Pilot - The Mystery of the Cursed Caravan - Part 1

The adventure began in the little town of Doriene, nestled in the Suline Valley in the far south of the nation of Orlond. Doriene is a cozy, comfortable place that has seen better days, having once been a vibrant hub of trade with the kingdom of Vorett, a Fae land just to the south. When Vorett mysteriously fell over a century ago, many residents fled to Doriene as refugees. Today, Doriene has an unusually large population of Fae and other non-human residents.

On a misty night our band of adventurers and investigators were having a late dinner in the dining hall at the Happy Hearth and Livery, a ramshackle tavern, inn and boarding house that also serves as the headquarters of the Cobbles & Plank Investigative Agency, for which many of our adventurers have worked in the past.

Sharing the near-empty dining hall are several strangers: a trio of rough-looking folks and a single scholarly man. Port decided to engage the trio in hopes of impressing the large woman who looks like Janelle Monae cosplaying Grace Jones. His attempts at suaveness fall on deaf ears, but he does learn that the group is from the Midlands of Orlond, specifically the great city of Reveau. This is somewhat mysterious as Reveau is hundreds of miles away and there's no real reason for anyone to travel from Reveau to this little out-of-the-way town.

Noticing that Port is crashing and burning, Myrthe decides to engage the tall woman directly. The woman introduces herself as Delphine and, impressed by Myrthe's charming personality, offers the party a mission: get close to the young scholarly man, find out where he is staying and, if possible, recover from him any "unusual items" that might be in his possession.

Even though Port's conversation with the group reveals that at least one of them -- a rather paunchy fellow named Captain Bogue -- is a nationalist and racist, the party decides to accept the mission. Myrthe engages the young man Connall (or Conn to his friends) and quickly ingratiates herself with him. It appears Conn is in Doriene to collect stories from the descendants from the refugees from Vorett. After speaking with both Myrthe and Blaze for a bit, Conn asks if they would escort him to his quarters at Leadbloom Cottage.

Seeing this as the perfect opportunity to fulfill their mission for Delphine the party agrees to walk with Conn. On their way to Leadbloom Cottage the party encounters a unicorn. Although Port immediately detects that it is, in fact, undead, this doesn't prevent Myrthe and Blaze from experiencing maximum squee and attempting to befriend the beast. Myrthe's persuasive nature does result in the unicorn telepathically begging to be freed before a sinister crown of light flares on its forehead and a cold and a second, cold and commanding voice tells Myrthe, "give me what is mine."

Combat ensues. Port is absolutely wrecked by the unicorn but is saved by a timely application of lay on hands. As the party fights the unicorn its eyes go from milky white to jet black and the crown on its forehead blazes brighter as its body begins to weep black water. Upon defeating the unicorn, the party investigates the body but learns little beyond the fact that the black substance is non-magical, slightly salty water. Ghost retrieves the unicorn's horn and contacts his friend, Chev the bugbear blacksmith, to "recycle" the unicorn's body.

Upon returning with Conn to Leadbloom Cottage, it is revealed that Conn is an agent for the Eudoxia Society of Natural Philosophy. He has recently returned from the Lattenmour Mines where his colleague, Denis, had discovered a mysterious stone or gem that the Society believes to be greatly important. Denis died in madness due to constant contact with the stone, which is currently secreted inside his body which is stashed in the cottage's larder for safekeeping.

Conn, being somewhat shaken from the encounter with the undead unicorn and impressed by the party's prowess, offers to hire them to guard him on his passage to Oldranest, a city on the coast of Orlond that is home to the nearest Society chapter house. The party agrees, only realizing on the walk back to the Happy Hearth that they are now effectively working for both sides.