Session 10 - The Craigspire Vanishing
General Summary
The council meeting in River's Edge was interrupted when Vash and Elowen arrived with urgent news. The town they had founded, Lathalas, had been under constant attack from the lizardmen who lived to the south. As the council debated a course of action, they determined that the attacks were likely being led by Slick, the lizardman. Realizing the town would not survive without reinforcements, they decided to raise an army of infantry and charged Vash with leading the soldiers back to Lathalas to garrison the settlement.
After the meeting, Alais confronted Grixen over his constant criticisms of the council. Through careful questioning and deduction, he uncovered an unexpected secret—Roderick was the anonymous buyer of the town’s tavern. The revelation added another layer of intrigue to the town’s political landscape, but before Alais could dig deeper, the hum of an airship’s engines filled the air.
The Zephyr, a vessel from Stormreach, descended upon River’s Edge, piloted by Tobias, an old acquaintance of Alais. Along with much-needed supplies, the airship carried a noblewoman named Tressa, who had been appointed as the imperial governor of the region. However, she was not alone. At her side was a wizard—his wrists bound, an explosive collar locked around his neck—a prisoner of war forced into servitude. Tressa wasted no time in asserting her authority and assigned the group a task. A town to the east, Cragspire, had gone silent. When the Zephyr had flown over it days prior, there had been no signs of life. She wanted answers.
Alais, Fimbul, and Hugo prepared for the journey east and invited Kragar to accompany them, knowing he had been to Cragspire before. Along the road, they encountered a halfling merchant named Halber, who attempted to swindle them into buying cursed items. However, Alais saw through the deception. Instead of punishing the merchant, he chose mercy, lifting the curses that bound him and converting him to the worship of Agape. With a letter granting him permission to run the shop in River’s Edge, Halber was sent back, his life forever changed.
Further along their path, they came across a young goatherd named Mii, who was being stalked by a Cat Sith. Rescuing her from the creature, they sent her to River’s Edge for safety.
After discovering a hidden treasure within an ancient stone circle, the group arrived at Cragspire just before sundown as a storm began to roll in. The town was eerily empty. No signs of life. No traces of struggle. And yet, an overwhelming sense of being watched crept upon them. As Alais investigated, he encountered a lone cat named Dragon, who had been locked inside a tailor’s shop. The animal spoke, revealing that one day, without warning, every person in the town had heard something, stopped what they were doing, and walked away, leaving Dragon behind.
While the town was abandoned, the wooden fort on the nearby hill still flickered with light. Investigating further, they discovered that a band of soldiers from the now-disbanded Red Fang Army had taken up residence within its walls. A skirmish broke out before the leader, Korag, recognized Alais from the battle at Coalridge and called for a parley. He recounted how his men had raided a nomadic centaur tribe and stolen a powerful bow from them, only to be ambushed by a horde of goblins. Pursued relentlessly, they fled toward Cragspire, but upon reaching the outskirts, the goblins suddenly broke off the chase, refusing to follow them any further.
To prove his goodwill, Korag released a prisoner his men had captured—a half-elf scholar named Aref. The scholar had come to Cragspire in response to a letter from an old friend, Invictus, who had discovered a strange artifact and sought Aref’s expertise in identifying it. But when he arrived, the town was empty.
With little else to go on, the group decided their next course of action was to find the nomadic centaur tribe and return their stolen bow. Perhaps, in doing so, they would uncover the truth behind Cragspire’s eerie silence.
Report Date
11 Jan 2025
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