Tonight we concluded our story using Venture by Riley Rethal about the quest to defeat to an evil wizard that we began last week. Our crew once again consists of Nelrim the Wizard, Alexander Smith the Paladin, Alder the Cleric, Perebraithe the Bard, Orenn the Rogue, and Melor the Fighter. When last we left our heroes, they had just met in the healing temple to prevent Orenn from dying after saving Perebraithe’s life and pledged to work together to bring down the dark wizard causing mayhem among the populace of Port Royal.

We begin still inside the healing temple and decide that the best way to find the dark wizard is for Alder to call upon the True Sight of her order. Orenn rips the binding from his recently stitched up arm and volunteers to be the ritual’s blood sacrifice. As Alder chants, storm clouds and lightning appear in the sky until the clouds suddenly part and a dead dove falls into the temple’s courtyard from the center of the cleared sky. When alder checks the dove, she finds a key embedded in its belly, then goes berserk and attacks Alexander Smith. Once Melor gets him in her grip, Perebraithe sings his calming tune until she returns to herself and tells us of the vision she had of a ruined hillside chapel, which Orenn identifies as the Chapel at the Dragon’s Mirror. We set out for the Dragon’s Mirror at first light.

On the road, Perebraithe asks Nelrim about the dark wizard and learns that he was banished to the astral plane and has no physical form, but has enough power to induce psychotic anger in people on this plane. The wizard had been initially defeated by forces led by the Marquis and so his revenge is now extended to the city itself since he can no longer attack the Marquis directly. As we near the Dragon’s Mirror, we see smoke billowing from the volcano reflected in the crystalline lake that gives the area its name. We stop at a stall run by a poor family and, while eating out soup, learn that the Chapel was once the center of a pilgrimage, but that the last pilgrimage festival was cancelled due to a large sinkhole that appeared on the road to the Chapel, out of which stream a swarm of oversized crabs. We debate whether they are normal-sized fire crabs or giant-sized normal crabs, but we remain unprepared when we come upon the sinkhole and several enormous crabs emerge and pull several horses underground with them.

Dismounted and disoriented, we manage to regroup further down the road behind some boulders and begin planning our next move while Orenn sneaks away and looks inside the sinkhole where he sees a tunnel but also a strange boulder with a keyhole in it. When we learn what Orenn has seen, we silence our feet with towels sneak to the sinkhole ourselves while Alexander Smith loudly clanks away in the other direction to distract the craps. Once at the sinkhole, Alder opens the boulder with the key taken from the dove. When the key turns the boulder flies into the air and shatters and out from the newly formed door flies a powerful being wearing darkened robes, who fries the remaining crabs with lightning. Have we released the dark wizard from the astral plane?

We regroup inside the temple, which is dedicated to the same order as Alexander Smith, and he leads us down into the catacombs below the temple where we discover the remains of the knights and paladins who died fighting the dark wizard alongside the Marquis. Nelrim reads the runes to learn that we must disrupt the dark wizard’s power and Perebraithe learns from the Marquis’s parrot that the Wizard’s true name is “Damascus.” Orenn notices the pattern of one funeral bier, recognizes it matches that of a dagger he picked up outside as we came in, and returns it to the paladin’s scabbard, causing the paladin to appear before us in spirit form. He says if we speak the name at the volcano’s lip, it will summon the wizard so we can destroy him once and for all.

And so we do. We climb to the volcano’s mouth, Nelrim prepares a moonbinding spell, Alexander Smith, Melor, and Orenn gird their weapons, and once we’re all ready, Perebraithe cries “Damascus” to summon the dark wizard. The spell holds him tight for just long enough for the weapons to find the marks, the wizard’s blood oozing into the volcano. Alder sees her opportunity and throws the key into the volcano and it seals itself with an audible pop; the volcano is gone. As the earth shakes, we run down the hill to see the lake begin to bubble then calm allowing us to see the largest fire crab of all time uncovered in the quake sitting at the bottom of the lake. As the crab is just sitting there, we opt to return and begin the long journey to Port Royal on foot, happy to put the Dragon’s mirror behind us.

Tonight we played the first act of a story in Venture by Riley Rethal as a band of adventurers in a capital city at the sea, Port Royal, rife with rumors of curses and home to a magical academy. Our number include Nelrim the Wizard, Alexander Smith the Paladin, Alder the Cleric, Perebraithe the Bard, Orenn the Rogue, and Melor the Fighter.

Our story begins when Orenn brings an elegant, beautiful parrot to Perebraithe, who he names Windbright. After Perebraithe expresses his gratitude for the gift, Orenn promises to never leave his new friend’s side. When Alexander Smith arrives in Port Royal, he demands Melor direct him to the evil in the city, so he sends the paladin down to the docks. At the healing Temple, Alder is interrupted by Nelrim who has an experimental spell he’d like to try for healing people that would bypass the complicated process the clerics employ. While Alder is all for more ways to help people, she is worried about possible negative consequences. From out of those waiting for treatment, Alexander Smith, fresh from a beating on the docks, volunteers for Nelrim’s experimental treatment and asks after the curse he’s heard emanates from the Academy. We first hear about an evil wizard inspiring violence by luring victims into the woods and laying a curse upon them here. Nelrim and Alexander Smith continue discussing the evil wizard as they leave the temple, form an alliance to put an end to this curse, and pledge to recruit a party who can end the dark wizard’s plans, beginning with Melor.

Perebraithe and Orenn go for a walk along the waterfront zoological gardens where the nobility go to walk their unusual pets. The noble with the peacock on a golden chain is the first to greet them and note that Windbright looks like the Marquis’s parrot, but the nobleman with the emu insists they are remarkably similar. But Orenn begins to scarf down the emu’s snacks and Perebraithe cannot convince him to stop even after promising him a pastry if he leaves it alone. Orenn leaps into the water and returns to the surface pulling out a watch, a comb, a cloak, then a body. The noble runs off to retrieve the city guard who take charge of the body, who appears to be the Marquis and confiscate Perebraithe’s transit papers, which will prevent him from leaving the city. Orenn swam away but noticed strangle marks on the victim’s neck. In another part of the city, Melor reunites with his Alder after a long absence; they discuss the problems in the city and increased acts of violence that have kept the Temple full of those seeking healing. She suggests that the fighter seek out the strange wizard about his next job.

Having secured the services of Melor and hearing about the death of the Marquis, Nelrim is certain his death links to the activity of the dark wizard and decides to seek out the one’s who found the body. Catching up with the bard Perebraithe performing in a tavern, Nelrim and Alexander Smith discuss the dark wizard’s power and the mysterious death of the Marquis with Perebraithe and Orenn when a brawl breaks out in the tavern. Perebraithe calms the crowd using his powers, but the brawlers are acting unconsciously and don’t know why they started fighting. But the fighting continues and one senseless brawler comes at Perebraithe with a long dagger, so he dives in between and takes the blade in his arm. Arriving just in time to witness this, Melor smashes through the remaining brawlers and the crew race to the temple carrying the injured rogue. Melor leads them through streets filled by a crazed melee as the curse spreads throughout the city. When they reach the Temple, Alder is able to heal Orenn, and pledges to help the team in their battle against the evil wizard.