Jerry is carrying the young daughter of the Foreels. The child's parents are dead; her father is some sort of undead. Her mother was a ghost, then a banshee, and now is completely dead.
Vurguron is carrying the body of Tula, who was killed by the Foreel father.
Salris and Ryltar are unencumbered.
Bugfood has planted a bean from the Bag of Beans, and has stepped back a few paces to watch.
Jerry, carrying the child, dashes away from the bean.
Salris follows.
Vurguron carries Tula, following Salris and Jerry.
Bugfood takes the form of the panther, and takes a few steps backwards.
Ryltar follows as well, but stays within watching distance, within 150 yards.
Bugfood stays where he stands, still in the form of a panther, and watches with his panther eyes.
A small mound begins to grow. It continues to grow. Vurguron drops Tula and continues to sprint away from the mound.
The mound explodes into a fountain of reddish liquid, dousing the tree beside it.
Bugfood's panther senses tell him it's a geyser of blood. The blood covers everything within a 20 foot radius. Bugfood approaches the geyser and pats it with a paw, and gets slashed with flying rocks carried in the bloodstream. The blood isn't fresh; it tastes tainted. He runs after the Party. The blood has a slightly green tint to it as light flashes on it.
Salris sees the blood fountain and is grossed out.
Salris asks Bugfood, "What the fuck?"
"I thought it might save Tula, but at least it will deter further adventuring in this area."
"Well I'm discouraged," says the Drow, who didn't have to deal with blood fountains in the ancestral environment.
"I said we should head back to the village," says Bugfood, "and blame it on the girl."
The blood fountain continues to pepper the area with small rocks. Not all the falling rocks seem native to the area: they're light and holey, like pumice but with a reflective appearance like obsidian. And there appear to be some crystals in the rock. Some of the holes in the rock release smoke. Vurguron picks up some rocks up and looks at them, and Bugfood and Ryltar take one rock each.
So the Party decides to go back to town, as the sky darkens with nightfall approaching.
Back to Skyfall
By the time we get back to the little village of Skyfall, it's raining buckets. We enter the town, where everything is pretty empty. The townfolk are running to their houses, and the forge is empty.
Bugfood sees one of the younger boys of the town — who we had interviewed to determine the location of the graveyard — move to the center of the town square, move wierdly, and freeze. The boy stays motionless as Bugfood calls a greeting. Bugfood continues approaching, asking, "Can you hear me?" As he nears, he sees that the boy is holding a sword in his hand. The boy is staring out blankly, past the sword. But nothing else seems off.
"Are your parents dead as well?" akss Bugfood, approaching the boy further. The boy lashes out with his sword.
Surprise round!
The boy, with two long slashes, cuts Bugfood and almost kills him.
Round 1.
Jerry drops the child she was carrying, and casts Ensnaring Strike before hitting the child with a dart for 5 damage.
Bugfood says "Suosem" to his staff, turning it into a snake. He slashes the boy with the snake, killing the boy with a critical hit of poison damage. The boy's face goes gaunt. Bugfood slaps his face a little, and the boy does not respond.
Salris holds his Eldritch Blast.
Ryltar uses a scroll of Spare the Dying to heal the boy. It fails, but the boy stands up.
Salris pops his Eldritch Blast off, damaging the child.
The child slashes Ryltar one -handed for 7 damage. Ryltar backs off. The child is now a zombie.
Vurguron drops Tula and advances, casting Firebolt
Round 2.
The boy drops Bugfood with a sword, and takes some piercing from the vines.
Jerry tells the child to "Stay hidden," and then advances to Bugfood, and stabilizes him on the medicine check. Then she retreats to the stable.
Salris shoots the boy for 11, hitting the zombie boy in the head. It falls again.
Ryltar drags bugfood to the nearest house, pounds on the door, opens it, and drags him inside. "sorry to bug you," he says in response to their protests, and offers them 10 gold for the use of their house.
Ryltar looks out the door, to see if anything interesting is happening.
Jerry checks on the Forel girl. She has discovered the body of the blacksmith, who is dead with a big slash through his torso.
Jerry uses her halberd to carefully remove the sword from the boy's hand, keeping it at halberd's length, and calls out to Salris, "is this magic?" His mage sight reveals: yes, the sword is! It's necromancy and enchantment magic.
