Bonzu Pippinpaddle Oppsokopolis III

**Bonzu Pippinpaddle Oppsokopolis III** was a forest gnome ranger, and a hero of Telyria

## Early Travels

Bonzu lived peacefully with his parents for many years, a normal life by anyone's standards. Then a plague swept across his village, killing his parents and leaving Bonzu an orphan. He set out without them, searching for a new place to call home and happened upon a nearby town. He stayed on the edges of the town, and though they had their problems, he cared for the town, and the town had a soft spot for him. But one day when coming into town after a longer excursion, Bonzu found the town burned and massacred, with only a lone, cloaked figure standing among the ruins. The figure fled before he could get a good look at it, and Bonzu swore he would find this figure and hold them responsible for destroying the only real connection he made since his parents passed. He has been following rumors of mysterious cloaked figures ever since.

## Campaign Travels

### The Party Meets

As Bonzu travels and tracks his sworn enemy, he hears a commotion off the trail in the woods and investigates. What he finds is a vine blight attacking a goliath named Eggak Hornlogger, and a monk, Segrif Silentbend, and a half-elf warlock, Sorean, on the opposite side of the field. The four quickly band together to defeat the blight, with Sorean taking advantage of his newly discovered eldritch blast to weaken the blight for Segrif to roundhouse kick to death. The four become quick friends, as they are travelling along the same path and seem to have somewhat overlapping interests. Eggak travelling off the trail in order to not be easily seen, the four head to Shady Vale as the first stop on their journey.

When the party arrived at Shady Vale, they are stopped by a couple guards who do not seem too concerned with securing their border. They merely want to know who is entering the town, but as the party is talking to them and learning the big spots, a woman named Alba cold cocks one of the guards. She shouts that she knows her son has been taken, just as her husband and demands they investigate the matter. The guards dismiss her as crazy and explain to the party that a person a month were disappearing, but that all stopped when Cyrus did a ritual to stop it. the captain of the guard, Keelin, had even left with Cyrus to become a follower. The bartenders point the party towards the Tillage Inn and wish them a nice stay.

The party arrives at the Tillage Inn and temporarily splits to gather information on the town. Eggak and Bonzu talk to the bartender and discover that Eggak's friend, Laz, was in town recently. Laz found a purpose with Cyrus and is assumed to have left with him and his followers for Edgewich. The two also find out that the people in yellow robes that they have seen all over town are followers of Cyrus that stayed behind. Segrif and Sorean talk to the barmaid, who is more than willing to gossip. They learn that the best place to find Cyrus's people is in the Collection District on every seventh day. They also learn that there is a "witch" who lives out in the corn, and an old man named Arthur lives in the church and has been seen collecting bodies and bringing them back to the church. Jeremy knew him before he "disappeared".

The party shares this new information with each other at the table and share their backstories with each other. After talking and reminiscing late into the night, the party retires to separate rooms with Eggak deciding to stay in the barn.

### The Party Investigates the Disappearances

Before heading out to explore the town and investigate the disappearances, the party sat to eat breakfast. While they eat, they speak to the bartender, Miles Joshua, who was uncomfortable with the line of questioning they take. It seemed that any time they mentioned the missing child, Jeremy, his answers would be curt and rude. Not getting much from him, the party left to pay Alba a visit, and ask her more about her missing son.

   When the party arrived at Alba's house they noticed she seemed paranoid and disheveled. Her front door had three locks, and she barely slept the night before. But when they sit down, she is very helpful, eager to give the party any information that would help find her son. She tells them that the Dominion guards haven't done much since Keelin left with Cyrus. They are undisciplined with no real boss to answer to. In their absence, Harold Sodswallow has stepped up as the only person to help keep the town safe. She mentioned where they could find Arthur, an hour into the corn, as Jeremy was close with the old man. They thank the woman and vow to bring Jeremy safely back to her.

When they arrive at the Cowpie Pub, they are greeted by the owner, Harold's wife, and ushered to the back office to see Harold himself. An older halfling with studded leather armor and a steel paldron, he maintains an upbeat attitude and cheerfully greets the party, immediately offering the party drinks on the house. A veteran of the Wars of Expansion, his demeanor shifts drastically when they ask about the witch, as he grows more serious and recounts the most traumatic events of his life. He tells them that five years ago, an older woman who called herself Mag came to town. She said she was a medicine woman set up right outside of town, but when anyone went to see her, they would suffer great misfortune, or great fortune for them, but at the extent of others. Over the years the town grew wary of her presence and sent five Dominion soldiers to her house to force her to leave. They were never seen again. But about a year ago something, and no one knows quite what, happened between Miles and Mag, and his son was taken. The mayor refused to send anyone to rescue him, but Harold gathered 15 townsfolk to find her and rescue the boy. Outside of her house they were attacked by creature he could not see clearly and flashes of light burst in the air, all while her cackling overcame them. Though the townsfolk were frightened, Harold was not affected and he pushed his way to her house and grabbed the boy while she was distracted watching the carnage unfold. He got one good swing on her, then she seemed to grow in his eyes as she loomed over him. He quickly threw alchemist fire at her feet and she fled. The house burned to the ground and the posse returned to town, reduced from 16 strong men to two men (Arthur the other) and a child.

The disappearances began soon after. Harold posits that perhaps the witch put a curse on the town, but every time someone went missing, it felt like someone was watching him. Arthur hasn't really spoken to anyone since that night. he changed and became a recluse, barely leaving his church in the corn outside of town. Before they leave, the party asks Harold about his opinions of Cyrus, and he has nothing but good things to say. The Garden Valley has had a bandit problem ever since the king began shrinking the standing army following the War of Expansion.

