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« Last post by Malchia on April 17, 2024, 07:40:02 AM »
RECAP:
The group left the Kobald encampment and decided to travel northeast toward where they believed Melg should be. While walking, Yoshi cast a Divination spell to ask The Oldest Orc how to escape this place and received the answer "We must sacrifice one of our group to get out." Needless to say, this didn't sit well with everyone, but we carried on. Along the way, we were approached by a group of Samurai horse lords. Osrick said these riders have been chasing him for the last two months and he attacked them on sight as they rode closer to our position. He launched two devastating fireballs at a group of about 15 dealing massive damage, but only four perished in the blast zone. The other 11 and another group of about 15 survived unscathed and circled the group with sword and spear pointed in our direction.
Akrah pinged the group as they got closer and noticed roughly half of them were evil. They greeted us in pseudo-Horarian, but the language was lost on most of the group. Fortunately, many of us speak Horarian and were able to issue a greeting. Unfortunately, one of the samurai dismounted when he saw Oz and attacked him believing him to be an Oni. Oz was on the brink of death after a series of successful strikes after the assailant got the jump on us. The rest of the group sprung into action at this time and defended our position. Jessie activated his shield, Taye hid and used his mind powers, Terlus and Gareth tackled Osrick to prevent him from killing the samurai, Akrah was grappled by several samurai, and the rest prepared spells or hid behind the shield.
It quickly became apparent that the vast majority of samurai held their position while only one lone warrior attempted to murder Oz and two or three restrained Akrah. Yoshi bravely placed himself in harm's way to heal Oz and eventually the rest of the group stepped in to kill the attacking samurai. Gareth landed a grievous blow that skewered our assailant through the neck to finish him off. Osrick teleported away from being held and hid.
At that time, another warrior in a purple helmet dismounted and commanded the rest of the samurai not to attack further. He approached Oz and asked to speak. Oz had Tongues active, so he was able to communicate clearly with the leader. He mentioned that he was the protector of a nearby village and that they would not harm us if we came with them. He mentioned that spellcasters were useful and in high demand and assured us that Osrick would not be harmed if he agreed to come with us to his village. Ultimately, we all agreed and rode off with them. As a token of martial tradition, the belongings of the dead samurai were given to Gareth for being the one to slay him. It was the purple warrior, Ada, who offered this since he represented the clan.
On our way to the town, the evil samurai rode off and away from the group while the non-evil ones stayed and spoke to us. Gareth asked them about their history, their deities, traditions, etc. He was told they know of dead gods like Forsha and some of the Celestial Bureaucracy, but not any from our pantheon except Dedestoyt. Gareth was also told that everything belonging to the one he killed was now his as tradition dictated, including the samurai's widow and the house they live in.
The most important thing we were told is that, within the confines of the town's prison basement, resides a "witch" that the samurai keep locked up. This witch is apparently very powerful, knows of the Oni, is knowledgeable about other worlds and different planes, and would be interested to speak with us. Ada identified her as Ver'on I'ka. Once we arrived at the village, adorned in traditional Horarian design and architecture but with a unique style different from Habololy, we were escorted to the prison. Ada said we would be safest there and offered to stay in the prison with us overnight as a gesture of good faith. We agreed and decided to call it a night when Ada discovered a lone prisoner in one of the cells. It was some sort of Goblin-esque creature, but unknown to us. Ada killed it to prevent it from hearing what we had to say and to free up an additional cell for our party.
In the morning, Ada met with his village elders and they all agreed we should meet Ver'on I'ka. Upon entering her chambers, we were struck by how incredibly beautiful she was. She was more than pleased to meet us and seductively approached the group to get a closer look at us. The conversation immediately began with her essentially stating that she was aware we weren't native to this plane and that she could help us get out but an "offering to her" would need to be made. We all looked at each other with the grim realization that this must be the "sacrifice" The Oldest Orc was referring to. We left off with the group pondering their options while Ver'on I'ka smiled at all of us.
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