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."

Dreli runs in the direction she saw the others going, and notices that they have splintered into smaller groupings, each no more than three individuals. Each grouping begins to go in different directions, and a woman runs up beside Dreli and begins matching her pace.

"Stay close, stay quiet, and I'll keep you alive." she curtly says, and takes off towards the south-west.

She is very skilled at navigating the woods, weaving in and out of trees as if she's walked these paths hundreds of times. It is about twenty minutes before she speaks, her pace now much slower than it was previously.

Should be able to walk from here, we would've noticed if they were coming this way. My name is Elara... you haven't been in the wood very long, have you?

Elara looks sadly at Dreli for a moment, before diverting her gaze back to the ground as she keeps walking. "You must be hungry," she says, and takes a handful of plants from her satchel. "It's not much, but it will stop any hunger pains."

"I know a small stream nearby, I'll take you." Elara leads Dreli through the woods and after a couple minutes they reach a shallow stream. Elara kneels down and starts to wash her hands and face, while answering the second question.

"Sweepers patrol the woods, tear apart anything they're told to. You ever hear of 'The Order of Karkross'? They're this sorta cult. We just call them 'The Order'. They're the ones who control 'em."

Elara is surprised to hear this, but tries not to let it show. She stands up and takes another look over Dreli, lingering for a moment on her cloak. "They took you here... and you think they're with The Order?"

Concern washes over her face before she walks over to a patch of flowers, picks a couple of them, and shows them to Dreli. "You ever seen these before?"

The flowers look almost like dandelions, but are an aqua color instead of yellow. Dreli has never seen anything like it.

Elara nods, and looks at the murky water around the area Dreli has been washing. "Most of us didn't hear of 'em before we came here. These flowers don't grow anywhere else, only found in this here wood."

Elara tosses the plants into the stream one at a time as she speaks. "If you've heard of them, you might know how to help... Dani would be interested in talking to you, I'm sure... can I take you to her?" She looks a little concerned, but appears to be speaking genuinely.

"Sorry, sorry. I'm rushin' ya... how'd you get so dirty anyway? Tell you what, I'll gather some supplies from the area while you finish up in there, then we can go see Dani together. We'd get there before dark... what do you say?"

Elara is talking fast, and seems very invested in this meeting with Dani. She rocks from one foot to the other in anticipation, waiting for Dreli to reply.

Elara quickly skips into the wood. This area is quiet, some squirrels and other animals but nothing especially noisy. Dreli notices that those aqua flowers Elara showed her emit a soft glow when they're not in direct sunlight, patches of them in the area make it almost shimmer. She still isn't hungry, although she is a bit thirsty. The taste of dirt won't seem to leave her mouth.

Elara comes back, her satchel looking much fuller than it did when she left. She gets close to Dreli and speaks quietly: "I saw a guy a bit further up the river, didn't look like someone from around here... was one of your kidnappers an old guy with a spear and a shield?"

Despite rinsing out her mouth, Dreli finds that the taste of dirt lingers. Elara looks over the wet garments, and suggests a course of action. "You'll dry fastest if we travel along the stream, but we'll need to be extra careful to avoid running into that other guy. He may not be one of your kidnappers, but he looked tough."

If Dreli is fine with that plan, roll two DEX saves. Two successes means you went around the gentleman undetected. One success means you were heard, but not seen. Two failures means at least once of you is spotted by the individual.

She leads Dreli down the stream, trying to avoid the stranger. Elara tries to circle around the area she thinks his campsite is in, but accidentally leads herself and Dreli right into the area he is gathering firewood. He is focused on his task, and doesn't seem to be paying close attention to his surroundings.

Elara whispers, "Keep going, just stay quiet". Dreli tries to comply but she trips on a root and falls loudly to the ground. The man looks up for a moment, but doesn't seem to be sure where the noise actually came from.

The man moves a few steps closer, investigating the source of the sound, but it is clear he hasn't actually seen Dreli or Elara as he has moved in a position so that his back is to them.

He is holding a shield and spear, but seems more curious than hostile.

"Hallo?!" he calls out. "No need to hide. I have a bag of pedals to share. They might be an acquired taste, but they're not too bad."

Elara looks at Dreli and shrugs, unsure exactly how to proceed.