Link to my first post on getting this group going can be found here
Our stalwart heroes landed in Neverwinter at a good time, as the rebuilding town was under attack by the Sahugian menace, who regularly seem to try and dislodge people from resettling on the ruins of Neverwinter. After they were dispatched and the party helped the wounded guards, they began looking for work in this wild landscape. While many jobs were being offered to adventurers, the one they chose was to locate a missing magical book. It had been discovered in the ruins of the town and stolen by a mage from the Host Tower. The mage got out of town right away, fleeing into Neverwinter wood with his prize, but that was over a ten day ago, and no one has seen him since, but guards did find a campsite he used, but no other clues.
The party found the campsite and encountered some werewolves. Many fled, and an injured one was left behind, who the party healed and interrogated. She revealed that the mage in question had been tracked by the werewolves, and that she knew where he was and would trade that information for her freedom. Turns out the mage had fought and killed werewolves, and they wanted revenge, while the party hadn't killed any of the creatures.
The party found the mage, an Elf Wizard, in a ruined underground temple of some kind and got the drop on him, capturing him with no damage done or lives lost. The party then recovered the book and sent the Elf to his punishment amongst the werewolves.
A few notes now on this book as we look behind the curtain. Anyone who holds the book has to make a Wisdom saving throw or be compelled to use it to summon demons. It's a book of demonic summoning and will summon one at random every d6 days as well. The party's Monk held it first and was caught by it's spell, but passed another save later before summoning anything and was able to inform the party of the dangers of the item. He then handed it off to the Druid, who put it into a bag of holding immediately, and passed his save from touching the book. First tests passed for the party.
The book does leave behind an evil aura and has a sort of Pied Piper situation. The emanations of the book stay on the people who last held it, and the book's evil aura draws evil creatures who fail Wisdom saving throws, or who just plain answer to the call. This got them a few times.
The first night they made camp, a Shadow Demon attacked them. After dispatching it, they didn't really know anything was amiss. They passed some soldiers that were on their way to Neverwinter the next day, but didn't stop to chat with them much, explaining they were on a mission from DART. There was a Wizard amongst the soldiers, dispatched from the Host Tower to look into the disappearance of the book, but the party avoided him.
The next day they encountered more soldiers, but this time they were fighting Sahugian on the road. Members of this patrol had been wounded, but they were not alone, as in the skies and fighting with the soldiers was a gold dragon. Once the battle is over, the soldiers say they were riding hard to catch up to the last patrol the party had seen, as the Wizard in their midst was likely an imposter! The soldiers went on their way with thanks to the party for assistance and healing, but the dragon stuck around to chat up the party. Mivervi is a 6 year old out on her own for the very first time from her father's lair. She heard that the areas around Neverwinter were dangerous and came to check it out. The party tells Mivervi that there are countless Sahugian out in the waters and around the coastal areas, creating problems for people. She promises to look around for their lair and help gather information in exchange for some stories of the deeds of the party; they obviously agree.
Later that same day, the party is foraging for food when Argento tries vainly to spear a fish in the ocean and mistakenly upsets a crab. This interaction feels like fate to Argento, who takes the crab as a pet. The crab is named Hank.
Days go by without much action before the party is set to arrive in Luskan, but are ambushed by enemies less than a day from the city. Goblins and Bugbears try to ambush them, but are crushed by the party. The party members who have touched the book are doing well on their saves up to this point, and are not under the spell of the book. As a result, when they arrive in Luskan, they are under their own control and doing rather well, all things considered.
When I next have the time to write out some of what the party has done, they will meet the owner of "One Eyed Jack's", the most popular and well attended inn and eatery in not only Luskan, but it is a chain that has locations down the Sword Coast. That post will have to have the spoiler tag, as I am operating this universe in the time AFTER Finest Edge of Twilight, and so a lot of stuff is different on the Sword Coast than it was back in The Crystal Shard.