Lost Shrines and Found Family

Discovery, Exploration

The servants of the Shade Crystal travel from mountian to wood to hill-lands.  They encounter a lost wilderness shrine to Sylvanus, have communion with the Shade Crystal, aid a dwarven family with an ankheg infestation, and are guided to Cuport to finish up their travels on the easter section of the Storm Broken Lands.

The Crystal Shadows are on the road to Bactran for delivery and for direction. Having began their journey from the Runol Pass the day before, their route is hazardous through infrequently traveled lands. After leaving the mountains they entered into deciduous forest with knowledge that hills are yet to come before needing to find water passage.    Upon the 28th, they discovered a long lost temple to Sylvanus, the Oak Father and the Heartless Cycle. After an extended period of roving around it and peeling away the mosses and lichens, a forest guardian came to ward off their disturbances of the place. The battle came in two parts, mainly because half of the party grew hesitant and abandoned the cause. In the end though, the defenders were broken. Experimenting, Chupta channeled electrical energy in the stonework. Whether for good or for ill, this proved immediately effective. The sky had been overcast all day with light precipitation scattered through out. After having opposed the god of Wild Nature, this spark was all that was needed to break the sky into a roaring thunderstorm.    Wet and windy, the party all crowded into an abandoned animal den with Crush's bulk at the entrance warding off a majority of storm. In the darkness, the group experiencing a chrysalism, the Shade Crystal found the strength after having gained the the new Temperance Shards to truly speak for the first time after it had been removed from the ethereal temple.  Direct most of it's thoughts to Crush, it apologized for him being mislead into this group.  The Shade Crystal had only truly called out to Chuptah and Fozz.  Astrid's research and spirituality had led her to the Shade Crystal in this moment, but the ghostly voice that had guided Crush here was not Shade Crystals. It feared that something older and darker had led Crush to the group.  It did not wish to speak of the entity for the more who knew of it, the stronger it got.  Still, the Shade Crystal feared that the great source of corruption that it had spent so long opposing might be what had brought Crush to the party.  Despite this, if Crush would aid in the quest, the Shade Crystal would do what it could to aid the tortle in finding peace or new life for his deceased kin.   Continuing on the journey to Bactran, the party exited wood and entered the Copper Hills. The path took them through the land of rural hill dwarves. In particular, they found themselves interacting with the Hardgut clan. The family had recently suffered the tragedy of losing family, home, and livestock to a mother ankheg looking to nest in their burrows. Astrid tried to bond with the dwarves but was bitterly castoff by the patriarch of the family.  The adventurers rid the home of the hive, returned a family heirloom as proof, and rested the evening with the dwarves. In the morning, the sour and bitter patron Yodac Hardgut had fully fermented and formed a new rind. Apologizing to Astrid for his aggressive, xenophobic behavior, he gifted her the heirloom belt to ensure that no other of her people would turn against her like he had.   The party swung back by the ruined home of the Hardguts to ensure no eggs had been laid before continuing North with the eldest son Elmdoc to the shoreline village of Cuport.  Despite being one of the families shepherds, he would do the three day travel to Cuport to deliver the clan's copper and could set the party up with passage across the channel.