Half-There Halfling and Doubled Danger

Life, Achievement/ Win

The newfound companions of the Shade Crystal seek to complete Chupta's pickup and delivery task.  Seeking out a Mountain Man hermit near the Runol Pass, the party found his home burned to the ground a smoldering.  The hermit Batsu Tau's existence has been one of sales and diplomacy with the local gobolinoids and Giant kin.  Yesterday, an ettin led the ogre clan to the house collected the supplies, and then burned all the ogres alive within it while a groggily watching Batsu did nothing.
The party tracked down the ettin, found it ruling a goblin tribe, and then liberated the goblins to discover the ettin to itself be using a newly empowered Temperance Shard to access magic and greater intelligence.  The ettin was slain and the party gained both the Temperance Shard and Chuptah required tincture.

We return to the mountains North of the Runol Pass. Chupta originally came to this area following a job. Having missed the meeting time with the Mountain Man hermit of the pass, the party scanned the skyline to see a distant plume of constant smoke that can only be from a resident. Fighting their way through rugged terrain, skirting and interacting with a mother Owlbear among the hazardous and limiting geography, they made their way to the flat of the hermit's home to find it in smoldered ruins.   Persuading him out of hiding, you found a halfling of tenuous thought and thin focus. The hermit Batsu Tau had maintained his safety in these lands by trading with the local goblinoids and giantkin. Things seemed to have been consistent with his interactions, an ettin by the name of Broog-Norb far more intelligent and civil than most ogres being his primary contact of late. Through the party's charms and compulsions they learned that just yesterday everything changed as Broog-Norb brought the ogres to the hermit's hut and then burned the ogres alive within it using Broog-Norb's own breath to do so. Batsu Tau was wholly disconcerted in being impressed to do stuff he otherwise wouldn't have allowed. This showed all the more when Chupta's charm fell and the halfing was terrified of having just been put back in a similar state.   Before burning the house, Broog-Norb had taken all of Batsu's supplies and creations. Needing the tincture back for the job or at the very least the tools for the halfling to make more, the party pushed on through the mountains to close in on the goblins that Broog-Norb had taken a reigning position over. Using familiars to spy, the party spied that Broog-Norb is capable of both a breath of engulfing flame and a frigid wind along with their domineering presence. The goblins existed in fear under them. If not for Chupta's job, the idea of freeing the goblins from their tyrant holds its own appeal.   Delaying the assault until everyone was fully rested the next morning, Astrid spied Batsu Tau spying upon the party through the night. When she called him out, he denied coming to camp, simply staying up all night in a manic state staring down the group. With most people present finishing a Long Rest, the party continued with their task.   Sneaking up to the goblin camp, Chuptah used Broo-Norb's pride against them.  He called out for right to rule. As the companions rushed in, goblins began a counter attack under the ettin's orders.  The counter didn't last long and the might and magic of the heroes impressed the goblins and Astrid persuaded them to turn and flee.  The battle swayed with the gusts of the ettin's breath as his purple eyes flashed.  They battered and bashed the companions about dropping the fight into the  central pit that served as a trapped animal stable.  In the end, flail, rapier, and lightning bolt dropped the ettin, the wounds bashing into the chest revealing a an amethyst shard merged with the ettins chest.  An larger, bent double shard was removed, taking within it the ettins opposing breaths.   Seeking peace from the goblins, Batsu Tau took the crazed opportunity to become shaman to the tribe in place of Broog-Norb's tyranny.  The halfling provided the party with his tinctures, the small clay jar sealed fully in beeswax to ensure no spillage.   Seeking out more Temperence Shards, the party wished to complete Chupta's delivery to maintain strong connections with his handler. It is Chupta's belief that a well connected … antiquarian... will be able to push you in the right direction to find more. In order to make Chupta's Delivery, the party had 30 days to make it over rugged terrain and to Bactran.