Behind the Church: Lower Southwest District (central area) After talking with the Priest of Torm, Hunvik, on the steps of his church the party heard a scream from behind the church. Hunvik brandished his maul and charged behind the church yelling a battle cry. With Urd hot on his heels, Hunvik charged into combat. Behind the church were 4 cultists, 4 beefier cultists, and 3 young wizards, all wearing sailor’s garb except for the wizards who were wearing knee-length robes and wielding staffs. The cultists were standing over a dead woman, shielding a child underneath her; she looked to be dead. Additionally, was a cloaked and hooded creature, a man in a cape wearing leather armor with a shortsword sitting on the rocks, and a older woman in a knee-length brown robe. Swell, disguised as a human noble woman, screamed and ducked out of sight. Hunvik charged into combat, summoning the spiritual weapons of Torm who began tearing into the cultists, taking down 4 cultists and one of the apprentice wizards. On their turn, two of the cult fanatics and two apprentice wizards unleashed their magical fury on Hunvik, dropping him to the ground, dying. Urd lept to action and charged forward, throwing a cultist out of the way and standing defiantly on top of the downed priest. Rurrick summoned bears, but two giant toads showed up instead. Ailekk fired at a cultist, Reis approached Urds position and healed the priest. The cloaked figure moved away while the woman in robes approached. Long story short, frogs ate a wizard, the priest was killed, Swell and Ailekk captured the cloaked figure who turned out to be a kenku, meanwhile the cultists were all killed and Reis the healbot kept healing. One of the guards (Bob) was hit with magic from a cultist's blade, ripping him apart. As one cultist was dying, she cried out to the woman in brown robes "Aren't you going to help us?" The woman in brown had a red ribbon identical to the downed cultists. She talked to Rurrick l, introducing herself as the 3rd Lieutenant. She also said her cult claimed dominion over that district (the Lower Southwest District). The guard was obviously terrified of her and someone [Cassius or Rurrick] asked “Why are you afraid of her?” He said “She's the third lieutenant of Dead Man's Grace.” The party then asked about her cult. When the guard was about to speak, the woman began casting a spell and combat restarted. She cast a spell causing black tentacles to stretch out from her in all directions, ripping at everyone within 10 feet [19 necrotic damage to everyone in 10 feet, Str save for 1/2 damage], the remaining guard didn't die. The party ganged up on the woman in brown robes while the shady man disappeared behind a building. Meanwhile, Swell and Ailekk beat up the kenku who was alternating voices of a stubborn dwarf and terrified human woman. The giant toads grappled the woman, and Urd tried to grapple her and silence her [on advantage scoring a 10 and a 10, probably his worst grapple rolls ever]. Also, Cassius healed himself while Urd, the toads, and bear Rurrick attacked the woman. In the top of the round she cast a spell and disappeared. Off in the distance, some 400 feet away, they could see her atop a cliff face some 200 feet to the south and 100+ feet up. She waved at them and ran away. [Party earned their first enemy] The child was okay and wielding a dagger, Urd had protected him while fighting the witch-woman. After the combat the child ran off, not seeming to be that bothered by his slain mother. The party tried to question the guard but he said “Fuck this” and ran off. His slain guard companion was pretty much a pile of goo at this point. The party looted some gold, platinum, etc coming out to a total of (37 gold, 7 electrum, and 25 copper EACH, not total). They noticed the building directly to their south looked spooky and Cassius sensed “bad juju” from the place. They, after disagreeing and arguing long enough for the DM to get another whiskey, decided to knock on the back door to the church. Two acolytes of Tamara and an acolyte of Torm named Gallana answered the door. She agreed to help them find property in Snaketown if they would help her revive her boss (that was Urd and/or Rurrick’s idea). She asked about the unconscious kenku, who she seemed to know a lot about. “Did he fight?” “Did he speak in dwarf’s voice a lot?” etc. She revealed that he likely worked for Father Bigmug, the priest who could heal her father who was located in Nard’s Town. The party escorted Gallana and the other acolytes back outside to say prayers for the dead, mostly so they wouldn’t become undead and try to eat anyone’s face. The party asked about the building to the south and the acolytes told them it had a well that led to the old arena, where gangs used to duke it out for territory. It was sealed up to both keep people from going in but also to keep things from coming out. The party also asked about the cults. The Dead Man’s Grace are in the Lower Southwest District but the Claws of Tiamat are in the Lower Southeast district. In the last week they had been fighting which actually helped them out, by keeping the fighting between the two cults. This let the clerics spend more time helping the people and less time worried about being shanked. At some point in there Cassius asked about the undead cult and was told “They worship some ancient undead being.” He recalled tales of an ancient being named Ruara