Session 02 — The Quarantine

The Inquisition locks Heron down for eradication. The party splits to warn civilians, rescue EMBR's friend, and blow holes in the canton walls — then rides through fire and gunfire to escape before the burning begins.

Date played: 2026-05-18 System: D&D 5e (Cypher System hybrid) Duration: ~3h 21m Story: Session 02 — Story

At a Glance

The party learns the truth about quarantines: not containment — eradication. The entire canton of Heron will be burned to ash.
Orvin hands Vivienne a bundle of documents from an old keeper in Heron. She recognizes her grandfather Harland Ashworth's handwriting.
The party hatches a plan to split into two teams, alert as many civilians as possible, blow two holes in the canton walls, and flee.
They spend a time slice writing warning letters — Vivienne uses Mage Hand to double her output. The letters are signed with the resistance insignia.
Team A (Jorath + EMBR) moves under Pass Without Trace, delivering letters and reaching EMBR's friend Buddy — a deteriorating, mentally unstable warforged being tormented by two Inquisitors. Jorath wild-shapes into a dog to lure the Inquisitors away. EMBR retrieves Buddy.
Team B (Vivienne + Rookk) moves invisible, delivering letters on their side of the canton. They find a tortured man chained in an alleyway — carved, mutilated, toes severed — and pass him by. Vivienne throws a rock to distract a snitch watching from her doorway, but Inquisitors see it levitate and throw itself, raising the heat level.
Jorath calls lightning to blow open the western wall. Citizens who read the letters begin setting their houses on fire and pouring into the streets, creating chaos.
Vivienne fires three fireballs into the southern wall, Swiss-cheesing it with holes for people to escape through. An Inquisitor patrolling atop the wall is incinerated.
Buddy is shot in the head by an Inquisitor's rifle during the escape ride. He falls unconscious and begins death saves. EMBR uses his DM inspiration to reroll. Buddy survives — barely.
Valdren waits with Sable, Maret, Orvin, and Argentus. He plays a childhood game with the invisible Sable to keep her calm. When the signal comes, he casts Shield of Faith on Sable and tells her to focus her magic on any Inquisitor she sees.
Sable's magic detonates uncontrollably — an invisible force crushes the side of a building, collapsing stone into the street. She cannot aim it. The party narrowly avoids being hit.
Valdren casts Darkness over the wall breach to cover the horses and the fleeing mob from Inquisitor rifles. A nat-20 shot fires into the darkness but misses.
Everyone escapes Heron. From a hilltop, they watch the entire canton burn.
Vivienne reads the documents: Harland Ashworth found high-elvish ritual construction language carved into the outermost wall (Kalanthar). His research concludes the walls were built before the Ruined appeared — not in response to them, but in preparation.
Jorath finds a celestial navigation chart in the documents — coordinates to a location beyond the walls, navigable only by the stars.

Decisions Made

Write warning letters before moving out. Rather than bang on doors and risk noise, the party spends a full time slice crafting written warnings signed with the resistance insignia. Vivienne dual-wields pen and Mage Hand to maximize output. This makes the stealth runs dramatically easier.
Split into two teams. Team A (Jorath + EMBR) heads west to rescue Buddy and blow the west wall. Team B (Vivienne + Rookk) heads south to blow the south wall. Valdren stays at Orvin's with Sable, Maret, and Argentus.
Do not bring Sable through the streets. Orvin warns that her magic will spike if she sees the horrors outside. The party leaves her invisible at the safehouse with Valdren.
Save EMBR's friend. EMBR insists on reaching Buddy. Jorath supports the detour, wild-shaping into a dog to distract the Inquisitors harassing him rather than fighting and raising the heat level.
Swiss-cheese the wall. Rather than blow a single hole that bottlenecks, Vivienne fires three fireballs and a shatter spell along the southern wall to create multiple escape points.
Cast Darkness on the breach. Valdren sacrifices his own visibility to prevent Inquisitor riflemen from targeting the horses carrying Sable and Maret.
Tell Sable to aim at Inquisitors. Valdren, knowing her magic will spike, tells her to focus her attention on an Inquisitor if she starts to lose control — reasoning that if someone has to die from it, it should be someone who deserves it.

