Session 5 Report - Sailing
General Summary
The party took lodgings overnight at the First Peacock, where Aliurinal enjoyed his free ale, enviously watching Lucian consume his free meal.
The next morning, Silas went down to the river, wearing his new fancy hat, and produced papers to one of the boat captains explaining that the party was working under the command of the provincial general (General Webb), and the captain should render whatever assistance was needed. The captain was a 2’6” halfling named Marcie Drumwind . She agreed to let the group accompany her on her craft to Brastedge, as she was on her way there anyway to trade. Silas made a show of noting her name in his book and thanking her for her service.
The rest of the party made their way down to the docks, where they were directed to the Happy Unicorn . Marcie showed them where they would be bunking down on the deck near her mules, Sparkles and Belinda. During the trip, Sparkles took a liking to Silas, who fed her an apple every morning (from Marcie’s stock). An uneventful three days later, they arrived at Brastedge.
Brastedge, the capital of the province, was on the east side of the river, with the docks on the far north side of town. They floated under a rope bridge and then docked on the near side of a major stone bridge. Silas gave Sparkles one last pat and disembarked with the rest of the group. Marcie directed them toward the Dusk Gate to the east up the path, leading to the town. “The Yellow Slick Toad is a great place to stay, if you are going to be here for a while!” she called merrily out to them. “The apple cobbler is delicious!”
Tanith wondered if they were stopping for lunch as it was approaching noon, judging by the position of the sun in the slightly overcast sky. Aliurinal looked nervous to be in a town. Tanith sighed at him and looked around curiously. The town was fairly substantial, almost three times the size of Nosbury, and the home of Countess Ibbet Brastedge. The city was surrounded by a stone wall manned by soldiers, with a few buildings that had popped up outside the walls. Silas wandered off to find the guard house and get a bed for the night. He agreed to meet up the next morning at the Dusk Gate to help plan their next move.
Tanith and Bear moved off to find some lunch. They listened to the surrounding patrons, who were talking about their everyday affairs. One man complained about the cost of iron, which just kept getting worse.
Roland split off from the others to visit the archives, where he got lost in piles of musty books. He found that the history of Brastedge was closely associated with demons. The town had fended off a series of incursions several hundred years ago, when the demons tried to take the town but were repelled time and time again. The noble family had been notable tacticians throughout the histories.
Lucian set off to get the lay of the land and observe the townspeople, looking for anything out of the ordinary. He saw many merchant stalls and listened to the townsfolk complaining about the price of iron. The further east he went, the richer the houses and dress of the people became, especially approaching the keep where the countess lived. He kept half an eye on Aliurinal, who was following along behind, gradually losing ground. He noted when Aliurinal gave up and headed for the edge of town, and Lucian smiled to himself.
At the barracks, Silas mingled with the guards, striking up conversations and listening to the general talk. He did not hear of any recent disasters, but a solider spoke of the cobbler’s daughter, Betsy Goldrudder, who was kidnapped. Her father, Jules Goldrudder, had been so distraught that the soldiers’ boots were not yet ready. Silas mentioned rumors of dragons and demons and portals, but no one responded with any new information. He heard there was some trouble down at the mines, although no one could say for certain what the trouble was. “The iron mines?” asked Silas, looking thoughtful.
As afternoon waned into evening, Bear and Tanith listened to the peculiar music of a Tabaxi performer at the Toad. Tanith enjoyed the one where the chorus sang, “If only we knew how the stories get told; if there are never any survivors.” On the outskirts of town, Aliurinal scouted for a place to lay his head for the night. Roland, lost in his books, did not notice the time passing. He absently patted his bag with the egg secured inside.
At breakfast the next morning, Roland joined Tanith and Bear at their table, followed closely by Lucian. Aliurinal, waking in his field, observed a lark in her nest in a nearby tree. He listened for a while and then tried to imitate the song. The lark tilted her head and looked at him, before flying away. Silas broke his fast with the guard, slapped his new friends on the back in a manly fashion, and set off for the Dusk Gate. The companions at the Toad settled their bill (6 sp each) before heading out. They arrived at the Dusk Gate, joining Silas who had arrived four minutes earlier. Aliurinal approached, asking if Silas had learned anything from the guard.
