SECLUDED SENSUAL SPA SHELTERS SHADY SECRETS
Take the road down to Clear Creek Crossing. Enjoy a beer a Thardun's Taphouse and spend the night at Goody Bhagyam's Boarding House for Polite Namegivers. On the next morning, after enjoying Goody Bhagyam's famous Complete Breakfast #2, venture off the road and hike west across the scenic grasslands, enjoying fields of wildflowers and gently rolling hills. Pack a tent and good camping gear - it's a three day journey. On the third day, you'll see the great verdant wall of the Servos Jungle to your south.
Defying all good sense, turn south and enter the jungle. There, at the edge of the Servos, you will find Ironbark Grove. Nestled within the broad embrace of acacias and primeval ferns is a place unique in all Barsaive. This idyllic clearing is the product of furious elemental mating. The wood thrusts deep into the moist, surrendering soil. And in turn, elemental metal penetrates the fecund wood. The glorious child of this tumultuous elemental love affair is a place where leaves are glinting metal, where ferns glimmer with steel, where local wildlife is threaded through with iron and bejeweled with minerals.
And sheltered within this unique grove is a pool rich with mineral deposits with water that casts rainbows at every opportunity.
It is a wonder worth a three day hike.
Nearby is the settlement of Irondelve. By all rights, this should be a mining town. Their kaer was built on and within a massive iron deposit. Problems with Horrors, however, have dramatically reduced the productivity of the mine. Fortunately for us, this has forced the residents to find another source of revenue. Barsaive's Namegivers are adaptable and innovative.
They have turned the pool in Ironbark Grove into the best spa outside the Floating City.
"I don't much like getting wet. Well, I should be specific. I don't much like getting my wings wet. I very much adore getting the rest of me wet. They've put this little shelf on the edge of the pool for us Windlings to enjoy the water without having to go all the way in. I just wish that handsome Zivilyn and that pretty Elisen would join me. They could go all the way in," says Aethrillia Redwing, the windling naturalist and Beastmaster who first identified the grove.
"My father just moved out there to open his food stall and his business is booming! I'm so glad he made the move," says Nergae Hilldigger (Readers are encouraged to visit Malak's Meats and order the Spicy Lizard Flatbread).
But for all its sensual splendor, this spa has secrets. Local alchemists are wary of a shadowy figure they call the Soap Merchant. "I heard that there was this alchemist, a Pryck, who offended the Soap Merchant. He was found dead beside a highly, ah, suggestive, um, rock formation," recounts Thaddeus, an alchemist newly come to Ironbark Grove. An alchemist from the village of Ba'tosh, who requested not to be named, added, "It's best to keep the Soap Merchant happy. I advised some Adepts that she is fond of Passiflora flowers."
"I think they have her all wrong," argues Bloodbeat, a T'skrang Nethermancer and alchemist. "I'm sure she's just misunderstood." But Thorkell, a Troll Weaponsmith of some reknown countered, "I don't know what kind of tyrant requires flowers guarded by eight foot tall primitive cannibal T'skrang. If it weren't for Juniper's brilliant stratagem, we'd have been simmering in a Velos stew pot for certain."
Thaddeus, however, is pleased. He has set up shop in Ironbark Grove and has not been bothered at all. Perhaps the Soap Merchant is, indeed, a benevolent protector of the grove. Or perhaps his gift of passiflora blossoms demonstrated sufficient respect that she allows him to live. Either way, business is good.
For loyal readers of News of the Underground, here are a few tips:
Visit Syvilla's Herborium and ask for the 'Lavender Dream' to get the very special bath salts to enhance your spa experience.
At Dhruvan Makar's Massage Pit, tell the receptionist that you "once pulled a Skeorx's tail" to gain entrance to the back room and the happiest ending in the Servos Jungle.
News from the Underground - Like Regular News but Way Cooler!
AAR: [7M] Unlikely Danger (2020-11-08 23:59 GMT)
Moderator:etherial
Re: AAR: [7M] Unlikely Danger (2020-11-08 23:59 GMT)
Thorkell's Journal:
An alchemist by the name of Thaddeus Korbit requested my aid in Irondelve. He also requested Bloodbeat, Juniper, Elisen, and Zivilyn take on this task. He believed there to be some kind of mafia that might be threatening his life. Much of the party believed he was mistaking Azurea for some ignoble figure. Our protestations fell on deaf ears, so we set about his tasks. We were to gather three alchemical items from different locations.
