The fight continues!
- Weyliri moves nearer to the rest of the group, backing up against the rock face. She uses Healing Word to help several allies. The Harperyton to the north figures out that all of the group has shrugged off its song of charming and believes it will not be able to affect them with it again. It dives on Rhyna and misses with its antler gore attack but connects with its claws. Rhyna slashes at the thing as it begins to turn in the air. She gets a solid hit, a big chunk of its chest and one of its breasts just falls off and you can see blood streaming down. The thing is screaming in pain. Rhyna unleashes a stream of Khuzdul obscenities at it. She slashes again and again, taking another chunk out of the foul creature. Bish follows Weyliri's lead and backs up against the wall near her, takes aim at the Peryton over Tenktovie, and fires a bolt right into its neck. It plummets to the ground, landing next to Faelon. Tenktovie steps up to Rhyna and gives her some healing. He then turns his attention to the mangled Harperyton, fires a Guiding Bolt, but misses. Denneth fires two arrows into a Peryton, but doesn't seem to hurt it much. Askelon's skeleton that was still charmed shakes off the dweomer. Neither of the skellies has a functioning bow now, so Askelon directs them to come to him and protect him from attacks. Noctis lines up a shot at the Peryton on the north flank that is banking for another dive and throws his black dagger at it. The blades hits and staggers the monster. With the blue dagger Noctis takes the beast out of the sky. Hjalgrimm assures his love Rhyna that he will protect her and casts Shield of Faith on her. He then draws his pistol and puts a bullet into the Harperyton that injured Rhyna. Askelon fires a Necrotic Bolt at the same creature, and it too crashes to the ground. This one lands on the rocks right at the edge of the rushing waters 20 feet below. Askelon feels the life force of the creature flow into him.
- Only one Peryton remains engaged now. It has not been able to connect with Denneth, so it picks a target that looks easier to hit. It dives at Askelon with its antlers. The wizard casts a Shield to protect himself, but it is not enough. The razor-sharp antlers slash him. As it rises back into the air it slashes Askelon with its talons. Askelon is irritated that the skeletons did not defend him, but it seems they don't have the skill to hit Perytons on their dive attacks. Hjalgrimm yells over to Weyliri to take out the Peryton, he has the healing covered. So, she launches a Toll the Dead at the creature. It stiffens, then slams into the wall near and slides down.
The battle is won, all of the flying attackers are dead.
Hjalgrimm Lays on Hands on Rhyna to restore most of her health.
The party concocts a plan to lower Faelon by rope down into the ravine to retrieve the Harperyton. After a near slip, the plan is pulled off. Faelon hands a red rock to Askelon, which turns out to be a grey rock covered in blood.
With the help of some Guidance from the group, Denneth sets about harvesting the two Perytons and the two Harperytons. He tells them as he's working, "So, for Harpy feathers are noticeably large but of fine quality, reflective of the harpy's beautiful but dangerous nature. Too Large for fletching, but they nonetheless make excellent quills which are in high demand. Now to the vocal cords." The party watches him working, cutting around in the neck, and he pulls out uh the uh voice box. He says, "If harpies are known for one thing, it's their singing. Their vocal cords are able to produce a wide variety of sounds. Some daring bards have taken to use them as strings for their instruments. Bards with instruments of the harpies are set to play music that can entrance entire rooms of listeners. On rare occasions, when you slay a harpy, it can be in the middle of ovulation. Doesn't matter if the egg is fertilized or not, it's the egg shell that has the real value. It's a pink speckled shell. And if it's uh if you powder it, you can make a dye that has some potential magical abilities. They make ink out of it." He cuts and cuts and he comes away with a pink speckled egg!
When he is done, he tells the group they now have one set of Peryton antlers, two Peryton hearts, two pouches of Harpy feathers, two Harpy voice boxes, and on Harpy egg.
At this point the party notices movement to the south. As they turn they see Risur, Alga, and their group walking up the trail towards you. "We heard the fighting. Is everyone okay?" Askelon says "Yeah, we're fine now." He points out the butchered Perytons and Harparytons and says, "Uh will this meat be of any value to you?" "Oh yes, maybe so, but these are local creatures, so not as nutritious as other things, but yes, we can use these." Askelon replies "Well, very well. They're yours."
The party collects themselves and get back on the road while the Gargun prep the meat and bones from the Perytons and Harperytons.
