Against the Cult: Timeline/Chapter Summaries

I realized that I've been more sporadic in my summarizing of each chapter than I thought I had been. So here is a thread where I will summarize what's happened. These summaries obviously don't include everything, but they're not intended to do that. The intent is to jog your memory (or give you broad strokes of the backstory if your PC wasn't involved in that chapter).

Elven hero Cecily Raptor earned fame and fortune as an adventurer for centuries. She was single-handedly responsible for clearing wilderness regions of threats that encouraged the settlement of much of Keoland and the Gran Marches. Now she has retired and founded the adventurers' guild, "Dungeon Busters!" to continue the good work and earn money doing so. She identifies areas that might need help and sends crews of adventurers there to confirm the need, set up local guild halls, and complete jobs to get positive word of mouth for the organization.

Recently, in a far-off land, Lyrel the wizard dreamt of the fey being Umshalevagoruvimue Kalaign, who told her that she must "find and aid the wizard of Orlane." The elf set off on a quest, with no knowledge of what or where Orlane is.

Far to the south in the capital of Keoland, Eugenios the wizard refused to go along with covering up corruption in the Niole Dra government, so he was "promoted" to the rank of "Special Investigator" and sent on a "special assignment" to the Duchy of Geoff. He was resigned to this exile, and began the long journey north.

Later, as one avenue for the Dungeon Busters organization, Cecily sent an initial team to Hochoch in the Duchy of Geoff to assess the need: Aanbo the monk, Klak the paladin, Morgran the cleric, Ogbar the barbarian, Quest the mystic, Sara the ranger, Thacogygax the sorceror, and Xana the warlock. Within a week of that team's departure, Cecily had a premonition that there would be need for a local franchise, so she sent one of her lieutenants, Olpert Razorson, with a franchise starter kit after them. Then she set about forming a second squad to send after him. Albertus the paladin, Kragga the wizard, Joseph the rogue, and Theran the druid left a few days after Olpert.

On Day 1, the first eight-person team arrived in Hochoch and immediately got a sense that something was going on, as caravan trade with the neighboring agricultural town of Orlane was dwindling and rumors abounded as to something weird going on there. Before that first day ended, they answered the call to help a miller who had been attacked by strangers who assaulted the mill. They were joined by Durren Elderblade, an aspiring fighter who used this crisis as his audition for Dungeon Busters. At the mill, the mob of adventurers handily defeated a bunch of bandits who'd occupied the mill and held the miller's wife as hostage (as well as finding a bunch of kobolds in the basement). The Dungeon Busters captured some of them, including a man named Tap whose mind was broken (from a spell that Xana cast). From the captives, they learned that the bandits were part of the gang led by the infamous Bandit Black, a regional blackguard, but none of the captives knew why their leader had ordered them to take the mill.

On Day 2, the party decided to set a trap for Bandit Black, disguising themselves as wealthy merchants to get ambushed by bandits on Cecily's Road in the Dim Forest between Hochoch and Orlane. On the way (Day 4), they met Abel Jarl, who was distraught because his son was deathly ill. The party split, some going to see if they could help Abel's son Devek (team A), and the others staying with the merchant wagon (team B). The ones who stayed were met by a traveling minstrel, Jonbon, and then they heard a large beast nearby. Xana tried to scare it by imitating a dragon, but the beast - a huge owlbear - heard the roar as a challenge. It pounced out of the forest, killed Jonbon's mules, terrified the party's oxen, and casually gave a mortal wound to Klak. Xana drew the owlbear away by making more dragon sounds, and the party took Klak to Abel's house to help him heal and recover from his near-death experience. Teams A and B reunited.

At the same time, Albertus, Kragga, Joseph, and Theran (team C) arrived in Hochoch ahead of Olpert (having passed his slower ox-cart on the road). They began asking around, trying to confirm that they were in the right place and find out what the Dungeon Busters had done already.

On Day 5, Jonbon charmed Abel to leave his family alone and take the comatose son Devek back to the Temple of Rao in Hochoch in a handcart. They were hours down the trail when Abel realized he'd been charmed, and the party split again: half going back to Abel's house (team A), half continuing with Devek to the Temple (team B). Abel and team A arrived at his house and found that Jonbon had knocked out and kidnapped all the rest of Abel's family, taking them back down Cecily's Road through the Dim Forest in the opposite direction (toward Orlane) using the party's merchant wagon. Sprinting, team A caught up with the kidnapper, beat him down, and tied him up. They got back to Abel's house shortly after dark. Durren and Quest took turns guarding Jonbon overnight while the others talked Abel out of murdering the kidnapper.

That afternoon (still Day 5), Olpert Razorson arrived in Hochoch and started to set up a temporary office in the Inn of Eternal Rest while team B arrived after dark and took comatose Devek straight to the Temple of Rao, where the high priestess, Diana, assessed that Devek had been poisoned by some kind of magical sleeping potion.

On Day 6, Quest announced that he was going back to town and left ahead of the rest of team A. The rest of the party was treated to a fine country meal and given additional food for the road by Abel's wife Elista (who had awakened from her drugged stupor with the rest of the family in the morning). Durren led the trussed-up Jonbon back down Cecily's Road through the Dim Forest to Hochoch.

