Unexpected Guests

Modokus

Monana

Ena

Minty Pineapple

Leora

The session began in a dream. Ena, Modokus, and Eero, three strangers who had never met one another before all shared a dream one night. The three of them, obscured by dreamlike mist, all found themselves on the threshold of a forest, watching the moon and the flying city of Luracia in the sky come slowly closer together. Eero watched the sky, while Modokus and Ena tried to get a good look at one another.

Modokus noticed the ground was covered in ants that were all uniformly gathering towards the woods. A moment later, he felt a rhythmic vibration in the earth, and an eerie song playing in a 3/4 beat, in the air that seemed to be calling the ants. Eero stayed behind as Modokus and Ena followed the ants into the woods.

As they came closer, they saw a dull purple glow deep in the woods that seemed to be the source of the song. Eero picked up a handful of ants and found they were all winged. Eero stayed far away from the light, but Modokus and Ena approached, finding an octahedral gem, floating at chest level was the source of the song. On the ground, from their side they saw ants piling to try to reach the crystal, but on the other side, from deeper in the woods, spiders were coming and doing the same.

Modokus began clearing the insects to protect the crystal, but they began to come in too quickly.

Above in the sky, the flying city of Luracia began to overlap the moon, and the moment the city blocked the moon out, they and all the stars went dark. In the dull light of the crystal, they could finally see each other clearly, though Eero was too far for the others to see him. Modokus finally reached for the crystal to keep it away from the bugs, but the moment he touched it, the dream ended.

At three different spots across the local lands of the city of Pavone, all three dreamers awoke. Modokus packed his things from his camp east of the city and headed towards the city proper, curious about his dream but not worried. Ena did the same on the south side of the city, but moved with a purpose to find the other dreamers. Eero, already inside the city, climbed out of his homemade hammock he set up in an alley, then prayed and meditated for guidance before looking into the sky to see the flying city of Luracia descending right on schedule to arrive to trade with the city.

Up in the clouds, amidst the wonders of Luracia, Barron Edric woke in the morning, ready to depart and begin his journey on the ground. After reading a note from his sister wishing him luck as she had business to attend to before he woke, he stopped for a spot of tea to wait for the city to arrive.

To the south of the city, Leora and Monana, with their cart and mule, made their way towards the city proper. As they came close they saw Minty Pineapple approach the road. Monana waved and Minty waved back, but when Leora spoke, Minty stiffly walked away. The three of them reached the gate, which had a long line of carts being searched before being allowed to enter the city. All were asked why they were at Pavone, and they were asked to show their weapons and have their packs and cart searched before being allowed in.

At the east gate, Modokus received a similar search before he made his way in. Ena came in via the south gate, and was spotted by Monana as she began moving stealthily through the city. Ena found Modokus in one of the main squares and approached him. At this time Eero also found them and joined up to ‘discuss’ the dream. Monana and Leora came along, curious as to why Ena was moving so strangely around the city.

The three of them confirmed they all had the same dream, and together, attempted to communicate, despite Modokus being under a vow of silence, and Eero having a speech impediment, they used sign language to speak, much to Ena’s confusion and Monana’s curiosity.

At this time, a loud echoing sound rang out in the sky as the city of Luracia launched its teleportation pad down to the city square of Pavone, officially making contact between the two cities possible.

Edric, informed by the newscaster projected onto the waterfall of the main plaza that the city mad made contact, set off to the teleportation square, priority class, of course. There he met with Lysander of House Brantley, a red mage of the city watch and second in line to the Brantley family inheritance. They exchanged greetings and pleasantries and Lysander wished Edric well. Edric asked Lysander to look in on his sister Lydia every now and then, to which Lysander agreed.

Edric stepped through the teleporter into the market square and headed to a tavern for tea.

The dreamer group ducked inside the same tavern to speak more privately and to have a table to write their communication. Minty, Monana and Leora followed. The dreamers all confirmed they had the same dream and Eero told the others he was here looking for an oracle to help him track down his family who had fled from his homeland after a military coup had targeted them. Modokus admitted he was a mercenary for hire, and Ena simply said she was in town for personal reasons.

It was at this time that Modokus noticed the tea on Edric’s table was vibrating to the same rhythm as the song in the dream. Modokus pointed this out to Eero, who spotted it as well. Soon, the rumbling in the ground became stronger until everyone noticed it. Everyone exited the tavern to try to see what was happening, and all of the sudden the ground shook violently four times, and a portion of the square collapsed, and out of the hole, several bipedal, ant-like creatures, standing 7 feet tall emerged from the hole.

Minty Pineapple got the first attack on the creatures who began to retaliate. Green winged ants fired bows and tan non-winged ants used their spears to attack. Leora and Monana immediately recognized these creatures and Thri-kreen. Everyone fought bravely, assisting the outnumbered guards, with Modokus finishing off 4 of the 10 intruders with his powerful martial arts skills. Eero teleported around to give advantage to his allies. Minty pineapple helped heal and shoot down the archer Thei-kreen. Barron Edric used his explosive bugs, and Ena picked off the stragglers with her crossbow.

But behind them, a hulking ant-like form with only two arms emerged, standing 10 feet tall. Its psionic gaze confused many of the fighters around it as it began to fight. Eero was knocked unconscious, but Leora, inspired by Monana’s heroism spell, brought him back up. The fight was going to be close, when reinforcements from Luracia teleported in and hit the beast with a volley from their arcane firearms. Lysander moved in to help but was immediately disarmed by a poorly placed attack on the beast’s hard carapace.

It was Leora who finally defeated the beast with a sword directly into its mouth.

Lysander left to ensure the other Luracians in the city were safe while the riflemen surrounded the hole the Thri-kreen had come out of. Leora and Monana healed one of the two guards who had gone down, but the other was already dead. Edric cast Tenser’s floating disk to allow the injured guard to easily transport the body of his deceased friend. The captain of the guards thanked the group and told them that they were entitled to compensation. Edric asked who the local noble was, and the guard informed him it was House Faust.

Everyone met up and exchanged information. Monana and Leora said that Thri-kreen are scavengers and an attack like this was uncommon. They also said a similar attack had taken place in their own homeland of Ornatir to the south, where a princess was attacked by a group of Thri-kreen hopping out of the ground. An attack that only Leora, the princess, and the Princess’ druid councilor, survived.

Edric deduced that even if the Thri-kreen could sense magic, earth prevents such an ability working over long distances, meaning they weren’t called by the magical presence of the teleporter pad. Monana realized that the spiders in the dream could be a reference to the underground drow faction known as The Webweavers, who use a spider as their symbol, and some elf magic, including drow magic, has to be sung, like the haunting melody in the dream.

Lysander returned with the other nobles, all unharmed, and got them back to the teleporter. He asked if Edric wanted to come back, but Edric said he would stay. Eero said it would be a good idea to rest and resupply so everyone could heal.

The group had suggested 4 possible courses of action to follow:

* Meet with House Faust to get compensation and possibly information.
* Meet with Lysander and the captain of the Pavone city watch to gather more information on the attack and the situation in the city.
* Return to Luracia to conduct research and possibly gather resources.
* Enter the hole the Thri-kreen emerged from, and see what secrets it may be hiding.

## Loot:

10 Shortbows, 100 bone arrows, 10 spears

Umber Hulk Carapace