Marshal Gone Mad

Marshal Gone Mad is the first story campaign set in the world of Erenastre. It follows the journey of Vanis Rie, Dana Capwin, and Galamir as they aid Sage Mari Segrum in purging Ridgehaven of its undead corruption, investigating what happened there, and tracking down the Marshal who's responsible.

## The Massacre of Ridgehaven

*- 67th day of Summer, 5779 ME -*

A farmhand from Ordsfallow was on an errand to Ridgehaven, and had almost arrived when he saw an armored figure with an unmistakable maroon sash around their waist mercilessly cutting down the residents. A few tried to fight back, but were no match for the Marshal's blade.

The farmhand turned back immediately to report this to Luther Wolfe, an old Marshal who lives in Ordsfallow, who then sent word to Valorith and set out with a few others to investigate what happened for himself. He found no one left alive, and no sign of the Marshal.

As Luther and the group began digging graves, they're surprised to see the previously slain villagers stir to life and begin attacking them. Luther and the others retreat as a corruption begins to spread from Ridgehaven.

## Mari Gathers the Party at Rastre

*- 74th day of Summer, 5779 ME -*

A week after the massacre of Ridgehaven, Sage Mari Segrum arrives at Rastre aiming to gather hired help in order to deal with the situation, knowing that asking for help from the Marshals would bring accusations of a conflict of interest. She first approaches Vanis Rie, an elf of the Langian Order, for his expertise in fighting the undead and hunting quarry of all kinds. She then seeks out Dana Capwin, a former soldier for the Erenastrian Army. As they find him causing a disturbance at a local pub, they also meet Galamir working as a bouncer, and hire him along as well. The party stocks up for the journey and rests for the night.

Forgoing the use of a wagon that Mari had arranged, the party decides to travel through the Deep Wood and meet with the wagoner on the other side to continue down the main roads. They travel for a day and rest without incident, making their journey quickly through the forest with Vanis leading the way.

The next day while travelling further through the wood they find they're being followed by strange creatures in the trees above. When they drop down to surround the group, they're confronted by their apparent leader, who demands that they drop their valuables and leave the forest. The party isn't phased by this, and attacks immediately, only to find that the creatures were actually street urchins in disguise, and their leader was a young man who decided to try their hand at forest banditry. Galamir, knowing the leader and many of the children among them, chastises the young man and tells him to return to Rastre, which he agrees to do.

The party makes it through the rest of the Deep Wood and rests without further incident, meeting up with a wagoner named Walgruff in the process.

## The Canyon Pass

*- 77th day of Summer, 5779 ME -*

Mari and the rest of the group join with Walgruff and begin to travel through the canyon pass on their journey to Ridgehaven. Along the way they notice something strange on the side of the road: a broken carriage laying on its side, from which a baby's crying can be heard. The others discuss what to do, but Walgruff, suspecting an ambush, decides to speed up and get out of the area as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the bandits were counting on this, and pulled up a trip wire tied between two trees, causing the wagon to flip over, pinning Mari to the ground beneath it.

The rest of the group, either bailing out of the wagon to investigate or managing to be thrown clear of the wagon, engage the bandits hiding in the bushes and among the trees. They manage to kill all but two of them, who they then proceed to interrogate as Vanis inspects the broken carriage to find the baby inside the wreckage. They learn the whereabouts of the bandit's camp and while Galamir stays behind to help Mari and Walgruff, Dana goes to the camp himself while Vanis climbs a tree for a higher vantage point.

Dana searches the camp, finding the child's mother still alive tied to a tree, with her dead lover tied to an adjacent tree. He also finds their horses and belongings from their carriage, but no sign of any other bandits. As Dana turns to Vanis and gives him the "OK" sign, Vanis spots a bandit creeping up behind Dana and manages to shoot her with an arrow, which goes through the hole Dana was making with his fingers and kills her.

Back at the ambush site, Galamir helps Mari and Walgruff recover from the ordeal and tend to the horses. Dana and Vanis bring out the captive they found at the bandit camp as well as her horses and what's left of her possessions, reuniting the half-elf captive named Crystal with her with her baby.

