The Emerald Saga

Here is the account of the band of seven heroes bound together by the Emerald Amulets. The enchanted gems within these necklaces blessed the wearers so that so long as they stay together, their Great Fate will be assured, lending them to heroic feats and legendary accomplishments.

## Chapter First

### Juliette Tallbranch

By fate or chance, various heroes found themselves in the Ederan town of Farshire on the day our adventure begins. Rakkan, a dragonborn monk, arrived on the shores of the mainland aboard a ship from Hinode. He sought to hone his skills in quests so that he could one day face his old master, Isozaki, who had attempted to murder him out of jealous anger. Sir Reed Greycrown the Illindorian paladin had followed the trail of the shapeshifting demon Sagoloth to the town. He was a Red Gold Knight in exile after disobeying an order to slaughter innocents in the sack of Grimhold during the Eleventh Crusade on the orcs of Khugarin. Jan Jan, a gnome warlock of Forces Beyond, came to Farshire seeking the shiny coins that his mysterious curse of madness drove him towards. Fidelma Brushbrook, a young halfling druid, had come to prove herself in noble adventure as a true hero. Her newfound druidic abilities had been thrust upon her as a rare faerie gift and she was determined to prove her worthiness of them. The tiefling bard, Tabni Yshtar, had fled the oppressive Turnip Towns of Illindore to the far away place of Farshire and presently sought work to earn coin in order to survive. An outcast from Elderwood, the pariah half-elf ranger Mirena Anheim found her wanderings taking her to that eastern town. Finally, Sigibald Hildebrand, an Illindorian bard, brought his message of war and doom to the town in an attempt to rally humanity against the green menace of the orc.

The seven adventurers met in a tavern that fateful day, about an ad posted around the town. Juliette Tallbranch had summoned them for a job as caravan guards for her company the Tallbranch Trading Company. Her caravans had been going missing on the Spring Road between Farshire and the trading capital of Springhaven. The manner of damage done to the carts suggested attacks by some unknown savage beast. It would be the job of the party to protect her caravan and get to the bottom of these strange attacks, putting a stop to them if possible. The caravan would leave the next morning.

That night, Tabni entertained the people of the Farshire town square with a fantastic musical performance while most of the party rested after the long journeys that had brought them to that town.

### The Spring Road

The next morning, the party met with the Tallbranch caravan. The front cart was driven by the caravan's leder, a proud and impatient high elf called Fanriel. The middle cart was driven by Henry, and Ederan man of simple and often distracted disposition. Bringing up the rear was Samra, a kindly old Ederan lady.

After a day of travels sweetened by the music of the two bards, the party set up camp by the road to rest. Sir Reed took this opportunity to test his mettle against another hero, challenging his countryman Sigibald to a sparring match (to the disgust of Fanriel and the pleasure of Samra). The two had bantered on their journey over Greycrown's desertion, of which Sigi disapproved. The bard struck first, but the paladin-knight's return was fierce and merciless. Yet no matter how much he bled, Sigibald would not yield. Rakkan the monk eventually had to intervene in order to prevent the two from seriously hurting each other. He punched Reed in the face and cooled the blood of the two combatants who decided to halt their spar and shake hands. The paladin held a bitterness toward Rakkan for stealing his victory (and punching him during a one on one duel).

Meanwhile, the tiefling Tabni was sitting with Henry the merchant and admiring the stars. She played him some mediocre music which impressed him deeply enough to cause him to rest his head on her shoulder. He said her music was "Pretty like the stars". Their conversation was mimicked in its entirety by Jan Jan who had summoned a shadow to play the part of Henry. Jan Jan's shadow (called Thomas) was redirected to judge the sparring match when it began, and when it was called a tie the thing sprinted off into the distance and disappeared. Tabni used her prestidigitation and thaumaturgy to enhance a song of healing to repair the wounds of the sparring combatants.

