Session7

As you leave the mansion with Isabell making your way past all the guards that have now surrounded the mansion you see Isabell call over a few of her servants ordering them to collect her belongings and to meet at the east gate within an hour. She then jumps in her personal carriage stationed at the front entrance before yelling out to you.

"East entrance, one hour".

She then shuts the down and the carriage takes off.

Players head to east gate
-DONT FORGET THE MUSIC HERE
 * Faen, as a wanderer and more importantly the Cormanthor woods being the region where your clan was originally located you know that passing through the woods without large numbers or great individual strength is pretty stupid. The whole area is thick with magical energy which makes the lands fertile and the mines prosperous, but also creates a natural barrier preventing travel in and out. Making trade quite lucrative but difficult.

Arriving at the east gate you see a large band of caravans and merchant carts numbering over a dozen.

"You're on cart 3, you lot are stationed by the lady's personal carriage. George I already told you to flank the lead cart. Get into position already"

An old dwarf with long black hair and a short beard is mercilessly shouting orders to the mercenary guards that seem be there to protect them.

As you approach closer he notices your presence.

"Hold it right there. My name is Omrack and I'm Estavana's personal guard. What business do you have here".

Players Request to join the gaurd

 * He seems unimpressed by the seemingly scrawny and garlic smelling tiefling as well as the thin elf but upon eyeing the hulking dragonborn in impressive armor and the dwarf who never stows her axe he agrees to let you join.
 * You'll be assigned to the rear, I don't expect much out of you. Just look tough and try not to get yourselves killed if we run into any real trouble.
 * I should probably mention, we're heading to Myth Drannor, and let's just say elves are not exactly treated with respect there. Most if not all of them are slaves. Not to mention you already have a Tiefling amongst ye. You shouldn't expect a very warm reception.
 * No pay, No benefits. If you're looking for safe passage to Myth Drannor from a backwater town like this, then coming with us is your only option. The only people who could think about traveling through Cormanthor Forrest without an armed escort and not die a terrible death would be C ranked adventurers. Secondly to get into the city without any papers and not get robbed blind by the ridiculous entrance levies would be to enter with us.

Players begin journey to Myth Drannor
The first days journey seems to go smoothly, the roads between the two small towns of Phlan and Melvaunt are well traveled. The ground is hard and the area is too open for any real ambushes. Isabell booked out the nicest inn for herself and her personal servants and Omrack reminds everyone that they leave at first light.
 * Nothing of interest is going on in the town.
 * The town brothel only contains gnome by order of the town governor.
 * The town tavern is called the laughing bard and they play live music every night. They also have karaoke.

First Light (2nd day)
As the sun rises over the horizon the carts have all been packed and the merchant and mercenaries begin to head out again toward Myth Drannor. The roads are not quite as well maintained but the journey is still somewhat smooth. You arrive at the outer edge of Zhentil keep. A stronghold that sits between a large river that divides the land. Omrack calls for the group to hold.

(Omrack) "The gates are shut and won't open till the morn. We camp outside for the night. And we leave at first dawn again".

As you sit down at your makeshift camp for the night and begin eat your meal for night a young boy no older than 16 idles up next to your camp. He's making eyes at you all, like he wants to come over but seems to nervous to approach.

--Players don't engage him-- He eventually seems to talk himself up to the task and finally gets enough courage to walk over to you all

(Jonas) "A-ah, excuse me sirs. My name is Jonas, do you mind if I sit I have something I would like to talk to you about"

He sits down and kinda looks at you all almost star struck.

(Jonas) "Wow, I can't- I can't believe I'm actually sitting here with you all. I heard about what you all did during the battle of Melvaunt. Destroying the commander of the modron armies and winning back the portal. You guys are amazing. You're the reason I requested to join these mercenaries and travel to Myth Drannor to stay with my uncle. I'm going to join the silver cloud adventurer guild and become strong just like you guys."

He kind of waffles on for a while basically just full fangirling you all before he finally catches himself and realizes.

"Oh, right. Sorry to get off topic. What I wanted to talk to you about. I know this is presumptuous of me but I heard from the other lads that there's a good chance a few us wont make it through the Forrest. Supposedly the magic has been flowing chaotic of late and the beasts are more dangerous than usual. They lost 5 out of the 30 men they originally had just getting out. So I was wondering.. incase.. incase I don't make it. Can you hand this letter to my uncle nick. The address is on the letter so you don't need to worry about finding the place. I know it's a lot to ask but we both come from Melvaunt. Of course if you say no that's fine too. I know you have already done so much." --players take it-- he thanks you all before heading back to his camp site
 * The letter simply contains his last wishes, informing his uncle that he has passed and not to let his mother back at home know. He should just pretend he has joined the silver cloud and is out making a name for himself.

