Session 74 - Travelers and Home Again
7 Eirmont 1010 - 17 Eirmont 1010
General Summary
The party decides that since they are already in the rift, perhaps they should explore the area before returning to town. This takes some time and they find a significant number of now-abandoned guard and storage rooms that they did not encounter on their way in. The most interesting thing they find is a less used room, with an abundance of icicles hanging from the ceiling. In this room there are eight humanoids incased in ice: an Elf, a Dwarf, a Gnome, and some Humans, some seemingly frozen in combat, but all bearing mortal wounds. It seems plausible that they stumbled into the Winter Wolves, but were not so resilient as the party against their breath weapons. The party thaws them out enough to free them of some nice magic items.
The party also decides to go down the stairs to the bottom of the windswept rift proper. Besides howling wind they only found some strange, acidic ooze-e creatures that try to melt the party. They had only partial success before defeat - damaging Stavos' studded leather armor, diminishing its effectiveness. With the rift fully explored, the party takes another long rest, planning to climb out of the rift to head down the mountain, bright and early in the morning.
Making their way towards the treeline far below, they see a lone traveler accompanied by a loyal dog, working their way along the same trail, moving at a slower pace and seemingly unaware the party as yet. As they get into almost hailing range, they can hear howling from the right, and the traveler can be seen trying to pick up the pace. The party tries to close the gap, in the hopes of helping the traveler, but a small pack of Winter Wolves arrives on an intercept trajectory. Leo casts Scatter, instantly positioning the party between the wolves and the traveler; the wolves never really stand a chance. Stavos takes a breath weapon blast in the teeth, and gets bowled over by one of the Wolves, but once the party gets going, they quickly defeat the wolves; without any giant masters in their presence, the wolves aren't much of a fight.
The party cheerfully introduces themselves to the traveler, an aged Elf. He appears to be older than any elf any of the group has ever met. He introduces himself as Tapio, and his dog's name is Mealiden. He seems to recognize where everyone is from in this party, and speaks kindly with a keen gaze. His attire is a timeless deep green cloak, patterned leafy vines in a lighter shade, leaning on a staff with etched and resin-filled lines of sprouts and buds; everyone gets the impression of a druid. He speaks in a formal, if friendly, Alfheim dialect, so the party asks if he is headed toward Mirros. He says he has already been there, escorting familial refugees from Alfheim, and is now headed to an ancient druidic grove he recalls somewhere nearby - the Ever-spring Grove.
Since they are headed in the same direction, the party offers to escort him on his way and he happily accepts their company. He seems to be well-traveled and the party takes him to be a former adventurer, though in their chatting he only recalls tales of sights and places he's seen and not any derring-do. At some point Tapio says he has heard unflattering rumors about Seraphina. She once again bares her soul, explaining what happened, and the results. He asks if she was true to her faith and to the good of the people and the world. Before she can form her answer he smiles and says he can see that she was.
Later in the day, after a lunch and more friendly chat, they hear the clomp and clatter of a caravan of three carts coming down the mountains. Tapio says he encountered this Dwarven caravan earlier in his travels and that they are good people. The party hails them and chats with them, learning they are three brothers (a total of six minutes apart at birth) trying to make a shortcut to The Five Shires. The party asks about the variation of the ' carts (one having normal round wheels, one with rugged wheels formed with grippy knobs, and the third on sleigh rails) which leads to the brothers arguing the merits of each and berating each other on various shortcomings and delays. When the bickering calms down, the party learns the brothers are hauling spices, coffee, and other high value consumables from Rockhome and Ylaruam. Leo mentions that in the valley below there is a friendly Ogre named Gorg, and his two giant pigs, that sells truffles, and they should make trade with him if they get a chance. Tork also mentions the Cruth tribes, and suggests that dropping his name may lead to more productive trade with the Half-Orcs and fewer difficulties. The party buys a bit of this and that, and the dwarves are off on their way to the Shires, the three brothers once again start arguing amongst themselves about their cart designs.
The party and Tapio continue on down the mountain, taking a slightly different direction from the Dwarven Caravan. As the party continues along the path, they approach an overhanging stone archway, draped heavily with icicles. As they pass beneath, parts of the archway reach down with tentacles to try and grab the party members!
