The party makes short work of the lightly armored kenku cutpurses left behind to ambush them by the half-ogre crime lieutenant. Busting down the rear door to the bedroom, they find a bound, bloody, and unconscious Sergeant Germaine Vilroy on the large mattress. The room is thick with smoke, and there is a heap of smoldering ashes in the fireplace where it appears all documents and books in the apartment were hastily tossed. The characters are able to retrieve a few shards of paper from the ashes - one is a receipt for a lightning rail ticket, although the destination of Garra’s trip is burned away. The other document contains a list of the names and addresses of the warforged hired to work in the ruins of Old Sharn.
After freeing and reviving the SGT, the group makes a full report and hands over the last pieces of evidence. They keep the d'Orien name out of the report, as agreed. Vilroy thanks them for their assistance and gives a bank writ worth 100 gp to each of them. She releases them from any further duties and offers another few nights at the Inn. After that - they are on their own. Will they return to the Academy? Embark on their own adventures around the world? Stay in Sharn and see Alden d'Orien about that favor he mentioned? The criminal element behind this whole thing is surely not driven away for long...and there are always their own mysteries to unravel.
"I don't feel good about these criminals getting away, but we're currently in no shape to deal with Garra and her ilk. And we don't owe the dragonmarked houses any further favors. I think we should return to the Academy."
"Well, it doesn't seem like Sharn has anything left for us for the time being." Cyril sits on the edge of a bed in the inn, running a piece of leather over the blade of his dagger, keeping it clean and sharp. "Feels like maybe we shouldn't stick around much longer anyways. You never who might crawl out of the woodwork looking for payback. I suppose we head back home and see what else is cooking?"
Pepper is in the corner, sharpening her blade too, but unlike the nice whup whup of a leather strop, she’s doing it with the grating singing of a whetstone. “I’ve no ghosts here,” she says, and in an uncharacteristic bit of personal revelation, follows it with, “so it might be nice to stay, but I’ve still things I want out of of the Academy, ghosts or not.”
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he). Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
(OK - got a fun one for you...if you need to make any other character or gear adjustments, go ahead and do that. I'm posting the kick-off now and we have the weekend to move out =)
Once you've returned to the Academy, Caelyn quietly lets each of you know that she is taking off on her own to investigate her parents disappearance years ago. To Pepper, she reveals that something Caelyn saw back in Sharn made her think that perhaps the Boromir crime group had something to do with the attack when she was a child, and she needed to follow up on it. She was adamant that she had to do this alone...
Two weeks later, after having a chance to complete your debriefs and conduct some additional focused training and research, your team is summoned to the Command Post for a new mission. Jorsal is stoic yet shows signs of exhaustion as he strides into the room and places a piece of paper on the table. “Agents, some weeks ago we received this letter from an anonymous source, advising us of the discovery of a dragonshard site in rural Q'Barra, near the village of Wyrmwatch. We sent three Queen's agents to perform an initial investigation. Word came to us two days ago that the entire team has been arrested for murder and is scheduled to be hanged in seven days’ time. You will travel to Wyrmwatch, investigate the crimes, and find any evidence necessary to clear their names.”
He pauses for a moment, as if gathering his will or holding back strong emotion. “As much as it grieves me to think this possible, you may find evidence that implicates our comrades. If they are guilty of this crime, let them hang. It’s justice of a sort, and we must all remember that we are guests in Q'Barra and subject to all its laws. Your predecessors’ reputation has tarnished the Queen's name in Wyrmwatch, so I recommend you not travel and investigate openly as Her Majesty's agents."
“Be careful,” he recommends, “and remember that three comrades are relying on you. Any questions?”
Cyril inclines his head, tilting as he watches Jorsal for a moment. "So the Q'Barrans know that the others were there under the Queen's authority? That complicates things, I suppose. Have they sent anything official back concerning the situation? Evidence, perhaps, or a sternly worded letter?"
"Unfortunately, no. The debacle in Wyrmwatch has developed rapidly, and I have little more information than this. You will have to conduct a rapid investigation once you arrive. Our condemned Bastards are Corwin Burke, a male halfling, Torum Grunsch, a male dwarf, and Dakota Spire, a female dwarf."
It will take 3 days travel to get to Q'Barra via lightning rail and other means. Durting this time, you may be able to learn more about the area and city. Tell me how and/or what your character would be doing during the transit (you can make a skill check of your choice to perhaps find out something helpful!)
Pepper spent all of her time after Caelyn left in training and working out. Reft of her confidante, she seems to circle in on herself, holding conversations, but never speaking about much. When the group is gathered by Jorsal, it feels like you all have not seen her for a while, though you share meals and barracks.
She listens quietly as he outlines the mission.
