FCG awoke to the lumbering sway of their reptilian transport, as the Kryn Horizonback Tortoise continued its journey through the Brokenveil Marsh. Cylan poked her head into the party’s tent rousing them for breakfast. Enticed by the echo knight’s warm smile, Endrin broke his morning ritual, gathered his spell book, and joined her for a bowl of gruel and pleasant conversation. Eris awoke feeling particularly chilled and weary, and spent the day preparing more of her remedial ointment back in FCG’s own tent. As the rest of the party engaged in the morning’s activity within the tortoise back camp, namely another of Triple J’s eerie seances, Nyx was once again graced by the presence of a white crow. In another failed attempt to harm the creature, the sorceress wound up electrocuting herself instead, as the bird evaded the spell and fled once more.
Triple J and Malcolm noticed the sour look on Nyx’s face as she joined them by the fire. Her wounded pride was not enough to stem the tide of her immense agitation toward her avian admirer, and thus she told her companions of the creature. Curious, Triple J suggested she stand like a scarecrow in an attempt to lure the crow back in so that they might all have a look. FCG gathered within their tent, Eris and Endrin included, and watched patiently as Nyx extended her arms and waited. Sure enough, the white crow returned and perched on Nyx’s shoulder. Rather than striking the bird, Nyx’s headed Triple J’s suggestion and attempted to communicate with it instead. Through a series of yes/no questions answered through pecks, Nyx learned that the bird was following orders to keep an eye on her. Suddenly furious, Nyx grabbed the crow, successfully this time, and crippled the creature with a wave of necrotic energy. As the crow cawed it’s last, the small bird suddenly burst into a puff of cloud, leaving a naked angelic figure in it’s wake.
Startled, the celestial being took flight, beating its ivory wings into the canopy above. Endrin and Triple J pursued with the help of Endrin’s arcane flight, but were unable to match the celestial’s speed. In a last ditch effort to learn something from the winged individual, Triple J sent him a message, inquiring as to who he was, and why he was so damn sexy. The celestial responded, “I am Ellis, Guardian of Raei, and this does not concern you, mortal.” before vanishing into the clouds. Triple J and Endrin eventually returned to the tortoise. No sooner had their feet touched the ground than Xavier appeared behind them. Concerned for the safety of their mission, Xavier laid into Nyx, peppering her with a series of inquiries. The Shadowdancer caught her in a lie and forced the truth out of the ex-Volstrucker through threat of imprisonment. Content with her honesty, and lack of immediate threat, Xavier returned to his duties.
The rest of the afternoon was relatively quiet. Triple J caught up with his father as Xavier was making his rounds. The Shadowdancer’s demeanor towards Triple J somewhat warmer than the night before, Xavier indulged Triple J’s curiosity, answering all manner of questions. Xavier went into moderate detail concerning his humble upbringing and sudden rise to fame and glory, and regaled Triple J with tales of his past. One of Xavier’s more recent stories, a string of mysterious disappearances near Jigow, caught the young bard’s interest in particular. When pressed, Xavier informed Triple J that the results of his brief investigation into the incidents concluded with the discovery of a slough of withered corpses scattered about a long dormant bonfire, violet coals comprising its remnants. Father and son connected the dots, realizing that the cult’s activity was not isolated to a single side of the Ashkeepers and could potentially pose a threat to all of Wildemount. Xavier promised the Kryn would begin investigating, before returning to his rounds.
Later that evening, the festivities around the fire started up once more. Endrin, ever hungry for more Dunamantic knowledge, sought out Vaxxium Olios in his tent. Intrigued by the young gnome’s affinity for magic, Vaxxium taught Endrin a spell from the chronurgy side of Dunamancy. Thankful, Endrin hurried out to go study it. As Endrin departed Vaxxium’s tent, he was stopped by Malcolm who wanted to know if Vaxxium had fallen asleep yet. After Endrin left, Malcolm bided his time waiting as inconspicuously as he could around Vaxxium’s tent. Triple J noticed his new companion behaving strangely and approached. Malcolm complained of the foulness of the swap juice, the only spirit available on the tortoise, and let Triple J in on his plan to steal some finer liquor from Vaxxium, whom the fighter suspected was holding out on them. Recalling similar antics with Conan by his side, Triple J agreed to help.
