A new world is discovered across the sea, and various guilds begin to send fleets of their members to go settle in the new land. Lucielle Johnson, one of such guild masters, sends three groups of the Drifters on one of these fleets.
The first group is an offshoot of a cultist organization worshiping the goddess Evra, the god of pleasure. The three sent with the guild are Tasma (a dwarven monk), Andel (a halfling cleric), and the duo Ramstien and Heimrich (macho goblins). The three hope to spread their goddess’s influence across the new world.
The second group is collection of jaded mercenaries. Two old friend, Kled (goblin paladin) and Reed (half-elf ranger) both hunt for artifacts, and convince a Raz (green Dragonborn druid) and Bernard Frump (Human Bard) to join their ranks as they set out to start their search in the new world. Kled appears to be a follower of the Gorilla god, and Reed is said to be a demon hunter.
The third group includes a group of stowaways travelling to the new land with hopes to explore and find better lives. Orro (human artificer), Azrael (half-elf rogue), and Dedude (half-elf fighter), take shelter in the ship as it travels, hoping to see more of the world and happy to be onboard the ship.
The ship quickly becomes overrun with sickness and disease halfway through the journey however, and many of the original ship’s inhabitants are killed or quarantined in the infection. The Drifters, are given shelter on the higher floors of the ship, and meet up with two fellow survivors, Athil and Sun. Athil is the foster father of Sun, who’s mother died on the ship, and he strikes up conversation quickly with the cultist table. Sun, on the other hand, remains quiet. A few of the Drifters with the Sight of Prophets note her name’s similarity to the goddess Sunny, who had helped them in the past.
As Bernard Frump jumps into a speech to rally the spirits of the remaining travelers, an orc strikes up a tune instead. Sun begins to show interest in the music and begins to dance, while Reed grows irritated and tries to end the celebration. He’s beat to the punch when a band of skeleton-like creatures emerge from the sea and overrun the ship.
The Drifters fight back and manage to clear the ship, but the entire fleet of vessels are torn apart by krakens. After attempting a daring leap into the water, Dedude is mortally injured by one of the krakens, and the remaining Drifters attempt to strap the injured onto rafts to prevent them from drowning. Before they can get far, their ship is torn apart and they fall into the frigid waters. Most drown quickly, but Kled and Reed manage to survive long enough to see a bright light fall from the sky, turning into thousands of silvery fish glowing a bright white. These fish swirl around Sun, transforming her. After an intense surge of magic, the last of the Drifters drown and lose consciousness.
The Drifters awaken on a rocky shoreline, uninjured and dry despite the events of the past night. In their company is Sun, who’s hair has gone completely white. They shake themselves off and ask questions to Sun, who does not answer. Andel takes the girl into his care, offering her his winter coat, and the group begins to head in-land.
At the base of the coast lies a sentient door which forbids entry into the main island of Northwatch. The group easily trick the door into letting them pass. While travelling up the winding staircase, the cultists of Evra continuously place their symbols along the passage’s walls, while other members of the party wipe them off. As this continues, the Drifters begin to notice that each of their hands has had a small, white fishscale embedded into their palm. While it radiates a calming presence, most of the party becomes confused and concerned about its implications.
Before reaching the top of the staircase, a well-demon emerges from the base of the staircase and begins to jump up the stairs. Andal and those at the front try to rush Sun to safety at the top of the stairs, but a viscuous tar takes shape on the stairs and begins to restrain them as they travel upwards. The mercenaries near the back begin to fend off the demon, and as it jumps towards the group to land its first hit, Bernard hits the beast with an intense sleep spell. The demon drops several stories downwards and is killed.
The mercenaries head down to investigate the demon, finding several corpse-like people chained to the walls. Reed mercy-kills the straggler corpses while Kled retrieves the demon’s cleaver swords. With the weapons and a few vials of blood in-hand, they return to the group. Orro requests one of the swords and a vial to examine, which they hand over willingly.
