Session 22 6/12/2022

Jeff, Tasha, Bill, Michael, Megan

Duriel and Althalus, Elektrah, Brottar, Arden, Lucia

The party started in three or four different areas - Arden was at the Church of Kelemvor, Brottar and Elektrah were in the forest searching for druids, Duriel was investigating (creepily) the orphanage, Lucia was off doing Rogue stuff. Duriel was investigating the orphanage and managed to upset the matron managing it. A child was sent down the road to the guard post with a note. The guards left the post and approached Duriel, inquiring why he was lurking around the orphanage. True to form, he managed to wedge his foot in his mouth. He was eventually arrested for creepily lurking around the orphanage.

Arden was at the Church and was discussing his concerns with the high priest. The priest promised to investigate further and directed Arden to approach the Church of Lathander (the church sponsoring the orphanages). While he was waiting for further guidance, he counseled some people who were grieving. He was given a letter of introduction and sent on his way. He finds his way to the Church of Lathander who seems very concerned about the thought that their orphanages are being used for nefarious purposes. He is given some details about the recent deaths (arson, murder/suicide, poisoning, etc). He is directed to the druid grove as they have adopted many of the children. Arden opts to return to the inn as two of his friends are already looking into this.

Brottar and Elektrah were following the north 'path' following druidic trail signs. They feel they're being watched (this upsets Brottar's wolf), eventually, find a large Bear about 100 yards E-NE from them. Elektrah wild-shapes into a bear to try to talk to it. The bear looks at her blankly and walks away. She did notice that the bear didn't smell right, it smelled wilder than a normal bear. They end up following the bear further into the woods until it reached a clump of trees. The bear disappears. They find the footprints just disappear. They see that Brottar's DireWolf is looking up and they see a man sitting on a thick branch. They exchange some words and they are directed to the grove about a mile north to a willow tree near a pond and then half a mile to the east. After some discussion, they find their way to the druid grove (hippy commune) and chat with one of the elders about the children. The children have been taken into the woods by some of the elders to learn about traps, hunting, and field dressing their catches. Brottar asks if there is anything he can do to help. They ask him to hunt and try to bring back some deer as the children will likely bring back rabbits that do not have much meat. After some time, he brings back a very large buck which is promptly dressed and readied for dinner. Eventually the children come back and a small child (about 4 years old) comes back and runs up to Elektrah, bragging about how she was a bear and the elders are there to protect her during the Scary Times. After some discussion, it's revealed that the druid grove are all Were-Bears. After searching their combined memories/information, they acknowledge that Were-Bears are generally good aligned and do not seem to be harming the children. They stay at the commune for the night and head back into town the next day.

Athalus walks into town and immediately surveys the lay of the land. He lifts someone's coin pouch and acquires 30 gold. He goes to put the gold in his own pouch, he finds that it's been taken. He looks around but doesn't see anyone suspicious. He steals an apple from a local vendor while he looks around for someone looking sketchy. He walks past an alleyway and hears giggling. He follow the sound and sees a guard laying on the ground, bleeding copiously from his groin. He helps the guard up and out of the the main thoroughfare, fully expecting the other guards to find him and get him healed/restored. He walks back down the alley and find the guard's genitals lying the group in a puddle of blood. He hears giggling above him and has a brief but unproductive conversation with the assailant, a small female dressed in all grey. She jumps down into the alleyway and their conversation continues. Lucia offers him 100 gold to kill the guard. He agrees. She throws down a coin pouch (his coin pouch), but it's empty. He's unbothered until he realizes that it's got a hole in it. After spitting insults back and forth, it's eventually established that Lucia knows where he's staying and that he's staying at the same inn she's staying at. All he's able to remember is her giggle, that she's in a grey cloak and that she has horns and a tail. She seems to take offense to him calling her a demon. He finds he way to a sleazy bar, looking for assassin work. He sees a dark grey shadow opening the door, stepping in, and immediately walking back out. A dock worker sits near him and seems distraught. The man explains he's upset about his job and he's not sure if he'll get it done. He offers 1,000gp plus expenses for Athalus to track down a small boy (blonde, curly hair, 4 years old, held hostage by a clan of minotaurs, taken from a village near Candlekeep). Athalus takes the job with the caveat that no one hears anything the him (the dock worker). Athalus notices that the dock worker is wearing a golden choker-like necklace. Having secured some work, he heads back to his room at the inn to plot out his journey using his maps.

Lucia walks into the inn, covered in blood, and approaches Arden. After some brief discussion, including a very frank explanation as to why she's covered in blood (with the reassurance that the guard had it coming). She also explains that a very plain/boring looking man might be coming into the tavern looking for her. Arden shares the information he's received from the Churches. She heads upstairs to try to clean Skeezy Guard Blood out of her clothes. Athalus enters the inn and immediately asks Arden if he's seen a demon come through here. Ever-truthful, Arden explains that he has not seen a Demon and that a lot of people have come in to the inn with cloaks on and he didn't investigate each one. Frustrated, Athalus heads upstairs to his room. He passes by Lucia's room and hears water splashing and some very harsh/foreign words being said. He just ignores it and makes his way to his room. Arden is given a note from the Church of Kelemvor telling him that the Prophecy is incomplete. not just missing some letters. It's missing half of the prophecy. After some time, Lucia comes downstairs in her Desert Gear (cloak, short shorts, and a halter top). She and Arden discuss their next steps. Lucia is frustrated that they're operating with half of the information. They discuss going to Candlekeep and the route they should take (which matches the route Athalus is going to take). Athalus is sitting nearby recognizing Lucia's laugh and wanting to get more information about her. He overhears their plan and gets upset that they're going to be following his route. He approaches them and the three decide that it's in everyone's best interest if they travel together as there will likely be a lot of danger along the way. They decide that they're going to meet again in 3 days (giving the rest of the party time to rejoin them and to acquire supplies) and they will leave down the river by boat/barge. Athalus and Lucia agree to a shaky truce where Lucia promises not to cut off his genitals unless he really deserves it.

No combat because Brottar and Elektrah didn't attack the Were-Bears.

1,000 XP because we got a lot of plot stuff done tonight.

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