Tale View

The 6 Freelancers entered the familiar office, intent on asking their leader for gainful employment.  She was seated behind her desk with a harp on her lap, silent as she contemplated this or that paper from among its fellows scattered about her desk.  More papers towered from the corners.  Presumably they had something to do with the pins in the two nice maps on the wall, but none of the other Freelancers had tried to confirm that.

In front of Arnari's desk was a very nice bearskin rug, from a cave bear Freelancers had defeated long ago.  Beyond that there were 2 rows of mismatched chairs in a rough semicircle around the bearskin, such that they faced the desk.

Maghris, a fluffy nekomata alchemist with tuxedo colouring, rushed ahead of the others to claim the chair he'd learned would best accommodate his two fluffy tails.  Mr Zircon, his homunculus, rode on his shoulder.
Minji, a grey nekomata warlock wearing a nice dress, sank down on the bearskin rug and did her best to burrow into it.
Manu, an extremely pale hanyou sorcerer with black eyes and horns, grabbed a likely chair and swung his leg over the back as he sat down.
Peb, a large Rock sagani in dun-coloured clothes and a shovel strapped to their back, avoided touching the furniture and sank down on the floor next to the head of the bearskin rug.  They scritched the head, gingerly.
Carmen, a large, black-haired firbolg cleric of Āhua , walked in and hesitated, then sat in a rustic-looking chair in the back row that looked like it would hold his bulk.
Vin, an ordinary-looking Cloud elf with golden hair and eyes, cast about for a reflective surface.  He ended up looking at his reflection in the window, and started shaving his beardless face.

As they did these, Arnari watched the Freelancers, projecting an air of faint amusement.  Then she reached forward and twitched some of the papers on her desk as they watched her; two, no three dog-eared papers, then she pulled a crisper paper on top of those.  She then listed missions without greeting them, and really, didn't even look at the papers until the last one.

• Eggs, etc.  standard prices.
• Pollution.  I'm discussing with Mayor Kaieia how I'm more & more certain of my suspicions that something is wrong with Gwidion.  I'm not sure if it's deliberate or merely his filtration is not working.  This is 100 eagles plus an uncommon potion each.
• House Ha'aheo needs help with the marsh.  Bullywugs are attacking people again… it seems perennial.  Go to the marsh, push them back.

At that she stopped and looked at the Freelancers expectantly.  Given the piles of papers, they were clearly expecting more choices, so there was a moment of silence.

Maghris:  anything but pollution
Peb:  after those plants, am wanting to go after pollution
Vin:  inclined to bullywugs
Minji:  always down to see what's near the river.  Always new!  Always different!
Manu:  haven't done bullywugs, that seems fun
Peb:  last time I did that, I was swallowed by a frog
Manu:  I bet that was new!
Carmen:  does the marsh have a lot of birds?
Arnari:  it's a marsh.  There are lots of birds.
Carmen:  sounds like eggs are out

They took a poll, and Carmen, Vin, and Maghris were in favour of the marsh; and Minji, Peb, and Manu wanted to go after pollution.  A debate ensued, in which Maghris was the most entrenched, since he had actually died on a pollution mission and had to be reincarnated.  But in the end he was convinced.

Carmen was the only Freelancer without a flying mount, but Manu had Iolana as well as Nāhōkū, and graciously allowed Carmen to ride Iolana.  So with Peb leading and Maghris' assistance, the Freelancers flew directly from Cliffshadow to where the Pirates Dream river fed Lake Mossey, with only one stop for camping.

They camped overnight there without incident, then headed up the river the next morning.  Pirates Dream was calm and peaceful, and the group got to the fork rather quickly.  From there they headed up Pirates River, a bit more slowly, watching the birds, and fish, and whatever wildlife, looking for mutations or aberrations.

Everything looked fine, until the Freelancers noticed there was a very large shadow falling on them from above… with 5 heads.  They looked up to see two geese hydra–4 legs, 5 heads each–pacing them from above and behind.  Goose hydra?  Hydra geese!  Hydrooses?  Hydroose!

Maghris' ears went flat as he started screaming in fear.  He had Blaze, his giant bat, dive to get away.

Minji prepared to cast eldritch blast if either of these attacked the Freelancers, and said so.

