As time starts back up again, our heroes continue on their journey to Zymorven Hall. Upon entering the residence, they were greeted by a young man. Explaining that they were told they could get a certain item here, our heroes were escorted to the Lord of the Hall, Hathos Zymorven. Once there, they said they heard they could get a Giant Slayer Greataxe from him. Although initially confused, upon explaining that Urgala from Triboar had told them to come, and how they had saved the village from giants, he understood. Sadly, his son, Harthal, had stolen the axe as revenge. His father disowned him for marrying some thief from Yartar. He told them if they could find the axe, they could keep it.
Our heroes were invited to spend the night. They were brought to a room full of bunk beds. As they were settling down a group of around 20 soldiers entered and started setting up as well. Our heroes were making small talk with the soldiers and started asking about the keep, about Hathos, his son etc. The soldiers confirmed that Hathos was a good man and used to be close to his son, although they hadn’t seen him in some time.
As morning arrived, our heroes debated which way to go. They could either go back the way they came or head west, and explore some more. They decided to head back to Everlund and use the teleportation services they had access to. The soldiers were heading in that direction as well so it made it an easy trip back. Once in Everlund they realized they couldn’t bring their cart with them, so they sold it before teleporting back to Yartar.
Once there, the party realized they were drawing a lot of attention, carrying around the decomposing giant heads. Seraphina asked Mitsui if she really wanted them, but Mitsui seemed more interested in using her rod to find the greataxe. So Seraphina and Kida went to the river to get rid of the heads, while Mitsui and Hark wandered on. Seraphina cut a few locks of hair from the female fire giant’s head before Kida tossed them in.They then went to the bars and began asking around about the son. While at The Hand, the barkeep told them that for 5 gold he could introduce them to someone that should be able to find the information. They agreed and were introduced to a Halfing. He told them for the right price he would find the information they’re looking for. He claimed a fee of 2000 gold. Seraphina tried to trade with him, but he wasn’t interested in the “trinkets” she was trying to give him in exchange. The Halfing then left to return to his table.
Kida had an idea, since she couldn’t pay the gold, maybe she could offer her services. She went over to the Halfing and started explaining how they were strong and could be useful. The Halfing asked if they would “take care” of a couple of people that had been causing them trouble, having killed 15 or so of their men. As they were asking for more details, they were informed that this duo consisted of a goblin and a kenku travelling together.
Seraphina and Kida figured they must be talking about Mitsui and Hark. Seraphina played it off that she was scared of these two, as she had heard of them and their skill and strength. Unfortunately this would be a request they couldn’t take. The Halfing understood, noting that they were a troublesome duo.
Leaving The Hand, Seraphina sent Lola to find Mitsui. Once Lola led Seraphina to Mitsui, they explained what happened and how Mitsui and Hark should leave town. Thinking about it for a minute, Mitsui agreed, and loaned her the Rod of the Vonindod to Kida, who reluctantly agreed to use it. Although at first unsuccessful, upon Seraphina instructing Kida on exactly what to look for with it, they managed to find the axe. It was in the possession of the Watch Captain, Brenner. Brenner was surrounded by a group of 8 guards. Questioning a passerby, they learned that this man was corrupt and abused his power.
They started following the group, who then went down a dark alley. Seraphina told Kida to wait there, and, hiding in her shadow, transformed into a bat. Flying down the alley, she came to the other side and noticed the guards, waiting with their weapons drawn, looking towards the alley. After a few minutes, they put their weapons away and started walking in the general direction they had been heading before. Seraphina followed them to a building, waited outside a few minutes and watched them come back out. She continued following them, and Kida hid as she noticed the group coming her way. Seraphina the bat managed to get Kida to follow her, and they continued following Brenner
Arriving at a house, Brenner went inside as the guards headed off in different directions. Kida was sneaking around the house, at Seraphina’s motion, but was noticed by Mrs. Brenner. She yelled at the poor half-orc, telling her to get away from her house. Kida tried explaining she was just taking a shortcut, but Mrs. Brenner didn’t care.
Seraphina, as a bat, was looking through the windows. She noticed 2 kids playing on the first floor, and Mrs. Brenner making dinner. Brenner was heading upstairs, and Seraphina followed from the outside. She saw Brenner take his armor off and put his axe in a chest, then headed downstairs. Seraphina went in through an open window, and transformed back into her regular self. She lifted the greataxe and used her winged boots to fly out, back to Kida.
Meanwhile, Mitsui and Hark had been talking outside of town, taking cover in some nearby trees. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a poisoned crossbow bolt struck Hark out of nowhere. Hark hit the ground immediately. Mitsui checked Hark and realized he was dead. Enraged, she figured out where the bolt came from and sped off in that direction, drinking Hark’s Potion of Invulnerability . She found a shady man quickly fleeing and realized he must have been the one who shot Hark. Mitsui engaged the assassin in single combat.
Both civilians and guards were approaching and watching the fight. While Mitsui got some good shots in, stunning the assassin at times, he also got some good hits in. Had it not been for the Potion of Invulnerability, she may have died. As Seraphina and Kida saw the crowds and approached, Mitsui killed the assassin. She then looked through his possessions and found a note detailing a 20,000 gold bounty for both a kenku and a goblin duo, who’s descriptions matched Hark and Mitsui.
The guards then approached Mitsui cautiously, telling her they would have to take her in for murder, expecitng resistance and to be attacked. Mitsui yelled back, “why! This man killed friend! His people killed others and were bad people. There was no justice here!” The guards told her they would look into this, as this is not information they had. They would have to take her in while they investigated. Mitsui agreed and gave them her weapons. Leaving with the guards, she showed Seraphina and Kida the direction that Hark was in.
Seraphina sent Lola to follow Mitsui and learn what building she was taken to before returning to her. Seraphina and Kida came to Hark’s dead body and put it in a bag of holding, hoping to find a way to resurrect him. They then started heading back to town, hoping to figure out how to help Mitsui. Thus time came to a sad standstill, as the world lost one of its heroes.
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