Exploration tinged with sadness

August 22, 2020

DAY 1

Inti saw some new faces to his current party, a surprising pair of Khenra twins, a kind of naked halfing, and a cheery female Tabaxi.  The twins were startling because Inti was under the impression that most of the WMC denizen had an uneasy relationship with the Khenra?  After their introduction though, Inti found out that were from off the island, and not closely related to the local Khenra people.  After much debate, our party headed to the portal to reach GQE. The young female Khenra was frozen for a but Inti quickly scooped her up and healed her to tolerable health.  We moved West to discover more of the land from west of the portal and east of the river. 

Inti felt like land was like home and had no trouble leading the group effortlessly and had a good pace.  As the sun started to set and a good hunt of catching 12 good rabbits, Inti made a sumptuous roasted dinner for his team.  As he was on his watch, he smelled blood on the breeze and a terrible rumbling on the ground.  Quickly and silently, Inti ran back to his party, waking those he could quickly not quite making it to Khaos before the lumbering creature approached. Inti saw Don wake Khaos and whisper something to her, then Khaos ran to the south.  Inti wanted to yell that that was the wrong direction, but Khaos ran so quickly that he couldn’t warn her… He heard her mock the beast and Inti tried dousing the dino in Sacred Fire to maybe distract the beast from Khaos.  After his party also tried to throw attacks at the dino, the creature swung his head down and tore into Khaos… I saw everything in slow motion… The dino crunching into her lean body, the blood spraying out of the sides of its mouth, and the terrible shaking of the dino’s head worrying Khaos’ body in the air…. Inti does not remember what he yelled, but then he was on the back of the dino, tearing at the beast’s eyes, growling in rage.  The beast finally dropped Khaos and as Inti saw her drop, he yelled out his healing words to revive her limp form. After Khaos hit the ground, Inti saw her struggle back up to her elbows and let out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding.  He heard his party start throwing attacks at the dino and fiery Otto, the fire otto of Samara, unleash a powerful hit.  The dino was slowly weakening but then lashed out at Inti, whipping its tail to swipe him off its face.  And as Inti dropped to the ground and he could see the beast mercilessly mauling Khaos again. Inti could barely hear himself roar as static exploded in his head and he saw the dino turn to run again. Inti swiped at the fleeing dino with his dagger and just barely missed. His vision turned red, he hadn’t felt like this in a long time…. And the next thing Inti saw was that he was again on the dino’s back digging his claws in the thick hide, causing the beast to slow slightly. His ear twitched hearing an attack approaching and the whiz into the side of the dino… a bright flash… and then I was on the ground again. The dino lain un-moving, finally dead. As Inti’s party approached, I moved to disembowel the beast to retrieve Khaos’ remains… I could not save her… but I could at least bury her with dignity and grace. After wrapping her torn frame in rope to create a burial bundle, the party and Inti dug a humble grave with our bare paws/hands.  As per my custom, Inti left a single gold coin on the burial mound, a sweat drop of the sun, and offered prayers for Khaos’ soul.  After the funeral, Inti still burned with bitterness and resentment… Inti went back to the carcass of our fallen foe and carved out a piece of the heart… I… I could not look at my companions faces as I furiously ate the heart… I can only imagine what they saw… I ate that heart to consume its bravery and to reduce the murderer of a new friend into nothing more than nourishment… because we survived. After wiping my mouth as best as possible, Inti turned to the party and we all moved to find a place to rest for the sun rose once more. Nature and birds ignorant of our troubles.

DAY 2

As dawn broke, the party traveled west until they we reached the river. We filled our water skins and washed as much blood and filth from our bodies as possible. While traveling North, we came upon an abandoned campsite.  After much investigating, we did not find any clues about why it was there, but someone in the party thought perhaps it may have been a Yuan-ti campsite from the markings on the ground. After walking further, we also found a strange shield on the plains that had Khenra-like art on it. The party decided to bring it back to town for further study. We made camp and all was quiet until a shout by Don woke us. Looming figures start jumping out from the grass and attacking! Someone Inti remembered very little, just blood…so much blood…someone yelled “BARBARIANS”.  All Inti’s friends were falling around him… and his and all the others’ attacks were proving ineffective.  He was going to lose more people! While Inti stood dazed and helpless, Don suddenly pushed him and shouted “RUN!” and Inti ran….my heart felt like it was going to explode… However, as I looked over my shoulder, and saw Don running after him and our party littering the ground… I…I couldn’t leave them to die like this! Inti pulled out his Bead of Force and gripped it firmly in his hand…. He won’t leave them! Inti threw the bead at the 3 worst Barbarians… Trapped! The barbarians were now in an inescapable force field, but only for a moment, but a moment is all we needed. Don and Oaxilis dispatched the barbarian that stood over the unconscious Khenra twins. They quickly healed Umbrys and picked up Samara and started running, nodding to Inti as they ran by. Inti ran back to the ball of force with the irate barbarians and picked it up, shaking it furiously like a five year and their first goldfish, and then threw it as hard as he could with his weakened state. We made a hasty retreat and tried to rest, as far from the battle site as possible, with what is left of the night.

DAY 3

We moved back towards the portal and see an Aurochs.  Samara decided to observe and commit the best to memory, hopefully aiding in her trans formative powers as a druid.  The party then continued to move back towards the portal. Nothing more really happened and we make it home…minus one friend.