Session 1 - Patrons of the Jaunt

This is the first session of the campaign Ashes. It was played on May 18th, 2019.

Summary
It is just before midday in the Kingdom of Dunland, a cold wind blows through the city, and into a district of the city known as the Gullies. A bar in that area called the Jaunt is packed full of people this morning. Autumn and Emeran bump into each other at the door of the pub, they each heard that the music machine at the Jaunt had been damaged, and they agree to play some music together. The two notice that the usually bubbly barmaid Joy appears to be very sad this day. The duo sees another group of musicians setting up to play, but the four of them agree to play together so long as the older man and his young drummer, Rats and Leo, get the first share of coin. The music begins.

The bartender automaton Mix walks over to the booth that Astrea, Acaelus, and Flora are sitting at, and offers them two chocolate milkshakes for free. Joy walks over and scolds Mix for giving out free drinks, and after Acaelus insists on paying for the drinks, Joy reassures him that the drinks are on the house, but seems upset about it. Astrea then notices that Flora is nowhere in immediate sight, and sees her tiger cub across the bar staring at Elias, and especially at his pigeon Peggy. Suddenly the side door bursts open, and Barry Lemongrass of the Brimming Belly steps in, and with some of his employees begins handing out free bread from his bakery. Joy and Barry share a moment, and she appears to thank him profusely. A loaf is given to Acaelus, and he decides to break bread with Elias.

Themus is meeting with Seren in the backroom of the Jaunt. He informs her that he cannot continue his search for her brother Ziggy due to his contact Dumont not willing for him to work without proper pay. Seren is upset, but understanding, and thanks him for all he's done. She offers him a little bit more of coin, Themus refuses, and Seren insists he takes it, and he pauses for a moment before taking it. Themus is prepared to leave the building when he notices that Elias is in the bar and stops to let him know that he can't help the investigation anymore. Elias says he will continue to try and find Ziggy on his own. Acaelus and Astrea inquire about what exactly the two of them are talking about, and Elias tells them the story, insisting that once he tells them, that they are involved.

Rats tells Autumn and Emeran to go table to table with the hat to see if anyone wants to throw some gold in. They pass the table with Elias and the rest and overhear parts of the story. Rats breaks out into a trumpet solo, Autumn and Emeran take a break from playing and also inquire about Ziggy. Elias gives them the same promise, that if they hear the story they are involved. Elias and Themus tell them Ziggy's story.

There is a metal thud near the front of the Jaunt, as a hooded figure has stepped inside with a mace dragging along the floor. Mix sees this and walks over to the man. The man rears back with his mace and bashes Mix in the head, smashing it to pieces. The man reveals himself to be a Kegger, and more Keggers begin to file into the bar. Patrons begin hiding beneath tables, and cowering in fear, the man who killed Mix explains that Joy and her sister Seren owe money to the Keggers, 1000 gold pieces for their brother Ziggy, and that if the people in the bar can't pay then he's going to detonate the keg of explosives that the Keggers brought with him. As everyone else cowers in fear, the six party members are the only ones still standing. They fight the Keggers.

After killing or capturing all of the Kegger members the group has a moment to rest, and they speak with Seren and Joy about Ziggy. The tiefling sisters offer the group various quests in order to earn the required 1000 gold pieces to free Ziggy from Kegger capture. They also tell the group about many of the locations around the area that they might be interested in such as The Ashen Phoenix, Swift Solutions, and The Gloating Goat. Guardsman Paul arrives on the scene and vows to protect the establishment, as well as give Seren and Joy a safe place to stay within the Southern Stockade.

The group decides to help earn the money to get Ziggy free by taking up a recently acquired quest on the questboard of the Jaunt. A woman named Mabel Heimner, who runs the library and scroll shop The Padlock Tome, put out a notice that her cat Midnight is missing. She is offering 500 gold pieces to help find the cat.

The party arrives at the Padlock Tome and a greeted by a message scrawled in midair saying that if anyone has information on Midnight that they need to try and open the door. Acaelus tries it and is thrown back 10 feet. Mabel teleports immediately in front of everyone and greets them all. She explains that Midnight had been practicing magic for a time, and would never leave her side. She suspected that maybe Midnight had run off when she closed the shop one night, but that was unlike her. The party decided to take a look around inside to be safe.

The group discovered in a far corner of the library a tome laying about on the floor, the only one in the entire place. Themus approached the book and was immediately transported into the book. The other eventually followed in, learning that much time passed for Themus within the book while everyone else took their time going in. The group sees that in the book everything looks like its made of paper and that the animals they brought with them take on human-like appearances, including Midnight who looks like a Tabaxi. Midnight explains that this place is a challenge, that they need to go to the center of the forest and fight the paper golem in his temple to be released from the book. The party kills the Paper Golem and is thrust from the book in a mad dash. Mabel rewards the group 600 gold for the release of Midnight, and wonders who exactly put this book into her library, and what the challenge was for.

The group started to head back to the Jaunt and the session ended.