1. Journals

3. A Belly Full of Problems

August 3, 2025

11th Eyre -> 14th Eyre, 998 YK

  • Tamara does the recap, earning an advance on her least developed theme.
  • She misses the introduction of her own character and all the talk of eating oozes and spiders. Tut tut. She got the rest of it though.
  • We open the session with a Camping Scene (but in Sharn), giving everybody room to rest and reflect on their adventures so far and their relationships. (They each get an Advance on a theme of their choice)
  • We have some technical difficulties and I spend like 5 minutes roasting all of them whilst they write down how they feel about each other.
  • Ban spends their downtime cooking the best pancakes (Brelish style and Aundairian style) in Sharn for the group. Despite being a renowned chef, he mixes sugar with salt, making salty pancakes. Mmm.
  • Charlie spends some time reading up on the planes, specifically Fernia, so he looks like he knows what he's talking about when he next sees Nigel. He pulls an all-nighter, so he's tired.
  • Damien wanders around Sharn, seeing the sights, spending some of the money he just got. He buys some new clothes to replace his burned ones from the last adventure. Nerys comments on his exposed chest (with an ascot?), isn't he concerned about someone shooting him in the boobs? "I will simply dodge it"
  • Nerys buys a new book to record their tales in, and a protective case for it. They also approach Yashira to ask about something.
  • Ruckus goes to give most of his newly earned money to his family, and spends some time maintaining his equipment. He just returns to the group without any money.
  • Yashira stops by her old tailor shop and picks up some materials to fix Charlie's coat, and leaves her messed up shoulder cape with them so they can fix it. She then tries to repair Charlie's coat herself, but she gets stressed because of the emotional attachment to this, gets stuck in her own head and doesn't make any progress. She doubts herself and second guesses everything she tries. (First snake eyes of the campaign?)
  • Nerys goes to see Yashira whilst she's struggling with the coat, materials all about her and head in her hands. Nerys offers to come back later but Yashira says it's fine and quickly cleans up.
  • Nerys says they'd heard that Yashira was a detective, or does investigative work. Yashira confirms, she was (correction: is) an inquisitive, and a member of House Medani. She's not actively working in that role though, she's on a sabbatical of sorts. Does Nerys need her to look into something?
  • Nerys struggles for a moment between asking what they intended to and digging into Yashira's story. Yashira picks up on this and comments that Nerys seems tense.
  • Nerys explains that they're looking for someone. They don't know if they're in Sharn, but it's as good a place as any to start. They offer to give Yashira some of the money they got from the last job if she'll help look for them?
  • Yashira refuses payment, she'll help as a favour to a friend. Nerys is concerned this may be an issue with House Medani?
  • Yashira says it's not a Medani thing, it's a Yashira thing. She's just doing a friend a favour.
  • Nerys suggests instead, if they find this person, they'll take Yashira and everyone she likes to a big spider dinner?
  • Okay, that'll do
  • Nerys explains that their childhood friend, Razgon, is missing. He has dark red hair, and one of his eyes is a symbiont so his eyes are different colours. (One yellow, one green)
  • He kinda vanished a while ago, and Nerys hasn't seen him since then. Yashira presses for details, when they say vanish, without a trace? Didn't speak to anyone, leave a note?
  • It was more like he and Nerys went somewhere they shouldn't have and got separated, and never reunited.
  • Yashira asks where they went that they shouldn't have? Nerys is visibly uncomfortable. "We call it Sol Udar, the Realm Below"
  • It has connections to Khyber...so he could've just popped out somewhere else?
  • Nerys knows its possible he's dead, but if anyone could survive it would be him. Everybody says Sharn is the first place you go, where all adventures start!
  • Yashira says to leave it with her, she'll look into it. She has contacts she can leverage, even if they're on the road.
  • "Nerys, I can't promise you we can find your friend, but I promise I'll do everything in my power to"
  • Nerys gives Yashira an awkward hug.
  • Yashira "makes some calls" to get the ball rolling.


