07/07/2020 - Centipede savagery, water-hole wanderings and druidic discussions

## TL:DR

* Got attacked by some centipede things whilst trying and failing to find Fredericko’s home
* Met some leopards at a watering-hole who told us that Fredericko had buggered off to the other side of the island and could probably turn invisible.
* Met some druids who confirmed that as Ves  and Brena had long suspected Fredericko was a little shit who couldn’t be trusted. The druids also explained that long ago some Iysgarthian experiments had made the island go cold, that some pirates now used the island as a base, and that Fredericko (who worked for the pirates) seemed to spend his time searching for something (the same artefact the group were interested in?) across the island.
* The druids also mentioned that Fredericko had allegedly found (and stolen from?) a Giant settlement during one of his expeditions across the island, which may explain why he had runic abilities. The Giants may be a good place to start in the groups search for the ancient artefact.

## Skittery noises

Ignoring the warnings of Ves  and Brena, the group pushed on towards the alleged location of Fredericko’s home, with a vague plan to use the book Fredericko was so interested in as leverage/bait to find out more information about the island. As they trudged through the snow, wolf-Ves  suddenly realised that the area they were in was unnaturally silent. Rocky  and Pierce also heard a very faint skittering noise, as if hundreds of critters were scampering about somewhere. However, seeing no danger, Narko  took a cautious five steps forward, followed by another. Wolf-Ves  tentatively followed, scooting nervously under Narko’s  legs (giving Brena, who was still on her back, an unfortunately close-up view of Narko’s  nether regions). Still seeing no obvious danger, and impatient with the tentative progress, Rocky  marched boldly forward.

## Centipede savagery

Suddenly, with a crack, a huge portion of ice beneath Narko , Ves  and Rocky  gave way, sending all three (plus Brena) tumbling 20 ft down into a rocky cavern. As Pierce and Caitlin rushed to the edge of the collapse, those at the bottom realised that there was some sort of large centipede curled up in the centre of the cavern. The centipede appeared to be sleeping, but as everyone backed away it slowly reared its ugly maw and let out a horrific screech. Wolf-Ves  immediately darted in for a bite-claw combo attack, but failed to pierce its scaly exterior. As Caitlin shot at it expertly from above, Narko  retreated backward whilst invoking several runes, before charging towards it at great speed. His rune-imbued charge-attack struck mightily, but Narko  recoiled in pain as a burst of fire emanated from the centipede, badly burning his arms. The centipede then let out another ear-splitting screech, which was this time answered by another much louder roar from another tunnel. Pierce decided to try and viciously mock the creature into retreat, but his sass regarding the centipede’s lack of opposable thumbs didn’t seem to bother it. Rocky  then unleashed a stream of dissonant whispers that sent the centipede scuttling away in fear towards the louder roar, before inspiring Narko  by telling him to be the “horse they all needed him to be”. Realising that the other roar signified the imminent appearance of a larger centipede, Ves  transformed back into her half-elf form and began moulding the earth into some steps out of the cavern. As Caitlin sent several more shots at the retreating baby centipede, almost completely decimating it, Narko  stepped forward to see the gargantuan form of “mumma-centipede” come charging around the corner. Shouting at the others to get out, Narko  sent two arrows thudding towards the mumma-pede whilst Brena hit it with a firebolt. As the decimated baby centipede burrowed to safety, the mumma-pede dove into the tunnel wall and suddenly burst out directly in front of Narko . Pierce immediately fired a ray of frost, but it bounced harmlessly off the mumma-pedes exoskeleton. Seeing Narko  once again in imminent danger, Rocky  conjured a phantasmal image of a watery insect swatter which terrified the mumma-pede into a hasty retreat. As Narko  struck out at the departing centipede, once again getting severely burned for his efforts, the others rushed over to help Ves  finish the steps. Eventually, with the help of Pierce, Caitlin and Leo , everyone managed to get themselves up the steps and out of the centipede lair.

## To the crag

As Ves , Brena and Leo  healed Narko’s  burns, discussion turned to whether Fredericko had intended for them to fall into this trap. Ves  and Brena were strongly of the opinion that he had, but Narko  pointed out that they had only ended up in the centipede (now identified as a Remorhaz) lair because the group had declined to follow Fredericko. Perhaps if they’d stayed with him he would have led them a safer route. Again impatient with the chatter, Rocky  suggested that as they were so close to the crag they might as well try and find him. If he turned out to be a dick they could just kill him or run away. Pierce firmly agreed with the words of the “wise leader”, so with Ves  and Brena looking distinctly uncomfortable, the group continued towards the crag where Fredericko’s home supposedly lay.

As they approached the crag, they came across a small nook in which was a beautiful watering-hole surrounded by trees, yellow flowers and several snow leopards, but no sign of Fredericko’s house. With an irritated sigh, Brena exclaimed that she was growing to hate the island. Rocky  sassily retorted that she needed to stop being stressy and asked Narko  if she could have one of his joints to calm down. Brena did not appreciate Rocky’s  attitude and reminded him that she was only trying to keep the group safe (and didn’t smoke on the job!).

