The Long Shadow Sessions 1 - 10

General Summary

Session 1 The scattered party members accepted King Aurum's request for aid and reunited with each other in the King's Garrison in Wayfare. The King revealed that he wished to contract the party to find his daughter, Princess Tria, who had run off (again). He believed that she had fallen into some sort of trouble with news of a band of guerilla fighters, largely orcs, had been spotted in the area she had last been seen in.
With the party agreeing to take the job (and not breathe a word of it to anyone), the King's top scout, Pharon, led them into the town of Wayfare to gather supplies before setting out into the Auburn Woods to the south. The party seemed curious as to Tria's relationship to Aurum. Pharon revealed that while they can bicker, they do seem to have a healthy relationship and that the King would not be contracting outside help in finding her if the situation weren't so dire.
Once in the woods, the party quickly found Tria's last known location: the remnants of a campsite nearly a week abandoned. Her path abruptly disappeared, as Pharon mentioned it was wont to do, but Eladan and Zandre were able to spot a small smoke plume on the horizon eastward, towards the location of an old Antecean ruin that Tria frequently visited. Upon arrival at the ruin, it became clear that a large force had been camped out here up until recently; the smoke plumes being the remnants of recently extinguished campfires. Deciding it would be best to eliminate the possibility that Tria did not end up with this group before searching other locals, the group decided to follow the wayward tracks of the band continuing eastward into the woods.
The tracks led the party directly into a patrol, of all things, a couple of hill giants and giant mastiffs. The party was able to convince the giants that they were "new-hires" to whatever was going on in the cave the giants were instructed to keep people away from. This ruse carried them up to the cave and, with a bit of suggestive magic from Eladan, into the cave past two more giant sentries. The trick came to an abrupt end after entering, however, as the multitude of orcs within did not believe the party's story for a second. A battle broke out and, despite their numbers, the orcs were clearly outmatched. Several of them were able to retreat into the back of the cave, where the party found dozens of orcs waiting for them in the remains of some kind of Antecean facility and a Foci.
Seemingly studying or scanning the Foci was some kind of wizard, a hulking goliath, and curiously, Priscilla, a night hag that had previously vexed the party in Horizon. Echoless attempted to speak and diffuse the situation, and the goliath, Lazaros, acquiesced, as it seemed whatever they were searching for in this cave was not here. The orcs here had seen no signs of the princess, but as Priscilla opened a gate to the Plane of Air with a cubic gate (previously retrieved with the help of Echoless in the Abyss), Tria revealed herself and dashed to follow before the gate closed. Seeing that the girl the party sought was indeed the Princess of Sigil, Lazaros promptly changed his mind, ordering his orcs to seize the girl and kill the party…
XP earned: 2,400 each
Session 2 As chaos erupted from Tria's sudden mad dash to the portal, the party realized that Lazaros' order to seize her was not only directed at his orcs. Both Leona and Eladan fell to Harvester's compulsion. Ultimately though, Tria was prevented from passing through the Gate and the orcs, along with Lazaros, were defeated. The goliath proved exceptionally hard to put down, continuing to fight despite receiving mortal wounds. Ultimately, he was put down by a Divine Word by Leona. As he died, Zandre captured his soul with his soul cage ability, more than eager to exact revenge on the man who took his arm. Zel ended up taking Lazaros' axe and belt, along with a few other "trophies".
With Tria in hand (who was none to happy with Eladan, who had forced her away from the portal with dominate person) the group returned to Sigil by means of teleportation. The group opted to stop at a tavern known as the Myriad before heading to the Palace in the morning. While there, Zel immediately got into trouble by attempting to clean the heads he had claimed in the battle in the middle of the dining area. Buttons, Eladan, Zandre, and Zel also decided to sample thimble-sized shots of "Vathkal Special". Despite all this, the party had an uneventful night and escorted Tria and Pharon to the Palace of the Sovereign first thing in the morning. Though before they departed, they questioned Lazaros' soul, learning that he was the leader of the Reckoning, that they were based at the "Keep of Charaka" on the elemental plane of air, that they were searching for mithral beneath the Foci, and that he was at least somewhat aware of who and what Cataclysm was.
