Session 43: Dragons, Sisters, Foxes, and Wasps
General Summary
Preparing to leave the Golden Gai, Hokiyo summons a palanquin and they all climb in. Anya is uneasy, unable to see what carries the cart along with her arm glowing slightly, but she agrees and settles in. As they take off, Sikander is nearly thrown through the window and hits a samurai called Zatōichi. Angered, he stands ready to fight Sikander as a matter of honor, but Offa sends his mage hand to slap the samurai while Anya quotes the Rules to him, reminding him of Rule 4: Every so often declare peace. It will confuse the hell out of your enemies. He remains in the carriage but is sullen most of the six-hour ride into the forest. (Silas manages to bring him out of it eventually, reminding him of the foxes, the wedding, and finding their sisters)
As they approach the gate, the trolls guarding the entrance shout to stop and begin asking for passes. Hokiyo realizes she forgot to get everyone a visa, so Silas in his quick thinking becomes Zatōichi and convinces them to let the group pass, heading for the Foxes. Traveling a bit further, they reach a large stone gate the palanquin cannot pass. Climbing out, they are met with a vibrantly colored forest, each of them feeling something different as they look about. Slowly spreading out, Silas, Anya, Offa, and Granny 2 stay close while Sikander and Tal wander further away looking for mushrooms. Offa hears giggling children and tells Sikander to get back on the path, but the pair continue off to explore.
Silas quickly steps into a massive track that Anya recognizes as a dragon tortoise creature. As she puts this together, they all hear and feel its presence a moment before the creature appears and flies down, separating Sikander and Tal from them.
As the dragon lands, the dwarf and dog come across a well made of stone and pitch black below. Sikander tosses a coin down and hears an “ouch” as he does. Looking into the hole, he sees a female figure about 15 feet (~4.5 m) below. She calls out and manages to convince him that she is A’flora and needs his help, despite Tal’s clear unease with the situation. Sikander finally climbs down when she tells him something is coming to attack her. Once below, an icy hand tries to grab him, but he pulls away and starts swinging Wibbles. In the process, he obliterates the creature, and for a time believes is his sister.
Back at the dragon, Silas goes invisible to hide from the dragon, Offa attempts to banish it as he hears more laughter, while Anya becomes a dragon herself and flies up to it, asking how they can help it. As she does, it becomes clear to her the creature is an illusion. Frustrated, she takes off for Offa. Silas, seeing Anya heading to collect Offa, starts running for Sikander. He also recognizes the dragon is an illusion as he finds small, holy papers floating around the area.
Offa checks out the odd noise behind him and finds a small fox trying to be invisible and cast magic, learning the youngster’s name is Mu and that he has VERY low self esteem and confidence.
Distressed, Sikander looks up as a tiny face looks down - a fox face. He is still convinced he killed A’flora and is considering seppuku as Silas comes running into the clearing. Tal throws the fox back and stands between the well and the fox, growling angrily. Seeing this, Silas gets Sikander to see reason and taking advantage of Tal’s anger, sends “I am Fang, I'm a big hungry dog” at the young fox.
Yo complains foreigners have no sense of humor while Sikander climbs out, having found two coins – his own and a new one with a square opening in the middle.
The four of them make their way back as Anya stands watching in dragon form over Offa and Mu converse, the illusory dragon exploding into thousands of sacred parchment pieces. Mu tells Offa to keep one as another fox along with the other four all come together.
The fox children share they are siblings, same mother but different fathers (Anya explains this is not unheard of in others). Through conversations, they learn more about the Foxes, choosing their gender, the burden of the ruler, and the location of Suise and Hoshiko – deep in the Suicide Glade. It is agreed Mu will show them the way, despite the constant stream of sarcasm coming from Yo. Partway there, hundreds of butterflies appear, putting Anya on edge and prompting Sikander to stop and give honor. Yo continues to irk Anya until she casts Silence on him with a small smile. Arriving just outside the glad, it is late in the day and the sunlight is dipping down. Mu stops and waves at Offa as Anya drops the spell from Yo. Entering the woods, the canopy is deep and there is a dilapidated shrine ahead with lanterns just visible. Anya’s arm is glowing again, so she pulls out the driftglobe, casting Daylight. The spell is dampened and only gives off half the light it should. Walking through, they find several bodies appear to have hung, one drank poison, one having committed seppuku….
("This was like my Grandma Grendela's retirement party," Offa says.).
Coming up to the shrine, there are more bodies, along with odd husks and moving closer, gigantic insects, wasps, come flying for them with stingers the size of daggers. A few clouds surround and attack the group, while Silas Misty Step’s up to the main island. There he finds an odd man who smiles at him creepily. On closer look, he notices the backpack on his back hatches another wasp and he realizes it is a nest, just like with the corpses around them.