15th Eyre, 998 YK

  • They all receive a letter telling them to meet at the Drunken Dragon, the tavern in Clifftop.
  • Yashira pettily tries to arrive a little earlier than Damien. When Damien sees this, he starts using his dragonmark to go faster, and Yashira messes with him. "You sure it's gonna work this time? It didn't in the forge!"
  • They get there and Nerys is already there, in a sleeping bag, having camped there the night before.
  • Ban brings cookies for everyone, to replenish Damien's blood sugar.
  • Charlie is exactly on time, cos he's a "wizard".
  • Ruckus is 10-15 minutes late, which is pretty awkward.
  • Lhara arrives 3 minutes after Ruckus, making her the latest to the meeting she set.
  • She thanks them for coming, and reveals that she has another job for them. Professor Nigel Faurious has provided a map to a valley in the Graywall Mountains, which he believes is a manifest zone to Irian. He needs a sapphire charged in the zone, and if possible, for them to map out the valley.
  • They ask how they're getting there?
  • Lhara says that's the exciting part! They've chartered a Lyrandar airship!
  • Damien is disgusted, but fine.
  • They ask if they have any diplomatic immunity in Droaam?
  • They do not
  • Great
  • Damien asks if Yashira could make his coat look less Brelish, since Breland and Droaam don't have the best relations?
  • The others rib Damien a bit about the airship, he's not big on being in the sky, and the elementals can be testy!
  • Charlie thinks he just doesn't like the Lyrandars
  • "It's the quickest way to get there, so deal with it"
  • Ban offers Damien another cookie. Ban is a treasure.
  • Nerys asks if this is going to be an issue? Damien says no, he'll do it, he's just not happy about it. Ban says he'll keep the cookies coming.
  • "This is why you're my favourite"
  • Yashira comments that its bad to have favourites, Damien
  • Charlie is excited to see an Irian manifest zone! It's gonna be class!
  • Lhara gives them 2 potions of healing to distribute among themselves. Damien takes one, and Ban gets the other one.
  • Damien also takes the sapphire.
  • Lhara explains the airship leaves tonight, under cover of darkness to reduce the risk of them being attacked, since they don't have clearance to enter Droaam.
  • Oh is this illegal?
  • No, since Droaam isn't a sovereign nation.
  • Right
  • The pay will be better than the previous mission, due to the potential danger.
  • Ruckus spends some time creating a flaregun (that explodes)
  • Damien buys feather fall tokens for everyone (but 2 for himself) as he does not trust airships.
  • Charlie buys some climbing equipment, and the cheapest piece of jewellery he can find (to see if he can also get some Irian juice)
  • Ban buys a new salt shaker to make sure he doesn't mix it up with sugar again. Oh and some spices.
  • Yashira buys them all brown cloaks to help them blend into their environment in the mountains. She's not looking for a diplomatic incident.
  • Everyone prepared, they make their way to the docking tower.
  • They meet with their captain, Darien d'Lyrandar. Damien immediately doesn't like him.
  • Darien introduces his ship, the Clear Blue Sky.
  • Ban says "that's a pretty name" at the same time that Damien says it's a dumb one
  • Ruckus stares in wonder at the airship.
  • he bombards Darien with questions about the airship, but Darien can't answer most of them.
  • They board, and set sail for Droaam!

