Session 61 - River Crossing
General Summary
4 Sov'van
Late in morning, the party arrived at the bank of the Tri'chill Race. There was no bridge, but Jilken pointed out that there was a ford visible just under the rushing water. She also pointed out that the river was running fairly low on the banks and this would be one of the best times to cross. With a few quick words to the dunners Vellikar sent the beasts forward, wagon wheels crunching over the strange black surface of the road. Halfway across the ford, Ranunkel noticed some strange bubbles off to the left and started to say something to Vellikar, but the firbolg druid had noticed it as well and brought the dunners to halt just as a large mud covered lizard burst up from under the water. It had a face somewhat like a catfish with the large whiskers and a mouth full of sharp needle-like teeth, while the body was more like that of an ell or snake with eight short thick legs. Denye, who had been talking with Tear and practicing her Goblin, learning some of the songs for Momma Tears heard Ranunkle's warning and popped her head out the back of the wagon. She recognized the beast, and over the link called loudly, "I haven't seen this particular species, but I'm fairly sure it is a cousin to the behir. Nasty creatures, the ones in the northern mountains can spit lightening so we should be careful. They can be vicious and don't tend to run away once they have decided on prey, if it attacks we'll probably have to kill it, unfortunately. But if we can get out of the water quickly, then it might leave us alone." Overhead, Janora had been flying along on the giant raven, but had been starting to doze off in the unaccustomed warmth. This call to action woke her up and shaking her head, the witch sent the bird into a dive toward the large lizard. Denye meanwhile began muttering the words to the Ray of Frost spell, but held the final sigil until the monster attacked. Which it did, only a moment later, lunging at Vellikar. The blast of cold stuck the beast, freezing portions of the mud, but it wasn't enough to deter the swamp behir and it clamp it's large jaws on Vellikar's leg. Another behir, this one somewhat smaller, burst up on the other side of the ford and jumped at Jilken, but the Aiel's reflexes were too quick and she lashed out with a foot, kicking the beast in the lower jaw and knocking it aside. Ell popped up behind Vellikar and fired off two Eldritch Blasts at the large behir, knocking it back 20 ft. with a large splash. Meanwhile Jilken had activated her lightning spear and slashed twice at the second behir, leaving scorching wounds along it's back. Unable to see much in the covered wagon, Tear jumped out the back and landing on the bank. Whipping out his force pistol he took a shot at the second behir, slamming it in the flank. Vellikar looked around wildly, his hand clamped on the leg wound. Unsure of what exactly to do, the druid tossed the reins to Jilken and then cast Blight at the large behir. A gray sickly energy covered the beast and it howled in pain as water leeched out of it's form, mud flaking away. Ranunkel, unsure of what exactly to do, cast Healing Word on his fellow druid. The giant raven completed it's dive, talons extended and strafed along the flank of the behir as Janora leveled a Withering Gaze at the beast. As the raven skimmed the bank, the witch jumped off, landing on her knees. Denye jumped out the back, gliding down to the bank by Tear of Midnight Sorrow. Spinning around, the wizard cast Scorching Ray and threw three flaming feathers at the smaller behir. The first hit squarely in one of it's open wounds and it howled in pain as the fire burned it. The second struck it in the face, but the third splashed harmlessly into the water. The large behir, injured and now frightened of the witch, lunged at the party still in the wagon and released a venomous breath. Jilken managed to pull up her mask in time, but Ranunkel and Vellikar were hit hard by the poison, with the firbolg falling unconscious. The other behir used the confusion to whip around and wrap it's tail around Jilken's, cutting through the leather with sharp spines. Seeing Vellikar pass out, Ell pulled out his Rod of Passage and cast Dimension Door, pulling the druid through and reappearing on the road behind Tear and Denye. Jilken looked back and forth between the two behir and the reins in one hand and the spear with another. She decided to focus on the one that was grappling her and slashed down with her lightning spear, cutting deep into it's back before bringing the spear down directly into the creature's skull. As it fell, the swamp behir released the elf and grinning she turned to the other monster. Tear stuck the pistol in his belt and pulled out the Alchemical Lantern. Running around to the other side of the wagon, he pointed it at the swamp lizard and fired off a glob of alchemist's fire, but the creature whipped it's tail out of the way just in time. Ranunkel leapt forward and tackled the behir, WildShaping into his large rocky form. The behir was still too slippery and the stone druid couldn't get a grip on the monster. Janora stomped down the bank and out into the ford. Yelling curses at the behir, the witch pointed up to the sky and cast Call Lightning. As thick dark clouds swirled into being above the river ford, a bolt of lightning lanced out and struck the monster near the tail. As the beast