Session 24: Dipping Their Toes In

General Summary

This session was all about prep for the next mission and potentially the next Rift, with the party sorting out their affairs and checking in with Gleddy for a debriefing.
Before all of that, however, we had one party member who needed to be brought up to speed. L0L4 had been out, working on gathering ingredients for some of her side projects, and entirely missed the drama with Cye Veisi and Khashayar Entezami, meaning she came home to a stiff, awkward, simmering anger scene in the kitchen and had to figure out why her naive rabbitkin friend was heavily bandaged.
Cye, being a person who uses flippant disregard as a defensive mechanism, did not help this by being overall a little rude and at the very least standoffish at first. Over time she softened a little to actually answer questions directly, but L0L4 still was far from won over. So much so, in fact, that she threw the "haunted" doll at Cye and scared the Aasimar into thinking they really would be haunted. It was funny, unless you're Cye (or Zami, who also didn't know about said doll and wasn't sure if the "curse" promised was real or not).
By the time the party was ready to go see Gleddy, L0L4 had relented to a cautious disdain, including a savage Intimidation check that surprised the entire room with its vigor. The group leaves Cye behind to go do business.
Gleddy briefs the party further on the mission she'd teased prior: a blue hole (snicker snicker) had opened up in the usually placid waters of Saint Hira's Sea.

A blue hole is an extremely deep vertical tunnel/shaft in the ocean floor, often stretching down hundreds or even thousands of feet. They may have branching horizontal tunnels, an outlet to the ocean at the bottom, or other cave features. They do not usually just appear out of nowhere but this is a fantasy world, yanno?

Gleddy admits that typically a deep hole in the water would not be cause for alarm, but the fact that it opened suddenly (and seemed to be causing an influx of big aquatic nasties in the area) caught the Guild's attention.
Gleddy tells the party that the best course of preparation is to take their pre-arranged portal to Expatria, the floating settlement in northern Ostelliach's waters. Expatria is not technically close to Saint Hira's Sea, but it is unparalleled in gear, training, and resources for navigating aquatic missions and will certainly have everything the party needs. What's more, Expatria has eschewed the gold coin in favor of a community-minded IOU currency called The Shell, so the party can barter and trade for things. (This is handy, because 6/7 of them are broke bitches, ALEK51 being the outlier after receiving a 500 GP severance for his Scriptorium Soiram contract.)
Gleddy produces a small scroll that turns out to be a Shell from someone named Ryndall the Shellwalker. It reads:

I, Ryndall the Shellwalker, owe Gleddy Goodvine 1 Shell for anything she requires of me.

A quick History check and comment from Gleddy assures the party that this is a very special Shell indeed. She explains that Shells are based upon a roughly equivalent exchange - a Shell for repairing a roof would have different value than a Shell for revivifying someone. A carte-blanche Shell like this is very precious indeed, akin to a blank check, meaning that giving it to this Ryndall character will get them all the help Ryndall can muster. Help such as Potions of Water Breathing, swim gear, and some sort of vessel to get around the northern waters to Saint Hira's Sea.
The party asks a few more questions (and many OOC ones regarding mechanics of water in D&D) before bidding Gleddy adieu. On the way out, she stops them to mention to Zami that she has a present for xem: a magic bean like the ones the others ate in Session 11: Awh, Beans. Hags.. Through the magic of homebrew, Zami now gains the knowledge to be an Apiarist (beekeeper), including being able to summon a friendly swarm and being resistent to bug-based poisons.
Once home, the group sidebars to discuss whether or not they want to take Cye along, with the arguments being roughly:

• She's a meat shield. (Amanita Guttata)

• She's very trained in swimming and underwater combat, being quite literally an amphibious creature. (Khashayar Entezami)

• She's definitely going to keep the group's cleric alive, always a plus. (Wynnie Bishop?)

• If something happens to Zami out there, she'll kill everyone once they get back anyway. (Num Erik Al)

• That's Zami's wife, you can't leave her behind! (Kitanya Evermoon)

Overall, the reasons in favor stack up enough and the group invites the Cye-ren to join them. She doesn't take much convincing once Zami reminds her that Expatria is a floating city that makes really good saltwater taffy.
From there, we go through some preparations, mostly people planning things to take or trade in Expatria in lieu of gold. The game adjourns before the party sets out proper, anticipation swelling like a great wave in everyone's minds.

Report Date

02 Oct 2024

Related Characters

• ALEK51
• Amanita Guttata
• Cye Veisi
• Gleddy Goodvine
• Khashayar Entezami
• Kitanya Evermoon
• L0L4
• Num Erik Al
• Wynnie Bishop