Failed Pollution Cleanup: Infinite Eggs

A lot of new persons had joined the Freelancers in the last couple days.  Breakfast felt crowded, and so had the barracks.  The Freelancers who were used to being the new people weren't sure how to react; but when the new group had puzzled over having to inspect the storm doors for Wymar, a good half-dozen of them decided that was enough and they went to Arnari's office to ask for a mission.

Arnari's office hadn't changed much, although she was clearly transferring notes to a new, higher-quality map.  Her mahogany desk had a bearskin rug in front of it, and between it and the door were two haphazard rows of mismatched chairs.

Aranel, a half-elf of Dark elf extraction wearing a very nice dress, sat in one of the front chairs, ankles together and to the side.  She had a shamisen out, and was clearly barely resisting playing it.
Minji, a grey nekomata in green skirts, curled up on the bearskin rug.
Vin, a Cloud elf wearing a white hood, dragged a chair to the left wall of the room, away from the windows and light, and sat there.  Aranel frowned slightly at this.
Manu, a hanyou with towering black horns and all-black eyes, climbed into a chair and crouched with his feet on the seat, somewhat reminiscent of a bird of prey.
Peb, a big Rock sagani in simple clothes, moved to stand behind Vin.  They grinned because Vin was there.
Ka, a beautiful human man with reddish skin and blond hair dressed all in black, climbed onto a chair as well, sitting on the chair back with his feet on the seat.

Arnari kept her face carefully neutral as she watched all these shenanigans.  She perhaps thought them a sign the Freelancers were bothered by the new people, but they'd settle in and be fine.  Of more concern, she fiddled with the papers on her desk.  Truth was, there weren't a lot of missions right now.

She glanced at the most dog-eared paper.  The potions kept arriving from Gwidion, and she again wondered if that meant he was still dumping the effluent.  What she said was, "Pirates Dream river to investigate some pollution, 100gp + an uncommon potion each."

She glanced at the other dog-eared papers.  "The six of you could handle either of these missions – that's right, Minji has a gryphon.  Well, eggs."

Aranel asked curiously, "Would a gryphon raid eggs?"  Minji raised her head from the bearskin rug.  "She likes me!" she exclaimed defensively.

"So.  Hippogryph eggs in Haven hills, 100/egg.  Gryphons 150/egg, in Northridge mountains.  Can trade 10 hippogryph eggs or 12 gryphon eggs for a mount," Arnari added.

"Fourth and final mission," she continued after a pause, "Investigate where the second press-ganger base is in Cliffshadow.  Siddiqui's bard partner."

Aranel:  oh!  The one with the nice butt!
Arnari <raised eyebrow>:  150gp/person
Peb:  not into investigative mission
Ka:  heard we were supposed to go to the river
Peb:  Mary Jane's carryin' capacity is 420 pounds.
Vin:  I've never done an egg mission

<Narrator voice:  at this point, the most incredible out of character discussion took place, primarily surrounding the nature of hippogryph anatomy:  do they have a cloaca or what?  No conclusion was drawn, but since non-placental mammals all appear to have a cloaca, it would make sense that hippogryphs do too.>

Aranel:  dubious about eggs
Vin:  maybe pollution, balanced party
Peb:  Ah have big carryin' capacity
Aranel:  what is Minji curious about?
Minji:  happy to hang out
Arnari:  if you take eggs, I suggest you get a lot of eggs, get sacks and blankets
Ka:  I'm always down for pollution
<Sabah walked in.>
Aranel:  Sabah!  What mission!
Sabah:  wat
Peb:  eggs, or pollution?
Vin:  we might want to put the mule in the water.
Sabah:  oh, pollution

So, pollution it would be.  Peb decided they needed a wheel barrow, and got one to put in the back of their cart.  Aranel bought 8 days' worth of rations, and the Freelancers were off, heading along the tree line towards the northern end of Mossey Lake.

The first day of travel, everyone was in high spirits.  Minji, Manu, and Ka flew overhead, and Peb brought the cart, pulled by Mary Jane.  When Manu had seen the poster of the Freelancers in the cart, he had laughed and bought one.  Sabah rode their dire corgi Juru; Vin and Aranel walked.  Aranel was playing the shamisen as she walked, and finally got it to evoke the sense of the wind elementals.

