Tale View

Aranel, the half-elf bard from Sullimany high houses, had returned from Gemhallow and seemed her normal ebullient self.  The morning after her return, the Freelancers tavern was alive with gossip and stories about how Arnari had sent people after a wizard who had interfered with the Demonstration of Prowess, and how he'd been armed with chess pieces who turned into skeletons, and how he'd somehow made Ricardo Monroe, Adventurer Extraordinaire, attack his own pegasus.  Others relayed their experience raiding a necromancer's lair many eighths ago that was also related to the chess pieces.

Aranel was catching up with Minji, a grey Maneki nekomata, at one end of the long table, and they ended up in another conversation about how humans and elves evaluated the worthiness of butts.  Maghris, a fluffy Maneki nekomata was nearby and looked up at their conversation, shook his head, and went back to what he was doing.  Ricardo was getting pulled into the conversation against his will.

There were also new Freelancers, apparently inspired by the Demonstration of Prowess.  Latae, a Wild elf from Mantzur, Sofiya, a firbolg from Hindmarsh, and Tui, a human magic enthusiast from Sullimany.  These three saw Aranel, Minji, and Ricardo's conversation, and assumed it was about a mission (perhaps it even was), and somehow all 6 found themselves in Arnari's office, looking for gainful and exciting work.

Arnari's office was much the same, with her mahogany desk, big bear rug, and rows of mismatched and oddly uncomfortable guest chairs.  But it felt different, probably because Arnari wasn't strumming melancholy and angry death melodies on her harp.  Anyhow the group tried to sort themselves.

Sofiya sat front & center, to demonstrate her enthusiasm and engagement.
Minji sat on the bear rug, because she could never resist the opportunity to do so.
Aranel sat on the right end of the front row, ankles together, as one does.
Ricardo grabbed a chair, spun it backwards, and straddled the back.
Latae hesitated, then selected the comfiest-looking chair.  They were disappointed.
Tui wandered in last, with a teacup in hand.  Sensing an opportunity, she sat on Aranel's lap and handed her tea.

Aranel did not react well to this at all, in Tui's opinion; she gracefully extricated herself from under the shorter woman and sat in the next chair.  A second attempt had the same result.  Nobody else said anything, although Ricardo was amused, and Arnari watched thoughtfully.

The Freelancers' leader set her harp aside, then stated, "There are a variety of missions, but, I do not want these juniors to be too challenged."

Minji replied "I can take care," as Aranel declared "We do not want a bad reputation for Freelancers."  Arnari nodded, then twitched through her papers, extricating a couple older sets, and a newer one.

First – House Aldous would be very happy if you go to Haven Hills – start with the town, Haven – Aldous will pay 100 eagles per egg for hippogryph eggs, or an actual hippogryph with 10 eggs.  They will pay more for fancier hippogryphs.

Sofiya <eyes wide>:  how big are hippogryph eggs?!
Arnari:  about yea big.  Minji and Aranel could tell you, and also about blankets and sacks.
Minji:  it's [unreadable] than you think

Second – Mayor of Cliffgate requests help for a farming settlement nearby.  Ophelia is having issues with lions attacking their cattle herds.  This mission will pay 100 eagles per person.

Third & final – Go to the northwest to Pirates Dream (here, Sofiya exclaimed "ooo, Pirates!") river.  There have been a lot of issues, which seem to have restarted (here, Minji sighed "again?!").  A while ago, Freelancers traces this back to a wizard Gwidion, who disposed of his effluent in the Pirates River.  (Arnari sighed.)  Seems he doesn't care anymore about polluting anymore or something happened to him; but the pollution seems to be constant.

