Arc 1 - A Stained Canvas (Unearthly Tether)

## A Stained Canvas

The party (Jimi, Kew, Korrig and Snelm) are looking to make their names known and agree to help the lord of Morsfurt, Rayik, recover some items he claims have been stolen by a figure known as the art thief. After many ordeals, they recover the items and find the art thief themselves, but Kew tries to help them escape the painting they are apparently trapped in. This has some unfortunate side affects in attracting the ire of what has come to be known as the Painted God.

Though they escape, it soon becomes apparent that something is horribly wrong with Snelm and they head towards the city of Nemaros to seek aid. Kew disappears in the night during their journey.

On the road they make new acquaintances, an information broker simply referred to as the Broker and Yash. The Broker informs them of an Arcanum scholar that can help them and a place called the Shattered Spire which he thinks is related to what they are looking for, and after some more trials they manage to reach Nemaros.

## Synopsis

*Act 1 covers sessions 1 through 14 and lasts 15 days.*

### The Art Thief (Sessions 1-6)

When we first meet our heroes, they are simply would-be heroes, people that feel the call of adventure for self-improvement, glory and perhaps coin. They find themselves having met in the port town of Seiburrton and moved towards a small town called Morsfurt, where word has spread that the local lord is looking for assistance.
They meet the town's ruler, Lord Rayik, who has apparently lost some key objects to a mysterious figure known only as "The Art Thief", who has been stealing from people who own a particular painting of a Church of Luma. He has a scrap of the painting that he had a group of other adventurers to take to the a nearby witch called Maerie, that can only be visited via nearby lumberjacks that she is supposedly close with.

When they meet with her, they are made aware that she has been looking into the scrap of painting, but wished for something in return, something that the previous group of adventurers have failed in. They decide to undertake the task and are vastly under prepared for it, and they barely survive the encounter with the almost alien Orcish cult beneath the ruins of Zeiken Watchtower, needing to be saved by Maerie, who was made aware by Kew Dahm's wolf.

However Jimi doesn't wake up so easily, so the party travel to a grove tended by a golem to acquire the herbs Maerie needs to fix him up. They are ambushed by a group of killers in the inn they stay in overnight, these killers seeming to have connection to the rebel group the "Knights Contritus". After completing their goals they return to Maerie to find her under siege from the same group. She tells them that the scrap of the painting is the only thing preventing it from being a portal to another plane and they prepare to enter it.

Whilst they are back they track down the ringleaders of the Knights Contritus in the area, capturing two, but the leader escapes on horseback. During this time Jimi is also stolen from by a gnommish thief, who later befriends Snelm.

With their prep done, they decide to venture into the Painted World, meeting a strange halfling who also stumbled into it called Kaitana, who manages to convince them she is part of the painting for some reason. They find the Art Thief, who it turns out is simply trapped in the Painted World. In an attempt to release him, Kew strikes at the stained glass mural and destroys it. This makes the Painted God quite aware of them.
### Friend in Need (Sessions 7-9)

They barely escape and Snelm doesn't escape cleanly, so he hurries to the lumberjacks hut where they met Maerie. He collapses on the side of the road and the party defend him from predatory Hrul, managing to get him to the lumberjack hut safely. They rest until Maerie arrives and she gives him a necromantic bracelet to stave off what appears to be a rather sinister tether on Snelm, tying him to the Painted World.
They leave a relic of the Painted God with Maerie for study and begin to head towards Nemaros, the capital of Tasir, where they have a much better chance of finding both aid and knowledge of their plight. During the night after their first day of travel, Kew disappears, leaving them confused and afraid of what may have become of him. They stop off at a seemingly out-of-business inn and are warned about dryads by a thoroughly creepy innkeep. The day after, they cross into Nemar county, coming out worse for wear from an encounter with a Mist Wraith living near a river crossing.
### The Broker's First Job (Sessions 10-12)

