Arc 1: The Shadows' Call

**The Shadows' Call** is the first story arc in the main campaign of Kalatos. It follows the party as they come together to chase down members of an underground crime ring known as Caddo's Crowd through the cities of Zellivath and Stockroad.

## Summary (by session)

### A Cold Welcome

On the morning of 12 Doralus 3012, Scathir, Elsi, Kali, Valarin, and Rogzush all (separately) made their way to the Brass Owl Inn in the town of Zellivath. They end up dining for breakfast together, and begin to converse with each other about who they are. Eventually, they all finish their meal and are about to leave when they are interrupted by a commotion from the street. Valarin is the first one out, and finds that the next door apothecary run by Baldwin Haffler has been destroyed somehow. The rest follow and discover from Baldwin that a young white dragon he and his daughter Amelia had been raising in secret had taken her and flown into the forest. After being outfitted with a number of healing potions and being promised some payment, the five head off into the forest to recover Amelia.

By following a trail of frozen trees for a few hours, the group comes to a cave with a stream running through it. The group enters the cave and finds a descending, narrow passage. Being careful to not slip on the frozen stream, they follow the passage and discover what seems to be a storeroom filled with rations, torches, and other wilderness supplies. They then come across another chamber, where a bundled-up Amelia Haffler and the white dragon are sleeping. The group attempts to retrieve Amelia from the dragon, and are successful until she wakes up and alerts the dragon to their presence. A fight ensues, and the dragon is knocked unconscious.

### The Basement Betrayer

The group decides it would be best to leave the dragon behind and take Amelia back to town. They wake the dragon and leave for a minute to let her have a moment to say goodbye. By the time Valarin is able to lead the group back, night has fallen. They enter the city and return to the apothecary, where they find the shop is even more overturned than when they left. When they attempt to call for Baldwin, they discover he is not there. Upon investigating the building, they find scorch marks on the floor and what seems to be a secret cellar. When they descend, the group finds a number of empty cages, as well as a loose cockatrice. It bites Kali, who begins to turn to stone.

As soon as this happens, Amelia, who is being carried on the back of Rogzush, stabs the firbolg with a poisoned knife. While Rogzush and Elsi deal with Kali's affliction, she escapes from the basement, and Valarin and Scathir chase after her. Before disappearing from sight, she says, "Dear old dad should be safe in Stockroad by now." The cockatrice is killed and Kali is healed, but Amelia has escaped.

### To Stockroad!

The group investigates the scene immediately following Amelia's disappearance, though they are unable to find her. They agree to travel to Stockroad and see if they can locate the two, except for Rogzush, who elects to stay in Zellivath. They then take a rest, visit a cartographer (where Valarin purchases a map of the Djintarian Empire), and head out towards Stockroad.

During the four-day journey, the party encounters a number of notable things. On the first day, they come across an empty house that turns out to be the trap of a group of bandits. Upon burning a few of the bandits, the ones that remain alive run away out of fear. The next day, they find a smashed jar of some kind of fungus, which lashes out at them until they overcome it. On the night of the third day, when the party beds down for the night, Valarin, who is taking watch, sees a sort of shadow staring back at her from the other side of the fire. It seems ghostly and unresponsive when interacted with.

On the evening of the fourth day of travel, the group finally arrives at Stockroad. Approaching the brick streets of the main town, they are met by a group of Luminguard. The guards stop them and command that they surrender. The group finds out that they have been accused for the attempted murder of Baldwin Haffler and are placed under arrest.

### Underground Intrigue

The group is taken by the Luminguard to the Empire's holding facility in Stockroad, where they stay for roughly an hour. During this time, they make some unsuccessful escape attempts, including creating smoke bombs and unlocking the door. However, as soon as they are about to leave the cell, they are told by a Luminguard that someone has come to retrieve them. When they leave the building, they are greeted by an unfamiliar wood elf who will not reveal her name. She tells them to trust her and she brings them back to a small one-room shack outside of town.

