Sky Isles - Day 3 - Daytime
General Summary
The heroes have a brief opportunity to rest after their late-night raid. They are still grappling with Cassel’s incarceration and uncertain future. The bulk of the party begin at the tavern, eating and recovering as best they can. It’s 5AM, they’ve been up since midnight.
Alistair spends his resting time training with the Monks. He’s put through a pair of trials to evaluate his skills. One in which fire lands closer to him the faster he moves, and another testing a willingness to sacrifice yourself. These trials are intended to measure the monks key areas of focus, including discipline and dedication. Alistair considers these antithetical to himself, and all satyrs at large. At the end, he is able to ALMOST cast Fire Bolt.
After his test and brief lesson, he’s informed that Cassel will face trials similar to those he has just undergone himself. This is immediately shocking and revolting to him. There’s no way a kid like Cassel can handle something like this. There is however, an out: someone could take Cassel’s place.
Threyss (Kayden’s son) casually mentions he may need Alistair to help with a hunt. There is a black goat they have been trying and failing to capture. It is said to have prized meat.
Back at the tavern, Alistair updates the heroes on his encounter with Threyss. He doesn’t like him. He doesn’t like the monks. This whole place is evil, rotten, and wrong. They’re beginning to talk about breaking Cassel out when Threyss arrives. He wants to do that hunt.
---
The hunt sees the heroes wandering in a distant sky isle. They’re on the trail of the goat. A few investigations discover tracks leading to the goat and the heroes quickly set out. They begin to spread out, intent to flank the creature. Soren to the left, Alistair to the right. Thistle and Amethyst fly overhead to scare the goat out of its hiding spot. This works well, but perhaps a little too well.
The goat charges from a raised perch over the pond, nearly taking out Thistle. She’s able to weave through a leg and escape unharmed. On the ground, the goat quickly rushes to its right (the left of the map). It’s heading for Alistair and the others. They begin to open fire while Soren moves to intercept it if it runs wide along the outside of the island.
It does run wide, taking heavy fire from above. Threyss rushes to a raised overlook and rains fire down on the goat with his bow and arrow. The poor creature doesn’t stand much chance. Threyss’ poisoned arrows greatly weaken it. Though it stumbles on. A shot from Thistle does massive damage. It’s limping, on its last leg when it comes upon Soren. It rams him, taking half the cat’s health and sending him flying. The others are lagging behind and out of range. Thistle charges in, another shot, but it’s not enough to stop the ram. Soren gets the finishing blow. He wasn’t happy about killing, but he smiled a bit at revenge, even as he walked about with bruised ribs.
(DM’s note: I messed up a bit playing the goat, he did have ONE ability to make that a harder hunt, but oops).
Here, the party splits up and there is a brief skip forward in time. Cassel’s trial is not set to begin until evening. Soren and the others want to break into Kayden’s house to look for evidence of what’s really going on. The town claims to be in grave danger, but they would execute a kid with this trial? Alistair meanwhile, goes to stand in for Cassel at his trial.
---
The party break into Kayden’s home using Soren’s thieves’ tools. It seems the town is maybe not so free of crime as they thought. There were locks here. Inside they find evidence of gathering and planning. Normal business for the leader of a place like this. Though, it seems sketchy how extensive the planning is. There are vast swaths of obviously cleared space around the first floor. There’s a bed on the first floor that’s been recently used. Guests? Or maybe Threyss.
More incriminating evidence is found on the second floor. Thistle discovers books written in Primordial. Only Amethyst can read them. The fair again discovers there’s books written in Draconic and other uncommon languages. References to summoning creatures, demons, and monsters. Among them a reference to summon a Fire Phoenix. The books have been read repeatedly, worn, dog eared, some pages torn from use. Extensive documentation about how to do rituals and ceremonies. Not yet a smoking gun.
The attic is damning. They discover logs, records of sacrifices to summon these creatures. A list of bodies at least 100 long. It documents all their physical traits and then the process of the experiment to summon the phoenix. Presumably all failed experiments. The last entry notes that they had accidentally summoned demons who possessed a flock of chickens. It’s everything they need to know the monks cannot be trusted.
There is one place they haven’t yet searched: the basement. Soren leads the way down, only to make sickening discoveries. He finds bones, human remains from the experiment. The place smells of death. Bodies were brought here to be examined after each failed summoning. Amethyst discovers a secret room with ropes on the floor. Someone was tied up here. Probably one of the monk’s victims. Held against their will.
