🏘️ Calvantrus

Our story begins in Calvantrus, a small, community-led town that sits on the main road headed towards the capital city of Ashrun Valley - Flammenvielen. The place is currently as busy as it has ever been, as after the event now known as the Fall of Flammenvielen has led to a mass exodus of it's citizens, Calvantrus is now seeing an immense boom of business as the people fleeing Flammenvielen pass through.

🐴 Cart Registration

Amidst the town of Calvantrus, many business owners and couriers have taken to offering rides to those passing by, creating mass cart processions that are delivering people to nearby towns and crossings to make some gold, and assist in their exodus.

The party converges here, as B and Xolo line up to register with a cart ran by a man called Davos Tailwind. They meet Davos' pet tortoises; Dierdre and Dundee, and discuss with him the details of his cart services. He tells them that he'll take them as far as Lake Gheel Cross, where the main road diverges north and south at the end of Ashrun Valley.

B and Xolo continue to register with Davos, who joins them together with Lyra and Ember, two lone travellers who too seek a cart headed towards the cross. They agree to travel together for the time being, and sign off with Davos.

🔥 Flammenvielen Convoy

Some hassle begins to stir up in the town square of Calvantrus when a convoy of Flammenvielen military, led by a high-ranking archmage named Kraetor Weiss , arrives and attempts to set up an encampment. The mayor of Calvantrus, Bronwyn Landlely, confronts Kraetor, who tells that they are transporting munitions on behalf of the military, although Bronwyn and those observing doubt these claims.

The party briefly tempt getting involved, but are dismissed by Kraetor who returns to his convoy. They briefly discuss amidst themselves and Bronwyn, and find themselves very suspicious of the convoy, especially as since the Fall of Flammenvielen, there has been much dissonance between the people, the military, and the state, with many rumours surfacing that the military themselves are not in the know at Flammenvielen anymore, and may be going rogue.

🏠 The Passer's Buy

The party decide to settle in at The Passer's Buy, a local inn and tavern ran by half-elf Colter Tanith, and discuss what to do next. They observe that many of the Flammenvielen soldiers that arrived with the convoy are at present drinking at The Passer's Buy, and thus decide to inspect the carts as night falls to see what they are hiding or transporting. Before they do, Ember incidentally runs into Kraetor Weiss, discovering he must also be staying at the same inn. She passes herself off as a Flammenvielen researcher, which she is, but avoids arousing suspicion that she may be fleeing the military or be any agent of concern for Kraetor. He buys it, and leaves her to her own devices.

🔎 Investigating the Convoy

The party head out sneakily, getting a read on the town and more importantly, the convoys. They arrive at the carts, which are significantly less guarded due to the majority of the soldiers being away drinking, and attempt to infiltrate the small encampment to see what the carts are holding.

Here, they uncover that the carts are transporting a significant amount of gold and valuables, weapons and armour presumably scavenged from the siege, but more importantly, two injured prisoners and a mysterious device.

The prisoners appear to be elven, clad in the silver and navy colours of the Usurper Choir - the elven faction responsible for the siege and hostile takeover that took place during the Fall of Flammenvielen. Moreover, the device appears to be some sort of brass cube with Everflame, Flammenvielen's enigmatic power source, channelled and stored inside it. Ember recognises this as an Everflame core, a device used to power some of Flammenvielen's hulking automaton wardens, and the party begin to question why this wandering militia are transporting it.

Before they can investigate further, they are found out, but quickly apprehend the witness using their abilities, and flee the scene without causing any major upheaval. They retreat to their room at the inn, and debate how much further they should take their investigations.

🌄 Morning at The Passer's Buy

The party awake after the events of the previous night and gather for breakfast and preparations. Before they set out, Kraetor Weiss returns to the room to speak with Ember. He warns her of the disturbance at the carts the night before, and that there may be individuals about who have grievances with the Flammenvielen military. He remains ignorant to the fact that it was Ember and the party, and moves on, leaving them to breakfast. The party make their way downstairs and chat with the owner, Colter, who readies them breakfast before they set off.

💰 The Calvantrus Markets

Due to the booming business resulting from the Flammenvielen exodus, the town has taken to setting up weekly markets. Here, there is a game being ran throughout the town called Smugglers Trade, in which participants must retain an armband or steal others to win a prize. While the party shop about, Lyra goes about stealing an excessive number of armbands from children, enthralled by the game and determined to win it's prize.

🕷️ Sheila Harpey

While shopping, the party meet with a strange, elven figure - a lady named Sheila Harpey who runs a store in town called The Lott. They are intrigued by her appearance, which appears to be that of a disturbed cross between an elf and a changeling, and discover she is from Yanaviere, the mysterious, occult city from the south of the continent.

⚔️ Vander Mace

Meanwhile, B vends with Vander Mace, a merchant with a mechanical arm who specialises in weapons, and black market and counterfeit goods. She questions if he has any associates to her previous faction and their leader, Maverick Hyde, but Vander shrugs it off, claiming he knows and is owed money by Hyde but is no longer affiliated with him.

🔥 Infiltrating the Convoy

Retaining their spite against the Flammenvielen militia that has set up in town, and driven by curiosity, the party decide to infiltrate the convoy and attempt to steal that in which Kraetor and his man are attempting to hide.

Ember attempts to talk to and distract some of the guards while Xolo deploys his moth familiar, Polita, to flutter in and inspect them. They reaffirm which carts have the prisoners in them and which has the Everflame core, and converge on them.

B burrows beneath the ground and emerges underneath one of the carts, attempting to peer up between the wooden flooring on it. At the same time, Lyra uses their drow-elf shadow step to enter into one, and Xolo emerges from their mystical flask which Polita was able to carry into one.

The prisoners look up in shock, faced by Xolo who has suddenly appeared before them, and confusion immediately follows as the party discover that the carts are enchanted with some sort of silence-inducing magic.

The session ends as the party find themselves converging on the carts in broad daylight, in an attempt to seize their contents and slip away without being caught.