Aranel:  you just told us, we are cleaning up effluent.
Arnari:  oh, no.  The result of the effluent.  These consequences are mutated creatures, Freelancers have fought many of these.
Minji:  this is what I'm here for!
Aranel:  not lions?
Minji:  I need convincing.
Tui:  would like a mount, or may–
Latae:  a cool mount, but cleaning up pollution!
Sofiya:  going after a wizard seems very heroic
Ricardo <startled>:  hopefully we won't encounter the wizard
Arnari:  won't likely
Sofiya:  still sounds very heroic.  Lions, as well.  What do you think, Ricardo?
Ricardo:  lions might be an interesting add to the travelogue.
Sofiya:  not pollution?
Ricardo:  the audience relates to something they might have seen.  [Pollution has] too many teeth and oozes.
Sofiya <confused>:  how many teeth do oozes have?!
Ricardo:  any is too many!
Aranel:  an ooze doesn't have teeth, unless it's eaten something with teeth.  <paused, regarding the chair Ricardo had chosen>  like, Maghris.

Everyone looked at the chair.  Then at Aranel.  Then at Arnari with that "Is this true?" expression.  Arnari made a face.  She had been travelling when Maghris was killed by an ooze, but Tomtom had sorted it out.

Aranel:  lions might build goodwill.  Wild hippogryphs nest on cliffs, though, and we don't have enough mounts to get to the eggs, with Legend being mad.
Ricardo:  I am using apples to get on Legend's good side.
Sofiya:  unusual monsters seem interesting
Latae:  I've seen hippogryphs and I've seen lions.  Unusual animals on a Pirates' River seems cool.
Arnari:  okay then.

The group rose to prep and leave the office.  Minji, Aranel, and Ricardo had flying mounts; the juniors did not, so they would sort everything at the yard outside the stables.  Ricardo and Aranel were the least prepared.  The former went shopping at the quartermaster to buy adventuring gear.  Aranel changed from her nice dress into travelling clothes, and bought enough rations for herself and Rainbow, her hippogryph.

In the yard, everyone saw Ricardo had a lot of gear, including a 10' pole stuck up from his backpack.  He looked very prepared, with a black sash covering one eye.  He reached into a pouch and tossed a small rock at Tui.

Ricardo:  catch!
Tui <examined a 10-eagle gem>:  pour moi?
Ricardo:  you said you were interested
<Tui held it out to Aranel.>
Tui:  look what Extraordinaire got me!
<Aranel looked, and patted Tui gently on the sleeve.>

Anyhow, Latae rode with Aranel on Rainbow, Sofiya rode with Minji on her gryphon Chin-gu, and of course after that Tui rode with Ricardo on Legend.

Since they had flying mounts, and Latae was familiar with navigating woods, the Freelancers followed the treeline up to Lake Mossey.  Aranel pointed out to the Wild elf the features she'd learned on prior trips, and since they were still near Cliffshadow environs they got perhaps halfway to their destination before camping.  Latae found a nice camping site with a half-buried boulder.

Latae & Tui took 1st watch, which was uneventful.  They heard owls hooting, some with very deep voices.
Minji & Aranel took 2nd watch.  Aranel was useless; she had noticed Ricardo slept without his mask on, and his face was fine, he had both his eyes.  Minji was paying more attention, and heard far away to the north, some prey animal getting mauled by owl gryphons.
Ricardo & Sofiya took 3rd watch.  Ricardo fell back asleep, leaning against Legend, but Sofiya had been warned by Minji, and took notes of every sound she heard, even though she didn't think any of it was dangerous.

The next day dawned with surprisingly shitty weather, with a stiff cross breeze and streamers of fog.  As the Freelancers packed up to continue their travel, Ricardo put on the eye sash over his other eye.  But then they were off.

Again Latae determined the path, with Aranel pointing out features.  They travelled slower because of the weather, but did not get lost.  It was almost dark when the Freelancers reached the fork where Pirates River met the River of Dreams, and they decided to camp there so they could make use of the clean water from the latter.

Ricardo & Sofiya took 1st watch.  Ricardo stayed awake this time.  Sofiya again listened intently and heard nothing ominous:  river sounds, frogs, fish splashes.  <Narrator voice:  Marshall rolled a nat 20 on perception.>
Aranel & Minji took 2nd watch.  Frog noises and splashing alarmed them because of froggoths, but Aranel & Minji were too pestered by insects to care.

