Prologue: The Legend Breakers, pt. 1

On a hot summer day late in the Fourth Time, a letter arrived in the hands of Clangden Stonehammer, dwarven cleric of Viridex and leader of the adventuring company known as the Legend Breakers. The letter had been sent from the Temple City of Hennes by a Wayfarer named Scanvio, and invited the Legend Breakers to Hennes to discuss the prospect of work for the church of Anathor. Clangden discussed the matter with his comrades, and they agreed that they would travel to Hennes in the fall to meet with the priest of the Lord of Roads.

So it was that as Harvestmoon drew to a close, the Legend Breakers rode into the Temple City and took lodging at the Silver Shield in the Knights' Quarter. The next day saw the adventurers taking counsel at the sacred grove of Anathor with Wayfarer Scanvio and, curiously, a young human girl with quite striking eyes. The task Scanvio asked seemed a simple one: escort the child, whose name was Anriel, across the Plain of Bones by way of the great dwarven highway known as the Via Mortis to the city of Varen; take the child to see a certain sage who dwelled in that city; and then return the girl to Hennes when the sage's examination of her was finished.

The pay the Wayfarer offered seemed scant to Clangden and his fellows, and they successfully haggled Scanvio up to 100 platinum coins from the sixty he had initially proposed. Having gained half their payment, with the promise of the remainder upon Anriel's safe return to Hennes, the Legend Breakers and their young charge set out on the Via Mortis for Varen.

Approximately a week into the month-long journey, the adventurers were lured away from the highway by a false cry for help and set upon by nearly a dozen ambushers. The assailants were no match for the experienced combatants of the Legend Breakers, however, and were put down with little trouble. In the pocket of their leader, however, a troubling item was found: a note indicating the approximate date the adventurers would be departing Hennes, brief but accurate descriptions of each of them as well as little Anriel, and instructions to "retrieve the girl, and make sure her protectors never leave the Plain of Bones."

The note was signed with a single cryptic letter: "K."

Experience rewards:
Haggling with Wayfarer Scanvio: 500xp
Defeating the ambushers:
1x Human Hexer, 300xp
1x Human Knife Fighter, 600xp
4x Human Lackey, 300xp
4x Human Bowman Lackey, 300xp
Total: 2000xp
Per character: 500xp
Current status: 26,000 + 500 = 26,500xp
To next level: 32.000 - 26,500 = 5,500xp

Treasure rewards:
The ambushers carried coins and goods with a total value of 250gp.

Next time, in Sailing the River of Worlds:
The Legend Breakers arrive in Varen and meet with the sage. What is his interest in Anriel? Why did the church of Anathor hire them for such an apparently simple mission?