Drake's Company

Drake's Company was a group of adventurers who were active in Orodeth. Their leader and namesake was the paladin Drake Roxley.

Membership

• Bran - Male aarakocra ranger. Tortured and killed by the Cult of the Howling Hatred.
• Drake Roxley - Male human paladin of Nalindra.
• Gnarls Blackwood - Male half-elven bard. Slain by an extremely powerful elemental in the Plane of Water.
• Láfièlthién - Female elven cleric of Del'Braeth. Torn apart by a hydra.
• Qwynn Cupsigh - Female halfling bard. Retired to Brightstone.
• Ru Bae Ya - Female human wizard.
• Sumac Briarden - Male half-orc druid.
• Waedin - Male aarakocra monk. Slain by undead while battling a necromancer.

History

The Hunt Begins

Drake's Company originally came together in 2964 when bounty hunters Drake Roxley and Bran sought allies in Drakkengarde to hunt down a dangerous fire genasi wizard named Bastian Thermandar, who was wanted for murdering high-ranking members of the Mercantile Alliance. Bran recruited his old friend Waedin before they set about recruiting for additional help, ultimately hiring Qwynn Cupsigh, Láfièlthién (Lafiel for short), and Ru Bae Ya to join their hunt. Following what scant information they had of his whereabouts, they sailed up the Belsimar Strait to Yalnos and from there traveled to Red Oak Village.

Though they found no direct evidence of Thermandar's presence, the villagers spoke of strange happenings and odd weather of late. The party began searching the nearby hills, eventually finding a small tunnel into a hillside that ended at an iron door. A ghost appeared and warned them to depart its master's tomb, and so they returned to Red Oak. However, that night Lafiel and Waedin snuck back in, defeated the ghost, and opened the door. Beyond was simply a small room with a stone coffin, and the remains of an ancient diary identifying the occupant as Lord Aldus Byron. When they opened the coffin, the sword that had been interred with Byron animated and flew at them, but Waedin simply caught it out of the air; he then shoved it back into the coffin while Lafiel hurriedly pushed the lid closed once more.

The next day a villager told them of a growing evil at nearby Lance Rock. Rather than finding Bastian Thermandar there, however, they encountered a mad necromancer calling himself the Lord of Lance Rock and babbling about "The Eye" that watched everything. Though they dispatched him and his zombies, Waedin was killed in the battle. Bran, mourning the passing of his friend, flew off to the distant Tornoth Peaks to bury him close to the sky. While the others waited in Red Oak they became acquainted with a traveling bard named Gnarls Blackwood. By the time Bran returned, they had recruited him to join them in their hunt. Bran also mentioned a tower he flew over with a large wicker giant erected in front of it.

The Tomb of Moving Stones

Having heard rumors of strange masked figures sneaking about at night, they investigated and found a hidden tunnel that led to an old dwarven complex beneath the village. After narrowly avoiding a trap and being attacked by a half-orc, they found a young boy with several heavy stones carefully piled on top of him to hold him in place without breaking any bones. He explained that he was being punished by his father, a member of a group known as "the Believers," for failing to deliver a message. He further explained that the Believers were a secret group of the most important people in town. Incensed at the boy's treatment, Drake led them deeper into the complex where they found a chamber filled with old bones and even a few fresh corpses with a triangular symbol carved into their foreheads; Ru Bae Ya recognized it as belonging to the primordial Ogrémoch. Proceeding deeper in they found a petrified dwarf around whom a number of offerings had been left. Among them was a magic dagger decorated in star motifs; Lafiel took it for herself, leaving behind what she judged suitable recompense in its place.

Eventually they arrived at a door with an old man seated in front. When confronted he begged for mercy, explaining that he the "great stones" behind the door would move from time to time and that for generations the Believers had divined portents from their movements and used them to guide the village. The group's interest was piqued when he mentioned the recent arrival of an "earth priest" who helped them understand more about the stones. Within the chamber they found several large stone monoliths throughout the room, guarded by a man wearing stone armor and robes made from fired clay tiles. The man attacked them along with several guards whose armor was imprinted with Ogrémoch's symbol. During their fight, they discovered that the floor was enchanted to cause the monoliths to levitate slightly. After killing them, they found some metal bars stamped with the symbol of Korthaz that could only have been stolen. When they returned to the village, they revealed the existence of the Believers and the names that the boy and the old man had given them. Several prominent villagers were arrested, some of whom ultimately confessed to having helped the earth priest hide the bodies of his victims.

