D&D Campaign One: Scalebreakers - 005
In thick fog
After the grueling days, peace returned to the Clasp headquarters for a brief moment. The four adventurers examined their newly won magical artifacts, exchanged experiences, and weighed their options. At the large pot of the improvised camp kitchen, a taciturn dwarf welcomed them with steaming bowls, a meal, simple but welcome. Later, in the silence of their tents, Keithara was pulled into a vision: In the midst of a moonlit lake, she recognized herself, not as a druid woman, but as a graceful Moon Leopard, nestled in the gentle presence of Selûne, the moon goddess. Yet from the silence rose something else. Something stirring in the depths. Shadows with the silhouette of snakes. The vision ended, but its aftereffects lingered.
In the morning, the group met again. Their path led them to a gnome named Kael, who acted as an information broker for the Clasp. They commissioned various inquiries, sending Kael to do research about fires, artifacts, and political murders in the Stormcrest Mountains, Skarns home, and simultaneously felt a larger picture beginning to form. Upstairs in the Goldleaf Inn, a message awaited, apparently from the Myriad. No one knew who had delivered it. Only a slight, hooded figure was mentioned. In the Bay’s End Slums, they finally encountered Glimmer, a Changeling informant currently appearing as a Firbolg. For 300 gold pieces, she shared what Skarn wanted to know: The Kuori Clan, operating in the Stormcrest Mountains, was said to be behind a series of targeted assassinations.
As dawn broke on the third day, Ardyn Vex approached them once more. He handed them a key and directed them to an old estate, the "Ghost Estate," hidden at the edge of the Run-Offs amidst the swampy outskirts of Stilben. The path grew murkier, damper, and more oppressive, until they came upon a half-collapsed bridge. In the middle of the crossing, chaos broke out: snakes crawled from the water, hissing and snapping. And then a flicker in the air, a shadow in the mist, when the form of a Green Hag manifested between Keithara and the others. The hag offered few words, and Keithara, in tune with her new power, transformed her staff into the form of a giant snake; together with the group, she drove the hag to flight.
After a short rest, they reached the Ghost Estate, an old, semi-dilapidated manor standing silent in the morning air. Inside, a faded portrait of Calven Drevok hung on the wall and beneath it a fresh note, written with a sweeping hand: "If you are finding this, you are closer to the truth than you would like." — C.D.
Suddenly, a light flickered on the upper floor. A shadow moved through the hallway, barely tangible, barely visible, and a voice, calm and familiar, broke the silence: "You are a little too early."
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