Session VII: Volcanic Archipelago Report

General Summary

General Summary

After taking a rest on the beach, our heroes decide to follow the Astral Compass into the jungle. The tropical forest is crowded and unforgiving, but they make it to the base of the volcano as the first sun begins to set. They encounter a local, Vahlisto, who is upset with the foreign presence and disturbance to the natural balance of the already unstable island. After realizing the malfunctioning compass is attempting to show height and depth, they enter the volcano through Vahlisto's caves, protected by native Tendrilos.

Restful Night

After clearing the Blackrift welcoming party from the beach, our heroes stow their boat and the bodies in the thick tropical bushes that line the beach. Finally having a moment to collect themselves, Gargax prayed to Bahamut to summon a steed as the others scouted the beach. Behind the rocks they rowed past to land was a collection of giant crabs and smaller mollusks that had made a home of a beached row boat. Beneath the seaweed and barnacles, they could see a skeleton reaching from beneath the boat.
Perithil approached the crabs with his hands out, making clicking noises to keep the crabs calm. As he did, Equity ran up to the skeleton before the crabs had turned all their attention to the sea elf. At the same time, Slash Burn approached from between them. The crabs responded by raising their claws in a defensive position, having been surrounded by these strangers. Perithil, exasperated, asked them to step back and he dropped some food for the crabs as he continued clicking. The crabs gathered around the food and the elf, allowing Equity to approach the skeleton. Among the bones he found a bag which he removed to check. Rocks. It was a bag of rocks.
Upon further inspection, the party discovered the round, smooth rocks were warm to the touch. With the appropriate application, they could imbue a patient with fire resistance. Being a tiefling, Equity was already resistant to fire, so saw little need for them. Both Gargax and Perithil stopped him from leaving the behind, making the point that not everyone in the party was already resistant to flames... While Equity gathered the stones, Slashburn attempted to communicate with the giant crabs while they munched with his connection to the natural world through his tribe. When he asked if the crab had seen any other people in black uniforms, it stared at him for a moment before burying itself in the sand.
Gargax completed summoning a Celestial spirit which took the form of a glorious warhorse... then watched their goliath attempt to converse with a giant crab...

Campfire Conversation

While sitting at the campfire, sharing rations, Slash Burn let his party knew he had some information they deserved to hear. He pulled from his pack an intricate compass and let them know this is what they've been following. Removing one of the crystals from the setting around the face of the artifact, he showed the needle follow it as he moved it from side to side. Replacing the crystal in the setting, the needle returned to pointing to the center of the island.
This artifact was one he and Echo found within the Monastery of the Arched Sky - a temple of an ancient order of stargazers. It will point them to the nearest astral signal, pieces of the star that fell to the earth. They will follow this to the fragments until they locate the fallen star.
Slash Burn informed them the risks involved as many people are also after this fallen star including the Blackrift. Removing his sword for inspection for the first time, he showed the party Salamander's Tongue: a sword forged from the scales of a red dragon. This is a relic of his people and the last remaining artifact of his village after a frost giant destroyed them all. He has learned the Blackrift often uses beasts to destroy their enemies before attempting to invade themselves - and has reason to believe this is what happened to his people. The Blackrift are after the Fallen Star as well, but Slash Burn clearly stated he will avenge his people as soon as he confirms their involvement. Perithil, quiet until this point, let the party know that his own family and people had been wiped out - likely by the Blackrift in much the same way very recently. He apologized for Slash Burn's loss, and Slash Burn promised him they would seek vengeance.
He revealed himself to be the First Mate of the Marquee Pirates on the Star of Justice. Slash Burn knows of the pirate lords on the sea and warned his allies that Larry, the Pirate Lord of Vengeance, is in direct opposition of his captain and a threat to them while they are on the open seas. So even if they manage to avoid the Blackrift, they will have the lords of the sea to contend with as well.
The entire party all had a good laugh about how scary this "Larry" must be to have no title other than the most benign name possible...
While Slash Burn held the Astral Compass in the open, Equity noticed a flash in his eyes, almost as if they had changed... The goliath continued to inform them that he can never allow any of them to have the compass as the ghost of an old adventurer has possessed him in order to stay close to it. Handing the compass to anyone has very real and physical consequences to his body. He has made a promise to this ghost and intends to honor it.
The party settled in for their long rest.

