Session 23 - Finding the Iltani - Deborah's Journal

General Summary

Session Notes: Present: Ilalai, Shiv, Mafaldine, Deborah, and Voroc
The Iltani drow are a less hostile and smaller culture of Drow that don't follow Vulkor and instead follow Iltan (the shifting panther totem). We are vaguely aware of how to locate them.
Deborah proposes meeting the Iltani as a welcoming party with a gift. Mafaldine is concerned that the current group may not be the best welcoming party, but Deborah counters that they are the only ones left in the town and apparently this important task has been left up to them to do. Mafaldine figures that a good gift for the Iltani might be something artistic, as they are fond of creativity , impulsivity, and following your gut. Deborah suggests a muffin basket. Shiv wonders how a group of jungle-dwelling drow will be impressed by a muffin basket. Deborah stands by her suggestion.
Voroc has the blue-violet opalescent bones of a dreamstalker and suggests that the group make jewellery from it.
Mafaldine and Ilalai go to make a pasta cake instead of a muffin basket, and Voroc and Deborah make about six or seven nice brooches and bracelets for the Iltani. Deborah is awestruck by Voroc's workshop. Voroc suggests making one piece more intricate than the others for the leader of the Iltani, and Deborah helps him carve one brooch into the shape of a panther's head to pay homage to Iltan.
Mafaldine has been left a 'present' of rotting crab meat by Forge, in response for a nasty message spelled out in rock elemental from earlier. Mafaldine puts it in his dry-ageing chamber and poor Ilalai vomits in the sink.
The group heads out towards the proposed location of the Iltani. During the night, Ilalai and Voroc find a silk rope has been tied directly above our campsite and next to Mafaldine's tent and the supplies. It looks like some of our food provisions may have been tampered with. Mafaldine rolls his third natural 20 of the session, and determines that the dried jerky has been befouled. Ilalai retrieves the silk rope.
The jerky has been tainted by means of a liquid. A powder has been stirred through the pasta, and Mafaldine's large waterskin has been tainted. The powder is a slow-acting paralytic, and the liquid on the jerky is a fast-acting scorpion venom.
Deborah's "Purify Food and Drink" spell is basically a fantasy magical microwave that emits purifying waves instead of microwave radiation. She purifies all of the food using her magical mesh dome, but panics when the timer she set goes off with a loud 'DING.' Deborah swears and hurriedly shoves it back into her bag.
Shiv identifies the fact that whoever tainted our food was probably a single person, and that person is long since gone.
Mafaldine proposes that we pretend that our food is still poisoned and feign death, then accost whoever comes to loot our 'dead bodies.' The group agrees with this plan.
The next day, the group continues to march further into the jungle. An hour or two before lunch, a figure scampers up a tree trunk above us. Something is clearly tracking us. That evening, we all eat the 'poisoned' food.
It dawns on the party that four PCs have pets (Crumbles, Remy, Howlitzer, and Patter). Shiv does not have a pet, but because she can shift into a werewolf she doesn't need one.
Deborah proposes that the best course is to eat the food, wait a minute, complain of intestinal pain, then fall over. The group all does a somewhat convincing job of doing this. Two drow emerge from the underbrush and attempt to ambush us. We promptly ambush them. Combat begins.
Patter rolls a natural 20 on an acid spray and spits a bunch of acid out of its beak at one of the drow. They appear to be Vulkori drow.
Voroc knows how to gun. He does gun. Gun does a lot of damage.
Patter spits acid at a rope that is holding a drow in the air. The Vulkori drops to the ground and lands painfully on her side.
One of the drow surrenders and a standoff ensues. We have a conversation with the remaining drow woman. Her name is Kavra. Deborah (after having been given Mafaldine's portent) critically succeeds on a persuasion to try and convince Kavra that they do not mean war. Voroc and Deborah negotiate with Kavra and she seems persuaded by the party. She admits that she and her people poisoned the food, and that the Vulkor have been embroiled in an ongoing war. She will pass word around with some of the other Vulkor and let them know that Beacon does not want war and does not pose a threat to the Vulkor. Deborah impresses on her that Beacon is a place for everyone. Kavra says that the only people in the forest that they are trusting are the drow who worship the totems.
Two weeks from now, at the lake at the southwest end of the river, Kavra is meeting with other Vulkori to summon Vulkor so he can provide assistance and blessings. Kavra says that if we can come down there and prove that we are worshipping one of the totem gods then she will instruct her entire clan to give Beacon safe passage through the forest.
Mafaldine says that Talrentath may have declared him as prey. Kavra says that there's a chance that Talrentath may challenge him to a (normally non-lethal) duel if they both end up present at the lake.
Voroc gives Kavra a brooch as a symbol of trust. She accepts it, and beats a hasty retreat into the jungle.
Everybody has a well deserved rest. Shiv gives the remainder of the group a quick primer on common drow totemic gods, and we then proceed further down the river towards where we think the Iltani are.

Report Date

25 Nov 2019