Episode 1 - That New Campaign Smell

Episode CW/TW: Death of Innocents

## Episode Synopsis

The party of Norman D ("*The 'D' stands for Demon*"), Dariun Branch, and Zippy Westburrough with his two compatriots Blackjack and Yogurt congregate in an encampment near the southern gate of the city of Aurum, along with several other folks looking to gain entry. Our heroes hope to join the Greeder's Guild in search of a Grand Treasure. However, the cost of entering the town is steep, at a thousand gold per person. It is in this encampment where a plan is hatched by a dwarf named Barryl to raid a caravan of nobles passing through the Breathing Chasm and steal their entry passes into Aurum.

Those in attendance make their introductions with one another over the failed use of a "talk rock," which is not unlike a talking stick. It is here we learn more about various characters such as James, a half-orc butler, who leads the group in a yoga routine, the first skill check of the campaign. Dariun fails this check, and to help him recover Blackjack and Yogurt lick him, as cats do.

After this exercise everyone draws numbers from a hat to assign teams. Dariun, Norman, and Zippy naturally all pull eights, and Blackjack and Yogurt pull threes. Zippy protests, arguing if you put two threes together they look like eights, and after some back and forth they are allowed to be on the same team.
Zippy offers to heal Dariun, but first says he must take a pill that he offers. It is in the shape of a cross, with each end dotted in green, white, red, and yellow. This mildly heals Dariun, seemingly based on a persuasion check from Zippy.

The members of team eight meet the leader of their group, a tiefling with a penchant for bloodlust, named Eelon. They make their way to the south to the Breathing Chasm by carriage. They take the time during the carriage ride to get to know one another a little better, with Zippy and Norman excited to share and Dariun acting more secretive.

Upon arrival they unload equipment from the carriage consisting of rappelling equipment and smoke bombs. Across the chasm is another team setting up. Before they have a chance to set up themselves, a messenger eagle alerts Eelon that their quarry has arrived early, thus rushing their preparations almost to disasterous effect. With everything prepared the party rappels down the cliff, with the exception of Eelon who jumped without.

The nobles travelling through the chasm appear to be getting away, but as the party descends they watch as their exit is magically sealed by an earth wall. With the nobles routed, the party attempts to obtain the passes peacefully, though the others in the raiding party are more aggressive as the clashing of swords can be heard all around them. Dariun manages to obtain two passes from a man named Olo Christopherson and his family, before cutting loose the horses from the carriage and stealing one.

Norman allows Zippy to take the extra pass while he tries to obtain one of his own. After a confrontation with a man in another carriage he achieves this through intimidation. He then tells the man to hide somewhere safe, much to the man's chagrin, with the parting words, "And don't forget: vote Norman D. for president one day."

Zippy joins Dariun as an explosion is heard and the earth wall comes down. Another raider calls out that the Golden Guard of Aurum have arrived, and while many attempt to escape, their rappelling lines are cut from above. Zippy attempts to secure one of the ropes leading up the cliff face by jumping up to it, and as he does so he's propelled higher up by a gust of wind from the Breathing Chasm. As the wind dissipates he slides back down the side of the chasm unharmed.

From the end of the chasm guards enter, slaughtering anyone who is not a noble. One calls out to their captain, a centaur named Ran, about the presence of the party on the edge of combat. He then starts galloping towards them, while the party gets on horses hoping to escape.

When Zippy stops to call out for Blackjack and Yogurt, Dariun and Norman get frustrated, and the latter charms him into escaping. They swerve around Captain Ran towards the broken wall and Aurum, and Zippy talks the horse that he and Norman are riding on into going faster, breaking through the first line of guards in front of them. Dariun launches an attack behind him, hitting Ran's leg and debilitating him.

Finally they make it to the crumbled wall, guarded by several soldiers. Norman casts Thunderwave, knocking a few of them away. Zippy casts Jump on his horse and leaps over the remaining guards, distracting them long enough for Dariun to move through as well.

Upon their escape, the remaining party of Norman, Dariun, Zippy, and their horses debrief, deciding not to return to the camp for fear of an ambush. They come to the conclusion that the guards knew that they were going to be there. As they reach the end of the chasm they find Barryl waving at them, and next to him is a Loxodon guard in golden armour. The party surmises that this is likely a trap, and in an attempt to fool them and create an opening to escape, Norman and Zippy are captured in stone pillars. Dariun is struck by the Loxodon and knocked unconscious. Just as things begin looking grim for the party, Eelon appears with Blackjack and Yogurt. Eelon strikes Barryl with a spear and engages with the Loxodon before directing the Tabaxi to free Norman and Zippy from their stone cage.

Yogurt moves over to help Dariun, who is stabilized, while Blackjack helps Norman and Zippy break free. Eelon eventually defeats the Loxodon, and with a single cleave of a thrown scimitar breaks one of the pillars holding them. Upon realizing that he had let Barryl get away he admonishes himself before running off in his direction into the night.

The party decides to move on to a forest to the east of Aurum, but not before Zippy speaks to the fact that he had been charmed by Norman. They confirmed that everyone present has a golden pass, affirm that they'd like to work with Eelon in the future, and make their way to the forest, called the Golden Road Woods.

Dariun takes point once they arrive in the woods and they find a place to set up camp. Zippy, Blackjack, and Yogurt are sent to find firewood, and while they are searching discuss whether the other player characters are trustworthy. Ultimately they are apprehensive, but decide to work with them.

In the distance the trio hears large footsteps approaching. They discuss this for a time, as Zippy points out the pomp of Yogurt's posterior, but continue picking up firewood. Eventually the three are met with a large gorilla, a creature not native to this area. Zippy fails to convince them to help them gather branches, and the gorilla attacks him, repeatedly muttering, "He said to kill, I'm gonna kill," and Zippy notices that the gorilla has glossy green eyes.

Zippy enters into combat with the gorilla, catching the attention of Dariun and Norman in the distance who dash towards the commotion. Together they make quick work of the ape, with Zippy lamenting their violent end, and Dariun skinning and collecting its meat. In the process of this the party notices that the gorilla's eyes melted, leaving empty sockets in their place. Norman recalls from his days as a monk on Concloud (sp?) Island that these are the telltale signs of control exerted over creatures from a certain amulet.

The party returns to camp, having settled on their watch schedules. While Zippy sleeps, he dreams he is flying through a black void, and hears someone call out to him, "Awake." As the sun rises, they hear voices approaching in a hurry, and two men wearing the symbol of Salem on their cloaks come upon their campsite. They are skeptical of the party at first, and ask them if they had poisoned anyone. Upon responding in the negative, one of the men who introduces himself as Stretch informs the party that he is a member of the Greeder's Guild, and is looking for whoever poisoned the king and/or an antidote, a revelation to the party. The party offers to help, and Stretch agrees to allow them to.

## **Quotations**

* Zippy: "*Team eight wahoo!*"

* Norman D: "*I apologize for doing the right thing*" (in relation to charming zippy)

* Blackjack "*You know me Zip! Just a couple of cards, that’s why they call me Blackjack!*"

* Zippy "*If I was normal then I wouldn’t be zippy!*"

## **Featured Characters**

### Main Cast

* Dariun Branch
* Norman D
* Zippy Westburrough

### Returning Characters

* Blackjack
* Yogurt

### New Characters

* Berryl
* James Jameson
* Eelon
* Olo Christopherson
* Captain Ran
* Loxodon Golden Guard Captain
* Stretch

## **Locations**

* Raider's Encampment
* Breathing Chasm
* Golden Road Woods