2023-03-21 Travel: Tarvinkor
Player Characters
- Quasar
- Callisto
- Atalanta
- Malivette
Allies
Summary
The group met up with Naertha Folmon, an elven woman from the Circle of Sandstone, on the edge of the marketplace in Crow's Brook. She interviewed each PC about their past adventures and experiences, before turning over the medicine caravan full of "dosmycet" to be transported to Tarvinkor. She introduced them to the three cab drivers, halflings named Tid, Ted, and Todd.
They met up with Ollinox outside of town on the way out.
The group decided to travel at night to avoid the sun. On the rest day that they transitioned their shift, they met Tharis's crew and exchanged stories. Lee Min and Malivette cooked lunch for everyone with their portable ovens.
- Callisto told about a lobster demon they had fought in the The Watchers' Den to the west, and told the group to steer clear of it. Tharis showed interest and wanted to see it later.
- Tharis told a myth about Scorch Alley's wall: at some point, the ground sunk from a great earthquake, closing off a lot of Subterranea.
- Mal told the story of how he found and took in Ollinox. Hector, one of Tharis's party members, angrily challenged the notion of trusting a black dragon, but was told to stand down.
- Quasar told about how Tarhun had a found a blue crystal that fell out of the sky, which he believed to be a part of the moon. He asked Tharis about moon-related myths.
- Tharis told about one theory that there were many moons; each one a completely new ball of glowing ice rising from the east ocean and settling in Zymora, feeding into the region's snowy climate. Either that, or there is one moon, and it rests deep in Zymora's frozen wastes during the daytime, keeping the region cold.
The parties parted ways. The next night, the PCs were attacked by giant scorpions and clouds of insects. One horse was killed, but fortunately there were two extra to begin with.
As the party was preparing to set out one evening, they were approached by a group of somewhat unhygienic humans. Their leader, Wendigan, pointed out Callisto's moon symbol, and asked him what the moon meant to him. Callisto praised its glorious light, and Wendigan told how it energized him and made him feel powerful. Wendigan invited the party to hunt Destroyer Cultists with them that evening. The party hesitantly agreed.
As the collective group descended upon the cultists' campsite, Wendigan's pack transformed into werewolves. The battle was long and exhausting, but the party won. Two wolves lived, including the pack leader.
Wendigan offered to share lycanthropy with the party. Everyone declined. The wolf man thanked them and reminded them: "if you ever wish to find us again, just listen carefully during the full moon." He gave the party an insignia of claws +1 as a gift of gratitude.
The party also claimed 3 doses of archestrylene from the cultists.
They passed some farms along Scorch River.
They reached Bullion Falls and traveled west along the wall. They found Spratcha Geyser, where two old men watched them from a cabin a ways away. A haggard gnome in working overalls stumbled up to the party, begging for help. He introduced himself as Blandon Bubblesnort, one of the engineers operating the Lift to reach Tarvinkor. The Lift had been commandeered by cultists, who were using it to transport their own shipments.
The party approached the Lift. They hid in a wagon while Malivette walked up to the guard sitting outside the operation building adjacent to the big elevator. The guard told him to leave (by saying only "yes" and "no"), but Mal pushed his way into the building. The cultists inside led him back out, and Quasar used the distraction to invisibly sneak into the building. He cut the ropes on the two lift operators and told them to wait for his signal to run.
As the dark paladins and clerics became aggressive toward Malivette, the party erupted from the wagon to fight. The elevator began to move, but one of the freed gnomes flipped a lever to stop it, stranding some cultists 180 feet up- too far for their spells and weapons to contribute.
Crates rained down on the combat from the top of the wall. The onyx-eyed paladins would self destruct when their health was low enough, creating a blast of fire. After the ground-level cultists were defeated, Mal rode Ollinox to the elevator and shoved the anticleric off, who survived the plummet only to be torn apart by Atalanta in dire wolf form.
The Lift was saved, and the engineering crew promised the party free use of the Lift for life. They raised the medicine wagons, and the PCs delivered the medicine to Tarvinkor for their reward.
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