A short summary of Session 1: The Night is Dark

The story begins in the small town of Marburg on the shores of the River Stir. Bungo Goodbody, a halfling dung collector, was busy cleaning the pigsties for the local farmers when a group of travellers arrived at the River Drink Tavern on the western edge of the river. These travellers included, among others: Alexa Holdinghaus, a human rogue; Alaric Wechsler, a human roadwarden; and Gertwise Rook, a halfling valet. These travellers had seen fit to band together with Dieter, a merchant with a cartful of apples, and two other transient workers on the journey eastwards from Wurtbad.

During their stay at the River Drink Tavern, the travellers ate, drank, and relaxed after their long journey on the road. Gertwise enquired after his mistress, Lady Adelle Altmann of Dohna, and the innkeeper, Karl, said that she had left sometime early in the morning on the previous day. Alexa glanced around for potential marks of easy coin but alas, there were few fools with too much silver in their pockets. She did notice a man that was heavily wrapped in large black robes and other items of clothing. The man was quiet and kept to himself, although that might have been a result of his pockmarked and ugly face that he kept hidden under his hood. Alaric spoke with Karl to discern if any trouble had happened recently and Karl said that not much of note had happened, aside from a Witch Hunter of Sigmar passing through yesterday.

The day proceeded fairly boringly from there. Bungo collected his pay for cleaning the pigsties and made his way across the river to begin cleaning the stables. Alaric spoke to Paldrick, the mayor of Marburg, and confirmed that no bandits or beasts had waylaid the village in recent times. As the afternoon progressed, a storm began to threaten from the south and everyone proceeded to bunker down for the evening. Bungo hurried to finish his job and make his way back across the river to his homely shack. While everyone within the tavern had either retired to the common room or one of the private rooms upstairs, the mysterious black robed man made his way outside just as the storm began to hit. Alexa and Alaric spied on the man as he absconded with Dieter's apple cart along the road to the north while Bungo spotted it from the ferry as he rushed to get back home. The innkeeper wasn't sure if the black robed man was an acquaintance of Dieter's or not but he resolved to let Alaric notify Dieter in the morning.

The storm raged into the night and the River Drink Tavern eventually fell silent. Alexa tried her hand at a little bit of midnight thievery and made off with a few coins from Dieter's room. It wasn't until morning broke that something was amiss. Dieter had not ventured from his room for breakfast and Alaric and Alexa agreed to investigate this unusual situation. When the door to Dieter's room was opened, there was a gruesome discovery. Dieter's throat had been cut in a murder most foul and Alaric immediately began to go through his list of suspects. His suspicions landed on the black robed man and he began to form a search party for the criminal. Gertwise and Alexa were recruited to begin the hunt along the road north to Gersdorf while Alaric went to speak with Paldrick, whom agreed to send one of the militia to help.

It was during this time that Bungo was enjoying himself with a little bit of fishing after already completing his morning work. His favourite pastime was rather viciously interrupted when a militiaman by the name of Egbert was mauled by a starving wolf. Bungo fled to his shack but it seems that the wolf fancied a bit of halfling this morning and proceeded to bust down the door. The wolf bit and clawed Bungo and left him with several nasty injuries before Alaric was able to arrive and slay the beast. Unfortunately Marburg lacked a proper doctor and Paldrick asked if he could take Bungo and Egbert to Gersdorf for treatment. Alaric was compensated for his troubles.

While the wolf attacked Marburg, Alexa and Gertwise journeyed north along the road. The apple cart had left a notable track in the mud during the storm and they continued following it northward. Gertwise noticed that a thin plume of smoke seemed to rise out of the forest to the northwest and he soon spotted a trail that had been hacked through the bushes into the forest. While the apple cart hadn't appeared to have left the road yet, Alexa and Gertwise wanted to see what was happening. They made their way into the forest and soon encountered the camp of a small band of Sigmarites and their leader, the Witch Hunter that Karl had mentioned yesterday. The Witch Hunter was not amused to see civilians in the forest and warned them that the forest was dangerous and filled with Beastmen. He warned them that they should not enter the forest under any circumstances.

When Alexa and Gertwise made their way back to the road, Alaric had managed to catch up as his horse, Arpy, pulled the former dung cart that carried Bungo and Egbert. The rest of the day was spent travelling along the road before camping for the night. What lies next for this band of hunters and poor souls?

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