The Favoured, Chapter I: The Edge of the Map
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Next Favoured Plot Session: June 6.
(But I will be around for town/faction interactions and side-quests!)Session 1 (23 May 2026)
The undead of the old town have been driven underground. Memories of what was lost in the war yet fill every empty space, but the people of Norwick gathered to celebrate this one victory. The festivities were interrupted by Aeline Norwick, one of the loudest voices of the Norwick True coalition. She brought forward a captured young man in the guise of a Zhentarim soldier. Whether from compassion or commitment to justice, locals Sebastian Rusk and Drusilla DeLambri intervened and convinced Aeline to surrender the matter to the proper authority, Judge Alfred Chancey. After, a group of new adventurers searched the devastated riverside on a tip from the Judge. There they interrupted some manner of smuggling operation, whose leader was under the belief that Zhentarim secrets---such as the dreaded Flux reagent---lie buried beneath the town.
Meanwhile, our band of adventurers have unknowingly shared in more than one strange vision... a fugitive figure, wolves, and others. The meaning of this they've yet to decipher.
Session 2 (30 May 2026)
The Chancellor's Men permitted Rusk's request for the party to interrogate the man who had been Aeline's prisoner, Jimmy from Kront. His story met with limited sympathy, but as some noted, Jimmy extended little in return to the people of Norwick. He told the party that he'd been hiding in the woods since the Zhentarim occupation half a year ago, and he claims to have seen two others. One he called the Divine Soul, a Banite priestess and necromancer whom Jimmy thought pretty. The other he called The Artificer, and Jimmy relayed what he'd been told, that she was always kept in chains because of her power. The two were often chained together, in fact, though Jimmy says the Artificer is now unbound.
Following Jimmy's tip, the party searched the lake area where he'd seen the Divine Soul. There they encountered ghouls, zombies, and one presence that remained unseen. This last one asked them to surrender a "her." Their search disrupted, the remaining undead hid beneath the lake.
After taking a wrong turn into the woods, the party found a ranger's camp and met Harek, a worg druid of Malar whose divine connection had been severed with a knife made by the Artificer. He requested they find the elven druid Nuala so that he might atone.
After these events, members of the party found Nuala and relayed the news. They also chanced to meet the goblin's own alchemist, Vermetius, and learned that the Artificer, "the woman in black," had stayed with him for a time but that the goblin shamans had received bad dreams and driven her away.
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By agreement with the new temple of Kelemvor, they've divided the effort to find the two Zhentarim presences in the woods. The Doom Guides search for where the undead retreated after the confrontation at the lake, while the party agreed to investigate the "her" that the eerie entity demanded.
The party later learned that The Artificer sheltered with the goblin alchemist for a time and that she's searching for rare and disparate resources. The secretive Artificer didn't reveal the complete list to Vermetius, and Norwick's own Alchemist was dismissive of the alchemical properties of the components the party retrieved.
Meanwhile in town, several worrying developments have come to light, and wary of which individuals to trust, Miv may have a plan for better inter-party communication...
OOC: These leads and more are available this Saturday! I hope to see you there.
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Through one means or another, word is given to Miv and the rest of the new group that Sebastian will try to arrange with his superiors that the group can speak with the prisoner.
(Can be done IG, if this is the way we are proceeding. I should be home from work at the latest.. 1:30-2pm EST today. Maybe a bit sooner. If we are planning on this today.)
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OOC: To confirm, this Saturday will be the usual time, 1PM EST. Unless otherwise stated, Saturdays 1-5 is the time that I have blocked out for happenings tied directly to the Favoured plot. If there's ever a need to start early or switch days, we'll discuss that here on the forum.
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@DrDreadLock A note is left for Sebastian Rusk at his quarters - either left upon his desk, if he has one at the Norwick Guard offices, or gently pinned at his usual guard post / patrol route.
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"Dear Mr. Rusk,
I have questions for the boy Jimmy from Kront, as I am sure you and our friends do too.
Could you perhaps arrange for our meeting with him, in at his jail cell?
P.S. I asked the baker for a fresh batch of lemon tarts, and left one for you at the guard offices.
-- Mivilith."
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Jimmy from Kront, the alleged Zhentarim member and former captive of Aeline Norwick, sits in the Norwick jail and awaits a decision. Yet it's the town that seems on edge---could more of the invaders remain, hiding in the woods? If so, what are they plotting?
Meanwhile, a new group of adventurers have made friends despite their differences. In their travels together and apart, they've learned many wonderful, curious, and disturbing things about life in Norwick and the Rawlinswood. Some of these findings may prove useful in navigating the days ahead and the various factional divides.
OOC: After listening to people's conversations the last couple of days, a talk with ol' Jimmy is where I'll plan to pick things up this weekend for the continuing favoured campaign segment. That said, there are no ticking clocks in game except for the bodega raven, so feel free to form and propose your own plans. Hope to see you Saturday!
