The Burning Turnip

General Summary

Winter snows fall gently but without reprieve just as they have for the last three days. The caravan managed to reach Ackley Point during a brief break in the snow. The distillery, grain silos and warm glow of tavern windows welcomed them in from the cold.

The heroes begin their journey inside the largest tavern in the city, The Burning Turnip. Its connected to the main brewery and distillery that produced Ackley Ales most famous libations. It's also the center for the town's small government, run by Uster Ackley, the grandson of the original founder. All of the heroes are seated at a large table near one of the warm fireplaces and engaged in a "practice" game of cards with a halfling named Fletcher. Only Caellana is missing. Fletcher is making small talk, mentioning he's also part of the caravan and joined up only a few days ago. He asks about the others and seems interested in getting to know them. One of the assistant ostlers is also at the name, a half-elf named Ulara. She's doing her best to pay attention to the game while constantly looking in Tindel's direction. Aelfric can tell she's attracted to Tindel and his hiding it poorly. Berenger Coldren eventually comes by to join the table and entertains them with a tale from his youth, when he was a young soldier visiting the area for the first time and how he and his men had to deal with a rampaging ogre.

Caellana is waiting near the door of the Burning Turnip for her boss, Rehele. The caravan leader asked her to wait right there and not move while she bought the entire tavern their first round of drinks. After the cheers die down she returns to Caellana and explains to about the very important job she needs help with. Rehele is going to be meeting with Uster Ackley to discuss spare supplies that he might be willing to donate to the New Sanctuary Expedition. She knows the old dwarf brewmaster has a soft spot for elves, as soft as a dwarf can anyway, and she wants Caellana to pretend to be the elven diplomat here and really play up the importance of extra supplies to the elf people. Caellana tries to protest the idea because she wasn't raised by elves and really doesn't know anything about them but Rehele insists she just play the part.

Rehele puts her things down and takes a seat in Uster's office along with the very nervous Caellana. The dwarf is already a bit drunk, having been celebrating with the visiting settlers. Rehele prompts her fake diplomat to talk about the starving elves back in the homeland and how any additional supplies would go a long way. Uster is impressed to have a visit with an elf from Melanthris or what he thinks is one anyway. Caellana was raised alone in the depths of the Rylan woods and knows nothing about Melanthris. Fortunately, Uster doesn't either and he believes everything she's saying. Uster agrees to the extra supplies and offers to take them on a tour of the distillery to pick out one of his finest casks of ale alone with grain, fresh water and other goods. Once they get there Rehele remembers she left her bag in the office and sends Caellana back to get it. That's when she discovers something is wrong. In the short moments they've been gone someone broke in through the window and cracked open a hidden safe beneath Uster's desk. She kneels down to examine the broken safe and notices an inventory list of recipe books, all of which are accounting for. The only thing missing is something called The Burning Turnip. A twenty pound, magical and perpetually aflame root vegetable that has been part of all Ackley's recipe batches for the last century.

Caellana rushed to inform Rehele of what she saw and as discreetly as possible. Rehele told her to go find the rest of her companions and get the turnip back before Uster finds out what happened. He'll blame the caravan for it and they'll lose any chance and extra supplies.

Meanwhile, Cordelia happens to notice one of her old associates at the bar and he's been peering at their table for a while now. She eventually heads over and says hello to Beckin Kiem, an assassin for hire from Ghal Pelor. They strike up a casual conversation when he reveals that he's here on business. His mark is a human farmer from the Farmlands of Ghal Pelor. His wife caught him cheating on her and he up and abandoned her and the farm. The wife's wealthy father than put out a hit on the man for leaving his daughter. Cordelia says she's here doing security for the caravan so this is an awkward position they're in. Beckin offers to make it interesting. Rather than have to kill each other over it he says they can make a wager out of it. If he finds the man first he finishes the job. If she can keep the man alive till sunrise then he'll give up the job. Winner also gets 10 Gold. The only tough part is that Cordelia has no idea who the mark is. Nevertheless, the game begins.

