Session 91 "The Long Trip South"

Session 91: The Long Trip South

The first stop of the Brought Forth on the long trip south was Port Nyanzaru, the only port town on the ferocious island of Chult, occupying the southern most point on the northern bay of Chult. Immediately upon disembarking from the Brought Forth, you could tell something was different about this place. Besides the sweltering heat and the vibrant colors of the garb of Port Nyanzaru, the most notable feature was that there were dinosaurs everywhere.

After stocking up the ship with supplies, Dorn and Gram went off to see if they might be able to find out more about the dinosaurs. Dorn talked a merchant into selling him a rare one, a baby pteranodon which apparently were not typically sold while Gram inquired about the dinosaur races. He was dead set on taking part in the race, and to that end he was instructed to speak to one of the Merchant Princes who ran things in Port Nyanzaru.

Meanwhile Bucky and Muffy, and Rhys and Rensig had broken into separate teams to try to sell off some of the goods that were found in the hull of the Brought Forth. While Bucky and Muffy had much greater success, they also accidentally took part in some Ayahuasca tea. It took a while to take effect as they went around Port Nyanzaru. They ran several errands with Tuk and Ezree, visiting every market in town, eventually winding up at the Gem Market where they bought a great many spell components worth of gems. They also made their way to the villa of a different merchant prince than Gram, the one who controlled magic in Port Nyanzaru, and by the time they reached his villa the ayahuasca had set in.

Gram, in another merchant prince’s villa, talked his way into the dinosaur races taking over the riding of a young T-Rex called Scarback that was slated for his last race this very evening. As Tuk and Ezree lead Muffy and Bucky back to the port neighborhood, Rhys, Rensig, Dorn, Bip, and Dutch were getting ready to watch Gram race. Rhys put a lot of money on a number of different animals and doubled his gold by betting on some long shots. He put the most money on Gram, however Gram was not having a good time in the race, quickly losing control of the unruly T-Rex and escaping just in time not to get eaten, realizing he probably just made enemies with one of the merchant princes.

You all convened on the boat, Rensig making a quick stop to purchase drugs on the way, and you began the long trip south, taking part as crew. At the start of your trip, Laeral Silverhand told Muffy she and Hazim had reached an accord, and weeks later she reported she was getting ready to deploy forces. The professor updated you on his research at Candlekeep on means to move large forces, and Balistar kept you abreast of the enemies movements, specifically the rebuilding of the devil’s tower. Oro also reached out to Dorn regarding her missing teammates but Dorn replied that you couldn't help as you were heading into a big storm, not really explaining beyond that. Bucky had Tuk awaken Dorn’s dinosaur who, with some help, picked out the name Sky Mouse. In addition to sailing, Rensig trained with his mace which spoke to him in the night, and Bucky busied herself with growing her magical repertoire through spells and potions. Gram practiced his Goblin while taking a very active role in running the day to day of the ship as first mate, and Muffy attended to the animals and worked with Tuk and Chardwick in the kitchen to take care of your food needs. By days Rhys road Grin through the sky keeping an eye out for danger and kept you stocked with fresh water, and by nights you all rested peacefully under the open stars and buoyed by the gently swaying tide. All of you except for Gram who in addition to his usual horrendous visions of the void was visited by a message and curse from Auntie Rhea. The form he took due to his pact with Tharizdun, the form of the black bird, was coming on more frequently, taking less to trigger.

The form was however helpful when Gram went to recover what he thought was armor on a corpse amidst an enormous dead whale carcass and found instead a man drowning about to be eaten by sharks. Borne aloft on his dark feathered wings, Gram shot out of the water taking the brunt of the shark attacks meant for this man, Ageis, who once recovered said he had been in that whale for years, but before that was from a land beyond Umberlee’s Asshole, a place known as Thylea.

In regards to getting past the maelstrom, Gram, Bucky, and Rhys helped put Tuk’s plan into action. Bucky had informed Tuk of a type of fey she found in her book, one she believed could control the weather if any of them could, an Oread—a type of nymph associated with the sky. Contained in a magic circle created by Gram and Rhys together, an Oread was summoned, and Tuk then began to bind it, but the being was too strong. Thanks to Bucky’s quick use of tThe Wheel of Stars however, the binding took, and again the same thing happened the next day enacting a longer binding.

After weeks and days of mostly clement weather, a storm has began to brew, and when the Oread named Leonis reached out to it, he could tell it was not natural. You appear to be heading directly into Umberlee’s Asshole as you sail towards a wave big enough to blot out the sky in its height. The wind rages, and underneath the enormous wave, a shadow of a scale you could scarcely fathom passes. It appears the storm has come.