Marbles

"**Marbles**" is the 76th session of the Legend of the Leaves campaign.

It took place in the Demonic Eruptions questline of Arc 5: Dead Souls Rising.

## Synopsis

The Leaves make their way to the cloud giant castle at the coast near Luskan. They find out, however, that they are not the only ones recruited by the cloud giants to deal with the eruption of Mount Hotenow.

# Story Development

## Part 1

Leofrick greets the party after their long rest in the inn. He tells them that his guards are instructed to follow their orders and instructions. Darius tells him to prepare holy water for the defense against Orcus' army.

As they make their way out of Luskan, they are intercepted by Carac McKinnon, a 44-year-old male human musician, who wants to become their official singer and storyteller. Malcer performs a mock ritual, and they move on. He, however, asks them if this means that he has now replaced Quill as the official musician of the Leaves. They come to find out that Quill is chosen to perform during the ceremony in Waterdeep, in honor of a monarch from Kara-Tur.

The Leaves proceed to the beach and come across Nemesh and his Black Lotus members fighting an aboleth at the shore. When the party arrives, the aberration is already slain by the Black Lotus and Nemesh teases the Leaves (especially Raijin) about being the "old-guard" and destroying everything they come across.

Nemesh decides to leave his party to protect the old lady's house at the shore and proceeds to travel along with the leaves to the coast, where two cloud giants are waiting. He approaches them. They whisper something into his ear, and he is teleported away.

The Leaves do the same and let the teleportation magic teleport them away onto the invisible flying giant's castle. Except Darius, who resists being taken away by the spell.

## Part 2

Malcer, Lorilon, Raijin and Xolotacl arrive at the giant's castle, flying some 6 miles (ca. 10 km) above the Sword Coast.

Darius tries to convince the giants at the shore that he has to go with the rest of his group. The giants say that they are not deciding who is teleported and when, and that he had his chance and resisted. From the ocean emerges a triton warrior who introduces himself as Jhindis Uhmalvath. He introduces himself first to Darius and then to the giants, who teleport him away.

Jhindis materializes next to the Leaves at the castle, and together they make their way to the castle yard. There they see Nemesh and Angmar Boulderdown, a 29-year-old female human fighter, waiting for instructions.

Meanwhile, Darius spots an island far out on the see materializing out of thin air. He summons his pegasus and makes his way towards the island, only to be caught in its force field and being dragged towards it. He hears Gambino's prerecorded message in his head: "Welcome travelers to our little island. Don't worry, your life will be well-spend here. Thank you for flying with us."

As the rest of the party waits for Helix to explain the mission to them, Angmar approaches the party and introduces herself to them. She starts to show off her knowledge about classes and subclasses and demonstrates her crimson right weapon to them. This catches Lorilon's attention, and he starts to quiz her about her blood hunter powers. She explains that Kronin was her teacher for three years.

Xolotacl interrupts their conversation by offering to pass time by playing football. Malcer takes out a bag of marbles. Lorilon and Malcer start passing the time by playing with them in the dirt.

Darius, paralyzed and sucked towards the island, spots a flying ship which vaguely fits the description of the ship of the pirate captain Terra, he has been told about by the other Leave members. A grappling hook fired towards Darius manages to catch him and his pegasus, and he is dragged on board.

Terra approaches him, at least that's what Darius concludes by her description, and starts telling him about the island and how everything went downhill once she traveled with the Leaves to it five years earlier. She recalls rumors of her sister Vixie Wildsea dying by the hand of a storm giant, and of her being raped before her death by a tiefling.

She seems delusional and frustrated while talking, and Darius promises her to let the Leaves know that she asked for help in dealing with the island and potentialy saving her sister.

Helix arrives with Hondruk Thunderslash, a 60-year-old male dwarf, at his side. Helix welcomes the adventurers and introduces Hondruk as their tactician in charge, who will brief them on their mission.

The party asks Helix, before he leaves, to send a message to Darius and let him know that they are trying to teleport him. Helix is given Darius' arm, and he contacts him by a sending spell. Darius then lets the teleportation spell teleport him to the castle.

## Part 3

Helix leaves the group with Hondruk, who interviews them briefly about their names and the potential testament they want to leave behind in case of death during the mission. Lorilon tells him that the earnings should go to the Starting Point Leilon Tavern. Darius wants his share to be divided between the surviving party members in case of his death. Xolotacl mentions the names Arahna von Sventh, Varava of the Yautja Clan and Bambara Grimmgrin in his testament, since they are the only names he knows on this continent. Raijin leaves everything to Naeric.

