Session 22: Arriving in Grayhill

General Summary

Summary: 3 points
We had a short discussion on the recent changes announced for One DnD; flavor items may be discussed as potentially brought on at player request, but mechanics won't be changing any time soon.
We had a quick chat about the player survey. Most people were unsurprised with the output of the survey and it wasn't as useful as many had hoped, but it wasn't a bad idea.

Resuming the river combat

Round 4

• Sunny bludgeons a stirge with Deep Rumble and it collapses to the deck in a crushed heap.
• A giant toad gobbles the stirge off one of his comradres.
• Leucis calls upon the Word of Radiance and and incinerates the stirge attached to him in silvery light.
• Maya fails the save to remain on the mast, so as he drops to the deck he reverts to his halfling form, taking minor damage from the fall but landing on his feet. He casts Cure Wounds to recover from the impact.
• The toads don't seem to pursue and the Fraid Knot is escaping at a rapid rate, so the combat ends.

Combat summary:

• Total duration: 4 rounds
• PC drops: None.
• Rule clarifications:
  
  1. A flying creature became restrained (speed drops to 0) while midair.
     RAW: "If a flying creature is knocked prone, has its speed reduced to 0, or is otherwise deprived of the ability to move, the creature falls, unless it has the ability to hover or it is being held aloft by magic, such as by the fly spell."
     Ruling: The timing on this is not explicit, so it could theoretically happen immediately or on the creature's next turn. In the interest of simplicity, these falls will happen as soon as the status takes effect.
     
• Kill board:
  1. Sunny: 3 stirges with Shatter(2), one stirge with Deep Rumble(4)
  2. Maya: Stirge with web (1), stirge with bite(3)
  3. Leucis: Stirge with Sacred Flame(2), stirge with Word of Radiance(4)
  4. Saf: Stirge with longsword(2)
  5. Kolvonnin: Giant Toad with morningstar(3)

Rolling down the river

Kolvonnin uses Lay on Hands to heal Leucis from his minor stirge-induced wounds. He then sets a trio of javelins by the gunwales on the ship for future use, if need be. Harb decides to retain the stirge Sunny crushed with his instrument to make dinner later in the day.
Leucis gives Maya the Vigilant Blessing.

Camping for the evening

Maya, lacking confidence in Harb's culinary skills, decides to cast Goodberry. Harb makes an effort to turn the stirge into a passable soup, and produces a foul-smelling substance. Harb manages to choke it down a bit, and Kolvonnin and Leucis also manage to stomach it with no apparent ill effects. Saf, seeing their reactions, bows out gracefully.
Having navigated dinner, the group conjures the Tiny Hut and turns in for the evening. The evening passes quietly without incident.

Sunday, 6th of Leafbreak

The day dawns, cloudy but breezy. Harb seems a bit distracted or rattled, and both Leucis and Sunny notice the oldster is off kilter.

Insights into Ol'Harb's memories

Sunny inquires about Harb's status, and without really responding he pulls out his sketchbook, turning to a page showing a peculiar image: a first-person view of a left arm melting and sloughing off, with a robed figure in the distance. Harb indicates that the melting appendage is his, and that the robed figure in the distance is responsible. He describes the magic from his memory. Sunny doesn't recognize it, but thinks perhaps Rustling Trees may know more about it.
Sunny advises Harb that keeping this kind of bad thing from the past bottled up doesn't do a person any good, and he's willing to talk about it whenever Harb feels ready.
At the bard's urging, Harb shows the picture to the rest of the group. Saf notes that the strange robed figure looks skeletal or mummified, so there may be necromancy involved, and if the caster itself is undead it's likely to be very powerful. Maya notes that it's interesting that these memories surface in dreams; some of his village's elders have powers involving dreams.
From a different image, Maya recognizes some of what may be herbalism tools, but feels confident in the idea that some of the others are alchemy implements. The group muses about contacting the folks at the Glaciery as being potentially able to identify alchemy.

On the river

Maya and Leucis spot the mountain range north of their respective homelands and ruminate on memories of home and how distant and/or lost it is. Saf seems interested in the idea of home, but claims not to have one herself. This unmoored nature seems to confuse much of the group, particularly Sunny.
The party does some fishing. Maya pulls in a giant beast of a fish, easily four feet long (somewhat aided by the cleric, since it rivals the druid in sheer mass).

