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Legends of the Heroes / Re: Army of PCs Against the Giants
« on: January 07, 2024, 01:30:40 AM »
Sephira and Co, Day 194
Episode XXXIV- Just about done with snakes
Episode XXXIV- Just about done with snakes
(click to show/hide)
When we last saw our heroes, Blank set of a lightning trap like 15 times basically for giggles because Reasons, and also tore apart the door the trapped handle was attached to so that he can carry around a door handle that’s basically an armed land mine that shoots lightning. Also the party killed off all the yuan-ti (except, you think, one), rescued all the prisoners, and, according to the DM’s map, have explored every room in the dungeon. So well done there. And you now have two halves of the Ankh that Sephira set off to find…seven years ago real time and 41 days ago in game.
Blank comes back to join the party with his new door in his bag of holding, “well that was fun.”
Herzog- “Why do you have part of a door?”
Blank, “because it still fires off lightning.”
Kedri hisses at the door.
The DM assumes that Blank too everything of value/interest/above average shinyness from the last room.
Herzog looks around. “Sephira, do you want to keep going?”
Sephira - “We’ve just chased the last yuanti all over this place, I’m tired of it. Let’s get out of here, we’ve done what we came for.”
Herzog- “Good. We got all the prisoners, I think, so I’m happy.”
Kara: “Rest is deserved for work well done.”
Herzog- “Yeah, but not in the temple of death and destruction. I want to go outside.”
Kara: “The shell of a place is nothing more than that when cleansed of evil influence.” She pauses, considering. “Which we have not completely done.”
Herzog- “Like what, you mean pour holy water on the zigurrat thing? We can, but if it summons some eldritch abomination, six of the nine spells spells I have left today are cantrips.”
Kara: “Perhaps tomorrow, then.”
Herzog shrugs at that.
Blank, “I could go for summoning an eldritch abomination…could be entertaining.”
Sephira - “Abominations are alright, but eldritch ones just get goo all over the carpet.” She starts heading outside.
Blank, “not our carpet.”
The party argues about correct means of descecrating evil altars on their way outside, whre they see…..that none of the prisoners left the area like they were instructed. All 15 of them or so are instead having a party, barbecuing sectors of the giant snake you guys killed on your way in. There’s a general cheer of the “hip hip hurrah” sort as you emerge from the fortress’ gate.
Blank raises a hand in the air and waves.
Herzog smiles bigly at seeing them all, and immediately goes looking for sick and injured to tend to.
Thoburk, the orc warrior, jogs up to the rest of the rest of the party, with Illira (the female halfling who was criticizing Blank’s lock-picking skills) in tow. “I tried to get them to head to the coast, but once the people outside saw us prisoners leaving the fortress, they started cheering and decided to stay put until you all came out or we ran out of snake meat.”
Sephira - “Thanks for taking care of them, Thoburk.” She looks for a stool to hop up on to address the crowd.
Once everyone notices what you’re doing they gather around.
Sephira - “Hello everyone, I’m glad you are looking well!”
The crowd cheers!
Sephira, getting into this a bit. “All prisoners have been released from the yuan-ti’s stronghold!”
The crowd cheers again!
Somebody- “Wait, what did you do with that yuan-ti who was in the prison with us?”
Blank scratches his chin looking thoughtful as he watches Illira.
She looks reasonably competent (although definitely new at her job). Blank thinks that if she got caught in the lightning trap it would have killed her, but she looks like she could have evaded it.
Sephira - “She has been killed, along with all the other yuan-ti we were able to catch. We know one escaped, but I doubt they will be returning anytime soon.”
The crowd grumbles at this.
Sephira - “But! We do know that among the dead are the leader of the yuanti and several wizards and clerics, in additional to their golem and otyugh!”
There’s a mix of reactions: from the tougher types, like Thoburk, the dwarven noble, and Illira, there is “yeah, suck it, bad guys”. From the more normal types, some burst in to tears (presumably of joy and relief), and others just plain happiness at this news.
Blank sighs and starts paying attention to what Sephira is talking about.
Syl this entire time has been taking sips of whiskey and waiting for a moment to talk. But takes another sip of his drink from his flask.