Team B met with Olpert and Team C. Olpert got a status report on Dungeon Buster activities, and immediately gave them jobs related to setting up a guild hall. In mid-afternoon, a hurrying team A arrived with Jonbon back at Hochoch and met with Theran, Joseph, Kragga, and Albertus at the Inn as they finished their jobs. They introduced themselves, and on the strength of the party's testimony, Olpert hired Durren to be part of the Dungeon Busters...on a provisional basis as his assistant (so he can evaluate him personally). Nobody had seen Quest. The heroes took Jonbon to a holding cell, where he will await trial until the Keolish Reeve arrives in three weeks' time. Thacogygax, Morgran, Klak, and Sara all announced that they would not go with the group back to Abel's house to investigate what harmed Devek (for various reasons). The reconfigured party - Xana, Theran, Ogbar, Kragga, Joseph, Albertus, and Aanbo - force-marched their way back east along Cecily's Road through the Dim Forest. They arrived back at Abel's farm in the middle of the night, and were greeted hospitably by the family despite the hour and the size of the party. The Jarl family treated them to a meal and agreed to escort them next morning to where they think Devek came from when he fell ill.

As Day 7 dawned, the party set out with Abel and his daughter Abella; they pointed out where Devek went. The party followed that trail, taking time to travel carefully.

Around midday of Day 7, the party arrived at a crumbling, ancient ruined temple. Exploring, they discovered many traps (some of which had been triggered, including the needle that had struck Devek into the death-like sleep) and a set of zombies within the temple. Through their investigations, they eventually discovered that an ancient sect of sun-worshippers believed that a new age of prosperity was coming; they created a complicated potion to preserve themselves in sleep until the "New Dawning" would arrive...but one of their members betrayed them, making a pact with evil powers. This villain had murdered his fellow monks and animated their corpses in a dark ritual. This ritual kept reanimating the zombies after the party defeated them. The party confronted this apostate monk and disrupted the ritual, finally killing the villain and all the zombies. They also found some treasure (a bunch of valuables, some magic scrolls, and Theran got a +1 mace) and a formula for the potion that restores people from their magical sleep. They force-marched their way back down the road to Hochoch and arrived at night again. They delivered the formula to Diana at the Temple and the boy Devek began to revive. The party rested at the Inn.

Starting on Day 8, Aanbo, Joseph, Theran, and Xana each met with their respective class trainers, spending some of the money they'd earned and 2 days to advance to second level.

On Day 10, Ogbar retired from Dungeon Busters to return to his tribe and challenge the chieftain for the hand of his daughter in marriage. On the way out of Hochoch, he ran into new Dungeon Busters recruits Myrtha the fighter and Reptile the barbarian. He gave them directions and continued out of the story. Kragga met Myrtha and Reptile and introduced them to the rest of the group (except for Quest, who was still absent). As the party discussed what to do next, another new Dungeon Busters recruit arrived: Karliel the bard. Welcoming the new addition, the new party set out to retrieve the merchant's wagon they'd left in the Dim Forest at the Jarl farm. On the way they met Zahm Smith, a blacksmith hoping to find work in Hochoch, and wished him well. They were greeted warmly by the Jarl family once again; Abel and his wife Elista were particularly happy that Devek was recovering from his near-death experience. The Jarl family cleared room for the big adventuring party to sleep in their home again.

After almost a month of near-constant travel, Eugenios arrived in Marlbridge.

On Day 11, Elista and her youngest child loaded into the wagon with Myrtha driving, and the rest of the party walked alongside as they made their leisurely way back down Cecily's Road through the Dim Forest back to Hochoch. Arriving after sunset, the family reunited with Devek, the merchant reunited with his wagon, and the party settled down at the Inn of Eternal Rest for the night.

Meanwhile, new Dungeon Buster recruits Arya Arkon, Manthis the Mask, and Rosemary Flitwhistle were assigned to join the new Dungeon Busters group in Hochoch; they set out on the journey to the town. (Note that this is extrapolated from Chapter 2.1b, not 1.6).

On Day 12, Morgran introduced the party to Louis Marks, the local constable who is in charge of watching any accused in the gaol in between visits of the Reeve. With the help of a priest named Brother Jamin, the party interrogated Jonbon. With spells making sure he wasn't lying, the party learned that Jonbon had prepared food that put the Jarl family to sleep. He was alarmed when they fell asleep and started to take the sleeping people to Orlane to get the help of Abramo or Misha, priest and priestess in the temple of Merikka in Orlane. This help would have blessed the family, changing them in a spiritual way as they "came face to face with the goddess." Jonbon did not know Bandit Black.

They also questioned the bandit captives, from whom they learned that Bandit Black usually runs several operations at once, they're usually wildly profitable, and the attack of the mill was unusual: it was the first time they were instructed to occupy a building rather than sack it. It wasn't the first time that Black worked with kobolds, but it was the first time any of them had. None of the bandits could agree on which person they'd met was Bandit Black. Louis and Jamin tried to get answers out of Tap, but his broken mind was unable to respond coherently.

Returning to the Inn, the party met the newest Dungeon Busters recruit coming from Cecily, Chase the ranger, and Olpert called Xana away on some secret mission. Then Olpert split the remaining Dungeon Busters agents into two teams: one team to investigate the bandit activity in Hochoch (all the now-NPC Dungeon Busters), and the other team (Aanbo, Chase, Joseph, Myrtha, Reptile, and Theran) to go to Orlane to shed some light on all the rumors flying about that place.

On Day 13, the party set out on Cecily's Road east through the Dim Forest toward Orlane. They make camp after nightfall, but as the party split up to forage and make a fire, a badly-injured bear entered the camp and started tearing apart their packs. Theran started to talk to it when Chase and Reptile attacked it. Between their attacks, Aanbo's kicks, and Myrtha's sword slaps, they knocked out the bear. Aanbo treated the bear's wounds and the party dragged it out of camp.
(from Chapter 3.3) That same day, Duric the traveling merchant stopped by Lindun's house in the village of Orlane, but Lindun was gone. Asking the neighbors about it, Duric was told that rogue adventurers have been kidnapping and killing people in Orlane.