Comparing notes, they discussed the high price of iron and the disappearance of Betsy, which may or may not be related to “strange happenings” at the iron mines. Tanith asked Roland about the archives. He stated that there was no new information that might be relevant to their mission. Lucian argued for moving on, leaving the iron problems for the locals, but Tanith asked to go talk to Jules about the disappearance of his daughter. She remembered seeing the cobbler’s shop and took off in that direction.
Entering the shop, Tanith approached the middle-aged man who appeared to be the proprietor. Asking about his daughter, he told Tanith that his daughter was 19 years old. He became angry, speaking about some rogues hanging around in the The Anxious Squirrel. He told his daughter not to spend time with them, but she did not listen. Then two days ago, she disappeared. He went down to the Squirrel and those rapscallions had disappeared as well. He indicated a direction and said The Anxious Squirrel was two blocks that way.
As Tanith exited toward the Squirrel, she did a double take, spying Aliurinal loitering in the street. He nodded to her conspiratorially and slipped off in her wake. Tanith rolled her eyes, entering the Squirrel and looking around. Aliurinal stepped up and entered right behind her. The tavern was occupied by a lone woman, cleaning up from the night’s apparent debauchery. Aliurinal signaled in thieves’ cant, receiving no response.
“We are here for breakfast,” said Aliurinal.
“We don’t serve breakfast.”
“Um. I am looking for my friend, Betsy. Have you seen her?”
The serving woman said she had seen Betsy hanging out with the players who had performed at the tavern for a while. But the players moved on a few days ago, and Betsy seemed to have gone off with them.
Tanith told her that Betsy’s dad was worried about her – did she leave a note or anything? Or did the serving woman think Betsy was in danger, or taken against her will?
The serving lady said she seemed to have gone of her own free will, as she was pretty friendly with one of the players in particular. Tanith thanked her and moved toward the door. Pausing with her hand on the door, she turned back and asked, “Oh, do you know which way they went?”
“They planned to head back up north. The south could not support a troupe like that.”
As an afterthought, Tanith asked about the iron shortage, but the woman said it had not hurt their business much yet.
“Okay, thank you. Come on Aliurinal, let’s go.” Turning to the woman, Tanith said, “This is my friend…um…never mind. Let’s go.”
Aliurinal and Tanith rejoined the others at the Dusk Gate. While they were gone, the others had discussed the iron problem. Lucian suggested there might be a portal in the mine. They all looked at each other for a moment, and then they turned as one and set off for the mines.
Passing through the Summer Gate, they followed the road south for a while and then broke off east on a less traveled path. They had been told the mine was a good 2-3 days walk from Brastedge. Mid-afternoon, they made camp and Aliurinal left to hunt for dinner. Roland checked on the egg, as he did every morning and evening. Tanith read poetry by the light of the fire. They set the standard double watch overnight and were awakened in the morning by birdsong.
As they set out, Roland noted that the road seemed a little too rough for a route used to transport iron to Brastedge on a regular basis. Aliurinal examined the surroundings, determining that a wagon had used the road within the last few days, but there were plants growing up on the tracks that should never have been able to grow that quickly.
“Druids?” hypothesized Aliurinal. Everyone thought about dinner last night and shuffled their feet uncomfortably.
“Maybe the trouble at the mine is with a druid, not a demon?” said Tanith.
Aliurinal looked more closely for signs of a druid or other fey nearby. From the time he spent with druids in the past, he got the distinct feeling that he was not welcome and should turn back. He asked the others to wait and went off into the wood alone to see if he could communicate with the druids regarding any demonic activity. When he was alone, he spoke out in Sylvan. The grass and leaves began to sway unnaturally, urging him to leave, but Aliurinal persisted.
“We are here to slay demons!” he called out. Looking around, he spied eyes in a bush nearby.
“Will you slay those who are defiling the earth?” questioned a voice from the shrubbery.
