Pirates Dream River Mutants

It was the time following breakfast, and Dryali and Hikawera were recounting the apprehension of Mansel the day before last for Kaelani and Meurig, in which their own casting of shatter played an outsized role.  The other two nodded appreciatively but Kaelani was the most shocked at the idea of a Daystar elemental.

Anyhow they stood up from their table and headed to the stairwell in order to look for useful work from Arnari, and as they did, they were flagged down by an angry female human in the front of the tavern.  She wanted the Freelancers to beat up some people as retaliation for those people beating up her friend.

Dryali thought she looked familiar.  "Oh!  The 'blue bandanna' gang war," he said sardonically.  She grew offended.  "Not a gang war," she declared.

Hikawera's eyes narrowed as the Fire sagani considered the angry human.  He shook his head slightly:  not involved in a gang.

For her part, the human urged them, intensely, "I can pay you 200gp right now, and 200gp after."

Dryali asked, "Do you know who they are?"  She replied, "No, but I've been keeping tabs on them."

Dryali gave up trying to remember her name, and just asked.  "What is your name, anyhow?"  She said, "Leticia," and that jogged his memory.  He'd asked Arnari, and they did not know about any 'blue bandanna' thugs, but knew such groups sometimes emerged in Cliffshadow.

Meurig took a politer approach as Dryali, Hikawera, and Kaelani headed upstairs.  "My dear, I understand you are in dire need of help, but if you came here wanting vengeance…"

Leticia declared fiercely, "This is the right thing to do; my friend should be avenged.  He was beat!"

Meurig's attitude changed slightly.  "So, it is honour."  Leticia hesitated, then said, "I think more my friend's honour, not mine."

In Arnari's office, after everyone was seated, Hikawera asked about available missions, and, in particular, described the request from Letitia in the front of the tavern.

Arnari frowned slightly, then explained, "Freelancers don't' want to get involved in revenge missions; elsewise, they become targets for others' revenge."  She paused as Meurig came in, shut the door, and sat down.  Arnari stared a little into the distance and continued, "We don't want to end up someone's personal army, although that sometimes happens… especially on Commerce."  That last was said especially slowly.  Her gaze snapped back, and she started listing missions.

• Find Jamie in Hindmarsh.  Bryseis Seere is sure he's there somewhere.
• Find Ethan of the Daystar cult, and maybe capture him.  The reward from Church of Storms, however, is for finding him.

Meurig was surprised, Ethan had not been mentioned in the tale earlier, and Arnari and Hikawera explained.

• Clean up pollution creatures on the Pirates Dream River.  This pays 50gp each plus one uncommon potion, from the wizard Gwydion.  The longer this remains undone, the more challenging it will be.

Hikawera asked, "What kind of cleanup?"  Arnari explained about the aberrations stemming from potion creation leftovers, especially the froggoths encountered by Fine Branch and Cathance.

Dryali asked, "Where should we start?"  That led into a discussion with Arnari pointing out the affected areas on the map on her wall.

Kaelani said, "Maybe pollution is the right thing to do."

Hikawera snarked, "Unless we feel strongly about the blue-man-group."

Arnari answered Kaelani, "I worked out a deal to pay less gold, in exchange for the potions."  Dryali asked, "What about the Freelancer Cut?"  Arnari told him, "Only for the gold."

Hikawera was more direct.  "Do we clean up his body, too?"  Arnari smiled.  "No; we'll have to clean this mess up anyhow, so far better cleaning it up and getting potions!"

They all looked at the map again to work out the best way to get there.  They decided at first, they'd take the roads to Lakeview.

The Freelancers took three days to go from Cliffshadow to Lakeview.  They went on foot, with Meurig soaring overhead on JollyHopper, so it took 1 day's rations and 8s/night for two nights, at Cliffgate and Lakeview.

After overnighting at The Biting Badger in Lakeview, they talked to the Lakeview Mayor, Popoki, asking if any more aberrations or other unusual phenomena had appeared in the lake.  He told them he hadn't seen anything, and he thought they'd have a better chance of weird mutated shit up the river.

