At the Crossroad

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Summary
Ordaxon survives a harrowing experience in the Shadowfell, despite knowing almost nothing about why he was drawn into the dark realm, nor who owns the mysterious feminine godlike voice that asked him, "Who are you?" over and over. He awakens bloodied and bruised just as his companions complete their journey from the dragon burial mount to Winterhaven.

At Winterhaven, goblinoids have been busy. Melindra Monerhan has been kidnapped by goblins and taken north, with the help of a mysterious traitor who is still in Winterhaven. Alric Sabanar has been taken south by kobolds, but not before they attacked his father, Terrik, severing his arm and leaving him for dead. And while the heroes do enlist Valthrun the Seer's help in researching both the keep to the north and the possibility of a cult of Orcus operating nearby, nobody is sure how all these events are connected.

Ultimately, the heroes head north in pursuit of Melindra, despite being weary and Ordaxon having spent much of his healing in the Shadowfell. Their haste haunts them as they run into a kobold barricade and nearly succumb to a rather meager force of kobolds supported by two goblins. The episode ends just as the group prepares to search the kobold and goblin bodies and rest before deciding how to proceed. Melindra is presumably in the keep, kobolds and goblins are clearly working together, there's still a kobold lair to the south of Winterhaven which may hold both Irontooth and Alric... and over it all hangs the Shadowfell.

Dates
Fallcrest 20

Detailed Playthrough
Ordaxon struggles to make his way through what he believes is the Shadowfell. He is eventually confronted by a huge godlike female voice which repeatedly asks him, "Who are you?" When he supplies his name multiple times (including his given name, Ordaxon Darneth), he is struck down until he awakens, bloody and near death, among his companions as they travel north toward Winterhaven.

As the characters return from the dragon burial mount with Douven Stahl, they see a chaotic site at the gates of Winterhaven. Terrik Sabanar is lying bloody in the road, his arm severed. He was heading north to Winterhaven with his son Alric when the two saw a guard murdered at the gates of Winterhaven, and a group of goblins take a struggling girl from a masked figure in the city and head north. Before he and Alric could act, they were attacked from behind by kobolds. The kobolds cut off Terrik's arm and took his son south, presumably toward their lair.

Winterhaven quickly becomes frantic, as Inget Monerhan realizes her daughter is again missing. The heroes do meet Valthrun the Seer, and he promises to look more deeply into the keep north of town, as well as the growing presence of Orcus and an apparent cultic presence nearby. Despite Terrik's pleading, the heroes leave Alric for another day and head north in pursuit of goblins and Melindra--despite having not rested, and Ordaxon already having spent much of his day's healing.

As they travel north, they arrive at a kobold barricade. Despite there being only a handful of kobolds and a wyrmpriest, the heroes are nearly defeated. Ordaxon is knocked unconscious multiple times, and it's only after a long battle that the companions defeat the kobolds (along with two goblins adding reinforcement from the keep).