Session 1 (11. 01. 2020)

In the great holy city of Merak, two unusual figures arrive among the rest of the traffic at the busy western harbor, a man with a hook for a hand and an elven woman covered with plantlike growths. The man is Vasya Volkov, who the elf, Cadfan Groveborn, had found washed up on the bank of the Eternal River a few days prior. He is on an important mission to Merak, and Cadfan accompanied him so that she would be able to cross into the city. Most Hespathians would merely scoff at an elf, grumble about them going back to the forests, and leave it at that, but people might refuse her passage on account of her strange, plantlike appearance.  Vasya and Cadfan make their way to the temple of Kalash at the center of the city, the largest such temple in all of Hespath, called The Ancestor’s Sanctum. They find the way there by following the seven towering spires visible from practically anywhere in the city. Cadfan waits outside so as not to be accosted by the temple guards, and spots a man with a wolf tattoo eyeing her more than anyone else. Inside the grand hall, Vasya nervously hurries to report to one Brother Flavius, the elderly High Priest of the Holy Covenant, that he has failed in his duties. He was transporting a body along the Eternal River when his boat was raided, and both the body and the wealth that he was carrying with it stolen. Brother Flavius makes note of this on a piece of parchment, magically sending the written message elsewhere. He instructs Vasya to find a Captain Hanak in the nearby guardhouse for information on what he should do next, and he reunites with Cadfan to head there.
Further down the road, two members of the city guard of Merak are finishing up their shift. The younger man is John Deercow, an eager recent addition from the military academy, and the stoic bearded elf is veteran Agis Tordove, a monk trained at the Ancestor’s Sanctum. John launches right into a story of a legendary battle where 30 soldiers held back 300 through their impressive use of tactics and the high ground advantage. Agis mostly takes this in silence, looking out for any troublemakers on the street and spotting the wolf-tattooed man, who he recognizes as Chris, a local street ruffian fond of harassing nonhumans. The pair debate on whether or not they could beat the brawny fellow in a fight, with John doubting they’d stand a chance. They enter their guardhouse to report to Captain Hanak, their superior, about the day’s events. Inside the guardhouse when they enter is Maverick Humbleward, a liaison to the town watch in Vardona, a town directly west from Merak that sits on the edge of the elf-inhabited Evergreen Forest. He is here to report strange events occurring around Vardona, possibly involving witches and forbidden magic. Maverick’s superior, Captain Lem Stillgrove, is short on guards and needs reinforcements, which he is here to secure. Captain Hanak, an aging human man with a greatsword leaning against his desk in a way that suggests he’d rather be fighting than doing paperwork, asks Maverick if one squad would be enough, as occurrences like the ones he is describing have been happening all over the country, and he doesn’t have many people to spare. Maverick affirms, and after writing out a magically-sent message Hanak ducks into the other room to call in John and Agis. Vasya, having helped Cadfan to enter the guardhouse as a precaution against the wolf-tattooed man, is also summoned. The captain informs the group of their new assignment- a special squad out to Vardona to clear up the events there, to be headed by John in his first leadership role. Maverick is their local informant, Vasya will recover any bodies(potentially including the one stolen from him), and of course they’ll need church-appointed spiritual guidance, aka supervisory monitoring. That will be provided by Sophia, a cleric of Kalash and member of the Holy Covenant, who had been cheerfully surveying the proceedings from a chair by the captain’s desk.
Hanak informs them that they will leave immediately, as this mission is being put as a high priority. Vasya expresses some concern about being assigned so far inland, as Ferrymen usually attend only to the Eternal River and the surrounding area, but is quickly shut up by Hanak telling him to complete his duties and follow orders. The newly-formed group debates on whether or not to bring the strange plant elf along. Vasya vouches for her skills and that she saved his life, and John and Maverick will take all the help they can get, deciding it. Cadfan will accompany them on the journey to Vardona, which they begin, travelling out of the city to the east on a horse-drawn cart provided by Hanak. He wishes them well and gives John 50 gold and three healing potions, considered alchemical and not arcane, to support the group.
The first part of the journey, across the massive bridge called The Gateway that will take a full day to cross, goes smoothly. John gets everybody to introduce themselves to each other with a small activity that results in some light banter. Everyone seems to get along well, and stop on the bridge for the night as they had left in the late afternoon. Vasya begins to see shapes forming and dissipating in the water below them, which no one else can see. He is mesmerized until called back to the fire by Cadfan, where they talk about the missing hand that he was born without. He expresses a desire to find other people with missing limbs to compare experiences, and both acknowledge their lack of experience in real combat, though Cadfan admits that she has had to kill in self defense before. This conversation is overheard by Sophia and Agis, the former of which goes to sit some distance away in the light of one of the massive statue-held braziers that line the bridge to report back to the clergy, using the same magical pen and paper as Hanak and Flavius. Agis follows, at first stealthily but quickly revealing himself when he can’t read what she is writing in the report. They talk, with Sophia avoiding questions about the report by answering generally, and expressing a love for romance novels. She says that it would be improper for a cleric like herself to remain talking with someone who obviously has a crush on her, and leaves Agis in confused silence. The rest of the night passes uneventfully.
In the morning, Sophia makes sure that every trace if their stay is cleaned up in a show of respect for the holy landmark’s architects and Kalash. John privately asks Agis for an update on the group, who tells him about Cadfan’s previous admission. With their things packed, the group sets out once again, making it across the bridge and entering the Fields of Reeds and Vines, a vast expanse of farmland that sits partially between them and Vardona. While the others look at the surroundings, Vasya starts cloud watching and seeing similar shapes as in the water the previous night, which he still doesn’t tell the group about. On the road beyond the fields, Agis sees something in the trees and jumps off of the moving cart, causing John to stop driving it forwards. A closer look revealed a walking corpse hitting its head against a tree repeatedly. The group prepares for combat as more zombies approach down the road and from the adjacent hillside.