Mari, lamenting the mess that their journey had turned into, decides to take the two bandits and the woman they captured to the nearest town so that the incident can be reported. Walgruff, now recovering from an arrow to the arm and with injured horses and a damaged wagon, decides to split with the group early to make his way back to Erenia.

The rest of the party make camp for the night, and prepare to continue their journey to Ridgehaven on their own, with Mari planning to catch up with them when she can.

## The Storm and the Banshee

*- 78th day of Summer, 5779 ME -*

As the party approaches the fork that splits from the main road to Erenia south toward Ridgehaven, a storm hits the area. With no horses and no town nearby, they decide to seek shelter for the night. However, as they approach a shack off of the main road, they find themselves face to face with a banshee.

This banshee proves to be more than a match for them, and although they manage to defeat it, both Dana and Vanis suffer a near-death experience. The three finally make it to the shack and rest inside of it. As they do, all three are plagued by haunting visions. As they awake the next morning, they see that the storm has begun to clear, and though they're still recovering from the near-fatal experience, they decide to press onward to the south.

## The Renard Homestead

*- 79th day of Summer, 5779 ME -*

On the long road leading to Lakefield, they're approached by a half-elf farmer named Renard, who sees their condition and offers them a hardy meal and a warm place to sleep if they'll help him track down and get rid of whatever's been attacking his livestock and dragging them off. The party agrees and follows him back to the homestead.

As they approach the homestead, Vanis becomes hesitant to approach as he sees a young woman peering at them, being used to the way elves are sought after romantically in Rastre. However, once he notices that it's Dana who has captured her attention, he's able to relax.

The three of them manage to track down the beasts hunting Renard's livestock and find a giant vulture, along with a group of lesser vultures. After defeating them, they return to the homestead where Renard's daughter Ameline is preparing for dinner. She shrieks at the sight of Galamir the half-orc, to which Renard apologizes and explains that she had a run-in with a group of orcs when she was younger, an incident that left her arm with burns all over.

Renard asks Dana around back to help him slaughter a cow for the celebratory feast, and discusses his daughter's infatuation with him. Meanwhile Walsh Vallerie, a farmhand from Lakefield who works for Renard, arrives and introduces himself, although he seems wary of Dana who he has noticed has caught Ameline's eye.

Once the food is prepared, they all celebrate with a feast. A small conversation is had, and when Renard learns that they're going to Lakefield, he offers to have Walsh take them there in the morning. After dinner, Ameline asks Dana to help her move something in the cellar, where they have a private conversation. After that, the party takes a well deserved rest.

## Cyrus the Hunter

*- 80th day of Summer, 5779 ME -*

The next morning, just before the party sets off, Ameline gives Dana a small package containing a handwritten note and an ivory pendant that belonged to her grandfather as a memento to remember her by. Walsh seems bitter about this, but says nothing he drives the wagon south toward Lakefield. Just then, a blue jay approaches Vanis and delivers a message from Mari, who tells her to meet her at Ordsfallow and seek out a man named Luther Wolfe, who she has asked to provide them room and board.

On the way south, Dana challenges Vanis to a contest of who can kill more birds before they arrive in town and Galamir decides to join in too. Dana and Galamir put on a good show, with Galamir even managing to kill two birds with one stone, but Vanis ultimately emerges the victor.

As they arrive in Lakefield, Walsh suddenly pulls the wagon to the side of the road and hops the fence, running toward and shouting at three armed men standing outside his house. The party, curious as to what is happening, follow Walsh and intimidate the three into leaving. Walsh doesn't fully explain what the incident was about, but thanks them for their help, and goes inside to find his mother.

The group decides to leave and head toward the Bourhes Alehouse and Inn. On the way there, two children shout at Galamir from behind a fence, calling him "pig-face" and telling him to go back to where he came from. As they arrive at the alehouse, they find the three armed men who were at the Vallerie residence earlier, sitting at a table in the corner. They learn that their leader, the shorter one who wears a cloth under his hood to obscure half of his face, is named Cyrus the Hunter. Cyrus and his two lackeys soon leave to find their rooms upstairs.

