Session 2

Fact sheet: Devil-guy, desperately seeking Eluviel

Date: 06-07-22

Date in game:

Players present: Ecchima, Marty, Meinhart, Tuur and Vinnie

Major developments:

we learn Eluviel is a respected war hero (linked to the defeat of the eastern kingdom attacking through the Bay of Beasts) and powerful mage in service of Lunaire
we learn Eluviel hired Ghorann to find us in the circle near Nawa and transport us to the port of Thalm Sashari, shipping us as far south as possible
we learn Eluviel may be in Crescent Cove (the utmost northern part of the Hammer), where Ghorann could claim his reward
we learn a bit more about our new companions:
- Enza explains the transportation circle that brought us near Nawa isn't the only one happening in the Sand Sea. We have no idea how many creepy creatures came through, are coming through, or will come through, and we don't know if they target us specifically or if they just hunt whoever is unlucky enough to be near.
- Frei explains she's hunting the slasher so fiercely because she wants to return to Kohshar, the city which exiled her
- Simeon Ibn Seif aka the slasher is a snarky and cruel man, who knows a lot of gossip about Eldrin, Ezra, Frei and Fyllion. Perhaps also the others, but they haven't asked & he hasn't mentioned it.

Notes

As the demon flies away with a last taunt, the protective bubble around our campfire fades away. We're surrounded by a handful of slavering beasts. They're stinking dretches!

Ghorann and all the guards are dead
Enza is near us, but can't fight
the slasher of Sashari is clawing at his cage, which is on fire - it looks like he's the only one left alive. In the flickering light, Eldrin tries to place the slasher, since they're both from Sashari, but thanks to Eldrin's NATURAL ONE, they can't figure out any details about the slasher.

During the fight:

Eldrin frees the slasher & lends him a hand axe, bantering about karma and second chances, no matter how much the slasher scorns our crew for being goodie-goodie. During the fight, the dretch attacking Eldrin scores a NATURAL TWENTY, but Eldrin manages to kill it. In the middle of the fight, Eldrin starts to glow, unleashing charm person on Simeon to get him to fight alongside us... but they fail their spell.
Ezra discovers the dretches are fire resistant (with a NATURAL TWENTY), fends off an invisible imp with a NATURAL TWENTY & shifts into their tiger form. After a short moment of unconsciousness (losing their tiger form), Ezra is revived by Fyllion's healing word & finally skewers the imp to the ground!
Frei shows off her prowess as a semi-feral brawler with the dretches, and then focuses on keeping Simeon from escaping.
Fyllion started off with a NATURAL TWENTY for initiative, can't free the slasher and doesn't notice 2 more enemies (thanks to a NATURAL ONE), used misty step, healing word (on himself), dissonant whispers and healing word when Ezra was unconscious. Fyllion got poisoned by a dretch belching barf all over him, but infuriated by this indignity he hits the beast with his rapier (NATURAL TWENTY) for max. damage (2 x NATURAL EIGHT)!
Hali activates her starry wildshape with help from the god Lunaire as an archer, and kicks ass both with her starry arrows and her scimitar. She also takes the last kill, with guiding bolt, impressing her friends and terrifying the slasher!
Simeon Ibn Seif aka the slasher reneges on his promise to help us in the fight, cuts off the bandit's arm still manacled to him, turns out to be very snarky and only stops trying to escape when Hali intimidates him.
Storm nets the first kill with his crossbow (the upside of being last in the initiative order), used "dancer's influence" on 4 creatures (twice with NATURAL ONE), spots 2 more dretches further away (with a NATURAL TWENTY), resists a poisonous belch with a NATURAL TWENTY, missed his one reaction attack (during a flanking moment with Frei) due to a NATURAL ONE, and kills a second dretch, securing Hali in the process.

Hali threatens the slasher into behaving with a NATURAL TWENTY: the slasher stops running & returns the borrowed hand axe to Eldrin. Though she's wounded, Frei is very happy to tie up the slasher, borrowing manacles from Fyllion (don't ask).

We take a moment to heal:

Eldrin heals themselves
Enza heals Fyllion who tries to flirt with her a little, even though he's still covered in barf and guts
Hali helps Ezra and Storm recover

Fyllion and Ezra check Ghorann's body and find his glasses, a quil, ink and stamp and a locked spellbook. Though the camp is going up in flames, destroying our shelter, our food and our water, in Ghorann's cart we see a lockbox (tiny luggage fit for a squirrel) and a chess board under it are resisting the fire. Hali finds the chess board is beautiful and gives off a sensation of welcome, as if it's sentient, while the lockbox snaps at Hali's fingers & starts running around on tiny legs! After a bonk from Hali's staff, it starts sulking. The tiny luggage has to be convinced to be friends & only then serves you. Fyllion shifts his face and voice into those of Ghorann & asks the box to open... it contains spell materials, parchment, 10 gold, wax that melted over everything and 1 intact letter resisting all damage (see image).

Eldrin talks to the slasher:

he's a hired killer, he kills whenever he's paid
he's very cynical about the importance of sad backstories
he wants to return civilization, esp. Thalm Sashari - he figures he'll escape either us or the justice system
he's heard of Eldrin, as a kid in town, protecting street urchins and orphans when he was in the sailors' quarters but Eldrin bluffs it's not them the slasher figures it's rare that someone offers a contract to kill a kid, but this orphan protector was an added reason to stay away from that kind of assassination
he's not very religious (intriguing Storm)
he has us pegged for suckers & even calls Eldrin a sucker

Frei mentions his full name is Simeon Ibn Seif and claims it's impossible to save Simeon from himself, since many have tried. Eldrin comments that everyone deserves a second chance, implying this also applies to Frei.

