Our adventure begins in Nerosyan, the capital of Mendev and once–central command for the war against the demonic hordes that spilled out of the Worldwound.
The adventurers happened to already be in the city when they answer a bounty posted by Castor Lebris, a half-elf builder. They meet with Castor at his architectural firm office, where he explains the details of the job.
But before we get to that, why don't you introduce yourselves?
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The Doctor (think Peter Capaldi, although the icon looks like the late William Hartnell) contemplates the noticeboard while wondering why he arrived here in the first place.
I never seem to get to where I am suppose to go. Given the odours in the air, I'd say Mendev
It does help that a nearby sign says 'The best bakery in all of Mendev'. So the Doctor wanders over to get some baked goods. Maybe they have jammy dodgers - hopefully not with pear jam.
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I'm usually known as "The Doctor" or "The Professor", sometimes "The Caretaker" although I usually have someone else to do the caring for me. I;m an Investigator, and I get the feeling that something needs investigating around here. And yes, those look nice
He looks Olaf over. No no ... don't tell me ... let me guess. Sarenrae?
He orders his own tea and baked goods. Not bad but I still miss the Poshkettle brand
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A small green-skinned goblinoid walks into the architectural firm office. He wears leather armor and bandoliers full of darts across his body. He carries a steel shield but is devoid of any other visible weapons. "I's be Chomper of da Razortooth Tribe, reporting fer duty." He smiles showing a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.
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A young man arrives late at the scene, seems lost at the location of the bounty he gets interested into. Upon arrival, he hastily looks around to see who have already arrived and begins introducing himself. "I'm sorry I am late. I hope I did not miss anything yet. I am Raphaeleos, by the way" he tells them. "Are you all here for Castor Lebris as well?"
Castor Lebris, a half-elf with a set of carpenter's tools slung over his shoulder, soon appears.
“Have you heard of the settlement of Bulviss?" he asks, It was a small hamlet near the border with the old Worldwound.” Castor sighs. “No, you probably haven’t. It was wiped off the map by demons during the Fifth Mendevian Crusade, when the crusaders fought the demons. I want you to travel there and retrieve a deed that should be among the rubble. Mendevian law says you’re entitled to whatever else you find, as the only others who may claim it are the villagers’ next of kin. And since I’m the only next of kin that survived the town…”
Castor trails off as his gaze drops to the table. His expression is full of barely repressed grief. “My brother, Pellas, and I grew up in Bulviss. I’d acquired a valuable tract of land after settling here in the capital, but I sent the deed to him for safekeeping. Now he’s missing, and I don’t know what happened to him.
“My hope is that by scouring the town, you’ll find clues about my brother’s fate. You can’t be less helpful than the crusaders, at least. Help me recover my deed and bring back information about my brother. Whatever else you find at Bulviss is yours to keep."
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Two more latecomers enter the meeting, one appearing to be an older clergyman (Olaf) and his companion (The Doctor), who both apparently are enthusiastically praising the pastries of the establishment across the street. Upon entering the office, they immediately get serious.
"Recover a deed, you say? Sounds simple enough. But somehow I sense something bothers you, young man."
"I don't know much--that's part of why I want to hire you, after all," says Castor, "Demons sacked Bulviss after they broke through Mendev’s backlines. Though crusader reinforcements routed the
demons soon after, those few hours were enough for the demons to destroy Bulviss. I asked the crusaders to investigate, but they only confirmed that the area was free of demons before advising me to hire adventurers."
Olaf doesn't notice anything else.
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Wait'll they find out just how much else was wiped off the map. Including the map itself.
"Can't hurt to look. 'Crusader' is not a word usually associated with subtlety or thoroughness in anything other than wiping out the enemy. Just give me a few minutes to prep my bioha... um, my extracts before we set out, if you would."
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Olaf catches the look of despair in Castor's face at the Doctor's proclamation. He elbows the Doctor in the ribs and shushes him before continuing.
"Worry not, young man, we shall see if we can find your brother. The Doctor here and I will conduct a thorough search"
Subtly elbowing the Doctor again, he continues softly "We'll conduct a thorough search, won't we, Doctor?"
