Session 11: Arulo Steals from Pensioners

General Summary

After a good night's rest our heroes Arulo, Raine, Palanthus, Ruuch and Usze awaken from their slumber. Arulo mentions that he is not a morning person, asking whether any of the party is currently carrying any liquor. Ruuch pulls out a flask, takes a big gulp, and simple replies: "Not anymore". They pack up their belongings and continue their path towards Sycaath. On their way, they start to notice that the further they travel, the more withered the surrounding woods become. After battling and evading a few smaller sludge creatures, they sense a disturbance further up. Usze and Ruuch send Gibby and the Hawk to investigate. They witness a giant pool of Sludge, seemingly oozing outwards along with many creatures of sludge. The hawk managed to spot something... Invisible walking towards the pool. It also seems to snow only in the thing's vicinity. Upon sharing this information, specifically about the pool, Raine's messenger leaf pulsates. The group decide that stealth is the best course of action, and as they circle around they manage to position themselves behind the invisible creature.
Ruuch attempts to intimidate it into revealing itself, and it does. Before them, for merely a moment, a beautiful white dragon shows itself. The dragon introduces itself as Massasauga, and requests that the party assists it into combating the pool of sludge. The party agrees, and Arulo, Ruuch and Usze climb upon its back, flying into combat.
########################## EDITOR'S NOTE: Ruuch: “I'm about to beat up some fucking nerds!” ##########################
A battle ensues. The dragon uses its icy powers to combat the pool directly, while the rest mostly focus on the smaller creatures around it. Arulo manages to become unarmed almost immediately after losing one sword in a creature, and temporarily enhance the other with cold, only for it to dissolve following a strike. After a while Palanthus and Raine catch up. Meanwhile a giant tentacle monster emerges from the pool, similar to the one encountered in the depths of the factory, and it tries to drag the dragon into the pool with it. In an attempt to at least do something, Arulo throws a bag of magical beans, only for it to make a small poof and barely harm anything around it. With Ruuch's fire and ice powers, Raine's defence, co-operation between Usze and Palanthus, and Arulo's witty remarks, they manage to fight off the sludge enough for the dragon to release a final blow to the pool, freezing it completely and shattering it into millions of shards, thus killing all remaining The Sludge monsters with it.
With the battle over, the dragon opens its wings. Revealing that the darker scales underneath were eyes all along. They refer to themselves as Tazza'Khool. Similar to Nahiki, they are technically parasites, a hivemind, but unlike most Nahiki the group have encountered they mean no harm. The party tells them that they have encountered the beast, and how the sludge have already succeeded in defeating the "prison", along with the release of the beast. The Tazza'Khool seem to know more of the beast, and tell the group about the Sludge, properly named the Qulvo. Ruuch attempts to get some sort of tangible reward for our help, specifically a dragon scale. Usze, disgusted by his greed (which Ruuch replies is not greed but proper business) he instead suggests the Tazza'Khool could, with their dragon body, take them faster to Sycaath. They agree, and the party mounts up. Upon taking flight, they turn invisible and fly until nightfall.
########################## EDITOR'S NOTE: Usze: “She seemed to be... In control of the beast.” Tazza'Khool: "IN CONTROL? HAH, MAY THEY HAVE MERCY ON HER..." ##########################
With the sun setting, they spot a campfire down below. Again the familiars investigate and notice an old man along with a Morgaar, the centaur-like monstrosities they oft encounter. Curious, and needing a rest, the party commands the Tazza'Khool to land nearby. Raine, Ruuch and Arulo, along with Usze's familiar Gibby, proceed to investigate. Usze and Palanthus remain with the now sleeping dragon, and they talk.
The group makes a bit of a rough introduction, however they manage to strike up a friendly conversation with the two campers. The old man is known as Dexter Miles, with the Morgaar nicknamed Lex. The man claims to have been in Traskarr and saw Lex being attacked by the same snake-bug-winged creatures that the party had encountered earlier in the wilds, and attempted to save him with his gun. Later on a mechanical crocodile-like creature also appeared, but they managed to survive. Raine can understand the Morgaar's language Sylvan, learns that its real name is Darhenian and her curiosity gets the better of her. Pulling out her notebook, she bombards the monster with questions, which he answers.
