Session 8, we got more orcs baby

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Serafina - is apparently upset with something she crossed off on a list, presumably related to healing?
 
Serafina owed 20 g
Zeal owed 200 g
 
 
Not much of a nightlife in this city, Hesjingmajak. Sidna wasn't feeling well and was able to retrieve a (temporary?) relief of her ailments by a potion made by a cleric utilising the most holy water in the lake.
 
Sonny and Sidna are holding a...captive? Prisoner? In the basement. It's someone who was trying to ambush the party on the way. Callskar raiders need to be gotten rid of?
 
Vorach was in sick bay where I overheard mention of a 'poisoning' of an orc woman who was very thick, an actual orc woman with faded skin colour. He trails her, getting very easily caught in the act, but she doesn't quite seem to show that she noticed until she turned a corner and stood still, causing him to run into her.
 
She didn't quite seem to take to him, seeming to mistrust his awkward social tendencies. When he asked if she could help him find the person he was looking for, an orc woman named Garna, she said 'no thank you' and then left, despite Vorach's shadow puppets following her on the wall and trying to help.
 
She went back to the room and told Zeal and Willow about her tail (Zeal was holding Willow underwater to see how long she could hold her breath), disregarding him though Willow pointed out they had a contract to take out a number of bandits. Sidna seemed adamant against the idea, but was quickly side-tracked as Zeal asked about her health. Turns out slime dropped out and poisoned the area, and Sidna may have ingested some.
 
Zeal asked what type of magic Vorach might utilise, and when Sidna couldn't answer, he went to ask. Talking, he convinced Vorach to join (and later pay his 200g entry fee, which is marked as owed to Zeal Hawk), and brought him back inside to the bath. Sidna seems disappointed, but Vorach wins over the party by explaining where he's from (near Woodside), a little bit about who he is (the son of an orcish warlord and a human merchant), and then providing them with some fruit.
 
Knock at the door is a dragonborn priest, who requests we follow him. Everyone gets dressed and we go along, pausing only when Vorach has a mini heart attack and senses something nearby, whipping his head to see an amethyst dragonborn. He goes over and immediately starts pestering her, asking if she knows about shadow creatures, and she quickly gets fed up and leaves. We continue on our way to an enormous set of doors that takes like four guards to open.
 
Through the giant doors is a long hall, a ceiling of stained glass like sparkling water, end of the hallway is a second set of doors. We're asked to wait, and then the head priestess comes in. Head priestess is a half-scale, half human/dragonborn, with silver/blue scales. introduces herself as Rasmir. She heard that we were bringing important news this way. Zeal talks about the dragon closing the rift, and Sidna pulls out a weird bug thing in a jar to hand over, explaining how it was seeming to eat life essence. It gives off a terrible, awful Shadow energy that Vorach can sense. Apparently the forest is flooded with them. This particular sample is not alive.
 
Concerned, the priestess takes the party to talk with the dragon of water, whilst Vorach decides to remain behind and wait for them to return. Serafina attempted to gain access, with Vorach helping her for unknown reasons, only to storm off and wait to talk with the head priestess herself.
 
In the room, Zeal and Sidna shared information with Ulharst, an absolutely huge blue dragon, saying that Jingahar was dying, holding on to a portal in the world and trying to keep it closed. Relieved the portal holds for now, he explains how the dragons came to be and that because their creators never allowed them to leave, they were unfamiliar with gates to other worlds beyond this one. He explains that he is not guarding a gate when Sidna asks, but instead guarding a fountain of magic left over by the Founders.
 
There's a False Founder???! Uh oh.
 
The dragon can only think of one solution, and says that he will need help to do so. He will take the place of Jingahar, allowing them to come here and hope that transporting their soul will allow their body to recover. Willow points out that this seems to be something that would delay the inevitable: what if he turns into a skeleton dragon? Ulharst responds that Jingahar is currently on the ruins of a lost civilisation, and that a war there in the past had caused them to be slain some hundreds of years ago, he believes.
 
Ulharst is concerned if he leaves he'll be noticed. He can provide a vessel to transport Jingahar's soul, but it needs to be escorted there and back. He cannot send the soldiers out that far, so the city remains protected and orderly. Zeal apparently is some sort of dragon nerd, and he also flirts with everything.
 
Willow and Zeal both would like to share a private word with the dragon. Willow mostly just needs holy water, which he's happy to provide. Before we can fully accept, we have to pass a test: our group facing off against one of Ulharst's guards. Most of the party leaves while Willow stays behind to privately ask Ulharst about a dragon scale before rejoining the party.
 
We make our way to the fight, totally ignoring the part where Sidna and Vorach collapsed because he cast sleep <_<;. He'd absolutely never met an elf before, though, to be fair. We proceeded on to the zone where we would fight, and found that there was a guard, about 7 feet tall, standing atop the door with a bardiche and shield. We readied up, and will be there to fight next episode!
 
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Shadow Slayers (colloquially known as Slayers) are adventurers who dedicate their life to fighting Shadow creatures. Vorach is somewhat familiar with them.