A blinding light sets the trio of heroes off on their journey after promising them the one thing they truly seek. The changeling musician turned mercenary, Slenderbard hears promises of a throne fit for him as a king. The sly master thief, Juno, hears tell of a way to safely go home. The renegade gunslinger, Jadeth hears assurance that she can return from her exile. Without much to lose, the trio each individually sets out to chase after the beacon.
The story begins as the vagrant, Slenderbard, and his mule caravan travel through the woods between the towns of Port Darwin and Olemar. The forest that was once dense with trees and greenery had begun to die out, but no one had any idea why. About half way between the cities, Slender’s caravan comes under attack from a hobgoblin chieftain and his band of goblin thieves.
A nearby traveler named Juno overhears commotion as the bard tries to trick the hobgoblin into believing he’s a terrifying wizard. She stays hidden in a tree, wary of getting involved in a fight that doesn’t concern her. He creates a flame in his palm to wave it around wildly, really only managing to spook his mules. When the hobgoblin chief laughs in his face, Slender closes his fist and extinguishes the flame. He summons water and warns the goblins that he’s a powerful water wizard. One of the goblins asks how he knows a fire spell too then. Flabbergasted, Slender throws the water at him and retreats back to the mules.
The goblin draws his sword, but before he has a chance to hurt Slender, an arrow flies out of the nearby foliage and pierces between the gaps in his armor. Everyone turns their attention to the trees, but they can’t see where it came from. The hobgoblin sends some of his minions and their dogs to investigate it as he approaches Slender himself. Slender cries for help.
Further back on the road, Jadeth hears the plea and comes running. She rushes to the bard’s aid with her unreliable blunderbuss. She misses a close hit, and then the weapon jams, forcing her to resort to hand-to-hand combat with her daggers. Juno leaps down from the trees and draws her rapier when Slenderbard successfully charms the hobgoblin chief. He warns the women not to touch the chief until they are all ready as he pulls out his lute and begins an empowering melody. Juno finishes the hobgoblin off with a slice to the jugular from the aid of Slenderbard’s bardic inspiration.
After the battle, Slenderbard harvests the goblin meat, much to Juno and Jadeth’s dismay. Juno spots a man trapped in a cage. She frees him from the cage and he steps out, still clearly wary. Jadeth sees what Juno’s trying to do and backs away. The man introduces himself as Spike, a cleric of the goddess Thaldra, and shakes Juno’s extended hand. He still seems scared of her and the group that just annihilated his captors with little effort or remorse. Juno says that he’s the fluffiest man she’s ever seen in remarks to his large unkept beard, and Slender and Jadeth agree.
Slenderbard squints into the distance and asks the group if they can see the beacon that he’s following. Wary of his motives, Jadeth is quick to deny it. Even though she stares right at it as she does so. Juno scoffs and denies it as well, not trusting Jadeth and Slender any more than they trust her.
Jadeth overhears arguing from just off the road, and recognizes one of the voices as the merchant that sold her the blunderbuss. The trio meets the two dwarven brothers, Kromrec the Blue and Kormec the Pale, although Kormec seems to forget his name and introduces himself as Kromrec as well. Jadeth recognizes them as legendary merchants that frequently sell to heroes, and Juno adds that they share names with lesser deities. Slenderbard gets an autograph.
Slenderbard hopes to earn some trust from Jadeth by purchasing her a new weapon from them – a musket to give her more range than what her blunderbuss currently offers. Jadeth also quietly asks if they have any magical items that can assist with her current spellcasting problems, and Kromrec offers her an amulet from her youth that he fitted with a gem to aid in controlling her spells. Juno purchases healing potions for the group after the previous encounter left Slenderbard injured.
With it being late in the evening, the group bids the merchants farewell and sets up camp. They take turns keeping watch, until Spike bolts into the forest during his and Slender’s watch. He whispers a few quiet expletives and looks over to where Juno is asleep in the nearest tree. He considers grabbing his mules and bolting. After all, Spike must have seen something that he didn’t and ran away. He sighs and casts a spell to help him search the dark woods.
