Return to the Caravanserai

"That seems to be the end of them," Armania exclaimed as she began her search for magic in the bunkhouse.

Ursina and Gavril were searching the "bodies" of the plant/skeleton creatures finding some gold and silver coins.

"There is a magic item in that woodpile, and several in the bedroom where the Swamp Mummy originally was," she continued.

The magic item in the woodpile was scroll of blink.

"Gavril, come here and check this trunk and lockbox for traps," Armania suggested.

Gavril sauntered into the bedroom and found no traps on either box.  

"The lockbox has a lock and appears to need a key.  Has anyone found a key anywhere?" he queried.

Erevel and Ciprian began searching the Swamp Mummy and found an engraved and personalized award for shipbuilding.  The name was Parthekki Avila.  There was also a key in the same pocket.

Gavril first opened the trunk, which contained several nightgowns and work clothes.  The magic was emanating from robes consisting of several layers of cloth and an outer layer of silk intricately woven with gold brocade designs and covered with metal studs.  Maybe it was some kind of armor but it seemed almost ceremonial.

Using the key Gavril opened the lockbox as Armania moved away and hid behind the table.  Inside were four vials and several gems and coins.  Armania collected the vials as Gavril pocketed the gems and coins.

Further search did not find any more magical or mundane items.  Erevel suggested getting back the Sellen Starling as fast a possible.

"We can identify items once we are on board.  We don't know if we are out of danger yet!" she exclaimed.

All of the group but Ciprian headed for the ship.  Ciprian stayed behind checking for magic in the shattered south windmill.  There were charred timbers  on the northeast walls.  The gears that powered the screw were intact but the crankshaft was completely ruined.  Also there was no magic anywhere around.  Ciprian's head spun around as a shout came from Armania.

"There is something firing arrows at me!" she yelled.

The party was disbursed along the north side of the dry dock heading for the ship but suddenly several were attacked by a barrage of splinters and brambles.  No one was hit bay the splinterspray.

"Not these little twig packages again," bemoaned Gavril.

Armania immediately became invisible and moved back to get a better look at the tree and the creature in it.

Out of the trees one of the plant wrapped skeletons moved toward Ursina and let loose a spray of pollen.  The others had never done this type of attack.

Then the creature in the tree, beautiful woman with flesh that seemed made of wood and vibrant hair that resembled leaves and blossoms, fired an arrow at Paullus.  Erevel moved toward the bundle of sticks near her and attacked.  Gavril moved toward another bundle and activated his Boots of Speed while attacking.  Paullus moved to the closest twig bundle while Ursina was left with the Yellow Creeper.

Ciprian meanwhile set out a run to try and join the party.  Maybe he could come just in time to save the day.

Armania fired magic missiles at the tree creature, who kept firing away at Paullus.  Two of the twig bundles flanked Paullus but both missed badly on their attacks.   The battle went slowly as both the party and the creatures took turns failing to hit each other.  Eventually the tide was turned in favor of the heroes as one by one the twig bundles fell, followed by the Creeper.  Just as Ciprian arrived to flank the woman with Gavril she died from Gavril's mighty attack.

Ursina searched for magic and found two items in the Creeper's vines and tendrils, a vial and a wand.  A non-magical but very nice set of woodcutting tools was also found among the remains.

At this point everyone headed to the Sellen Starling and set sail to meet the Andoren Navy at the agreed time and place.  Ciprian studied the blueprints found in the bunkhouse.  They described a Skirmisher named Eagle's Breath.  The skirmisher used sails and oars to give it speed, but it wasn’t designed as a racing sloop. Fitted with a heavy iron prow often fashioned in the shape of an eagle’s head and armed
with forward-facing ballistae and a rear-facing catapult, the skirmisher brought the kind of firepower generally reserved for open-sea naval battles, not the waterways of the Sellen River. Each page of the blueprints bore the seal "Property of the Andoren Navy."

