Session 54 - A Wild Corpse Chase

16 Fyrmont 1010 - 24 Fyrmont 1010

General Summary

The party gets together again after their extended break. Tork is concerned about rumors of increased giant activity in the Cruth Lowlands (his tribe's home), and the rest of the party is looking forward to another adventure
The day before they plan to depart however, Seraphina finds a squirrel waiting for her outside the temple, and it drops a letter from her mother. The letter mentions, among other things, that the sister of that boy Seraphina dated way back when was asking after Seraphina. So her mother invited her over for tea.
Having read this, Seraphina is worried for her mother, Calen, who lives near Riverfork Keep. Since the party was already planning to go that way to deliver Langdedrosa to the Keep for justice before heading to the Cruth Lowlands, this is no problem.
Once again they book passage on the Swiftwater, and have an uneventful trip up the river, arriving the next morning. Seraphina shows the way out of town to her Mother's home, which is a bit off the beaten path, in a nice secluded space. She has nice gardens and grows most of her own food on site. Seraphina goes to the door and announces "I'm home!" to no answer. Moving through the house and calling out again, she is relieved when her mother's head pops up in the window - she is tending the garden in back. They have a joyous reunion, and Seraphina introduces her friends. Her mother is happy to see them all, and invites them to join her for dinner and to stay the night.
After pleasantries over honeysuckle tea, Seraphina asks about the Elf that is looking for Seraphina. Her mother explains that the woman (Tephysea) came over for tea, as invited, and seemed very pleasant, and that she had explained that Seraphina and Lindir went for walks in the nearby forest regularly. Seraphina seems exasperated, and tells her mother to be more careful, and that this elf may mean her harm. Her mother seems to think this is nonsense, she was a nice girl and a refugee from Alfheim.
In the morning, Seraphina leads the party to the paths she used to walk with Lindir. She takes them to the grove where she buried him and, upon close examination, she can tell that the grave has been disturbed, but then re-concealed. The party digs it up, and finds that the body is gone. A conversation with a nearby squirrel confirms an elf woman removed the body, then hid the former grave by magically stimulating the plants' growth. Seraphina is very worried at this, and exclaims that they have to stop her!
Elincia Wild Shapes to a bloodhound, and catches the scent of the exhumed corpse, and leads the party back down the trail the way they came. They follow the scent all the way back to Riverfork Keep and the docks. Asking around, they find out that Tephysea left the day before on a riverboat bound for Saltmarsh - the party just missed her and the ships passed by on the river! They book return-passage on the Swiftwater for the next morning, and go back to resume their visit with Seraphina's mother, staying the night.
The following morning they catch their boat, and find themselves back in Saltmarsh that evening. Elincia once again transforms into a bloodhound. Though faded by the day's rain, she picks up the scent at the docks and follows it around until the trail ends at another, now empty, berth. Speaking with the harbormaster, they are able to ascertain that two boats used this dock the other day - one bound for Mirros and the other Darokin. Both directions seem plausible for an Elf from Alfheim. After considering it for a bit, they decide that perhaps with a Paper Bird they could ascertain which direction she went, by sending a note to her. They could even prevent it from arriving by knocking it out of the air, once it is clear which way it is headed.
Elincia turns into a Giant Eagle, with Leo on her back, and they send the bird off, the pair following. After becoming confident that it is headed towards Mirros, Leo blasts the bird with Eldritch Blast, and it crumbles to ash, falling to the water below. Elincia spots a fish in the water, and dives to catch it, but her sudden stop and reascent at the bottom of her dive knocks Leo from her back. He is unamused and begins swimming for shore. She lets him swim for a bit, then dives again, this time to pluck him from the water in her claws, and brings him back to the docks where the party waits in puzzlement over all this. Leo gives Elincia the side eye when she changes back into elf form, as he prestidigitates himself clean and dry from his dunking.
The party, now that they know where Tephysea is headed, contacts the Everlasting Light, and depart for Mirros as soon as the ship is returned and prepared, with the intent of intercepting Tephysea before she performs whatever dark rites she may be planning.
In two days they arrive at the grand city of Mirros, with its double ring walls and the palace rising majestically on the hill. Once again, despite some rain, Elincia is able to pick up the scent in the dock area once they find the berth of the ship from Saltmarsh. They speak with the crew and find that ship only arrived some hours sooner, that Tephysea mostly kept to herself, and upon arrival she sought a cart to transport her out of the city.
They follow the scent between the walls and around to the North road, apparently headed to Krakatos, where the Alfheim Elves are resettling, and the new magic school is being built. The party sets a relatively fast pace on the road towards Krakatos, requiring Leo to be carried on Tork's shoulders. This of course enables Leo to enjoy the trip through the eyes of Flametalon, flying through the air above the party. After several hours of passing various merchants and other road traffic, the group closes on a cart with a driver and an Elf. Elincia (a dog again) runs ahead, and cuts in front of the horses, bringing them to a halt, and angering the driver. Tork casually walks up, dumps Leo off his shoulders into the cart, and goes on to the horses and secures their bridle. Seraphina confronts Tephysea.
After a few heated moments, it becomes clear to the party that Tephysea is not some necromancer seeking to raise her brother's corpse as a Lich, but likely a legitimately grieving sister, seeking to bring her brother's remains home to be interred by the family, recently resettled near Krakatos.
Seraphina, now having clearly distressed Tephysea, who seems to be bracing for an attack by the party she cannot survive, begins softening her message, though likely the damage has been done. The party eventually lets the cart return to its journey, and the party decides to head back to Mirros.
Now at a more leisurely pace, the evening catches up with them still a ways from town, so they decide to make camp. Leo sets up a Tiny Hut for the party, casts breathe underwater, and has his Unseen servant help prepare the shared quarters. Seraphina, seeming distraught after the confrontation gone awry, spends some time writing a letter to Tephysea.
Some time in the late night, maybe halfway into their long rest, Elincia hears activity outside the Hut, and sees a group of eight or nine Orcs "up to no good" on the road. Elincia shakes everyone awake, and they prepare themselves for a potential confrontation. The Orcs poke at the strange hemispherical blob. Tork eventually engages the "captain" in some chitchat to try to understand their intent, which appears to be harassing travelers on the road. The party decides they should deal with them for the betterment of society. Tork announces that if anyone touches the dome again they will die.
The Orcs don't seem to take the thread seriously, a few begin horsing around and eventually one gets pushed into the wall. Tork strikes it down through the hut wall, killing it quickly. Seraphina and Stavos, taking their cue from Tork, kill two more through the wall, and Leo steps out, causing the hut to disappear and show the entire party ready for combat. With Hex and Eldritch Blast he takes another one down. Naturally this combat ends quickly. Tork knocks the captain unconscious, and they set camp back up again, while Tork interrogates the Captain. They don't really get any useful information from him. He claims to be from the "go fuck yourself" clan and they are the only patrol in the area. After a while of this he tries to charm Tork in some way, Commanding him to grovel, but Tork resists. They decide to gag him for the rest of the night, taking turns watching him.
The next morning, they truss up the Captain, and toss him onto a floating disk. When finally reaching Mirros again, they deliver him to the guards at the gates, explaining that he and his buddies were found patrolling the road, presumably up to no good.

Report Date

25 Sep 2021

Secondary Location

Mirros