Summary - Episode Nine: “ Smoke and Siege”

Season One, Episode Nine: Smoke and Siege

Wherein our heroes arrived at the Ashen Kingdom town of Manc and found it besieged by the XXIII Legion.  After entering the military camp in the guise of ale sellers, the company engaged in some   reconnaissance and discovered that they were the subject of some intense interest.  The interested party turned out to be a teenage boy, Gerrard Lackland, who knows Duchess Karin Locklight and has sought out Sir Henry Fullspring, seeking to become his squire.  Norah then encountered Lt. Aiden Caskwell, an old childhood friend who invited her to dinner.  Accepting the offer, Norah, as well as Mercutio, Hardwick and Sorina, who accompanied her, found themselves knocked unconscious by poison as part of a Frumentarii plot.  Luckily, Gerrard knew where they were being taken and led Hinrik and Trent there to break the others out of prison.   Gerrard arrived in the knick of time and soon the company was fleeing through the darkness.  Once they were sure of their escape, Hardwick called upon the Night Hunter's Art, howled to the sky and discovered a sewer tunnel the company could crawl through to gain entry into Manc while avoiding the besieging soldiers and zombies.  Once in the city, the company fought off a pack of giant rats and then barely avoided being swept into a pool of sewage by a flood of smaller rats before they climbed, filthy but mostly unhurt, into the smoldering city above.

Closing Credits: Wire "Time Lock Fog" from Change Becomes Us

Summary - Episode Eight: “Down the Perimeter / Ringing the Bell…”

Season One, Episode 8: "Down the Perimeter / Ringing the Bell..."

Wherein our heroes found themselves sidetracked, tracking down a cache of goods and treasure that Earl Oswald Locklight provided to the Zwaardgeesten.  They obtained great quantities of Ale and planned to provide said ale to the legion laying siege to Manc in order to sow drunkeness among the besiegers  Upon reaching the forest where the cache was supposed to be, our heroes found it had taken on a sinister quality and soon encountered Ealisaid, daughter of the Elf Bearach, who told Hinrik the following:

Simon Neville intends to have the Wizard Zordan Capodevin scry out the identity of the “Patriot” who is blackmailing him.
Simon’s wealth comes from the Deerhurst Wool, that his father, Albion, obtained the rights to sell.  Albion Neville accomplished this by arranging for the dishonor of the Glendower family who originally held Deerhurst county and then persuading the Bosworths to transfer the rights to the Nevilles.

Tryggvi has been unifying the Mountain tribes in order to raid the Free Valleys when war comes, which he thinks will be soon.

Olaf Stangbern has been in the pay of Oswald Locklight and was promised Oswald’s support when he murders his uncle Trggvi.  Oswald told Olaf that he could take the Mountain tribes south and take the mountains in the Ashen Kingdom.
The Ruby of Elagablus is in the possession of Varius, who leads the Zwardgeesten.  Commander Lucian Skaros also seeks the Ruby, which is why he has come to oversee the Seige of Manc personally.
That she recognized the sword Hinrik bore as the sword given by her father to Gerard, the hero, after he made a deal with Bearach to "live forever".  Gerard took the sword and left the Wyrd Desert instead of taking Ealisaid's hand and living forever in the forest as her husband.

Having completed the first part of her dread father's bargain with Hinrik, Ealisaid disappeared.

The company then came across two strange individuals, one a veritable mountain of a man, the other small, pale and sickly, who were digging and searching in the very creek-bed that our heroes had been told the cache was to have been found.  Their search having been less than fruitful, these two unlikely looking companions were surprised by our heroes and then variously questioned, suspected, bribed, threatened, given hospitality, interrogated and so forth on the subject of the cache and their allegiance  all the while the company gave very little information about their own intents and purposes.  Our heroes learned that the companions found out about the cache from a man talking out of his mouth at a nearby inn, the Roasted Rooster.  Pushing further, our heroes discovered that neither man wished to yield up any more information until they cracked and the smaller man, referred to as "Alby" by his companion, told our heroes that "The fire was coming that would burn and cleanse".  Shortly thereafter Alby and his large companion were permitted to leave, vanishing into the dark night, unafraid, while our heroes made camp and prepared to journey on in the morning, towards their true destination...

Closing Credits: Current 93 "Twilight Twilight Nihil Nihil" from All the Pretty Little Horses (The Inmost Light)

Summary - Episode Seven: Swords and Secrets

Season One, Episode 7: Swords and Secrets

Summary - Episode Six: Tough Times in Tribute

Season One, Episode 6: Tough Times in Tribute

Wherein our heroes took their leave of the Elf Lord, Bearach, and his Wyld Desert and journeyed to the Ashen Kingdom metropolis of Tribute...

Summary - Episode Five:...And Through the Woods...

Season One, Episode 5: ...And Through the Woods...

Summary - Episode Four: Return to Restport

Season One, Episode 4: Return to Restport

Wherein our heroes researched, debauched, ambushed, investigated and gossiped before fleeing Restport abruptly with a new 'package' to smuggle...

Summary - Episode Three: Snakefang Strait

Season One, Episode 3: Snakefang Strait


Wherein, our heroes, in the guise of the East Bay Company, sailed down to Snakefang Strait and what they discovered on their journey and at their destination...

Summary - Episode Two: Summit on Adder Craig

Season One, Episode 2: Summit on Adder Craig

(GM's note, I'm taking a little different tack on this summary, laying it out from the point of view of one of the NPC's)

William Manebrush stood before the Earl's imposing ebony desk for his dressing down.  Technically he was a member of the household of the Earl's son, but Osgar was still in his minority and so William found himself serving and answering to the Earl more than he liked.

"So," began the Earl, "What excuse do you have for missing the rendezvous?"

Summary- Episode One: Checkpoint Char-Lay

Season One, Episode 1: Checkpoint Char-Lay

Wherein, our heroes, in the guise of the East Bay Company, procured raw leather, dyes and tanning supplies to use as a cover for their trade in the tannery village of Char-Lay. Having been tasked by the Steel Lady, leader of the Ever-Burning Cinder, with smuggling Alonzo, spy-extraordinaire through the supposedly lax checkpoint at the edge of Char-Lay.