Session 1 (09/03/2021)

## Day One, Evening

**The** party awakens in a large, dimly lit stone hall. They are covered in sheets and lying on raised stone slabs. The room is filled with hundreds of covered figures on their individual stone slabs, but only the six-party members arise. Dove quietly asks if anyone can hear her and the party responds. No one remembers where they are and how they got there. The room smells like dirt and ash, and the floor feels soft under their feet. Gary raises his holy relic, illuminating the room in the faint light. Pele uses her darkvision to find the door, but it's locked. Kaz grabs the handles and rips the doors off their hinges. Cool air rushes in through the door.

Two guards standing outside the door are frightened by the doors being ripped open. One guard runs away, but Kaz grabs the second guard before he can flee. Pele questions the guard and finds out that many in the town died when a strange magic came through the town. The guard says that the town's shaman has traveled to a nearby mountaintop to try to appease the gods.

While the party woke up wearing their clothes, everyone's items are missing. After questioning, the guard says that the items are most likely at the mayor's house. He points the party to a large house in the distance with a bell tower and an ivy-covered fence.

The party travels down the street and passes boarded-up shops and taverns. It looks like the shops have been closed for a while now. The few people on the street look at the party nervously, and hurry into their homes, close the doors, and shut the blinds.

The party arrives at the mayor's house and sees a big, beautiful brass bell with a circular flower-shaped sigil engraved on it. There seems to be salt on the ground near the fence and the gate. They ring the small bell on the gate, and a large, lithe firbolg comes to answer. He is well-dressed in formal attire and introduces himself as Zertis, the "young master's" butler.

Zertis leads the party through the home.  The manor looks like it was elegant in its day but now shows its age through faded upholstery on the furniture. There are also strange claw marks along some of the walls.

As Zertis goes to get glasses of water for the party, the party hears loud banging on the front door.

Captain Gardis of the town's night guard enters. He is a tall human man with large mutton chops, wearing dirty and unpolished full-plate armor. His large pauldrons show the same flower-shaped sigil that was on the bell outside. He says he tracked down the party and wants to know how they have come back to life after being dead for two days. He explains that a large blue-green cloud descended on the town, killing many, but not everyone. He adds that the town's shaman said the mysterious cloud was magic at work.

Suddenly, a tall, flamboyantly dressed man with cheetah fur enters the room. He is wearing an elaborate vest, slim-fitting pants, and a cap with a long, elegant feather. His eye makeup is dramatic and the whiskers he has are impeccably groomed. He is delighted to see us, saying that the shaman will love us and we will make excellent sacrifices to the gods. He introduces himself as Shasta and tells the party that the gods have brought them back to life so that they can be sacrificed.

Pele thinks back to how she knows the flower-shaped sigil. She remembers being with her family as they told her about the many gods of Faerun. The sigil belongs to Tyr, a lawful good god who is a protector but also has a strange sense of justice.

Shasta refuses to give the party back their weapons since the party is just going to be sacrificed anyway. They strike a deal that Shasta returns the items as long as the party travels to the mountain to meet the shaman. Shasta says that if the shaman determines that the party doesn't need to be sacrificed, then the party is free to go.

Shasta tells Zertis to bring up the two chests containing the party's items, and he mentions a poster being the reason the party came to town. The party doesn't know what he means by the poster, and Shasta is surprised that the party can't remember it. He finds a copy of the poster to show the party.

The poster boldly proclaims, "Come to the Miracle City, where people are healed, saved, and protected!" Shasta says the posters were hung all over the land, but he didn't post them and doesn't know who did.

Pele has vague memories of seeing the poster in her guildhall, and her guild master was telling the party about the mysterious poster. She now remembers that the party were all members of the same guild! Dove begins to remember being in the guild as well - she wanted to hurry to Seidan as soon as possible to investigate the strange poster and be the first to claim the reward.

Shasta doesn't think it's wise to send the party to the mountain while it's dark outside, so he allows the party to stay the night in the manor. Zertis leaves to bring dinner for the party, and Swage and Pele try to get a read on Captain Gardis. The captain's armor and body show scars from battle, and Swage and Pele can tell that the captain has seen his fair share of combat.

Shasta is surprised to learn that Swage had no prior knowledge of cows, and arranges Zertis to set up a spread of roasted pig, steak, fruit, cheese, and two pitchers of drink for the party. Swage is excited to taste these strange cow creatures and notices the meat smells like herbs and charcoal. However, Swage isn't trusting of the food and eats his rations instead. Kaz doesn't hesitate to grab an entire roast pig and a full pitcher and goes to sit alone. After finishing the pig and chugging the pitcher, he stands up and stumbles drunkenly.

Before Zertis retires for the night, Swage asks him about the strange claw marks on the walls. Zertis says that Shasta made the claw marks, but out of "youthful indiscretion" instead of outright anger. He leaves the room and lets the party know that each room has a bell if they need anything and that bells are a great source of protection.

The party discusses everything that has happened this evening and decides that while they trust Shasta, they don't trust the mysterious shaman.

Swage uses firbolg magic to take on Shasta's likeness. He looks enough like Shasta to perhaps fool villagers, but maybe not close confidants, especially since Swage still speaks with his regular voice.

Kaz staggers over to look in the two chests, wondering if they contained anything in addition to the party's belongings. Inside he finds a telescope, a compass, a map of the world, and a skeleton key with a small skull carved from bone on the pommel. The rest of the party gathers around to see, and Dove hops in the now-empty box. The bottom of the box makes a loud click and Dove fearfully jumps out. It looks like the box has a false bottom, and Dove uses her claws to lift it out. Under the false bottom, there is a journal with a blue suede cover, a shining sapphire stone, and a small coin purse.

Dove grabs the journal and attempts to open it, but the book resists her and won't open. Pele and Kaz attempt to open the journal, but the journal refuses to be opened and keeps returning to Dove.

Pele picks up the coin purse and discovers that it's empty. She puts her hand inside and has a passing thought about apples. Suddenly, her hand brushes something smooth and solid, and she pulls an apple out of the bag! She puts her hand back inside the bag and thinks of gold, but only pulls out coal. She pockets the coal.

Swage investigates the items and can vaguely detect magical properties. The compass contains abjuration magic, the coin purse contains conjuration magic, the spyglass and key possess alteration magic. He is not able to discern the magic in the journal, but he thinks it may be summoning or alteration. The sapphire and map do not contain magic, but the sapphire is worth about 500 gold. Gary investigates the key. A memory flashes through his mind but is quickly gone.

Pele looks through the spyglass and can see through to the next room. She notices engraving on the spyglass, but she can't read it. Gary looks and sees that it's written in Elvish. The engraving reads "He who wishes to see the truth can see all." Pele says the words and looks through the spyglass at Swage. She can see his actual form through his Shasta disguise.