Cordelia makes it to the table at roughly the same time Caellana does and the two try to sort out which potential crime takes priority while the others try and piece together the overlapping conversations. Grigor has some particularly insightful nuggets that take the table of heroes on a brief segue about preventing crime via time travel if such a thing were possible. Eventually, they decide to split up. Aelfric, Beorna, Caellana and Grigor head to the scene of the crime while Cordelia, Tindel and Berenger head to the where most of the settlers are camping.

In Uster's office Caellana, Grigor and the Frostmerites begin poking around for clues. They discover tiny, wet , footprints on the floor from the melting snow outside. Whatever took the turnip definitely wasn't human-sized. They follow the tracks and find they split off in several directions, one set into the woods and coming blizzard, the other deeper into Ackley Pointe. The Frostmerites head into town while Caellana takes to the woods with Grigor. Aelfric and Beorna follow the tracks into an alleyway near the center of town. While following them Aelfric spots a small glimmer and some movement coming from a trash pile near the rear of a tavern. He reaches in and snatches out a small pixie and immediately accuses her of stealing the turnip. The terrified pixie's name is Olive and she tries to explain that she didn't steal the turnip, she has wings so there's no reason she'd leave tracks in the snow and that she has no idea what they're talking about. She says she and her family stowed away in the caravan and shes looking for food. The two Frostmerites decide to investigate the pixie family and take their captive back to the wagons to find her kin.

Caellana and Grigor push through the winter winds in the forest. Only Caellana's expertise in the woods keeps them from getting lost. However, they soon spot the light of a campfire and Grigor proudly walks right into the camp to investigate. The first thing he hears is a wet snapping noise, then sees a bloody human head rolled across the snow where half a dozen yipping, screeching little lizard soldiers pounce on it and begin feasting. Kobolds. And, they all look to their master. A nearby ogre who's flesh is painted red and who wears the skull of a crocodile-like a mask. He has kites on his back fashioned like wings and fake tail as well. The Kobolds address him as the dragon priest and genuinely seem to think he is some kind of dragon. Beside this angry behemoth is the missing turnip, blazing away in the snow. They immediately turn and run with the ogre in pursuit. Caellana uses a tangle of vines, roots and branches to slow down the beast while they push through the snow and back to Ackley Pointe.

Meanwhile, Tindel, Cordelia and Berenger are wandering around the wagons relying on Berenger's limited knowledge of "couples having trouble". (Sidenote. Berenger rolled a one for this so his idea of who's having troubles is super wrong) The team splits up and they quietly watch the three most likely couples for signs to confirm their assumptions or to see if Bekin makes his move. Neither of which happens. They regroup with Berenger who happens to have joined the couple he was supposed to be spying on for dinner and is explaining to them that there's basically a one in three chance that they're going to be murdered tonight by an assassin. While the couple is getting there terrible and inaccurate news the Frostmerites are climbing under their wagon to speak with the stowaway pixies. The Frostmerites tell the couple they're looking for contraband. While the couple is having their fears assuaged by Cordelia the Frostmerites determine the pixies did not steal the turnip. Aelfric offers them a safer, warmer place to stay in his wagon. Cordelia and Berenger break off to keep looking for the endangered settler while the Frostmerites, Tindel, Caellana and Grigor compare notes on the ogre and head back out to the woods.

Cordelia and Berenger split up briefly before she finds the old soldier in the Burning Turnip tavern watching Fletcher play his card games and shark the locals of their hard earnings. He points out something very odd to Cordelia while he watches them, that the little halflings ears don't match. One is typical to a halfling with a slight little point. The other definitely human. Cordelia recognizes a disguise and heads over to confront him quietly and to snatch off the other fake ear. He's a human for sure and she tries to get his story out of him. He's farmer who couldn't take life back home in the Ghal Pelorian fields anymore. He up and left his wife and his life behind and met the caravan on the road where he told them he was a cheap soldier for hire. His wagon full of supposed weapons is actually the tools from the farm and his wagon horses are the horses from the same farm. Cordelia realizes that's why Bekin was watching their table earlier and that Fletcher is the mark. They head back to Fletcher's wagon for safety but that's where Bekin's been hiding this whole time, patiently waiting. He throws a dagger that cripples Fletcher and moves in to finish the job. Cordelia and Berenger step in to defend the scoundrel but vow that it's just a duel and no one will be permanently hurt in this fight. Bekin agrees, draws his daggers and attacks. During the fight it becomes apparent that Bekin is slightly more skilled than Cordelia, it also doesn't help that Berenger stumbles into her during the opening maneuvers. A quick strike from the assassin's dagger hilt knocks Cordelia unconscious. She's not awake to see Berenger's precise shield bash to the back of the head that drops the assassin. Fletcher is saved and the pair of heroes quickly bind up Bekin.

