The Heir of Xelphon: Small Town, Big Problem

When caravans and messengers started disappearing on the road just outside the small town of King’s Fork, Priest Daru, Rin the Courier, and Bill the Tanner volunteered to help John, captain of the guard, to investigate. After dispatching a couple of violent fey on the road, the four found an abandoned cart and a corpse. They confirmed it was one of the missing merchants and as they were investigating, they were ambushed by two skeletons that appeared out of the solid rock wall in front of them. John died attempting to drive them away, and his body was dragged into the rock wall by the skeletons. Terrified, the remaining three fled back to town.

The next morning, a trio of adventurers known as The Golden Arrow came through King’s Fork, decked in magical armor, with gleaming weapons and tales of glory. They shrugged off the group’s requests for assistance, deeming the issue too trivial. Instead, they gifted the group some magic items. Rin was so enamored with the adventurers that she spent the evening with them (getting quite drunk) and listening to their stories. By the end of the night, the leader of the Golden Arrow had nearly converted her to the worship of Zareul, the god of heroism.

After seeing the experienced adventurers off, Rin, Bill, and Daru geared up once more and headed back into the forest, joined by the town’s resident vagrant, Bryn the Woodelf, who had overheard and wanted to be part of the “heroic quest”. When they examined the ominous wall that the skeletons dragged John’s corpse through, they discovered it was merely an illusion (although Rin did have some issues seeing through it). On the other side was a massive torchlit stone tunnel that led deep underground.