Session 21 - April 20, 2020

After defeating the beast, the group continues on toward the Mage’s College. They come to a fork in the road. They follow the road eastward which leads them to encounter a half-elf and a dragonborn walking down the road. The pair greets the group. They explain they are on their way to the bridge to slay the creature and claim a 1000 gp bounty. The group explains the monster has already been dispatched. After a small exchange, the pair attacks The Liberators in an attempt to rob them and make up for the bounty they have been deprived of. The two adventures fall to The Liberators.

Continuing on down the road, the group comes upon a campsite that appears to have been attacked. There are several bodies lying near the tents and a woman sitting on a log, sobbing. The woman explains to Shep that her people have been logging here for a few years and recently, wolves (possibly unnatural ones) have started attacking the campsite. She asks the group to help rid the forest of the creatures. Shep pledges the group’s assistance in exchange for a place to rest. She agrees under the condition that they help deal with the bodies. Stitch suggests building a funeral pyre and they get to work on it immediately. The woman, introducing herself as Eva, is grateful for their help. They offer to take her to her village beyond the Mage’s College in the morning after dealing with the threat in the forest. She makes them a meal and they check in for the night.

During the third watch, Jehnor hears a noise to the north of the logging encampment in the forest. Three werewolves approach the camp as the group prepares for an encounter. They confront the beasts, killing 2 quickly causing the third to flee. Stitch pursues the beast and discovers four more heading toward them. They quickly dispatch two of them. The others flee. The group returns to camp to check on Eva.

They decide to set out to find the nest. Arming Eva with the battleaxe and adamantine plate pulled from the dragonborn the day before, she decides to stay with them where she feels safe. They set out to find the lair.

The Liberators and their new friend, Eva find the cave where the werewolves reside. They cautiously and stealthily enter. Traveling along the leftmost wall, they eventually come to a room with a cobblestone door on the far wall. Shep wildshapes into a spider. Traveling under the door he sees that the room contains two werewolves feasting on humanoid corpses. He continues down the hall to the right, at the end of which he discovers a werebear in a small alcove and a large stone door that leads to a mess hall. He finds a bar and a second werewolf. He continues through a hallway at the back-right corner of the mess hall. It leads to a smaller room that appears to be empty. He enters the back door and finds an unoccupied kitchen. He continues on through the winding caverns and eventually finds that he has circled back around to the group. Having explored the majority of the lair, Shep relays what he has found to the others.

The group decides to clear the cave in the reverse order that Shep explored it. They stealthily approach the werebear in the south eastern section of the cave. After quickly dispatching the creature, they continue on to the mess hall and kill the two werewolves there. Stitch pulls on a torch on the eastern wall causing the large stone door to open. Inside, they discover two more werewolves and an older humanoid performing a blood ritual in the center of the chamber. Jehnor recognizes him as Artemis Steelworth, a mage studying at the Mage’s College when he was there. Three imprisoned humanoids line the eastern wall, two slain humanoids lay on sacrificial tables along the northern wall. The group attacks, attempting to stop the summoning ritual. They slay their foes and set the captives free.

Upon searching the mage’s bedchamber, they find an ancient tome noted as the property of the Mage’s College. It contains incantations to summon devils into the material plane. They also find a scroll, on which is found a letter of dismissal from the Mage’s College signed by Head Mistress Delores Swinebyrn, and a book on were-creatures on a table in the corner of the room.