Arete brings to the group something of interest: a golden necklace with three purple shards encased in golden cages. Convinced that magical analysis would leave a mark leading back to him, Arete asks the group to investigate it without the use of magic.
The gang prepares their voyage to
The Heartland, now the question is: How do we get there? A short trip to the Archipelago to donate Elgin’s performance funds to
Jorunn Jorunnsonn XIII gave us a lead to a flamboyant character - Kolgrima Duskchaser, captain of the Rose Blossom airship.
Before heading to the departure docks, Daz met up with
Gnorr Hammerfist the blacksmith to inform him of our future location. Being the exquisite purveyor of rare materials, Gnorr asks the gang to keep in mind to look for three rare reagents:
- Stinger of a wyvern
- Beak of a hippogryph
- Weaponry of a gnoll
Miranro is determined to set up a supply line for less-than-legal goods. However, he lacks the crew and transportation for these goods.
An individual with a flamboyant hat and grandiose flair greets the gang with a enthusiastic introduction. She introduces herself as Kolgrima Duskchaser. To speed up our departure, the gang assists in loading up supplies onto the ship as Daz inspects the airship. His familiarity with the airships suggests that the ship is poorly maintained.
Trip to the Heartland, as in most cases to basically anywhere in Pendent, takes 7 days.
Our first night on the ship Miranro focuses on observing the crew and their captain to see if there are any advantageous situations to seize in acquiring a crew for his trade route plan. He notes that there is a cargo hold with multiple locks in play. Sounds like a covert job for Daz and his nifty level 2 Knock spell. Elgin takes the time to interview the crew to learn more of Dwarven legends to sing about in future performances. His first song details the heroic miner that every dwarven minor aspires to be: Willin Ironbreaker the Determined Nether-region miner.
On the 2nd night, a team of Arete, Daz, and Miranro scheme to inspect the locked cargo hold. As Skorpa sets up a prayer tent for healing and Elgin prepares a performance of Willin the Ironbreaker, Daz casts Knock on the locks in time with the rhythmic drumming of Elgin’s ballad. Arete casts invisibility on Miranro so he may inspect the cargo hold undetected. But what is a mission without drama? As if misfortune smiles upon Miranro, Krathag ventures into the sleeping quarters and notices that the lock to the cargo hold has been undone. Being an honorable soul Krathag, he fastens the lock and returns to the performance. Press F for Miranro. As the timer of the invisibility spell should be expiring, Arete notices that Miranro is still within the cargo holds and grabs Daz to help unlock. For the time spent in the hold, Miranro discovers nothing of interest.
On the 3rd night, Daz’s thoughts weigh heavily on the mysterious amulet that Arete holds. The three purple shards are awfully similar to the shards found in Neskur's measuring device, a material that has the destructive power to destroy the chains holding the Isles together. With a short discussion with Skorpa, the duo enlists Miranro’s help to pilfer the amulet from a sleeping Arete so they might use identifying magicks on this item.
[PLACEHOLDER NAME]. A legendary item with 3 charges. Each charge can be used to create a beam of pure destructive radiant energy in a precise direction. A hiding spell is used on this item to conceal the charges. Each of these charge is encased by an abjuration protection spell. The knowledge on how to utilize this item, however, is unknown. We know what it can do, but not how to use it. Miranro successfully replaced the amulet in Arete’s possession with him being none the wiser.
On the 4th night, the gang hosts a physical competition. Skorpa boasts the titanic strength of Krathag for an arm wrestling challenge to the dwarves. Daz casts Enlarge on Krathag. Four poor souls approach the Large-sized Krathag. The first contestant instantly Nopes out. The second contestant tests his mettle with Krathag. As Krathag’s hand gently envelopes the tiny dwarf’s fist, an overwhelming roll of Krathag’s 19 to the competitor’s 5 bent the dwarf’s arm in unnatural places. As Skorpa makes his move to heal this now unconscious dwarf, Daz drunkenly stumbles to intercept this Skorpa. With Daz’s superior dexterity besting Skorpa’s strength, Daz squirrels around Skorpa yelling joyous profanity. Eventually Daz passes out into a drunken stupor and Skorpa is able to tend to this individual. The 3rd contestant Nopes out as well from the sight of his friend. The last Dwarf is a burly, menacing dwarf. One eye closed, with a long scar running down his face. His left arm is a sleeve of tattoos of flames, his hair has a flair of smokey gray to it. His name: Bursi. Against Krathag, Bursi was able to hold on his own, a slow defeat against the might of Krathag. The fact that this dwarven individual arm is not broken has granted him a small title: the Unbroken. Bursi calls for a rematch against Krathag on a future date, without any enhancements.
On the 5th day, the gang holds an intervention for Arete, to discuss this powerful amulet. Skorpa reveals to Arete that he and Daz diddled the amulet while he was sleeping. The nature of the amulet was revealed. The story from Arete is that his patron gave him this amulet to deliver to an unknown individual that would approach him in the Heartland. He knows nothing more of this quest except that failure to comply will most likely result in his doom. Arete shares that he most prefers to save the potential lives of thousands at the cost of his own. For now, the gang decides to keep the amulet for now and try to figure out the mechanism of this destructive tool, as well as keeping an eye out for the mysterious Heartland recipient.
Two more days remain until the voyage to the Heartland is concluded.
