The Whispers of Lying Leaders

"**The Whispers of Lying Leaders**" (1x03) is the third session in the campaign Crusade on the Underdark.

## The Whispers of Lying Leaders

### Playing Location

The forest/an unnamed hamlet in the snowy mountains

## Players Present

Charlie Williams, Harlow Hurley, Ian Vizcarra, Izzy Dudley, Max McGuire, Myles Lechler

## Synopsis

* The man who claims Isaiah to be "his savior" introduces himself as Ifrit, and reveals a tattoo of a bird with multicolored feathers, showing he's a follower of the goddess Shelyn. After a brief questioning and a comment about church from Caraway, Ifrit states that there are several other followers of Isaiah who have been following him for along time, surely enough to form a church. Isaiah, none the wiser of this situation, expresses confusion along with the other members of the party in the face of Ifrits blind and seemingly baseless devotion.
* Christen reveals that he's been following Tayvia to keep an eye on her, and hadn't expected Ifrit to make an appearance. Ifrit also reveals that he was the one who summoned the death dogs and undead creatures, having full faith that Isaiah would be able to defeat them thanks to his "power". Christen explains that he's going to take Ifrit back to his city for interrogation, but that he also had plans to investigate some activity in the mountains. The party agrees to travel three-days time to the mountains to investigate in his stead, wary of Christen and on the pretense that he sends them messages often of his progress with Ifrit.
* The party takes off on this journey with a still asleep Bharaash. On the first night of this sojourn, Friday corners Athens to have a conversation with him about his place in the party now that he has seemed to join them. She tells him that she doesn't tolerate uselessness and that her only two rules are that Athens needs to be useful, and that he can't be stupid and die on them. She says she's seen too many people be ripped apart in fighting rings, and for this teamwork setting to work Athens needs to be smart and keep himself safe as well as proving an asset for the other members of the party. However, Friday's tone and words are quite harsh and she causes Athens to cry, taking some time alone to fly up on his giant owl and companion, Wisdom.
* On the second day of travel the party comes across a group of bandits who attempt to swindle them. The party doesn't buy this for a moment and the scene quickly devolves onto violence, with Athens shooting an arrow and cleaving the leader of the bandits in two. Nortamul then kills a second bandit with a handaxe, and Caraway and Friday team up to try and teach the remainder of the bandits a lesson. Caraway offers them two of his necklaces, telling them to pawn them off to make money and get themselves out of banditry, while also spreading his name as a fair and fearsome adventurer. Friday, on the other hand, threatens and intimidates the bandits, telling them that if they continue their ways and cross the party again, they'll certainly be killed. The party leaves the encounter with a few more weapons, rations, and a bit more gold.
* The party reaches a hamlet in the snowy mountains in three days time. The captain of the guard informs them that there's been some trouble in the village lately, causing severe unrest: three goblins and a monstrous worm summoned by one of them (nicknamed Sherman by the party). The guard also states that not much has been different in the village otherwise, other than a teenage kid who's been sleeping outside the tavern for about a week now. The captain tells the party that the goblins attack like clockwork, and that they arrived about three hours early for the next attack.
* Nortamul, Friday, and Caraway all head to the tavern to wait for their chance to defend the village. Nortumal and Friday both pass Willip, a young impoverished tiefling who's been sitting outside of the tavern, and offer him money. Thanks to Caraway's outgoing personality and some nudging from what seems to be Willip's own shadow, Caraway strikes up a conversation with the reticent kid and they all end up inside the tavern with the rest of the party, offering him food and sharing drinks.
* After some drinking and conversation, the party comes up with a plan to sneak attack the three goblins, utilizing two watchtowers present in the village. Willip agrees to help, trying to convince the party that he can prove his worth and his mettle. When the time finally comes to execute the plan, it starts off wildly successfully. Athens mounts Wisdom and shoots an arrow from the sky, immediately killing one of the goblins. Shared efforts from Isaiah, Willip, and Friday take off health from the shamanic goblin meant to summon the giant worm, and Caraway gets lucky with a strike from his rapier and impales one of the goblin's arteries, killing it.
* However, the tides seem to turn when the shamanic goblin panics and hits its spear to the ground, summoning the giant worm creature. In the heat of the battle, both Friday and Caraway are caught in a spray of acid, Friday suffering a burned arm and Caraway taking the brunt of it across his back.