When the party arrives at the shack, the elf informs them that her name is Moss and that she works with a secretive organization that is working to dismantle an underground organization that deals in magical creatures known as Caddo's Crowd. She says Baldwin and Amelia Haffler work for this organization and her current goal is to apprehend the both of them. She also says that Baldwin is not what he seems, and as such she needs help in completing her mission. The party agrees to help in return for a high amount of gold. They take a rest while they wait for night to fall and Scathir rents a room from the Clumsy Rabbit Inn.

After nightfall, the group heads to the Clumsy Rabbit. Moss speaks with the tavern keeper and upon speaking the phrase "Do you take diamonds for horses?", they are led to a back alley, where they pass through a cellar door and enter a large and bright speakeasy. They split off to talk to people and look for the Hafflers. Valarin pokes around in some back rooms, and in a magical disguise, goes on stage where a band is playing and joins in on the music. While this is happening, Baldwin and Amelia enter and pass through a door opposite the entrance. Valarin follows, and soon after the rest of the group does. She drops her disguise and stealthily follows the two down the hall until they pass through a door and shut it behind them. Against the warnings of the rest of her team, she enters the room and sees the two of them setting up cots in an office lit only by moonlight. They see her, and Baldwin drops what seems to be a disguise and transforms into a demon composed entirely of shadow, with large wings and tall horns on his head.

### Dark Visions

The transformed Baldwin attacks, followed closely by Amelia. The rest of the party enters the room and defends against the two. During the commotion, Elsi charms Amelia, who then falls asleep. Baldwin is slain by Kali and dissolves into a golden ichor, leaving behind a simple silver chain. In the fight's aftermath, they tie Amelia to a chair and place her in a small cart to sneak her out. They successfully exit the speakeasy and return to Moss' hut. After putting Amelia behind a false chimney, the party takes a rest. Scathir heads back to the inn where he rented the room and sleeps there. During the night, he has a vision from which he wakes with a few coins missing.

In the morning, the party finds Moss, packing up the hut and preparing to leave, and Amelia, yelling from behind the chimney. Elsi feeds her and charms her again, putting her to sleep. Scathir returns. Eventually, a red-haired halfling named Beck arrives with a large wagon pulled by a few horses and the group piles in to return to Zellivath.

### The Falling Rain

The group arrives at Zellivath. Beck brings them to the Silver Archives location in the city, where Moss leads them inside and back through a hidden entrance behind a bookcase. Behind this wall, there is a large room with a number of desks, most of which are being used by working individuals. Moss leads them further back to the opposite side of the room where there are three doors, one with the word "Chief", one with the word "Junior", and one with no label. She enters the room labeled "Chief" alone, where she stays for a few minutes before exiting and telling the rest of the group to enter. They walk into the room without her and find a man behind a desk tinkering with an object on his desk. He asks them for details on what happened in the speakeasy, and they tell him. The group is informed by the man that this organization is called "The Craft". It is an extremely secretive crime-fighting group apparently funded by the Empire itself. The party is then compensated by him for their work (though it is less than what they hoped it would be) and Kali is allowed to keep the Chain of Disguise that she retrieved from Baldwin. He then offers them a job to aid Moss in investigating and potentially stopping a series of tremors and possibly connected disappearances in the town of Mellivald, and they accept. They leave the Archive, Valarin visits a blacksmith named Googonax, and they all set off for the town.

It begins to rain as soon as they leave Zellivath, making the unpaved road a muddy mess. The journey is uneventful for the most part, until the second day. When night falls and they are about to bed down for the night, the party comes across a path of fallen trees parallel to the road, with an overturned cart on its right side. Deciding to investigate, they follow the path of fallen trees and find an encampment of four small tents and one large one, with a worg tethered outside a makeshift wall of felled trees. Kali and Valarin sneak up to the larger tent and find inside there are seven goblins and an ogre, as well as five humans chained together. Valarin decides to play a song. The goblins realize they are being watched and spring into an offensive position. A battle ensues, in which the worg is released by a goblin and joins the fight. Valarin is chased into the woods by a few goblins and the ogre, but is able to kill the goblins and blind the ogre long enough to escape. The rest of the party defends against the rest of the goblins and the worg, which pounces on Moss and repeatedly bites into her neck, killing her. After they defeat the goblins and the worg, the rain stops.