Welcome to the Elsir Vale

Five days have passed since the titanic battle that ravaged Hirot, where the followers of Cadixtat were defeated at that hands of Waldo's Lightkeepers and Many Names. The town is pocketed with scars from the conflict; rainbow stained walls, businesses looted and damaged, mass graves freshly dug and filled at the town's outskirts. With the death of the Jarl no government or leadership is in place to help organize and rebuild the bleeding town. The remaining residents naturally look to the Lightkeepers for direction and help. While Jayna has been keeping the Wolf's Spear Inn as functional and normal as possible, Waldo has been deeply shaken. His guild membership in shambles and the name recognition for all top products now buried under the ground, Waldo has chosen to bury his issues with drink and halfling women. Locked in his office he occasionally thinks about the promise to help the kingdom's new war effort, but mostly is attempting to not think at all.

While most of the remaining people in Hirot are looking to leave the seemingly cursed town, a halfling on a quest to find his sister, George of the Riverlands, has actually just arrived following a rumor she may also be here. Making his way to the Inn, he finds Jayna's hospitality and waits for Waldo to sober up and grant an audience where they can discuss the missing female halfling. Waldo Swaggins was in no mood for a meeting until the business with Amtal is settled so with nowhere else to go, George gets a room and waits to be seen.

The next morning Waldo's binges are again interrupted, yet this time it is for the meeting he had been awaiting. The Amtal agent from Punjar arrived and explained the lightkeepers expected role. The Dragon Empire has seemingly increased activity in a strategically unimportant region near the border, the Elsir Vale. The lightkeepers are being asked to find out why exactly the southern armies are spending any amount of resources away from the warpath toward Punjar. The agent and Waldo agree that a small initial scouting party, unbeknownst to the agent that only four able adventurers are left in the guild, will be deployed to the vale. They are to make contact with an agent of Amtal that was previously planted to watch the residents of the region, Soranna Anitah, who will hopefully be able to better apprise them to the situation and give further orders. A caravan will arrive in Hirot the following day and bring the group of adventurers to the vale.

After the first meeting, Jayna insists that Waldo meet with the young halfling who has been waiting to meet him since the day previous. George of the Riverlands explained to Waldo that his sister Donna, who looked exactly like him, had run away from home and the family was searching for her. Waldo politely explained back that while he had seen many halflings girls the last few days, he really hadn't looked at any of their faces. He went on to suggest that many halflings cross his path in his travels as leader of the Lightkeepers and inferred that his upcoming travel to Elsir Vale was a hot spot for halflings. With a quick confirmation that he could handle himself in a scrap, Waldo in need of live bodies in the guild to replace the recently deceased ones invited George to join the lightkeepers on this quest in an effort to cover more ground in searching for his sister. George of the Riverlands agreed and preparations for travel began.

When the Amtal caravan arrived it was a simple wagon of supplies with one human driver and a cleric that was somehow affiliated with the Amtal King's Army. The cleric introduced himself as Forrest and his orders were to simply pick up some other adventures whom he would be joining in their efforts to assist in the war effort. There were no objections from the departing Lightkeepers who consisted of Waldo, Jayna, and George. The caravan left Hirot and traveled south to the Elsir Vale on the kingdom's border, where they would stop in Brindol for resupply and a "little spending money" before heading to meet Soranna Anitah. The eleven days of travel passes without issue and there are no real signs of war either on the way or once reaching the vale. As expected upon arrival in Brindol the caravan is resupplied with supplies and weapons to be delivered to Soranna Anitah and the lightkeepers are given their spending money. It is another 3 days travel to reach Drellin's Ferry and the caravan not wanting to waste any time leaves almost immediately.

As the caravan approached close, within an hour, to the town of Drellin's Ferry, the travelers come across a roadblock being manned by soldiers. Upon approaching this a man in robes flanked by a bodyguard in faintly glowing plate armor addresses the travelers. He is a priest of the Church of the Pure Light and is preaching about the salvation of the light of creation and the degrading, corrupting power of arcane magic use and magic items. They interrogate the adventures who pose as dairy farmers to deflect suspicion. Begrudgingly the priest and soldiers accept the claim but they confiscate the caravan's weapons before allowing them to pass. Under protest, both sides agree to this arrangement. As the caravan passes the barricades the man in plate mail screams out, "Blasphemers!" seemingly sensing something about Jayna. The soldiers quickly catch up to the nearly freed caravan and demanded that Jayna present her possessions so that whatever magically enhanced items triggered this sense could be liberated. Jayna obliged this request by presenting her magically enhanced warhammer directly into the plate warrior's chest.