We discuss our next move & decide to go looking for Eluviel, to reclaim our memories (esp. important to Ezra who notices their sewing skills have changed during the lost 18 months, to Hali, who lost an unknown number of pages from her compendium and to Storm, who wonders about any progress in his choreography):

walk 2 days to the east, to an oasis Frei spotted just before we woke up
walk 2 more days to the north west, to the ruins of Nawa (where Enza is from) in the hopes we'll find some unburnt supplies among the ruins
continue to Kohshar, the northern most town in the Sand Sea, from where Frei was exiled There, we hope to deliver Simeon the slasher to justice & to find a way to travel on to the Crescent Cove, way up north in Rosaria.

From the burning camp, we recover these supplies: 15 gold, 3 waterskins (thanks to Ezra's skill at repairing), 6 edible rations and some covers to prevent sunburn.

Thanks to Ezra's lucky rolls, our first day is okay: no quicksand, no sandstorms, some shade when the dunes permit it...

Ezra flourishes with a NATURAL TWENTY and Fyllion gets exhausted, but the others manage okay. Eldrin shares his inspiration & helps Fyllion buck up. Fyllion sings a travel song, inspiring Ezra to find a good place to shelter safely while we sleep rough
Fyllion and Eldrin talk about the desert's cruel ways: sand is coarse and rough and it gets everywhere - the forests of the fae wild are very different! Eldrin advises to keep head, ears and wrists wet, if possible... Enza notices Eldrin knows a lot about the desert, Eldrin lets slip he grew up in Thalm Sashari.

In our first camp:

Simeon remains alert to identify Eldrin, while Eldrin tries to convince him about taking a second chance & karma. Simeon mentions he's also heard of Ezra: a tiger shifter in such beautiful clothes is rare! He also knows Frei's history, but Frei interrupts him and prefers to tell us herself : her horn broke in a random fight, her father trained her to fight, she worked as a guardswoman on the walls of Kohshar (where she sometimes worked with Ghorann (unofficially) to help people leave the city) and a month ago she was exiled unjustly (she calls it a set-up) when devilish fiends attacked the city & she was blamed as a tiefling. Knowing the close-knit and backward communities in the Sand Sea, it's not hard to believe Kohshar is sufficiently racist to make her story credible. She shows us an E was cut into her clavicle as sign of exile
Enza comments we're so accepting of each other and of strangers. Ezra comments we all had to look hard to find a group like this & Hali shares she was often mocked for her wet skin, even though it's not sweat! Ezra sows pockets for Enza
Fyllion plays a song for the tiny luggage, which dances on the sand with Storm
Fyllion can't resist checking if Simeon has heard of him: "you're the biggest fruit in town, but you're my favourite whenever you're silent"
Simeon reveals Eluviel is important within Lunaire's religion. Trying to learn more, Fyllion tries charm person but fails and Ezra tries to negotiate but Simeon doesn't bite. Finally, Fyllion threatens him with Ezra's & Storm's help (NATURAL TWENTY for primal savagery, flicking acid drops into the sand): we find out Eluviel was key in defeating the eastern kingdom's invasion in the bay of beasts: it wasn't an army, but just a handful of mages, Eluviel key among them

We keep watch during the night:

thanks to a NATURAL TWENTY, Storm notices Simeon tries to sneak away. Simeon subsides, nothing bigger than a lizard stirs
during Hali's watch, Simion is asleep. In the distance Hali sees smoke in 2 directions floating across the moon: behind us, our burnt out camp, still attracting some critters & in front of us where we think Nawa is, though it's a mystery how those ruins could still be burning Eldrin rolls a 96: during their sleep, their memories cast back to the people they left behind in Sashiri... for 18 months apparently... but then the dream gets interrupted by flashes of a dark field with dark flowers... till they fall through the dream... a skeletal hand reaches for a blade with dark flames around it & they see an island engulfed... and Eldrin hears a voice growling TRAITOR at them, either as a warning or as a general statement... Hali notices Eldrin startles awake from the vision, but Eldrin pretends nothing happened.
Fyllion also rolls a NATURAL TWENTY for his watch: while he's observing the stars, Fyllion notices a huge flaming creature traversing the sky very far away... it seems to lose altitude & then flap up again, and again and again. Fyllion has his holy water & mirror ready (he's a haunted one), but nothing happens.

In the morning Hali asks Eldrin about the nightmare, but Eldrin brushes it off: it's just a thing about my parents, don't worry about it. Fyllion mentions the bird - Enza recognises it as the destroyer of her village Nawa. The smoke from our former camp is all but gone.

For our second day of walking, Ezra rolls another 3, so we journey safely on.

Storm suffers from the heat & lack of water while the others manage okay
Enza confirms the smoke is coming from Nawa, she's worried, the attack was days ago, how can it still be burning

We arrive at the oasis with a tiny pool (the size of an average living room) surrounded by animal foot prints & 3 or 4 trees. Fyllion notices none of the footprints walk away from the water, but his warning comes too late: Eldrin goes to fill our waterskin & with a NATURAL ONE their arm is caught in a bear trap!

The illusion of the water fades & we see a hole lined with bear traps, filled with dead & dried animals with a hatch in the middle. Frei thinks it's a smugglers' stash. Hali and Frei manage to free Eldrin together, while Simeon keeps up his snarky comments.

Episode Line-up

previously: session 1 Waking up in the Sand Sea

up next: session 3 From the beartrap into the death pit