"Is justice this swift common in Q'Barra? If it is as out of place as it seems, there is certainly more going on."
She has nothing to contribute to the research on Q'Barra.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
After the return from Sharn, with Caelyn's departure and Pepper withdrawing into herself, Pernach's social circle is a bit shrunken. Whether or not this is a problem for them is hard to gauge. They seem to continue much as they normally have until Jorsal summons you all.
After their next mission is described, they nod to Jorsal and the others. "We have a few days beyond what it should take to reach Q'barra. Hopefully that is enough time for us to learn the truth of the charges."
Pernach will attempt to clean what they can from any dispatches or conversations they can stir up.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Throughout the trip, Cyril will try to do his best to eavesdrop on the conversations of other passengers, loitering unremarkably in common areas and doing his best not to draw attention.
Pernach finds out that Wyrmwatch was established by Cyran refugees and is a thriving prospecting town at the crossroads of the local trade highway. Although far smaller than New Cyre in Breland, its people are proud of what they have built. It has a small permanent population but swells to many times its size on festival days and during the harvest. Little more than the crossroads of a highway, its population barely exceeds 100 during most of the year. Because of this crossroads, though, as many as 3,000 people converge on the settlement just after the harvest to transfer crops and ores from the mines to wagons for transfer.
Ashe discovers that Wyrmwatch, as with many small villages in the region, has become distrustful of strangers since the Last War. This distrust is especially virulent toward tieflings and others with demonic roots, influence, or appearance.
Cyril hears a family group talking about Elder Nevillom, a veteran and evangelist of the Silver Flame. Nevillom’s courage and passionate sermons help sustain the people of Wyrmwatch in difficult times. It is unusual that he would hold an execution, but local law calls for a vote of the citizenry to decide the fate of those guilty of capital crimes.
Player Notes:
It takes you three days to make preparations and travel to Dawnton, and you arrive in the early evening of the third day. The prisoners are scheduled to be hanged at dawn on the seventh day, giving you that evening plus three full days to solve the case and prove your colleagues’ innocence.
During the investigation, you will have numerous opportunities to canvass the village, make friends, and question the locals about what they may have seen or heard about the recent murders. Each day is broken into three major phases (morning, afternoon, and evening) in which you can inspect or interact with a location or major NPC. Quick errands or meetings, such as you all gathering to share notes, do not take a phase to complete. At the beginning of a phase, I will ask that each of you choose a location to visit. These locations will each have several skill checks, ability checks, or saving throws that you might attempt to hear rumors or uncover clues, though each of you can only attempt one such check per phase.
I will be flexible in allowing you to come up with creative uses of whatever skills and proficiencies you have. Crafting, instruments, background skills/proficiencies might be helpful in finding common ground with the hardworking folk of Q'Barra.
Evening, Day 3. You arrive in Wyrmwatch in the evening off the third day. Although it is not harvest season, Wyrmwatch is crowded with visitors who have come to witness the executions. Despite the morbid circumstances, the villagers see this as an unexpected opportunity to gossip, barter, and celebrate, giving much of the village a festive atmosphere - complete with games and drunken revelry. With many times its normal population crowding the fields and buildings, there are hundreds of people meandering down the streets, chatting outdoors, and just passing the time somewhere other than at one of the locations described above. PCs can overhear many interesting rumors. As you can see, there are a few other places that stand out as potential areas for investigating.
Orug's General Store: One of two permanent businesses in town, Orug's General Store is a sprawling shop that occupies three large storefronts on the main road. The center room is the general store. The east room holds stored goods, an office and a small apartment. The west building is a barbershop.
Heath and Harvest: The village’s inn is the other business - huge for a settlement of this size. It’s quite full today, but it still has two rooms available if you don’t mind sharing. The pub downstairs is the only restaurant option available in town other than the food stalls at the tent city.
Tobias Luin’s House: The village’s largest private residence serves the mayor and sheriff, Tobias Luin. His basement doubles as the region’s jail, where he currently keeps the three prisoners. A trio from the local militia—the closest thing Wyrmwatch has to a police force or town guard—stands watch outside at all hours.
Tent City: Dozens of tents of sundry sizes ring an open area where the visitors gather for games and talk. During the day, the place feels like a county fair, complete with food stalls, music, jugglers, and sports.
Beer Garden: At the center of the tent city’s open area stands a broad beer garden with walls constructed of beer barrels and crates. This is the social hub for the country folk. During the day, it’s hard to find a place to stand and difficult to be heard over the noise.
Please describe your initial impressions and where you each want to start your investigation!
"Are we splitting up?" Pepper asks. "I think we should split up, we'll cover more ground that way. Someone grab us rooms, I'm going to hit up the tent city and the beer garden. Meet later"
She will then proceed to the tent city, and the beer garden. It is uncharacteristic of her to not try to order and delegate. She doesn't mind if someone comes along with her. As she goes, she pulls her hair out of its knot, shaking it to hang loose, also a thing you've never really seen her do except when she washes it.
