Quest type - Faction Aid(The Guardians)Diplomacy
Parent Quest - None
Character - Time Tempered Incus; Goal: Respond to a request from the Guardians Tribe(via the Watchers Tribe)
Date - 12/6/2025
Completed - Complete
Tags (scroll down to the end of the page) - Level 3
Loose threads [Strange Preserved Red Fruit being Imported via First Landing Port, Iruxi leader who wishes to crush the Guardians and release Her, Blackstone metal, The Veil
Participants Brorn Stoutward, Eluard Vernille, Stark, Time Tempered Incus
Locations: Watchers' Tribe Village, First Landing Port, FAE ship #9, Zar-Mothet, The Wound(renaming TBD Guardian Home)
Relavent quests: Monty Python presents: Dude! where's that continent? Monty Python Presents: Okay but seriously, where's that continent?
Short summary:
- Saved a Kobold Hunter(Snok) who keeps stealing Eagle eggs and nearly dying
- Went to the Watcher's Tribe and found Gardet a Jet black kobold Emissary hailing from Zar-Mothet
- Returned to First Landing Port, Chartered a FAE ship to go to Gardet's home
- Dryads spilled a container containing preserved red fruit worth investigating
- Piloted Gardet's dingy, which we hitched a ride aboard a Fey vessel, to the Island
- Got to the Isle, Gardet taught us that anything we kill had to be burned to prevent it from rising again (as an Undead)
- Epic buttsliding down the mountain but Brorn and Incus are too old for that
- Undead constantly assault the Kobolds of the Isle (Who guard/watch over land for their Dragon Master Xalvyrith the Duskworm)
- Iruxli were the source(unsure) for the Undead and were also constantly assaulting the Kobolds, under the pretenses of some "Natural balance" because of Kobold mining
- We fought with the Iruxli and nearly died, only barely getting them low enough to retreat
- ALOT of sus things involving whomever is behind the Kobolds and the Iruxli
- Brorn spoke of something called "The Veil" and that it may be what the Iruxi are attempting to repair.
Full Report
The party set out from First Landing having been united and sent out from the Fountain plaza(public area) after being approached and assigned to the task by Alissa the guild receptionist. The tiefling seemed in a hurry with her stack of reports and issues to give and quickly urged the party to travel towards the Watcher tribe(link needed) to aid in a request recently received and telling them of the trouble that the tribe has had ever since Father Lightning(link needed) died. The group agreed knowing little of the actual request itself and quickly made final supply purchases for travel though they were unsure what would be needed for the task ahead of them.
The group moved quickly on through the well traveled path where they came upon an often seen by adventurers kobold, Snok(Link), being assaulted by large eagles as he'd been stealing their eggs to help feed his tribe. They took out the birds with some difficulty before escorting Snok back to the watchers tribe proper. Where upon they were greeted with suspicion and skeptical looks by Tarka(Link) a vengeful kobold who seems to be distrustful of all outsiders after Father Lightning's death. Escorted deeper within the village they are greeted by a jet black kobold in stark contrast to the all blue kobolds of the Watchers Tribe, they learn that this is Gardet(Create npc link and link). After introductions the party learns that Gardet is the Emissary of the Guardian Tribe(Faction link needed). He requests aid from the party because while their tribe has always had a tenuous relationship with the island's local Iruxi, it is only recently that a group has begun actively assaulting them and laying siege to their home It appears that the Iruxi of the island of Zar-mothet(Location link required) have always been a violent people performing similar survival of the fittest challenges against one another. The party also learns that the Guardians in theory guard Xalvyrith the Duskwyrm(Link needed), but he rarely interacts with the tribe anymore, despite this they keep the name given to their ancestors.
Zar-mothet is located East of the main continent, nearer to the other continent.
Returning to First Landing and heading to the port, the entire group now including Gardet approach some FAE vessels(possible link required) and barter passage, Incus manages to spot and overheard some Fey though she has no idea what they are yelling about. But it seems to have to do with crates of Preserved Red Fruit(Followup link potential) being spilled. After bartering passage to ride the FAE ship eastward the party settles in and is taken into the quarters where they share a space with some Dryads who's trees are sprouting within the vessel in a loamy grassy area. The Dryads(Gillia and Nixie within seem enamored with EL once they learn that he can speak their tongue. They attempt unsuccessfully to bargain for his teeth.
A week of travel later they are greeted with the crew abuzz and upon investigating find the sight of a jagged coastline in the distance, and upon Gardet's instruction board his Dingy to make the final leg of the journey.
The dingy is Necessary due to the protective reefs and rocks that guard the island, preventing larger vessels from approaching a fact that future expeditions will absolutely need to take into account if they approach by sea.
