Chapter One: Bluelog

January 20, 2018

{13th Frontir 6736}

Walking through the town of Bluelog on his day off, Markku Tovainen is surprised as an old woman, lying on the side of the road, suddenly leaps up as he is passing, exclaiming:

"Doom! Doom! The pillars of the seven... their mouths are opening, and they will swallow the world... Roekosan is rising again... and from the sky will reign death..."

As the woman finishes her frantic shouting, strange flying creatures begin emerging from a wagon passing through the city gate. The creatures, which Markku is able to identify as Mephits, begin to attack nearby buildings and structures, as well as swooping in on guards, grasping them with talons/legs and throwing them to the ground (to severe injury/death). One creature takes hold of the woman before Markku and throws her violently into a nearby wall; she falls to the ground, unmoving.

Moments ago, Oor, on guard duty, patrols from atop the wall, monitoring what is entering and exiting the city. He watches as a caravan approaches and passes through the gate. He then sees a man in highly polished silver plate mail ascend the steps of the battlement, approaching Kyvan, also on guard duty. Oor moves closer and overhears the man asking “Are you Broxx Gravelhart? I am looking for Rangrim.”  Kyvan starts to respond, saying “You’ve got the wrong guy,” but they are interrupted as small, red, imp-like creatures suddenly fill the sky. Several grab the man in plate and fling him off the side of the wall. These Mephits are all different colors, some ice, some mud, some fire. The creatures appear to be bursting from the wagon that just entered the city. Commander Mercer shouts “Help get people to safety!” as battle ensues.

Markku, meanwhile, quickly fires off Fire Bolts and Frost Rays at various Mephits, which are differently colored according to their element, then rushes to examine the woman. Markku finds she is just unconscious, not dead. However, more Mephits appear and continue the attack, and in the ensuing fight the woman is hit by shrapnel from an exploding Ice Mephit. Markku is wounded from the fight, but searches her body for additional clues, finding only tarot cards and a few copper pieces.

Back at the gate, the Mephits from the wagon have spread out, attacking various buildings and guards both on the ground and on the walls. Oor Khazad, Broxx, and Kyvan, all on guard duty, are fighting furiously. Markku follows the battle to the area near the gates, where most of the Mephits have been causing chaos and destruction. After some time, and a stray frost ray, which blasted a small hole in the inn, all the creatures in the area are killed, though at a cost of several civilian casualties.

Rangrim meets up with Broxx and informs him that he has come to find Broxx to repay his debt to him. He also finds the man in plate armor and uses Gentle Repose to prevent decay of his body, hoping to resurrect him later.

The party then gathers themselves and goes to talk to Commander Mercer. He tells them that they need to go and check on some of the townsfolk who live on the outskirts of the city. The Nachum family, Harper Eligoth, Karin Hall and Eliorith Leafwind, upon arriving at Eligoths hut she offers to make some salves to aid with the recovery of those in the town if the party can gather some herbs, this results in a battle with some Bonesnappers and a Giant Toad, when they return she also gives the party a potion of protection from evil and lets them spend the night.

{14th Frontir 6736}

The party then headed on to The Nachums where they found the family dead and their bodies being fed on by a Carion Crawler, after killing it they stole a few things from the house and moved on to Karin Hall where the party help fill a cart of wood too assist with the rebuilding work then left Kairn to take it back to Bluelog. Their final stop was at Harper Eligoth who requested that they deal with an infestation which was endangering his sheep. They turned out to be small twisted root like creatures.

3/10/18

Combat with the Twig Blights

We return to Harper’s house and indicate the job has been finished. He seems less than pleased with the thick black smoke that came from his fields. Markku informs him that minimal damage has been done and the sheep are safe; no animated plant life remains. Harper hands Markku a sealed letter and asks him to give it to his Commander. The party leaves and goes back to town.

As we enter through the gates, we notice that the number of guards seems less than normal for the time of day. The town seems less busy than usual as well. Talking with the guards at the wall, we discover a sinkhole opened up earlier in the day. It swallowed a few houses but only a few people were hurt. We are told the commander is there at the sinkhole, so we head that way.

