Life on the Road

• After ending her meditation, Phaelnah set off to the Crooked Climb to investigate the Nightblight
  • After some searching, she found a compendium on extraplanar beings, learning a bit about the true nature of the blight, and that on two occasions, it has been removed through starvation, though this exacted a heavy toll on the affected communities.
  • She also learned that the blight must be introduced to an area by an interplanar portal of sorts, significant enough to allow the Nightblight to get a foothold
• After waking and eating a somewhat mediocre breakfast made by a tired-looking Quiet, the group went to Vinn’s Wares and met with Vinn Vinnfeck to discuss the business offer he proposed prior
  • Vinn gave the group various items branded with their logo, and negotiated a contract with them that would give them 5 percent of his total sales, in exchange for plugging his wares
  • As the group is traveling, Vinn proposed that the group give him notice ahead of when they would arrive at an accessible destination, that he might send their profits there.
  • The group received:
    • A firegel applicator and a vial of firegel with 4 uses
    • Two vials of blastgel, with 4 uses in each
    • A sparkdust trigger with a set of 5 sparkdust canisters
    • A set of jackets, vests, and cloaks for the whole party
    • 2 Knives of Usefulness in a Variety of Situations
    • A blastgel bomb
    • A Crop n’ Carry (basically cargo shorts)
  • Wander bought a sewing kits, Journey and Wander bought some leather carrying bands, Tyerjon bought the Anti-vibers, Grognock bought a shirt, and Leadbelly and Wander purchased some Sneakers, boots that can hide something small in the soles.
  •  
• While the rest of the group went to buy some clothes, Grognock went to Spazzie’s Selects to buy some jerky, getting a half pound of etterback and a pound of beef
• Everyone else headed to a very general general store, purchasing some rather general clothes
  • Seamus got a small, unrevealing dress with a leather bodice, Journey got a somewhat plain set of leather pants, and Wander purchased two dresses, one which he dyed to look like a Halloween witch costume (orange and black) and the other dyed a muted green.
• Eventually, the group met up at the gates to the Estates, once again encountering Bierd Volum
  • Grognock antagonized Volum again by using his etterback jerky to walk on the walls of the Estates, causing him to call a large contingency of guards to take Grognock to jail.
  • Phaelnah sent a message to Razodon, and the latter asked the group to circle around the side of the Estates, where they encountered a hooded figure that led them into a grate, and finally to a secret meeting room where Renbedar was also waiting
• Razodon handed over the Sallow Stone in a special warding bag as well as 6 identical bags, 5 of which Journey placed some small stones into, enacting her plan to keep everyone from knowing if they had the stone or not
  • Grognock decided not to chance holding onto a stone.
• Renbedar told the group of an acquaintance of his, Selathwin Muleyr the Hawk, another member of the Council of Dreamers.
• Razodon also gave the group the enchanted chest holding their rewards, which Tyerjon hoisted onto his back.

• Leaving the meeting room, the group circled back to Rest Assured to say a final goodbye to Quiet
  • Quiet asked the group to do her a favor, and look out for her sister, Whisper, also a tiefling.
  • Quiet gave the group one of her horn accessories, a gold wire looped around in such a way that it resembles a 3-dimensional seashell
• The group headed to the west gate , and learned from the guards that someone had blown up the bridge over the Burvelos River
  • The group continued out the west gate, choosing to take their chances with the river, and finally leaving Madrioc.