Latae & Tui took 3rd watch.  Latae kept an eye out, but Tui let her owl familiar, HuiHui, actually keep watch, whilst she used prestiditigation to simulate bug spray to keep off the insects.

The morning weather was less windy, but still was dominated by chilly fog.  The Freelancers headed up the Pirates River, going much slower, looking for anything strange or anomalous.

Ricardo and Aranel, being city-based bards, didn't notice much.  Tui sent out HuiHui to keep an eye out, but HuiHui was already done with this kind of thing from the 3rd watch.  However, Minji, Latae, and Sofiya saw something.

Minji had been telling Latae and Sofiya descriptions of weirdness to watch for, and that one of the beginning events had been the advent of oversized frogs in Lake Mossey.  But now, northeast of the river, they spotted a really big clearing in the trees, a very nice, beautiful meadow.

But everything was very big; the wildflowers, violets, dandelions.  The grass was maybe knee-high.  Latae's eyes narrowed.  Something was not correct.

Latae:  holy shit that's a big dandelion!
<Aranel quickly looked, expecting the colours of fae, but the colours were normal.>
Minji:  Arnari oversold this, this is disappointing.

Ricardo and Tui spiraled down on Legend and landed next to the big dandelion near the middle of the meadow, that was already a big globular bunch of seeds.  Aranel and Minji overflew them low, and landed near the western end of the meadow.  Once they landed they realized the grass was not abnormally tall, the flowers in the meadow were just really big.

Without dismounting, because there was no need, Ricardo and Tui tried to grab a seed from the dandelion.  To their surprise, an actual lion emerged from the ground!  The globule of seeds was the end of its tail!

"What?!" Ricardo cried, "I wanted it for a hat!"

Two other big "cats" rose up to form a triangle with the lion facing Legend:  the lily was actually a tiger's tail, and the violet actually a panther's tail.  But they were all actually plants grown into these shapes… and mobile.

Tui was very confused by this turn of events, exclaiming, "Oh!  my!  well.  uhh…. good night?" as she cast sleep on the three cat-flowers in front of her.  Nothing happened, and she murmured, "Oh, they're very big!"  She touched 3 rocks to imbue them with magic stone, then slid off Legend, making sure she was away from the cat-flowers with Legend between her and the Dandy lion.

• HuiHui flew past the Dandy lion, distracting it.
• Sofiya, unsure what to do and far back from the cat-flowers, drew her rapier and slid off Chin-gu, ready to attack if needed.
• Latae dismounted from Rainbow, then cast produce flame and tossed it at the Tiger lily.  While the flame hit the plant, it did not burn a lot; after all this was a river meadow, and damp.
  • Latae moved a bit to put Rainbow between them and the cat-flowers.
• With Latae off Rainbow, Aranel'a amazing presence inspired Ricardo, Latae, Minji, Sofiya, and even Legend, bolstering them all.  Minji backed up some from the cat-flowers and Ricardo flew up off the ground.
  • Aranel descended into vicious mockery on the Dandy lion, declaring "We could have been fighting proper lions, and you're not even a proper lion!"
• Minji cast toll the dead on the Tiger lily, to no effect.  The tones of the bells were in the medium range and seemed to say good-bye.
• All three of the cat-flowers puffed pollen from their tails at the Freelancers' mounts.  Legend and Chin-gu fell into a sneezing fit, clearing it from their eyes and sinuses.  Rainbow only sneezed a couple times, and was stuck with their eyes watering so much they were slowed.
• Ricardo glided on Legend to the midpoint amongst the cat-flowers, then drew a trio of glyphs in the air with his impossibly large quill.  He pushed the glyphs to each of them, and afflicted them with bane.
  • Then he turned and smiled at Minji, granting her bardic inspiration.

