Year One: The Missing Monk Job

• A month has passed since the Highhorse ransom job. At the Heroes Guild, the Company are greeted by Aidin the Heal-Sick who has a job: an old friend of his, Brother Tonik Waters, a famous alchemist, has gone missing from St. Scriptus’ Abbey at Parochia and he would like their assistance in finding the man.
• The Company (plus Aidin) travel to Stagwood Castle where Kenrick grew up, then on to the abbey which is very elevated and with many stairs. They interact with Abbot Venerus and learn about Tonik’s strange behavior as well as the ongoing difficulties with the squatters in the nearby Dodgelaw Forest.
• Upon the morn, the Company enters the forest and negotiates past the forest squatters. In their rudimentary tent town, they speak with the designated leader who eventually points them to a cute orphan named Poppy. Here, Kenrick takes the lead because he’s “good with kids” and, even though the child is very quiet, they learn she’s lost a doll.
• Cue: fetch quest. The Company goes into the forest to find the doll, eventually tracking it down in the den of a local dog gone semi-feral named Nipper. Leo retrieves the doll and Dustan uses magic to extract the dog slobber. Poppy is delighted to have her doll back points to Griftan, another community local, who eventually reveals that he was paid to recruit Tonik to the forest community, then to lead him to a band of mercs deeper in the woods to be “kidnapped.”
• The Company investigates with Leo being point. They locate the mercs, hash out a quick tactical plan, and put it into action. Thanks to Dustan’s “fire-tornado” windstorm, the mercs are scattered long enough for the Company to enter a nearby cave…
• Where they discover Tonik. Now completely mad, he reveals that he has succeeded in perfecting this elixir so great fame and wealth unimaginable will be his as he’s been promised. He drinks the elixir and transforms into a powerful beast … but this beast quickly falls before the combined might of the Company. As he dies, the restored Tonik gasps out a final, “What have I done?” before the light fades from his eyes.
• With Tonik’s body, the Company returns to the abbey where their lost brother is given a service the following day with some of the forest community attending…

Player Notes:

• There was some more post adventure stuff not covered by the above like initial interactions with Heroes’ Guild members. Dustan has graduated and is now officially apprenticed to Magister Codecs; Kenrick learned that Fawna, one of his cousins, is to be married; Murdok had his axe super pimped out – Accuracy, Penetrating Weapon 1, Puissance – which he called Braut’nyr and all of us called Brautwurst; and we further learned that Harmin of Grudgehold, whom we believe is the Magpie, was kicked out of the Heroes’ Guild six years earlier for killing a dude on Guild grounds.
• We ran into an issue where Tonik wanted to monologue before drinking the elixir and two characters – Leo & Murdok – wanted to knock the elixir free before he drank it. In retrospect, Tonik should have been lowering a now empty bottle when the PCs entered, so he could monologue before the transformation but there was no convenient full bottle for aggressive PCs to target.
• After this entire thing, I (Kenrick’s player) spoke with the GM offline and admitted that he (Kenrick) was really uncomfortable just leaving the orphans to that forest community. We determined that Kenrick would remain in Huntsley for his cousin’s wedding (since he sees her more as a little sister than a cousin), and then return to the Abbey & the forest community where he will offer to take the orphans (especially Poppy) to the orphanage in the Capital that Getwelle always raves about (and secret channels all of his monies to.) This could, down the road, play again into a background “surely this knight isn’t as honorable and just as he seems; it must be an act!” that we have in mind for Kenrick.
• Getwelle’s player had to drop out briefly during the skill challenge due to the arrival of a repairman, but showed back up in time for the fight with Tonik … but didn’t manage to get any actual attacks in. I’m actually feeling kind of bad for him.
• No game next week due to the Labor Day weekend and half of the players dropping off the interwebz. And only three more left in this “season”!

See the Daniverse Blog for the GM’s post-game debrief.