### Arthur's Church

Before the party leaves town they run into one of Cyrus's followers who stayed behind named Elijah healing a kid. He explains their cult more to the party, explaining that they are followers of the Mistress of the Grain Rose, Chauntea. She looks over "the farming kind of people" and fell out of favor before the War of Expansion. Lately though, she has been making a comeback in the Garden Valley as the bandit problem grew worse. Cyrus performed a cleansing ritual on the town to stop the kidnappings months before the party arrived here. Cyrus bids the party adieu, and the set out into the corn to pay Arthur a visit.

On the walk there, Eggak and Bonzu had the feeling that they were being stalked by someone or somethin in the corn. After letting it follow them for fifteen minutes, it breaks off from the path and they bring this up to the rest of the party. They track it through the corn, and the path leads to Arthur's church dedicated to Lathander, the Morninglord. Arthur is wary of the group when they knock on his front door, but lets them in and becomes friendly after saying Jeremy's name and assuring him that they know Harold. after telling him about whatever stalked them through the corn, Arthur warns the party that whatever is out there has been drawing closer as his enchantments grow weaker and he grows older, and he enlists their help in researching witchcraft and preparing for trouble. Eggak helps the old man brew more alchemist's fire and the rest of the party pours over the books in his study. Sorean learns about hag covenants, where they perform rituals to increase their power, and that children are "addictive to hags." Eggak tells the party that hags can create constructs out of everyday objects just as Sorean looks out the window to notice that the scarecrow is missing.

   The party quickly moved to barricade the door, just in time for something outside to start banging on them. This continues for a short while before an animated scarecrow creeps through the window in the loft. Bonzu was the first to notice it and hit it with his handaxe, barely seeming to hurt it. Sorean hits it with an eldritch blast with more success before Segrif climbs the ladder to join the fray. He slashed it with his spear and punched it in the chest, but the scarecrow returned by raking its oversized hand across Segrif's chest, badly wounding him. Eggak jumped up to the loft, full of rage, and sliced its arm clean off, but that barely seemed to hurt it as well. Another climbed through the window of the ground level, and Sorean desperately tried to fend it off to buy Arthur time to brew more alchemist fire. In the confusion, the scarecrow in the loft tossed Segrif aside rendering him unconscious. Further enraged, Eggak shoved it out the window before turning to stabilize his friend, who, more hurt than it first seemed, died in the church's loft. It was in this moment that Arthur burst out of his study, alchemist fire in hand, and destroyed the scarecrow. He quickly ran up to the loft and drew upon all the power of the Morning God he could to revivify Segrif, bringing him back to the land of the living for now.

Arthur and the party stay overnight in the church, unwilling to track the scarecrow in their weakened state. Arthur speaks to Eggak while he takes his watch, and explains his belief that the witch is truly dead, but there is still a curse on the town. In the morning they try to follow the tracks, but lose the trail quickly, turning back to Shady Vale to pan their next move instead. While in town they speak to Elijah after his sermon in the Vale Square. He warns of a darkness across their land and murderers that creep in the corn. he blames the king for not doing anything about it, but lucking Chauntea chose "Cyrus the Deliverer, the Rose Son" to protect their valley. The followers collect treasure and coins for the townsfolk, saying it is for their rituals. When Segrif presses him on the protection ritual wearing off, he narrows his gaze, and dismisses the idea. As the party leaves to search the witch's house, they notice his half-orc companion's (Turmund) gaze linger as they pass.

### Mag's Hut

The party traveled north of Shady Vale to see the hag's old house with their own eyes. Bonzu, after some time, finally finds the trail the scarecrow left in its retreat and the party follows. When they make it to the house, it is near midnight and there is a strange purple and silver glow from the corner of the home. Eggak approaches while Sorean hears a whimpering in the floorboards. They open the secret hatch to find Jeremy sobbing in the corner covered by a grate, sat next to a dusty hexagon with a child's skull with red eyes placed in the middle. Two scarecrows then show themselves outside and Eggak, believing the skull to be the source of their power, tries to crush the skull. It's eyes switch from red to green the scarecrows run full speed at each other, collapsing and reforming as a ten foot tall scarecrow with glowing green eyes.

Realizing the skull may be better protected than he first thought, Eggak raged with reckless abandon at the scarecrow. He landed a blow, but left himself wide open for a counter-attack and the scarecrow raked its claws across his chest. Recalling Arthur's actions in the church, Segrif threw his alchemist fire at the creature, igniting it. While it was distracted, Eggak quickly rustled through his bag and grabbed his own alchemist fire, punching the monster in the chest and quickly withdrawing his hand. Enraged, the scarecrow is able to smack both Segrif and Eggak before Bonzu hacks it with his handaxe, causing the beast to collapse. Its pieces began to twitch and move to reform, but Eggak ran back to the skull and brought his greatsword down upon it. It burst in a psychic pulse of energy, causing the pieces to stop moving, but rendering him unconscious in the process.

Segrif moved to stabilize his companion, and Bonzu healed him. They then searched the dwelling and found a bag full of nicknacks (glasses, charcoal, two healing potions, a small raven statue, and ash) and a strange note about collecting magical items. They also find a small red gemstone in the ash, and something speaks through it saying "So these are the ones who defeated my scarecrow". They spend the night in the ruins before going back to town to return Jeremy. They speak to his mother for a little bit before going to see Harold and recounting what happened. Harold advised the party to hide the gemstone from him, as it could probably send messages both ways, and to move on from the town to learn more about this mystery.

The party travelled east, not sure yet where to go, but hoping to ask Arthur for his thoughts on the way. But when they reach his church, they find it burned to the ground. Eggak and Segrif search the ruins and find a burned body with deep stab wounds and a talisman of Lathander around its neck, confirming Arthur's demise. They notice there are tracks leading to the east, and the party follows with renewed resolve with the loss of their friend.

