Dadnapped

*Hired by*: The Transcendite

*Mission Request*: Recover the remaining Chitin armor pieces and find The Transcendite's body

*Rewards/Loot*:

*Discovered Places*: Port Alulim, Druid Cult Cave

*Caravan Allies*: Gromlo (antiquarian), Caliban (cook), "Bob" (alarm gnome)

*Monsters Encountered*: Rhemoraze, Shambling Mound

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## Summary

We resumed the party's quest for the Right Gauntlet of the Transcendite on their way to Shrinegarden, which was/is a small, prosperous oasis town nestled amidst a cluster of temples. There, the party encountered Eloise--a friend of Eira's--who ran a tscoschke store and offered the party rooms for the night for the night and stables for the caravan. While in Shrinegarden, the party, led by Eira, visited the town's eponymous Central Shrine, where the Diasporan Gods are the primary objects of worship. Navigant Rinnet Soong, Eira's erstwhile mentor, greated the party with her kind and wholesome hugs. Navigant Rinnet wished the party well, and sent them on their way.

The party was also confronted with a rushing stampede of pangolins, themselves fleeing a young remharoz. Thanks to quick thinking from the likes of Nyx and Eira, the dangers of each of the pangolins and remharoz were largely avoided.

The party's arrival in Port Alulim came under a dark cloud, made darker by Eira's personal connection to the place. The town had been sacked and put to the flame in recent days. Upon investigation, the party learned that the attack had come early in the morning. Some of the resistors, including Eira's estranged father, were taken prisoner, with the aggressors last seen travelling west. Cedric and the Listener found patches of thorned vines encircling the houses of the town. To Cedric, this type of horror called to mind two salient memories: his term of imprisonment and torture at the hands of his parents, and (more recently) the attack on the hospital when the party first met that traitorous scum, Burke.

Resolving to return the prisoners to their loved ones and to extract revenge from the perpetrators of this savagery. In their travels west from Port Alulim, the party met Orun, the builder of the so-called Ten Thousand temples (more likely 600+ temples; nonetheless impressive). He appeared completely mad, and spoke only in insanities. Nevertheless, he gestured at the Breastplate of the Transcendite and the tracks from Port Alulim's attackers, confirming that the object of the party's quest was in the apparent control of the perpetrators of the massacre at Port Alulim.

Following the tracks, the party found a Qhamuni temple built into a cliff-face, halfway between the ledge above and the ocean below. With the aid of Nyx and her ability to climb without external aids, the party were not only able to rappel down to the opening, but knew that the entrance area hosted two clusters of thorny vines, moving as if they were creatures, with people trapped within.

Using stealth and surprise, the party launched their assault on the temple opening, with Nyx banishing the people within the vines before the party tore the masses to pieces.

Before closing this episode, the party heard a voice from the vines blocking the entrance to the rest of the temple. That voice belonged to an acquaintence of the party: Chund, who is a Firbold tattooist.