Session 5

Mud Drenched Murder

Date: Wednesday, 1st of January, 2020
Attending Players: Ashara, Embra, I'shmael, Victalyassa
Time 4.25 Hours (Total: 15.25 Hours)

Game Time 2nd of Sowmeadow, 4:00 PM
To
2nd of Sowmeadow, 5:00 PM
Game Locations: Skad and Ruins North of Skad

"Not her, things always get weird when she's around," the young halfling boy said, pointing at the frail marleek girl. She shied back from the accusation, covering her mouth with the the scarf her sister gave her. The perfumed scent and silky texture calmed her a bit as she watched the other children debate.

"Yeah, but our lady told us to watch out for her, so she is with us, like it or not," the human girl spat, clearly not thrilled by the idea.

"Me likes her."

"Yeah yeah, she gave Ri'kal pretty eyes," the two kobold twins held the their make-shift doll up. The eyes of the doll gave a slight shimmer in the firelight of the alley as the gemstones glinted from within the wood.

The young girl in question smiled under her scarf, but her face heated in embarresment as well. It was an accident, and not one she could control.

"If you come, you need to-" the chunk of bread sailed at the girls face. "Think fast!"

WIth a quiet cry, the marleek lifted her hands to block it. A spike of fear and adrenaline surged through her and her face was suddenly coated with a fine dust of flour.

The kids all gasped and awed. They sat silent as the girl opened her eyes. Her horns tingled lightly from the magical ambience that was slowly fading. As her eyes grew wider, she saw the white powder covering her as well as the wet milk and eggs that stained her clothes and the ground. She let out a sigh, too quiet to hear, and looked back up at the group.

"Don't look at us," the human said," that was your bread Miss Arcanscape. You'll eat more than our daily rations tonight when you go home. Now lets go."

— ~Streets of Skemnavla.

Session Start

Due to time between the session and the drafting of this report, the exact details gone over for the session report have been forgotten. What is recalled is that the players were spoken to about the character biographies (located on this site) and thanking everyone for the work they have put into the details.

The Guard's Camp

Session started where the PC's had just left off; Embra was examining a note left by someone. It was poorely written and indicated that whenever the intended receipient got back, they should head north. The rest of the group was collected and they discussed the nature of the note in the center of the camp. I'sh'm'al'e did a thorough search of the camp, concluding from his search that it probably belongs to the guards that were sent from Enderfaso.
Following the trail left by the note, the group heads north until they run across the ruins of an old gateway and a trail that looked to have been recently used. Embra snuck forward to investigate, spotting several individuals around the ruins of a old manor. She snuck back without incident and alerted the group to what she saw.
Deciding to opt for diplomacy the group lets Eesh'manuel take the wagon in, with Ashara and Embra covered in the back, keeping Victalyassa at a distance behind. As soon as they approach, a dry-skinned man, clad in simple robes but weilding a crossbow, began aggressively speaking to Ish'mael, telling him to leave. He tried to talk his way out of the tension, but it wasn't working, leading to Ashara and Embra jumping up and getting a surprise attack round.

