Brellin Will Burn

Brellin Will Burn is a storyline set in Doelle in the year 832.

In Bloom
In the 5th month of the Era of Man 832, a convergence of young wanderers occurred in the trading town of Bardan in south Dreylun. Alexander de Caldwell, son of the President of Dreylun, had recently arrived in Bardan to address a mystical goblin ravaging the local populace and economy. At this same time came three other wanderers:

Dorg, a half-orc shepherd on a journey to understand his primal urges;

Mel Honeysuckle, a seemingly inconspicuous halfing bard looking for stories of her own to tell;

and Rock-it, a gnomish ranger of the mountains on a quest from her people.

These three, aided by the druid Conall, agreed to aid Alexander in his search for the traffickers in exchange for a cut of the reward money offered by Solis Killigan.

The group began by searching for eyewitness accounts, most of whom shared the same basic testimony; that a bugbear draped in an elf's robe and wielding a chain was magically blinding people and stealing livestock, and that the town's guard, already spread thin by Bloom traffickers, was ill-equipped to sent a task force to kill it. Conall, knowing the location of the bugbear to be a dilapidated mansion called Goblheim, guided the group to its lair. A barrage of powerful nature magic from Conall incapacitated the bugbear almost instantly, and Alexander disposed of the beast in short order, scattering the goblin cohort that had drawn around him and leaving the mansion again empty. The group then found traces of a metallic blue powder on the bugbear's clothing, arms, and face- powder that matched several large boxes in the storeroom of Goblheim.Alexander and Conall agreed to burn down the building, and Mel disposed of the Bloom, although she kept some aside for herself until throwing it out some days later. Rock-it, unsatisfied with bringing the cloak of the bugbear to collect her reward, proceeded to decapitate the bugbear and carry it the nine miles back into Bardan, dumping it on the floor of the courthouse in front of Killigan and several horrified onlookers whilst demanding her reward and creating a stain on the floor of the town hall that persists to the present day.

The following evening, pockets lined with gold pieces, Mel, Dorg, and Alexander proceeded to drink, party, and dance late into the night, Mel singing songs of their exploits in slaying the beast and destroying the drugs. Alistar, Alexander's brother, became visibly concerned about what he and his associates had done, and warned Alexander that he should leave town immediately. That same night, both Alexander and Mel were visited by assassins; Mel in the Blue Devil Inn, Alexander in his private, royal quarters. Both narrowly escaped death, and all members of the group agreed that leaving Dreylun for a time was in the best interest of all involved. Alex took a horse and a mastiff, and they departed the following morning.

The Weeping Wizard; Rock-it Leaves
Whilst traveling north toward the border crossing into Wreiland, the group came upon a group of smugglers from the same group as the Bloom traders that had attacked them two nights prior. Alexander, still outraged, immediately rallied the group to disrupt the wagon and kill all aboard, sparing only one young man on the condition he surrender all weapons and information and walk to Bardan. A search of the carriage revealed several sets of weaponry from the military of Grand Frellia, including swords and crossbows. Alexander took it upon himself to stop at the Weeping Wizard for rest and supplies, then return the weapons to Brellin. Shortly thereafter, the group was assailed by a pair of diseased owlbears bearing a bluish crust and fungus around their eyes and beaks. Slaying these owlbears and losing their riding dog, the group thought nothing more of the beasts. In addition, Mel caught a brief glimpse of what would later be identified as Seahocu. During the trip to the Weeping Wizard, Rock-it left the party and was not heard from again. The group set out immediately the following morning, narrowly deciding to proceed to Brellin rather than to Roccam.

The Road to Brellin; Osret Joins
Alexander, Mel, and Dorg traveled west under a heavy wind and light rain toward Brellin. About twelve miles outside the Frellian border, they came upon an overturned carriage. Inside, Mel found piles of fine clothing and business documents as well as personal effects related to Martin and Mary Applebaum, a married couple of clothing importers. The group also found an unconscious halfling dressed in sleepwear who, when resuscitated, introduced himself as Osret, cleric of Felism and traveling companion to the Applebaums. Moments later, Mel and Osret were met by a pair of ogres (Presumably those responsible for the missing humans), though the group quickly dispatched them, as well as the third ogre tending their campsite mere yards away. Osret found the bodies of his compatriots and determined to return their paperwork and personal effects to Brellin, after which he would continue his missionary work.

The group camped alongside a quiet road that night. Dorg, known to sleepwalk and to have an unusual connection to nature, sleepwalked away from the campsite. The other three members of the group found him sometime later in a field of stones, standing entranced on an altar with a stone in his hands. When Mel woke him, the ground broke away to reveal an elemental composed of soil and plant matter that attempted to bind the adventurers with ropes. Dorg managed to cut himself away with his hatchets, and the adventurers fled into the wood, packing their campsite and continuing their journey through the dark night. Dorg, his mind set at ease by the discovery of what had ailed him so,

The First Arrival; Adventurer's Hall
Alexander's arrival in Brellin, as well as his return of several sets of finely crafted Frellian armaments, prompted an immediate request for audience from Adrian, the current patriarch of Noble House Storms and the leader of Grand Frellia. That same evening, the three dined with him at Brellin's Stormchild Castle. Mel, overwhelmed by the prospect of seeing her familial enemy, managed to slip Storms a poison while he was distracted with Caldwell. Their business concluded, Alexander was directed to the Brellin Adventurer's Hall. The Hall's director, after testing Alexander's combat prowess, offered him a B-rank in the Hall's hierarchy and assigned him a task in the village of Treju.

Treju and Gayil
When Alexander, Mel, and Osret (Who had determined to stay with the two of them as a means of cheaply and safely traveling for his work) arrived in Treju, they found that the town had been evacuated and was staying in a makeshift refugee camp set up by the Frellian Guard. Several sinkholes had opened in the town, damaging large swaths of property and swallowing two houses. The trio descended into the nearest sinkhole and were immediately confronted by looting orcs. As they progressed further into the cavern, they found