# Roster ## Absent # Session Overview *The thaw has come to the Frostmarch. Four strangers, each carrying the same invitation, rode the muddy pine roads north to [[2-World/Hubs/Skarholt.md|Skarholt]] for its festival, with the mist-covered sea at their backs, where ships are known to vanish. Over warm mead at [[2-World/Places/The Last Hearth.md|The Last Hearth]], Old Hobb wrote their names in his ledger and promised they would soon be friends. They tested their strength and their aim at the festival games, until a screech split the air, the howling began, and the festival turned to teeth.* Quest: [[2-World/Quests/The Silence at Kaldrun Hold.md|The Silence at Kaldrun Hold]] ## 🎬 ACT 1 – The Road to Skarholt **Purpose:** Bring the party together and set the scene in the far north. **Beats** - The Thaw Festival in [[2-World/Hubs/Skarholt.md|Skarholt]], in [[2-World/Regions/The Frostmarch.md|The Frostmarch]]: the northernmost part of [[2-World/Continents/Ilythar.md|Ilythar]], with high snowy mountains and a long coastline. - Mirri most likely arrived by boat. Carriages pick everyone up and bring them to the festival. - Pine trees for days and muddy roads. Pillars of smoke rise over Skarholt in the distance, and beyond it the ocean lies under a blanket of mist. - Mirri knows that ships get lost in those mists. She knows this to be true. - A guard lets them through the gate. Inside wait the stables and the festival market ([[2-World/Places/The Frostmarket.md|The Frostmarket]]). The mood is happy and festive. **Key events** - Logain immediately makes a remark about Inigo being an elf. - Inigo shrinks from it. To soothe herself she grows a flower and gives it to Mirri. 🕯️ *Clues:* ships lost in the northern mists. --- ## 🍺 ACT 2 – The Last Hearth **Purpose:** Meet Old Hobb and learn a little about each other. **Beats** - The party heads to the inn for a drink. Its sign shows a crooked heart: [[2-World/Places/The Last Hearth.md|"The Last Heart Inn"]]. Inside it's all wood, with gilt-framed paintings on the walls. - They are greeted by a tall, slender older man: [[2-World/People/Sanguinus Hobb.md|Sanguinus Hobb]], the innkeeper. He welcomes them, saying they will soon be friends. - Mirri asks about his glasses. They hide dark, deep, threatening eyes. - Inigo introduces her familiar, a baboon called **Maki**. - Hobb writes down their names and their reason for visiting in his ledger. - The party sits down without Logain and orders warm mead and goat's milk. - Behind the bar stands a pot with a heart in it: the remains of Hobb's uncle. - Getting to know each other: - Vesper comes from [[2-World/Continents/Aurethis.md|Aurethis]] and has been travelling for three years. - Mirri comes from [[2-World/Continents/The Spice Isles.md|the Spice Isles]]. - Inigo comes from the woods, not too far from here. She is shy when talk turns to her parents. **Key events** - Mirri reads Hobb (Insight) to find out whether he knows more about the invitations. She gets the sense that he also finds it strange that invitations were sent out. 🕯️ *Clues:* who sent the invitations? · Hobb's hidden eyes · the heart in the pot. --- ## ⚒️ ACT 3 – Festival Games **Purpose:** Let the characters show off, then break the peace. **Beats** - At the forge you can test your strength against an ox. The party goes in through a huge bronze gate: dwarves push wheelbarrows around and work the anvils of fourteen forges ([[2-World/Places/The Ember Forge.md|The Ember Forge]]). - Inigo buys a nice little necklace. Mirri buys a knife set with a green stone. - Logain and Vesper go to watch the strength contest. Logain has a go but fails when his arm trembles, which Vesper caused. - Logain threatens Vesper, and it works. His second try succeeds, and Logain wins a figurine. - At the longbow stand, Inigo shoots a perfect arrow. **Key events** - A screech, then howling. **Wolves attack the festival**, and the party is in the middle of it. *(Session ends as combat begins.)* 🕯️ *Clues:* how did wolves get inside the palisade? ---