We set out towards our first destination, a large clearing in the Servos Jungle where we were to collect gems left behind after destroying some special demi-wraiths. It turns out these demi-wraiths were infused with lightning which would arc at any aggressor. Feeling confident I charged forward to form a first line of defense. Our back line learned quickly that just keeping them at range was not enough as a particularly nasty bolt arced at Zivilyn. Our tactics did win out and we were able to dispatch the monsters with minimal injury.
From there our second destination was a cave only accessible by an underwater route. Much time was spent thinking of any possible means of avoiding the water (windlings). Us three non-windlings finally decided to just go for it while the windlings used some form of magic to tunnel through the earth to the cave. Bloodbeat collected the slug-like creatures we needed and we left. Why can't all journeys go this easily?
For our third item, we were to collect some passiflora flowers from a grove. The flowers seemed to be guarded by a primitive reptilian race called the velos, though. Through cunning, we used Bloodbeat's Friendly Darkness and trickery to deceive the velos into believing us some large rather threatening entity. After felling approximately three, the rest decided it wasn't worth their effort. We picked the flowers and set back out for Thaddeus.
Upon delivering the items to Thaddeus, we were finally able to confirm that these were indeed for Azurea. I'm sure she'll be delighted if not somewhat perplexed.
This was a rather enjoyable adventure. Bloodbeat seems interested in learning the ways of the Weaponsmith. I told her all about it during our travels.
Traipsing all through the jungle has been a good distraction for me from the coming reopening of the Tower of B'shon. I am inviting all of my comrades to come see the finished remodeling as well as the town of craftsman who have started setting up shop here. Unfortunately, I have received some bad news. A crafter named Poren Dask whose arrival was expected some weeks ago has not shown up. It is believed to be the work of slavers. I need to see to final preparations at the Tower of B'shon and can not investigate. That is when it occurred to me. I offered Bloodbeat training in the ways of the Weaponsmith if she could find and return Poren. At the mention of slavers, Juniper's ears noticeably perked up. I believe he hopes to join in. Well I leave the selection of a team to her. May Upandal bless your journey, Bloodbeat.
An alchemist by the name of Thaddeus Korbit requested my aid in Irondelve. He also requested Bloodbeat, Juniper, Elisen, and Zivilyn take on this task. He believed there to be some kind of mafia that might be threatening his life. Much of the party believed he was mistaking Azurea for some ignoble figure. Our protestations fell on deaf ears, so we set about his tasks. We were to gather three alchemical items from different locations.
We set out towards our first destination, a large clearing in the Servos Jungle where we were to collect gems left behind after destroying some special demi-wraiths. It turns out these demi-wraiths were infused with lightning which would arc at any aggressor. Feeling confident I charged forward to form a first line of defense. Our back line learned quickly that just keeping them at range was not enough as a particularly nasty bolt arced at Zivilyn. Our tactics did win out and we were able to dispatch the monsters with minimal injury.
From there our second destination was a cave only accessible by an underwater route. Much time was spent thinking of any possible means of avoiding the water (windlings). Us three non-windlings finally decided to just go for it while the windlings used some form of magic to tunnel through the earth to the cave. Bloodbeat collected the slug-like creatures we needed and we left. Why can't all journeys go this easily?
For our third item, we were to collect some passiflora flowers from a grove. The flowers seemed to be guarded by a primitive reptilian race called the velos, though. Through cunning, we used Bloodbeat's Friendly Darkness and trickery to deceive the velos into believing us some large rather threatening entity. After felling approximately three, the rest decided it wasn't worth their effort. We picked the flowers and set back out for Thaddeus.
Upon delivering the items to Thaddeus, we were finally able to confirm that these were indeed for Azurea. I'm sure she'll be delighted if not somewhat perplexed.
This was a rather enjoyable adventure. Bloodbeat seems interested in learning the ways of the Weaponsmith. I told her all about it during our travels.