### The Bandit Camp

The party follows the tracks to the east and it begins to turn into a forest as they walk. Some time into their search, Eggak spots a fire about 100 yards away, and the party decides to sneak up to it and get a closer look. As they begin their stalk, Bonzu promptly trips and falls in a hole, and Segrif stops to help him up, but they hear the camp begin to stir. The party splits then, Soren and Segrif moving one way, while Bonzu and Eggak go the other. The men from the fire hear Bonzu and Eggak, and as they approach Eggak tosses Bonzu up into a tree, but to no avail. Bonzu landed with a clang and the men, in dark leather armor, see them and ask what they are doing here. Eggak tried to convince them that they are here to join up with their crew, "as they are here for coin, and saw what they did to the church. Seeing his friends floundering, Sorean casts disguise self and emerges from his hiding spot in the bushes. Appearing as a grizzled bandit, he introduced himself to the bandits as Sepin. He gave his word to the bandits that Bonzu and Eggak were both "good", and half convinced them of the truth. The bandits were weary of the three, but escorted them to their fire to talk it over.

When they got to the camp, they were introduced to the leader of the band, Thomas, a massive man with a golden mace. After a quick interrogation, he rid Sorean of his disguise, and Segrif surprise attacked a man leaning up against a rock, while Bonzu dispatched the other henchmen with his longbow from the bushes. A melee ensued, and Sorean focused his efforts on the large leader. Segrif joined him in his assault and Sorean was struck from behind by the second in command. He staggered from the blow, but returned with a hellish rebuke of his eldritch blast, burning the man badly. Meanwhile, Eggak lowered his hood and turned to the large man and roared, growing angrier and angrier. Knowing his friend's tendencies, Bonzu yelled across the battlefield to keep the leader alive, but deafened by rage, Eggak recklessly slaughtered the man instead. Bonzu shook his head and noticed a crossbowman fleeing the scene of battle out of the corner of his eye. He raised his longbow high and struck the man in the lower back with an arrow, wounding him enough for Segrif to sprint across the battlefield and tie up the and take the man captive.

Segrif brought the captive back to camp and the party interrogated him about his motives. The man was simply a mercenary, not of any real rank or authority in the band, but he did reveal to them that his group worked with goldcloaks sometimes. While the rest of the party struggled to get anything else out of their prisoner, Bonzu spoke to the caged dove. The dove didn't really pay attention to what the bandits were doing, but told him that its home is a "town to the west, across the sea of corn", presumably Shady Vale.

   Sorean then opens the notes the bandits had. The first described the party's movements, and that they "seemed different like the druid before". The second says that the author left the church, and ordered it to be burned to the ground. It ordered the band to meet Eyepatch at East Fall. It also noted that "the druid" may not be dead after all.

Finished with the prisoner, Eggak slams him of the ground, executing him on the spot. The crew decided to head back to Shady Vale and try and uproot the snitch and author of the notes, nut they would stay the night in the bandit's camp. While the group slept, Eggak was awoken by a fox, and he gets Bonzu's attention to speak with it. It asks the pair to help its friend, and rushed into the forest. The two follow the fox an hour into the forest before happening upon Simon Summerstream, who seemed to be dying in front of them. Bonzu cast sure wounds on the firbolg druid, who then introduces himself and his fox, Scarf.

### The Blunder at Shady Vale

Bonzu and Eggak bring Simon back to camp, who tells the party that he was part of Cyrus's ministry of Chauntea. He joined up with them months ago to see the world outside of his tribe and would help them go town to town healing with them. One day he saw his friend, Efrum, meeting with unsavory types alone in the woods and he confronted him back at camp. Efrum told him to meet him later out in the woods, where he was ambushed by several bandits who left him for dead. Not knowing where else to go, Simon headed for The Drooling Dragon, since he heard the owner there used to be a great adventurer. After this experience he still though Cyrus was a great man, but was beginning to grow weary of he operation he was running.

The party comes up with a plan to hunter's mark the pigeon and track it back to its owner in Shady Vale, and they turned back around. When they walked up to the still smoking ruins of Arthur's church, they run into a band of Dominion guards who put them under arrest for questioning. The head of the guards, Caladan, is suspicious of Bonzu carrying Arthur's old weapon.

On the walk back they pass Elijah mid-sermon. For the first time, the party hears him preach that the bandits of the area are organized by Bane the Strife Emperor, and that donations to Cyrus's Chauntea cult is needed now more than ever.

The party is taken to the statehouse for questioning and Segrif tells Caladan their whole story, and that they are in Shady Vale to speak to Harold. It is in that moment that Harold enters in formal Dominion garb and backs up their story. Not able to contain himself any longer, Sorean blurts out that they have reason to believe there is a mole in town informing the cult of Chauntea of the group's movements. They are released and told to keep their search within the law.

Bonzu and Sorean release the bird outside the statehouse while Segrif, Eggak, Harold, and Caladan wait in the front. The pair followed the bird to a a house in an alley and eventually see Turmund and two others in white cloaks enter the building. The half-orc took the bird from the window, incinerated it in his hand and looked directly at the two hiding behind a pair of barrels. With a devilish grin, he invited them to talk inside, but Bonzu started to cry and accuses him of killing Arthur. More whitecloaks began to surround them in the alley and they quickly ran away. They hear Turmund yell for help and feign an attack on himself. They continued to sprint away, then Sorean stopped to grab a cask and placed Bonzu in it, threw it on his shoulder and carried him to the courthouse after casting disguise self.

Back at the courthouse, Eggak and Segrif attempted to reason with Harold as chaos began to break loose in the town. He is suspicious of the group since even though they helped get Jeremy back, they are still new to the town. In the midst of these heated discussions, Sorean makes his way to the front of the gathering crowd disguised as a commoner by the name of Rapimus and accused Turmund of faking the attack and burning himself. He is promptly disregarded by Caladan and continues to ramble on while the guards seize him for further questioning.

The town grew increasingly furious at the party with their beloved whitecloaks' integrity called into question. Accusations flew on both sides, with the Segrif and Eggak accusing Turmund of treachery and burning Arthur's church, and Turmund accusing the party of being in league with Bane and seized the opportunity to call the Dominion's leadership into question. Harold cut through the chaos and addressed the town to call for the newcomers to be vanquished, no longer welcome in Shady Vale until "the evil is uprooted". Before the party left, he told Segrif and Eggak under his breath to figure what was going on in this town. He then banished the party by order of King Cadmus Cassia, and Segrif, Eggak, and Simon head off towards the bandit camp they cleared out the day before.