At the palace, the group was rewarded as promised, receiving a statement of withdrawal at the local bank for their 5,000 gp, and Aurum himself elaborated on his various promises to the group. Before dismissing them though, he extended another offer. He wished to hire the party to continue to work with him and investigate what exactly the Reckoning were up to. The party agreed, and Aurum left them to follow up on their personal leads and gave them an orb of communication to stay in contact. With that, the party was free to follow their own course of action, at least for the time being…
XP earned: 5,300 each
Session 3 The party immediately made a beeline for Avare Bank to cash their bank notes. Upon receiving their promised 5,000 gp, they immediately split up to go spend it. Leona went in search of diamonds while Zandre and Zel went to check out Guiden's Arcania where they perused highly overpriced magic weapons. Afterwards, Zel and Buttons went out for a spot of sport watching, catching a game of Siegeball at the Coliseum. Meanwhile, Echoless went to see what King Aurum's scholars had unearthed at Savant University. The trio of scholars had managed to find references to "Vicium" and "Asmodeus", two mythological characters that shared Cataclysm's MO, the former of which was referenced in ancient Giant mythology. Echoless opted to stay and help for a while, finding a tome on dragon lore that referenced a "world shaker" who also caused a so-called "diminishing," something also referenced in giant lore. During this time, Zandre also met up with his associate/SO Jack and handed off most of the gold he had received to assist with building up the Hellfire Legion in Sigil and Leona found an infirmary where a catatonic woman was not responding to healing magic.
At the end of the day, the party met up again at the Dragonroost Tavern, where Buttons and Zandre cheated at dice and Zel engaged in a drinking contest with a buff dwarf. In the morning, the party decided to first pursue Mr. Button's lead and made preparations to travel towards Penance in search for a travelling band of tabaxi. First they stopped at the Crown Mage Surplus and purchased a number of utility-type goods. Before setting out, they also swung by the infirmary for a quick exorcism, as Leona had determined that the catatonic woman was indeed possessed by a spirit. With a powerful spell, Leona was able to expunge the ghost, which was promptly eviscerated by the party's combined attacks (though not before its horrifying visage aged Zel by almost 10 years). After briefly questioning the woman, who seemed to know more about this ghost than she deigned to let on, the party acquired some horses from a livery stable and set off.
On the road, the party came across a pair of dreamwalker stone giants, who seemed to believe the party was some sort of "symbolism" they were meant to decipher. The party, opting to not accidentally be turned to stone by the giants' inquisitive nature, decided to leave them be and continue. Later on, they encountered a nomadic tribe of dragonborn who had managed to tame a flock of hippogriffs to serve as mounts. They proved open to trade, and Leona and Echoless became the proud new owners of a pair of young hippogriffs.
Thus far, their journey has been smooth, but once they get to the Penance border, they may find travelling to become slightly more difficult…
XP earned: 200 each
Session 4 The party continued on their way from the dragonborn camp, were Zel delved more into his backstory and explained the details of how and why he has his best friend's severed skull in his bag. Later, they received a transmission from King Aurum, who had an update about the Reckoning; informing them that they were searching all manors of far-flung areas across the province for "artifacts". He requested that they keep their eyes peeled for any signs of activity from the Reckoning while they traveled.
At the Klove River crossing, the party encountered a military checkpoint held by Penance. The Knights Sovereign were requiring letters of safe conduct in order to pass, which the party lacked. They offered the option of applying, but the turnaround for such a thing was anywhere from 6-8 weeks. With some sweet talking however, the party was able to convince the attending officer that they meant no harm and were searching for Button's long lost family. The officer agreed to expedite their application for a letter and sent a man to oversee it personally. The party still opted to teleport across the river via an arcane gate later, but now they will have paperwork to move throughout Penance territory upon their return.
