You can find the previous episode here.
15th - 29th of Waxing Summer, 0AL
As Kordak and Balasar talk about the feeling generated by the magical anvil they found in the secret room they found, Stor is taking a closer look at it and the intricate images of smithing engraved on it. Suddenly, he speaks up, saying that it looks remarkably like a legendary artefact he's heard of before. He shares the he believes this is the actual anvil of Mirinrie, goddess of crafting and tradition, that was stolen from her in ages past by Rotar, god of adventure, wealth, and daring, and given to mortals in ages past. It, along with Mirinrie's hammer, were used in ancient times to make some of the most powerful artefacts the world has ever known.
The group is intrigued by this, and - after everyone touches it to see what it makes them feel - begin discussing what to do with it. Some believe it should be left here, sealed behind the door that they believe can only be opened by the breath of a dragonborn, others want to take it back to the settlement. After all, Gorbosh is building a forge and will need an anvil. In the end, they decide to take it home.
Akta sneaks off for a moment to use her sending stone to send a message to the Negotiator, informing her that she has another of the items on the list. Then she helps the others gather what little metal weapons and armour they can find on the goblins, then pile and burn as many corpses as they can before settling down for the night. Stor discovers that the longsword they found in the room with the anvil is particularly good at killing fiends, and Balasar finds the the warhammer found there is very effective against goblins - something that would have been very useful in their earlier fight. Early in the night, while Kordak was taking the first watch, he hears the familiar sound of harpies outside - taking advantage of the few corpses that remain. Luckily they don't seem interested in the building.
In the morning, they head home, with Balasar and Kordak carrying the anvil. The goblins Ilk and B'yeta refuse to join them - too afraid to go so close to the coast and the Soggy Alliance - so they are told to stay and clean up the mess the goblins made in the building.
As the adventurers leave the field of blue grass, they notice a cloud of dust to the north. As they're trying to determine what it is, it becomes suddenly apparent as a stampede of all sorts of animals - including gazelles, triceratops, rhinos, and giraffes - comes over a hill, charging straight at them. They run out of the way, but Kordak and Balasar, burdened by the weight of the anvil, lag behind. Realizing their predicament, the two decide they aren't going down without a fight and heave the anvil into the charging masses - crushing a gazelle's head. The herd tramples the two, carrying them along with it for a ways before they roll out from under the feet - battered and bruised, but miraculously alive. They all watch as a t-rex follows behind the herd, sparing barely a thought for them (and a little drool for Kordak) as it pursues its larger prey.
Amazed, they pick themselves up, grab the anvil and dead gazelle, and continue on - with Shend lamenting that they can't hunt down the monstrous lizard until they drop off the anvil. That night, while Stor is standing watch, a huge snake somehow manages to sneak up on him and... go flying past as it entirely fails to wrap around him. Stor rouses his friends and, with their help, they finish off the remarkably inept snake, then they head back to sleep - after taking some swathes of its skin.
They continue home, but after the second day they begin to notice that Kordak and Balasar are acting differently than usual. Kordak isn't as gruff and Balasar seems more reserved. The others comment on this, but they don't thing anything is wrong. Guessing that the anvil may be involved, they convince Balasar to cast a spell to identify its properties. He discovers that the anvil lends magical assistance to those making items with it, and almost misses what he's looking for - that it tries to change the disposition of people who spend a lot of time with it to closer match the ideals of Mirinrie - and that someone who spends enough time with the anvil might find that the change has become permanent.
Upon hearing this, the others volunteer to take shifts carrying the anvil. Balasar and Kordak don't really see the differences in themselves, but Balasar - feeling uncomfortable that something might be magically changing his personality - eventually gives in, allowing Stor to take his place. Kordak, however, insists that he's the strongest in the group, so it doesn't make sense for anyone else to carry it. The others are concerned, but there's no convincing him.
While they camp one day out from home, when Akta is on watch, she gets a visit from the fox-like Negotiator. The creature accepts the magical morningstar the group had claimed from Grubfrub, and Akta feels a tingling sensation. For the next ten days she will be able to fall from great heights, drifting down as light as a feather.
The next day, they arrive home around noon. They take the anvil straight to Gorbosh and his completed recently-completed forge. The half-orc is delighted by it - even more so when he hears it is the anvil of Mirnirie herself. Stor - who's own disposition has been becoming less chaotic - warns him that the anvil, while powerful, also tries to make people more amenable to Mirinrie's ideals. This doesn't bother Gorbosh, because he is already devoted to the goddess.
There is some concern about having such a valuable artefact around and out in the open. The group believes that some people might choose to come to worship it, or that others might wish to steal it, if its existence is known. Kordak decides that a good, sturdy building is required for the forge, and goes off to arrange it. He finds the people working on building the tavern - finding that the crew has more than doubled - and asks them if they will help, just out of the goodness of their hearts. They look at him like he's crazy, so he offers to pay them with the rum he has a secret cache of. This generates enough interest to get him part of the crew, and they head off to get to work.
Wanting to test her new ability, Akta finds a tall tree and begins climbing it. Shend accompanies her fore the amusement of it. She's not the best climber, but she doesn't get hurt any time she falls because she just drifts down. At last, she gets to the top - and jumps off, gently floating down to the ground. She has so much fun, she climbs the tree again. This goes on for some time, until a soaking wet, puffy-eyed Deltria, on her way back from the mine, spots them and comes over. Shend asks what's happened and Deltria explains that they broke into some kind of underground river in the mine that started flooding the place - and that they'd just finished sealing the hole. While she's talking, Akta uses her magic to dry off her clothes, for which the dwarf is quite grateful.