On Day 14, the party continued on through the Dim Forest before the bear could wake.

(extrapolated from a later Chapter, 2.1b: The new Dungeon Buster recruits Arya, Manthis, and Rosemary arrive in Hochoch and agree to escort the Jarl family back home)

The first party traveled for that day and most of Day 15, arriving just before sunset at Orlane, a small lakefront farming village overlooked by a hill topped with a large temple dome. The first people the party saw acted afraid of them. The party proceeded to the Golden Grain Inn, where they befriended Bertram Beswill, the proprietor. The mood was dour, with serious people doing serious drinking. Bertram cheerfully served the party food and drink and disavowed any knowledge of bandit activity in Orlane. Suddenly, Joseph and Chase decided to leave the Inn. After they left, Myrtha then also decided to explore in the darkness, leaving her pack with the others. The three Dungeon Busters agents outside then split up. Then the sleeping drug that was slipped in the party's food & drink took effect. Theran, Myrtha, and Joseph passed out, and the others managed to stay awake but were all woozy. The common room customers in the Inn and Bertram all attacked Aanbo and Reptile, the only Dungeon Busters adventurers still awake and inside. Reptile fought off the mob while Aanbo dragged Theran's body out and Chase staggered in to provide Reptile cover to escape. The humans in the Inn decided to not chase the armed adventurers into the night. The exhausted heroes staggered through the town, Chase tracking where the others went so they could retrieve Joseph's and Myrtha's sleeping bodies. They managed to find an abandoned barn and went to sleep for the night.

(extrapolated from Chapter 2.1b: The new Dungeon Busters in Hochoch escorted the Jarl family back into the Dim Forest to their homestead, and accepted the family's invitation to spend the night.)

On Day 16, the Orlane party decided to scout the village in the daytime and plan what to do next. Both Myrtha and Theran were missing their equipment, so the others spotted them some gear. Reptile and Theran decided to scout the Inn to see what the people there were doing and to find their missing equipment; Theran turned into a spider and crawled from room to room. He saw that Bertram, who had been cut down in the fight, was still alive and recuperating in a fancy room on the ground floor. He discovered that there was a cellar accessed either by an exterior door or a staircase from the kitchen. Upstairs, he scouted a bunch of guest rooms: one with an adventurer's gear (but not theirs!), one with a chatty guest who talked to him, and one with a scarred man who was torturing a prisoner. He did not find his or Myrtha's missing equipment.

Meanwhile, Aanbo, Chase, Joseph, and Myrtha investigated a hut they'd seen nestled in a copse of trees. There they met Ramne, an eccentric hermit, and his intelligent weasel, Whiskers. Ramne was a bit batty, and mentioned that he'd seen the party leave the Inn and wander around in the darkness the night before. He was very concerned that some of the party was missing, but seemed reassured that the party passed his trick questions about the names of various people in Hochoch. Speaking confidentially inside his hut, Ramne revealed that people have been disappearing in Orlane for months. Some of them come back changed. He's seen green humanoid monsters wandering the streets at night. Ramne didn't trust the party, though: he made it clear that it's pretty hard to tell good people from bad people, and he said he wouldn't trust the heroes until he'd seen them fight and defeat some of the green monsters.

Meeting back at the barn in mid-morning, the party decided to not do anything for the rest of the day except to prepare an ambush at the barn, with the idea that they would go to the Inn at night and try to draw a few bad guys (and maybe some of the green monsters) into following them back to be attacked by the whole group away from the rest of the village's buildings. But when night fell, the bad guys executed their plan first: they attacked the barn, and while the party was fighting, a second group deposited the body of the man who had been tortured to death along with Theran's and Myrtha's equipment at the side of the barn, framing the party for his murder. Joseph got separated from the others in the barn as he was sniping from the roof of the nearby abandoned farmhouse. In among the bad guys was one of the green monsters: a troglodyte! A mob of villagers led by the Mayor and his bodyguard arrived a few moments after the fighting was finished. Reptile, Theran, and Myrtha carried away their gear and the dead victim while Aanbo and Chase stayed to face the music. No one knew what happened to Joseph.

(note that this is a summary of two threads, because the party split up)

It being now the middle of the night/early morning of Day 17, Myrtha, Reptile, and Theran left into the trees with the body of the tortured man while Aanbo and Chase remained to face the mob of villagers. The mob was not impressed when Aanbo and Chase spoke to Ramne (who was simultaneously also guiding Myrtha, Reptile, and Theran through the woods via Whiskers). Apparently, the hermit has long been considered a madman by most of the village. When the heroes pointed out the body of the dead troglodyte, the heavily-armored town Constable, Grover, tried to spin the story that the heroes were actually working with the monster, not fighting it. Some of the citizens were enraged, seeing their family members among the bodies of people the party killed. There were two elves there, as well as a retired adventurer named Alan, who pointed out some suspicious details (like the mob being armed for a fight), and a big argument ensued between different villagers. Wanting to avoid a lynching (and not entirely convinced that the Constable's story was the truth) or a general brawl, the Mayor of Orlane ordered Aanbo and Chase to be taken prisoner and held in the gaol until a proper trial could be held in the morning. The rest of the villagers took their dead friends and family to await burial in the nearby Inn of the Slumbering Serpent while Constable Grover and his two heavily-armored dwarven cronies (Donovan and Hulbar) took the captives Aanbo and Chase to the gaol. Alan tagged along to make sure there was no foul play.

