Session 114

Dain decided to give Aldunyl one last chance to back off, but Aldunyl was resolute, his hatred of Dain showing clear on his face. Merrick turned the tide of the battle greatly in their favor when he used his new spell, True Polymorph, to transform a nearby tree into a Guardian Giant. The mercenaries, horrified by this, began to turn their attention toward it. One man attempted to flee from the battle, but Summer cut him down as he tried to run past her. Aldunyl seemed bewildered but continued his battle with Dain. However, Dain managed to finish him off with a powerful blow, then turned to the rest and bade them to stop. With all the Enforcers dead, the mercenaries began to question if this was worth it, saying "This isn't worth 100 gold…" Hearing this, Dain produced a bag full of 1,000 gp and placed it on the ground, telling them to take it and go. One of the mercenaries grabbed it and ran, which caused the others to chase after him demanding he give them their cut. With the situation resolved, the party gathered their things and took their new giant friend, whom Merrick named Soto, and continued into the Bast Wilds towards Fort Elden.

Arriving at Fort Elden in the first week of Umen, the party noticed that it seemed a bit quiet, though they could hear some noise from around back of the fort, where the Human refugee camps were. Circling around to the back, they found not Humans, but a dozen or so Forgeborn working away to expand the camps, alongside a familiar face -- Grit. Talindra appeared behind Dain, having noticed him, and greeted him, asking him to keep Summer, Merrick, and Valdor away from the Letheni present, though there were very few. Dain briefly explained what he was doing there and then went to speak with Grit. Grit recognized him and seemed happy to see him again, and asked what he had been up to. Dain caught him up to speed and then got to the real purpose of his visit -- he explained his need for Forgeborn Flow, and brought over Valdor to explain. Valdor seemed bothered that Dain neglected to mention the consequences of volunteering, and after Dain attempted to diminish the gravity of it by saying it would "likely" kill the donor, Valdor corrected him by saying that there was no "likely" about it, and the donor would die. This soured Grit's mood, who got serious and said that it was a very serious thing to ask of his people when they had only been alive for a little over a year, especially when they're asking for it to save the people who had been driving his people out of the cities, leaving them homeless, and even enslaving them. He said that he would speak to his people and ask for a volunteer, but said not to expect much. He gathered his group and after only a minute or two, he returned and said that none had agreed to help, but said that he would be willing to donate his own Flow under one condition -- a group of slavers calling themselves the Steel Rangers had recently turned up in Eldham and had dealt with the new magistrate, Shael Erevyn, whom had rounded up all the Forgeborn in the city and sold them to the slavers. He said that nearly two dozen of his people were being forced to work day and night toiling away in a quarry, being given only just enough time to rest to recharge, and that he wanted Dain to rescue them. Dain agreed without hesitation and asked for more information, though Grit unfortunately didn't know much about the slavers, only that they had dealt with the magistrate to procure the Forgeborn slaves. With that, the party decided to leave Samira and Sabine in the fort while they went to Eldham to speak to the magistrate…

Arriving in Eldham a few days later, the party decided to rest in the Dead Goose for the night first, greeting Icarus, who inexplicably emerged from the kitchen covered in stew, saying only "Don't ask." The party introduced Icarus to their newest companion, Skinner, who said a few things that annoyed Icarus, who told him to fuck off. Dain asked for rooms for the night, and Icarus handed over keys, saying that the rooms were locked now because local hooligans had "shit in one of the rooms". The party had dinner before heading to bed, and the next morning, Dain and Skinner, as well as Dain's now re-activated Steel Defender, head into the city. Dain briefly popped by the Messy Cushion to see if Chandira was there, but her hole-in-the-wall was still absent. Proceeding to Eldham's Excellent Elixirs, Dain went to see Giselle, who was horrified to see Skinner and his half missing face. Dain introduced them before purchasing a large number of expensive potions, which excited Giselle, who said she would use the money to try to expand the shop. Afterwards, Dain proceeded to the aristocratic district where he came to the main gate of the Statehouse, and saw a familiar face -- the Vesperkin woman whom he had mocked and threatened upon his last visit here. Dain asked to be given an audience to see the magistrate, but the woman immediately recognized him and went on a tirade yelling at him, which confused and intrigued Skinner, who began to question Dain on why the woman was so mad at him. Dain tried to downplay it, but the woman corrected him, explaining to Skinner how he had mocked her size and threatened her with his "metal monstrosity" last time he was here. Skinner was appalled and implored Dain to apologize, but Dain, doubling down, refused. After some more colorful words from the woman, Dain got impatient and decided to use Dimension Door to teleport himself and Skinner past the guards and directly into the Statehouse. He quickly began to make his way up the stairs towards where he knew Eldar's office had been when he heard alarm bells outside. They nonchalantly passed an Enforcer who was rushing to the entrance to investigate the alarm and found a lone Enforcer guarding Shael's office door. They asked him to speak to the magistrate, but he seemed suspicious and refused. Dain presented his case, using their mission as potential leverage, and the Enforcer seemed convinced, saying that it didn't matter and that Shael was dead anyway. Dain was alarmed and asked what he meant, and he clarified that she wasn't dead YET, but would be soon, and Dain interpolated that he meant that Shael had the Ferroplague. Proceeding through the door, Dain and Skinner encountered Shael, who seemed startled and confused, and acted as if she couldn't see them. Her skin was darkening and had glossy patches, indicating the metallization was beginning to overtake her body. Dain explained his purpose, identifying himself as one of the heroes depicted on the statues in the center of town, and this seemed to give him some sway as he asked about the Steel Rangers. Shael decided to give him information, saying that what did it matter, as it's not as if they could do anything to the city anyway, and pointed Dain toward Thundercrest Quarry, located shortly beyond Thunder Pass, the mountain pass which had once contained a Goblin outpost they had used to assault traveling merchants and where they had stockpiled the explosives the party had used to destroy the undead Aubron had unleashed on the city years ago. Dain thanked her and left. As they walked down the hallway, they heard the Enforcers charging up the steps, where they confronted Dain. Dain tried to explain their need to talk to Shael, but they seemed uninterested in his explanation, saying that regardless of his reasons or who he is, he can't just break into the Statehouse, and that he was under arrest for trespassing. Dain had Skinner open the door to show that Shael was unharmed, but the Enforcers said that he was still trespassing, and said that it carries a steep fine. Dain, catching on to the Enforcer's obvious attempt at extortion, offered the man a pouch full of 500 gp. However, the Enforcer acted as though that were not enough, and Dain, annoyed, offered another 200 gp, which the Enforcer graciously accepted before telling Dain to get out and not come back. As they left, the Vesperkin woman at the gates saw him approach and not in shackles and got very angry, throwing her weapon to the ground and stomping on it. Skinner told Dain to apologize, and Dain seemed to do so, but it was clear he was only doing so to placate Skinner. As they walked away, Skinner smacked Dain in the back of the head for his poor manners, and they made their way back to the Dead Goose.