• Making it to the bridge at a breakneck pace due to the swiftness generated by Tyerjon, the group considered the best way to make it across the river
  • Phaelnah ritually casted Waterwalk on the party as Wander formed Tenser’s Floating Disk, which he allowed Tyerjon to ride in order to take a break from carrying the chest
  • The group crossed the river by walking on the surface, blowing the mind of a kid on the other side, as they plugged Vinn’s Wares
• The group hit the open road, making their way to the city of Caedalir
• The group rested peacefully the night of the 19^th
• Around late afternoon on the 20^th, Phaelnah heard the far away screams of a man. The group investigated the noise, and found a fully armored man sitting in the bucket of what appeared to be a giant slingshot system pointed directly upwards
  • The man in the armor raved about flying to the moon to meet his goddess, but screwing up the design of his slingshot and putting the lever on the outside where he couldn’t reach it, having built himself into the complicated device
  • The man repeatedly begged the party to pull the lever that would send him flying
  • Journey tied a rope to the lever and gave it to the man, but the torque broke half of the lever off
  • She then tied it around the bottom of the lever, which again broke off
  • Wander shot a crossbow arrow into the sky to prove that it would come back down eventually, and it did, nailing Seamus in the shoulder. (Grognock healed this)
  • Despite this, he was unpersuaded, reasoning that because his device was bigger, it would shoot him further
  • When it was brought up that the moon wasn’t over him yet, he asked the party to remain until nightfall when it was
  • The group took turns attempting to talk the man out of it, but his devotion to the goddess Unavaranu was unwavering, as he apparently saw the designs of his sling in a vision purportedly given to him by her
    • Additionally, the man sold everything he had to buy the parts he needed for the sling
  • Tyerjon opened his cricket box to seek their wisdom, but they just hopped away into the grass
  • The group mostly gave up on the man, leaving him to cry to himself
  • Tyerjon and Leadbelly remained, and Leadbelly swung his hammer against one of the support beams of the towering structure in an attempt to free him from his self-made prison
    • Due to this, the delicate balance of the structure was destroyed and all the tension and power began releasing itself, sending wood and metal flying everywhere
    • The holding mechanism snapped, releasing the sling as the tower bowed and fell over, sending the man flying off into the sky at an angle, disappearing into the clouds
  • That night, the group was alerted to a man that had snuck up on the camp
    • After the man blinded some of the party members with a strange bomb, Wander shot an arrow into his back as he ran, and Tyerjon chased him down, cutting a huge gash into his back, killing him
    • Somewhat mortified by the moral implications of killing this man, Tyerjon pondered his bloodlust while Grognock dug a grave and held a funerary ritual for the man
  • Midday on the 21^st, the group encountered a small farming community centered around a large bridge that crossed the Sanar River
    • Talking to a teenager they met there, they decided not to take the bridge, choosing to continue on the same path they were on
    • They followed the teen back to his father’s farm, a simple man who only had love for beets
      • They learned from the farmer that getting into Sanaris without papers might be costly
      • The group bought two full sacks of beets for a gold, and Wander put the 75 beets into his Bag of Holding.
    • On the night of the 21^st, the group ate roast beet for dinner around a raging fire, strengthened by the Fire Moon (Elevarani full moon)
      • An intimidating wagon with horses running at full speed passed the party in the night without incident
    • Midway through the 22^nd, the group began passing through the forests surrounding Caedalir
    • The group encountered a body splayed out across the road, seemingly having taken an obscured forest path before his expiration
      • Grognock determined that his death was recent, and was probably from blood-loss
      • Wander went to investigate where the man came from, discovering a small forest clearing where an orc with a cleaver in the back of his head was scribbling mysterious things in orcish in the ground, next to another dead body
      • And Wander turned to leave, he stepped on a leaf, prompting the orc to follow in his direction
      • The group attempted to hide as the orc looked around for them
      • The orc threw a cleaver in the direction of the party, hitting Journey, who fought off strange thoughts that began to invade her mind
      • As the orc closed in, the party attacked him, eventually (nonlethally) subduing him as he raved about various conspiracies
      • Wander took Journey to look at the writing of the orc, and she suddenly became obsessed with embedding the cleaver in her skull
      • After a bit of a shuffle, the group prevented Journey from getting to the cleaver, until eventually the effect worse off, and the orc awakened, no longer crazy
      • The orc told the party he was a student of a traveling monk that he met on his travels, but one day came across the razor, and was compelled by it for 3 years
      • The orc left, and Wander retrieved the cleaver, wrapping it in the robe he took from the Crooked Climb
    • Wander found a long, grasslike plant with a purple line down the back
    • The group finally made it to the walls of the city of Caedalir, but were told by a guard that the gates would not open until the morning
    • Making camp outside the city, the party witness Phaelnah fight back another surge of her condition, which grew further. Due to the corruption her right eye turned black with a yellow iris, and the dark veins reached across her chest to her left shoulder.
      • Phaelnah discuss more about her condition with the party, and shared what she learned in the library about it
    • Enraptured by Phaelnah’s story, the group didn’t notice the giant armored man who had sat down next to them and joined their little circle
      • The imposing figure was revealed to be Arghan, who originally meant to sneak up on the party but was so taken by Phaelnah’s story that he just chose to sit down and listen to it instead
      • Arghan told the group he was still out to get them for his reward, but would head back to the forest to even the playing field, in the interest of a fair fight
      • Wander convinced him to stay and eat some beet soup, but afterwards, Arghan headed back to the forest
        • Refusing to remove his helmet, he just spooned the soup underneath, making a bit of a mess
      • He emerged from the tree line, dashing at the party, screaming his name, as they prepare for combat