Basilisks Don't Make Very Good Romance Authors
With Swift having gone back to Rymeia, both Rhogar and Kaya had thought they would need to venture to help Laoka's sister alone, but they were joined by a tiefling named Tragedy from Askriez. Arriving at the village of Viskral Valley in Omeria was a long and rather difficult affair, largely due to the fact that a freak blizzard struck, which was followed by theft from Beyonce Gnolls and her pack of Gnolls, and finally nearly getting lost. However, once the trio of would-be adventurers arrived, they found that Viskral Valley had a clear distaste and racist nature against tieflings. They located Laoka's sister, who was also curiously named Laoka, and discovered how frightfully unhelpful she was in doing just about anything aside from pouring drinks and being irritated about giving out any sort of useful information. She did, however, give them all moonshine, which allowed for Kaya to open up to Tragedy about her former crush, Tragedy to hurl everywhere, and Rhogar to be the responsible adult and go to bed early.
The following morning, The trio found a different barkeeper when Rhogar went to order breakfast, and was given a shockingly large and delicious trio of plates that were far more delicious than one would have expected when ordering from the crappy Fleeing Floozy establishment. This enigmatic cook was nowhere to be found when Rhogar asked after them, and was informed that she wasn't actually employed by the tavern, didn't accept payment, and showed up at random to cook for them before leaving again, as if blown in and out on a wind. With breakfast done, the three went out to buy supplies; Rhogar to the blacksmith, whilst Kaya and Tragedy attempted to get more information.
This did not go to plan, when Kaya lost her patience at a racist merchant and punched him in the mouth (though she had also learned he had been losing caravans, the last one that failed to return having been staffed by his sister, brother in law, niece and nephew as well as a guard), leading to them both being arrested and Rhogar without the other two. One strange attempt at breaking out of jail later, the trio were reunited, though informed that in lieu of pressing charges, they had to now deal with the basilisk to the east; the Stonehill fort was to be informed of their arrival and duties in assisting them. After speaking with the local apothecary who seemed to be the only non-racist person in Viskral Valley and gave them an amulet from her mother, they headed off towards the Infernal Peaks to the east. They located the tattered remains of a destroyed caravan, which was being attacked by wild, starving dogs that tore at the cadavers. Kaya used Speak with Animals to inform the dogs that they were going to go around them, leaving them to the corpses they were eating and trying to gauge the wreck from a distance.
Eventually Kaya, Rhogar, and Tragedy located a group of hunters who explained that Stonehill fort had been taken by not one, but two basilisks, one that resided in the lower areas that they had previously used as a camp from time to time, and one that had taken over the courtyard. The hunters refused to assist in clearing out the fort, as they had already lost people and just wanted to get their bodies back. After reaching the fort, Kaya came up with the idea to blindfold everyone to avoid being turned to stone by the gaze of the basilisk, and they proceeded to slowly make their way inside. As soon as Rhogar heard the creature, he used his summoned steed to try to charge it, though when his warhorse was turned to stone, he was thrown off from the suddenly halted gallop. Tragedy moved along the wall slowly to avoid rushing blindly, though Kaya took her blindfold off to ensure that all three of them were in range for her Bless spell. While she managed to Bless all of them, she found herself now staring down a basilisk that tried to turn her to stone, though failed. Tragedy, hearing the creature nearby, cast Hypnotic Pattern, and while the basilisk managed to not be incapacitated by the momentary burst of colours, Kaya was not so lucky.
Dazed and vulnerable without her blindfold, Kaya was subjected over and over again to the stare of the Basilisk, and eventually succumbed to it, turning to stone. Rhogar and Tragedy, who were entirely unaware until the Bless spell vanished, realized that something had happened to Kaya, and at long last it was Tragedy who dealt the final blow to the deadly creature. When they removed their blindfolds, they looked around to see Kaya turned to stone, hand raised, eyes locked at where the basilisk had once been. Though they were mourning her, Rhogar recalled the amulet and placed it around Kaya's neck, and the rock cracked and fell away until Kaya was alive and flesh once more, the spent amulet now stone as it fell from around her neck.