NPCs Encountered

Orvin — Runs alongside the party during the escape. Hands off critical documents to Vivienne. Recognizes the lightning signal. Loyal to the end.
Maret — Rides Argentus through the escape with Sable. Terrified but holding.
Sable — Invisible for most of the session. Kept calm by Valdren's childhood game. Her magic detonates once — crushing the side of a building — but doesn't kill anyone in the party. Still does not understand what she is.
Buddy — EMBR's warforged companion. Found in a market alley being tormented by two Inquisitors — mentally broken, rocking in the fetal position, muttering about lost bones. Shot in the head during the escape. Survives with two failed death saves and a lay-on-hands from Valdren. Has a brief moment of lucidity after the healing: "EMBR, where are we? Why does everything hurt?"
The tortured man in the alley — Unnamed. Found chained to a freshly-driven iron ring in the mortar. Face carved. Stomach carved. Boot neatly placed aside. All toes severed. Not dead. The party passes him. This is the second man left to die in two sessions.

Factions Encountered

The Inquisition — Executing a full canton quarantine. Door-to-door sweeps, then kill-on-sight once chaos erupts. Rifles, flintlocks, bladed weapons. Magic detection capability — they tracked Vivienne's fireballs and Jorath's lightning to approximate locations. The quarantine is described as an "eradication" — they burn the entire canton and everyone in it.
The Resistance — The party writes and distributes letters under the resistance insignia, commanding civilians to set fires and flee when they hear the signal. Some civilians heed the call. Others are too afraid.

Locations

Heron — Under quarantine and burned to ash by session's end. The party escapes through breaches in the southern and western walls. From a distant hilltop, the entire canton is a single massive bonfire on the horizon.
Orvin's repair shop — Base of operations for the first half of the session. The party plans, writes letters, and waits here. Sable plays invisible games with Valdren in the back room.
The market stalls — Where Buddy was found. He frequents these stalls to scavenge leftovers after they close. Two Inquisitors were tormenting him here.
The hilltop beyond Heron — Where the party regroups after escaping. Vivienne reads the documents here. The burning canton illuminates the horizon behind them.

New Worldbuilding

Quarantine = eradication. Not public knowledge. Calling it a "quarantine" is a disservice. The Inquisition locks down an entire canton, sweeps door-to-door, then burns every building and kills everyone inside. The last one Rookk saw from atop the garrison walls looked like a single massive bonfire from a distance.
Heat level system. The Inquisition operates on an escalating alert scale (1-6). Combat past one round, bodies found, magic detected, and noise all raise it. Hiding and misdirection lower it.
Inquisitors can passively detect magic. They tracked Vivienne's fireballs and Jorath's lightning strike without seeing either caster directly. They "seem to know" where the magic originates.
Inquisitors carry flintlock rifles. Crack shots capable of hitting a warforged on a galloping horse from significant distance.
The canton walls are the outermost wall, Kalanthar. Harland Ashworth's documents reveal high-elvish ritual construction language carved into Kalanthar — evidence the walls were built before the Ruined appeared, not in response to them. The walls were preparation, not defense.
The covenant of the king is a lie (or at least a misdirection). If the walls predate the Ruined, then Rimalath's narrative — I built the walls to protect you from the beasts — is either false or incomplete.
A celestial chart exists for navigating beyond the walls. Found in the documents. It points to a location in the wastelands that appears on no known map. Only navigable by the stars.
Snitches exist among the civilian population. A middle-aged woman was seen actively monitoring from her doorway, waiting to report anyone breaking curfew. Fear of the Inquisition breeds compliance and collaboration.
Warforged can deteriorate mentally. Buddy is described as having good days and bad days — sometimes lucid, sometimes not. He mutters about lost bones, doesn't recognize his surroundings, and speaks in fragmented, disjointed phrases: "I think I'm without mind. There is no time left. I'm not him."