A Long Combat in the Ruins

Embra got a crossbow bolt off right into the man's eye, killing him instantly, while Ashara's blowdart misses the target, giving a mephit that was with the man a chance to rush off as it tries to alert the camp. It never gets the chance as Ash'malk fires a magic missile into it's back, slowing it for Victalyassa to rush up and punch into its tiny frame. Embra releases a fire bolt to finish it off, blasting into a dust of sand that collects with the rain into mud.
A moment of respite from combat, they drag the man's body to the wagon where Victalyassa checks him over with Rish'mael. They find an incomplete note detailing that the person is looking to leave and will meet at a tavern wearing "crimson boots". Before they have a chance to discuss the details of the note, another mephit flies over, seeing the muddy print of its companion. It quickly turns and rushes back to warn the rest of its comrades.
Ish'mul releases more magic missiles with Victalyassa rushing up and swinging her battle axe on the mephit, but the camp had already become alerted. Another man, dressed and appearing similar to the first one, rushes up with a crossbow in hand, taking a shot at Victalyassa that goes wide. Embra is able to finish off the second Mephit with her firebolt from the back of the wagon while Ashara jumps down and rushes that cultist, nearly cutting him down entirely with a powerful strike.
Knowing more are coming, Ish'is'real rushes forward with the horse and wagon, preparing his crossbow to shoot down any reinforcments. Victalyassa finishes off the cultist nearly downed by Ashara, dodging a strike from another member that rushed up behind her. Ashara casts out a Scorching Ray, engulfing the man in flames and killing him while Embra's bolt finishes off another man emerging from the distance. More reinforcments rush up from a basement stairwell, giving Eh'mael a shot into the leading one.
With a second shot, Ishy'bail nearly downs the man who responds by running up and stabbing their horse, who reels back and begins to take off, taking Ish'mael with them. The second man that had emerged took a crossbow shot at the sorcerer, but the bolt goes high.
After felling the cult member, the group turns in time to see a woman standing on the broken ledge of the tower's second floor. She jumps down, transformign into a a wolf in the process, rushing at Ashara. Victalyasa get the chance to swing her battleaxe, follwing with well aimed punch, noting that the wolf body seems composed of a sand and mud mixture. With Ki flowing through her, she disengages and repositions safely away from the druid's maw. Embra uses the opening to fire at the wolf, but despite a hit, the sandy form of the wolf simply reforms where the bolt glanced off her, doing no damage. Knowing they need to act quick, Ashara traces the runes of of the spell Inflict Wounds on her katana, stabbing down on the druid, the spell spreading across her form and dissolving the wolf shape into dust as the druid falls back, the spells necrotic energy still pulsing on her arm.
Back at the wagon, Ish'null jumps from the wagon, casting Lightning Lure in mid air at the man before him. The shot misses the mans foot as he repositions for a strike on Darth'maul, but the sorcerer, still brimming with energy, releases the spell Scorcher, the trail engulfing the man before him. From the stairs, though the spell reached him the thug dodged the full extent of the spell. It saved his life, but the fire crisped the front of him, leaving him screaming in pain. He tries to fire at Ish'won't'fail, but between the pain and warped weapon, the shot misses.
The druid, knocked from her form, whispers out a spell, erupting the ground between the group into dry, thorned branches that reach up and pull down at Ashara and Embra. She turns to run in the process, and Ashara takes the chance to swing at her, but the vines grasp her, pulling her down and pinning her to the ground. Embra, able to avoid the vines, repositions near Ish'needs'no'heal taking a shot at the man that had hit their horse, the bolt finishing him between the eyes.
Victalyassa, despite wanting to chase the druid down, stops and cuts down the vines holding Ashara down, getting her free. The help gives Ashara a chance to pull her blowgun up and blow a critical shot into the Druid's ankle. Though it deals little damage, the pain clearly cripples the woman, who hopples forward.
The Druid pauses as another cultist steps out, whispering to him and then yelling out "Kiad! Get down here and deal with this!" She turns to escape, but is struck in the back by more Magic Missiles by Ish'heel. As she falls forward, she turns once more into a sandy wolf, though her form seems less stable as she rushes into the ruins, leaving a trail of sand behind her.
Victalyassa, now free to chase the druid, performed a running leap through a fallen wall, landing within the ruins. She spotted the druid's form running out the back of the ruins, into the wet woods, but paused as she saw a large A'Yap warrior running out. She turns back, not wanting to be caught alone, and leaps back, rejoining her friends.
Kiad, the A'Yap Victal had seen, ran past the last cultist in the entryway. He pulls up a Greataxe, covered in runic carvings, and seems focused on striking Meek'mael first.
Now focused on Kiad, Ish'seal is rushed by the bandit that had survived the fires. He ran up and attempted to club Miffed'mael, but the pain of the burns proved too much. As he tries to recover, Embra turns the corner, her crossbow falling to her hip as she raised her palms and released a Burnign Hands, killing the bandit and burning the fur on Kiad.
In the hallway of the ruins, the cultist that the druid spoke to was finishing off a sickly looking potion. Immediatly he began vomitting up bile and sand before his form erupted into a sand and flesh mixture. Knowing that this creature needs to be dealt with fast, Ashara activated the runes on her katana, the glowing erupting with ethereal chains. She ran up striking down on the abomination, the ethereal chains wrapping into its form, providing guided strikes for Ashara.
He'male, with Kiad's focus, dashes behind the cover of Embra, missing with a poorely aimed crossbow shot. Kiad rushes forward, deflecting blows from Embra as he aimes for the caster. His swing goes wide, missing the half-elf. He pauses a moment, tracing his palm over his axe, allowing the runes to activate and glow, his weapon seeming to decay from the power of the runes. Victalyassa, not wishing to be struck by the power of the weapon, rushes in with her Ki flowing, striking the A'Yap in the back with her battleaxe before striking him twice with her fists and rushing backwards in a blur.
The sandy abomination, entwined with Ashara, seems to heal the katana slice in its body, pulling its arm up and slamming sideways into Ashara, crushing her ribs and bringing her low with massive damage. Spitting up blood, she channels the power of her runes as she prepares to fully restrain the creature. Rage rushes through her and she delivers a devestating slice. The cut severs the creatures arm off, pooling sand and blood below it. It reels, but the power of Ashara's runes have burst out, chaining it down further, fully restraining it.
Ish'peel jumps at Kiad with a Shocking Grasp. The critical miss nearly collides with Victalyassa who missed her strikes at Kiad while dodging her comrades strike. The fumble gives Kiad his chance, and he swings his greataxe hard, cutting past Ishies armor and carving into his chest, the necrotic energy seeping in and festering the wound, nearly felling the mage in one swing. Embra, using her chance, has her Rapier at the ready and strikes between the bandit's boiled leather, striking his kidney's, bringing him to a knee.
Kiad is breathing heavy, surrounded, but his fury is still focused on Ish'mael. Knowing he couldn't survive another blow, the mage prays to Bom, asking to help him finish the man off. Bom answers with a bolt of energy striking down into him, empowering him. The blast nearly blows Victal and Embra off their feet. The power does send Kiad sailing backwards. With the power of a god coursing in him, Ish'mael triest to catch Kiad mid-air with his Lightning Lure, but cant quite catch him. The A'Yap lands on his back, the wind knocked from him, as Ish'Mael steps up. His hand pulls with a Shocking Grasp, but as he plunges it down, Kiad turns his head, the ozone stinging his nostrils as the hairs on the back of his head singe. Beliving he escaped death, Kiad has only a moment before Ish'Mael, surging with divine might, manifests a sword of pure electical energy, and stabs it into the bandit's stomach, gutting him and snuffing the light in in his eyes.
While the group was fighting Kiad, Ashara was swinging back and forth with the abomination. Now restrained, it couldn't strike the vicious woman, but her blade was having difficult keeping up with the sandy wounds sealing up. When the blast of divine might overtook Ish'Mael, the other women saw their chance to aid their partner. Victalyassa runs up and strikes the abomination with her great axe, but fails to make a decent connect with her fist as the creature thrashes in the chains. Embra is able to get a clear shot and lifts her crossbow up, imbedding the steel-tipped bolt into the creatures chest. Its form was beginning to fail, and with the last ounce of her fighting strength, Ashara felled it with an overhand blade. The creatures form dissolving into a pile of sand and ichor.

