The Story So Far!

 Welcome, adventurers, to the wonderful world of Dungeons and Dragon! Here you'll find magic and flare, courage and cunning, and monsters incoming! This is a world where players assume the role of an original character and take a chance with dice rolls and complete a multitude of actions both individually and as a part of a team!

Monroe County 4-H in upstate NY began its inaugural D&D campaign virtually back in May and has recently supassed ten weeks of adventuring... yay us! But ten weeks includes a lot of story content, so I thought it would be a good idea to write up a recap of all that our players have done in our first ten sessions!

Background

Our heroes started their journey in the Dwendalian Empire, a powerful and ruthless nation in the central region of the continent of Wildemount. They had all taken up work with the Proteus Guild, a neutral institution that accepts job requests from citizens and deploys guild members to carry out those missions.

However, tensions between the Empire and the neighboring nation of Xhorhas had grown substantially in the months leading up to the cast joining the guild. Berov, Mordai, Glacian, Bane, and Zaria decided they could find more reliable work through Proteus, and promtly sought out the Purveyor, a human man named Gerik.

Gerik provided a quest to rescue fellow guildmembers Sharwyn and Talgen Hucrele, a pair of siblings from the village of Oakhurst a couple hours east of Proteus. The quest was commissioned by the siblings' mother, a prominent shopowner in Oakhurst.

Armed with their new knowledge and weapons/armor, the five adventures set out for Oakhurst...

    The Dwendalian Empire

Arc 1: Sunless Citadel    

Onward to Oakhurst

The team plotted their course to Oakhurst, choosing to take a less direct approach in order to avoid the overly-bureaucratic capital of the Empire, Rexxentrum. They instead took a path along a river and camped out the night before reaching the quaint village.

During their rest, however, they were ambushed by goblin bandits who were quickly disbanded. The following morning, the team approached Oakhurst, but not before crossing a pair of frantic farmers, who were seemingly fleeing the village in fear. They told Mordai and Zaria that the livestock of the outlying farms were being killed by unknown creatures, and that their carcasses were left with wounds that looked like needle puncures.

Oakhurst Intel

Suspicious of what was happening in Oakhurst, the team dispursed to gather as much intel as they could, seeking an audience of the village mayor, the innkeeper, the siblings' mother, the blacksmith, the village priest, as well as a few others. Through their investigating, they discovered that, after leaving Oakhurst, the siblings and their team members (consisting of a human paladin and a human ranger) left to investigate a place called the Sunless Citadel, an ancient castle that has passed its glory days and since sunken deep into the ground.

They also learned of the warring clans of goblins and kobolds that took up residence in the citadel, each vying for complete control of the territory. The goblins mysteriously come down to the village about twice a year to sell a magical fruit for a large sum of money, though whenever the villagers plant its seeds, the sprout seems to disappear before bearing more fruit.

That was all they needed to know before deciding to go to the Citadel and find the missing party members. They decided to stay the night at the inn, but Mordai had the idea to camp outside with the intent to bait out the creatures killing the cattle by tying a cow to a tree and hiding.

To his surprise though, the shrub he hid in began to move and threateningly approach the cow. Mordai quuckly burned down the monsters with his magic and reported what he found to his team. The next morning, they left for the Sunless Citadel.

Citadel: Kobolds

Taking the Old Road north of the village, the team soon came across a well-worn rope descending deep into a crevice, what they assumed was the entrance to the Sunless Citadel. After landing at the bottom, they were quickly attacked by enlarged, monstrous rats.

They quickly dispatched the rats and desended deeper into the sunken castle. It wasn't long before they encountered their first Kobold, a simple dragon-like being by the name of Meepo. Meepo was apparently a dragonkeeper, and he was found in a chamber with a large animal pen and chains. He told the party that his dragon was kidnapped by the goblins and will take them to his leader if they promise to help recover the missing dragon.

                        Meepo

Meepo was true to his word and introduced everyone to the leader of the kobolds, who gave them her blessing to proceed deeper into the castle and return the dragon to them. The part of the citadel they were approaching, though, was goblin territory. Meepo would also accompany them to look for the dragon.