Camping for the evening

Maya gathers some savory herbs from the plant life along the riverbank, then arranges the fresh fish that isn't immediately consumed next to the fire to smoke it, preserving a lot of it for the week or two.
The evening passes otherwise uneventfully.

Woodday, 7th of Leafbreak

Maya announces that he's had some contact with the elders of his village, in a dream. He explains that he does this every week - and that this is how he knew about the Death of Celestian story, among other things.
The elders report that the Llyrians have worked with a group of sun worshippers called the Sons of Dawn, but that they worshipped Helio, a deity that was at some point absorbed into the Church of Pelor. Kolvonnin is familiar with Helio but has not heard of the Sons. It occurs to a few members of the party that the Sun Carving gave the sun paladin a feeling that was both familiar and foreign, and that perhaps that was the difference between the power of Helio and Pelor (being incarnations of the same force but not exactly the same).
Maya further explains that the elders believe that the constructs from the Llyrian Moon Facility are most commonly constructed by dwarves, gnomes, or alchemists. They warned, in addition, that if a wizard crafted those constructs, they might also employ elementals or undead.
Maya mentions that the elders report Leucis's recent experiences with visitations from Selune are highly unusual, but not limited to the cleric directly - some worshippers of the moon goddess in the village noted a funny feeling at their shrine.
Maya casually posit that he may someday convince the elders to leave the village. Saf chimes in that they'd need to have a serious discussion about economics before that happens, as she doesn't want them to be taken advantage of by the less scrupulous folks in the world. The druid laments they they have larger problems - while the lycanthropes were a major problem, the solution could arguably be worse. The village made a deal with the fae to hide them, but the cost is a boy and girl child every five years.
The elders won't break that deal until the lycanthropes are no longer a threat. Maya is not clear on the details of the deal, but getting rid of the lycanthropes is the first step. Saf inquires about how their shapechanging is different from the druid's wild shape abilities, and Maya explains that one is voluntary and an expression of nature, while the other is a curse and less intentional. Harb comments that Maya must be choosing to be short, which is a curious decision. Maya explains that he's quite comfortable in his natural shape.
Harb wonders if the lycanthropes were intentionally hunting the villagers, but Maya elaborates that they weren't in a conversing mood and seemed to be madly bestial in their attacks. Leucis and Maya both recall that while they're aware of the idea of lycanthropes that are not inherently evil, the ones that attacked their homelands had an air of madness about them. This contrasts sharply with the werecreatures the group encountered at the Llyrian Facility when Nock disappeared.
The winds is with the group and they pull into Grayhill in the late afternoon.

Scoping out Grayhill

Mooring and disembarking

The group disembarks at an unattended pier and leaves their ramp among the other items strewn about the dock. They spend a few minutes discussing where to get started, and decide that finding accommodations should be the first step so that Cinnamon can get settled in. They briefly consider The Saucy Winch but elect to look for better accommodations in other parts of town. Harb mentions he has a contact that could probably recommend better lodgings, and the group heads off to the library.

The Frosted Library

Harb pulls open the large metal outer door and the party (aside from Maya with Cinnamon) enters the front of the main chamber, their breaths visible in the chill, dry air. Behind the high desk stands a goliath woman, reading a book. Behind that, high shelves of books extend back into the building for some distance. At their entrance, she looks up and calls out to Harb, inquiring about what he's brought for her.
Harb introduces the librarian as Mia, and old friend of his. She draws herself up to her (considerable) full height and speaks:

I am Laumia Runeseeker Kalagakane, but that's a mouthful for most people so just call me Mia. This is the Frosted Library. Much that is known is kept here, and much that has been lost can be found here. And you are?