Upon reaching Northwatch, the Drifters emerge in a graveyard, where an old blind man named Patches is burning corpses. The group quickly begin to explore the city, finding nothing but abandoned and burning homes, as well as monstrous drones that roam the streets collecting the dead. The Drifters take shelter in one of the abandoned homes and sleep the night out, with Reed taking watch on the roof of the house.
In the morning, the Drifters decide that they must leave the island. The group decides to investigate rumors of a giant eagle who lives in the central building, hoping they can get a flight off the island and avoid the infested sea altogether. A small band also decides to double-back and try to persuade Patches to follow them off the island.
The group that goes to retrieve Patches find him in the graveyard once more, but find his clothes reveal his status a little more clearly. Reed asks if Patches was the king of the island, but the old man does not confirm or deny it. After several Drifters attempt to persuade Patches to come with, Patches assures them that the most noble thing he could do now is continue serving his people and die with them. Reed, unhappy with the answer, knocks out Patches and carries him back to the others in his bedroll.
The others run back and attempt to sneak into the central building. Azreal, Tasma, and Kled all sneak through the courtyard, trying to avoid detection. Azreal manages to open the door with the key hanging from Patches’ neck, and the three slip inside only to be ambushed by the princess of Northwatch. The princess, heavily corrupted like the drones outside, summons her patron Lord E’Gal. Lord E’Gal enters as a gigantic black and gold eagle, corrupted and worm-ridden like the princess.
The rest of the Drifters burst inside, trying to end the fight as quickly as possible and save their comrades. The cultists attempt to subdue Lord E’Gal, while the mercenaries try to kill the princess. Meanwhile, the horde of undead outside the building begin to surge towards the courtyard. The cultists fighting the eagle god are dismayed to find their attacks being shrugged off by the bird. Tasma is clawed badly and Rammstien ends up hurling the unconscious Patches as a last ditch resort. The mercenaries dealing with the princess are making headway, but Kled begins to also sustain grievous injuries from the ongoing fight. Mustering the ends of their strength, Rammstien lashes out at Lord E’gal, shattering the god’s corrupted form, and Kled manages to behead the princess in a decicive blow. As the horde of the undead fall upon the building, Lord E’Gal is freed from his corruption and transports the Drifters to safety in a haze of white light.
Sun stands amidst the Drifters holding a magical staff, topped with a feather from Lord E’Gal. Patches is safe with the Drifters, but appears to be acting strange and senile. As the party try to decide how to figure out where they are, they realize that the princess’s corpse has also been transported with them. Kled finds a stash of Sleep arrows on the body, and gifts them over to Reed instead of Asriel. Dedude suggests they bury the body upsidedown to prevent her from returning as undead, and he and Reed dig a grave for her. As they lay her to rest, Patches becomes overwhelmed with emotion at cries at her grave, and a single eagle feather lights down on the grave before the group moves along. The cultists try to lay the mark of Evra on the grave, but are quickly dissuaded by the rest of the party.
The group travels to the nearest city of Windwick, where they are quickly rushed into an inn by an enthusiastic and rude innkeeper. Dadude, in his sadistic ways, decides not to put up with the woman and instead hangs the head of the priestess from the doorway of the inn. When the innkeeper objects, he beheads her and hangs her head as well.
Most of the Drifters decide to hurry on by and avoid the situation by retreating to a nearby alchemy shop. Dadude and Azreal continue to wreak havoc by targeting the witness with their crossbows and longbows, but miss their targets. Reed steps in, kills the witness with a bolt to the back, and then travels to meet up with the others.
The alchemy shop is run by a woman named Xion, who lets the Drifters in once they show interest in buying her wares. The cultists keep talking about their goddess, which strikes the others as strange, but Xion seems to understand the significance of Evra. After hiding them from the authorities, Xion suggests that the Drifters go clear out a mine nearby to retrieve blood ore. The cultists seem happy with this exchange, and after a few minutes the other group meets up at the alchemy shop. The Drifters inside refuse to let Dadude in after the stunt that he pulled, but let Reed slip in to talk as well. Reed expresses interest in a potion of Anti-Magic, and Xion gives him the price for the item’s research. The cultists and Reed convince the group to go to the mines, and they set out immediately. Athil, Sun, and Patches decide to take cover on the outskirts of down, disheartened by the violence they had seen that day.
