The party woke up in the Battered Whore and broke their fast with some sausages and potatoes. Strangely, Fizban did not become full. He ate another helping but still could not satiate his hunger. They soon realized he had been cursed by the wandering shaman whose hand he refused to lick in Session 6.

They went to the church to try and have the curse lifted but the priest was unsuccessful.

After leaving the church, an old creepy man gestured for Fizban to come forward.

“Your staff has not gone un-noticed brother” the man said. When he smiled, Fizban could see insects and a millipede crawling around the gaps in his teeth.

The man pulled apart Fizban’s robe to inspect Fizban’s chest but could see it was bare. He then showed Fizban his own chest which had the shape of large scarab beetle made entirely of scar tissue covering the majority of his torso.

“You are only receiving a tiny portion of the Scarab Lord’s power! Come with me and accept his mark!”

The man led Fizban to his basement which was infested with insects of all kind. There were also dead human bodies on the floor.

The man was effortlessly able to control the swarms to move in unnatural patterns.

The man instructed Fizban to lie on the table which Fizban did.

At once the swarms descended on Fizban’s body and chewed the scarab design into his flesh. He screamed and pain and passed out.

The rest of the party heard the screams and broke in to the room to save him. “It’s too latee!!!!! “ the old man cackled hysterically while swarms of roaches crawled all over his body.

Warden picked up Fizban’s unconscious body and they carried him back to the Battered Whore where they waited by his bedside for him to recover.

Fizban woke the next morning and could feel the hunger curse lifted. He also felt more in tune with the insects around him and could see them all and hear their voices.

After that bit of drama, the party headed back to meet Diego. They had killed the royal tax collector in Session 6 at Diego’s behest, and now must bring the proof to show their loyalty to the Masked Legion (an underground radical opposition group to the royal monarchy of Renaulton).

Diego was pleased with their work and said:

“Sure as the sun, the royal guards from Renaulton will be here by day’s end. Sure as the sun, they will harass the citizens of Wurther as they always do, and they will steal from the people for their troubles. Take these poisoned kegs of wine to the river port. The guards will confiscate them and take them back to their barracks where they will feel our justice.

Do this mission for me. After this, you may not see me for a little while.. but I will reach out to you in time”

The party agreed, and brought the poisoned kegs to the river port. They were met by a surly old port master named Duncan who refused to accept their product. He took his job very seriously and knew nothing of these folk. The party tried to convince him the product was good and told him to taste it. Duncan did, but began feeling sick and eventually collapsed into a coma and died shortly after.

The party carried him up to his room in the river port and left him there. They then decided to steal the 12 healthy kegs, and leave only their 4 kegs of tainted drink to lessen the risk of the guards confiscating the wrong kegs and also to have 12 kegs to sell at the market!

As they were maneuvering the kegs, a young port worker came up and demanded to know what happened to Duncan. When the boy went into the port house, Fizban knocked him out with a blunt instrument and they bound and gagged him and left him there.

When they reached the central marketplace, a troop of royal cavalry was there as expected. They were kicking down doors and pushing over food carts. The guards confiscated the party’s stolen kegs and kicked Warden into the mud.

A large and imposing royal guard captain named Khagstad pronounced in a booming voice:

“As you know, our loyal tax collector has been murdered by brigands. The royal princeling is still missing. We know the treasonous coward Diego is behind these actions and is likely seeking safe harbor in this area.

Our reward for information leading to his capture has been raised to 1500 gold. If you know something, speak up quickly or you will be held accountable”

Fizban convinced the guards that there was a boy at the river port that was talking about Diego and the guards headed in that direction. The heroes followed the guards from a distance and then realized they had not actually killed the boy! From a distance they could see the boy talking to Khagstad and gesturing about the group of thieves (and now murderers) that he had encountered!

Luckily, the guards still took the wine kegs, but now the party knew they had to get out of Wurther quickly.

In Session 2, the party cleared a cave that ended with a note from a mysterious stranger and another map to a second cave at the feet of an ancient volcano named Mt. Hellysium. They decided they would head to those volcanic caves.

After a brief encounter with an owlbear, they approached a small tribal village. Despite the language barrier, they were able to befriend the natives and spend the night there. Before they left, the natives applied some special mud to the heroes skin which would provide them some fire resistance inside the hot volcanic caves.

In the caves, they fought through numerous goblins and a vicious hell hound. They found a stone platform that Betamax was able to identify as button like mechanism They all stood on the platform and their combined weight was enough to push it down which caused a nearby gate to open.

Inside the room was a chest with gold pieces and a magical ring with the power to “Control Humans” , They found the bones of the Mysterious Stranger’s fallen friend and one last map to a building location in between Wurther and Renaulton.

The party left the cave and spent another night with the friendly village tribe.