July 2, 2010 - The party sets out to find Alek Tercival, battling crocodiles and tentacles in the jungle waters.
Huron, Vico, Gramps, Yggdrasil, The Champ, Snake Eyes
The party spends a day or two taking care of affairs in town, hearing many rumors and whispers about the riot and its aftermath. They see many militia and mercenaries training and doing military exercises, almost like something is planned and they are preparing for it.
They decide to go find out what the Stormblades have been up to. They ask around town and find out that they normally frequent the Slippery Eel restaurant, a high-class place, so they put on their fine clothes and head there. Since The Champ doesn't yet have any fancy clothes, they stop at Rhiavadi's Fine Silks and he orders a pure white suit, magically enchanted so that the wearer can, as a minor action, clean it completely. Amazed, Snake Eyes and Vico also get this enchantment placed on their outfits, which earns them all a discount rate (which is then discounted further from their fame in town.)
They head to the Slippery Eel. Inside, Annah Taskerhill is dining with a young man they don't recognize. Snake Eyes sidles up and eavesdrops; everyone else goes to the bar to watch. He overhears them talking about the latest fashion trends; magically inscribed head bands and ribbons that glow. Snake Eyes interrupts them to tell them that feathers are where it's at; Annah, annoyed, looks to see how many feathers he is wearing (none) and rolls her eyes in disgust. Snake Eyes then does something (I forget what) to cause a bit of a scene, and two bounces make their way over to escort him out. Somehow he manages to sneak away, and joins the others at the bar.
Snake Eyes asks the bartender for his finest wine, which he brings out and says will cost 50gp. Snake Eyes says it's not cold enough. The bartender hints that he may have some...special cold drink if they have the coin. Intrigued, the party pays attention, and Gramps pays 200gp for this special drink. The bartender pulls out a crystal bottle containing an icy clear liquid, and frost literally coats the crystal coating and anything it touches. He tells them it was smuggled in from the para-elemental plane of ice, and is extremely rare. He says it has magical properties, that drinking it makes someone intensely cold, and that this drink has been known to save people from raging infernos. The bottle contains enough for two swigs. Gramps tucks it away.
Huron comes over and asks where the other Stormblades are, as he has a message for them. Annah coldly tells him that he can just give the message to her, since she's leader of the Stormblades. He refuses. She shrugs, but then adds that there isn't really a Stormblades anymore anyways, since Cora ran off with Bonesaw. She insults Bonesaw's heritage and race a bit, but the party is simply entertained that the Stormblades are having issues. She gives them dirty looks as they smugly enjoy her discomfort. On their way out, Huron buys her a drink, something "a snooty bitch would like". She gives him a surprised, suspicious look as they leave.
Gramps reminds everyone that Maavu (now outlawed in town) said they should come find him in Redgorge so he can thank them properly. They go to Redgorge, and poke around a bit. It is a smallish mining and farming town, and the people are hard-working civilians. They don't recognize the party for their fame, which deflates them a little bit. They find out that Maavu can usually be found at the Redhead Miner's Inn. Intrigued by a popular "Hall of Carvings," The Champ and Snake Eyes go visit there while the others go to the inn. Snakes Eyes wants to go buy a boat, which confuses the DM, who doesn't let him. :P
Inside the inn, and the Hall of Carvings, and actually all around town, are various paintings, frescoes and statues of Surabar Spellmason. There are many scenes of him battling the demon army, kneeling before an angelic figure and receiving a glowing staff, and using the staff to defeat a terrible demon which must be Aggannar. Snake Eyes, in the Halls of Carvings, takes out the golden replica staff he received at the Demonskar Ball, and compares it to a statue of Spellmason holding a staff. He is impressed by the accuracy and detail in the replica. Meanwhile Yggdrasil compares the paintings of Aggannar to his demon outfit he wore at the Ball, and is similarly impressed by the attention to detail.
The innkeeper, a jolly plump man named Mikimax, greets them with food and drink. They ask where Maavu is. He inspects them a bit but quickly realizes who they are, and leads them into a back room and then down some stairs into a large basement room. Maavu and some others are talking or hanging out downstairs, all wearing brown tabards with a chisel on it. Mikimax removes his apron to reveal that he too is wearing an identical tabard. Maavu walks up and shakes Gramps' hand gratefully, and gives him 1000gp for saving his life. The Champ and Vico ask Maavu if he can use his connections to clad their carriage in armor and weaponry. He is surprised but says he'll see what he can do. He is baffled by the idea of a "repeating ballista" for the roof, however.