Sephira - “My companions and I have completed our task in this area, and so will be moving on once we all return to your village.”
Thoburk- “Where are you going?”
Syl - “Crazy. Wanna come along?”
Thoburk- “Yes, absolutely! I owe you all big time!”
Syl smiles and raises his voice “THEN LET’S GO CRAZY!” He begins to head bang his hair back and forth, up and down while playing air guitar.
Thoburk looks delighted at this and starts headbanging as well. “I MEANT WHERE ARE YOU TRAVELLING TO NEXT!”
Sephira - “To the great desert, in search of a temple that is there.”
Syl continues to head bang “WE WILL TRAVEL WHEREVER THE ROAD TAKES US!!!
Blank moves off to the side and just watches the loud conversation.
Someone a bit more rational than Thoburk- “Er…are you heading straight across the mountains, or back down to the village. Cause I think we would all feel quite a bit better if you would be willing to head down to the village with us before you go to the desert.”
Sephira - “We will be coming with you first.”
There is a murmur of relief at this.
Clora, the slave lady whom you talked to after killing the snake- “Can you give us until tomorrow before we start back home? We need to get what few things are worth taking with us packed….and also prepare to burn this place down.”
Syl drops to the ground from head banging too hard, passing out.
Sephira - “Of course! I would imagine we could all use a rest before travelling.” Her brain catches up with her ears. “Burning…? Welp, it’s your mountain, so….”
There was definitely a murmur of agreement from many of the slaves on the “burn this place down” bit.
And so you pass the rest of the day dividing treasure and eating barbeque while the prisoners gather what few things they want to take back with them (like the cow, which doesn’t grow on trees, you know), like the snake’s skull, because fuck you, snakes. Herzog continues doing the physician thing, Thoburk follows Syl around everywhere, Illria alternates between following Sephira and Blank around, both of they trying to get hired on to help the party. Eventually everyone gets around to falling asleep.
Blank completely ignores Illria because the door would kill her and all he wants to do is have her try and pick its lock.
Syl teaches Thorburk about different songs he knows and how he can make his air whip in circles while head banging.
Thoburk is actually fairly well versed in speed metal as that is the traditional orcish music genre.
Syl asks “Thorburk, do you know Before I Forget?”
Thoburk- “Pffft. Who doesn’t?”
Syl throws the horns up “THEN LET’S ROCK AND SING BROTHER!!!!!”
Thoburk- “WOOOOOOOO!”
Day…195
It take a while to get everyone up and organized, because the time such things take increases exponentially with the number of people you have to get from point A to point B. And it also slows down your movement from the fortress to the fishing village (which the villagers tell you is called…hang on…Huma Bikhandak), so instead of two days, it takes four days to get there. But the worst thing that happens is that you get rained on.
You arrive in the evening of day 198, and again are treated to a large number of joyous reunions (they got their cow back!), which soon turn into as big a festival as a place like this can have. The drinks are free, the food is decent, and a good time is had by all…except….
Herzog, Kara and Blank all notice that the “suspicious skinny guy who was clearly watching you” is nowhere to be seen.
Blank sighs, “well I guess that we have someone off to report about us.”
Kara finds a suitably inebriated villager and asks about him.
Inebriated guy- “Ol…what’s his name? What WAS his name? Hmm. Last time I saw him was like an hour before you got here, why? Also, <hic>, you’d be awfully cute if you grew your hair out, sweet cheeks.”
Day 199
It’s already 11 am by the time you all rouse yourselves out of your hangovers.
Sephira starts making horses for the party.
As she does so, a group of former prisoners start to bother her. In this case, it’s Daverov, the male dwarf aristocrat, Maneri, a female human aristocrat, and Kaleb, who appears to work for Maneri. Illria, Thoburk, Selirra (the elf woman who hugged Kara when she was released, and who also helped Herzog do the tend-to-the-wounded thing earlier) and another guy named Rollin are hovering in the background.
Sephira - “Good morning, what can I do for you?”
