Session 2: Arbordale

General Summary

Day 3

• Marta left to go meet up with her work partner, Usha offered to silver one weapon for each member of the party, and Ilyanna told the party that she also wanted to give them something. Everyone handed a weapon off to Usha and followed Ilyanna to the Apothecary, where she gifted them A Drift Globe, and they bought some healing potions.
• They decided to rest before doing anything else, and headed to The Knight's Rest, which seemed unusually empty. My Stage Name is Dreamcatcher convinced the man working at the check in desk to give the party free rooms as a reward for saving Marta, Usha, and Ilyanna. (Along with some roses)
• After about four hours of resting, Selakiir went back down to the lobby area of the inn, he asked the man that they had met earlier why he wasn't acting more freaked out by things, and he told Selakiir that he was trying not to freak out, and his job was to keep the inn running so adventurers could fix things. Selakiir guessed that the man working was Lucia's son. The rest of the party got up and joined Selakiir.
• The party picked up their weapons from Usha, and Selkaiir asked if she'd seen anything weird, she told the party that one of the cultists, Sean had grown up in Arbordale, left and came back a few months ago, and had asked her to hang out the night that she went missing.
• Everyone returned to the stone circle to investigate.

1. Selakiir and My Stage Name is Dreamcatcher checked out the greasy human first, and saw the outline of a chain burned into the grass from his arms to the puddle left behind by the creature. They found chain marks on his arms, along with several occult tattoos including a snake eating the moon. They found an Underdark Passport, and found out that the man's name was Trevor Cravence. They also found a snake ring, and a longsword. Selakiir found some gold, and handed My Stage Name is Dreamcatcher 83 gold. My Stage Name is Dreamcatcher took four snake rings, including the one found on Trevor.
2. Dew investigated the stones, and found that they were inscribed with an archaic form of Druidic writing, she was able to tell that the circle had been built by an ancient druid circle for the purpose of pulling energy from the stars for magic rituals. They also had a star chart that did not include The Serpent constellation.
3. Wok investigated the cultists and found Sean's receipt from The Arbordale Library, a page from a textbook, featuring an illustration of the runic circle that the cultists made in the clearing, a paper that has an address to a place in Veil with the word "Oathbreaker" written underneath, a matchbook from a seedy hotel in Tannin, two tickets for a boat trip from Mysthaven to The Capital, scheduled for six days from now, under the name Trevor Cravence, and some gold.
4. Wok used his survival skills to investigate the black goop left behind by the creature, and figured out that it was necrotic acid. Selakiir gave him an emptied makeup compact and Wok scooped some into it.
5. Selakiir handed everyone else 84 gold each and went to look at the circle in the middle of the stone clearing. The circle had been made using a more complicated set of the same runes that were inscribed on the Oroboros pendant Dew had found. Wok walked over to compare the textbook page, and saw that the runes in middle of the circle matched the illustration exactly. Dew realized that the cultists had summoned a Demon, and that Trevor Cravence had been in a warlock with a pact with that demon.

• The party returned to the Inn, found the same Human still working. Selakiir found out his name is Dimitri, the party introduced themselves, and asked about the Library. Dimitri said that it was closed, but he was willing to let them in. Dimitri walked them to the Arbordale Public School, which owns the library, and opened it for them, but he wanted to keep an eye on things. Selakiir asked to for the library records, and Dimitri showed him to the locked desk. The party tried to distract him from Selakiir, but it was pretty difficult.
• My Stage Name is Dreamcatcher distracted Dimitri by talking to him, and Selakiir was able to attempt to pick the lock, but he found out that the librarian had put an excessively complex lock on it, Selakiir got caught, and told Dimitri that he was looking for Sean's library records.
• When Dimitri tried to help, Dew figured out that Dimitri was being genuine about his attempts, and that he was interested in Selakiir. Dimitri came back and asked Wok to help him break the lock open. Sean's library records showed the gap where he had been away from Arbordale, and then when he returned he had checked out history and astrology books, and then more recently a book on poison, a book on herbalism, and, a cookbook. The latter three had not been returned. Selakiir returned Sean's file, and fixed the lock.
• Dimitri mentioned to the Party that someone had to be kicked out of the Inn the night that everyone was kidnapped, and that the waitress, Whitney was the person who dealt with them. My Stage Name Is Dreamcatcher used his smooth moves to get her to admit that she had seen someone hovering around the food and the drinks, but served it anyways. Selakiir asked to see the drinks, and Whitney took the party into the kitchen.
• Wok found oil floating in the mead barrel that had been served to them. Whitney started to gather the barrels that had been opened the other night to throw them out. The party realized that they had not seen Lucia since the night that they stopped the cult, Selakiir got the feeling that she had left to figure out what was going on.
• The party checked out the other barrels and found them to be sealed still. Selakiir figured out that Lucia is Dimitri's mom, Lawrence is Lucia's elder brother, and that Whitney is Lawrence's daughter. My Stage Name Is Dreamcatcher put together that the Inn was targeted with the sleeping potion because the people who were most likely to stop the cult were all staying there.
• They went back to Séarlas Peterson's house to ask about his Oddities. Séarlas was excited to show them, My Stage Name Is Dreamcatcher bought a "Tasteful" Erotic painting of a Goblin woman. But the only thing they found that seemed useful was a bag of Illusion dust that My Stage Name Is Dreamcatcher purchased, along with a dead fairy in an orb. They asked about the textbook they had found, and Séarlas told them that a nervous Half-Elf in a Veil University uniform had sold it to him. The party decided to rest and then head out to veil when they woke up.
• When they got back to the Inn, they asked Dimitri about where Lucia went, he told them that she had left to ask the Baron of Mysthaven what was happening, and then try to meet with the King. My Stage Name Is Dreamcatcher began to hear chanting in his dreams.

Day 4 - 6

• The road to Veil was dark and rainy, Wok used his skills to help everyone get through faster. After walking for a while, the party noticed lights in the distance. Selakiir went to investigate, and found a human man asleep outside of a tent. The party sent My Stage Name Is Dreamcatcher to wake the man up and convinced him to share the campsite. The man agreed to let them, but remained cautious of the party.
• Wok took the first watch shift, and saw a group of Elves walk by. Selakiir took the next watch, the man switched spots with his wife, who immediately fell asleep again. In the morning the party packed up quickly, and left before the couple had a chance to talk to them. Selakiir left two gold behind.
• The Party found a campsite along the road, Wok figured out that the campsite had been made about a day after the party stopped the cult. Dew figured out that there had been about three people staying in the campsite, and found a snake charm on a necklace. They all figured out that the campers might have been part of the same cult as the people from Arbordale, and that they had made this camp around the same time the other group had summoned the demon in Arbordale. They decided to skip resting and travel for the remaining 22 hours.
• The party arrived to Veil at about 8 pm, figured out that the address from the paper they had found in Arbordale led to a student dorm. My Stage Name Is Dreamcatcher took the party to his family's summer home to rest.

Report Date

04 Jun 2022

Primary Location

Arbordale