The rest of the heroes pile into the Kobold camp to find it empty. As they search for clues they quickly realize the trap they've walked into. Seven Kobolds are hidden in the trees with small bows ready. Aelfric brought along another of the Frostmerites, a young boy named Ivor, who happens to be the first to take a painful arrow to the chest. Tindel also suffers under the hail of arrow fire. They attack back but the cover of the trees and the height the enemy is at make the counterstrike particularly difficult. Beorna throws all caution aside and starts sprinting across the snow and climbing up one of the trees while terrified Kobolds screetch and scream. The others slowly manage to pick off the ambushers one by one while Beorna butchers half of them up in the branches. One of the injured Kobolds is cured by Caellana who can't stand the violence. Once revived she politely discusses the situation with the small creature.

This Kobold's name is Meepo and explains that Kobolds are a superior species and the children of the gods. The gods are dragons and he is a follower of something called the Red God and the red god sent the dragon priest (the ogre in disguise) to lead his band. The dragon priest told them they must retrieve the icon of the Red God, the burning turnip, for him. Beorna, disgusted by the creature and his insults, strikes him in the head with her sword. Caellana quickly stabalizes Meepo again and carries him along as they look for the ogre's tracks.

The manage to catch up to the ogre and his three Kobold assistants and confront him about what he's really doing. The arrogant ogre tells them the turnip is going to the Butcher Yards to season the meat of his masters. Tindel knows the name well, the Butcher Yards is no holy place to dragons but the bloody territory of a clan of mutated, inbred giants and ogres known as the Dougal family. They manage to trick the ogre into revealing the truth out loud and this costs him the support of his Kobolds who scamper off into the woods. Enraged, the ogre attacks. He hurls a rock that quickly takes down Tindel; furious at the elf for revealing his lie. Grigor rushes in to attack but slips on the snow and falls at the feet of the ogre. Aelfric runs in to defend his friend only trip on him and land face down in the snow. The ogre laughs and uses his tree branch club to batter Aelfric almost to death. Caellana manages to burn the ogre with her druidic magics and distract him long enough for Beorna to move in and engage. A few blows later and the ogre is dead, his head severed and the turnip recovered. Caellana asks Meepo what he wants to do and he answers despondently that his faith is shaken to the core by the ogre's lie. He thinks that maybe she and her friends might be divine servants of the Red God. He's not sure of his purpose and just curls up in her bag and shivers. Also, bleeds a lot from his wounds and the missing eye Beorna inflicted on him.

They reach Ackley Pointe again and in time to see that Rehele is failing to keep Uster from heading back to his office. He's on his way in. They quickly rendezvous with Cordelia and hand off the turnip to her. She and Caellana sneak in ahead of the dwarf and put the turnip back in the safe. Cordelia manages to disguise the safe enough to make it look intact as well. They quickly and politely put to rest any suspicions the drunken dwarf might have and bid him and Rehele a good night.

Rewards Granted

Rescuing and returning the turnip: 100 Defeating the ogre: 450 Defeating the kobolds: 200 Defeating Beckin Kiem and saving Fletcher: 150

Missions/Quests Completed

Extra supplies were donated by Ackley Pointe
Fletcher was saved
Beckin Kiem was let go (professional courtesy) and cancelled his contract to kill Fletcher

Character(s) interacted with

Beckin Kiem- Ghal Pelorian assassin who likes to leave roses at the site of his murders
Uster Ackley- Brewmaster and leader of Ackley Pointe
Fletcher Crock- Farmer and scoundrel from the Ghal Pelorian Farmlands
Ulara Aeondularion- Half-Elf assistant ostler to the caravan and someone with a romantic interest in Tindel
Meepo- A kobold who was deceived into fighting for an ogre

Campaign

The New Sanctuary Expedition

Protagonists