The bane was not lost on Tui, who batted her eyelashes at Ricardo and declared, "You spoil me!"  She moved up to the Dandy lion at such an angle that she was in a line with it and the Tiger lily.  Then, blowing into her bagpipe shield (which caused Ricardo to facepalm), she shot a line of caustic brew at both these adversaries.  Tui then backed away from the Dandy lion and got swiped by its claws for her trouble.  "Science hurts, that's fair!" she started cheerfully, but couldn't not followup with "OW"

• Ricardo had cast silvery barbs on the Dandy lion when it slashed Tui, which did not prevent its attack, but did transfer some of its advantages to Latae.
• HuiHui flew by the Dandy lion, distracting it, then straight up in the air.
• Sofiya drew a deep breath.  "We're doin' this!  okay!"  She moved up to the Violet panther and stomped a foot, shattering the forest peace with a thunderous boom as her thunderwave pushed the Violet panther away from her.
  • "I did it!  huh!" she said in amazement, then retreated back to near Latae and Minji.
• Latae pulled out their short bow and shot the Tiger lily.
• Aranel was not done applying vicious mockery to the Dandy lion.  "What kind of a tail is that?!  You call that a lion's tail?"
  • Rainbow descended into another sneezing fit, and sneezed and sneezed colourful pollen everywhere, throwing off the pollen in their eyes and nose.
• Minji, send two leafy green beams of blast to slam into the Dandy lion with force.  Clearly the creature was hurt, but also still hale!
• The Dandy lion and Tiger lily were dedicatedly trying to get the acid from Tui's caustic brew off their selves.
• The Violet panther leapt to Minji and Chin-gu, biting and clawing.  Minji was bit but Chin-gu avoided the slashing claws.
• Ricardo flew Minji's right, and murmured "Psychadelic damage" in an unsettling way.
  • Then Ricardo whispered something else, and the dissonant whispers caused the Violet panther to flee directly away… across the path of the waiting Freelancers.
  • Most missed, but Minji clawed the Violent panther with her own claws, and Aranel drew and struck with her rapier.

Tui took out a vial of acid, and moved almost back to where she had been.  "I know I look tasty, but have you tried this" she said, as she dropped the vial of acid into her bagpipe shield and blew it out as the catapult spell.  The Dandy lion had licked its chops as Tui moved into position, and the vial of acid struck it in its mouth.  The creature collapsed into a pile of acid-burned plant matter, and Tui prudently moved away from the Tiger lily behind it.

• HuiHui flew by the Tiger lily, distracting it.
• Sofiya drew a deep breath and exhaled, "All right!"  She ran up to the Tiger lily and struck with her rapier, piercing it badly.
• Latae moved to the opposite side of Rainbow, shooting at the Tiger lily with their short bow.  They missed.
• Aranel called "Good move!" to Ricardo, granting him bardic inspiration.  He smiled.
  • She turned to the Violet panther, mocking it.  "Who ever saw a flower run away?"
  • Rainbow attacked the Violet panther.  They missed with their beak but their claws slashed it with a death blow.
• Minji cast toll the dead on the Tiger lily, and its leaves and flowers dropped as necrosis took hold.
  • Chin-gu flew over to flank it with Sofiya, then attacked!  The beak attack missed, but the gryphon's claws slashed the Tiger lily.
• The Tiger lily turned and bit at Sofiya.
  • Ricardo cast silvery barbs on the Tiger lily, which caused it to miss, and transferred some of its advantages to Sofiya.
  • Frustrated, the Tiger lily spun in place to claw at Minji.  But it critfailed, and with the sworl of magic between the Tiger lily itself and spells cast by Minji and Ricardo there was a silent flash of magic and

A startled unicorn stood there, its coat shining in the light of day and brightening the entire meadow.  In the pause between one moment and the next, Rainbow nodded at the creature, in the way of equine greeting.

<Narrator voice:  I was listening to Mozart's Requiem as I typed this up.>

The unicorn reared up in surprise.  They heard his voice in their heads:  "I was– This is– Where am I– OH.  You are a nasty flower thing."  The unicorn easily dispatched the Tiger lily with his horn and hooves.  He turned to the Freelancers, his voice echoing in their heads.

Unicorn:  you should do more to get rid of these creatures.  <paused>  Wait.  Did you do this?  Are you responsible?
Aranel <in Elvish>:  no.  We're trying to clean this up.

Tui cast expeditious retreat to approach at all speed.  Ricardo flew over on Legend, then dismounted.

