Kay's Journal - 5/13 - Reaper Errant

 Kay’s Journal – 5/13/22

We are going to Eudroya, a part town on the southern continent. It’s much smaller than Ven, and in a jungle. Most normal supplies should be available. This is our last stop before heading to the places the ship was hired to explore.

The captain is planning on hiring 3-6 people here. We’re thinking maybe going on the high end of that would be good.

We review the journal of the sailor who turned out to be a slaad, as this town is where they hired on with the ship. The journal says they went to the Jagged Blade – it’s a tavern in town that’s the place to go if you want to get hired on to a ship. They also visited some hot springs in the area, and a shop that is known to barter with sailors for things they find on their travels. They stayed in the tent city that’s on the periphery of the town, near the hot springs.

We get to port. The captain reserves a berth for up to a week. Everyone is supposed to check in at least every 2 days, but other than that people are cut loose. Pujol expresses concern about people or creatures sneaking on to the ship. There will be a couple people staying on the ship to keep watch, but there’s not much more than can be done. We’ll plan on giving the ship a once-over before we leave.

There is no dominant religious order in this town.

The captain goes to talk to the harbor master. I overhear part of the conversation; the harbormaster says ‘Bentor won’t let anybody in’. Apparently, this dude Bentor is causing problems at the Jagged Blade, not letting the normal hiring process go on.

So, we head to the Jagged Blade.

Morgot is unexcited by the stop in port; it’s just a distraction from the mapping that he wants to be doing. Pujol asks Morgot about the hot springs; he’s been there but hasn’t mapped it.

In the Jagged Blade, we get a table and plan to watch and see if this Bentor person gives the captain any trouble. We pick a table in the dark back corner, of course. CornCob goes to get drinks. A large, brutish man at another table eyes us when we come in. CornCob eyes him back. He’s at most lightly armored. CornCob thinks he looks shrewd.

Pujol starts performing with his harp.

I look around with the goggles (because we’re subtle like that). Mr. Cranky has a magic weapon and pendant. The suit of armor by the bar is magical. A couple bottles among the beverages behind the bar and a rock burning in the fireplace are magical. Seems like a lot of magic for a bar in a tiny little town, but utility magic items in a bar is not unheard of. The suit of armor also has a jagged blade; it looks like it’s gotten dinged through use.

CornCob goes over to Mr. Cranky, greets him pleasantly, and invites him to our table. He doesn’t want to move from his spot but invites CornCob to join him. It’s Bentor. CornCob says we heard he’s the guy to talk to about hiring crew. Bentor asks how sailing has been going. CornCob says it’s been fine, we explored a couple of islands. Bentor asks if it pays well, and CornCob says we’re being paid fairly. Bentor says many overeager people have signed on with ships and not come back. He wants to make sure people hire on with decent ships.

Bentor has been in town 5 years. CornCob asks if his role is official or unofficial. Bentor says not much is ‘official’ in this town. CornCob asks if Bentor gets a cut when someone is hired – yes, a bit. CornCob offers him a bonus to point out any particularly good hands we might be able to hire. He agrees, says it will take a couple days to find appropriate crew. Bentor orders drinks for the two of them.

Bentor has a pendant that’s a bear claw. CornCob compliments it, asks if it’s a trophy. Bentor says yeah, trophy or acquisition. Bentor has never fought a bear. Crocs, crabs, yes, but not bears.

There’s a lot of people coming in. Maybe another ship came in, maybe this is just when everybody comes to drink. Pujol keeps playing his harp, keeping it low key.

Fathom realizes it’s really much to warm in this area to need a fire…but the fire in the hearth doesn’t seem to be putting off heat, anyway. Maybe that’s what the magic rock is for, producing a fire that’s just decorative. She looks around for anyone who isn’t listening to Pujol. Everybody is except for Bentor & CornCob, and a couple other people at another table who were here when we got here. They are deep in conversation. Fathom tries to listen in.

Pujol thinks most of the people coming in are sailors. A couple have a very elven look to them, though they are not elves.

Abran gets us more drinks, and asks the bartender about the suit of armor. The bartender claims it’s a good luck charm, handed down from owner to owner…and you don’t want to do anything inappropriate in the bar.

