Players Present: Galliard, Rahn, Nor, Zyldi, Eridor, Seraphina, Elgard, Kanye, Kulu

Players Missing: None

Written by the Almighty DM

Having successfully acquired the Black Orchid from Queen Zaklore, the party departs Nangalore with a young woman named Kwani and her still-petrified friend Shabarra. After a lengthy debate about what to do about this situation, Rhan sighs and (with great annoyance in his heart) uses his Chwinga blessing to un-petrify Shabarra. The two young thieves repay the kindness by attempting to steal a ruby from the party and fleeing into the jungle. “Well, I guess we’ll be fighting them later as undead” quipped Nor.

The party makes it back to the base of Kir Sabal where some Aarakocra monks are waiting to fly them up to the monastery. Azaka Stormfang also rejoins the party, and offers to wait with Q’Washa and Bill down below while the party takes care of business. 

The party tells the tale of recovering the Black Orchid from the Mad Queen of Nangalore to Asharra and the other monks over dinner. Asharra tells the party that the next day might not be so good for doing the ritual because of a storm rolling in, but they would stay flexible and see what the weather did. 

Sure enough, the next day saw a raging tropical storm. During the day of downtime, the party rested up, chatted with some monks, bought a few mundane items, and ate some simple but satisfying food. Prince Na continued being precious, while Princess Mxawanare was absent for most of the day. In the early evening, she was able to corner Elgard and began seductively imploring him to find a relic for her in Omu: “I need you to find the Skull Chalice of Ch’k’gare! This symbol will legitimize my rule and cement my place as Queen of Omu and Chult!” Elgard immediately forgets all of the details and pretends this awkward encounter never happened.

The next morning finds our heroes gathered at the base of the plateau ready for the Dance of the Seven Winds. Asharra looks at the party solemnly and asks “Which of the 4 of you wishes to gain the git of flight?” The party stops. They look at each other. Only 4 of us? What did we sign up for? Did we remember something wrong? As the group begins to discuss among themselves Asharra and the monks begin to laugh. “Just kidding. How ever many of you can fit inside this huge circle. Should be big enough even for the triceratops”. 

Asharra holds the Black Orchid as seven monks begin to dance around the party. As they begin to move faster, a strange wind begins to flow upwards within the circle. Petals fly off of the Orchid and Asharra’s eyes begin to glow white. Faster and faster, the monks chanting grows louder, the wind gets stronger, the air filled with Orchid petals until…..

The ritual stops and Asharra, feathers gone, wings gone, collapses into the arms of the nearest monk. Nephyr assures the party that Asharra will be alright, that her giving up her ability to fly is what allows the Wind Dukes of Aaqa to grant temporary flight to the party. Once the three day power wears off, her wings and feathers will begin to grow back. He urges the party to fly with haste so as to not squander her gift.

The party is able to coax Bill off the ground and they are off! They are able to see the stunning vistas of Chult like never before. The entire first day goes uneventfully, and at night the party is able to find a safe space to rest. 

Early the second day they come upon an unusual sight: a floating earthmote shaped like a heart. This is known to the locals as The Heart of Ubtao, blasted from the land after the god abandoned his people. They see stairs carved into the side that lead into the heart, and there on a ledge a pretty blonde Elven lady waving to them. The party is intrigued and approaches.

The Elven woman introduces herself as Valindra and says that she has been studying the Soulmonger. Scattered about the dank and wet-smelling cave are bookshelves containing old books about Chult, and maps scattered on the desk that look old and inaccurate. She believes the Soulmonger is in the Forbidden City of Omu and is hoping the party can make contact with the Red Wizards that have already entered the city. 

Making note of the gross smell and the lack of any creature comforts or food, Zyldi asks what she eats or where she sleeps: “I am a Wizard and can conjure whatever food I need, and as an Elf I can simply meditate at my desk, no need for a bed”  Seraphina queitly uses her Divine Sense and senses an overwhelming Undead presence coming from Valindra. 

Valindra thanks the party for visiting her, and gives them some parting gifts on their way to Omu: a scroll of Arcane Gate, and a red token that they can present to the Red Wizards of Thay to show their alliance with their cause. 