While the party breaks for lunch they ask Denneth if he's seen those creatures before. "Perytons, yeah, bad news, but this group handled them. But those other things? Haperytons, I'm gonna call them, they seem like some unnatural mating between a Peryton and a Harpy. Sharp antlers, wings, claws, AND a luring song. Damn. Like something Ilvir would dream up." Tenktovie asks if Harpies and Perytons travel together. "Not that I've seen. I have encountered them both, and Harpies are scarier, but neve together. Harpies are like ugly human females with stringy hair, wings, and avian legs. Not like these things."
Along the way they encounter no more dangers, but they do bag a couple of goats. Bish tells them he can work with that meat.
They continue on until dark and stop at a small campsite that Denneth points out. The goat is delicious. The party can see the fire of the Garguns a hundred yards to their south.
Askelon tells his skeletons to start walking north. Tenktovie asks if he can't just release them. Askelon tells him that the duration on his control of them is going to expire in less than an hours, and he doesn't want to waste the spells to re-animate them. If he loses control, they'll attack anyone near them. He likes the idea of them just heading north ahead of them and maybe fighting something out there.
Noctis gets Askelon to replenish the Shield spell into his Ring.
Larane 7
They get their temporary hit points replenished, and treats from Bish. They hit the road heading west again.
The party spent the rest of the day travelling west, gaining altitude, the Felsha Mountains looming larger ahead of them. Just before lunch Denneth stops the party and points out some Gnolls in the woods tracking them. Too few to risk attacking this group. They quickly vanish into the darkness of the trees.
Mid-afternoon the cross another large stream, this one not flowing as fast as the others. At this point there are no more woods between the trail and Myen Lake. Denneth points out that if they turn north and follow this stream to the lake they'll find good fishing and a camping spot. The party agrees and they head north. The point where the stream empties into the lake is not marshy or swampy. They can actually see three groups of stony pillars rising out of the lake maybe a kilometer north of them. Noctis asks "Do we know why there are pillars in the lake?" Denneth replies "I don't know, the some ribs of some geological formation that was here a long time ago and everything else just got washed out and those things are still standing. I, I don't know." They judge the pillars to be up to about 100 feet high.
While Bish sets up his cart and tends to the animals, Faelon, Denneth, Askelon, and Noctis decide to go fishing on the rock outcropping. Askelon and Noctis come empty handed, but Denneth brings in five fish, small to average, and Faelon hauls in six rather large fish. Bish is pleased, he can do a lot with that!
While they're eating lunch and Denneth is off the path relieving himself, Noctis and Askelon notice a giant winged creature flying near one set of pillars. Askelon mentions that he can see antlers on one. There are two creatures, and they land atop one of the spires. They speculate these are more Perytons.
The group packs up and gets back on the trail heading northwest. As the sun is starting to set behind the mountains ahead Denneth points out a spot on the path ahead where the trail crosses another stream. He points out that there is a campsite here. When they cross the water Denneth goes to a sign post and starts poking around. "Where is it? Should be here somewhere." He picks up a busted road sign and holds the two pieces up, pushed together. It reads "Felsha Trade Road." Denneth points upstream and explains that this was once the Felsha Trade Road, passing through Gifuso and down to the south, eventually going all the way to Trobridge Inn at the edge of Shava Forest. The party can see that there used to be a pretty decent road here, but it is no long managed and is overgrown. The road northwest, however, is in decent shape and while not exactly kept clean, it is clearly better than the trail they've been travelling. Denneth says that this road has not been maintained in something like 100 years. "If you follow this south you end up on the other side of the Gifuso Heights, where it turns southeast and parallels the Efrel River. That area is where the White Ravens encountered the beefed up part of Gnolls and Flind, where they obtained that lute. There is some very interesting terrain that way, it gets hilly and rockier as you go south. There is one place where a huge rocky protrusion sticks out of a hill, looks like a giant thumb. Right next to a box canyon. Yeah, we don't fuck with that thing. There's nasty stuff in there. I know of two White Raven groups that went into that canyon. They call it the foggy canyon, 'cause it's just a wall of fog. And we never heard anything from any of those guys ever again. So yeah, we don't go in there." The party realizes that there is a clue they've been chasing that mentions a "devil's thumb." Denneth says that he has heard that outcropping called Moloch's Thumb.
The party camps here. They can see the Gargun camp a ways to the southeast.
Larane 8
After breakfast the next morning they head northwest. There is more swamp between them and the lake now. The travel is uneventful as they approach the mountains. They can now make out the three tall peaks that they have learned are called the Three Sisters. To their right they can tell that Myen Lake is getting narrower, as they can actually see the opposite shore.
As the light is fading they can make out lights in the distance! It is Daquinasel. Finally.
Denneth stops the group for a snack. He tells them he wants to prepare them for the city.