The group find their way to Aphryll at the right time to meet with the emissary of a man looking for such skilled adventurers as they to take care of a task for him. This is the Broker, who appears through black smoke cast by a special incense and offers contacts and reward in magical items in return for a task being taken care of and perhaps a longer lasting business relationship. This initial task is to clear the nearby mine of a bandit group that is occupying it and taking the rare metals for themselves, to this end he gives each of Jimi, Korrig and Snelm magical items. Meanwhile, the emissary for the Broker gives Snelm a strange gem that he is to hide within the mine, but Snelm senses powerful magics within it and is conflicted as to what to do with it.
They move to meet with an agent of the Broker who is posing as one of the bandits and they formulate a plan to get in without having to fight the whole group of bandits at once. They utilise some disguises and a silence spell to get close enough and kill the guards without attracting the rest, then having Snelm pose as a hostage whilst the disguised people take him to the bandit chief, Nicolas Stonebreaker. Korrig uses his new magic item to cut Stonebreaker and his few bandits with him off from the rest of his men and they manage to take him down. Whilst they did not wish to kill Stonebreaker, it became inevitable after he refused to stay down. In an attempt to dissuade the rest of the bandits from attacking, Snelm invokes the name of an old goblin warchief, Buttersnog. They don't get the reference and continue unabashed.

The group rest up after the the fight and search the place, Snelm discovering a stash of coin and a letter from Nicolas Stonebreaker to his sister, promising coin. Snelm vows to take it to them. They then descend into the mines below, aggravating some spiders and activating a trap that detects necromancy (on Snelm's bracelet) and summons a water elemental, forcing them to flee. They find the Broker further down the road and Snelm reveals that he did not place the gem, to which the Broker responds that he was not to know, for safety's sake, but to bring it to Nemaros as the damage has been done. The Broker makes good on his promise and tells them of an Arcanum scholar that may be able to help them with both his study of the Planes and his access to the Shattered Spire, the place that the only person the Broker has heard of having a similar condition retreated to.
### New Friends, Greener Pastures (Sessions 13-14)

They decide to take horses to their next leg of the journey, as they begin to close in on Nemaros. Maeria contacts Snelm to inform him that his charm has weakened greatly, and she will be bringing him a new one. They stop off in Camp Krieger, or Krieger's Terrific Travelling Theatre of Battle, and meet Yash. They get to know people of the camp, Korrig fights Draximo, half-dragon prize fighter, and Snelm fights their new friend Yash. Both of the group do well, and upon finding out that they are going to Nemaros, Yash asks to join them. Krieger gives her a horse and some coin to tide her over.
With Nemaros now in sight, the group stop at a farmstead to protect it from a rampaging troll. They then find their way through the border town of Ardveldt and make the last leg of the journey alongside a dwarven jeweller called Urtroln Evjer  and his son. Upon entering the city of Nemaros, they head to an inn recommended by Urtroln called the Vesper, finding out that the innkeep is quite happy to bill the Broker for their stay.

Korrig visits a mage blacksmith named Karla to ask about a dagger he found in the Aphryll Mine, she tells him that it is a form of hunter's dagger. Yash heads to the Nemaros college to ask for translations of her mother's notes. Elsewhere, Snelm and Jimi find a strange elk walking about a public park.
## Characters

#### Player Characters:

* Jimi Jostar
* Kew Dahm
* Korrig
* Snelm Brightstone
* Yasheritska

#### Non-Player Characters:

* Lord Rayik of Morsfurt
* Gwiric, Gnommish thief
* Maerie, the Witch
* "The Art Thief"
* The Broker
* Tyrix, Broker sent aid for the assault on Aphryll Mine
* Draximo, draconic prize fighter
* Krieger, travelling arena owner
* Urtroln Evjer, dwarven jeweller
* Evorr, Owner of the Vesper
* Karla, Mage Blacksmith
* Felicia

#### Significant Adversaries:

* Kranshe, Orc Cultist
* The Painted God
* Nicolas Stonebreaker, Bandit Leader

## Locations

* Estlarn - Forten County
	+ Morsfurt
		- Lord Rayik's Manor
	+ Maerie's Abode
	+ Zeiken Caverns
		- The Old Watchtower
	+ Crossroads Inn
	+ The Golem's Grove
* Estlarn - Nemar County
	+ Aphryll
		- Aphryll Mine
	+ Ardveldt
	+ Krieger's Terrific Travelling Theatre of Battle
	+ Nemaros, Capital of Tasir
		- The Vesper, a small inn
		- Barre Cotz, a nice park
		- Merin Alley, a road with many craftsfolk
* The Painted World