As the party of TBD awakens in the middle of the night to the smell of smoke they quickly come to the realization that the Winery is a blaze. As the party attempts to escape the burning building they begin to realize that they have been barricaded into the building as it was set ablaze by someone. Eventually together they were able to break down the door and windows to escape.
As the party gained their bearings Raul the Dragonborn Paladin, found a mask of the Shades resting delicately upon a fence post nearby with the words “Traitor” written on the face of the mask in fresh blood.
Meanwhile Loom took Kelp away from her father Muk, the Rogue/Warlock Grung, blaming him for their recent misfortunes as of late. While Muk tried to ease the tension with his wife and children, Bertold the Great, the Hobgoblin Arcane Trickster began to examine the area more closely and discovered tracks that lead in every direction around the winery indicating they were the target of an assassination attempt.
Spades, the Vedalkan Cleric decided enough was enough and cast a Zone of Truth spell, around the party to get everything out in the open and to learn the truth of the mask to see if anyone was lying. The Zone of truth yielded no lies from anyone in the party who denied involvement with the mask and its owners.
With tensions at an all time high, and his home burning Baelon the Tiefling Sorcerer, urged the party that they were clearly in danger and recommended they lay low for a bit and head to Muk’s homestead just outside of town until they can gain their bearings and reassess what they should do.
As the party began bathing up what they could from the stable, Amarra and Aryn, two towns Guard captains approached with a few guards and two Imperial Mages. There to assist they to examined the area, and came to similar conclusions. The guard asked the party to come into town to file a report on the fire so that Baelon’s insurance could pay out a bank note for the loses of the winery. They agreed.
As the party headed back into Boulder, they felt a sense of uneasiness, as if they were being watched. Baelon looked to the roof tops and made eye contact with a hotted figure who gave a threatening hand gesture of slitting ones throat.
When the party finally go back to the barracks, Argento the Goliath Fighter, took watch outside while the party rested and Baelon filed paperwork with the Guards. Baelon made some notes of potential suspects such as his business rival Pinnaccle Madress but claimed to not be able to think of anyone else that could be involved. The Guards filed their report and issued the insurance bank note to Baelon for his trouble and suggested that TBD leaves town, Baelon agrees.
After resting in the Barracks under the Guards surveillance they went into town to run their errands before leaving town. Muk and Loom discussed their troubles and asked Spades to bless their family and protect them through these trying times. Baelon went to the bank and cashed in his Bank note, collecting a handsome payday but gave the majority of his earnings to his companion and Winery assistant, Adarra….leaving her everything, Baelon decided he was retiring from retirement, and heading back out to do good in the world as an adventurer…he would rather die a hero than fade away from history. Adarra, reluctantly agreed. The remainder of the party gathered supplies for their trip out of town. Muk and Spades went to the Church of Ogma to perform a blessing ritual upon their family. While in the midst of this blessing, Muk slipped something in the Spades bag without his knowledge. Muk then said goodbye to his family and that he didn’t know when he would be home but when he came back he would have the money for them to move to the free cities and do what they wanted there. Loom accepted this reality and saw her husband off.
The party then decided it would run a few more errands before retiring to Muk’s homestead on their way to Haggen Farms to investigate some strange missing animals while they lay low from the potential assassins in Boulder.