As the party discusses just what to do about this, they hear footsteps above them. Someone’s home. They scramble outside, but Amethyst trips, creating a loud crash. Kayden, or whoever is up there will be onto them.
Outside, Soren rigs the house door so it won’t open, but unwittingly leaves tracks for Kayden to follow. Massive feline paws leaving soft impressions in the mud. There’s further tracks from Amethyst’s boots. Kayden gives chase while the heroes flee, trying to move around the house to avoid detection. The bulk of the party is able to dash away. Soren however, lags a moment. He needs his feline agility to escape, but not before Kayden’s seen him.
---
Alistair is unable to convince Cassel to flee. He wants to break him out, but the boy is too dedicated to his home, to the people that raised him. He will adhere to tradition. With no other choice, and unable to stop Kayden from moving forward: Alistair takes Cassel’s place.
The first trial is just like his training with Threyss: move slowly. He doesn’t realize that at first and charges in, nearly blasted by the lightning. A last minute dodge leaves him only with fur standing on end. It’s enough to jog his memory. He proceeds more slowly now, he was only resistant to fire, not lightning. Walking slowly, he crosses without challenge.
In the next trial, he’s in a desert with a massive rock blocking his view. He checks over everything as he advances, but finds he’s only in a barren landscape. It’s just him and a fly a few miles away (it was a good roll). Just before the exit, he comes face to face with a shadow copy of himself. It mocks him and laughs, it has advantage on its attacks against him, proving almost the better. It knocks Alistair to the ground, smug in its ability to defeat the original: it knows him better than he does. Only for the tables to turn. Under pressure, Alistair manages to complete his new fire spell. He thought it would be Fire Bolt, but it’s not.
His hand lights aflame, lashing out and sending the shadow copy staggering and dealing massive damage. Follow up attacks send him to the ground. Alistair leaves him to flee into the portal for the next stage. Things can only go from bad to worse now.
On the other side, he finds Cassel facing a dragon. The beast sends Cassel flying across the trial area, crashing into a rock with a single swipe of its claws. Alistair lures a flying leopard from behind the dragon and attempts to fend the creature off, to no avail. A moment later the dragon nearly burns him to death. If not for his learned Fire Resistance, he would be dead. He scrambles to load Cassel on the leopard for evacuation. This cat is smaller, it can carry only one.
Alistair is left to his fate, but he won’t take it sitting down. He attempts to escape, only to be crushed with a flick of the dragon’s tail. When he awakens, he’s in the temple. Kayden is returning, he seems displeased at Alistair’s success. Cassel is free none-the-less. Alistair departs in a sour mood having witnessed what hell Cassel was expected to survive. And believing he saved the real Cassel in that trial (despite Kayden pointing out the caged Cassel was healthy and had no wounds).
---
The party reunites at the celebration being held for them by the town. None of the heroes are in the mood. Soren is full of anger at their discovery in Kayden’s home. He all but stalks the streets among the crowd. Alistair is furious about Cassel’s situation and still wounded, while the cat seems to pay no mind. It feels wrong to have witnessed these things and now be at a party.
The party overhears numerous conversations, the townspeople are happy, excited. They know this is a premature celebration, but they feel safe. Five new heroes and five chances to be safe, it seems they’re saying. It seems to only add fuel to the party’s fire.
Soren catches notice of one of the monks near an alleyway and storms over. So far, they’ve not updated Alistair on what they know. It’s too public to talk about it. Still, the two agree to capture and interrogate the monk. Soren grabs him and slams him to a wall in the alleyway, claws to his throat. They’ve never seen the cat so enraged.
As they interrogate him, the heroes threaten to feed him to Alistair’s manticore. Thistle is the voice of reason, pointing out that they can’t kill everyone. Eventually, they can remove the bad eggs. The monk tells them that they ran out of volunteers. The punishment system was used to get more ‘volunteers’. Most would accept their fate of dying. And most would willingly be part of the sacrifice. Some had second thoughts. Maybe more than some. They had to be restrained. The monk promises to help if they will spare him.
The heroes take him prisoner. Soren guiding him to the tavern, a clawed hand on his shoulder. He’s told to behave, because the cat will have him over the side of the flying island before anyone can save him, if he causes trouble. Their prisoner is bound and thrown in a room at the tavern, secured. The party plans for the next day and takes a long rest.
Their current plan is to arm up in the morning, and kill Kayden at night fall. Alistair wants to raze the entire town. Soren believes it is one bad leader corrupting a town.
