Session 1 - Return to Pinefarrow

After five years, our heroes returned to Pinefarrow, the small town where they all grew up. It was not a happy return, however, as Sir Bryce Greenwood had died from illness in the years before, leaving only a letter and a cryptic warning. Traveling to his ancestral tower, they found the building overrun by goblins, and housing an enraged chimera in the caverns below. Clearing the tower, the heroes discovered a secret chamber in Sir Bryce's library, and his final note. An ominous red light in the sky sent them back to Pinefarrow in haste, only to find the town burning, under attack by a figure that appeared to be their old childhood friend Astara.

## Bryce's First Letter

My Dear Stormhawks,

Never in this long
life was I more proud or sorrowful than that day I watched you all set off on
adventures of your own. Since the time you were hardly more than children, each
of you has shone with such hope, such determination, such promise that never once
did I doubt that some day you would journey to make the world your own. Growing
up, I taught you all as best I could, and though I was no great teacher you
were each eager learners. Each story I told of my adventures imparted on you
the lessons you would need to become adventurers of your own. In the five years
since we last parted, I know that that spark of adventure within each of you
has been forged into the soul of a hero.

I am dying. In
truth, I was dying before you even left, but I said nothing. I would not have
deprived any of you the chance to pursue your destinies with worry. I apologize
that I could find no better way to tell you than this, but we take what
Pellenor gives us. Still, I had hoped that my illness would not claim me before
you returned, and I could give you what I had promised in person. Alas, it will
not be so, and so I entrust my words and my gift to Bartell Brewer to give to
you upon your return.

When you left, I
told you that upon your return we would embark together on a grand adventure.
Now that I am gone, I entrust that task to you. You must return to my tower,
where you spent so many hours of your youth, and look in the library, where you
spent so few. Find the secret within. Dark tidings approach. Trust in
yourselves. Trust in each other.

Sir Bryce
Greenwood

## Bryce's Second Letter

My Dear Stormhawks,

I trust you found my
chamber without too much difficulty. I apologize for the subterfuge, but I
could not risk my words falling into the wrong hands, even if they are as
well-meaning as Bartell Brewer's. Dark times approach, and we must be more
cautious than ever before.

Though I told you
many tales of my adventuring days, I never told you of my companions or the
reason we set out together. There were five of us originally, and though others
would come and go over the years those five remained united by common purpose
and the bonds of lifelong friendship. I was a young knight-errant, not untested
yet by no means an experienced adventurer. With me were Alrik the Helmcleaver,
a dwarven warrior and outcast of Thorborimm; Silverfox, elven priestess;
Feargal Devitt, a thief; and Alastair Alban, guildmage of the High College.
Together, we called our company the Stormhawks, after the hero of old. Thus
also my name for you all as you grew, my little Stormhawks. In those days, all
of Prydain lived in fear, for the dukedom was under the control of the
Witch-King Balor. The five of us swore an oath to defeat the fiend and free our
land, and though it cost us dearly, we succeeded. Silverfox, who was by then my
wife, and Feargal were dead. Alrik was at last able to return to his home.
Alastair disappeared. I came back here, to my ancestral home, and though the
injuries I sustained would never allow me to adventure again I found new
purpose in taking care of a vagrant band of youth.

Two years before you
departed, I learned of troubling signs, the sort that had not been seen since
Balor was defeated. Your training began in earnest that day. Each day I would
teach you what I could, and each night I poured over all the knowledge I had collected
here, wrote to learned men and old companions, sought answers. Years I
researched, even after you had left. Only a month before I write this now, I at
last made a breakthrough. A hidden vault deep in the Bleakheather Forest that
promised answers, a means to prevent the Witch-King's return. I readied myself
to depart, yet my injuries of old and my illness failed me. I am all but
bed-ridden now, unable to face this task that should have been my duty. I leave
this map to you, my young Stormhawks. Find this vault, learn what it holds, and
complete the quest we started so many years before.

That is not all I
leave to you, however. Though I never claimed it in life, I was a Baronet of
Prydain. This tower, and all the lands surrounding it, were my birthright.
Though once I dreamed of passing that title down to Silverfox and my children,
I could ask for no worthier heirs than all of you. I hereby name the eight of
you heirs to my land and titles. This tower, and all that is within it, is
yours, as are the responsibilities of your position. Serve your people, and all
of Prydain, first and foremost; serve your Duke; serve the rightful King of
Avalon, should one ever return. Never forget what I have told you.

My hand grows
unsteady. I must rest.

## Player Notes

(Fill in anything you want recorded here. Questions will also be answered here if you want anything clarified.)