went rigid momentarily, the raven dove in as well, ripping free chunks of flesh with both beak and talons. Denye rushed over to Vellikar and knelt down beside the unconscious druid and cast Cure Wounds. As Vellikar's eye's fluttered open, the wizard admonished, "Get up, we still need your help." The firbolg pushed himself up on his elbows and looked around woozily as the remaining monster lunged at Ranunkel, teeth sinking into his large rocky leg. Ell shot two more Eldritch Blasts at the beast. The first shot threw the swamp behir back, falling prone at Janora's feet, but the second splashed harmlessly into the water. Jilken dropped the spear into the bed of the wagon and brought up the heavy crossbow, but the shot hit the beast at an odd angle and bounced off the thick hide. She quickly followed it with a solid shot from her other bow. Frustrated with the lantern, Tear dropped it and pulled out the force pistol. Firing between Ranunkel's legs, the blast hit the beast and it howled in pain once more. Over the link, Vellikar asked, "How is everyone doing? Ranunkel, you were coughing pretty bad when I passed out." Ranunkel rumbled, "I'm okay right now, but when I drop this I will probably need some healing." The others were doing okay, so the firbolg druid pushed himself to his feet and ran up behind Ranunkel. Pointing a hand at the riverbed, Vellikar cast Wrath of Nature and the very river grasses and roots leaned in wrapping the behir and pinning it to the ground. Cackling, Janora pointed once more into the sky and brought down another bolt of lighting. Annoyed that the swamp behir wasn't dead, the witch reached out and grabbed it's head in both hands and cast Inflict Wounds, weaving in a curse of pain. The behir screamed one last time as it's flesh began to wither and decay under her hands, before falling limp in the water. That seemed to be the end of the fight and the party looked around and caught their breath. Vellikar stepped out from behind Ranunkel and began speaking soothingly to the dunners. Jilken tossed him the reins and then jumped down and began pulling the swamp behir up onto the shore. The party decided that now was a good time to take a short rest and Tear began to collect grasses and things to start a small fire and brew some tea. "Well," mused Jilken, pulling out a knife and beginning to skin the smaller of the beasts, "at least that's two less threats for travelers hearabouts." "You know, Jilken," replied the witch, "I might try this with you tonight. Something about the charred bits on the other one smelled pretty good." Jilken laughed and looked over at the larger beast, which Ranunkel had pulled up to the side, "Yeah, I'm not sure I really want to eat that one...looks like it already started rotting." Denye came over with her sketchbook and asked, "Can I watch as you clean the swamp behir, I want to get a look at it's physiology." "Indeed," added Janora, "if you could recover the poison sac, I would really like to study it." Jilken was always up for having new poisons available and quickly agreed. It only took the elf a few minutes to skin the creature and collect the sac before beginning to carve up the meat. She was able to get almost 50 lbs. of meat and wrapped it up in the skins before tossing the bundle into the back of the wagon and settling down for a cup of tea. As the party was finishing up their short rest, Vellikar thought he heard something rustling in the bushes nearby. Unable to see what it could be and wary of getting to close, he called out to the others, pointing in that direction. Janora tried to circle around to get a look at it, but beyond a shaking bush could see nothing. Denye on the other hand, from a higher vantage on the back of the wagon was able to spot that it was a small jackalope hanging from a snare. Vellikar moved over in that direction and began whispering calming things to the small beast as he pulled out a dagger and cut it free. Lowering it to the ground, he unwound the snare around it's back foot. The jackalope looked up at the tall druid with big eyes and rubbed one horn against his shin. Denye pulled out a half a seed cake from her rations and tossed it to Vellikar, "Here, maybe the poor thing is hungry." The druid caught it and broke off a couple of bits to scatter them on the ground. The jackalope bounced forward and looked up at Vellikar once more before snapping them up with a couple of pleased nibbles. Turning back to Vellikar, the little animal sat up on it's hind legs and gave the druid big eyes once more. Laughing, he held out the rest of the seed cake and the jackalope took it with a wiggle of it's nose. Ranunkel laughed, "Looks like you made a friend." Vellikar looked up from where he was petting the little guy, "I think so too, I wonder if he would want to crawl into my bag?" Holding said bag out, Vellikar squealed when the jackalope climbed inside and curled up. The druid carefully walked back to the wagon and stowed the bag inside. Moving over to the dunners, Vellikar got them into harness and the party got back on the road toward the Niaton Pass.7 Sov'van
