The Plot Thickens
I don’t know who has access to these, but Greenwood is up to no good. We overheard some plans that we think may be a problem for someone who helped us before. We wanted to give him, or someone, a warning to try to stop them before they catch him unawares and this was our only guess as to how to reach him.
Signed, A Concerned Citizen
Recap
Nock, Malnus, Merrick, and Panella find a vague note about some guy named Greenwood posing a threat to some other guy who helped the author of the letter (okay, Merrick knows otherwise). Coming through the Questboard with all their mounts in tow (a Dragon, a Giant Goat, an Axe Beak, and soon after a Black Bear), they soon meet Jarek - a small young Ranger Raptor whom Merrick met when he was freeing the town of Highburn from Greenwood Enterprises not too long ago. Jarek is one of the folks trying to re-establish independent business here in the bigger city and informs them that he and his other companions overheard that Greenwood is now trying to find where Merrick went and have him assassinated. Let’s just say, Greenwood hates Merrick real, real bad.
As the Trackers already likely left town, the party takes off to catch them before they can get very far and find Merrick’s new home here in Selenium. They find the encampment and approach so stealthily they easily ambush the Trackers… half of them are dead or near-dead by the time they can even react. Fang frees their horses to create some chaos and make it harder for them to escape. Malnus plays epic support as Panella and Nock send many arrows into their foes. Merrick beats them to death with his axes. They let one go so that Greenwood will send their assassins directly here instead of continuing the search for Merrick, potentially compromising his new home here in this world. Meanwhile, one last pesky teleporter keeps escaping their grasp. They finally get him to stand still, when Nock sends in an arrow sight-unseen from over 100ft away, and delivers a walloping death blow… everyone takes psychic damage.
The party regroups and sets up a watch, which, the night is quiet as they expected given the amount of travel time it would require for the fleeing Tracker to get word to the city and send back an assault to their location. However, first thing in the morning, the tables have turned! An ambush on our rousing party! Except! Malnus carries a fine caliber weapon that makes it impossible for the party to be surprised, so the party reacts quickly despite their Long Rest just barely finishing as battle begins. With Nock’s Plant Growth, Malnus’ magically made tripwire and Merrick’s clever placement of it, it makes approach much more difficult for this attack.
But this time, they brought a dragon. It looks… cursed. But no matter, Nock shoots it out of the air and Merrick wrangles it on the ground to keep it there. Nock keeps them hidden under a Fog Cloud so Merrick can proceed uninterrupted. Panella takes cover after being the first easy target, then fires back with a vengeance from a perch in the trees using her epic new bow. Malnus comes in clutch again with support, but does lose Concentration at least once. The cursed dragon exudes awful insects and poison gas, and then when Merrick kills it, a cloud of cursed gas envelops he and Fang but they resist its effects. The party hunts and kills the rest of the assassins as they attempt to flee once the dragon is downed.
Back in the city they find Jarek and let him know everything is alright. Merrick leaves a threatening letter stabbed into the Greenwood Enterprises office door. It’s the same as the letter he shot into their smaller headquarters in Highburn. Will all this be enough to keep them off his back? Time will tell.