With Peb's help, Sabah found a nice place to camp, and as the group gathered for their campsite, Manu brought out the poster and showed everyone.  Unlike the others, he knew all three Freelancers on the poster, and also knew they totally did not look like how they were depicted.

They were too close to Cliffshadow to be worried about being bothered, and almost had a good night's sleep.

The second day of travel dawned with thunder and lightning, as a storm swept over Duquesne.  That made for wet travel, and slower as Peb had to maneuver the cart around muddy patches as well as obstacles.  On the other hand, there wasn't a lot of wildlife out and about.  Sabah, again with Peb's help, found relative shelter for camping under some overhanging trees; Peb took the time to configure their bedroll over the cart to keep the back dry.

The third day of travel dawned clear, and as they tried to press onward, the ground got softer and softer, until Peb had to leave the cart behind; it was bogged in the mud.  As they walked Aranel resumed playing the shamisen, even better than the first day.  It took her mind off how much mud was getting on her very nice clothes.

The Freelancers got to the northern end of Mossey Lake and decided to camp, although there was nowhere nearly as sheltered as they'd found before.  They decided to all get a night's sleep, figuring any problems would wake them up, and sure enough, they were awakened after midnight by hooting noises, and the scream of a giant elk dying, carrying across the water.

Minji leapt up, she wanted to go see.  But the sounds didn't seem nearby; they were amplified by the lake.  The hooting was kind of deep.

Manu:  head of an owl.  Body of spider!  Tail of a pig.
Peb:  that would have to have a fascinatin' digestive tract
Sabah:  I'm hearing "midnight adventure"!
Minji:  YES
Peb:  should see if it left antlers behind

But, the Freelancers could not tell where the sounds were coming from.  Ohenui was not reacting to it, so it couldn't be that close by.  The hooting had stopped with the elk screams.  It occurred to everyone that hooting could have been an owlbear and not an owl gryphon, but Peb pointed out it was not the hoot-growl of the owl bear.

Minji wanted to go, but Peb didn't.

Manu:  might be worth investigating
Peb:  just an owl gryphon, they not comin' for us
Aranel:  we should set a watch, though.

That, everyone agreed to, and set watches, but the rest of the night was uneventful.

Morning arrived, and the Freelancers rose and started getting ready.  As they did so, Manu casually remarked, "I would like to look for the elk murder scene, heh heh!"

Minji immediately said, "YES!" 

The Freelancers put Sabah and Ka in the lead, because of Juru's and Ohenui's superior sense of smell.  Juru wasn't quite so sure where to go, but Ohenui was unerringly following something to the northeast, more towards River of Dreams than Pirates River.  From the way Ohenui was acting, Ka figured the flying bear knew where the giant elk carcass was, and there had to be some left for eating.  <Narrator voice:  Brian rolled a nat 20 for Ohenui's sense of smell>

That said, it still took the Freelancers a good hour and a half of slogging through muddy terrain before they finally got to a small clearing.  By now they could all smell the dead giant elk, and Manu and Minji entered the clearing with a reckless disregard for anything else that might be nearby.  Peb followed, Mary Jane in tow; but they were more cautious.

The clearing was torn up in a way that only happens when clawed & hoofed animals fight, and the dead giant elk was very gory, torn up at the throat and belly.  From the pattern on the ground, the Freelancers all could tell it was 2 owl gryphons; they killed it, and ate it, and there was still some left.  Its hide was torn up beyond usefulness, but the antlers & hooves were intact.  The clearing had body feathers from the owl gryphons everywhere.  Minji and Aranel began gathering them; Minji picked up 15 and Aranel, 8.

As they looked around at all the feathers, the group became aware of the angry female owl gryphon watching them and mantling.  Everyone shifted position in reaction to her.  Minji retreated to Chin-gu and mounted; Ka, still mounted, turned Ohenui to face the gryphon without moving towards her.  Sabah rode into the clearing on Juru, but set up so the giant elk carcass was between Juru and the gryphon.  Manu, eyes narrowing, prepared to use message to distract the creature.  Aranel looked around for the second gryphon, but did not see one.  Vin retreated behind a tree, mildly wondering if anyone had any coffee.