An Occult Base and Resting

Ashara stumbles up, correcting her posture and sliding the Katana back into place. She turnes to see if Ish'mael is okay, but her gaze is pulled to the runic weapon on the ground, amazed to see something so like hers, when she never had before. The world fades for her as she pulls out her blood-pen and paper, draining herself to take note of the runic greataxe.
Embra helps Ish'milk, collecting gear and potions from Kiad's body. As the power of the necrotic weapon faded, Ish'teal took one potion, a Potion of Healing, and drank it, but his wound is so severe that it hardly seems to help. He takes the other vial, a Potion of Necrotic Resistance, and the armor off the bandit, before his attention is caught by Victalyasssa.
While the group looted and noted, Victal went into the basement that the bandits had emerged from, finding sixteen individuals dressed as peasants and near catatonic. She tries to engage them, but gets no response. After a few moments, she starts to leave, but is stopped when she spots rows of potion vials on the eastern wall, resembling that which the cultist drank before he became the sand abomination.
Running upstairs, Victalyassa tells the group. Embra volunteers to help Victal downstairs, but Ish'kneel, weakened from the blow, decides to collect the wagon as he nurses his wounds and contemplate the note. Ashara keeps Ish'mael company, while continuing to ponder the runed greataxe.
Back downstairs, the two women examine the potions, with Embra able to determine through contemplation and tasting that the potions aren't deadly alone, but part of some Transmutation ritual. Further examining shows that the series of potions on the walls appear to be a collection of different test samples, each slightly different but essentially the same. Continual investigation points out that the bottles are all from the same shop, with the address etched into the bottle, but later scratched off. They can put together the following: "Io-ha-- Pot-n Sh-p, 2--- L-thri- St--e- End--f-so".
Embra grabs several potions for future study and they go further into the basement. The two try once more to elicit a response from the prisoners, but once more find no answer from them. They continue on for now, toward the very back of the room, where two doors sit closed. Victalyassa is able to hear the light snoring through one door, nothing at the other, so the two opt to sneak in carefully, surprising whoever is in there.
Inside, a man is found sleeping, appearing to be similar to the banditesque men that ran up from the basement before. Embra slides her rapier against the mans throat, Victal presses her axe against his groin, and the wake the man. A series of questions go back and forth, with the threat of death if he doesn't comply. He insists he and his crew were hired simply to "watch the people in the prison" and didn't know much of what the other group was doing, just that it was "culty" and that a lot of sand and blood was involved.
Ultimately believing him, they strip him naked, make him promise to live a good life and swear off bandit work. They strip him of his clothes and send him into the woods to start his new life. The two rejoin Ashara and Fish'mael upstairs, where they discuss what they plan on doing with the prisoners downstairs. They conclude that they shoudl tie them up and bring them into Skad, but not before resting. Victalyassa takes to the second floor of the tower to keep guard while Ashara and Ish'Mael rest in the destroyed house. Embra, needing no rest, examined the first floor, finding unknown potions, as well as a Potion of Vitality. Mixed amongst the alchemical tables are also various bits of flesh and limbs all in different stages of petrification or transition into dust and sand.
With the rest started, the session concluded with the players spending their HD to heal.