As they are flying away Seraphina hits the party with a bombshell “Guys, I think she was a lich!” The party is left to wonder why a powerful Lich was so helpful in their quest for the Soumonger…

As evening approaches on the third day, and their powers of flight are waning, [title redacted] come upon a curious sight: a wrecked boat caught in the tops of the trees high above the jungle floor. Pitiful looking survivors hail the party and beg for rescue. The “Star Goddess” was a Halruaan airship bound for Port Nyanzaru when it got caught in the tropical storm that blew in a few days ago. Most of their supplies were scattered, and the survivors have been hiding in the ship from the Ghouls below. Thesselandra, the captain of the ship, asks the party for whatever aid they can provide, because they will surely die soon. Zyldi conjures food for them and they begin to eat. Suddenly a loud crashing noise comes through the upper branches of the trees. The party readies themselves as five Girallon Zombies burst forth onto the ship. These Girallons resemble large albino gorillas with four arms and a bad case of zombification, and they are ready to eat the flesh of the living.

These Girallon Zombies hit hard and fast. In the first round of combat, one of the Zombies goes over to an unnamed airship extra and throws him off the boat to be eaten by the Ghouls below, just to show that they mean business. The party takes some damage but in the end are able to kill these undead apes for good. The battered group decides to rest aboard the ship for the night as this seems like the safest place to be (undead gorilla monsters notwithstanding). During the night Seraphina thinks she sees a tiny dog below on the jungle floor but cannot confirm. Otherwise, the night passes uneventfully.

The next morning Eridor sends Larry the Flying Snake back to Kir Sabal with a message tied around his…neck? waist? Whatever flying snakes have. It reads “Send help to these shipwreck survivors, they are trapped in the trees in undead territory. Three days flight from Kir Sabal, directly between Heart of Ubtao and Omu, can’t miss it”. Q’Washa and Kupalue offer to stay with the survivors to protect them and provide them food, which brings up the matter of payment. Now that Q’Washa is going to split with the party, per their original agreement, he is owed 150gp, with all discounts and per-diems applied. The party begins to debate about this when Nor shouts above the rabble “JUST PAY THE MAN!” and throws his share in. The rest follow. 

Now our heroes journey through the deepest, darkest parts of the jungle on their way to the Forbidden City.

Players present: Galliard, Seraphina, Rahn, Kanye, Nor, Zyldi, Elgard, Kulu

[title redacted] arrives at the gardens of Nangalore. A fantastic ediface rises out from the middle of the gardens, and water streams down the middle to make a wet walkway. 2 large elephants guard the entrance to the gardens. There is still a lot of foliage, though the gardens have clearly been untended for decades.

The party splits off into various groups and goes off into the gardens to explore. Q’washa sees some writing on the wall in the waterway and translates for the group. There are four faces: Stern, Bemused, Serene, and Condescending. Each had a small saying about the prior Queen of Omu, Zalkore. These gardens were made for her, and she was worshipped by her and people and loved betrayed by Therutara.

Galliard casts detects magic, and goes where the smell of magic sends him. He finds a rotting mage corpse. He somehow defies the temptation to reanimate it, and simply loots the body. He finds a small box that further inspection reveals is a folding boat.

Meanwhile, Seraphina and Nor are being seduced by a fly trap. But these two know better than to fall for some luscious leaves. The plant does manage to knock Seraphina unconscious, and Nor murders it as swiftly as he can. Seraphina recovers.

Also meanwhile, Eridor and Kanye are attacked by 6 dwarf zombies. Eridor is also seduced by a plant, and he succumbs to the lovely limbs. They manage to take down the zombies and the charming plant is stabbed and stomped on by Kanye until death beckons it home.

Eridor sneaks into the giant structure that is the central point of the gardens, and he let’s the rest of the party in. There is something written in chultan within the temple that sums up to “It’s not cool to steal. So don’t do it. Seriously, you’ll probably die.” Eridor considers stealing what the statue is holding, but he doesn’t.

They poke their head out the back of this building, and 10 feet below them is a pool of water. Nor decides to don his water breathing cloak, and taking one for the team, he jumps into the water below. After a very quick search, he sees a layer of petrified turtles and fish. In addition, there are two stone humans in the water. Nor makes his way out of that pool of stone death as soon as possible.

Kanye dives in and rescues one of the petrified humans and uses the potion of greater restoration on her. She comes to, and reveals that she stole some things, saw a lady descending from the stairs that Nor is standing (he immediately bolts to a different dry spot), and the next thing she knew, she is waking up here.

The party assumes this lady is Zalkore, and they respectfully make their way to the dome where she had descended. The queen is sitting on a throne in the center of the room. She is completely stoned herself (medicinally), and she is curious about the party. It is clear that she has the upper hand and is not threatened by the party. Her army of cranes drives home this point.

She speaks cordially to the group, and the group is extremely polite in return. They inquire about the orchid that they need. The queen responds that she will take Galliard and Seraphina as her slaves in return. [title redacted] manages to not trade their party members and instead parts with some gemstones and the cloak of underwater breathing in exchange for the orchid.