Keeping off the main roads and traveling across the countryside, the party came across a sparse forest where, while camping, heard the distant sounds of combat: a Reckoning raid on a supply caravan. They opted not to intervene, but did come across two orcs wandering towards their camp shortly after, who Zel gleefully ambushed with Buttons help. Using a speak with dead spell, the party learned in the morning (from the orc's severed head, naturally) that they were indeed members of the Reckoning and were searching for Foci. They also claimed to answer to someone called "Warbringer," who Echoless and Leona recognized from folklore as a warlord moniker that crops up throughout the ages. Zandre specifically new that the goliath who took his arm, and therefore the one the party fought and killed, went by the same name. Fetching Lazaros' skull from Zel's pack, the party attempted to commune with him as well, only for the spell to fail.
Continuing in their search, the party found the small village of Cantra just outside the woods and discovered that the tabaxi had just recently been through, having sold their wears to the local peasants. Following their tracks, the party was able to catch up with the tabaxi still traveling along the south road. And thus Mr. Buttons was finally united with his family's clan: the Roaring Peak clan. He learned about his past; how his parents saved him from a bandit raid as a baby by using a teleportation scroll to send him away (his father was an arcane enthusiast, but not necessarily a wizard). He met his uncle Flickering Fire along with his aunt and cousin. He also met a lovely young lady called Mist of Morning who he immediately took a shine to. He also learned that the Roaring Peak considered the Silent Mountain clan enemies; traitors that forced them into exile and lost them their ancestral home: Kittsadora. Lastly, he learned that his birth name was Star of Morning, and that the circumstances of his birth portended him to be a great hero for his people who would help restore them to their ancestral home. To that end, the clan elder, Quiet Smoke asked if Buttons and his comrades would be willing to help them on their current quest: find the treasure of a long-forgotten ruin in Daruda Desert for a scholar who claimed to have knowledge on the location of the clan's lost leader, Yolgurah. The party agreed and are now setting off to slay the dragon that has been plaguing the marsh south of Vallatia so that the tabaxi can charter a ship to ride the river to the ruin…
XP earned: 1,600 each
Session 5 After some back and forth about when and how they would begin their hunt for the dragon in the swamps, the party opted to spend the night in the nearby city of Vallatia, save for Zel, who refused to backtrack and opted instead to spend the night on the banks of the Klove River. Zandre was nice enough to leave him a guardian of faith to protect him, though ironically, the light from the spell attracted the nearby Penance Knights. Upon finding Zel, the knights believed him to simply be a denizen of the nearby marshes and commanded him to return there. Zel "agreed" but simply returned to his spot once the knights had left and hid himself when they returned to dispel the guardian still hovering there.
In the morning, the freshly rested party purchased an "experimental" invigoration potion from a local alchemist, whom they had encountered being served some sort of fine from a pair of Sigil Crown Mages. They also looked into the current bounty on the dragon that Vallatia's Merchants Guild had posted. With preparations made, the party boarded their foldable boat and followed the river south to Drakemarsh, picking up a fuming and impatient Zel along the way.
Once within the marsh-proper, the party quickly found signs of previous adventurers and trade caravans that had been ransacked by the dragon; finding half-melted corpses with no signs of valuables or weapons. At one point, Zel opted to wade out into the still waters to attempt to lure the dragon out. This worked a little too well, and Zel found himself dragged underwater by a powerful force. The party acted swiftly, and was able to deal enough damage to convince the dragon to drop Zel. Quickly following the wake left by the still unseen dragon, the party sailed deeper into the mire, encountering a flock of stirges that a quick casting of spirit guardians by Leona made short work of.