- "I am going to prep you for what's going to happen when we get there because this place is kind of weird. We're going to uh come up to a gate with a gatehouse. When we enter the gatehouse they're going to ask you some questions. You need to understand that there are some permanent arcane stuff at the gatehouse. They can tell if you're a fiend or fey or undead. Or I think a Celestial maybe. I don't think they care much about any of the others, but apparently there's some kind of a bad history with fiends. Um, that doesn't mean that you can't get in if you're a fiend, but it does mean you're going to have to answer some questions.
- They're gonna ask you who you are, and why you're there. I would recommend that you try not to lie. If you're carrying Magical containers they're going to ask you to empty the containers before you come in. Again, I've never seen them actually have any problem with what they see, they just wanna know what you're bringing in. And by the way, what you're taking out.
- The people are there are pretty damned hospitable. In fact, they are the most accommodating people I've met anywhere ever. And there's a wide variety of them. Not like you would see in any of the places that I've been. And I've traveled to a lot of places. I've been to Geldeheimheim up in Orbaal. I've been to most of the major cities in Kaldor. I've been to Azadmere, I've been to Burzyn, I've been to Cherafir. And I've been to Coranan. This place is not like any of them.
- You've got your choice of several places to stay here. If you don't want to go into Daquinasel, if you don't want to answer their questions, if you don't want them looking what's in your bag. There is one place that you can stay that's outside the city. It's not the most comfortable place. In fact it smells a whole lot like fish. So if you're okay with that, cool. Our money is not the currency in Daquinasel.
- The shops there will all take your money up to a certain amount. If I remember correctly, it's the equivalent of a hundred gold per day. When you come in, they will offer to exchange foreign coin for their local coin. You can trade it back. It's a one to one trade and there's no taxes or charges or, uh, what's that word Gavrin taught me? Uh, usury. There's no usury on the exchange.
- Everybody that lives here is a citizen. To be a citizen you agree to uh work for uh everybody around you. So it's kind of a commons thing. But everybody here has a place to live, everybody here has enough food. It's just that everybody here chips in. Most of the people who live here have some kind of expertise. So you're going to find shops all over the place.
- There's a lot of different sections of the city that have different kinds of people. So, Askelon, there's a Sindarin area. And Hjalgrimm, there is a Khuzdul area. Bish has several friends in the Steadings. The biggest section of the town is mostly just humans or whoever the hell wants to stay there. There is an avian section. There is an Aquan section where the piers are. There's a section that they call the riverside where a river runs through the middle of the city. It dumps into Myen Lake. There's shops on both sides of the river all the way through. So Riverside is like the main shopping.
- OK, casting magic is okay, but the rules that they have say you have to be casting it for a constructive purpose. If you're casting magic to hurt somebody or blow things up, you're gonna be in trouble. There are several really powerful people that live in Daquinasel, but they pretty much just stay out of everybody's hair. Oh, I forgot the most important thing. They have a visitation limit. You can stay up to ten days before you have to declare if you want to become a citizen or if you want to move on. I asked some questions about why they've got all these weird rules and pretty much what I found out is um the place was settled by a bunch of folks who just wanted to get away from all the crazy crap that was happening in other places. Actually, a bunch of farmers and some Peonians. And some people who had some crafting skills just wanted to get away from wherever they were coming from. They settled this place, I don't know, a couple of hundred years ago.
- Every religion is allowed here. The last time I was here, there was trouble with the Laranians and the Agrikans. A while back the place got attacked by a huge red dragon. It just came out of nowhere. Yeah, a Dragon. Well, y you know how stories can be exaggerated, but they said this thing was like fifty feet, a hundred feet long or something? I mean huge. It burned a lot of the city. It kept bellowing something about somebody killed his father and now he wants revenge and nobody in the city knows anything about any Red Dragon father. So, they've been rebuilding ever since then. Well what happened apparently, what I was told is, the Laranian temple was one of the worst hit buildings and was burned nearly to the ground. The Agrikans took advantage of that and attacked the Laranians and killed almost all of them. So, the Agrican temple has been closed and the Laranian temple is closed. The Agrikans and Laranians are allowed to worship at shrines, but they are no longer to allowed to have a temple. All of the other religions have temples. By far the biggest temple here is the Save K'Noran temple. I understand that one of the, well, they call them The New Protectors, that poured a lot of resources into this place and built it up, one of the New Protectors was a Save K'Noran High Priestess. She worshipped demigod that nobody outside of here has ever heard of.
- The New Protectors aren't weren't from here originally. They came here from somewhere else and either got stuck here or settled here. I don't know what questions you guys got for me before we head in. Because we want to try to get there before the sub goes completely down.