Daverov is apparently their spokes-dwarf. “Well, Sephira, we all do thank you most deeply for your and your team’s efforts in rescuing us from those vile yuan-ti, but, er, we aren’t from around here, and so we would like to hire you to take us back at least to the nearest real town.”
Sephira sighs internally, and pulls out her map. “Where are each of you from?”
Sephira notices that the Land of Shadow has changed shape since she last looked at it on her map.
There’s kind of a rush of people pointing at places. Maneri, Kaleb and Rollin are all from Hiasport; Selirra is from the elf kingdom east of Hiasport (and so Selirra, Arjun and Yudhisthir have probably heard of each other, not that Sephira would know that), if she’s not going get a job offer from the party Illria wants to get to Hiasport, Thoburk sighs and wants to go to the Goblin Kingdom, and Daverov is from up near Geoff.
When Daverov points to Geoff, Sephira says, “Oh, you’re from Geoff as well? I’m actually on this errand on behalf of the Duke. Thoburk, I also wanted to tell you that there’s a war going on up in Geoff if you’re interested, though you would be fighting other humanoids. Hmm, I’d need to write you a letter of recommendation, I think….”
Thoburk shrugs- “They’re not my tribe, so I don’t care. Yes, please, a letter would be great!”
Daverov- “Yes, I was on a diplomatic mission to Hiasport when the yuan-ti got me, the same time Maneri and Kaleb were taken. It’s hard to get countries not directly threatened by the giants to care about what’s happening, but what with the dispute about the next claimant of the Low Throne, it’s not like the dwarves are doing much either.”
The DM notes that Daverov is not up on current events! (He is more up on current events than Blank is - Blank's player notes)
Sephira - “Are you planning on continuing to work on that in Hiasport, or are you going to return to Geoff?”
Daverov- “I’ll certainly report my return, after that, I don’t know.”
Sephira - “I would much appreciate it if you could give the Duke a status report on my own efforts as well.”
Daverov- “That I certainly can do. When you either return to Geoff or pass through Hiasport again, I will have a reward prepared for you as a thanks for my safe return.”
Sephira - “I greatly appreciate it.” She turns to the others as well. “The Duke of Geoff will welcome any support the rest of you may be able to give as well, and I can write letters of introduction to whomever would like to go. As for getting back to Hiasport, she counts heads. “So us two halflings can ride double, so that means…”
Thoburk and Illria raise their hand at letters of introduction. Everyone else except Daverov just wants to get back home.
Sephira - “Well, I can’t summon enough phantom steeds for the whole group, so perhaps a boad would be better. Let me go speak to the fishermen in the village.”
There are a few non-hungover fishermen available. Clearly they’re better at drinking than you are.
Sephira finds the likeliest looking fellow. “Hello sir, might I inquire about getting a boat ride to Hiasport?”
The locals are far more friendly than last time you were here. “Miss, there are no boats here that go to Hiasport from here. Your best bet is to walk to Mina Batri, back the way you came. They might have boats that travel to Hiasport.”
Mina Batri is a small port that the DM may have glossed over on your trip out here. It was about 1000 people, so is definitely your best bet, hiring-a-boat-wise.
Sephira - “How far is it? I’ve forgotten.”
Fisherman- “Oh I would hazard a bit over 120 miles. It’s almost to the goblin kingdom.”
Sephira- “Thank you!”
She returns to the group. “Alright, we can’t get a boat from here, but we can start on the way back to Hiasport and potentially get a boat along the way.”
There is a murmur of “that’s just fine, better than being in a yuan-ti prison.”
Sephira - “I can make two types of magical mounts, one much faster than the other, but not enough for everyone. So I figure we will all travel together at the pace of the slower one, but I wanted to check with you, Selirra - does the best path for you diverge from ours? I would mind making you one of the faster mounts if it does, though I’m afraid it only lasts a day.”
Selirra- “No, I have to go straight through Hiasport anyway to get home. It’s fine.”
Blank, “oh to be able to go home.”
Sephira - “Alright then! Please get ready to head out, and I’ll go purchase food and water for us. We can head out after.”
Sephira is able to acquire food and water sufficient for everyone for the three days it’ll take to get to Mina Batri by horse and well-packed beach sand. And it’s extra cheap cause they’re very thankful for your home invasion against the yuan-ti.
