SESSION 3 - THE NIGHT WALKER

Constable Dreng had always liked to wander the nearby foothills on his extended leaves of absence from duty, mapping the nearby mountains and keeping an eye out for bandits or goblinoids.  After returning from his most recent "camping trip," as he calls them, a strange thing began happening.  At night, he began sleepwalking.

After his first night of wandering he awoke in an empty field badly injured, remembering nothing of how he got there. The second night almost cost him his life when he sleepwalked off a bluff and almost broke his neck rolling down the hill. On the third night, he nearly drowned before the light of dawn woke him up. Recognizing that his somnambulism had become extremely dangerous, he called for the aid of his friends Brother Markus and Councilman Vyrlich. Having found him free from any magical compulsion or curse, Brother Markus was unable to "cure" him.  His companions instead tried locking him in his cabin, but each night he simply escaped and continued his dangerous night march. Unsure what else to do, they took to tying him to his bed at night.

At their wits' end, Councilman Vyrlich and Brother Markus decided that the only thing left to try was releasing the sleepwalking Dreng and seeing where he actually Went-perhaps his destination held a clue to the means to help him. Knowing how dangerous that could be, the Councilman and the priest contacted the local adventurers Donaghast, Moghash, Calgrot and Yorick Mori to escort Dreng and keep him safe while he performed his night march. The group's task was to shepherd him as he sleepwalked through dangerous terrain, and invent ways to keep him alive.

The adventure truly began that very night, in the Constable's cabin. There the group found Dreng lashed to his bed by ropes, struggling madly to escape as part of his sleepwalking frenzy.  Vyrlich and Markus had secured him prior to him falling asleep, and summoned the group as soon as he began to doze off.  They had previously told the adventurers to keep the matter quiet, and so they had.

First, the group traveled alongside Dreng as he sleepwalked northward, during which time they had to help him safely navigate a series of hazards and obstacles. Unassisted, Dreng might have been shredded by razor brambles or fallen off a cliff or drowned by wandering through a deep pool.
Eventually Dreng's journey took him straight into the mouth of a bunker-like structure called the Black Edifice. As the group followed Dreng, they found him stymied by a vault-like door that he could not pass.

Once they had solved the puzzle that opened the door, they descended deeper into the ruin. Finally, they reached the bottom of the Black Edifice where they discovered a mysterious summoning circle, the secret behind Dreng's strange affliction. The circle lay before a massive carved stone disc covered in strange sigils.  As soon as Dreng stepped into the circle, the fallen paladin awoke, the chamber's Chaos Beast guardian was summoned and battle was joined.  

After a mighty contest, the party emerged victorious, and proceeded to loot the cavern.  They made a careful sketch of the disc, and began their trip home.

Along the way,  the party marched into a bandits' ambush.  They defeated these new foes, and continued their way home, arriving after the early morning sun had already risen.  They headed to the Black Kraken Inn for some much needed rest as Constable Dreng went to discuss the evening's events with Brother Markus and Anton Vyrlich.