Untamed Wilds Session 2

The party rested after their harrowing experiences with the reptile crab monsters and the bard used comprehend languages to listen in on their new human friends and figure out where they came from. He paraphrased to the rest of the party what was being said and eventually the humans caught on, the human cleric, named Ki-el, cast comprehend languages as well and explained clearer what their plight was. He and Phil came from the northern island and were captured by pirates of Wasted Wyrm. Their captor was Jasina, a tiefling pirate and known slave trafficker, who brought them to this island to trade with a strange satyr with black fur. They had been beaten and drugged and had awoken when the party was fighting off the horrible monsters in the pit. At this point they had no clue if they would be able to return home and would stick with the party as long as they needed to. The party was interrupted from the history lesson by two pixies that wandered over to see why a small military strike force was hanging out in the middle of the road. The party asked them about the roads and found out the minotaur city, Northpoint, they needed to go to was currently a day away and on fire, and when the party asked about the strange satyr with the bugs they learned about Kalish Blackfur, transmutation exile from Godmoot for breeding dangerous creatures as well as attacking caravans with a dragon that can melt metal with its breath. They informed the pixies of what they had seen and went off on their way, the pixies making their way to Godmoot to report with Ellendriana. Night fell and they made camp, finding their rest disturbed by a huge owlbear that not only was larger than normal, but also was undead and accompanied by four small twig creatures. The group made relatively quick work of the monsters and in the morning a selection of warriors tracked the owlbear trail to an out of place graveyard, leaving a few behind by the campsite. Most of the funerary practices on the island follow more cremation style traditions, the graveyard is more of a northern thing. The party found the cemetery was way older than originally thought and right outside its crumbled gates they found a large hole full of vines that looked like it could have held an owlbear skeleton. The Kapesk made his way into one of the four mausoleums and found a long rusted but still functional sword. As he left he noticed many of the vines surrounding the and inside the building were moving. The Mai and the Japachi used magical divinations to figure out what the vines were and figure they are some kind of magical creature that is connected to all the vines and there is some kind of structure underneath the cemetery. The Striker remembered hearing of a corpse vine from a traveling storyteller that visited his forest home about high adventure on the seas and a boat being destroyed by similar vines and the swamp druid remembered assassin vines also much like these vines. The party decided to leave this area alone for now and come back later when better equipped. 

They rejoined the others and made their way to the outskirts of Northpoint. They could see its untouched lighthouse situated just east of the town up on the nearby hill as well as the still slightly smoking city. They went to the lighthouse to look for survivors and found two dead gnolls presenting with a case of spear wounds to the face, but no spear anywhere to be seen. The high walled fence held the party back momentarily. From their vantage point they could see large sails of a mighty ship in the port and what looked like figures moving parts of other ships and bound minotaur onto the largest ship, the rest of the ships looked looted or junked. As the party discussed options the Bodi climbed up and saw a sleeping female goliath resting against the lighthouse wall with a large spear at hand. The monk woke her carefully and the rest of the party joined them after the goliath, Gorast, opened the gates for them. They found out more about the gnoll raiders, there were about twenty left in town, two giant gnolls carrying minotaur, and their leader, the pirate. They asked for help raiding the town to free the minotaur and she declined, saying her place was here with the other survivors, but she would look for a friend that could or might help them. The group discussed a few off-putting plans when the tower guard came back with a wrinkly old goliath with tribal facial tattoos, and he seemed agitated being pulled away from his work. The party told them the basis of their plan and the old goliath used a lightning bolt to sunder the mast of the ship, the Wasted Wyrm. Then he had his guard carry him to the top of the lighthouse and he also created a bank of fog to sew confusion in the ranks of the enemies whilst cackling like a madman. The party watched as a small child minotaur looked around the door and asked if Feklin used magic again and its mother came to collect it and slam the door shut. 

The warband of adventurers made their way down to the fog covered town to hear the sounds of combat from within, the front gates wide open. it seemed survivors from the attack on the village were roused to combat as the fog filled the streets and the minotaur wanted to save their city. As they made their way in a large minotaur arm grabbed at Gilderos but before it struck him realized he was not a gnoll and let him go, the minotaur fading into the mist. Kapesk was able to stop the party from being torn apart by a hail of arrows launched from gnolls at the attacking minotaur. Mai created an illusionary sound that corralled a few of the gnoll down another street, finding themselves down a well. Striker was noticed by a large sized gnoll and Kadence beheaded it before it could do any harm. Japachi stopped the party before they were trampled by minotaur, Chance knocked over a minotaur merchants cabbage cart, much to the owner’s dismay. Bodi dodged a hunk of still burning building that fell and was able to keep the party away from it. Jewell and Red both stumbled out of the fog cloud and noisily made their way onto the long pier and were noticed by a group of gnolls. The fight was quick, there were only two normal gnolls and a large gnoll, the big one carrying two chained minotaur over its shoulders, one of which it dumped into the water as combat started. The Kapesk dove into the water to save the minotaur, the rest of the party proceeded to beat the tar out of the gnolls. Kadence charged the large one dealing massive amounts of damage, Mai charmed the two regular gnolls and cast hideous laughter on the big guy, causing him to fall over and be set upon by the rest of the party. The other two gnolls fell quickly.