Session 23

* The Double Fish Inn (A quality inn in Tamalir. Its symbol is a fish with a head at each end. Proprietor is a male gnome)
* Temple of the Silver Crescent
* *(Unnamed Fancy High-End Boutique)* (Sells expensive clothing. Had a painting by Chance on display. Employs magical security)

Redbridge

Blackwing Marsh

* Blackwing Inn (A small, dark, threatening country inn in a tiny hamlet near Blackwing Marsh)

### PCs:

Arik, Goldie, Dandy (Gar and Tivram are being run as NPCs)

### NPCs:

* Dilford (Human Farmer. One of the villagers who accompanied the heroes from Willow's Hill with the Turtle King. Ended up in Dawnsmoor when the dragon attacked)

**Previously....**

## And Now...

The party decides not to linger in Red Bridge and head into Tamalir. With the influx of refugees, people are mostly talking about the Dragon attack in Dawnsmoor, though word has yet to arrive of the attack's final resolution. Everyone, however, seems to know Dragon's Heart were preparing to get involved.

They find a quality Inn called ‘The Double Fish’ (It’s symbol being a fish with a head at each end) and pay the Gnome innkeeper 35 silver for one night in the penthouse. After settling in they start listening to the local rumors and hear stories of people going missing along the southern road, near the marsh. People claim to have seen humanoid monsters in the same area. There are also plenty of stories about the greatness of Dragon's Heart.

When asking about their own activities, they discover that their acts were either attributed to members of Dragon's Heart or, if people acknowledge them at all, they seem to believe that they were acting as agents of Dragon's Heart. Arik tries to start a rumour that DH were in cahoots with the Dragon, but the rumor evolves into something else and now some are spreading that DH extorted Dawnsmoor in order to help with the Dragon. Dandy corrects the Ballista rumor (even backed up by a refugee who was there), and paints DH as more arrogant and bossy than previously depicted. This version of the events has excited crowds so well it is soon to be repeated in neighbouring settlements and cities.

The Nights; sleep is uneventful, and when they awaken the next morning, the PCs head into town. There's some minor shopping, selling and supplying (buying helmet, tabard, potion supplies and selling gems). Arik finds an open Temple of ‘Silver Crescent\*’ with someone trying to recruit. Goldie stumbles across them again, trying to recruit refugees outside a market. One of these refugees is recognized by Arik as Dilford (one of the farmers from Willow hill who travelled to the Tortoise Grove with them), and warns him of the cult. They share some silver with him and ask him to spread the word amongst the other refugees.

*[Some of the players had trouble placing ‘The Silver Cresent’. They have appeared before. They were the group attacking the Broken Beacon in the first session, and sent assassins after you while you slept in an inn at Vylenvale. They are cultists, whom you know little about.]*

At a high-end fancy boutique, Dandy spots a painting depicting one of her dads' stories. The detail of the painting makes it clear it’s based specifically on Chance’s version of the event. It’s not a sale item, but the shopkeeper negotiates 300silver for it (offered some clothes as part of the deal). Dandy scoffs at the price and instead buys a hat. She begins plans to come back at night, after closing. In checking the security she spots a small magical security device, it is later recognised as a ‘Watchful Pyramid’ - a magical security device which can capture a single image of trespassers. Eventually, she decides against it.

After some discussion it is decided that Goldie, Dandy and Arik will investigate missing people near the marsh while Gar and Tivram pursue personal business in town. They travel on foot for 8 hours to a small hamlet 8hrs south. They rest up at the Blackwing inn (the dominant building in the hamlet) and eat before turning around back the way they came, now at night, hoping to find one of the rumored creatures.

After a few hours, they hear a terrifying howl in the marsh. It draws closer and is eventually seen watching them from the reeds. The creature moves on all fours, although it is humanoid. It has green skin and sharp talons and rushes forward to attack. The battle is short, with the creature being swiftly dispatched, but not before it scored a powerful hit on Arik, causing a considerable amount of damage.

In the immediate aftermath, several cultists appear and try and ambush the trio, but get spotted before they can get into position Arik sustains a minor injury from a crossbow bolt, but aside from that, our heroes make quick work of them with the cultists choosing to flee. One of them is caught and questioned by Arik and Goldie and Dandy searches the bodies.

They learn a number of key facts:

* Cultists have been behind the missing people and have been organised into shifts, with command over a bog monster.
* They are based out of the lonely tower in the marsh (which the party spied from the river on their way through the marsh en route to Redbridge) and which the cultist refers to as Crescent Keep.
* They worship the ‘Silver Crescent’ (presumably a moon god) and feel justified carrying out it’s apparent wishes. After a brief and extremely informal theological discussion, chiefly focused on what different gods ask of their followers, Dandy dismisses the Silver Crescent as 'A Shitty God'.
* This cultist and possibly more like him was down-on-his-luck when he was recruited and considers a roof over his head and food enough to justify the ‘shitty’ acts they commit. They have also been promised power and a great afterlife. Dandy considers the fact that someone has to die before they'll get anything decent out of the deal a key factor in the Silver Crescent's shittiness.
* The Creature was inspected and recognised as a ‘Bog Creature’ not often seen around this area. Based on the reading of several bestiaries, Goldie determines that it is a "Ferrox”
* Dandy comes across a ring worn by one of the dead cultists and recognises it as her fathers’ (even has a unique engraving on the inside of it). This makes Dandy extremely angry and she begins to interrogate the prisoner very threateningly. The cultist agrees to lead them to the tower in the marsh.

Before the cultist can come through on this deal, however, Arik and Goldie sense a powerful magical energy approach from a distance. Before they can do much with the knowledge, the spell forms and begins killing the captive.

* Goldie theories that this magic would be too difficult to cast at great distances, unless the cultist (and maybe all of them?) have some sort of focus for the ranged spell to latch onto. Everyone instantly thinks of the holy symbol around his neck.
* The captive cultist is convulsing and frothing at the mouth when Dandy runs over and snatches the symbol away - this causes the attack to jump to her, knocking her unconscious. The cultist survives barely, but has likewise been rendered unconscious

### **Continued in Session 24...**

*XP award 10*

*(Total XP is now 310)*