At the conclusion of session 1, the players had just found a site with their missing wagon. The wagon was missing its shipment and there were no signs of company members nearby. It was clear they had been ambushed. A set of footprints led to the north by northwest.
In session 3, the party was joined by Cristian and Eric as guests (playing a wizard and fighter, respectively). They fought for a time, not "hitting it off" right away until they were attacked by three goblin scouts. They took the time to bury the goblins after killing them, and in the grave-digging and talking that followed, it attracted the attention of more scouts - this time nearly a dozen. The party killed them as well, leaving one survivor. They interrogated the survivor, who indicated he was from Tumulta, but eventually let him go. Nearby, the party found the Tumulta camp, now abandoned. In it, they found a Ichthys survivor, who later died of an infection. Among the camp they also found a number of Tumulta supplies and 20 spears that belonged to the Ichthys company.
In session 4, the party headed back to Mare Nostrum. As they entered, they found a zombie chasing an elderly man. After they killed the zombie, the old man told the party he was a fisherman and he'd found a shipwreck about a half mile north of town on the beach. He thought there might be more zombies within. Also in the town, the company clerk - Flavius Astorio - suggested that the players might be able to convince the local winery operator to sell excess wine to them and trade it to the city of Vespaspian to the south. The players went to investigate the ship first and found it was infested with zombies. They cleverly dealt with them by luring them out of the ship, then looked over the ship from deck to hold. They found the ship was from Germulus, had been sunk by sabotage (an explosion from within, by some magical means) and on the hull in the ship's hold was carved the words: "The rector is n". The party returned to town and successfully negotiated the purchase of 5 crates of wine from the local winery to sell to Vespaspian.
In session 5, the party headed south to investigate the missing princess. After a little searching, they found a faint, irregularly used trail that led to the dungeon entrance where the princess was said to be held. On the way, an orc failed to shadow the party and was easily found. The orc and party spoke for a few minutes and ultimately he agreed to take the party to the chief, inside the dungeon. They were able to head down into the dungeon and meet the chief. For a moment, negotiations with the chief appeared to be going well until he drew a dagger and tried killing Lorenzo's character. The party intervened and soon killed all of the orcs and rescued the princess. From the crater in the dungeon filled with char and what the princess said, it appeared Vespaspian's expedition team were all killed.
In session 6, the party returned to Mare Nostrum to discover the city's shipwright had been ritualistically murdered. Here's what the party discovered about the murder so far:
- The shipwright had been chopped into several pieces - two legs, two arms, the torso, and head. The pieces had been placed in the center of his workshop and surrounded by lit candelabras.
- On the wall, written in blood was "Tumulta Rises"
- Three items inside the shipwright's bedroom: A letter, reading: "Let's talk. We can find someone to take over for you. You've earned a promotion and role of leadership.", gold, and a necklace with clasped hands.
- Two suspects: A beautiful woman with auburn hair, and a gruff-looking man with a thick beard and hook for a hand. Both were wearing pendants.
- The two suspects came from a ship called "The Queen's Maiden". A dockworker indicated the ship was heading north next, to Germulus
- The ship had a symbol of two clasped hands on the sails
- The woman suspect was encountered by one of the players the morning of the murder, just outside the Shipwright, cleaning an axe with a bloody rag
- The suspects paid off two children who were following them not to talk. They paid the kids with a gold coin bearing the current year and mark of the empire
Session 7:
The party wrapped up its investigation of the murder and decided to head north to Constasius in order to hire a ship to sail the rest of the way north to Germulus, where the murder suspects were headed. The company clerk, Flavius, guessed that it'd cost 100 gold to hire the ship and agreed that the company would cover half. You also negotiated the purchase of more wine from the local winery and took off north with 5 crates (4 on the horse, 1 being carried).
Throughout the first day of travel, a storm over the ocean slowly moved toward land and it grew colder. As evening fell, the rain started and you stopped at a small town called Clearwater, located at a bend in the coast where the forest, mountains and coast meet. The inn was a little run down and operated by a dwarven woman with a beard.
You paid for dinner and a room for the night. Just as she was bringing your food (pork, beans and ale), a man burst into the inn clutching his bleeding shoulder, where his arm had been ripped away. He blurted out "She's free" before dying.
On his body, you found a folded-up note that read, "Four knocks, in quick succession. Less or more and you'll fall beneath the floor."
Diego's paladin character used his sense ability to detect the location of divine, demonic or undead as well as consecrated or desecrated land. He did not pick up anything specific, although there was a faint divine presence in all directions for 60 feet.
The innkeeper told you there's only one thing in the region that could be 'free'. A witch living in the foothills of the Olwond mountains. She thought about 300 years ago, a group of paladins locked the witch away in her hut. She's said to be known for her magic and riddles.
The next morning, the players set off to find this witch, dealing with cold drizzle throughout the day. On the way, they took down a pack of wild boars, killed one dire wolf and bribed two more dire wolves with boar meat.
In the afternoon, they found an old hut in the mountains. In front of the hut were two skeletons and a white, rotting corpse. All rose to their feet and moved toward the party; the rotting one drawing a long sword.