Session 70 - New Friends

General Summary

39 Sov'van - contd.

It was just past dusk when the party arrived in the village of Amberhaus. It was quite small, no more than a dozen or so buildings loosely built around a small green boasting both a well and a gazebo. The largest building in town was built of solid stone and hung with a large banner sporting the symbol of the Wing Guard. On the other side of the green was a long, two story building that could be a tavern or an inn. The door stood open and the sounds of laughter and conversation spilled out into the night.
Exhausted and tired, the party headed directly toward the tavern. Stepping inside, they found a number of long tables with benches arrayed around the room. A couple of the tables near the large fireplace were lower and the benches replaced with large burlap cushions. Opposite the fireplace was a bar, with a number of kegs stacked behind.
Waving towards the tables, Janora offered, "Grab some seats, I'll go see about getting us some food and rooms for the night." Nodding wearily, Ell led the others over to one of the corner tables where they could put their backs against a wall and still watch the door.
The witch approached the bar and waited patiently. A moment or two later, a middle-aged, mostly human looking woman, pushed her way through a swinging door behind the bar and handed a steaming bowl to another patron. The bartender moved down to Janora and flashed her a smile, "Well, hello there, my name is Yesmara Fenqun, can't say I recall seeing you around here before. What brings you to our little village?
"Good evening," replied Janora, "My name is Janora Crowcaller, my friends and I are really just passing through, but right now we're looking for a place to rest. Is that something you do here?"
Yesmara nodded, "Well we don't get a lot of visitors so we ain't got a real inn...ain't fancy, but I do have a pair of rooms. One of them has a fairly large bed in it, it could probably sleep three to four people depends on how friendly you're willing to get. The other room doesn't have a bed, but it's a fairly spacious room where you could lay out some bed rolls and things."
"Honestly, any dry space that you have is a blessing," said the witch with a smile, "And if you have the capability here or if there's a local bath house that we could use, that would wonderful as well."
"No bathhouse, but I do have a couple of tin baths that I can get Billy to drag upstairs," offered the barkeep, "Y'all will have to take turns, but I think we can take care of y'all. Would you like some dinner as well? I've got a nice chocko stew on tonight...ain't fancy, but it's filling and warming."
"That sounds wonderful," replied Janora, "it's the six of us, at that back table." Passing over a couple of coins, Janora rejoined her friends and filled them in on the arrangements. True to Yesmara's word, the food soon arrived and was as good as promised. A light broth filled with vegetables and a sharp, lemony aftertaste paired quite well with steaming fresh bread and a creamy soft cheese.
There wasn't much conversation, the party was quite tired after the trip through the jungle and they quickly demolished the food. Denye and Ell took the first turn in the baths, leaving the others to sip cider and listen to the various conversations that swirled around them. Much of it was the usual concerns of farmers such as getting the crops harvested before the rains started.
Denye and Ell came back down less than an hour later looking much better and Jilken and Ranunkel slipped upstairs for their turn to wash up. Janora had just finished her cider and was considering another when the loud cawing of a raven caught her attention. Looking up, she saw that there was a large raven standing in the doorway. When it saw the witch looking it, it cawwed once more and began dancing from foot to foot.
Sighing, Janora asked, "I don't suppose any of you can see the large bird hopping around in the doorway?"
"See it where?" asked Denye, "There is nothing in the doorway, what kind of bird do you see?"
"It's a raven," explained Janora, "It's telling me to come. If I had to guess, it's a messenger from the Raven Queen."
Ell leaned forward, "Do you want company or is this one of those things you need to do solo?"
"Well, since none of you can see it," began Janora with another sigh, "I think I'm supposed to go by myself. Hopefully, I'll be back soon, these visits don't usually last long." Pushing herself to her feet, the witch headed for door. Over the linked earrings she added, "Besides, I should still be able to call if trouble comes up."
As the witch stepped outside the raven had already fluttered away and sitting on the edge of another roof. It cawwed again and began flying westward. Janora followed it for a couple of minutes, but then called out, "Let me summon a mount, I'm not walking all the way back to that swamp." Pulling out her ritual book, she took the 10 minutes needed to call up the Giant Raven. The messenger bird was could not sit still while Janora worked and soon as Janora had mounted, it took off for the treeline. As they soared over the hills, the raven dove into the clearing, confirming the witch's guess and she relayed her position to the rest of the party.
Janora and her giant mount settled on the central island with the ruins of the building. It was quiet and calm, with the sound of crickets singing nearby. A moment later, one of the larger shadows of the ruined walls detached itself, lengthening to about 8-9 ft. tall before opening like a pair of wings, revealing a tall thin woman wearing a blank porcelain mask.
Janora inclined her head respectfully, "Goddess, Raven Queen, honestly I do not know how you prefer to be addressed."
"You may call me Raven Queen," replied the goddess, "or Duskmatron, Mother of Shadows, Mistress of Ravens....I answer to many names. I am less concerned with titles than others."
"Fair enough," said Janora solemnly, "If I may ask another question, why have you brought me here? Is there some service that I can perform for you?"
"This swamp has been a cursed blight on this land for some time," intoned the Mistress of Ravens, "Three things do I bring you; my thanks, a task, and a teaching."