Meanwhile, the group (Reptile, Theran, and Myrtha) carrying the dead body emerged from the woods and crossed the bridge, planning to turn the villain's plan back on them by stashing the evidence in the Golden Grain Inn. They broke into the Inn and entered the cellar just before Grover, Donovan, Hulbar, Alan, Aanbo, and Chase came into view. Thinking that he was finally away from other witnesses (and when the conversation turned to whether there might be a network of tunnels under the village), Grover turned and attacked Alan while Donovan and Hulbar moved to kill Chase and Aanbo. With the help of Alan, Ramne (who'd observed what was happening via Whiskers), and one of the two elves, Aanbo and Chase were just barely able to overpower the Constable and his dwarven allies. The five victors arranged for Chase and Aanbo to hide until morning, then meet in the Mayor's office after the elf (who seems to be secretly working for the Mayor) delivers his report. They all split up, with Alan heading north to delay any villagers who might cross the bridge. Aanbo and Chase take the swords from the unconscious Constable and dwarves, as well as a spear, then hide in the Golden Grain Inn's curiously-abandoned barn. Finally getting out of conversation with Alan, other villagers came south across the bridge soon after and found the Constable and his dwarven friends beaten down and disarmed in the middle of the street.

During the hour that Chase and Aanbo rested in the barn, Theran, Myrtha, and Reptile explored the cellars and basement of the Golden Grain Inn, discovering a secret meeting room with a barred door leading into rough-dug tunnels...which contained something that they heard but was gone by the time they opened the door. They closed and barred the door, stashed the dead body in the secret room, and observed a ladder that leads upward to the ground floor of the Inn. After exploring everything below ground (with the exception of the tunnels), the trio moved up the basement stairs into the kitchen. From there, the trio burst into the common room, interrupting a late-night discussion between Bertram Beswill (somehow healed from near-death), the assassin who Theran had earlier observed torturing the man (whose body they'd just stashed in the basement), and a burly, robed cultist. They immediately fought, and the sounds of combat were loud enough that Aanbo and Chase heard it faintly outside in the barn. They decided to investigate, ran out of the barn, broke down the door into Bertram's bedroom, ran through a living room, and arrived in the common room just after the assassin backstabbed Reptile, killing him instantly.

(extrapolated from Chapter 2.1b) As all this was going on, Jonel was traveling from Hochoch through the Dim Forest alone with his mule. He settled down into what seemed like a perfect camping spot, but was attacked by a bunch of undead. Extremely outnumbered, he fled deeper into the Forest and got lost.

(as revealed in Chapter 3.2) That same day, far to the north, Lyrel met Ogbar on the road, and he was the first person she had met who had even heard of Orlane. Encouraged, she headed south through Keoland toward Hochoch.

Still in the darkness of early morning on Day 17, the heroes cut down Bertram again and then spent a few seconds knocking out the thug, then Theran chased the assassin Derek up the stairs as Chase bound the thug and hid the bodies. Bursting into Derek's empty room upstairs, Theran found Derek's loot: a lockbox heavy with money. In searching upstairs, the group awakened a guest in one of the rooms, then Derek yelled about the heroes killing Hamiff (which turned out to be unfair as Hamiff - the brute they'd tied up downstairs - was actually the only person they didn't end up killing), waking up a few other brutes to defend the Inn. Aanbo pretended that they were actually Constable Grover's deputies, which fooled the guest, while Chase held the door to the bedroom with the brutes closed. Theran smashed down a secret door and, along with Aanbo, moved into a hidden passage connecting some of the rooms. Moving into the last room (which is very fancy), the heroes found Derek shimmying up the chimney. Myrtha set down the lantern so that Chase could still see, while she ran into the dark bedroom. Able to see in the darkness, Theran wounded Derek before Aanbo broke the chimney, dropping Derek and an avalanche of bricks onto Theran. Myrtha, unable to see anything without light, tried to feel around for the enemy. Two of the brutes - Traver and Melano - moved through an adjacent room to exit into the hallway, where Traver confronted Chase and Melano ran into a room and into the secret passage to surround the heroes. But Aanbo had killed Derek before Melano arrived. The monk and druid leaped onto the bed and beat on Melano, though it was Theran's spores that choked the man to death. Traver shoved Chase back and took the magic spear. Myrtha stepped protectively in front of Chase, and was stabbed with the magic spear so hard that she fell to the floor, dying. Chase stood over her body, exchanging stabs with Traver, giving Theran enough time to step in and heal Myrtha. But that distracted the ranger enough that he was stabbed by Traver again, and so then Chase fell to the ground, dying. Newly-revived Myrtha leapt to her feet and, together with Aanbo, killed Traver. With no healing magic remaining, Theran rolled Chase over and stabilized him. The last brute, Lhari, saw his dead friend and decided to run for it...but lithe Aanbo raced in front of him, boxing Lhari in. Rather than fight to the death, Lhari surrendered.

The three Dungeon Busters carried Chase and Hamiff's unconscious bodies into a room and set them on beds while they questioned Lhari. Lhari said that the spiral is a symbol of Orlane pride and patriotism, but he was upset/confused to hear that Derek had hoarded a lockbox full of money. He said that they were trying to take the murderers (that is, the Dungeon Busters) to the Temple to be forgiven and redeemed. When Theran was giving his account of exploring the Inn, Lhari was alarmed when Theran mentioned finding the tunnel leading from the secret room in the basement.