“If you mean the human miners, then we remain neutral. But if they are demons, we will try to kill them.”
The wind began to blow harder and the eyes faded from sight. Aliurinal made his way back to the path. He informed the others that they were not welcome and there did not seem to be a demon problem at the mines. The companions agreed and turned back.
Tanith tried to strike up a conversation with Lucian. He stared back at her stoically, until her words trailed off and she dropped back to walk with Roland.
Back in Brastedge, Silas commandeered another boat to continue north toward Durmouth. Tanith wondered how he was managing this deception. Shrugging, she watched him gesticulating with a boat captain and pointing down river.
Lading their bags aboard, this new boat was narrower and longer than the last one. Captain Van Gandt, a half elf, welcomed them aboard and then went about her business. Pushing off into the current, they got underway toward Durmouth.
Near nightfall on the fourth day of sailing, Captain Van Gandt approached. “We will reach Durmouth a little after nightfall. I can drop you off, but then I am heading on.”
Exchanging glances with the rest of the party, Silas indicated that they were fine and did not need to disembark. Shrugging, the captain agreed and moved off.
Five more days passed. Tanith looked out over the bow and could see Lake Newleigh drawing closer. Where the river joined the lake, she could see a channel along the northwest side of the lake, defined by large posts sticking out of the water, for the boat traffic. The group did not want to go to the capitol, so they looked for a good place to disembark.
During the past five days, they had discussed rumors of where the dragons nested. Some sources said they nest in the lake itself, while other disagreed. Roland had been up late each night, reading the dragon book he obtained from Exius. That book said dragons liked to nest where people could not go, and that they were proficient in magic. Based on this information, Lucian suggested going to the south as it was much less populated. Tanith worried that the dragons were actually underwater, but she saved that worry for another day.
After thanking Captain Van Gandt, she agreed to let them off on the south side of the river, although she seemed confused. Tanith watched in bemusement as Silas made a show of writing her name in his book while he assured the captain her service would be noted.
“Well, good luck to you! I hope you survive.”
Aliurinal stopped and looked at the captain. “Why would we not survive?”
The captain shrugged again. “As long as you stay on the land, I guess you will be okay.”
“What’s in the water?” Tanith asked.
The captain denied any knowledge in particular. She said that many people had claimed to see “something” in the water. Aliurinal asked about demons, but the captain had not heard of anything demonic in the area. Exchanging glances, the party thanked her and disembarked. Tanith believed more
than ever that the dragons nested in the water, and she was starting to become anxious about how to proceed.
Setting off along the shore, Aliurinal ranged out ahead to scout. The lakeshore was bounded by smooth rocks, transitioning into scrubby vegetation. They walked for the rest of the day and then looked for a place to camp. Setting a double watch (Aliurinal à Lucian, overlapping with Roland à Bear à Silas à Tanith), they uneasily huddled together. Sleep was a long time coming.
As Bear’s watch was ending, just as he was contemplating waking Silas for his turn, he saw a massive shape humping out of the water. The disturbance continued for some time. Calling Aliurinal over, Aliurinal stared for a moment and then woke Roland. They looked in the bag of holding, but the egg remained….egg-like. Aliurinal described what he saw. The creature in the water definitely had scales, but he could not determine what color. Aliurinal and Bear woke Silas and Lucian for their turn at watch.
As the party broke their fast in the morning, they discussed what Aliurinal and Bear had seen during the night. An argument ensued about whether the dragon was probably gold, or perhaps black, which Roland proposed as he knew that they lived underwater. He also knew that gold dragons tended to live in “out of the way places” near water or behind waterfalls, etc. Lucian asked whether the goal was to use the egg to bait the demons or to try to find the parents of the egg. No one had a good answer to either of these questions. Silas suggested building a pedestal at the lakeside for the egg and lighting it at night to see what might come to investigate. Tanith suggested that since they had seen a dragon, perhaps they should forget about the demon for now and focus on returning the egg to the dragon. Lucian agreed. Bear remained concerned that “parading the egg along the shore” might be misunderstood by any dragons living in the water. He voted to keep the egg hidden.
