Pirates River Pollution - Highway to Grell

Ondar and Nix had just returned the night before from Sceap, where they had battled large ants, or anhkegs, eating the village's sheep.  Kaelani and Cathance were grimly fascinated to hear Ondar tell of it; Cathance was trying to envision an ugly ant, big enough to eat her.

Nix had retreated to a corner of the tavern to smoke a pipe; the morning light glinted off the hint of silver scales on her skin.

Anyhow Ondar's tale was motivating, and the four of them decided to check in with Arnari to find out what there was to do.

The chairs in the half-elf's office were arranged slightly differently every time one visited.  This time they were in rows, and Nix sat front-and-center in the wooden chair across from Arnari's desk.  Kaelani was not that fussy, and sat in the dwarven-sized chair closest to the door.  Cathance sat next to him, but dwarven chairs were still too big for the Mikumwes halfling, and she kicked her dangling feet.  Ondar sat in the back, in the largest chair; it still creaked.

Arnari, looking at Nix, said, "I'm unsure of the wisdom of this…"

• Hippogryph eggs or Gryphon eggs, for Aldous or Liona.  Although Nix would have to be careful, you all could handle it.
• Pollution cleanup –

Cathance interrupted, "Has anyone checked with the wizard?"

Arnari replied, "I have talked to him via magical means; he says now he realizes what leaked, the effects would last a while.  Very advanced."

"O really," Cathance said sarcastically, and held up the not-quite-full vial of the chaotic coloured liquid.  Nix studied it curiously, but did not ask Cathance for it.

A moment, then Arnari resumed.

• The fourth mission is checking out the countryside southwest of Sceap to find out if there are more Ankhegs there.

Arnari looked at another paper, hesitating.  Nix asked, "Any further?"  Arnari kept going.

• Final mission:  go to Hindmarsh, because the halfling man.  His name was Cade, actually, and he was busted out by two people on gryphons:  one in full plate with a longsword, the other using eldritch blast and matches Jamie's description.

Cathance and Kaelani were very dismayed at this news.

Kaelani:  what do they pay?
Cathance:  does Hindmarsh have a Freelancer's Cut?
Arnari:  eggs: the same.  Pollution:  100gp each plus an uncommon potion.  Sceap:  150gp each.  Hindmarsh:  200gp each.  <looked at Cathance>  They all have Freelancer's Cut.
Cathance:  who is paying for Hindmarsh?
Arnari:  that is from the Skyguard.
Cathance:  would like to beat him up.
Arnari:  this is an information mission.  You might have seen them before, but the three of them are extremely dangerous.
Kaelani:  are you talking about the pirate ship?
Arnari:  they might work for her, but no, these are not part of the pirate ship.
<silence>
Arnari:  I've had several reports there was a suspicious person named Raquelle; and the name "Mais-Quand" is either a big warning, or a red herring.
Nix:  interested in pollution or potions.
Ondar:  yes, let's do potions.  Er, Ondar means pollutions.
Kaelani:  always down with pollutions… I'm interested in that [Hindmarsh] getting done, but I'm not exactly subtle.
Arnari:  that is why I hesitated on offering this to you...

So, pollution it was.  Checking the map for where the pollution had been checked, Ondar asked Arnari how far the last group to go had gotten.  Arnari said, "Ondar was part of the last group."  So, since Nix had never been to that part of the skylith, the Freelancers decided to travel on the roads to Lakeview, which would approach the area from the other side.

The Freelancers took two days to travel to Cliffgate, where they stayed at The Sleepy Dog Inn for 8sp each (5sp for Jigsaw).  The next day was very long, but they arrived in Lakeview in the early evening, and got rooms at The Biting Badger Inn for the same amount.

The next morning was overcast and drizzly, but not too bad; Cathance would still be able to fly on Jigsaw.  The group debated where to go after she asked, "Follow the river, or lakeshore-to-forest and go north?"  They decided on the latter.

Ondar went in front, and Nix helped to find their way through the forest.  Cathance flew above, but after spotting mountain gryphons in the distance, she took more care to fly lower and stealthier.

Ondar found a good camping spot, and they set a watch order:  Cathance, Kaelani, then Ondar & Nix; the first two didn't hear a whole late, but Nix heard a lot of noises in the undergrowth, and either a hunting owl or owl gryphon overhead, to the north.

The morning was a little overcast, which burned off quickly; the Freelancers headed slightly northeast to strike towards the river.  Around noon, they got to where Ondar and other Freelancers had fought and slain the strange eagle creature with hooks instead of wings.  The group looked at the burned corpse, which had bone hooks longer than Cathance was tall.  Most of its bones were cracked from fire; unfortunately the bone hooks didn't look like they would work for weapons.

While they talked about it, Ondar and Cathance remembered the froggoths had a 60' aura of hallucination, and "that other thing is ten feet."  Ondar instructed, "As we go upriver, stay 15' apart from each other."  Cathance exclaimed, "No problem!  I endorse this plan."

And thus, they headed up the western bank of the river.  Cathance was up and ahead, scouting for froggoths; on the ground, Ondar, then Nix, then Kaelani.  Ondar and Nix didn't really notice a lot, and because he was in the back, all the tracks were messed up for Kaelani

Cathance, however, saw two grells lying in wait for the others; she only noticed once she had flown past them.  "Ondar, stop!" she cried out.  He did, and Cathance pointed the the two grells between them, flanking the riverside path.

Ondar became large, then strode forward, drawing his vicious scimitar.  He sliced the grell on his right.

