1. Reminders of the Old War

(November 1, 2021)

Clan Roamwhisper

Ritual of Negation

Karitha

Ravenspeak

Enclave of Discord

Treasure:

• (Magical Boat)
• 22 gp in various coin
  
  

• Pick back up with the Brute leaping out of the strange pool in response to ~ Azurfa jumping on the strange, 'molten' stone above it.

(November 8, 2021)

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B'ob https://kanka.io/en/campaign/77365/characters/591591

Searching the first floor of the Enclave of Discord:

• 126 gp, 72 sp, 16 cp (all old Nerath currency)
• Hungry Shortsword
• Silver Raven (Figuring of Wondrous Power)
• Orb of Time
• potion of healing (7)
• potion of invisibility 
• potion of hill giant strength
• potion of heroism
• potion of haste

• Made final decisions on the Ritual of Negation and then set off
• Couple of us bought art/charm memento items from the Clan as souvenirs and proof of friendship/tolerance
• Orc hunter woman Karitha came along with us for security; planning to go east from Ravenspeak. She's a magic-user of some sort, formerly an apprentice to the The Voice, knows as a Windsister. 
• Made it back without incident, but found that the town was attacked by the Unknown.  Attacked right before dusk, heavily damaged the gate and apparently didn't injure anyone.  Roared, shrugged off all attacks, and ran off.
• ~ Zeersedlo split off to talk to The 'Enclave' folks about the attack: a few were 'nibbled' and injured, but not with the creature's full force.  
• ~ Azurfa had to come up with 'corrections' to the story we told yesterday, now that guards have seen what the creature actually looks like.  People are coming to him with questions about what the creature actually is, so he worked to calm them down
• ~ Slate's husband actually was among those injured by it, but Slate couldn't tell if he'd been 'marked' in the same way we might be.
• Ebdrenhelped out with gate repair by advising them on the masonry aspect an was successful.  
• Armand "Sev" Pogodi fashioned a net for hindering the creature's climbing.
• Old Man Jenkinsand Taleel were nowhere to be found all day.
  
  
• Set off (been 4 days since the fight), found creature's tracks easily near town but they became indistinct once in the hunting grounds.  
• Also found bootprints of a humanoid group heading to the pond/waterfall.  We opted to go straight there.
• Found a group of 6 people, two of whom were on a small boat up at the steps.  They wore the same armbands as the bandits who hit the caravan.  They lay claim to the ruins and told us to leave; leading to an awkward standoff.
• The group's leaders sprang an attack on us with Fairy Fire followed by many longbow shots.
  ...
• Azurfa used Balls Deep(TM), it was super effective!

• Chatted for 1-2 hrs in the morning, agreed that we wouldn't go back west until we had a way to kill "it"
• Azurfa gave Handel a sanitized version of events (claiming the thing was just an unusually clever dino) and recommended that westbound caravans hold in town for a while.
• Jenkins IDs the creature as a Unknown, a type of Nerathi bioweapon made to hunt Ostorian (giant-aligned) forces, and said we should go dig graves for ourselves
• Unchained camp exists NE of here according to the short hooded elven archer woman who came to the Inn that morning, and was also the one who saved us with the exploding arrow (she's Taleel Jakhul the bounty hunter)
• Zeer followed (non-threateningly) Taleel just outside the Inn after she finished talking to Handel.  She said the save was a freebie but wouldn't share any info about the fortress or her business there.  Zeer relayed a casual thanks on behalf of the group.
• (Zeer took the effluent vials to ...)
• (Looking up info about the Unchained camp?)
• Fearing Jenkins' warning about us being marked for death by the Sigma, we thoroughly prestidigitate/shower after using Detect Magic to check for magic traces.  None present, BUT the stink of the river effluent (which matched the smell of the creature!) didn't go away after we cleaned ourselves.  That might be the 'mark'.  Luckily, it's not noticeable unless you really try to sniff it. 
   
• Met with the Unchained tribe after earning trust of Howl the goliath hunter as he was attacked by massive flying dinos, who brought us in.  Had dinner with them. 
• Met their First (one-armed woman) who vetted us for an audience with the Voice.  He (hobgoblin elder) read a giant's skull covered in runes, which functioned as a library/archive of ancestral knowledge.  There's a Ritual of Negation that was used by giant rune mages/champions to weaken the beasts in the past, but it sapped their sanity over time.
• We can imbue one item each with the ritual's power, but it costs the permanent loss of something personal.  It also causes Unknown.  ~ Zeersedlo, Ebdren, and Armand "Sev" Pogodi opted to go through with it so the group as a whole has a chance to win in a rematch.

(Session: October 18, 2021)

Unknown

Treasure:

• 14 silver coins (ancient Nerath), corroded  (Consider them 'Quest Items' until further notice, Azurfa has something in mind for them)
• dagger of venom (Arkhosia) in rusted sheath (Dagger of Venom)
  
• 3 pearls (100 gp each) (LIQUIDATED on Oct 21/21, 4-way split b/w Keith, Derek, Jason, Alex, 75gp each)
• pearl of power (identical to pearls above)
  
• potion of growth
  
• Sending Stone (sending is received on the other end, but no response)

• Detect Magic yielded no hits for the magic item
• Cart was irreparably damaged; cause...
• Survival check: single attacking creature, lizardlike claws, no dragging tails, cruel kills and not for eating, creature was perched in a nearby tree and seemed to come from the north beforehand
• Bandits (if they were) had no defining uniform or signifiers; we may be assuming too much about them
• First few deaths didn't have weapons out; only the 2 bandits who fled a short ways had them drawn
• Broken arrows suggest they were useless against the creature, and there's no gore from the creature
• Doesn't seem like a viable ambush spot for the 5 bandits, and 3-4 minutes away from the road; possibly the bandits hijacked the wagon (with its drivers)
• Got TORN UP by ravenous flesh-eating scarab swarms, ditched the caravan wreck site
• Tried to follow the projected path of the wagon (unknown accuracy) but found no trace of bandit encampment; chose to both Short and Long rest in a rocky area
• Fortified and camouflaged our position well enough to avoid detection by some massive flying creature during Azurfa's pre-dawn watch; speak with animals had confirmed presence of an unnatural predator