Introduction

Welcome to the world of Etheria! Or, not technically a world, just a continent within one, a partially self-contained chunk of the continent with biomes that change as rapidly as World of Warcraft. But that's beside the point.
The world in which Etheria rests was created by the gods millennia ago, a noble pantheon dedicated to creation and fostering happiness among their followers. Unfortunately, a force of uncreation known as the Void hovers at the edges of existence, corrupting or consuming all the feel its touch. This force introduced evil and destruction into a world of good and creation.
There's a very simplified backstory to the planet as a whole. As for Etheria itself, the continent rests south of this world's equator, with a cowboy-like desert to the north, elven forests to the southeast, and dwarvish lands just to the east. To the northeast is Etheria's only coastline, which allows for trade with the Far Continent and the spattering of islands that rest between the new continent on which Etheria rests, and the settled world.
Civilizations have risen and fallen in Etheria. For some reason the lands the country claims are ringed about in a strangely circular with thickly clustered mountains, with the only easy passes out being the northern (to the cowboy-like desert), the two southeasterns (which lead to the lands of the elves and dwarves), and the north/northeastern coastline that allows for shipping and lots of trade and travel. However, the only lands that the government of Etheria (which is a sort of confederate/theocratic hybrid) control are a band comprising of roughly one-third of the space within the mountains, stretching from pass to pass. Additionally, Seaport (the fishing/trading city on the coast) is claimed by Etheria as well. In between the coast Etheria's official borders is a thick jungle, filled with mysterious creatures and cannibalistic gnomes. Then, Etheria, a land of rolling hills, prairies, and some forest, which eventually bleeds into the final third of the space between the mountains (which always want to call a continent, though it isn't), the Wilds, a chaotic space of grassland/hills where roving tribes of monsters rage against each other and the Etherians, whom they believe stole their homeland and killed their ancestors.
The adventure begins with out fair party being hired by the Church of the Knowing (the by far most dominant religion as well as ruling body in Etheria, equal parts modeled and parodied after the Catholic Church, specifically older iterations) to investigate an abandoned church outpost in the mountains and collect intel or magical items. Our heros (most of which whose names I forget): a grumpy, old, and bigoted half-orc barbarian with a chip on his shoulder and a book in hand; an unpopular tiefling warlock with a good heart and a vendetta against his father; a rogue human who masquerades as a traveling preacher or a nobleman to swindle others; a good-hearted aasimar cleric, beloved by all and groomed for leadership but secretly doubting his church (and himself); a bard elf who accepts most everyone as they are and is convinced she's a competent fighter (she isn't); and a wild-magic sorcerer elf who is pretty much the definition of narcissism.
The outpost is a large stone structure, partially built into the mountainside. They enter, and spend the majority of our first session assuming that traps and secret doors are literally everywhere, as well as assuming death waits around every corner. They find nothing of note on this level, but they do manage to scare a goblin half to death and almost lost the bard to a giant spider that took a large bite out of her neck. Additionally, the tiefling warlock barred the remainder of the goblins in the second level, and unwittingly left them to starve to death.
Side note: tieflings are distrusted and unliked in this country, and warlocks are outright hated and persecuted, so only a lot of explanation on his part (and the fact that the warlock was already friends with the aasimar cleric, who knew his secret) prevented his own party from gutting him.
The party eventually makes their way down a level, where they discover two things of importance: a locked-up goblin, and a collapsed floor leading to a secret lower level. Unfortunately, lack of teamwork and just generally terrible people skills left the goblin absolutely terrified when the party attempted to interrogate him. They eventually handed him a dagger and let him go (hopefully that doesn't turn out poorly for them), before moving down a floor.
The following dungeon is a labyrinth of traps, twisting corridors, and strange monsters. What's important: the warlock kept kill stealing, the sorcerer learned that there's more to magic than personal cosmetics, the bard nearly died on multiple occasions, and the barbarian effectively flipped death a middle finger and said "NOTHING CAN STOP ME."
Oh, and the narcissistic sorcerer managed to "permanently" turn herself blue, to which she immediately cried "Now my outfit doesn't match my skin tone! No!"
After doing battle with a large, skeletal dragon, the party made their way down yet another floor, where they were accosted by roughly ten shadowy beings intent on protecting the contents of the room. The bard made the foolish decision of grabbing a magic item without first checking on what it was, and suffered death as a result: she grabbed a magic wineskin that stunned her, and while stunned the shadowy figures rushed her and stabbed her to death.
Bard out.
The rest of the party, with great difficulty, managed to kill the rest of the shadowy figures, and the cleric experienced a minor crisis when he realized one of his charges died on his watch. However, the party eventually realized that the wineskin was magical because it was sentient, and that the wine within was mixed with a single Potion of Resurrection. So the bard was saved! She now has secret information given to her by an angel before returning.
The party then read from a journal that let them know far more is going on in this continent than any of them realize. Who is the Maker? Why do the gods no longer speak to the priests? And why is Halvin the Sentient Wineskin so annoying? Find out next time, one...
THE BLOG THAT I USE TO CONFUSINGLY RECORD MY ADVENTURERS EXPLOITS!
Tonight (or Monday, or both): more adventure, perhaps more death, and definitely a lot of pain and anguish. Aw yeah.