Sunday 25th, April, 1001 AC
(destiny token 1)
Faced with an ever growing menace to the South, the companions are looking for answers wherever they can, but answers can sometime create unexpected chains of events...
Companions
- Urist, dwarven cleric of Kagyar (level 3)
- Danik, human scholar mage (level 3)
- Rurik, dwarven fighter (level 3)
- Serrin, human bounty hunter (level 3)
Lost companions
- Grom, half-orc druid, went missing during dragon attack.
- Adran, gnome bard, fell to his death after being dropped by a Drahie.
- Zao-rin, human monk who decided to stay with the Semphiwe and help Samshira as long as needed.
And so Rurik and Serrin had explained the situation to Manelesi and while she seemed confused by some of it, she understood the potential threat to the village. Serrin and Rurik then agreed to go and find her companion, Themba, who was still living as an exile on the outskirts of the village, while the young woman and Zao-Rin would take care of Samshira.
As they left the hut however, Serrin heard Danik shouting and the two headed there to see what was going on.
Meanhile, outside the old crone's hut, Danik was still menacing Nozizwe's daughter, asking for answers she did not seem to have. As they asked finally where was the old woman, she arrived at the scene, clearly not happy to see her daughter treated as she was. Her appearance had changed however and she now stood tall and strong, despite still displaying the signs of her old age.
As Nozizwe ordered her daughter to leave, Serrin and Rurik arrived. Not wanting to talk in public, they soon all move into her hut and discussed:
- Apparently, Nozizwe had went to see the black dragon after their last conversation and the encounter did not go well. From what she said, both voluntarily under and resisting the Zone of Truth spell from Urist, the Dragon was indeed "trying to break the sky" and did not seem to care one bit about it's servants/slaves anymore, to the consternation of Nozizwe.
- She confirmed as well that she was attacked by Drahies after being "dismissed" by Ziphozonke, the Black Dragon. She somehow managed to escape however.
- She didn't seem to be aware of the growing black cloud in the South, nor about the conflict about the Sun Jaws or Rock Claws. At best, she seemed to think that they were part of a race that died a long time ago and that only thing that remained of them were the various trinkets the locals had scavenged around the land through the years.
- She indicated that she did have the ability to fly somehow after Serrin picked up on something she had said, though did not look comfortable at the idea of "carrying" someone while doing so. The how was left unresolved.
- While the effects of the Black Cloud are unknown, she confirmed that she's sensed the "Wild" moving North, something the companions had seen on their way back to the village. After some discussion, she decided that the entire village should migrate North, as far away from the Black Cloud as possible.
After the tense discussion, Nozizwe ordered preparation and some hours later, more than five hundred men, women and children were gathered outside, carrying baskets of food, pots of water and various tools. The companions had meanwhile finally fetched Themba, while Urist made sure Samshira would be fit to travel. The shadow elf was in some kind of catatonic state, but Zao-Rin and Manelesi would accompany her along.
As the crowd was ready to depart, the first signs of the Black Cloud appeared far in the distance to the South as it was slowly growing, filling the cavern as it did. Tension mounted and some panicked for a moment but finally, Nozizwe roared a command and the Simphiwe slowly started walking Northward, following the Inner Sea shores. As her daughter took command, the old crone suddenly shape-shifted into a small black dragon, much like a Grom (their long lost half orc druid companion) had done when shifting into a wolf form, all clothes and items subsuming into the new shape.
Hours passed as the Simphiwe marched on North, the companions following. Finally a rest was called and the passive villagers slowly gathered in a loose circle for a time. Serrin took some time to craft some bolts while Danik, Urist and Rurik did their best to keep some watch organized, but with so many people, it proved difficult.
The long rest passed without any problem however and about 8 hours later, Zephriz, Nozizwe's daughter, gave the command to march on. While Danik kept busy trying to mingle with the locals, Serrin and Rurik, on watch, noticed that from time to time, a large group of Great Grey Apes walked parallel to their own group, about a mile or so inland, amidst the grasslands. Without any sign of hostility from either side however, both groups just pushed on for hours, always north...
