Tl;dr: On the fourth day of bridge building, the fates gave to us : Four safe worker swarms. Three rounds of worm fight. Two magic-users, and a slaving bugbear warband.
Future Adventure Notes :
•A Bridge has been completed by an outpost southeast of Ruined Oak.
•The Fountain of Aging is possibly in the mountains southwest of Port Mirandia.
•Maybe bring a group and go to a concentric circle on the ground to talk to the outsiders creating them somehow. Instructions unclear.
Session Title : An Autumn Excursion
Session GM : Calmseeker
Session Date : 01 Dec 2021 @ 00:10 UTC
Characters:
•”Leader” and “Trailblazer” Bardy (Bard 13/Cleric 1) with Sisyphus the Pegasus
•”Scout” Eight (Monk 14/ Wizard 2)
•”Chronicler” Katla (Fighter 8)
•Lysing (Sorcerer 11)
•Naal (Fighter 14/ Wizard 1)
Back from a nearly ten day adventure, thankfully hired labourers did the hard work
~Bardy
We had received word that a group of seasoned workers were requiring escort to go finish a bridge near an outpost more than two days travel southeast of Ruined Oak. (My understanding is this bridge was started before the fall of White Moon Cove.) Those of us available to go met up with Foreman Philford (A decent bloke, plainspoken and no nonsense.)
Our travels to the outpost were fairly quiet. With Naal’s assistance I managed to find sufficient food for our nights. The only incident of note was the discovery of some magicked bottles before the night of our first camp.
I was surprised to see Sisyphus grow weary with the discussion about who should touch them to release the magic and just went and did it himself. (He knows I can help him recover from most things by recasting the spell that summoned him.) Sisyphus was afflicted by some mental anguish and visibly aged nearly a decade. (It looked good on him I thought, a glimpse of a future I likely will not see.) He and I agreed right there to send him back and re-summon him, restoring his youth.
After we arrived at the outpost, we spent the rest of the day surveying the bridge to estimate how long it might take to finish. Foreman Philford estimated four days. We stood watch over the workers each day and returned the outpost at night to sleep safely within. The soldiers at this outpost seemed more vigilant than some of the outposts closer to our towns, this one being so far away from Ruined Oak and close to the areas lost to the gnolls and kobolds more than a year ago.
On the first day of bridge building, the fates gave to us : A slaving bugbear warband.
I do not know where they came from, but their spoken intent was to kill us (the guards) and take the workers as slaves. They had some shamans summoning lightning, but otherwise were rather summarily dispatched with little trouble. (Perhaps someone should try to find the source of this warband)
On the second day of bridge building, the fates gave to us : Two magic-users, and a slaving bugbear warband.
Riding in his signature carriage drawn by nightmares, Vampire Earl Sitaris asked that a message be delivered to Chemist, the current Governor of AFK. (Eight said he would which I am thankful for as his memory is much stronger than mine) This message, paraphrased, was that while he initially he intended to keep the ghost he made bound to his service, Sitaris has since decided that as a favour for destroying the Archmage Cromwell the ghost is released from Sitaris’ service and is now simply bound to the urn.
Further conversation with Sitaris involved a red tiefling named Depries. Sitaris asked if we had seen him (which we had not) and then there was talk about how Depries was researching turkeys. (Apparently to weaponize them.) Shortly after Sitaris left we were approached by the aforementioned Depries, with four horse-sized turkeys and a female mage. Depries (clearly insane) tried to tell Eight he was his father, and then grandfather, but his true goal was to get human flesh for his turkeys. We were offered five hundred gold pieces for Katla, (that was not enough…. I jest.)
Naturally we declined to which Depries responding with hostility, sending his turkeys forward to attack. Sadly, he had put all his efforts into strengthening their bodies, but none into their minds. They were dispatched with more ease than the bugbears. Eight tried to subdue Depries but he had enchanted himself to explode upon being rendered unconscious. (adding further evidence to the clearly insane diagnosis)
On the third day of bridge building, the fates gave to us : Three rounds of worm fight. Two magic-users, and a slaving bugbear warband.
We were approached by Roschutto the Wizard of Aging and there was some discussion. (My memory is hazy here and I believe some of this conversation refers to logs I have yet to read) Roschutto was asked about concentric circles on the ground and if he had any knowledge about them to which he responded that they were being made by a group of outsiders, and suggested that we try take a large group to one of the circles and use it to contact them somehow.
There was talk with Roschutto about him applying some sort of icon to his works so people know they were made by him and he said he had in fact already started doing so, and showed us this new logo.
Roschutto then mentioned that he believes he had miscalculated the location of the Fountain of Aging and his new calculations put it in the mountains southwest of Port Mirandia. As he was leaving he casually mentioned he had been feeling the tremors in the ground recently. Shortly after he left, a massive neolythid appeared. Sisyphus and I left the ground the moment the rumbling started, and I saw Lysing flying too. In a matter of seconds the fight was over, but it was fierce. Katla survived being swallowed long enough for the rest of us to kill the monstrosity.
On the fourth day of bridge building, the fates gave to us : Four safe worker swarms. Three rounds of worm fight. Two magic-users, and a slaving bugbear warband.
The fourth day was quiet until Eight spotted a dragonleaf tree approaching. Lysing and Eight had recent experience with one and knew the we should destroy it from as far as possible, while using Lysing’s magic to hinder its movement. It never got close enough to even threaten the workers. (the dragonleaf tree was resistant to acid, suggesting it was somehow related to black dragons.) The bridge was completed this day.
We returned to the outpost for that evening, and then managed to return back to Ruined Oak with no issues.