On their way back to the Dead Goose, Dain stopped in the Messy Cushion and brought Skinner inside, having Reginard pour them both a tall glass of Frostfire Mead. Skinner seemed unsure, but decided to drink anyway, and he and Dain began to feel tipsy. Dain bought a cask before they left to head back to the inn. As they arrived outside the inn, they saw Soto standing rigid outside the inn, and decided it would be a great idea to give him some Frostfire Mead. After explaining what it was and how to drink, he downed it and immediately got hit with a wave of dizziness and tipsiness which caused him to stumble backward and fall through the side wall of the Dead Goose Inn. Icarus came out frantic and screamed at Dain, while Skinner tiptoed away. Icarus told Dain to fix the damage, and he began to gather materials to do so after using Lesser Restoration to cure Skinner and Soto of their inebriation. They spent the rest of the day repairing the wall, after which Icarus gave him a meager dinner, much smaller than the portion given to the rest of the group, and they went to bed. In the morning, they head out to Thunder Pass.

Arriving in Thunder Pass a few days later, they came upon the ruins of the outpost the Goblins had constructed there, and Summer saw a glinting coming from a window. She narrowly dodged an arrow launched at her feet and a pair of men came rushing from the sides of the road with weapons drawn, demanding to know what they were doing there, and implying that there was a toll to pass through the mountains. However, upon noticing Soto, the men went pale and backed off. Proceeding down the road, Soto absentmindedly clipped the rickety rope bridge spanning the gap between the two sides of the outpost, causing it to collapse, and two men standing atop it to fall and break their legs. Dain interrogated the men for information about their leader, and the man told them where to find Thundercrest Quarry. Afterwards, Soto knocked out one of the men and Skinner tossed the other roughly against a wall, hitting his head and knocking him out. They then continued down the pass where they eventually came across a path leading up the mountains where they saw some wreckage indicating something had been brought up that way recently.

Continuing up the path, they eventually came to a bend around a rock facing along a steep cliff as the sun began to set, where Summer noticed a tarp covered in dirt spanning across the path. She removed it and they saw a large pit with metal spikes at the bottom, with a very small ledge they could sidle along to reach the other side. Proceeding to the other side, Summer held her hand up and pointed out around the bend were wooden staked walls marking the entrance to the quarry, with two lookout towers overlooking the path. They could hear the rhythmic clanking of pickaxes working and Summer could see archers manning the towers. After some deliberation, Dain decided to try to use Vortex Warp to bring one of the lookouts to him, but failed, and this raised the alarm in the camp. Dain then used Dimension Door to transport himself and Soto into the center of the camp, which caused a mass panic as the archers all began to take shots at Soto. As the rest of the group sprinted into the fray, Dain was left on his own for a moment, and two Steel Ranger Savages charged in and beat him severely. Foreman Celedor then joined the fray, severely wounding Dain before bashing him in the face with his shield, dazing him. Merrick then used True Polymorph to turn himself into a Storm Herald. Climbing onto Merrick's back, Skinner rode him into the camp and leapt on top of one of the Savages harassing Dain, restraining him with his Chains of Soulrending. Merrick used the Storm Herald's powerful magic to assault the minds of the Savages and Foreman Celedor while Soto began to bash them.