Session 9 + 10
Session begins with Father Denith carrying Theo's body. He looks for a place to respectfully lay his body. He mentions he knows a good mortician in the next town over. Athtar thanks him.
A bald and pale-skinned man with a dust hat sits in the back. The group looks at him. He turns to the group and smiles. He is a stranger to the group, but he is welcoming. He is waiting for someone.
Denith speaks to him and apologizes as there have been some unforeseen events. He turns to Athtar and asks what the group was doing with the likes of her. Athtar responds, saying that Pete had picked up a bounty. They learned more about it and intuited that they are miners who are protesting.
Denith mentions that it's pretty bad because taking a bounty from the black swords is never worth it. The pay is little and it comes with stipulations if you were to abandon the contract.
Athtar asks to elaborate. Denith responds that you will be hunted down by bounty hunters if you abandon the contract. So the group has to deal with the miners or accept the consequences.
Athtar believes that they should try to help the miners. Denith asks where he should lay Theo's body. The man introduced himself as Benjamin Riddle. He mentions he knows Theo as he's a fellow dustwatcher. Benjamin tells Denith that he would have liked to be laid to rest in the Iron Hold, by his former teacher, Warbullets.
Denith tells him that he will send a letter to Theo's teacher to see if he would be allowed to take Theo there. Athtar recognizes the name Warbullets. Famous in a niche field and he's an ancient gnome who has lived in the area for over 100 years.
Athtar also clues into the fact that the black swords seemed to have little interest in the vampire in west haven. It clicks to him that it's likely the black swords have vampires among their ranks.
Benjamin offers to join the party. Athtar is fine with it. Denith offers both Athtar and Benjamin to stay the night.
At dawn, the group reconvenes and heads North to Salt Creek. As the first day of traveling ends and the sun begins to set the group sees the glow of a campfire nearby.
They see a collection of wagons formed into a ring along with several campfires. Athar sees a painted symbol. It is elven, reading "Desna", or "Mother Moon." These are lowland elves. Athtar approaches and a full elf in conversation at a campfire jogs over. Athtar greets him and asks if they could camp out with them for the night. The elf is more than happy to have them join. He guides them to the fire and offers per custom if the group would like to add something to the stew. Athtar opts to include an elixir of life. The quantity of soup is enough to dilute the healing effect, but it adds a rich taste that outlives the heat of the stew.
The group sits by the fire and chat about where they're going and some stories they experienced during their travels.
They sleep the night and continue travelling the next day. A duststorm rolls in. Benjamin spots an outcropping to hunker down. He points that out to the group, and they dart towards it. Gimli gets caught in the storm for a little due to his stumpy legs, but eventually makes it. Pete sees a pile of red, rusty dust on the floor slowly crawl toward the group in a flash of lightning.
The pool begins to rise up and coil itself like a serpent. Gimli recognizes this as a Quickiron Plasma. It is a large elemental creature with very high resistance to magic. It has two main features:
Consume Magic
Biomagical feedback