• Manu replied, "They chose war when they were born!"  He used his sorcerous powers to twin cast mind whip on both hydroose!  They both got headaches from the spell, but one avoided the more debilitating effects.
  • The wild magic surged around Manu with healing energy he did not need.  Yet.
  • Manu flew down to Maghris, as he was not interested in engaging a hydroose.
• Carmen flew up on Iolana, and brought down Āhua's bane on these monstrosities.
• Vin cast armour of Agathys  <Narrator voice:  whoever Agathys is>, then had her martial gryphon, Elizabeth, stoop on the hydroose on the left.  Elizabeth's claws missed but her beak pierced its chest.
  • A pseudodragon, Chantley, uncoiled from Vin's neck and flew over behind one of the hydroose's heads.  Chantly stung it in the neck, and his poison rendered the hydroose unconscious.  He flew back up as the creature fell 80' to the river below.  <Narrator voice:  the GM rolled a nat 1 on the poison save>
  • As the hydroose hit the river shallows, the head stung by Chantley split in twain.  It roused, very injured, poisoned, and angrily squawking.
  • Vin stuck with the Freelancers.
• Maghris cast ray of sickness at the hydroose that was still in the air, poisoning it.
  • Mr Zircon struck it with force.  From a distance, of course.
• The hydroose in the river righted itself, and swam to the bank.  From its vantage below, it honked balefully at the Freelancers, to no effect.
• The flying hydroose also honked, with each of its 5 heads, at its nearest enemies.
  • Chantley took some honk damage, but avoiding hearing loss.
    • Minji blasted the head honking at Chantley twice, and it slumped to the hydroose's side.
  • Manu took more honk damage, and his ears started to ring, but it faded out.
  • Another head honked at Manu and missed
  • The head honking at Maghris missed
  • The head honking at Mr Zircon also missed.  <Narrator voice:  also Mr Zircon does not have ears, so I wonder… never mind.>
  • The head Minji blasted split into two!  Minji was intrigued by this phenomenon, but perhaps less so when the hydroose flew up next to her.
• Peb had Bettula, their owl gryphon, attack the flying hydroose's body.  Like Elizabeth, Bettula missed with their claws, but struck with their beak.
  • Then Peb leapt off Bettula, and wild shaped a brown bear in the air, landing on the hydroose's back!
  • Bear Peb recklessly bit the hydroose's back, then grappled the hydroose, holding it still.  This hydroose also fell 80' into the shallows, with bear Peb riding it down.  Both were injured on contact, but bear Peb on top of it meant the hydroose was prone below the river waterline.

Minji, viewing the scene below, cast toll the dead on the hydroose on the bank honking balefully.  The sonorous gong rang out as necrosis spread up the hydroose's necks.

• The hydroose flew up into Minji and Vin's space!
• The hydroose prone under bear Peb attacked them with 3 heads, but they all missed.
• Manu dipped down towards the river somewhat and used his sorcerous abilities to twin cast haste on bear Peb and Elizabeth.  Then he had Nāhōkū fly higher, away from hydroose.
• Carmen cast aid on Manu, bear Peb, and Maghris, bolstering them; then he cast spiritual weapon in the form of a badminton racket, and smacked the hydroose next to Minji and Vin with force.  He flew up above Maghris and Manu.
• Vin, with the hydroose right in front of him, cast mind sliver on it, which presumably gave it a headache.
  • Elizabeth, with the active haste on her, struck 3 times: once with her beak and twice with her claws.
• Maghris cast ray of sickness on the flying hydroose again, but missed.
  • Mr Zircon hit it with force!
  • Since Maghris felt extra-healthy becuase of Carmen casting aid, he gathered his courage and flew over on Blaze, who tried (and failed) to bite the hydroose.
    • All 6 goose heads turned and hissed at Maghris and Blaze.
• The flying hydroose, beset by mounted enemies, tried to peck them all with its 6 heads.
  • One head pecked Maghris.
  • Another head missed Vin.
  • One head pecked at Elizabeth, who dodged out of the way because haste.
  • Another head tried to peck Elizabeth, but twisted around pecking its own neck, and got stuck.
  • One head missed Minji.
  • The last head pecked Chin-gu, Minji's bald eagle gryphon.
  • On that note, it sprouted a 7th head.
• The hydroose pinned under bear Peb pecked them with all 6 heads.  One crit, two hit, two missed, and one critfailed.  <Narrator voice:  and that, my friends, is a bell curve distribution.>  To bear Peb's displeasure, this hydroose also sprouted a 7th head.
  • The hydroose was sinking further underwater, taking bear Peb with it.
• Bear Peb was so proud of Maghris' bravery, they roared, triggering a rage.  Then they bit the hydroose, and clawed it twice from haste.
  • All the other Freelancers could see was the thrashing in the water, and blood and feathers.
  • Bettula was better positioned to see, and also attacked the prone hydroose with beak and claw, killing it.

