As time resumed, our heroes were well rested and decided to head back to the excavation site they had skipped to see what was going on there. Upon arriving, the only thing that was still there were the goblins, each on the ground, unconscious or dead. Sneaking in, Seraphina checked the bodies and determined they were all dead.
Asking Zesh if she had the Speak with Dead spell prepared, and learning she did not, but could prepare it, our heroes decided to throw a couple of the bodies into their Bag of Holding and headed back to Everlund.
Once there, Kurd went back to Danivarr’s House, and offered to play again in exchange for sleeping quarters. Dral accepted the terms as Kurd started playing. Meanwhile, Zesh and Seraphina went up to the second floor where Zesh cast Speak with Dead. They found out the excavation was for Vonindod fragments, and that it was being taken to Ironslag, by Coldwood.
After coming back down, Tao bought Zesh a drink. They then proceeded to talk about the arm wrestling contests. Tao indicated she wasn’t overly interested in the money, but Zesh indicated she was, she just didn’t have the money to spend to enter. Tao quickly offered her 50 gold, which shocked Zesh. She couldn’t believe the generosity. She graciously accepted the money and separated equally between 3 pouches. Kida joined in on the drinks and conversation, and the three decided to head to a nearby tavern and set up a contest. They decided on the Missing Minotaur, although Zesh could have sworn it was called the Moaning Minotaur.
They were greeted by the tavern keeper, Elsk, who commented that Tao and Zesh didn’t seem the type to be here. While he served Tao some drinks, he was telling them a bit about his story. At one point getting upset, he smashed a plate. Zesh started to mend the plate, but Elsk broke it again, telling her not to fix things he broke. Picking up on the energy, Tao smashed a glass, and got told off by Elsk, insisting only he had the right to break things.
Tao ended up taking a table and placing it in the middle of the room, ignoring Elsk telling her not to, and saying she wanted to arm wrestle. Elsk sat down in front of her and said “fine.” They made a bet, if Tao won, the table stayed forever. If Elsk won, the table would be placed back, Zesh would stop fixing things, and Tao would stop breaking things. To Tao’s surprise, she lost and put the table back. As this was happening, someone tried to steal Kida’s money but was caught.
Tao stepped up and grabbed the person, but Elsk said to let them alone; if someone gets caught stealing it’s their fault for getting caught, if someone has something stolen, it’s their fault for having it stolen. If Tao has an issue with them, she can take it up with them after they leave the tavern. Tao ignored this and pulled the person out of the tavern, shoving a few people out of the way. Zesh also cast Calm Emotions to try and appease a few people but was met with only mild success.
Outside the tavern, Tao beat the crap out of the person before taking their goods and money and throwing them back in. Kida and Zesh came out shortly afterwards. They agreed to try the arm wrestling contest again at the Stag at Bay.
Going in, they again bought some food and drink. Zesh and Tao talked about how this normally went. They ended up deciding to ask the staff if they could do this. Zesh managed to convince them to do so and started up a contest, trying to convince people to join. Tao added that she’d buy free drinks for everyone who participated, which got a few more people interested. Although Tao, Kida, and Zesh made it past the first round, Zesh and Kida both lost in the following rounds, leaving Tao as the winner. Tao drank and drank until she was drunk, and the group headed back to Danivarr’s House.
The group went to bed, finding Kurd already asleep under a bed. As morning came, they started making a plan for their route. Originally, they planned to go into the mountains, but after comparing the maps a bit more they thought that the location may be in the forest instead. They decided to go towards the forest, going around the mountain rather than into it. Their trip was uneventful, although they did notice a herd of elk grazing as they journeyed. Arriving in the forest, Kurd flew up to get a better view and saw a clearing.
Approaching the clearing, they started wandering around, finding a totem in the southwest and northeast corners. As they reached the top part of the plateau a bulette popped up from underground with a human riding on it. Our heroes made quick work of it and its rider, but a second bulette and rider popped up shortly after. This time, the rider cast a spell on Tao, paralysing her. Kida jumped onto the second bulette and took out the rider. The bulette then headed underground, with Kida holding on as it burrowed underground. Our heroes followed, digging their way through, only to discover that Kida had died. Kida had been dead for more than a minute and could not be Revivified. Bringing her body out, they were assaulted by a group of twenty tribesmen.
Although Kurd started the fight off well, casting Hypnotic Pattern and immobilizing most of the tribesmen,. a few managed to free themselves, including their shaman, who cast Lightning Bolt on our heroes. Zesh fell unconscious a few times during the battle but was healed up by Kurd. In the end, they managed to kill off the tribesmen.
Thus time came to a stop, as the world was left wondering what would come next for our unfortunate heroes.
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