Session 1: Open Graves

*For a list of all sessions, see the page Sessions.*

The party all open their eyes to find themselves in graves. They have no memory of how they got there; with one exception, the last thing they remember is falling asleep in the Drunken Dragon, the biggest inn in Gardicore. When they climb out of the graves, they see each other, and all but Inkcap notice that the 12 graves are oriented in the shape of a solargram.

They also see another creature sitting on the edge of its grave with its feet dangling down inside. Athleo and Inkcap identify this creature as a Godling, and Athleo tells the party that Godlings are magical, immortal creatures incapable of reproduction that were born from the union of gods and mortals. When they try to communicate to the Godling (a small, gray-skinned creature resembling a human child), they find his language unfamiliar. Roxy discovers that, though he can not speak it, the Godling understands Infernal. She attempts to question him, using a magical spell to persuade him to be more communicative, but he is not very helpful, and Athleo accuses Roxy of cursing the child. When Roxy's spell wears off, the Godling seems disturbed that a spell was cast on him and he disappears.

Athleo begins running towards the town of Gardicore that they can see nearby, and Roxy follows. Mourd climbs a tree to get a better lay of the land and sees that the skyline of Gardicore is different, missing the silhouette of the inn that they stayed in the night before; he then distantly follows Athleo and Roxy. Looney stays behind to investigate the graves, and Inkcap stays with him. As Looney climbs down into the grave, the Godling reappears, having seemingly been invisible.

All of the graves have bodies in them, though none are moving. They discover four human bodies that Roxy, currently a resident of the town, identifies as other locals. One of the bodies is a foreign dragonborn, and another is a pirate-looking woman with gray skin. The four human bodies all have blood leaking from every orifice, actively crawling out of the bodies despite a lack of influence from gravity. Though the dragonborn and gray-skin woman are not bleeding, they show no signs of life, such as breathing or a pulse.

Looney scoops the Godling up on his shoulders as he and Inkcap catch up to the rest of the party. The Godling enjoys Looney's presence and casts a spell to give him a boost of speed. Roxy explains to everybody that the person to see would be Captain Shyanne Sharp, as she is the leader of the town.

The party approaches the town from behind the previous location of the inn and see that all that remains is a massive crater. At the bottom of the crater, Looney sees something glinting and jumps in to investigate. He finds a piece of glinting and reflective purple crystal. Something about it startles him, and he throws it across the crater.

While the party waits for Looney, the Godling goes invisible again before they are all approached by a guard of the town, a man named Jack that Roxy recognizes. He guffaws at their presence, claiming that they were believed to be dead as they have been missing for a month. He tells them that the only clue they had was the crystal at the bottom of the crater, which they mined and sent off to be studied by wizards. Jack agrees that the best course of action is seeing Captain Sharp, so he escorts the party to her office.

Captain Sharp is just as startled to see the party, particularly Roxy, but she regains her composure far quicker than Jack. The party tells her of the graves, and she gives them the lead that the nearest homestead to that location is the Jackson farm, owned by Ol' Willy Jackson. During their conversation, she comes to the realization that many of the party had coincidentally come into town the same night that the tavern went missing, making them suspects.

As she's explaining this, another man bursts into the room. Frazzled, he explains that "demons from hell" are burning down the town. He describes wolves spitting fire and begs for Captain Sharp's help. She agrees, and pulls a blade off the wall before telling the party to stay put. The man begs the party to help Captain Sharp as his own young daughter went to stop the creatures and he doesn't think Captain Sharp can do it alone. Roxy attempts to follow Captain Sharp's orders, but the eager departure of the rest of the party forces her to follow.

They follow Captain Sharp to a bridge crossing a river. On the other side, they see a teenage girl standing in front of a smaller child, two smaller wolves with purple fire licking up from their mouths burning wheat fields, a larger wolf with fire in its mouth and shooting from its side like exhaust, and Captain Sharp barreling into the wolves to put herself between them and the children.

It's initiative! Mourd runs into a nearby building to ask the blacksmith for help, then jumps into the fray; Athleo and Roxy begin hurling spells to damage the creatures; Looney begins swinging his hammer. Upon the party's approach, the large wolf displays its intelligence by waiting for the party to group up before releasing a torrent of fire across many of them. Inkcap is dropped to 0 hit points and, as she falls unconscious, her form breaks down into a pile of plant detritus, the only remnant of her original form being her wooden right hand sitting atop the debris. She is later healed by Athleo.

As the party begin to defeat the wolves, the largest one begins to make a tactical retreat. It charges Captain Sharp and rips off her hand, rendering her incapable of using her massive two handed sword. Then, its body cracks as it sprouts leathery wings from the flame exhaust holes in its side. It takes off into the sky, but as it flees, Roxy shoots it in the back, causing it to die and plummet into the river below.

With the alpha dead, the final remaining wolf makes a mad dash into town attempting to burn as much as it can before Looney throws a hidden dagger into its flank, stopping it in its tracks.

The session ends and the party levels up to level 2!