And so you set off! You take Days 199, 200, 201 and part of day 202 to get to Mina Batri. The only event noteworthy during your trip is a brief kraken sighting; you’re pretty sure it gave you the equivalent of a middle finger and said something about “seafood soup”.
Day 202!
It’s early afternoon when you arrive back in Mina Batri. It looks exactly like it did when you totally did pass through here like two weeks ago or whenever.
There is your standard issue tavern/inn near the port, which is small, but does have a boat or two that look like they’re not made for fishing. The inn is called the Marid’s Blessing, and the proprietor is Sedriq.
Sephira gets everyone set up at the inn (those aristocrats owe her BIG TIME) and inquires about a boat to Hiasport.
There is a boat. It doesn’t leave for several days, but the various east-bound former prisoners are perfectly happy to stay here and wait. Thoburk and Illria do ask about their introduction letters, however.
Sephira goes to the market to get some paper, ink, and wax. She writes them the letters and seals them with her personal seal and tells them to take them to the duke’s HQ. Her seal should get Thoburk through the outer gates without trouble.
They are both most grateful for your generosity. Daverov also does up letters for them, although he lost his signet ring to the yuan-ti, and unless the party has any more business for the former prisoners, they exit stage right. You see them around waiting to leave while you’re doing whatever it is you do over the next couple days.
Along the way Sephira told Daverov what the journey has been like, and told him that she expects the desert to be their last stop before returning. She hopes to be back in Geoff within a month, at most two.
Sephira - “Alright everyone, ready to cross some desert? I guess my personal oasis will come in real handy this time.”
Herzog- “I would very much like to sell a bunch of the treasure we picked up. This might be our last opportunity.”
Sephira - “Good point! Let’s get to it!”
Montage of buying and selling! The prisoners mostly kept the yuan-ti equipment, cause you never know when the yuan-ti will be back to getcha.
The party may be surprised to learn that there are actually buyers for the large-sized yuan-ti equipment. A noticeable proportion of the town’s population are of a race called jann; they look human, but are apparently the weakest type of genie. They can change size, and so like to keep different sizes of equipment around.
And so you spend the rest of the afternoon shopping. Once word gets out about where you’re headed, people look at you a bit funny, and they are unwilling to buy your cold iron falchion and adamantine longsword. Apparently the occasional person who has returned from the area you’re going has said there are strange creatures who are resistant or immune to plain old steel weaponry.
After dividing treasure, Sephira has 25090 gp to dole out to her employees. She makes sure everyone has 100 gp just in case they get separated, and keeps the rest as per the (now long ago) discussion.
Herzog wants to add the “called” property to his is plate mail (which also needs to be enchanted to +1), and wants a Heward Handy Haversack as well to keep it in. 5000 gp plz. Sephira gives him money for that.
Sephira hands out the cold iron and adamantine swords to Blank and Syl, just in case. She ignores Syl’s tantrum. “Anyone else have modifications to make? We have plenty of money.”
Herzog- “I think I’m fine, but I’ll spend the money if no one else wants to.”
Kara : “This ring protects, but perhaps it could protect better.”
Blank, “would like to see my armor upgraded, and maybe one of my swords if possible.”
Sephira - “Looks like we can do both of those. Anyone else? I have enough for one more lower level enchantment enhancement. I’ll take it if no one more likely to be out front needs it.”
Blank thanks Sephira for the upgrades.
Herzog- “Nah. I’m good, that’s what spells are for.”
Sephira - “Alright, let’s go get it done!”
During that evening’s perusal of Edophus’ Book, Sephira reads the following:
In a ruined city (Edophus never found the name), there is supposed to be a platform that stood high above the rest of the city. It wasn’t designed for summoning the temple, but it’s the best vantage place.
You hold the two ankh halves together, place a stone controlling earth elementals in it, and cast the most powerful summoning spell you have. Instead of summoning what the spell is supposed to summon, the combination of location and material focus summons the temple.
Later research indicated that the time the temple was summonable for varied by the power of the caster doing the summoning: it is either four hours per caster level or 12 hours per spell level. Edophus was never able to figure out which.