16th Eyre, 998 YK

  • In the evening, they arrive at the border to Droaam
  • Darien gathers them all on the deck and tells them it's time. He gives them each a feather fall token, which look very different to the ones Damien bought.
  • Damien questions this, and Darien explains these are old ones from the war. He had them lying around so he didn't want to buy any new ones for the group.
  • They probably work!
  • The group are super sketchy about this. They decide to take the old ones, but also get Damien's ready, in case the old ones don't work. That way they can save the ones they bought if the old ones do work!
  • They might need them in future, if they need to fly in another airship!
  • Charlie also reminds them they're gonna be climbing a mountain, so they might fall off.
  • Yashira asks if magic expires, and Charlie confirms that enchantments do weaken over time.
  • Charlie asks Darien when he got these?
  • Darien says they were passed down by the previous captain, so probably like 930-940 YK
  • Sovereigns above
  • Damien gets tired of talking about it and just jumps.
  • They all jump from the airship and activate the war-time tokens. Charlie, Damien and Yashira's tokens all initially work and then fail, and they have to activate Damien's tokens.
  • Yashira, mid-free fall, comments that Damien is gonna ride this high for at least 2 weeks (as he yells "I TOLD YOU SO!")
  • Damien personal grudge has saved the day. Sometimes, prejudice pays off!
  • They land in the mountains and the reality of their situation sets in.
  • Nerys rushes to check on the others to check if they're okay.
  • Yashira asks Damien where he got the feather tokens from, and how much he paid for them?
  • Damien says he got them from a Cannith store. Yashira mentions she knows a little store where they're like half the price
  • Sovereigns damn it
  • They begin travelling, and Nerys navigates (using the map). They feel like it's their responsibility because they're a dwarf
  • Nerys follows the map and leads them to a sheer cliff face, with a 60 foot drop. The map seems to indicate they need to go that way. They still have 4 feather fall tokens thanks to Damien's preparations. Charlie bought climbing gear, so he has rope!
  • The rest of them didn't plan very well for this (invoking the Poor Planning weakness of the Fellowship theme)
  • Ruckus attempts to reverse engineer the remaining feather tokens to work. He takes one of the working ones, and uses it to recharge the depleted ones.
  • Everyone is very impressed!
  • Damien asks if Ruckus is sure they will work?
  • Ruckus just jumps and uses it. It does work!
  • Yashira is thinking about the fact they need to come back this way too, and the tokens won't help them there. She suggests tying some of Charlie's rope to a tree and leaving it for them on the way back.
  • I realise that we still have jazz music in the background. Apparently, jazz follows Yashira everywhere she goes, she's so noir.
  • Charlie climbs down the face using his climbing gear, setting pitons as he goes, leaving them with a climbable surface when they return. Yashira helps, calling out footholds to him.
  • Yashira uses the pitons and rope to climb down. It's easy, thanks to Charlie's efforts! The rest of them then climb down too.
  • Nerys mentions that these mountains are likely patrolled, so they'll need to be careful.
  • Ruckus puts his homemade grenade launcher back in his bag.
  • Nerys' warning was almost prophetic, as shortly after they come across an ogre patrol. They press themselves against a wall and listen in. They're discussing in Goblin (which only Ruckus understands) about the storm coming, and then one of them smells "floral scented products" mixed with human sweat, perhaps from someone from Aundair.
  • One of the ogres spots the airship, and comments on it.
  • Nerys makes a noise and one of the ogres looks over the edge. Ruckus panickly gestures for them to use their cloaks and press themselves against the wall.
  • Damien fails to avoid notice, and one of the ogres drops down and looks at him.
  • "Awright, what's this then?" in goblin, which Damien does not understand
  • He does know "Hello! Don't kill me!" in poorly constructed goblin.
  • The ogre swings its club, and Damien teleports out of the way
  • Nerysdeth quickly draws a picture of two ogres holding hands with a dwarf, and hands it to the aggressive ogre. This bewilders the ogres.
  • Ruckus quickly info dumps at the ogres, explaining that they're lost on the mountain after getting pushed from an airship and they're very sorry.
  • This actually works! The ogres can't kill someone just for being stupid, they're stupid! They point at Breland and say that Breland is that way. They don't wanna see the heroes again, have a good night.
  • Ruckus mentions that the ogres found them because someone smelled of "floral scented products and sweat"
  • They all turn to look at Damien
  • "Adventuring is no excuse to smell like a pigsty!"
  • Ruckus also says they should get a move on, as he overheard the ogres talking about a storm coming.
  • Ah that works! They can leave Damien outside to wash away the scent!
  • Nerys checks the map again and reckons they won't get to their destination until tomorrow, so maybe they should camp out and wait for the storm to pass.
  • Ban supports camping and having something to eat!
  • Nerys navigates them to a cave, and they get set up to camp. Moments later, the sky opens and torrential rain begins to fall.
  • They tell Damien to go stand outside in the rain. "Go outside and smell of petrichor instead of flowers"
  • Damien is forced to stand outside in the rain, and gets soaked and cold. He comes back in looking like a drowned rat (this is a pattern)
  • Ban cooks them a meal. Ruckus offers some of his own spices (a dirty shoe) but Ban refuses.
  • Ban really is a master cook, it's the best food they've ever had. They should call those things Frying Bans.
  • Nerys reads them all a bed time story about a dwarven prince sleeping beneath the mountains. It's very whimsical, and lulls them all into a good rest.
  • Yashira starts poking at plot holes in the story but it still puts her to sleep.
  • Despite "roughing it" in the mountains, there is nothing rough about their situation.
  • Charlie doesn't go to sleep, he stays up all night reading a text book on the political history of Aundair.
  • Once everyone is asleep, a cold wind blows into the cave and a melancholic voice speaks behind Charlie. "It's been a long day Charlie, tell me a joke"
  • Charlie tells a poorly executed joke. Luca softly exhales, and puts her hand on his shoulder. His shoulder goes cold.
  • Luca Syara pokes around the camp a bit, and tries some of Ban's curry. It's good. Warming. She tells Charlie to bring Ban to see her when they're next in Sharn.
  • They wake up, and Damien has a runny nose because of the cold. The leftover curry is gone, but Ban is just happy that it was enjoyed. He doesn't question who had seconds.
  • Ban makes breakfast, and makes the group a healing, chocolate tea. Damien feels much better already.
  • Yashira doesn't take the opportunity to rib him, it was her suggestion for him to go out in the storm.
  • It's a new day! We end the session there.