Episode 1

## Episode 1: One Kick Gnome

* The game opens in the community of Nova, a rural town on the edge of Altand. The town is more cosmopolitan and laid back than most of Altand, but tensions are still high towards strangers.
* Five strange outsiders have gathered from their disparate origin points in a tavern known as The Wet Whistle. The strangers include the gentle orc warrior Rogg Deerchaser, the scrappy "elven" girl Keegan O'Conner, the very tall desperado Clancy Coppergrin, the alcoholic doctor Emmett Wolf, and the doctor's weathered but cheerful companion Clay.
* An older woman, Mabel Cadhill, enters the bar to give the bartender, Toska, a woven basket that she had ordered. This causes a ruckus in the bar because Toska's son, Lester, stands up to confront Mabel. He accuses her and her family of causing curses and witchcraft about town.
* Clancy stands up to defend Mabel from the ruffians, but he doesn't intimidate the orc and his thug friends. Words are exchanged. Clay and Keegan, having no ties to either Clancy or Lester, begin to urge on a fight. Clancy and Lester have a brief exchange of blows, but once the fight starts ramping up, Clay ends it as quickly as it started by firing his gun into the ceiling of the bar. Lester and company back off and leave.
* Gretchen Higgins, the local Astara sheriff, arrives after hearing the gunshot, wanting to keep the peace. The party asks Gretchen and Mabel what is going on that caused Lester to get riled up, and Clancy offers to help if there's a problem. Gretchen explains that there's a witchhunt going on due to strange occurances around town: people getting sick, people going missing, slaughtered farm animals...Apparently Mabel's daughter has been accused of being the witch. She is currently missing.
* Emmett offers his medical services to anyone who is sick, and Mabel reluctantly agrees to show the party to her son, the town deputy who has fallen ill. Clay intends to go with him. Keegan asks to join in order to find out more about the daughter accused of witchcraft, Clancy joins with the apparent intention of getting himself some sort of paying job, and Rogg is concerned for the missing children and wants to help. Mabel and the entire party head over to Mabel's home.
* The party is introduced to Warren Cadhill, the half-orc son of Mabel who has been wounded and possibly cursed. Emmett convinces an unwilling Warren to let him take a look at him. Warren explains that he woke up in a ditch after presumably being mauled by some sort of creature once he was thrown from his horse. The wound on his arm appears to be marked in a strange pattern and it is leaking black inky puss. Emmett tries to cast Lesser Restoration but it doesn't seem to have much of an effect.
* Warren shows the party to his adoptive sister Shiloh's bedroom, which is covered with creepy drawings: a monster with six legs, an ominous cabin labeled "Muriel", and a sinister old woman. Shiloh has apparently been missing for several days. A little over a week ago, the Bainbridge farm in town was assaulted by witchcraft shortly after Shiloh delivered one of Mabel's baskets. Rogg recognizes the six legged creature as something he had come across in the Worglands, a "lizard of rot" that attacked his tribe. The party investigates Shiloh's bedroom and finds cat hair and strange doll made of straw. Warren also mentions a man named Payton afflicted with a strange weakness, who accused Shiloh of breaking in at night and waking him.
* The party heads over to the Bainbridge farm. The party speaks to Lonnie Bainbridge who explains that the day after Shiloh delivered baskets to the farm, their goats were slaughtered and one of the baskets was filled with butchered meat and centipedes. One of the goats was placed on her weathervane. Her son Terry destroyed the basket and since then also gone missing. He heard a noise in the barn 5 days prior and he and his horse never returned from checking it out.
* Clancy notices tracks by the barn that appear large and catlike, Emmett sees that the horse stall is broken. A set of humanoid tracks disappears suddenly, while the catlike prints lead away from the farm.
* The party then decides to talk to Payton. There is some bickering, and then on the way the party hears a girl singing an eerie song. Emmett gets nervous and begins to walk away but Clay stops him, and then a little boy rushes past the group. He clambers into a barrel to hide. Keegan lifts the barrel lid and asks the boy what he is doing, he tells her he is playing hide and seek but that the girl is not Shiloh, so Keegan closes the lid and shuts him back in the barrel. The party discusses Keegan's hair and why it is on fire, Keegan says its just like that.
* Once they have arrived at Payton's house, they discover that the door is locked and there is no answer upon knocking. Keegan immediately pulls out her thieves tools and begins to open the door, which upsets Emmett and Rogg, who don't want to trespass. Keegan and Clancy open the door and walk and notice that Payton is dead in the bed. Rogg asks the spirit of Payton to forgive the party for trespassing. Emmett diagnoses that he has been dead 2 days. Clancy finds another wicker doll like the one in Shiloh's bedroom. The party decides to speak to Gretchen and then tomorrow follow the cat-creature's trail out of town.
* Emmett doesn't want to talk to the Sheriff, and goes to the bar, everyone else goes to Gretchen. The party shares what they've learned so far and ask about Muriel. Gretchen explains that Muriel was burned at the stake 30 years ago for witchcraft and arson, and that she used wicker dolls (much like the ones found in Shiloh's room) as a calling card. Gretchen explains that her deputy was following a lead out of town, another set of tracks. Clancy convinces Gretchen to pay the party for their service should they be able to solve the problem.
* The party meets up with a drunk Emmett at the bar. The party tries to convince Emmett to continue their work on the investigation, he says he'll think about it. Clay takes him to the boarding house. Keegan, Rogg, and Clancy discuss Clancy's opinion of the Astaran order, as well as Rogg's journey to Nova. They also get rooms at the boarding house and Keegan invites Rogg to show her and Clancy the strange tooth he acquired from the 6 legged beast that attacked him and his tribe. In the other room, Emmett and Clay discuss their concerns about the investigation and Clay convinces Emmett not to leave town.
* The next morning the party heads straight off to the trail at the Bainbridge farm. When they arrive, the door the barn has been completely pulled off the hinges, and more goats are scattered around dead in a fiendish circle, along with bloodied clawed humanoid handprints along the walls. Lonnie Bainbridge is even more frightened than before.
* The party walks for a long time into the desert, following the tracks. After several hours, the party notices a strange smell within a gorge. The party creeps up and sees a dead horse and two small humanoids arguing over a disgusting bloody hat.
* The party discusses what to do but before a decision is reached, the little humanoids notice the party and a fight begins. Emmett and Clay begin shooting their guns wildly, with Emmett missing and Clay hitting as Rogg rushes up. Keegan rushes in ahead of Rogg and casts Burning Hands. The creatures immediately kick Keegan with their steel boots and Keegan is knocked unconscious. Clancy shoots his bow.
* Emmett heals the prone and dying Keegan. Rogg begins to rage and hits one of the creatures with a hand axe. Keegan kills the first of the monsters and then dodges a retaliatory kick by the remaining one. Clancy and Clay fire their arrows and gun respectively, the remaining creature looking badly wounded. Emmett misses another shot with his gun and casts Spritual Weapon, while Rogg hits again with an axe and Clancy hits again with a bow. Keegan is gutted by the creatures sword but Emmett heals her up again. Rogg finally cuts the thing down with his axes and then angrily throws the body across the gorge. Keegan angrily sets the body on fire, much to Clancy's chagrin as he wanted his arrows back.

The episode ends in the aftermath of the fight, with the party taking a short rest.

Chat Log 1

Next ->