Journey North

Journey North is the fifth episode of the Dungeons and Dragons campaign Sword of the Godslayer. It follows episode 4, The Ritual.

Synopsis
The adventurers accompany a merchant to the free-city of Soliton as they head to the temple-island where Tullius hid the Godslayer sword.

Lira's Nightmare
The group make their way towards Soliton, accompanying Brad, the woodcarver they met at the village. When evening fell, they made camp near the village of the Mugandale. Brad settled by the campfire with a lute, and asked the adventurers for stories.

One by one, the adventurers started falling asleep. Lira climbed up a tree as she usually does while Azula laid her bedroll beneath the tree, since she was worried about the strain the bow attunement ritual had been causing the elf.

Lira slept for the third and last night of the ritual to attune to the Bow of the Fey Queen, and had a vivid dream. In it, she woke up on a bed in a tower room overlooking a valley, with the silhouette of a man by the windows. Guarded and confused by where she was, she tried to punch the stranger but he caught her hand and teasingly asked what she was doing. As Lira realized she vaguely recognized him, the man kissed her, and she returned it with passion.

Lira opened her eyes and found herself on a hill, standing in front of an army of elves. Beyond them, a second army stood. In the battlefield midway between the two forces, Lira recognized the man she had kissed dueling with a crowned warrior. When the crowned warrior struck a killing blow, Lira gave a cry of anguish and the battle ensued.

Amidst the chaos of battle, Lira suddenly found herself running in a dark forest. She glanced back to see several figures chasing her, and despite her efforts, she was soon surrounded by several fiends. She dodged the first strike from a flaming sword, and stabbed her dagger into the attacker.

Subduing Lira
Meanwhile, the rest of the adventurers were awoken by Lira's screams. Lira fell from the tree she had been sleeping in, and the adventurers all rose up from their bedrolls. They saw the elf draw a dagger and point it at them. They quickly realized she was hallucinating, and they all tried to subdue the elf to keep her from hurting anyone or herself.

Minos attempted to disarm Lira, but she stabbed him with a dagger. Marley, who was on the far side on the camp, threw a plate he had stolen but missed, which Lira saw as firebolts being hurled at her. She retaliated and shot Marley with her bow.

Nong-Poi punched Lira several times in an attempt to knock her out, but the elf was able to back away and stay on her feet. Marley walked closer and finally managed to grab and restrain Lira, carefully pulling her bow away from her. She immediately called for her companion, Scout, and the weasel leaped into Marley's face and started biting the half-orc's ear.

With the help of a spell, Azula commanded Lira to stop struggling, while Nicolas cast speak with animals to call down Scout. Marley and Minos together disarmed Lira, but she was able to slip free and draw her last weapon, a shortsword. Azula attempted one more time to snap her out of the hallucination, but to Lira, the dwarf's command for her to wake up was spoken in Infernal.

Rob finally came up with an idea to tie Lira with a rope. Marley and Nong-Poi helped in tying her until she finally fell back to sleep. As the commotion settled down, the others heard crying from the wood carver's wagon, and realized that Lisa, Brad's daughter, had stowed away there, and had been frightened by the noise. Rob quickly ran to comfort her.

Lira eventually woke up, and was irritated that she was bound and confused as to why her face hurt. When she realized what had happened, she apologized to Marley and Nong-Poi, and told them all about her dream.

The Gates of Soliton
The group continued to Soliton. The city was very strict with newcomers and visitors, so they lined up by the gate for inspection. The guards at the gate arcanely marked each weapon they carried, so as to later check whether they had been used to harm anyone in the city.

Almost as soon as the whole group entered the city, soldiers rode up and commanded the guards to close the gate. The people from both sides of the gate started complaining, asking why nobody was allowed to enter or leave the city. The citizens were confused and had no idea what was happening, but they were still optimistic that this was just temporary.

They walked towards the inn where Brad and his daughter will be staying. There, they heard rumors about some missing children. They also gathered that the city was about to elect a new Burgrave. The group met with Brad, and he accompanied them to the docks. He also assisted by calling in favors with the guards who tried to stop them because of the imposed curfew.

The group arrived at the docks and they met a captain who was willing to ferry them across the sea to the Temple-Island in exchange for 5,000 gold pieces. Brad left them by the captain's office and bade the group farewell. After negotiating, the captain escorted them towards his ship, but along the way they were stopped by a soldier who told them that the docks were closed and no ship was allowed to enter or leave the city.

The captain was angered by what the soldier said. He walked out of their agreement after returning their payment, leaving the adventurers confused.

A Not So Legal Way
After a while, the group was approached by a shady individual, a female elf. She claimed to know a way to bring them out of the city, but it was not exactly legal. Marley figured that this person must be working with the smugglers. The group discussed this illegal opportunity but chose to exclude Nicolas from the conversation, knowing that he would not agree with it.

The group followed the elf to a well-hidden location, which Marley recognized as Soliton's Thieves' Guild. They entered a tunnel, and passed through various cramped hallways until they reached the smuggler the elf was working for.

Approaching the smuggler's office, Azula overheard a conversation from another room. Two individual were talking about something that "will kill everyone" and that the city was under the state of panic. The two talking individuals noticed Azula listening and closed the door.

Inside, Minos tried to negotiate with the smuggler. He managed to bring down the price for his service from 15,000 gold pieces to 7,000 gold pieces, with half being paid through a bank note.

Lira noticed another individual suspiciously looking over their discussion. The elf confronted him but he kept silent.

The group were escorted by the smugglers outside the Thieves' Guild headquarters back to the docks. On their way, they were chased by a group of soldiers. They kept running until their path was blocked by a fog cloud. After the cloud dissipated, they noticed they were surrounded by more soldiers on both sides, and the two smugglers they had been with had disappeared.

The soldiers commanded them to drop their weapons. Lira considered releasing the spirit of Maeve from her bow but Nicolas stopped her. Suddenly, two orcs suddenly appeared in front of Minos and Rob, grabbing them then disappeared along with the two.

The commander of the guards saw this and assumed that they were trying to escape. He quickly ordered his men to arrest the five remaining adventurers.

Godslayer Expedition

 * Azula
 * Lira
 * Marley
 * Minos
 * Nong-Poi
 * Nicolas
 * Rob

Villagers

 * Brad
 * Lisa

Soliton Thieves Guild

 * Seiveril (unnamed)

Next Episode
"Journey North" closes the first chapter of Sword of the Godslayer. This is followed by episode 6, the first episode of Chapter 2: State of Panic, titled "A Reunion".