2023-02-25 Travel: Umberton
Player Characters
- Grey
- Val & Soonie
- Alystin
- Balasar
- Wiznt
Summary
The party traveled to Gurdabin, a town on the edge of the Shadowglade. They visited its leader, Lord Glijnikt, who offered the 1000gp bounty to whomever escorts a carpentry caravan to the damaged section of the Boardwalk and prevents future conflicts from destroying it.
Alystin sweet-talked two guards into joining the party, but only for a cost of 150gp paid up-front. The party hired one of them, named Flynn.
Balasar obtained some old discarded meat and bones from the butcher and poisoned it.
The party visited the jail, which held a single red dragonborn named Crim. Crim was found smuggling highly illegal moon dust between Scorch Alley and Solaki, and was sentenced to execution in two days. Crim offered them a hidden weapon cache in the swamp if they would help him escape. The party left him.
Grey's patron compelled him to free Crim.
Val met with two halflings displaying Murid signs. They told her about local silkroot smuggling and the Collector, a weird corpse-collecting being seen in the swamp.
That evening, Bal disgused Grey as Lord Glijnikt. Grey traveled to the jail and sent one guard outside, then dominated the indoor one to attack the other. He freed Crim and fled with him while the two guards shouted and fought, each calling the other a traitor. Crim met with Balasar among the ruins on the edge of town, where Balasar disguised him as a different-colored dragonborn.
The rest of the party made their presence known within the tavern, intentionally causing a ruckus while gambling in order to build an alibi for later.
They traveled into the swamp upon the Boardwalk, with the carpentry caravan, Crim (disguised as "Bob"), and Flynn in tow.
Upon arriving at the destroyed section, they investigated the scene. Two orc tribes, some with bone shard jewelry and some with carved tusks, appeared to have fought each other there, tearing apart the section of the Boardwalk in the process. Orc footprints marched both north and south.
The PCs released Crim, stating they would catch up to him later. He promised to meet up to reward them with the aforementioned weapon cache, which was a clear lie. He then fled east alone.
The party followed the south tracks first. They encountered the Speartusk Tribe, led by Chief Kornath. Alystin spoke to the Chief alongside Flynn, who was clearly terrified. Kornath explained that they had formed a peace agreement with the Shatterbone tribe to the north long ago; partly to avoid wasting lives over territory and partly to avoid getting the annoying "pink skins" involved over the "wooden path". The tribes would meet the day after each "brightmoon" to exchange gifts with each other as a tribute to the peace and each other. After the last exchange a few days ago, the Shatterbone Tribe had suddenly attacked them at the path, betraying the agreement.
Alystin asked about the Collector. Kornath described it as a creature that seems to collect the dead that hasn't bothered them yet. He also described other local threats such as lizardfolk, goblins, and other orc tribes.
Alystin agreed to contront the Shatterbones.
The party returned north, camping at the boardwalk where the carpenters had made some progress. During the night, the Collector approached, cleaning up the dead orcs at the conflict site. The PCs followed it.
After a couple hours of travel through the mist and darkness of the Shadowglade, the Collector deposited its new bodies in a huge sunken pit of stinking corpses. When PCs stepped close to it, it rose and stared at them in anticipation. Wiznt messed with this a bit.
Alystin poked the construct with mage hand. It summoned about 50 specters from the pile of dead. The party decided to fight it, destroying the ghosts and the machine. They found a purple primal crystals within its gears.
The next morning, the party walked north to meet the Shatterbone clan with their bone fragment jewelry. Alystin approached to speak to Chief Nast. Nast explained that the Speartusks had betrayed the peace by giving them a tribute of a cursed chest that spewed monsters. Alystin led Nast to believe these monsters were "ghosts". Nast pointed the way to the home camp that his people were driven from by the ghosts. Alystin offered to deal with the problem.
The PCs, Flynn, and four Shatterbone orcs trudged to the camp, finding the wooden chest closed. Alystin's imp familiar opened the chest, finding nothing but mold inside. Suddenly, eyes sprouted from the mold, and the amorphous monster opened a portal in the chest, from which two large serpentine demons climbed out. The party fought the water-befouling monsters, eventually defeating them after Flynn and the orcs had all died. They managed to shoot down a full swarm of vargouilles before any escaped. Balasar's errant disintegrate destroyed the chest during the fight, but two magic items dropped out of it.
The PCs returned to Chief Nast to tell him what happened. He gave them a golden octopus statue as a reward. The party explained to him that impostors might have tricked the orcs into turning against each other, and asked what gifts had been exchanged. Shatterbone had given Speartusk a bag of gold, giant toad meat, and a huge bone.
They went to the Speartusk tribe. Chief Kornath correctly named the items that were exchanged, and claimed that his people didn't know the chest was cursed. He said that it was found in a large sunken tower to the south. The party explained the situation to him, and in time peace would return between the two tribes. Kornath gave them the bag of gold as a reward.
The party returned to find the Boardwalk repaired, and continued east to Umberton. They briefly explored the militaristic city atop a hill surrounded by mud.
Balasar talked the library owner into revealing his secret item for sale: a level 6 spell scroll of sunbeam. Bal purchased it for 1500gp after the man woudln't budge.
The group purchased new potions from the Liquid Strength Apothecary.
Upon returning to Salmund, they gave Quasar the purple crystal for research.
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