Session 1: Let the adventure begin...

The heroes of our campaign include the following: Beornweynne "the Borg" a human female barbarian of Kord, Hildagarde "the hott" a halfling female rogue of Olidammara, Dignar a dwarven male fighter of Moradin, Gignus a dwarven female cleric of Moradin, Elrothien an elven male wizard of Boccob, Alessandra de Agustino a human female sorceress of Wee Jas, Sir Andros a human male paladin of Heironeous, Lukana a human female monk of St. Cuthbert, and Durin a gnomish male bard of Garl Glittergold.

Our newly formed party gathered under the pretense of seeking fame and fortune defending the Barony of Leventhorpe from the threat of Sir Mortimer Grim and his reavers. They met with the Baron's chancellor, Clive, who promised rewards to any and all who participated in the removal of this latest threat.

As tradition dictates, the party retired to the closest tavern to "discuss their options". The thief, in a very "The Gamers" like moment, pick-pocketed the first likely mark in the room and bought everyone a round, while the rest of the party attempted to gather information from the locals. A bar-brawl nearly erupted when a townie took exception to having to share the bar with a couple of smelly dwarves. Beornweynne stepped up and quickly put diplomatic end to the encounter by breaking the man's nose.

The party determined they would need horses for riding and for pulling a baggage cart, to carry additional gear and potential loot. After purchases were made the party mounted up and headed south along the Baron's road out of Castleton and towards Halfwayton.

They reached Halfwayton late that evening and immediately sought out the nearest tavern, one by the name of the Inn at the Broken Wheel. There they grabbed some pints and listened to the local news. Norwood, a town far to the south, had been raided by Grim's reavers, and refugees fleeing Northward had fallen afoul of a band of goblinoid highwaymen between Halfwayton and the next town south, Portyngton. A wealthy merchant of some note lost a large shipment of goods to these bandits. Some of the survivors declared seeing a demonic half-wolf half-goblin looking creature leading some of the bandits. This rumor caused a mumbling of "were-wolf" amongst the adventurers.

Once the party had thoroughly milked the tavern for info, Lukana, Hildagarde, Elrothien, and Alessandra decided to pay a visit to the Pelor abbey that they saw on their way into town, to see what they knew about all these rumors. After convincing the porter to let them in at the late hour of their call, Alessandra and Elrothien paid for a half-candle's length of time to browse the library for maps of the area. Lukana asked for an audience with the abbot, Oswald. Hildagarde snuck in and went in search of valuables.

Elrothien and Alessandra spent their limited time in the library wisely and located a map of the Barony pointing out the major roads and cities and a few ruins from the time of the Orc wars. Of particular interest was Higate fortress in the mountains to the Northwest, and a smudge in the Southeast marked simply Khirbat. They also located a few arcane and divine scrolls that could prove useful in the adventures ahead, so they "borrowed" them along with the map.

Lukana was introduced to abbot Oswald in the infirmary where he was treating some of the wounded refugees. They discussed the recent news and Oswald mentioned that he'd sent two brothers of his order, their herbalist, Annocs, and his young apprentice, Gregor, South along the Baron's road earlier in the day to seek out anyone else in need of aid. Gregor was particularly anxious to do what he could to help.

Hildagarde snuck her way into the chapel and stole a long silver candle snuffer, then broke into the herbalist's hut and stole a mysterious potion, which later she gave to Dignar to taste, and turned out to be a cure light wounds potion. She rejoined the rest of her friends leaving the abbey and walked boldly out the front door, confusing the porter greatly.

Most of the next day was spent smelting the stolen silver into an alchemical substance to coat weapons in preparation for dealing with Lycanthropes. After that was dealt with the party set out Southward towards Portyngton.

On the trip the party spotted a pair of graves on the side of the road, and later a ruined caravan with partially devoured horse carcasses. Hours later they came upon a pair of men digging graves on the side of the road. The party hailed them cautiously then approached. The pair turned out the be the monks of Pelor, Annocs and Gregor, and they had been busy the last couple days burying the dead they came across on the road. The group decided to escort the monks who were friendly enough and were heading the same direction, on their way to Portyngton. Along the way Annocs told tales of his time as a warrior in old King Aeron's army and battles with the Orcs. Gregor was impressed by Sir Andros's warhorse, Justice.

Near midnight they all drew near Portyngton and could smell and see smoke in the air over the town. In all appearances Portyngton had been struck by Grim during the day. Suddenly the howling of approaching wolves alerted the adventurers to the imminent attack from the bandits. The party prepared themselves as goblins mounted on worgs crested the hills and began launching a volley of barbed arrows at the party. Soon the party was surrounded as bugbear rogues sprang from the bushes and an ogre warrior unsuccessfully tried to sneak up on the party from behind.

The nine companions made short work of the bandit ambush. Only a single worg escaped. The worst damage the party endured was when the sorceress attempted to charge the ogre and was almost struck off of her horse.

Once the bodies were looted the party continued on to Portyngton and found it in bad shape, having been recently raided and many buildings put to the torch. The survivors had barred themselves into the inn at the crossroads, Aeron's Rest. The party finally convinced the simple folks on the other side of the door that they were not reavers and to let them in. The evening came to a close as the party was allowed to enter the inn and stay for the night.