Session 6:  Looking For Trouble, But It Always Finds Us  8/29/21

Duvin 55: Things seemed to have calmed down for now, but today brought a whole new brand of chaos.   I started off with some shopping, first for some necessities like Healing potions and Pearls.  Elairiel and I purchased well-made breastplates from the armorer so we will be a little less conspicuous when trying to move around stealthily.  I also picked up my first spellbook that I’ve had in almost a decade. Ander also had a couple of very useful items that we purchased, Gauntlets of Ogre Power and a Lantern of Revealing.

Sometime during this shopping spree, Squish wandered off.  As of writing this, they still haven’t returned.  I checked their room and everything seems intact, though Xopa has been busy filling the space with plants.  I really hope they are alright.

I told Elairiel of my idea for how to deal with the curse imposed by Fire Crystal she received from her Deck. Fireproof gloves should be able to suppress the flames while she wears them.  She immediately decided to activate the crystal and in seconds, her clothing burst into flame!  She still wore her armor and though it was glowing, she seemed to be resistant to the heat.   Unfortunately, she also had the tendency to set fire to anything that she touched for any length of time.

Seeing that my idea for the gloves wouldn’t be enough, we went to see Ander.  After explaining the situation, we worked out a solution.  He could make fireproof clothing that was glamoured so that Elairiel would be able to change the appearance of her clothes without being a danger to everyone and everything around her.  Unfortunately, it would take him about a week to finish the creation. To help, she did pick a set of fire-resistant armor.

Back at the house, Xopa and I started calling her “Phoenix”.  With nothing else to do but wait, we explored the house, using our new magic lantern.  The device revealed any hidden objects within 30 feet.  We found various runes left by Ander to make the house stronger and more secure.  The lantern also showed something extremely disturbing.  Wrapped around my shoulders was a large worm-like creature.  Detecting magic, it has an aura of Illusion and Conjuration.  I recognized it as a creature summoned for relaying information.  Maybe this was how Duvin or the others were keeping tabs on us.

It didn’t seem to hurt me but I wanted it gone so we went back to Ander.  He had never seen anything like it but he recognized it as something powerful.  He started a ritual to remove the thing, but it screamed in pain and fought back. Waves of psychic energy ripped through our minds, but Xopa was able to heal the damage.  However, as the ritual continued the worm manifested physically and started burrowing into me. Though Xopa’s healing continued, the pain was excruciating and continued to get worse.  Elairiel stopped the ritual and at least for now, the worm stays.  I am trying to ignore that it’s still there.

When we returned to the keep, Morchid was excited to show us something.  After using one of his wishes from his pulls from the Deck, he can change into a larger variety of animals and much larger beasts than before, including a mammoth!  I’m really worried about what he is going to do with his future wishes.

I checked in with Anna and her family, offering to let them come stay at the keep.  They came to visit but told us that all of the other refugees had turned around and marched back into the tundra without saying a word of thanks to us.  (Yes, I am very hurt by this.)  Then Anna said that they were leaving too and returning to help with the rebuilding of Redorn.  I gave them money to help with their trip and their future efforts.  Then they left as well.   So much for having any friends or contacts in our new home.

Grange 2: After working around the keep for a week, we picked up Elairiel’s new clothing.  Seeing nothing else pressing to do, we decided to go check on what is happening with Redorn.  Using Duvin’s map, we transported to the Old Woods to the same spot we appeared before when we got Morchid a new body.  A strange little gnome approached us and introduced himself as Rasp.  During our conversation, Elora mentioned Morchid’s name and he showed signs that he recognized him.  He warned us not to keep saying it because the Spore were in the area and were hunting for him.  He also told us that they had a temple nearby and where there were dozens of cultists.

After a few days of travel, we reached the ruins of Redorn.  There was evidence that materials had been scavenged from the wreckage but there were no survivors there.  We spotted a sign that indicated the city was being rebuilt to the northwest, only a day’s walk away.

Calling up the horses via the Coin of Stampede we reached the city with no trouble.  What greeted us should not have been possible.  The layout of the project was massive, even larger than Redorn had been.   The signs said that this new city would be called Estoria and after asking around we were directed to the “Merchant District” to look for the man in charge of construction, a goliath named Guts. 

There was way more work than what should have been possible within a couple weeks and more workers and people moving around than what could have survived the devastation of Redorn.  We learned that the three nations had called off their hostilities and were working to build this new city as joint effort.  While this is amazing, I am worried that the six witches would only destroy this city as well.

We did meet with Guts, a massive hairless brute with white skin and dark tattoos.  He told us there were various jobs that needed to be done, including dealing with the Spore cultists.  Seeing that as a job we could absolutely take on, especially since they were hunting for Morchid and other fibolgs, we headed back to our keep with the intention to gather our party and destroy the cult.  Hopefully Squish will be back before we leave.  I am worried about them.