In which Nedne is pursued by the sinister Executive Villequier and decides to trust her old companions, who help her escape for a brief while. She is then assaulted by Donnerjack and chooses to give up the bracelet that controls Bruiser, is assaulted by a Bruiser-gone-feral, is assaulted by Evendar’s rescue party, is once more assaulted by Villequier’s party and is finally slain by an honorable knight. Our heroes avenge her death, free Bruiser (a.k.a. Brun Arctos), and learn the secret that was the cause of all this: an impending military conflict.
Our heroes to their Golden Dragon Inn suite to find Nedne and Bruiser waiting for them in the common area. The last time Nedne was around, she promised Theren to go to the Knights Arcane to discover more information about the magical properties of the medallion hanging around Bruisers neck. Upon seeing Nedne, Theren instinctively casts hold person but perhaps in his haste failed to really weave the spell properly and Nedne is merely irritated by the attempt to restrain her. She explains to the group that she is in trouble, is being tracked by someone she doesn’t wish to be captured by and needs their help.
Not a minute passes after her plea for help that the party hears a heavily armored group stomping up the stairs. A tingle shoots down Nedne’s spine and she cries out that ‘they’ have found her and they must escape. A thump on the door pierces the tension. A second thump is followed by a call from outside from someone claiming to be Executive Villequier, a highly decorated investigator of the state asking after the whereabouts of a certain halfling and bear companion. Kaster answers the door and steps out of the room, obscuring the rest of the group within. He buys our heroes time by claiming there are undressed friends inside having a ‘good time’. With these precious extra seconds, Nedne, Bruiser, Theren and Antel tumble out of the window with a cushioned fall from an expertly cast web spell from Ifrid.
Theren spots a carriage with a driver not too far away and they rush over to enquire if he can swiftly transport them away to the outskirts of Passage in Carter’s Cross where they know the Crooked Kin have set up their circus act. He introduces himself as Rurik and offers the full service experience of no questions asked and swift transport for the low low price of 10 galifars. They throw the coin at Rurik and jump into the covered carriage and set off as inconspicuously as possible.
Back in the room, having held the investigators as long as he could, Kaster lets them into the room. They see that Ifrid has dressed up as a woman, Vim has shapeshifted into Misha and Donnerjack is standing there with a grin on his face whilst Arty looks on without expression. They manage to convince Villequier that they haven’t seen Nedne in a time and they, too, were looking for her. He leaves the room, somewhat unsatisfied but also feeling sure that Nedne is not around – what with the lack of a large brown bear in the rooms – and heads out of the inn.
The carriage trundels along the cobblestone road through Goldways keeping to traffic laws and drawing as little attention as possible. However a set of mounted police turn into the road behind the carriage and the unfastened canvas flaps of the carriage are briefly blown open by a passing gust of wind. This fraction of time is enough for the patrol to call out for the transport to stop, to which Antel shouts out to Rurik to show him what his 10g bought. With a crack of his whip the cart launches with a burst of speed and the cart bounces along the cobbles, the large barrels of fortified wine in the back threatening to dislodge and squash the party. Antel grabs one of the barrels and hurls it at the pursuing lawmakers and causes one of horses to topple over – breaking its leg.
As Rurik swerves in and out around other horse drawn carts, Theren and Antel get thrown out into the street. Antel stands and opposes the patrol, Theren shapeshifts into a rat once out of line of sight and the cart vanishes around a bend carrying Nedne and Bruiser. Antel stays behind to persuade the following patrol to not persist and heals the horse to prove his innocence whilst Theren chooses to hastily leave and chase after the cart. The carriage with Bruiser and Nedne reaches the gates of Goldways and is stopped by the guards checking all carts leaving the area. Nedne does her best to conceal Bruiser as a slightly larger haystack but is rather unconvincing. Moments before the guard begin searching her cart, a golden haired boy with jagged teeth jumps onto the cart and introduces himself as Goblin in the employ of the outlaw known as Rats and offers an invitation to her. Smiling widely, exposing his unwelcoming teeth, he jumps off the cart and calls to the guards that he has just seen another outlaw known as Ghoul just around the corner – causing the guard to be distracted just enough for the cart to slip through without being checked.
Theren catches up just as Rurik directs his cart through the Goldways gate and jumps back on for the remainder of the journey towards Carter’s Cross. Upon reaching the circus of the Crooked Kin, Theren and Nedne are welcomed by Kaleb – the leader of the Kin and offers to keep them safe as best they can. Theren calls a nearby bird to head to the Golden Dragon Inn with a message in its claws to tell the rest of the group where they are and whilst they wait, Theren turns to Nedne and offers to introduce her to the fortune teller they met on the road to Passage so many weeks ago.
Nedne agrees and they enter the gypsy trailer with Madame Sa’Jeera in large lettering on the side. They enter and the fortune teller uses her past, present and future cards to warn Nedne to be vigilant as she is surrounded by predators, is innocent and vulnerable and on turning the card for her future produces the ‘Void’ card, Sa’Jeera is confused and frightened by the occurrence of such a rare card. Questions are asked, all with answers layered in riddles and time passes quicker than the two expect. They leave the fortune teller and see the rest of the party has arrived.
