Marcus, Melvin, and Sylvar assembled in Millbrook Village’s market square, drawn together by a posted notice seeking help to discover what happened to the village librarian, Elara Whitmore. The group quickly learned that even mentioning Elara’s name above a whisper makes the locals visibly uncomfortable.
At the Inn
Unsure how an inn works, the group decided to enter through the front door and headed to the common area. There, they began loudly discussing the poster about Elara, drawing unwanted attention due to Marcus’s lack of an inside voice. The group decided it would be wise to secure a room for the evening.
Standing behind the desk was a young halfling girl who introduced herself as Trina. She presented the group with two room options: one with a single large bed, or one with bunk beds. Despite Marcus trying to convince everyone that the big bed was the best choice, Melvin snagged the key to the bunk bed room. The group followed Melvin upstairs, where Marcus immediately occupied the toilet for what seemed like a lifetime.
Sylvar’s Bar Adventure
While Marcus was indisposed, Sylvar headed to the bar to get coffee. The bartender took his order, and Sylvar requested coffee with sugar. When presented with the choice between black sugar or white sugar, Sylvar opted for white. After retrieving his coffee and learning the payment process, Sylvar joined a couple at their table. Moments after making them uncomfortable enough to leave, he moved to another table with three burly male humans.
After some initial confusion, the humans decided he could join them. They ordered Sylvar an ale, stating that if he was going to chat with them, he needed to drink with them. When the barkeep brought the round, he provided Sylvar with a straw. Sylvar grabbed the straw, bent it, put it in his drink, and began drinking his ale through it. Marcus and Melvin soon joined the table, where the burly patrons shared rumors about Elara and directed them to speak with the cobbler for more reliable information.
The Cobbler’s House
The group headed to the cobbler’s house, but rather than knocking directly, they investigated the perimeter. Marcus discovered a pile of soot, while Sylvar, heavily influenced by alcohol, face-planted into a pile of brush covering what appeared to be scrubbed-away marks. Sylvar’s drunken lockpicking attempt on the back door failed spectacularly, creating enough commotion to draw the cobbler outside.
The cobbler invited them in and shared stories about Elara, his former friend. Most intriguingly, he made cryptic references to how Elara knows the dead and mentioned room 3 at the inn, immediately capturing their attention.
Return to the Inn
Back at the inn, Melvin and Marcus pressed Trina about room 3. However, she would only say, “We do not speak of room 3, not since the fire.” This response led Marcus to become convinced that Trina was evil. When Marcus asked firm questions of the barkeep, the bartender proved equally tight-lipped and wasn’t intimidated by the interrogation.
The group “inconspicuously” went upstairs, claiming they were going “straight to their room.” Once upstairs, they headed directly to room 3, where Sylvar attempted to pick the lock. His efforts caused soot to fall from the lock mechanism—the same type of soot Marcus had found at the cobbler’s house, as confirmed by his taste buds. The door opened easily to reveal a completely charred room, burned so thoroughly that nothing remained but ash and soot.
Bewildered by the sight, Marcus recognized that fires of this intensity typically consume entire buildings, not single rooms—yet somehow this supernatural blaze had been contained to just this space.
The Test
To gauge the reaction of those at the inn, the group staged a discovery of the open room while hiding in their own quarters. Marcus loudly yelled that room 3 was open. Light footsteps approached cautiously, then suddenly sprinted away. The group heard a distant shout followed by the slam of a door.
Session 2 begins with the party in their room at the inn, having just witnessed someone’s panicked reaction to room 3 being discovered open.