Initiative: 10
Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?
"You'll regret that, bird-brain!" Ashe cries, his words laced with magical energy that lashes out at the kenku that struck him.
(Vicious mockery, DC 14 wisdom save or take 4 psychic damage and have disadvantage on their next attack roll.)
The party makes short work of the lightly armored kenku cutpurses left behind to ambush them by the half-ogre crime lieutenant. Busting down the rear door to the bedroom, they find a bound, bloody, and unconscious Sergeant Germaine Vilroy on the large mattress. The room is thick with smoke, and there is a heap of smoldering ashes in the fireplace where it appears all documents and books in the apartment were hastily tossed. The characters are able to retrieve a few shards of paper from the ashes - one is a receipt for a lightning rail ticket, although the destination of Garra’s trip is burned away. The other document contains a list of the names and addresses of the warforged hired to work in the ruins of Old Sharn.
After freeing and reviving the SGT, the group makes a full report and hands over the last pieces of evidence. They keep the d'Orien name out of the report, as agreed. Vilroy thanks them for their assistance and gives a bank writ worth 100 gp to each of them. She releases them from any further duties and offers another few nights at the Inn. After that - they are on their own. Will they return to the Academy? Embark on their own adventures around the world? Stay in Sharn and see Alden d'Orien about that favor he mentioned? The criminal element behind this whole thing is surely not driven away for long...and there are always their own mysteries to unravel.
Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?
"I don't feel good about these criminals getting away, but we're currently in no shape to deal with Garra and her ilk. And we don't owe the dragonmarked houses any further favors. I think we should return to the Academy."
(Keeping the adventure alive! Where does everyone else want to venture off to next? Oh, and everyone should level up!)
Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?
"Well, it doesn't seem like Sharn has anything left for us for the time being." Cyril sits on the edge of a bed in the inn, running a piece of leather over the blade of his dagger, keeping it clean and sharp. "Feels like maybe we shouldn't stick around much longer anyways. You never who might crawl out of the woodwork looking for payback. I suppose we head back home and see what else is cooking?"
Pepper is in the corner, sharpening her blade too, but unlike the nice whup whup of a leather strop, she’s doing it with the grating singing of a whetstone. “I’ve no ghosts here,” she says, and in an uncharacteristic bit of personal revelation, follows it with, “so it might be nice to stay, but I’ve still things I want out of of the Academy, ghosts or not.”
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he).
Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
"Agreed. Let's head back and see what further orders await us."
(OK...will set us up for what's next tonight!)
Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?
(OK - got a fun one for you...if you need to make any other character or gear adjustments, go ahead and do that. I'm posting the kick-off now and we have the weekend to move out =)
Once you've returned to the Academy, Caelyn quietly lets each of you know that she is taking off on her own to investigate her parents disappearance years ago. To Pepper, she reveals that something Caelyn saw back in Sharn made her think that perhaps the Boromir crime group had something to do with the attack when she was a child, and she needed to follow up on it. She was adamant that she had to do this alone...
Two weeks later, after having a chance to complete your debriefs and conduct some additional focused training and research, your team is summoned to the Command Post for a new mission. Jorsal is stoic yet shows signs of exhaustion as he strides into the room and places a piece of paper on the table. “Agents, some weeks ago we received this letter from an anonymous source, advising us of the discovery of a dragonshard site in rural Q'Barra, near the village of Wyrmwatch. We sent three Queen's agents to perform an initial investigation. Word came to us two days ago that the entire team has been arrested for murder and is scheduled to be hanged in seven days’ time. You will travel to Wyrmwatch, investigate the crimes, and find any evidence necessary to clear their names.”
He pauses for a moment, as if gathering his will or holding back strong emotion. “As much as it grieves me to think this possible, you may find evidence that implicates our comrades. If they are guilty of this crime, let them hang. It’s justice of a sort, and we must all remember that we are guests in Q'Barra and subject to all its laws. Your predecessors’ reputation has tarnished the Queen's name in Wyrmwatch, so I recommend you not travel and investigate openly as Her Majesty's agents."
“Be careful,” he recommends, “and remember that three comrades are relying on you. Any questions?”
Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?
Cyril inclines his head, tilting as he watches Jorsal for a moment. "So the Q'Barrans know that the others were there under the Queen's authority? That complicates things, I suppose. Have they sent anything official back concerning the situation? Evidence, perhaps, or a sternly worded letter?"
"Unfortunately, no. The debacle in Wyrmwatch has developed rapidly, and I have little more information than this. You will have to conduct a rapid investigation once you arrive. Our condemned Bastards are Corwin Burke, a male halfling, Torum Grunsch, a male dwarf, and Dakota Spire, a female dwarf."