As he strays from camp, a group of wolves pass nearby and spot the sleeping mules. Juno and Jadeth wake in a fright when frantic whinnying begins. Juno slides down the tree and lands next to Jadeth. She points out that they seem to only be harassing the mules, and when Jadeth raises her gun, she grabs her arm to stop her from making the situation worse. With some quick thinking, Juno runs for the goblin meat and uses it to lure the wolves away.
Slender comes back and laments the loss of his goblin meat, but Juno asks him where Spike is. Slender gulps and Juno begins to approach him. Before she can yell at him, Spike bursts through the bushes, making Jadeth shriek and change the aim of her gun until she realizes it’s him. She swears, puts the weapon back on her back, and returns over to her bedroll.
The fluffy man drops a leg of venison right next to the campfire and states, “wolves are around, found this in the woods,” before cooking the shank of meat. Slender remarks that he must have been hungry, since it wasn’t like the rest of them were sharing their rations. Juno approaches him and tells him not to wander off alone, noting that there may be more dangerous things than goblins and wolves in the woods.
He apologizes for running off and asks if she’d like to sit and talk by the fire. She is wary of his motives, still having a hard time trusting anyone in the group. Spike mentions she reminds him of someone he met on his travels from Ravenspurn. Juno laughs and quietly admits that she lived in Ravenspurn for a time, being cautious not to let Jadeth overhear. Spike smiles and asks if she happened to ever hear of a person named Alexio, then, but Juno falls silent for a long moment. Spike apologizes when he sees the pained expression cross her face, but she tells him it’s alright. She is actually relieved to hear Alexio’s name after it felt like the world forgot they ever existed, so they spend the night exchanging stories of their mutual friend.
Morning comes, and the four set off again, not making it very far before a group of bandits come for Slenderbard’s caravan. He stands defiant, with his new company boosting his confidence. He insults the leader, and a volley of arrows flies from the trees on the side of the road. Slender frantically retreats behind a rock.
With Slender out of the way, Jadeth takes a shot at the leader. Juno disappears into the surrounding forest, keeping careful eye on the fight. Jadeth seems to be making quick work of the captain, but even without orders, the archers seem to readjust their locations in the trees. Juno follows them silently, noticing that it seems like one of the archers is actually calling the shots. She calls this out to Slender and Jadeth just as they finish off the fake captain.
The lead archer spots Juno after she calls out, and he fires an arrow that grazes her leg. She falls out of the tree into a bush with a groan. Slenderbard hastily patches himself up while Jadeth blindly rushes in to protect Juno. She puts on the amulet Kromrec gave her and successfully casts the first spell she’s used in years. A blast of magic fires out of her hand, but unfortunately, it doesn’t finish off the leader.
He fires an arrow at the tiefling that brings her to her knees. Slenderbard arrives just in time to use healing magic on her, then takes another hit that knocks him out instead. Reinvigorated and riding the high of her magic, Jadeth shouts for Juno to save Slenderbard and chases the leader behind a rock where Spike gets a good hit in. Jadeth eventually gets the upper hand and drives her dagger up through the base of his skull. She comes back over to check on Slender and Juno.
Juno, who had already been wary of Jadeth, asks why she hadn’t been using her magic to help them in the fight with the hobgoblins. Jadeth looks away and tells Juno that she was seeing things. Juno doesn’t buy it for a second, but she doesn’t have time to continue to press.
A mysterious woman arrives from off the path deep in the forest. She’s wearing dark armor with maroon accents that match the flock of ravens that is following her by gliding from treetop to treetop. She’s carrying a staff with a lantern dangling from the end, and Slender recognizes the symbol on her staff as belonging to one of the ancient druidic orders he had read about.
She appears to be impressed with the trio’s capabilities, and offers to guide them closer to their objective, citing she owes the caster of the beacon a favor. They accept, but still seem to be wary of her motives. She brings them to the edge of the town Olemnar, and they turn to thank her just in time to watch her disappear into a portal in one of the trees.