During all this, the ranger Mirena had been gazing into the night and spotted a black shape moving in the shadows. She alerted the rest of the party to this, and they decided to take turns on watch for the night. Mirena and Jan Jan shared a watch as Jan Jan proclaimed "two eyes are better than one" [sic]. Tabni Yshtar fell asleep on her watch but was awakened by Fanriel who discovered the rear cart had been broken into and some of its Hinodese silks stolen. Tabni woke up the rest of the party and they spied something watching them from the tree tops in the night. Reed exclaimed as he saw the thing, which was then spooked and descended the tree. The party continued their watch cycle till the morning, as they decided hunting for the creature in the night was too risky.

The next few days were uneventful except for the occasional beast tracks sightings. Jan Jan the forest gnome looked for ingredients to craft a drink that "won't cool you off, but will give you the shivers" without much success. When the party spotted something part way up the mountains that lined the left of the road, Sigi, Reed and Rakkan went to investigate while the rest remained with the caravan. They found a dwarf merchant and his cart crushed by rocks, and the dwarf was crying out to them. Sir Reed removed enough of the stones to allow the dwarf to speak, who then said "You fools! It will come back!" Rakkan was about to ask what he was talking about, when Samra's scream from back at the caravan interrupted him.

A troll had attacked the party at caravan and was attempting to shove Samra into a sack. The heroes moved to combat it, but the beast shook off most of their attacks. In an act of blind courage, Fidelma the halfling druid cast a spell of Shillelagh to imbue her wood staff with the power of nature before striking at the troll. The monster responded by biting her, wounding the halfling to the point of unconsciousness.

As Sigibald and Rakkan rushed back to the aid of their fellows, Sir Reed attempted to remove the rest of the rocks from the dwarf to save his life. His efforts backfired, however, and a rock fell on the dwarf, caving his face in and killing him. The troll succeeded in sacking Samra before Tabni used magic to mimic a wyvern call to frighten the troll. Her trick succeeded and the troll began to flee even as it was chased down by Rakkan who refused to let it make off with Samra. Meanwhile, Fanriel attempted to take his cart and leave (with Henry chasing after him). Reed tried to stop him, but decided fighting the troll was a more pressing matter. As Rakkan and Reed fought the beast, Mirena fired an arrow which hit it in the left eye. After this, it fled into the nearby Elfwood and was lost.

### Tracking the troll

The party regrouped and formed a hunting party of Mirena, Sigibald, Jan Jan and Rakkan to recover Samra from the troll. Fidelma, Tabni and Reed remained with the caravan to guard their goods. Thanks mostly to Sigibald's leadership, the hunting party managed to track the troll's trail to a cave marked by an ominous crudely drawn druidic rune. The inside of the cave was decorated with cave paintings depicting the rise and fall of civilization, and some mysterious figure with a smudged face. As the party went deeper into the caverns, the ground became entirely covered in bones. They came to a large chamber of the cavern where they were ambushed by painted barbarians.

Two berserkers attacked Rakkan but he managed to hold them off well while Sigi, Mirena and Jan Jan fought the rest of the barbarians. Sigibald frightened two of them with an intimidating roar, throwing them off balance and making it easier for he and his allies to defeat them. A berserker managed to knock Rakkan unconscious but a second wind got him back to his feet in time to throw a dart at a fleeing warrior, killing him instantly. The party had fought well, but were still very injured despite Rakkan's medicine skills and the old healing herbs discovered in the packs of their foes by Sigibald. They decided to retreat to the caravan, where Tabni had convinced Fanriel to not leave until their allies returned.

Sigibald showed Fidelma a drawing he had done of the rune found at the cave. The halfling druid called upon the knowledge granted to her in The Fey to identify the rune as a Cattuviri symbol of warning often found at protected sacred sites. The Cattuviri were a barbarian people who held true to the Old Ways of the ancient Ettarian pagans. It seemed that this particular tribe revered a Faerie Queen called Glaenwanda who opposed all of civilization and vowed its destruction. She had been a great symbol of resistance during the Ettarian war with the Valamari Empire.

The heroes decided Samra was probably already killed by now and so resolved to continue on to Springhaven since they were so near and return to clear the cave of wildmen and the troll when their goods were delivered.

### A stop in Springhaven

In the city of Springhaven, the heroes restock on some essential items including oil; Fidelma had informed the party that troll blood allows the beast to regenerate its strength after being injured and that the only way to prevent this is by burning the thing with flame or poisoning its blood. Sigibald used his charisma and rhetoric in the town square to recruit a mob of commoners to attack the troll with.

