Locate the Lair on the Skeleton Map

Arnari said, "I have 4 different missions," then immediately tried again to convince the Freelancers to go after egg bounties.

• Hippogryph eggs, in Haven Hills.  House Aldous is always looking to acquire more, and will pay 100gp/egg, or if you bring in 10 eggs they will give you a hippogryph gelding.  They will pay 120gp/egg for destriers.

Minji cocked her head curiously.  "What are they using the eggs for?" she asked.  Lorcan, ever serious, gave her a sideways glance.  "Omelettes," he said, in the tone of One Who Knows.

Minji's ears went flat.  "What did you say?!"  Arnari was appalled at the very idea of using the eggs for omelettes, and she launched into an explanation of House Aldous breeding hippogryphs for riding and battle, occasionally frowning at Lorcan.  Then she hesitated.

• You may need to be careful… House Liona is looking for gryphon eggs.  You'd probably find them in the mountains to the west.

"How careful is 'careful'?" Ondar asked, carefully.  Arnari said, impatiently, "Keep the less-experienced from getting eaten."  She then continued.

• A standing mission is to travel to the Mossey Lake and the rivers northwest of the lake, and deal with the pollution, by which I mean take out some of the creatures mutated by it.  100gp/person + an uncommon potion each.

Lorcan asked, "What if we go to that wizard's tower?"  Arnari said, "I'd prefer you not," and nodded at Minji and Shimni.  She ended with

• Mayor Kaiea … he will pay 100gp each to follow the map that was found in the Wendehals' mausoleum.  We know it's pointing somewhere southwest of Three Rivers, roughly 2 days.

That announcement provoked a more general reaction.

Shimni:  is it a treasure map?
Hanno:  no, undeads, not really treasure
Lorcan:  could be treasure
Hanno:  undead treasure; that ain't treasure
Ondar:  not with that attitude
Hanno:  throw in a vote fer th' map
Lorcan:  interested in either the map or the pollution
Minji:  I would be interested in the map
Ondar:  Ondar will babysit for whatever
Shimni:  pollution sounds gross!  Undead sounds gross!  You guys are weird!  what ever
Sabah:  map or pollution, same as Lorcan

Well, that was an easy decision, they would go after the map.  Ondar took the working copy of it, and they filed out of Arnari's office discussing how they would travel, since Ondar, Lorcan, and Hanno had flying mounts, and the others did not.

The Freelancers had a rather uneventful travel to Three Rivers; apparently one of the outcomes of having a flying bear for a mount was the ability to travel on the roads unmolested.  Lorcan and Hanno had freshly trained pegasi, Bandit and JayWalker; despite their training, they had to be watched at night lest they try to raid the spare feed.

Lorcan had bought 4 days of rations and 6 days' worth of feed, just in case; but they stayed at The Sleepy Dog Inn in Cliffgate, and at The Mule's Rest in Three Rivers.  That morning they studied the map, and observing it had a river on it, cutting diagonally across the northwest corner, decided to head southwest along the Bountiful River.

Ondar and Hanno led the others, doing their best to follow the map.  After about 5 miles they crossed the river, which was meandering westward, but kept it in range to their right as they travelled.

Hanno, unfamiliar with both the area and the perspective of flying, quickly got lost.  Lorcan, on his first adventure with Bandit, was entirely distracted by the novelty.  Minji was also unfamiliar with the area, and tried to watch everything, so managed to notice nothing.

Shimni and Sabah were more alert.  They noticed that as Three Rivers faded behind them, the farms & fields were fading into the wild.  They also noticed that there was nothing large and dangerous in sight.

By the end of the day, the Freelancers were a bit further from the river than they wanted to be, but saw it was bending southward.  Ondar found a good place to camp with sheltering trees, not that the weather was bad enough to require it.  They camped, and set the more experienced Freelancers to watch, by which I mean the watch order was Ondar, Hanno, Sabah, and Lorcan, all of whom had joined Freelancers earlier in the year.

Ondar watched as the day faded into the night.  It was very picturesque, and uneventful.  He heard some night bird calls.

