Gorma

Race: Half-Orc

Class: Rogue (Thief)

Sheep

Race: Elf (Wood)

Class: Cleric (Nature)

Okay this shit all started in a carriage bound for an exclusive party. Inside the carriage were our wonderful heroes, GORMA MCGEE, HALCYON GILDENTHORN, and SHEEP. Also INSPECTOR STRYCHNINE NELSON was there. They each (except Sheep) had received a letter and an invitation to a party hosted by reclusive(ish) celebrity VERONICA VIOLET. The letters were unsigned, simply pleading for help with some sort of future danger, something that would happen at the party.

At the gate of the party, the security guard (a very old elven man named Bert) asked to see their invitations before permitting them entry to PARTY CITY. Party City is a huge structure resembling a greenhouse, with glass walls and ceilings. The glass is very fancy and under a number of enchantments, some minor (like accounting for keeping the glass clean), some major (like casting everything within Party City under the guise of night, complete with an illusory sky of stars. It is always nighttime at Party City). These enchantments were made exactly the way that Veronica Violet requested.

Their half-orc driver, JETT, pulled into Party City, then went off to go unload the carriage and let the horse rest. At this point the crew met the rest of the party guests, all of them here one day early.

LACE LUSTER was a silver-white tiefling man decked out in glittering and sheer fabrics. He was rocking out to the music playing and explained to Sheep that he was a huge fan of Veronica Violet and had won a lottery to be at the party.

PERIWINKLE PRUSSIAN was originally an elven woman but, when under the pressure of longterm narrative storytelling, became a human woman the whole time instead. She was seen waving a wizardly wand to move giant speakers, setting them up around a bandstand. Talking with her revealed that she worked as a personal biographer to Veronica Violet, and had been for many years. She also revealed that she majored in journalism (minored in wizardry) and was wholly overqualified for this job. Veronica Violet had offered her the job because Peri had covered a huge news story and wanted a big name to write a book about her. Peri has not been enjoying the task of recording the habits of the idle rich.

CHEF CHERRY was a hot-headed bronze dragonborn woman hired on as the sole caterer for the event, decked out in a red chef's uniform. She was pissed and pissy because, for the number of guests expected, she should have had way more staff than just her. Once again, Veronica Violet had made a hire based on prestige alone, and didn't really consider the actual needs of the job. Cherry was being paid very well to do way more work than she would have had to, all so Veronica Violet could say that she had all food hand-prepared by once-child-prodigy Chef Cherry.

Mr. Lionel Maize was a moustached halfling man wearing a well-tailored suit, a bright yellow bowtie, and a pair of small gold earrings. He was immediately insufferable, trying to boast of being well-connected, wealthy, successful, and very charitable. He was here because he was "A very close personal friend of Veronica Violet," although this is the first party of hers that he's ever attended.

MINDY MINT (originally nicknamed 'Pear,') was a very nice bearded dwarven woman decked out in simple green clothes. She was here because she worked as a stunt artist, and one of her more well-known actor friends gave her their invitation. She was here because it sounded fun, and she really wanted a chance to speak with Veronica Violet, but she's a bit nervous.

Okay. They had a before-party. Veronica Violet made an appearance, revealing herself to be a gorgeous, high-fashion, drow woman with an incredible stage presence and a very melodious voice. Everyone, except maybe Peri and Cherry seemed to be absolutely (but not literally) enchanted by her. Then, a disguised voice announced that something terrible would happen during the party, and some monsters were released. The crew made easy work of them, and everyone konked out for the night. When they awoke, there had been A MURDER?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!

Lace Luster was found floating dead in Veronica Violet's pool with deep gashes in his back. Who was responsible? Why did they do it? How, where, and when? Other questions were also asked. And the squad did their damndest to find out why. However, throughout interrogations and tearing the whole place apart for clues, that disguised voice continuously rang out over Party City, delivering ominous messages of violence to come.

