Session 16 Recap

* Heart Grove (A sacred grove, home of Hippa and Kurama the Guardian Spirit)
* The Fracture (A scorched wasteland dominated by a massive, deep fissure)

Desire Downs (Small hamlet. Home of the a growing cult dedicated to romantic love)

### NPCs:

* Hippa (Guardian Druid, uses crows as familiars)
* (Earl Castigan's Brother) (Leader of a Mercenary Company willing to go to do anything if their price is met)
* Kurama (Immense, Tortoise-like Nature Spirit)

**Previously...**

## And Now....

Tivram examines the elven sword collected from the bodies. According to zir, it’s part of a set of swords made as an offering to ‘light and truth’. It’s rumored to be useful as an elemental magical focus, but the knowledge of how has been lost. There are rumours of an ancient codex which instructs in their correct usage, but it, too, has been lost, and if any copies are extant, their location is unknown.

Hippa's Crows, injured in the skirmish with the mercenaries, are healed. One of the crows has a ring in its beak. The Sigil resembles that of House Castigan, but while it bears the traditional marks for ‘Loyalty and Chastity', the marking for 'Honour' is absent.

Dandy had found a rough map on one of the mercenaries. It depicts directions from The Fracture from a small hamlet just Eastward of it, and how to find the Grove from the Fracture. Hippa's main line of defense of the Heart Grove has been using her powers, amplified by Kurama, to twist the paths through the forest, making it impossible for the mercenaries to reach. She fears that this map means that these defenses are beginning to fail. Dandy puts the map in the center of the clearing under a rock. No one notices this and when it is discovered this causes confusion.

Arik realises the Temple of his New Faith, Desire Downs, is close to the unnamed town on the map.

Gar sleeps on the Turtle, and while sleeping has vivid nightmares. Dandy goes to investigate and finds Gar has lightly scaled skin. She pokes and experiments with the skin, but it returns to normal when Gar wakes.

They set off the next morning and, after a day of travel, they get a little lost. They double back north figuring they’ll find either the fracture or the river. They find a part of the forest when the ground is littered with mini-fractures. Inside one of these they find ancient bones of a dragon-like creature. It has the size and general appearance of a dragon, but with bizarre human features. They take samples. Goldie senses Bad magic nearby and Gar senses Dragon-kin, but decide to pitch camp for the night, rather than become more lost blundering around in the darkness.

During the night, Gar has nightmares once again. He is found again with dragon-like features but this time, when woken, actually becomes a Dragon-hybrid. There is some confusion, but since Arik actually witnessed the transformation occur, they know it’s Gar. They also discover that, in this form, Gar can only speak in the Draconic tongue. Brainstorm for ideas, someone recalls ‘The Saga of Gormlin the Troubled/Gormlin the Grave’.

This was a tale about an Orc, cursed to become a dragonling when angry. According to the tale, his idiot brother was meant to be cursed, but Gormlin took the punishment in his brother's stead. He eventually seeks out the guidance of his wise Aunt\* who tells him how to fix the problem. Unfortunately, there are many versions of this story, with vastly different outcomes (although most felt it ended badly for the character\*\*).

While they debated what was happening, some heard something disturb the woods. Arik magically shone a light into the woods, revealing a patrol of mercenaries attempting an ambush. Following a brief skirmish, the three surviving mercenaries were interrogated.

**Continued in Session 17...**

*10xp*

*(225xp Total)*

(\* - 'Wise Aunt' can mean an actual aunt, but can also be used to refer to any community 'wise woman')

(\*\* - This may not represent historical events - if the tale itself was even based on actual events - as orcish folklore tends, in general, to have a downbeat, fatalistic tone to it.)

### Quote:

*“Oh, Maybe you’re why we smell?!”* (in reference to the Dragon Hybrid they encountered telling them they smelled of Dragon earlier.)