--players don't take it-- no, thats fine I shoudln't of ask.

At this point you hear a few of the soldiers from his camp shout over to him. "Oi, if you hang out with those greenhorns you're bound to get yourself killed. Come back over ere before you end up draggin us all down with you.

They snicker among themselves. You can see they don't take you guys very seriously.

First Light (3rd day)
You're woken up by the outraged shouts of Omrack.

"Bloody Baron of Zhentil Keep. Who does he think he is. Charging a small fortune just to pass through his keep. If things keep going like this we won't even be able to make a profit when we get home."

You see Isabell walk over to him and they chat for a while whispering back and forth before finally Omrack throws his hands up in a defeated attitude and goes back to business.

-they're talking about the profits of the trip, and how Lord Druats death has ruined their plans so they will have to rethink their methods.

It's around noon before the drawbridge finally comes down and the gates open allowing passage through. The next two days are uneventful before you arrive at the edge of the Coramanthor forest just past the town of Hilsfar at the dawn of the fifth day.

First Light (5th Day)
- FOREST MUSIC HERE, PLAY TOGETHER WITH BACKGROUND MUSIC

Entering the forest you notice the trees and bushes have become dense and heavy blocking out most of the light from the canopy above. Only a few beams of light sneaking through with the swaying of the trees. Thick vines and shrubs impede the caravans speed, slowing your progress dramatically. If things stay the way they are it's going to take around 3 days to get Myth Drannor.

A few of the mercs are called up to the front to help clear a path. You can hear them cursing under the their breaths "Fucking backward ass towns, if we could take the main road out we wouldn't have to deal with this shit".

Recent tracks on the road underneath you shows it seems to be reasonably well used, however the pervasive and unrelenting nature of the forest reclaims the path nearly as quickly as you can clear it. Like the forest is deliberately making things difficult for anyone who would pass.

The mercs around you are visibly tense. No doubt having experienced some of the dangers of this forest already.

(Roll for survival)

(good)Despite the occasional scare and some close calls you manage to avoid anything life threatening.

(bad)After stupidly wandering off into the bushes too deep to piss you managed to attract the attention of some owlbears. They managed to do a little bit of damage to you however drastically outnumbered by the mercs they fled pretty quickly. However Omrack and the rest of the mercs seem pretty pissed about your stupidity.

As the sun sets and the forest becomes too dark to move Omrack eventually makes the call to make camp in a large clearing. Tall and thick grass covers the area but there is some distance to the treeline.

At this point the mercs begin to clear some of the tall grass away and setting up their camps and defensive positions. The same routine you're now used to. After eating your meals and retiring for the night (is anyone standing watch)(sleeping in your armor felkar? mammon?)

--Perception role DC 12 if players are awake-- You see a shifting and shuffling in the tall grass, it's unnatural and moves against the wind. What's frightening is that it's not just in one or two places. The grass is being displaced everywhere. Whatever it is approaching. There is lots of them.

--If PLayers are not awake-- You awake to the sounds of a blood curdling scream coming from the camp nearest yours. As you look over you a see an incredibly large wolf teeth sunk deep into one of the mercenaries who mocked you earlier's throat. It's eyes flicker across to yours catching your gaze before it turns around and flees into the tall grass dragging the body with it.

Around you can see wolves darting in and out from the grass taking guards down with them as they pass, the lucky ones just receiving a wound, the unlucky ones being dragged off into the distance. Omrack stands near the front of the caravan quite some distance from you locked in intense combat with a single wolf.

(Omrack) "Form up, Get into your positions, Protect the caravan, It's time to earn your pay". By now all of the mercs are standing at the ready, and begin to engage the wolves. You hear some screaming and then see the familiar Jonas running toward you with 4 wolves fresh on his heels screaming for help. It's likely he won't make it to you before the catch him.

-Roll for initiative--

Combat 1
3 forest wolves DON'T FORGET THE MUSIC HERE
 * Add jonas to the battle direclty in front of the wolves, they all attack to try finish him off first.
 * (half health double damage)
 * (pack tactics stay together as a group)
 * (don't use breath attack until combat 2)
 * wolves attempt to flee. Actually try to let them escape for round 2.
 * inflict a wound on the wolves so they know which ones they hit.
 * if polayers try to chase they lose sight in the long grass

TURN OFF MUSIC

You finish slaying the last of the 4 wolves. Looking around you can see the mercs have finally hit their stride. While it takes around 3 mercs per wolf the strikes of opportunity from the wolves are no longer doing the damage they were before. The wolves even seem to be suffering more losses than they are dealing now.