---
Soren and Thistle both leveled up, achieving Level 4.
Alistair spends his resting time training with the Monks. He’s put through a pair of trials to evaluate his skills. One in which fire lands closer to him the faster he moves, and another testing a willingness to sacrifice yourself. These trials are intended to measure the monks key areas of focus, including discipline and dedication. Alistair considers these antithetical to himself, and all satyrs at large. At the end, he is able to ALMOST cast Fire Bolt.
After his test and brief lesson, he’s informed that Cassel will face trials similar to those he has just undergone himself. This is immediately shocking and revolting to him. There’s no way a kid like Cassel can handle something like this. There is however, an out: someone could take Cassel’s place.
Threyss (Kayden’s son) casually mentions he may need Alistair to help with a hunt. There is a black goat they have been trying and failing to capture. It is said to have prized meat.
Back at the tavern, Alistair updates the heroes on his encounter with Threyss. He doesn’t like him. He doesn’t like the monks. This whole place is evil, rotten, and wrong. They’re beginning to talk about breaking Cassel out when Threyss arrives. He wants to do that hunt.
---
The hunt sees the heroes wandering in a distant sky isle. They’re on the trail of the goat. A few investigations discover tracks leading to the goat and the heroes quickly set out. They begin to spread out, intent to flank the creature. Soren to the left, Alistair to the right. Thistle and Amethyst fly overhead to scare the goat out of its hiding spot. This works well, but perhaps a little too well.
The goat charges from a raised perch over the pond, nearly taking out Thistle. She’s able to weave through a leg and escape unharmed. On the ground, the goat quickly rushes to its right (the left of the map). It’s heading for Alistair and the others. They begin to open fire while Soren moves to intercept it if it runs wide along the outside of the island.
It does run wide, taking heavy fire from above. Threyss rushes to a raised overlook and rains fire down on the goat with his bow and arrow. The poor creature doesn’t stand much chance. Threyss’ poisoned arrows greatly weaken it. Though it stumbles on. A shot from Thistle does massive damage. It’s limping, on its last leg when it comes upon Soren. It rams him, taking half the cat’s health and sending him flying. The others are lagging behind and out of range. Thistle charges in, another shot, but it’s not enough to stop the ram. Soren gets the finishing blow. He wasn’t happy about killing, but he smiled a bit at revenge, even as he walked about with bruised ribs.
(DM’s note: I messed up a bit playing the goat, he did have ONE ability to make that a harder hunt, but oops).
Here, the party splits up and there is a brief skip forward in time. Cassel’s trial is not set to begin until evening. Soren and the others want to break into Kayden’s house to look for evidence of what’s really going on. The town claims to be in grave danger, but they would execute a kid with this trial? Alistair meanwhile, goes to stand in for Cassel at his trial.
---
The party break into Kayden’s home using Soren’s thieves’ tools. It seems the town is maybe not so free of crime as they thought. There were locks here. Inside they find evidence of gathering and planning. Normal business for the leader of a place like this. Though, it seems sketchy how extensive the planning is. There are vast swaths of obviously cleared space around the first floor. There’s a bed on the first floor that’s been recently used. Guests? Or maybe Threyss.
More incriminating evidence is found on the second floor. Thistle discovers books written in Primordial. Only Amethyst can read them. The fair again discovers there’s books written in Draconic and other uncommon languages. References to summoning creatures, demons, and monsters. Among them a reference to summon a Fire Phoenix. The books have been read repeatedly, worn, dog eared, some pages torn from use. Extensive documentation about how to do rituals and ceremonies. Not yet a smoking gun.
The attic is damning. They discover logs, records of sacrifices to summon these creatures. A list of bodies at least 100 long. It documents all their physical traits and then the process of the experiment to summon the phoenix. Presumably all failed experiments. The last entry notes that they had accidentally summoned demons who possessed a flock of chickens. It’s everything they need to know the monks cannot be trusted.
There is one place they haven’t yet searched: the basement. Soren leads the way down, only to make sickening discoveries. He finds bones, human remains from the experiment. The place smells of death. Bodies were brought here to be examined after each failed summoning. Amethyst discovers a secret room with ropes on the floor. Someone was tied up here. Probably one of the monk’s victims. Held against their will.
As the party discusses just what to do about this, they hear footsteps above them. Someone’s home. They scramble outside, but Amethyst trips, creating a loud crash. Kayden, or whoever is up there will be onto them.
