Session #20 Summary
Cast of Characters
Theren Moonshadow, a Moon Elf Bard played by Payson
Lutheo, a Halfling Paladin played by Dale
Otep, a Half Orc Fighter played by Nelson
Akronos, a Human Wizard played by Alec
Ceress, a Saurien Monk played by Graham
Q'Tahna, NPC, a Myrian ranger guild from the Nengeli tribe
At the end of the last session, the party had just killed three forvalaka/wereleopards and recovered the skull of the fourth member of the original Conclave of Freedom. They have rebuilt their flying contraption and had just lifted off to head out to the ocean and summon their boat to take them out of Myria.
While in the air, the party realizes that the sickness that Lutheo experienced in the night is probably the early onset symptoms of the lycanthropy curse. They need to get him healed before the next full moon which is 19 days away. Akronos remembers that U'gita back in the Gethyan village is a strong healer and might be able to help.
They navigate the rickety flying contraption towards U'gita and Nu'takies village and set down in a clearing far enough out that the won't be seen flying in. They hike the rest of the way in and are warmly greeted by the villagers who didn't expect to see them return this soon.
They explain to U'gita through the translation of Nu'takie that that they killed three forvalaka. U'gita and Nu'takie are impressed and thankful. They show him the deformed head of the Myrian that was cursed with the forvalaka disease and he examines in closely, doing everything aside from licking it to test it.
They explain that Lutheo has a curse and ask if U'gita can help him. U'gita examines the little warrior and declares that he can help Lutheo with the aid for Ox'oh'lae but that it will need to be tomorrow when Ox'oh'lae can grant him that power.
When the party gets some free time, they go into the snatch pit and check the gem and map to see where it now highlights. When the gem is placed next to the map, a small dot appears now in Drakkel. Akronos is thrilled since this is his home town. The party checks the finger as well and it points in that direction. They now know their next destination.
The party is happy to stay the night with the friendly Gethyan tribesman and Theren treats the village to the story of the forvalaka battle, enhanced by his impressive powers of illusions, complete with sounds and smells. While he doesn't speak their language and they don't speak his, it is not necessary when showing them the bravery, risks and epic battle they party endured. He even gives Q'tahna an increased role in the battle, boosting his reputation with the local tribe. Q'tahna is honored to have the slight variation in the story to include him going into the shrine to battle the forvalaka.
Q'tahna then asks Theren to show the battle with the Horaxx swarm and Theren obliges him, once again embellishing the story, this time with a much larger swam that what they were really attacked by. As a finale, Q'tahna takes out two of the Horaxx corpses he kept from the battle and shows it to the tribes men. They are all properly impressed.
That evening, Akronos asks Nu'takie for another spell and Nu'takie is happy to provide it to him. The service Akronos has done of ridding the jungle of those forvalaka is more than worth it.
The next morning, U'gita summons the party and talks to them, not needing a translation this time since he has been blessed with the power of Tongues from his god.
He explains that through a complicated ritual and the power of Ox'oh'lae he can cure the little warrior Lutheo of the evil curse. He proceeds to paint Lutheo with tribal war paint on his face, place a necklace of bones around his neck and feathers in his hair, all while chanting to Ox'oh'lae for his blessing and power to heal the little one. This goes on for a couple minutes of complicated ritual and Akronos and Theren get the impression that U'gita is doing it more for his own entertainment and to mess with Lutheo in a teasing, brotherly way than out of any necessity.
U'gita caps the ritual off with thumping Lutheo between the eyes with a stick he carries that is capped with a monkeys skull. The impact is hard and leaves a welt and Lutheo seeing stars but he does start to feel better almost immediately, feeling like his fever is receding.
U'gita tells him that he should leave the tribal pain on his face, the bones around his neck and feathers in his hair for at least a week, and a month would be safer.
U'gita then explains that he has created a magical item that gives him the ability of speech with others, but only if he has the right, very specific component. If Lutheo is willing to give U'gita his tongue to add to the little leather pouch that U'gita wears around his neck, U'gita would be able to speak the languages that Lutheo speaks without the need of casting a new spell each time. U'gita isn't yet powerful enough to regenerate Lutheo's tongue, but U'gita is sure he will someday find someone that could. Lutheo politely declines the request, and knowing it was a long shot since most of the tongues so far have been collected through battle, U'gita isn't too disappointed.
The party decides to stay one more night in the village so that Lutheo can get his first good nights sleep and finally regain his powers.