Along the way, they pass by a large ogre who is creating clay images of other ogres on a large expanse of land. The ogre does not seem particularly friendly, but Athil manages to talk the ogre into letting them pass unharmed. A few minutes down the road, however, the Drifters find a band of farmers who ask them to kill the Ogre. They initially refuse, not wanting to harm the innocent creature, but Dedude convinces Asriel and Reed into doing the task. The cultists, not trusting Dedude, ask Orro to stay behind with them, and make the bunch swear to not kill the ogre. The group agrees without hesitation, and the party splits.
Dedude begins to elaborate on his plan, which is to trick the ogre into killing the farmers, or vice versa. Reed distracts the ogre while Dedude and Asriel lead him off into the farmer’s village. The farmers are shocked and outraged at the ogre’s appearance in the town, and demand the Drifters leave at once. The Drifters try to convince the ogre to stand up for himself, but the ogre seems confused and saddened by the farmers. Reed and Asriel begin to intentially provoke the farmers, and eventually the farmers begin to attack. When Asriel is stabbed by a young farmer, the ogre finally enters the fray to try to protect his new friends. The group quickly kill off the farmers, with Reed leaving one alive to tell him where the promised money was hidden. The one survivor and the farmers’ children flee, while the Drifters clean up the village and leave the ogre to return to his new land.
Meanwhile, the cultists attempt to navigate through the mines, but are overtaken with fatigue and a myserious ailment. All drop unconscious except Andel, Rammstien, and Heimrich. The three move the others to safety and continue their search, only to find a gigantic cave ogre lying in wait at the bottom of the cave. The ogre hurls a stalagtite at the three, badly wounding Andel as the cave’s ceiling collapses on them. They make it out alive, and rally back at the farmer’s camp.
The Drifters stay overnight in the farmer’s village. Andel is suspicious of where the villagers have gone, but is told that they have left for good and that the others have acquired the money promised. In the morning, a small band of the Drifters clear out the mines and strike down the cave ogre, with Andel constantly reviving and restoring the frontline fighters as they fall repeatedly. The group mine more than enough Bloodore, as well as many eyes and tentacles from the ogre’s corpse.
On return to Windwick, the Drifters notice that the city has been walled and that guards have begun to roam to roads. When a squirrel runs up to the group, Reed begins to talk to it and reveals it to be Xion, who had come in disguise. She hastily accepts the Bloodore and eyes in exchange for the money and the promised research into anti-magic. She tells the cultists to head to Dalot to meet a colleague of hers for delivering the rest of the Bloodore, and that she would send ahead the anti-magic potion in a week or so as well.
The group finds Athil and the others in a small camp well hidden in a cavelet beside the meadows. They spend some time together settling down and recovering from the day’s events. Athil offers the group food, having hunted deer while they were out, and becomes somewhat offended when Reed won’t partake in the meal. Reed in response pulls out his god’s totem, which is that of a deer, and he spends the remainder of the day storming off in the woods. While he is gone, Andel attempts to experiment with the Bloodore, and Athil takes notice. Athil explains that he knows what’s wrong with Patches, but won’t interfere, and Andel seems to understand what this means. The day goes by without much further excitement, save for when Reed returns.
While wandering the forest, Reed is followed by Spacejam (Black Tabaxi Death Cleric). Spacejam sneaks up from behind, hearing Reed talking to himself in the middle of the woods, and Reed puts his glasses back on before turning to face her. He seems somewhat unsurprised to find the cat out in the woods, and asks her a question about sailing before returning to the Drifters. Spacejam trails him back, and the other Drifters question Reed about the cat’s identity. Reed nonchalantly explains that she is one of the Drifters, and in response Sun places a white fishscale into the paw of Spacejam. The Drifters settle back in unease, but welcome the cleric into their ranks.