Leafturn 1st-7th: King Grunduz Pest Control

General Summary

Following the rust monsters (those armor clad in the party at a safe distance), the group makes their way up the mountain 15 or so miles through the night, gaining elevation steadily. A freezing cold clear day breaks as they hike into a clearing of smashed trees, boulders and debris obviously blocking the path and a natural cave mouth.
As suddenly as they came upon the clearing, a boulder the size of a large boulder sailed almost silently through the air, landing directly on the 3 rust monsters and shattering into peices in front of Shrub. From above the huge silhouette of King Grunduz, a hill giant wearing a makeshift bone crown and wielding an uprooted tree, is outlined by the rising sun. With a yell declaring his hatred of "roaches" and "roach friends," he picked up another boulder with intent to smash the party like so much vermin, despite the eloquent and diplomatic entreaties of Croaker. Perhaps her charms simply went over his head.
In fact, King Grunduz was exceedingly rude to Croaker in return, simply rebuffing her with two swift smashes of his tree-club, which quieted her for at least a few seconds. This did not sit well with the rest of the group, who set upon his hulking form viciously with club, claw and, for the first time, powerful rays of fire from the hands of the mysterious Tao Redsun. This display of power was dazzling not only to his party, but to King Grunduz himself, whose eyes were burned out of his skull by repeated blasts from the sorcerer. The coup de grace was delivered by none other than the newly revived Croaker, who smote him with a stab to the belly which opened him from stem to stern in a blast of holy light.
Upon recovering their wits, the group spent an unpleasant afternoon picking through the "treasure" of King Grunduz, which consisted mostly of disgusting bones fashioned into tools and musty animal skins too far gone to be useful. However, they did manage to find a cache of gold coins at the bottom of his bag, as well as some corpses of what seem to be Sahaugin , 2 spears of their making tipped with sting ray points, and a polished coral icon of Sekolah, their shark god, which seems to be an arcane focus. Wedged between the back molars of the King, a magical scimitar with a gold hilt and massive emerald as a pommel is retrieved through some extreme dentistry.
Upon informing the head miner Hino, a Dwarf woman from Markōmazz-Tor, of the issue with the rust monsters, Croaker Norge was able to convince Hino, Takashi (male Orc), and Shiba (male Gnome) to join the upcoming expedition to Rainstar Isle. Only Nakatomi, a human woman, was unswayed, having a tight knit family here on the The Last Mountain to tend to.
On the trip back to the Cenobium of the Dual Mind, Shrub found a more efficient path home via small game trails, which led by a seemingly ancient and tumbledown grave. The stone effigy on the grave lid, worn nearly featureless by time, seemed to depict a warrior lying in repose. Inside the grave, which was propped open by a tree's roots growing through the stone itself, a glint of metal revealed a breastplate inside. This beautiful armor seems untouched by the ravages of time, and its blued metal surface is punctuated by constellations of mithril stars worked elegantly into the surface itself.
Upon reaching the Cenobium, the group takes a well needed rest and catches up on their duties and heal from their travels. Mountain Storm reads up on the Collected Scholarship on Sleight of Hand. Shrub seeks a raven to tame with the Shineshards

Treasure

Items:
• +1 Breastplate
• +1 Scimitar
• Sahaugin Spears
• Sekolah, Coral Shark Arcane Focus

Currency:
• 258 Gold coins, covered in a disgusting residue

Report Date

31 Aug 2021

Primary Location

The Last Mountain