The island itself is coated in a sweltering jungle with many hills, marshes, plenty of rain, and even some mountainous terrain. The party traveled as quickly as possible, though not as quickly as Gardet seemed to dart through the brush inward towards his home. They were beset upon by vicious velociraptors days into their journey and barely managed to eek through the encounter and only then realized they should have picked up a properly trained healer before they left as many of them were horribly injured in the scuffle.
Gardet urged them to stack and burn the corpses to prevent them from rising in undeath, a common occurrence on the island which filled many of them with unease. After stacking the bodies he used the strange blackstone weapon that he wore to ignite them in a seemingly magical manner, but it seems after further investigation that the Blackstone(potential Item linkage required) generates extreme heat when struck against a hard surface, object, or combatant. After setting the corpses ablaze they traveled further into the island to a miles wide crater like depression in the earth, where the dense jungle begins anew with dark soil almost as dark as Gardet's equipment. In the center of the crater lay a mountain that peaks even over the rim, this they come to find is where Gardet's people call home. Along the way a massive shadow flies overhead blotting out the sun though due to the canopy and the quickness of the event the party is unable to determine where the shadowed being is flying.
The kobold and the group slide down the hill to the bottom after some pathfinding and continue to press onward. Arriving after an hour of travel the group comes to a jet black cave, seemingly filled with veins of the metal that make up Gardet's equipment and they press onward to meet another kobold of his tribe who explains that another hole has opened within their great chamber, a new layer of the mine, and 'The Great Shadow' burrowed into the ground to open it up and they are struggling to secure the new breach from the surging undead within leaving themselves vulnerable from a rear attack from the Iruxi.
After some more ineffective healing and travel the group moves to investigate a nearby camp where Iruxi have been spotted, first to investigate and attempt peace talks before any violence may break out. It is then revealed that Brorn heard strange things within the cave, though he doesn't share what those things are, though if the voices are to be believed then things aren't quite as simple here as they are being lead to believe. It is good that the party decided against immediate hostilities as they are jumped by the stealthy and well trained native Iruxi and questioned, The Iruxi ask why they have just left the 'wound' they say angrily that it must be repaired and there can be no peace until that is done. They say that the Kobolds opened this wound and that the kobolds are a blight upon the land intent on destroying the world and that 'they' are the rightful protectors of the place. They say that Xalvyrith orders them to guard it while he hunts down the Iruxi and believe that his recent lack of excursions mean that he is dying. It seems that they believe the kobolds to only be one source of filth that must be cleansed from the wound before it can heal naturally. And upon overhearing Incus mention that the dead are rising and attacking the iruxi flair into a frenzy and declare an attack on the kobolds now because 'She' is cleansing them. The Iruxi do not know who She, is exactly but only that she wishes to be freed, that the dragons shattered her and scattered her across the world and that now that the first piece has been reunited(See https://app.kanka.io/w/beyondtheportal/entities/8208050 For more information)
Quote from Iruxi leader "I do not know her name, only that she wishes to be free. She has been shackled and made to wither under their watch. She yearns to be unbound, to be free once more. The dragons scattered her across the world and now that the first peice has been reunited we feel her power returning. The dead rise again against their oppressors. She will be free!" (Necril)
The party waits until some of the Iruxi have left and make their decision to fight on the side of the kobolds entering a grueling combat against the remaining Iruxi, and while none of them are slain and the party barely holds their own. The Iruxi are driven off after their leader suffers nearly fatal injuries.
While the others attempt to tend to their nearly mortal wounds, Incus searches the camp finding a few shards of the strange material left behind, upon touching them she is filled with a boiling rage, and suspects that this may be the same material that Gardet and his fellow kobolds adorn themselves with. She gathered up the pieces in a protective cloth wrapping to take back to the guild for further study as it may be an integral part of cracking open what is happening on Zar-Mothet. Then the group returns to the kobolds hoping that they didn't doom the tribe to slaughter. They return to find that the kobolds managed to repel both assaults, though not without harm to themselves, but it seems that the splitting of the Iruxi group allowed them to win the day in the end and the corpses of their foes are found blazing upon the parties return, though the large iruxi and his vanguard are not among them.
Incus and the group question Gardet about the materials and learn that the kobolds and other dragon-kin are blessed to resist the effects of the blackstone, but the stone is a gift from the Angry Mother(potentially the same entity that the Iruxi were speaking about?). Gardet also explains that it was put in the ground to help them guard themselves against the taint(Assumed to mean the undead which rise if not burned). Brorn mentions something about "The Veil"(Potential followup link required) and that it seems to be what the Iruxi are trying to fix by assaulting the kobolds.