Some notes scribbled in a margin mention that most interplanar gates require keys to activate; these keys can be any object, although most are somewhat uncommon objects. Catalogues of these can often be found in major cities on the inner or outer planes.
Reports from the few people who have been to the monument and returned reported numerous constructs and elementals (and almost nothing of other creatures types), in addition to numerous magical traps.
Blank comes back to join the party with his new door in his bag of holding, “well that was fun.”
Herzog- “Why do you have part of a door?”
Blank, “because it still fires off lightning.”
Kedri hisses at the door.
The DM assumes that Blank too everything of value/interest/above average shinyness from the last room.
Herzog looks around. “Sephira, do you want to keep going?”
Sephira - “We’ve just chased the last yuanti all over this place, I’m tired of it. Let’s get out of here, we’ve done what we came for.”
Herzog- “Good. We got all the prisoners, I think, so I’m happy.”
Kara: “Rest is deserved for work well done.”
Herzog- “Yeah, but not in the temple of death and destruction. I want to go outside.”
Kara: “The shell of a place is nothing more than that when cleansed of evil influence.” She pauses, considering. “Which we have not completely done.”
Herzog- “Like what, you mean pour holy water on the zigurrat thing? We can, but if it summons some eldritch abomination, six of the nine spells spells I have left today are cantrips.”
Kara: “Perhaps tomorrow, then.”
Herzog shrugs at that.
Blank, “I could go for summoning an eldritch abomination…could be entertaining.”
Sephira - “Abominations are alright, but eldritch ones just get goo all over the carpet.” She starts heading outside.
Blank, “not our carpet.”
The party argues about correct means of descecrating evil altars on their way outside, whre they see…..that none of the prisoners left the area like they were instructed. All 15 of them or so are instead having a party, barbecuing sectors of the giant snake you guys killed on your way in. There’s a general cheer of the “hip hip hurrah” sort as you emerge from the fortress’ gate.
Blank raises a hand in the air and waves.
Herzog smiles bigly at seeing them all, and immediately goes looking for sick and injured to tend to.
Thoburk, the orc warrior, jogs up to the rest of the rest of the party, with Illira (the female halfling who was criticizing Blank’s lock-picking skills) in tow. “I tried to get them to head to the coast, but once the people outside saw us prisoners leaving the fortress, they started cheering and decided to stay put until you all came out or we ran out of snake meat.”
Sephira - “Thanks for taking care of them, Thoburk.” She looks for a stool to hop up on to address the crowd.
Once everyone notices what you’re doing they gather around.
Sephira - “Hello everyone, I’m glad you are looking well!”
The crowd cheers!
Sephira, getting into this a bit. “All prisoners have been released from the yuan-ti’s stronghold!”
The crowd cheers again!
Somebody- “Wait, what did you do with that yuan-ti who was in the prison with us?”
Blank scratches his chin looking thoughtful as he watches Illira.
She looks reasonably competent (although definitely new at her job). Blank thinks that if she got caught in the lightning trap it would have killed her, but she looks like she could have evaded it.
Sephira - “She has been killed, along with all the other yuan-ti we were able to catch. We know one escaped, but I doubt they will be returning anytime soon.”
The crowd grumbles at this.
Sephira - “But! We do know that among the dead are the leader of the yuanti and several wizards and clerics, in additional to their golem and otyugh!”
There’s a mix of reactions: from the tougher types, like Thoburk, the dwarven noble, and Illira, there is “yeah, suck it, bad guys”. From the more normal types, some burst in to tears (presumably of joy and relief), and others just plain happiness at this news.
Blank sighs and starts paying attention to what Sephira is talking about.
Syl this entire time has been taking sips of whiskey and waiting for a moment to talk. But takes another sip of his drink from his flask.
Sephira - “My companions and I have completed our task in this area, and so will be moving on once we all return to your village.”
Thoburk- “Where are you going?”
Syl - “Crazy. Wanna come along?”
Thoburk- “Yes, absolutely! I owe you all big time!”
Syl smiles and raises his voice “THEN LET’S GO CRAZY!” He begins to head bang his hair back and forth, up and down while playing air guitar.
