General Summary
Through the Skies
After the battle with the wyverns, Vax revealed that he had used his new ring of flying and had not fallen off the ship. Mila climbed back onto the ship and got help cleaning up from Tidal, the water elemental. In the aftermath, Argo retired to his quarters.
Before long, the rest of the party also retired to Argo’s chambers to discuss and plan. Marcella (still in a half-orc visage) used their necklace of sending to send a message to Essex. Marcella let him know that they found a Shadow Outpost at the Huntington Estate and that they were headed to Patrahk’n. Essex responded that he was in Starilaskur and he was glad to hear from her.
The party discussed Vax’s past and how it connected to the reports that Marcella had found in the Shadow Outpost. Vax explained that he had once been in the circus and his parents had been killed by a strange group. He had no idea the Shadow was involved at all or interested in him after that event until reading the reports. He also explained that now it would seem the very group he wanted to hunt down and kill one day seems to be the Shadow, so his interests have aligned.
Before resting, the group came up with a plan: when they get to Patrahk’n, they will hire a House Tharashk agent as they were advised by Turk to do and tell them they are wanting to go to Glumtown. Once they are there, they will work on convincing the agent to take them further to the Lantern Tower. They make it clear that speed is the highest priority.
Mila also brought up that she is still very concerned about how they are being so easily tracked by the Shadow. Ideas were thrown around, but no consensus was come to. Mila and Marcella also spoke about how Marcella was doing after being dismissed from the Royal Eyes. Mila gave her advice saying, “I was taught that in order to serve the nation, you must serve the people.”
The party rested, with Bal once again not sleeping in a customary place, instead electing to sit up near the front of the ship watching the world spread out in front of him. Vax dreamed again of death, this time witnessing more of Marris’ dreams. They stood on the hill overlooking the Lightning Rail when she had marked the woman who poisoned the rest of the people on the train. She tried to pass blame by saying that she wasn’t technically the one who killed those people, but Vax immediately called her out for it, telling her not to shirk the responsibility of what she had done. Marris didn’t address this, but turned to Vax asking where he was. She said he knew he wasn’t in the tower, but hesitated to fully claim she knew that the party was in Sharn or not. Before anything else could be figured out, the dream ended and Vax slept the rest of the nigh.
The sun rose and the party continued on flying over Droaam, the nation of monsters. After mid-day, Argo told the party to be respectful as a squadron of griffon-riding minotaurs flanked the ship. This squadron, which Argo referred to as “Chargers”, briefly asked Argo what their business was, to which Argo responded that they were traveling to Patrahk’n and meant no harm. The Chargers warned of wyverns in the area and then left the ship to go about its business.
Before the sun set, Bal and Mila sparred again, with the rest of the party watching on. Bal had learned quite a bit from their first match and it became a test of skill with Bal barely edging out Mila. After the fight, the party talked again and Marcella braided Mila's hair (which was very voluminous due to the humidity). Marcella noticed that Mila's dragonmark had grown. After, the party rested once again, with Marcella messaging Turk before she slept. Vax dreamt again, this time about the passing of an owlbear in the circus. For a moment, it seemed like Marris wasn’t present in the dream, but after looking around, he found her seemingly hiding in the audience around him. When he pursued, she kept her distance until the dream ended.
City on the Edge
The next day, the party eventually made it to the city of Patrahk’n, the Gateway to the Marches. Here, the city was unlike any the party had seen before: a sprawling and more natural metropolis of orcs, half-orcs, goblins, and monsters built larger than other cities to accommodate its orcish citizens.
A dockmaster orc asked the party as they left the ship what their business in Patrahk’n was. Marcella in half-orc form responded that they were academics looking to hire a guide to get them out to Glumtown and then to the Lantern Tower beyond. The dockmaster nodded and then told them where they could find the Tharashk Agency and went on his wavy. Argo said he would stay docked in Patrahk’n, but couldn’t fly over the Marches as they do not allow air travel over their land. However, he did say if it was life or death, he might be able to come rescue them. With that, they left Argo, Biggin’ and Tidal at the docks and headed into the city.
They made their way to the agency marked with the Lionne, the emblem of House Tharashk. Inside, they told the desk attendant that they wanted to hire an agent to take them past Glumtown and the woman directed them to Agent de la Rocha, a half-orc woman with orangish skin, an eyepatch, and a cold demeanor. After explaining what they wanted, she said the trip would take seven days and she set the price at 500 cr which she said included some necessities for going out into the swamps.
Before the party could depart, the entire agency stood in reverence for a figure who entered. Warlard Xaco, a massive eight and a half foot tall orc with red-grey skin and elaborate decorations approached the party and Agent de la Rocha, curious as to what this party of outsiders wanted so deep within their borders. Marcella once again explained that they were academics looking for relics out past Glumtown. Xaco sat down and explained that he needed help.
He explained that as the Last War came to a close, those people responsible for the most heinous acts committed fled the Five Nations to avoid any repercussions. One such person was a Karrn scientist named Dr. Elke Roth who had entered the Marches a few years ago and never left. Xaco believes she was instrumental in Karrnath’s use of the undead during the war and now undead are beginning to rise deep in the swamps. Xaco would like for the Foundation to bring her to him alive for execution. If they do, he offers a favor from the Council of Warlords who rule the Shadow Marches.
The party agrees, but not before Vax negotiates Xaco covering half of the cost of hiring Agent de la Rocha. Before Xaco leaves, he smells the party, noting that Vax and Bal aren’t as human as they look and saying that perhaps they would be successful after all. After, the party followed de la Rocha around Patrahk’n to gather supplies including rations, potions of healing, and antidotes. Rosa also buys a small animal skeleton and then leads the group to Louis, an artificer on the upper river side of the city. There, she has Louis enchant her sword.
Louis then sees Rasp’s mace and asks if he would be willing to let him work on the mace as he has always wanted to work with warforged materials, but didn’t know how to ethically get any. Rasp agrees and over the course of an hour, Louis enchants it into a staff of withering. Marcella buys shackles to use on Dr. Roth when they find her.
Into the Wild
After bidding goodbye to Louis, the party heads out down the Blackwater River heading for a city that Rosa called Arashuul. The first day of travel is hot, humid and disgusting to most in the party, with only Rasp and Marcella getting used to it during the day. Near dusk, they ran into a group of centaurs called the Watchers who speak to Rosa in Terran, the elemental language of the earth. Vax overhears the conversation as Rosa tells the centaurs where they are headed. They warn her about undead rising around Glumtown that are more hardy than normal undead. The centaurs also warn about a basilisk that has made its territory near the Blackwater River around Arashuul.
At the end of the day, the party makes camp and set watches as they try to get used to roughing it out in the swamps far away from the luxuries of Sharn. That night, strangely, Vax doesn’t dream.
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