Beyond Moradin's Woods Report
General Summary
The party makes their preparations before heading out into the West Marches. They decide to first speak with Farin to get any helpful advice on the regions they are traveling to. Bilge asks why Farin has a sort of monster manual for the area to which Farin explains he was once an adventurer like them before he took over the Far Chair Inn. Farin warns them about hex 11,7 which has aerial monsters due to the mountains and hills. Beyond that, there is a tribe of Hill Giants in the region. He warns them not to engage and to do their best to hide from the towering creatures. As for hex 11,9, Farin warns them the area is known as the Deadlands and is dangerous. Something there is poisoning the land and nothing can grow there. He believed it was too dangerous and barely traveled in the region. Mozi asks about Fiddlesticks and Farin explains there's many different stories surrounding it. He doesn't believe that Fiddlesticks and believes the various encounters can be explained by other creatures living in the West Marches.
Before leaving Bilge asks about the Rust Monster egg he left Farin to pickle. Farin brings the egg out which has grown two to three sizes larger and has developed bumps all over it. Farin is fearful of serving it to customers because he doesn't know if it's safe to eat. Flimpf takes the initiative and licks the egg, surviving it and tasting copper. Farin asks Ashi to keep an eye on Flimpf to make sure he doesn't have any adverse side effects on the journey and if he doesn't Farin will begin to sell the pickled egg. As the party leaves, Mozi hands Farin a note telling him that Logan sells counterfeit items.
Bilge wants to visit Bujad Nurzag to see if he finished his work on the spider leg and to see if he has anything the party can use on their adventure. The party exchanges pleasantries with Bujad, who is happy to back working with a hammer. He has taken up work fixing the lumbermills' tools but yearns to make weapons and armor from exotic materials again. Bujad proudly displays the spider leg which he fashioned into a javelin. The weapon retained some of the spider's natural properties and can phase in and out of the ethereal plane. Bujad sells it to Bilge at a discount for the party helping him. Bilge tries at multiple times throughout the adventure to send it and summon it from the ethereal plane before attuning to it and failing. Ashi asks Bilge if he could make specialty arrows from material she could bring him and he says yes. The party next travels to Logan Longfellow's caravan to buy other supplies they may need on the road. Bilge also rats out Mozi for being a Changling. Bujad doesn't believe it.
The party discovers that Logan's business is currently legit and he no longer sells counterfeit items since the bandits were killed off by the Silver Silk Phase Spiders. Ashi performs an insight check to see if he's telling the truth which he is. He'll be in the town for about another week until his new guards arrive so he can safely return back to the easternlands. The party tries to buy potions and other gear from him but are scared off by the prices. Flimpf responds by shouting that Logan has fake legs, ratting him for being a halfling. To silence Flimpf, he gives him a discount on the potions. Flimpf trades a bottle of King Street for three healing potions. Ashi buys mistletoe from him for a spell. She also inquires about a spell scroll he has which creates a defensive perimeter using arrows. He also explains that if the party comes across anything in the West Marches he will likely be willing to buy it. If they do make enough coin from this, Logan has a set of armor for Ashi that she would be interested in. He doesn't say what it is, fearing he'll get robbed. Bilge gives Mozi the rat amulet from the Alpine Forgery in the Hammer and Smoke Report which has transmutation properties. Bilge rats out Mozi for being a Changling to Logan who recognizes her as a Changling. They briefly speak on the subject of transmutations. Ashi throws in her two cents on the matter, tying in her expert knowledge of chameleons. Ashi buys two potions of healing and the party begins their journey to the south.
