Into the Light, Part 1: Campaign Diary

 

Our adventure began in The Fat Candle tavern, a pub lit by a solitary candle the size of a tree trunk. The perfect place for a clandestine meeting – if you don’t mind drinking in near-darkness. The heroes’ contact was Mazatl, one of 12-Bar’s friends in the Mercykillers. Mazatl, a half-elf with one arm, had previously tasked the party with retrieving a shipment of weapons which had later turned out to be aberrantly sentient.

Mazatl asked the party to unearth why the Athar and the Signers were at each other’s throats over some church in the Lower Ward, and what some Anarchist called Hulester had to do with it all. The party headed off to the Lower Ward, arriving in the evening near the Ubiquitous Wayfarer, a tavern famous for its collection of portals and a statue that tells riddles. M’narr impressed onlookers by immediately solving the riddle set by the statue, and was bought several rounds of peach wine as a reward, despite his insisting that he didn’t drink. He did use his newfound street cred to locate Hulester, however. Unfortunately, Hulester had no interest in spilling his guts. The poor berk’d fallen head over heels for the tavern’s owner, a Guvner called Riaen, and was too shy to approach her. The party was sure that if they could just match up the pair, Hulester would start singing. With the combination of a pep talk (from 12-Bar) and a magically conjured rose (from M’narr) (with extra scent added (by Ragados)), surely Hulester’s success was guaranteed? But alas, sometimes no amount of trying can help Cupid’s arrow strike true. Hulester froze up, and Riaen left him humiliated.

Disappointed with their failure, but oddly buoyed by Hulester's burning resentment, the party rested and headed to the church the next morning. Finding an abandoned building next door to the site, they snuck in. Creeping upstairs, they had a bitter fight with an Abyssal warlock, but managed to kill him and his Rutterkin in the end. With the upstairs secured, a stakeout ensued. The night was long and dull (12-Bar entered his inactive state before Ragados could strike up a conversation), but in the morning, Ragados watched as an armoured knight approached the church guards, stepped back, and then attempted a full-blown charge through the doors…

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