The fight ensues, with John and Vasya distracting the zombies near the cart while the others pick them off from the sides. The zombies repeatedly fail to hit Vasya, some force making them decide against it. Sophia recognizes it as similar to a cleric’s sanctuary spell, but is preoccupied with shooting bolts of holy fire at the undead, which seems to kill the remarkably hardy creatures faster than Maverick and John’s rapiers, though Agis smashes through two of them using only his fists. A more bloated zombie shambles slowly down the road, Cadfan pelting it with arrows that melt into its flesh. The party finishes off the smaller corpses just as the big one arrives, and John shoves it to the ground. Sophia and Cadfan wait until it gets up and everyone but Vasya gets out of the way as they shoot it simultaneously, causing it to detonate in a spray of acid. Vasya manages to avoid the brunt of the blast, and the horses are also only slightly splashed but are spooked and begin to run with Sophia still in the cart, but are quickly calmed by John.
Sophia searches the corpses, finding a scrap of a letter mentioning Vardona and some gold, which she distributes as per church guidelines. Her and Vasya attend to the burning of the bodies, with the Ferryman lighting herbs in his censer to assist the cleric in cleansing rites. He sees a lingering face in the smoke that slowly vanishes, and Sophia can tell that he is confused and scared by something. He blames it on old sage, and the pair rejoins the rest on the cart. The rest of the day passed uneventfully, and the group makes camp. Vasya reveals to the group that he had been transporting the body of the leader of a prominent wine family, and that they will hopefully be able to recognize it if it has been reanimated by the fine clothes the body had been wearing.
They make camp on the road between two large wheat fields, and prepare for the night.

Characters

Sophia (Luecaster)
Vasya Volkov (Max)
Agis Tordove (Brayden)
Cadfan Groveborn (Cheese)
John Deercow (Adam)
Maverick Humbleward (Dil)

Locations

Merak