Harmony Session 5: Laying the Foundation
General Summary
We return to our heroes halfway "home" along the Singing Bay, reveling in their first successful foray into Vardura's wilds. Folio Barzaggle, a multipotentiate functionary working directly for Walden Echwink. After a brief encounter with the gregarious Varu as he passed them on his way to the Cockatrice Cave, they returned to Echwink's Landing and a bustle of new activity.
Rest, Recovery, and Realty
Having been gone a tenday, our heroes returned to discover a plethora of new arrivals having been successfully transported by the good Captain Chu Arkhal. Most of the cargo and personnel were from the Bari Historical Society who were sending their best fleet of interns to begin cataloguing everything they could find in Vardura. Additionally, many other newcomers had arrived, including Whisper Darren, Yusuf Kevin-Kevin, a mysterious blind Elder from the Ascendancy, just to name a few. Things were starting to heat up on Vardura in earnest. Dinner got a little dramatic when one of the other adventuring parties of The Windblown returned from the abandoned lighthouse. Nothing was known yet about the third party that went deep into Ferrous Forest to search for a hidden temple. Their mandatory downtime would begin in the morning, providing each of our heroes time to themselves to do with what they would.- Pilgrim spent his time practicing the rites of The Faraway Voice and found an inspiring urge to travel north.
- Azarki helped Yusuf get acclimated to camp life and bonded a bit.
- Enoch got the opportunity to lead the study of The Woodsman when Varu returned with it to camp and learned that the other returning Windblown party had encountered an actual Varduran, but twisted and corrupted by the poisoning influence of an ancient-old statuette. The BHS has this artifact under tight security in a magical Faraday cage until the required infrastructure for its study is built.
- Gorr planted his garden and touched base with Deneir's Mission, who asked him to explore as much as possible.
- Malachai checked in with the Bari Historical Society and procured an alchemist's kit for his... experiments.
- Zoran arranged to give another camper flute lessons, but missed their first appointment because Zoran mysteriously disappeared.
The Burden of Choice
Next, our heroes had to decide the next quest to undertake. Though finding the ancient-old obelisk noted by the First Expedition was intriguing and the slime-dam now choking the river was urgent, the party ultimately chose to discover the Fate of the Exodus and investigate the surfaced remains of the doomed Kevin-Kevin ship meant to escape the First Expedition. There was a considerable amount of discussion about the way to proceed as well, perhaps signaling the beginning of contending motives between organizations. One must consider how much Shogo's swango request of Gorr influenced the swampkin's decision, as well as the familial pressure on Azarki to go after his family's decades-old shame. Perhaps innocuous now, but for how long? Confident that their companion Zoran would eventually catch up to them, our heroes bravely departed for Swango Swamp a tenday after their return; empowered, equipped, and confident in the face of the unnatural dankness of the swamp. After only a few hours tromping through the muck, the buzzing din of the native wildlife went abruptly silent. Prepared for this imminent dangers, the creatures that emerged from their sunken holes in the bog did not catch our heroes unawares, but they still presented a very real and very dire threat. The sema were grey-skinned, bulbous-eyed abominations that had no place in nature, even among the unknown lands of Vardura. The creatures attacked viciously, severely wounding several of our adventurers in their brutal assault. Without the hardy bastion of Zoran taking the worst of these blows, the outcome of the fight was not yet known. If only they had waited for him...Rewards Granted
- Level 3!
- 32 gp each
- Azarki received a letter from his mom and a juiced-up shield.
- Enoch found a strange item wrapped in a burnt Sernovian battle flag hidden in in his bedroll. It attached to his spellbox and activated some dormant power within.
- Gorr received a modified Chullat seeder from Shogo, a Druid from the The Icehost.
- Pilgrim received a Wordmaker from Whisper Darren with which to channel The Faraway Voice.
- Malachai was assigned a Blacksilt Defender from the BHS collection with a personal note from Director Marvon Mosswater himself.
Missions/Quests Completed
- Lost Personnel
Character(s) interacted with
- Folio asked about Olga Featherstream's wellbeing on the way back to camp in a suspiciously non-professional way.
- The party encountered Varu vu Waterwend on his way to their dig sites. Malachai thought it necessary to pickpocket him and found his pockets full of weird items including a few coppers, a broken comb, and a doll's shoe.
- Azarki Kevin-Kevin met up with his counsin Yusuf who had been kind of banished to the Varduran expedition after messing up a centipede egg delivery.
- The party met Whisper Darren, an acolyte from the Messengers of the True Sovereign sent to assist Pilgrim. They secured his aid in caring for the unconscious survivor from the First Expedition, but not in getting a sandwich.
- Elder Revalor was also seen in camp wearing decades-old Ascendancy garb. He represents The Reconstitution.
Created Content
- Our heroes invested their discovered treasure back into the camp by funding the construction of a warehouse to store camp supplies.
- Gorr's garden begins to take shape.
- Azarki asked Kharlo for guidance and realized that the God of Exigency doesn't plan shit.
Report Date
13 Jun 2024
Primary Location
