Lira in The Village by the Mountain

After joining the expedition to find the Godslayer sword, **Lira** and the rest of the party traveled to the unnamed village by Mount Visiga.

## Into the Wolfswood

*Main Article: Into the Wolfswood*
With horses and equipment borrowed from the prince, Lira led the group of adventures through the Wolfswood. They camped near the road at nightfall, and agreed to take turns on watch.

A few hours before dawn, Lira was woken by Azula, the dwarf who had taken the third watch. Together, they investigated the voices Azula had heard nearby, and came upon two shadowy figures talking around a campfire.

Sensing danger, the two returned to their own camp to wake the men. Rob agreed to watch over the camp, while Lira, Azula and Nicolas again headed toward the disturbance.

When they neared the fire, Lira crept forward alone to investigate, but found the site empty. She told her comrades of this, and they approached together.

Almost as soon as they did, an arrow shot toward them from the trees ahead, though Nicolas was able to catch it on his shield. Lira immediately returned fire, and was able to hit a bandit who had been lying in ambush.

Three other bandits immediately appeared to attack them, and Lira was injured by the enemy archers. She left Azula and Nicolas, concealing herself in a tree above and firing her bow from there.

They all fought back, with Rob eventually coming to help, until their enemies had been killed. Minos then revealed himself and explained that the ambush had been a test to see if they could handle themselves in a fight.

As they returned to camp and prepared to leave, Lira and Rob found a half-elven Monk lying in the road. The monk was suffering from poison after eating wild mushrooms. They administered first aid and gave her food. The monk introduced herself as Nong-Poi and joined them on their journey.

## Arrival at the Village

*Main Article: Arrival at the Village*
Along the road, they met a woodsman named Ashvell, who agreed to lead them to the village inn. The adventurers arrived after another day of traveling.

As they approached, a crowd of children ran to greet Lira and Rob, since the two were at the front of the group. Lira immediately backed away, since they reminded her of the thieving urchin she had once been. Rob shot fire into the sky to amuse the children, and they ran off to chase it.

The group met a half-elf named Cassana inside the inn. After Lira asked about the inn's owner, Cassana and Ashvell led both her and Rob to the cellar. There, the woodsman grabbed Rob from behind and threatened him with a dagger. Lira drew a shortsword to help him, but Cassana disarmed her with a spell.

Cassana then demanded to know their motives and why they were searching for her father. After explaining about their expedition, Lira and Rob were allowed to return to the tavern.

The group rested at the inn, and later tried and failed to find a half-orc who had picked Rob's pocket. When the group returned from the village market, they witnessed an argument between Cassana and a mysterious hooded figure. Lira, Rob and Nong-Poi wanted to help Cassana, so they went to the mysterious figure's manor outside the village.

The group reached the manor at dusk, and both Lira and Nong-Poi fell after trying to climb the fence. Lira stood and brushed herself off, before noticing that the monk's robes had caught on the bars and had partially torn from her body. As Lira freed the cloth and told Nong-Poi to cover herself, she and Rob noticed that the half-elf was biologically male.

A few minutes later, as they attempted to find other ways to enter the manor, they were all hit with a Sleep spell. However, Lira and Nong-Poi were able to resist due to their elven blood.

Lira and Nong-Poi carried Rob back toward the village. The sorcerer woke up when they reached the outskirts, where they heard a commotion from the inn.

They found the villagers fending off five werewolves who were trying to enter the inn by force. The three joined up with Azula and Nicolas to fight the werewolves, but two of the beasts broke into the building. The adventurers managed to kill one other, with Lira finishing it off with a close-range arrow shot.

However, the battle was interrupted by an explosion coming from inside the building and Lira was knocked out.

## Abandoned Mines

*Main Article: Abandoned Mines*
The day after the werewolf attack, Lira woke on a table in the village tavern, where she and the other injured members of the group were recovering.

Minos, his arm in a sling, told them that Cassana had been abducted by the werewolves. Worried for Cassana, Ashvell said he would accompany the adventurers to look for her. He also introduced them to a fellow villager of his, Marley, a half-orc that Rob immediately recognized. After a brief scuffle, Marley returned the sorcerer's gold.

Cassana's uncle then allowed them to look inside the inn's cellar. They found a book written by Tullius, Cassana's father, telling the story of how he had arrived at the village and married Cassana's mother.

Afterwards, three villagers led the adventurers to an abandoned mining cave, where they had found traces of the werewolves. As Lira knelt to examine the tracks entering the cave, she found a stone statue of a rabbit. Since the humans were unable to see in the dark, she gave the rabbit to Rob, who cast Light on it.

They entered the cavern, where the villagers were suddenly turned to stone. The group quickly realized that they were under attack by a basilisk.

The adventurers managed to kill the beast while averting their gaze. Azula extracted the stomach of the basilisk to cure the petrified victims, but before she could use it, the floor they were standing on collapsed.

Lira managed to catch the edge of the pit, but the others fell into a pool below. After calling down to ensure that the others were safe, she climbed down after them.

