Standing by the now closed Daisygate portal, Alfein, Orlando and Amelia realised they had no idea how to get back out of Thornlock.
They tried to backtrack the way they had come, but soon realised they had not paid enough attention as they had followed the Satyr, Thistlewink Gleamhoof with haste to try and catch him.
They soon found themselves in an area that was void of civilised life. Yes the houses and huts stacked one upon each other looked like the rest of Thornlock, but there were no people and the buildings looked empty with dust and spiderwebs everywhere.
At least there was a well with some decent water allowing them to take a break.
Meanwhile in Circle of Life neighbourhood Fenrir had returned to Daisygate after fetching Shatter from Westtor where the wizards were training her. They had agreed to give her a break to participate in Alfein’s and Orlando’s wedding.
Gutter Runners and Gilded Promises
In Thornlock our heroes saw a lone figure appear, hooded swinging a thurible that leaved a trail of incense smelling more like sewage than anything else.
With some squeaks and hisses the creature called other of it’s kind: Skittish humanoids with rough fur and rusty blades and make shift armour. Creatures with large rat heads: Gutter Runners.
Gutter Runners were in our heroes minds a figment of imagination, urban legends used to scare the kids of Daisygate to behave: “If you don’t go to sleep, the Gutter Runners will come and take you and drag you down to the sewers of Tornlock” and similar threats.
But here they were, in flesh, fur and bone. And there were many.
The fight was on.
Back in Circle of Life neighbourhood Fenrir was confused unable to find his comrades. He knew they were supposed to pick up the wedding bands at from Gilded Promises, Lowen Dastrél’s shop.
But Lowen could only tell Fenrir that his friends had gone looking for the delayed rings that was supposed to have been delivered by Long Mile Dispatch days prior.
Fenrir headed to Newgate to visit Long Mile Dispatch, where he learned from the rude Hobgoblin Dispatch Clerk, Blaak Tongontickler, that the other heroes might have looked up Mira Tornel the responsible guard for the the rings. A woman known to frequent the local tavern The Wrong Tree.
A wrong turn and right directions
Back in Thornlock our heroes felt overwhelmed by the increasing numbers of Gutter Runners appearing from manholes, doorways and rooftops.
Orlando made an executive decision and ran down an alleyway that he had cleared with the ladies Alfein and Amelia right behind him.
Unfortunately, the the alleyway took them deeper into Gutter Runner territory and the heroes were faced with three surprised Gutter Runners who were busy piling corpses in an open square.
The heroes were quick to deal with the new Gutter Runners before the pursuing Gutter Runners caught up with them.
Fortunately, Amelia managed to ignite the fur of them all with a blessed Burning Hands spell.
In Newgate Fenrir found the Wrong Tree and an angry Mira inside. Mira had been under a love spell by the Satyr Gleamhoof but it had worn off leaving the woman in a foul mood.
But Fenrir’s straightforward manners still convinced the drunk woman to give him the information he needed: His friends had followed the Satyre to Thornlock in hot pursuit.
When he told Mira he intended to follow, he barely had to ask before the guard got on her feet and followed him hoping for revenge.
The two quickly found the Bitter Silk Tea Room inside Thornlock where the hostess Madam Serai Venn could give them guidance in the shape of a light bug that would guide them to their friends.
From bad to worse, but with hope in sight
In Thornlock our heroes ran down another alley only to find themselves at the centre of the Gutter Runners community.
But the hordes of Gutter Runners was not what made the heroes stop in their tracks. No it was a huge rat-like ogre creature, a Rat Ogre, that stood in their way.
Exhausted the party took up arms. Alfein did a dash to attack a nearby Gutter Runner, but while she didn’t manage to completely dispatch the creature, it collapsed in front of her giving her clear sight to an lightly dressed albino Gutter Runner carrying a mean looking whip it cracked on the back of the Rat Ogre.
At that point Fenrir and Mira emerged from the other side of the square.
