Campaign Premiere

How/where do our heroes meet? At a tavern, of course: this is D&D, after all. Day 1 of the campaign is in the town of Ilverness, just after the funeral of Sir Richard Kentigern.

Leona Swiftsilver has just been forcibly removed (10:00) from the keep by two guards. She promptly goes to a fine clothing store to purchase a cloak, seeing the familiar face of Edna. She then heads to a tavern and inn to get her bearings.

Kesra awakes from a nightmare (21:01) about the sun burning so hot that she melts, and a male humanoid tells her to "Repent!". She comes to in the bar, where she passed out drinking the night before. She pats herself down, making sure she still has everything, fights off some rising bile, and gets some food.

Leona looks around a bit (27:45), then sits next to a human-looking woman with a purple tiefling. The woman is wearing a finely-made dress and looks up from her journal, introducing herself as Deirdre. She, in turn, introduces her tiefling friend, Maudit. The two of them are just travelling, and will probably head to Azmarin next. Leona knows that there is a wedding happening there in a few weeks. Maudit and Deirdre tell Leona about some of the adventures they had getting to Ilverness, and Leona tells them that Lord Kentigern was as good as a father to her, and that she needs to leave.

At this point (45:56), Leona sees someone pass by, and then scream for help. Leona goes running to help, Deirdre and Maudit follow, and Kesra recognizes the sound of money, and goes as well. The 4 of them find a swarm of rats attacking this woman. They jump immediately into the fray, and Leona gets bitten and goes down. An omen of the roller coaster ride along the tight rope of life and death we are about to undertake? Only time will tell. Deirdre is able to heal her, and the group manages to disperse the rats.

They head back into the bar(1:08:38), where Leona, Maudit, and Deirdre introduce themselves to Kesra. Ana comes back over and hears their tale of the rats, saying that she will pray to Pelor about it, which Kesra scoffs at. Meanwhile, Deirdre writes madly in her journal.

Roman Kentigern enters the tavern(1:17:00) and rushes to Leona. He tells her that he has friends in Azmarin that can help, despite that his step-mother believes that Leona killed him. When Leona sadly returns to the other three, she says that she was glad to see him, but had hoped that the conversation would go differently.

Leona invites Kesra(1:26:55) to accompany them to Azmarin, since she doesn't currently have work, and Kesra agrees - for a price. However, Maudit goads her into gambling with him for it - if she wins, they pay double her rate; if Maudit wins, she goes for free. In the process, Maudit cheats, and wins.

Part 2

Deirdre and Leona begin to get to know each other(1:47:12). Eventually, they decide(1:58:38) they should get on their way, realizing that they need to get some traveling gear for Leona first. Deirdre shows them her bag of holding. They head to a nearby general store, where they are assisted by a 7-foot-tall, gruff-looking half-orc. He offers to sell them what they need for 30 gold, but a human man steps in, telling him to give them a fair price, which he does. The shop-owner addresses the man as "watcher", and tells him to leave. He also offers to sell them horses, but they can't afford them.

With that, they set off down the road(2:12:09), with Leona taking one last longing look at the gates. A beetle terrifies Leona. Maudit feels watched, but doesn't see anything - Deirdre sees that he's spooked and asks him what's going on, but he waves it off. Leona walks in the grass along the road until a tick crawls up her leg.

As the sun begins to set(2:20:51), they begin looking for a place to sleep, and a cart happens along the road. Kesra offers them a few copper to let them ride, which they accept. The 3 men introduce themselves as Charles, Ben, and William. Charles begins to chat up Deirdre.

Kesra begins to quiz them(2:26:19), and learns that they are bounty hunters from Quan'Mal. Maudit notices that, when Deirdre writes in her journal, the words disappear. Kesra learns that the bounty they're after is for 1,000 gold for an elven woman named Venvir, put out by one of the temples in Quan'Mal, by a high priestess of Ioun, to capture her alive.

Towards the end of the first watch(2:33:13), there is a tree down, blocking the road. They are quickly embroiled in another fight, this time vs cultists of Tiamat, where, among other things, Deirdre shows she is more than a blushing face with some handy attack spells and healing. Kesra nearly cleaves someone in 2, Maudit deals a killing blow to the last foe, and Leona creates a pretty trail of sparkling lights.

As Maudit goes to sleep, he has a dream(3:05:34) of finding 3 dead bodies, and of victory over several others.