Thoburk looks delighted at this and starts headbanging as well. “I MEANT WHERE ARE YOU TRAVELLING TO NEXT!”
Sephira - “To the great desert, in search of a temple that is there.”
Syl continues to head bang “WE WILL TRAVEL WHEREVER THE ROAD TAKES US!!!
Blank moves off to the side and just watches the loud conversation.
Someone a bit more rational than Thoburk- “Er…are you heading straight across the mountains, or back down to the village. Cause I think we would all feel quite a bit better if you would be willing to head down to the village with us before you go to the desert.”
Sephira - “We will be coming with you first.”
There is a murmur of relief at this.
Clora, the slave lady whom you talked to after killing the snake- “Can you give us until tomorrow before we start back home? We need to get what few things are worth taking with us packed….and also prepare to burn this place down.”
Syl drops to the ground from head banging too hard, passing out.
Sephira - “Of course! I would imagine we could all use a rest before travelling.” Her brain catches up with her ears. “Burning…? Welp, it’s your mountain, so….”
There was definitely a murmur of agreement from many of the slaves on the “burn this place down” bit.
And so you pass the rest of the day dividing treasure and eating barbeque while the prisoners gather what few things they want to take back with them (like the cow, which doesn’t grow on trees, you know), like the snake’s skull, because fuck you, snakes. Herzog continues doing the physician thing, Thoburk follows Syl around everywhere, Illria alternates between following Sephira and Blank around, both of they trying to get hired on to help the party. Eventually everyone gets around to falling asleep.
Blank completely ignores Illria because the door would kill her and all he wants to do is have her try and pick its lock.
Syl teaches Thorburk about different songs he knows and how he can make his air whip in circles while head banging.
Thoburk is actually fairly well versed in speed metal as that is the traditional orcish music genre.
Syl asks “Thorburk, do you know Before I Forget?”
Thoburk- “Pffft. Who doesn’t?”
Syl throws the horns up “THEN LET’S ROCK AND SING BROTHER!!!!!”
Thoburk- “WOOOOOOOO!”
Day…195
It take a while to get everyone up and organized, because the time such things take increases exponentially with the number of people you have to get from point A to point B. And it also slows down your movement from the fortress to the fishing village (which the villagers tell you is called…hang on…Huma Bikhandak), so instead of two days, it takes four days to get there. But the worst thing that happens is that you get rained on.
You arrive in the evening of day 198, and again are treated to a large number of joyous reunions (they got their cow back!), which soon turn into as big a festival as a place like this can have. The drinks are free, the food is decent, and a good time is had by all…except….
Herzog, Kara and Blank all notice that the “suspicious skinny guy who was clearly watching you” is nowhere to be seen.
Blank sighs, “well I guess that we have someone off to report about us.”
Kara finds a suitably inebriated villager and asks about him.
Inebriated guy- “Ol…what’s his name? What WAS his name? Hmm. Last time I saw him was like an hour before you got here, why? Also, <hic>, you’d be awfully cute if you grew your hair out, sweet cheeks.”
Day 199
It’s already 11 am by the time you all rouse yourselves out of your hangovers.
Sephira starts making horses for the party.
As she does so, a group of former prisoners start to bother her. In this case, it’s Daverov, the male dwarf aristocrat, Maneri, a female human aristocrat, and Kaleb, who appears to work for Maneri. Illria, Thoburk, Selirra (the elf woman who hugged Kara when she was released, and who also helped Herzog do the tend-to-the-wounded thing earlier) and another guy named Rollin are hovering in the background.
Sephira - “Good morning, what can I do for you?”
Daverov is apparently their spokes-dwarf. “Well, Sephira, we all do thank you most deeply for your and your team’s efforts in rescuing us from those vile yuan-ti, but, er, we aren’t from around here, and so we would like to hire you to take us back at least to the nearest real town.”
Sephira sighs internally, and pulls out her map. “Where are each of you from?”
Sephira notices that the Land of Shadow has changed shape since she last looked at it on her map.
