Session 19: From Peace to Panic

General Summary

Gentle Giants

The party entered the city of Zarash’ak, the hidden capitol of the Shadow Marches. They were entranced by the beauty and otherworldliness of the orcish city and ended up finding their way to Ud’Ok shelter, a hotel built against and into one of the largest trees in the Glum River. There, they met the manager, a slim half-orc man named Pondy who told the party they did not need to pay for a room, only gift something from outside the Marches to the hotel.
Rasp - Silver Flame Hound paw
Bal - Watchmen-issued leather armor
Yves - Audairan playing cards
Mila - Cyran bedroll
Vax - left, went invisible, and came back so as to not pay

The party was given two adjoining rooms to stay in. Each room had an ensuite spa bathroom and Vax and Bal took luxurious baths and showers. Rasp curled up on one of the large, flat, wooden beds and rested, as did Marcella. When Mila discovered that these were not the soft, large mattress beds she was used to, she collapsed on the floor. Rosa fell asleep on one of the beds immediately.
After about an hour, the party decided to go out and walk around Zarash’ak. Rosa came with and the Foundation traveled past the largest tree in the swamp which held Umbrella House, the place where the Council of Warlords met and the government seat of the Marches. Past that, they headed to Ten Branches Market, a large, open-air market of various tents, counters, and stalls selling all manner of goods, but they only worked on trade. It became clear to the Foundation that the Marches was much more of a society based on helping others than on the exchange of money.
Mila decided to find someone to trade her rapier to in the hopes of getting something in return that was exotic enough to upsell when they got back to sharn. A small goblin woman pointed her towards a stall that belonged to a Marcher human named Grobash. This older man was selling both fine steel weapons as well as other orcish-made weapons that were made entirely of natural materials. Grobash took a look at Mila’s rapier, enchanted and Cryan make, and he offered to trade a fine orcish dagger for it. The dagger was very large, the blade was made of hardened bone, and the handle made of some type of horn or antler. Mila managed to convince Grobash to throw in some orcish vodka and they made a deal.
Vax went off to find health potions which Yves followed to help. They found the stall of a tabaxi woman named Kayda in one of the far aisles who sold all manner of potions, poisons, and elixirs. She still kept the healing potions off to the side, but Vax and Yves ended up able to trade two healing potions in exchange for Yves’ poisoner's kit.
Bal, Rasp, and Rosa wandered around the market until Bal noticed a stall for a fighting dojo called Tzarvan’s School where they were having passing interested persons take a jab at their “champion” -- a very large orc in hand wraps. The guy working the stall noticed Bal and asked if he’d be interested and Bal hopped in the ring. After he was able to deftly dodge the champion’s more lazy attacks, the orc turned things up a notch and eventually Bal took a pretty good hit to the side of the head and the organizer called it. The organizer was impressed and gave Bal a card with the name of the dojo on it.

Upset the Apple Cart

As the Foundation reconvened in the market, a commotion rose up. A goblin came sprinting through the market heading in the direction of the Umbrella House. Rosa used her dragonmark to detect thoughts and said that the goblin was thinking “I can’t believe Glumtown is gone. It’s gone.” At that, Rosa said it was time to go.
The foundation rushed back to Ud’ok Shelter, grabbed their effects, and left, not bothering to stop and check out. On the way out of town, Rosa stopped a group of passing people that seemed like they were running from something. They explained that they had managed to get out of Glumtown, but it was being overrun by the undead. But not any normal undead, these ones could talk, strategize, and move just as quickly as any normal person.
Rasp recognized this Karrn tactic that had been employed by the undead troops. Because they had begun to only fight against warforged, who Cyre did not care if they died or not, the undead Karrn military took to the cities, pushing citizens out into the open, away from the city, where they could be slaughtered. Like fox hunting.
Rosa ran off towards Glumtown and the party followed and deliberated. They weren’t sure what the plan was going to be, only that they had to move fast. Glumtown was a day away from Zarash’ak, but they were making time as they ran. However, a few hours in, Bal noticed the glimmer of something glass in the distance. A shot fired out and a branch fell on Vax and Yves. In the distance, a warforged voice called out, telling them to turn back because the path to Glumtown wasn’t safe. Rosa identified herself as a House Tharashk agent and the figure came down from the trees. This person (only known as the Hunter) was a Lamplighter, a sort of state-sanctioned ranger. They said that Glumtown has been overrun with undead. Rosa explained that Glumtown was basically a city that was there as a means of protecting Zarash’ak from the dangers of the wilds. If Glumtown had fallen, Zarash’ak was next.
The Hunter offered the party a way around Glumtown, to avoid the dangers there. He told Rosa of a cave system they could go in to cut around Glumtown and it would put them much closer to the Lantern Tower. He then told them good luck and said he would maintain his post and if the undead came that way, he’d stand against them and take out as many as he could. Up the road a few hours came the point where they could turn off the path and head towards the cave. Vax used his ring of flying to fly up above the canopy and spot Glumtown about a mile or so away. From that vantage point, the city was empty. With that, Vax returned and said that Glumtown was lost and the party turned towards the caves. Moments later, they heard the sounds of a large group of people moving past on the path towards Zarash’ak, the army of the undead.
The Foundation made its way through the caves without incident and came out close to the Lantern Tower. Soon, they came upon a shallow lake with sparse trees and a tall, stone spire jutting out from the water on top of which were a cluster of towers built into the spire. They had made it to the Lantern Tower.

Report Date

14 Mar 2021