Triften's Game: Session n+5 - 4/4/2007

After dispatching the baby dragon, the party gets to work surveying the mess. Flacco and Kurako carry the carcass to the carts (dragon parts can fetch quite a bounty) while Terrence and Jared examine the interior of the Shrine without being harassed by large reptiles.

Outside, Kurako notices a reptilian figure attempting to hide behind some rocks and notifies her sister. The twins give chase as the figure makes its way down the west road and encounter a group of lizardmen. Kurako spots a familiar face among them and Stetta steps forth to greet the twins. After brief introductions and Stetta showing off the hood made from the t'k'zha'khu, they all head up to Shrine.

Meanwhile, Terrence observes the stopped up spring and decides to build a fire, heading out to the cart for supplies. Jared discovers the wyrm's nesting area featuring what appears to be a body frozen into the ice. Holostarchander is still barely conscious.

As he emerges from the carts, Terrence sees a band of lizardmen marching up the western road with Flacco, Kurako, and Stetta. Not knowing what to expect, he yells to warn Jared and Holostarchander.

The lizardmen arrive quickly and are mildly aghast to see the Shrine in its current state. The tribe's assistant (hereafter referred to as the shaman) asks Terrence not to build a fire (for some reason, the request from the 6 foot tall lizard carries more weight than the one from the nearly dead sorcerer) and binds Holostarchander's wounds. He sends his men to begin chipping away at the ice plug on the spring and then most of the party goes to the cart to get mallets and spikes. With a powerful blow, Kurako splits the plug, allowing the spring to be cleared. The spring flows in a torrent and, while the water from it is rather cold, it begins to melt the ice surrounding it.

The lizardfolk shaman thanks the party for their help and him and his men clear out to join their kin in the valley below. Stetta rejoins the party to pursue the destiny from her vision.

Terrence notices that the ice covering the ceiling of the shrine has glints of metal in it. This is brought to his attention when a piece of silver drops out of the melting ice. Stetta looks up in time to dodge a large chunk of ice breaking away. The other party members notice this and some stay clear while others pursue the treasure more aggressively. Flacco quickly rigs up a rope climbing rig and despite being battered by falling ice (dislocated shoulder, blows to the head) makes her way to the ceiling to begin pulling coins from the ice. Kurako, while dodging ice, watches in horror as her sister is nearly killed. Eventually, the celing is clear and the Shrine is scoured of coinage. The loot tally comes to about 280 (gold?) and one very nice shield. The body is placed on a funeral pyre and, after much debate a tithe is made to Tyvia.

Holostarchander discovers that the spring has healed his wounds and refreshed him, prompting the rest of the party to drink from the spring and refill their water skins.

The party begins preparations to continue their travels along the mountain road heading west so they can make their ways to the Hills of Hanyard in search of the old king's wizard.

UPDATED: The first large chunk of ice nearly hit Stetta, not Terrence.

Triften's game: Session n+4B -3/21/2007

Stetta runs off into the woods after being snubbed, yet again, by Terrence. She heads roughly north, avoiding the town, and, eventually, crossing over the road and entering the swamp. After almost a full day of slogging through the swamp, Stetta rests in a shaded area finding calm in the dappled sunlight and buzzing insects.

During this moment, an enormous venomous snake calmly rises out of the water in front of her before calmly flaring its multicolored hood and not-so-calmly hissing. Stetta fights the snake, expertly dodging its lightning-quick strikes while slicing it up with her sickles. The snake manages to get a clean strike with its vicious fangs before Stetta kills it, sending venom coursing through her body.

Stetta is swiftly weakened by the poison and, before blacking out, she sees lizardfolk stepping out from behind nearby trees. While unconscious, she experiences a number of hallucinations and visions similar to Jared's

Stetta awakens inside some sort of lean-to structure with a lizardperson watching over her. When it sees that she is awake, it hands her some food (some sort of mush and a couple roasted beetles) and some clean-looking water (a rarity in the middle of a swamp) and calls over a couple of other lizardfolk.

The pair approaching appears to be the leader and his assistant. The assistant is able to make himself understood in Common and he translates for the leader, explaining that Stetta has bested t'k'zha'khu or, more accurately pronounced, !*zha#u (! = alveolar click, *= velar implosive, # = uvular fricative, IPA pronunciation: !ɠʒaʁu), an avatar of the Snake god. Additionally, she has survived her travels through the dream world (induced by the poison) and is recognized as a member of their tribe.

Stetta spends the next few days talking to the chief's assistant, who analyzes her vision for her. Stetta also learns that these lizardfolk had been hiding in the mountains for sometime but, when the area started to dry up, they were forced to head back down into the swamps. After being sighted, the Black Talon moved in and has been preparing to attack them. While normally at an advantage in the swamps, their numbers are greatly reduced and would likely be wiped out if they stayed and fought.

Lizardfolk scouts have spotted a Shrine to the Goddess of the Spring which was evidently the source of water for their hiding place in the mountains. The lizardfolk have decided to flee the swamps, sending a small contingent up to the Shrine to figure out what went wrong, while the rest will head back to their old hiding place in hopes that the other group is successful. Additionally, a small group will stay behind to provide token resistance to the Black Talon.

Stetta marches withthe lizardfolk out of the swamps, to the NW, and joins the small contingent heading up to the shrine.