A powerful howl echos off from the edge of the treeline in the distance and you can see even over the high grass an incredibly tall wolf at least 3 times taller than the Dragonborn felkar(fel'car), It's fur a deep silver, thick and sharp. At the sound of the howl the wolves withdraw like a well trained army and in a matter of seconds the entire campsite is empty again. Save for the corpses of (1+number of wolves killed by players) wolves, there are no human bodies however.

--let the players fuck about for a while---

--if the players save jonas he comes up and thanks them--

Most of the deaths were the fresh recruits, the newer ones just hired to fill out the numbers. And most of the ones that did survive can be heard quietly sobbing to themselves, others are just shell shocked completely out of it.

No more than a few hours later the sun begins to rise and you're all exhausted. Everyone's eyes are red and bloodshot. 1 point of exhaustion. Omrack manages to finally get everyone grouped together and you continue to slowly trudge through the forest again. In the merchant carriage next to you, you can hear the sound of a merchants young daughter crying. Her father slain the night before. The mother attempts to reassure her while also reassuring herself but it doesn't seem to be helping either of them.

"It's alright, we're almost home. Just 2 more days then you can see all your friends again, and uncle Jim, I'll tell them how brave you were and he'll give you a toy just for youself". Mother, Breane, Daughter, Nancy.

Throughout the day the caravan was attacked once or twice by a few lone wolves. However this time they're simply sitting at the outskirts maybe sending one every hour or so and while they're not doing any damage they're keeping everyone tense and edge the entire day. Slowly taking it's toll. By the time night comes around everyone's nerves are red raw.

As people are settling down for the night Omrack shouts his orders again.

"Alright, 3-1 formations, 1 person on lookout on rotating shifts. Don't wake the others unless its a full scale attack".

--players sleep etc-- (sleeping in your armor felkar? mammon?)

As midnight draws out again the sounds of the scouts alarms break the night silence. "We're under attack".

The same scenes of carnage spread before your vision again. However it seems this time the wolves are committed, no longer fleeing at the first sign of danger. In among the chaos of fighting you can see the same wolves from last night. The deep scars you inflicted before still clearly visible. This time there appears to be an even larger wolf leading them. It's at least half a meter taller than the rest. While no where near the size of the giant wolf you saw the night before it seems to be clearly stronger than the rest. The 3 smaller wolves you fought previously communicate to it with a few snarls and growls before they all rush toward you. It appears they are holding a grudge against you.

-roll for initiative--

Combat 2
TURN ON MUSIC
 * 3 wolves from before
 * 1 extra larger wolf
 * 3 wolves maintain wounded hp. recovered by 20
 * double damage half hp again, big one has breath attack.
 * combat ends when the largest wolf is slain

As you slay the largest of the wolves in front of you, a deep and powerful howl once again echos out from the forest. All the wolves being to back up a bit as if giving way to their king.

The same giant silver wolf flickers out from the treeline. It's humongous head slowly eyeing the area as it makes its way toward the large corpse of the slain wolf in front of you. At this point all of the combat has completely stopped and everyone is simply staring in awe. One of the newbie mercs has his bow drawn, his hands are shaking uncontrollably and accidentally looses an arrow at the king wolf. The arrows careens across the air and brushes briefly against the wolves fur before falling harmlessly to the side. It doesn't appear that the king wolf even noticed the attack.

He idles up in front of you looking at the corpse of the slain wolf in front of him and you hear a snarled voice seemingly directed at no one in particular.

"gnrr, One of my finest generals. He'd slain so many people, to be done in here by a few whelps. Sngrr, what a weakling he turned out to be. Which one of you slew him"

"Enough of this farce, you will make a worthy meal."

It starts wandering over to you now, just meters in front of you before a bright green light shines from Faens pendant. The very same emerald necklace his mother gave him shortly before her death.

The King of wolves see's it and a look of complete astonishment is clearly visible across his face.

"Ohhhhh, A Glanodel still lives? Interesting. We wolves honor our oaths. The agreement still remains. You may continue on your journey unimpeded for now."

The King of wolves howls again, it's so loud now it's right in front of you it's literally defeaning. You all take 1d8 damage as your ears bleed a little. And just like before within a few seconds the wolves have scattered to wind like they were never here.

--players loto fuck around etc.--

At this point Isabell walks over toward faen you with a grim look on her face.

