Session 33: Northbound Report Report in Pondera | World Anvil

Session 33: Northbound Report

General Summary

As the party collects the remnants of the hideout, Eleanor returned back to normal, still covered in viscera before she meekly stands. Her feet schlopping as she steps off the mass of demonic flesh. "U-uh..." she says looking back to the rest of the group.
Ayame tilts her head, looking at eleanor. "Yeah we can talk about all this later I guess... we should get out of here."
"Im gonna... gather some stuff for potions." Nahemahh says, looking around the piles of dead corpses. "This stuff might be synthesizable into antidotes." She says picking up a small bit of moss, pocketing it.
The party finishes looting the corpses of the fallen, and start making their way out of the sewers.
"Wasn't there a boss man to the guy who we saw get digested?" Ragia says.
"No, but his servant was left at the manor... We should probably talk to him." Ayame says with a soft sigh.
The party made their way back to the Autumport manor, where a man, very familiar looking to Nahemah Dai'Gishkin sits on the porch, looking glum. his eyes red from fresh tears. He is an elderly man, with mostly grey hair and nobles clothing. He looks up as the party approaches, giving a light sniffle. "Are you the ones that Bruno hired?"
Ayame gives a hesitant nod, looking confused.
The nobleman gives a sigh. "I am lord Hallan Autumnport... Bruno's father,, I made sure all my children had the capability for me to know if I oulive them. I wanted some answers as to well... what happened? Tyvis gave me some of the details, but not since you went after the iron rings..."
"My Lord..." Nahemah says with a sig. "Unfortuantely, we were lured into a hellish summoning of a monstrosity from Infernium... Bruno... He didn't make it."
Lord Autumport rubs his face wit ha sigh before shaking his head. "Well, thats one hell of a risk isn't it..." He says before sitting back down on the porch, pulling pouch of coin from his clothing, "Twelve hundred gold... Bruno made an offer he couldn't keep, so I'm keeping it for him... Its the Autumport way."
Ayame nods in appreciation. "he fought well, if you could have seen him, you would have been proud... Even if that is of little comfort, against the pain of loosing a loved one, I hope it means something to you at least."
"I appreciate the payment sir but..." Naomi says, looking to the elderly man. "Are you sure about this? It's quite a loss."
Ragia approaches him, holding out her hands, ready to carry the gold while looking as serious as she can, the gleam of greed everpresent behind her mischevious eyes.
He tosses the gold to Ragia. "The loss of a child is nothing compared to the loss of our family's honor." He says with a halfhearted sigh, looking to the rest of the party. "A family name caries with it not only the respect from your lineage, but the responsibility to make sure that those who come after you can use that name the same as you have. Bruno was a challenged child with grand dreams of grandeur. I just wish it didn't lead to him to die like a scrap of meat in the belly of a beast.
"Sir with all due respect." Nahemah sayys as ragia catches the gold, the pouch knocking her to the ground from its weight. "Your son tried his best. He just wanted to help people. He didn't die for nothing."
"With what we encountered." Eleanor pipes up, still looking a bit off after the battle. "We're lucky the city is safe, let alone that anyone live at all."
The nobleman stands up. "Let an old man mourn his child for a while... but thank you for your words." He says giving a brief nod to Nahemah Dai'Gishkin, before heading inside. "Tyvis." He calls out. "Get me some breakfast and some paper." He says before closing the door, leaving the party on their own on the side of the road.
Ayame watches him leave with a sigh. "Well. Shall we sell the loot and split the gold?"
"Yeah" Ragia calls out while hugging the bag of gold atop them. Ayame giggles and picks up the bag off of her.
After a full day of selling all of the gear the party found, they meet back up at Hell around sunset. Ayame looks about the group as they stand before the doors to the tavern. "So... Now what?"
Eleanor looks between everyone and gives a shrug. "We just... get back to the job we were doin? I guess? If yall're still... comfortable and all that doin so. It's mainly my burden after all.... Well, shit... no right. Y'all also could get a lead on the job from Espeaux eh?"
"Yes." Nahemah says with a light nod. "I do think it's in all of our best interests to stick together after the events of this morning... Something tells me we've been marked by fate for more interactions like those. It's important to stay as a group."
Ayame also nods. "I agree... We should stay together."
"Yeah!" Ragia says with a smile. "Its scary and dangerous, but fun... Besides, I'm probably safer with you guys than on my own anyway~"
Eleanor seems at a loss for words but eventually manages a slight nod. "E-erh-right... Fate. Well if we're really just... pushin past all that happened back there then... I suppose we should get goin?"
Ayame pats Eleanor. "We all have our issues... I'm a necromancer... But we are still your friends either way."
"I guess I forget your upbringin. Most folks that've seen... that... Have tried to kill me, not that I can blame them." Eleanor says.
Ayame nods. "Don't get me wrong. I'm concerned and confused about it, but it doesn't scare me away."
"You're my friend Eleanor." Nahemah says with a reassuring smile, gesturing to the rest of the group. "You've been here for all of us, for me, for quite some time now. Something like this won't change how we see you. Well... maybe a little, but you don't scare me or anything!"
Ragia doesn't say anything, but hugs Eleanor instead. Eleanor lets out a light chuckle. "If its of any comfort, I feel just as confused, concerned and scared about it. I'll try not to uhh.." She rases her left hand, waggling her fingers as they shift slightly to the dark alien color briefly, before molding back to normal. "More than necessary."
Ayame nods with a smile. "Sounds good! Lets keep working on this uhm... mission of yours."
Eleanor nods eagerly. "Yeah, escort job, should make sure we gear up and go as soon as we can."
"Oh yeah!" Ayame says perking up. "I have to get sebastians armor..."
"And I have the armor I commissioned as well... Gods I hope we didn't get ripped off." Nahemah says.
The two come back from collecting their new armors, Nahemah carrying it in a bag with a bright smile. "I haven't worn it yet, but its such fine crafstmanship!"
Eleanor just waves to Nahemah as she returns. "Well... the folks here fight off dragons for a living. Fine craftsmanship's a life or death thing."
