Session 1

### Summary

Rallied under a false job, a group of adventurers set out to kill innocent forest creatures and then burn down the forest.

## Setting

### Locations

Modale; The Gray Manor; the Davelwyn Woods; the Ancient Graveyard; Feviss's Hut

### Time

Beginning of day one through the end of day two.

## NPC Appearances

### Met

Jibow, Medusina Gray, Beatrice Bee (Bethel), Navis Pubella, Feviss,

### Mentioned

The Ruby Ring; Fjord Castle; abandoned mine in the Easties

## Session One: The Davelwyn Woods

### Day One

#### Introductions

It is a beautiful day in Modale, and four newcomers to the city go about their mornings, blissfully unaware of the chaos they are about to create.

Jedi monk **Caeli** spends her morning uneventfully, in a library. In contrast, somewhere nearby, **Jasper** spends her morning drinking in a tavern. When they leave, they are both given pamphlets by a mysterious half-elven character called **Jibow**.

**Mavka**, fresh out of her homeland on her coming of age journey, peruses the streets, admiring the vivacity and colors of the big city— until she trips over a bucket and falls face-first into the road. After some flustered apologies, she realizes there is a letter of some kind in the bucket, and picks it up to read it.

**Gossamer**, a ranger carrying a puppy on her shoulders, witnesses this and attempts to stalk Mavka from the shadows unnoticed, to no avail; Mavka sees her and asks her if the letter is hers. When Gossamer declines, the two of them decide to investigate the invitation together.

The letters that each of these characters had received were invitations for adventurers to gather to dine at the **Gray Manor**, where they would have the opportunity to accept a quest from **Medusina Gray**, an influential politician and powerful magician.

#### The Dinner of Adventurers

At the dinner, Caeli, Jasper, Mavka, Gossamer, and Jibow were in attendance. Medusina Gray arrived fashionably late to her own dinner. When asked about the quest mentioned in the letter, she told the party about some mysterious mushroom creatures, called **RBFGs**, that lived deep in the **Davelwyn Woods**, outside of Modale. She wanted the party to retrieve some of the creatures for her because she needed their organs, and referred them to **Beatrice Bee**, who would act as their guide through the forest.

The dinner went south rather quickly, as Medusina Gray became angry at the adventurers' questions and disrespect. She told the party that she had poisoned one of them, and would not give them the antidote unless they brought the creatures to her that she wanted, then disappeared in a flash, as if she were illusory, leaving the party trapped in the dining room.

#### Into the Woods

Gossamer and Caeli started pounding on a door, trying to get it to open, while Jibow simply opened the door by its handle. The group fled through the servants' tunnels, emerging in the city streets. They ran to the East side of the city, where Medusina had said they could find Beatrice Bee. On the way, Gossamer stole a townsperson bag of groceries without anyone noticing, and Mavka caused a commotion at a city fountain that people used as a wishing well. In the vicinity, Mavka found the woman called Beatrice Bee.

Beatrice was willing to lead the party to the RBFG's, which she claimed to have seen before. She led the group into the Davelwyn Woods, so far into the forest that the trees faded out to giant fungi.

On the way, Mavka noticed something following them through the woods; when she pointed it out, Beatrice screamed and ran off. The thing following them was a giant frog, and it seemed to be interested in the commotion Beatrice caused. The party attacked and killed it.

#### Heart of the Woods

At the heart of the woods, they set up camp for the night. In the light of their campfire, Gossamer noticed that there were creatures, the RBFGs, emerging ever so slowly from the ground, making their way toward the campfire. She captured three of them with a net. Jasper, Caeli, and Mavka didn't want to kill them, but Gossamer and Jibow wanted to get back to the Gray Manor for the antidote as soon as possible.

Caeli and Mavka each conducted their own religious rituals in an attempt to determine what the right course of action was; Caeli felt an urge to protect the creatures, and Mavka learned that if they were brought back to the Gray Witch, their fate would certainly be death.

#### Navis Pubella

Jasper suggested that everyone look around for something that could help them find a solution, and the party found an ancient graveyard in the shadows of the clearing they had set up camp in. Mavka was able to decipher writing in Sylvan on some of the graves, and found what looked to be a shrine which had once held a likeness of someone called **Navis Pubella**, presumably some kind of ancient, forgotten death god.