"While I hate to admit it, you have saved my life today. As well as ensuring that our merchandise will arrive safely. And while I have no problems using any means at my disposal to get what I want, I hate to owe anyone a favour. So I'll tell you this now. You better hide that necklace while in Myth Drannor. And I will pretend I never saw it. This way you will not be killed on sight in Myth Drannor. This makes us even. It could be considered we have now both saved each others lives. Rest up well tonight. We won't be attacked again and we should reach the city by tomorrow.". -after rest--
 * if the players enquire more
 * isabell is shocked that faen doesn't know what the emerald necklace is
 * if pressed she will reveal that the original inhabitants of the forrest have a non agression treaty with each other, it pertains to a secret of city of myth drannor and that if they do not already know it's better they stay in the dark, as they say ignorance is bliss. And in this case it seems completely true.

After an indisturbed nights rest you set off early the next morning. Arriving at the city of Myth Drannor before dusk. Omrack aproaches your group and walks up to felcar, it appears he still thinks that the biggest toughest looking one of you is the leader.

"You all fight like champions, by far some of the strongest fighters I have ever seen. With skills like that you should easily be able to pass the Silver Clouds F rank trials. I hope I would get the chance to witness that if I ever get a chance. Unfortunately for now the lady informs me that she wishes to part ways with you here. It's for everyones best interest that she is not seen to have any connections with you.. on the off chance that your background should accidentally be revealed. It has been an honor."

He reaches out to shake felcars hand, giving him one of those army bro style handshakes where they grab each others wrists then bump shoulders before slapping you heartily on the back. Farewell and good look.

And he heads back over the caravan and shouts orders as per usual before they head down to one of the entrances at the gate.

From your vantage point you can see a large wall that runs the span of the city with a massive city gate at least 20 meters across with several entrances. Carts and wagons seem to be lined up as people head in and out of the city while the guards check their belongings.

--players aproach the city.--

as you head toward the city entrance you see a few small buildings located on the outside of the wall. There's a small tavern and a stable that looks to hire out horses for long distance travel. It appears they don't get much business. As you're now really close the gates you can see a small line leading in, and it's not long before its your turn. The city gaurd not even looking up from his papers simply says

"Adventurers badge, Papers or Toll."

--

The guard finally looks up from his papers and sees Faen, noticing no slave collar and unbound wrists he says to you. Bind your slave, I don't care how well trained it is. With no collar, and no bindings you can't enter.

--adventuers pay etc and enter--

--

-where are you heading--

--young boy guide--

'oi sirs, you looking for a guide, no one knows the city better than me. for just the low low price of 2 gold I'll take you anywhere you need to go for the day'.- make sure Faen has collar.

Silver cloud
The silver cloud adventurers guild is easy to find, even without a guide. It's the largest grandest building in the entire city and towers above the rest at least 10 stories high. A vast market of small temporary stores and traders, some with make shift tents, most with their goods just spread out in front of them fills the entire courtyard around it. You can hear all of them eagerly shouting "Get your fish here, fresh from the river, wont find no better". "APPLES APPLES, crisper than the sound of slapping gnome ass". and so on.

Heading through the main doors you can see the entrance area has been sectioned off the from the rest of the guild. A reception desk with a middle age'd woman who sits behind it extends out from the wall and a large rest area with some groups of people eating meals and a couple of servers, chairs and tables fills the rest of the section.

-players aproach the reception-

"Trials are held every weekend. No exception unless you have a letter of recommendation."

-give letter-

She walks over to the corner gets out a form and starts filling it.

"Names of each of you, your titles and professions and the name of your group"

After you finish giving her all the details she opens the letter and starts reading through it.

"Oh a D-rank letter of recommendation, not bad, and let's see, recommended byyyyy."

Her face scrunches up in shock and she kind of hands trembling puts the letter down.

"Excuse me one moment honored guests. Let me get my supervisor."

And she disappears behind the divider.

You hear some laughs from the people at the tables.

"Haha some newbies have tried to get in with a fake letter of recommendation again. Idiots like them with no background should just stay in the hick towns they come from".

"Right, look they're a member short. So pathetic they can't even fill a full group even when they brought a slave elf with them".

They all start cackling and howling banging their drinks on the desk and letting you know how you better leave now before she gets the gaurds and has you thrown out.

--

You hear a click and the reception door opens and another middle aged woman, this time in much more formaly dressed attire walks out with the receptionist you saw earlier.

"HA the head administrators out here now, it's too late even if you want to escape".

She kind of looks over at the crowd like they're a bunch of idiots.

"Sorry for the disturbance, your papers are all in order. Here are your D-rank badges. No need to take the trials as you were recommended directly by the lord of keys."

She pauses, "how is he? .. is he still.. ok?".