In (mostly) chronological order, here are some things that happened over the course of that very long day:

• The NPCs were interrogated
• Gorma became attached to Mindy Mint who at some point revealed that she had a dragonborn daughter outside of Party City
• had her armor chewed off by a rust monster
• Some blink dogs attacked, as summoned by the voice
• Gorma was teleported out of Party City by the retreating blink dogs
• Mr. Maize was found stealing shit around the manor just 'cuz he wanted to
• Veronica Violet was discovered to be hooked on fantasy!drugs
• Gorma, while outside Party City, discovered that Bert the gatekeeper had some sort of hand in the attacks on Party City. She did her best to make friends with him
• Mr. Maize latched on to Halcyon as a friend and ally whom he could rely on.
• Halcyon endured this
• Gorma fumbled a catch so bad that a MANTICORE was released into Party City
• The manticore killed Periwinkle Prussian, and the squad mourned her, and Sheep grew some periwinkles around where her body lay
• Peri dismissed Feign Death, waited until she was alone, and then stood up and walked away
• Sheep found her footprints leading to a secret doorway out of Party City
• Bert released a HELLHOUND into Party City. Gorma teleported (via blink dog) back inside
• The hellhound was defeated. The crew figured out that Peri and Bert were in cahoots. They were the ones responsible for all of the monster attacks, but not Luster's death.
• Jett the driver tried to openly kill Mr. Maize because of how insufferable and nasty he was being. When he was stopped by the LGL crew, he informed them that he has some anger issues and that he used to date Luster. And also that he had a knife.
• The murder weapon was found outside a bathroom window with a scrap of green fabric caught on the window latch
• Cherry accidentally electrocuted Halcyon
• Gorma at some point met a cop and also saw the cop die and then stole a one-time resurrection rod from the (fantasy) cop car
• Peri announced (via voice) that there would be a final attack at 4 o'clock
• The LGL crew gently confronted Mindy
• Mindy crumpled, and confessed that Veronica Violet was her adopted sister, that they had grown up together until Veronica's birth parents collected her at the moment of adulthood. The only reason she was at Party City was to try and reunite with her, but was devastated to learn that Veronica's childhood memories were largely scattered due to her fantasy!drug abuse. Luster then made some comments about Veronica that Mindy realized he was planning to act on, and so she killed him.
• Peri released a GIANT RAM into Party City. And also a FIRE ELEMENTAL. And a HELLHOUND. and the BLINK DOGS were there too.
• Inspector Strychnine Nelson died, and then was resurrected. And none of that will ever matter.
• The Giant Ram (BORIS) was defeated, released from his cursed state, and reunited with his flock.
• Peri tried to make a villain fight, her vs. the crew, happen, but she only ever minored in wizardry and was easily defeated. Not that she seemed to mind, actually. Though she did reveal that she had been the investigative journalist that helped reveal Halcyon's parents' ties with a fiendish contract, and also had been the one to invite the LGL to Party City in the first place (except Sheep)
• Peri, Jett, and Mindy were all arrested. You can read the full Where Are They Now? HERE

And thus ended their time at Party City.

After solving the damn mystery (Mindy Mint was the murderer but Periwinkle Prussian was the villain) and deciding to continue on journeying together (minus Strychnine Nelson), the LGL crew pinned most of their team bonding on trauma. They travelled out into the world, stopping druids from Awakening massive trees, visiting Peri in prison, and accepting random quests from strange gnomes. The strange gnome in question, Shesoonkless or Dusty for short, signs them onto an adventurer's guild: The Order of the Open Palm.

They joined and accepted a trial quest from a town that needs help clearing out monsters. On the way to that town, they travelled into a mountain pass, killed some cult members, and then fell under the power of a coven of three Night Hags. The spell put them in a strange nightmare-ish dream state, keeping the team in a coma for five years. FIVE. YEARS.

I'm sure nothing notable will come of this.

When they awoke, they decided to continue on their quest as if nothing had happened. They attempted (and actually succeeded!) in killing the Night Hags and collected a reward from a local old woman. Part of the reward was a dried herb that, when placed beneath your head while you sleep, would prevent you from dreaming. They all started doing that. And then finally went on to the town that needed their help five years ago.

On the way, they meddled in the affairs of some local business-owners in GoldDown, and stopped a group of bandits (one of which was someone who appeared to be a little girl but deffo wasn't. This was the second time they'd encountered her.) from stealing a Griffon that they recognized as being Dusty's. Then, they finally reached the cursed town of Mulch. Which you know, banger for them. Five years late, but they made it! Woo!