Donnerjack directly confronts Nedne about the bracelet she uses to control Bruiser and lunges for her wrist in a clumsy fashion. Nedne easily dodges the obvious attack and recoils from the group back towards Theren. With a look of panic in her eyes and the betrayal of who she felt were her friends, she turns to Theren and asks “We’re friends, right?”. Theren responds in a kind affirmation, to which Nedne quickly unfastens the bracelet that has caused her so much trouble, throws it at Theren and then dashes behind the gypsy carriage.
Bruiser, who up until now has been calmly standing in the clearing outside the circus tent observing the group gather, lets out a deafening, blood-curdling roar. Turning to where Nedne has fled, he sees Theren in his path and stares at him with eyes of death and destruction. Theren casts a spell to charm Bruiser to not attack him, and so instead, Bruiser dashes around Theren, pounces on the tiny figure of Nedne and begins to claw and tear at her flesh.
The party restrains Bruiser through a multitude of spell casting and subdues the blood-crazed bear into an unconscious state. Exhaling with victory, the silence is broken with the arrival of a pack of Shifters who have been tracking Bruiser – led by none other than the Shifter that took a liking to Donnerjack, Evendar. They attempt to take Nedne hostage and recover the unconscious bear but are thwarted by our brave heroes. In a rare moment of political negotiation – they convince the pack of Shifters that they all mean each other no harm and that Nedne will be punished but must remain with them. Blades and wands are lowered and an agreement is struck.
Nedne, thinking she is safe from danger, hears a chilling voice that sense a cold shudder down her spine. Turning, she and the rest of the party now see Superior Executive Simon Villequier and his soldiers standing on the other side of the clearing. “You will come with us Nedne of Wyr, or you will die” the royal investigator calls out in a single offer of surrender.
Kaster turns on the soldiers in defiance to taking his friend and another battle breaks out in front of the circus, with the Shifters choosing to take the side of our adventurers. Kaster courageously takes on multiple assailants in a fit of rage, but somehow manages to take more damage from the rest of our heroes by friendly fire than the actual damage the attackers. One of the soldiers rushes at Nedne and in her weakened state has nothing but hiding on her mind. Yet the soldier is quicker than expected and knocks Nedne to the ground and raises his blade to end the life of the halfling. Nearby Theren sees his friend in a position of almost certain death and leaps inbetween the soldier and the fallen halfling, firmly shoving his Gatekeepers staff into the dirt. Instantly, the staff turns into a large fig tree with a thick trunk, separating the soldier wielding a large two-handed sword and Nedne.
Evendar attempts to take down Villequier but in doing so is absorbed into a void, taking him to another plane of existence, never to be seen again. Nedne climbs the newly sprouted adult fig tree whilst Theren shapeshifts into a bear to hold off the assassin. Gaining courage with her friends helping her, Nedne takes a shot from the trees foliage – exposing her position to one of the wizards – who promptly shoots her out of the tree, unconscious, next to the soldier set out to murder her. Theren, with wide eyes and fear for his friend, witnesses the soldier brutally impale Nedne Wyr and watches the life leave her body.
The battle swings in favour of our heroes and all of the invesitagators soldiers and Villequier himself are vanquished brutally, with Kaster dealing the final warriors death blow. Amongst the Shifters is a druid, Trinette, who upon seeing that the danger has passed, revives Bruiser and dispels the magic that was forcing the bear form. As the magic fades, the form of another shifter takes Bruisers place and he rises with misty eyes and a foggy mind. Trinette calls out with a gasp “Brun!” and introduces the Shifter as Brun Arctos.
The Crooked Kin come out from their hiding and agree to hide the bodies of the soldiers and clean up all traces of blood and evidence. In turn, the Shifters now with their rescued friend, take our heroes into the nearby forest with the body of Nedne. Before they head off, Theren kneels down next to the cold body of his friend and takes from her hand her family’s signet ring and sheds a tear whilst embracing her.
They bury Nedne at the foot of a large oak tree in a warm, sunlit grove in silence and solemn expression. As a final gesture, Theren twists the bark of the tree into the shape of the druidic symbol of ‘friend’ and our heroes bid goodbye to Nedne of Wyr.
Session glossary
- Rienne ir’Veseur – the lady of the Therassic Spires in Passage
- Brun Arctos – a beasthide shifter from the Eldeen Reaches; kidnapped by Nedne of Wyr and kept imprisoned in the form of a bear; now free and en route to the Reaches
- Darro ir’Lein – Lord Commander of the Knights Arcane; responsible for the kidnapping of Brun Arctos along with the Wyr family
- Superior Executive Simon Villequier – an expert investigator, of the Royal Eyes of Aundair; survivor of the Mourning; slain while pursuing Nedne and Brun
- Eleazar – an honorable knight of Aundair; died for his country
- Tibal – a diviner working with the Royal Eyes; also slain
- Rurik – a badass wagon driver; 10 galifars for the full experience
- Trinette – a female swiftstride shifter and a druid from the Eldeen Reaches; Evendar’s companion and a member of the Brun Arctos’ rescue party
- Sa’Jeera – a yuan-ti fortune teller travelling with the Crooked Kin
Turn of the Age 