Tabni parted with the company here, as she didn't agree with attacking the Cattuviri in their home. She had also caught wind of the Free Brotherhood while in the city, and intended on tracking down their leadership to hear what they had to say.

### The Cattuviri Caverns

The party returned to the cave with their commoner mob and charged in, torches lit and shouting. A barbarian ambush in the same room as last time took the lives of many of the commoners, leading Rakkan to attempt to convince the mob to return home. Yet, the commoners had been driven to a rage and were determined to burn down the barbarian tribe and the troll which had been killing their people. They charged into the next room, where wooden bridges covered in archers crisscrossed overhead as warriors attacked from the front. The final commoners were slain in this room. Rakkan's lightning breath destroyed many foes, as did the arrows of Mirena. Reed held the line with all his strength, but the combination of wildman warriors and archers overwhelmed him and he was knocked unconscious. The party was scattered and all of them were knocked down but Jan Jan who fled to hide in the tunnels.

Coming to in a large chamber of the cave tied down to stone altars, the defeated party was quickly joined by a struggling Jan Jan being carried by two barbarians. On two other altars were Samra and the Ederan fighter Marlow who had been captured while pursuing a false lead on the orc who killed his family in Chatou. A druid wearing bone ornaments recited ancient Ettarian chants to the stomping and chanting of a huge crowd of Cattuviri. And in a bone cage was held the troll, surrounded by spearmen and a Half-Orc barbarian (the one Marlow had followed).

The Cattuviri druid blew white smoke into Reed's face and tried to overcome his religious willpower in order to gain access to his soul for a sacrificial ritual. When he was met with fierce resistance from the paladin, the druid demanded that he denounce Marpholones so that they would be alone. The white smoke proved coercive enough that Reed denied his god, losing his paladin powers. Now that the ritual was ready, a Cattuviri couple entered the circle to be married. A knot was tied around their arms by the druid, who then raised his sacrificial knife to slay the party. Just before he could, however, the troll broke free of its flimsy cave and began to wreak havoc in the cave.

Samra managed to cut her bonds loose and did the same for the rest of the party. She told them she had been conscious in the cave for a while and knew a way out the back. In the chaos of the fight in the ritual chamber, Sigibald slew the druid before following after the rest of the party as the half-orc did battle with the troll.

While fleeing the battle in the cavern, the party found a room full of treasure. They went to loot it but were interrupted by retreating barbarians led by the deeply wounded half-orc who had come by another passage. After overcoming these foes, Reed found a magic spear and Fidelma opened a chest among the treasure that she had been magically drawn by. In this chest was seven amulets embedded with emerald stones. At the touch, a voice of a faerie queen spoke in the party's heads, informing them that these enchanted fey amulets would bless the party with Great Fate so long as they were together. This meant that if the party worked as one, their achievements would be magically enhanced and their greatness as heroes would be assured. Taking the amulets and vowing to form a company in order to advance the goals of each member, the heroes left the cave behind them entering the Elfwood.

### Showdown with the troll

Setting up camp in the forest, the party prepared to be attacked with the troll that had undoubtedly been hunting them since the caves. Sure enough, the beast struck during the night. Reed and Rakkan fought at the front while the rest of the party lent their ranged support. Fidelma trapped the troll in entangling roots with her druidic incantations so that Rakkan and Jan Jan could douse the thing in oil. Marlow dipped an arrow in flame and shot at the troll, but its flame soon went out. Fidelma and Mirena followed suit by raining flaming arrows on the troll, but they failed to catch.

The troll almost took down Reed in battle but the paladin in one final push managed to throw the beast into the flames lit by Marlow's shot into oil on the grass. That monster then died screaming in the fire. After taking its head (and after Jan Jan filled a vial with its blood), the Emerald Company returned to Farshire and claimed their reward. Reed resolved to return the treasure they found in the caves to Juliette Tallbranch as it was the property of her company, but they kept the Emerald Amulets. This generosity, along with rescuing Samra who was Juliette's aunty, earned the party a Tallbranch Talisman, a coin with a leaved T representing their right to a discount at Tallbranch vendors.