Colonial Caerdia: Blossom Fall is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't already familiar with this series, you can find the beginning over here.
You can find the previous episode here.
23rd-24th of Waning Spring, 0 AL
Having driven off the harpies, our group of adventurers slay the big slime thing that really seems to want to eat Flint. It leaves behind a pile of bones and detritus, but I'Un and Vala, fighting over what treasure they may find, don't manage to find anything interesting. The group gets back up on the stairs and continue the climb as it twists and turns up into the mountains. Then the stairs stop...
They look around for any signs of the path continuing on, but find nothing - though Jojen spots something flashing higher up to the south east. Flint casts a spell allowing him to speak with animals and finds a squirrel that, when asked about a cave, says there's one to the south east. So, following a trail Jojen picks out, they continue in that direction, heading for whatever is flashing. They eventually come within sight of a building that I'Un finds very familiar, as it looks much like the home he grew up in. However, it's late, so they bed down for the night.
In the morning, they continue on. Vala and John scout ahead, discovering a crude hide flag sewn with metal discs flapping above the archway of the outer courtyard. They're about to start scouting around the outside of the building when they're called back to the others. Flint is going to try to talk to an animal to make scouting safer. However, before he finishes casting the spell, a group of five goblins comes out of the temple, spots them, and turn to rush back inside.
The group charges after them, not wanting them to escape and alert other goblins to their presence. I'Un and John are the fastest, and they manage to catch up to the goblins and kill them as they're getting into the main building. The others arrive, panting, and they take a breather to determine what to do next. I'Un begins to note a number of subtle differences to his temple; some of the statues are different, there's a giant chasm running through the middle of the grand dojo, and there's a plaque on the outside claiming that the temple is full of heretics that the first Emperor of Drovinaar has said are okay so long as they keep their religion inside their own walls. At Jojen's request, Flint is able to determine that the plaque is around 3000 years old.
They continue into the temple, following I'Un's memory - as it does appear to have the same layout as the temple he grew up in. They move cautiously into the training room, keeping their eyes open for goblins, but they don't see any. Under I'Un's direction, they find their way to the library, which Jojen, John, and Luna are left to search while the rest follow I'Un to the grandmaster's office.
A search of the library finds no books, but in the desk drawer they find a broken clay tablet with writing on it. It speaks of something attacking and someone being sent away to protect something called the Theragat which was on her back and very important to keep out of the wrong hands, and would need someone to collect it when it when it returns to liquid form upon her death. Not fully understanding this, but guessing it's important, they carefully wrap it up and bring it down the hall to the rest of the group in the grandmaster's office.
As they arrive, they find Vala holding another clay tablet, with I'Un looking at it - but as they enter, Vala drops it in response to I'Un saying it was too dangerous to let the others see it. However, I'Un needs the information on it - which speaks of something he's never heard of before called the Theragat which has locked something away, but has images and text that makes him believe it is talking about the tattoo on his back and how to manipulate and move it. The nimble monk catches it as it's about to hit the floor and hugs it to his chest, keeping the others from seeing it - though Vala, having seen the tattoo before, has been able to connect the image on the tablet to the tattoo.
Jojen, John, and Luna share the information on the tablet they found, but Jojen and John are quite irked when I'Un insists the contents of his tablet are too dangerous for him to share. John calls Jojen out into the hall, and they make a plan to steal the tablet while I'Un is sleeping if they have to. But first they attempt and fail to get information out of Vala, and make another attempt to convince I'Un to share the information. When the monk still refuses, Jojen turns to leave, saying he's returning to the settlement, but Flint casts a spell on the room bringing emotions back to a reasonable level and convinces everyone to talk it out. They don't really progress much further, and Vala gets bored and wanders off to check a couple of the nearby rooms - returning after finding one with a sleeping goblin she killed.
Since Vala is interested in finding treasure, I'Un leads him and John back to the storage room off the training hall, while Jojen stays behind with Flint and Luna to do a thorough search of the grandmaster's room, turning up nothing before following. In the storage room, the only useful looking item they find looks like some kind of silk dress that appears to be magical. They flip a coin for who gets it, and John wins. He sits down to identify its properties with I'Un, while Vala, bored once again, wanders off into the training hall. Finding nothing interesting, she opens a door to one of the smaller training dojos, finding a group of goblins inside.
And that's where this week's game session ends. Check back in next week to find out what happens in Episode 22.
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