In the early morning of Day 17, Aanbo, Theran, and Myrtha transported Reptile's corpse, the unconscious bodies of Chase and Hamiff, and the bound captive Lhari down into the secret basement room of the Golden Grain Inn. Aanbo stashed all the confiscated weapons in the basement, Theran prepared food & water for everyone, and Myrtha claimed all of Reptile's belongings and searched Bertram's bedroom. She kept papers, a bunch of clothing, and a longsword she found in a chest, as well as more than 1,000 coins she found in a hidden compartment (which Theran carried). They settled down to watch Chase as he rested.

Meanwhile, the search party (Rosemary, Manthis, Arya) awoke on Day 17 in the Jarl home. Rosemary wrote a long note to the Jarls encouraging them to entrust their daughter Abella to her tutelage.

As the morning continued, back in the secret room in Orlane, Chase and Hamiff revived. Chase ate a meal, ravenously hungry, and the party hog-tied both Hamiff and Lhari, leaving them hidden in the secret room as the Dungeon Busters snuck out of the wine cellar with Reptile's dead body. With Theran hiding as a spider on Aanbo's shoulder, they proceeded to Ramne's hut with the corpse. They shared their observations with the hermit, and Ramne added that the townspeople (like Grover) have changed; something dark is tainting the residents of Orlane. He urged the group to get help and return quickly. Chase took time to write notes for Ramne to deliver to the Mayor and to Alan. The heroes accepted a bag of fresh vegetables from the old man and left into the Dim Forest, dragging Reptile's cadaver behind them on a travois.

Leaving the Jarl home, the search party (Manthis, Arya, Rosemary) spent much of the day traveling further east into the Dim Forest on Cecily's Road.

During the journey west through the wild forest (ie, not on the road), the heroes leaving Orlane were attacked by a territorial sounder of boars. After the brief fight, Chase butchered the animals for meat and the four heroes continued on for the day, camping nearly halfway back to Hochoch.

A little further west in the Dim Forest, the search party camped in a clearing by a rocky promontory and discovered Jonel, who had spent the whole day wandering lost in the forest until darkness fell and he saw the light of their fire. Much as Jonel had been the night before, the search party was attacked by the undead corpses of former adventurers. Both Manthis and Rosemary nearly died, and the party fled when defeat seemed certain. Easily outdistancing the undead, the party found a new camping spot and rested.

Early in the morning of Day 18, as Aanbo, Chase, Myrtha, and Theran were getting ready to leave camp, they heard a group of troglodytes heading east, dragging a captive through the woods. The heroes ambushed the troglodytes, slaughtering them and freeing their captive, a Hochoch cooper named Bradley. They invited Bradley to accompany them back to Hochoch.

Right around the same time on Day 18, after a night's rest, the search party heard Karsh, an ogrillon, crashing through the underbrush. They dispatched him, then went back to the previous campsite in the daylight and looted some of the equipment from the bodies of the dead adventurers.

As the search party approached along Cecily's Road on Day 18, the Dungeon Busters returning from Orlane spotted them...but then they were ambushed by people who had followed the trail they left dragging Reptile's travois. Myrtha nearly died, but the newer Dungeon Busters (and Jonel) arrived to save the day, and with the larger group of eight heroes, they were able to dispatch the villains. Despite being rescued, Aanbo, Chase, Myrtha, and Theran were a bit leery of the newcomers at first, as their experiences in Orlane have inclined them to be suspicious of everyone. Aanbo tested the newcomers to see if they knew people in Hochoch, and was satisfied. Chase looted the bodies of the defeated attackers; two of them had pendants in the spiral shape the heroes have come to identify with the evil in Orlane. Manthis built a second travois, to carry all the ambushers' salvaged gear, and the party headed west again with Bradley. Chase prepared a campsite, then returned to examine the ambushers to see what he could determine of their origin. Night fell as the bulk of the adventurers found Chase's campsite and settled down to rest. Chase was startled by a zombie, but quickly outdistanced it. He returned to camp around midnight.

On the morning of Day 19, the party rose and split up: Chase went off to investigate the cliffside campsite where the dead adventurers had attacked Jonel, Rosemary, Manthis, and Arya. Everyone else continued west on Cecily's Road to the Jarl family homestead, to warn the crofters of the threat of undead and possible kidnapping troglodytes. Chase examined the corpses of the dead adventurers, which clearly had been reanimating at night and moving around until daybreak. Meanwhile, the others managed to convince the Jarls to leave their home to take refuge in Hochoch. The crofters were crushed by this decision, and released most of their animals into the wild and packed their most precious belongings to accompany the heroes back to Hochoch. Chase left the cliffside campsite and went back east again, using the daylight to track farther than before, and satisfied himself that the ambushers had come from Orlane, searching for the party, and then had found the drag marks left by Reptile's travois. He also found the corpse that had been animated as a zombie at night, as well as other corpses nearby. Lighting a torch as night fell, Chase returned to a previous campsite and went to sleep for a few hours. Traveling with the Jarl's cow towing all their belongings, the rest of the party made very slow time and also had to camp in the forest again.

On Day 20, Chase rose well before dawn and struck his camp. The ranger returned once again to the site of the dead adventurers' attack - the cliffside campsite, where it was clear that the dead adventurers had moved around at night again. Chase collected all of the dead adventurers' gear, then left and raced to catch up to the rest of the party where they were camped near the edge of the Dim Forest, and later in the morning after everyone rose and packed up, the whole group returned to Hochoch.(from Chapter 3.3) Duric the traveling merchant arrived in Glaive's Point, met with the halfling bard Ferranzo Goosehill, and imparted the news that Ferranzo's mentor Lindun has gone missing (and the neighbors' concern about kidnappings/murders). Ferranzo left immediately for Orlane.