They three of them spoke briefly about having nearly lost Kaya, and she again spoke with animals to learn there was a trapdoor that would lead them downwards, and they decided to spend the night in the dusty chambers of whoever used to be in charge of the now abandoned Stonehill fort. After suffering poor sleep from stress as well as trying to move the wardrobe and doing a terrible job of it, the group headed to the trapdoor and down into the lower level of the fort and began their hunt for the other basilisk. Moving slowly and using Kaya's pocket mirror to look around corners, they found a library with old supplies and a few books before moving into the halls. Rhogar feared the worst upon reaching a set of doors nearby, and had Tragedy tie off the door handles and they moved on towards another set of doors. While they were trying to figure out what might be behind it, Kaya decided to attempt to speak to the basilisk they hoped might be there via Speak with Animals spell, but the resulting sounds she made were more like a snake. She then swapped to prey animal noises, which caught the attention of not the basilisk, but instead three giant spiders, during which she was rendered paralyzed but stable by the spider venom.
After the fight, Rhogar and Tragedy waited for her to recover, then made their way back to the library in the hopes of locating a map, but Tragedy only found a first edition copy of the ultra rare, no longer printed and fully illustrated erotic novel Sweet Illusions, written by the halfling D.P. Swift, dated to being out of print fifty years ago. This proved to be a great distraction to her that would later involve a strange incident of an assumed basilisk attacking a wholly unbothered Tragedy, much to the concern of Rhogar and Kaya. They cleared out a room that had half petrified skeletons shambling around in it, before then making their way to the temple area for Tempus, where the second basilisk was located. After a long but thankfully not life threatening battle, the basilisk was slain, and the trio retired again to the captain's quarters before heading back to the temple.
Tragedy and Rhogar inspected the altar and found the symbol of Lathande carved under the lip of the altar, and Tragedy used Detect Magic to see if there was anything special about the altar; the area was absent of magic aside from the hidden symbol, which glowed brightly with raw, unschooled magic. After telling Rhogar and Kaya what she was seeing, the two recalled that Swift had seen something similar when he had cast detect magic around the organ in Bear Castle, and that it had shown the same sort of powerful magic taking note of Kaya intensely when she spoke Sylvan to it. Taking inspiration from that previous event, she again spoke Sylvan to the symbol, asking what it was, which caused it to glow brighter in reply before she then asked it, "Who made you?"
This caused the symbol to flash with a bright light as the room was filled with an illusion of when Stonehill Fort was under construction, and the temple was being built and used by the occupying soldiers. A cloaked figure was shown walking through the temple, though curiously no one seemed to notice them, even if they walked around them. The figure arrived at the altar and traced their finger along the underside of the lip, the symbol carved into the stone before the figure turned and left, and the vision of sorts faded. Now perplexed, the group left with proof of the basilisks being dead and returned to the group of hunters who were apparently bandits the entire time! A fight ensued, during which Kaya managed to charm the leader Ethan when the bandit's priest had the child hostage at knifepoint, allowing for Rhogar and Tragedy to go if she stayed behind to keep him company and do drugs.
Rhogar and Tragedy managed to send Rhogar's newly summoned steed into the camp with two vials of moonshine (170 proof) that caused the archer to become violently ill before being stomped to death, Kaya to manage to overpower the stoned Ethan before violently beheading him in a dark rage, and Rhogar to kill the priest to save the mother and child being held hostage. The group, though drained and battered, hugged in relief at being reunited, and decided to sleep at the camp before escorting the mother and child with them back to Viskral Valley, though not before they once again suffered from nightmares.
Bell and her mother Liandra were at last escorted back to Viskral Valley by the group, all three of them glad to be rid of the both of them back to Chris the racist merchant. The trio then visited Danae to thank her for the pendant, and purchased a few interesting items before returning to the tavern to speak with Laoka once more and getting utterly plastered, Rhogar and Kaya returning to the purchased room whilst Tragedy spent the night in the bed of an orcish man. In the morning, the three regrouped from their different quarters, and managed to speak to the mysterious cook who had not yet left for the day. After serving them the food they ordered, Telyn (as she revealed her name to be) gave them a strange warning in Sylvan and left with a swift farewell, leaving the group confused.
