Bones to Ash

Art by @karnessah

Bones to Ash is an adventuring party based in Wavecrest and comprised of cursedefiers. They officially formed their party in 6443 in Heaven's Nest, their shared hometown, and are the protagonists of the Immortuos campaign.

### Founding

Despite not officially forming their squad until months later, the group originally came together to rescue two children who had wandered off forbiddance: Sunnykit and Yuji Baosheng. The children had snuck out of class during a guest lecture by Koshi (as part of her community service) and had gone off forbiddance to look for an artifact only to be kidnapped by the drider Duanalla as bait. Koshi and Adelaide, the children's teacher, were joined by Yuji's father Shenyu and then recruited Montoya Cuervo, then a guard, as part of the search. The group tracked the children to Mycellium's Grotto and were able to save them, though they sustained heavy injuries from Duanalla in the process. Adelaide Underhill was also forced to become a warlock in Duanalla's service.

After a recovery period, the group was approached again about becoming official cursedefiers for Heaven's Nest. Under the tutelage of Tadgh Whelan, they successfully completed their training and later survived their cursedefier test.

Prior to their adventures together, most of the group had already met previously:

* Montoya and Del were close friends (Del having been Montoya's babysitter most of her childhood)
* Shenyu and Del during parent-teacher conferences
* Montoya was assigned to help Koshi with their transition to living in Heaven's Nest
* Koshi had been doing her community service with Del

### Adventures

#### Act 1: The Invasion of Heaven's Nest

As part of their training to become official cursedefiers, the group completed a series of missions while being supervised by Tadgh, a cursedefier who was part of the influx of refugees from Gull's Rest. These ranged from smaller supply runs (such as aloe for the Red Cross, beeswax for Nox, or honey for the forbiddance) to more critically important issues like the investigation into McFluff Sr's murder. While investigating what had happened to McFluff, the group discovered that the attacks on the forbiddance livestock were being orchestrated by a pack of dire wolves led by Ice Wolves and were part of the defense against them.

It was during this attack that Shenyu bonded with the llama Skullcrusher (who would later become his son Togu) after it helped protect him by killing a direwolf. BtA followed the wolves' tracks after they left and stumbled upon the Grotto of the Fallen. There, Shenyu and Montoya freed the ghosts trapped in the grotto (one of whom was the spirit of Blaithin) and Koshi came across her Oaken Staff. The group defeated the ghouls inside and stopped the ceremony of desecration taking place. The next day they, alongside Heathersong and some civilians, returned to burn the bodies of the fallen and used speak with dead to talk to the soul of Festum Avitus. Festum "tricked" Montoya into make a pledge to kill the vampire Ulrich Meyer before describing the necromancer who had been plotting the attack on Heaven's Nest.

After successfully clearing the Forgotten Grotto (as well as saving the Ice wolves), Bones to Ash was deemed ready for their cursedefier test: surviving a night off forbiddance in Roanoke. While the group only needed to survive the night, Lolth gave Del the task of solving the mystery of the town's haunting and was joined by Ruadhan as a result. With the vampire spawn's help, they were able to discover that a Banshee, Anathema, had trapped the townsfolks' souls in Roanoke and had caused their deaths in the first place. Montoya was able to convince the ghosts of Roanoke to trust them and Bones to Ash came together to defeat Anathema in battle before using the sword Spite to destroy her corpse. With Anathema dead, the ghosts were free to move on and Roanoke was no longer haunted.

Unfortunately, the group returned with Stevi back from their test only to find Heaven's Nest on fire and undead somehow walking on forbiddance territory. The group split apart, Shenyu running to his daughter, Koshi to the Rosehall Hotel, Del to the Red Cross, and Montoya to the aid of the refugees. Each fought their separate battles before running to the aid of the others: Shenyu to Koshi, Del to Montoya. Against all odds, each rescue attempt was successful with BtA able to save everyone at:

* The Rosehall (Nox + Sebastian against vampire spawn)
* Red Cross (No hostages but Del had the ghouls leave before the area could be desecrated)
* Refugee camp (Stevi, Tadgh, and all the refugees against a zombie hoard and flaming skulls)
* Koshi's log (Blaithin against Zishi)
* The Stonekeeper Vault (Montoya, Del, Nox + Seb + Tadgh against another hoard + a deathlock)
* Phillip Wintersbreath en route to the Stonekeeper's Vault (Montoya)

The group met up again at the evacuation point and were together during the Fall of Seraph Delareina and the ensuing battle for the forbiddance. They survived and they were ultimately victorious however Adelaide was forced into selling her soul fully over to Duanalla and Montoya Cuervo nearly died. Later that night, Sargonnas passes through the Veil and trasnforms the corrupted artifact she got off Miguel into Reckoning and gives her a quest.

Bones to Ash was largely inactive following the invasion, focusing mostly on rebuilding their homes and town as well as trying to secure basic necessities for Heaven's Nest until it was more stable several months later.

#### Act 2: What comes next

As Heaven's Nest stabilizes following the invasion, the members of Bones to Ash began acquiring information on their individual goals. Montoya convinces Nox and Basanio to spread the false report that Seraph is dead and learns more about the Scales of Order. Shenyu works on a body for Blaithin and works on attracting the Fate of Knowledge's attention, he learns about unknown information in a nearby Wizard's Tower as a result. Adelaide leads a séance on her artifact, meets Maeve, and begins planning against Duanalla. Koshi has prophetic dreams. From Ruadhan, Montoya and Del learn about an herb that can be used to attract vampire spawn, but find out its located in an extremely dangerous area. The group also learns about a nearby forbiddance, Hardy Harvest, that is under attack and needs outside help. They elect to go there first.

At Hardy Harvest, the group (accompanied by Basanio) meets several new people including Asif, Hikari, and the McGregors. They learn about the strange attacks on the livestock, as well as the wave of xenophobia projected at a nearby clan of Shadow elves. After discovering and killing plant monsters in the McGregor's barn, Bones to Ash sets out to follow their tracks but loses them and meets the Shadow elves instead. Unfortunately a mob of farmers from Hardy Harvest arrives soon after before the entire group is attacked by dire wolves. Everyone survives, including a dire wolf spared by Koshi, and the group is joined by the shadow elf Nyx who strikes up a relationship with Montoya. The following day, Shenyu reveals that his wife's family made a deal with a Devil that would involve giving away Yuji and the groups heads out to confront a corrupted druid they heard about.

At the druid's compound, the group makes an alliance with the local dire wolves and Koshi finds an altered Oaken Staff (the one she saw in her dreams).

### Members

(Gunslinger)
 Adelaide Underhill | Warlock
(Hexblade)
 Koshi Derach | Druid
(Spore)
 Baosheng Shenyu | Sorcerer
(Arcane Chromat)

#### Companions

 Napa | Familiar (cat)
 Togu
(fr. Skullcrusher)
(fr. Llama)
 Ruadhan | Vampire Spawn
(Half-elf, Shadar-Kai)
 Blaithin | Untethered Soul
(Eladrin)