They continued to explore the cave and eventually reached a low cliff. Looking down, they could see a group of kobolds mining under the watchful eyes of a drow and a duergar.

The group sneaked along the cliff until they reached a staircase, which led into a room with the kobolds' beddings. They found a narrow corridor branching from there toward the mining site.

As ranger and sorcerer, Lira and Rob returned to the cliff to attack from above, while the others fought from close range. They managed to kill all the enemies, including the giant spider the kobolds had summoned.

## The Ritual

*Main Article: The Ritual*
As the others rested in the kobold's sleeping area, Lira returned alone to the cavern with a pool. She remained there for several hours before returning to the group, now accompanied by a giant weasel loping by her feet.

They followed the corridor the spider had come from and found a prison. All the cages were empty, except for one with a drow, who they recognized as the one who had been arguing with Cassana at the inn.

The prisoner, who they later learned was named Otheric, told them that cultists were using Cassana in a ritual to resurrect the Fey Queen Maeve. As they spoke, a warden duergar abruptly entered the room, carrying food presumably for the prisoner.

Lira rushed to restrain him, and Marley muffled the duergar's voice with the plate of food. Nicolas knocked the warden out, and after freeing Otheric, they locked the dwarf in the cage.

The group walked on and eventually reached a large hall, in which they saw a bow glowing with arcane energy and an unconscious Cassana surrounded by cultists. Otheric told them that to save Cassana, they needed to bring the bow as far as they could from her.

Both Marley and Lira immediately sneaked into the room to interrupt the ritual. Marley moved along the left wall to reach the bow, while Lira remained at the back and sent her weasel to mimic the rogue's movement, except along the right wall.

Just before the two reached the bow, a cultist saw Marley and warned the others. Lira's weasel dashed to grab the bow while their backs were turned, but he failed to lift the weapon, and was driven back by a shot of arcane energy. After the beast was subsequently kicked by a duergar, Lira sent her injured companion to hide atop a pillar.

The other adventurers hurried into the room to help, and a fight broke out. Lira remained at the back of the room to fire her bow from a safe distance, as her comrades attacked the seven cultists, two of whom later transformed into werewolves.

In turn, Marley, Rob and Azula picked up the bow, but were unable to hold it for long due to its enchantment. Despite the weapon cracking ominously each time they held it, they successfully halted the ritual and kept it from the cultists.

When the fight ended with the bow still safely intact, Otheric revealed that the weapon had belonged to Maeve and contained her spirit. Since the queen had been against all non-elven races, it kept all except elves from holding it. Coincidentally, Lira and Nong-Poi, the only two capable of handling it safely, had not touched it before then.

Lira retrieved the bow, which felt no different to her than any other. Ashvell lifted Cassana and the group left the cave through a staircase at the back of the hall.

Before they returned to the inn, Azula used the basilisk's stomach acid to restore the petrified villagers. Lira also requested a small amount for the stone rabbit the group had been using as a light source, then set the beast free into the woods.

Back at the village, Cassana thanked them and allowed them into her father's library. As the three who could read Elven, Lira, Azula and Nong-Poi spent a day going through the hundreds of journals. Eventually, they learned of an island temple, where Tullius and his fellow guardians of the Godslayer had made their headquarters.

Lira convinced the group to stay a few more days in the village, so that she could complete a three-night attunement with Maeve's bow. Despite suffering from vivid nightmares and waking exhausted each time, she persisted in the ritual for two nights.

The next morning, Nicolas found a caravan leaving for Soliton, the port city from which they could reach Tullius' temple. The caravan leader was a wood carver named Brad, who was also father to Lisa, one of the children Rob had befriended in the village.

When they prepared to leave, Lisa cried and insisted on going with them. She was eventually bribed into staying with a silver piece from Azula. The group then left the village on horseback.

## Journey North

*Main Article: Journey North*
When evening came, the adventurers camped by the road to Mugandale. Brad sat by the campfire with a lute, and asked the adventurers for stories.

Lira briefly told the other how she had met Scout, her beast companion, on the night they had rescued Cassana. The giant weasel had heard Lira's summons and, in his search, had fallen several feet into the cavern pool beside her.

Later, the group settled down for the night. Lira climbed into a tree to sleep, as was custom for her. Azula laid her bedroll beneath the tree, since she was worried about the strain the bow attunement ritual had been causing the elf.

Lira slept for the third and last night of the ritual, and had a vivid dream. In it, she woke up on a bed in a tower room, with the silhouette of a human man near one of the windows. Guarded and confused by where she was, she tried to punch the stranger.

The man caught her hand, not seeming upset and only teasingly asking what she was doing. As Lira realized that she recognized him, they kissed.

The dream shifted, and Lira found herself on a hill, standing armored at the head of an army of elves. Beyond them, a second army stood. In the battlefield midway between the two forces, Lira recognized her beloved dueling with a crowned warrior.

Honor kept her from interfering, but when the enemy king struck a killing blow, Lira gave a cry of anguish and called the attack. She ran forward and was caught up in the battle.

Mid-step, Lira found herself running in a dark forest. She glanced back to see several figures chasing her and, despite her efforts, she was soon surrounded by fiends. She dodged the first strike from a flaming sword and drew a dagger.