After a while, Maavu gestures around at the people in the room and says they are all part of a group called The Chisel. Maavu says that the Chisel is the true reason he's asked them here today. He explains that their organization is dedicated to upholding Surabar's beliefs and protecting Redgorge and Cauldron. Recently they have begun to suspect deep corruption within the Cauldron government, that someone or a group of people are manipulating the officials for personal gain. To counter this corruption, the Chisel asked Alek to stand up against the government and challenge Skellerang for his position, which would be the first step the Chisel would need to start stamping out the liars and thieves in power.
The problem is, he explains, is that Alek delivered the challenge and all was going fine, but then he disappeared. No one has seen Alek in roughly two weeks, and the Cauldron government is seizing his absence to discredit Alek and the challenge, and even worse, rumor has it that they are mobilizing to attack Redgorge and destroy the Chisel, calling the group a "rebel group." Such an attack would be a pointless waste of hundreds of lives. Only the return of Alek to settle matters and calm everyone can end this without bloodshed.
The party points out that the Chisel is apparently well-known for a secret organization. Maavu frowns and agrees, and says that they *were* a secret organization that worked behind the scenes...until Alek bluntly declared his challenge as being supported by the Chisel. Maavu, frustrated, says he doesn't know why Alek would say that - he's a smart young man and much more diplomatic than that normally.
The Chisel members explain that maybe Alek is hurt or needs help - he needs to be found. He was last seen a few weeks back when he stopped in Redgorge before continuing his explorations of the jungle area surrounding the Demonskar. Maavu explains that Alek would boat downriver into the jungle and explore, before returning to the Cauldron area to rest and recover. Lately he'd been going back into the jungle more and more - there must be something important there. Maavu adds that Alek once told him he was on divine missions...that he had spoken with his god and knew he was on the path of something important.
The Stormhammers start planning an expedition. They go to the docks and find a large rowboat, which Maavu gladly offers to them to help them find Alek. They start talking about how they will return...Gramps suggest finding a really, really long rope and tying it to a post here in Redgorge, and then pulling themselves back after finding Alek. Mikimax laughs and says the jungle is "hundreds of miles away" and no rope is that long. An insight check reveals that Mikimax...really has no idea how far it is. The conversation does stir something in the fat man though, who goes and fetches a strange metal plate from a back room. He sheepishly admits that Alek gave it to him a while back to pass on to a wizard to study, but he forgot and grew fond of the etchings on it.
The party gathers around and inspects the plate. Huron recognizes the six-armed figures as an ancient magic-using race called Spellweavers, though they haven't been seen in hundreds of years and little is known about them. The Champ, Snake Eyes and Vico inspect the left side of the plate, and realize that it tells a story, from bottom to top, of a Spellweaver overseeing slaves struggling with blocks; then the Spellweaver dripping something on the slaves who lift the blocks easily; and finally a finished, majestic temple. Gramps flips the plate over and sees a crude map carved into the back, with horrendous writing/spelling and hard-to-decipher landmarks. They spot what looks like a river, and a figure by it that is labeled "NO HED".
Hearing them, Mikimax says that there is a large headless statue a few miles into the jungle by river, and says that he could never read the scrawl on the back. He looks shifty about this though, and Huron grabs him and threatens him to tell the truth, which Mikimax does in shame - he can't read. The party laughs at him and heads out to their boat, which Vico attempted to decorate with the Stormhammers logo, but it ended up horrible. Snake Eyes takes a turn and creates a masterpiece.
As for how they will return, they convince a Chisel wizard to perform a ritual on their boat that let them, once only, return the boat and anything/anyone inside to the Redgorge docks. While the wizard is casting the ritual, The Champ starts fishing and immediately falls into the water and starts getting washed downstream. He catches himself easily, but while everyone is gaping at him no one notices Snake Eyes snatch a leaping fish out of mid-air, and no one believes him that he actually caught it after.
Before they leave, Snake Eyes goes to the town's Shrine of Pelor and prays to Pelor for an hour. He asks Pelor if they are doing the right thing by helping Maavu, as it's unclear who is right here. He receives a warm feeling and feels good about their decision when they set off down the river, towards the jungle.
