A Voice in the Ash

General Summary

June 15-18, year 1; Cherubix, Dezy, Faraday, and Tara
Slept after moving away from where the party encountered the old folks and stole the Talon of Mehz-Qua.
Followed road back towards the longhouse.
Encountered Papalotl (face-eating moths)
Ambushed a squad of Ripfangs guarding the southern approach to the warband
Posted watch on the road leading from Cro-Akkan to the warband; ambushed a small group of braves heading towards the warband to join up, scared the crap out of them, and let them run back to Cro-Akkan.
Slept, had a vision of a voice within an ashen jungle, tasked with driving a fang into the captured idol when facing Tar-Vash's champions
Received two notes; first a note from Evras, delivered by his leaf ray familiar/henchthing, and then a day later, a note from one of the Skywatcher generals, delivered by a very tattered and exhausted archaeopteryx.
On the way back to the city, decided to send pixies to harass the Ripfang warband. They reported that the warband was surrounded by warding totems, and that they couldn't get in without being spotted. The party decided to send them in repeatedly in order to harass the guards and the shaman manning the totems. Eventually the party snuck in at night, stole one of the totems and replaced it with an obscene mockup, and then floated it down the river past the warband on a burning barge the next day.
Continued towards Qrai-Tilan; ambushed a small squad of Ripfang scouts, who had apparently been sent north of the city to assess the suitability for an invasion via that route. Sent one of them back to the warband with stories of elves and the old gods returning.
Maca-Tlam's monologue (or an approximation of it):

What are you, we wonder? You speak the words, but you are not one of his, though you reek of blood and dead Ripfang, so we doubt you serve the scorched tree. Two smell of the children of the hushed forest, and the others remind us of ages long past, things we cannot recall clearly. You present us with a riddle, one we have little patience for. What purpose do you serve here, things of mystery?
You spoke the words, and have put spark to a flame we had thought dead. They will smell it, taste the prayers upon the air, and we will be hunted once more. But... hrrr, the winds are shifting, we can taste it. The one from before, whom we had forgotten, has returned, and with every beat of his wings he changes the storm... perhaps you can be turned to a similar purpose.
So, you say you wish for the gods to smile upon the storm-scarred one? Then take this. When next you face his champions, sink it deep into that idol of his that you carry. Bear witness that Maca-Tlam stalks the darkness yet, and that we come for the god of the shattered tree. Do this, and we shall speak again.

Evras' note to Tara:

Wyrm-tongue, Evras hopes this finds you well. He wishes to urge you and your band to continue in your efforts to sow confusion amongst the Ripfangs - the scryers of the Temple of Stars have foreseen that you may yet tip the scales of this conflict decisively in our favor. In particular, seek to eliminate those who would wield the Ripfangs' lightning magics; he fears that they would prove dangerous to the constructs he has created to aid in the defense of Qrai-Tilan, and thus put the city's defenses in jeopardy.

May your hunger always be sated,

Evras

General Xuti's note to the party:

Outsiders, we hope that this missive makes its way to you. The Temple has seen that you have succeeded in weakening the invaders far beyond our expectations, and for this we are grateful. However, they have also foreseen that a key element determining the outcome of this conflict rests on your shoulders, and so we would ask that you return to the city with haste, that we might work your talents into our strategy when the solstice is upon us.

Respectfully,

Goyux-Tlan, First Attendant to High General Xuti-Yihtzec

Dezy's log: The team continued to disrupt Ripfang organization for the Solistice attack. They murdered a small deer that wandered into their camp, took on a large number of magical giant moths (with very spooky mouth parts), that had magic dust on their wings that allowed extra high jumping. Faraday decided to get high when she ran out of alcohol.
The group ran into a group of 8 Ripfangs lying in wait - 3 bore the markings of the summer fey, and after death, exploded with more energy than usual. One was kept alive, and the group presented itself as an alliance of elves and the old gods. The captive expressed much more fear of deing a captive and being denied entrance to Valhalla then pure death. He was de-fanged by Tara and let free.
The group found 4 more braves on the main road, and after a thorough spooking, let them leave.
Faraday sent a number of invisible pixies to torture the Ripfang Shamans at the long house. Cherubix and Tara stole one of their warding totems and replaced it with a fake. Later, they sent the totem back to the Ripfangs via a burning barge on the river, covered in motifs of Xiuh-Tec.
Dezy spoke with the ancestors, who said that something was watching the group, which smelled of burnt meat and ash. Dezy believed this to be signs of the dead god ***.
When the group went to sleep that night, they were transported into the spirit realm, where a powerful hunter being, Mata-Tlam, spoke to them. It emphasized its dislike of the Summer Fey (the burning tree), and suggested it was resummoned due to ‘saying the old words’, which the groups interpretted meaning their frequent invocation of Xiuh-Tec’s name. The being gifted the group a single fang, and instructed the party to drive it into a Summer Fey icon in view of the entire Ripfang army for maximum god-on-god impact.
The next day, the party planned to walk the final few miles to Qrai-Tilan and begin preparing for battle.

Rewards Granted

Maca-Tlam's Fang
Assorted stormriven weapons
18 tablespoons of Papalotl wing scales & barbed pedipalps (originally 20, but Faraday snorted 2)

Report Date

02 Oct 2018

Secondary Location

Ripfang Forward Longhouse