Elemental Kidnapping

Ka and Lorcan were feeling like a mission, and decided to head up to Arnari's office to find out what was available.  Peb, who was out of sorts this morning, joined them.  They passed Manu, Minji, and Maghris in the hallway as these three emerged from her office.

Arnari glanced up as Ka and Lorcan filed in.  Peb came up to the bearskin rug and abruptly tried to crawl under it.  Of course this attempt did not work, so the Rock sagani sat on the floor and drew the rug around them like a tent.  Arnari's face was unreadable as they did this, and was notably unsurprised.

Lorcan tried to sit in the front & center chair, but whatever Peb was doing forced him to sit more to the right.  Lorcan shot Peb a look, but not too long, as the Pastoral gnome schooled his features to be blandly neutral and attentive.  Ka just sat in the back row, totally at ease

Arnari flicked a couple dog-eared papers.  "Here are the egg missions, you already have mounts, but if you want coin, still available."  she set them aside.

The half-elf pulled another dog-eared paper, and they glimpsed rows of names on it.  "Of course, there's Pirates Dream…" she started, then said to Peb, "But you just got back yesterday."  Peb pulled the bearskin around them more.

The next piece of paper was less dog-eared, but was deep in a stack.  "This is a mission to go to Hindmarsh and deal with bullywugs, and the 3 of you–with mounts–might handle it; but you might want more [Freelancers]."

At this Arnari set her harp aside, and uncharacteristically racked some of her papers before setting them down again.  She flipped through them again, then started, "I don't know if you know of the mission to Waypoint Resource to find Daystar lotion there, but one of the things discovered there…" her voice trailed off.  She looked at the three of them, then continued, "Skyguard has talked to Church of Ua, and they will provide an Ua-blessed fountain, to make sure they have water.  So, Church of Ua has subcontracted to Freelancers to get the resources for this fountain.  One of these is a small water elemental.  As part of this, Church of Ua has allowed Freelancers to borrow an Elemental Flask of Water."

Lorcan:  where would we go to find such elementals?
Peb:  Ah can think of two places, Haven River and River of Dreams.
Arnari:  which mission do you want to do?
Ka:  if we take the water elementals we can swing by Pirates Dream and check it out
Peb:  how do we, uh, capture an elemental, without killing it?  How do these, uh, flasks work?
Lorcan <snidely>:  they [Peb] just want to capture mephits.
Arnari:  the flask can capture a single elemental, rather small.  While the creature is still alive, use it.  You have to be within 20 yards.
Lorcan:  if you can't trap it, is there a time out?
Arnari:  no, just pass it to someone else to try.

<Narrator voice:  the device works on a CR5 or lower elemental, with a 60' range; it's a wisdom 13 save.>

The challenge was intriguing, and the 3 of them spent some time spitballing how to even detect a water elemental in the first place.  Dye?  Use an Alchemy Jug?  Dye could provoke elementals and/or kill wildlife. What about food colouring?

Arnari got the Elemental Flask of Water out and carefully handed it to Ka.  it was a thick glass with a wooden stopper, etched with the arcane symbols for water.

The Freelancers stopped by the kitchen so Peb could find out where to get food colouring, and then to the stables to get their mounts.

Once Peb got 10 eagles' worth of food colouring, the three of them flew south to Mantzur, figuring if anyone had word of water elementals in the river, it would be the Children of Āhua.  The weather was calm, with a light breeze just enough to make flying pleasant, and the Freelancers arrived in the late afternoon.  They landed outside the settlement and then rode in on the ground.

Mantzur was a place where what buildings there were, were in harmony with the surrounding environment; fruit trees abounded, at all stages of reproduction.  It felt more like a large commune than a town.  A couple of teenagers saw the Freelancers and ran to a house next to a tree; a tall firbolg emerged, with pale skin and black hair in braids with leaves; he wore a breastplate fashioned from a tortoise shell, and carried a quarterstaff sprouting flowers and fruits.

This was Korfel Goltorah, leader of the Children of Āhua in Mantzur, and as he came up to the Freelancers they could see he was indeed very tall, towering over the huge Peb.  He was obviously concerned that Freelancers had arrived unasked-for.

Korfel <politely>:  how can Mantzur help the Freelancers?
Lorcan <with court formality>:  the Church of Ua has asked Freelancers to seek water elementals.  Peb thought it best to ask Mantzur if they had word of such.
Peb:  have you heard of any?
Korfel:  feel free to be at our guest house.  <Hesitated, looking at Ohenui.>  The mama bear has cubs, which look surprisingly similar to this fine fellow here.  <He scritched Ohenui between the ears, and the winged bear leaned into it.>  Both forks of Haven River have water elementals, but none are downriver of the Shrine of The Snake.
Peb <in Druidic>:  thanks so much, we appreciate it.
Korfel <in Druidic>:  you're welcome.

Peb tried, but failed, to hide how pleased they were that Korfel had addressed them in Druidic.  Both Lorcan and Ka recognized the language, and guessed at what was said, but did not add anything on their own.

