H:RotG Chapter 12: Avocados & Arch-Mages

Twinkling, lighthearted notes greet the ears of our adventurers as they approach the ghost town of Dazarahn, the “Electrum City” where a failed campaign for the mid-valued currency polled for several years. Amongst the dilapidated wooden shacks and rocky debris, a pair of small creatures approached- mechanical servants of some kind, varying in size but vaguely humanoid in shape, whose every movement came with some sort of musical jingle. Charmed by their uniquity and interested in their beckoning gestures, the group followed them to the abandoned mines at the opposite end of town. All the while, wholly unaware of the shadowy eyes peering at them through boarded-up windows.

Similarly contrasting the abandoned town was the cheerful attitude of the stranger who greeted the group within them- a pudgy blue-skinned tiefling with large round glasses and a penchant for cadence-carrying constructs who introduced herself as Gidge. Happy to see other friendly faces, she makes space for them to camp out in her cavern-turned-workshop for the night.

Hydran, curious about the constructs’ craftsmanship, Blinks into the Ethereal Plane to get a better look at their arcane innards. He learns that as the system stands, the constructs grow stronger with louder and more complex music. However, while visiting the parallel plane he also goes over to examine his allies, discovering a strange, spacial aura about his traveling companion and “hired bodyguard” Rabi Phendara. Curious, but not too concerned, the discovery is pocketed in the merfolk’s mind for the time being.

The next morning, the group meets the shadow that had been haunting their path the evening prior as Gidge introduces her trusted friend Rhyn. A fellow tiefling of the Ashstalker variety, her skills in the art of stealth and general rogue-ery were touted as being quite impressive by her inventor friend. Knowing that infiltration and light-footedness would be essential for the tasks they’ve described, the blue tiefling suggests that Rhyn aid the adventurers on their quest. Both parties agree that such recruitment would make sense, and so the thief becomes the newest member of the Brigade. For the time being, at least.

Worrying about the safety of her friend, Gidge provided the party with a spare one of her melodic constructs, as utility and protection against the many dangerous forces that may approach them the deeper they go into the mountainsides of the Fringe. With their irascible ranger taking the lead, the heroes doubted they could get that lost in the swampy woodlands.

But of course, not everything can always go smoothly, right?

The group finds themselves irreconcilably lost in the woods. Confusion and fear begins shrouding their senses, and to make matters worse the silhouette of a lumbering beast begins closing in on them… but to their surprise, the creature is non-aggressive. It appears to be an owlbear, but with draconic blood morphing its features to even more monstrous than in typical owlbear standards. Chuffing at the lost travelers, the owlbear leads them down a narrow path til they eventually reach a very naturalistic town, largely blending in with the foliage and seemingly also left without a population. The bear approaches a lone kobold, senior in age and clearly marred with old, deep scars across her face and body. She communes with the beast and sends it on its way, introducing herself as Bear-Kissed, explaining that she did not send for the group but detected the owlbear’s approach, and will tentatively trust the adventurers so long as they avoid stirring up trouble in her humble village. They agree, and as they do the village itself seems to come to life, kobolds of all shapes and shades emerging from the brush and uncovering their homes from the masks that allowed them to blend into the swampy environment so well.

At the tavern of the town they learned was named Lyzdra, the party not only found beds to rest in, but fellow travelers. Three human men by the names of Balthazar, Absolon, & Jose were hunkered down in the inn as well, and seemed to be hauling about some sort of strange fruit. Though they touted it as “the fruit of the heavens” Professor Hydran immediately recognized that these were simply avocados. However, these fruits come from the distant islands known as the Vortex Isles, AND they were the merfolk’s favorite fruit, so why not entreat these conmen for a bit? With a bit of a demonstration and some silver-tongued talking, the group was able to trade three rotting Dragonfly eggs for the remaining stash of green fruit, passing the pile of 100 avocados to their dutiful new robotic companion.

In their inquiries with the locals, the group is unable to triangulate the exact destination of Fort Breakneck. However, they do find out that several scouts had spotted some strange activity further northwest, even spotting the ruins of a strange house that sounds suspiciously like the one that Shards had been spirited away inside of. With the promising tip and enough avocados to feed themselves for the next few weeks, the party departs to check the ruined home out for themselves. On the trail, Hydran whispers some mysterious instructions to the “avocado-bot”, small actions to be deployed at a later date.

As the house came into view, so too did a number of tough-looking goons patrolling the building’s exterior. Each of them were marked with a large ‘MK’ somewhere on their armor, which the group learns stands for “Mithral Krew” after a bit of eavesdropping. To make things even more perilous, the party also spots a particularly powerful-looking elven woman with deep green hair, fur-tufted ears, a rather ridiculous-yet-expensive looking set of one-sleeved robes, and a purple wand at her hip. Kris Nifeton, now a full-fledged ally of the crew, grows pale at the sight of this woman, recognizing her as the previous Arch-Mage of Karomatzu, Madame Versel von Dastudr. A wild elf with powers beyond imagination, she was the subject of many young Glitterati agents’ nightmares if they weren’t able to fulfill her sky-high expectations.

Understanding the fact that they’ve reached a dead end if they don’t investigate this location further, Rhyn steps in. Using her well-trained stealthiness as well as a surprising power- psionic abilities, an immense rarity in Halintar or even the Big Stretch as a whole. She slinks through the home virtually invisible, suppressing her very existence from the enemy’s minds as she rifles through the home for any sort of hints on the whereabouts of its kidnapped owner. She’s successful in this task not because of what she finds, but instead through what she hears, listening in on a discussion between some of the hired hands and discovering some crucial details and directions on how to get to Fort Breakneck itself. Though she manages to safely return to her newfound allies with this info, as they depart the quivering Nifeton trips and falls, causing the source of her fear to snap to attention in the direction of the fleeing Brigade members.

Rabi is the unfortunate first target of her ire, as an arcane hutch wraps around his body and it feels as if his heart is almost wrenched out of his ribcage through sheer force. All seems lost as she casually strolls towards her captured prey, the rest of the adventurers hidden in the brush surrounding her… until Hydran orders the Avocado-Bot to attack. The musical creation chimes into action, rolling a critical hit that would be recalled for ages to come as an avocado soars through the night sky and hits the arch mage square in the forehead, knocking her backwards with enough force to send her sailing down to earth. Rabi leaps up, freed from the mage’s clutches and scrambling to safety.

And in one final action to ensure their safe escape, the merfolk shoots a blast of freezing energy into the sky… signaling for their valiant robotic ally to self-destruct. The travelers watch as their mechanical ally sings its final jingle before it glows with bright light, coloring the scene in a blinding red light as flames wash over the scene. Barely escaping with their lives, the adventurers flee into the night, flaming avocados pelting them as they run into the darkness.

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 TBD