Session 20: The Ebon Tide Report

General Summary

After a tense standoff with members of Brakmat's tribe, both Osrick and Brakmat voncined most of their group to surrender and allow them to be escoerted to the Tidefang's village. Dacha had made a getaway into the skies above and wild shaped into a jungle creature in order to trail the rest of the party. Bartholomew managed to teleport away from the Tidefang, disguise himself as one of them, and then slink back into their ranks as they marched the rest of the group to the village.

Several hours passed before the group arrived at the village, where they were confronted by Anjax the Ironscale, leader of the Tidefang Saurians. Osrick asked Brakmat to translate for him and the two communicated that the group had sought out the Tidefang in order to find the wreckage of the caravan Brakmat had raided several months ago, before his exile. Anjax remained hesitant until Brakmat convinced the chieftain that the caravan held the key to removing his "curse." Anjax instructed Brakmat to speak with Tidecaller Zex and Clutch Matron Inryess before the party departed on their mission.

Meeting with the Tidecaller and the other assembled shamans, Brakmat told Zex all that he had learned in his travels, and showed them how he was able to harness the power of his curse. Zex and Brakmat communed with the spirit of the Saurian God Uanyat through her scrying bowl, and Zex imparted a lesson upon Brakmat about following the flow of cause and effect. Skreech delighted the other shamans with his golems and their ability to create muffins.

The party next met with the Clutch Matron at the Tidefang's hatchery, where he learned that the Tidefang were suffering from some curse that was making the females infertile. She and Aezira, Brakmat's former betrothed, also mentioned how the Tidefang had been driven out of their more remote villages and that the population of the main village had been suffering from having more mouths to feed while also dealing with a sudden onset of disease in the fish population that provided them most of their sustenance.

After a brief visit to his family hut, where Brakmat found his father was out on a hunt, the party returned to the main square to meet with Brox, who gave the party directions to the last known location of the caravan. He also asked if they could check on his home village along the way, as they had not heard anything from the people there in several days.

Dacha reunited with the party as they departed from the village. The group continued southward until they happened upon Brox's village, finding it completely deserted. Inspecting the meeting hall, they discovered overturned benches and smashed tables, as well as large gashes in the walls. The party began to hear an otherworldly chanting and smelled the stench of iron and sulphur, soon after being set upon by two golems and a flesh priest. The early onset of temporary madness momentarily knocked Brakmat out of the fight, and a heavy blow from the flesh priest sent Droknar to the ground where he nearly succumbed to his injuries. Quick thinking from the Menagerie allowed them to kill the flesh priest and revive Droknar, while Brakmat regained his sanity just in time to banish the golems before they could do any more harm.

However, the final shot from Gerald's' weapon sent a bolt straight through the flesh priest, whose blood splattered all over Francis, the black oil seeping into his joints and the golem began to fidget wildly, possessed by the infectious ichor.