Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (271 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (265 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (299 points)
Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (76 points)
Quintin Nenno - Dragonborn Swordmage (250 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (280 points)
Jahn the Bear - Bear (209 points)
NPCs:
Jenny - Human Cook (62 points)
Avandry 43rd 2546, Swordfish Bay, Rand's Retreat
The party took a well-deserved day off to relax (and, from a meta perspective, to spend points).
Avandry 44th 2546, Swordfish Bay, Rand's Retreat
Now that Vaelcor had learned Permanent Shapeshifting (Golden Kujibird), the party concocted a scheme to bamboozle Old Will. Vaelcor, in bird form, would be given to Old Will in exchange for the intel on the rod segment. Once they knew where it was, Vaelcor would turn back into a human. They'd also make sure to set up the meet in a secluded spot, so they could kill Old Will if worst came to worst.
Puddin' and Masha tracked down Old Will at Rand's Place, and made the offer, but the plan immediately encountered a hitch: Will was unwilling to go to a dark alley to make the deal, and told her that the meet would happen in his room, north wall, second floor, instead. Puddin' objected, pointing out that parading a solid gold bird past a bunch of greedy adventurers wouldn't go well, but Will just gave her a sack to muffle it and told her that the tavern was loud enough that noone would notice, and they returned to the party.
After some debate, Argua stuffed Kuji-Vaelcor in the sack, and the party (minus Jahn, who was left outdoors) headed to the meet; unbeknownst to them, the sack had Delayed Sleep and Numb spells on it, and Vaelcor was knocked out, oblivious to the world. Puddin' knocked on the door, Will opened it a crack, Puddin' held up a feather as proof, and he invited them in. The windows were shuttered, though the ramshackle walls didn't filter out the light or noise from outside. Puddin' took a look around and noticed that there was a fancy armoire which seemed rather out of place in one corner, but nothing suspicious.
Argua opened the sack and revealed the sleeping bird, and after confirming that it wasn't dead, Old Will asked where they'd found it. Puddin' declined to answer, saying it wasn't part of the deal; Will sighed and told them that the rod they were looking for had been moving around the island. While he did so, Argua tried to covertly wake up Kuji-Vaelcor, but he stayed asleep.
- Initially, it had washed up on the northwest coast, by the ogre camp.
- Then, it made its way to the central volcano.
- After a while, it moved southeast of the ruined city.
- Now, it was in the city ruins proper.
They asked where he'd gotten the info, but Will declined to answer, saying "it wasn't part of the deal". Puddin' offered to trade the birds' location for his source, but he remained unswayed. Argua upped her efforts to wake up Kuji-Vaelcor, shaking him around more, kissing his beak, and loudly asking him to wake up, but Vaelcor stayed asleep, and she handed him over to Old Will, who stuffed him in a golden cage with a pillow inside. The rest of the party headed out...leaving Vaelcor behind (Argua, once they were out of earshot: "Well fuck").
The party, and in particular Puddin', kept an eye on the door to Will's room. Argua suggested that they go grab two more kujibirds ("because we kind of screwed him over") to swap for Vaelcor, but the next ship was 2 days out. For now, they decided to wait until evening, when it would be dark enough to climb around the building without being noticed.
???, A Room Without Windows
Vaelcor woke up, still in the cage and still in kuji-form, an old man with a long white beard wearing blue robes standing over him. There was a single barred door out of the room, and the rest of the walls were obscured by thin curtains draped from the ceiling; the bench that the cage was on was dull iron, and held surgical equipment and glassware, which stood at odds with the rest of the luxurious furniture and bed. As he finished taking in the room, Vaelcor noticed that his nose (err, beak) was missing, but he didn't feel any pain.
The man held opened the door and held out his hand, lifting Vaelcor out of the cage and placing him on the ground before heading to the door, pulling out a quill and paper, and started to observe the "kujibird"'s behaviour. Vaelcor ended his spell and turned back into a human, startling the old man, and confirmed that his nose was still missing. After collecting himself, the old man let out a sigh and said that Vaelcor was free to go, but he'd appreciate it if he could tell him where the birds actually were.
Vaelcor refused to give up their location, so, defeated, the old man stepped aside, retrieved his nose from a small box, and waved his hand, opening the barred door. Vaelcor took his nose and stepped through.
Avandry 44th 2546, Swordfish Bay, Rand's Retreat
Emerging from a particularly nice armoire, Vaelcor found himself in what must have been the ramshackle inn that the others were staying in. Instead of going to find the party, however, he gave in to his Phobia of crowds, opened the shuttered windows, Shapeshifted into a songbird, and flew back to Jahn. Once he had recovered from the ordeal, Vaelcor paid a visit to the local druid circle, and paid to get Restoration cast on his nose, which got it back in working condition.