### The Drooling Dragon

    Sorean is quickly able to get out of jail by explaining what happened to Caladan away from the crowds. Caladan seems to believe him, and Harold certainly does, and he is let go from his cell to catch up with the party. Bonzu quickly caught up as well and the group decided that they needed to go to Edgewich next. They heard that Laz and Thoros are the closest confidants of Cyrus, and all of a sudden Eggak was very interested. On the way though, the group decided to stop at the Drooling Dragon, owned by the world-renowned adventurer Gallen Talenstad. When they arrive, it seemed like the goldcloaks had already been there for some time. They recognize the whitecloak preaching to a crowd in the beer garden as Trent, with Efrum preaching to the crowd alongside him. Sorean and Simon go up to talk to Trent, who admits to taking advantage of the crowd's tipsiness for donations, while Segrif sits at the bar. While there he meet the the owner himself, Gallen, and the two strike up a conversation. Gallen seems a nice enough fellow, and after remarking on Segrif's cloak, says that he knows his old master, Rocan. Gallen then offers Segrif and whoever he is travelling with a job transporting his ale to a branch brewery in Edgewich.

It is then that bandits dressed in the garb of the Sons of Bane ambush the brewery from the hills. The party fights the bandits alongside the goldcloaks, but as Segrif stood up to help, Gallen put his hand on his shoulder and told him to wait and see what happens. Trent performs heroically in the battle, blowing up several groups of the Sons of Bane on their approach, but Gallen tells Segrif to look closer. It is then that he notices that the groups of bandits all move in unison, as if they were illusions and their numbers inflated. Though there are several patrons dead, most of the bandits are illusions. An orc that killed wo of the patrons flees the bar, and the party takes off to capture him, but he is conveniently stuck down by Trent as he ran away. On his hand, a signet with a black hand is found, and Trent takes the opportunity to preach of the growing power of the Sons of Bane and the urgency of Cyrus's war on them. Gallen says good bye to Segrif, and asks him to bring his allies and join him for a drink at his house after dinner.

### Gallen's Home

The party eats their dinners at the brewery and head over the the lodge-style house across the road to meet with Gallan. When they enter Gallan's conversation pit, he wastes no time in asking Eggak if there are "others like him." Eggak is alarmed at the question, but Gallen clarifies that a while back, Dulmund Greyspine, a dwarf with cracked, glowing skin, came through the brewery and told him to look out for a goliath with glowing eyes. Dulmund was heading west, and said he "wanted to go back to his people." After Gallen tells the party about his past adventuring exploits, they tell him about The Last Storm. Gallen had heard of it, but didn't feel qualified to give them the full story, and assured them that the Rector Arcaneum was the right place to go for more answers. After more small talk and pleasantries, the party headed to their respective rooms to stay the night.

Sometime in the middle of the night though, Gallen enters Segrif's room, wearing similar robes to him, though silver. He took Segrif to the conversation pit, which was now a spiral staircase leading downward. he lead him to the bottom to find a large 50x80x40 ft. room with two golden dragon statues. Gallen and Segrif sparred, and Segrif was able to learn how to "transcend normal damage" and breath a cone of fire.

Sorean dreamt (tinged with purple) of an omniscient voice telling him that Sorean "is learning", and that the voice's "jailors forbid him from interfering in the tales of men." Sorean reaches a book, but when he reaches to grab it, he is transported to another place. His arm is around a man with a beard, Boris, who looks older than he remembers. he tried to ask him how he his, but no words come out. Boris asked him how much longer to the temple, and Sorean answered an hour without knowing what he’s doing or why. He then noticed they were on a ship with humanoid fish people, and there area half-dozen or so minotaurs. A half orc woman was putting on armor and sweating profusely, gills along her neck. A man in inky black robes smiled at him. they finally arrived at an archway on the cliffs with etchings of five dragons and a great tentacled beast. Boris sighed and said he misses Sorean, but he strayed from this path.

Eggak dreamt of being in a forest, in a world tinged in purple. He happened upon a pond with several animals, one of which was a bear. Tendrils of darkness reached out and he became the bear. It ran away, and he did too. They ran back to a wall of fire and heard screams, familiar screams. he then bolted awake, with five fresh scratches at his chest, his hand clawing.

Bonzu woke up to a strange sound, the small golden dragon Gallen lived with clawing at the door. Bonzu opened the door and the dragon immediately leapt and sunk its fangs in his chest. He began to have a vision of being enveloped in fog and attacked by a wall of fire. A disembodied voice asked him who he hunts, and Bonzu told him of the man in the black cloak. The voice replied that it will help, and maybe if they succeed they will both be able to find peace. Bonzu bolted awake, only to find an intricate gold tattoo along his arm and chest. the golden dragon then spoke to him, explaining that he was betrayed by a wizard in the past, and searched for 500 years. He has been "here" for 200. Bonzu named him Drax and they both resolved to find the man in the black cloak.

### The Road to Edgewich

    The party shares a breakfast with Gallen and take off to Edgewich to deliver the beer as requested. On the path, Sorean remembers that he is from Surimundi, and that he knew Boris from that time. He had looked to Sorean for guidance. They are later ambushed by five bowmen and a three swordsmen, all dressed in black and announcing themselves as the Sons of Bane. While they told the bandits that they would not be surrendering, they were all ambushed by a group of goblins. The party is able to kill all of the bandits, and most of the goblins. Segrif knocks out the captain, and the rest hostage. Assuming they have all the information they could need in the captain, they let the rest of the goblins go free rather than executing them. Stinkpot made sure that he got the Chieftain Spear from Beetlebug, the captain and Chieftain of the Cleavers, before they left.

