Session 26 - A Friend in Need

33/05/5-10

During the night, Otto finally having given up on trying to attune the ruby fell asleep, with it still in his hand. In his sleep a feeling came to him, one signaling that this gem, is but the beginning. Three pathways opened before him, the first revealing and old battered and forgotten warhammer, half embedded in rock, deep underground. The second showed a black suit of plate armour, shambling forward worn by something that it didn't quite fit, stumbling through the darkness. The final path, showed a helmet, Otto's very own. It was petering on the edge of a large drop leading to a pit of fire. These possibilities revealed, the gemstone wished to be pulled towards one of the paths, but the choice remained Otto's.

In the morning the party came to discover Viper's body was missing. Vincent, looking a bit tired, asked if anyone moved the body, but the party seemed, as surprised as he was. Shiek posited that this might be better that her being dead, as they might catch her in the future. Cassini asked how they would go about tracking her, but Shiek said that they had other things to tend to. Valeyo asked to head into town and Shiek requested help with selling the amulet. Valeyo asked Vincent what he planned on doing now and Vincent said they would hire guards and let them know he had been attacked. Shiek asked if Ignacy, the apprentice, had a workshop, but Vincent said that he simply stayed with him for a month working out of here.

As the group headed into town centre, Sapphira received a Sending from the priest in Krainasto. The message said "I'm here with this lovely giant fellow, he asks where you're going as your cart was lost to the ocean by some clawed beast, thanks.". To that Milivoj asked what the party's plans were, if they were going to keep travelling with a baby dragon. Meanwhile, Sapphira responded saying "This is not our cart.". Valyo told Milivoj that he doesn't know what they are doing next and needed more time to think about it. Sapphira received another message: "Shuult says that your cart made it to the ocean where there was a scaled beast and then you disappeared.". The party realised that is due to Sapphira's Past Without Trace. Sapphira responded, saying that they headed to Konkraimor to catch a boat to Grumpad.". Shiek also questioned what they would do it they ran into Shuult again, but Valeyo argued that he couldn't attack them without breaking the law. Still the question Nikoletta remained.

Valeyo found a leather worker, where a human woman in her late 40s, resized so it would fit him. He paid for a quick order and had it sent to the building with the big tube. Approaching an old temple, with a mill on the side, Milivoj and Shiek found that it had been converted into a forge. The water mill was used to power a hefty pair of bellows, to stoke the fire and inside a pair of gnomes were working on a variety of projects. One came up to Milivoj and asked how he could help. He had Blazh bring the pair of armour in and presented it to her, asking for it to be resized. He seemed impressed by the suit, but warned Milivoj that they weren't armoursmiths by frame, focusing more on tools. The gnome started looking Milivoj up and down, but Milivoj interrupted him asking what it would take to get it done as soon as possible. He called over the other gnome, Oscar and the two discussed if it is doable. Ultimately they agreed on the price of 20gp and the gnomes got to work.

Cassini stayed behind with Vincent and looked through his notes, in hopes to further his understanding. From what he could tell, Vincent seemed mostly focused on containing the charged liquid form of Sky Stone in the vials. While he had other projects, that one he appeared to be obsessed with. There was some theorizing on what other compound materials, he could make with the Sky Stone. When looking at the vials with his glasses, Cassini could see the liquid Sky Stone glow with a near imperceptible glow.

On the way around town, Shiek noticed a ornately carved map of southern Dragomir on the side of the Roundhouse. Something there caught his eye. Where towns were symbolized by small carvings of castles, Dragomir was carved as multiple of these castles with the river running through. The shape it made, resembled the tattoo that Viper had. Sapphira walked past him, entering the tavern in search for a job board. Most appeared to be related to farmwork, needing additional manpower on certain days.

Sapphira took note of the jobs and headed to the bar, where a blue-skinned individual with long wavy hair greeted her, offering some mead. She asked for any interesting goings on. The barkeep mentioned a large explosion in the Capital, but not much more. He said most of his rumors were about personal things going on in town, nothing that a traveler would care for. He suggested going to Dragomir, for more interesting events, sometimes they get giants stumbling from the hills here, but that is about it.

The group did manage to find and Apothecary towards the south and they discussed their findings. Shiek pointed out the map near the roundhouse and the party wondered why Viper would bear a symbol resembling Dragomir. Approaching the apothecary, they saw a nice looking house with a flower and herb garden up front. Inside, near the front desk, currently watering a plant was a 7ft tall goliath woman. She asked how she could help and the party gave her the potions to identify. Shiek wondered if he could borrow some of her equipment, to do some work himself. She looked at the first potion and immediately identified it as a Greater Healing potion, while the other is s Potion of Growth. She then helped Shiek look at the poison that viper had drank to feign her death, eventually concluding that it is something called "Death's Kiss". Upon drinking it, the user will appear as a corpse to both mundane and magical tests. It is quite a rare thing, a full vial costing as much as 600gp. The other 3 poisons were - Drow Poison, Malice, Truth Serum.

The remainder of the party entered the Roundhouse, where they saw the half-elven woman they let go last night was hiding in the corner. Valeyo told the others to take a seat and he would try to ask around about the 3 people from last night. He went to many of the patrons and found that "Mikaela" was quite well known, she was quite outgoing and talkative, like Valeyo is. She would engage out-of-towners and talk with travelers. Someone saw her the day she left and she was uncharacteristically jumpy, as if she had a bad night sleep. He then returned to the table, right as Shiek returned. Shiek listed out the poison's effects and the story they told.

