1st Sypheros, 999 YK
- Bhaltair begins to play a courageous anthem to bolster the party, and then fires a magentised shard of metal into the Panthormir's wing
- Valaari moves to flank it with Warren (who is on its back, biting it), and stabs into it with their spear
- Naze casts a Divine Lance at the Panthormir, as Zaphkiel moves into position
- Runmae, pinned in place by the Panthormir's tail spikes, does what she does best: bonk
- She slams it in the head with her longhammer, bringing it to the ground. She tries to follow up with another bonk, but it moves at the last second and it's only a glancing blow
- Warren continues biting into the Panthormir, tearing chunks out of its tail
- The Panthormir leaps forward, slashing at Runmae and Valaari with its bladed wings, and flipping onto its back at the apex of its jump, flatterning Warren against the ground
- Bhaltair repositions and takes cover behind a tree
- Valaari pursues the panthormir, and throws their spear at it. Their spear goes up through its lower jaw and into its skull, dropping the beast as the spear teleports back to Valaari's hand
- Warren immediately starts to eat the carcass
- The others make their way up the ledge to get to the corpse, and see Warren eating it. Valaari grabs him and pulls him from the body, telling him "no!"
- Valaari allows him to eat a leg, it's less valuable. He'll take it.
- Valaari then harvests the valuable parts, which they can use to make something. Naze tends to their wounds (except for Warren, as he doesn't wanna touch the "filthy rat man covered in guts"
- Bhaltair basks in the light of the two suns, photosynthesizing and healing a bit. The light feels off though, it tastes different
- They then get moving, not wanting to linger and wait for additional predators.
- They walk for the rest of the day through the Redwood, and then Bhaltair creates a liminal space for them to rest in. They check the surrounding area first, Runmae doesn't find anything but Bhaltair finds a very old, abandoned nest. They judge that this will do.
- The liminal space is extradimensional, so it gives Warren some relief from the effects of Ravener's Maw. He has a little bit of an emotional breakdown, covered in guts and blood. His stomach hurts.
- Bhaltair comes over with a little alchemical concoction to help ease his stomach. They call it "Gaviscon"
- Warren says thank you, which is unusual for him. Bhaltair then rushes to get a bucket as Warren begins throwing up the viscera
- Runmae offers him some alcohol, but they all shut that down
- Warren thanks them again, once he's emptied his stomach, and collapses into his bedroll to sleep
- Bhaltair puts their cold weather cloak under Warren's head, they'll deal with the mess later. They use prestidigitation to clean him up a bit too
2nd Sypheros, 999 YK
- Warren has feverish dreams of Grandfather Rat trying to soothe and calm him. When he awakens, his bedroll is drenched in sweat, but he seems to be himself.
- With morning having come, Warren is faced with the reality that he has to go back into hell. He's not looking forward to it. He tries to calm himself with breathing exercises.
- Valaari asks Runmae to repair their shield, which she does
- They step back outside, into the Maw, and Warren is immediately beset by the pounding of hearts, and an itch in his bones.
- They travel for most of the day before the redwood forest gives way to a wooded savannah, dotted with mesas and other rock structures. Atop one of those mesas is an enormous bird of prey, many times larger than a dragonhawk, watching over the terrain.
- They decide to try and stick to the brush, be as small as possible, to avoid the notice of the raptor.
- Runmae gets her potion of emergency escape ready
- They're not going out of their way to be stealthy though, as they don't think it matters in this context. They'd rather be on the lookout for potential threats, they're likely too small for the bird to take notice of them.
- That and Warren is the most stealthy, and they can't trust him to lead the group in sneaking
- Bhaltair covers their tracks as they go
- Valaari requests that Runmae tie herself to Warren today
- They proceed cautiously through the savannah
- Runmae notices that a pack of four allosaurus have picked up their scent, and seems to be stalking them. She alerts the group to the threat, and draws a thunderstone.
- Bhaltair considers what they know of allosaurus, and thinks it odd for a pack of them to hunt them, they're too small. They're concerned that there's something else they haven't noticed, so the group decide to hide and try to lose them.
- They all try to hide, but Naze keeps Zaphkiel manifested which obviously gives him away.
