Session 47 Report

General Summary

Swift's Log

After our battle with the mushrooms and spiders, and the subsequent squabble between party members with the dragon’s cursed bones, we all regrouped back in town to find Cher and Shabaka totally not on a spa date. With a day’s rest and time spent to plan ahead, we purchased some expensive oils and readied our party to lay the dragon’s soul to rest and collect the rest of the Aetherstone. The former was first on our list as we made our way back to the husk, Moon Planter pointed out seeing a sentry or two along the way. Finding the bones starting to rattle and vibrate around, we were probably right on time to act as who knows if it would have been there the next day. The ritual itself took a full day’s work, but thankfully we weren’t interrupted during the time. Along the way back, Shabaka carefully picked a bulk of the mushrooms out of the ground. As we caught back up to where we’d stopped yesterday with the mushrooms, we were swiftly accosted by 3 sentries. A brief conversation was had as though anyone expected to get through without a fight, then combat commenced. Having fought the same elementals in our last encounter while knowing we were much stronger, I wasn’t the least bit worried! Though it did appear as though they were greater in numbers… perhaps a certain kirin’s airheaded exploration the day before had set off suspicion and given away our element of surprise for their defenses to be bolstered. Thankfully the party was able to use excellent teamwork and positioning along with strategy to strike our way through the sand. Even the larger, new creatures didn’t offer much of a struggle to us. Fireheart showed off a neat trick of turning herself into an earth elemental and I fought by her side as we put up a wall in front of 6 stacked elementals. She wanted to fireball, I couldn’t really blame her and gave her the go ahead as it actually served to benefit us. The sentries before us turned to glass and weren’t able to so easily move past us making so we could knock them down where they stood. Cher showed masterful work of her arcana magic with a number of frost cones that chipped away at them while Shabaka’s fearful tactics had them quivering where they stood. Of course it goes without saying that Ord and Moon Planter were putting the hurt down on anything in front of them and I was dazzling as I danced and leaped and flipped my way over all of them. Tangent even was miraculously not out of position and able to stay safe in the middle of all of us and provide excellent heals and support! And even with a baker’s dozen of foes, we were soon down to just a few. I chased the lot further down the cave into a collection of active mushrooms. With how frail they looked, I didn’t see it as an issue, my team was right behind me to back me up anyhow and the elementals were all gone!   The party regrouped and traveled up through the caves to find our prize: a bulk of Aetherstone! A bulk that had been somewhat concealed behind barrels of alcohol with marks of Heatfang on them. From the sounds of it, it was more of that ‘kirin special’ which Fireheart didn’t even want to take a sip of… I’m still wary of that brew and decided to hold off me-self less I become the butt of some gross joke. The rest of the lot enjoyed themselves and we rested for the evening. I unearthed the stone and put it in me bags and the magic users were able to tell there was still more to be found. After a rest, we were back at it hunting through the caves for… what was hours of searching that only found us another small group of sand sentries. 4 of them that somehow by themselves managed to get one of our party members closer to death than the larger group previously had. Shabaka’s nimble rolling and reflexes along with Tangent’s healing kept him alive thankfully, and we did away with them quickly enough. Our search continued with the assumption that everything in the cave had been dealt with. Cher used her magic like some sort of ‘dousing rod’ as Moon Planter called it, and we eventually found a deposit that we had to mine up ourselves. With the refresher that these sentries were typically hanging out around the stone, we decided to double back where Fireheart had said the other half of larger battle’s sentries had come from. Having found a similar looking formation to where we found our last bulk, we checked this bulk to secure the last of the Aetherstone. 3 bulk’s worth all told, and according to my calculations that’s a clean paycheck of 600g from the goose. But with only 2 bulk left to hunt down to set up the portal in Aerilon… maybe we could put it off and surprise the goose? We were finally done with that wonderfully dark, twisted cave system, a few collection of mushrooms left in case Sister wanted to frolic. Cher and Ord got a head start at the tavern while the rest of us went to find Barqs and report the job was done along with the state of the cave. With a job very well done and an entire dungeon cleared to completion, the party was well deserving of a proper bit of celebration. Ord and Cher had set the tone as the lot of us piled in and started joining the fun. Cher, Moon Planter, and I all thought of the brilliant idea of hoof-wrestling a drunken Ord, to which we were all thoroughly humiliated. Tangent surprisingly came the closest, and by the gods was the bar eating up the show we were putting on. Keeping with the good times, we had all thought back to what Barqs told us about when he tried one of the mushrooms before, they sounded like memories along the type that Sister Ashe had seen. Drunk and enthused, the lot of us save for Tangent decided to try a mushroom. I even managed to goad Fireheart into a bite with a bit of help from the bar~   I’d say it was a trip, but we all seemed to have a connected visage of what seemed as though Heatfang was a young dragon that betrayed his father, leaving him to die in that cave and it was Heatfang’s father that we laid to rest… Interesting news, I’m not sure what to make of it but there’s time for that later, we’ve got more celebrating to do!  

