Previously: Chapter 20: Unraveling the Plot
Battling the Stone Giant
As Willowbark and Kal stand in the clearing, facing down the giant and ogres that are starting to surround them, they are all distracted by the sound of breaking sticks and moving foliage from the side. Another ogre comes running out of the greenery, looking stressed and tired, and just shouts out in giant “she found us again”. Just as the words leave his mouth, a young redheaded dwarven girl comes running out of the bushes after him, looks at Willowbark and Kal, and shouts “Well?! Are you just going to stand there?!” and starts attacking the ogres surrounding them.
The rest of the party watches this from the treeline, and decides to join as the negotiations have concluded. Penny emerges and everyone can see that she is suddenly engulfed in shadows, with large dark tendrils growing out of her and down around her feet like a shadowy dress, as her form of dread is manifested. She starts attacking with eldritch blasts like Theren usually does, and so the party can feel that something has changed about her.
As the battle rages, Theren attacks from the sidelines, using the trees for cover, while Demetrius comes swooping in with his new Venomfang Daggers and throws sneak attacks out left and right, gravely wounding many of the foes. Willowbark tries to protect Kal, as the stone giant focuses on her, which causes her to almost get killed in the skirmish. Granny uses her bow to attack from a distance at first, but as the ogres get too close, she is forced to switch to close combat. Luckily her homemade shield makes this an easy switch. Kody stands on the sidelines providing bardic inspirations to the party, while attacking with a crossbow, but he is cornered and almost killed by a couple of ogres.
Willowbark pulls out another beast from her bag of tricks in the hopes of getting something to help protect the wounded, and pulls out a very angry badger. It attacks one of the ogres and bites its finger. The ogre tries to retaliate, but the badger is too fast, managing to dart away just in time. The stone giant succumbs to his wound when the party focuses on him, seeing as he is the biggest thread, literally.
As the enemy forces are dwindling, the redheaded dwarven girl gets the final kill by jumping up and decapitating the final ogre with her axe. Willowbark and Penny quickly help heal the downed allies, and when Kody gets up, he sees that the enemy has fallen, and so wanders straight over to the stone giant and begins tugging at his tooth. Noticing that he is struggling, Penny walks over to help him drag it out. As they are pulling, Penny asks him when he last saw her and Morgan. Through the heaving he insists that he saw them at a show just last week, much to Penny’s confusion, but she doesn’t question him further, and they eventually manage to get the tooth out.
Willowbark waves at the dwarven girl as she goes to do her usual ritual of gathering pretty rocks and sticks to honor the dead. Kal goes over to her, and introduces herself, and thanks for the help. The dwarven girl introduces herself as Leona the Tiny Lioness as the rest of the party comes over to say hello. Kody stands in the back and takes notes on the whole encounter. Penny has reverted to her old self, as the shadowy tendrils retreats back into her body. Willowbark goes over to ask her if she’s okay, and Penny assures her that she is fine. When asked what was up with all the shadows, she says it was just a gift from her new friend. Willowbark looks at her with a mix of concern and suspicion, and hands her a pretty rock she found, hoping it will bring her luck.
Searching the Dead
The party decides to loot the bodies, making sure they get anything of use from the giant and the ogres. Kal decides to search the pouches of the stone giant, finding a few supplies that suggests that a group of adventurers met with an unfortunate end encountering the stone giant and his companions. Among the equipment is a peculiar looking hat, which Theren can see is a Hat of Wizardry, that functions much like his Venomfang amulet, just for wizards. Kal decides to put it in the bag of holding.
Leona continues where Kody left off, and continues to pull out teeth of the stone giant. She spends some time doing this, as a few of the teeth are cracked and broken, and therefore useless, but she manages to get a couple of molars out that are of a decent size. Noticing Penny seeming a bit disappointed that she didn’t get a chance to harvest, she gives one of the teeth to her.
They continue looting the bodies, and Kal notices that Demetrius is just sitting on a tree trunk admiring himself in the reflection of his dagger. She walks over to him, slaps him on the back of his head, and asks him to please help out with the looting so that they can leave post haste. Seeing the potential for crafting magical items, they decide to take with them a pair of ogre hands, as well as pulling off one of the giant's fingernails, as Theren has heard they can be used to make powerful potions.
When they feel content in having retrieved what is of value, they decide to leave before more enemies arrive. As they walk they ask Leona why she was chasing the ogres and attacking them, and she just tells them simply that she finds them “ugly” and doesn’t like that they hurt people. About as good a reason as any really when you think about it. In either case they thank her for the help, and ask if she wants to tag along as they head back towards Tempervale.
When they go to get their horses, Willowbark tells them about what happened and that Kal got hurt, but she’s okay now. Kody sees this, and asks why she’s bothering to talk to the horses as they are only dumb beasts. Willowbark looks at him with a stern look, saying that they are much more than that, but Kody doesn’t really get it.