Lorraine, who we brought a blanket for the Forel child, is standing at the door, holding her own baby. She asks us what happened. Jerry replies similarly. Jerry and her charge are invited in, with Salris and Ryltar bringing Bugfood.
Lorraine says that a rider in black rode into town, and was seen talking to the blacksmith.
We catch her up on happenings on our side of things, with the child's parents.
The rain peters out: we loot Tula and divider her stuff:
Jerry, Ryltar and Salris each take 306 gold from Tula's bag.
Two javelins
Longsword and magic sheath
16 rations, 4 to Ryltar and 12 to Bugfood.
holy symbol
explorer's pack
A horse gallops in, and Lorraine identifies the rider as "Ither Highhelm," who was not the rider in black. It's a foreign-language name for "person of honor", like Mister or Sir, a title.
Ryltar exits Lorraine's house, and waves. Highhelm is very concerned about what happened, and so we tell him what happened. We show him the sword: it's got a twisted crossguard, rusted blade, and the tip is broken off. The break is rusted over, but we check Bugfood and the blacksmith for the tip anyways.
Vurguron notes that the blacksmith's sword slash is more rapier-like, not longsword-like.
Highhelm says, "This is not the sort of sword you'd find around here."
We say we're going to the Sky Diamond Academy, and could have it identified there.
Highhelm says, "This sword was forged in my country, for radicals, so they could keep fighting after death, so they could keep fighting no matter what. I would ask for you to take the weapon from here." His country is east of here, over the mountains.
"How would this sword get to be here, or would we want to know?" asks Jerry.
Lorraine says, "The sword wasn't here when the rider came here," but Highhelm puts a hand on her shoulder.
Highhelm leaves, and we put the sword away. Bugfood is still unconscious, for the next half hour. Highhelm talks to the mayor, before walking to the outskirts of town.
The townfolk start to deal with the bodies of the boy and the blacksmith, and after some discussion within our party, we decide to have Tula cremated as well.
We take a short rest and wait for nightfall. We heal up some.
Until sundown, Bugfood browses his Book in an Unknown Language to see if he understands it. He doesn't. The rest of the group takes a look as well, and of the languages there.
Jerry talks with Lorraine about the future of the lost girl, and Lorraine decides to take her in, though it will be hard. We leave her with some gold and rations.
The cremation
The bodies are laid out on stretchers in the town square.
Vurguron says something nice about Tula.
Salris tucks his Feather of Wish under her armor, without words.
Ryltar expresses to Tula's corpse his interest in her religion.
When villages carry the two villager corpses away, Jerry and Vurguron take Tula's bier, and follow them to the amphitheatre, where three fires are built. We all take seats.
The town's religious man, a farmer in ceremonial garb, gives a blessing.
The mayor lights the blacksmith; Highhelm lights the child, and Salris lights Tula's. We stay there until the fires burn out.
Jerry waits until Highhelm leaves, until the fires are all out. Salris goes to take the ashes from Tula's fire.
Highhelm finally asks Jerry why she's hanging around. She says that she didn't want to interrupt, but she had questions, about where to stay the night and how the Forel girl will be handled. Boris says that we could stay at the old Forel home, which is disused. Jerry tells Highhelm that Lorraine has adopted the Forel girl.
The Forel Home
We follow a path to a run-down homestead, larger than the ones in the town. It was of nicer make, but it's in disarray. We open the door: the house is full of cobwebs and dust, and the roof has fallen in in places. Bugfood uses Druidcraft to predict the weather, so with a clear forecast we decide to sleep on the lawn.
We sleep on the lawn, rotating watches, and the night passes without event.
Salris had decided to stay in town, and sat at the amphitheatre overnight.
The Sixth Day
Skyfall is five says out from the West Haven, having traveled three days and two hours along the nine-day path. We are located just outside of Boris Highhelm's hometown. Just north of Willowdale.
We pick up Salris and reclaim our horses, and head south on the road.
Travel is uneventful.
The Seventh Day
We have traveled four days and two hours along the nine-day path to Sky Diamond Academy.