• Cathance cast ray of frost on the other grell, chilling it and slowing it down, as she flew back over the party.
• Nix moved behind a nearby fallen tree, and then sent a chromatic orb at the grell Large Ondar had sliced.  The 5" sphere settled on cold before it struck the grell.
  • Nix pulled a raggedy doll out of her bag.
• The grell Large Ondar had sliced floated upwards, and tried to attack him with its tentacles, but missed; so it struck with its giant eagle beak.
  • "Ondar watch out for that beak!" Cathance called.
• The other grell also floated up to attack Large Ondar.  It struck with its tentacles, which hurt but did not poison him.  It tries to strike with its beak, but missed.
  • Large Ondar invoked his stone rune, incapacitating the grell.
• Kaelani moved as fast as he could to get up to where Large Ondar was.

Large Ondar kicked the first grell off his leg, then sliced it again with his vicious scimitar.  Somehow it was not dead yet.

• Cathance sent a pure line of chaos at this grell, which settled into acid before it struck, but still the grell held on.
• Nix twisted the raggedy doll, and gave the grell frostbite.
• The grell struck Large Ondar with its beak again, but missed with its tentacles.
• The incapacitated grell just floated there, tentacles waving aimlessly.
• A 3rd grell came up out of the river.
  • "Guys!  Another one came out of the river!"  Cathance called down urgently.
• Kaelani attacked the first grell with his magical rainstick, bludgeoning it twice.

Large Ondar bisected the grell which had attacked him, and pivoted to this new grell.

• Cathance cast ray of frost on this new grell.  It was dripping water, so she thought the frost might hurt it more.
• Nix moved further away, but also cast ray of frost on this grell.
• The incapacitated grell continues to float there, tentacles waving aimlessly.
• The frosted grell tried to hit Large Ondar with its tentacles and beak, but the frost had made it sluggish afterall, and it failed.
• Kaelani beat the frosted grell twice with his magical rainstick.

Large Ondar slashed the grell with his vicious scimitar, then surged to do it again.

• Cathance cast chill touch on the same grell, and the skeletal hand reached out and squished its exposed brain in a grasping move, and the grell died, floating to the ground somewhat gracefully.
• Nix moved back behind her log, and crit the incapacitated grell with another ray of frost.
• The grell shook off the stone rune, and appeared to regain purpose in its movements.
• Kaelani beat this grell twice with his magical rainstick; the first hit took the creature out, but he'd already moved into the followup swing, which smashed the creature's exposed brain and got it smeared all over his rainstick.

Cathance landed, and felt bad for Kaelani, so she cast prestidigitation to make his rainstick clean and pretty again.

Nix moved to Large Ondar, pulling out a salve, healing some of his wounds.  Then she moved to the grell corpses, considering.  She pulled out a daggar, and tried harvesting some of the tentacles.  She managed to get 3 in reasonably good condition.

Ondar wanted to stop for an hour and rest, so Cathance looked for things on the river, and Kaelani kept watch.  Cathance saw nothing, but Kaelani heard something in the bushes.  He was so wired up he jumped up and ran into the bushes, pulling out his rainstick… to find a squirrel.  <narrator voice:  David rolled a 1 perception>  His shoulders slumped, and then he noticed the squirrel was carrying a gold piece!

The squirrel ran off, and Kaelani started hunting around.  After some poking, Kaelani found a cache of items hidden under a rock:  a warhammer, a poncy hat with a feather in it, some gold, 4 gems, and something that looked like his own stone of good luck, which certainly was not such, when he first found it.

Suspicious, Kaelani got out a sack, and carefully started putting the items in the sack.  As he did so, it became clear there was 181 gp in assorted coins, and the gems were worth 50gp each:  1 bloodstone, 3 sardonyx.  Ondar, sitting nearby, raised an eyebrow at the diminutive Rock sagani.  Kaelani explained, he suspected the items might be cursed, and hearkened back to a time Freelancers had also found such items, in a kobold lair, and it was so.

At this, Ondar suggested that all look for signs of kobolds.  They all did so, except actually Ondar, who was taken by the hat and its big feather.  However Kaelani and Cathance didn't see a lot either because of all the tracks the Freelancers had left everywhere.  Nix was far more confident in the lack of kobold sign, and said, "Grells are weird.  This is not unexpected."  <narrator voice: Brian rolled a nat 20>

Cathance theorized, "Maybe they were people, and the pollution turned them into this."  Kaelani, looking at the beaks, countered, "Magpies and similar birds do this maybe, see…"

But, the Freelancers felt pretty done, and started back towards Cliffshadow, across the countryside.

The travel back to Cliffshadow was without incident, but it was not without drama:  both Ondar and Nix wanted the hat, which was a hat of disguise, and argued over who would get it.  In the end they decided to dice for who would pick the items, and unsurprisingly Nix won.  She smiled a secret smile all the way back.

Kaelani was not interested in either the +1 warhammer or a second stone of good luck, so Cathance took the warhammer and Ondar took the stone.

When they arrived at Freelancers Tavern and reported in, Arnari was dismayed they'd found more grells than before, and muttered about the pollution getting worse, not better.  But then she pulled out the potions, and handed them out to people:  Nix got a philter of love, Kaelani a potion of animal friendship, Cathance got a potion of poison, and Ondar got the last thing he needed, a potion of growth.

Arnari, with an eye to her ceiling, cautioned Ondar he might be better off drinking this one outside; and Ondar, nodding, put his potion away for later, as did Kaelani.  Cathance pulled out a length of green ribbon, and carefully tied it around her potion of poison, which otherwise looked like a healing potion.

Nix smiled, considering the philter and perhaps, the hat of disguise.  "This will come in handy, later," she promised everyone.

• Nix → Wizard 1!