who was a close of Dravens but then made a deal with a demon of the undead to become immortal. That’s the only such creature Cassius is aware of. After Rurrick exclaimed, “Time is of the essence, we must travel with haste!” he then called for a short rest. During that time Gallana spent time speaking to the kenku, whose name the party never asked. After the rest, the kenku seemed to have forgiven the party. The party left to go to Snaketown to, at Gallana’s suggestion, to both buy property but also avoid having to cross the bridge and face the guards in the upper levels without their escort. Gallana and the kenku went with them, with Urd carrying Hunvik’s corpse. They walked into Snaketown by the Mage Guild, the tower at the north end of the small island surrounded by docks. When asked why mages would live in such a place they were told "The Mage Guild has been since long before this was Snake Town. They just didn't choose to relocate or clean it up. After all, what's 50 years to mages?" Snaketown Mage Guild Area They entered Snaketown and went into a warehouse and “town hall”. Apparently business used to be done in the taverns but too many people were killed. After that, they moved all local business to a warehouse and gambling den where people would be slightly less inebriated. On the docks overlooking the lake, below they could see snakes and algae and all other types of life on the water including several skiffs. The houses were all “floating” on the surface, with rope bridges leading from the docks to the houses. Snaketown Hall was on stilts, and they went in, Urd still carrying the corpse. Coming inside, Urd proclaimed he needed help but spoke in thieves can saying he wanted to buy property and a boat. A young girl, 9ish, spoke back telling him there was no help for him here but speaking in thieves cant that her father could help. She led them over to a corner, except for Swell who went about to canvas the tables for an easy game, to meet her father a 60ish year old man in leather armor with some young women pirates (lots of piercings, shaved hair, and serious looking) talking to him. Urd negotiated a deal for 250 gold that he payed out of his own pocket for a house deed and passage to Nard’s town. East Docks of Snaketown Led to the east docks by the girl, she pointed out their new house [I’ve actually changed the one you guys bought] they were met by a younger man in cloths but with a greatsword on his back. Reis thinks the young man has absolutely no clue how to use that sword. He was going to charge them a fee to have to fetch the skiffs from Nards Town as Urd wasn’t sure they’d be safe but the kenku spoke in a gruff dwarf voice “Boats are safe in our dock.” Urd changed his mind and the 8 of them rowed across the lake. In the early evening, they noticed a stark contrast versus the algae, moss, and slime covered Snaketown docks. The Nards Town west docks were immaculate with dozens and dozens of Nards scrubbing, cleaning and keeping the area clean. Rurrick noticed that all of them were under 75 years or so, meaning they were all adolescents/young adults. Likely none of them had served in at the Battle of Kiernard. Seeing them arrive with the body a swarm of Nards came to help them tie up the skiffs, and get the body of Hunvik to Father Bigmug in the church. Rurrick asked about who they should talk to for more information about the cults, what's going on, etc and the Nards on the dock told him the most knowledgeable Nard is a fella named Jebb. He works on the docks but they couldn't see him currently. Since they needed to leave, Rurrick asked the Nards to send word to Jebb that they'd like to speak to him. Going through Nards Town they saw few human guards and the town was being rebuilt/refinished. They noticed many buildings were being remodelled but few, strangely, seemed to be furnished with beds, tables, etc. They reached the church, half newer stone and half ancient stones (like in the island template), they went inside. In the back of the church was a giant dining hall where Father Bigmug was drinking out of his frothy mug. A large dwarf, both in height but also in stature, maybe a good 5’7 and 400lbs, he grabbed Gallana in a giant hug, much to her disappointment. Rurrick noticed he looked to be about 120 (middle aged). He asked to get Hunvik on the table where he cast some spell, reviving the priest. He turned around and thanked the party. They asked him about the cults [I think] and he told them about the undead to the east next to them, some underground. They asked Bigmug about the undead attack in Dravens’ Port, he pleaded ignorance but Rurrick knows he is hiding something. They asked about the elders not sending troops, and Bigmug ended with, “We should talk in private.” The party decided to stay the night after being offered accommodations. After some investigation, they found the church was not only a brewery, much to Rurrick’s delight when he said “I don’t suppose you have anything to drink around here?” and Bigmug erupted with bellowing laughter. The party also noticed the church was absent of any type of religious regalia. In a minimalistic style, the church had solid stone-craft, solid tables and chairs, but absolutely no religious icons of any type. The party wasn’t even sure who Bigmug was praying too or who raised Hunvik from the dead. The party took a short rest, the DM wrote a game recap, and all was well in the world.