Party: Qualinost
Vodren-Human Cleric
Ryai-Elf Spellblade
Shim-Human Artificer
Bomba-Gnome Monk
Broud- Half-Ogre Cleric
The group preps for their morning plan to steal the Fang of Verdance from Paladithel and to escape into the Roseblack.
Ryai, Broud, and Vodren provide backup support and watch the crowd while Bomba and Shim perform the deception. Shim disguises himself as Nona while Bomba and the Silent stalker wait to ambush.
At the Great Tree, Paladithel exemplifies Elle preparing to banish the guard. As Paladithel revs up to banish him, Ryai sends a signal. Shim's recording starts with Nona chastising and calling Paladithel out. Paladithel is instantly drawn away while the three wait for the signal to give chase.
Paladithel chases after Nona!Shim, and is egged on further by the recording. Bomba tries to land an attack, but a tree blocks her, saving Paladithel. He however couldn’t have predicted the silent stalker and takes a hit from the air elemental. Realizing he was trapped, he called for guards. The crowd group mobilizes and manages to keep ahead of them. Bomba and the silent stalker scuffle with him while Nona!Shim steals the Fang of Verdance off of Paladithel. He tries to steal it back, telling Nona he should have slit her throat. Nona!Shim manages to escape in a cloud of smoke with the dagger.
When Paladithel realizes he cannot get the upper hand, he flees the encounter. He shouts to Bomba to warn Nona that she should return the dagger if she wants her father safe and sound.
The other group catches up, and Bomba informs them of what happened and what Paladithel said. Furious, Ryai takes after Paladithel, Broud behind him. Vodren tries to convince Ryai otherwise, but he refuses to listen, and Vodren decides to follow up with Bomba as well.
Ryai catches up with Paladithel, who is surrounded by other guards. Ryai confronts him, asking about his father's safety. Paladithel tells him Laith is home for now unless he gets the dagger. Ryai complies, sending a message to Shim to return but make a fake. Ryai stalls for time, letting Paladithel heal, revealing himself as Ryai. Paladithel, confused, asks him to elaborate on how he switched, and Ryai remains vague and tells him it was a reward from his test of High Sorcery.
On his way back, Shim creates a faux dagger, rigging it to explode when he presses the button. He arrives still disguised as Nona, throwing Paladithel for a loop. Shim leaves the real dagger with Bomba while he hands over the fake. Instantly, Paladithel presses the button, and the bomb goes off in his face, blinding him. Ryai leaves the scene with a fireball. With Paladithel weakened, the silent stalker moves to finish the elf off. Ryai instead pleads that it go and protect his father. It complies, and the party returns to the prison and their most reliable entrance to the Roseblack. Marovie waits for them at the entrance and rejoins with Ryai. Bomba and Broud rush the guards and start to bash the door in. With the guards coming up from behind them, Shim drops another fog, and they bust through the door. A final guard stands by the cell with the entrance, and Bomba knocks him flat on his back. The rest of the group jumps past the knocked-out guard. They enter the cell with the entrance, and Broud seals it shut by twisting and melting a bar in place.
They slip back into the dark cavern, with Ryai leading the way until he realizes that a relatively small spike pit has replaced the original landing. He warns the others behind him, and Bomba clears the pit. Broud tries to clear it himself but slips and hurts himself a bit. He climbs out and helps the rest across. With a moment to themselves, they recognize the spike pit being of kobold design. Vodren chastises Ryai for acting rashly and expresses his insecurity about saving the clerics. He gently reaches for Ryai’s hand, and Ryai grabs it back, telling him they will succeed and that it isn't his first time kicking the hornet’s nest. Ryai asks Shim to see the dagger again to get a closer look at the rune; he recognizes it as either meaning blood or sacrifice. Ryai presses the button on the top of the dagger and goes silent as a drop of poison drips and sizzles to the floor.
He comes to and hesitates to return the dagger to Shim. The party presses on into the dark, guided by a sun rod.