That evening, U'gita talks with Theren about Ox'oh'lae and the Forest of Waiting and the powers of the shadows. He shows him his pest skeleton monkey that he keeps in a pouch at his side and how he can animate it and use it kind of like his brother Nu'take has a bat for a familiar. Nu'take is not amused by the comparison. U'gita explains that asking Ox'oh'lae for the power to animate a skeleton is not an evil act in itself and that Ox'oh'lae provide a spirit from the Forest of Waiting to assist, but this should never be abused and an animation should always be dismissed instead of binding that spirit to this world for any length of time.
During this time, Theren works on his flying contraption, incorporating the tribal children to help with gathering new materials. He thinks that his improvements will help them complete the last leg of their journey to the coast and he has Akronos send a message to Kenton back at the island city of Haven to commission Captain Lantro of the Sea Hag to come and pick them up.
The next morning they say fair-wells to U'gita, Nu'take and the rest of their tribe and once again head to a clearing, use their snatch pit and hid from the village children that followed them. When all of the children have left, they come out of the snatch pit and get onto their newly engineered flying contraption. They secure the Desjani stone to it and slowly uncover it.
When the contraption is just 10 feet off the ground, things start to go bad. There is a snapping of lines and one of the support posts comes loose from the top cross beams. The whole contraption twists with the top cross beams and the Desjani stone pulling skyward while the lower section with the party sitting on it hinges down towards the ground. Each member makes a split second decision, some of them jumping off, some of them scrambling up to try to cover the stone. With the force of people jumping off it causes the lower section to swivel and break off of the top section before anyone can get in reach of the stone to cover it. The party and lower section of the contraption crash to the ground while the upper section with the Desjani stone rocket skyward, shedding more of its covering in the rushing air. Soon, it has flown so high that the party can't even see it since this stone was strong enough to lift six grown men (averaged out with a halfling and a saurian) and now it is only weighed down with a little bit of bamboo and rope.
The party decides that bartering for a large canoe and taking the river to the coast is the next best plan. U'gita is happy to provide them with the canoe and they give him and the tribe all the rest of the trade goods that they had brought to Myria with them.
They spend the next three days and nights traversing the river ways to the coast. With the aid of Akronos's Tiny Hut spell at night and Q'tahna guiding them during the day, they make it to the ocean without any significant encounters.
When they get to the ocean they see that The Sea Hag hasn't arrived to pick them up yet.
They can see that up the coast a little ways is the encampment of the Kalimurian military. They go to them an explain that the Phoenix Four flying ship was attacked by huge bats with Myrians of the Amaputu flying on the backs of them. They used darkness to bring the ship down and the crash killed almost all of the crew. The only surviving crew members where quickly killed by the followup attack on the ground.
Commander Blake is saddened to hear the news that Captain Jenkins, the crew and the Phoenix Four were all lost, but they figured that was probably the case when the ship hadn't returned before sunset which would have grounded the ship in the jungle with no sunlight to power the Desjani stones.
Blake thanks them for the information and assures them that the Phoenix Five will be even better than the Phoenix Four and they will somehow find a way to prevent the wickedness of magic from bringing it down. Maybe Dresilite crystals that prevent magic can be incorporated in the new design.
Not long after they party leaves the Kalimurian encampment they see the sails of of the Sea Hag on the horizon. As promised, and in expectation of pay, Captain Lantro has returned to pick them up. He is surprised that they are early but happy for the easy pay.
The party pays Q'tahna, including the bonus for every party member coming out of the jungle alive. Q'tahna thanks the party and wishes them well, but will not journey with them back to Haven and instead plans on enjoying and helping his reputation grow with the tales of his slaying of forvalaka and Horaxx.
The sailing back to Haven on the Pirate Island of Nadzam is uneventful. The party pays Captain Lantro and he pays his crew who quickly head to the taverns to spend their meager wealth.
The party sets out to find Kenton and asks him to teleport them to Drakkell but he laughs at them and tells them that he isn't a wizard and there is no wizard on the island powerful enough to perform such a spell. They are going to have to sail there, through the Pirate Islands.
They decide to track down Captain Lantro and charter him to take them there since he is the only captain in these waters that they know and that is better than starting with a new and unknown captain and ship.
Lantro agrees to take them there for another 250 gold and the party sets out the next morning. The water of the Pirate Islands is clear and inviting but Lantro warns them, the name of the islands is well earned and they should concentrate on making good time.
Sure enough, on the morning of the second day, a pirate ship comes out to intercept them from behind one of the neighboring island. It is sleeker and faster than the Sea Hag and quickly catches up with them.
This is where session #20 ends. The party is heading towards Drakkel in the great Drakkellian Alliance.