The Feathergale Society

While asking about the stamped bars the next day, they learned that a caravan from Korthaz that Gnarls had seen recently had not arrived in Red Oak, though it should have done so a few weeks ago. When a shepherd mentioned having seen some freshly-dug graves in the hills, the party asked him to lead them there. Excavating the graves, they found two bodies wearing surcoats with the symbol of Korthaz, a body wearing stone armor, and a body in a white robe adorned with black feathers. It was clear that they had been engaged in a battle of some sort, and when the shepherd identified the feathered robes as belonging to the knights of nearby Feathergale Spire, they decided that was a good place to start their search. Sensing that their hunt for Bastian Thermandar was liable to result in a good deal of treasure, Lafiel purchased a wagon before they set out, Bran flying ahead to scout.

The shepherd's directions led them into a wide canyon, in the middle of which a tall tower rose up atop a spire of rock. Though Bran had not yet rejoined them, they rang the bell and were greeted by a knight named Savra Belabrante. Lafiel introduced them as "Drake's company," and when they told her of the body they had found she lowered the drawbridge and brought them to the Feathergale Society's lord commander, Thurl Merosska. Thurl thanked them for telling them of the body of their comrade, explaining that the man in the stone armor, as well as the earth priest below Red Oak Village, belonged to an evil group called the Cult of the Black Earth whom they had frequently clashed with. While they spoke a sentry announced that they had spotted a manticore, and Merosska invited the hunters to fly upon their giant vulture mounts to help kill it. After a successful hunt, Merosska asked them to join them for a feast and stay the night in the tower. They told him of their friend Bran, and hoped he would find his own way to the spire to join them.

During the feast Thurl Merosska asked for their tale, and Drake explained that while they had found new enemies in the Cult of the Black Earth, his true target was Bastian Thermander. Merosska said he had not seen any sign of him, however. That night, the knights awakened the hunters from their beds at swordpoint and marched them to the top of the tower. There, Thurl Merosska sorrowfully explained that their opposition to the elementals' servants made them a threat, and that they would be thrown from the tower in sacrifice to the primordial Yan-C-Bin. Realizing that the knights were in fact cultists of elemental air, they fought back. Though initially at a disadvantage without their armor, they were soon bolstered by the arrival of Bran and a flock of aarakocra. Many of the knights were killed in the ensuing battle, and though Thurl Merosska tried to escape Lafiel chased him back down into the tower to finish him off. Quickly grabbing their gear from their rooms, they departed with the aarakocra before the knights could regroup. Bran explained that he had been attacked by a knight riding a vulture while scouting and nearly killed, but that the local aarakocra had saved him and told him the truth of the Feathergale Society. Recognizing that his companions would be in danger, he led the aarakocra to help them.

The Lost City

The next day they returned to the Spire to find it deserted. After looting what valuables had been left behind and retrieving Lafiel's wagon, they found a letter from Queen Aerisi Kalinoth who noted that the Cult of the Black Earth was based out of the Sacred Stone Monastery. Unwilling to let the air cultists go free, though, they tracked them to a passage hidden in the cliffs along the canyon's edge. They descended deep underground, much to Bran's consternation, before discovering a vast dwarven city with a pyramid in the center occupying the caverns. In a plaza just inside, they found a half-elf bard named Windharrow playing music with several air cultists. Upon seeing them, the bard asked if they would like to audition for the band. Lafiel agreed, and when he approved of her flute playing he gave her a set of initiate's robes. Bran, however, feeling anxious from being so deep underground, succumbed to his hatred for the air cultists and attacked the bard. The bard teleported away and the cultists retaliated, driving the hunters back out of the city. Lafiel, having donned her new robes, remained behind.

With her disguise, she learned that the cultists were known as the Cult of the Howling Hatred. Their queen, Aerisi Kalinoth, could be found within the pyramid, known as the Temple of the Howling Hatred. She had also summoned a djinni to help rebuild the city. The bard, Windharrow, was her personal minstrel, though likely serving more out of fear than loyalty. Lafiel also learned that Savra Belabrante had survived and led the surviving knights into the city, furious at the losses they had suffered in Feathergale Spire. When her reconnaissance was over, she returned to Red Oak Village to find her companions had thought her dead. With her information, they concluded that they could not strike against the temple with their current resources; Bran decided to return to Drakkengarde and attempt to gather allies to fight the cultists.

