Session 13.
Arodus the 21st (Cont).
Questioning our prisoners led us to believe the Freemen have been manipulated by the Aspis Consortium. Given the circumstances, we thought it best to let our prisoners go without repercussion.
We did some last minute shopping for scrolls and other small items and retired for the night.
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Arodus the 22nd.
We finally picked up Max’s hammer from the Dwarven smiths. Thankfully, they did a wonderful job and Max is quite happy. We then rented a boat to go down the coast to find our prospective guide N’Ketchi. The owner of the boat knew of N’Ketchi, and called him the “Tempest” because of his manner. The Captain of the small boat also told us how to best contact N’Ketchi. There would be a conch shell at the bottom of the path that would lead up to his residence. We made sure to pay the Captain a little extra.
We arrived at a rocky beach and sounded a call on the conch shell to signal our arrival. Peering down over the edge of the cliff, N’Ketchi lived up to his moniker. When I told him of our plans and our need for a guide, he questioned our intentions and asked us how the journey would serve Gozreh. After much discussion, he offered to test us. There were two tests, one of wind and one of water. He asked which we would perform first while steadfastly refusing to explain what each might entail. We chose air as our first test.
N’Ketchi told us we must journey to a cliff where a Stormbird nests and get a feather from the bird. I have heard of these birds before. They are intelligent birds and are, of course, quite protective of their roosting grounds. On the way, we agreed we would try to perform this task without killing the bird if possible. A storm blew in as we arrived at the site.
The climb up to the bird’s aerie looked quite difficult and was about 200 feet up. I offered to Levitate Max up to the nest. Given the height, he would have about three minutes of searching before we reached a point where he would have to return if he didn’t want to have to climb down without magical assistance. Luckily it only took two. Max arrived at the bottom just as the great bird arrived back at the nest, she seemed not to take notice of us. We were thrilled with the outcome. One test down and nothing had to die.
On our way back to N’Ketchi, we ran into some locals. They challenged us and asked us our business. When we told them of our mission for N’Ketchi, they seemed to calm a little, but still insisted on testing us. Trial by combat it would seem. One of their tribe would wrestle one of our party. I was a little surprised by this, since Max was standing right next to me when the challenge was made and they must have seen him. Their warrior obviously enjoys a challenge. Max quickly pinned his opponent, proving our worth and integrity in their eyes and, after a few shared pleasantries, we were on our way once again.
N’Ketchi accepted our token and gave us our next challenge. Go to a nearby pearl diving village and return with a rare black pearl. We rested for the night.
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Arodus the 23rd.
The Natives of the village were surprisingly friendly and helpful. They told us where to dive, traded with Max for some equipment to help with the dive and even rowed us out to where the pearls could be found. I think I am becoming a little cynical, as all this friendliness made me a little nervous. My suspicions proved to be completely unfounded.
The best swimmers were chosen for the job, Max and Kay’Es. After several uneventful dives we noticed Max swimming off, away from the boat. I encouraged the boat owner to keep pace with him as it seemed rather unusual behavior. Sure enough a beautiful elf-like woman appeared below the water. A Kelpie had him in her thrall (Probably not too hard for a beautiful woman to enthrall Max). We leapt into action and into the water as it were. I knew there was a potion of Water Breathing in Max’s backpack (as I had Placed it there myself) and his pack just happened to be sitting there in the boat. We each took a swig and jumped in to save Max.
Water is truly my opposition element. I am a terrible swimmer and have never felt comfortable immersed within it. I swear that someday I shall overcome this discomfort and embrace this element, but today was not that day unfortunately. Swimming in the strong currents of the open sea proved to be at least as difficult as I had imagined and I made little progress toward Max. Even given the challenging circumstances, our skills won out. The Kelpie was defeated and Max was rescued and the best part was, the oyster that Max still held in his hand contained a Black Pearl. We celebrated with the locals over a meal of oysters and then returned to N’Ketchi.
He seemed pleased and invited us to the back of his shanty where incense burned. He asked us to sit in a circle and offered us each a small root to chew. We accepted as he started to chant and perform some type of ceremony.
In moments we entered what I assume was a dream state. I looked around the circle. N’Ketchi had turned into a crab, Max was a crocodile, Ace was a Spider, Taraz a Buffalo and I, judging from the horn on my nose, was a Rhinoceros. The walls of his hut faded and soon we were soaring through the air, racing over the Mwangi Expanse. Our journey slowed and we found ourselves looking down upon an ancient city, bustling with activity. The lost city of Saventh-Yhi.
