1.03 Hallod to Town Report

General Summary

The Low Bar set out from Hallod’s Hideout north of town, Kreck carrying the villain over his shoulder in a fond remembrance of his earlier days as a laborman on the docks. The descent down the slopes of the valley revealed a lush green canopy of trees in the verdant valley blotched in places by burned out sections of blight. Conversation floated easily between the new fast friends Kreck, Gunnar, Rehana, & Veerefel. Ylandra, Kalziem and his companion snuck ahead to scout the path. Lucky, meanwhile, worked on his whip skills by hunting squirrels for Kal to cook. The day passed away comfortably enough and the warm autumn air chilled slightly as the sky darkened. Ahead the scouting party found a road, the same road some of them traveled with Bort’s Caravan on their way to Etran’s Folly. Light shown through the dark and Kal and Ylandra made their way ahead to scope it out. A campfire burned tall and bright in a clearing off the road. A wagon with a single pull horse stood nearby. No one else was around. Kal snuck closer along the treeline only to be startled by someone behind him in the woods. Kal recognized the elf ranger in leather armor and an injured hand as Noala, greeting her. ‘We need to talk, but first you might handle that creature you carry, he is awake and listening.’ Kal moved back with the others, asking Kreck to knock out Hallod. The half orc dropped the brute flat on the ground and with a single punch knocked him cold. The party joined Kal in Noala’s camp with lucky coming late carrying a squirrel. Noala explained that she was tending to the blighted wildlife in the area, motioning to the burning body of a large wolf, remnants of an ambush party they heroes defended against earlier on this very road. Noala explained that she had tracked down the warren where these wolves denned and wanted help clearing it out, but that this task could wait. Meanwhile, she said, she asked for introductions to Kals friends, offering elven greetings to each of them in a naming rite Ylandra recognizes as a strange, ancient and unused fey ritual known as ‘Gilding’. ‘Kal-zium, son of Dorn son of Mountainbreaker. Whisperer of the Wakeing Wood. Introduce me to your new companions. ‘ ‘Veerefel. Feychild. Lonewalker. Scion of Lightspinner. Fellowdark. Your path of greyness leads you afar from your own people in this plane. I am gladened that you have found…friends’ ‘Lune. Kinderheart. Lightness of a soul untroubled. EverSleeper. May you ever remain unawoken.' ‘Yalandra. Al’Than’ol. Sisterkin. Seaker of Blessed Perfection. Wanderer of the Half Lands. Your body is the weapon of your mind’s hand. ' ‘Gunnar. Stonecounter. Child of Abadar. Voice of the coin. Knower of the hidden ledger. You seek a civility in a untamed land, stonesiar. ‘ ‘Rahana. Selfkeeper. Artificer of the Small and Mighty. Masterbuilder. Motherbrewer. May your concoctions protect those around you from this world.’ ‘Kreck. Son of Gruun. Son of Ballish. Strength of Vash. Lifter of the Worldstone. May your strong chest ever protect your kind heart.’ Kreck was first to speak up, rightly protesting this ritual ’Thats not my father’s name’ but most others take the elf in good humor, if somewhat confused as to the nature of these epithets or their meanings. Is what she says true or elven flights of fancy? Is she insane? When asked by Gunnar about the nature of these greetings, she merely blushed and looked down at her injured hand, a reminder of the Goblinblood Wars, offering only ‘I don’t..I don’t know’. But she did offer the group some potions, a formula, and said she would make each of them a talisman. The party helped the elf to burn the two remaining bodies, allowed the party to borrow the wagon for their journey into town. Once in town the group made for the Feedmill. Opting to bring the captured murderer into the bar with them, lest he escape, the troupe made for the inside to talk with Delma. Lucky, meanwhile, found Farmer Ellom and Ulf and Olf for a bit of gambling and turnip based revelary. Kreck kept an eye on Hallod and soon he and others noticed the mans shacking hands. A quick blow to the bartop knocked the thug out again, but hte hands remained shaking. Delma, meanwhile, left to find Rolth with Gunnar. After gossiping with the entire town door to door, Rolth was finally found and returned to Feedmill. ‘What is the meaning of this?’ the enormously fat man bellowed on seeing Hallod. The party explained that Hallod was the murderer who used Phinick to conduct the crime. Rolth seemed wary of Hallod even bound and knocked out, but agreed to keep him somewhere safe out of town. The party was able to get some much needed downtime ask Hallod remained on ice and Noala scouted the den. After some days, once the party was recovered, they met up with Timara, new leader of Bort’s Magnificent Mercantile Caravan. She urged the group to find out from Hallod who is responsible for all this. Phinick was brought with them to talk to Hallod The monster of a man was being held in a sturdy building still used for cold storage. Rolth said that his shaking has worsened in recent days but that he might now be pliable to talk to. Gunnar took point asking about who he worked for. He resisted at first, but offered to talk if they supplied his medicine. Gunner had suspected that the man was suffering from addiction withdrawal, and this confirmed his suspicion. Uncomfortable with giving the man mutagen, he instead offered Halllod a healing potion in its place as a deception. Hallod confused the healing effects with the drug effects and began talking. He worked for Vilree, and name that sparked surprised from Rolth. He didn’t know where she was. The key was for a safebox under his bed in his hideout. He had suspected that she had hooked him on the mutagen but he was too far gone to care anymore. Some of the reagents he stole from Breachill but he didn’t know what they were all for. Finally, he said that Bort was delivering a highly illegal reagent called Corpse Blood. Rehana knew of corpse blood and that, besides being illegal (rehana believes it is harvested from fresh corpses, though she might be wrong about that), is used by outlaw alchemists in making energy mutagen. Outside the building Rolth catches up with Gunnar and explains that Vilree is the name of a girl from Etran Folly’s past. He tells a story of a town once prospering that fell victim to a plague. An elf alchemist came to help named Silwyn. Townsfolk then were untrusting of outsides and, when she was unable to cure the plague, blamed her as the source, despite arriving months after the outbreak. In a fervor, the townsfolk killed the elf woman on the stone in the center of town, in front of her daughter. That small elf child was Vilree.

Rewards Granted

Accepted the Blighted Den quest - Everyone 40xp
Convinced Rolth that Phinick was innocent (mostly) - Everyone 50xp
Discovered the Vilree connection - Everyone 50xp
Lucky won at gambling - Lucky 25xp
Gunnar giving Hallod healing potion instead of mutagen - Gunnar 25xp
Brian roleplaying Kreck carrying Hallod - Kreck 25xp

Bonus XP.

For anyone NOT already level 2, add enough XP to take you to Level 2. Do this BEFORE adding the xp above.

Rewards

Gold (Jazz has the total)
2 Potions of Lesser Healing
2 Potions of Barkskin
Noala’s promise to make Owlbear Talismen for everyone
Formula for Hale’s Herbacide

Character(s) interacted with

Kal was the voice for the conversation with Noala Veerfel was the voice for the interaction with Tamli Gunnar was the voice for the interrogation of Hallod

Notes

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Campaign

Age of Ashes

Protagonists