Peb raised their arms trying to calm the mantling owl gryphon.  "Easy, gon' be okay," they said soothingly, keeping up the patter as they approached her, "No prob, no prob."  The big Rock sagani was so focussed on the owl gryphon, they tripped over their mule Mary Jane, and with a shriek of surprise fell over right into the giant elk carcass.

The owl gryphon perceived Peb as mantling, emitting a battle scream, and claiming her food.  She attacked.

The owl gryphon swooped down at Peb, with Manu's message going "Psspss psspss psspss" in her ear.  Undeterred by the distraction, she attacked the sort-of prone Peb with beak and claw.  Peb was badly injured, but stayed conscious.

• The second owl gryphon, still with a little bit of barring on the top of his head, dove from seeming nowhere to attack Ka's back.  As his claws swopped unerringly at his target, Ka cast shield, surrounding himself with a translucent inky black barrier, opacity increasing near the hilt of his black rapier.  The owl gryphon's claws made a horrible screeching sound on the barrier.
• Fluffy flew up from his perch on  Juru's butt, distracting the male owl gryphon, and continuing to fly by.
• Minji sent an eldritch blast at the male owl gryphon, the green bolt leaving images of leaves in its wake.  It struck him with force.
• Peb chugged a healing potion, which helped but didn't stop the pain of their injuries.  "Yeowch!  That smarts!  Off, birdy, off!" they yelled, raging as they stood up.
• Aranel felt vindicated by the appearance of the male owl gryphon.  The feeling was transformative, and the slightly ditzy noble with muddy skirts subtly transformed into a commanding and reassuring presence for the others.  Peb, Vin, Ka, and Manu were all bolstered and felt safe to move.
  • Peb moved to the other side of Mary Jane.
  • Vin ran north to get behind that tree.
  • Ka had Ohenui move up next to Peb.
  • Manu stayed put.
  • Aranel strummed a dissonant twang on the shamisen and sent a "Psspss psspss psspss" of her own at the male owl gryphon, but hers was a cast of dissonant whispers and gave him a mild headache.
  • Aranel reconsidered her position and moved next to Sabah.
• Sabah rode Juru up to the female owl gryphon and punched her, then grappled her and slammed her to the ground.
  • Juru bit her and also tried to slam her.
• Ka cursed the male owl gryphon with the power of his hexed blade and drew the black rapier as he did so.
  • He struck, but the blade fluoresced a bright light and rebounded with a crit fail.  The bright light drained back into Ka, whose eyes and veins lit up brightly, so he looked kind of the opposite of Manu's black eyes and black veins.
  • Everyone stared at Ka in amazement.  "That's lit," Peb declared, and everyone else just said, "Wow."
  • Ohenui, unbothered by Ka's transformation, roared, bit and slashed the owl gryphon.
• Manu exclaimed, "O shit I did not know you did magic too, Ka!"  He ran south to be away from the owl gryphons, calling Nāhōkū over.
  • The hanyou clutched the bejeweled hilt of his daggar and twin cast mind whip on both owl gryphons, who now both had headaches, and their eyes were slightly less focussed.
  • The air around Manu shimmered slightly in a protective way, as the wild magic coalesced into damage resistance.
• Vin, ducked out from behind the tree, and cast dissonant whispers at the male owl gryphon.  Vin almost looked in pain as he whispered something nobody else heard.

The female owl gryphon struggled against Sabah's pin to the ground, but was unable to break it.

• The male owl gryphon, concerned, flew over to the female.
• Fluffy flew over to land on Juru again, ready to dodge.
• Chin-gu flew up and Minji sent another eldritch blast at the gryphons.  The green blast missed, the after images of leaves colouring the gryphons, Peb, Ka, and Ohenui.
  • They landed again, undecided what next.
• Peb, still hurting, raging, and facing two gryphons with only Sabah and Ka nearby, called out "Appreciate anyone comin' to the rescue, here!"
  • They pulled out their great shovel, and whapped the grappled female in Sabah's grip with the flat.  "Ah'm just gon' put it to sleep," they declared.
  • The female owl gryphon sank to the ground, and Sabah let go.  The male owl gryphon involuntarily let out a sad whoooooooo.
  • "Ah did it y'all!" Peb cried triumphantly, "The gryphon has been Calmed!"
  • They stepped over the giant elk carcass, with exaggerated care.
• Aranel cast faerie fire on the male owl gryphon, but he avoided the sparkles.  She strummed a dramatic chord on the shamisen, granting Sabah bardic inspiration.
• Sabah had Juru attack the male owl gryphon!  Carefully, to not kill him.  Juru crit, knocking the gryphon to the ground.
  • Sabah punched at him, and misjudged, so they surged on their adrenaline and punched him out.