On that note, the Freelancers saw to their mount stabling, before the westering Daystar set.  They shared dinner with others, and Peb asked if anyone had any tips for finding water elementals.  The others advised that the elementals were hard to see in water, "Disturb the water, and prepare to be ambushed."

The next morning, as the Freelancers prepared to leave, Korfel gave Ka a sealed letter for Arnari.  "It's not a mission," he explained, "But something else of benefit." 

The Freelancers flew west, to the closest fork of the Haven River.  Once they got to the river, they turned south to fly upriver.  The morning was overcast, which made it hard to see any reflections or waves of water that would have their own agency.  The three of them flew slowly, as the point was not travelling swiftly, but locating the elementals.

An hour passed, and then another, and the Freelancers came to a place that was very picturesque.  A kidney-shaped pool, with small rapids feeding it, and a large willow on the inner curve of the kidney shape, its branches hanging over the water.  Mist floated above the base of the rapids.

Ka was quite taken with the beauty of it all, which is probably why he didn't see the little water elementals bouncing up and down the rapids.  They were the size of house cats, and clearly enjoying themselves.  Lorcan pointed at them for Ka, then pointed at the mist.

Ka got out the Elemental Flask of Water and readied it; then Lorcan sent a blowgun needle through the mist, 16' below him, and into the water.

A bubble formed in the water, and the Freelancers saw it moving against the flow.  The bubble got more and more violent, and then a very large elemental, not quite the shape the Freelancers were expecting, appeared over the pool, and blew a jet of water at Lorcan, but missed.  Ka used the bottle on it, but did not capture it, and it sank back down into a bulge on the water.

Lorcan reloaded the blowgun, ready to shoot the needle at anything that actually attacked them.  Bandit, Lorcan's spry criming pegasus, prepared to dodge.

• Peb circled over the rapids, and dropped the food colouring at the base.  Then they cast faerie fire on the bulge that had spat the water.  A water elemental was outlined in silvery blue… as was the mist, which resolved into a mist mephit.
• Ka tried the Elemental Flask of Water on the bulge again, and the Freelancers watched as it got pulled in, almost like a reverse faucet.  Ka looked at the bottle and replaced the cork, then held it up, tapped it.  The sea glass it was fashioned from blocked any view of Peb's faerie fire sparkles.
  • Ohenui dashed away.
• The lit up mist mephit was clearly upset, but was eerily quiet, soundlessly chittering.
• 2 more mist mephits coalesced, coming for Peb and Lorcan.

Bandit disengaged and followed Ohenui as Lorcan held his blowgun at the ready.

• Bettula also disengaged as Peb pulled out their longbow.
• Ka had Ohenui join where the others were, and cast eldritch blast at the mephit lit by faerie fire.
• The mist mephits move with the speed of mist… which is to say, not nearly as fast as these flying mounts of the Freelancers.  Their dismayed faces faded back and they dove back into the water with very light splashing.  The injured one still had the faerie fire, but the others were impossible to see.

The Freelancers, having got what they came for, returned to Mantzur, since it was too late to make it all the way back to Cliffshadow.

Mama bear was in Mantzur!  Even the reserved Lorcan wanted to play with the cubs.  Naturally Ka was selected as the Freelancer to persuade Korfel.  Ka asked very stiffly, but Ohenui would have none of it, he also wanted to play with his half-sibs and nudged Ka!

The cubs were already a lot bigger than Lorcan, and play quickly got rough.  Mantzur animal handlers were also there, working on socialization, but Lorcan ended up contenting himself with watching, as Peb wild shaped a bearcub and had rough-and-tumble.  Mama bear was quick to intervene when things got too rough.  Ohenui might be 3 years old now, but she was still his Mama.

The Freelancers left for Cliffshadow the next day in good spirits, and delivered the flask to the Church of Ua.  Peb and Lorcan had not been there before, and were very impressed with the design and the rainlike water flows in the central sanctum, and a water pool where other temples would have an altar.  The Downpour, Anuhea, was a late/middle-aged Rain sagani with green skin.  She was happy to accept the Elemental Flask of Water from Ka, who assured her the elemental had taken no hurt in the process. 

"I'm so glad you did not kill the others," she told him, "Sometimes you get the water elementals in the wrong place, and they have to be removed."  She went on to express how reliable Freelancers are, and paid each of them 100 eagles, admonishing them to be sure to give Arnari the 10% cut.

Back at Freelancers, Arnari accepted the 10% Freelancers cut, and also the letter from Korfel.  She opened it and read it, and gave the three a strange look.  She read it again, then murmured, "Not weaned, but flying in a year?"

She put the letter down.  "How cute were they?" she demanded.  "Were they cute, did you see them?!  I will prepare an announcement to the Tavern!  We need more Freelancers on bears going to Commerce!"

Thus did we find out that Korfel intended not to destroy the winged bear cubs, but instead give Freelancers first right of refusal to use them as mounts.