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DM: Neal

Dramatis Personae:

Twee “The Gloom” or “The Fleet of Foot”
Eight “The Shadow” or “The Heart of Gold”

Daffodil “The Spitfire” or “The Mistress of Death”

Karn “The Beast” or  “The Missing in Action”
Quinn “The Master” or “The Eye in the Sky”
Bardy “The Thinker” or “The Jack of All Trades”

Through Twee’s contacts, we were able to procure a boat, helmed by [REDACTED], and sail up the coast. On the way, Sahaugin attacked our ship and we nearly capsized our vessel, but the Overseer looked kindly on us on this day. 

Not much else accosted us as we continued our journey north, but we lacked view of a port. Becoming anxious about turning away with nothing, we left [REDACTED] to hide on an island nearby and wait for our call. Quinn was able to contact him when we needed to leave with a device she had picked up during her journeys, and thus we set out onto the coastline.

We moved inland, towards the suspected host of gnolls to gather intel, when we came across a path leading from the coast. We continued along the path until we came to a clearing with a crossroads. We decided to wait here to get a heading on where to explore next, and put down a Tiny Hut, masked by Bardy and Twee as a bush. It was only a few hours until Gnolls came by, and that is when the Tongues scroll was used. Daffodil was able to discern that the gnolls were complaining about the orders of a commanding officer, Zork, and we observed them heading from north, dropping water on the ground to create a path as they went.—

 (We observed in our mission no gladiator wielding two swords, as that is the description of the above individual, leading us to believe that we may have missed the high value target completely and that he may be with the host of gnolls.) 

—We allowed them to pass without trouble, maintaining our position. It is unclear why the water was being dropped to create the tracks; It could be that they were marking for the next group coming through, but others seemed to think following them was a trap. In order to further gather information, we headed north after they cleared out to the west. I am attaching my best guess as to the location of the crossroads; I suspect West of this location is where the new host lies, but this is based on my professional opinion and not on any solid intel.

Following North, we ran into a position where the tracks went cold; it seemed as though suddenly the path was weeks old rather than the recent path we traveled. Through clever deduction and a bit of luck, Quinn was able to spot a hidden trail nearby, and we headed north. There, we ran into more gnolls on the road, but this time with a cart and without a Scroll of Tongues. We decided to engage them quickly, with my firing on them surprising the group as well as my fellow squadmates. We dispatched them quickly enough and hid the bodies in the cart, moving off from the road to make camp as quietly as possible. That night, we heard a rumbling in the night, and our watch was able to identify a Storm Giant wandering this territory. The Giant passed by after inspecting our cart for a moment, apparently disinterested in us. Twee thinks the squad could have killed him together, but the amount of noise and resources we would have drawn in the night would have been ill-advised, so he lives for today. Perhaps another time.

The rest of the night was uneventful, and we headed north along the hidden trail to the port undiscovered. We identified siege equipment, ranging from ballistae and a single cannon being shipped from somewhere, possibly the mainland. We also noticed an important looking caster and a big gnoll bodyguard that was intimidating. We went back and forth as to the intent of our mission, but eventually it was decided to Fireball the grouped enemies and equipment at max range and to immediately disengage afterward. That was the plan anyway.

So, we silenced the location, then fireballed the grouped enemies, not acting as one in a virtual swarm of enemies like in the bloodeye, but still just as numerous. Their corpses burnt all the same however. It is hard to recount what happened in the heat of battle, but I will do my best to keep linearly what happened. As the Fireball went off, Karn took a potion of invisibility and disappeared. The squad is uncertain as to his fate after this action. Twee cast a Scroll of Spike Growth in the way of our assailants, Quinn following up with casting the spell herself to create an opening for our escape. Not long after, Daffodil went back for a second fireball and burnt a few more corpses in the process—

(While this plan was perhaps ill-advised, I took great pleasure in the destruction she wrought. What a woman~ Mistress of Death indeed.) 

—While Bardy and Twee cast Longstrider on themselves and Quinn and Daffodil, to escape. From there, it was a game of cat and mouse as the cultists approached from the woods, still unsure what was happening to Karn. We managed to take out many of them using the clever use of Spike Growth, and everyone but Twee, whose fleet of foot allowed him to cover great distances almost instantly, seemed to be interested in engaging the enemy as they approached, and with great success seemingly. —

(I lack some of the finer details of the fight as a result, but the troop types were varied, with casters being among them and primarily being composed of blood cultists and gnolls. No Ogres or Kenku were spotted in the port.)

—After the fight had died down, Quinn cast a spell summoning another bird and Twee used his ranger cunning to see through its eyes. We were able to spot a few things from this vantage, including the decimation of most of the equipment available was destroyed, there was a hole in the ceiling of what I assume to be the manufactory that wasn’t us, and there was a skeleton at a height estimated at about 40 feet with a longsword at the ready, apparently having swiped at the mast of the boat in the port. Still no sign of Karn.—

(Karn Status: MIA)

—We returned and messaged [REDACTED] to pick us back up north of our drop off point, at which point we headed south without further issue, seeing horses, a mole dog, and a golden cat that teleported away after petting it. I have attached the following pictures depicting our information gathered to this log. Please review it carefully.

Beginning of the Drums being heard
Hidden crossroads is the left circle. The right is where we entered the mainland.
Site of Initial ambush, camp, and where we met the Storm Giant
Site of the damaged port