In a dark back alley, a small door opens and closes quickly as a dark shape slips inside…
Faolán: This place is hard to find. I think the lamp outside has run out of oil.
Contact Agent: Ah, cadet, glad to see you alive after I heard about your squad.
Faolán: I said, this place is hard to find. I think the lamp outside has run out of oil.
Contact Agent: Right, I heard about you. Um… The boy who lights it was sent to buy bread. He must not be back yet. Now, lower that crossbow and tell me where you’ve been the past week.
Faolán: Three days out from home, I was out checking the perimeter of the camp we had just made. My three fellow cadets back at camp were careless and didn’t follow procedure. They gave our location away to a group of yuan-ti who happened to be nearby. They were dead before I could back to help but I would have died too in that fight. Captain and the last cadet fled but were pursued by the yuan-ti. It was a long, chaotic game of hide and seek over two days before the yuan-ti finally captured and killed Captain. I became all turned around trying to contact and help Captain while at the same time trying to stay hidden.
I wandered aimlessly for another two days before I found a small group of humans. I don’t know what they were doing out there at the edge of the swamp but they seemed lost too. Just after I found them, a different squad of yuan-ti found us. I overheard them say something about me being possibly too small for the ceremony but they’d let their shamans decide. We were taken to the mountain and imprisoned in a dungeon.
I was left there for another two days until a small group of adventurers crawled up the hole where the yuan-ti had been throwing all the waste. It turns out that mountain held both the yuan-ti ceremonial site and the tomb of some long-forgotten necromancer. I offered to help the adventurers as much as I could and they decided not to send me off with the other prisoners. They had also just lost their trap-finder to a green slime so I could really help them there.
Contact Agent: Tell me more about these adventurers.
Faolán: They’re led by Krieger the Relentless. There is also Civlis the Summoner.
Contact Agent: Yes, we’ve had some news out of the Bastard recently so those two names are known to us. The one who died must have been their acquaintance Baezel.
Faolán: I believe so but they don’t talk favourably of him, if they mention him at all. They also travel with two clerics, Alcot, whom we know well, and an adept of Kord, a dwarf named Ulrik.
Contact Agent: Yes, Alcot we know well but I’ll have to pass the name Ulrik back to our superiors to see if we can get his background.
Faolán: They also travel with Gromjin the Alone.
Contact Agent: There’s a name we had all but forgotten; probably because he had all but forgotten it himself when he turned to drinking so heavily. Are they aware of his past?
Faolán: I brought up the subject with Krieger. He seemed to think that Gromjin was still capable and did not care to hear about the other failed parties only Gromjin had survived. He seemed to think that proved Gromjin’s ability to survive more than question why everyone around him seemed to die.
Krieger gave me a few items from their fallen comrade but most of their treasure was stolen two nights ago by a green dragon. I have left what they gave me behind in my room at the inn. The rest of the party will discover them when I don’t come down for breakfast in the morning.
Contact Agent: You had better hurry back and get those things before anyone else finds them! You should sell what you can’t use to buy some better equipment. You passed your training and have been promoted to Wanderer One.
Faolán: Wanderer One? You want me to remain with the adventurers?
Contact Agent: Yes, Faolán. We will miss your skills in the Scouts but these adventurers are getting quite the name for themselves. Our allies are happy with their work. Their successes may mean a little less work for our Scouts and Spies but, after all the difficulties these past many years, a little rest will be welcome. Also, adventurers cover vast areas and can learn some very valuable information. If we need you, we will contact you, and then you must try to guide the adventurers to complete your tasks.
Faolán: Yes, sir! I will send reports when I can and I will await your further instructions.