Kaya and Tragedy both decided to write to their mentors, while Rhogar suggested they return to Midbourne and leave this wretched, racist town.
The following morning, The trio found a different barkeeper when Rhogar went to order breakfast, and was given a shockingly large and delicious trio of plates that were far more delicious than one would have expected when ordering from the crappy Fleeing Floozy establishment. This enigmatic cook was nowhere to be found when Rhogar asked after them, and was informed that she wasn't actually employed by the tavern, didn't accept payment, and showed up at random to cook for them before leaving again, as if blown in and out on a wind. With breakfast done, the three went out to buy supplies; Rhogar to the blacksmith, whilst Kaya and Tragedy attempted to get more information.
This did not go to plan, when Kaya lost her patience at a racist merchant and punched him in the mouth (though she had also learned he had been losing caravans, the last one that failed to return having been staffed by his sister, brother in law, niece and nephew as well as a guard), leading to them both being arrested and Rhogar without the other two. One strange attempt at breaking out of jail later, the trio were reunited, though informed that in lieu of pressing charges, they had to now deal with the basilisk to the east; the Stonehill fort was to be informed of their arrival and duties in assisting them. After speaking with the local apothecary who seemed to be the only non-racist person in Viskral Valley and gave them an amulet from her mother, they headed off towards the Infernal Peaks to the east. They located the tattered remains of a destroyed caravan, which was being attacked by wild, starving dogs that tore at the cadavers. Kaya used Speak with Animals to inform the dogs that they were going to go around them, leaving them to the corpses they were eating and trying to gauge the wreck from a distance.
Eventually Kaya, Rhogar, and Tragedy located a group of hunters who explained that Stonehill fort had been taken by not one, but two basilisks, one that resided in the lower areas that they had previously used as a camp from time to time, and one that had taken over the courtyard. The hunters refused to assist in clearing out the fort, as they had already lost people and just wanted to get their bodies back. After reaching the fort, Kaya came up with the idea to blindfold everyone to avoid being turned to stone by the gaze of the basilisk, and they proceeded to slowly make their way inside. As soon as Rhogar heard the creature, he used his summoned steed to try to charge it, though when his warhorse was turned to stone, he was thrown off from the suddenly halted gallop. Tragedy moved along the wall slowly to avoid rushing blindly, though Kaya took her blindfold off to ensure that all three of them were in range for her Bless spell. While she managed to Bless all of them, she found herself now staring down a basilisk that tried to turn her to stone, though failed. Tragedy, hearing the creature nearby, cast Hypnotic Pattern, and while the basilisk managed to not be incapacitated by the momentary burst of colours, Kaya was not so lucky.
Dazed and vulnerable without her blindfold, Kaya was subjected over and over again to the stare of the Basilisk, and eventually succumbed to it, turning to stone. Rhogar and Tragedy, who were entirely unaware until the Bless spell vanished, realized that something had happened to Kaya, and at long last it was Tragedy who dealt the final blow to the deadly creature. When they removed their blindfolds, they looked around to see Kaya turned to stone, hand raised, eyes locked at where the basilisk had once been. Though they were mourning her, Rhogar recalled the amulet and placed it around Kaya's neck, and the rock cracked and fell away until Kaya was alive and flesh once more, the spent amulet now stone as it fell from around her neck.
They three of them spoke briefly about having nearly lost Kaya, and she again spoke with animals to learn there was a trapdoor that would lead them downwards, and they decided to spend the night in the dusty chambers of whoever used to be in charge of the now abandoned Stonehill fort. After suffering poor sleep from stress as well as trying to move the wardrobe and doing a terrible job of it, the group headed to the trapdoor and down into the lower level of the fort and began their hunt for the other basilisk. Moving slowly and using Kaya's pocket mirror to look around corners, they found a library with old supplies and a few books before moving into the halls. Rhogar feared the worst upon reaching a set of doors nearby, and had Tragedy tie off the door handles and they moved on towards another set of doors. While they were trying to figure out what might be behind it, Kaya decided to attempt to speak to the basilisk they hoped might be there via Speak with Animals spell, but the resulting sounds she made were more like a snake. She then swapped to prey animal noises, which caught the attention of not the basilisk, but instead three giant spiders, during which she was rendered paralyzed but stable by the spider venom.