Citadel: Goblins

It wasn't long before they started to encounter aggressive goblins who attacked the party on sight. Dealing with them wasn't a huge challenge until they got too close to one group who then proceeded to grab Zaria and escape with her in tow.

In the search for the goblins who kidnapped Zaria, the team came across a captured gnome cleric by the name of Erky Timbers. He was also kidnapped by the goblins and was being held captive for either ransom or something else that they didn't know. He was freed by Glacian and joined the party. He also revealed that he had with him a magical diamond that could bring any one person back from the dead as long as they haven't been gone for more than a week.

Soon after, the group found a trophy room with upturned furniture and mangled decor. Calcryx, the missing dragon, soon appeared from behind one of the fallen tables and the remaining party prepared for battle.

They were able to subdue Calcryx long enough for Meepo to get through to her and calm her down. Turns out, she just wanted more freedom and to be treated more like a respected dragon, rather than a pet. Meepo agreed and the two departed together.

Berov, Mordai, Glacian, Bane, and Erky returned to the kobold queen and received their dues for their service, but they also earn some ire because Meepo and Calcryx have not yet returned themselves. 

Meanwhile, unbenounced to our heroes, another adventurer made their way into the Sunless Citadel. This individual, a half-orc paladin called Myev the Honourable, slipped past the party in search of their own. However, their search was cut short when they too were captured by the goblins along with Zaria.

The following day, Berov, Mordai, Glacian, Bane, and Erky returned to the goblin compound and entered Goblinville, an area teeming with goblins, both dangerous and civillian, and they were met with an attack from hostile hobgoblins. When they defeated the hobgoblins, an elderly goblin shaman named Grenl appeared and attempted to make peace with our heroes, saying that they only fight because they were subjugated by the evil hobgoblins. She informed them that the hobgoblin cheif, named Durnn, was just beginning a duel against another adventurer, Myev.

Armed with their new knowledge, the heroes charged into the cheif's lair and Berov quickly ended him with a decisive Guiding Bolt, effectively ending the duel before it even began.

Within the lair, they party unfortunately found the perished body of Talgen Hucrele, who Durnn killed in a duel before they arrived. However, Erky reminded the party of his magical diamond with the ability to bring anyone back to life, and they all agreed that he should use it on Talgen. And so, Talgen was revived from the dead and sent back to the kobold compound to rest.

Talgen Hucrele

Later, Grenl informed the party that the one behind all of the complications between the kobolds, the goblins, and Oakhurst, the human named Belak the Outcast, was taking refuge beneath the citadel in a place called the Twilight Grove. Myev and Zaria joined Berov, Mordai, Glacian, and Bane as they descended into the grove from the cheif's throne room.

Citadel: Twilight Grove

The party dutifully descended into the Twilight Grove looking for sign of both Belak the Outcast as well Talgen's remaining party members, Sharwyn Hucrele and Sir Braford.

The grove prooved to be a difficult gauntlet, filled with powerful enemies that the party had to overcome. They also found some goblins and helped free them from their hobgoblin captors, who in turn helped them keep watch while they rested for the night.

The next day, the party finally confronted Belak the Outcast and his small cadre of Twig Blights, as well as a massive, decaying tree behind them. Myev attempted to reason with the sullen man, but he claimed it was his duty to spread the Twig Blights across the surface and "spread the will of the Gulthias," which is the name of the dark tree behind him. Guthias was the name of a vampire staked to the ground, and the tree the party could see was what resulted when the stake took root. Belak revered this being and wanted to help it take over the world.

Belak was also joined with grey-skinned, unmoving versions of Sharwyn and Sir Braford, who were effectively enthralled by the Gulthias Tree. After an epic fight, the party came out victorious and were able to free Sharwyn and Sir Braford from their enthralled state. They also burned down the Gulthias Tree, so that it could no longer spread Twig Blights across the surface. However, after doing so, they noticed an eerie mist emerge from its remains, and while it did not do anything to the party directly, the phenomenon made them uneasy. 

Belak, Gulthias, Sharwyn, and Sir Braford

Arc 2: The Underdark

The individual session recaps posted on the blogspot pick up from here, at the start of our second arc, The Underdark! Be sure to keep up with the party every week to see how the story develops!