The pair waited until the camp festivities died down before making their move. Triple J made Malcolm invisible and kept watch while the fighter attempted to enter Vaxxium’s tent. The second Malcolm’s foot crossed the threshold, a trill bell sounded in alarm at the tent’s entrance. Vaxxium awoke from his trance in a start as Conan ducked inside. Three other goblinoid and drow guards hurried over to investigate. Before they could enter the tent, Triple J headed them off and apologized to everyone for drunkenly stumbling across the alarm. Vaxxium and the guards were easily fooled by the bard’s guile, and Vaxxium returned to his trance. Malcolm waited and waited inside the tent all the way up until the final minutes of the invisibility spell’s duration before approaching the semi-conscious Vaxxium. With surprising dexterity, Malcolm slipped his hand beneath the fold of Vaxxium’s robe and pulled out the wizard’s flask. From it’s seemingly endless supply, Malcolm filled his entire water skin with some of the finest Xhorhasian wine, before slipping out of the tent without a trace. Elated with his success, Malcolm shared the wine with his newfound companions. FCG drank and made merry, nourishing their budding friendship with Malcolm.
The morning brought more of the same as the tortoise continued through the dense morass. Partway through the afternoon, a drow, clad in the armor of the dynasty, created and stepped through an arcane doorway near the center of the camp. The mysterious figure immediately sought out Xavier within his quarters. A few moments later the drow reemerged and exited in the same manner by which he had arrived. Xavier followed him out of the tent. Regretfully, he informed the camp that an urgent matter had come up and that he must depart immediately. He also instructed the troop to follow the command of Hallion Hythenos. Xavier spared a final moment to bid farewell to Triple J, placing the shadowy hand of one of his echoes upon Triple J’s shoulders before departing.
As dusk approached, a horn blared at the edge of the swamp and the tortoise came to rest. Hallion ordered FCG to gather their belongings and join him on the marsh floor. From there, FCG along with Cylan, the large crate, Vaxxium, and a few Kryn guards, trudged to the marsh’s edge where they met another group of Kryn soldiers along with pack of moorbounders. The group made camp for the night, FCG retreating to the safety of Triple J’s dome, before setting out on moorbounder back the next morning.
The group flew across the scared Xhorhasian wasteland with blazing speed as the moorbounders maintained a full sprint. Mid way through the day, Hallion began dispersing rations to the group, including the members of FCG. Before Endrin took a bite of the grayish jerky, he noticed something foul and off-putting about it. At that moment, many of the Kryn soldiers, Vaxxium included, started seizing and slumping off their moorbounders. Hallion drew his blade and plunged it right into Vaxxium, who was sitting behind the traitorous echo knight. In that same instant, an arrow flew down from a nearby ridge and pierced Vaxxium’s heart, killing him outright. Standing at the arrow’s source, was none other than Danbol Zex.
A mob of goblinoids rallied behind Danbol and began storming down the ridge toward the party. Endrin stopped them all in their tracks, and rendered them incapable of leaving any more tracks, as he sucked a large number of the murderous goblinoids into a gravity sinkhole and crushed them into fleshy spheres. Malcolm was caught in the spell, but pain did not hinder the fighter’s quest for revenge as he continued his charge toward Danbol. Cylan and Hallion engaged in a sibling’s quarrel for the ages, exchanging sword and dagger. Eris and Triple J brought their moorbounders up on either side of the ridge, flanking Danbol’s party, while Nyx dispatched the remaining goblinoids with chaotic magic. Danbol attempted to back away from the charging Malcolm but was rendered unable by Triple J’s hypnotic pattern. This spell allowed Malcolm and Eris to catch up and surround the rogue assassin. Through clever tactics with his second in command, Danbol dealt a severe blow to Malcolm. As Danbol attempted another similar maneuver, he found himself suddenly confused and unable to react to his ally’s setup. Eris seized the moment, channeling all of Bahamut’s divine might into a single strike, and smote Danbol with all the vengeance she could muster, critically wounding him. The few remaining goblinoids were of no concern to Malcolm. Rather than deal with them, Malcolm walked up to Danbol’s still sizzling corpse and chopped his head clean off. With their leader slain, FCG and Cylan dispatched the remaining goblinoids with ease.
Cylan cursed her brother for his involvement with a group known as the Children of Malice, servants of Lolth, before barking out orders to the Kryn soldiers, most of whom were now regaining their motor function. FCG checked the bodies of Danbol, Hallion, and Vaxxium and discovered a few crumpled notes, written in undercommon, along with a plethora of arcane armaments. Concerned for the Luxon Beacon, Endrin pleaded with Cylan to check the crate they had lugged all this way. Cylan opened the crate to reveal nothing within, and informed Endrin that there had never been anything within. Piecing the details together, Endrin breathed a sigh of relief. The now sparse caravan spared little time in re-mounting their moorbounders and setting off, once more, for Asarius. Emotionally, and physically, drained from the day’s journey, FCG caught glimpse of the city of Asarius not far on the horizon, a few hours after sun down.