Before they leave, they tell the queen about the current state of affairs in the Chult area, how Omu is overrun by Raz N’si. She acts as though she is fully aware of everything. However, she does offer some advice saying that it is best to approach the city from the skies, and it is too difficult to determine where you are in the terrain from the ground.

The party leaves, no worse for wear. Not super sure what happened with the lady they unpetrified and her friend? The party leaves in their folding boat.

Players Present: Seraphina, Nor, Kanye, Eridor, Galliard, Rahn, Elgard

Players Present by Proxy: Zyldi

Players Missing: Kulu

10 gargoyles fly around Kir Sabal. [title redacted] readies themselves for battle along with the Aarakocra warriors. The warriors prove extremely ineffective. They aren’t helpful at all. However, from the temple, Ashara comes and begins to ready a spell. Inside the temple, the other Aarakocra monks start to dance and chant. It’s clearly the perfect time for a party.

The battle against the gargoyles is slow going. Pretty much every one in the party uses nonmagical physical damage, and the gargoyles are particularly resistance to this. Elgard uses his magic wisely and casts Shatter multiple times to greatly injure them – he is the definite MVP of the battle.

Second MVP is Seraphina. The party hasn’t had the chance to rest since their ascent into Kir Sabal, and most are damaged fairly extensively. However, Seraphina keeps a watchful eye on the party and ensures everyone stays in fighting shape. Additionally, she sees this as the perfect opportunity to use her celestial powers. She summons forth her wings and flies to meet the gargoyles for battle in the air. She kills many gargoyles (at least 3).

Kanye gets the award for zeal. He jumps onto one of the gargoyles and ends up surfing on it down to the lowest walkway. He is eventually knocked off the edge, but is saved by an Aarakocra. (He is almost saved by a charmed gargoyle, compliments of Galliard, who believes that Kanye is his most prized possession of the Gargoyle series.)

Nor spends his time trying to protect Ashara as she brings down a storm to try and distract the gargoyles. His efforts are valiant, but the flying power of the gargoyles prevents him from achieving his goal as he would prefer. Ashara is greatly damaged and is unable to maintain her storm.

However, Ashara’s efforts to distract the gargoyles proves fruitful. As it turns out, the dancing monks are not having a party but summoning an air elemental to fight off the gargoyles. The elemental proves to be an extremely helpful ally.

Rahn, Galliard, and Dragle are just arriving to Kir Sabal when the battle begins. They are separated from the rest of the party, but jump into battle without question. Zyldi also fights hard in her bear form. Together, they continue to make (literal) dents in the gargoyles constitution.

After 7 gargoyles are defeated, the final 3 retreat like pansies. The party has saved Kir Sabal, but they are concerned that it is their presence that has brought forth this particularly vicious attack upon the city.

Everyone returns to the monastery to have a celebratory dinner. Everyone, that is, except Kanye, who retreats into the first house he sees and lies down for a long rest.

Waxanara joins us for dinner, and we learn that she is trying to use her magic to learn how to fly. Ashara does not look pleased at this. Conversation is tense, but civil. Nara is still a little diva jerk face.

Afterwards, most go to the library to see the books. Along the way, Galliard buys a pearl and gives it to Elgard. He uses it to identify the wand they found at the dragon lair (it is a wand of fear).

At the library, they finally meet the young prince, Na. He is reading and is eager to share his knowledge. The small boy is absolutely precious, and the glances between the party indicate that they think maybe Na needs to be the next ruler. Galliard offers to raise his parents from the dead, but Elgard and Seraphina deflect the offer so as to not give the boy false hope.

Na is learning how to grow Avocados (from a book ‘It’s The Pits’). Rahn suggest that he grow cows and offers him some jerky.

Before they say their farewells, Elgard creates a James the Giant Peach book for the boy.

Later that evening, Nor and Seraphina meet up to try and determine the purpose of the cloak that Nor looted from the dragon’s lair. They try multiple physical feats and different fighting techniques, but nothing seems any different. They give up for the evening thinking they’ll need magical assistance the next day.

The party leaves Kir Sabal the next day and begins their journey to the Lost Dreams garden of Mangalor for the flower that will allow them to fly. Along the way, they continue to try and determine the use of the cloak. Nor asks Elgard to hit him with a fireball (he happily obliges). No difference in effect. Finally, Kanye suggests it will allow you to breath underwater. Not wanting to get throat leeches in case it doesn’t work, Nor dips his head in one of the barrels of drinking water. Success! The cloak (with hood raised) allows the wearer to breath and see underwater. Who knows how this may prove useful in the future?