While talking to Malcer, he tells Hondruk that his name is Omihi Kakurenbo. Darius jumps in and says, "That's not your real name". Hondruk is suspicious, but Malcer convinces Hindruk that this is an inside joke between them two. He then tells Hondruk that he leaves everything to the desert.

Hondruk explains the mission to the group in bureaucratic pointers:

1. The buried fire giants beneath Gauntlgrym have awakened after more than 2,000 years
2. Gauntlgrym is probably lost and taken over by the fire giants, who seek revenge for the 2 millennia they were banished from the outside world
3. The Helios Cloud Giant Monarchy is eager to protect the Sword Coast from this fiery revenge
4. A team of medium-sized special operators (called Marbles) has been recruited to infiltrate the volcano
5. The goal of the Marbles is to find the source of the fire giants' power and destroy it
6. The mission will be rewarded by a legendary magic item or its equivalent in gold

Once briefed on their mission, Hondruk asks the group members what they need. Lorilon and Darius get their limbs attached back onto their bodies, while Raijin and Malcer are equipped with items provided by the cloud giants. Xolotacl's only request is combat.

After regrouping at the courtyard of the fort once again to await the start of the mission, Xolotacl speaks to the cloud giant workers. He finds out that fighting the fire giants has, like always, just to do with "the quest for power".

Darius is approached by Jhindis, who asks him why Malcer is lying to their employers. Darius tells him that he probably has his reasons. Jhindis is taken away by Darius' lack of interpersonal skills while they talk, which in his mind is a sign of a true warrior.

Malcer reads Hndruk's lips while he talks to the cloud giant librarian, who shares with him that "Omihi chose the hero's feast and the regeneration spells scrolls". Hondruk then informs her that he always degraded healers in his past and mentions the name "Malcer" while looking towards Malcer.

Raijin talks to Nemesh, who is trying to attune to a ring he got from the giants. After a few minutes of back and forth about the black and the white lotus, Nemesh tells Raijin to never touch him again.

Lorilon is talking to Angmar about Kronin. She informs him that she realized how mutagens are just placebos in the heads of blood hunters, and that she experimented on Kronin by changing up his mutagens and still producing the effects he desired. Lorilon tells her that he pities her, which confuses her immensely.

When asked why, Lorilon informs her that she knows little about being a blood hunter. She refutes that claim by sharing with him that she studied for years the knowledge. She then proceeds to tell him that the blood hunter Order only despise Kronin for introducing blood sport into the world, and that without him, blood sport would cease to exist. Their conversation is interrupted by Xolotacl, who wants to congratulate Angmar for her football skills earlier.

## Part 4

Hondruk summons everybody to a table to read and sign the prepared contracts for the mission. Darius notices that the common and giant clauses are not translated properly and demands an explanation. Hondruk tells him that the contract is standard and that it is binding if they sign it. They are not forced to it if they don't want to.

Darius reluctantly agrees and everybody signs the contract.

All doors and windows then shut down and Hondruk blows into his whistle, announcing the practical part of the interview process. An adult red dragon appears and attacks the group.

They manage to fight him off and Raijin delivers the final blow with a shuriken to the monster's eye. The group is given a supreme healing potion and a Potion of Aether each as the castle starts to fly with an enormous speed towards the volcano.

# Featured Characters

## Leaves

* Lorilon Duskwalker
* Darius Lonewalker
* Malcer Lynk Hornraven
* Bambara Grimmgrin
* Raijin Shou Ho
* Xolotacl

## New

* Carac McKinnon
* Jhindis Uhmalvath
* Angmar Boulderdown
* Hondruk Thunderslash

## Returning

* Torrent Nemesh
* Leofrick Mornigfall
* Terra Wildsea
* Gambino Marino
* Helix Cloudeater

## Mentioned

* Vixie Wildsea
* Kronin
* Arahna von Sventh
* Varava of the Yautja Clan
* Bambara Grimmgrin
* Omihi Kakurenbo
* Naeric

# Quotes

## Non-Player Characters

* Jhindis Uhmalvath (razmišlja gledajući Dariusa kako ga ne gleda dok priča s njim): "Nikoga nikad nisam poštovao više u životu nego ovog čovjeka."