Deeper in, they encountered signs of a lizardfolk encampment. However, instead of finding a thriving tribe serving the dragon, all they found were the acidic remains of a slaughter. Leona "spoke" with one of the dead lizardfolk and learned that they once served the dragon Vonunvul, but were betrayed. More importantly, they learned that there was an entrance to the dragon's lair in a sinkhole not too far from here. Zandre's familiar, Flick, was able to spot the sinkhole on a quick scouting trip, and with that information in hand, the party set out once more to deal with Vonunvul once and for all…
XP earned: calculate entire encounter next session.
Session 6 The party pressed on deeper into the marsh, narrowly avoiding suffocation in a cloud of toxic swamp gas and stepping carefully around pools of acid that pockmarked the ground on the approach to the sinkhole. "Guarding" the lair entrance was a corpse flower, which, while creeping the party out with its macabre abilities, posed little threat to them on their own. Once down the hole and through the thorn wall blocking the way, the party was within the lair proper.
Feeling that the dragon may spring on them at any moment, the party crept through bubbling acid traps and traversed inky black waters. Finally, they came to the central chamber of the lair. Echoless fired a synaptic static spell into an area of the underground lake that was gently bubbling, prompting combat to begin. The waters surged around them, and many of the PCs found themselves dragged into the water by the grasping tides as the dragon attacked them from below. To make matters worse, the party quickly realized that there were not one, but two dragons here.
However, after a grueling battle in which the party was battered by acid sprays, swarms of insects, magical darkness, contagion, and the very cave attacking them, they were able to kill one of the dragons and banish the other to the ethereal plane (via a prismatic spray spell). Zel, despite taking massive damage by both the dragons and his comrades who were unable to differentiate them while thrashing underwater, was able to get in the killing blow after Eladan essentially nuked the pair of them with a sunburst spell as the dragon tried to flee with Zel still clinging to its horn.
When the dust settled, Zel took the dragon's horns as a trophy, Zandre, who had used etherealness in an attempt to avoid lethal damage, found himself being attacked by the remaining dragon still trapped on the ethereal plane, and the rest of the group, while searching as best they could for treasure, found a small dragon egg.
The egg causes some controversy among the group, specifically with Eladan insisting they incinerate it on the spot, even going so far as to nearly cast immolate on it. Ultimately, Echoless made it clear that if Eladan were to circumvent a party agreement, there would be dire consequences. In the end, the party agreed to take it with them and see if the Roaring Peak tabaxi would be interested in keeping and raising the wyrmling…
XP earned: 5,000 each
Session 7 The party returned with the egg to the city of Vellatia after camping out for the evening in the mire. During the night, a couple of curious catoblebas poked around their camp, but a well-placed guardian of faith by Zandre and spirit guardians from Leona kept them at bay. Once back in the city, they swiftly sought out their reward from the Merchant's Guild, convincing the attendant to pay double the reward as there were, in fact, two dragons. Zel drove home the latter point by dropping both severed horns on the man's desk, utterly destroying it in the process. Ironically, it was Echoless revealing the egg that convinced the man of the existence of the second dragon. With that, they promptly received their reward (minus 50 gp for a new desk).
Shortly after, they found the Roaring Peak Clan already in the city, having rented space at the Silverpike Inn. There they met Bold Fang, a tabaxi warrior who appeared to be the de facto leader of the clan who also happened to intensely dislike Mr. Buttons. Later, while the party got up to tavern shenanigans to unwind (Zel ordered an entire barrel of whiskey and nearly got arrested again, Echoless was uncharacteristically social and played cards with dock workers, and Zandre brooded) Fang revealed in a conversation with Leona that he was the one responsible for keeping the Roaring Peak away from the brink of destruction. He felt intensely jealous that Quiet Smoke and the others were treating Buttons with such reverence when he was the one who had gotten them this far. After their conversation and learning that Buttons was a generally good sort and capable warrior, Fang's disposition on him softened slightly.
