Dorust - Crimson Catalyst

This page covers the Dorust - Crimson Catalyst campaign.

Synopsis
Dorust - Crimson Catalyst was intended to be a more sandbox-based campaign, with less overarching plot, at least to begin with. The campaign began two years after the aftermath of Erilán - Reawakened on the nearest mainland, in the country of Dorust. The events of that campaign were known to have happened, although they have not had any direct influence on the campaign, thus far.

Arc 1: Mining Co.
The story began at a small cafe in Rusel. A fixer who called himself Mr. Johnson had invited some new adventurers to meet him there to discuss a job opportunity. Nemo was the first to arrive, followed by Esther, then Omari, Catnip and Ragmesz as an already-formed group. The group ordered lunch and got to know each other.

Mr. Johnson eventually arrived, and despite a great deal of rudeness on his part, the newly formed party did agree to take his job. After signing a contract promising 25% of their earnings, the party was told to travel to Lofmin and speak to the people at Mining Co. about the job.

The party decided to set out immediately. It was not an uneventful journey though as on the way, they were passed by a woman on horseback, travelling at speed back towards Rusel. Continuing on, the party found an overturned cart with two injured men inside. They, along with the woman from before, had been transporting an important item to Aidunno, when they had been attacked by an archer and some dolls. They begged the party to find their cargo for them and the party reluctantly agreed.

The party successfully tracked down the dolls and the archer and after a rather brutal battle, were successful in retrieving the item. It was a set of beads that caused fireballs when used. The archer and most dolls were killed, but a few did manage to escape after seeming to argue with the archer.

Upon returning to the cart, the party found it abandoned, along with a message that the travellers had received a lift to Lofmin and would meet us there. There was also a mysterious glyph with the message, but it did not mean anything to any party members.

After continuing on towards Lofmin, the rider from before returned, along with some other people. The woman demanded that the party give them the beads. Knowing that the woman was associated with the travellers from before, the party obliged. They were then told that they would talk again that evening in Lofmin.

Upon arriving in Lofmin, the party found an inn and began to relax for the evening, only to be interrupted by the woman from before and her associates. The party were taken to an abandoned building to talk about what had occurred. The party provided their account of what had happened, along with a drawing of one of the dolls and the belongings of the archer. The woman explained that she and the others worked for the Explorers of Ebony. The party was paid well, but sworn to secrecy about the whole ordeal.

The next day, the party decided it was time to visit Mining Co. and get started on the reason they were here to begin with. After deciding that the lift was too expensive, the group walked up the steep slope to the company's headquarters, causing the less physically adept party members to become exhausted before work had even begun.

After arriving at Mining Co., the group were escorted in to the office of Mr. Smithhammer to talk about the job. There had been a collapse and the group was needed to clear out an alternative route to the mines. One of the scouts had gone missing and they were to also recover anything they could of him while they were at it.

The route was known to be home to goblins and about two hours in to the trip along the path, the party was ambushed. After sending the remnants scattering, the party found the goblins' cave nearby and destroyed them while discovering that there was a second group currently planning an ambush. Inside the cave was the missing scout,named David who was injured along with a dead body.

The party escorted David back to Mining Co. and were told that the next day, they would escort a caravan to Mine No. 4. The group's stay at an inn in the nicer part of town was paid for by the company and the group received passes to use the lift without charge. On the way to the inn, the party met a shady drow salesman, who was selling poison and a magical lock. He was interested in payments other than money. After some discussion, the party left without buying anything.

The next day, the party escorted the group to the mines. They were ambushed along the way, but managed to kill most of the goblins, along with their leader. After arriving at the mine, the group split up; with Marcus and Nemo heading into the mine and the rest of the party, with Roger heading to look at the destroyed bridge nearby. Things seemed uneventful, but Marcus and Nemo did not return. After some nudging from Roger, the party entered the mine to see if they could find the pair. They did not, but they did find a miner named Bob who assured them that everything was fine and the only reason it was taking so long was because of the size of the mine. The party believed him and went back outside to have some dinner.

Later that night, Ragmesz realised that Bob from the mines looked identical to the corpse from the goblin cave. At that point, the party stirred into action, telling Roger to head back to Mining Co. for medical help while the party headed into the mine. The lift was destroyed, but the party managed to descend safely anyway, thanks to some rope and the feather fall spell.

After carefully exploring the lowest layer of the mines, the party found Nemo in the next layer up. Marcus was still missing, but they found out that "Bob" from before was a puppet attached to some sort of blob monster. After searching down some tunnels, Marcus was found crying and freaking out behind a cave in. The party managed to push through to where he was, only to find themselves trapped. This Marcus turned out to be another puppet, but after a long and difficult fight, the party defeated the blob (an ooblex). The real Marcus was found dead in a nearby pool. It was at about this time that Nemo was revealed to have silver insect-like eyes beneath his glasses, but the party decided that it was something that could be discussed later.

Despite their victory, the party was still trapped in the mine. Using Esther's notes from talking to Marcus about mining, the group attempted to carefully shift the cave-in. Thankfully though, they were rescued before they managed to make things worse, as Mining Co. had sent backup after recognising the body from the goblin cave. They had met Roger on the road and travelled back to the mine with him. Some other trapped miners were found and also freed.

While relaxing at the makeshift camp outside the mine entrance, Ragmesz asked the party for help with searching for a monster he had encountered while he was still in the army. Most of the party agreed, but Nemo had decided to leave the party entirely. After being persuaded to think about it and talking to some other clerics, he did reconsider, but emphasised that it was probably temporary.

After being paid, the party made the trip back to Rusel, meeting Ava Seed on the way and discovering that the Witches were going to be holding a Sabbath in a week as the eldest witch of the coven had died.

After making it back to Rusel, the group was escorted to a pub near the docks by shady dwarf. Mr. Johnson met the party at the pub, took his cut of the party's pay and made them pay for his drinks while instructing them how to contact him if they wanted more work. The party decided to take a day or two in town before deciding what to do next.

Arc 2: ???
Who knows, but it'll probably start next session.