The night started with the players deciding what to do next given the Bron’s ultimatum. After much discussion they decided to wait a couple of days to see if Auron would contact Lady Immithra.
On the way back to the Bounty of the Goddess, the party came across a man dressed in black that was beating a young priestess. They saw the priestess crumple from a nasty punch before the man turned towards them and drew his longsword. Mere seconds later he fell to the ground after the impact of two motes of light from a Magic Missile cast by Kaldric. The group then revived the girl and carried both bodies back to the temple. Once there, Lady Immithra went and tended to the girl while the party tied the man up, and bound him to a chair.
When Lady Immithra returned she and the group decided what to do with the almost dead man. It was determined that he was a Zhent, and the party was going to just let him die, and move on with their plans. Upon searching his belongings Kaldric came across a note. It read:
Buorstag, this note hereby relieves you of your duties as the leader of Voonlar. A vote will be setup by the man who presented this to you, and he will win. Your theft from our organization has not gone unnoticed. You will present yourself at Zhentil Keep to explain your actions. If you have not arrived in a week, a hunting party will be sent to retrieve you.
With this new information, the group decided that they wanted to revive the man, and question him. Lady Immithra assented, and went about the task of stabilizing and reviving the man. The group blindfolded the man, and once he was awake they set about the task of questioning him. They learned that his name is Talfen, and that he was here to take over for the Bron. He stated that the Bron was not as powerful as he seemed and that the Zhentarim was going to deal with him. He did not give any reasons for beating the girl though.
The next morning the group went to speak with the priestess. They learned that she is the man’s sister. He left home several years ago to try to make a better life for them. When he found out that she joined the church, he lost his temper and began beating her. She mentioned that he had always been cruel. She begged Lady Immithra to not kill Talfen. The group decided that maybe by letting her talk to her brother might get him to give up some more information.
Duing this wait, Kaldric was contacted by a messenger saying that Lady Immithra wanted to see the party. Upon arriving at her office, Kaldric discovered that she had been contacted by Auron. Kaldric quickly convened with his friends, before returning to the office to communicate with Auron. Lady Immithra had told Auron about the attack on the caravan, and most of the events that happened in town. Kaldric asked what Auron wanted the group to do. He said that The Bron’s threats were most likely empty, especially given the information the group had found. He apologized for having the group thrown into the politics. He requested that they return to Hillsfar, and he said that he was sure he could find work for them that did not involve politics if that is what they wanted. Kaldric told Auron that he understood the request.
After another day, they brought the girl in front of her brother. He showed disgust that she had joined the church. He said that he was there to run the town, and make it a better place. At that comment Lady Immithra shook her head disapprovingly. Talfen made it clear that due to the actions of the party he was dead. Either the Zhentarim would kill him or the party would. The girl, Mirabel, then begged the party to not kill him. The group discussed and decided to spend a couple of days at the church in the hopes that the Mirabel can convince Talfen to travel south, potentially with the party and leave the Zhentarim behind. However, he was not swayed to leave and turn his back on his organization. He was still convinced that he was dead either way.
The group spent a long time discussing their next move. They talked about all of their options, and eventually settled on returning to Hillsfar. They are not certain they want to continue to work with Auron, but still felt it best to go to Hillsfar next. They decided to leave the next morning, and just before leaving Kaldric returned to Talfen, and killed him since they felt there were no other options. Lady Immithra gave the group a healing potion, and bid them farewell. They left with Fenton and the wagon that they arrived with, now loaded with metal ingots, and other raw materials.
They made their way out of town, and passed the field of abandoned weapons. The second night out of town, Kai saw a man approach during her watch. He said hello, and she yelled hello back loud enough to wake her companions. The man stepped back into the darkness and was not seen again. The group opted to move forward a few miles before resting again. The next night, during Kai’s watch the man returned. However, this time all sound around Kai ceased when he was there, and he told her that she would be unable to wake her companion’s this time. The man was unremarkable looking, and dressed in all black. He was not armed that Kai could discern. He said that he wanted Kai to succeed in what she chose to do, and that he wanted to help her succeed. He said that she need not do anything for her in return, as she had already begun to help him. He asked if there was any help he could give to her, and she requested safety in their travels back to Hillsfar. The man said that he would try to give them safety, and asked if there was anything else. She declined, and the man stepped away and once again appeared to fade into the darkness.
The party made the rest of the trip back to Hillsfar without incident. They passed a battalion of Red Plumes marching to Yulash from Hillsfar, but did not stop to speak with them. They arrived at Hillsfar in the evening.
DM Recap
I feel like this session went a little slow, but I knew that going in. The party had a huge decision to make as to what to do next. Do they go back to Hillsfar or do they leave the region? Finding Talfen and the note he carried really threw a wrench into the situation. Ultimately, their choice to go back to Hillsfar to at least speak with Auron again was made, and they went on their way. I also felt like this session did not feel as brutal and bad for the players. There were no events that happened to them that made them feel worse about their situation.
Loot and XP
The party will get 15 XP for Talfen, and I will also award 1000 XP total for the events in Voonlar. This works out to 338 XP each or 371 for those with XP bonuses. In addition, Lady Immithra gave the party 1 healing potion.