Traipsing all through the jungle has been a good distraction for me from the coming reopening of the Tower of B'shon. I am inviting all of my comrades to come see the finished remodeling as well as the town of craftsman who have started setting up shop here. Unfortunately, I have received some bad news. A crafter named Poren Dask whose arrival was expected some weeks ago has not shown up. It is believed to be the work of slavers. I need to see to final preparations at the Tower of B'shon and can not investigate. That is when it occurred to me. I offered Bloodbeat training in the ways of the Weaponsmith if she could find and return Poren. At the mention of slavers, Juniper's ears noticeably perked up. I believe he hopes to join in. Well I leave the selection of a team to her. May Upandal bless your journey, Bloodbeat.
Re: AAR: [7M] Unlikely Danger (2020-11-08 23:59 GMT)
Bloodbeat's Journal:
Thaddeus Korbit, a human alchemist, had recently settled in irondelve. There’s a lot of work in establishing a new business, especially an apothecary shop: preparing the shop with shelves and counters and scales; advertising to the local residents, and of course, constantly creating alchemical items to stock the shelves. Thaddeus was a busy guy, too busy to be able to go out into the countryside and search for particular, unusual or rare, ingredients for his creations.
So, Thaddeus had posted notices in Irondelve, Kampung Gajah and even Throal, looking for people to go out and collect these ingredients for a reasonable fee. Thaddeus could supply information on how to identify the ingredients, directions on how to collect them, and a general idea of where they can be found.
Bloodbeat contacted Thaddeus to arrange to take on this task, along with some of her trusted companions. She easily convinced Elisen the Windling Cavalryman, Juniper the human Shadow and Questor of Lochost and Zivilyn the Windling Shaman to join her. Elisen brought along a Troll Weaponsmith friend, Named Thorkell, as well.
The trip to Irondelve was uneventful. The worst part was the first few days as Elisen and Juniper sobered up from their partying in Throal. But I learned from the others that Irondelve had been established by an opened Kaer whose defenses had been infused with Elemental magic. As a result, the plants in the area were unusual, containing more metallic elements than normal. This explained in part why Thaddeus had settled there; he wanted to see what these unusual plants would do when used in the standard alchemical formulae. Interesting!
Thaddeus was a likeable human, worried about getting his business started. It seemed he had more than the usual things to worry about. A local alchemist, an Elf, had gone missing and then been found dead, perhaps murdered. Thaddeus implied, but didn’t state directly, that there was an organization that was in control of the Alchemy business and preventing new people from getting into business. One of the tasks that Thaddeus had for us involved getting a rare gift for this controlling organization, something to convince them to let Thaddeus stay alive and in business.
There were three parts to the job had Thaddeus for us.
First, we were to travel down to near Lake Ban to talk to a friend of his, Alekema, a t’skrang alchemist. They had been corresponding, and she had identified the perfect gift to impress the other alchemists. Thaddeus would tell us no more, other than to say that Alekema would make the task clear; he provided directions to her home in the village of Ba’tosh.
The next task was to collect some gel worms from a cave in the Servos Jungle. The cave that Thaddeus gave us directions to was accessible from a tributary of the Galanga River. He had plans to use the gel worms to make Targeting Eye blood charms, or perhaps other similar items. He gave us three jars to fill with earth and gel worms.
The final task was to collect some gems by defeating some Demiwraiths. The ‘wraiths normally stayed in a clearing near the edge of the Servos Jungle, not too far South of Irondelve. Thaddeus hoped we’d bring back 3 or 4 of the gems. As I recalled Demiwraiths were the angry spirits of the undead, and they tended to congregate together. Thaddeus planned to use the gems to make Last Chance Salves.
We took a river boat down the Coil River to Ba’tosh. Alekema’s home was on the outskirts, very close to the edge of the Servos Jungle. Well positioned for an alchemist. She greeted us warmly and told us that she’d consulted with the Floating City and had identified the perfect gift for the Irondelve alchemists. It was a flower, a passiflora, very aromatic. It was commonly used in perfumes and bath oils, and was stunningly beautiful to boot. She knew of a grotto near Irondelve where they grew in abundance. She told us to carry them back in sacks, and to be sure not to crush them.
We spent the rest of the day with Alekema, helping her with herbs and other chores. She prepared a marvelous fish stew for dinner, and we regaled her with stories of our adventures. We spent the night in her barn.