Nahemah plops her armor within the carriage as ayame returns, the armor nowhere in sight. "Well I'm ready to go."
"Oh my goodness gracious." Nahemah says, wiping the sweat from her brow. "Its much heavier than I anticipated. I definitely won't be ableto wear this all day like my mother wears her armor like clothing all day."
"One day you can!" Ayame says with a smile to Nahemah.
"When goblins fly ayame." Naomi says with a sigh and the shake of her head.
Ayame laughs with a shrug. "The next goblin we meet will be sorry you said that~" She says climbing into the carriage. As she sits, she notices that her cushions feel lumpy. Curious, she blinks and peers under the seats, to notice that every shred of cushioning in the seats have been replaced with indescript packages.
"Watch the er... products I guess..." Eleanor says, hopping into the carriage.
"Will do!" Ayame says with a chuckle. Noticing the 'packages.' Naomi harumphs and sits down on the floor instead. but she notices a bit of give where she sits, the floorboards having been replaced with packages as well, just with a carpeted floor. Naomi whines. "If my mother ever figures out about this i'm ead."
"I bet her pixie wife if watching you right now!" Ayame says teasingly.
Eleanor shrugs, crossing her legs inside the carriage. "I was already supposed to be dead meat to your mom once and I'm still here, you're probably safe. If anything, its me who has to worry again for bein the reason we're doin this."
Naomi looks to Eleanor. "Yeah you think?" She says with a giggle. "I'm sure you'll be fiiine... My mom is usually overreactive with me anyways. Do we have a schedule for how long this should take?"
"Two days to get there. Sooner we get this done the better so we should get going right away."
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DATE: Vamendour 11/625
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The party makes their way using Ayame's carriage out of the city. While riding, they can see that repairs have been made in short order. None of the guards stop them on their way out of the city, and they go through the winding hillside roads of the world for half a day before deciding to finally rest, thre quarters of the way through The Ash Forest. The forest is an old growth pine forest, with the smell of sap thick upon the branches growing overhead, the wind at their back helping to push them forward. Setting up camp alongside the raod, the carriage comes to a hault, the horses exausted.
Ayame, the entire time had a small skeletal dwarf working on the top of the carriage, hammering away at a small anvil. As the party stops and starts to set up camp, Ragia explores a bit outside of the camp, alone, and Naomi stretches while donning her new armor, its form fitting obsidian coloring flickering a platinum sheen in the last hours of twilight.
Ragia searches around the campsite for half an hour before coming upon a small clearing with an open sky, where in the direct center lain a perfect circle of mushrooms. Giddy with excitement, she religiously sets up some magical components within the circle, preparing herself for an hourlong ritual. As her ritual comes close to its end, Ayame feels the hairs standing on end, with something wrong in the world. Ayame, concerned about this new 'feeling,' stands up, and heads towards where her own hairs tell her not to go. Her other two companions seeing her start to trot off into the woods.
"Uh. Ele?" We should go after them right?" Naomi says looking to her companion.
Eleanor looks back. "E-er... yes... I suppose." She says, standing up from the wood she had collected, ready to start a fire, buut cautiously follows Ayame. Nahemah follows behind Eleanor, staying at a reasonable distance so that everyone can duck behind trees if need be. The trio also come upon the small clearing, spotting ragia finishing her incantations, directly at twilight.
Both Ragia and Ayame feel the opening of something, directly at twilight as a mall rerd creature flies out of the portal and smacks into Ragia's face. The kobold flails as she falls back, picking up the creature as its butterfly like wings splash cool air into her scaled face. She looks excited to the rest of the party, as the Faerie dragon looks at Ragia quite startled. "Um... Hi! Its... its a wierd time right now but..." The dragon says with a little squeak in its voice. "Its nice to finally meet you!"
Eleanor gently pokes Ayame's shoulder. "Whats goin on?"
Ayame shrugs and whispers back in response. "Nothing bad yet."
"Yeah! Wait, you've been waiting for me? Cool~" Ragia says, her excitement unable to be contained in her voice.
"Well, when a faerie dragon is about to get its name... It is born... So... What is my name?"
Even just holding the dragon in her hands, Ragia feels like she is holding a scaled butterfly more than a dragon. From her research, she knows that a Faerie dragon starts its life as red, then gradually turns all of the colors of the rainbow as it grows throughout its life processess, before reaching old age at a deep violet color. Wit h such a vibrant red, she knew for a fact, that this dragon was indeed a newborn.
Noticing the rest of the party, she stumbles a bit. "Oh, ah, oh-gosh, I forgot to prepare a name, aah-uh." She looks to the rest of the group, pleeding, as the three of them just look surprised at the display.
"I got it!" Ragia says looking back to the dragon. "You'll be Yara, do you like it?"
"She didn't prepare a name..." Nahemah mumbles to herself.
Eleanor looks to Nahemah. "Is this... normal fancy magic stuff?" She says as a light fog starts to seep in from the twilight hours.
"Thank you! I do like Yara!" She says as the dragon hugs Ragia's hand, her butterfly wings fluttering happilly. "But... I didn't come through the portal alone, so we should leave before they catch us..."
"yeah that's what I thought." Ayame mutters.
Ragia quickly stands up and runs to the party, Yara in tow.
"Is something wrong?" Nahemah says to Ragia, as the kobold holds her new familiar protectively.
"Yara told me that something came through the portal with her. The ritual should have been perfect, but I really don't want to risk encountering evil Vita. We should get away from here before anything else."
Eleanor raiss a brow and waves to Yara. "Whatever you did seems to have spooked Ayame over here, so probably best to book it."
Its then that the party notices the fog, having previously been absent from the small grove, now starts to permiate every nook and crany of the trees surrounding the party. "Its... too late..." Yara says before hiding itself in Ragia's clothing as best as it can.
Suddenly the party hears some sort of noise around them, coming from what sounds to be behind every tree.