Back down the path, Anya tries to swing and gets poisoned while Tal destroys a group. Sikander swings and takes out several as Offa gets swarmed. Seeing him surrounded, Anya has Tal use his harness to get Offa up to Silas, where Offa attacks the demigod, stunning him. Silas winds up, using Booming Blade on the stunned demigod, attacks then bobs in and out of the swarm to continue attacking the wasps. The siblings continue working through the swarms, Anya getting poisoned again as they do, with Sikander shrugging it off.
As they approach the gate, the trolls guarding the entrance shout to stop and begin asking for passes. Hokiyo realizes she forgot to get everyone a visa, so Silas in his quick thinking becomes Zatōichi and convinces them to let the group pass, heading for the Foxes. Traveling a bit further, they reach a large stone gate the palanquin cannot pass. Climbing out, they are met with a vibrantly colored forest, each of them feeling something different as they look about. Slowly spreading out, Silas, Anya, Offa, and Granny 2 stay close while Sikander and Tal wander further away looking for mushrooms. Offa hears giggling children and tells Sikander to get back on the path, but the pair continue off to explore.
Silas quickly steps into a massive track that Anya recognizes as a dragon tortoise creature. As she puts this together, they all hear and feel its presence a moment before the creature appears and flies down, separating Sikander and Tal from them.
As the dragon lands, the dwarf and dog come across a well made of stone and pitch black below. Sikander tosses a coin down and hears an “ouch” as he does. Looking into the hole, he sees a female figure about 15 feet (~4.5 m) below. She calls out and manages to convince him that she is A’flora and needs his help, despite Tal’s clear unease with the situation. Sikander finally climbs down when she tells him something is coming to attack her. Once below, an icy hand tries to grab him, but he pulls away and starts swinging Wibbles. In the process, he obliterates the creature, and for a time believes is his sister.
Back at the dragon, Silas goes invisible to hide from the dragon, Offa attempts to banish it as he hears more laughter, while Anya becomes a dragon herself and flies up to it, asking how they can help it. As she does, it becomes clear to her the creature is an illusion. Frustrated, she takes off for Offa. Silas, seeing Anya heading to collect Offa, starts running for Sikander. He also recognizes the dragon is an illusion as he finds small, holy papers floating around the area.
Offa checks out the odd noise behind him and finds a small fox trying to be invisible and cast magic, learning the youngster’s name is Mu and that he has VERY low self esteem and confidence.
Distressed, Sikander looks up as a tiny face looks down - a fox face. He is still convinced he killed A’flora and is considering seppuku as Silas comes running into the clearing. Tal throws the fox back and stands between the well and the fox, growling angrily. Seeing this, Silas gets Sikander to see reason and taking advantage of Tal’s anger, sends “I am Fang, I'm a big hungry dog” at the young fox.
Yo complains foreigners have no sense of humor while Sikander climbs out, having found two coins – his own and a new one with a square opening in the middle.
The four of them make their way back as Anya stands watching in dragon form over Offa and Mu converse, the illusory dragon exploding into thousands of sacred parchment pieces. Mu tells Offa to keep one as another fox along with the other four all come together.
The fox children share they are siblings, same mother but different fathers (Anya explains this is not unheard of in others). Through conversations, they learn more about the Foxes, choosing their gender, the burden of the ruler, and the location of Suise and Hoshiko – deep in the Suicide Glade. It is agreed Mu will show them the way, despite the constant stream of sarcasm coming from Yo. Partway there, hundreds of butterflies appear, putting Anya on edge and prompting Sikander to stop and give honor. Yo continues to irk Anya until she casts Silence on him with a small smile. Arriving just outside the glad, it is late in the day and the sunlight is dipping down. Mu stops and waves at Offa as Anya drops the spell from Yo. Entering the woods, the canopy is deep and there is a dilapidated shrine ahead with lanterns just visible. Anya’s arm is glowing again, so she pulls out the driftglobe, casting Daylight. The spell is dampened and only gives off half the light it should. Walking through, they find several bodies appear to have hung, one drank poison, one having committed seppuku….
("This was like my Grandma Grendela's retirement party," Offa says.).
Coming up to the shrine, there are more bodies, along with odd husks and moving closer, gigantic insects, wasps, come flying for them with stingers the size of daggers. A few clouds surround and attack the group, while Silas Misty Step’s up to the main island. There he finds an odd man who smiles at him creepily. On closer look, he notices the backpack on his back hatches another wasp and he realizes it is a nest, just like with the corpses around them.
Back down the path, Anya tries to swing and gets poisoned while Tal destroys a group. Sikander swings and takes out several as Offa gets swarmed. Seeing him surrounded, Anya has Tal use his harness to get Offa up to Silas, where Offa attacks the demigod, stunning him. Silas winds up, using Booming Blade on the stunned demigod, attacks then bobs in and out of the swarm to continue attacking the wasps. The siblings continue working through the swarms, Anya getting poisoned again as they do, with Sikander shrugging it off.
Report Date
28 Apr 2024
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