Session 1, Dark Tides Report
General Summary
The Wakeup
After waking up on the shore of Fratania, Dankil, Levi, Edwald and Viktorn gather what remains of their senses, while trying to figure out what to do next.They head towards the small nearby porttown called Bellows Rest, in search of food and shelter. While exploring the streets of the town, they come across a man with a broken radio. Fixing it, figuring out that the battery was turned the wrong way around, they hear the quick end of a news report. The reporter explains the dire situation that is becoming ever present in Fratania. The large amount of refugees coming to shore and the indecisiveness from the ruling families on what to do with them. As helping them might mean war with the powerful Empire and turning them away seems cruel and inhumane. The decision will be taken to a vote a week from the current broadcast in Downwarren. As for now the 4 families are split 2 against 2 on the matter.
The group quickly discovers just how desperate the situtation is, when they witness the empty streets of the town, learning that many of its merchants and general population are trying to get out of the country before the potential coming of war. As if that wasn't bad enough, the beaches have become a make-shift home for hundreds upon hundreds of stranded refugees. Not allowed to work and not allowed to leave. The town is scrambling to accommodate the odd imbalance of people.
The Bells
Dankil becomes infatuated with the Bell Keeper and the Bellows that he is chained too, trying to ascertain their importance, as he feels an unspoken connection to their history. Through the stubborn insistence that only a dwarf would know, he forces more and more information out of the Bell Keeper, until he finally gets the revelation that he hungers for. This grants him a vision, sending him spiralling through the depths of his own mind. ''What are you truly afraid of? Travok of Clan Dankil?'' Whatever it was, it left him vacant and hollow for a good minute, as some unknown darkness or fear had been unlocked within his soul from the vision. The Eyes of the Abyss, the Eyes of the Deep.The Crowded Bell
The group visits the Crowded Bell, befriending the succubus Zoé and getting to stay at her place for the night. Doing the evening they find an old acquaintance completely unscathed, Azura. She had trouble recollecting just how she survived the capture, but it seems Steel Jaw allowed her to go free, the reason to which escapes her. He only said that she reminded him of someone.Also staying in town the group befriends a local half-orc named Henk, who had survived a brutal encounter with some unknown beast. That killed his group of hardened mercenaries, only he managed to survive in the chaos.
The Commemoration
It just so happens that the very day of their visit, they arrive at the Commemoration. A time for remembering the lost and fallen. Done by a collective 30 minutes of silence at midnight gathered at shore, surrounded by the voice of the waves.This particular commemoration something strange occurs, as the veil of the clouds brakes and reveal the crystal moonlight. Shinning upon a large tower resting on the waves, with a thin circle of ships ever moving upward around its walls, like ghosts bound to some unknown source of gravity.
Preparations
The following day they stock up in town and find a posting for some much needed help with an overrun windturbine farm. On their hunt for supplies to do the job, they impulsively break the window of a closed down general shop to the dismay of the owner cleaning up inside. A little bit of succesful intimidation later by Henk and they avoid further trouble. Levi even manages to get info on a local bounty hunters guild named the Reapers Wake, apparently working out of Downwarren further south.While that chaos unfolds, Edwald meets a colourful sailling merchant with a big Nadrien personality named Icarus. Sadly Edwald quickly discovers the price of magical items is far beyond his price range and even with all his charming haggling, it is of no help - for now.
The Blight Cometh
They meet the contractor of the posted job, Power Keeper Gallen Shroud, a 100 something year old gnome with brown curly hair. He tells the party that the Lazarus Forest to the west of Dalens Reach had been slowly but surely expanding eastward since the republics founding 100 years prior. Despite attempts to contain it, it has always been hungrily crawling further and further eastward. 10 years ago it swallowed up Bolvick Farms and now his Windfarm is next.They eagerly take the job, with a promise of 100 Greymarks as a reward when the job is done and set out towards the forest to discover the heart of its blight.
A days travel later they reach the approaching forest, the nearby windfarm and supposedly Gallens old home before he had to move. As it is getting dark they explore Gallens abandoned house, discovering an old picture of Gallen and some unknown dwarf with a beautiful ivory pipe. ''Dear Gallen, I hope this will be the start of a better life... From Felix'' the picture says.
The exploration of the house is cut short as they are assaulted by strange humanoid creatures made of twigs and rotten wood. They fend them off and shelter themselves within the house for the night, when they hear the door slowly creak open. Standing in the living room, an ethereal women, with long silvery hair, begging them forth smiling in the hollow moonlight. Henk charges her, swinging his sword through her form and she dissipates, the illusion that she was. In the silent expecting aftermath a crackling rotten voice bellows with laughter from somewhere around them... They are still not alone.
Missions/Quests Completed
Confined to Waves of Woe
Travok Dankil
Levi The forgotten
Azura Fireborn
Edwall Evergreen
Report Date
05 Jul 2023
Primary Location
Secondary Location
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