The next morning we headed off back north, this time on foot, not on a boat. We followed the edge of the Servos Jungle north until we neared the area where Thaddeus had told us the demiwraiths could be found. Elisen and Juniper scouted ahead, and saw several of them gathering together near the edge of the jungle, amid some low, rolling hills.
We prepared for the battle behind a nearby hill, and then moved to meet them. Thorkell moved first, quickly advancing beyond the rest of us. Zivilyn and I cast spells to aid the group, improving our defenses and creating a circle of darkness to give us an advantage. These demiwraiths were much faster than we expected, and were on us very quickly. They also glowed faintly. Later, after the battle, we speculated that they were also affected by the Elemental magic of Irondelve. We took damage, but won the day and collected about 20 gems from their remains. Thaddeus would be happy.
We then found the nearby branch of the Galanga River that led to the cave of gel worms. Following the river to the cave took a couple of days, which allowed us time to fully recover from the battle with the demiwraiths. The cave’s only entrance was below water, but luckily there were no predators, like crocodiles, nearby. Zivilyn cast a spell that allowed Elisen and himself, the two windlings, to burrow into the earth and reach the cave without entering the water. The rest of us dived into the river and swam to the cave. I collected three full jars of gel worms and their earth while the others guarded and watched. This part was easy.
Next we needed to find the grotto that Alekema had told us about. We suspected that it was close to this point in the jungle. Elisen and Zivilyn flew around, searching for it. Eventually they located a rock entrance to a cave, with a grotto beyond that was open to the sky.
We trekked over to the cave entrance, but stopped just inside. Letting our eyes adjust to the dimness, we noticed movement on ledges that lined the walls. Something large, reptilian was moving. Astrally, the space was open, with lots of life, vines, trees, insects, but I couldn’t see these moving creatures. I cast Friendly Darkness and we gathered within it to advance into the cave, slowly. When we were about halfway down the length of the cave, the creatures — four-legged reptiles that one of my companions identified as Velus — approached the darkness. We attacked it from within the darkness and were making headway in the battle.
Then Juniper had a brilliant idea — to scare them with this ‘darkness that hurts’. He began speaking in an ominous voice, switching between Throalic and several other tongues. Some of the Velus paused in their attacks, while other remained aggressive. I added some spooky sounding phrases in t’skrang, and eventually they all backed off, convinced that this ‘evil darkness’ was not something they wanted to deal with. It worked! We continued through the cave, collected the flowers, and exited the cave the same way.
Another couple days travel put us back in Irondelve where we presented our collected goods to Thaddeus. He was very pleased with our success. He also reported that there had been nothing sinister about the death of the alchemist. Or at least, he’d become convinced of that. He was so pleased he sold us alchemical supplies for half price.
Thaddeus Korbit, a human alchemist, had recently settled in irondelve. There’s a lot of work in establishing a new business, especially an apothecary shop: preparing the shop with shelves and counters and scales; advertising to the local residents, and of course, constantly creating alchemical items to stock the shelves. Thaddeus was a busy guy, too busy to be able to go out into the countryside and search for particular, unusual or rare, ingredients for his creations.
So, Thaddeus had posted notices in Irondelve, Kampung Gajah and even Throal, looking for people to go out and collect these ingredients for a reasonable fee. Thaddeus could supply information on how to identify the ingredients, directions on how to collect them, and a general idea of where they can be found.
Bloodbeat contacted Thaddeus to arrange to take on this task, along with some of her trusted companions. She easily convinced Elisen the Windling Cavalryman, Juniper the human Shadow and Questor of Lochost and Zivilyn the Windling Shaman to join her. Elisen brought along a Troll Weaponsmith friend, Named Thorkell, as well.
The trip to Irondelve was uneventful. The worst part was the first few days as Elisen and Juniper sobered up from their partying in Throal. But I learned from the others that Irondelve had been established by an opened Kaer whose defenses had been infused with Elemental magic. As a result, the plants in the area were unusual, containing more metallic elements than normal. This explained in part why Thaddeus had settled there; he wanted to see what these unusual plants would do when used in the standard alchemical formulae. Interesting!