-stttufff-

"Right sorry to get off topic, Firstly I should mention the mission board is currently closed due to an event being held at the holy district. I recommend you should check it out if you have the time. Their seems to be no restrictions on your faith to enter. If you have any other questions about your rights and responsibilities it would be my pleasure to answer your queries." --players can turn in writ for gold--
 * badge can be used to get in and out of any cities free of charge.
 * most towns will recognize the badge and it will get you access to a lot of places depending on who you talk to.
 * it can be used to get discounts.
 * if automatically records a list of the creatures you have slain, and tracks the completion of any missions you have completed from the mission wall.

After you have been talking for a while a burly man stands out loudly with a bang.

"This is rediculous. Why are these nobodies allowed to go straight to d-rank with no test. The Silver cloud has a reputation for only giving badges to the capable."

The administrator you have been talking to looks at him unpleasantly but still keeps her customer service demeanor.

"I can assure you, if they were recommended by the lord of keys they surely posses the qualifications for a D-rank."

You can see he's really not impressed but he seems to afraid to take it out on the administrator because of her position. So he turns to you instead.

"Are you going to hide behind a woman. Are you men? How about a wager. 100gold if you can beat me and my wintersabers who are only F-rank. However, if we win. We want your D-rank badges. First one to give up loses. Of course if you say no there's nothing we can do. But then we'll all know what you're really worth and don't expect any respect around here. To make it fair we'll only use 4 people".

--to the training pit--

The training pit seems to be more of a coliseum than a training pit. It's basically a stadium filled with sand in the middle. Your groups both stand at either side and the Administrator signals for you to begin.

roll initiative. 4 Mage ( https://5thsrd.com/Spellcasting/spells/black_tentacles/ ) (1d10 +4 hit)
 * After player gets hit. "Haha look at that, they're getting pummeled already. I bet 20g they won't even last 3 rounds before they give up.
 * You hear a familiar voice of Omrack "I don't know about that, I'll bet you 50g that says not only will they last 3 rounds, they'll even beat the shit out of the wintersabers"
 * "You're on, free'est money I've ever earnt".

3 Archer ( 1d8 + 2 longbow)

2 Archer ( 1d8 + 2 longbow)

1 Fighter ( 1d10 + 4 great axe) (rage)

"Alright we give up. You made your point. Here's your bleeding gold".

The leader of the wintersabers throws down a coin pouch on the ground. You can see a happy Omrack collecting his money from a few betters in the stadium and laughing as the crowd begins to leave.

--what are you doing--

Slum house Nesterin Rodithas
Following the directions given to you by the diviner you make your way through the slums of Myth Drannor, the stench of sewage and disease is thick in the air. Everywhere you look there are run down huts and people in rags. The house in your directions is no different. It's small and most one or two room hut, the windows are dirty and cracked. -if the players enter-
 * looking inside you can see a man sitting at a wonky table eating some kind of gruel. He seems to have the appearance of Nesterin that you remember, however he is a human. He seems somewhat sickly frail and unarmed.

As you enter the house and he sees your face a look of confusion runs across his face followed quickly by a look of understanding.

"Ah Faen, I didn't imagine that Fevod managed to recruit even you too? Betraying your family and letting them all die, that's evil even for me. Did Fevod send you here? Are we moving to phase 2. Aren't we too early?"

--

At this point you notice what you originally thought was a pile of dirty rags shift and the form of a young elf girl, bloody bandage across her eyes and bruises and cuts all across her body. You recognize her immediately a young cousin who you often played with a child, ILrune Reynan.

"Faen, is it true? You really betrayed our family". She begins to weep softly.

"Shutup you little wretch, all you do is cry. If Fevod didn't make me keep you alive, id have killed you long ago. Even if you do make the occasional good relief."
 * crawls up against their leg and begs
 * He knows nothing of phase two, all he knows is that Fevod plans to murder everyone in the city and he has been plotting it for some time.
 * he doesn't know where Fevod is, but he does know that Fevod was suppose to meet up with him in around 2 months to discuss phase 2. So he should definitely be in the city by then.

HOLY DISTRICT
The holy district is rich and well layed out. Gorgeous temples, palaces, libraries, workshops and even mausoleums fill the streets and even the sidewalks are made of fine marble. However what strikes you as odd is that it's all newly constructed. The temples and religions that you recognize all have long and rich history's. So the buildings seem out of place. There is also one tiny church in the most prime location in the whole district.

You can hear the ringing of loud bells coming from the temple of courage, and a group of what look to be devout paladins banging their armour and yelling loudly "The great god Torm decrees the trial of the courage shall be open to all on the 20th day of this month at day break. All may enter." -2 days from now