They start heading down the river, with Gramps manning the oars and The Champ navigating. He proves a capable guide, and the boat trip is smooth and uneventful. They spot rough weather ahead though, looming over the jungle wilds, but decide they are moving too fast to stop the boat and wait out the rain. They enter the jungle, which has heavy trees and branches draping overhead, and a relentless downpour starts to blanket them, impairing their vision and hampering their senses.
They drift farther into the jungle, spotting various wild animals at the shores. They come to a stretch with some clumps of land poking out of the river (now with a strong current). They spot an enormous crocodile dozing in the shade, underneath one of the large trees extending overhead. They decide to give it a wide berth and steer the boat away from it. It lazily watches them but doesn't move closer. However, ripples are spotted in the water before and beside them, and they ready for combat just as whip-like, fleshy tendrils break the water and start lashing out at the boat.
The tendrils snap out and start wrapping around people, dragging The Champ right off the boat into the water, and the beneath the surface. The Champ is bitten by a beak mouth underwater and starts struggling and drowning. Up above, the storm continues pushing the boat down the river, and the giant crocodile slithers into the water.
Yggdrasil summons a spiritual guardian into the boat, and plants a battle standard. Snake Eyes leaps off the boat to shore and starts throwing shurikens and slashing with his sword, on the tendril that is holding The Champ underwater. The huge crocodile surfaces and lunges at the party, trying to bite and hold a target with its massive jaws, and the other tendril attempts to drag Vico off the boat. A second, smaller crocodile surges out of the water and latches on to Yggdrasil, and tries to drag him off the boat.
The party begins fending off the various grabbing attacks, all while struggling to keep the boat from drifting off, and treading water against the strong current, and trying not to drown when the tendrils drag them underwater. The Champ has the displeasure of discovering that while underwater, any damage taken results in a very difficult Endurance check, and failure on this check results in a lost healing surge. They also discover that aquatic creatures (which both crocs and the tendrils are) receive bonuses to attack non-aquatic swimming foes.
Snake Eyes leaps over a tendril to get back onto the boat, which floats down the river and beaches itself on a clump of mossy land. The Champ suffers underwater for a few rounds before escaping the tendril and making his way up to the same clump of land. He dashes back into the fray, running through the boat and leaping off to attack the smaller crocodile.
The smaller crocodile continues to back up before charging the boat, clamping its jaws around anyone within reach, and even ripping them further when they escape its mighty jaws. It ravages Yggdrasil, the Champ and Vico a fair bit before the Champ finally drops it with two counterattack strikes. Meanwhile, Huron and Snake Eyes turn one of the tendrils into fleshy chunks, which Huron grabs some of, and they also slice off the top 3' of tendril which Gramps grabs and shoves into a pack.
They turn their attention to the huge crocodile, which is slow and lumbering and failing at really doing anything at all. The other tendril manages to wrap up Yggdrasil and drag the warforged away, but being a construct, he doesn't start to drown, just sink. Disappointed, it lets him go, blinding him with an ink cloud before making its way over to Huron. Snake Eyes leaps off the boat on top of the huge crocodile, and starts slashing and stabbing it fiercely.
The huge croc snaps out at the Champ and bites him fiercely, bloodying him. It then snaps its head up and SWALLOWS HIM, and starts digesting him! Desperate, they pour on the damage, and inside (being devoured) The Champ crits the Crocodile, smashing a blunted horn right through its stomach lining so that the horn protrudes out its back. He also pockets a small black stone idol he finds inside its belly. Yggdrasil pours out the healing to keep everyone up, and bashes the croc on the head, killing it. Huron rips the other tendril in half as it attempts to swim away, and Vico and Snake Eyes swim frantically after the boat which has begun drifting away downriver. They catch up and row it back up to the party, who all pile in and catch their breath.
A few minutes later, Huron spots a looming stone figure on the side of the river, lacking a head. The rain is still heavily obscuring their view, so they drift over and land the boat, only then noticing that the beach is occupied. Half a dozen gnolls armed for battle are scattered about the beach, who turn and look at the party. They draw their weapons and leap to the attack.
Of note: Snake Eyes gets an impressive 20-point achievement for going an entire game night without taking damage!
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