As the battle broke out it became apparent that a few soldier's wielding crossbows had been hiding in the nearby tree stands ready to ambush when needed. George traded bolts with these soldiers managing to wound the soldier, then later pierce one his neck killing him. The glowing plate mail user wielded some sort of strange weapon that shot out a beam of light, yet he was unable to strike anyone with this fantastic weapon. Forrest saying some sort of prayer then directing his arms at the strangely armored warrior seemingly gained control over the knight whose pose immediately stiffened and whose eyes looked to Forrest for some sort of direction. Waldo and Dickie Crickets battled with the bulk of the soldiers and seemingly gained the upper hand. The priest seeing this tried to escape, running away from the quickly escalating battle. Jayna chased him down and delivered a critical strike to his spinal column, paralyzing the priest from the waist down. The rest of the soldiers falling to blows from the adventurers and their newly magically controlled ally broke morale and frantically tried to free themselves from the battle. They were all cut down save one crossbow user whose distance from the combat allowed him to duck into the woods and escape. Jayna standing over the raving priest silenced his fanatic curses by bringing down the very object of his zealot's rage with a Goldyesque two-handed swing, splattering his skull.

George immediately began vomiting and wretching as soon as the adrenaline of battle ended as he had never killed another sentient being. Forrest comforted him as he continued to order his new follower to reload the caravan with all the near stolen supplies. They also became aware that the faint glow from this warrior's armor actual came from his skin, his entire body beneath the armor was tattooed with some kind of glowing substance or something that had changed his skin. Unsure if their destination town was safe it was decided that Jayna, Dickie Crickets, and George were to scout ahead and check the status of the small town. They came upon a small watch post filled with town militia members that were seemingly setting up defenses for the town. After a careful approach, they learned that Drellin's Ferry had been recently raided by soldiers and measures were being made to keep the town as safe as possible. Soranna Anitah had been giving these directives and it seemed she could be found in the town. The lightkeepers that had been left behind were gathered up and the whole party entered Drellin's Ferry.

After arriving in town the group quickly found a place to stay at the town's finest establishment, the Old Bridge Inn. The innkeeper Kellin Shadowbanks, very pleased with the large tip given to him, set up a meeting at the inn between the Lightkeepers and Soranna Anitah. However, when the meeting time came Captain Anitah did not arrive alone. Norro Wiston the town speaker and political leader was extremely happy to find what he viewed as capable warriors to help protect his town. Unphased by the Lightkeepers request to speak to Soranna about important business and the seemingly bizarre news that his guard captain was actually an agent from a distant government, Norro pushed again and again for his request to take precedence over other matters. Dickie Crickets with a swift blow to the head quieted the town speaker allowing a small amount of privacy between the Lightkeepers and the guard captain. She explained that firstly in Drellin's Ferry it was mostly unknown her role as an informant to the Amtal crown and appreciated efforts not to jeopardize that veil. She was glad the Lightkeepers had taken out some soldiers but wanted no role in imprisoning or interrogating the mind-controlled church paladin that now resided with the adventurers, she was unaware of a direct link between the church and the Army of the Dragon King. She confirmed that Dragon Empire soldiers had been raiding the small town and that she was appreciative of the weapons and supplies the caravan had brought to her. She surmised that the most likely source of these enemy patrols was the nearby deep forest known as the Witchwood, just to the north of town and she knew of a guide, a reclusive ranger who lived in the Witchwood named Jorr, that would know of any strange happenings in the area. She would help explain to the town speaker that he had fallen after overcelebrating the arrival of the town's new defenders, explaining the scent of booze that Waldo had poured all over the unconscious man. Finally, she let the Lightkeepers know that the best cheese dip in the region was Telltale's Dips.

The adventurers decided to seek out these leads while she continued to prepare the defenses and training the militia in town. When either side had come up with important information they would drop the coded phrase, "creamy" to signify the importance of a private meeting. Understanding that a glowing mind-controlled warrior could be a potential problem in the future, late that evening Forrest walked down to the Elsir river and ordered him to "Go Swim". The large man waded into the deep water was pulled under as the water swept him away. As Forrest finished watching this act he turned back toward town to return to the inn. He suddenly saw a human shadow scramble off ahead of him, his final act of magic control seemingly had an uninvited observer.