Moomyns

The **Moomyns** (a shortening of the *Moor Mysterious Mens*) were a band of misfits who united in the Fallo in 1579. Their unifying moment was protecting Mr. Arthur's caravan from a cavalry charge and bandit attack orchestrated by the Moor Riders (group), but some of them knew one another before then.

## Members of the Moomyns

* Wisp, a hermit kobold sorcerer, adept with chaos magic, and unfamiliar to society outside the woods
* Rama, an ex-private investigator, with an eye for detail and a nose for spellcraft
* Filomena Belmonte, a kindly blind tiefling healer and woman of medicine
* Maenilahi, a graceful moon elf weaver of song and magic
* Lamont Fuzzles, one of the final Harpers of Treviso.
* Torrian, a young wayward monk with elemental fists.

## Allies and Friends

* Mr. Arthur, the wagon train driver, a grizzled old soul who bequeathed them The Fertiliser.
* Mina, a fellow caravan guard
* Betrys, a halfling herbalist and tea-seller found as a survivor of a bandit attack
* Elisabeth Arbalist, last of the The Treviso Harpers

## Ex Members

* Mäke, a short blue dragonborn thief, sneaky and adept with a bow, who betrayed the party for the Moor Riders
* Zasenna Salmastrien, an agent committed to ensuring that magical anomalies were dealt with, killed by Ioreth Rhesyra.
* Elluin Ethanderal, the right-hand mage of Malak, but kept as prisoner without his arcane focus, and eventually killed.
* Derriar, a small birdman who left.

## Story of the Moomyns

### I - The Road to Abavale

We opened as guards on a wagon train travelling northwest up the Fallo Coast, our next stop being the tiny town of Abavale, but beyond it the big cities of Treviso and Sanctum. The wagon guards included Rama, an ex-private investigator, and Wisp, a hermit of the woods. The wagon was headed by Mr. Arthur. On the route we found a crashed cart covered in arrows, and a wounded woman named Betrys. We helped her and got moving again, chatting with the other guards about the haunted Estir Woods far north and drinking some herbal tea.

At night, Mr Arthur assigned us watches. Wisp wandered off hearing noises, finding a woman named Zasenna fending off some inky infected corpses, and helped her destroy a crystal in a tree stump that was feeding the corruption. Meanwhile Rama's ink and quill were ruined and a note left They returned out of the woods to bump into Rama, and as they began returning to camp, they saw the Moor Riders attack on horseback, charging with torches.

### II - Charge of the Dark Brigade

Wisp and Zasenna rushed back to camp as Rama helped the guards. The Riders attacked with swords, lances and serrated arrows, torching the wagon camp under the midnight stars. Two guards were wounded badly in the first charge as we stood our ground. By chance, a nearby group of travellers spotted the encampment being attacked and helped. They were the moon elf musician Maenilahi, the blind tiefling healer Filomena, and the blue dragonborn thief Mäke. The trio snuck closer and used their magic and their weapons to knock down some of the riders. With combined arms, three riders were killed or wounded and dismounted, and Filomena wounded many enemy horses.

They spotted the group leaders, and the silver haired mage Elluin Ethanderal froze Wisp whilst Malak Coldblood skewered him badly. Maenilahi used an illusory dragon to scare some riders back, and in all, as Malak yelled, 'These ones ain't worth it'. They retreated, but Elluin was knocked off his horse, and despite his impressive ice and wind magic that heavily wounded some of the group, he was captured by Wisp and downed by Mäke. Wisp caused a power surge that flooded the area with a half-foot of water. As Malak rode away, instead of trying to save his right hand man a second time, he shot to kill, unsuccessfully. Filomena made sure Elluin survived, and we questioned him. He was willing to go along with us, as he had no reason to return to his betraying master. He would be kept very closely under wraps though. He told us Malak had been ordering more raids looking for 'something', and that the Moor Riders were based in the old abandoned mansion of House Decimus. We continued on the road to Abavale, a few days ahead of us.

### III - Forked Tongue

We pressed on, eager to forgo sleep and reach Abavale. Along the route we picked up a wandering traveller, Herakles. The journey was fraught with chatter. We arrived at the tiny farming town, and wandered around after renting rooms at the Weary Walker Inn. Elluin was sarcastic as per usual. Herakles and Mäke beat him often, but Filomena was nicer to him. He was collecting some components throughout the day. We napped and went to the small market, buying some cloth and jam. We learned Elluin had collected components then, and Filomena made him empty his pockets and took his holy symbol herself from Mäke. At the post office, we found there was post for him, in a cryptic code seeming to be calling for Zasenna's assassination. She revealed herself as a Harper, something which we secretly knew from Pip checking her pockets earlier. Back at 5am in the inn that night, during the end of the night, a sudden darkness filled the air, and Zasenna was killed with a serrated crossbow bolt. Herakles went to investigate but was knocked out with a sleep spell briefly. We realised that the assassin was not Elluin, but someone else. We dragged him to Sheriff Mollymock's office at 5am and turned him in for his unrelated banditry. Mäke stabbed Elluin when he handed him off, leading the Sheriff to pull a gun. We defused the situation though. A few hours later, Filomena and Wisp brought Elluin some poisoned croissants, which he took through the bars of his cell, but then the Sheriff ate one. In the confusion, Elluin dazed him and grabbed some tools and left through a secret tunnel. We found his trail, and with Wisp and Filomena two minutes run ahead of them, Mäke, Herakles, Rama and Maenilahi would also follow. Elluin was on the loose, wounded, and annoyed.