In the morning, the party and the clan boarded a longboat and set off down the Klove, passing swiftly through the now dragon-less Drakemarsh and towards the Daruda Desert. Their journey was momentarily halted by a herd of megursa (large, tusked bear-like creatures), but a tactful application of thaumaturgy and banishment cleared the way. During the voyage, Fang offered more background on their quest: He was the one who encountered the scholar Praeston in Borne in a tavern renowned for swapping stories among both travelers and scholars. Praeston expressed great interest in the tabaxi and seemed to know quite a lot about their traditions and folklore. From there, their bargain was struck.
In five short days, the party found the ruin they sought carved into the walls of a canyon deep within the desert. They quickly learned it was an ancient human temple complex dedicated to Abhaina; the primordial goddess of water. Fang informed them that the "treasure" they sought for the scholar was at the end of some kind of trial, which, through Zandre's ability to read all written language, they quickly realized was likely the Supplicant's Path, located through the main gathering hall.
Some cursory exploration also resulted in the party finding a few holy symbols, dusty robes, records of previous supplicants, and an elemental essence shard, whose exact function hasn't quite yet been determined. Upon locating the gathering hall, the party was treated to a massive carved mural depicting what appeared to be a timeline of the material plane, starting with its creation by the four primordial patrons, an early human society reaching its zenith, their downfall, the summoning the elder elementals, and the destruction of the world at their hands.
Most notably, three words were inscribed above the beginning, middle, and end of this mural: Aeviroed, Aevihaed, and Aevilok, the latter of which the party quickly recognized as part of the name of the organization that at least tangentially was responsible for the summoning of the elder tempest in Eodur…
XP earned: 500 each
Session 8 The party made their way through the Supplicant's Path, avoiding a confrontation with the Path's elemental guards as Zel of all people realized they needed to present one of the holy symbols they found earlier in the ruin. They proceeded through the puzzle rooms, quickly realizing that the centuries of non-use had made them structurally dangerous, with weak foundations and patches of dangerous molds, slimes, and creatures.
While navigating the trials, the party interacted with a curious water spirit; potentially an aspect of Abhaina herself. The spirit seemed scattered and unfocused, but it alluded to the fate of this once great structure and the civilization that built it as well as cryptically mentioning that she had been here long before humans built the temple.
Finally, after passing through the last test, a "dive of faith", in which Echoless realized that the water filling the flooded tunnel they had to swim through was breathable, the party came to a room filled with water circling a whirlpool. Before the whirlpool was an altar with instructions on summoning Abhaina herself, which Leona and Zandre performed.
With a very dramatic frothing and boiling of water, a shade of Abhaina appeared before them, resembling a geyser taking on a vaguely humanoid form. Unlike her wisp, this Abhaina was suspicious, guarded, and confused. She believed the party to be thieves, as they had mentioned they sought some kind of treasure to assist the Roaring Peak. Fortunately, the party had observed the spirit of the trials, so she was not immediately hostile. However, when pressed about what happened to her (and the other primordials) and what she knew of Cataclysm, she grew volatile, stating that he would be the one to bring about the destruction of the material plane; delivering "hers" back to Abhaina and "his" back to Logira (directed at Eladan). On top of this, she pointed directly at Zandre and added "and he will oversee it all!"
Taken aback by this, Zandre asked, "which one?" summoning both his spectral arm from his divine patron and his shadow form from his dark patron. At the sight of this Abhaina recoiled, screaming "you dare bring His influence here?" and promptly attacked. Despite Echoless' best attempt to placate the mad goddess, the party was ultimately forced to "kill" the primordial. The battle was hard-fought, with Leona nearly succumbing to a massive tidal wave that flooded the entire room. But ultimately, with a combination of relentless eldritch blasts from Zandre, a devastating burst from Echoless' amulet, and a firestorm by Eladan to seal the deal, the goddess was defeated, evaporating into nothing and draining the altar room in the process.