Welcome to the Jungle

In the morning, our party decided to follow the Astral Compass into the depths of the jungle. The party marched through the dense, thick foliage, Gargax led his warhorse with Jonathan riding. The jungle was loud, noises from animals in the trees and the ground alike mixed with the rumblings of the volcano, Slash Burn barely noticed the vines underneath him in time to jump to the side. Perithil and Equity behind him were just able to jump and avoid the pit beneath the vines, but Gargax did not. 
He fell the 20 ft into the pit, snapping his warhorse's head down as he brought the reins with him. Slash Burn took his hempen rope, and tied one end to the horse's saddle and Jonthan slid off to assist. Equity was ready with a shovel to dig the dragonborn out, but Gargax let him know the rope was plenty for him to climb out. Jonathan led Biri, the warhorse, back as Gargax pulled himself from the pit. While helping Gargax out, Magnus alerted Slash Burn to an item in the bit he recognized. Lowering himself down, the goliath found a bag with the sigil of Sher'rak's adventuring troupe. After a few attempts trying to separate the bag from the skeleton's clutches, and Perithil's offer to assist, Slash Burn finally tore the bag. In it, he found an old map of the Great Sea, with a note on a contact in the Trader Shoals that could draw the map to Crimson Kate's treasure. Magnus was overjoyed, and to Slash Burn's horror, he grinned and giggled as he danced and bounced like a schoolgirl in Magnus' excitement. 
The party, stunned, cautiously asked if Slash Burn was alright.... to which he asked they never speak of his behavior again. Coming out of the pit, he explained to the party he found a map that would lead to a treasure map. 
Continuing through the jungle, our heroes notice a loud troop of monkeys following in them in the trees. They pass some small ruins, buried beneath gold foliage. Our heroes decide to leave them be on hearing hissing from the bushes beyond. In the other direction they come across a crystal giving off an intense amount of Arcane energy. While Gargax and Perithil inspect the cystal that is embedded into cooled lava rocks, Equity attracts one of the monkeys down with a promise of food!
With a calm demeanor, the tiefling goads one of the monkeys to his hand while it munches on one of Equity's rations. While the party's attention is taken elsewhere, a different group of monkeys that had been following behind them but much quieter, came from the bushes and grabbed at our heroes' packs... 2 monkeys grabbed Perithil's quarter staff and dragged it up into the trees, one grabbed Equity's newly acquired Heat Stones and another quickly grabbed Gargax's signet ring right off his finger. Another monkey reached for SlashBurn's pack, but he managed to kick the monkey away before it could grab anything. 
In what seemed like an instant, the monkeys escaped into the tree tops and began retreating the way our party had come. Everyone immediately turned to Equity, monkey still in hand, with a collective "Really!?" and began chasing the monkeys. 

Monkeying Around

While chasing the monkey's down, Perithil and Slash Burn were able to hit 3 of them, but the troop of more than a dozen monkeys were able to recover their goods and keep swinging through the trees. Equity even hit the bag of stones, one falling out, but the monkey's kept it in hand as a team. Gargax was able to grab his signet ring from the bushes, but continued to give chase. 
Eventually the monkeys disappeared into the crown of a particularly tall tree. Using Thaumaturgy, Equity summoned the sound of clapping thunder, murder of crows and a slight tremor of the ground. Terrified, the monkeys fled from the tall tree into the forest, with nothing in hand. Equity made the point that one of them would have to climb up to recover their goods. Gargax asked again, "One of US!?" Clearly he had already decided this would not have happened had Equity just left the monkeys alone. 
Equity jumped up and grabbed the tree. ... and held himself there, unable to pull himself up. He tried a few more times, stepping on his own tail and falling from about half the way up before he was able to get his footing well enough to reach the top of the tree, and the hollow stash where the monkeys had stowed their equipment. He dropped the quarterstaff down, carefully collected his stones and even located some potions which he removed before beginning his descent. Upon removing the potions, however, he had disturbed a nest of wasps which swarmed around him and gave him enough stings to remind him why he preferred the city... Ultimately he made it safely to the forest floor and the party returned to the crystal. 
Gargax and Perithil could feel the aura of the crystal giving strength to their magic and ultimately decided they needed to find a way to bring some of it with them. They questioned if the goliath could even manage breaking it considering Slash Burn's track record with his feats of strength... Going into rage, purely to prove a point, Slash Burn hacked at the crystal with Salamander's Tongue and managed to knock off the 12' of the top of the crystal. 
With the ability to inspect closer, they were able to identify that this crystal would enable them, and anyone else within the crystal's aura, a higher chance to hit enemies with their spells.

