Beiinors Campaign/Session 4

## [ Session 04 — 01/29/2023 ]

**From the Journal of John Dark, Cleric of the Church of Kelemvor**

*Life is but one short day, bookended by infinite night; it is but one small island, surrounded by infinite sea. Our only hope is to learn to appreciate the beauty of starlight, to find comfort in the sound of crashing waves.*

— Book of Apothegms, Scriptvm Fati Omnibvs XXIV:153:122

Arriving back at Sempso Manor after our day of shopping, we met back up with Bolt, who had learned two important things from his investigation into the Marble Wolves gang: Firstly, that the gang's hideout is indeed in the woods outside Qendra (specifically, near the coastal road between Qendra and the city of Coteien), with a series of three tree stumps followed by a cube-shaped boulder denoting the place along the road where one should veer off into the woods in order to find the hideout. Secondly, Bolt found pine leaves of a specific type which hints at a much colder climate.

In the morning, we made our final departure from the Manor in order to make our way east and seek out the Marble Wolves gang. On our way out of Qendra, we stopped by the office of the city guard. We learned there that the animated armor used by the gang in the attack at the market two days before was apparently an application of the "Animate Object" spell. The guard also informed us of two missing persons cases: One was a black-haired dwarven woman named Raudona Silksmith who had gone missing a few days earlier and is being sought by the local Slayers Guild. The other was a blue dragonborn named Dragorth who had last been seen 10 years ago heading toward Farithlin City, and who has an exorbitant sum offered in exchange for information or his return due to his being the son of a local noble.

We left Qendra through the city's south gate and headed east with our horses and packs along the coastal road toward Coteien, with Katamira leading the way. Around midday, while we were stopped resting the horses, we were approached by an impoverished-looking old woman with a pony traveling westward. She introduced herself as Agatha and began attempting to peddle various items to us, singling out Paavo in particular as her most likely buyer. She first attempted to sell a magical acorn which could purportedly grow into a tree and produce fruit extremely quickly, but seeing our skepticism she instead switched to trying to sell a magical hammer which could repair any broken object. She demonstrated the hammer's magic on a broken cartwheel, but Maria (being a wizard) saw that it was actually Agatha herself who had cast the Mending spell, and that the hammer was in all likelihood simply a mundane hammer. Paavo, motivated toward charity by the woman's condition (and also just wanting to get rid of her), paid her five gold pieces for the hammer, and Agatha happily left us to continue west.

On hearing the rest of us deride him for his naivety, Paavo insisted that he had in fact been wanting to buy a decent-quality hammer regardless of whether or not it was enchanted. Additionally, the hammer was inscribed with dwarven runes which Paavo hoped might, when deciphered, reveal some hidden value or enchantment that would justify the hammer's steep price after all. Katamira was able to translate the runes though, which actually said only "Made In Coby" (Coby being the name of a Farithlin village a hundred miles or so to the south).

We traveled east a while longer, making camp as darkness began to fall. Maria cast an Alarm spell over our encampment, and we set a watch with Katamira and Bolt taking the first shift. Paavo and Maria took the second shift and talked mostly about religion. I took the third shift with Charles and we also mostly talked about religion. Getheron (who did not sit watch) had a dream in which he was surrounded by cold and felt himself compelled to walk forward. He saw his own footprints behind him, as well as a set of footprints stretching out before him.

The night passed without issue, and we set off again in the morning. While on the road, we saw a boulder with a bloody corpse lying next to it far ahead in the distance, and we stopped to wait while Katamira sneaked ahead to scout out the situation. Katamira found no one else around and no other dangers present, and so we all came up to investigate. The corpse was the body of a dwarven woman with black hair, whose head had apparently been smashed against the rock, and who seemed to have died no more than a few days ago. We found a broken shield, cart tracks, and signs of something heavy having been at one point dragged toward the middle of the road, with the evidence seeming to imply that there had been multiple assailants. We also found a ring etched with runes which identified the victim as Raudona Silksmith, the missing woman from Qendra.

While we were stopped at the crime scene, an extremely ugly old woman came up to the road from the seashore and told us that she had seen who had done the murder. She introduced herself as Agatha Ardwen, and said that she would tell us what she saw in exchange for a kiss. As she spoke, I realized that her appearance as an old woman was a magic disguise, and that she was in reality a Sea Hag.