40 Sov'van

While not the most comfortable night's rest, it was dry and quiet and the party slept deeply. Several of the team woke shortly after dawn and making their way downstairs to the common room, where they found Janora slumped over a cup of something steaming. The witch turned bloodshot eyes on Denye and Jilken, and slurred, "Good morning."
Denye looked shocked and blurted, "Janora, are you all right? You never came in last night...and you look terrible."
"Just tired, I spent much too much time in swamps last night." replied Janora, chuckling wearily, "I feel a bit better after a bath and change of clothes, but I haven't actually had a chance to sleep. After my conversation with the Raven Queen, the Baba Yaga showed up with work."
"Wait, the Baba Yaga," asked Jilken, "I've heard that name before, isn't she supposed to be a powerful and evil witch in the North?"
"Powerful, yes," agreed Janora, "but not evil...exactly. She is capricious and does everything she does for her own reasons. She has been a very special, if demanding, teacher." The witch spent the next hour or so telling them about some of her early visits with the senior witch as the rest of the team stumbled downstairs.
Once the party had all gathered and a middle-aged half-elf who introduced himself as Lamnos, husband of Yesmara had brought them a filling breakfast of porridge, hot cakes with syrup, and fried slices of meat. Over breakfast Janora shared, "So it was my fault, or perhaps really the Matron's, that the we ended up in that swamp in the first place. A curse had been put on the place, and those haunts had been a problem for some time. Apparently even though we killed them all, the curse was already drawing the bodies back together. The Matron showed me a way to seal the bodies and break the curse so that no one else would fall prey to it." She went on to explain some of the backstory and how the curse had been laid.
"She also had some more information on the Taken," shared Janora, "Seems those people were being controlled by some sort of creature called a Sadree Queen. She also found some sort of arcane device that it was protecting. It seemed to have stopped working, but the Mistress believed it was responsible for a sort of echoing happening between the planes."
The witch leaned back and took another long sip of the coffee. "That visit only took an hour or so, and I would have made it back here in time for a good night's rest, but just as I was mounting my raven, the Yaga appeared in a swirling cold wind, redolent with blood sausage, garlic, and rotting corpses. Apparently she wanted to remind me that she has gifts to teach me as well...and that included abducting me back to HER swamp in Ellebore so I could clean her stables." The witch shuddered in thought, "I don't think those stables had been cleaned in decades...and there were several poor beasts that to be cleaned as well. That took me much of the night and I returned with the Dawn."
"So you haven't had any sleep at all?" asked Denye shocked.
"Not yet," admitted Janora, "but I will survive. I wouldn't object to taking a day here to just rest if we don't need to rush to White Gryphon."
"Y'all are heading to White Gryphon?" asked Lamnos approaching the table, "I brought another carafe of coffee. My wife also just pulled these honey buns out as well. She thought you might like them."
"That is our eventual destination," admitted Ell, "about how far is from here?"
"Hmm," said the barkeeper, "bout 3 days I'd say, maybe a little less if you got a ride. If you had been here two days ago, you probably could have gotten a ride on the merchant train. Still not hard, you just follow the road out of town to the crossroads and head north. It's about 2 days to Highbridge and another day from there to White Gryphon."
"Sounds easy enough," agreed Ell, "would it be an issue if we stayed another night?"
"Not at all, not at all," assured Lamnos, "our little village doesn't have a lot to offer visitors, but y'all are welcome to the rooms."
"Thank you," said Ell smoothly and pulled out a couple of coins. Handing them over he added, "You've been quite hospitable to us. Please if there anything going on area that we could look into for you, just let us know. We're something of a group of problemsolvers."
"Well, it's pretty quiet around here with all the gryphons flying in and out of the area," said Lamnos, "tho there is a old cursed swamp down the hill, just in the verge of the jungle...never understood why Old Man Aberrith wanted to live all the way out there."
"That swamp is no longer a problem," announced Janora sitting up proudly, "I broke the curse and laid the bodies to rest last night. They will not rise again."
"Really," replied Lamnos, looking shocked, "that would be right wonderful, thank you, it's been a problem for most of my life, but we've just tried to avoid the area. I'll have to have a word with Commander Luren." At that moment, a pair of people walked in and the older man excused himself to serve them.