## Leopard liaising

Seeing no sign of Fredericko or his house, Leo  and Ves  decided to try and ask the snow leopards if they knew anything. Using his natural Firbolg ability for communing with nature, Leo  asked the leopards if they’d seen a black and white bird and if so whether they could lead them to it? The leopard cocked its head, but offered no further insight. Ves  then began stealthily walking towards the nearest leopard, needing to get within touching distance to initiate her speak-with-beast ability. As she got the nearer, the leopard let out a mild growl of nervous tension, so Rocky  created the illusion of a ball of string in an attempt to distract it. The leopard was clearly intrigued by the illusion, and as Rocky  began to move the ball around it began to pounce and chase it. This allowed Ves  to dart in and touch it, immediately telling the leopard not to be alarmed before asking about Fredericko. The leopard seemed relatively unperturbed by Ves’s  questions and replied that Fredericko had been here a few hours earlier, but had begun heading in the direction of the glacier town (i.e. the opposite direction to the one he had said his house was) before suddenly vanishing. Realising that this description meant Fredericko could have turned invisible, Pierce immediately began slashing at the air randomly, whist Narko  angrily shouted out in Giant to ask if Fredericko was there. Neither got any response and a somewhat admonished looking Narko  admitted that perhaps Fredericko was dodgy and they should head back towards the glacier town. Exasperated, Ves  and Brena were like “yeah you don’t say, what a shame no one said this 5 hours ago…”, and then suggested that perhaps they should camp at the safety of the water hole for the night before heading to the glacier town tomorrow.

## Trap time

With the leopard confirming that it was fine for them to stay the night, Brena turned her attention to the water hole, realising with a detect magic spell that the yellow flowers gave some sort of cold resistance. As most of the group affixed the flowers to their hair or clothes, Narko  decided that the best way to get the flowers benefit was to smoke it, which filled his inside with a pleasant warm fuzzy feeling. By way of apology for his early sass, Rocky  offered Brena his flower, explaining that his goliath blood made him more or less immune to the cold anyway. After a while resting, several wholly mammoths plodded into the watering hole and nested themselves up for the night. As Rocky  called out to ask the mammoths if they know Bayul, Ves  did some chill nature communing and Brena did some alchemy. However, just as everyone was bedding down for the night, Narko  noticed that the flap of the bag of holding was ajar. Immediately furious, he swung his glaive into the air around him, looking for an invisible assailant. Seeing this, Pierce inquired what was going on, and Narko  explained that he thought Fredericko might have tried to steal from the bag of holding, though thankfully didn’t appear to have taken anything. He then suggested that perhaps they could lay a trap to see if Fredericko was still hanging around invisible. Pierce was super keen for the trap-plan, so Narko  trotted over to the tent in which Ves , Brena and Rocky  were spooning to work out a plan.

It was agreed that Narko  and Leo  would pretend to sleep in the open, with the bag of holding in an obvious position. Pierce and Rocky  would turn invisible nearby, whilst the others would subtly watch from the tent, ready for any movement of the bag. As Caitlin watched, she noticed that the grass around the tent showed some very vague signs of disturbance. However, after an hour there was no movement of the bag, and Leo’s  detect magic showed nothing, so the group decided Fredericko must have left. Pierce agreed to take watch, with Brena giving him a see-invisibility potion she had knocked up just in case Fredericko came back.

## Owl(and)bear

The following morning the group set off towards the glacier. After several hours of travel, two figures in the shape of a bear and an owl appeared out of the blue (white).  As the bear plodded hesitantly forward, Narko  raised a hand in tentative greeting. Seeing this, the owl transformed into a somewhat confused looking human girl who asked who the group were and what they were doing? Ves  explained that they were from an archaeology guild and were trying to better understand the workings of the strange island, and having met a very suspicious penguin were a tad confused. The girl scowled angrily at the mention of the penguin, then introduced herself as Daeha and her father (the bear) as Daeron. Daeha explained to the group that she and her father were part of an ancient druid tribe who had lived on the island for centuries. Uninvited visitors were almost unheard of, so she was very surprised to see the group. She then asked if the group would come with her back to their village so they could talk more in safety. Having got significantly more positive vibes off Daeha than Fredericko, Ves  and Brena signalled that they thought this was a good plan, so the group agreed.

As they walked (with Ves  turning into a black bear to accompany Daeron), Leo  asked what Daeha knew of Fredericko. Looking angry she described how Fredericko was extremely dodgy, a liar by nature, and lived in the tower across the glacier. She continued to explain that Fredericko had arrived on the island with some pirates. Though whilst the pirates themselves rarely stayed long, presumably always going off to do pirate shenanigans, Fredericko had set up permanent base here and spent his time investigating the island, clearly fascinated by it.  Brena then asked Daeha how easy it was to leave the island? Strangely, this question seemed to cause Daeha’s eyes to glaze over and she replied in a slightly strained voice that they could not leave.

