Session 2 - 10/8/22

We awake to a rainy day, and are given the day off. Odd since it seems like we just got here, but tomorrow is a festival and there must be preparations to complete for it. Verna and I go to see if our fae friends enjoyed their berries and bread. It appears they did! They took our gifts and left us mushrooms in return. Verna ate one immediately and then ran incredibly fast for her size to check on one of the traps we set. Apparently there is a problem with one, and we immediately report in.
 
Zelcer is not happy. Fortunately as the self-appointed bodyguard, ensuring the trap was functional was not my responsibility. Still, I empathize with Zelcer and his frustration with untrained underlings. It may have been beneficial for him to have appointed someone who had experience setting traps up to accompany us. Quality control is important. We check the other locations and they seem intact after some minor adjustments.
 
Festival day begins with people screaming about a horse gone missing and some carnage in the stables. We go to investigate, and manage to track the culprits down. A flock of flumphs. We make short work of them and I get to use my javelins for the first time in too long. It felt good again. Protecting our camp. Avenging the horse. Vengeance felt good. Ah who am I kidding...it wasn't even my horse. I couldn't protect what mattered and my home, it's still... still gone.
 
Ah maybe the festival will cheer me up. Those of us who were clean, return to camp and it turns out that the festival is just a front to track down changlings and the poacher is there. The poor beings, cursed with an unfortunate skill that governments pay well for during war times, but will also try to eradicate during times of "peace." Such a facade, quite literally.
 
Peace is a lie. There is only passion. Through passion I gain strength. Through strength I gain power. Through power my chains are broken. If I was more powerful I could have saved my people...but I...Doesn't seem like this festival really helped much.
 
Later we return to that failed trap, and Zelcer has most of the workforce trying to resolve that situation. Brute strength will only get you so far, and most of these workers are just that, brutes. Wannuc notices something in the woods and begins to head off, and most of us accompany him to investigate.
 
It's a youngling faerie dragon! His name is Sparkles. I can't believe my ears, it has been too long since I've used my mother tongue. He and his fairy friends graciously thank us for our gifts. I can't help myself and give him a mini lecture on proper nutrition for dragonkind - that Verna is going to spoil Sparkles dinner if she's not careful! A dragon his size shouldn't have too many sweet rolls. After a wonderful conversation he recommends that we find his father to get assistance with the failed electric elemental trap. He also requests that we return a staff to a dryad friend of his if we come across her in our journey. As a parting gift he presents a fish with a unique ability to produce edible berries. Maybe his nutritional needs will be all right after all.
 
We inform Zelcer that we must go to Woodhelm to find out how to solve the problem of the elemental. It takes a little convincing, but he allows us to take a few days to accomplish this. We retrieve Rex, who had stayed behind during our fae encounter, and make preparations to depart the next morning.
 
Prior to departing, Rex converses with the vile orc poacher/changling hunter. I was already untrusting of Rex, but this complicates things. Is Rex helping the poacher? Or is he really just clueless about evil in this land? Anyway, it is time to go and our caravan departs.
 
 
Along the journey we come across some merchants being ambushed by frogkind. I immediately spring to action and rush to help. To my dismay, none of the other carts in our caravan stop. And the swamp slows my advance. Verna and Wabnuc try to help from range. De Sir E attempts a flanking maneuver. Rex still can't hit anything other than the broadside of a tree - and that's after spending half a day practicing his aim! I can't advance quickly enough. My javelin takes care of one of them. Another hardens his skin in response. I approach and slice one, who excretes a toxin. A merchant dies. A merchant dies... I am not quick enough. It's happening again. I can't protect them all. I must become stronger.
 
We rout the enemy, but some escape. One traps me in unnatural thorny vines. I can do nothing but watch him escape as I tend my wounds until his spell dissipates. The injustice of this situation - the senseless ambush, the other in our caravan ignoring the call for help, the inadequacies of my companions - no, not them - the inadequacies of myself, this is all too much. I am the one who must protect the weak, but I failed. Before I give in to despair, I feel a power welling up inside me. Next time I will be ready.
 
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Gained 1 magic mushroom
 
Achieved level 2.
HP raised from 11 to 18.
Learned all Paladin 1st level spells.
Learned Divine Smite.
AC raised from 18 to 19.
Can have five 1st level spells prepared, changeable at long rest.
Two 1st level spell slots per long rest.