With the water gone, it was revealed that a Foci was the cause of the whirlpool, and now carried what little water remained in its circular energy. With little idea of what else this ruin's "treasure" could be, Fang utilized a sending stone to contact the Scholar to see if he could clarify. The response he received was confusing though; simply "wait there. We will come and see." Leaving the party to wait to see who exactly would be joining them…
XP earned: 6,400 each
Session 9 The party did not need to wait long to discover the identity of the scholar; arriving through a magical gate was none other than Priscilla, Lazaros, and Praeston (the "scholar"), the latter of which provided Fang with a map to a volcanic island off the coast of Requiem where an indigenous tribe flying the same banner as the Roaring Peak had been spotted years ago on an expedition. Words were exchanged. The Reckoning revealed that they sought "artifacts" hidden beneath the Foci in order to gain the power necessary to "bring low the kings and queens that send their people to their deaths to fight their petty squabbles". While the two factions had disagreements about methodology and how ultimately helpful killing these kings would be, they ultimately decided they needed not to fight here and now, with a small exception: Lazaros challenged Zel to a battle to reclaim his belt of giant strength.
The party went to rest in the hidden "Priests' Rest" where Eladan and Zandre found old skeletons seemingly killed in a battle as well as a large tome detailing the method of summoning something called a "Leviathan", at least partially, as some pages had been torn out. While taking their short rest to allow Zel time to heal up for his impending duel, an aspect of Abhaina appeared once more to speak with the party. She seemed distant and confused; she did not recognize the party or recall their previous interactions. She was able to offer insight into the bodies (one of which Zandre animated just for funsies), indicating that they had died due to infighting when a group of them came to take the leviathan ritual.
The party came back to the main chamber for the duel to find that more of the Reckoning had come during the interim, including two stone giants. Zel set the terms of the match to be a fist fight to first blood. No magic or outside interference was allowed, with both sides casting detect magic to monitor the duel. This did not stop Zandre from getting some heals in on the sly. Despite this, as well as chugging that "potion of invigoration," which threw him into a berserker rage, Zel was narrowly defeated. His rage prevented him from yielding, and ultimately he was stopped by a dominate person spell from Priscilla, as Zandre counterspelled Echoless' attempt to use hold person. Despite the shenanigans, the Reckoning did not turn hostile and allowed the party to leave, which they did in a huff.
On the way out, a big argument broke out, mainly between Echoless and Zandre with Eladan chiming in with mostly inane comments. She demanded to know more about his patrons and why his transformation triggered Abhaina so severely, especially after Cataclysm had been brought up. Zandre indignantly insisted he didn't know where his powers came from and balked at Echoless' statement that if he wanted her help in this, he needed to be more open. He did reveal that the only reason he was here in the first place was because King Aurum had effectively blackmailed him, but again refused to elaborate on what that meant. The only other clue the party was able to discern was back at the mural room, where Buttons noticed that one figure hidden amongst the Former portrayed teaching early humans how to summon the elder elementals bore skeletal wings similar to what Zandre conjured with his transformation.
The party camped out with the tabaxi on the surface level of the ruin, and in the morning agreed to accompany them on their final leg of the journey to Yolgorah's Rest. During the night however, Eladan was briefly visited in his dreams by Priscilla, who claimed to know that he indeed was from another dimension and that she knew someone who could put him back, if he so wished. Her price would simply be Eladan's trident. He simply agreed to think about it.
