Dreli Wakes Up

The first thing Dreli notices, before she even thinks to open her eyes, is the taste of dirt.

It is loose, so it doesn’t take much effort to dig herself out and find fresh air again. While brushing herself off, she goes over the last events she remembers in her mind. Her uncle and cousin insisted on escorting her to the other end of town, and suddenly turned on her and attacked—

She froze as it dawned on her: she had woken up in a shallow grave.

It is just after dawn, and the rising sun is starting to dissipate the fog. After wiping her face off on Amadora’s cloak, Dreli climbs out of the hole and quickly looks over her surroundings. There is a shovel on the ground, as well as several familiar markings drawn in the dirt.



They're religious sigils, the sort that she's been around her entire life. The sort that are supposed to ward off demonic influences. Looking closer however, she realizes that other markings have been added on top, almost like accents. The symbols have all been altered in some fundamental way.

Surveying the perimeter of the clearing, Dreli gasps as she notices a body slumped over on the ground. It is her uncle Nagil, a ritual book and dagger at his feet, and several wounds in his chest.

Dreli looks around, but doesn’t see a sign of her cousin anywhere. However, she did notice an abandoned pack near the edge of this clearing.

As she gets closer to Uncle Nagil’s corpse, Dreli gets a better look at the ritual book and dagger, noticing that they have matching symbols upon them. She recognizes it from her childhood: it’s one of the symbols her family worshiped.

Looking over his body, it appears as though he was stabbed in the back… but the wounds look almost like burn marks. There is also a surprising lack of blood, for what seem like deep gashes.
For this let's roll a WIL save. As a reminder the target is to roll 1d20 and get equal-to or under the stat, which is 15. There's no risk of harm if you fail for this one, so no need to worry about that.

With that roll Dreli isn't quite sure what may have happened with her uncle. However, she did notice some trampled plants in the direction of the pack. It's possible that someone or something may have ran in that direction not too long ago.

The pack contains the following contents:
- Three day's rations
- A torch
- 14 gold pieces
- Holy Water
- A net

The dagger is spectacularly crafted, but Dreli finds keeping it in her hands difficult. It's not heavy, but holding it makes her incredibly tired.

This is a Holy dagger, which is one of the damage types that can cause you permanent damage. It doesn't hurt to the touch, but while Dreli wields any Holy weapon she loses her STR healing ability. If the dagger stays close to her for a day (in her pack counts), she will need to roll a WIL save or take 1 Fatigue. This would repeat each day she kept it.

Just explaining what the mechanical impacts of taking/using the item would be, choice of what you want to do with it is totally up to you.

As Dreli heads down the eastward path, she notices more broken branches and trampled plants. Someone ran through here in a hurry, someone who didn't know the area well.

Following the evidence of disturbance, she finds an area that forks in three different directions. She also smells pipe tobacco, and hears some voices talking.

Which path would Dreli like to take, if any?

Path 1: Keep following the trail of trampled plants. The woods seem to get less dense this way.
Path 2: Get closer to the conversation. If this path is taken, roll a DEX save to see if they hear anything.
Path 3: This path will allow you to go around the group having a discussion, but seems to lead down some winding paths. If Dreli goes this way, what is she looking for? What are her current goals?

Dreli sneaks closer without being detected, and sees three men sitting on a log. One is smoking from a pipe, while the others have some water. They appear to be taking a short rest."Are you sure we lost them?"
"The Robes like to stick to the main routes."
"How much longer until we reach the trader in the north?"
"Around a day."
"Won't make it before dark."
"No, but if you can hold onto your score, Fenrit is the best chance you have at a fair price."
"Don't say it's stolen though."
"Definitely don't tell them that."
"Right, right. Let's keep moving."

The trio get up, and continue on their way. They don't seem to be paying very much attention at the moment, and Dreli feels as though she could follow them without much difficulty.

Dreli could go in a few different directions from here. Following the trio will not require a roll at this time, but she could also stick to the trail of trampled plants she’s followed until now, go the direction these men came from (the east), or head away from all of those areas towards the denser wood to the south.

Dreli finds that she’s getting better and better at traveling without making much noise, and is able to push forward for a few hours before she realizes she’s not hungry or thirsty at all. She also still has the faint taste of dirt in her mouth.

Around the time a noise distracts her, and she notices a green glow in the distance. It is large, about twice as tall as Dreli, and is lumbering through the woods pushing trees over. A pair of dark robed figures appear to be with it, one on either side.

Dreli eyes a small crevice between a nearby boulder and a hill, and is pretty confident she could squeeze in there to avoid detection. The trio appears to be walking in a straight line, and unless they change course significantly will miss Dreli entirely.

She hears someone shout "SWEEPERS!" somewhere behind her, and suddenly the area fills with echoey whispers of the same word. Dreli is near the base of a hill, and some commotion starts on the other side.

Dreli hears people moving nearby, and will need to hide swiftly to avoid being spotted as they run.

Let's do a DEX save for this. Roll under and Dreli slides into the crevice in time, over and the people coming around will notice the movement. (Or, as always, you have the choice to take a different course of action).

As she starts crawling into the spot, a nearby voice shouts "Run you fool!". Dreli turns to see a middle-aged man with an armful of belongings, standing about 15ft away. Others behind him are running to the west, many holding bulky items they didn't have time to pack up properly.

He looks towards the east and shouts, "Clara there's no time! Only what you can hold."