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Writer's pictureJames Finger

MKT000: Campfire Chats & Chases

Updated: Aug 8, 2022

4th of Eleasis (Highsun) – Summer 1486

Location: “The High Road” – South of Waterdeep.

After lying low for a few days, the trio left Waterdeep and followed the High Road south towards Nightstone, hoping to locate the shrooms which dispelled the Transformation Lock Curse on Pinko. The highways are relatively safe so close to the regional capital and the overcast day passed without incident. Seepage trailed slightly behind and though she denied it, Pinko swears she was often casting glances behind them. The sun began to fall as they reached the turnoff to Nightstone so they opted to set up camp and strike out for town first thing in the morning. This was the first night they’d spent together on the road since forming their odd alliance and the first real opportunity to relax and learn more about their new travelling companions. Pinko kicked things off, using Produce Flame to start an unnecessarily large campfire.

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After an awkward period spent staring into the flames and sharing the unidentified contents of Pinko's wineskin that tasted of grass and burnt the throat like lava, Seepage loosened up and did her best to explain exactly what a Warlock was to her new associates. "The short version," she whispered addressing no one in particular and carefully refolding her whip for the seventh time, "is I've done a deal with a being whose true power I can only guess at. It is now part of me, lives inside me, and the more I please it, give it what it wants, the more powerful I will become. Fortunately, we both want the same thing." "Wats dat?" Smacky enquired. Though he didn't see her lips move he heard, almost felt, the reply nonetheless. "To watch it all burn for no reason other than to dance in the flames". The voice was hers, but also not, and it seemed to both Smacky and Pinko to come from the campfire rather than Seeps directly. In truth, Seepage cared not what direction she took as long as it provided the opportunity for violence and mayhem. Those who would threaten her usually felt the chaotic wave of energy she could unleash directly from her patron’s Plane of Shadow. A searing magical eruption of purple eldritch light, an Ecky Blast as she called it. She had taken a shine to Smacky in the Tavern as a magnet for aggression and excuse to retaliate. She was here for the schniggles. She quietly explained what her idea of “a good time” was. This generally involves the pain and suffering of anything living… the holier and more righteous the better. This seemed to upset the more balanced world view of the Druid and while the Barbarian was always up for dishing out mindful violence, the needless slaughter of the general population was not his idea of a good time. Cockseepage seemed to delight in the uncomfortable silence that followed.


Though he was yet loath to try it again based on his only previous experience, before his entrapment as the adorable puppy Binky and subsequent scatological cure, Pinko was training to be Druid of the Circle of the Land like his forebears. "Nature should be in balance," he said, "and by communing with nature through transformation, I will better understand and harness the powers to control it." Cockseepage rolled her eyes while Smacky nodded sagely as the potent mystery elixir pushed him into that zone where everything he heard seemed deep and profound. Pinko wished to first discover the cure to whatever magical enchantment afflicted his Commune, see how many survived the raid and then find the Orcs responsible and show them Nature’s wrath. This idea at least excited both the Tiefling and the Half-Orc. The forest was his home and where he felt most at ease. Though he viewed the circle of life as sacred, death is a natural part of that cycle and often to maintain the fragile balance must be dealt out to those who would threaten it. Smacky he could see held a similar, if somewhat simpler, version of that philosophy. He could tell already however that Seepage may test his patience and sensibilities. On the plus side, she was an oddly attractive creature. He found himself drawn to her in the same way his obsession with medicinal herbs seduced him with their promise of new and exciting experiences. He knew no good could come of having either of them around, but life would certainly be a lot duller without them in it.



Not wanting to be left out of this tipsy sharing session, Smacky added assertively that he likes to smack things. The bigger the better, but anything will do really except fluffy little bunnies, he liked those. Oh and squirrels... and tressyms. Basically anything smaller than his head that wasn't super tasty and came in handy as a soft sanitary device after one of his prodigious turds. When he doesn’t get to smack things, or when he or something or someone he cares about is threatened, he would fly into a frenzied rage where he remembered little, but enough to warn his new friends it would be best for them not be on the receiving end of his attention or get in the way. Surprisingly sneaky for a hulking nearly 7-foot tall half-orc, Smacky stopped counting the years at age 10 when he ran out of fingers and doesn’t even remember his true Orc name. Everyone has always just called him ‘Smacky’. Simple by his own admission but loyal to a fault, once Pinko has his magical Shrooms, he intends to avenge his half-brother, Sir Smacky, whose remains he recently found outside a cave on the Triboar Road. Pinko has vowed him to help in any way he can. Smacky doesn't know who killed his half-brother, but he believes his mother is still alive and living around Wyvern Tor. Shunned from the tribe as a child, Smacky dreams of one day proving himself to her clan and becoming a great leader of his own Warband. He has no idea what he'd do with an army of rampaging Orcs at his command, but he is pretty sure it would be great fun and others could worry about the details.


The wind had been slowly rising all evening. Just before midnight with the trees above swaying and the campfire being whipped into a small furnace, the revelry was suddenly interrupted by the screams of a lone Goblin tearing up the High Road. It was being chased by three ravenous wolves and if it saw the party it paid them no heed. Before anyone could catch up to it a Wood Elf sprung from the bushes and shot it dead with his longbow, hitting centre mass. Seeing their quarry fall and a new target presenting itself, the hungry beasts turned on the Elf and leapt, knocking him to the ground. The party charged in, slaying all three of the lupine threats and earned the gratitude of their new acquaintance.



Recovering from the battle by the light of their campfire, the party learned the Wood Elf was known as Blowinbogan, a Ranger out of the Ardeep Forest to the north of Nightstone and member of the Emerald Enclave. Blowy, as he liked to be called, thanked them for their assistance. He’d been tracking stray gobbos in the area trying to find out where they were holed up as they had been causing much trouble recently, tramping the undergrowth, fouling the waters and overhunting his beloved woods. He offered a reward to the group if they could help him sort out this incursion while he returned home to fully recover from his wounds. Asking what the party desired for providing the Elves of Ardeep with such a service, Seepage’s request for “Elvin children” confused him, but perhaps seeing more in her cold expression than he let on, Blowinbogan disappeared into the night before Smacky or Pinko could table a counter offer. A fading voice in the wind assured them if the task was complete and the goblin hideout was located and cleared, he would come to find them with suitable compensation for their time.


"Shame."' said Seeps when he was gone, sheathing one of the many daggers secreted on her person that seemed to appear in her hands at will with no transition in between, "He had a pretty face". Pinko and Smacky were unsure of how to take this particular observation. Moments later Seeps was asleep with a curious smile on her lips, wrapped painfully tight in her own whip far too close to the flames. Smacky was snoring like a wounded boar and Pinko was contemplating his life choices, keeping watch, and smoking his custom pipe weed "WTF" blend in contemplative reflection.

 
 


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