A Circle of Flame

Though they planned, to travel to the Sacred Stone Monastery and deal with the earth cultists, a new caravan brought rumors that suggested Bastian Thermandar may be traveling to the same tower that Bran had flown over after burying Waedin. When they arrived at the tower, they found several camps of druids outside who explained that a druidic order known as the Circle of the Scarlet Moon had called upon fellow druids in the region to join them in performing the Rite of the Wicker Giant to help restore nature's balance. Drake led his companions up the slope to the wicker giant, where a pair of robed figures asked them to leave. When Drake asked about Bastian Thermandar, the figures revealed themselves as members of the Cult of the Eternal Flame and attacked before summoning a fire elemental within the giant and releasing their kenneled hellhounds to attack the party.

As the wicker giant burst into flames, chaos erupted amidst the camps as fire cultists lurking among them in disguise attacked the real druids. While the druids fought back, including a pair who were secretly werewolves, the party destroyed the elemental but found themselves at a disadvantage with the fire, smoke, and darkness and retreated alongside the surviving druids. The next morning, the druids left to carry word back to Underbough Temple while the others returned to the tower in search of Thermandar. Unfortunately, the fire cultists anticipated their return and, using the narrow walkway along the outside of the tower as a chokepoint, conjured a stinking cloud that obscured their vision and assailed them with fire spells. Driven back once more, they decided that even if Bastian Thermandar were in the tower, they would be unable to get to him. Instead, they turned their attention back to their other goal: defeating the Cult of the Black Earth.

Sacred Stone Monastery

After stopping at Red Oak Village to resupply and gather information, the party headed east to the Sacred Stone Monastery. After bluffing their way past the guards, they were led into the central shrine where the one of the priests dropped them through a trap door to a chamber with a caged umber hulk. After slaying the umber hulk, they climbed back out and killed the earth priests. Acting on a sudden impulse, Gnarls carved the symbol of the Cult of the Eternal Flame into one of the pillars. They then retreated back outside and made camp. The next morning, they snuck back in through a side door and killed the abbess. After leaving yet another Eternal Flame symbol to be found, they breached a magically sealed door and encountered a lich who politely asked them to depart. Drake noticed the lich's interest in his holy symbol, however, and after some conversation learned that he was actually Rennard Carras, a paladin who had helped found the monastery where Drake trained. Though long thought dead, he had actually gone into seclusion as a lich. Rennard explained that he was not part of the Cult; he had taken a room in the old monastery for himself, and when the cultists moved in they mutually agreed to leave each other alone. Rennard granted Drake and his companions permission to rest in his chambers, but declined to aid them directly.

Unbeknownst to them, the Cult of the Eternal Flame had not simply let them escape and had sent a pack of hell hounds to track them. While they rested in Rennard's study, the hell hounds entered the Sacred Stone Monastery. The cultists, now on high alert and suspicious of the Cult of the Eternal Flame, presumed it was an attack and defended themselves. Now thoroughly convinced that the Eternal Flame was targeting them, after dispatching the hell hounds they gathered most of their forces and marched west. The heroes emerged to find a scene of devastation just outside the door, and ultimately caused even more damage to the monastery fighting the minotaurs left behind to guard it. They eventually located the cult's prisoners; among them was the dwarven sage Bruldenthar, who had been part of the delegation from Korthaz. He confirmed that their caravan had been attacked by earth cultists, and that they were ambushed by knights riding giant vultures on their way back to the monastery. His books had been sold to a band of pirates, and his surviving companions had been taken away to an unknown fate. With the monastery cleared of cultists, they decided to escort the freed prisoners south to Westford.

