Episode 1: The Exiled

The state of The Azalea on the party's arrival to Esadora

*"You don't belong with your kind after the things you've done.”*
-The White Queen exiles Zancur

Three exiled strangers cross paths in a small tavern in The Feral Dominion, and meet a fellow traveler heading home to Esadora and decide to accompany him. On their journey, they find the mysterious land isn't as forgiving as they had thought.

## Plot

At nightfall, after walking for miles, a young high elf named Zancur approaches a small inn located deep in the forest called The Ugly Rat Inn. Exhausted from the long day of travel after his exile, he goes in for a drink. He notices a half orc woman drinking alone at the crowded bar, and decides to have a conversation with her. His distaste for monks made him at first apprehensive to the conversation, but he still continued. She seems cold and guarded, and he doesn’t get much more out of the conversation than her name, Jyn Res. The bartender, a scar-covered orc adventurer named Vanagaur, immediately noticed her two new patrons, as she claimed she knew everyone that came in and out of her bar. She mentions another new person she hadn’t seen before that came in tonight, and beckoned her over to the bar to join the group; a small hummingbird kenku named Aerpip Faegi. Vanagaur returns with drinks and a map for the group to get around their new home. Unfortunately the rooms at the inn are full, but she mentions a strange elf that has been camping out in the woods for the past few nights, and they may have luck staying with him. They leave and approach his camp, and he welcomes them with open arms and introduces himself as Finnon, a moon elf traveling home to Esadora to return to his younger brother. He offers the party food and shelter for the night, and tells them of a group of local adventurers who had gotten lost in a nearby cave and haven’t been seen since. The party agrees to investigate the next day, and they take the night to rest. The next day, the party leaves to explore the cave and Finnon stays at camp. The cave turns out to not be a cave, but more a sinkhole in the ground that had opened up into a tunnel. Upon entering, Zancur spots a tripwire trap and the party narrowly avoids setting it off. Further into the cave, the party finds the three corpses of the adventurers. Figuring there would be no harm done, they each take their belongings and split the coin evenly. Equipped with their weapons of choice, they descend further into the cave. A horde of skeletons block their path, and after a short battle the party continues on. The walls are covered in deerskin and burnt out torches, and it smells of gore and rotted animal skins. At the end wall of the cave, a small white deer with bright glowing white antlers is curled up on the ground asleep, with two spikes with deer skulls next to it. As Zancur reaches out to touch it, a crumbling of the ceiling behind them forces them to turn back and decide to leave it be for their own safety. Upon returning to the camp they tell Finnon their findings on the adventurers and the strange deer they'd seen. Finnon tells the party that Esadora has been in a state of disarray due to attacks from the violent migrating nation of Vrago who aim to destroy the remains of their temple civilization and kill their towns’ center tree, The Azalea. The protector of The Azalea, a glowing white deer deity named Areus, has fled due to the unsafe conditions. Finnon says that he’s currently on the way home to Esadora, and invites the party along with him; however, he warns of the dangers in Hoodag's Marsh: named after the large troll Hoodag who protects the wet landscape. Agreeing to follow him to Esadora, the party leaves heading south, towards the coast. After a day of travel, they set up camp on the edge of the swamp. Finnon briefly leaves with Zancur to hunt, and Jyn and Aerpip make the fire. When the party returns together, they eat the hunted birds and sleep. The next day, Aerpip and Jyn go out foraging for breakfast, leaving Zancur and Finnon alone (I'm pretty sure this is the first Zancur sex scene btw). They get out relatively far from camp when they spot another woman picking berries herself. They quickly duck behind a bush, but are heard and she approaches them, introducing herself as Vylantha. She asks them about where they’re traveling to as nobody lives this deep into the woods, and when she hears they’re traveling to Esadora, she excitedly tells them that she’s from there and is sad about the current state with war on the horizon. She sadly tells them more about Aureus having gone missing, and her role as Head Protector of The Azalea allows her to communicate with him with magic. However, with him missing, she can no longer reach him and is in the forest to find him herself. When they tell her about what they saw in the cave the day before, she graciously thanks them and goes to leave, only to ask how they’ll cross Hoodag’s Marsh, as only Esadorans know the safest routes past Hoodag. They mention Finnon, and she is relieved to hear that they have an Esadoran on their side and says goodbye. After Jyn and Aerpip return to camp, the party eats and enters Hoodag’s Marsh. Finnon claims he knows the safest way; follow the coast. Minutes later, the ground shakes from strong footsteps nearby, coming closer; the dead trees of the marsh begin to shake and Hoodag comes into view as a large vicious troll towering over the party holding a massive wooden club. Zancur rushes for high ground on one of the tree’s branches and Aerpip and Jyn scatter for cover, only to leave Finnon alone and afraid. Hoodag notices and slams his club straight into the ground, crushing Finnon instantly with a loud thud. The remainder of the party play to their strengths and strategically take Hoodag down, killing him as Zancur seethes with revenge. Jyn swaps her longbow with Finnons, and the party sadly continues through the treacherous muddy swamp safely. At dusk, the party exits the swamp and travels further south, when they spot a large city surrounding a massive tree that seems to be weeping and grey, drained of energy. When they walk through the city, murmurs and whispers spread through the crowd, and Jyn recollects how the nation was built on an old monk temple, Domis Mortis. In her clearly monk attire she stands out to the crowd and is approached by various townspeople about a “prophecy” of a glowing monk with powers to heal The Azalea in times of need. They immediately rush her to the dying tree and she notices large gashes from blades at the base of the tree, as if there was an attempt to cut it down. One of the townspeople places her hand on the bark of the tree and the cracks begin to glow bright white; the scars from battle seal and the branches rise, covering themselves in bright pink flowers. A white streak bursts from the sky as Aureus, larger and brighter than before, returns with Vy riding on his back. Landing in front of the tree, Vy thanks Jyn for healing the tree, and thanks the party for coming to Esadora in the first place. She offers them a free meal and a free place to stay at the Protectors’ Quarters anytime they’d like, but mentions that the cities are still on the brink of war. One of her good friends and one of the city's leaders, Avalon, has been looking for people interested in taking up a quest to help the city, and the party agrees to meet Vy and Avalon in the tavern tomorrow morning to discuss.

## Characters

### New Characters

* Jyn Res
* Aerpip Faegi
* Zancur
* Finnon
* Vylantha
* Avalon (referenced)
* The White Queen (referenced)
* The High King (referenced)