Moon Planter's Log

After lifting myself out of the bones of the Ravager, I looked around and saw we were still alive. Thank the Moon Princess. We rested that night, and I thought hard about how we defeated such a creature. The treasures recovered seemed like a moot detail in comparison. So many times I've come close to death only to awaken with my ears ringing, and everyone pulling themselves back up. I spent my rest time thinking on my accomplishments, and felt greater confidence as a result. The others went back to the caves with Sister Ash in tow, I stayed and helped to aid Weldstone. The following day, I traveled back to the mines with them, and took point with Ord to the skeleton of the Ravager we defeated. Tangent collected the coin necessary to buy oils and incense to perform a ritual to keep the Ravager down for good. I pitched in. The bones shook on our approach. I stood watch for 8 hours as Tangent, Fireheart, and Cher performed the ritual together. The bones lay still, and the ritual was a success.   We continued searching for the Aetherstone. Shabaka carefully extracted a large sample for himself. We were stopped by 3 Sand Elementals standing shoulder to shoulder. Tangent attempted to communicate with them, but they stood between us and the Aetherstone, so we had no choice but to fight. The fight was intense and brutal. Dozens of them poured through the walls and attacked. We held our lines and didn't back away. Cher left me to stand alone against a handful of them, and blasted a clustered group with an icy blast. Those that remained were quickly destroyed.   After the battle, we found the Aetherstone to the north, hidden behind barrels marking Heat Fang's mark. The Stone was collected, and we enjoyed a barrel of aged Kirin Special. After many hours searching, and another battle fought against the elementals, we found all remaining Aetherstone and returned to Weldstone.   Upon our return, Cher and Ord went straight to the bar. The rest of us went to Barqs and informed him of our success. We had promised to look for any other valuable minerals in the cave, but could only find some green crystals known to heal Earth Elementals. They're not worth much, and wouldn't take much time to extract, but Barqs seemed pleased that we found something of worth. The major dangers are gone, and only a few spiders remain. The largest clutches of Memory Mycena remain for Sister Ash to exploit in some manner. They can be avoided, but I don't know if they hold any more secrets for us.   Once we finished, we went to the tavern to find it lively and full of shouting. Ord was found at a table, and Cher right across from her. They had begun a drinking contest, and Ord was easily winning. She and Cher hoof wrestled, and Cher was easily thrown to the floor. Confident in myself, I took Cher's seat and challenged Ord to the same contest. I barely finished gloating about laying down some pillows for Ord, and then she crashed me through the table. I don't know what hurt worse, my body or my pride. I just know everything was in pain. I got pulled up by the crowd, and then Tangent sat down at a new table that was pulled up for them. Ord was getting cocky at this point, and to everyone's surprise Tangent seemed to be fighting back. Ord gritted her teeth and pinned Tangent's leg down. She was undefeated, and drinks were bought all around.   With jovial celebrations done, we returned to business. A box of aged Mycena mushrooms were discovered in front of the barrels baring Heat Fang's mark. When Shabaka cast Detect Magic on them, they began to glow again. It was speculated that eating the mushrooms could reveal the memories they hold, so most of us grabbed one, and swallowed. My memory was that of a great dragon, filled with fear as his son touched his head and pulled some dark secret from his mind. The Ravager was Heat Fang's father.