Minji cast toll the dead on the hydroose in front of her.  A long, deep, sonorous gong rang out, and necrosis spread from the ear holes on all 7 heads.  The hydroose died, and the gong faded into a lighter tinkling bell as the creature fell into the water.

Carmen gazed upon the floating hydroose corpses.  "Let us fish them from the water," he suggested, "Those feathers are valuable."

Manu added, a bit more urgently, "Those with haste should get to the ground!"

The Freelancers all went to the ground, with Vin landing Elizabeth while Peb pulled their hydroose to shore.  The other Freelancers pulled the other hydroose to shore.  Then they tried to harvest the feathers.

Carmen and Maghris were too bemused by how unnatural the creatures were to get much in the way of feathers.  Peb and Vin had no such distractions.  In the end the Freelancers got feathers worth 600 eagles off the hydroosen.

However as they worked they puzzled, where had these come from, and why?  The Freelancers realized the hydroose had been protecting something, not hunting, which explained their flight patterns.  So once they were done plucking the feathers, the Freelancers started exploring the area. 

Around the bend in the river, they found it:  a nest with 3 eggs.  The eggs were long, more like dinosaur than bird eggs.  The Freelancers put these eggs in sacks, like they would have when harvesting gryphon eggs.  Underneath, they found a filthy set of chain mail, but the metal wasn't steel.

Manu investigated the nest, with Peb providing guidance, and found fragments of bones, half a short bow, a bad short sword, and a pouch with 50 eagles in it–all covered in goose shit.  He also realized the chain mail was adamantine…!  Peb carefully collected samples of the goose shit.

Nobody but Carmen could wear the chain mail, and everyone was happy enough with Carmen that nobody objected to him taking it either.  It was heavy, so Carmen was tasked with transporting it, anyhow.

The Freelancers found a campsite, gathered their takings, cleaned everything and recovered, then headed back to Cliffshadow.  They split the feathers and the coin from the pouch, and Peb took the bad short sword.  Carmen kept the adamantine chain mail.

The Freelancers stabled their mounts and headed up to Arnari's office proudly bearing the sacks with eggs.  Despite it being later in the day, the bard was at her desk, sorting out some papers.

They placed the eggs on some of the front row chairs.

Maghris:  look what we found!
Peb:  our family has grown.
Manu:  a new egg quest!
Arnari:  …what are these…?
Minji:  Arnari!  Arnari!  You'll never guess! There were two–TWO!–hydrageese on the river!  And they attacked us, it was so weird since we are 6 and they were just two.  But we beat them, and then we were looking around and we found why they attacked!  There was a nest! A NEST!  And look at these eggs!

Arnari rose from her seat to stare in horror at the three elongated eggs on the chairs in her office.  After ascertaining none of them were rocking, she shifted her gaze to the excited Minji.

Minji:  Can we keep them?  Please!  I've never seen a baby hydragoose!  I don't know how they mature!  Aren't they cool?!  Please?!
Maghris:  I survived this time!
Peb:  Maghris was so brave

The half-elf bard visibly recruited her composure, then, holding up a finger, she went into the strongroom to get out the potions and the handheld vault.  The latter she used to credit everyone's badges with 90 eagles for the mission.  The potions she handed out were: oil of slipperiness to Maghris; potion of fire breath to Vin; potion of hill giant strength to Manu; potion of poison to Carmen; potion of cold resistance to Peb; potion of water breathing to Minji.

