What You Missed: Ashen Bounty IX
Chimeron Militia Official Report
CO: Captain Sir Orion
Report by: Ryu Goldscale, Heroic Militia
<Begin Report>
Captain,
With Lt. Bogen currently attending to other matters, I have written this official report in his stead.
The journey to Nangea was rather uneventful but not unpleasant. The Heroic Militia formed a small but reliable unit which ended up working well for the unique dangers we encountered. As soon as we had landed, I could tell something was off. Adventurers that had been here before noted that the land seemed a bit duller and less vibrant than usual. Nonetheless, we ventured to the local tavern which I was told belonged to Gundulf. Within the tavern, was plenty of delicious food, drink, and merriment, although most curious to me was a magical staff called Leyla. This staff was able to tap into the local ley lines and utilize resources to better the town. While incredibly helpful, Leyla is not great at holding an engaging conversation. As the last of the adventurers arrived, several things went wrong;
- a pack of dogs had escaped, bred with wolves, and now wolfdogs were loose in the surrounding area
- a magical plague known as “the Hollow” had infected citizens who did not follow a living Archeon and caused them to attack others
- so called “rebels” who did not follow a living Archeon yet had not succumbed to “the Hollow” had been attacking the town and causing trouble
- the Hollow had stolen the magical wards around Gundulf’s tavern, leaving it open to attack
- A local merchant had been attacked by the Hollow while traveling and was now lost in the woods
Needless to say, we had our work cut out for us. Fern immediately took charge, directing adventurers many times their senior and focusing all of us on the tasks at hand. After a few incidents of toxic muddy holes, and a miscommunication about keeping the dogs alive, we did solve all of the problems. The night ended with tense negotiations between Sir Laika’s group and the “Rebels”. The details of that are better stated in Fern’s report, however I believe they ended favorably. (Please see my addendum about Elora’s ritual)
The next day included a lot of fighting corruption, fixing more houses, and gathering resources for Leyla. At one point, a group had a run in with some sirens from Pacifica, the underwater city. I was not there for that fight, but it set the king of Pacifica against us. After a delicious lunch, we once again went out to negotiate peacefully with the “Rebels”. The negotiations went well, however as we were wrapping up, we received word that a Pacifican follower of Calypso had broken into the Tavern, killed everyone in there, and stolen Leyla. After discovering and completing a ritual to allow us to breath underwater, we ventured to Pacifica, confronted the Storm King, and saved Leyla. As a note, please be careful touching Icicle, thanks to some storm nodes, I was able to use it to channel several Lightning Bolts and that left it slightly… more electric than usual.
In the morning, we discovered that Leyla had been damaged by her time underwater. In order to fix her, we delved deep into her memories to purge the corruption and restore the memories that had been lost. The corruption was everywhere and it was violent. Sometimes it converged into actual beasts, sometimes it obscured memories that needed to be fixed. We saw memories of treaties, battles, strange creatures, important people, and even strange potions. With the skills of everyone working together, and a little organization, we managed to completely restore Leyla to proper working order. While the Hollow still need to be dealt with, I believe Nangea is stable for the moment and requires no additional militia presence.
<Report End>