Janora eyed Ell suspiciously, "You look particularly cheery, did you have a good night's rest?"
"Actually yes," replied Ell, "I think I feel better than I have in months. I had the strangest dream last night. I was at home in the Haven manor house. Gorscha was there, doing what he usually did while at home, which is to say finding opportunities to torment and make fun of me. It wasn't a memory as he was ridiculing things I've done as an adult and seemed particularly angry that I had let him die in that sea cave. At first his words hurt like they always did, but then I suddenly realized that everything he complained about were really problems that he could not deal with in his own life. Leaving him to rant, I went down into the basement and the quiet of the libraries and recalled the peace and joy I used to find in such places." Taking a deep breath he blew it sharply before finishing, "So yeah when I woke up I'm feeling better connected and more connected with who I really am."
"That's beautiful," muttered Denye.
"You weren't the only who was visited last night," shared Jilken, "I found myself out in the wastes of the deserts, walking with my elder sister. She's been dead since I was a tyro. Father had just become clan chief and got us into a border dispute with the dragonborn. His fool stubbornness got her killed and stole her from me." Rubbing a stray tear away, Jilken finished, "It was as if we hadn't been gone a day, she mostly wanted to talk about what all of this means for the future, both for me personally and for our people. I'm still not 100% settled, but I feel like I have a bit of a better grasp of things."
"I could use a sleep refund myself," said Ranunkel, "I had a visit last night too. A great, great grandfather I think. I never met him in real life, but I used to pass by his statue everyday and hear stories about all the great things he did back in his time as leader of the grove. Anyway, he just kind of merged out a stone wall and stared at me. I thought he would say something, but he only stared at me for a while before pointing off somewhere into the northern sky. A moment later, a shooting star raced across the sky and landed somewhere behind the Carsano Range. I don't know what it means, but when I looked back, the statue winked at me and then I woke up in a sweat." Yawning once more, the dwarf shrugged, "I wish I knew what it meant, but I'm homesick, but I really want to just go back to bed."
"So everyone got a visit last night," asked Ell, "Denye and Tear did you have any dreams?"
Tear nodded, "I had visit from Rose, she wanted to say goodbye and that she was sorry for all the trouble. She also gave me some things to say to Grandpa, but I will call him later."
"Wait," said Ell looking shocked, "how can you call him?"
Tear pulled a reddish gem out of a pocket and held it up, "I has sending stone."
"You mean to tell me that you have been in communication with your clan this whole time?" asked Ell again.
Tear nodded, "Grandpa gave it to me when I leave. Stay in touch while I travel with you all."
"Could I study that?" asked Denye, "I've heard about such stones, but I've need had a chance to study such magic. I promise you I won't break it, I just want to learn how it works."
"How are your people doing?" asked Jilken, "Where did they end up settling?"
"Of course, Miss Denye, whenever you would like." agreed Tear, "and the clan is good. They cleaned out the old caves and stayed there. Summer has been good and they are well stocked for the cold."
Denye smiled, "Of course, maybe we can do that today. To no one's surprise, I had a visit last night as well, my great-great grandmother. It was a good dream overall, if a bit fuzzy. We were in what I think was supposed to be an Avium classroom, except I've never been in one. It as a winding conversation, but in short she helped me realize that maybe my uncle wasn't completely wrong in keeping me out of school because I wasn't taking feedback well...and that maybe I need to listen a bit more and not just always try to be the best in the room. So yeah, I'm not sure I want to claim a sleep refund, because I want to hold onto this, but that doesn't mean I got good sleep."
"Those visits might have been my fault," mused Janora, "the Matron said that for your aid in putting down the haunts, everyone on the party would receive a message from someone who needed to talk to them. Sounds like they were at least as confusing as they were helpful."
"You can say that again," muttered Jilken.
Janora yawned again and pushed herself away from the table, "I think I will go take a nap now. You all enjoy your morning and I'll see you in a bit."
The rest of the day passed in relative quiet, with Denye taking Tear up to the workshop to study the sending stone. She also discovered that one of the new power crystals was ready and the pair spent the afternoon stress testing the new crystal to make sure that it would work as expected.