About three hours into their journey, they come across a bridge with a little girl sitting on it, picking petals off a flower. Ashi and Mozi are rightfully nervous about approaching the little girl and instead seek out an animal ask what the girl's deal is. Bilge and Mozi go up to the girl and talk to her. Bilge asks her name and she says it doesn't matter. She asks his name and he says he doesn't talk to strangers. He gets creeped out by her and leaves the conversation. Mozi stays and chats with her. Mozi finds out it is the girl's bridge. Flimpf finds a squirrel and crow to ask about the girl. They find out she's been there for a long time and kills anyone who disrespects her or her bridge. The girl pressures Mozi to summon the party. bilge tries to sneak across the ravine but the girl catches him and hears Ashi say his name, so now she calls him by his name. This freaks Bilge out. Ashi finds out the girl is called A Girl. Bilge asks if she knows Farin and she does. He came through years ago and answered her riddles and was respectful. The party finds out they have to answer 3 riddles to cross and get 3 guesses. The party struggles through the riddles, answering two of the three correctly but gets the last one wrong. A Girl goes in for the kill. The party fights her and survives, though they think she's still alive. Turns out A Girl was the only thing keeping the bridge tangible so they can't cross. Flimpf attaches a rope to his spear and throws it over the ravine. He plans on using it to get across. The party determines that if they fall from this height they will likely die. Mozi uses her magic to keep the bridge physical while the party crosses. Mozi using the rope attached to Flimpf's spear tries to swing across the ravine. Mozi fails both the athletics check and the acrobatics check and fails to her death.
Bilge, Flimpf, and Ashi try to figure what to do next with Mozi being dead. Bilge decides he wants the amulet he gave Mozi and uses a potion of climbing to reach her corpse. He retrieves the amulet as well as Mozi's gold and religious symbol. Flimpf drinks a potion of healing and dumps a portion down the ravine to honor Mozi. The trio continues down the path and after five hours of walking they come across a campfire. The party is suspicious after their encounter with A Girl, so Bilge sneaks ahead to make sure it's safe. There Bilge is spotted but welcomed by the owners of the campfire. There is Tomas, Jessebell, and Light. They are followers of Lliira and want to explore the West Marches while providing a helping hand, bringing joy to a somber place. They are making their way north to the village of Riverrun and the party exchanges information with them. The party decides to rest while Tomas takes watch. Ashi wakes up at the crack of dawn to see that Tomas and Jessbell are gone, leaving Light behind. The party quickly checks their inventory to make sure they weren't robbed by the group and are happy to see they weren't. Light decides to join the party.
The party enters hex 11,7 the mountains and hills region. They encounter an old human man in rags muttering in a foreign language. He asks each member of the party if they have seen "it". The man determines that no one in the party besides Flimpf has seen "it". He determines this when Flimpf screams his own name "FLIMMMPPPPF". Bilge is bored of this guy and walks ahead of the party. Bilge notices that it is suddenly cloudy over him and gets attacked by a diving Manticore. The two fight and Bilge manages to fend the creature off. The party quickly joins Bilge, leaving the old man alone. The party hears the old man say "Oh. You HAVE seen it!" and the manticore swoops down and takes the old man.
After some travel, while watching for manticores and other threats (the party determines that they probably won’t attack unless you are alone) they find a mine entrance. They determine that it is abandoned and Ashi is happy to see there are no spider webs. Flimpf searches for dwarvish runes and finds this was a ruby mine. The party determines they'll explore it another time. Flimpf finds a storage room and activates it, claiming first pick on whatever they find. He claims everything. They find a map for other mines in the region, mining equipment, 2 rubies, ruby dust, and black pearl. Happy with their loot, they try to leave but stay at the mouth of the mine. In the distance they see a hill giant fighting a manticore. It kills the manticore with one hit and walks off, eating its kill. The party determines that they will continue to avoid the hill giants.
