The adventure begins with our heroes trudging through the rain on the borderlands of society. They had just finished some paid work in a local town and the mayor told them they might find more work in the more rural settlements. The road leads to a village that is quite different from the others they have been passing through, in the center of town are a bunch of tents and a lot of people. Auidar also notices that many of the refugees have scars on their hands and backs from trying to defend themselves or from being attacked while running away.

A small boy steps in front of Render and exclaims that he will vanquish him. Render pleads for mercy as the boy runs back to his father. The boy’s father tells the half-orc that he is sorry for the intrusion. And that a lot of people are jumpy since their encounter with the Hand has killed many including the boy’s mother.

The PCs talk to people in the town but few offer much information. The rain gets harder and the PCs decide to go into the local inn. The innkeeper complains about the number of refugees and offers the group a seat. As their waitress brings some food to their table a loud scream is heard. Startled the waitress drops her tray and food and glass go everywhere.

Our heroes run outside to see a tent ripped to the ground. Next to it stands the father they met earlier. He is trying to protect his children. A half lit figure backhands the man who falls unconscious and the young boy is quick to defend his sister. The figure smiles and raises his mace. Render quickly bolts into the fray, striking the bandit and protecting the young boy and his siblings. Despite running through slippery mud Auidar runs full speed at a robed figure. Tony begins launching arrows at the foes while Donaar and Orsik slowly make their way through the mud towards the fight. The heroes dispatch the rif-raff rather quickly and are approached by another party that arrives shortly after the battle.

Emesha is a cleric of Pelor and thanks the party for vanquishing the Hand death squad. She says they had been following them for days. She also asks to meet with the PCs in the morning. After a restful night at the inn the PCs meet with Emesha who asks them to help find a paladin Jaryn. He has been missing for a year since he went on a mission to destroy the cults leaders. Auidar quickly speaks up saying “I can’t speak for everyone else, but we’ll do it!”

The party quickly gets some supplies and heads out into the wilderness. Along the way they find more small villages, but most of the people keep to themselves and are wary of strangers. They glean a little bit of information no Jaryn’s whereabouts, but very little.

As they trek along it is near dusk and they are approaching yet another small village. They are met on the path by a man on horseback. He tells them they are in Erstlin and he is Perren Auldwyl an elder of the town. He also offers them the use of his farmhouse for the night. The PCs accept the offer and inquire about the Hand. Perren rebuffs their questions and changes the subject. As he is showing them the farmhouse the sound of hoof beats pound through the night. Perren goes to lock the double doors as they burst open. In front of the party stands two bugbears and combat begins.

Render worried about getting trapped in the farmhouse quickly jumps out the window. A different window breaks as arrows fly through it just missing Tony. Donaar is hit as he summons his magical armor and Orsik and Auidar join the fray. Outside Render runs into a hobgoblin warcaster and is flanked by another bugbear as an orc archer launches arrows at him. He dispatches of the warcaster while being hit with arrows from afar. After finishing off the bugbear he ducks around the corner to find Orsik there ready to heal him. Meanwhile inside the house Donaar, Auidar and Tony kill the 2 intruding bugbears while the orc fires at them through another window. The druid helps remove the orc archer by casting wall of thorns and Tony takes him and his partner out as they trade shot in the night.

DM Notes:
I read a forum about running this adventure and got the idea for adding the young boy and Athletics or Acrobatics check in the fight from there. I thought the interaction with the boy would help engage the players’ emotions and get things jump started. The DC 15 skill checks made fighting in a muddy field through a rain storm seem more realistic. If the PCs failed their checks they moved at half speed.

The skill checks for getting across the frontier are too high they need to be adjusted for the errata to the DMG. The Endurance check should be DC 7, the Streetwise check DC 17 and the Nature, Perceptions and Diplomacy checks should be DC 12. Thankfully the PCs can still find the Black March even if they fail (which mine did).