As they traverse, they hear something scuttling around in the dark. Ryai scouts ahead and recognizes it as Dragolin. He knows it's weaker on its stomach and resistant to fire. Kobolds tend to raise them. The party prepares to fight the creature, and Vodren lands a solid hit between its scales. Bomba then follows up, digging her butterfly swords between its scales and eviscerating it. A squawk of kobold could be heard from the dark of another tunnel, crying about how quickly they killed the creature. Broud, Shim, and Vodren investigate the kobolds while Bomba and Ryai stay behind to harvest components from the drake.
Vodren, Broud, and Shim come across the group of Kobolds rather quickly as they request to parley. Broud recognizes the fire they carry as the Flame of Sirrion. The three try to discuss what’s going on with the Kobolds and why they’re here. They tell them that the elf lord hired them to work in the cavern, allowing them access to the mines. Vodren tries to convince the kobolds to work against Paladithel, but they are unwavering. Since the three are outsiders, they don’t have any reason to listen to them. Since they couldn’t agree to terms, the Kobolds agreed to fight the party, allowing them time to prepare.
Ryai effortlessly manages to dissect the dead drake. Bomba takes the time to attempt to meditate. She attempts to hone her senses to see if she can pick up anything. She doesn’t get much but manages to hear running water from somewhere. Ryai manages to get the hide and 30 lbs of alchemical material. When the others return, Ryai offers the Dragolin guts to Broud. They tell them about the kobolds who want to fight them but take a vote. 4-1, they take the other tunnel and ignore the fight. Vodren casts locate objects on the holy symbols to try and guide them.
As they head down the narrowing tunnels, they find themselves scrapping single file along a crevice. Vodren accidentally trips a trap, and a pot of Sirrion’s flame falls on top of him, burning him. Despite the pain, he doesn’t feel the usual fear that comes with fire, implying its more divine nature. With the nature of the traps, they can deduce that the Kobolds set them up. Shim heals Vodren a bit with his invention, and they press on.
As they continue toward the holy symbols, they find a cluster of glowing rocks in the path. Bomba and Ryai slip to the light's source to ensure it’s safe. Marovie hoots to Ryai that he can hear the wind in the trees. Deeming it safe, Bomba returns to let the others know they can proceed. Vodren notices another fire trap at the cluster entrance and points it out. Broud sees if he can grab the pot, but it falls on him, failing to do any damage. Ryai, knowing a bit about Kobold culture, knows they place traps near things they want to protect. They assume that this means they are going the right way. They begin to investigate the stones, and Shim gives them a good hearty lick, further baffling the group, save Bomba, who asks Shim if they taste like the rock candy from home. Ryai comments that he doesn’t want to get that intimate with his subjects, to which Vodren questions him, looking between him and Broud. Ryai smacks him in response.
Shim recognizes the rocks as Brightstones, large light cores with crystals growing around them. While they are useful, they are incredibly bright without the coverage, making it hard to justify bringing one with them for the time being. While they continue investigating the area, the ground beneath them erupts as a queen rock worm crawls out with her young. She roars for her children to feed as she grabs onto Vodren, tearing into his stomach. Ryai calls out, begging him to hold on as he grabs a crystal to defend himself from the larva. Bomba rushes the queen and pries Vodren from her claws. The larva begins to attack the group, trying to pull them down to feed not having much success. Vodren summons his friend Gary the Gorilla to shield him from further assault, but he is still bleeding from his wound. Shim quickly pulls out another gadget that pins the queen to the ceiling. He then casts a thunder wave on the surrounding larva and shatters the rock covering the core, blinding a few party members and the larva. Broud lets out a healing blaze and cauterizes the wounds of the party members. He tries to smack the other larva but struggles with the blinding light. The Queen struggles against her binding, hurting herself in the process. She cries for her children to flee; Ryai begins his assault, slicing through the ones closest to Vodren and then following up next to Bomba. Bomba squashes the rest close to her. One tries to run from Shim, but he and Ryai kill it. Vodren slips away from the action and knocks an arrow, killing another leaving one to flee. The queen still struggles against her binds but begins to weaken them. Broud runs and prepares to throw Bomba onto the Queen, but Ryai sets her ablaze with fire before they can.
They check on Vodren, and he insists he can move on while Ryai wants him to rest. Broud points out that the area isn’t safe, and Ryai relents, saying that they should find a safe place as they travel, not wanting to lose any of them to this. Broud crushes up the Brightstone core so it doesn’t blind them again, and the wind blows through, removing the alchemical solution from the sun rod. Vodren casts light, and they look around to figure out their next move. Ryai, however, takes a moment to try and investigate Vodren’s holy symbol.