41 Sov'van

The next morning, the party woke early feeling refreshed and ready to get on the road. After another hearty breakfast, they bid goodbye to the Fenqens and set out following the road. The morning started cool, but warmed quickly as the sun rose in the sky. As Lamnos as said, it was a peaceful walk winding between various fields and pastures and the party reached the crossroads shortly before noon. Taking advantage of an obvious camping area to stop and eat some lunch the party took a short rest, but didn't linger as they wanted to get to Hightower as quickly as possible.
It was maybe an hour or so later when Janora noted a large cloud that seemed to be following the party. She had just pointed it out when Tear called a warning and there was a bugling and the clouds seemed to part as invisible shapes moved through them in a dive. AS they neared the ground, the invisibility dropped away to reveal three large, lithe flying lizards with pearlescent scales that shimmered in the afternoon light.
"I think these are wind wyrms," called Ell, "a couple of the farmers mentioned that they would occasionally slip past the gryphons and attack herds or lone travelers. I think if we hit them hard, we might be able to scare them off." In response, Tear ran to the side of the road and fired off two force pistol blasts before ducking into some high grass. Janora dropped down from her goat and thrust her hand into the dirt to cast Pillars of the Earth. Six pillars of stone shot up around the party, giving them some cover.
Jilken meanwhile put her back against one of the pillars and with a couple of quick shots buried two bolts in the flank of one of the wyrms. It howled in pain as one of the others landed atop one of the pillars and extending it's head and neck, spit a cone of wind filled with crackling lightning. Most of the party was knocked over by the force of the blast, but thinking quickly Denye opened her wings and was able to glide back and maintain her footing. Ell growled and released a Hellish Rebuke, lighting the windwyrm up with ice-blue fire. The second wyrm dove at Ell and tried to rake the young man with two claw attacks, but the warlock was able to roll and avoid both hits.
Cursing, Ell pushed himself to his feet and throwing up his hands cast Banishment on the wyrm that had attacked him as well as the third that was just hanging back. As they vanished he ran behind one of the pillars and called, "Those two will probably come back soon, but now we can focus on taking this one down."
Denye shook her head and lifting her talons, called up a Storm Sphere to surround the windwrym and fired a lightning bolt at the monster. Unfortunately the blast only scattered across the beast's scales and seemed to have no effect. Even worse, it seemed that the stormy winds did not seem to slow it down at all. "Well that doesn't seem to work," called Denye, dropping the spell, "I don't think lightning has much of an effect on them."
"That's okay, I know what will hurt them," replied Ranunkel as he stood up and began running toward the windwyrm. As he ran he Wildshaped into his stone elemental form and as he closed, he screamed a challenge that sounded like an avalanche falling.
Tear popped out from behind the bush and fired off another pair of shots, ripping a hole in one wing. The wyrm screamed in pain as the goblin rushed across the road and into a field, hiding himself in the crops. Janora pushed herself up on her elbows and locked eyes with the windwyrm before casting Withering Gaze. For a moment it seemed the spell would catch the wyrm, but some innate wildness allowed it to slip out of the grip of the spell. Cursing, the witch got to her feet and behind one of the pillars.
Jilken looked and nodded, "No lightning, then maybe we'll see if we can banish this one for a moment." Lifting her crossbow she sent the bolt flying and as it struck, the wyrm vanished in a swirl of sand. Warning the others she said, "That one will be back in just a few seconds, but it should be long enough for everyone to prepare an attack."
Ell backed up further and readied his Eldritch Blasts, but was startled when a much deeper bugling came from the sky and a much larger version of the windwryms dropped down, angry that the party had banished all of it's children. Opening it's mouth the creature blew another forceful cone of supercharged air that knocked the entire party to the ground and back further. Janora reacted by exploding into a cloud of ravens before reappearing much further away from the rest of the party. The fall also took Ell's breath away and he lost concentration on his Banishment and the two young wyrms popped back into existence.