As it turns out, Mulch's monster problems were ongoing and happening twice daily, and even after five years have found no solution to the problem. While investigating the situation,Gorma and Sheep fell under the curse, making it INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT to leave town under their own power or do anything to disturb the curse's process. Most of the townspeople are under this curse. They eventually solved the monster problem and broke the curse by destroying the ghosts of the town's founding quadruple. Only to discover that Periwinkle Prussian had very recently escaped from prison, during their Hag-induced coma.

Additionally, on the outskirts of Mulch, there was a seemingly-abandoned wizard's tower on the edge of a lake. Upon inspection, they heard a voice from within. A familiar voice. Bert's voice. The team tried to talk to him and discovered that he was missing an enormous chunk of memories from his enormously long lifespan. He had been cursed. They un-cursed him. He revealed that Peri had been the one to put him there and curse him to be bereft of memories, and that he'd been there for around 3 years. Wuh-oh.

They accepted another quest from Dusty to go try and find someone to assist in tracking down Peri: A very powerful seer by the name as Blaine, The Seer of the Painted Star. She has taken up residence in the town of GREYDAWN, Halcyon's hometown. Joining them on the road as the prerequisite fourth member of their party was a lovable dullard elven man named Br'k. He seemed excited to join their team and eager to make friends. I'm sure nothing bad will come of him.

They got a ride from Dusty and her Griffon, and then continued on their way to Greydawn, running into some familiar faces on the way. For one, Chef Cherry was there with a pet dog and a handful of levels of artificer under her belt. For another, Roseclare Mint, a young, pink-scaled, dragonborn rogue. You know. Mindy's daughter. She did not like Gorma, and Gorma certainly did not get along with her.

Travelling with Cherry and Roseclare were two random guys, LARK and SPARROW. This group of people were out on the roads travelling to a bog that was said to contain a particular magical object. The two sets of partners took up an ad wanted and ended up working together. And maaaayybe they could use some extra support. The LGL crew joined up.

One whole dungeon later, Lark and Sparrow revealed that they straight up had zero interest in working with people not in their cult so.... And they brainwashed Br'k into destroying the exit from the dungeon and ran away, literally punching a dog on their way out. Anyways the team caught up to them and they were apprehended easily and the magical object they were seeking ended up being a dud soooo... bad day for cult members Lark and Sparrow!

The LGL team interrogated the absolute shit out of them, gaining information on the cult's focus (to summon and work with as many fiends as they can basically), the cult's known enemies (the LGL, RIP pissrobes your cult misses you so bad), and Lark and Sparrow's feelings towards one another (they're super close and they care for each other deeply and maybe that will be enough for both of them, even if they both want more, and maybe dying means finally joining the bloodwar and joining the eternal cacophony, but does that mean anything if he isn't with me? What good is eternity if I can't spend it with him? And would having such an obvious weakness stop me from being an asset when I move on from this mortal coil? Lots to think about.) And then they parted ways from Cherry and Roseclare and continued to the first and only town on the way to GREYDAWN.

After much endured, they stopped in the town of Tullich, another hometown of another team member (Gorma) BUT OH NO!!!! THIS TOWN IS ALSO HELLA CURSED!! :((.

Yeah so they show up as the sun is setting and like no one is outside, but all the lights are on in just about every building. Odd. They head to a spot Gorma knows is safe, THE CANARY - a tavern run by the one and only BETHARA MCGEE. Hm, same last name as Gorma, huh? Interesting.

Bethara explains that the town is cursed, that people keep growing weak or dying in the night with no obvious cause. The only defense seems to be keeping indoors with the lights on when night falls. She's been sheltering people here in THE CANARY for a couple weeks now. Among the folks staying here, Gorma recognized a half-elven man who she'd grown up with, POE. Poe explained he was looking for his friend PHAM who has been missing for weeks now. The crew promised to keep an eye out for her.