After the fight, Rhogar and Tragedy waited for her to recover, then made their way back to the library in the hopes of locating a map, but Tragedy only found a first edition copy of the ultra rare, no longer printed and fully illustrated erotic novel Sweet Illusions, written by the halfling D.P. Swift, dated to being out of print fifty years ago. This proved to be a great distraction to her that would later involve a strange incident of an assumed basilisk attacking a wholly unbothered Tragedy, much to the concern of Rhogar and Kaya. They cleared out a room that had half petrified skeletons shambling around in it, before then making their way to the temple area for Tempus, where the second basilisk was located. After a long but thankfully not life threatening battle, the basilisk was slain, and the trio retired again to the captain's quarters before heading back to the temple.
Tragedy and Rhogar inspected the altar and found the symbol of Lathande carved under the lip of the altar, and Tragedy used Detect Magic to see if there was anything special about the altar; the area was absent of magic aside from the hidden symbol, which glowed brightly with raw, unschooled magic. After telling Rhogar and Kaya what she was seeing, the two recalled that Swift had seen something similar when he had cast detect magic around the organ in Bear Castle, and that it had shown the same sort of powerful magic taking note of Kaya intensely when she spoke Sylvan to it. Taking inspiration from that previous event, she again spoke Sylvan to the symbol, asking what it was, which caused it to glow brighter in reply before she then asked it, "Who made you?"
This caused the symbol to flash with a bright light as the room was filled with an illusion of when Stonehill Fort was under construction, and the temple was being built and used by the occupying soldiers. A cloaked figure was shown walking through the temple, though curiously no one seemed to notice them, even if they walked around them. The figure arrived at the altar and traced their finger along the underside of the lip, the symbol carved into the stone before the figure turned and left, and the vision of sorts faded. Now perplexed, the group left with proof of the basilisks being dead and returned to the group of hunters who were apparently bandits the entire time! A fight ensued, during which Kaya managed to charm the leader Ethan when the bandit's priest had the child hostage at knifepoint, allowing for Rhogar and Tragedy to go if she stayed behind to keep him company and do drugs.
Rhogar and Tragedy managed to send Rhogar's newly summoned steed into the camp with two vials of moonshine (170 proof) that caused the archer to become violently ill before being stomped to death, Kaya to manage to overpower the stoned Ethan before violently beheading him in a dark rage, and Rhogar to kill the priest to save the mother and child being held hostage. The group, though drained and battered, hugged in relief at being reunited, and decided to sleep at the camp before escorting the mother and child with them back to Viskral Valley, though not before they once again suffered from nightmares.
Bell and her mother Liandra were at last escorted back to Viskral Valley by the group, all three of them glad to be rid of the both of them back to Chris the racist merchant. The trio then visited Danae to thank her for the pendant, and purchased a few interesting items before returning to the tavern to speak with Laoka once more and getting utterly plastered, Rhogar and Kaya returning to the purchased room whilst Tragedy spent the night in the bed of an orcish man. In the morning, the three regrouped from their different quarters, and managed to speak to the mysterious cook who had not yet left for the day. After serving them the food they ordered, Telyn (as she revealed her name to be) gave them a strange warning in Sylvan and left with a swift farewell, leaving the group confused.
Kaya and Tragedy both decided to write to their mentors, while Rhogar suggested they return to Midbourne and leave this wretched, racist town.
Relations
Protagonists
Tragedy, Rhogar, Kaya of the Mist.
Backdrops
Locations
Viskral Valley, Omeria.
Threats
Wild dogs, basilisk, racists.
Related Characters
Related Locations
Comments