Empires of Arcadia: Episode 13

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==Recap==
=== Day 157 ===
The Yaka Rangers are traveling towards Ayu though the jungle. As they are resting near the edge of the river a monster emerges from the jungle towards the party. An Ozed.
The Ozed charges the party and attacks them with its limbs then casts haste on itself. Zai charges around the back of the Ozed and uses a Stunning Strike to stun the beast. The party unload damage, with Korrin doing a barrage of Elven Arrows, Grub turns into a giant snake and Minsc attacks with his axe. The Ozed dies.
=== Day 158 ===
The party decide to avoid the swamp and move around the south of mountain range to the west instead.
=== Day 162 ===
The Rangers leave the jungle and enter the Bamboo. The head west at a faster pace than inside the jungle.
Near the end of the day the Rangers arrive at a ridge with 3 female faces carved into it. The ridge is 20 feet tall. The faces are worn and old and appear to have been carved by humans in ages past.
As the party investigate the giant carvings, a Fire Monkey arrives on the ridge above. Grub casts "Speak with Animal" on them. The Fire Monkeys don't ignite in flame, but approaches and accepts the food from Minsc. The Fire Monkeys say that the Goblins at the Ruins to the North West and they are hostile to the Fire Monkeys. One of the Fire Monkey then demonstrates it's flaming poop ability, by doing a poop, setting it on fire, then throwing it harmlessly at one of the face carvings. The Fire Monkeys then get bored and leave once the food runs out.
Minsc puts his hand on the face and finds it cool to the touch. Grub does a Detect Magic on the Carvings and finds that the statues are entirely non-magical. The party have no idea how to investigate the carvings further for now, so just set up camp for the night.
=== Day 163 ===
The Rangers head North-West towards the ruins of an ancient town. They find the remains of stone walls that used to raise into an artificial flat mesa maybe 1000 feet across. In the town are many ruins of smaller stone walls that were buildings. It is a smaller area than Yaka. In the center of the ruined town instead of a Pyramid is a large staircase leading underground, overgrown with plants.
The party head underground down the stairs and find a pair of broken down stone doors. There are slime residue on the walls and ground. Grub spots foot prints in the ground around the slime, but none in the slime and the footprints indicate that they avoid stepping on the ruined door as well. The party avoid stepping on the slime and doors and enter.
The party navigate the stone underground corridors. Grub looks at the footprints in more detail and they resemble those of Anthrax the Green Dragon that was attacking Umma.
The party keep exploring and find seven rooms of dedicated crypts with an obelisk in the center with carved writing. The corpses look like they have been tampered with, then placed back in place, and look at least hundreds of years ago. Grub casts detect magic and finds no magic in the first 2 crypts.
Zai feels something is amiss around him. Korrin then hears some breathing from the big chamber ahead of them, something large. The party regroup and form a plan. Zai tricks Grub into scouting ahead alone. Then the party is attacked from behind by a Green Dragon.
After the Green Dragon attacks, Grub summons some Ravengers behind the dragon to flank it. Zai then punches the Dragon in the temple with a stunning strike, stunning the Green Dragon. Korrin kills the Dragon with a barrage of elven arrows.
Korrin goes with the Ravengers to search the Dragon's Chamber and finds it decorated with carved skulls. Also inside is 320 coins (112 gold, 208 silver). Everyone else comes into the chamber. Grub then casts detect magic and finds a metal rod in the wall that radiates the school of evocation. Grub wants the party that it might explode. Zai pulls the rod out and it turns out to be a Flametongue (A Firesword), but it's hilt has rotted away from the Steel Blade. The weapon can't be used until it gets a new hilt. The party give the blade to Minsc to use.
The party explore the rest of the underground catacombs and find nothing else of interest, just more chambers with dead bodies with obelisk. The party then get to work collecting Dragon Scales. 
=== Day 164 ===
The party leave the ruins and continue on their way towards Ayu. 
=== Day 166 ===
Arrive at the north coast and see the island Ayu is on to the north.
:Ayu is an island. When you first get to the coast, it is this nice sandy bar with jungle on it and you see this island maybe a mile or mile and a half out from land. Just sitting out there with these cliffs that go around it with a sandy ramp. There are walls on the cliffs made of stone and reinforced by wood. And buildings upon buildings upon buildings forming a spire in the middle of town. As it changes to low tide, a spit of land emerges from the receding tide, giving you a 10 foot wide walkway across to the island.