As the party arrived in the town of Hochoch at noon on Day 20, the Jarl family left for the Temple of Rao and the heroes went to check in with Olpert Razorsson. But Olpert was no longer at the Inn of Eternal Rest. Karliel guided them to Olpert, who was overseeing construction of the Dungeon Busters Guild Hall. Olpert summoned the rest of the Dungeon Busters for a funeral service for Reptile, and while they waited for all the others to arrive, Jonel officially joined the organization. Reformed-pirate-turned-priest Morgran opened the funeral service, and everyone shared stories of Reptile's life and exploits.

For a while after the funeral, no one noticed that Manthis had wandered off. They were too busy reviewing the current state of affairs in Hochoch and what they'd learned about what was happening in Orlane. From that conversation, they decided to send another party to Orlane, both to rescue Joseph and to put a stop to the cult activity so that the flow of food can resume before a famine occurs.

On Day 21, while the more senior members of the group met with their trainers, Olpert started to handle the sale of the loot that the party had brought back with them. Kragga identified which items are magical: the bone die, the white-fletched arrows, an earring, a red gem, the Constable's assistant Donovan's spear, the pendant, the assassin Derek's leather armor, and four potions. During the days that some Dungeon Busters were training, new Dungeon Buster Morton arrived in town and reported for duty.
Gwydn trained Theran for three days to level 3.
Cormac trained Myrtha for two days to level 2.
Tuan Vo trained Aanbo for three days to level 3.
The Green Allen trained Chase for two days to level 2.

Far to the east, Eugenios paid the toll to enter the Gran March capital and rented a room at a Hookhill inn.

On Day 23, after completing her training, Myrtha reviewed the papers she'd taken from Bertram's room in the Golden Grain Inn after the innkeeper was killed. She gleaned some information.
Meanwhile, in Hookhill, just before nightfall, the rogue Ember realizes that the authorities are on to her. She catches sight of them raiding the place where she was staying, and seeks refuge with her friend Durgal. Durgal advises her to leave the city for a while so that the heat can die down. He suggests the provincial village of Orlane, which has recently been claimed by the Duchy of Keoland. The Gran March authorities would have no jurisdiction there.

Early on Day 24, Ember was smuggled out of the walls of Hookhill to start her journey southwest to leave Gran March. Back in Hochoch, Olpert delivered the proceeds from the sale of the goods, which the party split evenly into eight portions. Since Manthis had disappeared, the heroes decided to donate the eighth portion to the Jarl family. The heroes bought supplies for the trip, including Chase's mule and Theran's fitting for a wooden breastplate (which took all day).

Eugenios finally arrived in the village of Orlane on foot after dark. Finding that two of the village's three Inns were closed, he rented a room at the only remaining one, the Inn of the Slumbering Serpent, and settled in to wait for the arrival of the reeve Ansola Behir.

On Day 25, Olpert sent the new team - Aanbo, Arya, Chase, Jonel, Morton, Myrtha, Theran - back to Orlane for the mission. By early afternoon, the Dungeon Busters had arrived in the Dim Forest. Chase made camp again, and the party spent a peaceful night for a change.

On Day 26, the party of Dungeon Busters broke camp and continued their journey through the Dim Forest.

A couple of hours later, Lyrel arrived in Hochoch at last (from Chapter 3.2). She meets with Olpert, joins the Dungeon Busters, and meets the wizard of Hochoch, Larissa the Shadowed. Larissa tells Lyrel to meet Ramne, the wizard in Orlane. Lyrel leaves for Orlane immediately.

Then, late in the afternoon, Ember finally arrived in the village of Orlane. The first Inn she came to had clearly been abandoned for a long time, with weeds overgrowing a toppled sign and the front steps cracked and broken. Her sense of unease was allayed by the friendly carpenter and his wife who saw her standing there. Presenting herself as a forlorn and weary traveler (it's not much of a stretch), Ember ingratiated herself with the couple, Jeb and Snifa Sawyer. They invited her into their home, and eventually she turned the conversation to where she could stay, and the Sawyers offered one of their spare rooms.

A little bit later, back in Hochoch, the new adventurers (Amnestria, Antonius, Berthold, Dell, Kazzak, and Sora) arrived from the southwest and met Olpert (from chapter 4.1).

Time passed. Night fell in the Dim Forest, more time passed, and still the Dungeon Busters marched on through the darkness, as Chase had chosen a camp site within a couple of hours' walk to Orlane.

Later still, in Orlane, some sixth sense alerted Ember that someone was coming into her room, and she managed to smash through the shutters on the Sawyers' window and get outside before the robed strangers could catch her in bed. There was a long chase through town - luckily it was late enough that the moon provided illumination - with Ember avoiding the robed pursuers and the torch-equipped town watch. Eventually, finding the bridge blocked to the north and not wanting to go east (back to the Gran March) or south (into the Rushmoors swamp), Ember fled west into the Dim Forest. Quickly she lost her pursuers but got lost in the darkness herself. Desperate, Ember found her way to the Dungeon Busters' camp, where she was treated with much suspicion until spider-mounted goblins attacked from the trees. Ember earned the begrudging trust of the adventurers by risking her life and fighting effectively alongside them.

The party rested the rest of the night uneasily, but there was no further incident.

