11/05/2021 - Oblivious Outposters, Queen Chaos, and Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire

## IN A CLEARING

* Its a different clearing to before!
* Blood, body is not there, has been somewhere in the vicinity of the path
* Plan: Bed down for the night, prepare for a fight
* Leo uses Divination to ask if we'll find Khiaxi alive
	+ "will you find Khiaxi? Well I am a tree" so yeah probably

## COMMUNING

* Kunai casts Commune through his dagger to ask Jazirian some questions
* Firstly, has a party landed in Fishguard in the last 5 days that mean us harm? No
* Secondly, has a party landed in Fishguard in the last 5 days that are searching for the tablet that we have taken? Not that they know
	+ Some discussion - possibly means they don't know they're looking for the tablet, possibly means that they don't know we have it
* Lastly, was Werry under a charm effect from Archmage Draxius? No
	+ Tamsin suggests that Werry may be under a different effect, charm is not the be all and end all
* Kunai thought about asking if the party was as powerful or more powerful than us
	+ Tamsin suggests they can't be more powerful, if they were more powerful they'd know they were after the tablet or they'd know we had it. Some discussion about Scry/See Invisibility

## THE REST OF THE NIGHT

* Azurial and Leo talk about gods
* Leo inspects the blood - it is lizardfolk blood
* Breena casts Locate Object for Khiaxi's bow but can't find it

## TREKKING OUT

* No more squishy snake parts, but drag marks of maybe heels? At least 3 further clearings off the path with dead creatures in as we go forward, not being killed by bow
* Kunai hears some people talking off the path ahead of us
* Tamsin casts Comprehend Languages and she, Kunai and Breena creep forward
	+ Speaking Abyssal with code switching into Draconic
	+ But just making small talk
* Kunai climbs a tree to see if he can see them, Tamsin and Breena go forwards and Tamsin casts Expeditious Retreat on herself in case she has to run away
* There is an outpost with three individuals in there - Yuan-Ti - with scimitars
* Kunai attempts to stealthily move through the jungle to get around the outpost
	+ They are not being very good guards and are just bored and catching to each other
* Tamsin and Breena start to sneak around but get caught by the vines and alert the guards
	+ She Dimension Doors herself and Breena over to Kunai and luckily they don't realise
* Listening to them
	+ The Queen
	+ Livestock?
	+ Not a huge amount of interest, they aren't happy with their current posting
* Bayul and the others come forward
* Tamsin, Breena and Kunai sneak past the outpost and decide to scout on a bit
	+ Tamsin sends a Message to Bayul and lets him know

## SCOUTING

* 10 minutes on from the clearing, we hear more voices
* Scout ahead to see what we're facing, Kunai goes alone as he's better at scouting
* There's a walled fortress - 6/7ft high
	+ 4 Yuan-ti guarding, 3 humanoids strapped up to posts - 2 are dead, one is moving
* Kunai relays to Tamsin and Breena what he saw
* Debating the efficacy of Fireball in a tree-filled swamp
* We go back and make a plan with the others to take out the outpost
* Kunai OHKOs one guy
* Tamsin and Breena fire and bomb out another
* Bayul, Azurial and Lysandre take out the final one
* Some discussion about firing the cannon. It is concluded that Bayul can fire the cannon.

## STORMING THE FORTRESS

* Talking about logistics
* Breena asks how Ellie is. Tamsin thinks she's just asking about the wellbeing of her pet and says she's fine. Breena actually suggests Ellie could scout out which Tamsin allows is a good idea
* Inside: a dozen or so yuan-ti, 3 cages with human prisoners, one cage with Khiaxi. Most have scimitars and/or bows. Matches the amount of people who were missing from the village. One tent is being "guarded"
* THE PLAN:
	+ Kunai Assassinates one of the guards outside
	+ Breena and Tamsin-carried-by-Azurial fly in as the air force to bomb people
	+ Bayul fires the Cannon through the gate
	+ Kunai and Leo take out the remaining guards outside
* Various battle preps

## THE FIGHT

* Double crit Assassinate somehow does not kill the guy but extra action does
* Lots of fire from Breena, Tamsin and Bayul on the cannon
* The Queen emerges from the tent that Breena bombed - with 8 faces like a Hydra, covered in green slimy stuff
* 120gp 89sp for Tamsin on the bodies
* Queen's body - a pouch with 2721gp with paper written in Common:

> *Dear Queen Shultzi,*
>
>

> *As discussed, delivery of your next batch is expected on the first full moon following the solstice. Your previous delivery was disappointing to say the least. Few of the products survived the journey. Make sure that the next batch is of better stock, or I shall have to consider terminating our agreement. On delivery you shall receive payment at the rate discussed.*
>
>

> *And remember, if you keep to the agreement, rule of the Birsack’s in the new order will be yours.*
>
>

> *Regards,*
>
>

> *R*
>
>

> *P.S. 32. Weed. Hut. Needle. 27. Iron. Hunter. Smoke.*
>
>

* Mark = 50 iron, Kid = 25 iron, dog = 40 iron, sideways = - 50%
	+ Iron = gold
	+ Mark = main target
	+ Kid = child or small race
	+ Dog = derogatory term for lizardfolk, beastfolk
	+ Sideways = damaged goods
	+ (Thieves' Cant)
* First full moon following the solstice = 4-5 weeks away
* In the Queen's tent Breena finds a bag of fine purple dust - Dust of Disappearance, 3 uses

## SORTING THINGS OUT

* Kunai heals the guy out front who turns out to be Clovis - he has been here a month
* They were slavers planning to sell the people to someone

## INTERROGATING THE PRISONER

* He does speak Common
* Doesn't know who the seller is or where - the Queen was given coordinates in code and then a second letter was sent to decode it
* Kunai might know a codebreaker but he does not know how to decode it himself
* New Order of Birsack - the person the Queen met said the New Order was coming and if they helped they would regain their homeland. Iysgarthians drove out yuan-ti from their homeland a few hundred years ago, fled into the swamps with the Queen; died out over last few generations
* Ambassadors were sent from 'R', a female elf - a variety of races, bright orange sails
* He is the last of his clan so we have also committed genocide!!