Night Gathers
Kody, sitting on Penny’s horse holding his tooth, can see that the sun is getting low in the sky, and they’re still a long way away from Tempervale which is laying in the horizon. He tells the party that they have to move faster if they are to make it to Tempervale tonight, but they tell him that they’re not gonna make it, so they have to make camp at some point. Kody seems rather adamant that they continue traveling, but both Willowbark and Kal intimidate him by saying that he won’t make it back without them, so he might as well go with their speed, and Kal assures him that he will not be harmed in the night.
As night falls upon the planes, they decide to set up camp as discussed, and find a fitting spot to make a campfire to defend them if anything comes during their rest. Willowbark, the badger and Kody take the first watch, and she spots 4 wolves lurking a bit away from the campfire, and decides to prank him by acting scared about being attacked by them. Kody is quite shaken by this and decides to hide in his bedroll.
As Demetrius and Granny hold watch, she points out that he seems to be very out of place whenever they leave a major settlement, and seems rather uncomfortable by being in the forest. She doesn’t really understand his motivation for traveling with them if he finds it such a chore, but he answers that sometimes one has to blend in where one is the most unlikely to be found. He retorts by asking why she’s with the group still, and she brushes it off, saying she enjoys being in nature and on the road.
During Leona and Penny’s watch, they mostly sit and watch the night sky. Leona tells her that she’s munching for something, so Penny uses her creation powers to make some candy for both of them to enjoy. In the distance, a large storm is looming over Tempervale, and so they sit and watch the lightning hit the rooftops of the city.
Kal and Theren take the last watch. When Kal gets up and spends a while looking at the storm that is raging over Tempervale. A bit beyond, she can see that the lightning strikes the same spot three times in succession some distance north of the city, and wonders what the god is trying to tell her. No matter now, so she and Theren keeps watch, until sun rises and Kal begins making breakfast. When Kody wakes up, he tries to grab a bowl of some of the food, but it proves to be a humbling experience for him as his hand is slapped away by Kal. He does get to eat, but nobody touches the food without her permission.
After breakfast they continue to head back towards the city. During the final stretch, both Penny and Willowbark notice that the ground around them has bones strewn across the grass, and they suspect that there was a large battle here many, many years ago. When they finally reach the city gates and have boarded their horses, the guards seem to be quite taken aback by the appearance of Willowbark, apparently never having seen a firbolg before, but they let them pass without any interruption.
Delivering the Tooth
The party follows Kody to the Hill District, where the Harlow residence resides. He stops a bit before they reach the manor, and turns to the party that he would appreciate if they stayed back a bit, as they do stand out in a crowd. As he doesn’t want the father of his love to use the fact that he had help against him, although he never said he had to do it alone, he would prefer if they hid when he delivered the tooth. They agree, and so decide to stand a bit further down the road, with Willowbark and Penny disguising themselves to blend in.
Kody walks over to the house in a very nervous manner, and walks up the stairs, knocking on the door, tooth in hand. After waiting for a few seconds, the door opens, and the party who is watching can see a stern looking man emerge, looking Kody up and down. The daughter, Anne, emerges from the upstairs window, looking lovingly at Kody, as her father talks to him. Willowbark can read on lips, so she says that the father thinks he bought the tooth in a shop, but after his daughter convinced him that he has proven his worth, the father offers Kody to come join them for dinner that evening. Elated, Kody hugs the man, but quickly remembers his place, and waves to Anne, before returning to the party.
He thanks the party profusely for the help, saying it worked, and that they are having dinner that evening, thanks to them. He tells them to come with him to his home, and he will gladly pay them their fee. As they walk there, they ask what Anne’s father does for a living, considering the living situation being quite nice, but Kody is not entirely sure, only that he works with or for someone he calls “Muzak”. Nobody in the party has heard the name before.
They follow him to the northeastern part of the city, to a small house near a street corner. It’s quaint, but not luxurious in any way. Functional is the word, and when they enter they see it’s a one room house. He walks over to his bed, grabs a box he hid behind it, and counts out the payment to the party. He offers a payment for Leona as well, but she declines, saying she never made a deal with him in the first place.
As Kody gives Penny her cut, he asks her when the next performance with Morgan is due to happen, hoping to maybe catch a show with Anne, but Penny tells him that he must be mistaken, as she hasn’t performed in this city. He tells her that he is absolutely sure that it was her, which prompts the party to theorize that a doppelganger may be behind the impersonation. They ask where the performance was held last time, and he reveals it to be the Transcendence Theater. Realizing that this is something they should investigate further, they assure Kody that he doesn’t have to worry about it, and wishes him luck with the dinner with Anne and her father. They then say their goodbyes and take their leave.
As they emerge into the streets, they do not get far before they realize that they are being cornered by a group of city guards who have been waiting for them to emerge. Coming from all sides, they are surrounded, and look around nervously, not knowing why they are being detained or thinking they have done anything wrong. A large minotaur comes walking from an alley, approaching them. He is also wearing a city guard uniform, but his looks nicer. He scans the party, before locking eyes with the cleric.
“Are you Kal?”