Zura, Jingles, Cyrus, Pascan, Skakkax, and Croxia decided that they were woefully unprepared to confront Kano again, and headed dejectedly back to Veriscali, planning to heal at the Oasis. Shakkax carried the dead body of the kelpie guardian of the Sanctuary, but when the party had gone a bit of distance, the body disintegrated... leaving behind a glowing amber heart, which Zura now keeps.
Along the way, they also stumbled past another cave base of hobgoblins and worgs. The party was spotted and tried to run away, but it was no use. Surrounded by enemies, everyone fought bravely but it was difficult with both Pascan and Jingles seriously injured. The group held up in battle though, and the hobgoblins quickly discovered that their quarry was not that weak. After suffering heavy losses, the rest of the hobgoblins ran away, and the party was able to make it back to the city without further issue--though Jingles strangely disappeared for a bit.
Meanwhile, Methty met with Xarris to catch up on all the updates on what is going on at the Oasis. She was instructed to build her own establishment within the walls of the keep. Then she made the rounds to meet with a few esteemed wizard staying within the keep of the Oasis while Fort Chittor is being built.
- Meadius The Village Wizard - to be hired for phase 2 of upgrades @ the Oasis.
- Master Kalza - Want: 5 x Bottles of Ectoplasm.
- Master Akvir - Looking for his missing apprentice Thevir.
- Arch-Mage Shialbaz Clan Spellscale - dismissed Methty after catching her in a lying about her patron.
When Methty went down to the hot springs, she found Zura and the two caught up on recent events. With Yucria's help, they healed one of the stone statues, who turned out to be a female Fall beast elf named Mahareen. Mahareen was turned to stone over 1000 years ago by a giant cockatrice while on her way to Riverrun. She immediately tasked Methty and Zura to help find a member of House Willowstone and to restore the traditional meeting place of Fall and Spring elves, and haven for the beast elves.
Cyrus and Jingles arrived at the Oasis the next day, and everyone enjoyed a week of rest and recovery--especially Jingles (but not Mahareen). During that time, they met some interesting people enjoying the hot springs as well, including Mogar DLeatherwing (Marshall of Grimmor), Zarinda the Half-Elf Trader (from Donfar's Forge), and Musa the Bounty Hunter and his hyena companion Bully. They also met Razana from the House of Dust, who agreed to go with them to scout Riverrun, which has been rumored to be overrun with undead.
After Jingles was healed, Zura, Cyrus, Methty, Jingles, Mahareen, and Razana set out on the north shore of the river and followed it towards Riverrun. Halfway to their destination, the group was besieged by a flock of cockatrices! Everyone fought bravely but a few were struck and began to turn to stone. At one point, Zura watched in horror as Jingles fell unconscious from a tree (AGAIN!) and went berserk. She killed cockatrice after cockatrice as Methty followed and milked all of the fallen cocks... In order to heal those turned to stone. In the end, one cockatrice fled--from the zeal with which Zura killed the others.
Luckily, Jingles turned out to still be ALIVE and ended up helping with the milking, but got it all over his face fur. While alive, the party decided to head back to the Oasis to heal and regroup once again. Riverrun and Kano will both have to wait another week...
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