## Fredericko has an elephant now

At this point, Daeron suddenly transformed out of bear form and whispered at everyone to get down quick. This proved particularly challenging for the 8ft 11” centaur, who had to ungracefully fall over sideways to get earth-bound. Gesturing towards the shoreline below, Daeron pointed out a strange procession of creatures. Six well-armed fur-coated humanoids, each with a blue patch on the shoulder, marched in front of a large and worryingly undead looking elephant being ridden by Fredericko. These creatures were heading back towards where the group had been yesterday, so everyone surmised they were probably a hunting party being sent to look for them.

## Cavern conversations

With a new sense of urgency, Daeha led the group towards her village. After wandering through another beautiful watering hole (complete with rockfall, goat, waterfalls, elk and more leopards) they arrived at a series of igloos. One of these igloos led down into a series of tunnels which eventually led to a larger cavern. As they walked, Ves  asked Daeha if all of her tribe were druids and whether the island had always been so cold? Daeha replied that they were all druids, but that the island hadn’t always been cold, so the tribe had a somewhat confusing heritage. Pierce asked how long it had been cold for, but Daeha shrugged, and gesturing towards an elderly woman and a bulky man in the corner, said that they’d need to speak to someone more senior.

Seeing the group approach, the bulky man promptly walked out of the room, but the older woman curiously asked Daeha who she had brought into their home. After Ves  and Brena introduced the group, the old woman introduced herself as Agatha and asked how she could be of assistance. Narko  explained that they were here to investigate rumour of a powerful artefact found in some old Iysgarthian texts. Looking intrigued, Agatha explained that Iysgarth had come to the island several centuries ago, spent a while digging around the strange black rocks that the group had been near earlier, then suddenly left with little warning, after which the island started to get colder. Narko  asked if Iysgarth had used local people for any experiments as the book had hinted, but Agatha didn’t think this was true.

Discussion then turned to how the Pirates fitted into the story. Agatha described how after Iysgarth left, strange mists enveloped the island. Then, a few decades ago, the pirates arrived and set up base here, presumably because the mists made it a good hideout. Shortly after the pirates first arrived, a group of strangers appeared and asked the tribe to work with them. Apparently the tribe elders at the time agreed and since then the tribe had acted as stewards for guests who got invited to the island (presumably by the pirates) for rest and relaxation.

## Giant tales

Hearing this, Narko  asked if the tribe actually liked working for the pirates? This question seemed to have a strange effect on Agatha. Her eyes glazed over and she seemed to just not hear the question. Recognising that this was the same reaction Daeha had had to her question earlier, Brena asked Agatha whether they could leave the island. Again, her eyes glazed over and she didn’t seem to register the question. Leo  then inquired as to how Fredericko fit into the situation. Agatha explained that Fredericko seemed different to the pirates, he behaved as if he was searching for something – perhaps the same artefact that the group were looking for. Narko  asked if Agatha had any idea how Fredericko had learned to understand and invoke runes. She said that she was pretty sure he couldn’t do it naturally. A while ago, Fredericko had led an expedition deep into the island (presumably as part of his search) and had allegedly come across a settlement of Giants. It seemed likely that the Giants had attacked and chased off Fredericko and his men, but not before Fredericko had managed to steal some of the giant’s artefacts and books. Narko  then asked if she thought this Giant settlement could be a good place for them to start their search for the artefact. Agatha replied that it probably would, as it seemed likely that Fredericko had failed to fully penetrate the Giant’s settlement when he ventured there.

## Sad stories

The conversation then turned to the general oddities of the island, specifically the strange rage-inducing aura. At mention of the aura Daeha and Daeron looked very sad. Agatha explained that Daeha’s mother had been the first (and thankfully only) member of their tribe to be killed by the aura, adding that the bulky man who had left suddenly was the unfortunate person to have killed her. Until about two years ago the night sky lights had been a thing of beauty, but then suddenly they started appearing red and evil. The occurrence of the evil aura also seemed to correspond with the island’s environment getting colder and harsher, with most of the water-hole oases receding and retreating.

## Chicken and fish

Exclaiming her fascination for the tribe’s histories, Brena asked Agatha if she would like her to scribe and record their stories? As Agatha keenly replied that she would, a portly bold man named Eddin skipped flamboyantly into the room holding a large barrel of beer. Seeing the beer, Rocky , who had been sent into a sleepy stupor by all the serious talk, perked up excitedly. Turning to Agatha, Rocky  introduced himself and explained that he hadn’t been listening as he was thinking about chicken and fish. With a smile, Agatha praised the coolness of Rocky’s  name, adding that if the group visited the Giants, they would like the name very much! With that, the group then began to enjoy a time of drink and food with their new druid friends, now with a slightly better understanding of what was going on across the island and a possible lead on the artefact they sought…