When Beetlebug awakes, the party interrogates him and discover that the Cleavers were contacted by powerful witches to leave those that wore black rings alone in the area. They warned that if they did not, "little goblings would be born without eyes." Beetlebug also tells the party more about Eyepatch, that he is seemingly back from retirement and has a crew in the area.

The party continues towards Edgewich, Beetlebug their captive, and while at camp, a man emerged from the shadows. He was in fine studded leather armor and heavily armed, but did not threaten them, he was only there to warn them that Gallen is not who they think he is. he offered to buy the cask off their hands for 750 gp, and implied that the ale was contaminated in some way. The party rebuffs his offer and he passed back peacefully to the shadows.

The party interviews Beetlebug, who tells them that Mother Mag has a hideout off the road. They decide to clear out this hideout and then move on to Edgewich after. when exploring the general area of the hideout, they find a bear trap off the road, and Eggak loses his trust in Beetlebug. He puts a sword to the goblin's neck and declares that they will go straight to Edgewich instead.

### Arriving at Edgewich

The party get to Edgewich and notice Whitecloaks preaching in several stalls in the market district on the way. Edgewich seems to be their home base for the moment. They finally get to the Harp to deliver their ale, and notice there is a note on the door saying to keep the "Grain God' out of their pub. They enter the building, and notice the old man from the night before at the bar. The workers reveal to them that last night was a test of their character, and they were proven trustworthy to Gallen. Using the eyes of the dragon statue above the bar as a sending stone Gallen explained that he had spent three human lifetimes trying to rid the world of "Big E Evil" on his own, but came to the conclusion that there would always be monsters and evil no matter what he tried. He started a secret intelligence organization, The Brewers, in order to fight evil and corruption across the land. There are many operatives in many cities, and are based in the pubs that sell his ale, The party is extended an invitation, and accept. They talk a little while longer and learn that Eggak's friend, Lazarack Brighthaller, is probably at the Traveler's Rest, where Cyrus preaches each evening. Eggak resolves to free his friend from his influence.

### Meeting Cyrus

The party left Beetlebug with Simon to go find Laz across town. The plan was to disguise Sorean as a new, out-of-town convert to Chauntaya named "Boromir," and scope The Traveler's Rest out. Sorean got there and immediately saw that the place was littered with whitecloaks. He also noticed that Cyrus was in a group with the Lord Mayor of Edgewich, the Crown Advisor to the mayor, a large dark brown dragonborn with a goldcloak, and what looks to be Laz. To his horror, Sorean also noticed that the dragonborn, Thoros the Faithhamer, has a red ruby for one of his eyes the same size and shape as the one found at Old Mag's house. Thoros scanned the room while Cyrus gave a sermon touching on all the standard Chauntaya talking points, but included several illusions along with it. The Lord Mayor looked guilty throughout the sermon, while the Crown Advisor looked angry and frustrated. After Cyrus finished his sermon, Sorean got Laz's attention and asked him to go outside to speak to Eggak, Cyrus took note of Laz speaking to Sorean, and stopped them by the door, and asked where the two of them were going. Laz told him that he was going to meet "a special friend," and even though it seemed that Cyrus saw through Sorean's disguise, he lets them go, but went to speak to Thoros next. Laz met Eggak in the alley, and the crew went back to Simon's room at the Harp Pub to talk. Eggak tried to convince Laz of Cyrus's dishonesty, but would not hear of it. He insisted that the party must have fallen under the influence of the Sons of Pain, but agreed to go with the party to explore Beetlebug's lead in the morning. When everyone went to bed, Sorean confided in Segrif that he had a dream that his patron was trapped in a cage of books, but he wasn't yet sure what to do about it.

### The Battle of the Harp

    Everyone went to their separate rooms, but Eggak was awakened in the middle of the night by an ooze, a slithering tracker, sneaking into his room filled with Laz and Beetlebug. Eggak flew out of his bed and raged at the ooze, bringing his weapon down as hard as he could on it, but it seemed to resist and shrug off his nonmagical attack. It was then that Eggak noticed that the ooze has Thurmund's face.

The rest of the party were woken up by the sound of footsteps outside their rooms, looking to ambush them. Sorean hid behind his door and eldritch blasted the first thing he saw, a figure in a black cloak named Essel the same bandit addressed in a note they found earlier. Caulette joined the fight as well, and Bonzu took several quick hits from the attackers, knocking him unconscious for a short period before Simon revived him. Segrif slid back from the bandits and joined the defense from the slithering tracker. Remembering Segrif could inflict elemental damage after his training with Gallen, Eggak left the monster with Segrif and Laz, believing they had it covered and his help would be of more use elsewhere. As soon as he left the room, the slithering tracker enveloped Laz, badly injuring him, With no other choice, Segrif kicked the creature, which left Laz unconscious, but now free from the grapple. The ooze lunged at Segrif, trying to envelop him too, but he was able to dodge and pin it with his spear. With one final kick, the creature was dead. Segrif quickly stabilized Laz, and ran down the hall to join the rest of the fray.

Meanwhile, Eggak had been raging through the hall, finishing off would-be assassins as he went. He jumped down the stairs, only to find more assassins and the rest of the bar staff engaged with them. Essel along with several of his henchmen swarmed Eggak, and though he was able to quickly clobber one, is just as quickly overwhelmed. Luckily, Bonzu and Sorean arrive, and Drax ripped an assassin's throat out while eldritch blasts cleared Eggak a path. Segrif knocked Essel unconscious for questioning, but a final assassin is able to do the same to hi then flee, with Eggak simply too far away to catch up.

