19/07/2022 - Go see a forest about a horse

The party awake and find a basket of bread and a big pot of soup on the doorstep. They are immediately suspicious that the pot of soup might be the big bad of this mini-campaign. Khrom tries some of the soup and find that indeed it has been oversalted to the point it tastes like sea water. Khrom tries to act like its fine and bait the other characters into having some buit he cannot control his face and they see he is not enjoying himself. Unperturbed he doubles down and continues to pretend to enjoy himself. The others have some breads.

As they are finishing breakfast they feel a shudder underfoot. The cabin is shaking and the hanging pots and pans of the Khrom Cave are clattering off the walls. The shaking subsides. They go out to find that most of the town are out of their homes and talking about how the island turtle is awakening.

They meet Belami who takes them to see Old Harbo in his home. Khrom is way too big for this place but he crawls through. Old Harbo offers tea and scones before settling into chat. He says that the turtle can sense the coming of the ancestors, and that it is only a matter of days before they ought to be arriving. He also beats around the bush in asking the party if they would help with the preparations. He asks them to recall the story of the Water Kelpie from the previous night. He explains that as the water kelpie heled their ancestors cross the vast seas to get the island long ago, they would need a stand in for the ceremony. A black horse to help bring their ancestors over from the other side. He asks if the adventurers could help them find such a horse for the ceremony, and explains that as the kelpie offered its help to the halflings willingly, it would be important that this horse also came willingly. The party realises they can't just kidnap a horse. They agree to help and start talking about the supplies they would need. Old Harbo goes to his kitchen and gather a basket of supplies of everything he has to offer including tea and a tea pot and some baked goods. The party go to market to get some more supplies.

Meanwhile, the day before, Elyan had broken into Finnian's house and stolen his hat for some prank that never came to be. Now he sneaks off to return the hat with flour hidden around the brim so that it would poof out when he puts it on.

Belami, offers the party can take Lizzie the yak with them. She is very strong and good at carrying many things. They take her. The party set off in search of a black horse. Belami told them that the halflings think some of the slavers horses had escaped during the battle for Branxom and were now living in the forests to the north of the bay.

It takes the party some time to get to the forests due to navigational difficulties through wetlands and then hills. In the mean time they get a letter from Quayl aying that he has updated his calculations, which of course he attaches to the letter and he expects that the conjunction should be in perhaps 5 or 6 days time and that the elemental plane of earth appears to be approaching. The party overnight in the bag, including Lizzie who takes some convincing to go through the portal. Kunai remakes the bag layout, getting rid of Ves' pillows and plants in the roofspace and instead creates a fighting gym. In the morning the party awake to soft cooing coming from the gym. They go up to find a pigeon. Kunai is perplexed because there should strictly be no way into or out of the bag whilst it is sealed. They catch the bird and Khrom casts speak with animals.

I can't remember the conversation exactly but

Khrom: Where do you come from?

Pigeon: Nest.

Khrom: Where is the nest?

Pigeon: Tree.

Khrom: Where is the tree?

Pigeon: Trees.

Khrom realises he is talking to a pigeon.

Khrom asks the pigeon how it got in. After a whole run around the pigeon claims it got into the house via the breadbin in the kitchen. Khrom investigates the breadbin and finds that it is a breadbin.

Kunai communes with Jizirian to ask about how the pigeon might have got in. But Jizirian basically says that they were not watching that closely at the time to have noticed. The planes are moving and their attention was elsewhere.

They release the pigeon and continue their journey, and by mid afternoon had reached the edge of the forest. After a while of walking, they became aware that this was the most beautiful and pristine forest they had ever seen. The colours so bright, the smell so sweet, the birdsong so moving. They take a moment to appreciate their surroundings. They move on. After some time, Kunai hears some twigs crunch in the forest it side of their path. For a moment there is no sound. Then all of a sudden, some cat-like creatures with 6 legs, 2 tentacles an piercing green eyes burst from the trees.

They attack, 5 or 6 of them. Their movement is strange, it is hard to pin down their exact position een when looking straight at them and so they are hard to hit, which frustrates Kunai greatly. They quite quickly take Khrom down to half health. But they don't seem to be sticking around once they take injuries. Elyan sensing the seriousness of the threat turns into a t-rex and gets up in their faces. After they take some damage, they all get out of there. One lies dead in front of the party. Its black coat shimmering in the sun.

Elyan searches his mind for what these creatures could be. He remembers some poems about a creature called a displacer beast which seems to fit these. He remembers that displacer beasts were native to the feywild although many have been forced out and onto the material plane.

Elyan wonders of this could be the approach of another plane, like he theorises that the elemental earth plane may have conjured the earthquake, and the elemental air plane may have conjured the pigeon. He writes a letter to Quayl and as before, he folds it into a paper plane and throws it into the air. Only this time it does not disappear mid-flight like it did before and lands in the soft grass. He tries again. Nope. He decides to cast sending to Quayl to figure out why the parchment is no longer working. Quayl is perplexed. It’s always worked before. And it should work, assuming Elyan and he were still on the same plane.