Caeli set up some offerings and incense on the pedestal of the shrine, while Gossamer, Jibow, and Beatrice watched from afar. The moment they uttered the name written on the shrine, the old god appeared, made entirely of moss and writhing woody sinews. Navis spoke only in Sylvan, so Mavka acted as a translator for the group.

Mavka prompted Navis about the RBFGs, and he asked that the group let them go, which they did. The creatures ran to the campfire and basked in the firelight, turning everything white as they absorbed its energy.

When Mavka asked Navis if he could tell who in the group was poisoned, Navis said that none of them were immediately in danger of dying in such a manner. Mavka asked if he had anything that could help the party, and Navis said that he could give them a gift for something in return; Mavka gave him two jewels taken from the skin of the giant frog that the party had slayed earlier. In exchange, Navis gave Mavka a piece of moss, which ostensibly has the power to keep someone who is on the verge of life and death alive. Mavka put it in one of her vials for safekeeping. After this exchange, Navis melted back into the forest.

After studying the ruins more closely and thinking back on her conversation with Navis, Mavka determined that this graveyard was an ancient site, once inhabited by the first elves. The RBFGs, the creatures they had been sent to capture, were the ancestors of those ancient elves.

#### Nightfall

The group set up camp around the fire they had built, and Beatrice cooked dinner with ingredients that Gossamer provided. During this time, Gossamer attempted to perform magic tricks for the group. Afterward, Beatrice and Mavka began journaling. The group decided to spend the night in the forest, as they wouldn't have enough time to make it back to Modale before darkness fell, and they felt safe in the ancient graveyard.

Gossamer and Mavka elected to keep watch during the night, since they were the only ones capable of seeing in the dark. Gossamer took the first watch, which was uneventful. When her shift was over, she woke Mavka for her shift.

### Day Two

#### Mavka's Mistake

Mavka sensed something in the forest near late morning. Deciding she'd rather be safe than sorry, she awoke Gossamer to help her investigate. They found four animated botanical zombies wandering through the forest, vaguely in the direction of camp. On their way back to warn the others, the skeletons sensed Mavka, and they followed her back to camp.

The group spent too long deliberating, and one of the skeletons managed to sneak up and bite Beatrice, who was incapacitated immediately. The group began to fight. Jibow turned into a giant badger while Jasper, Caeli, and Gossamer sprang into action, attacking the zombies. Mavka panicked and threw a torch at one of the zombies, but she missed, igniting the forest floor. She eventually managed to entangle some of them, but the fire was spreading rapidly. By this point, Gossamer was badly hurt, and Beatrice was unconscious.

As the last skeleton was dashed to splinters, the ground began to shake. Through the flames and smoke, the party saw movement among the graves; something was rising out of the earth. They decided to flee, carrying Beatrice, while Jibow led them through the forest, still as a giant badger.

#### Feviss

A couple hours or so after dawn, Jibow got caught up in a hunter's trap. A lizard-folk came out of the bushes to retrieve him, but the party explained their situation and she cut him down. She told the group that her name was **Feviss**. Seeing that they were shaken, she offered to take them back to her cabin for food and rest, and they accepted.

When they got to Feviss' cabin, she gave Beatrice a magic necklace that she said would help cure her mind from any meddling hands. She helped heal Beatrice's bitten arm as well. The party took a short nap. When they awoke, Mavka asked Feviss to show her the herbs she collected, and Feviss graciously obliged. When they returned, they found that Beatrice had awoken.

#### Beatrice Bee Bethel

Beatrice woke with no memory of what had occurred. She told the party that her name was actually Bethel, and that the last thing she remembered was being at the **Fjord Castle**. The party discovered that saying "Beatrice Bee" would wipe her memory. Bethel told the group that she was part of an elite task force called the **Ruby Ring**, trusted with uncovering a plot to assassinate the Queen. One of her suspects had been **Medusina Gray**.

The party decided to help her. Bethel told them that the Ruby Ring had a rendezvous point in a mine in the **Easties**.