On their way to Westford, they came across a burning farm that had been attacked by orcs. Tracking the orcs, they found them escorting prisoners and rescued them. The rescued farmers led them to the nearby Dellmon Ranch, which had already begun fortifying themselves against the recent orcish attacks. After Ru Bae Ya's owl familiar confirmed that the orcs were massing for an attack, the adventurers sent a message to Westford for assistance and helped bolster the ranch's defenses. The orcs were relentless in their attack, first sending up a smoke screen to hinder the defenders and then sneaking close enough to set part of the ranch ablaze, but Drake and his companions held them off until dawn, when reinforcements arrived from Westford and drove off the few surviving orcs. In the aftermath, Westford's commander asked for the name of the group of adventurers that helped save the ranchers; Lafiel shrugged and once again said, "We're Drake's company," and the name soon spread across Orodeth.

Rivergarde Keep

When they group finally arrived back in Drakkengarde, Ru Bae Ya announced that she wished to throw a party in a week's time to celebrate her birthday. She also suggested hiring some ronin samurai from her homeland of Yung Shai to aid them in a renewed assault against the fire cultists. During the week they spent in the city, Drake learned of a group of mercenaries that had recently begun operating out of the ruined Rivergarde Keep to the north. While ostensibly being paid to fight the raiders harassing ships traveling the Belsimar Strait, it was becoming apparent that they were actually in league with the raiders themselves.

Ya threw a magnificent party, explaining that she was a noble from Yung Shai and that this day marked the one year anniversary of her leaving home to travel by herself, starting a new life and choosing that date as her new birthday. The following day, they departed north with six new samurai companions to deal with Rivergarde Keep before continuing back to Scarlet Moon Hall. Lafiel declined to join them on their journey, as she would need to stay in Drakkengarde an extra few days to complete the rites to advance in Del'Braeth's priesthood. However, she promised to join them as soon as she could.

Five days later, the band arrived at Rivergarde Keep. They told the guard they were sent to discuss the mercenaries' contract, and were escorted inside to meet their leader, Jolliver Grimjaw. Grimjaw had little patience for them, and once he realized they were aware of the elemental cults' activities and suspected that they were in fact the very raiders they were being paid to fight, he ordered his men - now revealed to be members of the Cult of the Crushing Wave - to attack. During the fight Grimjaw transformed into a wereboar and gored Drake, but was slain in return. The battle soon spilled out of the great hall and into the courtyard, then the chapel that the water priests had repurposed for their own worship. In the end, the keep was cleared of cultists and Drake's Company had a prisoner and their own boat. Lafiel arrived up the strait the next morning, and they all sailed back down to Drakkengarde together to turn their prisoner over to the Mercantile Alliance. Lafiel couldn't help but notice, though, that Drake was grumpier than usual.

Flames of Vengeance

After handing over their prisoner to the authorities, the company heard rumors of a fire sorcerer terrorizing the Nettlebee Ranch to the north. Believing this to be Bastian Thermandar, they set off immediately to talk to the Nettlebees. Upon arriving, the cantankerous old halfling Wiggan Nettlebee merely crumbled at the expensive of the fire witch's attacks, but his children told them that two weeks ago, a nearby barrow mound had suddenly erupted in flames; since then, the symbol of the fire cult had been branded on their cattle during the night. Wiggan's grandson, Watson, investigated the barrow and found that the stone sealing it had been destroyed, and terrifying whispers issued from within. Watson explained that his father, Bertram, had spotted a figure wreathed in flames in the night, and feared this fire sorcerer would soon burn down their ranch. Drake's Company investigated the barrow, finding it just as Watson had said. When they went inside, an undead barbarian chieftain appeared and accused them of desecrating his tomb. Speaking quickly, they managed to convince the revenant chieftain, Javor, that they were not responsible, and had in fact come looking for clues as to who was. Their discussion was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of an earth elemental, which collapsed the entrance before attacking the company. While they fought it, Javor worked to clear the fallen rubble.

Exiting the barrow, they were met with a dozen barbarians from the Dragon Lands; their shaman had received a vision that their ancestor would wake from his tomb, and come to aid him. Javor announced that he could sense the one responsible for the desecration... And pointed the way to Nettlebee Ranch. The heroes managed to convince the barbarians to capture the halflings, rather than slaughter them indiscriminately, so as to avoid innocent bloodshed. Together they quickly rounded up the Nettlebees, despite Wiggan's attempts to bribe Drake's Company into fighting the barbarians instead. Questioning the Nettlebees, they soon determined the truth: Wiggan and his son Betram were in league with the Cult of the Black Earth, and had been commanded to lure the heroes to their deaths. They made up the story of the fire sorcerer to get them to the ranch, then sent them to the barrow, where Wiggan used a scroll he was given to summon the elemental to collapse it and trap them; Wiggan and Bertram had broken into the barrow and set it on fire to sell the ruse, and Betram had secretly branded their own livestock in the night. Having heard their confessions, Ya told the barbarians to kill Wiggan and Betram, which they did without hesitation. The remaining Nettlebees gave the barbarians half their livestock as recompense for the desecration, while Drake's Company located Javor's treasures that Wiggan had stolen and returned them to the barrow. His vengeance sated, Javor died once more.