On Day 27, the party invited Ember to accompany them back to the village of Orlane. Ember grimly agreed, both wanting to get payback for her near capture and feeling safer with seven allies. Following Chase, they forded the Realstream River and proceeded the three miles to Ramne's Grove through the Dim Forest, arriving mid-morning (at around the same time, the new adventurers leave Hochoch on Rufus' wagon). Speaking with the mysterious hermit Ramne (they have not realized he is a powerful wizard), the Dungeon Busters in Orlane learned that the village was in a fervor stoked by the priestess of Merikka and Constable Grover at the public funeral of the people that the party had killed in the Golden Grain Inn. Residents were conscripted or volunteered for a town patrol to keep everyone safe, and it's been that way for at least a week.

While the party spoke with Ramne, Ferranzo arrived in the village and went straight to Lindun's house. He avoided a militia patrol and arrived at the house, which had been the scene of some violence. Ferranzo cleaned up and considered what to do.

Back in Ramne's Grove, the party discussed their next steps, and decided that they wanted to explore the secret tunnels under the Golden Grain Inn at night. So they snuck back into the Dim Forest and waited out the entire day so that they could cross the River again and approach the village on Cecily's Road under cover of darkness.

A few hours after they left, Lyrel arrived at Ramne's Grove and spoke to the wizard Ramne. In her dreams, Umshalevagoruvimue Kalaign had explicitly instructed her to say three things to him, and to prepare fire spells. Although she did not say these things to Ramne, he still welcomed Lyrel and told her about the situation in the village of Orlane. She decided to wait for nightfall and then join the Dungeon Busters under the Golden Grain Inn. Over the course of the day, Ramne taught Lyrel the Find Familiar spell.

The town patrol confronted Ferranzo in Lindun's house, and Ferranzo slipped out the back door and began hours of running and hiding.

Having waited the entire day of Day 27, the party re-entered Orlane in the middle of the night via Cecily's Road. Those who could see in the dark led the others via a rope in the first hours of Day 28. They noticed one of the town patrols Ramne spoke of approaching. The heroes panicked and ran off in different directions; when the party regrouped a few minutes later, Jonel has vanished. Ember picked the lock of the Golden Grain Inn's front door, and the party slipped inside the dark building. Ember re-locked the door with her tools. Theran, Aanbo, and Morton led the others through the common room, the kitchen, and down the stairs in the darkness. Then, with the party all in the basement, they lit a torch and opened the secret door. They steeled themselves and opened the barred door leading into earthen tunnels.

As the town patrol left, Lyrel set out for the Golden Grain Inn a few minutes behind the party and arrived to help them as they were attacked by a pack of ghouls. After forcing her to disrobe to show herself clear of cult markings, the party welcomed Lyrel. Together, they continued exploring and discovered that the tunnels are not a secret entrance/exit from the village, but rather a way to dispose of bodies of dead victims. They also discovered a valuable but disturbing piece of art - a large, lifelike ivory statue of a humanoid-headed serpent - and fought two deadly snakes. They also found a concealed space with three chests, apparently holding loot taken from victims. Deciding that carrying it all out now would only slow them down, the party replaced the chests and did their best to erase all traces of their having found the stash. Then they searched the tunnels for another hour, looking for other secrets. They were interrupted by Hamiff and Lhari, who had returned to the tunnels to deposit more loot. After they killed the two cultists and faced with more treasure, the heroes changed their minds, went back, and dug out the chests again. They divided everything up between them and gained a bunch of XP for the heaps of treasure (worth 158 GP and weighing 35.5 pounds each).

The party left the Inn and snuck across the bridge over the Realstream River. As they approached the Slumbering Serpent Inn, they were overheard by Ollwin the innkeeper returning from the outhouse. Ollwin ran inside and raised an alarm. The party ran and hid by the Mill. Ollwin emerged and woke the entire Miller family. Ember snuck away and howled like a wolf to draw the villagers away from the rest of the party. The others ran north along the lakeshore, but then Morton, Arya, and Theran turned back to make sure that Ember didn't get caught.

Still in the early morning hours before dawn of Day 28, Ember escaped discovery by leaping into the Realstream River and letting the current carry her west into the Dim Forest. Just then, not seeing Ember, Arya threw a rock (which Lyrel had caused to glow) across the river; the noise prompted the mob of villagers to split up. Some went south across the bridge to investigate, some stayed at the bridge, some went north to see if the adventurers had fled that way, and some went to look where the stone came from. Theran urged Morton and Arya to run while he held off the mob.

Eugenios emerged from the Inn of the Slumbering Serpent, saw the four other heroes sneaking away along the lakeshore, and followed. Not sure he could find the Constable's office from memory, Ferranzo made his way toward the Temple hill, thinking that he could orient himself from that lookout point.

Arya and Morton hustled across the bridge and began to look for signs of Ember along the riverbank, heading west into the Dim Forest. As they lost the benefit of moonlight under the trees, Arya cast Light to continue...but this attracted the attention of some forest denizens. Morton threatened the figures, but since they were zombies, they ignored the verbal challenge and attacked.

Ember dragged herself out of the other side of the river and began moving quickly to warm herself. But while this kept her from freezing, it also prevented her from completing avoiding a dead animal carcass; disturbed by her approach, a swarm of beetles attacked and injured her! Rather than fight the pests by herself, Ember wisely fled.

