Session XIX: In Pursuit of a Shadow Report

General Summary

Having agreed to pursue the assailant, the party prepared to leave the inn; but first, Horxim approached Berin Forubron-Demescu and asked if he had ever heard the names Rakeek and Khur. Berin hurried over to his ledger and began furiously flipping through pages until he exclaimed that he had indeed heard their names and that they had stayed at the inn just over two years prior. Horxim explained that they were his parents, for whom he had been searching his entire life. Touched by Horxim's story, Berin offered to keep a message on hand for them should they ever return; Horxim told Berin to let them know that he would return to The Third Donkey every year on the 23rd of First Seed in hopes that he would find them there.   Having made this important discovery, Horxim rallied everyone to depart.   With skillful precision, Horxim tracked Zenora's assailant into the Forests of Pando and successfully guided the party through, despite a number of carnivorous plants growing along their path.   Once he detected that they were within two miles of the assailant, the party formulated a plan in which Zaki would disguise herself as the headmaster of Deroleux's Select Conservatory of the Arcane and cast Friends on the assailant in an attempt to convince him to leave the party alone.   The plan worked...up until the point when the effects of the spell wore off, and the wizard realized he'd been duped. He cast a spell and an incorporeal mass appeared beside him.   Not wanting to lose the advantage of surprise, Calico Jack acted swiftly and attempted to attack the wizard, but was greeted by the sight of his brother's lifeless body hanging from a tree by his neck. Overcome with emotion and fear, Calico Jack beat a hasty retreat, and the rest of the party engaged in combat.   Zaki had cleared the scene before the spell wore off and hid behind an outcropping of rock from where she was able to observe the wizard and identify him as Vance Pickerin, whom she had seen in the company of the headmaster many times. She rushed out from behind the rocks and attempted to stab him, but as she did, the image of the hanging Tabaxi morphed into an impenetrable cloud of darkness, engulfing Zaki and Vance.   Wiinken also managed to get up close and personal with the wizard and was rewarded with a vision of herself as a housewife with a babe on her hip, but she was able to overcome the horror and recognize it for the illusion it was.   Zenora blasted apart a tree and set Vance's tent aflame, dealing damage to the mysterious creature he had summoned.   The party is still engaged in battle with the following initiative order:   Calico Zaki Wizard Horxim Boggart Wiinken Zenora   It is late afternoon on the 23rd of First Seed.