Session 28 (October 8, 2023)
Last session, our heroes fought the carapskit resident in the center of the fog in the Haden Desert. The creatures seemed to be lead by a humanoid carapskit, seated on a throne and wielding a rough plank staff. It reminded them of the sirens they had fought aboard the Bright Horizon, being a distinctly animal creature imitating intelligent life.
The fight was difficult, but the party managed to prevail in the end. Elias learned a weakness of the creatures from Fruto Bupbop, an expert in carapskit biology. Heph discovered the thunder damage of his gauntlets was extra effective against their hard shells. And Rormir chipped his knock-off sapphire sword, beginning to hear a panicked voice in his head that seemed to have just woken up.
Elias inspected the throne and architecture, and found it was a crude imitation of a design he was familiar with. Heph inspected the humanoid carapskit’s “staff” and discovered it was nothing more than a spar of wood from the outside of a ship, with half an emblem of some kind visible at its outer broken edge. It seemed to have been somehow responsible for the unnatural transformation of its wielder.
Margrit Epel, who had succeeded in her fight against a carapskit, chopped off the humanoid creature’s head and ran, hoping to claim the reward. Rormir shot after her, permanently injuring her leg and knocking her unconscious. Heph, in frustration, punched a sleeping carapskit, waking it and angering it.
- Heph punches the carapskit again, it looks
distressed and confused and runs away
- Rormir picks up the head of the creature from where Margrit dropped it
- The head has not changed at all, unlike the other carapskit, which have shrunk slightly and are less glowy now
- Rormir shakes the head a bit to see if it is alive, the jaw hangs open but it gives no sign of life
- Elias orders Fruto to help get Helen and Margrit out of there, he is struggling
- Heph gives Fruto a health potion to get Helen up so the two of them can work together to get Margrit out
- The party starts to head out from the desert
- Rormir hears a voice in his head, and knows it’s coming from the sword this time
- It’s similar to the Message spell, where it’s not auditory but it seems to be originating from a direction (the sword)
- The fake sapphire is chipped, and under it is a dull sword that seems to be of fairly decent quality
- The act of chipping the sword seems to have woken it up
- Rormir asks Heph to take a look at it, and the sword asks “Heph, who’s Heph?”
- Rormir explains that Heph knows about magic and will help out
- The sword asks if Heph is the gnome, and says that isn’t Heph and to keep him away from the sword
- Elias asks Heph if Rormir hit his head, and as they get closer to Rormir (within 5 feet or so) they start to hear the sword
- Rormir asks if the sword is still there and shakes it, it says “Hey, stop that, who are you?”
- Rormir explains that he owns the sword
- Heph finishes his inspection of the staff
- It’s a spar of wood, likely from a ship
- It’s an arcane focus, likely used for the spellcasting of the carapskit
- It doesn’t have any present arcane function beyond that
- It seems to have reacted with the carapskit to create its strange form
- There are remnants of some kind of tar on it, which appears to have a natural semi-magical waterproofing
- The magic seems to have been in the carapskit, and the staff itself doesn’t hold much power on its own
- Rormir throws Heph the head, he recoils and drops it
- He picks up the head uses Identify on it
- He learns the magic affecting the head is unlike any spell he’s ever encountered
- There is something natural and raw, the magic that permeates the air itself and affects all creatures
- Compared to the puzzle box, it does not have a powerful divine presence, but it feels the same kind of ancient and that it stems from original magic
- Rormir suggests that they keep some part of the head, in case it comes in handy later
- Elias agrees, Heph throws the head to him, and Elias pops out an eye with a dagger
- Fruto gives Elias an empty flask from a health potion, and Elias puts the eye in the flask
- The party keeps walking, the fog thins, and they can see the outline of the
Dune Skimmer “The Hog” in the distance
- They see people milling around, people who got lost or never quite made it to the center of the fog are slowly wandering back
- The Earth Genasi says at least someone had success, Elias says “Yeah, we got a head in this competition!”