### Fleeing Edgewich

The party looted the bodies of the assassins and interrogated Essel. A real professional, Essel is not willing to give up much. all they really learn is that Essel found Thurmund in ooze form out in the woods. Then while Sorean, Eggak, and Segrif were out of the room speaking to Ulis, the bar's owner, Essel broke free with a dagger Bonzu missed in his search. He stabbed Bonzu, but he was able to return the favor, and Essel fell down the stairs unconscious. They planned on casting charm person on him and to ask him more question when he awoke, but they were interrupted by the sound of ringing bells. The party goes to investigate, and it seemed that the Sons of Bane were attacking the west gate. Segrif noticed that only a quarter of the 50 bandits seemed to be real, and Sorean and Eggak noticed there were several whitecloak plants in the crowd holding the illusions. The Sons of Bane attack the gate, and even the burst of flame is an illusion. Sorean decided to have some fun, and in the booming voice of Cyrus, belted “Your souls are all mine, just like the souls of all the wonderful people in this town.” He hoped it would make the town turn on Cyrus, but the crowd was more confused than anything else. The Eminent Advisor, Landry, noticed what Sorean was doing, and quietly shooed the party away back to his office.

Landry informed the party that the town is no longer safe for them. He had heard about what happened at the Harp, and if they stayed in Edgewich, they would certainly be murdered. Cyrus seemed threatened by them, and Rashard, the mayor, is a true believer. Landry also wanted to get rid of Cyrus, but the King Cadmus is busy with other matters, and it is only in the last couple weeks have the sermons turned radical and worth his attention. He advises the party to go to East Fall, which is under the thumb of Weston "The Eyepatch" Stroom. The party could become the liberators of East Fall, legends in their own right, and gain enough credibility to challenge Cyrus. The party traded Essel to Landry for 20 platinum, and the party snuck out of Edgewich through the sewers. They buy several new magical items from Grades at The Drip, and they make it to the forest. They were happened upon by four Sons of Bane, and in their exhausted state, barely made it out alive. In the chaos, Beetlebug wriggled loose and got away, Segrif and Eggak unable to track him down.

### Riding into East Fall

That night Sorean had a dream of a battle, with Boris and the dark cloaked man storming a castle with six minotaurs. Sorean slaughtered dozens of soldiers, cackling maniacally. He was even able to clench his fist to control a tentacle to save Boris. He woke up just as he and Boris reached the top of the tower and saw a bronze colored dragon.

It was a short trip to East Fall and the once prosperous farms outside of town have either been ransacked, burned, or left fallow. Six Dominion soldiers' heads adorn pikes as they neared town, and no guards were there to greet them. They arrived at the local Brewer's pub, The Bread and Bowl, and found that Jerry and Willis Peckerwood stole the trademark dragon. Before they gathered more information, they met Reckon, a warforged bounty hunter. They struck a deal with him to team up and split the bounties of the gang 50-50. They went to the town jail to talk to Amos, and he caught them up on what happened since Segrif left.. Several months after Sergrif left, Eyepatch came to town with his gang and have been running the town since. Efrum, one of Cyrus's priests of Chauntaya, has been bleeding the town for all it's worth. Father Martin Harland was a priest of Chauntaya himself and told him to kick rocks, that he was a false representative of the goddess. He has not been seen since. Erma Mehre, Segrif's old flame, doesn't live at the ranch anymore, and has a son. They went back to the Bread and Bowl, and started working on plans to take out the gang, Giggler the Knoll, Kreeg the Antlers, Groyrod the Peeler, Casser Palerus, and the Peckerwood boys

### The Bread and Bowl Melee

The party barely had a moment to make a real plan when the Peckerwood boys burst through the front door looking to shakedown the owner. Eggak wasted no time and jumped straight from the upper level, where the party was talking, on to Willis Peckerwood on the ground level. Knocked on to his back, Bonzu peppered Willis with arrows and Eggak savagely slashed at him with his greatsword. Jerry Peckerwood was able to react to the surprise attack and meet Reckon's shield arm attack. Meanwhile, Segrif breathed freezing cold air on the Peckerwoods and Sorean supported them with eldritch blasts. Eggak continued his reckless assault on Willis, and Reckon was eventually able to overpower Jerry. he parried his strike and brought Jerry to his knees, begging for his life. Reckon showed no mercy however, and struck him down in cold blood. Willis, seeing his brother's body hit the floor, bolted for the door and tried to flee. He was no match, however, for Segrif's closing speed, who plunged a sear deep in his back, struck down in the street in front of the whole town. The rest of the party cleaned up the other bandits in the bar, not able to convince any of them to surrender peacefully.

The next morning, Segrif wakes up early and goes to speak to Erma. As he rode to the refugee camp (the former Lord Mayor estate), he noticed there was a new air of hope after last night's events. He helped Erma move things around and made awkward small talk, Erma still visibly frustrated he left. he also met Marshall, Erma's son, for the first time, and the older women at the estate imply to him that he is Segrif's son. Erma wished Segrif luck with running the band out of town, and they agreed to talk after he came back.

The party head north to kill The Giggler. On the way there they noticed someone peeking out from beg=hind a barn. Eleanor Mendoza was there with the Ulrick boys, and she told them her family was killed by bandits and her ranch burned. Freshly motivated, the party continued north to investigate and get revenge for them. On the road they found a group of bandits in the midst of burning a ranch. The party rode in full speed and dispatched the kobolds in the band as quickly as possible. Segrif breathed a cone of fire on them, while Sorean fired an eldritch blast. Eggak flipped off his horse to savagely strike another, while Reckon jumped off his own horse to kill the crossbowman sniping from on top the burning barn. The last remaining bandit, Rusty Pickett, tried to run away, but Bonzu struck him in the leg with his arrow, and he wisely surrendered to the party, and agreed to answer whatever questions he could.

### The Battle of Birdie Ranch

It didn't take much prodding for Rusty Pickett to give up the Giggler's location. He told the party that he was headed up to the Birdie Ranch by the river to the north. He had been competing with Antlers to how how many ranches they could burn. Not seeing much more use for him, the party executed Rusty, Bonzu the triggerman with Eggak holding Rusty still.

