Week 37
TL;DR - Setting out for the Phoenix Gate, the party meet a travelling merchant, a lot of maggots and bigger and faster things
The maggots are piled up quite high on both sides of the path, interspersed with the trees. Jaxzon hands Shebrum a spy glass, asking them to look further up the path in both directions. Larger flying insects are circling a point in the forest, back towards Evershale, as well as a very large eagle like creature.
Jaxzon exits the tower, suddenly hearing the real sound of the mounds of maggots with the tower having muted a lot of it. Over the top of this, an animal with hooves is heard coming from Evershale, along with a carriage.
Jaxzon’s lion takes a big sniff trying to get more info - a draft horse is heading their way. Jaxzon uses his spyglass, seeing a brown haired humanoid woman. She waves and says “I wasn’t expecting to see anyone on the path”.
They talk about the maggots and how far back to Evershale they are, finding out that Natalie is heading to the Phoenix Gate. The party ask if they can join her as they are also heading there. Shebrum tries to see if there’s anything in her carriage that is suspicious, but can’t make out anything obvious.
She agrees to take the party along, moves the cover from the carriage and some of the things under it to make room for people.
The carriage sets off, Shebrum confesses to being a little addicted and asks if Iliqua can help (which he can’t). Jaxzon checks the maggots to see if they’re moving, Iliqua asks how long it’ll take to get to the Phoenix Gate (5 days).
Some light talk between everyone carries on as they travel, the sounds of a normal forest fade with the maggots. Natalie is asked what she trades in, general goods and as a courier is the answer. Her sister is someone important at the Phoenix Gate, with extra talk of finding food and some disparaging remarks about the Unicorn Gate.
Natalie suddenly stops the carriage, with Jaxzon carrying on a short way, before Iliqua calls him back. She gets out of the carriage and pulls the cover over the party, horse and lion. Outside the sound of a large insect, with a tree collapsing is heard, mandibles clicking and it rushing off.
The party ask her what the creature was as she removes the cover. She does not know, having only heard them, but suggests they find a safe place to camp soon. Iliqua casts Identify on the cover, finding that it has advantage on passive stealth - A Tarp of Elvenkind if you will.
Another rest area is found, Natalie sorts out her carriage and horse, a bottle of wine is passed around. Iliqua spends some time getting URA into play, as well as a new tower is generated.
Natalie chooses to stay outside to tend to her horse and gear, while the rest of the party enter the tower. Jaxzon reads some more of his book, Zer0 once again heads up to the observation level, Iliqua trances and also reads some books.
Shebrum sneaks outside to try and check on Natalie - she covers her carriage and horse, sets out a bedroll and pillow in the cart. Scans the forest then also pulls out a book to read - called Acceptance of Grief.
Jaxzon does some stretching and light workout stuff, helps prepare the evening meal. Iliqua reads, drinks, eats, bathes and relaxes.
Zer0 meditates and tries to make contact with Adeptus Prime, looking inwards and seeing a subtle link but can’t get any closer.
First watch starts with the maggots once again pushing up against the path. Some of the maggots are bigger and a different colour, perhaps more mature. A breeze can be felt with a rotten or fetid essence to it coming from the forest.
Iliqua takes the next watch, attempting to steal the spyglass from Jaxzon, but makes a little too much noise attracting the lion’s attention. He asks if he can borrow the spyglass, then heads up to the observation level with it. The maggots continue to collect in the same manner as before. Near the end of his watch, a large centipede crawls through the forest, seemingly not interested in the tower or Natalie.
Jaxzon takes the next watch, nothing other than the maggots is obvious, the faint sound of a tree falling is heard in the distance. Iliqua stays up to chat with Jaxzon, talking about pirates and how little respect he has for them. Jaxzon reminisces about his former life on the high seas.
Shebrum is roughly awoken, all his joints seem to be on fire, the addiction taking a deeper hold. He heads up to the observation level, another tree falling over and Natalie slipping out from underneath the carriage cover. A large green mass is also seen moving adjacent to the path, then a few minutes later Natalie starts preparing for the days travel.
Shebrum talks about the large green thing, breakfast is prepared and eaten, Natalie is invited to join the party. Shebrum seems a little more jittery, and decides to take the drugs and be better prepared for possible combat.
Iliqua suggests the party find a better class of food and store it in the stasis bag, if only to make meals a bit more varied.
Natalie mentions that the travel may be slower as the thing they avoided yesterday is still around and could cause trouble. Her and the party mount up and head out onto the road and travel continues.
Jaxzon walks up to the maggot wall and stabs one. It dies and the rest of the maggots shift to take its place, but has no other effect. A few more of them are of the browner shade.
Leaving the maggots behind once again reduced the gross sound. Every hour or so, Natalie again stops the party and covers up and the big thing shuffles by. Shebrum offers to go outside the cover to find out what that is, and Iliqua says he will make him invisible to help.
Jaxzon’s lion takes a big sniff, smelling something alive and large, but not something it recognises.
At the next stop, an invisible Shebrum sneaks out and watches Natalie slip under the cover at the front. A very large insect approaches the road, checks out the carriage closely, moves onto the road and taps the stones of the road. It looks at or near Shebrum, taps the road again, then suddenly rushes off into the forest.
Shebrum figures out that the insect knew something was there but couldn’t figure out what or why. Natalie covers the carriage again, then notices that Shebrum was missing. Iliqua explains where he went, which unsettles Natalie slightly.
Iliqua calls the party in for a meeting, asking for advice about possibly fighting or trapping the mantis. Jaxzon offers the use of his lion to act as a decoy (or bait) to find out what the mantis does with something it can see.
Travel continues with Jaxzon in the carriage and his lion behind ready to run off. A few hours pass, with Jaxzon getting more reading time in. Natalie stops the carriage and covers it again, the lion roars and rushes off.
The mantis ignores the lion, checking out the carriage again and tapping the road. The lion returns, getting within 100 feet finally gaining the mantis’ attention. Jaxzon commands it to try pouncing, but the mantis pounces first, hitting critically and utterly destroys it. A quick look to figure out where the lion went, then rushes off into the forest again.
Natalie again uncovers the carriage and again suggests that the next rest stop is chosen for tower shenanigans and resting. Natalie asks a favour to take the tarp and go ahead, leaving her horse and carriage with the party. She asks to talk to Jaxzon alone - “It’s alright to be afraid. That’s why the mantis is checking us out, because we’re not afraid and its sensing this and is confused.”
The lion is resummoned, the tower recreated. Once Natalie is out of range, Shebrum casts a spell to allow telepathic communication between him and others acting as a switchboard. He then thinks to the party that he’s going to try and follow Natalie to find out what she’s doing.
He heads off, keeping a reasonable distance from Natalie but still keeping her in sight. She stops and covers herself with the tarp, the mantis again comes out of the forest, and looks directly at Shebrum. He alerts the rest of the party of the situation, then decides to run.
Shebrum sets off and the mantis pounces, just missing. More running and a leap from the mantis to gain some ground, then a hit from behind. Shebrum continues running, the mantis briefly stops and licks the blood off its legs. It moves into the forest, keeping pace with Shebrum. It seems ready to attack again, but the sound of a panflute stops it, and keeps it transfixed.
To be continued…