Ricardo <in Celestial>:  we are trying our best to clean this up.  If you had anyone's assistance, we'd appreciate it.
Unicorn:  I have never seen this place, but disapprove of these plant creatures.
Sofiya <softly, in Trade>:  I agree

Tui arrived, casting friends.  Ignoring the prior exchanges, she immediately embarked on persuading the unicorn to give her some of his hair.  The unicorn listened gravely, and granted her a hair from his tail.  <Narrator voice:  Seamus rolled a nat 20 on persuasion, having advantage.>

Latae's eyes widened, and they murmured, "We don't know her."  The unicorn squinted at Latae, then looked at the group as a whole.  Latae and Aranel's body language had shifted to lean away from Tui, as the short human mounted Legend.  Eyes on the unicorn, she whispered to Ricardo, "We gotta go, we gotta go!"  Ricardo frowned slightly and mounted Legend.

While this was going on, Sofiya was very still, staring at the unicorn in amazement.  Minji, however, oblivious to what Tui had done, was vibrating in excitement.  She finally burst out loud.

Minji <in Trade>:  where are you from?  how do you tick?  how long are you staying?  can I interview you?  is there a sample of your person I could use to commemorate this event?
<The unicorn understood Minji via telepathy, and expected this type of adulation.>
<Narrator voice:  Wendy did not roll a nat 20 on persuasion.>
Unicorn:  I am not here for very long.
Minji <in Trade>:  very glad to have met you
Aranel <in Elvish>:  thank you for your assistance.  <Granted bardic inspiration.>   Do you know the way home?
Unicorn <looked around>:  I'm not entirely certain where "this" is, but thanks for your concern.

As the unicorn said that last, Ricardo took off on Legend, at Tui's urging.  But a few seconds later the unicorn blipped out, as if pulled into a silent planar rift.

Everyone relaxed and looked at each other as if "what just happened?"  When he saw the unicorn was gone, Ricardo circled back to rejoin the other Freelancers, scolding Tui.

Casting about the meadow, they all realized there were other big flowers.  Everyone but Sofiya, who was still kind of trippin' on the unicorn, started examining the meadow.  Fortunately the other big flowers appeared just to be big flowers.  Aranel and Latae saw that the river kind of curved around this part of the land, so the meadow was well supplied with nutrients and that was why the flowers had gotten so big.  Tui, Minji, and Ricardo, who'd heard of the giant frogs, realized this meadow was getting hydrated from the river's curve which served to concentrate the potency of the pollution therein.

Latae checked out the cat-flower corpses, and thought there were harvestable parts.  However it was plant matter and had taken considerable damage.  Working quickly, Latae was able to pull a large number of thorns that had mechanically served as the cat-flower teeth and claws; 45 to be exact.

The other Freelancers examined these.  They could be useful for magical crafting, perhaps?  Maybe if sold, could get between 5 and 10 eagles each?  Aranel and Ricardo did not take any thorns, but the others divided them up; the extra one, Latae tossed to HuiHui.  Tui also looked at the plant remains, and selected various bits "for arcane studies," she explained.

Unsettled and thinking that the mission had been a success, the Freelancers headed back to Cliffshadow, taking an additional 2 nights and 2 days to return.  Once there, Minji relayed in wonderment about how at the end of the fight a unicorn appeared and slew the last cat-flower.  Arnari raised an eyebrow and took some notes, glancing a couple times at Aranel and Latae.

Then she paid them 90 eagles each, and pulled Gwidion's potions out of the strong room, handing them to people:  greater healing potion (Aranel), underwater breathing (Tui), oil of slipperiness (Latae), potion of poison (Minji), potion of fire breath (Sofiya), potion of growth (Ricardo).

That evening, after giving their report to Nyls, Tui approached Minji and quietly offered her access to the unicorn hair for study purposes (with the caveats that it not be damaged or consumed in the course of study).  She added that she would very much be excited by any co-researching Minji would want to do!  Minji appreciated the offer and indicated she would likely take Tui up on it.

• Sofiya → lvl 2!
• Latae → lvl 2!