Hanno observed it was a nice evening, but nothing else; his watch was uneventful.

Sabah took over at midnight; it was relatively dark, as Pembroke was on the other side of the sky from Duquesne.  The night remained uneventful, and his eyes adjusted to the light reflected from the further skyliths and thalassae traversing the clear sky.

Lorcan took over as the sky lightened, when Duquesne moved so that the central storm no longer blocked the Daystar.  The night was very quiet and uneventful, and Lorcan watched the slow progressing of the changing light.

The others roused, having all slept well.  As they prepared breakfast, Lorcan asked, "Do we want to start doing arcs?"  Hanno answered, "We should have the people up in the air doing sweeps."

The Freelancers did this, and started looking around, getting closer and closer to the river; they'd turned almost west, and the river south.  Lorcan was still having fun flying Bandit, when he looked down to see a Dao materialize in front of a surprised Sabah and Shimni.  Lorcan circled and landed a few yards away.

"Are you looking in the right place?" the Dao boomed.  "You should look over there!"  He gestured dramatically to the southwest.  The Dao had manifested in somewhat of a humanoid shape, entirely bedazzled from gems that looked like clothing.  Rings flashed on his fingers; on the one on his forefinger matched Shimni's signet ring.

Shimni was appalled.  "Omigosh dad, stop, just go away," she said in that voice that all teenager girls on the verge of adulthood use when their dad intrudes in an activity where they are holding their own with other adults.

The Dao bowed.  "Ozo the Humble, at your service!" he boomed at Sabah, Minji, and Lorcan, then added, "but, you definitely should go that way."  The Dao sank into the ground as if he was a liquid splashing, and then he and all his gems were gone.
 

Minji glanced at where the Dao was, but he did not really represent a focus of curiosity.  Ondar and Hanno were too far away.  Lorcan, impressed by how someone so bedazzled could be so humble, glanced at the fuming Shimni and took off, flying Bandit in the direction Ozo had indicated.

They soon broke for lunch, and resumed their search.  However the other Freelancers were very distracted by the idea that the Dao was Shimni's dad, and really could not find anything.  Shimni, who understood the Dao's nuance, had no trouble leading the others a bit away from a bend in the river where it turned west again, to a couple of hills, in which there was a rocky cave.

Lorcan, Hanno, and Ondar landed, looking at the cave from maybe 100 feet away.  Shimni was trying to assess how much traffic the ground in front of the cave had been sustaining.

"Want me to go in there?" Lorcan asked, diffidently.  Hanno shook his head.  "Let me check first," he drawled.

As quietly as he could, Hanno moved to the hill to the side of the cave entrance, then sidled up to the cave mouth and looked in using eyes of the grave, which revealed three or four undead.  Hanno scowled, pulled back, and gestured to the others, who looked at each other and shrugged.

Hanno moved back to the waiting Freelancers quietly.  "Eyup, you got a few nasties in there," he said laconically, "think we found it."

Shimni felt stung that she'd missed an opportunity to help, and said, "I didn't realize Hanno was going to sneak off; I can help with that!"  Hanno waved it off; it wasn't like they were coming out the entrance or anything.

That led into a longer conversation.  Should the Freelancers take it they'd found the lair indicated on the map and go back?  Or should they take more action to confirm?  Should they clear out this cave?   Or draw out these undead and fight them in the light of day?  The conversation went round as they talked; it just didn't feel satisfying to travel 8 days to this place just to turn around and say "yup, we found it."

Lorcan, grown uncharacteristically impatient, perhaps because of the westering Daystar, started sneaking forward in the grassy field.  His thought was to use the blowgun to draw them out, before it was dark.  Seeing that, Shimni cast pass without trace on everyone, including Ondar's flying bear, Frostclaw, which Ondar mounted.

Lorcan got close enough to just make out a pair of skeletons, inside the entrance.  Hanno also moved forward, along the path he'd used before, on the other side of the field to Lorcan's right.  Lorcan readied his blowgun, then sent a needle straight at one the undead.  While his intention was to provoke them to come outside, he underestimated his own ability, and the skeleton just crumbled.