There’s kind of a rush of people pointing at places. Maneri, Kaleb and Rollin are all from Hiasport; Selirra is from the elf kingdom east of Hiasport (and so Selirra, Arjun and Yudhisthir have probably heard of each other, not that Sephira would know that), if she’s not going get a job offer from the party Illria wants to get to Hiasport, Thoburk sighs and wants to go to the Goblin Kingdom, and Daverov is from up near Geoff.
When Daverov points to Geoff, Sephira says, “Oh, you’re from Geoff as well? I’m actually on this errand on behalf of the Duke. Thoburk, I also wanted to tell you that there’s a war going on up in Geoff if you’re interested, though you would be fighting other humanoids. Hmm, I’d need to write you a letter of recommendation, I think….”
Thoburk shrugs- “They’re not my tribe, so I don’t care. Yes, please, a letter would be great!”
Daverov- “Yes, I was on a diplomatic mission to Hiasport when the yuan-ti got me, the same time Maneri and Kaleb were taken. It’s hard to get countries not directly threatened by the giants to care about what’s happening, but what with the dispute about the next claimant of the Low Throne, it’s not like the dwarves are doing much either.”
The DM notes that Daverov is not up on current events! (He is more up on current events than Blank is - Blank's player notes)
Sephira - “Are you planning on continuing to work on that in Hiasport, or are you going to return to Geoff?”
Daverov- “I’ll certainly report my return, after that, I don’t know.”
Sephira - “I would much appreciate it if you could give the Duke a status report on my own efforts as well.”
Daverov- “That I certainly can do. When you either return to Geoff or pass through Hiasport again, I will have a reward prepared for you as a thanks for my safe return.”
Sephira - “I greatly appreciate it.” She turns to the others as well. “The Duke of Geoff will welcome any support the rest of you may be able to give as well, and I can write letters of introduction to whomever would like to go. As for getting back to Hiasport, she counts heads. “So us two halflings can ride double, so that means…”
Thoburk and Illria raise their hand at letters of introduction. Everyone else except Daverov just wants to get back home.
Sephira - “Well, I can’t summon enough phantom steeds for the whole group, so perhaps a boad would be better. Let me go speak to the fishermen in the village.”
There are a few non-hungover fishermen available. Clearly they’re better at drinking than you are.
Sephira finds the likeliest looking fellow. “Hello sir, might I inquire about getting a boat ride to Hiasport?”
The locals are far more friendly than last time you were here. “Miss, there are no boats here that go to Hiasport from here. Your best bet is to walk to Mina Batri, back the way you came. They might have boats that travel to Hiasport.”
Mina Batri is a small port that the DM may have glossed over on your trip out here. It was about 1000 people, so is definitely your best bet, hiring-a-boat-wise.
Sephira - “How far is it? I’ve forgotten.”
Fisherman- “Oh I would hazard a bit over 120 miles. It’s almost to the goblin kingdom.”
Sephira- “Thank you!”
She returns to the group. “Alright, we can’t get a boat from here, but we can start on the way back to Hiasport and potentially get a boat along the way.”
There is a murmur of “that’s just fine, better than being in a yuan-ti prison.”
Sephira - “I can make two types of magical mounts, one much faster than the other, but not enough for everyone. So I figure we will all travel together at the pace of the slower one, but I wanted to check with you, Selirra - does the best path for you diverge from ours? I would mind making you one of the faster mounts if it does, though I’m afraid it only lasts a day.”
Selirra- “No, I have to go straight through Hiasport anyway to get home. It’s fine.”
Blank, “oh to be able to go home.”
Sephira - “Alright then! Please get ready to head out, and I’ll go purchase food and water for us. We can head out after.”
Sephira is able to acquire food and water sufficient for everyone for the three days it’ll take to get to Mina Batri by horse and well-packed beach sand. And it’s extra cheap cause they’re very thankful for your home invasion against the yuan-ti.
And so you set off! You take Days 199, 200, 201 and part of day 202 to get to Mina Batri. The only event noteworthy during your trip is a brief kraken sighting; you’re pretty sure it gave you the equivalent of a middle finger and said something about “seafood soup”.
Day 202!