Ursina started doling out healing to the group while Armania set about identifying the magical items:

• Wand of Acid Splash (9 charges)
• Oil of Stone Shape
• Potion of Endure Elements
• Potion of Enlarge Person
• Potion of Guidance
• Potion of Jump
• Silken Ceremonial Armor +1

After sailing across the Sellen, Skywin directed the sailors to the rendezvous point where the Androen Navy was waiting.  Skywin crossed over to the Naval ship and met with the captain. She explained what the group had found and expressed her sorrow in the loss of the shipwright and her crew.  She told the captain they had no idea what turned Avila and her crew into zombies of some kind.  She handed over the blueprints and was rewarded with a 1000 GP reward.

When Skywin returned to the Sellen Starling she reviewed the results with the party and offered them 600 GP of the reward.  Then the ship pushed off to search for anchorage for the night.

The night was spent with no interruptions, Paullus wakened in the night screaming and was fatigued but worse Erevel awoke tripping out of bed and feeling tired as soon as she walked only once around the deck.  This was unusual til she recalled being struck by the Swamp Mummy.  Ursina examined Erevel and determined that she had Bog Fever, which was a curse and a disease.  The curse must be lifted before the disease could be removed.

Ursina did not have Remove Curse in her Spellbook and Ciprian did not have the spell either. 

"Well we could wait til we get to Cassomir and find someone to remove the curse," Paullus suggested.

"I could be dead by then," said Erevel.  "Or maybe I will turn into a mummy." 

"Let's asked the scholars on board if they have Remove Curse," suggested Armania.

The group went to the cabin to talk with the two scholars.  Wreben told the group he had the spell and would gladly use it for their benefit.  Afterwards Ursina used the Wand of Restoration on Erevel to bring her back up to good health and dexterity.

The rest of the day was spent in study or weapons practice and soon the night came and given that they now had all of the gifts listed in the Tome decided to return to the Caravanserai to find the Yellow King.  So after night fell, a meal was eaten and the group began the Ritual again and Ciprian threw the staircase down and headed down the stairs to ...

Appear in the desert in front of the Caravanserai.  The rest of the party joined him it as if dramatic changes had come upon the Caravanserai.  Their first clue was that it was night, not day, and the air was cool.  The Dreamlands’ close, large moon provided dim illumination to the desert.  The Caravanserai looked the same, made of a light tan sandstone, the northeast corner still collapsed.

"Keep an eye on me," stated Ciprian, "I am going to climb up to the rooftop.  If I recall a door their led to where the Yellow King was.  Also I don't want to pass that black formless creature is still there."

Casting Air Step Ciprian walked up the collapsed stone and as his soon as he could see the rooftop, he stopped.  There was a giant sized scaly, bird-like creature has a vaguely horse-like head and vast, slime-encrusted wings.  It had blue feathers and strapped to its back was an ornate platform with upright bronze posts supporting a thin wooden roof and silk curtains.  It was looking away from Ciprian toward the courtyard.  Ciprian studied the creature and was certain that it was a Giant Shantak, but he knew nothing else of the creature.  Ciprian stepped forward and the creature sniffed the air and turned toward him.

"Hello, who are you?" the creature asked in Aklo in a high-pitched voice that sounded like glass grinding against stone.

"I am come to see the Yellow King, and who are you?" Ciprian responded.

"I belong to Weiralai, she owns me and my sibling," the creature responded.

Ciprian tried to fascinate the creature but this seemed to have no affect, so using his best diplomatic skills he tried to make the Shantak see him as a friend.

"Weiralai was supposed to meet me here.  Do you know where she is?"

"She rode my sibling to the moon with a man dressed in yellow."

"Maybe she left me a note in the office.  May I go and look?"

"I guess.  If she is really your friend you can go anywhere here."

Ciprian skirted the Shantak carefully and approached the door into the office.  The door into the office stood ajar, one of its hinges broken.  Slowly and carefully Ciprian opened the door, which squawked at being moved.  Inside the Dreamlands landscapes hung askew on the walls and he chair was smashed.  Worse yet, inside were two Denizen's of Leng staring directly at Ciprian.

DM's Notes:  The party earned 1,500 XP for the night and now have 75,021 and are at 9th level.