Coulerain Campaign - Session 0 Recap

The wealthy duke of Aros in the Neutral Territories of the Chernit Peninsula, Amarthen Lorr, hires an escort to cross the border into the Qa'sax territory.

He's heard of the feats some of the party have accomplished, those of the rogue Dio Brando, the warlock Morrigan Blackmist, Jotaro the sorcerer and the wizard Kai. He has also picked other foreigners he has taken a liking to from the bounds of his city, the tabaxi ranger Cammie and her panther, as well as a human rogue named Jorian.

Together they set out east, accompanied by Amarthen's life-long friend and bodyguard, Dorian Bridgewater, a man who seems like he can take care of Amarthen's safety on his own and face down the better half on an army whilst doing it.

Along the road Amarthen question the tieflings Kai and Morrigan about their journey so far west, especially with the dangerous whispers spreading about the Red Hand Company down south and their tiefling hutning practices.

Their path is blocked by a burning carriage with none of its secret gold stash taken, this is not a normal robbery. The Party is ambushed by bandits which they quickly dispose of, keeping one as a prisoner. He tells them of their leader, Captain John Cardinal, a man the bandit holds in such high regard he practicly deifies.

The Party is faced with a decision after a toy splattered with blood is found inside the carriage. Will they continue forward and reach the festival in time, or will they make the journey to the nearby Kuo-Toa village of the Sunken, as the bandit calls them and find John Cardinal?

Dorian Bridgewater is adamant about continuing on their given path, but after Amarthen tells a story about his twin sister, Amariya, playing with the same toy when she was little, and explains the unceratinty of calling for help and leaving these kidnapped hostages in the hands of Destiny, the Party go after the kidnapped child.

Amarthen slips up about his true motivations for secretly going to the Qa'sax festival, his beloved Wella of whom he sings seemingly endless praise to Morrigan, who is completely uninterested in the young duke's love for this woman.

The Party scout out the village of the Sunken and find a scrawny teenage Kuo-Toa defending the Chieftain's hut.

Inside the hut they discover a chest and after some conflict with the young Kuo-Toa they reach an understanding thanks to Dio's patience and leave him and the hidden children be. But the blood of Cammie and Jorian has stained the wood of the Chieftain's hut, and the fear in the bandit's eyes when he spoke of their people was not unfounded...

The Party reach the cave where Captain John Cardinal and his men are staying just after sunset. They hear him monologuing from a distance.

Jorian's failed attemp at stealth leads them to be quickly discovered by the Captain, who is having dinner with the kidnapped and tied up lord, lady and child the Party are pursuing.

John Cardinal claims this is his father, who left him as a child, leading to his mother's death at the hands of starvation, and took another wife, fathering this bastard child he now has captured, who Cardinal will not let replace him.

John Cardinal is conflicted, murder is in his eyes but he also recognizes the uncertainty of his captives actually being his kin and the unspeakable sin of kinslaying, if they are.

The Captain's men are called forth after the Party approaches. They are faced with almost two dozen crossbowmen at an advantageous position. If Cardinal so wished, they would be dead before they struck the ground. But his unceratinty leads him to entertain the Party's attempts at negotiation.

Morrian approaches the Captain and he allows her to sit in his place, where he takes her as another hostage, all the while Dio tries to deceive him. The Captain doesn't buy the trick and when Dio is asked to slaughter the child he refuses.

Morrigan ligths John Cardinal aflame with a Hellish Rebuke after he cuts into her skin and the Party have a fight on their hands. John Cardinal ignites a barrel of oil below the table which will explode and kill the hostages as well as anyone nearby and faces his enemies with incredible confidence.

The Party fight bravely against the Captain but their success enrages him and when he approaches Morrigan to deliver a fatal blow, the lady he has captured falls backwards in front of his feet and is killed instead.

Spells are flung at the Captain and he answers with his own bolts of flame, critically wounding Kai in one such exchange.

The Captain's men shoot at the Party and manage to wound Dio, who is guarding the tied up hostages.

Kai manages to roll the flaming barrel away from the hostages with his mage hand and saves them from suffering its fiery fate.

Jotaro enrages the Captain once more when he forces him to sacrifice one of his own men to an incoming chaos bolt, but after he fails to blow up the barrel behind which Jotaro is hiding, John Cardinal aims at the other barrel left untouched and his decision about kinslaying seems to be made.

Kai, having recovered from his injuries with a potion, leaps forward and pushes Morrigan out of the way of the incoming devastation. Dio Brando fails to free the lord but Cammie's panther manages to jump on top of his child and shield him from what is about to come.

The barrel engulfs them in all flame, killing the lord, scorching the dead body of the lady and knocking Dio and Cammie's panther out, but they fail to reach Kai, Morrigan and John Cardinal.

John Cardinal checks underneath the panther during the confusion following the explosion and discovers his half brother, still breathing, saved by a stranger. He has a change of heart and drops his sword, ready to end this madness.

But Amarthen Lorr charges him after Dorian Bridgewater fails to stop him, and when the duke jumps over the fire and lunges at the Captain... Amarthen is struck through the heart and breathes his final breath.

Amarthen's golden ring falls off his hand into the sand near John Cardinal. The ring shines brightly and begins to whisper promises of power to the Party.

John Cardinal picks it up and dons it. He feels stronger, faster, more aware, more confident, more everything. The ring grants him immense power, but it also takes something away.

When Dorian Bridgewater attacks the Captain they both wound each other and fall to their knees.

It is left to Kai the wizard to finish off the Captain, now that he has lost most of his men who desert through the secret exits in the cave.

A magic missile pierces the torso of Captain John Cardinal and with his final breath, he bestows his sword to his half-brother and the ring of Amarthen Lorr to the party, who so bravely put their own lives in harm's way for an unknown boy, a boy of his own blood that he meant to slaughter.

Kai is the first to don the ring and suffers from it, losing part of himself to it. He finds out afterwards that the ring cannot be given, cannot be lost and cannot be destroyed, it can grant him and the rest of the Party who have inherited it from Cardinal, immense power, but at a cost he feels will quickly become insurmountable.

The Party watches as Dorian Bridgewater picks up Amarthen Lorr's lifeless body, sheds a tear from the eyes who were like stones only hours before, whispers "My boy..." and presses his forehead to Amarthen's, swaying him back and forth in his arms.