Late in the afternoon, the party made it to Jaxal, a small town built from hardened clay or adobe, nestled between the mountains. The town itself was odd, a single road along which all of the larger buildings were arranged, with a scattering of smaller, domicile-sized, homes behind them. A series of warehouses on one side and paddocks on the other completed the town. Clearly this was somewhere that people passed through, with only a smattering of locals to support. From the road it was also possible to see that beyond the town there was an open stretch of 2-300 yards before the pass was blocked by a 30ft high wall of smooth stone, with a single 20ft high gate where the road intersected the wall. The gates were currently open and a cluster of Aiel warriors stood dark as a trio of wagons were let through. More Aiel watched from the battlements along the top of wall. Jilken suggested that they drop the wagon and team off with Secret of the Bluff's contact and see about getting rooms for the night and enjoy the evening, warning that things are going to get harder once the party crosses into the desert. That seemed like as good idea as any and in fact the Full Livery was one of the first buildings along the southern side of the road. It only took a moment to speak to Hurrl th’Jaxal and they were more than happy to accept the dunners and wagon, promising that they would be sent back to Secret in good time. Asking about inns, the party was directed to The Magenta Rock, a comfortable travel inn run by Attera Larddevlver. She was more than happy to provide rooms and promised that there would be dinner in about two hours. After dropping their gear in the rooms, the party headed back downstairs and out into the town. Denye wanted to find more information about what traveling in the desert was like and with Ell, Ranunkel, Vellikar, and Tear following went looking for a visitor's center or something. What they found was the mayor's office, where they met another Thri-Kreen who introduced herself as Zeelai nef'Queensbrood th'Jaxal. Unlike the other Thri-Kreen the part has met, Zeelai was only about 5-1/2 ft. tall with a puplish carapace and rainbow-colored eyes. Zeelai was quite happy to answer their questions but seemed surprised when Denye asked about traveling in the Muspait. She explained that the Aiel protected the sands and were particular about who they let through...and then only under their escort. The best way was with one of the trade caravans that traveled to Djedbura along the edge of the desert. She was quite surprised to hear that the party planned to head out into the deep desert, but nodded when Denye added that they would be traveling with an Aiel, i.e. Jilken. Ell asked about corruption in the town, mentioning that he had heard rumors of a shifty merchant who owned a bunch of warehouses. The mayor acknowledged a tabaxi named Branch of the Roaring Lake owned many warehouses in town, but she said he had always gotten along with the townies. Thanking the mayor, the group headed back in the direction of the inn, Denye questioning Ell about why he was asking about this merchant. The young man admitted that the Voice had asked him to set the merchant's house on fire and he was hoping to find out that the fellow deserved it.Janora, quite done with the heat, stopped long enough to ask Attera where she could find more appropriate clothing. The friendly dwarf laughed and acknowledged that black might not be the best for the southlands and suggested that the witch head down to Stock'n'Trade. It was only a short walk to the general store and stepping inside Janora found a cluttered shop bursting with all manner of things. Shelves piled high with torches, waterskins, climbing gear and much more. Tables were piled high with furs and rugs while barrels and crates were stacked along the walls. Near the back of the shop, the witch found a counter surrounded by racks of clothes. A moment later a grey muzzled panther tabaxi with a notched left ear pushed through a curtain at the back. He introduced himself as Shadow of the Bluff, the proprietor of this trading post. Janora explained her needs and Shadow was more than happy to provide. Unfortunately for the witch, what he had to offer was a set of loose off-white robes complete with headwrap. It wasn't something that she would normally wear, but Shadow assured Janora that it would be significantly more comfortable. In the end the witch gave in, but drew the line at the turban, insisting that the hat stays. Thanking the tabaxi and promising that she and her friends would likely be in to pick up supplies in the morning, Janora headed back to the inn.
Jilken decided to take the chance to find some conversations and find out how things stood since she had left for the north. She found a tableful of Aiel from Seitch Calmis at the Night’s Rest and spent some time catching up on the happenings of the desert. Jilken shared some of her own travels, particularly the encounter with the roc on the road a few days ago. It was good to relax and spend time with her people, even if not of her clan and cheered headed back to the inn to meet up with her friends....and get some better beer.
Character(s) interacted with
Hurrl th’Jaxal (they/them, Thri-Kreen) - Owner of the Full Livery
Zeelai nef'Queensbrood th'Jaxal (she/her, Thri-Kreen) - Mayor of Jaxal
Attera Larddevlver (she/her, Umberfell dwarf) - Innkeeper of the Magenta Rock Inn
Shadow of the Bluff (he/him, panther Tabaxi) - Owner of the Stock'n'Trade
Zeelai nef'Queensbrood th'Jaxal (she/her, Thri-Kreen) - Mayor of Jaxal
Attera Larddevlver (she/her, Umberfell dwarf) - Innkeeper of the Magenta Rock Inn
Shadow of the Bluff (he/him, panther Tabaxi) - Owner of the Stock'n'Trade
