After some uncomfortable rest time at Saloon, the party was sent on their first mission. They arrived in Empire Strand at an abandoned Balenpost Tavern with a writ of passage to the mainland and a name - Artemis. With this info, Aife dispatched the party to find the Luxon Shard located in Empire Strand.
Once the party got their bearings, they located the main road and immediately encountered a strange old man being robbed at gunpoint. After some quick thinking, the party was able to shoo the robbers away - but not before they killed one of the old man’s companions. Berte, with his sharp eyes, noticed a strange marking on some crates hidden beneath the man’s cargo. The party would come to learn this to be the emblem of the Merchants Guild.
After taking a minute to appreciate the view from the hill they found themselves atop, the party descended into the Balenport region. They first arrived at the Line and Gaffe tavern where they met Talitha Wixby, the apparent proprietor, who had scant but helpful information about Artemis: she frequented the tavern but had been absent for some time. Maybe Connolly would know more - he frequented the establishment in the evenings.
After a quick trip to Balenport proper to get some less conspicuous clothing, our heroes returned to the Line and Gaffe. They made a week’s reservation to accommodate the group and took note of the jobs on the bulletin board. At that point, Connolly arrived.
After some niceties, it came out that Connolly was quite familiar with Artemis and he was kind enough to share the location of Artemis’ home as well as the info that she’s not been seen for at least a week, maybe more.
As the sun sank, the party traveled out beyond Bjorn’s goat farm - the location of some goat-centered violence noted on the bulletin board - and after a quick conversation between Dave the Druid and some goats (wherein the party surmised the goat’s gate was not caused by a simple hungry wolf) they arrived at Artemis’ shack.
In the clearly abandoned shack, the party found:
- An alchemy station with 1 pink vial, 1 red vial, and 1 black vial
- A goat horn
- A fine longbow
- A strange arrow in a box
- A weathered ancient-looking text
- A journal
For reasons not completely unrelated to the impulsivity of one or all party members, the house then burnt down.
Once the party returned to their accommodations, Gender opened a portal to Saloon to do some research into what they found and what it could mean.
During this time:
- Dwimmer and Gender spent some time with the ancient abyssal text found at Artemis’ shack and found it to be an abyssal demonomicon.
- Berte and Rupert consulted the library’s many texts on weapons and discovered the arrow to be some form of an arrow of slaying with an “inkwell tip.”
After spending these hours on research, Dave and Berte retired for a full night’s rest.
Dwimmer and Gender, having accepted a contract from Connolly to canvas Balenport with anti-dwendalian propaganda, spent the night dodging guards as they were chased through town.
Rupert spent the night in a bender where he is pretty sure he met the head of the Balenport town watch and discovered the location of the Starboard Galley Inn in Balenport proper.