Session 23 Report

General Summary

Sonden 17 Redfall 834EA

Note: Throughout the day periodically, Harthe and Pōtiki noticed a blip of sound from the communication pebbles. It sounded like Glynna Willowbank's voice but so fast it registered as nothing more than a blip of sound. In the distance a large source of bright light as bright and warm as sunlight was out before the Venturers and they had to avert their eyes from the glare. At that moment they heard a sudden rush of light footfalls and the rustle of shrubbery to the right. As they looked over, to the source of the noise, a small fox jumped out from the nearby scrub and jumped up at Suiadan Innion and licked his face. Suiadan recognised the fox as the one he dubbed 'Fluffy' after it digged him out of the ground when he arrived on the Material Plane. Fluffy then ran toward the light and as the group squinted toward the bright light, they could make out the silhouetted figure of an eladrin woman, Heliovieg in front of a large natural archway formed by the trees. She turned away and walked through the archway and Fluffy stood in the archway looking at the group. Thinking the archway was the gateway to the Fey Plane, the party said their goodbyes to Suiadan. Suiadan told the others that he would send them presents, Pō bluntly told him that they probably would not want them. Suiadan then walked through the archway but the Fluffy stayed by the archway and stared at the others expectantly. Pō asked the fox if he wanted them to go through too and the fox nodded. Pō, Harthe, and Jodariel Balakin debated amongst themselves about going through or not but couldn't decide. They could see the silhouette of Suiadan just through the archway and Pō called out to him, asking if they were meant to go through too. Heliovieg told Suiadan she had something that she needed to give his friends. Suiadan called back to the others that it was present time already and the group cautiously wandered through the archway. As they stepped through the natural archway, they entered a small clearing, There was a small field of lush green grass and a shimmering lake and bubbling waterfall. Beautiful Crystals jutted out from the base of the waterfall and naiads sat along the far bank of the lake. Heliovieg held out a large glass ball and told the party that she and her friends had been keeping it safe because they had found it and recognised the power it held and had sensed that untrustworthy people had been searching through the area trying to find it. Huszar Chynweth confirmed this and told them that it looked like the artifact he had been sent to find and reminded them that the Shadow Duke needed eight of them. Harthe took the ball and after discussion among the group, decided to carefully put it in his bag of holding for safekeeping. With the matter dealt with, Heliovieg asked Suiadan if he was ready. He nodded and she pulled out a large black thorn and lunged toward him. Taken aback by the sudden aggressive action, Pōtiki, Jodariel and Harthe jumped to defend Suiadan. There was a bit of a scuffle but Heliovieg let the others know that this was how Suiadan could get home again and Suiadan assured them that it was fine. She drove the thorn into his belly and he died in front of them and she drove the thorn down further, pushing him into the ground till he disappeared into it and she disappeared after. When the others moved up to investigate, the ground closed up behind them. Frantic that their friend had just died, Pō tested the communication pebble out and called out to Suiadan, who responded that he was fine and he was home. Heliovieg smiled and took his hand and they set off, both back in the Feywild. The others then realised how tired they were and that it felt like a day had passed but it was hard to tell in the ever sunset/dusk sky over the Vanime Forest. They decided to set up camp but did not feel safe to do so in the clearing they were in, so walked back through the archway to find a spot within the forest. Harthe eventually found a suitable spot for camp after Pō and Jodi each pointed out rather unsuitable spots. The group settled down and Huszar bade them goodnight. Harthe shared about how he knows about the 'Wiley' person from the Shadow Duke's letter in Captain Adzel's quarters and that last he'd heard, he'd been captured in Nuvar. He said he was interested to follow the link up but seemed cagey about doing so. Pō pulled out the world map and Harthe showed him where Nuvar was and they agreed it was a long way away. They also discussed the other known locations of artifacts and whether they should go to those places and try and intercept the artifact gathering. Pō also indicated their interest in seeing Glynna again and seeing if she had any more information about Yaseen and also about their patron, positing their theory that there could be a connection given that there are also people hunting an artifact where her patron lives in the Lyushin Wilds. They decided when they got out of Vanimaldine they should first pay Glynna a visit. Having come up with the semblance of a plan, the party set their watches and Harthe and Pō turned in for the night as Jodi took first watch. Jodi fell asleep during her watch and was woken by Pō when they got up for their turn to take watch. Pō stayed awake but got distracted by a hedgehog they saw snuffling about. Fortunately nothing bad happened and they headed to their bedroll when Harthe took the final watch. He noted that there were still will-o-wisps floating around at a distance but they did not seem to mean any harm.