Puddin' kept up the watch on Old Will's door, but he never left. Later that night, she used the Phial of the Mad Alchemist to make an Invisibility Potion, which seemed to work fine. She climbed around the inn to look through his window, and found that he was gone, along with the armoire. Out of ideas, the party decided to try Argua's plan to get replacement kujibirds, and waited for the Siren's Folly to return.
Avandry 46th 2546, Dawn: Swordfish Bay
First thing in the morning, Jenny showed up with some new armour and weapons and offered to help them on their next expedition as a favour. Again, the party were reluctant to bring her along, but were ultimately swayed when she showed them her pack, which could hold a fair bit of loot. As the party went to board the Siren's Folly, Vaelcor caught up to them (failing his Phobia roll and gaining the Quirk Dislikes Shapeshifting on the way) and told them what had happened.
The party argued for a bit ("You didn't even try to rescue me!" "We were going to find and trade another kujibird in exchange for you!" "You were going to do WHAT") and then, that plot thread nicely tied up, they decided to start hunting down the rod. Unfortunately, they'd be landing on the east coast, so they'd have to trek across the island. They found a Wizard who'd be willing to Fly them over the channel, but ultimately decided against it, as the boat ride was free anyway.
On the trip, Vaelcor got angry with Jenny for knowing how to cook animals; when she said she could cook vegetables too, he called her a savage for not eating them raw.
Morning: East Coast, Hot Springs Island
The party disembarked and, after retrieving the loot they'd buried on their last trip, started off towards the volcano to find the rod (and definitely not grab any kujibirds on the way). They decided to explore a bit on their way, instead of just retracing their steps.
Afternoon: Mountainous Jungle
The party came across a brown clearing full of two dozen bodies, centered on a boulder covered in what looked to be grey rope. Clear crystals burst from the ground in bunches, and seemed thicker in the centre of the clearing. On closer inspection, the bodies seemed to be dried, almost like jerky. Puddin' gave into her Curiosity and went into the clearing, suddenly finding the air to be bone dry.
A closer look at one of the bodies found a dessicated half-orc with a yellow pauldron, marking them as working for the Martel Company, and it looked like most of the others did as well. Puddin' started to become uncomfortably dry (taking a point of damage), and retreated to the rest of the party, and again finding herself in the thick, humid air of the jungle.
Vaelcor made a Naturalist-5 roll and figured that the "rope" was actually a type of vine, and that the crystals were its "roots", sucking moisture out of the environment; it'd probably be useful in some alchemical formulas, or as materials for enchanting spells like Dehydrate. He estimated the crystals' value at about $500/lb, and that there were about 250lbs of crystals in the clearing. The party reviewed the bounty board and found one for "vine, gray, ropey, crystals instead of leaves".
Clearly, the dead people had suffered the damage faster than Puddin', as she was easily able to escape, so Argua ran in and pulled a body out for Vaelcor to inspect. With Diagnosis, he figured that they died of sudden, immediate dehydration, which had possibly involved disturbing it. Despite Vaelcor's eagerness to cast Animate Plant, the party decided not to risk it, but used Archer's grappling hook to pull bodies out of the clearing so they could be looted.
After about 20 minutes of hauling bodies, in addition to mediocre weapons and armour, the party found a few cheap gems, two potions (one viscous green, the other gaseous pink), a Fine and Balanced Saber, and a bunch of gold (coins, some jewellery, and a half-pound solid gold statuette of a nude elf woman). Mahk and Jenny loaded up their packs with the weapons and armour, and Quintin grabbed a crossbow and some bolts for himself.
They left the bodies unburied, as that was "more natural", and continued towards the volcano.
Sunset: Volcanic Mountain
The party headed back to the kujibirds' "island" in between the lava rivers, where they figured they would be safe overnight, and noticed that the rivers had moved inwards a little bit. It looked like the kujibirds had been only weeks away from extinction. As Vaelcor cast Shape Earth to make a bridge, Puddin' snuck away to go find the kujibird she had left tied to a tree. She retraced her steps to the marked tree, but found that the rope had been savagely torn away, likely along with the kujibird.
She grabbed four golden feathers from the base of the tree and headed back to the island, claiming to have been "scouting". Vaelcor glared at her, knowing she was up to something, but made another Shape Earth bridge.
Notes:
There were a lot of scrapped alternate plans to rip off Old Will. My favourite involved a staged attack by Quintin (who Will had never met) in a party where nobody has Acting above default. Another highlight was to put a smoke nageteppo in Kuji-Vaelcor's mouth, so he could easily make his escape.
In retrospect, Vaelcor probably should have been woken up by Argua's antics. I gave an HT roll, but Sleep says it should be automatic.
I allow Restoration to restore removed body parts so long as they are intact and reasonably fresh, and give a 1/10th discount for something as minor as a nose.
Vaelcor's new Quirk means that he won't ever suggest using Shapeshift except as a last resort. He's probably going to buy it off pretty quick.
XP was 3:
1 for exploration
2 for loot
MVP went to Vaelcor for rescuing himself.
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