Barbarians Everywhere

Modokus

Monana

Ena

Minty Pineapple

Leora

Secondary Group:

Eero

Yunet

After awakening the next morning, the party, consisting of Edric, Lykus, Minty, Monana, Leora and Ena, were escorted by the Arafel soldiers to the west, towards the center of Quedem territory. On their way they passed trough a small town that had been burned and destroyed many years ago. Edric inquired with Yahir, the solider in charge of escorting them, and Yahir informed them that this was the village of Cindis, but it was destroyed over a decade ago when the watchtower usually responsible for keeping them safe was destroyed. No one who survived the attacks knows what happened.

The group travelled all day, and oddly enough, the closer they got to the heart of Quedem territory, the more lush and verdant the mountains became. Far warmer and alive than they should have been. As the sun was beginning to set, they finally reached the central citadel of the Quedem territory. It was an ancient looking structure made of stone, shaped in an ottoman design but with Celtic carvings and artwork all across its exterior. Edric, Modokus and Minty all felt a certain energy in the air. A barely noticeable energetic-ness to the air itself that reminded Minty somewhat of the feywild. The energy was very lively, but not emotional in the same way the feywild’s activity was.

Edric asked Yahir why the Quedem territory was so lush, and after some flattery, Yahir told him that this land was blessed by the gods.

Centuries ago a man named Zaquen, running from a war in a far-off land came here seeking refuge. But this land was barren and he and his family were starving. As he was dying, he offered the last of his food on an altar he built to the gods, and in that moment, the god Merolius himself appeared to Zaquen. Merolisu said he would reward Zaquen for his faith, that this land would become as lush as his people’s faith was strong, and that his descendants would be the inheritors of this land in perpetuity. The seven clans of the Quedem, Lann, Rin, Aigne, Soden, Raziel, Walla’ilmari, and Hastumol, are named after the seven children of Zaquen and his wife, Lezra. This is why the lands here are so warm while the rest of the Skolzem mountains are frozen. Edric was cordial but not-convinced that was the entire story.

As the group approached the citadel they were informed that Zahir had arrived an hour ago and was awaiting them. With Detect magic up, Edric spotted several homes with abjuration enchantments around them. The party was escorted to the citadel where they entered and met with Zahir and an Arafel Scholar named Osher met with the party in the central council chamber at a round table much more humble than the council chamber of Luracia.

Zahir was younger than they imagined, with a short full beard making him look older, he couldn’t have been a day over 30. Zahir listened to the party’s story and acted with genuine concern at the idea of an aetheryte crystal so large being on the loose, (even if he had to ask Osher what an aetheryte crystal actually was). Minty was her usual self and asked several questions, one of which being if the party could go to limbo, after which she had to make a Wisdom saving throw, which she failed, but there were no noticeable consequences.

Monana noticed that Zahir was fidgeting with his sword slightly, indicating he was wary and a bit nervous during the meeting, leading the party to completely believe that he was hiding something. He said his people had encountered the divination dead zone and they had suspected the Gurrurptoi were responsible, but now he suspected the drow might be behind it.

Edric asked him about the tales of a mistwalker Tabaxi. Zahir said that only descendants of Zaquen and his wife, Lezra, could use the mist the way the Arafel do, so a tabaxi mistwalker would be incredibly unlikely. However, he suggested that one of the gurruptoi tribes, the coldfire tribe, uses blood-grafting, a necromantic ability that allows them to graft the parts of other dead creatures onto themselves to give themselves extra abilities. If they had grafted some part of an arafel onto a tabaxi, it could create a tabaxi mistwalker.

Edric was unconvinced. Zahir gave the group a sending stone that he had the other side of, which was currently dead because of the divination dead zone, in case they needed to contact him in the future and he departed.

Modokus noticed several Arafel archers hidden in the domed ceiling above them before they exited. The group were taken to a house they were allowed to use, and Edric requested the blacksmith of the town be fetched for him as a way to get one of the guards away from the door, but the guard’s roll was backfilled.

Using a combination of making grass smell like dead corpses, throwing a stone that sounded like the ocean, and Ena’s cloak, Edric and Ena snuck out of the house through the window and nuck into the citadel through a secret passage in the ceiling they found. Ena noticed an Arafel inside the citadel had spotted them and Edric sent her back to the house as he infiltrated alone, convinced they wouldn’t kill a dignitary of Luracia.

