On the Edge of Your Sleet

## Synopsis

In Season 2, Chapter 36: On the Edge of Your Sleet, we examined the body we pulled ashore and found a curious creature of possible fey ancestry – lithe features and flowers in its hair that gave us the impression it had a strong connection to nature and was perhaps linked the sagging caverns specifically.

Supporting this theory was a deep, hollow groan that filled the air around us shortly after delivering the killing blow – a foreboding enough sound that we dipped into our precious reserves to try out the gibbering mouther dregs for the first time. A resurrection was successful, but the creature immediately fled and we had little to show for our troubles – so we decided to press our luck and venture deeper into the tunnels.

The next room contained a dazzling array of plant life but its beauty was tainted by an overwhelming stench of rot and death permeating throughout the chamber, which combined with the noises from earlier led us to believe we were in the presence of a corpse flower; a hulking bulbous plant that caused Erland's danger sense to overpower his sense of hunger – and we knew it was time to get out, fast.

Swiping a few exotic flowers before we fled, we lingered just long enough for Safira to catch a smack on her back from an enormous vegetal limb – the only one we cared to absorb as we vacated the sagging caverns.  Sprinting back to the spot where we'd anchored our rope, we dodged stirges and assassin vines before ascending in haste… leaving behind the last site of Emmitt Nesbit's contracts with mixed results.

From there we enjoyed an calm stretch down toward the water where the ocean seemed to beckon us forth toward the isthmus – but clouds were gathering overhead and it wouldn’t be long before we felt raindrops to pair with a misty sea breeze, turning things from temperate to brisk in a hurry.

An avian messenger potentially provided by Scooter the Astute warned us of pebbleback pincer crabs camouflaged along the beach – and with the bird's guidance they were no trouble at all to avoid, which was good because we were about to stumble upon trouble aplenty further down the shore.

From a distance we saw some kind of cabin lookout about to be besieged by a group of people rowing their way through the storm – and with the look of malice about them we felt it prudent to intervene.  We figured that whoever lived in this precariously perched dwelling might have valuable information about the area – but beyond that, we simply had no love lost for the bandits of the northeast peninsula who'd already caused us more than our fair share of strife.

A bit of thaumaturgy caught the occupant's attention before the bandits breached the exterior, but the price we paid was giving away our own position – so a fight broke out immediately without the element of surprise.  When things began, we felt we'd carved out a nice bit of cover behind a large rock – but an enemy mage conjured a storm of ice and sleet that punished us for grouping up so tightly.

The obscured area wasn't directly harmful to us, but it gave the bandits ample time to bolster their numbers and flank us from several sides.  Occasionally popping our heads out seemed like a reasonable strategy for a while, yet our foes were clever enough to wait patiently for an opportune time to strike – a strategy that came at Orba's expense when she dared to exit the summoned storm.

The popping sounds of several magic missiles greeted her in the span of mere seconds – and even her retaliatory magic wasn't enough to keep her from crumpling to the ground at our feet.  With things looking bleak, we knew we needed to start thinning their ranks rather than spread the hurt around and we rushed to Orba's aid.

## Trivia

* Natural one count: five natural ones were rolled in this Chapter. 1 by John, and 2 each by Jordan and Matt.