🌿 Bramblegut’s Journal - Session #1

Location: Greenharrow, edge of the Bloomrot Wilds
Guild: Emberlantern - Rank: Ember

It begins in Greenharrow, a quaint herbal market town clinging to the southern edge of the Bloomrot Wilds. Fungal forests as far as my eyes can squint, I love it already. Perfect place for spores to grow in my beard.

While sniffing around town for rare mushrooms, I found a poster, a guild called Emberlantern is hiring adventurers. An anomaly in the woods, they say. Curious fungi? Puzzling rot? Count me in.

🕯️ The Guild Meeting

I shuffled into the Emberlantern hall, dozens of odd adventurers, all sweaty with ambition. They divided us into groups. Lucky for me, I’m now stuck with:

• Tilli - a halfling who radiates energy like a caffeinated squirrel (Played by Marlene)
• Wardek - a righteous Dragonborn Paladin, scale armor polished, moral compass inflexible (Played by Will)
• Velkar - a hulking, silent Orc who communicates mostly by glaring (Played by Marco)
• K - a sazzy Tiefling whose horns are somehow shinier than mine (Played by Danu)

The Guildmaster explained the Emberlantern rank structure:

Ember → Spark → Flamebearer → Lanternbound → Crimsoncore

An inspiring ladder, though I suspect I’ll get distracted by moss before I ever reach Crimsoncore.

🕳️ The Mission

Our test: investigate a dungeon entrance hidden in the city sewers. Tilli led us through Greenharrow’s questionable back alleys to the slums. There, I found a perfectly good rat corpse and harvested mushrooms from its furry hide. Delicious. Or useful. Probably both.

The entrance? A manhole. I, Bramblegut the Brave, naturally jumped in first - waist-deep in sewage. Wonderful.

Wardek tried to follow gracefully. Tried. K wisely used a rope instead. Rookie mistake.

🌀 The Sewage Labyrinth

Inside, something played with our senses. My companions babbled about hallucinations, but my mind remained clear - must be the fungal tea fortifying my brain.

A circular chamber: four exits. Tilli, being knee-height, perched on Wardek’s shoulders.

We chose the west tunnel, leading to a chamber coated wall-to-wall in mushrooms and unknown flora. K lingered behind - rumor says she threw a rock at the wall and got eaten. Rookie mistake number two.

I glimpsed a vision: K, trapped somewhere dark. Tilli and Wardek rushed back to rescue her - Tilli tossed bread at the wall. The wall swallowed them too.

Never trust a wall. Or bread.

🔥 Fire & Revelations

Velkar (righteous as ever) torched the mushroom room. Flames revealed four dead city guards hidden among the mold. Poor fools.

I found a curious orb in the ashes - naturally, I smashed it open. Turns out, it was binding the missing guards (and my companions) inside the dungeon’s walls. Smash orb, free friends. Science works.

In the guards’ pockets: drugs. Seems our brave city watch were secretly sneaking into the sewers for hallucinations of their own. Too much poison, too much fun, the dungeon consumed them.

🏅 Our Reward

We returned to Emberlantern with news of rotten guards and a rotten dungeon. The Guildmaster rewarded us handsomely:

• Guild Membership: Ember Rank
• Rank tokens & access to low-tier guild areas
• Lantern of Embers
• One hot meal per day (which is more than I used to get)
• Use of basic guild weapons, armor & supplies
• Access to the Noticeboard for future quests

🪙 Note: 10% of our loot goes to the Guild. Fair price for membership, they say. Embers must work in teams, solo mushroom hunting is now unofficially discouraged. Good luck enforcing that.

🌟 Next Up

Tomorrow: our first official Emberlantern contract.
Tonight: a celebratory tea, extra spores.
My notes end here, the adventure begins.

Signed,
Bramblegut the Bold