Quadennillia notices something about the story. Being that close to the Worldwound, even a settlement like Bulviss should’ve had some kind of watch system. Though the grace period would’ve been small, they still should’ve gotten early warning about the demons approaching. The lack of apparent survivors or refugees implies that few people fled.
Castor smiles sadly. "Thank you, but I'm certainly not expecting that. It seems certain that nobody survived Bulviss. If he'd escaped, there'd be no reason for him to stay in hiding."
The trip to Bulviss takes a day and is uneventful, save for the sign of patrols of hired mercenaries who lazily watch out for demonic threats. The approach to the hamlet shows evidence of an attack. Farmhouses are destroyed and fields lay fallow. The town itself is little more than the shells of buildings and a ruined well. A survey of the area indicates three buildings with the least amount of damage, the most promising places to search for clues.
The first building the adventurers approach is an overgrown house. Chomper doesn't find anything like a trap outside, though when he opens the door--well, "trap" still isn't the right word.
He finds that they house has become the home of a colony of bats lurking in the rafters, and entering the house has spooked them. They scatter and swarm, flying about chaotically. They aren't attacking Chomper, exactly, though all the panicking bats swooping about his face make it harder to look for any dangers or clues in here. A small crash alerts him, and the others outside, to the fact that the swarming bats have upset... something. Hard to tell. A lamp, maybe?
If they keep this up, they'll wreck the place and it will be that much harder to find clues.
Olaf finds the bats in his face are a distraction from dragging with the bats in his face. Qen and Dran'Thal have more luck creating escape routes for the animals, which helps to reduce the chaos inside.
With the air clear of obstacles, and the house largely as intact as it must have been after the attack, Chomper noticed that there actuality are traps inside. Jagged holes in the floorboards conceal cunning foot traps filled with inward facing barbs. They must once have been concealed by rugs or loose objects, but now are easy to spot and to avoid (as long as one's face is free of fluttering bats obfuscating things).
With the room fee of bats, the house is easy to search. Though most objects are just ruined accoutrement, a half-burned roll of parchment can be found in the fireplace. It shows detailed instructions for making foot traps and conceal them with rugs or debris, including a note that says if they have questions, ask Pellas for help.
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"Quick thinking!" Raph commends those that quickly act on freeing the disturbed bats of the house. "So that is how they made those traps. Clever, clever." he says after reading the contents of the half-burned scroll they found.
"Let's check the big house next to this one . I can see from here that a large part of it is destroyed. I wonder what caused it..."
The large building looks less like a house and more like a large hall or gathering place for the villagers.
The signs of battle are obvious upon entering the hall. Battered and torn remnants of barricades litter the floor and dark stains have seeped into the stones. At the back of the main hall is a shrine to Iomedae that looks remarkably intact. Upon it lays a dusty but unharmed copy of Iomedae's holy book.
The back of the altar has been painted with a message: “May the Inheritor judge our final acts.” Under the words are the names of townsfolk, nearly a hundred people who stayed behind.
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After checking to see if the traps in the first building have caught anything - or something had left evidence on them, the Doctor follows the others into the hall.
Once he sees the names, he copies them down into his journal. Pellas's name is emphasised.
I would say, this is where they made their final stand
Incidentally Doctor, I don't think you've declared a lead?
Chomper finds that most everything in the building has been smashed up. He finds a room that looks like it was used to stockpile weapons. Mostly empty now, and what remains here was smashed to pieces, but he does find one crossbow and a pouch of 10 bolts.
He isn't quick enough to spot the--
*Click* Something on the altar moves as Raphaeleos touches the book, which stands open to Act Four, Iomedae convincing mortally wounded soldiers to stand against attacking wraiths until reinforcements arrive.
A curtain on the other side of the room falls away, revealing a bevy of mounted crossbows. Most of them have already fired, but one--
*Clunk* *Twang*
The bolt in the loaded crossbow suddenly flairs with a brilliant white light and blasts across the room towards Raphaeleos behind the altar. It hits him dead-on.
While the physical wound is bad enough for the moment in any case, the magical searing light seems to have no effect on him. Clearly he is not the intended target.
Super Zero
'The Doctor'
Dran'Thal
Olaf Spiritwell