Blightfiend – Recap season 2, episodes 1-6

The party arrives in Grimdale, a town plagued by blight and disease. Investigating its source, We’ahqa communes with nature and learns that the corruption stems from the abyss, infecting the river through poisoned roots. When Kyver collects samples, the residue manifests into a black ichor slime that attacks.

They meet Ruben, a cynical Earth Genasi guard with a grudge against nobles, who warns of Drakewood Travels’ shady dealings. Rig uncovers merchant ledgers linking the blight back to Nymora’s black-market Vineyard. Meanwhile, Kyver experiences a vision of infiltrating a tower with three others, pursuing a figure with a bloody dagger.

Attros gathers the party back to the house on the town’s edge, where Gilead has rounded everyone up to share findings…

After exploring the outskirts of Grimdale, the party set off from town, following new leads and fragments of information. Guided by Rubin, an old Earth Genasi guard who’d long left city life behind, they traced signs of the spreading blight to a nearby river, where corrupted remnants lingered. Rubin shared what he knew about Nymora and its darker dealings, pointing them toward the forest ahead.

As the group traveled through increasingly blighted terrain, they were interrupted one evening at camp by a thief. Cereius quickly ensnared the would-be robber with Entangle, revealing a familiar face: a goblin named Pancho Vagabond. Once a fellow guild member of Kyver’s, Pancho greeted him not with warmth but with a string of profanities, which Kyver was more than happy to return. Their colorful exchange led to a tense conversation, during which Pancho revealed fragments of information about the Vitalis.

That night, We’ahqa struggled with haunting whispers echoing in his mind, “One of four must die.” He tried to push the voice aside, though thoughts of the blight and the suffering villagers lingered heavily. As the others settled down to rest, Pancho invited Kyver to join him on a familiar kind of job: robbing a nearby caravan, just like the old days. But Kyver, having turned over a new leaf, refused.

Moments later, as Pancho wandered off into the dark toward the caravan’s distant lights, something massive and unseen struck. The creature, four-legged and swift, snatched the goblin up in its jaws and vanished into the woods, leaving only silence in its wake…

Without We’ahqa, who had gone missing hours earlier, the Mercurial Avengers gave chase. Guided by Franchise, We’ahqa’s familiar, they ventured into a mist-choked bog where twisted Jaculi vipers and a blighted elder lizard struck from the murky water. Kyver’s blades found their mark, cutting down the monster in moments.

We’ahqa soon reappeared, though something in his demeanor was… off. The group returned to camp to rest, but peace was fleeting. When panthers returned under the cover of moonlight, Rig made a split-second choice, uttered a curse, and tore reality open, warping the entire party across the land.

They emerged on the outskirts of Nymora, where the earth was sick and the air reeked of rot. Hiding among the blighted fields, they watched a lone figure approach the eastern gate. As moonlight caught his face, Kyver’s heart froze. Abraxus Vitalis stood before them once more.

In an instant, our group found themselves outside the eastern gate of Nymora, where Kyver had seen his past tormentor, the son of the Vitalis family, Abraxis. Although he had to hold himself back from chasing after him, Rig and the others used this opportunity to disguise themselves and head in while playing themselves off as a noble and their bodyguards. 

Despite hearing noises coming from behind them, the party pushed further in, moving past the guards, as a small caravan of people was being chased by a mutated monster towards the gate. We’aqha left Franchise behind to see through its eyes the carnage that ensued as yet another beast appeared, despite the bravery of a young air genasi attempting to fend them off. With the help of some of the guards and the young warrior Arnable, the beasts were driven off, and the survivors were taken in, but only after taking some losses.

With heavy hearts, our adventurers set off farther into the city, past the market area and into the bridge ward, where they stayed at the Cat’s Cradle Inn. As the others rested, We’aqha, full of rage and distraught by the events of the day, gave in to his inner voice, “one must die,” and found his way to Poncho, who had separated from them and was merely enjoying some late-night gambling. After pulling Poncho further away from where anyone might hear him, We’aqha attempted to kill him, but Poncho, showing his rogue-like abilities, darted off into the shadows before re-emerging and striking We’aqha with a critical blow that left him unconscious. After robbing him of a few belongings and leaving him for dead, Poncho headed off into the night, where, afterward, We’aqha was taken in by someone who found him lying there unconscious. 

The next morning, Rig, Kyver, and Cereius reconvened, eating breakfast at the open dining hall while speaking to some of the locals, like Lynx, about some of the carnage that ensued last night, as well as the change in scenery with a blight that had made its way to the edges of Nymora more recently. 

While the others enjoyed their coffee and breakfast treats, Cereius found himself allergic to some of the local foods, causing a bit of a fun exchange between everyone, just before Poncho arrived to ask the party what was up with their blue friend trying to murder him last night.

Just at about the same time, We’aqha woke up, having found himself in the care of Arnable, a young, up-and-coming knight in the city who had just returned recently. After a brief exchange, We’ahqa headed off, wildshaping into a bird and flying out the window…

We’ahqa departed to return to Cat’s Cradle, while the others set out with Poncho to find We’ahqa. However, when the rest of the group reached the location where We’ahqa was last seen by Poncho, there was little trace of him. After a few inquiries from Rig to an elderly green Tabaxi lady with golden eyes, they were able to determine that she is a “cleaner” of the street, and that “occasionally” things happen here, but she did not find a body last night. Poncho, having done his duty, split from the rest.

We’ahqa, having not seen anyone and feeling the impulse from his inner voice, used Locate Object to track Poncho. As We’ahqa moved towards Poncho’s location after Kyver warned Poncho about separating from their group, everyone became caught up in an intense chase. As We’ahqa came within grasp of Poncho, Kyver instead snatched him up and made a getaway to one of the hideouts of the Royal Vagabonds. Rig and Cereius managed to calm We’ahqa down, just as city guards questioned them for causing a disturbance in the city. Rig, acting quickly, teleported the three of them back to their room at the Cat’s Cradle.

During this time, Kyver and Poncho entered their old hideout, where they ran into Robin Lynxley, another one of their old cohorts. After hearing the news about their friend, Little Don, being captured and made to fight in the underground circuit of the Vineyard, Kyver convinced Robin to let him and his allies join Robin in an infiltration mission. As Kyver received a sending message from We’ahqa, guards from the city came into the Cat’s Cradle looking for 2 water genasi and Rig, disguised as a dwarf, only to come to a halt after being commanded to return.

Rig headed out to meet Kyver, who brought his friend Robin Lynxley to meet the group after a bit of an exchange. During this time, Cereius began to sense something strange from Weaqha with the Puppetmaster’s ring on his hand. Using Speak with the Dead, he was able to reach out to a spirit that found itself attached to We’aqha, where they received clues about a grudge related to 4 people who had taken the spirit’s life previously, and somehow Poncho was connected. 

After the rest of the group reunited, they met Robin and discussed plans to save Little Don from the Vineyard, while also looking more into the mystery of the Blight Fiend. Kyver had a bit of an adverse reaction to the catnip cookies that were gifted to them earlier in the day by a strange green tabaxi with yellow eyes, but as Robin revealed, there was no such resident in the area where they met her. 

After treating Kyver, they managed to hash out the rest of the plan, as Robin headed off first to meet them there later that night. Rig felt a sense of deja vu for a moment just before Robin left, the area about her feeling the same way when she warps through space and time. But as things settled, the group went about their preparations for the adventure ahead of them.