Below us we saw beautiful stone buildings and ziggurats with obelisks on top. Then, the clouds grew dark and the city was lost to our sight for a moment. When we could see it once again, it had changed significantly. There was very little activity. The layout of the city had changed as if the land itself had shifted, raising some portions of the city and dropping others. Then, a serpent appeared before us. Some aspect of it reminded us of the Serpent-Folk Yarzoth that we had defeated in the temple on the Shiv. It lashed out at N’Ketchi and we struck back. As my horn slashed into the neck of the serpent, its head was separated from its body. As I watched its head fall to the ground, I had a… revelation. I knew that it was symbolic in some way, representative of the death of the Serpent God Ydersius.
We awoke to find ourselves back in N’Ketchi’s hut. He seemed charged with new purpose. He accepted that our mission was worthwhile and would serve the purposes and designs of Gozreh.
With N’Ketchi on board, we travelled back to town.
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Arodus the 24th.
I spent the entire day enchanting my Wand. Max seems to find that statement funny for some reason. At first I did not think it was going to be successful, but I was able to pull it off. As it was a fairly boring process and Max is now laughing hysterically, I shall keep this entry short. I will only note that my wand will now send forth three magical missiles to strike my enemies. I really don’t know what has gotten into Max.
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Arodus the 25th.
We started our new adventure today. We are off to Kalabuto, the first leg of our journey. N’Ketchi believes it will take a little more than three weeks to get there, plus or minus a few days.
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Arodus the 26th.
We are traveling south of the Bandu hills, heading almost due east. Nothing exciting. I’m going to try to Scribe a few scrolls each night as we go.
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Arodus the 27th.
Little to report, we continue east with no encounters of note.
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Arodus the 28th.
Nothing of note. Luckily food and water seem abundant in this region. Max has had little trouble using his survival skill to provide for our group.
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Arodus the 29th.
Still no encounters, N’ketchi tells us we are on an old mining road. It also carried trade between Kalabuto and Eleder. It has not been well maintained.
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Arodus the 30th.
I cannot recall a time when we had travelled for so long without a confrontation. I was just thinking it was rather nice just to walk and enjoy the journey when we encountered a young woman and her pet deinonychus. She feared we were here to hunt dinosaurs for some reason. N’ketchi felt this very unusual, finding a young woman alone in the wilderness speaking broken common. Suppressing our urge to thank him for stating the obvious, we allayed the girl’s fears and asked how she came to be here.
Piecing together her story through broken Common and Polyglot, it sounded like she had been here since she was a very young child. Her parents were killed in some type on mining disaster at a nearby Salt Mine. We asked what had happened and she just kept repeating something about some great evil coming out through the mine. We agreed to investigate, as N’ketchi felt it might be the best way for a caravan to travel if the mine went completely through the hills to the other side. Telling us she would wait for us on the other side of the mine, she ran off before even telling us her name. I assume she can travel quite quickly through the brush with her pet (a druid perhaps?), since she plans to beat us to the far side of the mine and we are supposedly taking the shortcut.
Around the bend we found an old mining camp, obviously long abandoned. Within one of the buildings we found an old moldy tome. Reluctant to touch it, we opened it and turned its pages with magic. It was an old mining log dated about fifteen years ago. We noted the mine was owned by one Farren Crinshaw. The early log entries indicated he was trying to connect two mines, the one before us and another that had been abandoned and was rumored to be haunted. Why he thought this was I good idea is beyond me.
A late entry describes the discovery of a strange glowing blue orb. The final entry was written in a different hand and stated, “They have come up from below! They are all dead! Their touch withers the flesh!” Not exactly encouraging news.
Entering the dark mine, I took out my Wayfinder and used it to light my way and Max used the flames from his enchanted hammer for light in his usual point position. We soon entered a large cavern filled with water and, before we could even take in the sights, a strange blob lashed out at Kay’Es from the water. I didn’t even have time to decide which spell I might cast, so quickly was the creature destroyed by Kay’Es and Max.
Moving around the water filled area and crossing over a few bridges, we saw a small alcove with animal bones and a small metallic box. As we crossed an old wooden bridge to examine the site, two Salt Wights leapt from the water and attacked me and Max. Though they were quickly killed, it was not quite quick enough. The touch of one of the wights drained some of my vitality. Luckily N’ketchi was on hand to restore it immediately after the fight.
A search of the area revealed some old rusted mining equipment, carts, mule bones and an iron strongbox. Unable to open the locked box with his tools, Max grew impatient and smashed it open. Luckily there was nothing fragile inside, just some gold, a deed to the mine and a document naming one Athyra Crinhouse as the new owner of the mine if anything should happen to the current owners. I wonder if Athyra is the one who will be waiting for us on the far side of the mine.