Finally, rest was ordered once more and camp was organized, while the Great Grey Apes kept going and soon disappeared in the distance to the North. The camp itself was quiet as a tomb, with only children crying here and there breaking the silence. All Simphiwe seemed very tired, even more passive and submissive than before, and even through they had out-paced the growth of the Black Cloud for now, despair was clearly setting in many of them.
During rest, Rurik picked up odd noises coming from around the camp and soon realized that some of the Great Grey Apes had come back and were now circling them slowly, about 100' away. As he informed his companions, others noticed as well and scared and worried whispers grew in the crowd gathered on the beach.
Soon, the Great Grey Apes were now a couple dozens, still circling around the camp. Zephriz mentioned that without a Patriarch, they shouldn't be too dangerous nor attack, she did indicate that they seemed to block the path North mainly, as if they didn't want the villagers to go there.
Suddenly, a larger specimen jumped out of the pack and charged full speed toward the companions. As he closed in, Serrin let loose a bolt that went wide, and Danik summoned an illusion above the camp of a Black Dragon, roaring and rearing, trying to scare the beast away. While nobody else seemed to notice the illusion, the Great Grey Ape did and while trying to backpedal, collapsed not two feet from Serrin, then ran full speed to join his retreating companions.
Afterwards, quiet returned to the shore and hours later, the rest ended. Zephriz, Nozizwe's daughter, seemed unsure about what to do now. Her mother had ordered her to lead the villagers North along the shore before leaving, but she had yet to return and from what had happened recently, it seemed that every single creature in the cavern had the same idea and was also moving North, away from the growing Black Cloud.
After a quick discussion, it seemed clear that Zephriz was way over her head and had no idea what to do once their had reached the Cliffs on the northern limits of the cave. Short on suggestions and themselves with more questions than answers, the companions could offer little however, and in the end, all decided to keep pushing North, hoping for the best.
The day's march went uninterrupted but for a skirmish between Shrillers and what seemed to be Great Grey Apes, somewhere east in the Grasslands. While the shrills and sound of carnage was terrifying, nobody engaged nor investigated further, letting natural preys and predators handle their own problems, and some time later, the group resumed their march North along the shore.
Finally, at the foot of the Northern cliffs, on the shore of the Inner Sea, camp was called. They had reached the limits of the cavern and now, all they could do was wait. The area was as secure as could be, danger only able to come from one side but a refugee camp is a refugee camp and the morale was at a new low.
Not satisfied however, the companions decided to push on East, leaving the Simphiwe behind for now, Zao-Rin also staying to take care of Samshira. After a couple hours pushing though the Grassland, looking closely at the cliffs for any possible sign of tunnels or ruins, they closed the edge of a Mushroom Tree Forest and as Danik felt fatigue set in, Serrin hear wimping noises in the distance.
Carefuly investigating, the group soon discovered a scene of pure carnage as body parts of Great Grey Apes littered the forest floor, blood everywhere on the mushroom trees, the air reeking with blood and death. As Urist hurled whatever little food he had in him, Serrin noticed something move in one of the carcass, something small, blue...Then another, and another.
As he shouted "Weapons!", a loud shrill echoed nearby and suddenly, the entire forest exploded in a cacophony of shrills, blue forms flashing everywhere around them....
POST SESSION NOTES
- Short session but quite important story wise I think, as PCs start seeing some of the bigger consequences of previous choices and actions. Lots of confusion I think but I'm ok with that, answers are there, world is coherent and consistent.
- Zone of Truth was interesting during the discussion with Nozizwe. Urist caught me a bit off guard there but I rolled with it without problems and even played with it a bit since she actually made her save and yet, decided to submit to the spell. The spell states that the caster knows if you resist or not, therefore I told Urist that while she resisted, she volunteered to it anyway, at least for a time. Very interesting experience, though little result really.
- I had cooked up some "random encounters" if/when chains of events led to something like this. Kinda glad it did, as the scale of them (since the ENTIRE wildlife is migrating north now!!) makes it interesting to deal with. I was ready should thing escalate as usual, but I never force an event one way or the other and was quite satisfied with the Great Grey Apes just being scared off for now.
- Zao-rin is out sadly, player had conflicting work schedule. We're back to four PCs and I think I'll run with that for now, try to stabilize the group at least through the current events.
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