This is the start of a new campaign run by Tre.
Characters: Talon/Jeff, Org/Nick, Drazhol/Leon, Grom/Oliver.
Talon is a half-elf ranger. Org is a half-ogre fighter. Grom is a half-orc barbarian. Drazhol is a human necromancer. They met at the gates of a city after hearing a call for people to come clear out monsters and find treasure. The guards wouldn’t let the half-ogre in, so he and the half-elf camped out while Drazhol and Grom went in to get information. A barkeep told them about some ghouls to the north and east. Drazhol got a room at an inn. Grom went back out to camp with the other half-breeds.
The next day they headed north along an old road. A few miles out of town, they met two wagons and some suspicious men driving them. Talon seemed eager to fight, but the party eventually avoided a fight and let the wagons move on. Then, the party followed the wagons into the woods to the east. In the darkness, Talon crept up to one of the wagons and peer inside. He was face to face with a guard and two bound prisoners. Instantly his blade flicked out and struck the guard dead.
Talon released the prisoners and helped them escape, but not before the kidnappers were alerted.
The party made a plan. Grom approached slowly with his bow to one side. Talon approached from the opposite side, just within range. Org and Drazhol crouched in the grass in the center. Suddenly, arrows flew and struck down kidnappers who began running in different directions. In little time, they were all struck down.
Grateful for the rescue, the former prisoners gave the party 500 gp. They all returned to the city the next morning. After a rest of nearly a week, the party travelled north again. They followed the road for two days and then took a path to the east. They came upon a tower surrounding by a moat. Singing drifted down from the tower. A questionable bridge crossed the moat.
Talon skipped across the bridget and affixed a rope to a sconce near the tower door. Suddenly giant toads emerged from the moat. The party made haste to dispatch them, but then the singing started up again. And this time its full effects were felt. All but Talon, including the toads, were charmed by the singing of a harpy who they now saw hovering over the tower.
Through the door and up the stairs, the party mindlessly tried to reach the harpy. They would certainly fall to their death as the lept from the tower, and this helped the shrug off the spell. But it was too late for poor Drazhol, for the toads too were free and one immediately chomped his midsection, squishing his guts everywhere.
Talon struck down the harpy with an arrow and the toads were also quickly killed. Little treasure but some experience was shared between the party who retired to the tower for the night, considering it perhaps as a new base of operations.