He was still staring at the blowgun in surprise when the other skeleton saw him, and emerged from the cave with three others.

Fluffy, Sabah's wolpertinger familiar, flew at the closest skeleton and circled its head, chittering.

• Minji moved a little closer, but still behind the others, and hit that skeleton with an eldritch blast, the pale green beam shooting out from her outstretched hand, surprising her compatriots.
• Hanno cast spiritual weapon in the form of a spear next to the skeleton closest to him, which had a shield.  Somehow, the spear just went limp like a noodle as the spiritual weapon critfailed.  Undeterred, the half-orc confidently followed up by casting guiding bolt at the same skeleton, which just deflected the bolt with its shield.  Hanno was very disappointed with this turn of events.
• Lorcan steadied himself, aimed carefully, and shot the skeleton next to Fluffy with a blowgun needle.  The skeleton crumbled, and the little wolpertinger went <whew>, but only Lorcan and Sabah understood that.
• Sabah dashed towards the skeletons with shields.
• Frostclaw ran forward at the same skeletons, biting and clawing.  He came up on Sabah's right, and missed with his bite; but his claws got past the hastily raised shield.  Ondar struck with his rapier twice, but missed.
• Shimni found herself standing alone in the field, and mildly panic'd at the idea.  The Rock sagani dashed up to stand behind Frostclaw.
• Shimni had immediate regrets, because a zombie bear lumbered out of the cave and right on up to Frostclaw and Sabah!  It clawed at Sabah, but missed them.  So it bit at Ondar, but missed him too.  It smelled horrible.
• The skeleton in front of Sabah attacked them with its axe, twice.  The first swing missed but the second one slashed Sabah.
• The skeleton next to the noodly spiritual weapon attacked Ondar twice with its axe.  The first swing missed and the second swing critfailed, the blade getting stuck in the ground.
• The remaining skeleton moved up to Sabah and thrust at them with its spear, but missed.

Fluffy flew at the skeleton which had just attacked Sabah and flew at its head, chittering, then flew off.

• Minji, still exploring the powers she'd picked up somewhere, cast toll the dead on the skeleton next to the spiritual weapon.  A sonorous bonnnnggg rang out and it somehow became even more necrotic.  She then moved up so she was halfway between Lorcan and Hanno.
• Hanno managed to straighten out his spiritual weapon spear; then it critfailed again, stabbing Frostclaw with force.  The cleric of Te Mārie cast guiding bolt at the zombie bear this time, and the bolt just whizzed past the creature.  Perhaps he needed to practice serenity more.
• Lorcan moved to get a better shot, then shot another blowgun needle at the skeleton the wolpertinger had distracted, piercing it.
• Sabah sent an elbow to the same skeleton's head, but it avoided the blow.
• Frostclaw turned to his right, and crunched the skeleton's skull.  It crumbled, a pile of bones under the shield and axe.  Frostclaw swiped at the zombie bear, but missed.  Ondar, however, thrust at the bear twice in quick succession with his rapier.  The second attack landed, and the zombie bear was pierced.
  • Ondar invoked his fire rune, and chains of fire appeared and restrained the zombie bear, which was burned by them; an amazingly disgusting smell which displeased all the Freelancers.
• Shimni, still wanting to help, moved to Sabah's left, drawing her rapier to attack the skeleton with a spear, which had not succumbed to either Lorcan's needle or Sabah's elbow.
  • Ozo formed out of the ground to her left, arms crossed in front of him.  The jewels glittered in the westering light as he boomed, "No, Shimni!  Foot more forward!" and pointed at the ground in front of her.
  • Shimni corrected her stance, and crit the skeleton, which crumbled as her rapier pierced its ribcage.
• The zombie bear continued to burn from the fire chains, the horrible smell filling the field.  It clawed at Sabah, but missed them.  It then turned and bit Ondar, the author of its woes.  Ondar's leg was pierced, but the big quinametzin avoided any other zombie damage.
• The remaining skeleton attacked Sabah twice with an axe.  Sabah easily avoided these attacks and it appeared to anyone watching that it was waving the axe gently in Sabah's face.