    The party made a beeline for the Birdie Ranch, ignoring the road and heading in a straight line through the hills. As soon as they got there, Segrif opened by throwing a dart at an archer by the entrance, but he was immediately struck by three separate arrows. They hadn't stopped to consider a more tactical approach. Bonzu was able to shoot the bandit engaged with him and get Segrif to cover and quickly healed up with some goodberries. The rest of the party didn't fare much better in the opening stage of combat. Eggak was flanked by two knolls, who were wisely staying just out of his reach and prodding him with spears. Sorean quickly disintegrated two bandits' heads with eldritch blasts, but spent the rest of the fight in single combat with a Son of Bane. After several tense moments, Sorean was able to fling the bandit's sword from him hand and drive his own blade through his chest. It was then that he first experienced what it was like to take a life with his hexblade, and saw the man's whole life flash before his eyes. He saw it from birth to this grisly death, then "Killed by Sorean" written in a book that closed. Shaken, Sorean stayed out of the last few moments of combat.

Segrif, after regaining his breath, and Reckon were able to engage the Giggler in close quarters combat with the rest of the combatants occupied. Segrif was on the edge, sucking down every last health potion in his bag, but with Reckon's help, he finally found his opportunity and drove his spear into the Giggler's chest. Driven by pure hate though, the Giggler still fought back, but not for long, as Bonzu fired an arrow from 100 feet away straight between his eyes, killing him instantly. Eggak freed the captives the Giggler had in a cage and sent them back to East Fall with a message: "The Sons of Pain sent them.

### Cat and Mouse with the Antlers

The Sons of Pain made camp at the Birdie ranch that night. Bonzu slept restlessly however, as he dreamt of battle. He was at battle, but using Drax's eyes, and feeling what he felt. He woke up, and when he saw Sorean in the morning, his tattoo burned. But the party packed up unaware, and made their way to the Dillard Ranch, in the area of the last known location of Antlers. By the time they got there, the ranch is a massacre. A dozen bodies were found, daggers through the eyes of several, with Eleanor Mendoza among the dead. They heard a sound by the corn shortly thereafter and found a child, Jimmy Dillard, with his dog in a panic hole. After reassuring him that they were there to help, they told him to sit tight, and that they would goo find who did this to his ranch.

    Jimmy told them that they were talking about going to the Fire Tower next, so off the party went. As they grew closer, Eggak developed a mysterious splitting headache that nearly brought him to his knees. They found the camp, however, and moved closer to start their surprise attack, when they were ambushed from the cliffs above. The Antlers had set this fake camp up as a trap, and knew how they tended to gather their information. The party is able to clear the fake camp out after some effort, but Antlers got away. The party took a short breather, listened to Eggak play his newfound lute, and double timed it to the Fire Tower. A less perceptive group would have been blown away on the road, since Antlers had rigged a bridge to explode, but Eggak and Bonzu notice it and quickly dispatch the only scout they see. When they finally get to the tower, they decide the plan is for Sorean to cast invisibility on Eggak, have him infiltrate the tower past the guards, and attack Antlers 1 on 1 inside the tower. Eggak made it all the way up to the top of the tower, but when he gets to the top, the hissing noise he's heard the last 15 seconds made sense. Antlers was on the windowsill, waved, and flew away as the dynamite blew the tower to bits with Eggak still in it.

### Antlers Gets the Horns

The whole party was knocked back by the blast, and Eggak only survived due to sheer rage. Antlers wasted no time attacking them from above the cliffs with ranged attacks. Sorean reacted by casting "Slow" on him, and Bonzu and Reckon took advantage by hitting him with arrows and bullets, respectively. Seeing he was outmatched after being slowed, Antlers turned to fly away, but Eggak gave Segrif a boost and launched him at the foe. Segrif got a hit in, but Antlers hit him with an attack of his own and continued his retreat. All the while, Reckon had been tying a rope to the bolt in his crossbow, and when a lane had cleared, fired it at the aarakocra. Eggak leaped and grabbed the rope, pulling Antlers back down to earth. Without hesitation, Sorean rushed and shoved his hexblade into Antlers's neck, and his vision went white again. He once again saw his kill's life flash before his eye, from learning to hunt, to eating halflings for sport, to Mrs. Mendoza being nailed o the barn, to his very last moments of life. Then, written on the final page were the words "Killed in the forest by Sorean Skybane," and the book was closed.

Victorious, the party looted Antlers's body, picked up Jimmy Dillard, and went back to town to plan their next move. From a distance they saw that East Fall was smoldering, and they double timed it back. By the time they got there, bodies were piled up in the street, and the town statehouse was completely burned down. Eggak and Bonzu went straight to the Bread and Bowl, and Milo, with a fresh eyepatch and a stump for a hand, told them that Eyepatch himself and a gang of about twenty men stormed the town earlier. Amos was killed, and Eyepatch slashed Mayor Thimbel's throat in front of everyone. He took Efrum, Terry Tatum, Father Harland, and kidnapped Erma Mehre just to provoke Segrif.

It was late by the time they got to town, so the party rested up, and at first dawn rode to Eyepatch's hideout. Sorean tried to sneak up to a scout and put a sword in his back, but alerted him instead. Casser Palerus walked out of the cave entrance with a rifle and took aim at the melee-oriented members of the party. Eggak and Segrif took a lot of damage on the way to him, but were able to strike him down quickly once they were within swinging range. with Casser now dead, the only terrorizers of East Fall left was The Peeler, and the leader himself, Eyepatch.

### Segrif Gets "Captured"

The Sons of Pain rested for a short while outside the cave's mouth. Eggak poked his head in to see what was in there, and there were two scouts that weren't budging, so it seemed as good a place as any. Instead of taking who knows how many bandits head on, Sorean disguised himself as Casser, and took Segrif "captive." He made it all the way up to the thick of the bandits before the ruse was up and they took the guards down. They freed Martin Harland from the cage he was being kept in, and he pointed them in the direction of The Peeler, down the east path of the cave. With Bonzu's navigational skills, they avoided the gelatinous cube trap, and entered the cavern where The Peeler kept his prey. Though he was 9 feet tall, wearing a tunic made of skin, they were no match for the combined attacks of Eggak and Sorean, with Drax landing the final blow.