Thaddeus was a likeable human, worried about getting his business started. It seemed he had more than the usual things to worry about. A local alchemist, an Elf, had gone missing and then been found dead, perhaps murdered. Thaddeus implied, but didn’t state directly, that there was an organization that was in control of the Alchemy business and preventing new people from getting into business. One of the tasks that Thaddeus had for us involved getting a rare gift for this controlling organization, something to convince them to let Thaddeus stay alive and in business.
There were three parts to the job had Thaddeus for us.
First, we were to travel down to near Lake Ban to talk to a friend of his, Alekema, a t’skrang alchemist. They had been corresponding, and she had identified the perfect gift to impress the other alchemists. Thaddeus would tell us no more, other than to say that Alekema would make the task clear; he provided directions to her home in the village of Ba’tosh.
The next task was to collect some gel worms from a cave in the Servos Jungle. The cave that Thaddeus gave us directions to was accessible from a tributary of the Galanga River. He had plans to use the gel worms to make Targeting Eye blood charms, or perhaps other similar items. He gave us three jars to fill with earth and gel worms.
The final task was to collect some gems by defeating some Demiwraiths. The ‘wraiths normally stayed in a clearing near the edge of the Servos Jungle, not too far South of Irondelve. Thaddeus hoped we’d bring back 3 or 4 of the gems. As I recalled Demiwraiths were the angry spirits of the undead, and they tended to congregate together. Thaddeus planned to use the gems to make Last Chance Salves.
We took a river boat down the Coil River to Ba’tosh. Alekema’s home was on the outskirts, very close to the edge of the Servos Jungle. Well positioned for an alchemist. She greeted us warmly and told us that she’d consulted with the Floating City and had identified the perfect gift for the Irondelve alchemists. It was a flower, a passiflora, very aromatic. It was commonly used in perfumes and bath oils, and was stunningly beautiful to boot. She knew of a grotto near Irondelve where they grew in abundance. She told us to carry them back in sacks, and to be sure not to crush them.
We spent the rest of the day with Alekema, helping her with herbs and other chores. She prepared a marvelous fish stew for dinner, and we regaled her with stories of our adventures. We spent the night in her barn.
The next morning we headed off back north, this time on foot, not on a boat. We followed the edge of the Servos Jungle north until we neared the area where Thaddeus had told us the demiwraiths could be found. Elisen and Juniper scouted ahead, and saw several of them gathering together near the edge of the jungle, amid some low, rolling hills.
We prepared for the battle behind a nearby hill, and then moved to meet them. Thorkell moved first, quickly advancing beyond the rest of us. Zivilyn and I cast spells to aid the group, improving our defenses and creating a circle of darkness to give us an advantage. These demiwraiths were much faster than we expected, and were on us very quickly. They also glowed faintly. Later, after the battle, we speculated that they were also affected by the Elemental magic of Irondelve. We took damage, but won the day and collected about 20 gems from their remains. Thaddeus would be happy.
We then found the nearby branch of the Galanga River that led to the cave of gel worms. Following the river to the cave took a couple of days, which allowed us time to fully recover from the battle with the demiwraiths. The cave’s only entrance was below water, but luckily there were no predators, like crocodiles, nearby. Zivilyn cast a spell that allowed Elisen and himself, the two windlings, to burrow into the earth and reach the cave without entering the water. The rest of us dived into the river and swam to the cave. I collected three full jars of gel worms and their earth while the others guarded and watched. This part was easy.
Next we needed to find the grotto that Alekema had told us about. We suspected that it was close to this point in the jungle. Elisen and Zivilyn flew around, searching for it. Eventually they located a rock entrance to a cave, with a grotto beyond that was open to the sky.
We trekked over to the cave entrance, but stopped just inside. Letting our eyes adjust to the dimness, we noticed movement on ledges that lined the walls. Something large, reptilian was moving. Astrally, the space was open, with lots of life, vines, trees, insects, but I couldn’t see these moving creatures. I cast Friendly Darkness and we gathered within it to advance into the cave, slowly. When we were about halfway down the length of the cave, the creatures — four-legged reptiles that one of my companions identified as Velus — approached the darkness. We attacked it from within the darkness and were making headway in the battle.
