Player Characters
This was the initial campaign session.
The party knows each other. Torlic and Lothar are cousins. Drai lives at a small, isolated monastery (the Jerilinwan Monastery, named for its founder) in the Hiremas Forest, which is where all of them live. The Hiremas Forest is about half a day's travel northwest of Millorba.
Ethoath, a 6th level Druid, has been a mentor of Torlic for the last few years. He requests that Torlic and his 3 friends go south to acquire a magical fruit that is auctioned off every year at the Summer Solstice. Orcs are selling the fruit. Torlic is given 75 gp to attempt to buy the fruit, and is asked to also investigate how the orcs are getting the fruit in the first place. Ethoath offers 25 gp upfront to the 4 to cover their expenses there and back and another 25 gp when they return.
Torlic agrees to go, and the other 3 agree to accompany him.
They go first to Millorba to buy a few things for their journey. Drai bought a jug of beer that inaugerated an 8 day drinking spree.
On the second night out, while the party was sleeping at a waypoint on the road, Lothar was awakened by someone trying to steal his money. When Lothar tried to attack with his dagger, the would-be thief ran off into the dark.
On the morning after the third night, obvious footsteps were found close to the camp from someone who had been watching them.
On the fourth evening, the party pressed on to arrive in Southreach in the early evening. They stayed at the "Druid's Antler Inn" (proprietor: Glaelith Peish, a half-elf). Viper "hooked up" with an attractive prostitute named Jerema and went back to her place.
Just past midnight, Lothar interrupted a burglar, who had come in through their 3rd floor window, and who had just awakened Torlic. The thief jumped out the window and caught a rope that was hanging from the eaves above. Torlic grabbed his sword and ran downstairs to try to catch the thief on the ground. The commotion awoke Drai, who went to the window.
The thief reached the ground quickly (before Torlic got there) and ran off into the dark. Then Lothar saw the rope was being pulled back up, so he jumped out the window and grabbed it. He climbed up and reached the eaves just as the rope was dropped. Torlic arrived outside to see the rope drop to the ground and see Lothar hanging from the eaves. Lothar pulled himself onto the roof and startled the female thief (who has a tendency to talk to herself). He pulled his rapier and moved to attack. The thief darted past him and jumped off the roof. As she went by, Lothar attempted to attack her, but lost his footing and went sliding down the roof. Drai watched the girl do a somewhat clumsy "slow fall" down the side of the inn. Lothar went over the first ledge without being able to stop himself and fell 10 feet to hit the next ledge of the roof and kept sliding. He finally managed to catch himself on the edge of the roof and dangled there about 15 feet off the ground.
Torlic had gone inside to ask the innkeeper about a way to get on the roof when he heard the crash of Lothar hitting the roof. He ran outside and saw Lothar dangling there. Lothar dropped and Torlic caught him.
The next day, the fifth since leaving, with 9 days left before Summer Solstice, the party took the southeast road toward Oakhurst. That evening, Torlic attempted to hunt but found/killed nothing.
The next evening the party entered Oakhurst and put up for the night. Viper spent the evening fishing, but caught nothing.
Next day, Torlic talked to the gnome healer of the village, Dem "Corkie" Nackle, and learned more about the fruit. Lothar talked to Rurik Lutgehr, the village blacksmith, who told him about a group of "kid", including a couple of locals (the son and daughter of Madame Hucrele, the merchant and owner of the General Store) had gone down into the ravine west of town and never been seen again. They were looking for the "Sunless Citadel" or something like that. That was a month ago.
Lothar and Torlic went to see Madame Hucrele and she offered the party 125gp a piece if they go down into the ravine and bring back the signet rings of her children. Double the reward if they bring back the kids alive.
The party accepts and makes preparations to head to the ravine in the morning. [an error occurred while processing this directive]