2024-04-27 Bastion of Dreams: Construction Tales
Player Characters
- Arkenciel
- Magoo
- Furifuru
- Ferravax
- Derulo
Allies
Summary
The party stood guard in the front of the Bastion of Dreams during its construction in Scorch Alley. Over the course of a few days, they received a handful of strange visitors.
An envoy of Wishkin Works approached and gave the party a contract signed by Viskval, the CEO. The party examined the contract, which offered either high-quality furnishings for the Bastion's domicile units at a cost, or requested space to operate a store within. Ferravax took the letter and contract to Wiznt while the liaisons (led by a human man named Peldin) camped near Bullion Falls.
The party knew the group were dangerously close to Wendigan's werewolf pack hideout, and walked over to inform them. Furi was terrified of the water, but he accidentally cast heroism on himself with latent divine magic, which allowed him to bravely cross the river. Ferravax told the group to relocate, warning them of danger. Peldin was bewildered by the savagery of Scorch Alley and its lawlessness. He appreciated the warning and followed the party to the Bastion to request a temporary room to stay in.
They approached the space behind the waterfall. A scraggly human woman stepped out of the cave behind, complaining about the construction and the noise and disturbance caused. Ferravax and Magoo assured her that the construction should be done soon. The woman, slightly pacified, left into the dark.
Furi became afraid of water again. Ferravax had to carry him across Scorch River back to the Bastion.
That night, earth elementals climbed out of the cliffside around the Bastion. Arkenciel saw them on the way back from casting alarm on the waterfall, and the party stepped out to fight them. They defeated and pacified the rock golems and mephits. During the fight, Derulo and Magoo noticed a rat observing the fight. Derulo stabbed it twice, but it somehow survived and managed to flee through an archer slit.
The next day, Arkenciel commanded some Inkpot Gods members to find ways to appease the earth spirits content around the edges of the Bastion.
Derulo positioned buckets of water around the entrance of the building, preparing the power of his tentaclute.
Ferravax approach Peldin and showed him the painting she had collected in Grelavere Gallery depicting a fire giant smithing. He didn't recognize it.
One guard's coinpurse and employee badge fell out of his pocket, and Magoo claimed both.
A pretty elf man with purple hair and twinkling eyes, astride a false unicorn with a bejeweled bridle pulling a wagon with guards, approached the Bastion's entrance. Arkenciel halted the group, and the flirtatious man gave her a satchel of magical trinkets and a note and contract. The PCs picked over the gifted items after reading the letter from Norilux Couture.
Magoo offered to stable the man's horse. The man was grateful, and he and his guards carried their travel equipment inside, leaving Magoo with the bejeweled horse. He stole the shiny bridle.
Arkenciel examined the craftsmanship of the magical cosmetics and asked the liaison about them, but the man was just a salesman and couldn't offer anything more than an unsupported promise of high quality.
That night, Arkenciel's alarm and Derulo's familiar detected movement outside. They moved outside to see a large group marching toward them in the moonlight.
The party received Wendigan and his pack. The man demanded that the Bastion's construction be ceased and relocated elsewhere, and that it was in the pack's territory. In an attempt to mediate, Arkenciel reminded him of the time that Inkpot Gods members sided with the pack to fight cultists a while back. Wendigan ignored it, refusing to negotiate. He was furious that they were being told to simply leave the home they had lived in for years. The situation escalated into a fight.
The party defeated the werewolves with area damage and control magic. Near the end of the fight, Ferravax caught the rat, which was watching them again. They trapped it between two buckets and took it to Balasar, who tried to dispel the polymorph. It didn't work, however- the rat was shapechanged by innate magic, like a druid. They kept it trapped under one bucket.
Magoo tricked the Norilux envoy leader into believing that he saved the horse and wagon, but that the wolves stole the bridle. The man believed him so much that he gave Magoo a shiny ring as a reward.
Arkenciel gave the rat paper and ink. It scralwed "please let me out!" They finally did, and it turned into a small ratlike man. The man introduced himself as Chesker Pitters. They questioned Chesker about his intentions, and learned that Chesker was searching for a new home for the "Pipecrawlers", a family of about 100 wererats that lived in Snavopolis's sewers but wanted to leave.