- Noctis: Yeah, that's funny. Askelon: "You said they were pretty tolerant of, you know, different people, different races, but I assume our recent friends the Gargan tribe are not gonna be welcome in there, is that correct?"
- "That's probably true. You know what? We can ask at the gate because one of the rumors that I heard and I never verified was that an outlawed Gargan tribe was living nearby the city."
- Askelon: Okay.
- Denneth: "I think at its height Daquinasel may have been a couple of thousand people, but there's not that many now. When the trade route was running, this place was flourishing. When the trade route stopped, it became a dead end. They've been pouring a lot of their resources into trying to rebuild after the attack from the dragon. And they're replacing the wooden outer walls with stone walls.
- Askelon: "Did I hear you correct me earlier that you said all the major religions have temples here?"
- "Yes. One of the areas enclaves inside the city, hell, I can't remember, what they call it. Something rest. A big freaking graveyard, okay. Yeah, there's a there's a whole section in here that is uh a graveyard cemetery inside the city walls. Now outside the city walls, there's a whole lot of farmland, there's some ranch area, and there's a lot of orchards. And there's a whole lot of fishing. Um, yeah. Okay just trust me, this place is weird. You don't have an open mind, you're not gonna do well here. Now the all of the temples are allowed to be here, Morgathians included, and Navehans and Agrikans, it's just as long as they follow the rules. They can't go around just selecting random people and sacrificing them. You know, if you're gonna sacrifice somebody, you gotta go get them from somewhere else.
- Askelon: "All right, understood."
- "You're gonna find it's kind of a cool place because there's a lot of Arcanists here, and they use their services to help the place. So for example, there are continual flames all over the city that are hooded during the day and at night the whole place is lit up. They've got a pretty good sewer system and they've using magic somehow or I think maybe creatures in some cases to make the water flow well. Oh, and to handle waste. I know that for some time they were paying two for one for copper pieces because they wanted copper. But apparently what they were trying to do ended up with a dangerous accident that killed several people. And so they put that on the shelf for now. Best I know how to describe it, they told me they were trying to create um copper wires that would transmit lightning. Uh yeah, I can see how people got hurt.
- Tenktovie: "So no copper gollum."
- "Uh uh, maybe. I I don't know. So they were they were trying to use it to create power here, but I don't get how that would work. I sat in on a lecture with a weird guy with a funny accent. Je was giving a lecture talking about Magic and, what was the word he used? Tech, tech, technology. Magic and technology. It was Shell. Yeah, his name was Shell. He wore funny clothes and what I've heard is that he was friends with the New Protectors and he travels to other worlds. Because time is different in other places, sometimes he'll be gone for years. But he brings back knowledge that they use here. Apparently he's traveled to worlds that have very little magic or no magic and when the Technology works really well, the magic does not. And that when the magic works very well, the technology cannot. And if I remember from the lecture he said that In places where magic is strong it's because there is a strong connection to the will of creatures that can connect to the magic. That automatically makes the technology not work because the technology requires Order and predictiveness. It has to always work on the same rules. Magic messes with the rules, so the technology doesn't work really well. They have a school here in Daquinasel that is outlawed by Melderyn. The call them artificers. These are people who have figured out how to make things work in combination between magic and technology. Where the magic isn't as strong as regular magic, but the technology seems to work. Unlike most attempts to use just plain technology here without the magic. That's all way above my pay grade.
- Tenktovie: "And we'll study that!"
The party can see the piers and docks where Daquinasel abuts Myen Lake, including what looks like a tavern on stilts over the water. There are a number of boats, most of which are fairly small. On their left are orchards.
They appear to be approaching the southwest corner of the city. The walls are about twenty feet tall. Askelon can make out a lot of trees on the left side, inside the walls. One of them appears to be an Elder Tree from the Shava Forest, and it appears to be injured. There are lights in the trees, as you'd expect to see in Taurindar dwellings. On the right side, inside the wall, is a wide building three stories tall, with a tower on its southern corner. They can make out other towers along the wall in both directions. Behind the city, nestled against a rocky outcropping, they can see more lights, like they're in the side of the hill. Hjalgrimm makes out what looks like a Khuzdul outpost atop the crag.
As they approach the gate, Denneth offers to go first. He identifies himself and explains he has visited before. He points out Bish as another repeat visitor. A guard disappears into the gatehouse and returns with a ledger. "Yes, sir, welcome back. How long do you intend to stay this visit?" "Oh, just a few days to rest and restock, then we'll be returning to Tashal." "Welcome, then. Please send your companions in."
Hjalgrimm steps up. "Greetings, Master Khuzdul. Your name, sir?"