Once back at the table, Valeyo began explaining what his history with Thalia was. He told them that they were friends from university. She is from Ikoval and has a strong dislike of the Kingdom of Dragomir. While the two of them were interested in the same subjects and policies, they were opposed on how to reach those goals. Valeyo insisted on trying to bring democracy to the people peacefully, by helping them realise that they truly hold the power and can use it to bring about change. Thalia on the other hand, believed that the only way to achieve freedom of choice for the people was to get rid of the members of the current ruling class entirely, through violence. Despite this they were good friends and planned to travel together after university. Thalia being in the year above, was a few month away from graduation when she disappeared. Valeyo waited for his own graduation before following her to Ikoval.

Shiek asked what she was like and Valeyo said that her skillset was similar to his own, though she was better in a fight and Valeyo was better at spellcasting, or at least he was before losing his arm. Cassini asked if she took his arm, but Valeyo said that wasn't the case. Shiek then turned to Valeyo and asked what he would do if he had the choice between stopping the I.C.M from killing people and getting to Thalia. Valeyo answered immediately, saying that any lives lost are gone for good, whereas he could always keep looking for her, as he has been doing. So he would save the people. Shiek said that is good enough and while his goal isn't to help Valeyo meet Thalia, if that happens along the way, that works for him, to which Otto and Cassini agreed. Milivoj seemed displeased, questioning Valeyo's judgement, but with that the conversation turned to other matters.

The group now needed to decide, what to do next. Valeyo posited going to Dragomir, as that is where Thalia was headed. This would also allow the group to stay together with Eletheria and Nikoletta. Valeyo was worried about leaving them alone as they were children and thus doubted their judgement. Milivoj told him that it is ironic that he would question someone's judgement. Sapphira mentioned the sinkhole that the farmer needed help with and the group agreed to go check it out. Before leaving Valeyo let the other know that he had said what he wanted, but if they had more questions, he would answer them.

About half an hour walk east of the Roundhouse, the party found the farm in question. It looked much like the ones around it and some horses were tied up front. After knocking on the door, an elderly man opened the door. Sapphira explained why they were there and he invited the inside for a cup of tea. Following, he explained that a few days ago he heard a thump. He didn't think much of it, but later that night the cries of something in agony filled the night. He went out to investigate and noticed the sinkhole, but was too afraid to approach, so he walked back inside. Every night since then, he could hear this racked coming from the hole. He told everyone to stay away from it and did the same himself. For reward, he could offer a modest sum and anything found down there.

The group headed out and approached the hole, which appeared to be about 20ft deep. At the bottom of it was a tunnel, which lead deeper. The floor of the hole was quite wet and Cassini noticed tracks, that showed that something tried to climb up, but the muddy walls prevented it from making it out. Whatever it was, had 4 legs and was quite large. Shiek decided to climb down first and was showered in buffs. He used a rope to make it down the muddy, clay walls of the pit, which from the inside looked more like a crater.

Looking down the hole, it was a full-fledged tunnel, descending town at least 300ft to the edge of his darkvision. It was clearly dug, by something, but not a creature that is a natural burrower. There was however signs that point to there being a preexisting passage, like a natural water chute that was further excavated by the creature. The tunnel appeared to be mostly clay and mud for the first 70-80ft, before becoming stone. People discussed what to do, Shiek proposing that Cassini or Sapphira climb it to bait it out, but Valeyo disliked the idea, saying it already baits itself out every night. Eventually the group agreed to wait for night at the farmer's house. They explained the situation and the farmer said that it is fortunate this happened this time of year, while it is nice and wet, so it has a harder time burrowing out.

After waiting a few hours, the sun went down and this unpleasant noise could be heard coming from the hole, becoming louder and louder. Eventually it stopped increasing in volume and the party headed to the sinkhole. Upon getting closer, they could hear a growling unlike anything they had heard before. When next to the edge of the pit, they finally got a good look at the creature, which looked back at them in turn. It resembled a leathery skinned, quadrupedal creature with large toenail claws. It was quite stocky, with a body similar to a tiger. It had a rat-like tail with spines on its back, dark long and pointy and 2 red pin-point eyes staring back at the group. It's mouth was bat-like teeth and a large air-sack under its chin. It immediately took a defensive stance.

Valeyo talked to it and the large sack under its mouth began vibrating as it responded saying "Help me.". Valeyo asked where it came from and it said it was stuck and came from the "Dark Swamp". Cassini wondered if the Dark Swamp was at the bottom of the hole, but it said "No, I landed here.". Shiek was taken back asking if he heard it right and it said it landed there from the Dark Swamp. Shiek posited that maybe many of the Great Hunt beasts had "landed" instead of burrowed out. That being said, Shiek could tell that this isn't a landing hole, but coming from a swamp it could have brought the water with them. Valeyo asked if it eats people and it said it "Eats to survive.". He then decided to cast Suggestion on it asking it to "Answer truthfully, while they have a nice chat.". He asked it if it would eat them and it answered "If you are weak.".  Valeyo then asked it if he looked weak and it looked at him saying "Yes.".

The party moved back, ready to fight and Cassini collapsed part of the sinkhole's wall to help it climb out, before Otto hit it with a devastating strike on the head. In the middle of combat, its sack enlarged and it released an unearthly scream. When Milivoj killed it, it turned into ooze, much like the demons from before.