That left 7 Freelancers standing over two unconscious owl gryphons and a giant elk carcass.  Ohenui nosed at the latter as if to say, "Can I eat some now?"

The pause was on the order of seconds before everyone was checking whether they had rope.  Vin, Peb, Ka, and Manu had rope; Peb and Sabah had nets.  The Freelancers quickly applied rope to the owl gryphons to bind a wing so they would not fly away.

Manu observed, "These are nocturnal creatures!  Where is nest?"  With the gryphons bound, they felt safe to look.  Everyone but Manu was looking sharp for gryphon sign; Manu continued to spout what he knew about birds and gryphons, most of which was false, since Manu was a city boy.

The nest was not far away.  10' across, it was newly made from fresh medium-sized saplings.  The location in the mountain foothills was unusual.  Peering into the nest, the Freelancers found no eggs, but a lot of fluff, large feathers, and down.  Some of the feathers were barred, and everyone realized this was a mated pair of new adults.

Peb prowled around the ground around the nest, until they found owl gryphon pellets, which smelled absolutely vile.  They carefully collected some and put into jars.

Everyone was thinking:  infinite eggs.  Capturing these two was even better than raiding a nest.  Aranel voiced it:  "Peb and Sabah, let's go back to the giant elk and butcher it.  So we can feed the gryphons."  The others all answered, "Yes."

Back in the clearing, as the owl gryphons recovered unconscious, Peb and Sabah fell to butchering the giant elk.  Ohenui and Chin-gu got all the scraps.  Unfortunately Sabah, trying to harvest the antlers, managed to break them <Narrator voice:  David rolled a nat 1 on survival>.

The Freelancers rested for an hour, waiting for the owl gryphons to wake up, and also discussing the logistics of carrying the butchered meat and managing their captives on the way back to Cliffshadow, especially until they got back to the cart.

It took a full day to return to the cart; the Freelancers no longer had to be concerned by wildlife attacks, but had their hands full day and night taking care of the restive owl gryphons.  The need to keep watch overnight did allow for smoking some of the elk meat for their own consumption.

Things got a bit easier once they were at the cart and could use it for all the meat transport, but between the mud and the recalcitrant owl gryphons the journey back was still slow, and took another 4 days to make it back to Freelancers Tavern.

Arnari and Tomtom both met them in the stables, but Freelancers' leader was dubious when hearing of their adventure.  "We are not getting paid," she told them sternly.  Tomtom gave her a what is wrong with you look.  "More owl gryphons!" he reproached her.

Arnari went back into the main building, and Tomtom turned to them.  "These are a mated pair," he said.  "What are you going to do?"

Aranel and Minji suggested talking to House Liona.  Since they were mated, and House Liona was always looking for eggs.  The others agreed, and the sullen owl gryphons were taken across Cliffshadow to the House compound in Parkside.

When the staff saw what the Freelancers brought, the Head of House herself came out to examine the owl gryphons.  Kailani, a Wind sagani woman, easily avoided any nips from their beaks, and Aranel, Manu, and Ka all tried to bargain round-robin with her.  Aranel wasn't that helpful, as she knew less about gryphons than the others, but Kailani was also aware of infinite eggs from a naturally mated pair and was willing to trade two trained gryphons for these two.

Peb, who'd become enamoured of the owl gryphons on the trip back, asked for a trained owl gryphon, and Kailani produced one who looked caught between male and female, judging by the barring patterns.  Vin asked for a martial eagle gryphon, observing "At least one of us could hit things." 

The gryphons only came with harnesses, and the Freelancers led them back to the stables, feeling like this turn of events was a good outcome for the mission, even if Arnari considered it failed and was peeved at the lack of Freelancers Cut.

Sabah, a little while later, sold off the broken giant elk antlers for 150gp.

• Peb → lvl3!
• Vin → lvl3!