Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 22: Welcome Home Party

DAY 166
(It is on this day that the events of If I’m here, then… what’s happened to the rest of them? Occur in the Driftriver session archives. In this time Hyssop Home was nearly destroyed as detailed below.)
 
DAY 223
Theodore returned to Arvandor, a bearer of most unusual news. The far realm had once again struck Hyssop Home, and in a truly chaotic warping of space and time the entire home had been ripped from the earth and displaced, thrown across the continent of Faerun and mysteriously pulled to a city by the Ashaba river; the city of Driftriver. While Theodore had been investigating the city for months before the arrival of many of his friends, he soon found himself offering assistance to Quinton and Hulfgar as they struggled to ensure the safety of the orphans. It had taken some time for him to find a chance to return to Arvandor to tell Pahhu of what had occured, and that quite unknowingly she had moved homes.
 
Pahhu welcomed her friend back to Arvandor, quite happy to see him. Eager to tell him of her accomplishments she was shushed by Theodore who told her the news of the accident- and the casualities. Pahhu sucked her teeth as she listened, but she listened to Theodore completely before asking quick and pointed questions. Theodore soon came to realize Pahhu was a changed woman, no longer the frantic little girl she had been. She seemed more mature and calm though he could still sense her devilish mayhem and nonlinear thinking.
 
Pahhu sought permission from the Lord of the Continuum to leave the tower and return to her Hyssop Home family. Labelas Enoreth agreed on the condition that Pahhu investigate the occurrence of “Drifters” supposed travelers from other crystal spheres and odd planes; but most importantly some claimed to be of different times. These unusual travelers seemed to be concentrated about this city of Driftriver, in fact it seemed to exert some manner of mystical pull which was capable of drawing people, monsters, and even houses. The Lord of the Continuum Commanded: “I shall call you to Lake Eredruie, the mouth of the Glaemril River when your time has come to answer me on this matter.”
 
Theodore guided Pahhu through the new city, the clean stone pavement and uniform construction of the buildings making it obvious to Pahhu that this was not an old city full of history. The top-hatted gentleman lead her to a simple tavern in the Lahaina docks district. The bar itself was fashioned with a sandstone facade and seemed to be intended to cater towards visitors who might be more comfortable with desert travel, perhaps from the Anauroch desert or eastern Calimshan. Inside the pair found business to be booming, the bar seemingly a popular place for traveling mercenaries as a fairly large mercenary company filled most of the seats in the bar. The bartender swooped about the room as a talented showman, the house special seemingly a flaming goblet of some spiced alcohol.
 
As the bartender came to their table Pahhu quickly recognized his accent as that of the Bedine tribesmen she knew herself to be kin of. They discussed what had happened after the group had chased off the Zhent. The man revealed that the Zhent had stopped harrying them but the tribe had decided not to tempt fate and many of them had left to pursue their fortunes elsewhere. When asked about Elder Habib they soon learned that he was able to live his last few days peacefully with the tribe before passing, and that after his passing Lyndia had left the tribe with few words. While most of the tribe had survived it seemed their way of life in the desert had been changed forever. Pahhu promised the man she would do what she could to fix the situation, and also promised to keep visiting; after all they were distant cousins!
 
The group soon fell into discussing old times; it had been nearly half a year since their last gathering. Ed filled Pahhu in on the happenings with Hyssop Home, and the wreckage they had cleared, as well as the casualties of the attack and the missing persons including the lost child, Timmy. Ed told Pahhu of Quinton’s plans for a new home, and that all would make a full recovery in time with the exclusion of the planar disposition of poor Timmy.
 
The trio soon recognized Moyra, a dwarven woman who they had adventures with together in the past, particularly appreciating her help in the resurrection of Charva in his sanctuary long ago. They invited her over to the table and Moyra joined them, bringing Kur her enormous feline companion along with her. The conversation soon turned to the more distant past, and the life of adventuring they had all shared as well as the mission they had not been able to complete previously.
 
After briefly hitting on a specific shared memory which they all shared together in which Pahhu had once teleported Theodore into the air, where he assumed the form of a quetzacoatl, and then Pahhu enhanced him with hastening magic as the two had divebombed a bloated hag and split her asunder with the sheer impact of the blow. In the moment of nostalgia Pahhu whisked Theodore away into the sky with a short range teleport, and the two went for a quick joyride over the city as Theodore showed her the new city that her extended family had moved to.
 
Meanwhile in the bar the flamboyant leader of the mercenary troupe approached a rather pretty young woman with striking blue eyes and brilliant red hair. The man introduced himself with great confidence and began to introduce himself as a hunter of mass murderers but he was rebuffed by the young woman who simply found it odd that such a group would even exist in this odd place.
 
The woman, Piper Porfirio was a young half-elf who had only recently come to Driftriver to pursue her patron’s interests. Ruuk, a genie of the earthen strain had dispatched Piper to seek out a Druid capable of establishing a link to the plane of earth and call forth a particular being. The person she was looking for was on the posh side, an adventurer who should be in the bar this night.
 
A middle aged man entered the bar, wearing an unusually tall hat, quickly calling the attention of the mercenary leader with a vocalized greeting. The two men approached each other and sat amongst the lieutenants of the group as they began a discussion. Curious as a cat Kur sauntered over to the group and lay on the floor thumping his tail and blinking sleepily. Moyra listened in on the conversation through Kur’s ears, her curiosity also piqued.
 
