The town guards demand, at crossbow point, for the strangers to accompany them back to the town jail. The small street urchin, who was hiding in the shadows goes unnoticed.
At the jail, the players meet the town’s mayor, Lord Slaggo, who demands the players take this cursed magic item to Horvath’s Keep to be destroyed. They are to leave first thing in the morning with four town guards to make sure they accomplish their mission. “But I like to sleep in.”, says one of the players and in a rage, the mayor of Urle tells them to leave this very instant!
Back at the inn, Meg, tells the small street urchin, Lillyleaf, that she should go with the adventurer’s, “Destiny don’t wait for no one, and you don’t have much else but destiny right now in your purse.”. She gives the players some provisions to feed them in their journey and offers the players this sage, if vague, advice, “if it gets cold in the woods, you just don’t move, cold can’t catch you if you ain’t moving.”
On the road, early in the morning, our players come across a curious thing, stones flipping over on their own. Closer examination reveals the stones are part of a game, flipping in and out, and knocking others our of place. As the characters investigate, a howling wind develops behind them, as the mother air elemental rushes over to her ‘babies’ to protect them. She yanks a town guard and his mount into the air and pitches him 300 feet high. The players, and other guards, do the sensible thing and run for their lives.
Later, a half-day from the crossroads tower, they come across an exploded wagon. Pieces of debris litter the road with torn colourful fabrics and burnt up wooden pieces cart litter the road. Busted lutes and harps were found but were unsalvageable. No explanation is found as to the nature or owners of this wagon. The head guard, Scumtongue, already annoyed at losing a fellow guard, hurries the players along. He tells another large guard, Ogg, to watch the small urchin so she doesn’t run away, and he does with incredible devotion to the task.
From down the road, come four small raven like creatures. They squawk at the players from a distance. Unable to be understood, talks break down and the players engage these creatures. One of which starts hurling eldritch fire at them! Together, they vanquish these foes. (Scumtongue and the guards watch the entire encounter with boredom, they recognized these creatures as Kenku from a nearby farming village, and cared not whether anyone lived or died in this encounter.)
At the end of the second day, they make it to the crossroads and to Gloomfang Tower, recently burnt and pillaged, they cautiously explore it’s smoldering ruins.
Outside, the mage, Leucosia, and Ogg get acquainted. With the large, simple Ogg revealing his true name, Oggmunder Dragglevlad Vinnsuvius Borkander the 17th. They decide to stick with Ogg. Some beasts are seen in the woods as the players explore inside, Leucosia and the mage rush inside and barricade the door wherein Scumtongue witnesses the druid performing a mending cantrip. The creatures don’t go to the tower and disappear into the woods.
Only in the basement do the players find anything of interest, a small chest in an empty room. Simple enough, with no apparent traps or locks (that was a very bad investigation roll on Lillyleaf’s part), so they open it only to have it explode from within as they do. Luckily, most avoid the blast and only minimal damage is done.
Scumtongue sends back one of his guards to let the mayor know about the burned-out guard tower, and the party continues on this journey to Castle Horvath.