Combat Highlight

No traditional combat encounter this session — the entire session was one extended stealth-and-escape sequence under the quarantine heat-level system. The closest thing to combat:

Jorath vs. two Inquisitors (as a dog): Wild-shaped into a wolf-dog to distract two Inquisitors harassing Buddy. Lunged and snapped at them, drawing both away from the market stall. Dodged a nat-1 sword swing. Successfully created the opening for EMBR to grab Buddy and run.
Vivienne vs. the wall: Three fireballs and a shatter spell. One Inquisitor on patrol killed by the first fireball. Multiple breaches created for civilian evacuation.
Buddy's death save sequence: Shot in the back of the head by a rifle. Two death save rolls — first was a failure, EMBR burned his DM inspiration to reroll, passed the second. Valdren's lay-on-hands (15 HP) stabilized him on arrival.
Sable's uncontrolled detonation: Invisible, panicking, failed her wisdom save (7). A telekinetic force crushed the windows and a section of wall on a nearby building, collapsing stone into the street. A neutral d20 roll (10) meant it hit neither allies nor enemies — just a building.

Continuity State

<details> <summary>Continuity State (for next session)</summary>

Active Quests

[x] Survive the Heron quarantine. Escaped through breaches in the southern wall. Heron is burning behind them.
[ ] Decipher the omen. Poor little innocents get caught in the shadow of the raven. Partially fulfilled — the quarantine was the shadow. But the omen may not be fully resolved.
[ ] Read and understand Harland's documents. Vivienne has partially read them. Key findings: ritual construction language on the outermost wall (Kalanthar), walls built before the Ruined appeared, celestial navigation chart to an unknown location beyond the walls.
[ ] Follow the star chart. Jorath has a celestial navigation chart pointing to a location in the wastelands. No known maps cover this area.
[ ] Get Buddy to safety. Alive but badly wounded (shot in the head, healed by lay-on-hands). Mentally deteriorating. Riding unconscious on Jorath's back.

Key NPCs

Maret — Safe. Escaped on Argentus. Terrified but alive.
Sable — Safe. Still invisible (concentration not broken). Magic detonated once during the escape. Does not understand what she did.
Orvin — Safe. Escaped on foot with Valdren. No longer has a home or safehouses.
Buddy — Alive but critical. Shot in the head. Healed by Valdren's lay-on-hands. Having rare lucid moments.
Thresh — Unknown. Was in Wickward. Heron is the canton that burned, not Wickward.
Edra — Unknown. Was in Wickward.

Open Plot Threads

The walls were built before the Ruined. What does this mean for the covenant of the king? What was Rimalath preparing for?
Where does the celestial chart lead? What is beyond the walls at that location?
Why was the quarantine in Heron? Was it because of Sable? The documents? The safehouses? Something else entirely?
The Inquisition's magic detection — how precise is it? They tracked Vivienne and Jorath. Do they know who they are?
Sable's magic is escalating. Fireball last session, telekinetic building-crush this session. What happens next time?
Two men left to die in two sessions — the stockade man in Wickward, the tortured man in Heron. The party cannot save everyone.
How many people actually escaped Heron? The letters helped. The fires spread. But the session ends with the entire canton ablaze.
Orvin's other safehouses and the people in them — did they get out?
Harland Ashworth's connection to the resistance and to these documents. Why did Vivienne's grandfather have research about the walls?

Party Resources

Vivienne has used: Fireball x3, Shatter x1, Invisibility (3rd level upcast, 3 targets), Disguise Self, Misty Step, Mage Hand, Comprehend Languages (ritual). Recovered one slot via Arcane Recovery during short rest.
Valdren has used: Shield of Faith (concentration), Darkness, Lay on Hands (15 points), Dancing Lights (last session).
Jorath has used: Pass Without Trace, Wild Shape x2 (dog, war horse), Call Lightning (1 bolt), Misty Step. One wild shape likely expended.
EMBR: DM Inspiration spent on Buddy's death save.
Argentus is carrying Maret and Sable.
Jorath (in war horse form or reverted) carried EMBR and Buddy.
The party is on a hilltop beyond Heron, regrouping. No immediate shelter.

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