He is currently guiding the old man to the Fey realm, a safer haven as thanks for saving his life. Morgaar overall are not too fond of the Fey, however Darhenian believes that they owe it to the queen, and that he might be able to turn back into a centaur there, revealing that the Morgaar are mutated and mutilated centaurs, made blind (despite this, the creature still has a rifle and is surprisingly accurate with it). He tells her that the Fey are protecting not only this realm, but many others from the sludge. The Mind Flayers in particular are assisting them, as seen earlier when the group ran into a few. He goes on to tell that the queen of the fey is a very powerful woman named Lilliana Kanatah residing in some sort of city, which can easily be used as a fortress if needed. Its so powerful, it rivals and could even surpass the "Prison". When asked about where the sludge came from, he can only share that its origin is the same as theirs, the laboratory in Traskarr.
Raine translates this all for the group, and they decide to accompany the two in rest. Ruuch exits the tent to inform Usze who listening and speaking through Gibby, that he can come join them. Usze refuses, and remains with Palanthus and the dragon. Ruuch places his familiar hawk on top of the tent and instructs it to start screeching at anything suspicious.
Dawn breaks, and Arulo wakes up first. Sneaking out, he sees the Morgaar asleep with his rifle. The hawk notices, and almost screeches, but does not. Arulo successfully snatches the rifle, but before he can celebrate the old man appears behind him and tells him to place it back. Arulo tries to play it off as he was simply inspecting the weapon's fine craftmanship, but his lies fall through. The ruckus wakes the other two, and Arulo reluctantly goes off to the edge of the woods to relieve himself. Ruuch goes after him, with Raine apologising furiously for her team member's behaviour.
Ruuch taunts Arulo a bit, and then heads off to meet up with Uzse, Palanthus and the Tazza'Khool. Arulo, still unarmed and a tiny bit miffed about getting caught, heads back to the old man's camp and attempts to steal the gun yet again, but upon touching it he is paralyzed and held down by the old man using hold person. In pure disbelief, the old man lets Arulo go on one condition. Raine reluctantly heads back with Arulo. All of this is seen by Ruuch through his hawk.
########################## EDITOR'S NOTE: Dexter: “Please never have kids, ever.” Arulo: "Well, you might be a bit too late for that, heh." Dexter: "With a face like yours, I highly doubt it." ##########################
Meanwhile Ruuch approaches Usze, who is mumbling something to the dragon in Draconic. Usze then greets Ruuch, questioning about his seemingly high spirit. Ruuch tells him about Arulo's actions, but Usze seems far less amused. Once the party is back together again, Arulo reminds them that he is still without a weapon, asking Palanthus to borrow one of her pistols. She refuses, however Ruuch suggests they leave it up to chance, rolling a dice. He wins, and Palanthus hands over one gun.
########################## EDITOR'S NOTE: Ruuch: *holding up his dice* “See Usze, that's how its done!” Uzse: *Stares daggers at him* ##########################
They mount up and continue their trip to Sycaath. Upon reaching their destination, they see that the entire city has been left in a more than rough state, along with all the ships in the harbour which includes Arulo's vessel, The Gannett . They land at the graveyard, where they part ways with the Tazza'Khool. With that, they enter the tombs and meet up with the eye of Sycaath; 5 foot 2, complete black skin and a black eye. It wishes to know why. Why are they doing this, why is Raine hellbent on saving her goddess Eldath, even though she is the only remaining believer. Why did his brother have to die. Raine answers one of questions, but he replies by stating that he does not care for them. He only wishes to protect the people currently in his care. It is willing to help, however that is all it will do for them. The eye then turns to Arulo, and tells him that an acquaintance of his is with him further back. With that, the eye returns to his room.
Ruuch and Arulo went ahead to meet with the person, who turns out to at first be a rather aggressive individual, but then turns out to be Faces, the changeling doctor of Arulo's crew, pulling yet another one of his pranks. They give one another a good hug, and Arulo introduces the group to him. Ruuch is absolutely mesmerised as not only did he always want to be a changeling, but as a child he also wished to be a pirate! Faces, as a joke, turns into Ruuch. In return Ruuch uses one of his spells to create many clones of himself, and if that's not enough, Raine pulls out her hat of disguise and turns into Ruuch as well. The room is now completely filled with many Ruuch's and one slightly shorter one. It does not last long though and they all turn back. Raine, fascinated by Faces, considering she has never seen a changeling before, swiftly pulls out her notes and wishes to interview the man. Ruuch is instead fascinated by Raine's possession of the hat of disguise and makes it his mission to trade for it, however Raine denies. Arulo, Ruuch and Usze go off to meet the rest of Arulo's remaining crew, but not before Usze whispers to Raine that under no circumstance is she to hand over her hat to Ruuch.