Meurig asked, "Is it better or worse, now, that it has been?"  Popoki told him, "There are no recurrences of oozes or giant toads, but I am nervous about those froggoths."  He shuddered.

Hikawera was reassuring.  "Nice to hear about no recurrances!  As usual, if you spot anything, let Cliffshadow know."  Popoki looked a little relieved.  "Definitiely!"   Hikawera added, "Hopefully not, and all are happy!"

The Freelancers took their leave, and decided to go along the north shore of Mossey Lake.  "Is Meurig going to fly above?" Dryali asked.

"I can scout above or range ahead," Meurig declared.

It was a grey day, and kept messing with Dryali's goggles, until he finally took them off.  Thus he critfailed to see a damned thing.  Everyone else was looking sharp, but they saw nothing particularly nasty as they followed the lake shore.

Meurig spotted a herd of giant elk in the distance, and carefully checked they all had the right number of eyes, which they did.

It took the four of them until mid-afternoon to reach the mouth of Pirates Dream River, where it fed the lake.

Unsure what to expect, the Freelancers looked around.  Dryali and Kaelani saw nothing of any import.  Hikawera saw some unusual flailing in the reeds, 80' upriver from them on the bank.  From above, Meurig also spotted it.

Meurig swooped down until he was 30' up.  Froggoths!  He cast acid splash and flew away, but JollyHopper visibly wobbled from her proximity to the froggoths.

• Kaelani called on Ua to bless himself, Hikawera, and Dryali.
• Hikawera moved upriver until he was 60' away, and cast shatter on the area.  It was clear this slew one or more froggoths.
• 3 birdlike things flew up, clearly disturbed.  They had 3 heads.
• Dryali created a force ballista and it fired at the highest bird thing, striking it with magical force.  He put it on his shoulder and moved up next to Hikawera.
• The three creatures flew one each at Meurig, Hikawera, and Kaelani.  Each one had a snake head, a mouse head, a mantis head, and a scorpion tail.  Of course they also had tiny claws.
  • They all spat acid breath at the Freelancers, who avoided the effects mostly.  Dryali cast absorb elements, prepping his next attack to return the acid.
  • The creature on Meurig stung him with its tail, giving him a tiny bit of poison.
  • The creature on Kaelani missed with its tail, but slashed him with its claws.
  • The creature on Hikawera stung him very hard with its tail, piercing him badly and giving him more poison.  It tried to slash him too, but missed.

JollyHopper, annoyed by this creature on Meurig, snapped at it with her beak and missed.  She slashed it with her claws, killing it.  They swooped down and Meurig slashed at the creature attacking Kaelani, but critfailed.  Fortunately he managed to avoid falling out of the saddle.

• Kaelani swatted at the creature on him with his rainstick, dealing magical bludgeoning.
• Hikawera drew his shortsword and slashed at the creature on him, wounding it badly but not killing it.  He called out, giving Kaelani bardic inspiration.
• Dryali drew his rapier and skewered the creator Hikawera had just wounded, dealing acid damage on top of rapier-skewering damage.  It died, like a grotesque shish-ka-bob.
• The remaining creature bit Kaelani, hard.  It tried to slash Kaelani with its claws, but missed.  So it tried to sting Meurig, who was still there, but missed.

Meurig spat acid breath at the creature, because two could play that game.  Then JollyHopper snapped it in half with her beak.

They looked around for more creatures.  Dryali and Kaelani saw none, but fussed over the acid damage to the surrounding area.  Hikawera and Meurig also saw no more.  Hikawera took the skewered creature off Dryali's rapier for later study.

They moved up to the reeds.  Dryali poked with his rapier, for where the froggoths were, and saw 3 froggoth corpses, pulped from the shatter.  Hikawera checked the river, and determined the creatures had absorbed the pollution before; they'd not gotten more, but they still existed by the time the pollution had stopped.

