Session 1 Recap (Day 01)

You awake in utter darkness to find yourself lying on a soft, unstable surface.

When you move to sit up, head aching, you feel parts of this surface shift lightly beneath you: bodies. Dead, from the smell of things.

Nearby, a few others are stirring, like yourself. Regaining consciousness from, what?

Then, in one alarming moment that stretches onward into the ever present now, you realize that you do not remember who you are—only that you uncovered an awful truth, and that this forbidden knowledge has led you here, to this fate.

But before you have a chance to ponder this grim result, you feel something tug on your cloak in the darkness. Then again. Hands, or claws, are pawing at your body, attempting to wrest your meager possessions from you.

Before you can do anything else, it would appear that you must fight.

Within moments of regaining consciousness, the party rallies and begins to fight the scavenging creatures who were attempting to snatch their belongings. Thanks to "Boomer's" casting of Faerie Fire, the party members are able to see at least some of their foes in the pale green light shed by the spell, and thus make short work of the small, slavering creatures surrounding them.

In the aftermath of the battle, the party takes stock of their surroundings and each other. With no memories of who they are or what they're doing in this cavern, each takes a temporary moniker: Maul, Hood, Boomer, Bear, and Sparks. They quickly discover that they each wear a distinctive insignia on their clothing (except Hood, who instead wears this insignia as an amulet).

They also appear to be much better dressed than the other victims who have been piled up in this cavern. The party members aren't wearing uniforms, but their clothing looks almost military or as if they belong to a guild. But investigating the cavern turns up nothing more than a few useful weapons.

As they climb out of the mouth of the cavern, they see a vast, swampy wasteland stretching out before them, well-lit by a large gibbous moon hanging directly overhead, partially obscured by clouds and mist.

The party clambers down the rocky escarpment to a path that leads into the swamp. They walk for several minutes until they come upon a wary goblin named Reechy, fishing in one of the lagoons dotting the swamp. They ask where they are and he informs them that they're in the Forbidden Wastes, so-called because it is where the Church disposes of the Unreturned. Asked what the Unreturned are, Reechy answers, "Pariahs, the damned.... According to the Church, anyways."

Asked if he's ever seen the insignia the party is wearing, Reechy says no, but it's clear he doesn't get out much. When the party asks how they can get out of the swamp, Reechy gestures to the west, and indicates that there is a small village on the outskirts of the Wastes. He's not been there himself, and asks the party not to tell anyone he's living out here in the swamp. He promises not to reveal their own presence to anyone, not that he knows of anyone he could tell even if he wanted to.

And with that, the party continues on its way....