As he investigates, Shim notices that the kobolds have been mining the Brightcores from the area.
The party moves on, Gary helping Vodren keep an eye out. However, the wind comes through again, snuffing Vodren’s light. He tries to cast again but finds he can’t access the spell. They try to think as to why this is happening. Ryai reasons that if it’s arcane, it had to be set up by a powerful archmage to block the gods. Broud points out that the kobolds had Sirrion’s flame and says that the gods of neutrality are often left alone in the quarrels of good and evil. Bomba consults her mentor, Zylsariph, and asks if he remembers the wind from his time in Qualinost. He tells her he tried to have students finish maneuvers before the wind blew a candle out. But they couldn’t predict when the wind would come, and he was losing money on candles. Shim makes a quick torch from spare components, and they press on.
They eventually find a tiny crevice with the sound of rushing water beyond it, Something Bomba recalls from her time meditating. With the size, Bomba and Ryai offer to scout ahead. Ryai hands Broud his potion of reduce in case they decide this is how they need to go, and Broud hands them a torch. Broud and Shim hold down the fort, and Vodren and Gary scout for a safe resting place. Ryai and Bomba slip in the see light of a camp, and Marovie hears elves and kobolds. The two returned to report that they’d found where the clerics might be. Gary and Vodren find a place with more bright stones, and the group decides to rest before proceeding further.
As they nearly finish, they hear the sound of scouts entering their resting spot. They quickly hide, but as Vodren peaks his head over the rocks, the elven scouts lock eyes with him. Ryai wants to try and talk it out with them, but as they are about to step out, one of the scouts starts screaming and backing away from a large Drider, biting into his comrade. The group springs into action, and Bomba launches herself at the Drider but fails to have her punches land. The Drider grabs her and tries to bite her, but she kicks him hard in the mandibles. He hisses but begins to take off with Bomba and the scout. Vodren re-summons Gary to give chase followed by Shim playing with his glove. Broud grabs Ryai and the other scout and brings them closer to the Drider. Ryai shoots a firebolt at the monster and tries to taunt it, failing. The Scout becomes enraged but fails to land any hits. Shim, as he plays with his glove, sets it to freeze, and as the ice begins to crawl across his finger tips he unleashes a ray of frost at the Drider hitting him square in the back, turning the skin black. Bomba tries to escape the Drider’s grip again and succeeds landing safely on Gary, Broud attempts to leap and grab the Drider but just misses. Ryai wanting to save the scout runs up Gary, aided by Bomba, and just manages to just him down. In a final swipe Gary drags the Drider down from the ceiling and it begs for mercy, telling them he’ll do whatever they want, including leading them to the clerics.
Ryai drags the passed out scout to shim to heal him but the conscious scout isn’t convinced, still enraged. Bomba takes his bow from him which calms him down a bit, but still goes to flee and warn the others. Vodren, Shim, and Bomba work to stop the slippery scout and explain that they’re trying to save the Qualinesti too, but without the bloodshed. They tell him about their plan to save the dragon eggs and bring the metallic dragons back but he doesn’t hear a word of it. Scared, he replies that hes’s see too many of his loved ones die in this war, and that if that is their plan to just go and do it. Vodren and Bomba eventually knock him out. Broud still unconvinced that the Drider plan is going to work eye’s up the spider man, frying pan in hand. The Drider approaches Ryai and asks him to tell “it” to stop looking at him. Ryai glares and promptly’s informs him that his name is Broud. But Ryai tells Broud that right now the Drider is their best bet for getting to the clerics. The Drider still doesn’t trust Broud and tells Ryai that he is in his care and that he fully expects him to get in the half-ogre’s way if he decides to go back on their deal. Ryai agrees.
They tie up the scouts, with the Drider informing them the one he bit will take an hour to wake up due to the poison. He allows the group to finish their rest, telling them the place is heavily guarded and that they will need their strength. Ryai then slides over to Bomba and whispers to her not to tell anyone as he begins to pinch a few of her wounds closed like Skoragnit did.
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