4th Eyre, 999 YK
- Bhaltair debates again whether to use Object Reading or to make a Psychometric Assessment of the sword they found in the bison, but the group decides they don't have time for a significant detour. They'll find somewhere safe and then do an Object Reading.
- They head to a nearby copse of trees to heal Runmae up, after the injuries she sustained against the Mithral Bison.
- Whilst they set up, Bhaltair's face begins to chime in tune with the metallic songbirds in the trees.
- Valaari tells Naze to get to work healing his fiancé (Naze and Runmae are not engaged). Naze resents this.
- It takes 40 minutes for Runmae to fully recover.
- During that time, Bhaltair approaches Warren and asks to look at the sword.
- Bhaltair doesn't detect a psychometric resonance on the object, so it currently doesn't have any strong emotions associated with it. Bhaltair asks the rest of the group how far they should look back, a week or a month?
- They ask Valaari if there any stories associated with a bull with a weapon embedded in them. Valaari has heard of lots of things like this before, with goristro and minotaurs and such, and has one story of a goristro wizard named Komox.
- They're reasonably confident the mithral bison wasn't this wizard.
- Bhaltair uses their object reading, and witnesses the forging of the sword. It is being forged by a humanoid with red, burned skin, furred legs and a prehensile beard. The entity painstakingly etched the lightning pattern into the blade, and then captured actual lightning within it.
- Bhaltair asks Valaari if they recognise this creature, and Valaari identifies it as a Barbazu, or Bearded Devil. They are known to inhabit the Ironlands.
- Bhaltair performs another reading, aiming at the same event but in the last week. This confirms the weapon was forged more than a week ago, and Bhaltair instead witnesses the Barbazu's death, as it was gored by the same bison it had stabbed.
- Bhaltair's face has been making a lot of noises this entire time, and the others press them on this. The bark on Bhaltair's face detatches and transforms into a spectral moth. Bhaltair introduces this as their friend!
- The moth is a flightless moth. It can't fly.
- Valaari asks if the friend knows it is cursed. Bhaltair is confused?
- Valaari clarifies that all of them are corrupted from their time in the Wastes, and now Khyber.
- Warren is having a crisis over this. Bhaltair's face just came off and walked around! What the fuck!?
- Bhaltair mentions that they all thought Warren had armour on under his poncho, they're all full of surprises.
- They talk about that for a bit, Warren saying he just likes to keep things "easy breezy".
- They proceed, sneaking under Warren's watch. This extends their travel time significantly.
- After 4 hours of sneaking, they witness a patrol of hobgoblins in strange black armour, with crossbows and curved swords made from the same black metal. As the group watches this patrol, the patrol is attacked by a group of Barbazu, who teleport on top of them.
- Welp.
- Valaari makes the decision to move on and not help, the Kech Shaarat are not allies of the Ghaash'kala, and have historically been enemies.
- They maintain stealth until they reach the exit to the Abyssal Forest of Khaar. They don't want to interact with the Kech Shaarat or the Barbazu.
- It's late afternoon, so they use the rest of the day looking for a place to camp. They don't want to camp in the entrance.
- They look for a place within an hour of the entrance that gives them some cover.
- They split into two groups to do this. Naze, Warren and Valaari in one group, and Runmae and Bhaltair in the other group.
- Naze, Warren and Valaari go south east, and the other group goes north east.
- The south east group finds multiple suitable locations, but they are occupied by hobgoblin forces. No good.
- The north group finds a secluded grove of trees, and the trees here are a black metal. Runmae identifies it as Adamantine! This is a gold mine, House Cannith would pay thousands for this.
- Unfortunately, the Ghaash'kala lack the means to work with Adamantine.
- Warren has the map, so they can't mark it down right now, but Runmae wants to record this location. Bhaltair states they never forget a tree.
- They meet back up at the exit to the demiplane and share their findings.
- Runmae said they just walked away from a literal gold mine. Valaari is confused, a gold mine in the Ironlands?
