Campaign One: Chapter III - Correnwald

 

The Sinking Town of Correnwald

Arrival in Correnwald

Luctoras 7th Concord, 30 Fifth Age

The cart bearing our heroes neared Correnwald: first, a cluster of lamplights amidst the haze; then, a mismatched collection of ramshackle buildings, half-sunken in the swamp water, the browns, greens and greys of the town reflected in its people. Spittlebrick wheezed for his freedom throughout the journey, though his pleas fell on deaf ears. After the group delivered him and his daughter back home, Byron offered them their pick from his stock. Visimar chose a scimitar and asked for the blade to be engraved. The others forewent a gift, but rather asked for a repair to Vilwyn's bell-mace and a chain for Baesellor's mysterious talisman. The grateful smith set to work, and recommended they stay at the Taproot Inn - the alternative, the Wheezing Beaver, being a wretched brothel in the hands of dangerous proprietors.

In the Taproot Inn, the group bought a bottle of cheap, syrupy wine and a few rooms, with Baesellor and Vilwyn sharing with Spittlebrick. Realising they had paid for a spare room, Vilwyn took the opportunity to go down to the Wheezing Beaver and offer the room to a potential ally. Located on the sinister Puddle Docks, the Wheezing Beaver lived up to its unpleasant reputation - a thin layer of bilgy water covered the floor, and its (mainly halfling) clientele displayed a hostility to outsiders. Vilwyn noticed the snake tattoos on the arms of the owner and many of the other halflings within. He offered the room to Arnost, a middle-aged albino mercenary, and learned that he'd been hired by Victor, a travelling gnomish merchant, to protect him on his journeys in the swamp. Arnost also mentioned Aggie, the town seamstress, who has been going senile with delusions of ghosts in the swamp. Vilwyn suggested the possibility of hiring Arnost if their timings aligned.

Meanwhile, back at the Taproot Inn, Baesellor kept an eye on the tied Spittlebrick, who put on a deliberate façade of weakness to toy with the ingenuous archaeologist. Callidus retired to bed while Visimar drank wine downstairs, listening in on town rumours.

Attack on the Siltwater Market

Mercuras 8th Concord, 30 Fifth Age

The following morning, the party regrouped in the bar to plan their next moves, choosing to capitalise on their newfound camaraderie and band together for safety in this dangerous town. Lancion - now back in control of the host - lauded his freedom now that he was south of Armathain, where he is wanted; as long as he doesn't attract too much attention, he'll be safe. Callidus spoke of a deal he wished to make with some local moonshiners on behalf of his benefactress. Meanwhile, Vilwyn and Visimar wished to follow the rumours they learned the previous night and see what new threads emerged. The issue of greatest import was, of course, what to do with the goblin Spittlebrick, whom Lancion had frightened into submission again that morning. The group decided to make their way to the office of the town sheriff to hand in the goblin chief, as well as - at Byron's suggestion - attempt an alliance with the sheriff against Lord Larassan.

The party's first point of call was the Siltwater Market, the town's local trading stop in the Mud Ward, the commercial district. There, Lancion purchased a batch of calligraphers' supplies at some expense, and produced a serviceable but unimpressive copy of Luther Maldrud's letter. The group also encountered Aggie, the aged and blind seamstress, who could identify - just from her touch - Visimar's yellow cloak as one of the Rangers of Roamere's. Asked about the ghosts in the swamp, Aggie explained that she could hear ghostly carriages, stocked with the spirits of the prisoners of war taken during the time of the Swamp Kings, trundling past her house at night, along the road into the Sunken Mausoleum. 

'Before the days of the High King, this realm was cloven into many kingdoms. The Swamp Kings were many, and with lots of land over which to war. Their battles yielded slaves, and those slaves perished by the wagonload in the Hellmire. I hear them still, trundling into the swamp in the night. They are doomed to die again and again, sure as the moon rises and falls. If you disturb them, they turn foul as bog rot, and pull you into the mud to drown with them.'

The tale was interrupted by a lawman, who wished to see Aggie's trade license, issued by the Lord's Lodge. Visimar showed it on her behalf. The party bid farewell to the old woman and ventured to meet Victor, the merchant they had heard so much about. 