Arulo meets his cook Dunno, a fat tiefling with a serious case of water eyes. He starts bawling at the sight of his trusted captain, telling him how awful Faces' pranks have been to him and how he has fallen for the same one 13 times. He also tells Arulo what happened; A Kraken-like creature attacked the harbour, murdered most of the crew and tore all the ships to pieces. Arulo tells him that his fate with the Vanguard did not end well either, with all of them perished. Dunno once again weeps, but will try his best to cook us up some good food.
Meanwhile Ruuch returns to Raine, interrupting her interview and pulls out everything in his inventory, and like a desperate salesman describes every item with great detail. Unfortunately for him, he is only met with decline from Raine and ridicule from Faces, who turns into a true salesman yet describes all Ruuch's items in a belittling fashion.
########################## EDITOR'S NOTE: Ruuch: "and this here, is a jar of preservation! Anything you put in here, will never rot!" Faces: "Indeed! And it is completely fucking useless!" Ruuch: "Argh, fucking hell I know..." ##########################
With Ruuch down, Raine asks Faces one more question: If he has seen her father, Kinnarath. Faces says no, and then heads back to Arulo. Grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him somewhere private, and they talk.
Evening falls and the group gathers at the dinner table, Arulo just kind of smiles towards Raine, which feels odd. Dunno serves them a wonderfully made steak. Ruuch inquires him about how unusual it is that they still have cattle considering their predicament. Dunno informs him that an old man talking about the "spirit of Christmas" gifted it to them. Ruuch contacts his son through sending, however the eye butts in to start a real talking connection between them. He tells him about his awesome dragon adventure, and how he has it as a memory kept in his jar of preservation. Ruuch's son informs them that Rashall attempted to break into the Blue eye's tomb, but was swiftly and brutally defeated, leading him to flee for his life. During the meal they talk about their encounters and losses. Arulo asks about a woman named Jenny, however the crew have not heard from her for some time. Ruuch asks Faces to turn into her so he can be familiar with her and send her a message. He does, and they learn that she is not only alive, but is currently under Saan's protection. Raine speaks more about her father and asks if any of the group have seen him. She uses her hat of disguise to turn into him, Arulo pauses for a bit but then simply proclaims that he has never met him.
The constant talk of loss is pressing heavy on Ruuch, and as the meal is done he wants to rest. Unfortunately the Black Eye tells them that they are not allowed to rest here, as they only bring death. Usze accepts right away, and Ruuch has no choice to do so as well. Yet Raine is excused, and Arulo is allowed to stay with his crew as they had no part in the conflict between the green eye and Rashall. Ruuch excuses himself and walks outside. Arulo goes off to have a bath. Usze stands up and wishes everyone a good night, but as he walks away he asks Raine about her father's name. Upon hearing it, he nods and walks off.
Once outside he meets up with Palanthus who asks what he thinks of the lot. He claims to only trust Raine for now, but that the rest are still useful for the time being. Noticing Ruuch grieving on a tombstone, Palanthus forces Usze with a punch to his shoulder to go condole him. He walks over and sits next to him. Usze starts to talk about how his world was small when he was young, how he feels about being resurrected, how he feels about no longer being with his most trusted allies, and what drives him to continue his campaign against the sludge and crystals. Ruuch listens, but does not have a lot to say back.
Usze gets up to leave, and as he walks off Ruuch thanks him. Usze turns to him, smiles, and then turns back. While walking away, under his breath he says: "I'm sorry."
Raine and Arulo safely rest within the Black Eye protected tomb, Usze and Palanthus rest outside, but Ruuch is unable to sleep, overtaken by grief. With that, the moon passes, and this chapter comes to an end.

Report Date

08 Jan 2022

Primary Location

Trascarr

Related Characters

• Arulo Kedrisk
• Eldath
• Palanthus
• Raine
• Ruuch Caliban
• Usze'Taham