TOTLK 006 - A Big Elk In A Small Pond

The evening before the hunt brought a rare moment of peace. The lizardfolk welcomed the party into their kitchens for a proper meal and wine gifted long ago by the Fold, and the companions sat through an evening of lizardfolk "humour," obvious statements that somehow became charming through sheer earnestness. The party toasted the tribe's reunification, and Mulokha considered sending word to her own people, though ultimately decided to wait until their last deed proved a success. Earnest opened up about "Earnest's Own," a company of adventurers he had assembled that had a catastrophic ending. Riding the high of their recent victory, he revealed himself as a noble of the Lyschtager family and formally offered Ellenor a position as his hireling for 2,500 gold, which she accepted; this, he reasoned, would be the formation of "Earnest's Others". Ellenor, in turn, regaled them of her time with the Whistledrop Crew, then offered Kig help in the search for his missing master. The tortle politely declined, aware that Ellenor already had more than enough on her plate.

Before bed, Earnest found himself in conversation with the Blade of Holy Vengeance. He attempted to talk up his relationship with his wealthy father, but his patron saw straight through his exaggerations. The Light came up with a blunt plan: they would use Everard's connections to find the underwater war, regardless of method. Now that a professional thief was on the payroll, robbing his own father suddenly seemed within reach, though Earnest was uncomfortable with the suggestions of killing his father. Elsewhere, Ellenor learned of Dee's "mortu" Vistani nature and the story behind it, coming away newly convinced that Dee was a true Lingering Force and not just some figment of Elle's imagination. The night's calm broke when Kig, testing his bag of tricks, summoned a Giant Elk directly into the cramped cave, where the poor creature promptly panicked and began shrieking in the confined space. Mulokha magically reduced the elk down just enough to hustle it outside before it brought the tribe running. Once free of the caves, Kig recognized the elk as a Celestial Familiar spirit, bound to the other creatures sealed within the bag, and won its trust to accompany them to the coming hunt. He and Mulokha camped that night beneath the stars, with "Elkie" standing watch over them.

The party set out early the next morning, Kig and Mulokha riding atop Elkie as the group cut through the swamps and into the mud flats beyond. They came upon a pond with a human-made chest resting on a muddy islet at its center, and near its feeding rivers, three Giant Frogs. On seeing Elkie, two dove into the pond, leaving only a lone baby frog behind; this struck Mulokha as far too convenient to be innocent. Nearby, the bodies of two lizardfolk lay at the pond's edge, and she bet that a frogfolk ambush awaited. As the party slowly approached, Ellenor and Earnest killed the baby frog on their way toward the chest, with both parties patently aware of the other.

The moment Ellenor moved the chest with her "Telekinesis", the trap sprang. Eight bullywugs burst from hiding, ready to defend the treasure they'd stolen, treasure that the Fold had promised the lizardfolk. The fight that followed was messy, and the frogfolk's filth-crusted spears found their marks more than once, but the adventurer's skills proved decisive. Mulokha lit up the swamp with bursts of radiant energy, Ellenor slipped between opponents striking as she went, Earnest scattered his Blade of Holy Vengeance into a storm of cutting shards, Kig fought with characteristic martial mastery, and Elkie trampled bullywugs beneath their celestial hooves. Having killed the baby frog on the way in, Ellenor and Earnest found themselves the pointed target of the two remaining giant frogs; one dragged Elle toward the river, but Earnest charged forward fearlessly and descended on her captor, exploding it with a wrathful smite. Kig, flipping off Elkie's back mid-charge, then took the second frog's head clean off with a single stroke of his new wakizashi.

With the fight over, the party took a short rest on the islet and turned to the chest. Inside they found riches, a Helm of Comprehending Language, and a somehow even fancier set of belts. Before moving on, the companions gave proper burial to the fallen lizardfolk at Mulokha's direction. Traditional lizardfolk burials dictated a skinning and repurposing of the bodies, but Mulokha believed the humans may find that distasteful, so buried them instead. As the deep mud flats were fed from the bones of her kin, the group readied themselves for a hunt still ahead.