Hikawera's proclamation reminded Dryali of what they'd done before, and he dug up some worms on the riverbank.  They were a little bigger than normal.

Hikawera took the remains of the other creatures and burned them, but failed to stay upwind.  With his being incapacitated by psychedelic effects, the Freelancers decided to camp for the night.

They decided Hikawera should be last on watch, to allow the psychedelia wear off first.  Apparently, that wasn't enough time.

<Narrator voice:  Lore got a 7 for perception on watch, and the GM's reaction was, "That's perfect for me," and she smiled.>

A mighty crashing sounded in the bush, really close by!  While Hikawera puzzled over whether it was real, the other three sat up sleepily, looking southeast towards the sound. Realizing it was real, Hikawera cast shatter in that direction, snapping branches and turning all the leaves into confetti.

The defoliated bushes revealed an angry owlbear!  It cared not a whit about the misplaced shatter, beyond being irritated.  It came into the camp and attacked the Kaelani and Meurig, and fortunately missed.

• Dryali cast web at the owlbear, which avoided entanglement, and then he moved to put JollyHopper between himself and the creature.
• Meurig started chewing a white piece of paper, which turned his entire mouth white-ish, and took up his shield as he stood up to full height.   He exhaled the cold blast of white dragon's breath  at the owlbear, which appeared to shrug half of it off.
• Kaelani hesitated, then stood up, rainstick in hand.  He tried to bonk the owlbear, but missed.
• Hikawera cast produce flame, and threw the flame at the owlbear, burning it.  Then he backed away about 10'.

The owlbear attacked Meurig with its beak, and Meurig cast shield in addition to his physical shield, rebuffing the attack.  It used its claws on Kaelani, but failed to penetrate the armour.

• From behind the cover of JollyHopper, Dryali pulled out his pole of collapsing arcane firearm, and hit the owlbear with a firebolt, burning it further.
• Meurig, still behind his shield, backed up, calling JollyHopper to him.  The owlbear clawed at him but was again rebuffed.  He breathed more cold at the owlbear, then mounted the hippogryph.
• Kaelani struck the owlbear with thunderous smite, dealing dual bludgeoning and thunder damage, and but failed to push it back from himself or the others.  The predawn forest around them woke up as the thunder rumbled in a wide radius.
• Hikawera followed up by casting thunderwave, which did push the owlbear back, right into Dryali's web.  The thunder damage was too much, and the owlbear died in the web.

Forest denizens were shrieking their unhappiness at the double thunders as the Freelancers looked around for any other danger, but there was none.  Meurig inspected the owlbear corpse; it was a mature owlbear, so there was less worry a parent would wander through looking for endangered offspring.

Kaelani and Dryali looked around one last time for other enemies, but there were none.  So, they packed up the camp and headed upriver just as daylight brightened, looking for aberrations.

The Freelancers took all day to reach the fork where Pirates River and the River of Dreams combined into Pirates Dream, but they found nothing unusual of note as they made their way up the western riverbank.  (In the afternoon, they did spot through the trees, some gryphons playing.)

They camped at the fork, and Hikawera took water samples for later analysis.

The next day, they decided to head downriver on the eastern riverbank.  Despite looking sharp, they still found nothing, and with no need to pause and/or engage in combat with aberrations, they made it back to Mossey Lake by the end of the day.

As they made camp, almost as an afterthought, Hikawera took another water sample.

Everyone felt going back via Lakeview would be a waste of time, so they decided to save a day's travel, and cut back to Cliffshadow by following the treeline southeastward.

The treeline didn't exactly have a path, but it was clear the Freelancers were not the first to think travelling along it was a good idea.  To their left was the deepening forest, and to the right, grasslands giving way to a patchwork of pasture and ploughed fields.  It was all very pretty, and Meurig, flying above on JollyHopper, was enjoying the view.

Perhaps that is why two giant elk managed to sneak up on Dryali, Kaelani, and Hikawera.

