25th Rhaan, 999 YK
- They're fighting the Froghemoth! Runmae is in it's gullet
- Bhaltair gets up from the ground and blasts the froghemoth with a blast of moonlight, causing it to spit out Runmae
- The spell is way more powerful than Bhaltair expected, and they get several inches taller and begin to become more woody, better representing their ideal self. Nobody is watching when this happens.
- Runmae, now in swamp muck, gets to her feet and shudders at what she's just experienced. Then she opens her belt pouch, gets out a potion and chugs it.
- Naze refuses to cast spells here, so it's non-magical healing. He runs up to Runmae and triages her wounds, and then also triages Warren's wounds. He then uses his third and final action to also triage Valaari's wounds. What a turn!
- Valaari itensifies the froghemoth's vulnerability to their bullshit and then stabs em in the face with their spear. This really pisses it off, and then Valaari stabs it again, in the face.
- The froghemoth squeezes Valaari in its tentacle, and then grabs Runmae with its tongue and swallows her again. Oops.
- Sir Frutherspume hops towards the froghemoth and emits a terrifying croak, which fails to intimidate anyone. He visible deflates.
- Warren does a "stealthy wealthy", but the froghemoth tracks him with one of its eyes. He then stabs it anyway, and it's so shocked at the gall that it instantly dies.
- With Runmae still inside of it. Uh oh.
- Bhaltair, seeing Frutherspume as a threat, blows on the Horn of Rust and shoots metal shards at him. Oh no!
- It's a critical hit.
- Bhaltair grows another three inches taller, and their leaves turn to rusted iron, as this spell came from Xar Azmak
- Sir Frutherspume's resolve wavers for a second, but he remembers he is a Knight! and is good
- Runmae is still in the froghemoth, being crushed by a wall of wet meat. She has no idea it is dead. She struggles to get her dagger out, and begins trying to cut herself out.
- Valaari turns around, and sees that Bhaltair has changed. They are 6 inches taller than they were, are made of wood, and have metal leaves. What the hell.
- They yell at Bhaltair to stop fucking casting!
- They then get a scroll of Translate out and casts it. They then yell at Frutherspume to lower their weapon
- Frutherspume yells back at them that they attacked him! He came to help them and they attacked him, and they dare say they will treat him as an enemy!?
- Warren cuts Runmae out of the froghemoth, spilling her out into the swamp muck.
- Valaari asks if Frutherspume is done ranting, and he comments that they're rather rude.
- Valaari asks who they are, and Frutherspume is further deflated. They explain they couldn't understand him before, he introduces himself again.
- They ask if he's travelling alone, and he says yes! He's on a quest!
- They'll bite, what's the quest?
- He's searching for a weapon, or magic, or allies to help them eradicate the vile, demonic fish people that invaded their lands about a year ago
- They ask what a fish is?
- Frutherspume describes a fish as an aquatic, scaled creature with freaky, evil eyes.
- They interrogate this a bit to try and determine if this story is real? They ask who sent him on this quest
- The Reedduke Grugenos, Reedduke of the Dukedom of Reeds and Water Lilies. He was a bit nicer before the arrival of the vile fish people.
- The only connection Valaari can make is that it could be the Enshrouded? The carrion tribe that lives in Demonsong Bay.
- They get tired of saying Sir Frutherspume's full name and title every time, so they ask if they can call him Sir Fru. He suggests Sir Spume, but they say no
- Frutherspume describes where he's searched so far. A realm of fire that dehydrated him and sucked. A realm of metal that was loud and also sucked. Now he's looking for other realms where he might find weapons or magic.
- Valaari says it's more likely he'll find death. He says this is the duty of a knight, to die for the realm.
- Valaari says they have their own mission, and Frutherspume comments that he has been so rude! What is their quest?
- "Uhh, nah, we're good"
- "Oh...right, well. Good luck I guess. The mangrove forest is dangerous, it's full of dangers"
- They have an out of character debate about whether to ask Sir Frutherspume to come with them. They make some good points in favour and against.
- There is risk of getting embroiled in his bullshit if they take him. It also means exposing more peoples to knowledge of the rest of Khyber and even the surface.
- But he has a frog army, potentially?
- He also keeps mentioning "vile fish people" so he's probably a racist?
- Naze's player asks what the alternative to taking him with them is? Kill them?
- NO! We just leave!
- Naze doesn't trust a word out of his mouth
- They all decide to Sense Motive him at once
- They all think that he believes that everything he's saying is true.
- Valaari's player suggests they go and do their thing, and then come back later and request a meeting with Reedduke Grugenos.
- Valaari does that, with everyone's blessing.
- Sir Frutherspume requests clarification, they will be the allies that will eradicate the vile fish people and complete his quest?
- Woah woah, they aren't going that far yet. Where can they find him?
- Fair enough
- He starts scribbling in the swamp, and Valaari requests Warren map it.
- Frutherspume starts giving instructions to draw a map. It's a bit of a mess, and he touches the map with his wet fingers and slightly ruins it.
- Frutherspume shows them the locations of the fish people village, Bogtown-by-the-Mangroves and Murkwater-on-the-Lagoons.
- With that done, he says he will see them later, and walks off into the swamp. He gets a bit away, and then whistles for his giant frog mount, and they ride away together into the trees.