### IV: Broken Promises

We hurried through Sheriff Mollyock's escape tunnel. A blockage slowed us down, so Mäke turned back to fetch Rama. Those two rode overland on Panopto (Elluin's horse) whilst Herakles, Filomena and Wisp took the tunnel route. They arrived in an abandoned iron mine, and were able to talk to Elluin whilst trying to find him, as shadows danced on the wall. Filomena used whispers and thaumaturgy to spook him, making him run and reveal his position, as he danced between the complex tunnels out of sight. He broke a wooden platform that wounded Filomena significantly, but she helped give chase

Elluin tried to leave the claustrophobic mines, but we cornered him at the exit, with Rama and Mäke closing off the entrance with a great web. He tried to burn it away, but Rama then moved a new web in front of him. The group behind him tried to stun and blind him, but he made a last-ditch effort to stay standing. Rama called out, 'I promise no harm will come to you if you give yourself up'. Elluin surrendered, dropping his blade, and Rama dispelled the web. As Elluin approached Rama slowly, Herakles smote him in the spine with a perfectly aimed, full-speed kick. Elluin gasped 'You promised...' and left a bloody handprint on Rama's cheek as he fell, but Filomena made sure he did not die, barely. As the party argued, we carried him out of the mine, but then he lurched up, and scrambled toward the cliff. 'Better to die free-' he began as he rolled off, but Wisp used a spear to hold him by the cloak dangling. Filomena knelt down and healed some of his wounds, but he was covered in cuts, bruises, infected wounds, blood, and tears, begging for release. He looked up at her, and muttered 'You were always my least favourite' at her, a word dancing on his tongue. Filomena yanked out the spear and let him fall down, down to his death on the rocks below. They watched his corpse be eaten by carrion birds, clambered up out of the gorge, and set off back toward Abavale.

### Vignette I: His Full Attention

En route to Treviso alone, Mäke stumbled upon several Moor Riders at a small camp. A woman named Ioreth leapt up from the fireside levelling a musket, ordering him to halt. He unfurled his hand, showing the chain of Elluin's focus Filomena had previously torn off. He offered himself as a replacement, coming on strong. The woman and her two fellow riders escorted him some distance over the plains to a small hilltop farmhouse, bustling with life in the afternoon. He was taken to the dining hall, and sat alone opposite Malak, who was finishing a meal. Mäke taunted Malak greatly about the pain that the group had inflicted on Elluin before his agonising death. Malak nearly lashed out, but kept his composure and listened to his proposition. Mäke wanted to become the next lieutenant. Malak, sensing an opportunity to send an over-eager lapdog as a distraction, kept his cards close to his chest and let Mäke reveal all his truths and bargaining chips. *When Mäke finishes, Malak turns around, and looks at him, knuckles white, his voice a whisper. He clenches the fork handle so tight that he shakes.* *"All I have to do is say one word. One word, and your measly, snivelling little corpse will be a meal for the crows."* Malak offered Mäke a reward of his weight in gold, knowing full well his job was solely to fail. Malak then led the riders off on an arcing ride around westward and back south, taking the longest route to Treviso. Mäke deferred to Ioreth, and they set up positions outside Łur Vennor. *Mäke smiles up at him. "I'll tell you something because I like how you work, the one who killed your friend? She's an ugly little thing. Vindictive too, pulled out the one thing that was keeping him alive. Oh, you'll recognize her when you see her"*

### VI: Rumours Of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated

Over a lovely afternoon meal of dumplings and green tea at the Jade Dragon, we talked to Arbalist again and met Treviso's only other Harper, Lamont Fuzzles. We messed around with illusions and chatted to a little goblin girl, and looked at the market, before discussing a letter Malak had send the Harpers. It basically detailed that he would be willing to meet us face to face at Łur Vennor. On the route over, we found the remains of the courier that was carrying Zasenna's package. He had been shot off his horse and robbed. At Łur Vennor, Wisp disappeared into the fields and Lamont & Rama also ducked into the cornfield. Filomena summoned an illusory Elluin, who rode alongside her and Arbalist. We came face to face with Ioreth, who taunted them about Zasenna's death by showing the inkwell stolen from Rama used to cast the spell that enabled her murder. Meanwhile, Wisp wandered toward a small hut, when Mäke jumped out behind him and tried to ambush him. There was a short scuffle, with Wisp dodging every poison-clad shot Mäke fired at him, and Wisp casting a ridiculous number of spells in only a few seconds flat. Wisp laughed maniacally as he peppered Mäke with the Fertiliser, crushed his spine with a great earthen fist, and planted his remains in the fields of Łur Vennor.