The conversation then turned to whether or not to send Roland out into the lake. Roland stated flatly that he was not going into the lake alone. He explained the difference between what he called metallic dragons (good) and chromatic dragons (evil). Tanith was astounded to discover that gold dragons, and maybe other kinds, were able to read minds in some situations. They were also able to take the form of humans.
It was decided to continue along the shore and keep the egg in the bag. Aliurinal would scout inland, staying closer to the group than previously, looking for demonic activity or signs that a dragon lived nearby. The party would also keep an eye on the water. It was agreed that if a chromatic dragon approached, the companions would need to fight it and hope to survive. If a gold dragon approached, it was imperative to announce quickly that the group was returning their egg.
They set off along the shore. Near midday, Aliurinal saw off to the south a patch of black earth within the green, hilly terrain. He could not make out what it was, so he moved closer until he could distinguish that it appeared this patch of ground had been burned, about 100 meters long and 30 meters wide. He returned to report to the party. Roland muttered something about both dragons and demons being able to breathe fire. The party moved toward the patch of ground. Aliurinal surmised the fire was likely about a month old or so. Moving out into it, he saw in the center a group of what appeared to be broken rocks, when suddenly a gold dragon reared its head up off to the south.
Looking up and up and up some more, Tanith felt suddenly weak. She saw her companions waver.
In a booming voice, the dragon bellowed, “WHY HAVE YOU COME HERE?”
Silas stammered, “Uh…we….um….we came to return an egg. We believe it belongs to your….um, flight?”
“It’s a golden egg!” Aliurinal added.
The dragon eased out of its defensive pose. “Well then, return it!”
Roland motioned anxiously to Bear who stared at him and motioned back. Roland set the opened bag on the ground and slowly upended it, pulling the bag off the egg where it now sat on the ground. Silas slowly backed away while Aliurinal lowered his bow to point at the ground. Tanith sank to her knees, panting. Lucian’s head whipped toward the lake. Following his gaze, Tanith could see another gold dragon emerge from the lake and wing in their direction. It was slightly smaller. When it arrived, the two dragons stared at each other. The first dragon pushed the egg toward the newcomer, and then it shrank down into the form of an elf.
Aliurinal faced the “elf” and bowed down in elven fashion. “We have also been attempting to track down and destroy the demon who was trying to steal this egg. We would greatly appreciate any assistance or information you might have.”
“How did you get this egg?”
Silas explained the sequence of events leading up to the present. Aliurinal added information about the paper they found on the minor demons with the drawing of the egg-stealing demon. Tanith urged Aliurinal to stop talking.
“Thank you for returning this egg. It was stolen from us several weeks ago. There were suddenly demons in our home, and when we followed them to retrieve our egg, they disappeared in this spot. We did our best to eliminate the demonic presence in this area, but we feared the egg was lost.”
“We are honored to have been of service to you,” said Aliurinal, bowing once again. He showed the dragon in elf form the map with the circle intersecting the portals, in case the dragons wanted to investigate further and destroy more portals.
Tanith asked what their best path home should be, to make sure they did not interfere with any dragon homes. The dragon replied that as long as they stayed out of the lake, they should be fine. While the golden dragons would not harm them in the lake, there were other things that lived there which were not so nice.
Silas offered aid in any way, but the dragons stated they would take command of the situation. However, they did ask that the presence of the gold dragons in the lake should not become common knowledge. They preferred not to be disturbed, and anyone who came looking for magic and riches would likely be eaten by the serpents who lived closer to the surface anyway.
The elf transformed back to a dragon. The smaller dragon picked up the egg and they both took off, winging their way back to the lake.
Rewards Granted
A Grain of Time - look forwards a few seconds into one of the possible futures. Once per day, use a Bonus Action to gain advantage on all attacks you make, and give disadvantage to all attacks made against you until the start of your next turn.
Scale of communication
Missions/Quests Completed
The Golden Egg
Aliurinal Meridethson
()
8 / 8 HP
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
Tanith
Report Date
02 Jun 2023
Primary Location
Secondary Location
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