The captain and first mate come in. They acknowledge us, then look around, evaluating potential crew. Gooseneck goes to the bar and buys them both a drink. He asks if they recognize anyone here; there are a couple sailors they’ve seen before. The captain isn’t thrilled with the idea of going through Bentor to hire crew. Feels his intervention is unwelcome. The captain says Bentor can’t cut it himself on a crew, so now he’s just bullying people in to going through him to get hired. Gooseneck offers for us to handle it. The captain suggests we check out the item shop if we’re looking for the slaad. Then she gives Gooseneck some coin and turns over the hiring to us (though she gets final say), especially if we’re going to investigate Bentor. Then she and the first mate head out.

Pujol and CornCob return to our table. We think there’s about 100gp in the bag the captain gave us.

Abran tries to listen in to the two sailors at the table next to ours, but can’t hear. Fathom and Abran decide to go talk to them, because clearly they are up to something. There’s totally no other reason people could be having a quiet conversation.

Fathom compliments them on their clothing and asks to join them to talk. They say they’ve been trapped here, waiting for the right ship. Fathom asks why they are ‘trapped’ – it’s Bentor insisting everyone go through him to get crew. Some people don’t want to pay him, but Bentor has powerful friends who will come to his aid in a fight. These two are considering taking the risk anyway. Bentor’s friends are from out of town. The two agree to maybe help if we go at Bentor.

We learn that Bentor charges the captains ‘finders fees’. His friends are a wizard and  huge person who are out of town, and a gang that stays in town. The wizard doesn’t seem super invested in Bentor. Fathom asks where Bentor goes when the bar closes; he has a house in town. Abran asks them about Brookes, the shop. They say it’s a wonderful place and the proprieter deals fairly with customers.

Fathom asks the bartender what he thinks about Bentor. The bartender doesn’t seem to care.

We go to the store. There’s a kid in there and an adult who looks maybe dragonborn. The adult is Brookes, and asks what ship we’re from. CornCob tells her. She says we’re free to browse, but ask her any questions if we have them, and don’t mess with anything that has a warning label on it. Apparently some of the stuff might be dangerous.

Gooseneck asks about the slaad crewmen. She doesn’t sound like she knows much/anything about them. She kinda remembers seeing people who met that description browsing the store. Pujol asks if she saw them with anyone else, and she says it was just the two of them hanging out. He asks what other ships they were with – they were most recently with the Bloody Anchor, and the Starfish before that.

CornCob asks if someone handling hiring them on to the various ships. She says the thing with Bentor is recent.

She says the Bloody Anchor dropped off other hands at the same time our two left; a handful left the ship and have since moved on to other ships. The Bloody Anchor is picky about their crew, but maybe not in the expected way.

Abran asks how Bentor went from being a failed hand to running a con. Bentor doesn’t follow structure well. She doesn’t know anything about his associates but thinks the big one must be a giant. The wizard is Oathen – he buys a lot of stuff from her – diamonds, moss, lichen, unguents, a wide variety of stuff. He goes for lichen that’s not native to the area.

Abran asks if Bentor’s behavior is good or bad for her business – it doesn’t really affect her.

Gooseneck asks where Oathem is – pretty far away in a capitol city. He sends people to pick stuff up for him and seems to be very powerful.

Then we get down to looking at stuff to buy.

CornCob asks about a magic war hammer. She’s got two, a less complicated one for 500gp, or a more complicated one for 2000gp. One of them is a +2 hammer.

Pujol asks about protection or armor; she suggests concealment instead. She has a potion that will make someone undetectable, but it’s 10k gp. A potion to make him silent is just 500gp.

CornCob asks about throwing axes; she has a set for 600gp – but we already have a set.

Gooseneck asks for something that would increase lightning damage.

Pujol asks what she’s offer for his last poison dart – 200-300 gold. In trade for an item in the store, she might trade it for an item she’d sell for 500gp. He trades the dart for the war hammer for CornCob.

Pujol offers some of the spores he exudes. He has to work to sell her on the idea, but eventually she offers 500gp for a sample. They make the trade.

Abran and I hear a sound from outside; it sounds like maybe a large crate being dropped either outside or in the building adjacent to the shop.