- A deckhand produces a bag containing the reward gold
- Elias tries to grab the bag of gold with Mage Hand, and manages to snatch it away from the deckhand
- The guy is surprised, and the Earth Genasi looks angry
- Her eyes glow, and a hand made from the desert sand shoots up and grabs Elias, dealing 8 bludgeoning damage
- Heph runs the head over to her, and apologizes for Elias’ behavior
- She releases the hand (“a little harm, a little foul”), and Elias collapses in pain
- Elias uses the mage hand to grab the gold again
- She suggests the party board up and head back to the city
- The party boards the ship, and they begin to prepare the ship to sail back to
the city
- Elias counts out the gold, Rormir and Heph getting 333 each
- Heph asks if he can take a look at the sword, Rormir shakes it and hands it over to Heph
- It threatens to hit Heph, and it isn’t able to move itself at all
- Elias asks the sword how long it’s been a sword, and it responds always after asking how long Elias has been an asshole
- The sword claims he can heal Elias if Elias gets him away from Heph, Elias grabs the sword with mage hand
- The sword lied, and Elias shakes him
- Elias cleans up the sword and hands him back to Heph
- Heph says “alright you fucker, let’s see what makes you tick”
- It tries to distract Heph, but it is unsuccessful
- There is a spell affecting it, similar in some respects to Speak with Plants, although more powerful and targeted at manufactured objects
- In addition, the sword has an inactive (through wear, tear, and age) latent ability to act as a Ring of Spell Storing for 2 levels worth of spells
- Heph is familiar with two traditions for crafting sentient objects: a gnomish and an elvish tradition
- Gnomes made it illegal a long time ago, and Jarles doesn’t seem like gnomish work, Heph doesn’t know much about the elvish tradition
- He doesn’t respond to any questions Heph asks him, he seems to have a thing against gnomes
- Elias says he’ll take the sword away from Heph if he answers some questions
- Rormir grabs away Jarles and stores him away
- Rormir goes to a far corner of the ship and meditates there
- Heph and Rormir notice Ana timidly
standing a distance away, clearly wanting to approach but hesitating
- Elias finds a comfortable spot to curl up and wallow in pain
- Heph approaches Ana, and Rormir watches and “listens” from a distance
- Ana is glad the party is okay
- They have a brief conversation about Elias’ secrets, and they agree it is best for her to keep following from a distance for now
- Ana doesn’t think Elias especially wants to interact with her
- Heph asks her if she has heard of Zilyana or Jarles, but she has not
- Heph turns away, turns back and doesn’t see her
- The Dune Skimmer approaches Kolonie’s Dune Port
- The ship docks and the gangplank is put down
- The Earth Genasi tells the party she is happy to arrange transport for them, and Heph asks her for transport to Wildeport
- Heph spots Farley trying to catch his eye
- Heph excuses himself and makes his way over to Farley
- He seems not surprised that a member of the Alchemist’s Guild was successful in defeating the carapskit
- He says he didn’t make the connection before, but asks whether Heph is Spraus’ son, from Potion Pitstop
- He looks around furtively and asks if Heph helps his dad with his “side business”, and Heph manages to convince him that he is aware of said business
- Farley says the amulet he ordered a few months back hasn’t arrived yet, and Heph tells him he will pass along a message to Spraus about that
- He tells Heph the amulet is a wind amulet, and he thinks he can turn a good profit on it
- He gives Heph a gift as a thank you for helping save a major trade route, a copper tube of metal, with a matte texture and labyrinthine lines precisely etched into it
- It looks well-made and maintained, but is clearly old
- He explains he acquired it some time ago from an archaeologist, and gives Heph the tube
- Upon taking it, Heph takes two lightning damage as it shocks his hand, he drops it
- Farley seems confused, Heph explains it was static electricity and picks it up again from the ground, this time without getting shocked
- He feels a tingling, but his body seems to absorb it
- Heph puts it in his utility belt, wishes Farley well, and heads back to the party
- Fruto and Isabella approach Elias
- Fruto asks if he is leaving so soon, and Elias explains that yes it is time to part ways
- Elias sends Fruto to Ivalgo to go find Jimmy, and do whatever Jimmy says
- He should also tell Jimmy Elias ordered him to set up a satellite organization in Kolonie
- It is all to combat the Sand Kraken, even though what he finds might be surprising
- Fruto asks, super nervously, if Isabella can accompany him to Bad Zamdorf to try to find out what happened to her family
- In the distance, Elias sees Ramon doing a dramatic retelling of the events of the fog, where he was knocked down and had a health potion splashed on him accidentally when the carrier of the potion tripped
- Elias tells Fruto Ramon is lying, and not to listen to what he is saying
- Fruto asks if they should ostracize him from society, and Elias says no, not necessary
- Fruto bows his way backwards down the gangplank while Elias watches critically
- The crew is ready to shove off, and they depart
- Elias finds a good spot to meditate, in a bed
- Heph gives the go-ahead to take off, and finds a bed to pass out in
- The group takes a short rest for the rest of the afternoon
- They are suddenly jolted awake by a terrifying cry, sand being thrown into the air, and a vibration in the ground
- The person at the helm yells out “everybody prepare, we have a Sand Kraken!”