Vin:  I'm sure there are dumb rich people who think they want this pet.
Carmen:  is there some sort of school of magic on this skylith who could investigate how these tie to the pollution?
Manu:  these are definitely wizard shit; even if not a school, some wizard would be interested
Arnari:  bad idea to intentionally sell people problems; but possibly sell to Academy of Magic, for dissection before hatching.
Minji:  how could we enforce that?
Vin:  that's not our problem.
Minji:  can I watch them dissect it?
Arnari:  work that out with them.  <thought for a moment>  Academy of Magic is probably your best option.  Selling to highest bidder, less so
Vin:  don't care, but will be guided by Arnari
Carmen:  what about Mantzur?
Arnari <shook head>:  they will not like its unnaturalness
Carmen <made a face>:  is true
Peb:  are we sure it's unnatural?
Manu:  there's something to be said for letting it hatch, so we know if they are mules or if they can reproduce.

A pause ensued as everyone considered the surprising wisdom of Manu's words.  But Maghris had a different idea.

Maghris:  …omelettes?  <grinned, showing his teeth>
Manu:  if we have some way of ensuring that the eggs are inert before selling to the Academy of Magic I'd prefer that... the last thing we need is wizard-enhanced hydreese running around.
Minji:  I'd be curious how the omelettes would taste!
<Maghris looked at her.>
Minji <brightly>:  for Science!
Vin:  not a fan of unnatural omelettes.
Peb:  we could take 2 to Mantzur, to confirm they are natural; that way we can still have a breeding pair if they can be domesticated.
Vin:  I would like to make some extra coin, and that does not seem how to go about it
Maghris:  popup omelette stand?  potentially poisonous adventure eating is a thing, right?

Everyone looked at Maghris in the ensuing silence.  He grinned again.

Carmen:  we could send 1 to Mantzur, and sell 2 to Academy of Magic
Maghris:  1 to Mantzur, 2 to academy sounds good to me
Manu:  I support the 1 to Mantzur and 2 to Academy plan
Peb:  Ah can take the eggs to Mantzur on Bettula tomorrow.
Arnari:  I can send Valan with an egg, he will enjoy visiting Mantzur.  <thought a moment, then came to a decision.>  Alright, here's what we'll do.  It's too late to take them anywhere now, so we'll keep the eggs warm overnight in the stable.  Tomorrow, Minji, Maghris, and Manu can go negotiate with the Academy of Magic over how much they would be willing to pay for two eggs.  I'll talk to Valan and we'll send whatever eggs the Academy doesn't take to Mantzur.

At that, they gathered up the eggs and went to the stables.

The next morning, Peb, Lorcan, and Ka left for Mantzur on an unrelated mission.

After discussing what to say with Arnari, who provided them with a paper of her own to deliver to Garth Nimblefingers, Dean of the Academy of Magic, Maghris, Manu, and Minji headed over to that august institution, roughly 5 blocks from Freelancers Tavern.  When they announced their purpose, they were shown in to Sidama Gerbicho, a human woman who was Assistant to the Dean.  She seemed unusually relieved that the items the Freelancers wished to discuss with Garth did not emit odors or drip goo or anything like that.

The three Freelancers were persuasive, and did not have to wait too long before being admitted to Dean Nimblefingers's office.  Garth was a Djogeon halfling man, and while he gave them his attention, his quill continued writing on the paper on his desk.  The Freelancers  presented the hydroose eggs for sale to him, as well as the brief letter Arnari had written.  The Dean was intrigued by the eggs, and after examining them closely, offered to pay 150 eagles for each egg.

Garth rubbed his hands together.  "I'm sure that the magical components and opportunity to dissect will provide the Conjuration and Transmutation Departments some interesting opportunities for study." he told them.  At this point Minji asked, "Can I watch?  It would be so cool to see how these grew!"  The Dean asked if Minji was a student, and when she said no, he declined, saying "Regrettably, I cannot allow you to observe; it will involve being in our labs and we need to be sure attendees are well-versed in our safety protocols."

Two days later, Valan took the remaining egg to Korfel Goltorrah in Mantzur, with an even briefer written message, explaining the creature that produced the egg and that it was the same magic that had produced the winged bears.  The tall firbolg leader of Mantzur was not particularly happy to hear about more terrible creatures coming out of the Pirates Dream pollution.  With Valan there, he verified that the egg indeed had a living baby hydroose inside it, but because this sort of pollution-caused monstrosity has no place among Āhua’s creatures, he destroyed it.

Valan stayed in Mantzur that evening (part of which he spent playing with winged bear cubs) and headed back the next morning with this news.