With that all that said and explained, Bethara sends Gorma to go find some good booze and uses the opportunity to offer Halcyon and Sheep a stack of cash to leave town tomorrow, and to leave Gorma behind. When they refused, she upped the price. When they refused a second time, Bethara explained that Gorma has a history of being a horrible judge of character, and if they were to do anything to contribute to that history, Bethara is killer with a crossbow.

The gang moved on to try and solve some problems. Key word try. When they tried to drop Lark and Sparrow off with the model cops of Tullich, they made the two of them confess by putting them under Zone of Truth, which accidentally also caused Br'k to admit a link he had to Sheep's past. He admitted that he came from the same village as her, and that he had seen her free a unicorn that was going to be sacrificed, and had told his dad what she'd done. He broke down, saying he regretted it deeply, and hadn't even recognized Sheep for who she was until the day before. Sheep took the news hard and distanced herself from the group for the first time since she'd met them in Party City.

The crew thought that the origin of the curse might be in the now shut down orphanage that Gorma, Poe, and Pham had all grown up in: The Riverbed Home for Children. They ransacked the place. Sheep found a ledger of names and dates of those who passed through the orphanage's walls over the years. Gorma kicked down some doors, and saw that one of the rooms had been occupied maybe a couple weeks ago. Maybe PHAM? They found no sign of the curse, but they were found by an ONI. The Oni seemed upset that there weren't any children kept here for it to eat anymore, but would settle for orphans in the meantime. It also said that it remembered Gorma, and Gorma recalled an early memory where her family ran with her along a riverbank, running from something dangerous behind them. The Oni. Her family fell into the river, and her parents died. The Oni proceeded to attack them with the intent to kill and eat, but ran off at the arrival of a lady wearing a dress made of bones. THE RIVER SPIRIT.

The Spirit of the River said that Gorma was under her protection. She explained that she exists as a manifestation of the river beside Tullich, that she had been there the day that the Oni chased Gorma and her parents into her waters. She said that she was the one to pull Gorma from the water, but it was her parents who saved her: they had not drowned that day. Gorma had. Her parents made a deal with the River Spirit: their lives for their daughter's. The Spirit agreed. From that point forward, so long as Gorma lived, her parents would be dead. She did say there was a way to speak to them, should she choose. And with that, she left.

Having had an already incredibly heavy morning, they decided it was time to follow some mysterious footprints into the old mines the miserable orphans used to be made to labor in. Joy. They did find evidence of those shadowy figures leaving the mines from here, and also a mine cart that they did not even get into even one time. :(. Anyhow, they explored the mines, and heard some strange giggling coming from deeper within. Someone was fooling around in the orphan mines!! Someone they knew!!!!! A friend? enemy? Mr. Maize!!!!

And also. A SUCCUBUS. (incubus? who knows.)

After figuring out that good 'ol Mr. Maize was now MAYOR Maize of Tullich, and also that the succubus was enthralling him and up to no good, they took the little mayor with them deeper in the mines, and finally found Pham who was engaged in a ritual that opened a portal that was letting all of the shadow creatures into the town. Oh nooooo. The portal began summoning undead Whights while an imp attacked people, but actually the imp was the succubus, and also Halcyon fully exited the battle in order to interrogateMayor Maize about what he knew about the fiends that were at work in the town he'd taken over. At this point, the succubus released its hold on the mayor and charmed Sheep, and then also killed her dead with a good good smooch, just as Halcyon returned. Whoops. Also, Gorma was fighting for her life.

At the end of the battle, they managed to destroy the book PHAM was reading out of that was summoning the portal, the succubus fled, Pham fell unconscious to the ground, Mayor Maize ran away terrified, and the duo carried both bodies above ground..... except first they heard the mayor crying for help in a cavern near the entrance. Halcyon split off to retrieve him, did so, and then he transformed and revealed himself to be the Oni and dealt a massive amount of damage to Halcyon while her back was turned. And then vanished.

