Along the Ancient Outpost's Path Report

General Summary

True Colors

After holding the shard of the Aethermirror, the High Elf Orianna was exposed to actually be the Fairy Kico of the Fae Realm. The party had a very brief discussion, discovering the reason behind her deception.   Kico claimed that nearly 100 years ago she became trapped in Cyorion. She was unable to return to the Fae realm and in a panicked state, came upon a dying Orianna. She briefly spoke with her, and, with her blessing, was able to permanently disguise herself as the dying Elf. Since then she has been disguised as the Elf, in hiding, and trying to survive. Kico said Maribelle had intention to help her with her predicament, even though she didn't know the true nature of it. Kico also had no explanation as to why the Shard removed her disguise, but she was unable to permanently take the form again    

Journeying to Higek

  The party continued their trek to Higek, a days march from Lofot. Along the way, wildlife was spotted making their way back to the west as the fog receded at a quickened pace. The party was quite pleased that whatever they had been up to had provided some relief from the fog.   Anduro Quoumo spotted an old, wooden fortress a ways off the path the party was walking. From the journal of Anduro:

While scouting, I discovered an older fortress that had been seemingly abandoned. I beckoned the party to rummage through the location, and maybe scout for supplies. We could potentially find clues to these goblins or dwarves, anything for our advantage. Everything seemed peaceful, no movement, nothing but nature to be heard. We decided to use this area as a safer place to camp, since its structures would hide our campfire's light, and potentially protection should we be raided. We steadied our bellies and minds as we anticipated enemies to give resistance on our journey ahead, we wanted answers to these exploited powers, we wanted justice for our friend Mirabelle, and whoever was responsible for the bloodshed so far owed us these explanations.

— Anduro Quomo, Elion the 5th of Kasbiel, 151

 

Battle at Tal'Higek

  A cold wind and rainstorm moved into the highlands as the party approached Higek. They spotted the ruins of the surface sister-city, Tal'Higek through the misty rain, an eerie quiet washed over. They took to the corners of vision, silently moving into and through the town. Anduro directed Neoon to a potential disturbance in one of the buildings. In the ruins, she found stale blood, not fully washed away by the rains, maybe a day or two old, and the severed arm of a goblin. Exploring just up the street, the party encountered a band of Gnolls squatting amongst the ruins. The heroes showed great efficiency dispatching the Gnolls. Randuraas was particularly enraged by the Gnolls invading the Dwarven ruins, viewing it as a slight against the peoples he had spent so much time with.  

Aftermath of the Battle at the Ruins of Tal'Hikeg -The Gnoll Leader's head is placed on a spike by Randuraas Thrombo.

— Art provided by Glenn/Randuraas.

A quiet came back over the ruins as the last of the blood hit the ground. The party looked around through the belongings, finding coin, a floppy old hat, and a red potion swirling in a bottle, which Magnus sniffed and quickly drank.  

Another!

— Magnus, smashing the potion bottle to the ground