Back at the camp and still caught up in her dream, Lira fell out of the tree. When Azula woke up, Lira was still hallucinating, and the elf tried to stab her.

The others were quickly alerted and ran to help. Minos attempted to disarm the elf, but was pushed away. Marley, who was on the far side on the camp, threw a plate but missed. Lira retaliated with an arrow, and the orc was momentarily distracted and panicking from the shoulder wound.

Nong-Poi punched Lira several times in an attempt to knock her out, but the elf was able to stay on her feet.

When Marley finally managed to grab and restrain Lira, she immediately called for her companion. The weasel leaped into Marley's face and attacked his neck and ear. In the elf's dream, a falcon flew down to rake at the orc's head.

Azula cast Command to briefly keep Lira from struggling, while Nicolas cast Speak with Animals to call down Scout and rescue Marley. The weasel stopped attacking, but continued to circle Marley's and Lira's feet, agitated.

Marley and Minos together disarmed Lira, but she was able to slip free and draw her last weapon, a shortsword. Azula attempted one more time to snap her out of the hallucination, but to Lira, the dwarf's Command for her to wake up was spoken in an unfamiliar language.

Rob eventually thought to pull out rope, and Marley and Nong-Poi bound Lira. She struggled, but eventually fell back into quieter sleep.

As the commotion settled down, the others heard crying from the wood carver's wagon. They realized that Lisa had stowed away there and had been frightened by the noise. Rob quickly ran to comfort her.

Lira eventually woke up, and was both confused and irritated why she was bound and why her face hurt. When she realized what had happened, she apologized and told them about her dream.

The group continued to Soliton, where they were forced to line up for inspection. The guards at the gate arcanely marked each weapon they carried, so as to later check whether they had been used to harm anyone in the city.

Lira at first refused to let the guard touch her bow, but offered it to him at his insistence. When the guard was burned - since he had no Fey ancestry - he begrudgingly allowed her to pass on.

Almost as soon as the whole group had entered the city, decorated soldiers rode up and demanded that the gates be closed. They began to enforce a curfew on the streets as well, much to the confusion of the citizens. No such curfew had existed before, even if the election of the next burgrave was currently ongoing.

As they walked the streets, they heard rumors of children disappearing, but were unable to tell if this was the reason of the suddenly strict policies.

Brad led them to the docks and called in a favor with a captain, who agreed to take them to the temple island for five thousand gold pieces. Minos gladly offered the amount, and they headed towards the ship. However, they were stopped by soldiers, who insisted that the lockdown included both land and sea travel.

The captain, angered by the interruption of his trade, stormed off and left the group stranded.

As they wanted to avoid being arrested for breaking the curfew, the adventurers considered sleeping in a nearby warehouse. However, before they could decide, a suspicious elf approached them and asked if they needed a boat. Using Thieves Cant, Marley confirmed that she was a thief, and shared his findings with the others.

The elf led them through the sewers, until they reached a tunnel system that made up the Soliton Thieves Guild. As they walked past several doors, Azula overheard two figures whisper that if 'something' were not done that night, everyone would die.

Before they could investigate this, they were met by a half-orc captain, who offered to smuggle them out of the city. They quickly agreed to his price of fifteen thousand gold pieces, but Minos objected that he would lose his job. Reluctantly, they persuaded the captain to lower his fee to seven thousand.

As they haggled, Scout pricked up his ears and began to snarl at a nearby man who had been watching them. Immediately suspicious, Lira confronted him, and Azula confirmed that he had been one of the thieves she had overheard.

The man, however, denied anything suspicious and said he had just wanted to match the orc captain's offer to smuggle them. He retreated into a room and the group was unable to learn anything else.

The adventurers then left for the smuggler's ship, but were required to sneak through the streets. Remembering her urchin upbringing, Lira had little trouble moving quietly, though not all of the others had as much success. The cry of soldiers sounded behind them and they all ran.

As they did, they were surrounded by a fog cloud, which Rob recognized as magical. Momentarily disoriented, they ended up in a short alley closed in on two sides by tall warehouses. When the cloud began to disperse, they quickly stood back to back. Lira, Rob, Nong-Poi and Minos guarded one side, while Azula, Nicolas and Marley faced the other.

Soldiers came at them from both sides and demanded that they drop their weapons. Lira, feeling trapped, briefly considered breaking her enchanted bow over her knee and releasing Maeve's banshee. At frantic signs from Nicolas and Marley though, she reconsidered.

They all lowered their weapons, but before the soldiers could approach, two orcs suddenly materialized near Lira. They grabbed Rob and Minos, before vanishing again with them. Being unfamiliar with arcane magic, Lira only realized what had happened after it was too late.

The soldiers escorted the group away from the docks. Since they had ignored Scout, thinking him to be a stray dog, Lira subtly instructed him to climb to the rooftops and follow them stealthily.

When they reached the burgrave's keep, they were locked in a dungeon. Marley, for his attempts to claim full responsibility of the crime, was separated from Lira and the others in solitary confinement.