As it turned out, Victor was a larger-than-life salesman with a dogged and underhanded manner. With a wagon laden with supplies of mundane and magical variety, the elderly gnome seemed to sell every object he could get his hands on, from vials of expensive drow poison to a severed troll's arm with still-twitching fingers. Callidus bought a dragonchess set, Vilwyn bought a pet thundertoad, and Lancion bought a brass mask in the shape of a skull. The item of the most controversy was a ring of invisibility sold at an extraordinarily low 25gp: a ring that Victor refused to demonstrate or hand over before he was paid, leading the party to suspect he wasn't being entirely truthful about its powers. However, the exchange (minus the ring) was a success, and the groups parted amiably. 

The party's next objective was to go to the sheriff's office, but their plan was interrupted by the arrival of a vile and savage ogre from the forest, which upended an Emerald Brewery wagon and attacked the crowded market square. The ogre's swipes brought down the rickety wooden watchtower in the centre of the square, killing the guard atop it. As the populace fled, the party took a stand. Callidus used his new liantasse blade to ensnare the ogre in vines, Lancion affixed it with a witch bolt, and Vilwyn enchanted it with a Giant command word to sing instead of attack. Visimar ultimately finished the trapped creature with his rapier, enhanced with crimson flames by his sanguine magic.

The Law and Breaking It

As the dust cleared, the first townsperson to their aid was Osborn Tealeaf, proprietor of the Emerald Brewery, who expressed his massive gratitude for their heroism. They also met Sheriff Wulfric Dagoban, who told them that Lord Larassan would no doubt want to thank them in person. The group helped move the spilled barrels to the Brewery, where Tealeaf mentioned a job he needed doing, for the not-so-small price of 150gp. Interested, the party resolved to return after their business with the sheriff was concluded.

On the doorstep of the Brewery, the party engaged again with Spittlebrick, who was still tied to Vilwyn's back and had soiled himself during the ogre's attack. Lancion suggested cutting out the goblin's precious filed teeth, and after seeing past Spittlebrick's grovelling to remember the acts of barbarity against innocents his tribe had committed, the party became more amenable to the idea. However, Vilwyn insisted upon taking the chief to the sheriff's office to await proper trial, and to act as a key witness against Lord Larassan. 

At last, the party made it to the sheriff's office, where they took stock of the noticeboard outside for potential sources of gold. Inside, Sheriff Dagoban dumped Spittlebrick in a cell, where he petitioned unsuccessfully for his 'new friends' to free him. Hearing from Byron that the sheriff was no friend of Larassan's, the party asked him for help in bringing justice to the lord, but given that Larassan was installed as Lord Deacon by the Ovad, Dagoban was reluctant to violate the will of the law. However, he did note in confidence that certain unnamed members of the town have been meeting in secret, and Dagoban has not been taking steps to stop them - he suggests canvassing for testimony amongst the disgruntled townsfolk. Dagoban also offered to send a copy of the letter to the storm pontiffs to appeal for Larassan's dismissal, but a reply would be distant, if not unlikely. Deciding this was better than nothing, the party agreed, and Lancion ceded control to Baesellor to re-transcribe the letter more accurately.

Meanwhile, Vilwyn and Visimar returned to Byron's house to collect their wares, but found the blacksmith being threatened by three members of the Swamp Snakes, the local halfling gang. Vilwyn assumed the guise of the sheriff, and Visimar used his natural aptitude for intimidation to frighten the halflings away. The shaken Byron thanked them for their help, and - after retrieving their goods - Visimar promised to help him, suggesting that Byron leave Correnwald with them and find shelter elsewhere. The blacksmith was unsure. 

Callidus accompanied them to the town library, where they met Ario Va'Kel, the dragonborn librarian, and purchased some books. Hoping to unravel some of the tangled threads of his past, Visimar asked Ario to search his archives for books on blood cults and monsters of unnatural make. Finally, once Baesellor had completed his forgery, the party returned to the Emerald Brewery to hear Tealeaf's quest and accept it. Tealeaf's already-struggling profits were under threat from the Swamp Snakes' moonshine production, which they undertook at a secret, illegal distillery somewhere upriver. The sheriff wouldn't authorise investigations outside of the town boundaries, so Tealeaf enlisted the party to go instead, taking a small vial of Kastalavic alchemist's fire to blow the whole distillery to smithereens. The enthusiastic party agreed, but Callidus - conscious of his mission for the Collectress - was less certain…

And so it is written.