Session 3.8

1628, Sea Season, ?Week

Dramatis Personae

Events

When the session began, Berra was in Boldhome. She set off to find the rest of the party, stopping in Greyrock for the night. Minstar woke her by kicking her to say there was something bad about to happen. They went up the hill at a run.

Meanwhile, out in the wilderness, people were settling down for the night, with Varanis and Valseena taking the first guard shift. As the night wore on, Valseena heard something in the distance and drew the Vingan’s attention to it. Varanis wanted to find out what it was, and as she believed it to be close by, she prodded Xenofos to wake the others, while she took Salid and Valseena to investigate. With his superior night vision, Salid spotted it first; a large, fur-less creature that was in pain. He had no idea what it was. Valseena described it to Varanis, who believed it was likely a thunder lizard. They crept closer (managing to be quiet despite Varanis’ armour), and both women realised that the beast looked as if it was wrestling with an invisible crocodile. On Varanis’ request, Salid headed back to camp to collect the others, on the grounds that Nala might know what was going on.

Valseena called on the magic of her goddess to enable her to communicate with the thunder lizard. She learned that it was under attack (most likely a spirit attack by the Goddess of Teeth and Salt) and it was begging to be released.

Salid returned and found Xenofos had already woken the others. They came at a run, or a walk, some more successfully than others.

Valseena and Varanis observed that the thunder lizard was enduring despite terrible odds and they became determined to aid it. The Praxian animal healer cast spirit screen on the the giant lizard, shielding it somewhat from the attacks, with blue sparks flying everywhere. After a moment’s hesitation, Varanis cast crocodile skin on it causing the Goddess of Teeth and Salt to break off her attack on the thunder lizard and to target the Vingan instead. She swallowed Varanis in spirit combat, but after calling on Vinga, Varanis used Elmal’s spear and shield to escape¹pass vs critical, causing Nala to experience great pain. The unicorn rider fell over, only to be told to get up by Tiwr, who said it was all in her head. The blue sparks of the shield stopped, leading several people there to conclude that the spell had stopped, when in fact it was the goddess that had stopped. It was around this point that Berra arrived, entering a scene of considerable confusion.

Valseena explained what was going on, including that the triceratops was now sying ‘release me… or release me…’ and an argument ensued. Nala wanted to kill the thunder lizard, but Valseena was determined to save Lumpy (as she was now calling him). Suuraki sided with his wife, while Rajar was uncertain. Berra asked Valseena to ask who had brought the thing there, as it was not natural, and the answer was an ugly two-legged thing. That made her worried, and further information got pulled out of the huge beast – it had been something small, merely the size of Rajar. Berra noted that this could be Drazn’k and settled to protect the dinosaur from him, and also from Nala, just in case. Thinking the matter was mostly settled, Suuraki and Varanis headed back to camp to get shovels, leaving the others to protect Lumpy. Xenofos tried to tell Varanis something, but she left a little too quickly.

Although the trip back to camp was quiet for Suuraki and Varanis, the camp turned out to be otherwise occupied. From within the darkness, Draznk launched an attack on Varanis, landing a slingshot in her abdomen and nearly incapacitating her. The troll then turned his attention to Suuraki, causing enough injury that the Praxian was forced to retreat and heal.

Nala stepped up to do a Peaceful Cut on the earthshaker and Berra got in her way and refused to let her. There was some shouting, with Nala saying that Berra should go worship a god that she understood, and Berra saying rather more loudly that Nala should not do anything that might be Draznk the Dark Troll’s plan, because if he was involved, then they should do everything they could to mess up what he was trying. Nala said she wanted to return the beast to Maran Gor, and Berra said if she tried that, then she’d end up with her arms cut off. Valseena noticed it, and also stepped up, to shield Lumpy.

Irillo was also of the opinion that it was a very bad idea to sacrifice the beast, but it was Tiwr who got Nala’s attention by trying to feed her, causing her to realise how her companion so seldom did that, and might be worried.

Berra sent Salid, Rajar, and Xenofos to catch up with Suuraki and Varanis and the shovels. Between them, Varanis and Suuraki had been healing and attacking just enough to keep Draznk from killing them, despite his having cast Dark Wall. When the reinforcements arrived, it was to see Varanis doing battle with a dark cloud. Rajar charged in. Xenofos cast a lantern spell on his shield, but sadly it had no effect.²This led to unscholarly swearing! Both Suuraki and Varanis were wounded again before the others managed to attack the troll in the dark. Once again, it was little Salid who was the big hero of the day, disarming Draznk and wounding him badly with a single blow, and causing him to flee by way of Divine Intervention.

Rajar dressed in his armour, while Varanis and Suuraki healed enough to return to the others, where Valseena healed Suuraki the rest of the way.³She must love him – she patches him up often enough. Rajar dug Lumpy out while Valseena kept him calm through her singing and herding skills. There was a brief moment where Rajar contemplated killing the poor thunder lizard as it lumbered off, but he decided not to. Valseena called out a farewell to Lumpy. Berra, just to ‘lizard’.

After returning to camp, the remainder of the night passed uneventfully. Berra searched for undead but found none. Suuraki scouted around for tracks and found small-for-a-troll tracks, which led him to a bag of bones. He summoned the Humakti to deal with those, as they were human. Having determined that they weren’t animate, she made arrangements with Minstar for their rest, asking him if he would invite in any spirits that didn’t have other homes.

Nala discussed the night’s troubles with Minstar and Galri and then arranged for a sacrifice to appease the Goddess of Teeth and Salt. Despite the wishes of Suuraki and Rajar, the animals were purchased rather than raided. Irillo, of course, did the talking. They bought two cows and a sheep.

The animals were sacrificed with Nala leading the deaths, and the meat was hung up overnight. In the morning there were plenty of bite marks, and they took down what was left to the village to share the feast.

• 1
  pass vs critical
• 2
  This led to unscholarly swearing!
• 3
  She must love him – she patches him up often enough.