S2E18 Session Report

General Summary

Picking back up after the Council Meeting. We want to stop at the rot farm on the way back. We offer to the Gruul that we'll bring them ale later in exchange for an audience with Aleida Woodleaf
Kakerlake is with us as we head to the rot farms. We see Kraul working on the farms and tending to the crops. Theo has seen the rot farms before, so she has a good idea of what they usually look like. She can see that these look the same, and seem to be normal. Dream and the Duke both ritually cast Detact Magic to recognize if this farm has the same necrotic signal that belongs to Jhalros. As they walk around the perimeter, Dream notices that she senses a few different spots where the psychic link feels present. Near them, there are areas where the rot farm has grown into cracks in the wall. With a high arcana roll, Dream knows that Detect Thoughts won't work on the ooze, but Mind Spike did for some reason. (Why?) Dream casts Mind Spike on one of the western facing farms. Source of magic is NW of council meeting.
We go back to the refugee village in the caves, and buy some ale before heading to talk to Aleida and the Gruul. The Duke fills us in about Gruul culture and the signifigance of Aleida's talking back to authority (what caused they're clan to be exiled). Aleida is a 6'2" half-orc half-drow, with an orci-ish face but a sharp elven nose. She wears hide-armor, and has the word "pain" tattooed on her leg in elvish. She's sitting around the fire, and raises when we enter.
She asks us who we are, and where we got our info. We fill her in on what we've learned. We tell her about the ooze, and our desire to follow it NW. She says that she doubts many will be on board, but that she will help us. She gives us her blessing to recruit members of her clan, but her orders to them for the time being are to defend the village. She also says that it would be near impossible to get us a guide through the tunnels, because they haven't been explored. She'll come with us, but just as an extra pair of hands.
We need allies. There isn't time for us to wait for Mercadian assisstance. We need to gather what allies we can in the village before we head to track and confront Jhalros. Aleida tells us that the Trexozizax goblin tribe Greeqemax will likely be on our side, although they're not really fighters. But they could be a good political ally for when we return.
We go to the goblin camp and find the goblin, Durg, whose dice we bought. The Duke pays him a gold coin to show us where Greeqemax is. It is a very techy, blacksmithy, industrial area with the goblins working on different projects. He is older and larger than the other goblins. He agrees with us that Jhalros should not be in charge. He takes us somewhere private and we show him the map and what our plan is. He tells us that they're not fighters, but asks what he can do to help us. Ziljin is a goblin that likes to explore in the cave system, so he may know his way around. Turns out Greeqemax is the cave systems coke dealer. He gives us each a sample and allows us to talk amongst ourselves. We decide what we're going to say in our Sending. We're also gonna talk to the Lashani to throw them off our trail (introduce ourselves and offer our help). We say that we need fire weapons from them before we go hunting for Jhalros.
Theo notices that a few Lashani people were tracking us go from council member to council member.
Lt. Spern tells us that the Celesnians sent Skygecks, who ride Rocs. Holding the line for now. But not easy. No plans or resources to attack, but are holding defensive position. Tension is growing, people of Mercadia want action. Get us a target ASAP.
We go talk to a smith, who points us towards an explosives expert. We spend 200gp on purchasing explosives like grenades and mines. Then we ask him where Ziljin, the guide, is. He's probably out in the caves. We leave a message that we'll pay him well to be our guide. If he wants the job, meet us at the north end of the cave in the morning.
We head back to the watering hole, looking for an in to talk to Finaeli Garaitinu, their leader. No one there seems to know where he would be. We head to the lashani camp to look around. There's a structure in the back, above the rest of the camp. The people are very timid and passive as we walk by them in the camp. They won't even make eye contact.
Finaeli's guard are high elves. They do not want to let us pass. The Duke (through a history check) knows that the "Lord" Finaeli is not actually a Lord, so uses his noble title and family signet to request an audience. As that guard leaves to ask Garaitinu if we can speak to him, we start chatting with the other guard. He seems to think that they won't be living in the caves for much longer. Dream Detects Thoughts, and he is thinking of Mercadia. They seem to have been promised that they'll take over Mercadia.
We go to chat with Lord Finaeli. He's wearing dusty, dirty noble's clothes. Sharp faced high elf. An air of put on mystery in his voice. Skin has a slightly green hue. We introduce ourselves, and he recognizes the Duke's name. We ask him for his story about how their people came to end up in the caves. He doesn't want to hear any sympathy for Aleida. He says he is a seer, but the Duke can tell that he's lying.
We offer help, and he asks if we can offer a way out of the caves. We tell him that he could leave the caves, and that Mercadia could grant them independence. We offer if he wants us to try to speak to Mercadia on their behalf. He is very anti-Mercadia, but then says that if we can come to a peaceful resolution, he just wants lands and prosperity fo this people.
We get the sense that he feels like his council seat is a position of power, while the other group leaders realize that it's a farce.
We chat with our allies to tell them we're leaving in the morning Krakerlake, two guards, and Aleida will come with us. We'll figure out in the morning if Ziljin is joining us.
We have four hours of downtime before we long rest. The Duke tries to enlist some Gruul help. Theo wants to use her assassin background to spread some whispers amongst the drug dealers about Jhalros' and Finaeli's evil intentions. Dream studies the reanimate dead spell to potentially communicate with Jhalros more often. Da'Har works out.
next time: figure out how many Gruul we recruit. Get the explosives. Meet up with Ziljin and head NW.

Report Date

13 Feb 2024