Fathom asks about a green item she sees in the shop. It’s a barrel with arrows with green fletching. They are magical.

Abran also asks about protection – she has some +1 leather armor. She wants 1000gp for the 20 magical arrows. Abran pulls out his sniper rifle and asks what she’d value it at. She offers 12k gold. CornCob offers to throw in the pistol. She offers 20k gp for the pair. Abran also wants a ring of fireballs – she doesn’t have that, but she has a necklace.

She shows us a 1” cube that can make a 20’x20’ fortress. It’s reusable, just put it on the ground and say the word. It’ll do it 1-2 times a day. It will absorb some amount of damage before it dissipates. Pujol really wants it.

She shows us another cube. This one it larger, at 3”. Each side has a different image. It transports users to other planes of existence. It’s damaged, so it has some limitations. It will open a portal to the fae wild, a plane of water, and the astral plane.

We decide to sleep on it. We hear another crash from outside. She says there’s been a lot of noise from the warehouse behind her shop lately.

Kay's Journal - 4/15 - Reaper Errant

 Kay’s Journal – 4/15

Pujol asks the captain if she knows anything about ‘the great tree’. She says no, so he goes to ask Morgot and we all tag along, though most of us stay just within earshot so as not to scare him. I’m not sure why we’re suddenly concerned about intimidating him. Morgot also doesn’t know anything about the tree – he says he hasn’t stopped at the island. He does tell us that you have to go north to get there and go through the Dragon’s Teeth twice.

Gooseneck asks what kind of terrain we can expect. He says rocky, with some wetlands and jungle. The island is an old volcano, or has one on it. CornCob asks about the fungus situation; surely there is some. Gooseneck asks about dangerous creatures. Morgot says there are some lizardfolk communities that could be hostile. CornCob asks what they trade with the lizardfolk – metal, linen, etc. Fathom asks if Morgot is excited to explore someplace new. Morgot is and asks if he can come along, we say sure.

We get to the island and go ashore. Some of us notice that something about the layout looks unnatural, like maybe the shape was originally a dock or something, and now sand and vegetation have built up over it. Others see some animal tracks in the sand. The tracks are large, probably boar. There are also some snake and crocodile signs. At least one crab is a good four feet(!) across. Abran notices that the tracks of the different types of creatures go off in different directions. He also sees a piece of iron driven in to or wrapped around one of the rocks.

We think the boars go left, the crocodiles go straight, and the snakes went right. 

Pujol wants to look for signs of an ancient road. It seems like as good an idea as any.

CornCob asks Morgot about the tide. Morgot says it’s at its high point now and will be again in four hours or so. Morgot also pulls out an astrolabe, looks around, says he thinks it’ll be evening before the feeding frenzy on the beach starts again.

We walk up and down the beach. Pujol spots an area that maybe used to be a road. Some of us could fly up and search for the great tree that way. So, Pujol casts levitate on me. Up in the air, I look out over the island and spot a couple of interesting features – the top of a volcano, which is not currently doing anything. It has a circular rim of tall trees. I also spot a swampy area. In the middle of the swamp there’s a peninsula of land with a big tree in the middle. There we go! It’s between the crocodile and boar paths, so we head off that way. I stay aloft as long as possible to keep a look out.

Good thing, too, as I spot a crocodile and boar going at each other. Somebody is going to have dinner, and somebody is going to be dinner. We hold back, waiting to let them work it out. It takes about five minutes and then the crocodile takes out the boar. We skirt around the crocodile and head on to the tree.

As we get into the swamp, we start testing the ground with sticks as we go. Abran looks for any indications of ruins. We see some movement at the edge of the water – Lizardfolk! They’re trying to be stealthy, but they are bad at it. I wave at them. They freeze. Gooseneck moves forward to talk to them. They as why we are here, and Gooseneck tells them about looking for the tree that needs help. They don’t like that at all and tell us to leave. Gooseneck says we have good intentions and offers some of our saffron as a gift. They aren’t buying it.

The rest of us move up and Pujol starts playing his harp. Pujol has them figured out, and his music calms them down. 

Then a croc jumps out of the water and grabs one of them.