We arrive at the edge of a town next to a quiet stream. The town is bisected by this stream, river, thing. It's big enough to require a bridge, and it's towards the end of the day.
As we enter town, we come across the Pillow Top Inn, and a bustling tavern. This is a merchant town.
We enter the tavern.
A half-elf in bright orange and gold robes, robes billowing in a nonexistent wind, holding mugs in both hands, shouts to the room, "New friends! Barkeep! A round for my friends!" (His name is Zelrathi)
Bugfood shouts, "Augh! A wizard!" and runs out of the bar. He takes form of mouse and hides in a bush.
Jerry enters, and the half-elf jumps down from the table and Druidcrafts a seed in his hand into a flower. "A flower for a lovely lady!" he cries. Ryltar tells the half-elf, "You don't want to mess with that one." Jerry points at Ryltar, takes the flower, sniffs it, and tucks it into the half-elf's ear. "Nice flower, but I'm not into men. And I'm married."
The barkeep talks up the local wine, which has interesting effects. Jerry, Ryltar, and Vurguron take him up on it, and descend to The Pits, which is a bar beneath the bar where the real wine is kept. We talk to the lower barkeep, Phillip, who tells us that people do get hurt down here. The wine pours very thick, but turns runny when it hits the ornately-carved wineglasses. The wine is purported to turn us into animals.
He doesn't know what any of the three people would turn into, because they have species he hasn't seen there.
They drink, and for a minute nothing happens besides the normal effects of drinking red wine. It's bold, smooth, volcanic soil, sedimentary. After a minute passes, the forms become blurred, and we step into the pits.
Ryltar: He is a shadow hound, capable of phasing through stuff.
Vurguron: He is his own spirit animal. He's a small Forest Drake, in gold.
Jerry: a Minotaur
The Pit has some training dummies, which Vurguron and Ryltar attack for a bit. Ryltar phases through the door, scaring the bartender, and then phases back into the pit. Vurguron breathes fire on the dummies.
Jerry opens the door, says to the barkeep that this is interesting but she should go back upstairs. The barkeep says that they ask people to stay beneath, for their own safety and that of the patrons.
Ryltar gooses the barkeep again.
Bugfood reenters the bar, and Zelrathi offers him a drink of ale. Bugfood's looking for his party, and is escorted down to the Pits, where Ryltar in the form of the shadow hound licks his face. Bugfood eventually decides to drink, which is paid for by the shadow dog barking up four gold.
Upstairs, Zelrathi pesters Salris, who's being very quiet and glum.
Bugfood drops a fuzzball from the Bag of Tricks into the Pit, conjuring an elk. Bugfood drinks the wine, but ends up looking like a human. Bugfood doesn't notice, until it's pointed out to him, at which point he tries to wildshape and realizes that, rather than having broken the magic, the magic has broken him.
But the Barkeep is convinced to let the transformed Bugfood go back upstairs with the rest of the group.
And up the stairs, Ryltar orders a ten-charge to-go cup of the Moon Berry Wine.
Zelrathi asks us more about who we are and where we're going, and says he too is going to the Sky Diamond Academy. He's going there to learn more about the Traitor's Curse Prophecy, since he is a child of that prophecy.
Bugfood is reminded that he is normally a tiefling, like Salris, at which point he looks at Salris and exclaims in alarm. He immediately turns back into his normal form.
We spend some time talking about stuff, and along the way discuss how to dispose of Tula's cremains, and what we'd want to do with each other's remains. Jerry wants to be sent back to her family. Bugfood wants to be wrapped in newspaper. Ryltar wants to be thrown in a river. Vurguron is too young to die.
Eventually we go to bed, and Vurguron was tricked by Bugfood into believing that there's a trap door in their room.
Long rest.
The Eighth Day
We've traveled five days and two hours along the nine-day path. It is the third day of the second week of Mirtul.
In the morning, we go downstairs, and eat breakfast, and make formal introductions. Zelrathi of the Betrayed Temple, or the Ordained Temple of the Betrayed Star.
Zelrathi uses three spell slots to heal people in town, and then we move out.
The day of travel goes off without incident.
The night, Zelrathi takes the first watch, and does it all throughout the night, not waking anyone else up.