Ferravax introduced Chesker to Wiznt. Chesker explained his situation. Wiznt didn't mind the presence of rats (or their smell), and allowed the wererats to live in the Bastion as long as they were safely sectioned away during the full moon. Chesker was gleeful, and said he would head back to Snavopolis to inform his people.
Magoo told Chesker that he too was comfortable in dingy urban places. The two became friends.
Chesker departed the next morning.
The werewolf woman from earlier came and complained at the party that most of their pack had been destroyed, blaming the PCs for trying to steal their territory and ruining their home. Ferravax explained that fiends were coming to destroy the world, and that the cultists from before were involved, but the woman didn't believe her or care. Magoo tried to explain that it might be possible to give the wolves the privacy they desired if they could live in peace next to the Bastion. The angry woman refused to negotiate, then shouted how the wolves had nowhere else to go.
Magoo suggested that they go to the Suntouch Spires, the base of which were covered in shadow. The wolves were skeptical but decided they would investigate the place as a possible home. They left, threateningly promising to return if they were deceived.
Later, a group of druids from the Circle of Sandstone approached the Bastion. Archdruid Cavlen Wythe, an elderly bearded man with a snakeskin shawl, spoke for the group. The druids asked about how the Bastion was managed, its population potential, and any pollution or other threats to the spirits. The PCs reassured them that it was carefully managed; only waste management was still an open question. The druids agreed to help pacify the spirits during construction.
Cavlen asked about the plant growth domes. Wiznt said that he needed to hire someone to operate and enchant them to maximize the harvest. Cavlen offered to lend a few druids to fulfill that duty in exchange for a favor. He told about dark necrotic cysts that had appeared throughout the Alley recently, which they believed were related to Archestria's gradually weakening spirits. When Wiznt presented notes about the cyst found at Wallcastle, Cavlen confirmed that it was the same thing. The PCs agreed to look into it.
The gnomes operating the Lift approached the Bastion to complain that it would harm their business. Magoo assured them that profits would be better if they worked for the Bastion instead. Wiznt assured them they would be safer, and that they could migrate the old Lift to become part of the Bastion as a historical exhibit. After some persuasion, the gnomes agreed and became excited that they would make more business without having to devote effort to self-defense.
The next day, the Circle of Sandstone druids led the party to the site of a necrotic cyst they had found recently. The party followed the druids for a day before they found a site with a blasted pit of sand and dark shriveled skin of a cysts and its roots.
Arkenciel examined every aspect of the scene carefully. She was able to determine that some kind of "spore" had blown there from the west. The spirits had tried and failed to suppress the shadowy magic within it.
Magoo was afflicted with a sense of apathy after getting too close to the cyst's remains.
Ark deduced from maps that the shadow seeds likely blew in from far west, beyond the map. There were no known reports of this problem in the east or Subterranea.
Furi sensed a disturbance among the invisible shadowy seeds, a place of light. They followed it the feeling for a few days before arriving at the Scar.
They climbed into the crag and followed the sense of divinity through the caves. It led them to a room with another pulsating necrotic cyst. Fighting the cyst and several shadowy monsters was Ophanim, the deva from Greyhaven.
The PCs fought alongside Ophanim, destroying the cyst and rescuing him.
Ferravax ignited the cyst as they fled the cavern. Sure enough, as it burst, the ceiling collapsed in.
They escaped back to the Bastion with Ophanim in tow. They criticized his recklessness in fighting alone, and he thanked them for the rescue. He was pleased to meet Furi, who he perceived as another divine creature. He told the party how his visit to the Spirit Tree was interrupted by a group of elves guarding it, and that he was turned away. They suggested that Ophanim travel west to deal with the source of the shadow corruption, but he preferred to focus on helping the Circle of Sandstone keep it at bay for the time being.
The druids' bargain was satisfied by Ophanim's knowledge and assistance with the cyst threat.
Wiznt paid the party their reward for clearing up the Bastion's open tasks.
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