- The allosaurus pack charges, and Bhaltair's concern manifests as one of them is scooped up by one of the enormous birds. Turns out their white underside makes them look like clouds...
- The allosaurus is dropped from the sky, and then the bird mantles around it and begins to tear it apart with its beak
- Bhaltair identifies the bird as a Roc, native to Xen'drik. This one's behaviour is consistent with what Bhaltair knows of them. Typical wingspan of 80 feet!
- They scarper
- The savannah seems suspiciously devoid of obvious life as they continue, eventually arriving at an enormous baobab tree with a hole in it. Nearby is a large watering hole.
- As they approach, an aquatic creature pokes its head out of the water and makes "dolphiny" noises at them. It's an orca.
- Valaari is the only one who knows what that is, and also that there are no known instances of an orca attacking a person. They're curious, sometimes playful creatures. As they think that, the orca submerges and then comes back up with a fish on its head.
- It bumps the fish off of its head, onto the shore, and then goes to get another one
- Warren runs for the fish, and encounters Runmae's rope. She pulls him back.
- Valaari throws a stick into the water. The orca returns with the fish on its head, and a stick in its mouth.
- Valaari gestures for it to throw the stick back. The orca demonstrates its intelligence by throwing it back, which misses Valaari. Its aim isn't great.
- Valaari throws the stick back, and the Orca repeats.
- As fun as this is, Valaari doesn't think they can stay much longer.
- Bhaltair goes to inspect the tree whilst the others play with the whale.
- Warren really wants the fish, but Runmae won't allow him to get closer than Valaari already is
- Valaari asks the orca what it wants, and it drops the stick and makes some dolphiny noises at them
- They ponder that Bhaltair has true speech, but they won't use it on this
- Valaari thinks they should use it
- They're busy inspecting the tree, guys!
- Also they'd need to touch the whale
- Valaari is feeling spicy. They untie Warren to use his as bait, to see what happens
- Warren rushes for the fish, and immediately notices that the orca has legs. It jumps out of the water and grabs him. It fails to swallow him, but does drag him into the water
- Bhaltair is at peace with this, they're looking at a tree. They're unsure how or why the tree grew with a hole in it, they get concerned it may be a creature and get out of it
- Warren is now drowning and in the orca's mouth. His inner beast seems to react to this immiment danger, and he transforms into his hybrid form
- He bites the orca's tongue, which obviously freaks it out. He then tries to escape but fails to get out of its jaws.
- Valaari has to admit that this is their fault, and it was petty of them to untie Warren. Funny, though.
- Valaari uses their powers to identify it, and "oops, my bad", it's not an orca. It's a Behemoth Grampus. It's like a really spicy hippo. Just as intelligent as an actual orca.
- Valaari throws their spear into the water, but it fails to reach the Grampus. They then get their rope of climbing out.
- Runmae charges forward and then leaps 20 feet into the water (wow), swinging her hammer as she goes. The water takes the force out of her attack though.
- Naze moves up to the water's edge, and fires a Divine Lance at the Grampus.
- The Grampus releases Warren, only to bite both him and Runmae. It then lets out a horrific roar that terrifies them
- This roar prompts Bhaltair to investigate. They look over and see a bunch of them at the water's edge, and no sign of Runmae or Warren.
- They warp step to cover the distance (130 feet to the water's edge) and sprint towards the water. They yell out "what's happening!?"
- They then start to frantically play the Horn of Rust
- Warren swims away from the Grampus and gets out of the water, running back to Valaari, who sees that he is a monstrous humanoid rat again
- As he reaches the water's edge, he throws his star knife at the Grampus, which cuts a channel along its skin
- Valaari's player asks what the max damage of 6d6 is. 36
- "Runmae can take that"
- Valaari delays their turn until after Runmae
- Runmae swims away from the Grampus and gets out of the water, running back to Valaari
- Valaari is the safe space
- Valaari casts Fireball from their Faith tattoo and cooks the Grampus in the water
- Naze drops a Divine Wrath on it, but it's not super effective. He then heals Runmae
- It's whale time! In two weeks, as we have to stop there