Session 12: Directions and Dragons

The party explores the jungles of Xen'drik, meet a dragon, and find themselves in a desert.

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The party awakens after a night in the jungle to Brian crowing for the dawn.  Unable to make heads or tails of the Seeker's Compass, they make their way northward on Fork's  suggestion, Tilly marked trees with butterflies to keep track of their location with her dagger.  Originally using the one she recovered from Riris in the temple, Fork gave her one of his as a precaution, as the party wasn't certain if that dagger was safe to use.  

Shocks and Rocks

  The party successfully travels for a bit, avoiding potentially dangerous wildlife like a giant snake, before Tilly is drawn to something shining from within the roots of a large tree.  Approaching it quickly before the others can react, she's attacked by a large spider, which she quickly electrocutes with a chromatic orb before continuing to the shining object.  The object, which appears similar to a geode, is identified by Fork as a Dragonshard, an item of value that are known to be throughout this jungle.   Not long after, the party comes across a series of stone archways, covered in various glyphs and symbols that none of them recognize; save one symbol that appears newer that Fork identifies as the mark of The Traveler.  Inspecting the arches, and walking through one, reveals nothing else.  When Brian attempts to take down some of the symbols to mixed success, Tilly makes rubbings of them.  

Round and Round

  Upon leaving the arches, the party reaffirms that they're heading north towards the mountains, only to find that the mountains now lie east.  Concerned about going in circles, the party devises a plan; where Brian remains above the treeline, while tied with a rope to Fork on the ground; allowing the party to consistently head towards the mountains no matter which direction they lie.  Tilly joins Brian up above, to assist with untangling the rope as it regularly would tangle with the canopy.   As they begin to move, the wildlife in the forest grows quiet; followed by a loud crash in the distance, in the direction the party is headed.  After a moment, the din of their surroundings returns, and they continue forward.  It doesn't take long before Bulgey hears shouting up ahead.  However, he can't make much out, and those airborne see nothing, so the party continues forward.   It doesn't take long for Brian to spot a clearing up ahead, and the others at ground level to also start hearing the shouting.  While they cannot recognize the language, it sounds like a single individual calling out, not in pain or anger, but searching.  

Shapes and Shifts

  As the party debates how to move forward, the source of the shouting hears them and approaches.  A human man with glasses and thick dreads, adorned in elaborate blue robes patterned with dragons, he introduces himself as Iskandar.  He seems happy to speak of his purpose and intentions here, as Tilly immediately begins grilling him for details.  He is searching for his lost apprentice, a female elf, about 5 feet tall, named Kerani, who had managed to get separated from him during their exploration of the jungle.  He expressed surprise at finding a fairy here in Xen'Drik , and confusion when Tilly seemed unaware of Thelanis, which Vita explained to be the Fairy Court.  He explained that he was here doing research, looking for remnants of an ancient war between the giants and dragons.  An ancient weapon that the giant's had originally created to battle the Quori from Dal Quor, was used against the dragons; and the land was put under the Traveler's Curse to prevent an empire capable of forging such a weapon ever arising in these lands again.  The runes that the party had uncovered on the archyways were in giant, he confirmed.  Saying something along the lines of "home of the guards".   After the history lesson, he revealed a silver dragon-esque amulet, which he offered to the party.  Should they come across his apprentice, he explained, they could summon him to them through it by raising it to the sky and calling his name.  Surprised that he could navigate the forest, the party asked him how, which he explained (somewhat anti-climatically) that it was far simpler to travel this area if you can fly.  In fact, should they find his apprentice, he offered to fly all of them out himself.     The dragon symbolism, already a bit on-the-nose, combined with the manner in which he said he would fly them all out, led Tilly to outright ask if he was a dragon, which he responded in the affirmative.   The party members reacted in various ways, as they each had somewhat different opinions on dragons, but collectively they continued the discussion, as Vita expressed that dragons of this world are as good/evil as anyone else.  The party, recognizing that finding Kerani wasn't any different than their previous plan of wandering until they found a way out, agreed that they would let Iskandar know if they found her, and continued on their way.  Tilly and Bulgey wondered aloud if Fork was in fact, a dragon; as Iskandar demonstrated that they can take humanoid form.  Fork, already a bit worn by the situation, along with his role as anchor to Brian's kite, wasn't sure how seriously he should take their wondering.  

A Change in Scenery

  Recognizing that the kite/scout mechanism seemed ineffective at gaining any ground on the mountains (Tilly kept seeing her butterfly etchings come back around), Brian suggested that they do their best to simply follow the Seeker's Compass.  They seemed to be going in circles anyway, he surmised, so the compass could hardly be worse.     After a few hours of following the compass, the party found themselves at the jungle's edge, a sea of sandy dunes stretched out before them, something shining in the crest of one a short ways out.  After a cautious approach and a tentative mage hand from Tilly, the party found a pair of Siberys Dragonshards.  Taking a short rest to eat and drink as the sun set, the party decides that night may be the best time to travel through a desert, and continued along the compass' path.  Late into the evening, close to midnight, the party is ambushed by swarms of insects, which they put down with spells and blades.