Deltria then asks to speak with Shend, and the two head for the mine - Akta tries to follow, but Deltria says she wants to speak with Shend alone, so Akta kindly returns to climbing and jumping from her tree. As they walk, Deltria expresses her frustration that the mine hasn't yielded any metal yet, and her worry that the other miners will lose faith in her if she doesn't find anything soon. She then admits the Shend that she grew up in a city and has never even been in a mine before. Shend reassures her that he couldn't tell, and agrees to have a look at the mine with her.
Together, they go spiralling down into the mine, where Shend examines the rock formations. He notices how the rock has been layered and finds a point that he believes may lead to some ore. He points it out to Deltria, then picks up a pickaxe and begins working at it with her. After a bit of work, they find they've found a vein of iron ore that the initial mine shaft had missed by mere inches. Deltria is vastly relieved that this mine hasn't been a waste of time and Shend says he won't tell anyone he helped her and that her secret that she's never been in a mine before is safe with him.
With Kordak insisting on building the blacksmith building, the group is stuck in town for the ten days it will take. On the first day, Stor and Shend take their snake skins to the tanner, and are surprised when he asks for money. He explains that since someone sold some alcohol at the tavern, requesting money for it, a number of people have been requiring money for their services in anticipation of more alcohol. Apparently there are some nobles who brought their fortunes with them that are taking advantage of this to get finer homes built - and there's also a rumour that some of the people trained by the militia are refusing to take shifts unless they get paid. The two willing pay, finding it interesting that Kordak seems to have accidentally jump-started the economy.
Stor then drops off the sheaf of blue grass he'd harvested with Natat, who is very grateful and mentions that they've managed to get a small early harvest of some potatoes. She asks about how much of the blue grass there is, and talks about sending a caravan out to harvest it - saying it would really help with the food shortage. Stor mentions that it might be a bad idea, because of a pride of lions that lives in the field, but seeing the hope fade from Natat's face he says that he and the rest of his group might be able to take care of it.
Stor spends the rest of the ten days learning to control his raw, internal magical power, focusing it into a more elemental form. Shend continues to help Deltria out with the mine, bringing in the first ore the mine has seen yet, and running some other errands around the settlement. Akta, of course, makes the most of her featherfalling charm that will wear off by the end of this time, climbing and jumping from everything she can. Balasar spends a lot of time contemplating the changes the anvil tried to force upon him and maintaining his shrine. Extang isn't even seen by the rest of the group, as he's returned to his own small home and to learning carpentry while helping build the tavern.
On the night of the second day into this time, there is an unexpected visitor during the full moon. Gilligan's grey, cat-eyed parrot familiar, Pablo, comes into the house and gives a roll of paper to Akta's psudodragon familiar, Fluffy, then leaves. Fluffy takes the paper to Akta, who finds it's addressed to her, asking her to come outside. Akta goes out and finds Gilligan there. He awkwardly says hi, and she demands to know if he's here to apologise. He is, and he does, if a bit gracelessly, as well as forgiving her for the pranks she was pulling on him. He then says he wants to come in to speak with the others.
After a bit of catching up, Gilligan launches tells them that he thinks he won't be rejoining them any time soon because of his chosen duty of protecting Triena and Chance. And, because of that, he wants to tell them the rest of his story. He does so, reminding them of the story he told them of his best friend, Kingsley, and expounding to say that his friend - being a rare cross between a werewolf and a vampire - had been caught up in the midst of some vampire-werewolf power struggle, and during that had been mind-controlled by a powerful vampire named Luthrum. Kingsley had broken free and come to Gilligan, asking him to kill him so he couldn't do any more harm. Gilligan had complied. He then pulls out his friend's skull, which, in the moonlight, turns into a more bestial form. He then pulls out his final half-bottle of wine and shares it around with his friends, answering their questions to inform them that Kingsley is somehow, in some way, still alive, and that he's worried Luthrum might have somehow come across the ocean, trying to get the skull so he can resurrect Kingsley. After talking a bit more, he says his farewells and heads off.
On the morning of the 29th of Waxing Summer, the adventurers wake up to find Shend gone. In his place is the magical armour he took from the pirate captain of the Noble's Lark and a note. The note reads that he has decided to go off alone. He will miss them, bur he feels this is something he needs to do - he has to prove his power to himself and his clan, and he can't do that while working with them.
Akta immediately rushes off to the beach, while Balasar now he wants to go out and kill things. Stor suggests taking care of the lions so the grass can be harvested. They need Akta if they're going to do that, so they head down to the beach, where they find the miserable tiefling. She tells them that there's no point in anything, because everyone leaves eventually. They try to reassure her, and also to explain that it's part of life. She pulls out a picture of her family - her, her mother, and her father - wearing a Somvidian officer's uniform that is disturbingly familiar to Stor.
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| (Art by Emily Walton, who plays Akta) |
The others tell her that they'll do everything they can to help her get her family back - though she corrects them, saying she only cares about getting her mother back - bus she doesn't see it as possible, with her mother being so far away. Then, she considers that the Negotiator had been able to check up on her mother, and tells the others about her - saying she's not her patron, but her patron's assistant. With that idea in mind, she uses her sending stone to send a message to the Negotiator, saying she would like another favour, and that her friends know about her so she doesn't have to appear when only Akta is around.
With her somewhat cheered up, they decide to ask Extang to come out with them again, remembering how helpful he'd been in the battle with Grubfrub. The golden dragonborn hesitantly agrees, after doing a reading for himself with his cards - a reading that catches the interest of Stor and Balasar who see it as a potential window to their pasts. However, they're content to wait until later for that - because first they're going on a lion hunt.
And that's where this game session comes to an end. Find out what happens next week in Episode 21.
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