Fenrir took on his wereform to attack the exposed albino Gutter Runner, but the sneaky creature was swift to jump behind the huge Rat Ogre.
That didn’t stop Fenrir in his tracks and the dangerous lycanthrope clashed with the mighty rat monster.
The rest of the party saw an opening and killed the Albino Gutter Runner. The kill routed the rest of the Gutter Runners who all fled. The Rat ogre, realising the whip was gone, also fled the dangerous werewolf.
Time to go home and get some rest!
The Next day: The Wedding
The next day Lowen Dastrél got the rings and put his finishing touches on them, while Amelia dressed Alfein and Orlando in their wedding outfits.
Amelia’s garments were known to be blessed by Ethuil granting the lucky couple some protection on their wedding day (DM notes: Advantage on all rolls during the wedding).
The wedding was held at The Unknown God’s Chapel, an ancient chapel to a long forgotten god, now used by various religions where the chosen diety did not have own holy sites, Ethuil being one such goddess.
Friends and associates were gathered to celebrate the couple and Amelie was conducting the ceremony itself.
Ethuil, keeper of the Everturning Wheel, teaches us that change is not to be feared, but embraced. Yours is a sudden love—one to faint for, as you so often have—and yet no less true in its fierceness. You have walked through shadow and transformation to find one another; may these rings be a symbol that whatever you become, you will always choose each other, you will always fight together.
Ethuil is the force behind every moment of renewal and so blessed are these symbols of change, both your wedding outfits and your wedding rings.
Orlando, crime lord with a good heart,
Alfein, mysterious and swift rogue,
Power lies in inevitability—in the never-ending change of life.
Ethuil has witnessed your transformation.
Let it be known: what change has forged, none shall undo.
I bind your fates together—through shadow, fortune, and every near death experience yet to come. I now pronounce you husband and wife!
Orlando you may now kiss the bride. Assuming you’re still conscious…
The couple had been wedded.
With that, the couple received their wedding bands, blessed by Ethuil through Amelia’s ceremony:
Ethuil blessed Wedding Bands
Blessed as the wearers’s are married and as such cannot be handed over to anyone else.
Luck of The Everturning Wheel
Once per long rest one of the couple can reroll a roll of a natural 1.Ethuil’s Bond
While on the same plane and within a mile of each other, The couple can feel the right direction of other person and whether they are alive and their emotional state.
Fenrir stepped forward to offer his gift to the couple: Two feathers painfully drawn from he strong Aasimar wings, blessed with the magic of his divine blood.
Feather of Divine Fall
A falling carrier of the Feather of Divine Fall has their rate of descent slowed to 60 feet per round until the spell ends. If the creature lands before the spell ends, it takes no falling damage and can land on its feet.
Each Feather of Divine Fall has 3 uses after which the feather turns to glimmering dust.
Finally Shatter, who had taken a short leave of absence from her studies at the Aeonspire, stepped forward to wish the happy couple all the best in there future together.
An unexpected wedding guest
As the ceremony concluded, small metallic squeaking sounds came from the entrance. An ill-looking one-legged Goblin in a wheelchair came into the Chapel.
It was Grib Grimtooth, the Golbin that had been dragged away by the mimc during the Five Trials of Thievery.
The poor Goblin had lost its leg in the fight with the Mimic had had clearly been driven to the brink of madness as his speech and behaviour jumped between being furious to manic laughter.
He said he had blamed the heroes, but it mattered not any longer as he had acquired a drink that would grow his leg back.
The little creature gulped a small bottle and to everybody’s surprise his leg grew out making him whole again.
Alas, it was too early to celebrate as the leg kept growing and the rest of the Goblin’s body twisted and he mutated into a hulk bulk of flesh and bone and losing what was left of his sanity in the process, but not before trained his devolving mind and growing rage towards the heroes.
As the strange mutation came running towards the heroes, the guests made way in panic trying to get away.
Roll for initiative!