The Age of Worms / The Zenith Trajectory pt. 1 / Galen the 26th, 3592 CE through Fos the 19th, 3593 CE / 4-5-21

Things have been quiet in Cauldron since the Flood Season. Not long after the party successfully helped the Church of Jeda from saving the town from the rising waters of Crater Lake, they receive a note from Scrimshander the Omdura, indicating that he is leaving Cauldron once again to pursue Cabrael's justice elsewhere. Then one day Nari ups and leaves on some sort of quest. A month later, Marrow comes to Milton and Lulu to tell them that she is also leaving to pursue business up north, and will be gone indefinitely, leaving her clinic in the care of the weird creature known only as the Foreigner. And so it is that for a while only Lulu and Milton remain, each keeping to themselves for the most part as they focus on their own pursuits, as the poppets continue to run the bathhouse, thankfully incapable of collective bargaining or even demanding wages. Until one day Nari returns, her journey apparently a success, though she tells her comrades she will elaborate later, after a good long soak at the Butter Bath. Not long after this reunion, a note is slipped under the door of the Butter Bath. It appears to be from Ptolus, the information broker who previously previously provided guidance for the party to locate the Ebon Triad's hideout in the Ulat-Kini ruins underneath Cauldron. The note indicates he has information he thinks Not by Choice will want to hear, and is offering it for free as thanks for saving the town from flooding. He requests they meet him at the Slippery Eel tavern. After Nari takes her raptor for a potty break, the party sets out to see what this matter concerns. They reach the stretch of Magma Avenue that leads to the Slippery Eel and, in no particular hurry, decide the enjoy the sunny day along with the other assembled Cauldronites who line the street, perusing shops and vendors. Stopping by a shop selling meat on a stick, they encounter a most unusual dwarf with three arms and his even-more unusual pet, a dinosaur made entirely of metal! As they enjoy their street food, Lulu spots another familiar face, or feather, as an unusually large owl swoops down to kill a rat. The owl is the creature they encountered while fighting vampire goblins in the abandoned temple beneath the butter bath. Though she previously went by "Nova," she appears to have changed her moniker to Moth, and has been living as a street urchin in Cauldron since that adventure. The introductions and reunions are short-lived however, when a monstrous insectoid creature suddenly breaches the ground beneath a nearby warehouse, sending it toppling and almost crushing members of the party beneath falling debris. Not by Choice and their new companions leap into action to attack the monster, which seems more intent on property destruction than fighting back, though it's strange jeweled eyes have the unfortunate effect of throwing much of the assembled crowd, as well as Harrov, Nari, and Jozu, into a state of magical confusion. Even as another warehouse partially collapses, Not by Choice attempts to fell the creature before more damage can be done.