Smo'sby 19 Redfall?? (Midden 25 Frostwind)

When they had all woken, the group ate breakfast and packed up their gear. Pō told the others about how they could ascertain directions from the constellations in the sky. They suggested climbing a tree to try and see if they could see past the pink and purple haze overhead. Harthe felt confident he knew the right way to head so they all started to walk in that direction. After a few minutes, Pō found a suitable tree and proceeded to climb, making it about a quarter of the way up before slipping on some lichen and plummeting to the ground again. Picking themself up, they decided to cast dimension door to get directly to the top of the tree canopy. However they could not see any stars in the ever sunset/dusk sky. Defeated, Pō dimension doored back down to their friends and they continued along the direction Harthe and Jodi guided. The group stopped for lunch and a short rest and then continued on their way, noticing that the will-o-wisps were also still vaguely following and watching them but still not seeming to mean any harm. Eventually they breached the treeline of the forest. As they stepped out from the trees, they found themselves suddenly on the sands of an expansive beach, but the sands were unlike anything they'd ever seen before. The grains seemed to sparkle like crushed gemstones in radiant shimmers of colour and the sand was softer than any beach any of them had been on before. The waves ahead lazily lapped the shoreline and they noticed the glowing bioluminescence of the waters, both in the sea and in the expansive lagoon to their right, which seemed even brighter under the pale moonlight. Assessing their surroundings, Harthe from his bookish tendencies in life and Pō from their recent readings and learning were able to identify that they had arrived at Glimmershore and that it was on the opposite side of the landmass of Vanimaldine to where they had planned to be for pick-up by Rowan Martin. Harthe used the communication pebble to contact Glynna asking how long they'd been gone and telling her where they were. Glynna told him that they had been gone a tenday and a half and she had been trying to contact them for the past few days. She informed him that she didn't think any of the boats on the jetty of Maksary that Rowan had access to, would be suitable for the open sea travel that would be required to reach them, but she would see what she could organise. Pō told the others that there was a city further north called Ell that they would reach if they continued along the beach, where they might be able to get a boat to get back onto the Aetreas mainland, but it would likely take another three days of travel to get to Ell. They also shared some local folklore about Glimmershore, Ell and Vanimaldine. Just as Pō was finishing their story, the group heard a sudden zap sound behind them. They turned around to see Glynna smiling up at them. She told them all to link hands and she zapped them back into her library. Huszar looked stunned and Jodi felt rather nauseous. Glynna told Jodi how that could happen and advised her to sit down and brought her a glass of water. Huszar asked where they were and Glynna told him that they were technically nowhere, but that if he went outside, he'd find himself in Maksary. He nodded and told the others that he had friends just outside of Maksary that he knew often frequented The Hero and Cauldron, so he thanked everyone and bade them farewell, stepping out of the front door. In the library, Glynna showed Pō, Harthe and Jodi some books she had found that related to the things they had been talking about. She opened a book about the history of Stagimsia and told them about how a Yaseen Deleon was mentioned in an uprising and coup of the royal family in leadership at the time, but it was the only reference to the name she'd been able to find so far. Pō cast a sideways glance at Harthe because of what he had told them about the flashback he'd had from his childhood, and asked Glynna what species the royal family of Stagimsia had been. Glynna said that they had been Tiefling and that tieflings are very common over there. Raising a brow at Harthe, Pō then asked how long ago the uprising had been and Glynna told them around 23 years ago. Harthe didn't comment though, so Pō dropped the subject, instead pulling out the Iklarel map they had, finding Stagimsia on it and asking about why the country looked 'messed up'. Glynna told them that around 4500 years ago just before the War of Iklarel, with expansion efforts going nowhere and power-hungry nobility in the west of Stagimsia getting increasingly desperate, a few powerful warlock nobles opened a planar portal and broke down the divine barrier to release The Betrayer Gods in the hopes of getting them to do their bidding, which naturally went very much not in their favour. As a result, the west of Stagimsia was irreparably destroyed. Circling back to the more recent uprising and the involvement of a Yaseen and unaware of the possible implications for Harthe, Glynna