The Village of Westloch
Introduction
The story of Westloch's takes place in the small isolated village not frequently visited by merchants and travelers near the south-western borders of Bartlett adjacent to the country of Ardashir. Although Westloch is in the central country, it contains a few Ardashirian natives such as the local merchant and butcher. This village is for the most part a gathering of refugees, deserters and exiles of the Bartlett-Ardashirian war only two generations past. The adventure begins when the local lord sent word of a handsome reward for adventurers to come and investigate nearby goblins rumored to attack passersby. The heroes that first answered his calls were Avareh, Larissa, Fizzlebang and Bard later followed by Heskan. He hands them this information.
Chapter I : The Bandit Camp
The adventure begins as the heroes search for any potential information that may lead them closer to the goblins rumored to be attacking nearby merchants and travelers. They start by visiting Arith, the strongest man in the small village only to find him to be a simpleton. They later discover that Amos will reveal the location of the Goblin Hideout but only if they slay the Direwolf running around the forest. Not satisfied with this the group splits to cover more ground. On her side, Larissa speaks with a barmaid who reveals to her the location.
Avareh leaves the village alone, looking to find the Direwolf. Two bandit scouts surprise him and take him captive.
Fizzlebang feels something wrong and expresses to the group his concerns. They quickly prepare themselves only to be stopped before they exit the village. Arith's mother comes and tells them to take Arith with them as he is a capable fighter.
While on the road, they spot two bandits hiding behind trees. Bard quickly puts them to sleep. They kill one and interrogate the other. The bandit explain that they captured Avareh and handily gives them information about his camp.
The heroes easily find the camp where they bandits guarding the entrance. They kill them but not before the alarm was rung.
A fight breaks, the group finishes them all including their leader and they find Avareh tied to a post.
Chapter II : The Direwolf
The heroes now at the inn discuss their plan of action. Avareh expresses that he must go back to the bandit camp to finish something. A bell rings calling for a meeting in the town hall. The group split with Fizzlebang attending the meeting, Bard visiting the herbalist and Avareh accompanied with Larissa to the former bandit camp.
As the two walk back to the village, they are attacked by a small pack of wolves which they take care of with relative ease. They return to the rest of the group and decide to investigate the town for clues regarding goblins or bandits. They speak to some townsfolk but only come across significant information speaking to the Trader who sells it to them for a price, he tells them where a second bandit camp hides.
They leave the village again this time taking Arith with them. Not much further than the borders, they are ambushed and circled by a pack of wolves led by the Direwolf. They struggle to victory and behead the leader of the pack.
The group returns to Amos who thanklessly reveals them the location of the goblin's hideout.
After healing their wounds they walk to the second camp and prepare a surprise attack. They easily take care of the bandits and their leader by making use of the bottleneck entrance.
Chapter III : Cultists
After some rest in the village, the heroes decide to approach the goblins diplomatically as they haven't heard of a single assault from the villagers. On their way to their cave, they are attacked by a band of cultist clothed in green and purple robes. Finishing them off, they return to tend their wounds.
At the entrance of the goblin's lair they come across some sentries and Avareh communicates with them saying he wishes to speak to their leader. A tense stare-down begins as dozens of goblins emerge from the cave. Their leader finally arrives and begins the talk. He tells them of a an insider amongst the bandits and gives them the location of the third and last camp surrounding the village.
Back in the inn, the heroes think up of a plan using Bard to disguise himself as a bandit to infiltrate the last camp. They return to a previous camp to make use of a dead bandit's cloth only to find the bodies pilled up in a hole in the ground surrounded by cultists chanting a name. The band of adventurers run to the second camp only to find the same ritual taking place.
They rush to the village and try to speak to Söthe who responds to the attack of the cultists by slamming his door shut on their faces. They go to the guard to inform him about the cultist. He warns them not to let any cultists near the wizard's library.
They turn to the goblins for help only to be told that human affairs that do not directly involve them do not concern them. Returning to the village they find a shift in the atmosphere and find out that it had been attacked by undead in their absence, the hunter now dead.
After a night of uneasy sleep, they formulate a plan to ambush a group of cultists. They walk alongside the road hidden by the forest and continue until they come across them. They get the advantage of positioning and quickly take care of them, leaving one behind for questioning.
Chapter IV : The Ornate Dagger
Back in the village with their hostage they hide in an alley for questioning. The cultist exclaims that he longs for the taste of death and will not run his mouth to them. The lord Montevergo finds them and explains that questioning these people is worthless. He informs the heroes that the bandit insider ran away as the camp was being overrun by the cultists.
He asks the adventurers to investigate their sect as it could give the village valuable information about their powers and immensely help in their fight against them.
On their way out they are stopped by the guard that leads them to Söthe's house. There they find that the cultists are followers of a dark god Shrigma'tul and that his powers have been slowly rising and that the more powerful members of the cult have the ability to raise the dead. They are also told the location of the cultist's hideout.
They follow the wizard around the edge of the the village and watch him cast a warding spell protecting it from undead creatures.
The heroes bring Arith along with them and make their way to the hideout finding the ruins of an abandoned inn in a large clearing. Opening the front door they are met with several skeletons. The group enter in combat but Larissa accidentally injures Arith with necrotic magic.
Investigating the surrounding areas of the inn, the group is met with a group of zombies. Arith flees into the dark forest now scared at the face of this new danger. After a long drawn out fight, they decide to track down the runaway warrior.
Some time later, they find the boy crawled inside a hollow tree. They try to console the warrior but are surprised by cultists led by a user of dark magic surrounding them. Their leader terrorizing Arith eventually dies along his followers and drops a green ornate dagger in his death.
Chapter V : The Bronze Doors
After resting a few days in the village, the heroes are met with a group of refugees entering Westloch seeking shelter from the changes the Evenguard brought. From these men and women of Ardashir they meet Heskan who agrees to help them against the cultists.
They proceed to the tavern in the woods and investigate the interior of the abandoned building. In there they find a hidden backroom with a path leading to a subterranean cave.
The heroes carefully venture forth fighting zombies and skeletons and a hill giant collecting keys along their way, their path shown by the magic dagger pointing the way through the many caves.
They finally reach a great set of bronze double doors. They quickly find that the keys earlier found and the dagger fit perfectly inside of slots in the door. They turn the mechanism with the dagger to be met with a waiting spectator on the other side of the doors.
The creature presents itself as Xordes the beautiful and unravels that it has been waiting nearly a hundred years for his master and the he will only let the chosen ones pass. A difficult fight erupts which ends with a powerful spell cast by Fizzlebang being reflected by the creature back to the heroes.
Upon waking up they find the gnome missing. The heroes nonetheless return to the village to prepare for what's next to come.