Hikawera, who was beginning to exhibit predictability, cast shatter right under the elk to the north.  Since the shatter merely wounded it to the point of being angry, Hikawera promptly did his best to hide behind Dryali.

• Meurig flew over the same elk, burning it with his acid spit.
• The uninjured elk charged Kaelani, intending to ram.  Somehow, that didn't happen.
• The injured elk was not fooled by the dwarflike Fire sagani hiding behind the squirrely Dark elf and charged Hikawera.  However a critfail sees it catching its front hooves on a tree root and pitching forward over its front legs to land prone at Hikawera and Dryali's feet.
  • Hikawera clapped his hands in relieved delight.  "This one is as competent as you are, Kaelani!"
• "Hey!" Kaelani started, then thought better of it, and called on Ua to bless himself, Dryali, and Hikawera.
• Dryali created a protector eldritch cannon, and put it on his shoulder.  The protector pulsed out a nice buffer on himself, Hikawera, and Kaelani.

Hikawera drew his shortsword and slashed at the prone giant elk, then called out again, giving Dryali bardic inspiration.

• Meurig pulled some water out of his waterskin, and sent an ice knife at the heretofore uninjured elk, piercing it and imparting cold damage.  Then he flew north, towards the other elk.
• The prone elk scrambled to its feet, and kicked Hikawera in the stomach critically.  While the internal injuries were obvious and blood ran from his mouth, Hikawera stayed on his feet.
• The elk hurt by the ice knife kicked at Kaelani, who ducked.
• Kaelani scoffed at Hikawera, "What are you gonna do, bleed on it?"  He swung his rainstick at the elk, totally whiffing.
  • Hikawera retorted, "Who's competent now?"
  • Kaelani observed, "MY internal organs are still inside!"
• The protector pulsed out another protective buffer, which Hikawera no doubt appreciated.  Then Dryali cast thunderwave, injuring and pushing the elk away.  He moved further away also.

Hikawera also cast thunderwave, although he failed to push the elk away.  He ran behind Dryali again.

• JollyHopper dove down and attacked the elk that had injured Hikawera, but missed.
• The elk charged Dryali, and Meurig used mold earth to remove the ground in front of it, ruining the charge.  It still came up to Dryali and got a kick past the shield, bursting the blood vessels in his leg.
  • Dryali's skin grew very dark.
• The other elk missed Kaelani again.
• Kaelani crit his elk with the rainstick, but it barely seemed to bruise it.
• The protector pulsed out another protective buffer, which Dryali no doubt appreciated.  Then Dryali cast scorching ray on this horrible elk that had devastated himself and Hikawera.  Even with bardic inspiration, two of the rays missed, but the third one scorched the elk.

Hikawera also cast thunderwave, pushing the elk away and killing it.  Then he called out, giving Dryali another bardic inspiration.

• Meurig equipped his lance (where was that this whole time?) and attacked the remaining elk, piercing it badly.   JollyHopper slashed at it with her claws, but missed; then beaked the elk, killing it too.

JollyHopper landed, and they all contemplated the cooling elk corpses.  Dryali cast cure wounds on Hikawera, and they set about the task of butchering what they could from the downed elk.  No more rations!  Everyone was happy, especially JollyHopper.

Arnari, in her office, was staring unhappily at the corpse of the little three-headed creature.  "This… is a new creature to me," she said, and she sent for Nyls.

Rummaging in a cabinet, she brought out the potions.  Hikawera and Dryali each got an oil of slipperiness, Kaelani got a potion of growth, and Meurig got a potion of water breathing.  She was handing them each 45 gp when Nyls Arendi entered, his grey cloak conferring an air of formality.

"Nyls, what is this do you know?" she asked.  "It looks like a mini chimera."  Nyls, seeing the scorpion tail, kept his hands carefully behind his back.  "That's exactly what it is," he told them.  "It's called a chiminimera.  They are not robust, but very deadly," he added, his tone sounding oddly empathetic.  "Where did you come across it?" he asked, and they began to relay to him their tale.

• Kaelani → lvl4!