The party and the tabaxi set sail down the river again promptly and arrived in the city of Alluvia by midday, where they would lay over til the morning. In the city, the party quickly realized this was home to not only humans, but a rare humanoid species known as the Kuo-Toa, as well as learned about the city's "unique" religious system. Mr. Buttons was even a source of a "message from the Lords" when they went to check out the Twins Looking Glass, where the giant salmon that were supposedly the avatars of the founders of the city had come to visit. Buttons took a shot in the dark and tried to communicate with them, which resulted in them handing back the gems he through into their water as an "offering". Zel encountered a group of the Kuo-Toa prostrating before a praying mantis, Eladan was warned about "the Crab" from the barkeep of Dwergen's Rest, and Zandre went out to find crime. All seemed well until the party (sans Zandre) reunited to unwind at the tavern, where they were approached by a young boy who Eladan immediately recognized as the human persona of Kruzikmaar, the father of Xoddrosdam. He had come to have words and his demeanor eluded to an unpleasant subject…
XP earned: 1000 each
Session 10 After some awkward introductions and explanations of what went down between Kruzikmaar and Eladan, the former made it known that the latter was off the hook for killing the wizard Aefaren Thrangur, as it turned out he had only destroyed a simulacrum. However, there was still the matter of talisman of ultimate evil, which Kruzikmaar requested/demanded be turned over to him. Not wanting to pick a fight with an ancient silver dragon in a crowded tavern, Eladan obliged and conjured a doorway to his personal demiplane. While Eladan fetched the talisman, the rest of the party speculated with Kruzikmaar about why Palios put Eladan up to this accidental hit job in the first place. When it was revealed that Eladan found an empty scroll case that likely contained Aefaren's wish scroll at the top of the tower back in Horizon, Kruzikmaar left quite abruptly (not without the talisman, obviously, as well as delivering their letters of safe conduct from Penance), seemingly quite concerned that Palios likely possessed the wish scroll for himself.
Meanwhile, Zandre acquired for himself a small supply of the drug glimmerdust from a seedy underworld tavern, where he was also quite successful at dice games.
In the morning, the party moved to reassemble with the tabaxi at the docks. Beforehand, they hit the markets to re-up on supplies and see what kind of literature they could find, if any, on the local goings on or the island they were venturing to. Echoless and Eladan had a conversation with a visiting scholar about how the kuo-toa here were seemingly able to conjure "gods" (something Zel witnessed in the form of a glowing praying mantis the previous night) and how they had been integrated into the local mythology. Buttons found a few sea charts and maps with annotations, some of which cautioned against pirates along the trade route they'd be following. One cryptically mentioned "beware the fog of night on haunted waters," alluding to ghost pirates. With everything set, the party and the tabaxi set off into open waters.
True to the ominous annotation, the party was attacked by a ghost ship on their first night at sea. The ghosts proved no match for the party that had previously slain dragons, undead horrors, and the avatars of gods, but they did provoke recollection of a collection of folk stories about otherworldly pirates that haunted the seas throughout history. Otherwise, aside from spotting another ship pursuing a strangely white whale in the distance, the rest of the trip was smooth sailing.
One the island, the party + Fang and Quiet Smoke braved the jungles surrounding the volcano in search of this supposed sister clan. Soon enough, they encountered a scouting party of tabaxi, who curiously, all spoke draconic, that recognized the Roaring Peak banner carried by Fang. They also seemed quite interested in Zel, and upon learning that Buttons birthname was "Star of Morning," they claimed that they could be the fulfillment of a prophecy and agreed to bring them before Srisk, the tribe's elder.
Upon meeting Srisk in the center of a primitive village flying near identical banners to the Roaring Peak and inhabited by not only tabaxi, but lizardfolk, humans, and kobolds, it was revealed that this sister clan had been here since "Yolgorah's Betrayal," where they watched over him and waited for signs of his "soul bearers" for generations. As mentioned, they did indeed believe that one day "a guiding star would reunite Yolgorah with his own," and that Zel was the soul bearer, hence his brilliant red scales. Srisk invited them all to join him and the other three soul bearers within the mountain temple in order to conduct a ritual that would finally bring Yolgorah back to them after all this time. The party agreed and were promptly taken to the mountain, where Zel was presented with an ornate, magical harness. Once they were prepared, they were brought into the central chamber of the mountain, where, within a boiling lake of molten rock, laid the slumbering form of Yolgorah himself: an ancient red dragon…
XP earned: 2,500 each

Report Date

13 Dec 2022