Chapter 2 - Kickstarting the Quest Log

**Chapter 2** of Greetings Adventurers introduces more characters, a few important side characters, and really begins fleshing out the world of Drunkeros. We also begin to solidify the characters. While being attacked by Gnolls, it is established that Thom the Dragonborn hates Gnolls, and will actively seek out ways to destroy them. The party is introduced to a young Githyanki boy named Bucky, whom they feel so sad for, him being an orphan in a miserable place, that they decide to adopt him, and henceforth, Bucky goes on many adventures with them. Thom and Aludra serve as his adoptive parents, but they rarely spend time with him, instead leaving him under the protection of Ros, whom he develops a connection to. Also, to make up for the loss of both Junpei Iori and Tum "Darkblade" Thumble, Ros wants to hire someone new to the ship. Their options are a half-Orc named Winston, and a the sexiest sorcerer the world has ever seen, Titus Harper. Despite Aludra's obvious infatuation with Harper, they choose both to come along with them, which is good, becuase Harper turns out to be very powerful, and joins the adventurers as another member of their party. With the help of Bucky and Harper, the gang is able to get to the Forbidden Temple, and acquire The Whip of Binding, the first of the three artifacts that Fennekin requested, in order to remove the devices in Thom and Aludra's brain bombs. They head back to Mastwick and meet a Darkblade named Niles Blackwater. He asks them to find a boxer named Bercy Hamhands, who was supposed to go down in a fight, but didn't. After a lot of detective work, they are able to track down Bercy Hamhands and his girlfriend. They fight, Niles steals a bag of gold and peaces out, and the girlfriend escapes. They tie hams to Bercy Hamhands' hands and hand him over to Footpad Calor, the Darkblade. Ros gets herself kidnapped by one of Tum's brother's Rugul Thumble, and as the party attempts to rescue her, she turns out to be the baddest of asses. She's apparently quite the adept fighter. They escape and head off to find The Orb of Endless Power, in The Crypt of Sinu the Red...

They get distracted with freeing a small town from a troll, but afterwards, a flying house lands before them, captained by Clinker, a friend of Fennekin. He takes them to a massive graveyard, and the ruins of an ancient city. Within the graveyard is a great mausoleum, the Crpyt of Sinu the Red itself. Aludra finds a skeleton with a shield, which she picks up and instantly, all of her memories return to her. This skeleton was her brother, their last name is Wyrmsbane, and he died when they, on a mining expedition, were attacked by a fearsome beast. Aludra survived, and ran away from home promptly thereafter. They continue on and find a dwarven helm, encouraging someone to put it on and speak "The Name of Scarlet". Aludra puts it on and shouts, *"Sinu the Red!"* and dies!

Clinker quickly uses the Orb of Endless Power to resurrect Aludra. He then escorts everyone back to Caer, where Tum's father, Trant Thumble lives in his Castle Greyskull. Here is where he keeps the legendary sword Blood Drinker, which Thom was obsessed with. Thom enlists the help of a Kenku locksmith named Watari, and a changeling disguise artist named Wren to break into the Castle and steal his long lost love back. They do this, with moderate success. Anyway, Thom now has Blood Drinker, which he carries with him throughout their adventures. He is also given a scroll to Speak with Animals, with the assumption that he will use it to commune with the group's donkey, Daisy, whom they suspect of being magic. He doesn't do this.

Blood Drinker demands Thom kill something frequently, and gets quite upset when he isn't satisfied. After returning to his friends, Thom kills a hobo, and, as a means of making up for the fact that Thom killed an innocent, the rest of the hobos, revealed to be Hobgoblins, who are evil, and will attack the rest of the town after them. So the gang kills the rest of them. They head off to Fairmire, where they are told their boat will be waiting for them. They reunite with all their friends and spend some time being happy in town, before heading out toward The Ruins of House Vidalis, to seek The Brazier of Worlds. On the way, they stop by a town called Evening Shire, which is currently under control of a strange and mysterious Glow Cloud. With the help of a changeling witch named Lex, they are able to disperse the glow cloud, save Bucky (who by the way was kidnapped), and free the town.

During the Winter Solstice, all magic in the world seems to be seeping away, and Harper is feeling the effects. He falls ill and passes out. They are met by the ghost of Tum Darkblade, who is very dark and angry now that he has been killed and drowned at the bottom of a frozen lake. Anyway, he tells his old friends that a man named Julemanden is sucking all the magic away, and he takes them back in time, to when his sister Fan died. They are able to save her, and eventually warm the heart of ol' Julemanden, who returns the magic back to the world.

With Harper and everyone else feeling just fine, they head off once again to the ruins of House Vidalis, only they are surprised to learn that it is not a ruin. It is alive and well, and there are several Dragonborn with tails, just like Thom. They do some investigating and learn that they are in the year 1380, instead of the year 1700, which they were in before. 1380, incidentally, is when their book tells them House Vidalis fell. Another tailed Dragonborn meets Thom and bows before him, referring to him as royalty. This is all very weird and confusing, so the Chapter ends on that cliffhanger.

**Chapter 2**