The Caravan to Nidel

The Caravan to Nidel is the second session of the Lorem Ipsum Campaign.

Synopsis
After parting ways with Nedrix, Nala, and Rowan,the remnants of those who defeated Rasheed the Sun King Master of the Embered Towers decided to escort the tattered survivors back to the town of Nidel. As they were about to make way, a pair of Paladins escorting a young girl arrived on scene. They introduced themselves as Luciana and Brigid, with the young girl being their charge, Deis.

Having been hired by the Merchant's League in Ank'harel to find out what happened to the Caravan, they had been following the road in the desert on the way to Nidel in hopes of finding any signs of the Caravan. As they had a mutual goal, the two paladins decided to join Gorog, Janet, and Kohai on their way as they escorted the Caravan back to the town of Nidel.

The group was assisted by Lizel, a Merchant's League Princess who had also fallen prey to the Sun King, with logistics. This was due to most of the caravan not sharing a language with the players, and she was was able to translate on their behalf.

Immediately the group realized that among those who had been captured by Rasheed, several had grown weak. They put their talents to use and tried to push the Caravan forward. With each member of the party contributing to easing the burdens of the Caravan they made decent progress back towards Nidel. Given the state of the people they decided to take the path that ran through the ruins of Shadar to Nidel.

During the journey, the party encountered hungry creatures in the desert. Brigid and Luciana took to the front lines while Deis was pulled away by from the battle by Janet, who supported the rest of the party as they engaged the monsters.

A few days later into the journey, when the Caravan made camp, the group was assaulted by Invisible Stalkers that had been sent to capture the little girl that the Paladins had brought with them. After destroying the stalkers, Luciana and Brigid decided to reveal the identity of their charge; the Duchess Deis Du'Morgan from Dwendalia. They told the story of how Deis's Uncle had taken over the Duchy and had orchestrated the murder of the former Duke, Deis's father. She is the rightful heir to the Duchy and thus her Uncle is trying to get rid of her to stabilize his power.

Having no allies in Dwendalia, the Paladins fled Wildmounte with their charge.

The following day, the group made way to the Ruins of Shadar where they planned to take refuge until they could continue the journey to Nidel. During the night, the children of the Caravan, including the young Duchess were fooled into venturing deeper into the Ruins.

Lorem Ipsum had been warned about the dangers that lurked in Shadar, and as they traversed the halls, the party caught glances of small ghoulish creatures that were watching the party, or feasting on one another, but fled instead of trying to confront them.

They eventually discovered the children had gathered in a room that had been hallowed by a sacred tree. A child was beckoning Deis to venture further into the ruins, but the party members arriving immediately put an end to the charade and were determined to bring them back to the camp. Gorog investigated the tree and was given a seed which he put in his boot and was presented with a vision of a grove of such trees planted in black sand.

The evil being disguised as a child taunted Lorem Ipsum, warning that it would not be contained forever by the Tree for it was indeed dying of old age. The Party escaped the Ruins and immediately roused the caravan from their rest, having determined that it was no longer safe for them in Shadar, and thus in the middle of the night they continued their trek to Nidel.