Kasden 8, 1199

(aired 08/08/2018)

Once again, our heroes met at one of the many safe houses belonging to the Resistance. This day Pesk and Lark were joined by four other new recruits. Mari the human druid, Yoth the braith fighter, Oisin the firbolg barbarian, and Primeheart the goliath cleric were all eager to start their first assignment. The group was told that they were being sent to speak with Pinból to negotiate details for his working with the resistance. Having already established a relationship with him, the resistance felt that the Phoenix Dawn were the best choice for this task. Zreet gave them three scrolls to use in the negotiations. One was green, one was yellow, and one was red. Each was a more lucrative offer than the last in order to ensure a good accord with Pinból.

Upon arriving at Pinból’s tower, they discovered he was not home and that his servant would not allow them into the tower in his absence. Mari, Yoth, and Pesk went to have a meal at the nearby Olive Grove restaurant, while the others chose to wait for Pinbol’s return. It was here that Pesk first learned of her love for well shined cutlery, as the waitress polished their’s and remarked, “It’s fancy!” Eventually, Lark was able to build a rapport with the servant and Mo the modrone let Lark, Oisin, and Primeheart into the tower to wait. At the Olive Grove, the others ran into Pinból also enjoying his lunch. Pinból graciously paid.

During the negotiations, Pinból approved of the red scroll terms and flirted with Oisin. He did have one condition though. In order to fully accept the resistance’s offer, he wanted his mirrored magic ring returned to him. The group agrees to retrieve it and he tells them that a woman named Strapp works for Bezel and owes Pinból a favor. She would know who purchased the ring. To get in touch with her, Pinból tells them to go to a certain dock in Barrel Run and find the 3 stacked barrels there. They are to leave a mark on the middle barrel and give her an hour to show.

The group headed to Barrel Run, Oisin reluctantly saying goodbye to Pinból, and left the mark on the barrels. As the group waited the requisite hour, they refreshed themselves at the Beer Forge and met Patsy the Third, a representative of the Green Iron Village goblins who was seeking donations for the Green Iron Aid Fund. The group donates some coin and is gifted small, folded paper items created via the ancient art of origoblin. They also found out that the goblins in Green Iron VIllage are good at crafting all sorts of non-magical items, something which helped the resistance quite a bit in their struggle against the Vampire King.

During the meeting with Strapp, a gnomish woman with a Saint Bernard riding dog named Buckle, the group learned that the ring was purchased by a nobleman named Tybalt Lockridge. He sought the ring in order to protect his father, who had recently begun to receive death threats. The group headed to the Lockridge estate intending to “case the joint” as Yoth put it.

They discovered that all those living in the estate had been killed and, worse yet, they discovered that these dead were not done with the living. The bodies rose up as undead creatures and attacked them. Beyond the average undead, these creatures would spray putrid liquid onto their assailants when they were attacked. Luckily, the group was able to send all these abominations to their final rest and search the house for the ring. A ring they would not locate.

They found only a note card near the front door. It had a picture of an hourglass on it and, as the card was turned, the sand shifted inside it. They could only question its arrival and origins as the sand slowly continued to run out.

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