• Red Oak Village attacked by fire cult; druid dies, party almost dies, Ya refuses to let them sacrifice Drake
• Fire tower burned down, descend into caves for days
• Find fire temple
• Drake turns into Boar Drake (Lafiel says he's always been a bore...)
• Stupid ogres
• Viva la Salamander revolución!
• Bastian captured and brought to Drakkengarde
• Bastian give life imprisonment in exchange for information; Drake gets mad
• Drake drops Bahamut for Nalindra
• Spending the new year celebration in a dwarven shrine to Berronar Truesilver
• Shrine occupied by treasure hunters led by an ogre mage, Lafiel channels Truesilver's power to divinely smite them to death
• Loose the ghouls, kill the wyvern, dispatch Aerisi Kalinoth and set the djinn free
• Windharrow tells his story, Lafiel wanders
• Fight through water area, find water weirds, bypass troll, kill a terrifying hag
• Lafiel returns, troll in tow
• Dragon turtle; weird backpacks die
• Rest in a hut, lizardfolk show up, Lafiel gets a fat lip
• Qwynn turns a demon into a newt. A lizardfolk eats it. It gets better.
• Weirds drag Lafiel into a river, Drake goes after her, both go over the waterfall
• Finish clearing the temple; fireball a bedroom, claim to be a cultist, kill some ghouls
• The fountain
• Meet lizardfolk, admit to slaying the dragon turtle
• Fire cultists prisoners of the water cult; convinced they're fire cultists
• Return to lizardfolk with turtle proof; cultists realize the truth and die
• The whirlwind orb
• Balloon Packs, backtrack down below to finish the water cultists
• Explore a bit on a boat, find some cultists who say where the prophet is
• Everyone takes the bubbles; Drake winds up far behind
• Ya throws a fireball, Qwynn casts d-door, the rest almost all die
• Fly back up, taunt cultists with Drown. Sending to Qwynn (you're all dead, I'm just hearing things), celebratory drinking
• Terrible visions, back down to investigate, boat is destroyed
• Water portal. Lafiel sees a wave, ducks back out. Gnarls gets hit, pulled back out. Gnarls goes in again, does not come back.
• Lafiel goes in, nearly dies but comes back out. Drake and Qwynn go in, Ya somehow pulls them out. No hope of rescuing his body.
• Something terrible - an aboleth!
• Sorrowful return to Drakkengarde, meet a new (old) druid.
• Drake demands Thermandar's head; guard says the cults have devastated Red Oak and Westford. Kill all the prophets, and we'll see.
• Terrible dreams!
• Rush to stop the water cult from destroying Drakkengarde
• Box destroyed, boat on fire, banish Lafiel with the orb
• Head to Yalnos for an auction on another orb
• Auction
• Off to Silverstone
• Meeting with Dark Lady dragon
• Air cult still active with new leader
• Qwynn claims leadership, slays old leader, finds air portal
• Explore caves
• Harpies and mushrooms and giants, oh my!
• Oops, there's the fire cult leader.
• She's dead, Qwynn runs off and tries to summon the Howling Hatred.
• Need to destroy the weapons, but we sold Drown.
• Get rewards, get legend lore, return and check out the water caverns.
• Everything's slimy. The water's fouled.
• Diseased, enslaved lizardfolk attack!
• Further down, horrible visions of madness.
• Everyone almost dies to an aboleth.
• Everyone does die to the aboleth.
• Saved from the aboleth.
• Years pass.
• Joining Drake in going to Varen to find his family's killer.
• Attacked by a Scyllan, Ya and Sumac hop through the Nine Hells.
• Dinner with Stormlord Lanak Iskarr.