Feeling shaken, Denye got to her feet and chugged a healing potion. Raising her claws over her head, her eyes became filled with fire as she cast Sunbeam, sending a lance of fire through the two younger windwyrms. The nearer one saw it coming and managed to avoid the worst of the blast, but it struck the other full in the face and blinding it. At the same time, Rocknunkel leapt and punched the adult windwyrm twice in the chest.
Tear popped up and fired off his final shot at the momma before scrambling back toward Denye. As he ran he removed the spent power crystal and replaced it with his spare. A moment later, Jilken's banishment ended and the third young windwyrm reappeared. As it did so, Ell shot off his Eldritch Blasts. His aim had been a little high, and the first two shots went wide, but the third struck it square in the side of the head.
Janora looked around and saw that the adult wyrm's breath had rocked the party and Ell was looking rough. Lifting her Cerberbus Cudgel she called up a Healing Spirit and an adorable corgi with a large spectral tongue started leaping around his feet and licking his wounds. Turning her attention back to fight, the witch used her other hand to pull out the Mover and cast Jump on Rocknunkel.
Jilken continued her assault and buried another two crossbow bolts in one of the smaller foes as it dived down to rake at the fighter with both claws. As it bound to the elf, it's long neck lashed out and bit Denye on arm as well. The blind wyrm stayed high making soft noises of pain as the third dove down and tried to attack the goat, but the wily animal managed to avoid the attacks and lashed out with it's own hooves. The adult windwyrm shrieked in challenge and bit at Rocknunkel, catching him on the shoulder and tearing away several chucks of stone.
Denye glared at the monster right in front of her and muttered, "See if you can dodge this!" Focusing her mind she shot another Sunbeam, catching all three of the younger wyrms. Rocknunkel looked up at the adult and with a forceful leap jumped higher than the wyrm and brought one fist squarely down on its head. He tried for an uppercut with the other fist, but missed as he fell back down to earth, losing his footing and falling prone.
Tear went to fire the force pistol again, but realized his spare crystal was also empty. Uttering curses in goblin, he shoved it into a pocket and pulled out his shortbow. His first arrow caught the attention of the wyrm attacking Jilken and Denye, but the second shattered before it had gone more than a couple of feet. Janora sent her goat to ram into one of the wyrms, but a quick bite from the monster poofed it. Janora stalked closer and then pointed up at the adult windwyrm and cast Blight, weaving in a Curse of Pain. The flying lizard screamed in pain as a network of thick black vines appeared and wrapped itself around the beast. Whistling to the healing spirit, the witch sent it over to give Denye some healing as well.
With the wyrm closer, Jilken dropped her crossbow and pulled out the spear. In a flashing series of quick movements the fighter struck four blows with the spear. It still wasn't quite enough to drop the monster, but it was looking fairly close to death. Still angry, it took too more claw attacks at the elf, raking across her face. It also tried to lash out at Denye for a second bite, but this time it slammed into a golden Shield of spiraling feathers. One of the others lashed out at Janora with its claws, she blocked the first but the second caught her across the shoulder and she exploded once more into a cloud of ravens. It went in for a bite as well, but the witch had already reappeared on the far side of the battlefield.
Ell shook his head at the fight and tried to back up some more, but sent a pair of Blasts as the wyrm Jilken had been fighting. It fell to the earth unmoving as the young man cheered before firing a third Blast at one of the others. The adult wyrm whipped around and slammed a tail down onto Rocknunkel, breaking his stone form and the druid coughed as he shifted back. With the nearby threat gone, Denye was able to line up another Sunbeam catching the adult as well as the blinded youngling. The youngling surprising managed to dodge the blast, but the mother was blinded and scorched.
Ranunkel pushed himself up out the crater and casting Elemental Bane on both the adult and youngling. Turning to dash away, the youngling lashed out and got a bit across the back on the druid's leg. A moment later there were a series of hooting/shrieking challenges from above and all eyes were drawn up to skies as four gryphons dropped out of the sky toward the fight.

Character(s) interacted with

Lamnos Fenqen (he/him,  La'naris) - Brewer and tavernkeep in Amberhaus
Yesmara Fenqen (she/her, La'naris) - Baker and tavernkeep in Amberhaus

Report Date

07 Apr 2023

Primary Location

Karzaba Peninsula