The commander greets us and informs us he received the cart of wood. Unfortunately, it looks like we will be needing more again soon (following the sinkhole incident). Markku asks for an explanation of the event, but is told that about an hour ago the ground started to cave in and the whole area followed suit. As there are cave systems under the town, perhaps one was damaged or has fallen in on itself, leading to the damage we see. Only 2 people were sent off to be treated for minor injuries. At this point, this is just a salvage op. The houses won’t be rebuilt, given the other damage to the town.

The commander walks with us towards the barracks and we inform him of the fate of the Natchums. We also tell him of the work we performed at Eligoff’s farm. Markku hands him the note which causes Mercer to roll his eyes and sigh. The party takes a moment to express their exasperation with this ‘bag of hot air’. The Commander quickly reads the note and then tosses it in a bin. We also hand him the leftover gold from the wood purchases but he tells us we can keep it, as it is our earnings from our extra work. (We later divide this 15gp up between everyone except Kyvan [who wasn’t there to help], earning 3 gp, 7 sp, and 5 cp).

Mercer tells us there are some problems at the embassy clearing out the tunnel. Several men have “run away, screaming in pain”, experiencing sharp, stabbing pains in their heads. The arcane users in town believe there is some sort of psionic attack causing the issues. Captain Yani is expressing the desire of the Duthgarian people to have the mask returned to them ASAP. The ambassadors are quite keen to have it back and tensions between the nations are a bit higher than normal now. They would jump on this as an example of a reason why the DRB shouldn’t have become independent.

The commander tells us to take a break as we have had a long day. We have drinks waiting for us at the bar and so forth.

Markku spots a poster on the wall and goes to talk to Gilgan (about the poster on the wall) and asks him how long ago it was put up. A day or two ago it came in but he just put it up today. The official story is that the royal family died in their sleep (although the official story is a bit vague), though Markku believes the royal family all actually were able to flee the country and are on the lam now. Markku is quite suspicious of the poster but has not much extra insight to go on. He bids Gilgan goodbye and does not head to the bar but goes home to introspect instead.

{15th Frontir 6736}

The next morning, Broxx, Oor, and Markku head to the bathhouse while waiting for the tunnel to be finished clearing out. On the way there, Oor spots a large bestial humanoid creature (essentially a minotaur) and points him out to Markku and Broxx. Oor walks towards him and greets him, with the intent to help another outsider out. there is a much less conspicuous man, Naydor, standing near the large man, Havnear, Oor assured Havnear that he means no harm and is just trying to help out. Oor tells him he can always head down to the local bar and carouse with the local guardsmen. Havnear usually resides with his brother at the King’s Court Tavern in Crownhill; he invites Oor to join them there if he is ever in the area. As he leaves, Naydor tells him “May the Light be with You”. Oor returns to Markku and Broxx and tells them what he has learned. Markku hardly thinks anything of the phrase, as he is used to hearing it. It is a farewell blessing used by the worshipers of Pelor, the god of the sun (and fire, starlight, etc). Broxx does notice that the phrase would not be used by followers of the 7 Seen Gods, but is unsure of the meaning beyond this.

The group rests at the bathhouse (costs 5 sp) and spends a few hours enjoying their time there. Oor leaves first and goes off to do something… I don’t know what he was doing honestly. Markku wasn’t there to see so it doesn’t matter eh!

After Markku finishes his bath, he goes into the market square to see if he can learn more from gossip about the contents of the wanted poster. Most gossip is related to the recent events in town – the sinkhole, the mephit attack, etc. One of the merchants is selling fine silks from the Kaswell, a fief in Torlund known for high quality silk. Markku approaches the merchant and starts looking at his wares. He asks him about his provider, who is named Oloric, and then purchases a 1gp scarf for his sister-in-law. He learns that the trader will be back in town in 2-3 weeks, though there are other traders from Torlund who may be in the area. Markku can check with Steinmer (arcane arts purveyor) to see if there are other traders in town or news from Torlund.