After a short conversation with Moira the blacksmith, and after ordering some food and drink, they all purchase separate rooms for the night. Dana, suspicious of Cyrus and his lackeys, goes upstairs to listen in at the keyhole. He overhears them talking about Lenna Vallerie, who works at the tavern as a cook, and how frustrated they are that they can't get at her despite being "right on top of her". At this, Dana kicks the door in, surprising the lackeys inside and causing them to draw their weapons.

Cyrus, suspecting that Dana was attempting to provoke them into a fight, orders his men to stand down, electing to feign innocence at Dana's accusations. At this point, the innkeeper had come upstairs along with Vanis and Galamir, demanding an explanation for the door that Dana busted and insisting that he pay for the damages. Dana obliges, apologizing for his mistake, and the three return downstairs to their room.

Later that night, Vanis notices some noises coming from upstairs while he's meditating, and sneaks out of his room to find Cyrus and his lackeys trying to sneak out of the inn unnoticed. After waking his companions up, Vanis and the others follow Cyrus to the Vallerie residence, suspecting that he's up to no good. Their suspicions are confirmed when they find them sneaking around back of the Vallerie residence, apparently planning a kidnapping.

The party rushes in to intervene, easily managing Cyrus' lackeys, and managing to knock Cyrus himself out cold and take his ebony steel greatsword, Soulbreaker. As he's knocked cold, the cloth obscuring his face falls away and reveals a missing eye and a series of deep scars on the left side of his face. After turning the three over to the local guard, the party returns to the tavern to resume resting.

When they wake up in the morning, they go to visit Cyrus' lackeys and learn that Lenna Vallerie used to live in Rastre, and apparently owes a crime lord named Ozma a large sum of money. Cyrus on the other hand simply vows revenge, and has very little else to say to the party. The group asks the guards to keep a close eye on them, and leave to gather their things from the tavern.

At the tavern, the innkeeper thanks them for helping out the Valleries and returns the money for the door repair that he took earlier. He also offers to look the other way if they'd like to take the horses that Cyrus and his lackeys left behind, and asks them to deliver a package of supplies to Ordsfallow in return.

On their way to the main road that leads south, they're stopped by Walsh and the two children who had taunted Galamir the day before, who happened to be two of the Vallerie's children. Walsh prompts them to apologize to Galamir for what they said, and Galamir accepts their apology.

## The Corruption of Ordsfallow

*- 81st day of Summer, 5779 ME -*

As they travel further south, the party notices the air becoming more stagnant, and Vanis begins to sense the faint scent of the undead in the air. As they draw closer to Ordsfallow, they notice abandoned farmsteads and houses. They pass a destitute family travelling north on the road with all their possessions in toe. Feeling compassionate for them (and not being particularly fond of travelling on horseback anyway) they decide to give them the horses they took from Cyrus and his men, travelling on foot the rest of the way.

They find Ordsfallow to be all but abandoned, seeing mostly empty houses and farms, and the ones that aren't empty have scared figures huddled at the window watching them. The party approaches one of the houses to ask for directions, and are pointed to Luther Wolfe's residence. The person who answers the door informs them that Luther is out on patrol, and invites them inside until he returns. Inside his house they find it's full of people taking shelter from the corruption that has taken over the wildlife in the area.

After a short amount of time, and an attempt to raid the whiskey cabinet, Luther Wolfe returns. He informs the group that there's a herd of corrupted elk that are tearing up the area, and asks for their help in hunting them down while they wait for Mari to arrive. The party agrees and they set out to track down the herd of elk, Luther giving them each a hunting trap to use.

Soon after they left to track down the elk herd, a farmhand rushed over to tell them that the herd had cornered a young girl at a horse ranch nearby, and the party followed him back there to assist. There, they found several undead elks and a giant undead elk attempting to break down a shed where the young girl was trapped. The party fought and defeated the undead herd and saved the girl trapped inside the shed, burning the corpses soon after.