Then Juniper had a brilliant idea — to scare them with this ‘darkness that hurts’. He began speaking in an ominous voice, switching between Throalic and several other tongues. Some of the Velus paused in their attacks, while other remained aggressive. I added some spooky sounding phrases in t’skrang, and eventually they all backed off, convinced that this ‘evil darkness’ was not something they wanted to deal with. It worked! We continued through the cave, collected the flowers, and exited the cave the same way.
Another couple days travel put us back in Irondelve where we presented our collected goods to Thaddeus. He was very pleased with our success. He also reported that there had been nothing sinister about the death of the alchemist. Or at least, he’d become convinced of that. He was so pleased he sold us alchemical supplies for half price.
-
sigfriedmcwild
- Posts:335
- Joined:Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:59 am
Re: AAR: [7M] Unlikely Danger (2020-11-08 23:59 GMT)
From the memoirs of Elisen of clan Adorjan, Haressa-tis and Lore Keeper
"Breakfast" at the Swindled Hog after spending most of the night playing music for the oft drunk or drugged at one of the parties Juniper basically lives in, a mid afternoon tradition made in equal parts of regret and wonder (wonder at what exactly is in the mystery pies, some questions are not for namegivers to asnwer). All in all a way better start to the day than my Sonanopa "dinners with murder" (see earlier in this work) had been a way to end one and a good way to take my mind off worrying about Vralino (Vralino Hammer-Shield, ork Swordmaster and Elementalist) doing something stupider than usual.
As I was contemplating the deep mysteries of the universe (would Belin (Belin Gort proprietor of the Swindled Hog) really use rat meat in the pies, a question I still don't want the actual answer to) and tried to ignore Juniper's (Solanus "Juniper" Pyrocantha, elven Shadow and Questor of Lochost) cajoling about attempting a kegstand at the next party, Bloodbeat (Bloodbeat II of Syrits, t'skrang Nethermancer) sat at our table. They mentioned that Thaddeus Korbit a human alchemist they were acquainted with had asked them for some help and they were looking for some more "muscle" to bring along.
In the mid afternoon daze of sleep deprivation the only name we could come up with was Thorkell Gulbrandsen (troll Weaponsmith and Warrior), who luckily was actually willing and able to join us. Bloodbeat also mentioned they had reached out to Zvilyn (windling Magician and master to the late Nib of clan Skyreader).
The alchemist had set up shop in Ironbark Grove so we made our way with no trouble. I even managed to avoid Aethryllia Redwing's (windling Beastmaster and worryingly eager for companionship) attention while we were there.
Thaddeus explained what amounted to a paranoid conspiracy theory about some kind of alchemy syndicate based in Ironbark Grove that was killing any independent alchemists that were moving in. Frankly it sounded like hogwash and Zivilyn even tried to explain that they knew what happened to one of the dead, but I really I just wanted to leave before finding out what Aethryllia had meant when they said they could "just eat me up".
So off we went down the Coil to meet a contact of Thaddeus, one Alakema (t'skrang alchemist) who lived in Ba'tosh a fishing village just upriver from lake Ban. Alakema explained that this syndicate could be appeased with passiflora flowers, prized for their fragrance and used in the baths of the floating city. At this point the collective copper piece dropped and most of us at least internally facepalmed, the shadowy figure Thaddeus was scared of was probably Azurea (troll Shadow and owner of the local spa).
We still had a list of stuff to grab for Thaddeus however so back North we went following the edge of the jungle until we hit the headwaters of the Galanga. Just before heading in the jungle, we cleared some demiwraiths and collected the gems found in their bodies. The demiwraiths were only really a thread because they had become lightning infused. Zivilyn in particular got a good zap.
The next stop was a cave along the Galanga where gel worms (yes those large grubs with a fondness for eyeballs) grow. Of course the cave turned out to be only accessible from underwater. Before I had to try and convince Jacint that being carried underwater was not a big deal (again, look back to my adventures with river pirates), Zivilyn, who seemed even less fond of the idea of getting wet, suggested using a spell to make us pass through the ground instead. So while Thorkell and Bloodbeat swam in, and Juniper pretended to drown, we just made our way without trouble.
Inside the cave there was and abundance of worms and Bloodbeat collected them. They seemed to enjoy the task so none of us saw a reason to hasten its end.