- No, a figurative gold mine. A grove of adamantine trees.
- They ask if Runmae can work with it, and she is incredulous. House Cannith can't even work it anymore without the Creation Forges.
- How are the hobgoblins doing it then??
- Do you think they'd share?
- No, they don't.
- They travel back to the admantine grove and mark its location on their map.
- They rest in the grove, preparing to enter the abyssal forest in the morning.
- Bhaltair mentions they have something they want to try when they get to the Abyssal Forest. They don't want to try it here, as they think it'd be risky. They explain they have devised a method to communicate via vibrations in the ground, and they're worried doing that in the Ironlands may be dangerous.
5th Eyre, 999 YK
- In the morning, a silver hare is spotted sniffing around Runmae's backpack. The rest of them are woken as Zaphkiel attempts to destroy it. It runs.
- They check the bag of holding, but nothing is missing.
- Bhaltair wonders if the hare was a familiar? That's concerning.
- They travel to the exit and prepare to enter the Abyssal Forest of Khaar.
- Bhaltair has sketches of each of the plants they need. The plan is to go in, get what they need, and leave. Spend as little time there as possible.
- Bhaltair also has a spell to make a creature leave a glittering trail, allowing them to easily find their way back to the same entrance they use to get in.
- They wonder whether it's worth Warren trying to map the Abyssal Forest.
- They are going to stick together, but everyone needs to look for the plants they need.
- The breadcrumbs spell lasts 8 hours, so at most they can go 4 hours in to give them time to get back.
- They psyche themselves up and then enter the tunnel.
- They enter the Abyssal Forest, and Bhaltair immediately flowers. The others notice, for the first time, that Bhaltair smells delicious. Valaari and Warren in particular are hit strongly, and are overcome by the desire to eat Bhaltair. It's intensely distracting.
- Bhaltair tries to usher the group on, but Warren and Valaari are...very distracted. It's a bit uncomfortable! Warren seems to have already forgotten what they're doing.
- A hummingbird approaches tentatively and feeds on the nectar from Bhaltair's flowers. It's overly cautious, like it expects Bhaltair or one of the others to attack it.
- Zaphkiel, who cannot eat, is also fascinated by Bhaltair's smell.
- Bhaltair suggests that the group goes not eat them, and they go find some plants.
- More hummingbirds approach, attempting to feed on Bhaltair's sweet nectar.
- Warren swats at one of the hummingbirds and it bites him. It hurts way more than it should, the hummingbirds are venomous!? (yes)
- Valaari tells Warren off, do not touch anything other than what they need.
- Bhaltair casts breadcrumbs, and then they begin their search.
- They quickly find Matico trees, and Bhaltair instructs everyone to put their gloves on so that their hands don't go numb. They begin gathering leaves, and Bhaltair gathers some of the peppers.
- Whilst they're gathering leaves, there is a rush of activity in the underbrush as these vaguely canine creatures go for Bhaltair. Uh oh!
- Valaari identifies the creatures as Balewolves. Canine, plant-like creatures that are native to the Abyssal Forest. They have a caustic venom, and can sense movement in their environment via leaves on their tails.
- Warren critically hits one! The wound explodes and covers Runmae's cloak in acid.
- The wolves attack those nearest, but only once before trying to get to Bhaltair.
- The wolves tear at the wounds, leaving acid behind that continues to burn.
- When the wolves are injured, their wounds spray acid at their attackers. It burns!
- Naze rushes to Runmae, who has been bitten repeatedly, and tends to her wounds.
- Bhaltair uses their magic to try and keep their distance from the wolves, who want their sweet, sweet nectar.
- Warren rolls off a cliff after getting bitten, and then spends his next turn getting back to the action.
- The group manage to finish off the wolves, and then Runmae, Valaari and Warren need to wash out their wounds, which continue to burn.
- They all successfully wash out their wounds, and take a moment. They survived, just about, their first combat in the Abyssal Forest.