Week 17
Three councillors and a bunch of civilians are attached to the party for the trip back to the dock, a short rest is taken to prepare for the journey.
Sorrel is attached to the civilians, Zer0 to Teestin, and Jaxzon to the other two councillors, Raistlin and Alster. Kirv mysteriously reappears, Raistlin asks if he can fight - a quick eldritch blast demo and he’s convinced.
The group heads to the door, one of the Phoenix Guard whispers in Iliqua’s ear - “Tell Alarielle that I’ll be there soon”. No promises are made by Iliqua. The guard will open the barricade and will close them behind the party.
The door is opened, the corpses of the ants are still around. No sounds are heard, making everything feel super creepy. Sorrel scans around, but can’t find anything out of the ordinary, other than some spiders on the ceiling.
Teestin wanders off, Zer0 goes after him to try and direct him back to the party. Sorrel gives the civilians an ultimatim - get the party injured, and you get healed last. Misty goes full stealth mode, with invisibility help from Iliqua. Misty scouts ahead into the lobby, sees Teestin scavenging for food.
Zer0 manages to scare Teestin into obedience. Misty exits through the door, the grounds look empty, prompting the party to head outside in full. Heading through the park is decided - Zer0 and Iliqua notices the ground traps are not as active, but still not completely safe.
Misty wanders ahead, looking in the wrong direction and falls into a hole. She clambers out of the hole, and carries on across the park, almost falling into another hole. Sorrel makes sure the civilians are aware of the danger, Jaxzon heads off first, with Raistlin hovering next to him.
The remains of the centipedes are found, the birds having stripped them quite a bit. Misty continues scouting, picking out that the park was once full of potential enemies, but appears safe now. The party continues, Jaxzon points out that the green dome at the dock can’t be seen, though it should be visible. Jaxzon casts divine sense to help with the scouting.
The party makes it back to the dock, the green dome can be seen again, but seems a lot smaller, the treant holding it up is down on one knee, having some trouble keeping it active. A lot of arguing is heard amoung the command crew in typical groups. The civillians are released to other parts of the dock.
The party is met by the guard captain and congratulated for succeeding in their mission. They are asked to join in a general planning meeting, snacks and drinks are obtained. Sorrel offers to improve the somewhat spartan meal, adding spices and herbs, allowing a short rest to be completed more quickly.
Alarielle debriefs the party, given them more info than usual. The invasion appears to be taking nature based energy, depriving some from full access. A thing called the Creeping Death is travelling through the world roots, and needs to be dealt with. It’s a normally natural occurence, it seems to be acting out of character, a potential AracnoTitan could be causing the change.
The party is tasked with heading to the Academy, clear it out as many people as possible, then head to the basement and turn off the Dichonomy Emitter - a device that separates forces of magic allowing safe study, turning it off could cause a massive explosion. Said explosion is what they want, but a method to escape it by way of a tree walk is offered.
A sending stone is given to Iliqua to provide a nicer way to communicate. Supplies are requested and obtained, including healing potions.
Iliqua drops the invisibility on Misty, surprising some of the guard. Misty rests under the meeting table, Kirv becomes a table, Jaxzon sharpens his axe, Sorrel, Iliqua and Zer0 head off to talk to the strange man mentioned by Alarielle. The guards identify him as Braden and directs the party to where he his, warning them that Braden is probably crazy.
Sorrel approaches and tries to make conversation, hoping to get Braden’s story about what is happening and perhaps how to combat it.
Braden whispers loudly to Iliqua about going to the Shrine of Kaane and get the sword as the only means of defeating Mournkeld and the other forces of evil. Iliqua asks about the Lorekeepers and Ethen, getting some about the former and nothing about the latter. Zer0 asks about Adeptus Prime, getting nothing. Sorrel slips acid into the soup and leaves it for Braden - he eats it, chokes on the acid, and dies.
Some downtime is had, Jaxzon prays to guidence, Iliqua heads off to find a red dragon scale, starting with Alster. Sorrel mingles with the humans and search Braden’s body, finding a book. She talks to some guards, they investigate the body, then arrests her under suspicion of murder.
Iliqua talks to Raistlin, still searching for a red dragon scale, gets given a shattered piece that should work. He gets asked for a favour to collect some things from the academy.
Jaxzon manages to lift some scales from Kirv and makes a necklace.
Zer0 heads off to find a dwarf and ask about his history, specifically Adeptus Prime. The dwarf (Brogen) is in the middle of telling a story, heads off to take a piss and find more alcohol. A conversation about warforged history is made, Zer0’s construction is different to how they’re normally made (steampunk!). An offer to improve his armour is given, with a cost of gold or services, which is taken once the major fighting is done.
Sorrel helps out the others in the drunk tank. A guard taps Iliqua on the shoulder, accusing him of murder and taking him to the holding cell with Sorrel. Zer0 is also approached and also taken to the holding cell. Misty reads about Power Words from a book she found.
The guard returns and takes the three out of the cell, and taken to the guard captain. He wants to lock them up, but can’t as the party still has a mission to do and lets them go, under careful watch by several guards.
Iliqua finds a seat and reads his book. Zer0 heads off looking for more dwarves, finding one with lots of jewellery, with a very angry look about him. He asks Zer0 to help and makes a trade, gets offered a tattoo, directions to Glittering Gems once the gold is obtained. Another dwarf is mentioned to be at the academy.
Zer0 returns and informs Iliqua of the gem dealer, he heads off to find them, and has some trouble making his way through. Iliqua asks about the tattoos and pricing, and tries to sell his bag of gems, offering half for some gold.
Iliqua and Misty get more reading in, Kirv heads off to find some soup, Sorrel and Zer0 have a long rest. Kirv talks to Iliqua in draconic, asking for an update on what has been happening while he was in table form. Kirv wanders around the inner edge of the dome, looking out, almost running into Alarielle.