It’s early afternoon when you arrive back in Mina Batri. It looks exactly like it did when you totally did pass through here like two weeks ago or whenever.
There is your standard issue tavern/inn near the port, which is small, but does have a boat or two that look like they’re not made for fishing. The inn is called the Marid’s Blessing, and the proprietor is Sedriq.
Sephira gets everyone set up at the inn (those aristocrats owe her BIG TIME) and inquires about a boat to Hiasport.
There is a boat. It doesn’t leave for several days, but the various east-bound former prisoners are perfectly happy to stay here and wait. Thoburk and Illria do ask about their introduction letters, however.
Sephira goes to the market to get some paper, ink, and wax. She writes them the letters and seals them with her personal seal and tells them to take them to the duke’s HQ. Her seal should get Thoburk through the outer gates without trouble.
They are both most grateful for your generosity. Daverov also does up letters for them, although he lost his signet ring to the yuan-ti, and unless the party has any more business for the former prisoners, they exit stage right. You see them around waiting to leave while you’re doing whatever it is you do over the next couple days.
Along the way Sephira told Daverov what the journey has been like, and told him that she expects the desert to be their last stop before returning. She hopes to be back in Geoff within a month, at most two.
Sephira - “Alright everyone, ready to cross some desert? I guess my personal oasis will come in real handy this time.”
Herzog- “I would very much like to sell a bunch of the treasure we picked up. This might be our last opportunity.”
Sephira - “Good point! Let’s get to it!”
Montage of buying and selling! The prisoners mostly kept the yuan-ti equipment, cause you never know when the yuan-ti will be back to getcha.
The party may be surprised to learn that there are actually buyers for the large-sized yuan-ti equipment. A noticeable proportion of the town’s population are of a race called jann; they look human, but are apparently the weakest type of genie. They can change size, and so like to keep different sizes of equipment around.
And so you spend the rest of the afternoon shopping. Once word gets out about where you’re headed, people look at you a bit funny, and they are unwilling to buy your cold iron falchion and adamantine longsword. Apparently the occasional person who has returned from the area you’re going has said there are strange creatures who are resistant or immune to plain old steel weaponry.
After dividing treasure, Sephira has 25090 gp to dole out to her employees. She makes sure everyone has 100 gp just in case they get separated, and keeps the rest as per the (now long ago) discussion.
Herzog wants to add the “called” property to his is plate mail (which also needs to be enchanted to +1), and wants a Heward Handy Haversack as well to keep it in. 5000 gp plz. Sephira gives him money for that.
Sephira hands out the cold iron and adamantine swords to Blank and Syl, just in case. She ignores Syl’s tantrum. “Anyone else have modifications to make? We have plenty of money.”
Herzog- “I think I’m fine, but I’ll spend the money if no one else wants to.”
Kara : “This ring protects, but perhaps it could protect better.”
Blank, “would like to see my armor upgraded, and maybe one of my swords if possible.”
Sephira - “Looks like we can do both of those. Anyone else? I have enough for one more lower level enchantment enhancement. I’ll take it if no one more likely to be out front needs it.”
Blank thanks Sephira for the upgrades.
Herzog- “Nah. I’m good, that’s what spells are for.”
Sephira - “Alright, let’s go get it done!”
During that evening’s perusal of Edophus’ Book, Sephira reads the following:
In a ruined city (Edophus never found the name), there is supposed to be a platform that stood high above the rest of the city. It wasn’t designed for summoning the temple, but it’s the best vantage place.
You hold the two ankh halves together, place a stone controlling earth elementals in it, and cast the most powerful summoning spell you have. Instead of summoning what the spell is supposed to summon, the combination of location and material focus summons the temple.
Later research indicated that the time the temple was summonable for varied by the power of the caster doing the summoning: it is either four hours per caster level or 12 hours per spell level. Edophus was never able to figure out which.
Some notes scribbled in a margin mention that most interplanar gates require keys to activate; these keys can be any object, although most are somewhat uncommon objects. Catalogues of these can often be found in major cities on the inner or outer planes.
Reports from the few people who have been to the monument and returned reported numerous constructs and elementals (and almost nothing of other creatures types), in addition to numerous magical traps.