Saf repeats Mia's full name in greeting and introduces herself as the "jewel Sapphire." Mia comments that it's a pretty name and suits her. Kolvonnin steps forward and announces his name, noting that he is the bearer of the warm light of Pelor's Dawn. Mia replies somewhat formally "may the warm light shine upon you" indicating she has some familiarity with the worship of the sun. Before Leucis can introduce himself, and Mia notes that he's been to the library before, asking for information about lycanthropes. She does not, however, recall the cleric's name. Leucis identifies himself with his full name and that he is a cleric of Selune. Mia, again somewhat formally, welcomes a servant of the Queen of Tides to the library. Sunny shuffles to one side and introduces himself with his nickname. Mia comments that this seems like an uncharacteristically short name for a tabaxi, and the bard elaborates that his full name is Brilliant Sun, but that no one really calls him that. She gives him a conspiratorial wink and says people are probably only too happy to see him as Sunny.
Having established identities, Mia questions what brings the band to the library. Harb says they have questions and would like to catch up, then asks what Mia is working on. It seems she's looking into alligator recipes for a cook from The Saucy Winch and didn't want him to get his greasy fingers on the pages. Saf (a little flirtatiously) mentions that it does take a deft hand and gets a knowing look in response.
Harb puts the question to the librarian as to where there might be higher-end accommodations in town since they've been hard traveling. Leucis tosses in that they could also use showers. Mia responds to Leucis's comment with a look that seems to indicate she'd noticed the need for a good cleaning. She says "You're looking for... classier accommodations?" with a glance at Saf. At Harb's nod, she mentions the old manor house on the east side, usually not occupied except when wealthy merchant types are in town.
Harb says he will take this information under advisement, and Mia seems somewhat affronted at this line of inquiry, since it's hardly the sort of question one needs to leverage a library to answer, much less the resources at this particularly large building full of knowledge. Harb says there are other things they need to ask, but Saf interjects that they should clean up first and make a list. Mia looks grateful for what she clearly sees as the reasonable approach to what the library and its attendant have to offer, then verbally agrees with this idea.
Harb says that it's good to see Mia and that he's found some trustworthy companions, and a bit of her imperious quasi-formality slides off when she replies that it is good to see him as well.
As the group is starting to leave, something seems to occur to Mia, and she gestures with her gloved hand and a spectral hand floats out of the aisles of shelves bearing a book. She hands it to Leucis indicating that it may contain information he needs. Almost as an afterthought, she inquires if he can read Primordial, which he can. The book's title is A Study in Lycanthropy.
Mia returns to her book of recipes in a dismissive fashion. Leucis says something about taking a seat to look through the tome, and Mia indicates he can take it with him but in a voice that brooks no argument demands that he return it.
As they're leaving, Saf clears her throat and offers to have Mia swing by her room later. Mia seems a bit surprised by this, but Saf doesn't linger to inquire further.
The party then walks across town to the Old Manor to seek lodging.

The Old Manor

The house itself is not as palatial as the high-end accommodations of The Spotted Cap but is somewhat larger. The group settles in to discuss their next steps.

Next steps:

1. Party Activities
   • At the Frosted Library:
     • Share unearthed knowledge with Mia?
     • Ask Mia what she knows about various topics
     • Potentially search the library itself for more information
   • Locate/hire a ship for travel to Sohmweyr
   • Visit the Glaciery
     • Have the quasi-alchemists analyze/replicate things the party has found?
       
       • Kana Dust
       • tiefling horn polish
       • Potion of Inky Darkness
       • Potion of Stinking Cloud
       • sunrods
     • Ask any other alchemy-adjacent questions
   • Visit the Blue Moon Circus outside of town
     • Check in with Moon about Leng
     • Talk to Rustling Trees about Harb's arm-melting magic memory
2. Off camera activities
   • Read A Study in Lycanthropy (Leucis/Maya)
   • Acquire cold weather gear
   • Visit any local cartographers (Maya)
3. Out of character work
   • Fresh set of questions for the elders (James)
   • Work on sketchbook contents (Eddy)
   • Check in with GM about article visibility (James - Wisdom of the Elders of Hearthstone, Eddy - Harb's Reminiscences)

Session Feedback

Eddy: Liked the roleplay. Glad to get to finish the combat. Looking forward to finding things out.
Heather: Got to use the kabong-er. Heart to heart with Harb and setting up future talk with Rusty.
James: Like that characters are opening up. Sunny stepping up as the heart of the team. RP was pushing things in a postive direction. No major lull moments, so pace management seemed effective.
Jeremy: Two challenges - "who's eating the soup" and "what do we do with the plank." More depth in characters this time than any other session.
Matt: Seemed fine. Good character development stuff. A lot to do in Grayhill coming up. Good will-they won't-they. Kind of expecting another combat, but understand why that didn't happen.
Meg: Lot of yawning going on. Interesting to get more Harb background, but it's full of mysteries.
John: Good character story and RP. Sunny as "heart of the team" was a nice scene. Hoping to tie off most of Grayhill in the next session. Attempted to maintain pace this time, seems like it went well enough.