The party enters the Deadlands (11,9) and sees a barren wasteland. They also notice that the manticores that were following them stay out of the Deadlands. Ashi tries to discern whether it is magic that's affecting the land or a natural thing. She finds it is a natural one. Light searches for signs of life and finds many pawprints with two toes and a third toe claw. Three hours of traveling, they come across the dwarvish settlement of Bhigulir. Flimpf activates one of the stone doors and the party descend into the depths. Ashi and Yakul stay topside as Yakul is too big to fit and Ashi doesn't want anything to happen to him. Light establishes a telepathic link that reaches only 30 feet. They find blood stains on the stones as they descend and Flimpf decides to lick it to make sure it's dried blood. They enter a large chamber similar to the one at Following the Red Road Report and its filled with small humanoid skeletons. Light believes it was a daycare for human children and Bilge asks Flimpf if these bones match his. They determine this was some sort of battle that happened here. Flimpf finds three doors- one to the living quarters, one that connects to the other pillars, and one that is worn to read the inscription. Bilge and Flimpf explore the living quarters while Light stays back so she can continue the link with Ashi. Bilge and Flimpf search the containers in the room and find dwarvish clothing and jewelry (earrings (25gp, Light, signet ring w/ruby above it (Flimp, ultimately)). Flimpf hears rustling and see a large pale creature with a large molelike snout resembling a dog, getting from a pile of bones in a corner. Flimpf attempts to throw his ring at the creature but gets a nat 1 and the ring slips onto his finder. He takes a moment to admire it before the creature leaps on him, trying to kill him. Bilge begins stabbing it while Light tries to figure out what is happening. Light signals Ashi who charges down to help. Bilge gets clawed by the creature and fails a Constitution saving throw, becoming unconscious. Flimpf chugs a potion of healing and fights it. Light joins the fight and they kill the creature, but they make a ton of noise. It attracts dozens of other creatures and the party hightails it out of there.
They close the door behind them and run as fast as they can back to Riverrun. The door doesn't hold and the creatures break through and chase after them. Flimpf casts minor illusion which distracts 8 of the creatures and causes a brawl between those 8. The party casts various spells, slowly thinning the herd before one creature is left chasing them. They make it to hex 11,7 where a Manticore attacks the lone creature but gets taken out by the rest of the delayed horde. Ashi reads the map to find the nearest mine so they hopefully have a safe place to rest. They sneak into the storage room and rest for the night, collecting more gemstones (3 rubies and azurite) while they are in there. Flimpf finds a set of Dwarven Plate and uses it as a sleeping bag for the night.
In the morning, the party heads back to Riverrun and avoids the ravine at all costs. They speak with Farin and ask him about A Girl, he apologizes, saying that he was told she was killed by a reputable group of adventurers. They also tell him that Mozi died. They ask about the doglike creatures from the deadlands. Using the party's descriptions, Farin determines that they encountered Nosalis. They are usually found farther west and is surprised to see them this far east. There are five known subspecies of Nosalis- Common Nosalis, Dark Nosalis, Female Nosalis, Den Mothers, and Green Nosalis. There is also a rumored 6th subspecies known as the Plated Nosalis- the most powerful and dangerous one. Farin gives the party 200 gold for their vital information and shots for the loss of Mozi.
The party goes over to Logan next to sell all their loot from the journey. Ashi buys Mithral Chain Skirt from Logan.
Ashi tells Farin about Logan being a halfling to which he states he already knew. He lets the party know that Chakub Gnadug doesn't like short races.
◦ sell all rubies, black pearl, azurite ect. 1390gp to each
◦ Flimp discovers the plate armor he used as a sleeping log is dwarven plate armor worth 9000gp, he can’t use it anyways so he sells it and keeps them money for him
◦ Ashi buys the mithral armor that Logan had for 800gp (medium armor, 13+dex modifier for AC)
▪ discount due to Mozi’s died card played
Rewards Granted
- 200gp from Farin
- sold the gemstone for 5560 gold
- Flimp got and sold Dwarven Plate Armor for 9000 gold
- map of mines for hex 11,7 (6 mines total)
- 2x mining helmets
- 2x pickaxes
Cleaver
Thondli Wyrmhart
Bilge Ogren
Ashi of Derus
Flimp
Report Date
26 Jul 2022
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