- Warren laments that he's gonna have to redraw the whole map cos of all the wet patches. Runmae tries to help by smudging it.
- Valaari starts walking away, and the rest of the group follows. They don't try to harvest the froghemoth.
- Warren suddenly notices that Bhaltair looks different? Wtf?
- Ah, right
- Valaari asks if Bhaltair has seen themselves? They've grown, and become more woody, and also metally
- What? Woody? Metally?
- They try to get to the bottom of this. One of the spells they cast was from the Horn, that would explain the metal. As thought, magic is transformative here.
- Valaari tells Bhaltair to be careful.
- Bhaltair says they were! Runmae was at risk of dying.
- Valaari says just not to be too reckless. Bhaltair goes to argue, when have they ever been reckless?
- They all stare at them. Runmae tells them to think about that carefully.
- Point taken
- Bhaltair says they're never reckless, they just don't always think their actions through fully
- Warren says same (lmao)
- Valaari doesn't like this place.
- Runmae drinks some healing potions while they walk, so they don't have to stop and tend to her wounds
- Bhaltair asks if anyone has any spare chunks of cold iron? They left them all back in Maruk Dar
- Valaari asks why? Bhaltair explains that the spell they cast, with the shards of metal, can use different metals to have their effects. Aha!
- They walk for several hours, getting closer to the portal. They hear a faint chittering ahead of them.
- They decide to avoid whatever this is, so they switch to moving stealthily.
- They try to creepy passed the source of the noise. As they get closer, they can see that it's an amalgamation of Drow and scorpion, tending to a small shrine.
- Warren steps on a twig, and the creature whips around and stares at them. They just start walking as if they haven't seen it.
- The scorrow pivots in place to keep them in sight, but doesn't speak, and doesn't follow them.
- They walk for the rest of the day, and they begin to lose light. They haven't reached the portal yet.
- They discuss whether to keep going or camp. Bhaltair thinks they're still several hours away.
- Bhaltair walks up to a tree and begins casting a spell to create an extradimensional space. It's small, only 20ft by 20ft, and is empty. This will be a safe place to sleep, but erasing the chalk outline of the door will dump them back into the swamp, so they may still need someone to keep watch.
- Naze doesn't trust it though, he considers stopping Bhaltair from casting. He voices his concern.
- "I have concerns"
- "What concerns do you have?"
- He's worried about casting spells in this place! There could be dire consequences!
- Bhaltair says it could, but there could equally be dire consequences for staying outside.
- Bhaltair also says the spell creates an extradimensional space, so they won't be in the Lagoons of Piety anymore! It's fine
- They lay it on thicker. "Do you dream when you sleep? In this place, your dreams may become reality"
- Oh
- Bhaltair is casting the spell. It's up to the others if they want to go in, Bhaltair will go in and test it out first.
- They go back and forth for another ten minutes or so, weighing up the pros and cons. They decide the risk of sleeping in the Mangrove Forest is higher than sleeping in the liminal space.
- Rather than keep complaining uselessly, Naze tends to Runmae's wounds and complains usefully. She's so filthy, after being dunked in swamp water and swallowed twice by a froghemoth. Bhaltair says they could clean her, but it'd be a divine spell.
- Bhaltair casts the spell, and grows another three inches as their legs thicken and their feet become roots. They have to uproot themselves to walk. They are now 6ft 1in.
- They open the door, realising they've grown again and walking has gotten harder. They pull their legs out of the swamp and tumble into the door.
- Most of the others follow, and the liminal space is much more comfortable than the muggy lagoons.
- Valaari goes back out and tells Naze it's safe.
- "Look how big and woody they're getting due to their be-leaf" says Warren
- Runmae asks if it would hurt if she plucked one of Bhaltair's metal leaves? Can she take one?
- Bhaltair says of course it would hurt, like it would if they plucked one of her hairs. Okay, she won't do it then!
- Naze hesitantly enters the liminal space.
- They sleep
26th Rhaan, 999 YK
- Bhaltair remains transformed, they do not revert.
- Bhaltair prepares their drums today, instead of the Horn of Rust, since it's not divine and the others keep yelling at them.
- Valaari changes their defender's oath to one against aberrations. In case of further froghemoth attacks.
- They continue heading towards the northern portal for several hours.
- Where Bhaltair feels the pull most strongly, is a nondescript pool of murky water. Like everywhere else.
- They search around for a bit, and find a point where the pool gets much deeper. This is likely the entrance. They call the others over.
- They ask if they should swim to scout it out?
- "What?"
- The portal is in the water
- Valaari doesn't like that
- They send Bhaltair to check it out.
- Bhaltair casts Haste on themselves (from the drums, occult, not divine) so they can swim quicker.
- They swim until they feel like they will need to surface for air and won't have time, and then go back. Hmm. This is deep.
- When they surface, they notice there is some salt stuck to their metallic leaves.
- Valaari asks what they found?
- "Nothing, it's too deep"
- Valaari asks if Bhaltair still has their familiar? Could they swim down if they're a fish or something?
- They'd need to change them, which they can't do today
- Bhaltair did suggest they should get some breathing apparatus? But they didn't
- They're out of ideas
- Everyone seems to be a bit tired, so we call the end of the session there.