Outside, Soren rigs the house door so it won’t open, but unwittingly leaves tracks for Kayden to follow. Massive feline paws leaving soft impressions in the mud. There’s further tracks from Amethyst’s boots. Kayden gives chase while the heroes flee, trying to move around the house to avoid detection. The bulk of the party is able to dash away. Soren however, lags a moment. He needs his feline agility to escape, but not before Kayden’s seen him.
---
Alistair is unable to convince Cassel to flee. He wants to break him out, but the boy is too dedicated to his home, to the people that raised him. He will adhere to tradition. With no other choice, and unable to stop Kayden from moving forward: Alistair takes Cassel’s place.
The first trial is just like his training with Threyss: move slowly. He doesn’t realize that at first and charges in, nearly blasted by the lightning. A last minute dodge leaves him only with fur standing on end. It’s enough to jog his memory. He proceeds more slowly now, he was only resistant to fire, not lightning. Walking slowly, he crosses without challenge.
In the next trial, he’s in a desert with a massive rock blocking his view. He checks over everything as he advances, but finds he’s only in a barren landscape. It’s just him and a fly a few miles away (it was a good roll). Just before the exit, he comes face to face with a shadow copy of himself. It mocks him and laughs, it has advantage on its attacks against him, proving almost the better. It knocks Alistair to the ground, smug in its ability to defeat the original: it knows him better than he does. Only for the tables to turn. Under pressure, Alistair manages to complete his new fire spell. He thought it would be Fire Bolt, but it’s not.
His hand lights aflame, lashing out and sending the shadow copy staggering and dealing massive damage. Follow up attacks send him to the ground. Alistair leaves him to flee into the portal for the next stage. Things can only go from bad to worse now.
On the other side, he finds Cassel facing a dragon. The beast sends Cassel flying across the trial area, crashing into a rock with a single swipe of its claws. Alistair lures a flying leopard from behind the dragon and attempts to fend the creature off, to no avail. A moment later the dragon nearly burns him to death. If not for his learned Fire Resistance, he would be dead. He scrambles to load Cassel on the leopard for evacuation. This cat is smaller, it can carry only one.
Alistair is left to his fate, but he won’t take it sitting down. He attempts to escape, only to be crushed with a flick of the dragon’s tail. When he awakens, he’s in the temple. Kayden is returning, he seems displeased at Alistair’s success. Cassel is free none-the-less. Alistair departs in a sour mood having witnessed what hell Cassel was expected to survive. And believing he saved the real Cassel in that trial (despite Kayden pointing out the caged Cassel was healthy and had no wounds).
---
The party reunites at the celebration being held for them by the town. None of the heroes are in the mood. Soren is full of anger at their discovery in Kayden’s home. He all but stalks the streets among the crowd. Alistair is furious about Cassel’s situation and still wounded, while the cat seems to pay no mind. It feels wrong to have witnessed these things and now be at a party.
The party overhears numerous conversations, the townspeople are happy, excited. They know this is a premature celebration, but they feel safe. Five new heroes and five chances to be safe, it seems they’re saying. It seems to only add fuel to the party’s fire.
Soren catches notice of one of the monks near an alleyway and storms over. So far, they’ve not updated Alistair on what they know. It’s too public to talk about it. Still, the two agree to capture and interrogate the monk. Soren grabs him and slams him to a wall in the alleyway, claws to his throat. They’ve never seen the cat so enraged.
As they interrogate him, the heroes threaten to feed him to Alistair’s manticore. Thistle is the voice of reason, pointing out that they can’t kill everyone. Eventually, they can remove the bad eggs. The monk tells them that they ran out of volunteers. The punishment system was used to get more ‘volunteers’. Most would accept their fate of dying. And most would willingly be part of the sacrifice. Some had second thoughts. Maybe more than some. They had to be restrained. The monk promises to help if they will spare him.
The heroes take him prisoner. Soren guiding him to the tavern, a clawed hand on his shoulder. He’s told to behave, because the cat will have him over the side of the flying island before anyone can save him, if he causes trouble. Their prisoner is bound and thrown in a room at the tavern, secured. The party plans for the next day and takes a long rest.
Their current plan is to arm up in the morning, and kill Kayden at night fall. Alistair wants to raze the entire town. Soren believes it is one bad leader corrupting a town.
---
Soren and Thistle both leveled up, achieving Level 4.
Report Date
21 May 2024
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