Fluffy flew at the skeleton which had just attacked Sabah and flew at its head, chittering, then flew off.  Fluffy was having a grand time.

• Minji sent a pale green beam of eldritch blast at the zombie bear, which hit it but barely did any damage.
• Hanno had his spiritual weapon attack the zombie bear, and it crit with a large amount of force.  He followed up with a sacred flame, searing the zombie bear with serene radiance.
• Lorcan moved a bit forward to get a clear shot at the zombie bear, and it dropped with a thud after Lorcan's needle pierced it.  Unfortunately the fire chains continued to burn it and afflict everyone's noses.
• Sabah tried to punch the remaining skeleton, and couldn't get past its shield.
• Frostclaw circled behind the skeleton, then bit and clawed it.  Ondar followed up with his rapier, but the first thrust was met with the shield.  However Ondar was fast, and the rapier got through the second time; bone chips flew, landing on the ground.
• Shimni did not want to face an undead creature that had withstood a bear attack and Ondar.  She looked at the wolpertinger, a bit wide-eyed, and said, "Get'em Fluffy!  I know you can do it!  I believe in you!" and then ran back to where Minji was.
• The skeleton tried to attack Frostclaw with its axe, but missed.  It caught Sabah on the backswing, slicing them.

Fluffy was less pleased that Sabah had been sliced, and flew at the skeleton's head again.

• Minji cast toll the dead on the skeleton.  It crumbled into a pile of bones as the sonorous bonnnnggg rang out again.

The field was quiet, although the zombie bear was noisome as the fire chains continued to burn it.  Hanno, not yet trusting that was everything, used eyes of the grave again to check for any more undead creatures.  None were in the field; he peered through the cave entrance again.

"Seems safe enough to toss," he said pragmatically, "No other nasties."

Minji and Sabah started inspecting the fallen skeletons; they had nothing noteworthy, even the armour.  Ondar, scowling a bit, dismounted from Frostclaw and drew a hunting knife that most halflings would have considered a machete; about ⅓ of the blade was serrated.  He methodically went through all the bone piles and sawed most of the way through each femur.

Hanno cast light on the tip of his spear, and looked into the cave a bit more deliberately.  The other Freelancers came up to the door, and Lorcan just crouched down and snuck in, sticking to the shadows.  He saw where the undead had been waiting; the smell from the zombie bear was still obvious.

To the left of the cave entrance was a large, ironbound door.  It was locked; Lorcan looked it over, and looked through the keyhole.  It was dark on the other side, but the keyhole and one hinge were trapped.  He made his way back to the waiting Freelancers and relayed the information to them.

Hanno:  it's trapped; best to report back
Minji <curious to find what's behind the door>:  awww
Lorcan:  I think we should leave the map, like a calling card.
Ondar:  no.

Lorcan confirmed there were no chess pieces in the cave or on the skeletons, and the Freelancers decided to start heading back.

Lorcan's desire to leave a calling card had gotten Ondar thinking in the opposite direction.  He wanted to find a nearby predator, to make it look like the predator was how these undead had met their demise.  After all, a couple of the skeletons had died by bear.

The other Freelancers helped out, and they spent the rest of the day looking.  Despite careful sweeps, they found no big predators at all.  Frustrated, they talked about it as they made camp for the night, and then realized those who'd had watches had heard no big animals whatsoever throughout the night.  That was disquieting, and even more so when the watch results were repeated that night.

The next day they spent more time looking.  They did find a cave bear den, but it looked abandoned.  They realized in horror this was likely where the zombie bear had originated.  At that point they gave up looking and headed back to Cliffshadow.

Six days later, after the mounts were stabled, Ondar strode into Arnari's office, full of faux enthusiasm.  "Arnari!" he exclaimed, "I got a zombie bear to ride, too!"

• Shimni → lvl2 Genie warlock!
• Minji → lvl2!