It will take 3 days travel to get to Q'Barra via lightning rail and other means. Durting this time, you may be able to learn more about the area and city. Tell me how and/or what your character would be doing during the transit (you can make a skill check of your choice to perhaps find out something helpful!)
Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?
Pepper spent all of her time after Caelyn left in training and working out. Reft of her confidante, she seems to circle in on herself, holding conversations, but never speaking about much. When the group is gathered by Jorsal, it feels like you all have not seen her for a while, though you share meals and barracks.
She listens quietly as he outlines the mission.
"Is justice this swift common in Q'Barra? If it is as out of place as it seems, there is certainly more going on."
She has nothing to contribute to the research on Q'Barra.
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he).
Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
After the return from Sharn, with Caelyn's departure and Pepper withdrawing into herself, Pernach's social circle is a bit shrunken. Whether or not this is a problem for them is hard to gauge. They seem to continue much as they normally have until Jorsal summons you all.
After their next mission is described, they nod to Jorsal and the others. "We have a few days beyond what it should take to reach Q'barra. Hopefully that is enough time for us to learn the truth of the charges."
Pernach will attempt to clean what they can from any dispatches or conversations they can stir up.
Investigation: 15
Ashe accepts his orders silently, then goes off to research.
Investigation: 21
Throughout the trip, Cyril will try to do his best to eavesdrop on the conversations of other passengers, loitering unremarkably in common areas and doing his best not to draw attention.
Stealth: 10
Perception: 21
Pernach finds out that Wyrmwatch was established by Cyran refugees and is a thriving prospecting town at the crossroads of the local trade highway. Although far smaller than New Cyre in Breland, its people are proud of what they have built. It has a small permanent population but swells to many times its size on festival days and during the harvest. Little more than the crossroads of a highway, its population barely exceeds 100 during most of the year. Because of this crossroads, though, as many as 3,000 people converge on the settlement just after the harvest to transfer crops and ores from the mines to wagons for transfer.
Ashe discovers that Wyrmwatch, as with many small villages in the region, has become distrustful of strangers since the Last War. This distrust is especially virulent toward tieflings and others with demonic roots, influence, or appearance.
Cyril hears a family group talking about Elder Nevillom, a veteran and evangelist of the Silver Flame. Nevillom’s courage and passionate sermons help sustain the people of Wyrmwatch in difficult times. It is unusual that he would hold an execution, but local law calls for a vote of the citizenry to decide the fate of those guilty of capital crimes.
Player Notes:
It takes you three days to make preparations and travel to Dawnton, and you arrive in the early evening of the third day. The prisoners are scheduled to be hanged at dawn on the seventh day, giving you that evening plus three full days to solve the case and prove your colleagues’ innocence.
During the investigation, you will have numerous opportunities to canvass the village, make friends, and question the locals about what they may have seen or heard about the recent murders. Each day is broken into three major phases (morning, afternoon, and evening) in which you can inspect or interact with a location or major NPC. Quick errands or meetings, such as you all gathering to share notes, do not take a phase to complete. At the beginning of a phase, I will ask that each of you choose a location to visit. These locations will each have several skill checks, ability checks, or saving throws that you might attempt to hear rumors or uncover clues, though each of you can only attempt one such check per phase.
I will be flexible in allowing you to come up with creative uses of whatever skills and proficiencies you have. Crafting, instruments, background skills/proficiencies might be helpful in finding common ground with the hardworking folk of Q'Barra.
Map of Wyrmwatch
Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?
Evening, Day 3. You arrive in Wyrmwatch in the evening off the third day. Although it is not harvest season, Wyrmwatch is crowded with visitors who have come to witness the executions. Despite the morbid circumstances, the villagers see this as an unexpected opportunity to gossip, barter, and celebrate, giving much of the village a festive atmosphere - complete with games and drunken revelry. With many times its normal population crowding the fields and buildings, there are hundreds of people meandering down the streets, chatting outdoors, and just passing the time somewhere other than at one of the locations described above. PCs can overhear many interesting rumors. As you can see, there are a few other places that stand out as potential areas for investigating.
Please describe your initial impressions and where you each want to start your investigation!
Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?
"Are we splitting up?" Pepper asks. "I think we should split up, we'll cover more ground that way. Someone grab us rooms, I'm going to hit up the tent city and the beer garden. Meet later"
She will then proceed to the tent city, and the beer garden. It is uncharacteristic of her to not try to order and delegate. She doesn't mind if someone comes along with her. As she goes, she pulls her hair out of its knot, shaking it to hang loose, also a thing you've never really seen her do except when she washes it.
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he).
Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.