The Tide Pools

After traversing the jungle for 6 hours, the party made it to the edge of the woods and the base of the volcano itself. Between the edge of the thick jungle and the volcanic rock was a series of shallow tide pools. They could feel the a presence watching them from the trees... Upon closer inspection they discovered a sea urchin on a rock, slowly making its way to towards the pool. Using his shovel, Equity delivered it to the shallow water. In the water was a collection of crates, cultivating sea life and farming sea urchins. 
Looking at the Astral Compass, the needle was spinning in circles. Unable to show depth or height, Slash Burn ultimately figured it must be either up or below the volcano. 
To get more answers, Perithil went to investigate a tree root stretching from the forest, only to be attacked but a giant sea anemone hidden within the volcanic rocks. As he was smacked by one of the tendrils, a small whizzed by Slash Burn's ear and stuck into the tree behind him. Perithil backed off from the anemone and returned to his party, where Slash Burn pulled out the dart and discovered it as a sea urchin spine. "They are shooting at us!"
While the party discussed their next move, theorizing as to what had attacked them, Slash Burn approached and attacked another tall sea anemone at the base of the Volcano that he thought had shot at him. He hit the anemone, hard, even though the fire hardly affected it. As he struck, another dart came from the sea anemone that had attacked Perithil. Equity shot at the anemone, and Gargax through a approached the water and through a javelin around Gargax. 
Perithil waited to attack, questioning whether or not the sea anemone had actually shot the dart since they do not do that from what he knows of sea life...
After another hard hit from Salamander's Tongue, the giant anemone pulled its tendrils back into its stem. Behind the tendrilo, Slash Burn was able to see a man with a large horseshoe crab shell on his back, with his longsword drawn. He demanded to know why they were attacking the plants when the tiefling had almost saved one. After clearing up confusion as to who struck first, and whether the anemone's were plants or animals, the man demanded to know why they had come here with their black uniforms and began disrupting the balance of the island. At this point they realized he thought they were with the Blackrift. Gargax, not a fan of hippies, asked Perithil to speak to him since he could speak "Tree Hugger". 
The party clarified they were not with the men who were destroying the island. Equity recognized the sword from his time in Slew and notified his allies that this man is a member of a mercenary guild. He expressed concern and let his party know that he is actually a wanted man in Slew. Perithil and Slash Burn asked for clarification... Equity explained that he had attacked a wealthy noble to save a child the older man had been beating. It was just Equity's luck that the man was the uncle of one of Slew's Merchant Princes that had put a high price on his head. He asked the man with the horseshoe crab on his back if he was a mercenary - to which the man let him know he was retired. 
Realizing they weren't with the same men tearing up Igni'ka, the hermit introduced himself as Vahlisto. He asked what they were doing here, and Perithil and Slash burn would not give any details but did let Vahlisto know they were after the same thing. The hermit told them the island's balance was thrown off a month ago when a star landed on the island the Blackrift appeared to dig it up. Realizing if they found this item, the Blackrift would have no reason to be here, Vahlisto stepped out of the way and let them pass through his cave. 
Inside the caves the party discovered tunnels dug through the base of the volcano. It was hot, too hot, and obviously close to the volcano's power. Using the heat stones, Slash Burn and Perithil applied them to their skin, imbuing Perithil with heat resistance, and Slash Burn (who used surprising skill in applying the magic to himself) immunity to heat altogether. Most of the tunnels were dead ends, but one led deep into the heart of the mountain, but was blocked by a 10 ft wide river of lava.

Updated Content

Side Quest: Magnus' Contact Sher'rak
Side Quest: Finding the Treasure Map
Quest Step: Locate the Fallen Star
Equity
Gargax Vandolar
Perithil
Slash Burn
Echo
The Blackrift
NPC: Vahlisto

Quests

Main Quest: Locate the Fallen Star - Info Revealed! Side Quest: Treasure of Crimson Kate - New Quest Step!

Highlights

• Slash Burn revealed, well, everything about himself and what he knows.
• Equity revealed he is a wanted man in Slew.
• Perithil revealed his village was attacked and his family killed.
• Monkeys stole their stuff while Equity made a friend.
• Slash Burn recovered a clue to Crimson Kate's treasure and danced like a little school girl.
• Gargax summoned a celestial warhorse.
• Perithil fed some crabs.
• Equity tried to throw out massage stones. Twice.

Characters Interacted with...

Vahlisto - Retired Slew Mercenary
Monkeys. Lots of monkeys.

Rewards and Loot

• 1 potion of climbing
• 2 potions of healing
• 1 potion of poison resistance
• Belleyar's Heat Stones
• Map Reference for Crimson Kate's Treasure
• Baby's Arm-length Arcane Crystal
• 55cp, 39sp, 11gp
• 125 xp

Campaign

Quest for the Fallen Star

Protagonists

Report Date

14 Feb 2021