The last stop on this errand was, of course, the grotto with the passiflora, which we found, eventually, after a couple of days of trial and error. Inside we were sure there was something watching us so we huddled up inside Bloodbeat's Friendly Darkness and started making our way through. Soon we were beset by a tribe of Velos who may have developed a new legend about a monster made of darkness that screamed and hit people with rainbows.
Flower in hand we returned to Irondelve, where we confirmed that it was indeed Azurea's shadow that Thaddeus was running from.
"Breakfast" at the Swindled Hog after spending most of the night playing music for the oft drunk or drugged at one of the parties Juniper basically lives in, a mid afternoon tradition made in equal parts of regret and wonder (wonder at what exactly is in the mystery pies, some questions are not for namegivers to asnwer). All in all a way better start to the day than my Sonanopa "dinners with murder" (see earlier in this work) had been a way to end one and a good way to take my mind off worrying about Vralino (Vralino Hammer-Shield, ork Swordmaster and Elementalist) doing something stupider than usual.
As I was contemplating the deep mysteries of the universe (would Belin (Belin Gort proprietor of the Swindled Hog) really use rat meat in the pies, a question I still don't want the actual answer to) and tried to ignore Juniper's (Solanus "Juniper" Pyrocantha, elven Shadow and Questor of Lochost) cajoling about attempting a kegstand at the next party, Bloodbeat (Bloodbeat II of Syrits, t'skrang Nethermancer) sat at our table. They mentioned that Thaddeus Korbit a human alchemist they were acquainted with had asked them for some help and they were looking for some more "muscle" to bring along.
In the mid afternoon daze of sleep deprivation the only name we could come up with was Thorkell Gulbrandsen (troll Weaponsmith and Warrior), who luckily was actually willing and able to join us. Bloodbeat also mentioned they had reached out to Zvilyn (windling Magician and master to the late Nib of clan Skyreader).
The alchemist had set up shop in Ironbark Grove so we made our way with no trouble. I even managed to avoid Aethryllia Redwing's (windling Beastmaster and worryingly eager for companionship) attention while we were there.
Thaddeus explained what amounted to a paranoid conspiracy theory about some kind of alchemy syndicate based in Ironbark Grove that was killing any independent alchemists that were moving in. Frankly it sounded like hogwash and Zivilyn even tried to explain that they knew what happened to one of the dead, but I really I just wanted to leave before finding out what Aethryllia had meant when they said they could "just eat me up".
So off we went down the Coil to meet a contact of Thaddeus, one Alakema (t'skrang alchemist) who lived in Ba'tosh a fishing village just upriver from lake Ban. Alakema explained that this syndicate could be appeased with passiflora flowers, prized for their fragrance and used in the baths of the floating city. At this point the collective copper piece dropped and most of us at least internally facepalmed, the shadowy figure Thaddeus was scared of was probably Azurea (troll Shadow and owner of the local spa).
We still had a list of stuff to grab for Thaddeus however so back North we went following the edge of the jungle until we hit the headwaters of the Galanga. Just before heading in the jungle, we cleared some demiwraiths and collected the gems found in their bodies. The demiwraiths were only really a thread because they had become lightning infused. Zivilyn in particular got a good zap.
The next stop was a cave along the Galanga where gel worms (yes those large grubs with a fondness for eyeballs) grow. Of course the cave turned out to be only accessible from underwater. Before I had to try and convince Jacint that being carried underwater was not a big deal (again, look back to my adventures with river pirates), Zivilyn, who seemed even less fond of the idea of getting wet, suggested using a spell to make us pass through the ground instead. So while Thorkell and Bloodbeat swam in, and Juniper pretended to drown, we just made our way without trouble.
Inside the cave there was and abundance of worms and Bloodbeat collected them. They seemed to enjoy the task so none of us saw a reason to hasten its end.
The last stop on this errand was, of course, the grotto with the passiflora, which we found, eventually, after a couple of days of trial and error. Inside we were sure there was something watching us so we huddled up inside Bloodbeat's Friendly Darkness and started making our way through. Soon we were beset by a tribe of Velos who may have developed a new legend about a monster made of darkness that screamed and hit people with rainbows.
Flower in hand we returned to Irondelve, where we confirmed that it was indeed Azurea's shadow that Thaddeus was running from.