Episode 182 - Another Lake, Another Caravan

The party heads east from Deephome and Harper is excited, perhaps too much so, to finally begin tracking down Longcryer. Bucky can't stop being a teen, Jaela's pact with the Raven Queen is revealed, and evidence of the assassins and their crescent moon coins appears to remind the party of the larger plot that's been hounding them since all their paths began to merge at Deephome.

## **Story**

The party makes camp after flying east on their way to Longcryer. Harper thanks everyone with him for coming on this journey. It has been seventeen years since he first met Longcryer, since he had been tortured and experimented on to awaken his sorcerer's powers. It's been eight years since he has last seen him, when he was forced to serve Fenneken, which led him to meet Thom and Aludra, and then eventually Jaela when the confrontation with Fenneken ended in their deaths. Ros tells that party that she knows the general direction to Longcryer, but his tower is hidden by magic. However, the way in is through the guards that can be found patrolling the area outside of the compound. She tells them that she succeeded in getting around the guards, but it was a giant robot statue that forced her to flee. During this conversation, Harper both curses and praises Longcryer. When pushed by Aludra to clarify the strange praise of the man she knows he hates with all his being, Harper denies saying any such words. Ros pulls Aludra aside and they both agree that they should watch him.

On the lighter side, Ros asks again to be reintroduced to Jett, which leads Harper to explain that he's a changeling, but nothing like Wren. And that leads to Aludra reminiscing how small Bucky was back then which only embarrasses him and causes him to storm into his tent. The fly another day's journey and when they make camp again, Harper asks Bucky if he wants to start learning how to take watch, which leads to a little back and forth between the two, and ends with Jett coming out of Bucky's tent looking exactly like the githyanki and impersonating him, which causes Bucky to cry and run off.

During the night, the Raven Queen appears to Jaela in her dreams. She is not happy. She choose Jaela as her paladin to complete one specific task, to destroy Sinu the Red. He walks the world in defiance of the balance of life and death that the Raven Queen oversees. With other things occupying her mind, Jaela has forgotten her purpose, and so the Raven Queen decides impose more of a sense of urgency upon Jaela to complete her quest. She gives Jaela a Raven Dagger, and tells Jaela that every day that Sinu the Red still lives, she must provide the Raven Queen with a soul. The dagger will tell her who it should be. If Jaela fails to provide that soul, someone close to Jaela will die and be offered up instead. With the new conditions set upon her, Jaela wakes up in a sweat.

The party mounts up again and heads east, making great time. They expect to be at the nearest village, Brexleyshire, within the day. As they fly upon the griffons, Princess Ivy Bluemoon, and Daisy, the party sees smoke up ahead. Jett seems to think it's just some random steam up ahead, but it's definitely from a fire. As they get closer the see the wreckage resulting from a raid on a caravan that was most likely headed towards, Glaine, the Jewel of the East. They land and find some people still alive. They see the whole caravan has been looted and bodies everywhere, many killed by the black, orcish arrows they see everywhere. Aludra runs up to the nearest living person, who is named Greg the Merchant. And just as his name implies, he can't help but try to sell two, slightly used arrows that are sticking out of his shoulder and leg. The party sees that there isn't much that they can do, and so they ask him for more information about what happened, which he is more than happy to share.

Greg was on his way to Glaine, the Jewel of the East. A city known for its craftsman ship, that does lots of trade with Yangahr across the ocean. They have always paid well for all kinds of resources, but with this particular contract, they were offering so much that they had intended to retire. He tells Harper that as his last request, he wants them to tell his friends that it looked like he was making a lot of money. He also hands over a very small bag of coins to Harper and tells him to give it to his Aunt Wilma who lives in Glaine, the Jewel of the East. Harper opens the pouch and sees Crescent Moon Coins spill out, the same coins as seen on other assassins they've run into recently. Off to the side, the party notices that Jaela was tending to someone else, but as they get closer they see that he is already dead, not knowing the new arrangement between Jaela and her new god.

## **Trivia**

* Drunks and Dragons gets its first sponsorship! clubw.com/dnd! (soon changed to winc.com/dnd)
* Less than 24 hours between Aludra becoming queen and leaving Deephome
* It's been 17 years since Harper first met Longcryer
* It's been 8 years since he's last seen him.
* Bucky doesn't appreciate being shown how to make a hand whistle out of brass by Harper.
* Bucky doesn't appreciate being taught how to play Three-Dragon Ante.
* Harper won a Three-Dragon Ante tournament five years ago before he was king.
* Greg will accept apples as payment as long as they don't have worms.

## **In This Episode...**

### **Cast and Player Characters**

* Michael DiMauro - *Dungeon Master*
* Mike Bachmann - Jett Razor
* Nika Howard - Jaela
* Tim Lanning - King Titus Harper
* Jennifer Cheek - Aludra Wyrmsbane

### **Non-Player Characters**

* Bucky
* Erynn Colleen
* Greg the Merchant
* Marlamin Windlore
* Ros

## **Creatures**

* Daisy
* Griffons
	+ Bruno Mars
	+ Peter
	+ Sparkles
* Princess Ivy Bluemoon

### **Inventory Updates**

* +1 Raven Dagger
* +1 Very small bag of Crescent Moon Coins

### **Quest Log Updates**

* [NEW] [Active] - Curse of the Raven Queen
* [NEW] [Active] - Investigate merchant deals in Glaine, the Jewel of the East, and the Crescent Moon Coins
* [NEW[ [Active] [Sidequest] - Deliver a very small bag of coins to Wilma in Glaine, the Jewel of the East
* [Active] - *Longcryer!*
* [Active] - What are birds?
* [Active] - Who are the masked assassins?
* Save the shrinking high elf city of Galanthis

### **Quotes**

**"I want all of you to know that it means the world to me that you decided to come with me to finally face Longcryer."** ~ *Sorcerer Titus Harper*

**"Jaela, the Raven Queen knows all. I am death itself. You must go to the Crypt of Sinu the Red and destroy him. Life and death is not something to be toyed with. To be played with. The balance must be kept."** ~ *The Raven Queen*

## **Rolls**

* **Recap**
	+ Jennifer - 9 - Nat20
	+ Tim - 9 - 12 - Bapped
	+ Bachmann - 8
	+ Nika - 4

* **Perception Check** to see what is causing the smoke
	+ Harper - 12-1
	+ Jaela - 21
	+ Jett - Nat1
	+ Aludra - 19
		- Jaela sees what looks like a merchant's caravan has been attacked, ransacked, an set ablaze. Some people are still milling around.
		- Jett thinks there is not a fire. It's just steam maybe.

* **Perception Check** asked by the DM
	+ Harper - 11
	+ Jaela - 10
	+ Jett - 15
	+ Aludra - 21
		- Aludra notices that Jaela was checking on other people while they were with Greg