The mercenary troupe discussed the bounty they were hunting. A group known as mass murderers and wanted by Thay for killing mercenaries and military assets. The primary target among them was a young half-elven woman with blue-black hair, blue eyes and who often wore a white robe. The mercenary leader glanced over towards Piper but quickly shook his head, even if she had the eyes and the robe to an extent, there was no way that that brilliant red hair could be black underneath. The contact then went on to detail other individuals, a top-hatted druid in a dark suit, a paladin of unknown race in shimmering plate, a blue-cloaked madwoman, a calimshan assassin, a stoic firbolg and an energetic gnome.
 
Almost seemingly on cue two individuals matching the description entered the bar as Pahhu an Theodore returned from their joyride. They walked right by the table and made their way to their friends in the back. In an instant all eyes were on them. Moyra quickly passed on what she’d heard to Ed, and the yuan-ti rose to his feet almost as quickly as the mercenaries across the room.
 
The tall-hatted man quickly began to make his exit hastily as he sensed trouble was soon to erupt in the bar. Ed and the troupe leader faced off against each other. The situation was obvious, and both sides knew that there was little chance of this ending easily. Regardless Ed attempted to magically suggest the man depart, and surprisingly the spell took effect. Even as he turned to leave though one of his companions realized the magic that had been used and dispelled the leader. The battle was joined as nearly 15 mercenaries faced down the group in the corner.
 
Pahhu was quickly singled out by the enemy forces and they began a withering assault of crossbow fire and magic missiles. Moyra and Ed quickly leapt to the front to form a bastion of defense and establish a line of protection, with Moyra calling forth spiritual guardians to encircle the group. Theodore attempted one last time to defuse the situation by demanding obedience using the Rod of Yagya Karn, and even though nearly half of the mercenaries were forced to bend knee to Theodore it lasted only momentarily as another caster was able to dispel the enchantment. It was becoming clear there was no way to stop this battle from turning ugly. Moyra’s companion, the angel Eleanore quickly swooped over and attempted to protect Piper, the woman seemingly caught as a bystander in the escalating barfight. She ushered Piper behind Ed and Moyra and blessed the front line.
 
Spells began flying as eruptions of magic began to tear through the bar as waves of frigid energy were punctuated by massive burning explosions, the bar furniture being vaporized and scattered in the pressure waves. The party weathered the assault behind Ed’s dampening aura as the energy rolled off them in waves.
 
Pahhu, dashed behind a half of a table and began to concentrate temporal energy out of sight of enemy counter-spellers, before vaulting over the half-table and unleashing the most powerful temporal hold she had ever attempted. Five of the mercenaries were paralyzed instantly in the wave of temporal distortion. Taking advantage of the situation Moyra began to approach, the mercenaries burning in her holy light as she raised her great dwarven warhammer and vanished in a blur of heat, the sound of a hammer on a forge ringing out as many mercenaries were struck by an enormous wave of force as Moyra swiftly struck with a steel wind strike.
 
The mercenaries continued their focus, and began to wear Pahhu down, their sustained assault beginning to threaten her concentration on the temporal magic holding their allies. A massive earthen hand materialized in the room and slammed into one of the mercenaries, sending him tumbling over a table as Piper called forth the fist of her patron, Ruuk. While she wasn’t sure about the people she was standing with she did know that heroes would try to talk it out and that heroes would also try to protect innocent bystanders. The fact this group had done this meant they had to be the heroes here! She had chosen her side.
 
Ed soon recognized that their ringleader was the one keeping the mercenaries in line, and as the spellcasters had focused all their attention on Moyra and Piper with their flashy spells he took his chance to Banish the troupe leader. They’d deal with him later, ideally learning whatever they could from him. Above the battle Theodore swirled into the form of an air elemental, a cold wind beginning to turn and scream in the rafters as he channeled his energy into a cone of arctic cold, snap-freezing one of the mercenaries and harming many of them.
 
Deprived of their leader and facing an explosive answer to the aggression the mercenaries began to buckle. Moyra bounded between them, her great warhammer slamming into them, the paralyzed mercenaries unable to even attempt to avoid the assault. Pahhu also ran out from cover, running up a wall and kicking off to gain an angle and unleashing a concentrated beam of raw entropic forces. Paralyzed and unable to dodge out of the way two of the mercenaries were reduced to piles of entropic sand in but a moment.
 
The mercenaries rallied one last time to try to break the temporal hold and nearly laid Pahhu low with the assault, but thanks to Ed and Moyra acting together to keep her standing with potent healing the advantage was maintained. Ruuk’s fist slammed into another mercenary as crackling beams of energy flecked with gem dust arced through the bar sending a mercenary tumbling over the bar unconscious. The mercenaries were now realizing their significant disadvantage, the fight looked lost and the first began to bolt for the door
 
Eleanore winged over the bar to chase an assassin who had been using the counter for cover, quickly chasing him down. Pahhu seeing the escaping mercenary then chases after the fleeing one, intent on catching him. Ed chases after, wanting to make sure she stayed safe in the streets.
 
Theodore surrounded the remaining mercenaries in a wall of fire, preventing their escape even as the bar itself began to go up in flames. The mercenaries inside of the wall soon submitted to the heat and lack of air, and Moyra put the flames of the bar out, conjuring water to quickly douse the flames. The bar now had 13 dead mercenaries scattered about it, some having naught but dust left of them. Pahhu soon returned with Ed, dragging behind them a shackled mercenary. Ed then released his banishment, and an attempt to negotiate with the leader turned to a bloody end as he joined his fellows in death, unwilling to accept defeat.
 
Sirens sounded in the distance as the group spoke to the final mercenary. Realizing his utter defeat he promised to reveal all of his secrets if the group would only grant him mercy…