Session 3: A Neighborly Festival

The Welcome Party

The evening of their arrival, Brevin's Gap held a welcoming feast for these strange new heroes from another village. The townsfolk treated the newcomers kindly, but seemed defeated and sad to Xabu. During the welcome party itself, the heroes mingled and met many of the townsfolk. Relic left the party to investigate the defenses on the southern cliff, and got into a conflict with the captain of the guard Badraa. Xabu met an awkward stuttering human named Arlahn who seemed anxious to meet Xabu the following morning, and show him the town. Finally they met one of the regular Bastions - an arrogant elf named Maeral. Dances on Stumps was stood up by Cheris.

At the end of the event, Domoth Brevin himself gave a speech to welcome the Lookout's Landing group, and then retired to his domicile to speak with the newcomers in private. He answered their questions with candor, explaining the lottery system and the need to have a fair system to ensure that all of the dangerous and undesirable duties are fulfilled in the town. He expressed to them his excitement at meeting a new group - a new village that could maybe bring a little hope to his town of sad survivors. But if the strangers from Lookout's Landing brought harm to his city, he'd kill them himself. With that thought, the group retired to their loaner house.

First Dawn in the Gap

3rd Fireday, Stormswane 25 A.R.

The following morning, the town is finishing preparation for a full-day festival to celebrate the newly arrived allies. Several of the heroes decide to investigate the bottom of the gap - they had noticed a glow coming from under the water the night before and were told that they were a great crystal formation. They are lowered in a boat roughly 1000 feet into the ravine, to the water at the bottom. Many other fishing boats are in the water at the moment, taking part in a fishing competition for the day of the festival. Xabu and Relic dive under the waves to investigate while Althea and Felix stand guard on the boat. Under the waves, the ravine extended to a depth of nearly 50 feet. At the bottom, a great crystal formation covers nearly 100 feet of the ravine floor, with the tips of the crystals reaching up to 20-30 feet in height. Relic noticed a similar pulsing magical power in these crystals - a pure magical essence that seemed to be tainted in some way by an external force. Xabu once more had a flash of inspiration - a vision of the young tortle performing a purification ritual to cleanse the crystals. The two encountered sharks on the way up, but avoided a fight with the beasts.

Dances on Stumps, meanwhile, finished a green dress for Cheris and left to wander around town without his friends. Outside the house, he saw a young man waiting awkwardly - it was Arlahn, who Xabu had forgotten about.

A festival!

The group explored the town of Brevin's Gap and took part in many fun (if strange) festival games: throwing balls to knock down orcs and kobolds, swinging on ropes and jousting, hauling crates of ore on pullies, and more. Gnarles won a new glimpse stone from a cup game vendor. The games seemed to reward vouchers to exempt the winner from the lottery for a week, but the heroes didn't accept these vouchers. Xabu, instead of enjoying himself during the festival, spent time at two of the local temples: the Seat of the Seldarine and the Forge of Souls. He found some interesting books on religions and history, but didn't see any mention of the Silver Flame.

A the end of the evening, Relic entered into a fisticuffs battle with Brevin himself (the One-Punch Dwarf). It was a hard-fought fight, but Brevin managed to knock Relic unconscious in the end. As the clerics approached to heal Relic, Brevin gave him a silent nod of respect and entered his home. The city folk seemed impressed in general by the group, and there was much excitement as the citizens of the Gap started to go home. The heroes paused to watch the fireworks marking the end of the festival... when Xabu heard a cry from the north. Orcs are attacking the northern guard towers!