corpses are strewn everywhere in the dark, blood running down the paving, ash falling heavy like snow, and flames spreading from roof to roof. Shambling creatures are visible in the smoke, feeding on the dead. Some, closer than the others, spot the party coming out of the in. They are vaguely humanoid, walking upright but unsteadily, with unhinged jaws, jagged claws, white eyes, and mottled grey skin that looks like it has rotted off. Howling and screams of terror can be heard from every direction, and Namfoodle notices the same metallic smell of rust lies heavy on the air, but there is no time to make any plans as the sporelings move towards them, snapping filed teeth and shuffling slowly closer.

#### Combat

Reacting first, Custos throws a hammer at the nearest creature, while Namfoodle manages to draw his oversized longbow with the help of his brother, and fire an arrow at another. Unfazed, the sporelings continue their approach, swinging clawed fists at Castiel, who loses grip of his axe in the melee. He fends two off with his shield, while Custos tears the jaw off another with a swing of his maul. The fire continues to spread from building to building, and Namfoodle draws his swords and rushes forward to saw the leg off one of the creatures. Tinkeder, still in the doorway, lets loose a booming shot from his thundercannon at the same monster, blowing its head clean off. Meanwhile, Custos, seeing Castiel struggling with his two assailants, rushes to help, crushing one's chest with his maul. Swinging wildly, he tries to hit the other, but ends up accidentally hitting Castiel instead. Stumbling backward, Castiel desperately uses his shield to hit the creature attacking him, slamming the rim into its neck and decapitating it.

Though they have defeated the nearest four sporelings, more quickly approach from the smoke. Taking advantage of the moment's lull in action, Custos rushes into the inn, yelling for Evelyn, but there is no response. Meanwhile, the rest of the party attempts to hold the doorway against the newly advancing fiends. One of the new monstrosities is different, crawling on all fours, with a slavering lower jaw that splits into two, long black talons on its fingers, and translucent skin that shows the blood and muscle beneath. It sprints straight at the party, moving with terrifying speed. Namfoodle fires an arrow at its legs to try and slow it down, but it ignores the wound and leaps at the gnome, knocking him back into the tavern in a jumble of claws and teeth. Custos comes to his rescue, slamming the creature against the wall with a swing of his maul. Tinkeder punctuates the hit with a shot of his own, the boom deafening in the close quarters. The feral crunches against the wall and slumps to the floor, motionless. Custos stomps on its skull, making sure it's dead.

Holding the doorway against the remaining two sporelings, Castiel slams his axe into one's neck, catching its return blow on his shield. Stumbling to his feet, Namfoodle leaps at the other, stabbing it through the knee. Trying to swipe back, it stumbles on the blade, and falls prone. While Custos dispatches the prone creature with a blow to the spine, Castiel rips out his axe in a spurt of blood, and swings the weapon back up in a backhanded swing to slice the other sporeling's head in two.

Breathing heavily, they look around, unable to see far through the smoke. The fire continues to rage around them, howls and screams still echoing around the village, and some of the shrieks get steadily closer, as three more ferals lope at them with their unnatural gaits. Yelling a war-cry, Custos charges out past the mangled corpses, meeting one of the three fiends head on with his maul. Namfoodle and Castiel follow, dealing separate wounds to the same feral. It stumbles backward under the sudden flurry of blows, growling and snapping at them as the fire begins to spread to the inn's thatch roof.

Surrounded, Custos roars back in anger at the two creatures attacking him, muscles tensing and eyes turning red with fury. He crushes the ribs of one, slamming it repeatedly into the ground with his maul, reducing it to a bloody pulp. A feral knocks one of Namfoodle's swords away, leaping at his neck with teeth gnashing. Wise to the trick, he dodges out of the way, but with unnatural agility the feral swipes a claw at his head as it surges past, knocking him spinning away to come crashing to the ground, unconscious. Rushing to his side, Castiel catches the creature's blows before it can tear at the defenceless gnome, and in the same motion places a radiantly glowing hand on Namfoodle, bringing him back to his feet.

With one of the ferals clawing at his armour, Castiel slams his axe forward, cracking bone, sending it sprawling to the ground where Tinkeder finishes it off with another blast of his thundercannon. Custos trades blows with the last remaining feral, catching a swipe of its claws on his bared chest. Castiel and Namfoodle try to flank it, but the cornered creature dodges past their attacks, lashing out angrily. They attack in unison, but they are unable to get past its guard, until Castiel feints with his shield, distracting it long enough to chop an axe into its hind leg. Taking advantage, Namfoodle tackles it, running it through with his sword. It writhes and shrieks in pain, but eventually falls silent, dead at last.

Bloodied and weary, surrounded by mangled corpses, the victorious party look around them at the rampant bonfire that is consuming the last few buildings. Between the darkness and the thick black smoke, it is impossible to see far, but the howling and screaming has begun to die down. Suddenly the smoke begins to clear, revealing a horde of monstrous beasts in every direction, some the same creatures they had just fought, others larger, walking on four legs with flayed skin and massive disjointed maws that could swallow a man whole. Back to back the party prepares to fight, but an abrupt harsh whisper cuts through the air, speaking directly into their minds in a language only Namfoodle understands, and as one, the creatures back away, disappearing into the night.

"*We have the girl...retreat...*"
 ― Telepathic whisper in demonic

In his blind fury, Custos chases after them, stopping only when they are no longer visible, having vanished seemingly into thin air. He falls to his knees, calming down. Unsure about what to do, the four adventurers stand amidst corpses and ashes in the eerie silence of the village. With the fires now dying down, they decide to shelter inside the ruins of the tavern. They find Edith's corpse in the back of the tavern, but there is no sign of Evelyn, only a backdoor that has been torn off its hinges. Exhausted, they barricade the doors, and fall into restless sleep amongst the rubble and charred wood.