Session 89, January 25, 2024

(10 of Nytol, 1481 about a week after the council of speakers)
Session begins the next morning. The party is reunited and rested, finally! They discuss entry into Neverwinter and violent revenge against Dagult. Lualoch tells them the rebels/allies of house Nyntanel have a fortress at Helm's (god of protection) Hold/cathedral. She gives them some mushroom soup to take, and directions, and Shar gives her the alcohol-poisoning-prevention amulet in thanks for saving Rys. Ifrea presents her with a piece of soft leather from the white moose, and Savari considers gifting a flaky metalloid, but thinks twice and decides to identify it first. Turns out to be Shardalin Ore (exceptionally rare - sale as high as 20,000 depending on how pure/weight) can be used to store spells. A single shard of it can hold one spell until it is crushed or broken. Belanor Mialen - commander of rebel forces at the hold. They part ways and set off westward for a few hours through the swamp. Shar tries to hunt alligator which ends with them all frantically running away. After most of the day's travel they reach some rolling foothills and to the south a flatter plain, and decide to set up camp at the edge of the more wooded area. Ifrea tries to set up a tripwire perimeter (knee-high or so) to assuade his paranoia. Rys brews a sleepy time tea (especially potent for Ifrea) to aid with that, but takes watch with Ifrea to make up for it. Shar takes first watch and as it gets dark he notices some light from a far-off hill, possibly another traveler's fire. His watch passes peacefully, and Ifrea and Rys take second. Ifrea slowly lowers his gaze from the horizon, to the ground, to his legs, and eventually passes out in a peaceful sleep. Savari's watch is also quiet, and near the break of dawn she dismantles the tripwire, leaves the loud bits on the ground, and coils it up tightly, placing it back in Ifrea's bag. He wakes up and feels guilty for falling asleep on watch, and confused about what he THOUGHT he'd done last night but everyone assures him he must've just been tired and stressed and it's all okay now. They march on West and around noon the hills descend back down to swamp. They gather this is either the head of the river, or more swamp, but following a little ways it's definitely the river. Ifrea excitedly gets out his fishing gear and tries to teach Rys to fish. She's not a fan of stabbing bugs though so Shar manages to shoot a waterfowl and pull feathers for Ifrea to make a fly lure. After a bit of a learning curve, a large catfish bites and Rys flings it up out of the water. Ifrea tells Rys she can toss it back in. After a discussion of the ethics, she asks if it knows Ol Bitey, and he doesn't but he does share the legent of the great Ethiricus: a massive fish that blots out the sun overhead. King of all fish and lord of a massive kingdom in and out of the water. She recommends he see a therapist (excuse me, 'thera-fish') and lets him go. Ifrea catches another one and Shar asks if Rys can understand it without magic since she understands cats. She can, and immediately after initiating conversation realizes she can't let Ifrea kill it so she snatches it away and releases it back to the river. The whole sport was a bit of a waste of time, and they set up another camp for the night. Session ends.