The Wayfinder's guild seeks adventures to find out what happened to several lost caravans, and the investigators sent to find out what happened to them. This task is offered for a payment of 27r upon resolution of the problem causing the disappearances. Those who are interested should report to the Wayfinder's guild and ask to speak to Caterine Fletching.
The party meet in the wayfinders guild where they meet with Caterine Fletching. She gives more details about the lost caravans and after being given a map they proceed North from Acryn to investigate.
Whilst travelling they come upon a group of ‘toll collectors’ on the road, after violence ensues, the party question the bandit's wayfinder and find out that they don’t know what happened to any of the caravans, and that they haven’t seen any for a while. Walker Chill persuades the wayfinder that they should go to Acryn and join the Wayfinder’s guild, or else.
As they walk down the road they cross over into a strange place - where the world is not as it was. This results in Walker losing his wayfinder abilities, Catrina losing her divine favour and Balthazar losing all his protomana but gaining pockets full of mana crystals. Continuing down the path they find a camp containing the missing caravans from Acryn, as well as a couple that had arrived from Margush. They discovered that the caravan wayfinder's weren’t doing so well - the one who had been there longest was transparent and mute, and the more recent arrival - one of the guild investigators could only speak in whispers. The merchants told them that they were camped there because there was no way out - there appeared to be some kind of impassable barrier.
The players decided to investigate the nearby village - the caravaneers said that they had recently lost the village wayfinder, and the party thought that was suspicious. On getting to the village they discovered that there were some children who had been resurrected at the same time the village wayfinder, Livvy, vanished - and the Livvy's brother told them he thought that she had done something so that she could save her daughter. On further discussion with the villages they found out that the resurrected children weren’t quite right, seemingly being living memories that the Livvy apparently created from the flux - Walker was especially offended by this. The party decided that she had probably done something to the area so that she could continue keeping the children 'alive' and went to investigate the effects.
First they travelled to the forest in the hope of finding some remnants of the place the children died, however they did not find anything before Bobby, walking to the front of the party suddenly collapsed, they had found the barrier. After further investigations, Balthazaar undertook a ritual of wounding to mark the edge of the barrier with blood. Walker also found themself becoming almost entirely insubstantial as the resistance of the area to wayfinders effected them.
They decided that looking around the edge wouldn’t be useful and decided to head to the centre of the changed area, investigating an old noble hunting lodge that was located adjacent to the village. When they got past the hedge of the grounds they found that not all was as it seemed, there location appearing to return to the road into the village again. On returning to the village they found it was populated by the crying wayfinder and others who were mourning the recent death of the children the party had seen previously resurrected. Continuing onwards back to the hunting lodge, they found that the previous hedge had been replaced by a wall of fire, and on scouting the area the intangible Mr Chill found there were large monsters on the other side. Travelling though the fire barrier sadly Balthazaar the Enchanter was savaged by one of the monsters before the rest of the party could save him, and died of his wounds.
The remainder of the group travelled onwards, through manifestations of the wayfinder's isolation and guilt. Avoiding the blades appearing from the floors of the entranceway they found a vision of Livvy crying as they watched the children being savaged by monsters wearing her face. As the party approached the monsters turned on them, and Catrina was wounded and effected by their poison. As they moved on they approached a room where many reflections of the wayfinder boasted of saving everyone by bringing back the children and removing the flux from the village.
Eventually they came upon the true remnant of the wayfinder - however they could not persuade her that she should take down the barrier and stop creating the facsimilies of the dead children - thinking that she had truly resurrected them and that anything she did to stop the effect would kill them again. Though Catrina tried to stop them the party ended up killing the wayfinder, which dissipated the strange effects on the flux and allowed the area and people enclosed in it to return to normal.
Catrina returns to Balthazaar’s body, and Bobby carries Balthazaar’s body back with them. Returning to the village, the party discover that the resurrected children have vanished. The party explain exactly what has happened, the villagers are obviously upset but convinced by Walker’s words that this is for the best. The Wayfinder’s with the caravans are returning to normal, as is Walker. The party offer to escort the caravans back to Acryn, which several take them up on.
Catrina searches through Balthazaar’s belongings, attempting to find out where he lived. She also finds the linked book with a distressing message and a mysterious compass which points somewhere other than north. When they reach the city a runner is sent to inform the College of the Stars of Balthazaar’s death.
Players return to the Wayfinder’s guild to explain what had happened, attempting to argue the job proved harder than briefed (and deserved a greater reward). Walker provides a detailed summary of what happened, with the others chipping in additional details. The Wayfinder’s guild is very pleased that Livvy’s notes have been recovered for them. They also state their sadness that a party member was lost. When queried about the level of danger, Walker describes how he had started to cease existing and thus was unable to provide the usual services the Guild provides. An additional 18r is paid as a result.
It becomes clear that Balthazaar does not have any next of kin. The College of the Stars holds a funeral for Balthazaar, which is mostly made up by faculty and the party. The Wayfinder’s guild makes a donation to the Tender Church in his name. The party also donates his belongings to the Tender church, which are promptly handed to Catrina.
Consequences for Players
Walker Chill gains epic tree. Catrina is turning into a nightmare monster. Catrina has a compass which points to a weak point in the Serradic Underworld (and strictly speaking points to Balthazaar’s wife).