Session 1: Border Crossing Report

General Summary

As the players awoke on the outskirts of a grung river town, Aien went out in search of breakfast. He came across a Grung fisherman and his friend who was busy playing with some kind of fire magic. The pair were arguing over whether or not the law would be looking for them as Aien surprised them and asked if he could buy some of the fish that they had caught. 
Handing them a fistful of gold coins, the pair agreed to head back to his camp to prepare a meal for him and his friends. A sushi breakfast was complemented with a serving of tea from a magic gourd. The first attempt at this resulted in Aien drinking a cup of mayonnaise, which he did without giving a single f***.
The grung told them of a magic shop somewhere along the road to Taton. The one who had visited it previously seemed to have no recollection of being there but was very happy with his magic items.
After saying goodbye and packing their things, the group set off into the Tsu rainforests. Before long, they came to a tree blocking the road. After some investigation, they suspected it to be a trap and so watched the treeline closely as Astrea cast a shatter spell to blast the tree out of their path.
A stillness set in as the party waited for attackers to move in from the trees. A faint glow of magical symbols floated in the air above the broken tree for a moment before Aien loosed an arrow into the shadows. In response, a volley of arrows came flying in towards them, peppering the carriage and seriously wounding the ox.
The band of Yuan-ti bandits had revealed themselves, and the battle had begun. A mind whisperer lead the charge and attempted to charm the party as they fought back with everything they had. Though Mary was able to kill one of the archers, she was badly wounded by an arrow. Rei was nearly killed by another unfortunate arrow coupled with magical blasts from the mind whisperer.
The whisperer made an attempt to break into the carriage but was taken by surprise and knocked through the window by Astrea as she dove through the air, plunging her tanto into the now-deceased ox that Seto had been unable to save. The Yuan-ti wriggled free and made a run for it, but Aien descended from his treetop hiding spot and chased him down.
As Seto and Astrea forced the last remaining warriors to surrender, one with a knockout punch and the other with basic intimidation tactics, Aien found himself struggling to catch the serpentine foe he was chasing. Suddenly, a female warrior clad in white robes and wearing a red dragon mask, dropped from the trees and plunged her sword into the creature's neck. The Red Princess glared at Aien as he gave her a thumbs up before heading back towards the group.
As he bound the last survivor's wrists, two arrows were loosed by the Red Princess. One managed to hit the unconscious bandit and kill him outright, but the other was caught mid-air by Seto before the woman disappeared into the forest once more. 
While most of the party tried to spare the survivor after a brief interrogation, Lady Sumehime showed her vengeful side and ordered Rei to kill the creature as it ran for it's life. Rei obliged by sending an arrow into it's back.
After burying the dead in an improvised mass grave thanks to wet firewood, the group continued on towards the border wall, now forced to carry the carriage by hand instead of by ox. Much to their dismay.
Upon arrival at the border gate, Astrea tried to explain their business, but the guards seemed more focussed on Aien's mask which was similar to their own. After some arguments and a few tense moments, Aien was taken into custody and led towards the gatehouse while the other guards searched the carriage, against the advice of the party. 
By the time the guards realised who's carriage they were invading, it was too late. Lady Sumehime was pissed. Meanwhile, in the gatehouse, Morioke Ume was offering secret coded messages to Aien, who had no idea what she was on about. Admitting to mistaking him for a new recruit and apologising for the confusion, she did all she could to help the party before they moved on. Helping a fellow faceless member in need by giving some gold and directions.
Before leaving, a guard tried to win his money back with a game of dice against Astrea, but was swiftly defeated and sent packing with 20 less gold. With that, the party was on their way.
As they continued on, a fish on two legs came hurtling out of the forest, seeking shelter in the carriage. This enraged Lady Sumehime, but Rei was able to calm the creature and agree to hide it from its pursuers. She did this by shoving the small creature into her bag as the others diverted a patrol of Grung samurai who claimed to be looking for a fish with legs.
The creature thanked them profusely and offered some knowledge in exchange for saving it and letting it stay with the group until it could find its way back to the sea in the morning. At this point, the party found themselves in a rather unwelcome part of the forest and so decided to follow the lanterns adorned with pentagrams to a wizard's shop called Ide Kayo's Kollection rather than risk a night in potentially haunted woods.
Ide Kayo welcomed the travellers with open arms and even offered to let them take magic items from his store in exchange for stories and precious memories. After making several of these trades, Aien and Seto went outside to train late into the night before passing out from exhaustion. Inside, Lady Sumehime attempted a more civil approach now that they had company, apologising for her behaviour over a cup of tea before everyone turned in for the night, including the fish-man.

Campaign

Kiga Shogunate

Protagonists

Seto

Level 9 Tabaxi Monk - Way of the Kensei

/ 66 HP

Astraea Karasu

Chaotic Neutral Thylean Satyr (Astraea) (Anhropologist)
Bard 13
Warlock 6

122 / 122 HP

STR
12

DEX
18

CON
14

INT
14

WIS
16

CHA
22

Aien

0 / HP

Player Journals

Yuan-ti Ambush and the Magic Shop by Astraea Karasu

Report Date

23 Aug 2020

Primary Location

Kiga Shogunate