They returned to Luther's residence to find Mari already waiting for them, glad to see them safe. She then began to catch the party up to what's been happening, informing them that the bandits they caught had been turned over to the authorities, and the half-elf Crystal and her baby were sent to live with a relative. She was also able to increase their pay for the services they've rendered so far, and was able to promise them ownership of Ridgehaven should they succeed in ridding the area of undead and bringing the person responsible to justice. She also brought news that they had accounted for every other Marshal who was a suspect, and narrowed it down to Arla Dorne. Luther expressed disbelief at this, having known Arla himself and attested to her strength of character. At this, Mari seemed somewhat uncomfortable, and didn't comment.

The party then made plans with Mari to scout out the Ridgehaven area the next morning and plan their approach. They then spent the night resting among the destitute residents of Ordsfallow.

## The Purging of Ridgehaven

- *82nd day of Summer, 5779 ME -*

After bidding farewell to Luther, the group sets out the next morning to travel south toward Ridgehaven. After travelling most of the day, they stop to set up camp on the side of the road next to a pond. During the night however, they're attacked by a pair of cockatrices, and Mari ends up being petrified in the battle. Thankfully, she wasn't harmed, and the party decides to wait 24 hours for the petrification to wear off.

They then continue the journey south to scout out the area around Ridgehaven and assess the situation. Making their plan, they move in to deal with the undead in small numbers, clearing buildings as they go. Along the way the party witnesses the horrors of what happened there, as they see the remains of women and children cut asunder, bodies sliced in half, one or two even speared through the chest and pinned to a wall or a chair. The very soil of the area had blackened and plants surrounding the immediate area had withered and died.

They clear their way through the keep and finally make their way to the basement where they find a wight waiting for them, seemingly clutching something in its off-hand. Strangely the wight seems to recognize Mari, but the party mistakes this recognition, thinking that her attack had simply provoked it. Once slain, the wight is revealed to be holding a strange crimson gem, which Mari hastily wraps in a cloth and takes. When the party questions her about it, she answers ambiguously, saying she doesn't know what the gem is, but decided it might be dangerous.

Once the wight had been slain, the corruption that was infesting the area seemed to slow to a stop. The party make sure to gather the corpses into a pile and burn them, and they proceeded to inspect the keep for treasure and clues while Mari begins sending messages. They decide to stay there for the night and prepare to track down the Marshal the next morning, not knowing what awaited them.

## The Mad Marshal

*- 85th day of Summer, 5779 ME -*

Mari is up early, sending one last message before the group leaves to track down the Marshal. Vanis by now seems a bit suspicious about her activity, but doesn't say anything. They begin to follow a trail of undead corruption leading them to a cave where they suspect Arla Dorne to be hiding.

Upon finding her, Mari insists on approaching her first, Galamir following closely in order to attempt to protect her. However as she draws closer, Arla recoils from the sight of her in fear, and she takes out the crimson gem she took from the wight, causing her to glow with an eerie light. At this moment, a wall of black fire appears at the entrance of the cave to block the exit, as well as two more pillars of black fire appearing inside the cave, and out of those pillars come minotaurs bearing the symbol of the black flame. Arla's eyes glaze over and she begins to attack the party as well as they desperately try to regain control of the situation.

Mari expresses relief and elation at this turn of events, remarking that the wight recognizing her before could have messed up everything and prevented her from correcting her failure. She seemed to have planned this from the very beginning.

Dana and Vanis concentrate on defeating the minotaurs while Galamir attempts to resolve the battle without killing Arla or Mari, attempting to somehow separate her from the gem, which she holds closely to her chest. Once the minotaurs are dealt with, however, Dana and Vanis join Galamir and the battle ends when Dana cuts Mari through, shattering the red gem. Mari, with her final breath, expresses regret and apologizes to someone named Desdelorah, for "failing her".

And with that, Arla Dorne is freed from the control of the gem and collapses, unconscious. As Galamir mourns the death of Mari, the party returns to Ridgehaven with an unconscious Marshal Dorne and attempt to process what has happened.