12/10/23 - Renamed, Rejuvenated, and Regenerated

General Summary

Our heroes stood before the destroyed skum at the bottom of Vorua Pleaura. A little worse for wear, Saepe , Gimble , and Aglizzy were happy to see Malikae arrive with Melkor, Slayer, and Reed.Once all reunited, Malikae called upon the blessings of Helm and the party discussed their next course of action. It dawned on Welcome Tasks that there was only seven days before the fog lifted from the library and that there was no time to waste. Before heading out, there were some minor housekeeping things to do at Vorua Pleaura. The reason Welcome Tasks was there after all was to establish the Miners Guild and ensure a form of income while they go off on adventure. An initial ore sample was brought to the surveyor, a dwarf by the name of Benno Hammerstone. The initial findings seem promising enough for Benno to write documentation stating that the guild would pursue the operations. In the last line of this decree, the miners guild renamed the operation, and hence forth Vorua Pleaura shall be known as Schildkröteneisen( or Turtle’s Iron for those who don’t speak Dwarvish). The document was signed by both Benno and Malikae before being sealed and carried by a small courier group back to Fallmouth.
Two other tasks needed to be seen to before leaving the mine. Firstly was the matter of Flayer, their Tabaxi captive. While hesitant to leave him behind, carrying a captive through the jungle would only slow them down. A small room within the dwarven ruins could easily enough be converted into a holding chamber and Benno was warned that the Tabaxi was quite cunning in his ability to coerce others.
The second task was that of the glow wyrm. While Saepe ’s spell was preventing the creature from decomposing, individuals would be needed to ensure nothing disturbed or tried to take it. Again this task fell upon the miners guild, who were less than thrilled that they were being pulled away from their task at hand. But with the promise of better pay and a reminder of who slayed the beast they now guarded, the guild complained less. With that taken care of, Welcome Tasks was ready to head back to the surface.
It took the better part of the afternoon to reach mine’s entrance way, and they all ag Reed that resting in a somewhat fortified location would be best before hitting the trail in the morning. What Welcome Tasks could not agree on was whether to sleep inside the stone structure next to the deep canyon, or outside the stone doors under the stars. Craving to be under the sky again, Melkor and Slayer took first watch outside and enjoyed the night sky. Their watch was uneventful, but how the plane is structured and whether it is cylindrical in shape was hypothesized until it was time for Malikae and Saepe to take watch.
The debate of the plane’s shape continued until Saepe , for some odd reason, felt that Malikae was going to betray him. He felt compelled to strike at the Dwarf down where he stood and raised his spear. Malikae, while surprised, was able to parry his blow AND dodge the previously unseen creature that tried to bite him. With that a fight broke loose as the party was woken up to the sight of a pair of nagas and Saepe trying to stab Malikae.
The combat was tough, mostly because the party was spent on most of its usual resources and because only two party members where awake at the start. Initially, things look good as Reed managed to stab one of the creatures as he rose from his sleep sack and Melkor formed a cloud of daggers around the serpent who was dominating Saepe . The naga however were arcane focused and led magical strikes of Blight, Ray of Frost, and even found a good opportunity to lightning bolt three members of Welcome Tasks standing in a straight line. All the while, Saepe was under the control of one of the creatures, even going as far as to abjure Malikae. Fortunately for the dwarf, Saepe was unable to land a blow upon him and the spell was finally broken when the naga lost their focus after dozens of cuts from Melkor’s spell.
With that, the tides of battle turned as Saepe was able to return to aiding Welcome Tasks. The Naga began to retreat when they saw their efforts fail and were cut down for their hubris. Slayer planted several arrows, slaying the first one and Gimble critically struck the other with his eldritch energy. The party searched the creatures’ bodies but found little of interest. From there, they made do with only getting a few hours of rest before setting out back to Gnoll Bane.
The first day’s travel was an eventful one. Heading south, they once again passed through where the wildfire had ravaged the rainforest. This made the terrain fairly easy to traverse, but there was something odd about it. At a certain hour in the early morning light, Slayer noticed that the knots in the surviving tree glistened strangely. When he approached one of the knots, the Tabaxi saw that the knots were not in fact glistening but rather were a window to a realm showing a perpetual twilight sky.
This was of great concern to many of the party members. While it has been some time, their time on Cacung Dien has not been forgotten. Some initial research was performed as Slayer and Malikae stuck twigs into a few knots to see if this effect was real or illusionary. They deduced that solid objects could pass through to the other plane as branches longer than the tree’s trunk would slide effortlessly into the knots. However, as the sun continued to rise in the sky, this magical effect shattered, cleaving one of branches that was half way between planes. Overall, this series of events perplexed Welcome Tasks, but it was probably for the best that they didn’t waste too much time investigating.
They were not far from the lair of The Tabaxi Sisters when the sun began to set. It was decided that it would be best to camp rather than request any hospitality from the sisters. The night passed without incident, although Slayer stated that he swore the leaves rustling in the breeze sounded like pages in books being turned. It was remarked how odd that sounded, especially since it was unclear if Slayer(or Tabaxi in general) kept books. This debate was interrupted by light on the horizon and the rumble of thunder in the air.
With the morning threatening to downpour, Welcome Tasks ventured southward once more. This leg of the journey was not as tranquil as the previous day, and before noon, the party found their path blocked by four trolls and their dire weasel pet scrounging for food. Disposing of these vile creatures became a type priority and a cunning plan was devised.
Rory, Saepe ’s loyal hippo mount, was to be loaded up with the oils they had planned to burn the library down with and charge at the brood of trolls. Once he was engaged with the enemy, Saepe would dismiss his steed back to its home plane, and Melkor would follow up with a fireball for explosive damage. The plane seemed not complex at all, but of course no plan survives first contact.
As Rory was being loaded up with incendiary liquids, the trolls took notice of the eight persons and a hippo. The trolls moved with haste and almost closed the gap between the two parties. Rory, was now caught flat footed and was unable to prevent the trolls from getting closer. As the creatures approached, our heroes readied themselves for combat.
In a surprise turn of events, Malikae was the quickest to act and used the fires from Helm to strike at the trolls. Party members who could follow suit in terms of fire damage did so. Slayer loosed several fire arrows and Melkor still conjured a fireball which struck two trolls and incinerated their pet dire weasel. By the time the trolls attempted to clobber Malikae and Saepe , they were badly injured and one of them was quickly struck down by Saepe .
For the most part, Welcome Tasks handled themselves well. Melkor arcanely slowed the living trolls, Gimble kept on blasting, and smites and flame strikes were unleashed by the diviners. The only real error was that somewhere in the shuffle a downed troll escaped fire damage and quickly regenerated to continue its belligerent behavior. This was quickly remedied though and soon Welcome Tasks was once again victorious.
The smoke is now clear and the party is ready to continue their progress towards the library. They have less than a week before the fog lifts and many obstacles stand between them and their destination. However, it seems like our adventures have put their minds to getting to it and once focused on something, it's hard for them to divert course…hopefully.

Report Date

10 Dec 2023

Primary Location

Vorua Pleaura

Related Characters

• Benno Hammerstone

Time Table
Days remaining until Malikae must return to Temple Helm: 25
Days remaining until the fog lifts from the library : 5
Days remaining until Gentle Repose ends: 8