I run in close, but can’t get close enough to attack. Gooseneck rages and attacks, but can’t get through the croc’s hide. On a second hit, he hurts it. Abran moves closer and shoots at it, hits it.

The crocodile moves back into the deeper water, but Gooseneck gets in a swing at it as it moves and hits it. CornCob moves toward it, walking out on the water to cast a spell at it. The lizard person the croc grabbed gets free and heads for land. He’s missing an arm. One of the others shoots and the croc, and the third helps his friend to shore. 

Fathom shoots a blast at it, hits. Pujol shots it with his crossbow, hits. Gooseneck swings at it again, misses. Abran’s next shot kills the crocodile.

Gooseneck brings the dead croc in and gives it to the injured lizardman. They thank Gooseneck as CornCob binds up the victim’s wounds. Gooseneck tells them their enemy is our enemy, and this time they buy it.

They say others like us showed up, touched an old rune, and then the plants turned dark and hostile. They tell us that Silia watches over the trees, and watches over them. She is at the tree. They are willing to take us to the area, but once there the plants will fight us and they don’t want any part of that.

We get there, and sure enough, evil plants. I look at it with the goggles. It’s living and has a magical aura. It’s ability to move was granted magically but is now intrinsic to it. Pujol thinks it was initially a protein eating plant, but the way it’s moving is not natural.

We can see some ruins from here. They look kind of familiar, like what we saw at Abran’s trial, but not quite the same. It’s also a bit like the big tree in Ven.

CornCob carries Pujol across the water to talk to the dryad. Fathom can also walk on water, so she goes across with them. They get most of the way there when three plant people form out of the ground. They wait and watch. Pujol greets them in Sylvan, telling them we are here to talk to Silia at her request. The plant people appear to confer amongst themselves. Pujol casts Speak with Plants and repeats. They respond with hostility and threaten to eat us. Pujol asks again to speak to Silia, but they say she is treacherous and won’t let us pass.

CornCob tries charming them with a spell. This seems to work; they are less hostile. The agree to let him approach the tree for 2 hours. 

On the peninsula with the tree, Pujol looks around for runes, and sees some. Also, they spot Silia. Pujol talks to her in Sylvan; she wants us to stop their ritual. She says we need to finish what the other humans started – reverse the pattern. She says whatever they are doing, it’s an arcane thing. Fathom looks around, and sees places where the blighted plants have traced patterns over some of the runes.

Abran asks how many people came the first time. It was just one person, wearing robes that were too hot for the weather.

CornCob casts a spell that will summon a guardian to fight if they attack us. Pujol watches what they are doing; it looks like they are drawing dark energy from themselves into the runes.

Gooseneck swims over to the island. The plant guys turn to look at him, but Pujol tells them he’s a friend. 

We decide the blighted plants need to go. Fathom casts Blight at one of them, and hurts it a bunch. Gooseneck swings at it, but misses. Pujol starts playing a counter-charm on his harp, just in case. The plants are no longer charmed, and attack. CornCob’s guardian hits two of them, and hurts them. One swings back at Gooseneck, but misses. Abran casts a spell that lets him run past the moving plant to get to the island. He shoots at one of the plants we are fighting, hurts it. CornCob casts a spell at the one Fathom hurt, and that kills it. The he summons his spiritual weapon, which attacks another one.

Fathom casts Blight again, and another of the plants dies. Gooseneck hits the remaining one and kills it. 

We still need to reverse the damage. CornCob sends the spiritual weapon to kill the guardian plant, and we all end up over by the tree.

Fathom and Abran check out the runes. Abran figures out they are runes of life. We talk to the lizard folk and ask if they have a spellcaster. They bring their shaman. Gooseneck explains the situation. The shaman helps them reverse the ritual.

CornCob casts a spell to fertilize the tree for a year. 

We learn more about the guy wearing the robe. He was human, with olive skin. He paralyzed Silia, did his thing, and then left. 

Abran thinks the area was a training ground. Same architecture as the trial area. He asks Silia what the runes do, and she says they give life to the plants in the area. 

Pujol asks Silia if she has any stuff we can loot. She gives him an amulet. The amulet has an engraving if a dryad and woven shield. Fathom identifies it, and determines that it’s protective, providing defense and armor.