Ragia hides Yara within her wraps, staying close to Eleanor. "Sorry for dragging you all into this, it shouldn't have gone so wrong."
"Well what's the call girls? Do we clean up this mess or let whatever this thing is roam loose?" Eleanor says, trying to ignore the song.
"Its not your fault hun, we can get through this together." Nahemah says with a stern nod and a smile. "I cannot in good conscience let something from another realm roam free. Especially a Vita."
As the song reaches its crechendo, a wave of fear washes over the party. Ayame forces the panic away, but the rest of the party feels this deep seated fear wash over them as the hear their hearts beating faster, the sound of breaking twigs and sticks cracking throughout the trees as the party backs up, huddled together to try and spot whatever creture is nearby.
"Im going to enjoy cutting up some cuties like you~" They hear at the end of the song.

Rewards Granted

Nahemah Dai'Gishkin and Ayame Shiori gained a suit of armor each, though what they gained was different in both cases.
House Autumnport granted 1200gp for completing Bruno's quest, despite his untimely death.

Created Content

The Ash Forest

Notes

Originally, this was set to be a boogieman, however, this is changed in later iterations on being a type of hag.
Campaign
The Tides That Bind Us
Protagonists
Ragia Raflesia
Ayame Shiori
Tiamani
3-Level Wizard 3-Level Incanter 4-Level Wraith
Nahemah Dai'Gishkin
Eleanor Primrose
Silawae/Munavri
2:Psychic Warrior-Level Fighter 2-Level Barbarian
Report Date
14 May 2022
Primary Location
Secondary Location

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