There are two large ice creatures hanging from the arch Ropers, with long, searching tentacles. Periodically, smaller icicle-like things fall from the arch trying to skewer party members, but none of these Piercers find their marks. Tapio moves back away from the arch, Mealiden in tow, and blesses the party, though he stays out of the combat itself. For the most part the combat is straightforward, though at one point Seraphina is bitten quite hard by one of the larger ice creatures. Another highlight is Tork's amazing ability to simply run up walls as if they were level ground. This allows him to walk right up on top of the arch, enabling him to engage the creatures in melee combat. Seraphina uses Moonbeam to soften up the icy enemies. Stavos keeps himself busy dealing with the little ones that fall from the sky. In a few rounds the party has finished off the creatures and their spawn and are able to continue on their way. Tucked away from the main path under the arch they find remains of other animals and travelers, though no real valuables.
By late afternoon Tapio announces they are nearing the grove, as Mealiden starts to trot ahead. Tapio reaches out to Seraphina with something in his hands, softly saying to her, "You’re as much of an elf as any, with an elven heart true. The wrong beliefs and misbegotten accusations of
others are not a weight you need to bear. I found this... but I believe it's yours. May it guide you and aid you as much as you aid your friends." He steps away and Seraphina opens her hands, surprisingly seeing what appears to be her own Amulet of the Devout, though perhaps a bit more vibrant and warm to the touch. She looks up from examining the amulet, but Tapio and Mealiden are nowhere to be seen. The party continues on the path, shortly coming upon a copse of large, ancient pines. They search the verge, finding signs of animals using the refuge from time to time, but no trace of their companions of late. Satisfying themselves that they must have gone their way, Elincia casts Transport Via Plants to open a portal to the grove all the way back in Saltmarsh!
The party takes some down time in Saltmarsh, catching up on the latest gossip, while Ynyr tries to solve the riddle of the Wheel of Stars. First, it seems the situation in Halag continues to deteriorate. There is not enough food coming from the fields, which is driving up the costs of food in the region. While this is good for Saltmarsh fishermen, it is draining the coffers of the young castellan, Milo Korrigan.
On a more positive note, Sasha of Luln has been named Baroness of Luln, and Defender of the Westron. Digging deeper, her expanded responsibilities seem to cover the lands up to the Blight Swamp, down to the edge of the Barony of Halag, and up to the Achelos River, which would also encompass Greenest. One of her key responsibilities is to improve and defend the Westron Road, and encourage greater trade along this route and into the Shires.
A more distant rumor is that someone named "King Kol" is pressing Glantri to recognize their domain along the Broken Lands border as a new Principality. It seems King Kol has a new human advisor. This could be the missing wizard advisor of Ludwig Von Hendricks. Similarly, the missing Von Hendricks is, of course, still missing.
An Alphatian ships has set anchor by Saltmarsh, crew only moving between ship and shore by jolly-boats. The ship's captain, Raman, has put up posters proclaiming, "Now is the time for all good sons of Alphatia to return to the Empire. Debts paid, expenses covered. Dmitrei at the docks will provide free passage to The Empress Eriadna.” It sounds like few have taken up the offer, but their are rumors of Alphatian ex-pats disappearing, though others believe they merely took jobs on other departing ships.
Finally, there is still a rumor of a Behemoth in the Blight Swamp west of Saltmarsh. Elincia tracks down Boris Telnos, who is attributed as the root of this rumor. He clarifies that it's not a Behemoth, everyone knows there are no Behemoths around here - this is a Froghemoth! An enormous frog(ish) creature that has many tentackly-arms, and will eat you whole! He saw this in his forays, and has stayed well clear of that area since.
Among other errands, the party decides to take their Dragon Hide to Kiorna to fashion up some new studded leather armor for Stavos, and everyone is considering the chance to get matching White Dragon-hide gear.
The party needs to decide what it will do next. Ynyr has been able to detect two pieces of the artifact that the Chronolometer and the Wheel of Stars are a part of. One seems to be moving around to the west, one seems to be stationary further North, possibly in The Broken Lands. He believes there may be six parts in total, and will continue refining his scrying methods.
It seems everyone wants to go after all of the rumors, so we'll have to see where they decide to go first!
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Report Date
23 Apr 2023
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