explained that Yaseen seemed to have been a part of the rebelling army which staged the coup, but not a driving force or factor, only just significant enough to have been mentioned in passing in the historical account. Pō asked what happened to the leading monarchy and who was leading now. Glynna said the family were overthrown and new nobles took over, presumably those behind the coup, though the situation over there seemed to still be unsettled and infighting ongoing. Pō asked Jodi if she knew much about Stagimsia, but Jodi said she'd never been beyond the boundaries of Grech (the recent trip to Vanimaldine excluded) and that she'd spent most of her life in Grechia and used to be a guard there but cryptically added that she could never go back there, with no further explanation. Glynna then showed Pō a book that was a historical account of various champions of the gods over the years. She showed them the chapter about Te Tauheke o te Wairua and Pō had a flick through. It was a collection of stories from people that Te Tauheke had been close to or worked with over the years of his life. It told through different people's perspectives how he'd been a legendary fighter Aasimar that had been called to serve as Kuzmjir's champion due to his legendary fighting skill and magical abilities, but that over time he'd become more and more distant and disengaged with life. Pō pondered aloud whether this had been due to the nature of his 'job'. They also found an anecdote unusually sandwiched in the middle of the various accounts which stood out to Pō. It told a person's recollection of Te Tauheke putting his weapons away in the middle of a large battle to help some children to safety and how he'd spent time with the children and played with them and the tenderness of the moment. Pō thanked Glynna for the information and said they needed to think a bit. Glynna suggested Pō talk to Kuzmjir for more information. They all said their goodnights and went off to their rooms, Glynna, Harthe and Jodi going straight to bed. Pō however, upon reaching their room, was surprised to find Hāmua tapping at their window. They let the Ruru in and Hāmua flew in and greeted them with a quick snuggle at their shoulder. The bird then flew over to where Pō's gifted sickle, the Kuzmjir's Judge, lay. Pō sighed and said 'yes yes I get it' and took the sickle and sat in the middle of the room with it. Hāmua flew over and sat on Pō's shoulder. The firbolg warlock closed their eyes and when they felt that Kuzmjir was listening, asked "What is the best thing for me to do about Te Tauheke?". A few minutes passed and then Pō heard a woman's voice whisper "Wait. Learn. Remember. Grow." The presence withdrew and Pō reopened their eyes and started to get up to put the sickle away, but before they could get up, they were suddenly struck with a vision of a flashback. However, the flashback was strangely not from Pō's perspective. In the vision, Pō was a young child in the forest, hunting a wild boar that looked to be twice her size and Te Tauheke was watching. His face beamed with pride as Pō landed a solid hit on the beast. The boar lurched off and as the child took off running after it, Te Tauheke's look of pride turned into aprehension then fear and worry as the boar turned on its heels and started charging towards Pō. Pō managed to duck out of the way just as it came into their range and they jumped onto the boar's back and struck it in the back of the skull with a large rock and knocked it down. Te Tauheke's face beamed with pride and he said "Ka pai e hine." Pō's senses returned to them and they realised they remembered that event too (though from their own perspective). They looked at Hāmua perched on their shoulder and could sense that the ruru also remembered. Pō told the bird that it was a shame that they had to kill Te Tauheke, to which Hāmua looked sad. Then Pō said 'or maybe I can find a way to talk him out of being evil', to which the ruru conveyed a pensive hopefulness. Pō nodded and put the sickle away and settled in for bed. Hāmua watched from the windowsill till the firbolg was asleep and then flew off into the night.

Rewards Granted

Artifact

Missions/Quests Completed

Getting Suiadan home

Character(s) interacted with

Notes

Access granted to the following articles:

Folklore story about Vanimaldine that Pōtiki shared can be found in the Glimmershore and Ell articles

Campaign

Venturers of Iklarel

Protagonists

Pōtiki

Suiadan Innion

Jodariel Balakin

()

8 / 8 HP

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

Harthe

Report Date

15 Nov 2020

Primary Location

Vanime Forest

Secondary Location

Glynna Willowbank's home

Previous sessions

Following sessions

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Session 23 Report

General Summary

Sonden 17 Redfall 834EA

Smo'sby 19 Redfall?? (Midden 25 Frostwind)

Rewards Granted

Missions/Quests Completed

Character(s) interacted with

Notes

Pōtiki

Suiadan Innion

Jodariel Balakin

Harthe

Comments

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