The Ninth Day
We've traveled six days and two hours along the nine-day path. It is the fourth day of the second week of Mirtul.
Bugfood does some alchemy, and turns the health potion concentrates into a Potion of Gaseous Form.
As we go around a corner in the path, Salris' cursed armor cinches up a bit.
We see lots of traffic on the road, and mountain ranges in the distance.
Most of the travelers on the road are in carts and riding. We chat with a traveling magician.
We stop for the night, and Zelrathi and Ryltar take the first watch.
During that conversation, Zelrathi talks about how he thinks the Prophecy of the Something Star is garbage. He grew up in a temple being catered to, thinking he was hot shit, and now along comes the Knights of the Summer Court, and what does the prophecy say? Zelrathi explains:
Dawn rises with knights anew,
Knight not dark, but with shining armor
Since the prophecy says "it begins" at Sky Diamond Academy, he needs to go to there, because he's got an obligation to do things for the people who gave him everything.
Those strong and brave and faithful few.
He thinks that the Party really really looks like his prophecy. E'en though we're not knights, we sure look like it.
Ryltar tries to convince him that the prophecy isn't that literal. Zelrathi pulls out the tome, points the lines.
The prophecy is really clearly talking about him, and us, and the prophecy doesn't have a clear ending for him. He's supposed to:
Release the traitor's curse of howling might
And guide the fallen star to sister's light
"Before I met you, I had no responsibility. Now I have this much responsibility," he proclaims, holding up a book that could be used as a weapon.
He can't fuck off. Physically, he could, but he can't. There was an agreement that he made that he didn't realize he made, that he must do good. A vested party told him so. They're a bunch of assholes, they are — the light behind his half-mask intensifies and he twinges a bit — they might be assholes.
Ryltar says he's going to SDA to find a scholar, to learn from a scholar about the time of adventurers. That scholar is Glinden, a historian of some note.
The magic glow fades for a moment, and Zelrathi say, " back to the grind" and the glow restarts.
Towards the end of that conversation, Salris' armor wakes him up by squeezing him. He sits up. "Is it going to kill you?" asks Ryltar. "I dunno, but it looks like it wants to squeeze the life out of me."
He walks around, being squozen, and then eventually the pressure goes away. Ryltar goes to bed and Salris takes a watch.
Salris asks him about the temple, and the glow. The glow is something he does twice a night. The temple was in Quadroads, and people came from many miles around to worship him. Before he realized that the prophecy was real, he was a bit of a party animal. And he was a bit of a ladies' man. There was a very attractive lady, and he was chatting her up, as he was wont to do, and she seemed unconvinced. She asked him if he tried to do good. He said of course. She asked him if he would be willing to do the best he could do, to be the very best. She asked him to shake on it. He shook on it, because she was very attractive. And she was in the dream. And whenever he does sleep, she's there.
Salris talks about how he killed the last owner of this sword. I killed the last owner of this sword. And now I can do it, too. "But yours is more interesting. I just killed a man."
They finish the rest.
Zelrathi sees, by the light of a lantern, a chest-high figure walking down the path. He sees jet-black hair, a white streak in his beard. Zelrathi points him out to Salris, who knows him. It's Rezzik Brazzik, the assassination contact!
Brazzik greets Salris. Brazzik says he's travelling along old roads. He says it's "fairly mundane" to get the armor off, but he can't do it himself. He talks with Salris about his new friend. Brazzik holds out a sack of gold, saying, "Your friend is right here."
Salris says, "I've just met this man; I'm not going to kill him." He unsummons his sword.
Brazzik says, "Shame," and slashes at Salris.
Zelrathi casts Eldritch Blast at Brazzik.
Next session
Pretty sure we're in initiative now. Salris, Brazzik and Zelrathi are awake.
Tomorrow will be the fifth day of the second week of Mirtul. We will be seven days and two hours along the nine-day path towards the Sky Diamond Academy.
Loot from this session:
Jerry, Ryltar and Salris each gain 306 gold from Tula
Longsword and magic sheath, which iirc Vurguron got?
12 rations to Bugfood and 4 rations to Ryltar
Tula's holy symbol, which iirc Ryltar takes.
Tula's explorer's pack, which Jerry takes if no one else did.