The party walk across the land bridge. As they approach the island the notice the guards on the walls, mostly human, some half-elves. A Female Half-Elf calls out to the party. Zai explains they are here for diplomatic reasons, so are allowed entry, if they hand over their weapons first.
:You all come into Ayu. It is a smaller town in both population and size. Instead of building out, they build up. The buildings have many layers. It looks like the rocks used in construction were mines from the island itself, because the town also goes down. You also notice on the backside of the island that the water in the Ocean is very deep, a very dark blue, very different to the shallow end on the other side of the island.
The party are led into a hall and brought before a Monarch, Queen Opal, who is a 98-year old half-elf woman. Dressed in Elven Silks, long white flowing gowns that reach to the ground, her hair is long blond and held back with stabling implements, wearing silver bracelets & earrings. There are some other guards already in the room.
Korrin makes introductions to Queen Opal, explaining their mission and why they are here. Queen Opal explains that Ayu location makes them safe from threats, but are happy to become trading partners.
Korrin asks about threats from the sea, and are told that there are monsters that come from the sea time-to-time, which is why Aye is walled on all sides, not just the side facing the mainland. The problems Ayu face are that of space and food. There is limited space for the people of Ayu on the island, as well as the limited time per day to scavenge for food on the mainland.
Zai suggests joining the Yaka Alliance, in which Ayu would get a vote on the council along with all the other cities. Queen Opal will happily join if a faster & safe way to Yaka can made though the mountains. The Rangers agree to work on it.
Queen Opal explains that they do already trade with Bastian, but the dangers of the sea cause 10% of the ships sent there to be sunk each trip. The main threat to the ships is the Kraken herself. The Rangers explain defeating the Kraken is their ultimate goal. 
: Queen Opal: They say 1500 years ago there was a great empire that spanned the whole of this island. I have always wanted to see it again."
The Rangers are escorted to some empty quarters where they can rest. 
===Long Rest===
The party spend a week in Ayu.
The party look around town and find the population is mostly Humans and Half-Elves. The party then spot a tree where few inch tall Forest Gnomes lives within. Grub speaks with the Forest Gnomes and find they don't have a centralised government and live across the whole of Bravo. Most avoid the settlements of the big folk, except these Forest Gnomes moved here because they like living near the sea. Grub tries to recruit an Adventuring Gnome, but none of them want to leave their cozy home.
The Gnome called Bravo "Bravo", as it is just one of the Arcadian Islands. Forest Gnomes have an education system and can read & write and know their history using woodblock. It was 50 generations since the Breaking of Arcadia. Before the Breaking there were 3 factions on the Island, the Elves, The Empire of Nekkraut and the Empire of Acropolis. A lake near the Orc Cave is denoted as the location of where Acropolis used to be, destroyed by a sinkhole. Nekkraut was destroyed by a mountain rose below it.
According to the Gnome, 1500 years ago the gods were angry over the wars and greed of the land, so smashed it to start a new. The Gnomes of the land were cursed and turned into the tiny Forest Gnomes. Mountains Rose, Swamps formed, Jungles grew. The Humans no longer could have an empire in the new environment, and the capitals of their old empires were destroyed. The Elves however "learned the wrong lesson" and turned into traditionalists and seek to tame the jungles around them. 
Opal was born from a human woman from Solvang who married a local human man. She gave birth and it turned out that her daughter, Opal, was half-elven. The two remained married however. Opal was ostracized initially by society, became invaluable, and eventually was adopted by the Royal Family and became the new ruler. These days that Queen Opal is more accepted.
Grub visits an artist named Elisa who runs a arts & crafts store. Grub asks for a I ♥ Ayu shirt and has it made in a few days. Grub gives her 8 Silver Coins. He gets the name of the ruined town they visited as Shang. 
Zai asks a grizzled old solder about the Lang River on the mainland to the south. The solder talks about the Korakas Mountains where the river comes from and says the Dwarves have outposts at the east and western ends of the mountains.
Minsc visits a tavern that looks out onto the ocean and speaks with Hank the bartender. Hank claims that he saw the Kraken once during a storm out the window. Minsc shows off the Dragonscales to Hank. 
==Experience==
2100 exp each
*Minsc levels to level 6
**Max HP from 43 to 54
*Korrin levels to level 6
** Gets Elven Accuracy
**Max HP from 48 to 55
==Recap==
=== Day 173 ===
The party finish their long rest and discuss what they will be doing next.
Category:Empires of Arcadia Episodes