    With The Peeler out of the picture, they opened the cage where the rest of the East Fall captives were held and rescued Terry Tatum from the ledge they were dangling him from. Erma thanked Segrif, and Terry put his arm around her somewhat possessively. They had obviously formed some kind relationship over the shared trauma of the last several months, but it was unclear what kind. While Segrif was busy catching up with his old flame, Bonzu was off scouting ahead. He found a back entrance to where the Son of Bane were waiting for them, and managed to ambush them with Sorean's help. They entered the next room to find a table of bandits playing cards, but as soon as Eggak got near it, the illusion faded and a cage trap fell from the ceiling, narrowly missing him. Efrum, a displacer beast, and Eyepatch stood across the room, ready to decide the fate of East Fall once and for all.

### Eyepatch's Last Stand

No one made a move to fight quite yet. Eyepatch finished up his conversation with Cyrus on the sending stone, and told the party that they had Cyrus and "her" rattled, but that would end today. It was at that moment that Sorean managed to slip through the cracks of the cage trap blocking the entrance and fire an eldritch blast at an archer. Eggak bolted for Efrum, dealing some damage, but Efrum turned the tables on him and paralyzed Eggak. Eyepatch took advantage of the situation and dealt massive damage himself, putting Eggak on death's door right off the bat. Segrif used the ring of jumping found on Casser to leap across the battlefield to engage the displacer beast, but is unable to distract Eyepatch long enough to stop him from knocking Eggak unconscious. Martin Harland revived him from across the battlefield, but he was still paralyzed by Efrum, So Segrif switched tactics: They would kill the priest first.

    Segrif bullrushed Efrum and forced him to a corner, breaking Efrum's concentration. Eggak to shook free of Efrum's spell and boxed Efrum in too. With no regard for his own safety, Eggak hacked at Efrum while Efrum casted a paralyze spell on Segrif this time. Segrif shook it off and drove his spear into Efrum's chest, dispatching the blasphemous priest. Not wasting any time, Segrif went straight for the displacer beast next. Bonzu and Drax kept it at bay with bites and arrows, and in a flurry of blows, Segrif ended the beast.

All the while, Sorean was engaged in single combat with Eyepatch, but just did not have the years of experience the bandit legend did. Eyepatch dropped Sorean, and when he saw Segrif shifting focus to him, misty stepped away near the entrance of the cave to make an escape. Segrif moved with otherworldly speed to catch up to Eyepatch, and caught him off guard, stabbing him in the back before he even had a hope of escape. The last of the bandit threat was gone and East Fall was safe.

Segrif took the sending stone off Eyepatch and had a quick word with Cyrus. More bemused than anything, Cyrus just told him to "tell Eggak Laz says hello." The Sons of Pain gathered the survivors and headed back to town. East Fall celebrated their liberation at the Bread and Bowl that night, and the party debriefed with various townsfolk. Segrif talked to Father Harland, who was convinced the platinum dragon Bahamut looked over the monk, and then talked to Erma for a while. They finally left things on good terms, Erma understanding why Segrif needs to travel after this, and Segrif hung out with Marshall for a while. Eggak talked to Gallen through the dragon's eye, and found out Laz had not yet made it to Gallen's place. Cyrus was at Termina, and time was growing short. It was time for them to make their move. Eggak also had the time to talk to Reckon, and convince him to go to Gallen and learn more about the Brewers. Sorean spent some time with Jerret Steen, a member of the Talon (the crown's clandestine agency), found captured in Eyepatch's lair. He learned more about how the rest of Telyria was holding up, and was assured that the threat of Cyrus's Chauntea cult was now on the king's radar.

That night Sorean had a dream of falling with a heavily wounded dragon. He killed the dragon, stabbing it in the heart when they hit the ground. He turned to a blue-skinned man beside him, then Borris was held by a half-orc woman with gills. The black cloaked man told Sorean to "do what they came here to do," and Borris was lifted in the air against his will. Borris tried to escape, but Sorean counterspelled him, telling Borris he will be a key. The Black-robed man explained that the Last Storm required sacrifice and killed Borris, slashing his wrist. Purple light burst from Borris’s eyes, and projected visions of people like Laz, Eggak, the half-orc woman, and others. The black-robed man turned into a red, horned demon looking thing. This was the form he showed the coven, tricking the witches for some yet unknown reason. He told Sorean he was going to head to the crag and meet with the giant and disappeared. Sorean killed the half-orc woman, then got a look at his face in the pool. Vivian looked back, but with red hair, barnacles crawling and an icy blue eye. Sorean woke in a cold sweat, and Eggak woke with a blistering headache.

### Bookmark and the Road to Termina

The next morning, Milo, Amos, and Reckon were waiting outside the Bread and Bowl to see the Sons of Pain off. Eggak received a new lute with an inscription from Milo to kinder his reawakened love of music. Amos gave Segrif The Rallying Blade, the blade given to the protector of Eastfall for generations. He reassured him that leaving Erma and east Fall is the right thing for the kingdom, and the party rode to Termina as quickly as they could. At a stop, Segrif gave The Rallying Blade to Sorean, thanking him for all he's done so far, and hoping he could make better use of it.

On the road they noticed a massacre of Dominion soldiers, and a lone Keershalt in the pile. It looked like tensions between the kingdoms had ratcheted even further. They got to Bookmark, a sort of branch library for the Rector Arcaneum, and did some research while they rested for the afternoon. They found out that just days earlier, Cyrus had passed through with around 30 men, a little more about the relationship between Lyle Stillgreen and the Keershalts, the Divine Bargain, and info t hat lead Bonzu to believe that the spell cloudkill was what killed his town. With this new information, they rode to Termina.