16. Into Avelis (Part 7)

==Intro==
Sophia recounts how she was unjustly victimised by both Kaitlin and a man and his one hundred children at a pretty cool chicken nugget restaurant. She will now be going to jail for her crimes against the state of Minnesota.
==That moment when your latent god powers manifest themselves in new and scary ways==
The wolves are very happy to see the party as they exit the city of Danmar. As the party heads towards Fang Lake, the scenery quickly changes from desert to greenery as they head north, and the Guardian’s reach the edge of the Pogswoods by nightfall. They set up camp for the night and everything remains normal until just before dawn. Laika, Fran, Corbin and the wolves are awoken by a huge tremor in the ground, when they look around they see Maeri standing in front of a massive spike of earth jutting from the ground. She looks terrified.
As Maeri shakily explains that she had merely been trying to summon a light, the Guardians praise her and her power. At the urging, Maeri summons another light and subsequently a tree explodes. The Guardians continue to hype her up, dubbing her Crazy Maeri. They speculate that due to no longer having to keep Estra afloat, Maeri’s powers are now unrestrained.
As Fran does her best to comfort Maeri about this development, Laika and Corbin gush about the fact that Fran hugged Laika and called them badasses.
==Fang Lake==
===Just Checkin’ It Out===
After Laika asks Zarun if he knows anything of Kai—which he does not—the party heads off into the Pogswoods. After half a day's travel, they reach Fang Lake. It is long, narrow, filled with greenish water and is surrounded by ruins which were once brightly painted and ornate. The party approaches from the south side of the lake, and sees that on the far north side there is a large stone pedestal, which is a patch of earth next to it that looks recently disturbed.
Maeri, the wolves and the horses remain in the woods as the Guardians approach. Despite Corbin’s apprehension about monsters, Fran instantly dives into the lake. There are no plants or what in the length, but Fran does see the corpse of a large, tentacled abomination. On the north side of the lake, she sees a very old trail of blood leading from the water to the pedestal.
Corbin, remembering he can Wildshape, turns into a bird and flies across the lake. Laika follows on Gingie's back because she does not have many mystical powers. On her way around, she finds two long dead skeletons that are curiously completely naked.
===Crab Cakes===
Corbin, circling in crow form overhead, sees two chuuls emerge from the water. One of them has a glittering sword stuck into its carapace and the party assumes that this is the Protector's Blade. Before she can react Fran is grabbed in the pincer of the chuul without the sword. Laika manages to free her with Divine Smite, causing significant damage to the chuul. Immediately, Fran casts Fireball on the chuuls, accidentally setting the nearby woods on fire. She remains unconcerned about this.
Looking for revenge, No-Sword again grabs Fran in it’s pincer. Remembering their goal, Corbin attempts to pull the sword out of Sword Chuul’s carapace, although he ultimately fails. Despite Laika and Fran’s best efforts, Fran remains trapped in the pincer. After some healing from Corbin, Fran casts Enlarge/Reduce to once again escape from the pincer. With the help of Corbin’s Moonbeam, Laika is able to fry No-Sword into a dead little crab cake.
After some more serious badassery from Laika, in which she heals Fran from the brink of death and teleports onto the remaining chuuls back, Laika is able to pull the sword from its carapace.
Laika pulls some serious badass shit, where in one round she heals Fran from the brink of death and Misty Steps on to the chuuls back. She is able to pull the glittering sword from its carapace, but is knocked to the ground when it lurches in pain. Fran gets trapped in it’s claw again, with Corbin dexterously moving his Moonbeam to target only the chuuls butt. Laika once again uses Misty Step to get in close and kills the chull by chopping it’s head off.
==Daniel. Dirk. Donny? Diego.==
Maeri and the wolves come running out of the forest after seeing the smoke from the fire. Maeri attempts to lend Fran some power to put the fires out, but instead a massive geyser erupts from the lake, effectively drenching the surrounding area. The water from the geyser washes away the disturbed patch of earth next to the stone slab, revealing a buried horde of gemstones. Corbin dives for it, obviously.
Investigating the sword reveals that it is, in fact, the Protector’s Blade. After a small debate over who should get to wear it, the party hears a distant and infuriating voice saying: ‘Hail and well met travellers!’. Dashing Dawson has, unfortunately, come to collect his prize.
After some standard back and forth with Dawson, the party gives him the sword in exchange for a mark on their map indicating the location of the Tower of Wivvil.
==Message to Chantel==
Noel: And now for—as Max jumps like a crazy man in my arms—now for a word to Chantel.
Kat: Chantel. The code word is: Al-lo-ley-lola.
==Featured Characters==
===PCs===
*Fran
*Corbin
*Laika
===NPCs===
*Maeri
*Gingie
*Zarun	
*Dashing Dawson
==Featured Locations==
*The Pogswoods
**Fang Lake
Category:Arc 2: Into Avelis
Category:Episodes