The Copper Piece Gang

D&D Session Summary

This session was the campaign’s opening setup for the Timber Grove Hollow story arc. The group was gathered by Elara, a ranger from Fallcrest, because people had been disappearing near the logging settlement of Timber Grove Hollow. Loggers, trappers, livestock, and even travelers had vanished, and rumors pointed toward the Blisterwood, an ashen, tangled forest near the outer ruins of Fastor. Elara made it clear that this was dangerous work, gave each party member a potion of healing, and sent them out on foot because they were still too broke and too new to be riding anywhere in style.

On the road north from Fallcrest, the party had time to settle into the group dynamic and get a feel for the setting. The trip itself was not especially eventful, but the tone was clear: this was a dangerous countryside where monsters, bandits, and wilderness threats were all normal hazards. By the time the party reached Timber Grove Hollow, they were already walking into a place that felt tense and wrong.

Timber Grove Hollow was described as a small lumber settlement that should have been full of the sounds of saws, axes, and work crews. Instead, it felt quiet, suspicious, and half-shuttered. People kept their heads down, doors were closed, and the whole place had the mood of a town that expected bad news at any moment. The party, being obvious strangers, had to decide where to start digging for information.

They chose the sensible route and headed to the local food spot, partly because adventurers run on rumors and breakfast. The little eatery quickly became crowded the moment the whole group walked in, and the staff were suddenly thrilled to have actual customers. A waitress named Taryn greeted them, and once the party mentioned Elara, she visibly relaxed and became more helpful. Elara’s name gave the group credibility right away, which turned a suspicious town interaction into a useful lead.

Taryn explained that the person they really needed to speak with was Rusk Timberline, a dwarf and the local sawmill foreman. She described him as rough around the edges but dependable, then fed the party a big country-style meal while they waited for him to arrive. When Rusk finally came in, he looked like exactly the kind of dwarf who could flatten a table by glaring at it, but he was willing to talk once he learned the group had been sent by Elara.

Rusk laid out what had been happening over the last several months. At first, the strange incidents were easy to dismiss: weird fog at night, grass flattened in unusual patterns, livestock disappearing. People assumed it might be wolves, some roaming beast, or maybe even simple bad luck. Then people started vanishing too, including loggers working in the woods, and the problem stopped looking like random local trouble. Rusk pointed the party toward the latest logging site, where a crew of six to eight workers had been cutting timber, then failed to return. Their tools had been left behind, and the job site had been abandoned in a way that strongly suggested something had interrupted them.

From there, the session shifted into a skill challenge as the group investigated the logging camp. This became the real heart of the session, with each character contributing different skills to piece together what had happened. One of the strongest finds came from examining the perimeter and the ground for unusual tracks. The party discovered prints that did not belong to dwarven work crews. These tracks were lighter, narrower, more agile, and had almost razor-like edges to them, suggesting some kind of elf-like creature, but not any ordinary elf the party knew.

Another strong clue came from a medical-style examination of the scene. Small blood splatters were found scattered around the area, but not enough to suggest a massacre. Instead, the wounds implied precise, small, razor-sharp attacks, likely from tiny blades or darts rather than broad weapons like swords or axes. That strongly suggested the workers had been subdued, injured, and captured rather than killed outright.

History and general knowledge added another piece. One party member remembered reading about rare tribes of elves known for using tiny razor-like weapons on their cloaks, boots, or gear. That did not identify the attackers with total certainty, but it gave the group a strong cultural lead: whatever had struck here seemed to have an elven style, but not one that matched ordinary surface elves.

The group also used insight and close observation on the scene itself. They found signs that the attackers had tried to clean up after themselves, including missed shots recovered from trees and evidence that they had removed as much trace material as they could. Even so, one important piece had been missed: a small scrap of strange shimmering fabric. It was dark, lightweight, durable, and unlike normal cloth the party had seen before. That made it obvious they were dealing with something organized, disciplined, and unusual.

The tracks also revealed that dwarves had indeed been taken from the site. Some of the dwarven footprints ran close beside the unknown tracks, suggesting they had been marched under guard, while at least one appeared to have been dragged outright. That made the direction of travel clearer. The attackers had not come in just to kill. They had taken prisoners, and the party could now begin following them.

So the session mostly served as a strong opening investigation chapter. It introduced the town, established the threat, gave the party a local contact in Rusk, and let the new group solve a layered mystery through clues instead of jumping straight into combat. By the end, they knew the disappearances were real, the victims were probably alive when taken, the attackers were fastidious and elf-like but strange, and the trail led away from the logging site into something more deliberate and dangerous.

Quick Recap

• Elara recruited the party to investigate disappearances near Timber Grove Hollow and gave everyone a healing potion.
• The group traveled on foot from Fallcrest to the logging settlement.
• Timber Grove Hollow felt tense, quiet, and suspicious when they arrived.
• The party went to the local eatery to gather information and earned trust by mentioning Elara.
• A waitress named Taryn pointed them toward Rusk Timberline, the local sawmill foreman.
• Rusk explained that strange fog, flattened grass, missing livestock, and later missing workers had been happening for months.
• He directed the party to the latest logging site where workers had vanished and their tools had been left behind.
• At the site, the group found strange narrow tracks with razor-like edges that did not match dwarven workers.
• They also found tiny blood splatters suggesting precise attacks and capture rather than slaughter.
• Historical knowledge linked the signs to rare elf tribes known for tiny razor-like weapons.
• The party found a scrap of shimmering, unusual fabric and signs that the attackers had tried to remove evidence.
• Dwarven tracks suggested prisoners had been marched away, with at least one dragged, giving the party a trail to follow.