D&D Encounters: The Elder Elemental Eye Session 1 - Easting Plague

I have decided to start posting again on a weekly basis reporting on the D&D Encounters again.  I will not however be reporting on the gameplay at my table.  My schedule is hectic enough that sometimes we have to miss some sessions.

My aim for these posts are to:

1. Give the players who may have missed out on a session, the details of the current weeks' session.
2. Possible outcomes and things that should have been done.

Let the game begin.

Session 0 Gave the players the following background information:

"Long ago, the Sabrak clan of dwarves, in an effort to restore their clan’s lost power and status, meddled with dark forces in the Sunset Mountains. The dwarves succeeded only in creating their own isolation and madness. Their clan grew smaller and ever more degenerate—so that today, only the three brothers who lead the clan and a handful of other dwarves remain. Of the three brothers, Zarnak, the eldest and most powerful, is a seer whose mind shattered long ago when it came into contact with an ancient evil known as the Elder Elemental Eye... and who now plots to spread the abyssal plague throughout the world." WotC 

Session 1 finds the travelling on the road towards the village of Easting after being hired out by Leaders in Iriaebor.  These leaders have paid each character 50gp in advance to investigate rumours of an outbreak of the abyssal plague, and promised them more if something is amiss and they help quell the disturbance. 

Characters know the following: 

• an arcana check reveals that the plague does create demons, intent on spreading the disease, 
• a heal check to be able to identify the plague-bearers by their oozing sores blisters and the crystals with laced silver, 
• a history check to realize that Easting's people make their living by faming, mainly livestock.

The players arrive in Easting.  Places of interest include:

• Burned building: recently burned out building with 5 freshly dug graves next to it.
• Chauntea's Temple: temple of the primary diety of Easting
• Shrine of Tears: Shrine to Talona, godess of disease, recently used by the people to sacrifice animals to try to appease her.
• The Thirsty Ox: large inn and tavern, serving as a communal area for storage in the back and town meetings. Hendar now guards the door against anyone entering the tavern for feat of being infected.

Easting has two leaders:

• Father Evendur, priest of Chauntea.  He is calm, respected by the people and has a love for life and does not want it destroyed
• Sir Arveen, knight of the Purple Dragons of Cormyr, has been bitten and is infected by the plague, her perceptions distorted by her ailment

If characters approach the temple they hear an argument between Sir Arveen and Evendur. Sir Arveen seems to want to kill all the infected people, and Evendur does not. When the characters interact with the leaders they get the following information:

1. Plague appeared a tenday ago
2. Several villagers showed infection at the same time.
3. The characters were the first help to arrive.
4. One of the villagers turned into a demon 2 days ago and Sir Arveen was infected by a wound she received.
5. All infected people are now in the communal barn.(they think)
6. Evendur knows the Cure Disease ritual but lacks the funds.
7. The leaders are at an impasse on what to do and then suggest the PC's take a look at the infected themselves.

Arveen opens the doors and a sick villager calls out a warning and the characters battle 4 Plague Demons, and Jakairn Sabrak, a local Dwarf.  

Things to do at the end of the encounter:

1. If a character was injured by a Plague Demon, then make them roll against contacting the lesser abyssal plague.
2. Characters should receive 250XP for the first session (which is fighting the demons, exploring Easting and interacting with the villagers)
3. Sir Arveen offers a random magic item to the characters.(ask DM to roll).
4. Father Evendur gives the adventurers one healing potion
5. Jakairn has a pouch containing 25gp per character on his person which is enough for Father Evendur to be able to cast Cure Disease once.
6. Two things can happen with this: a. the characters can pool their money together and heal Sir Arveen from her ailment.  If they do Father Evendur give the characters one healing potion each. b. the characters can keep the money or heal someone of the party.  If they do this, only the one healing potion is given to the whole party.

This is just the first installment of the new format I am trying out.  Do you like it? Do you not like it? What would you like to see?  Have I missed anything?

Give me some feedback, leave a comment!  Thanks for reading.

All the articles can be found, as well as the pre-generated characters can be found on my D&D Encounters page.