Edric made it will known he was inside by tossing prestidigitation fireworks around before he went to the second floor and began picking locks on the chambers up there. When he opened one of the chambers, two mistwalkers appeared and asked him to return to his home. They were polite but stern and they didn’t draw their weapons. Edric was polite but insistant back, but eventually he aquiesced and returned to the house.

While this was happening Minty just strolled outside right past the guard, fey stepped outside the wall and got a deer to follow her inside. She showed it to Lykus, who told her he used to travel with a gnome who always collected pets. And he also told her he threw one of her pets off a cliff, and he would throw the deer out the window if she didn’t get it out of his room. She stood in the doorway with it. The party slept in peace, with Ena passing her saving throw.

### Secondary Group

Meanwhile, back in the village of Nenhaven, Eero and Yunet were recovering in town. They were soon going to start looking for work once Yunet recovered some more of her strength. But on the third night, Eero was awakened by a loud crash outside the tavern window. Eero looked out and saw thri-kreen were attacking the town and all the civilians were running. Eero woke Yunet with his telepathy and engaged the enemies. Yunet and Eero were both quite strong but were at a disadvantage, outnumbered and blinded by the jeweled carapice of one of the Thri-kreen captain drones. Suddenly though, they heard a loud war cry that invigorated them as the Hobgoblin Be’Torn worshiper, Galvur Clay rounded the corner. He assisted them and the three of them cut down their opposition with barely a scratch. Galvur tak the most damage, but he truly seemed unperturbed by the arrows.

After the main force was dispatched, they looked for stragglers but didn’t find any. Yunet sewed Galvur’s wounds shut as he took drinks from the now empty tavern. Eero put his back.

Galvur explained that he was here following the pattern of Thri-kreen attacks. They had attacked in the south first in Ornatir, then in Pavone, Galvur suspected the aetheryte crystal controlling them was on the move, and was likely directly under them. He wanted to kill the four horsemen from the dream, and when Yunet mentioned she knew who two of them were, Galvur revealed that three of the four horsemen were hired soldiers from Hades. The Webweavers use a massive network of undead to protect their territory, but they don't have enough necromancers to keep them under control, so they use aetheryte crystals to project their controlling songs over massive areas to control their undead soldiers. The four horsemen are the protectors of the crystal, and three of them were purchased from the plane of Hades. The only one not purchased was Nyle, the Shadar Kai who rode the spider.

Galvur said if Yunet knew the identity of two of the horsemen, he would need her help. He planned on following the Thri-kreen tunnel. He had a Thri-kreen ant stuck in a magic pendant that he could control to re-open the collapsed tunnel and try to get into the underdark that way. Eero said he wanted to come along as well, but Yunet told him someone needed to stay behind to wait for Edric and the party or get reinforcements form Luracia if they didn’t make it back. Yunet and Galvur headed down into the collapsed tunnels, leaving Eero to wait for the rest of the party.

### Primary Party

Back in the Quedem territory, the party awoke the next morning and headed back towards the city of Aigne. When they arrived the city was abuzz with movement. The war came outside the city was on the move and it looked like an attack was imminent. 7,000 Gurruptoi warriors were on their way. Edric volunteered to help assist int the defense, and the party went to the front gate, passing Judith and several other civilians preparing to make a makeshift hospital out of the tavern, until they reached the main gate where Zahir was rallying his troops.

With a loud bang against the gate, they realised the Gurruptoi were here. Everyone sprung into action, defending the city by meeting the gurruptoi outside on the field of battle. Edric’s thunder wave kept their battering ram from getting too close. Ena’s arrows kept their numbers thin, and Monana’s knuckles and magic knocked them off the walls as they scaled. Lykus’ fear aura kept the hill giants from being able to assist in carrying the battering ram. The defense was going well until the roar of a dragon was heard over the mountain. Everyone braced to face a dragon, aside from Minty who ran away into the city. However, when the dragon’s silhouette appeared over the mountain range, it swooped down and began breathing torrents of ice all across the war camp of the Gurruptoi.Out in the open, and all gathered in one place, it was a perfect kill zone for a flying dragon. The gurruptoi assailing the gates turned and ran to assist their comrades and the Arafel, having suffered minimal casualties, pulled back inside the city, letting this newcomer destroy their attackers for them.

## Loot

Primary Group:

* 1 Polar bear hide cape
* 1 Sending Stone linked to Zahir

Secondary Group:

* 1 Jeweled Carapace
* 12 Shortbows
* 12 glaives
* 3 Scimitars
* 60 Bone arrows