Back on the bridge, the decoy held up to first scrutiny. However, Ioreth then revealed that Mäke had told her everything, and that she knew the truth of the ruse. A fight broke out, with the riflemen in the windmill raining down deadly shot. Rama blew the three horsemen and their horses to high hell, also burning the bridge to cinders in a huge explosion. Ioreth used her dread mace to make Rama and Lamont quiver in fear, whilst Wisp tussled with the remaining guards after returning from killing Mäke. Lamont bolstered them from fear as Filomena dashed through shadows to appear here or there and heal the party. With floating hypnotic patterns and great grasping hands, the last two riders were suppressed, and Ioreth was held still. Rama walked up to her and blew her head open with a great bolt of fire. We used a cloud of darkness to hide ourselves from the snipers until they fled off. After clearing out the house of loot, we slept there, and also acquired a new horse named Moodle. In the morning, as we group hugged, we noticed the skyline aflame, and rode back rapidly to find Treviso smouldering and ashen. The whole packed town had been burnt to cinders.

### VII: That Which Awaits Us All

As we stood outside the blazing wreck of the Jade Dragon, Herakles wandered in through the city gates, greeting us. We had a brief argument - Rama was annoyed about the last time they saw one another, when Herakles drop-kicked Elluin. However, a town guard then ran out of the burning inn, saying people were in there. Filomena and Rama ran in, followed by Wisp. They battled choking smoke and falling beams, whilst Herakles flew up covered in divine radiance and oil to rescue people from the windows.

> "This truly is an unforgettable luncheon." - Lamont.
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Filomena and Rama ran back downstairs to help Lamont move some flammable barrels away, creating a firebreak. Just then, Wisp ran back downstairs, as some small black bead of hungering force began to grow on the second floor, pulling in floorboards and broken glass. Light swirled round its accretion disk as the group downstairs saw a barrel bounce upwards and into it. They ran out of the inn, Rama almost being pulled in but teleporting to the street. Pip held on by his front paws as we we vacated the premises. Filomena yelled a warning to the citizens as the fire was sucked away into the void.

> "If you see something which doesn't look right, speak to staff or text Treviso Transport Police on 61016. We'll sort it. See it, say it, sorted."
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On the top floor, Herakles smashed in through the window glowing, to find an old monk trapped beneath a beam. The monk then slipped out from under the beam, out the window, curled round, and flew straight into the void.

> "There is a moment-"
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As Wisp and Filomena ran away, he started crying that he was about to explode, and he didn't want to die. Meanwhile, Herakles held on for dear life, and leapt with his Rama-given flying speed out of the window, down, out and to safety. They watched the void engulf the entire building and several chunks of adjacent buildings, and decided to regroup by the gates of the ruins of the town.
Up near the north side of Treviso, Arbalist gathered a young monk named Torrian, and brought him to the site of the tragedy, where he revealed that his late brother was in there. With nothing left in Treviso, he joined us and we rode northwest, following the Moor Riders' trail to Cahay whilst Arbalist left westward. On the journey over, Elluin was summoned and had a chat with Filomena and saw Herakles again, which was awkward. That night as we tried to sleep, Wisp summoned huge bursts of daylight and thunderous deafening drums, giving everyone a terrible sleep. We had some chats over the fireside about what happened and what was next, and a little scrap where Wisp and Herakles tried to throw rocks and sling spells until Herakles apologised.

> "This goes hard, feel free to screenshot" - Lamont showing Torrian an NFT of his brother dying
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We arrived at the tiny church parish of Cahay, and headed up through the timber town to the Rectory. We saw the monks' beautiful garden and went to pray for a while, then Brother Errann took Herakles, Lamont, Torrian and Rama to find some literature on the 'Shores of Dolmen', a place where Malak was apparently headed. Lamont's new silver Harper badge really opened doors They ate some soup before being led into the restricted section of the library. Herakles found an unhallowed ritual book and began reading out pages. His first spell emitted a pulse of purple fire that dissolved Brother Errann and grievously wounded the others.

A fight broke out all of a sudden, maces and spells being slung and shot left and right. Brother Errann was risen as a zombie, and everyone tried to stop Herakles reading the necromantic tome aloud. Meanwhile, Wisp and Mena came to the door, and Wisp realised it was a Darim P-77 ENB-PB-60 three-pin nightlatch with nickel finish, and a 60mm backsett brass cylinder.

Mena blew the door off its hinges. Wisp stunned everyone in the room briefly, and he and Mena had a few moments to catch their breath. Elluin whispered in Mena's head, and she read the pages of Herakles's book, eventually casting Finger of Death on him. Herakles dropped to the ground convulsing, and Elluin manifested to finish him off with a shadowy sword. Wisp started saying something, but Elluin fixed his eyes on one of his tormentors in a rage and tried to attack him; Mena quickly banished him again. Wisp then levelled his shotgun at his friend Rama, the first of his friends since leaving the forest, who he had been with through thick and thin, and shot him in the face with a spray of acorn-filled buckshot. Mena made sure he did not die, and we reconvened around the dead body of Herakles, when we turned and saw the robed monks filtering in to the antechamber, forming their hand symbols and casting Silence on us, before also Counterspelling one of our spells. There were a lot of monks.

> "Justice will be passed as we see fit" - The monks in sign language.
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