After a truly unreasonable amount of time and work, the two remaining lesbians managed to find someone in town with the ability to resurrect Sheep, which they successfully managed to do. Before leaving Tullich, they bought some magical weaponry, gave each other tattoos, Gorma had a heart-to-heart with Bethara, Sheep had a heart-to-heart with Br'k, and Halcyon found out that Pham got that evil portal book from Blaine, The Seer of the Painted Star, who was also the person who sent Mr. Maize here to become mayor of Tullich. They visited said mayor, who was no longer happy to seem them at all, and desperate not to let his wife find out he'd been fooling around with an evil creature who magically charmed him. So before they left town with a circus, they started a rumour that he was actively cheating on his wife. And with that, they left Tullich. 5/5 stars, no notes. They reall stuck the landing. A+.

Hired on as roadside body guards for Duke Flaming's Avionic Circus of the Spectacular and Strange, the crew continued on their way towards Greydawn. On the way, they met some of the colorful cast making up the circus, including a pair of clowns called TATTERS and SNOOTS. Tatters even did Sheep's makeup one time. Speaking of Sheep-

FIRST BOMBSHELL: She read through the ledger she stole from the orphange and found the names of her younger brother and sister who she hadn't seen in years: SYLWYNN and VIRGATA SUMMERCLOUD. This meant at some point, Gorma and Sheep's siblings were at the same orphanage at the same time. Although her siblings were almost immediately adopted by one ORICARYN WILDPATH. Wildpath. Br'k's last name. Oricaryn, he explained, was Br'k's aunt. Also, it was recorded that her siblings were released to the orphanage by LAVARIS, Sheep's mother.

SECOND BOMBSHELL:Sheep had a dream where she was chased by bestial monsters through a forest until she was eventually surrounded. A huge, bipedal tiger with a sword sheathed at his side stepped forward, brandishing his claws, as he was egged on by the crowd to draw blood. Sheep moved to strike first, and two shimmering unicorns interrupted the battle, shattering the forests landscape with their mighty hooves. And Sheep found herself in a white space with her sister, Sylwynn. She looked radically different than Sheep remembered, with things like simian teeth, insectoid wings, and two different colored eyes. Also she was super messed up to talk to. She didn't seem to be totally coherent of who Sheep was, or at least seemed unable to grasp the weight of the situation. Sylwynn told Sheep that she had been raised by unicorns in the feywild, that Sheep was here because a goddess saved her from an assassination attempt by another deity, and pointed out an arrow fletched with red feathers. And then Sheep woke up.

Pretty crazy, right? Couldn't get much crazier I don't think.

THIRD BOMBSHELL: Some of the carnies told a story local to the region of Greydawn of someone called the MAD HUNTRESS OF MALAR. They explained that MALAR was a deity worshipped by malicious rangers. He was a god who took the survival of the fittest to mean the death of the weak. Evil hunter types. The Mad Huntress of Malar is said to stalk the region on perilous hunts in the name of her deity, that she once slew a baby dragon and its parent sought eternal revenge against her. Anyhow, that night, Sheep was on watch, and she heard movement up the path. She spotted a pair of Yaun-ti racing away into the woods, running away from something. She heard a bow being drawn and an arrow hitting treebark. And then an arrow, fletched with red feathers, shot into the gruond at Sheep's feet. She looked up to see in the dark of the new moon the cloaked figure of the Mad Huntress of Malar herself. And also, it was her mom.

There was a fight. It was pretty crazy. Lavaris at one point called lightning down onto her daughter in order to get her to leave. She seemed shocked that Sheep was there at all and said that Oricaryn still had Sheep's siblings and threatened to hurt them if she didn't do as she was bid. Except, Sheep had just found out that Sylwynn was living in the Feywild, so that can't be true. Lavaris urged her to leave, was pissed that Br'k was even present, and then finally agreed to meet in a couple days' time in the city.

Also this whole time they became aware that the Oni of Tullich was following them. And also the mornign after their encounter with Lavaris, they found Tatters the clown torn open by what could only be assumed to be Oni claws, certain organs missing, maybe devoured. His partner-in-clown, Snoots, was devastated, and seemed to give up on the circus altogether, walking off on her own away from the troupe. Gorma heard the sound of a roaring river and went to meet the River Spirit, who enchanted her necklace to serve as a way to contact her if need be. She also promised that the Oni wouldn't bother them anymore. They had a clown funeral, and finally arrived in the city of Greydawn. What cheery times await them here? :D