The rest of the party - Aanbo, Chase, Lyrel, and Myrtha - arrive at the wall around the Temple of Merikka. They were observed separately by Eugenios and Ferranzo as the Dungeon Busters discussed how to enter the Temple since the gates were shut. Ferranzo approached and explained his situation, then Eugenios introduced himself as the Special Investigator. Several of the suspicious heroes mistook him for a halfling; he let this insult slide. But then the Dungeon Busters insisted that the newcomers strip to demonstrate that they were not bearing the cult's spiral symbol, and this led to a longer discussion, with lots of mutual suspicion on every side. Eventually, everyone stripped down in the moonlight to show that they were tattoo- and scar-free. These shenanigans allowed enough time for Ember to catch up to the group.

Back in the Dim Forest, Arya exploded one of the zombies, but the other one broke her neck. Morton blasted its head off, but even headless, it moved inexorably toward him and beat him down, too. Then it wandered off to find other living prey. Dying but not quite dead, Arya and Morton barely hung on to life. An hour passed, and they revived. Arya could no longer stand up straight; her head was always at a slight angle. She called upon Pelor to heal Morton fully. Then they figured that enough time had passed that they could risk returning to the village; sure enough, the searching mob of villagers was gone. Trying to find the others, Arya and Morton made their way through the village and across the bridge over the Realstream River again.

Figuring that Theran, Arya, and Morton were probably well on their way back to Hochoch by now, the party of seven adventurers - Aanbo, Chase, Ember, Eugenios, Ferranzo, Lyrel, and Myrtha - decided to climb over the wall encircling the Temple of Merikka. Aanbo provided the rope, then Myrtha and Chase formed a human ladder for Lyrel to climb up onto the wall. Lyrel held the rope steady while the others climbed up. They surveyed the courtyard of the Temple below them: unkempt, with plants and weeds untended and overgrown. A low building sat against the wall to their left, while the domed Temple of Merikka rose above it all in the center of the enclosure.

In the darkness of pre-dawn Day 28, most of the party descended a rope into the courtyard of the Temple of Merikka, while Arya remained on the wall. Then night watchmen appeared with dogs, and raised the alarm. More watchmen came out of the low building - the barracks/kennels. In the fight, both Arya and Ember fell, dying. Morton ran out of the complex to save Arya's life while Ember recovered on her own. The party subdued the guards and killed the dogs, then took the tied-up guards into the barracks. Morton carried Arya in and Chase used a spell to heal her. The party examined the Temple; there was only one entrance, and it was closed.

Morton hid in the shrubs while the party rested for an hour and interrogated the guards. The guards admitted that captives have been brought to the Temple. As the sun rose, Morton saw the door to the Temple open and heard the Priestess wonder aloud why the gate hadn't been opened. The party gathered and discussed whether to continue. Aanbo declared again that he would not turn back, and the party reluctantly agreed to go with him rather than split up again.

(Meanwhile, several hours' travel to the west, the new Dungeon Buster recruits rose and got ready to resume their journey with Rufus' wagon (Chapter 4.2))

The heroes in Orlane rushed into the Temple and found a sanctuary dominated by a large jade statue. An acolyte came out to greet them, and talked with them long enough for a trio of monks to appear and attack. In the fight, the heroes killed the monks and captured the acolyte, but Arya got her neck broken and fell, dying, for the third time. Morton stabilized her again. Aanbo expended more of his healing to bring her back awake again. Ember realized that the statue in the sanctuary is incredibly, mind-bogglingly valuable. The party was almost out of resources, but they decided to continue onwards anyway.

The party explored most of the ground floor of the Temple; nothing that they saw seemed to be overtly evil. They stashed the dead bodies and the hog-tied acolyte in the kitchen, then headed for the stairs. Lyrel announced that she would stay behind to be a lookout. The party found stairs and headed up.

When the other heroes hesitated at a closed door, Arya barged through. Decorative suits of armor with skeletons inside sprang into motion as soon as she entered the room and killed her with a flurry of arrows, a deadly demonstration of the folly of pushing forward recklessly. The other Dungeon Busters ran in and destroyed the undead, but despite quaffing the last healing potion, Chase fell in the fray and was only saved from death by Ferranzo and Ember. Aanbo used the last of his ki to revive Chase back to wakefulness. Morton and Myrtha both advised leaving to properly tend to their fallen comrade, but Aanbo convinced everyone else to continue onward without a break. He's determined to find the Priestess that Morton saw/heard, as she'd only had a few minutes' head start. Bewildered that no one else would help with their dead comrade or admit that they were in no shape to continue, Morton stripped Arya's body so that he could lift her by himself and left to the stairs with her corpse.

The remaining party opened a door and found a library. Eugenios examined a book of Merikka that had been foully defaced: the first concrete sign of evil in the Temple. Pushing onward, Aanbo and Chase opened another door and ran through a meeting room without examination. Opening the other door in that room, the party discovered a torture chamber: a second sign of evil. As they began to explore that room, goblins emerged from secret doors to ambush the heroes! Ember and Eugenios fell in the initial attack, followed by Chase, Myrtha, and Ferranzo. Only Aanbo remained, outnumbered by goblins. But then Ember got a second lease on life, once again recovering from a mortal wound without any assistance, but rather than leave to save herself, she faithfully joined Aanbo in fighting against overwhelming odds. Inevitably, one of the two heroes fell: Aanbo. Once again, Ember had the opportunity to attempt to flee, but she bravely fought on and was overwhelmed, too.

At around the same time as the party was being overwhelmed, the new recruits had finished reloading the wagon and had been traveling down Cecily's Road for less than half an hour when they were ambushed by bandits that'd been squatting in the Jarl farm.