The Age of Worms/ The Demonscar Legacy pt. 2 / Bora the 1st through the 16th, 3593 CE / 1-21-24

Not By Choice has taken a week to rest and recover at the Butter Bath in Cauldron, honing their skills yet further in their respective disciplines. Idra has also used the time to craft a number of magic items for the party, turning the spoils of the last adventure into gear for the battles yet to come, while Lulu has used gold acquired in their adventures to pay the back-taxes owed by the Butter Bath. Nari meanwhile has gotten the party’s wagon repaired after an interesting bargain with the mysterious creature known as “The Foreigner," in which it had expressed a desire to go to the moon of Dromidus, realm of the wyrwood, for some unknown purpose. She also pays a visit to the Journeymen masons of Strafferg whom she had brought to Cauldron to shore up the city's infrastructure and drainage and finds that they have taken up residence in the cleared out Ulat-Kini ruins beneath the city. The party also has the opportunity to read over the manifesto of the merchant Maavu Arlintal, the rabble rouser from the riot at City Hall a week's past. He seems to make some valid points in describing the ways in which the people of Cauldron have been suffering. Nari, ever the resourceful financier, comes up with a proposal to help the people while not further burdening the overtaxed through a privately-funded bond project. Using some of her sway as a local hero and the Seneschal of Four Trails, Nari the Radiant secures an audience with Mayor Severen Navalant. On the morning of Bora the 16th, Nari, with Lulu and Taavi in tow, make their way back to City Hall, where they are greeted warmly by Mayor Navalant as heroes of the city. Nari discovers as she pitches her prospective bond project that she will have an uphill climb given the hostility between the cities of Caudron and Irongorge. In the course of the pitch the mayor does agree to assent to the proposal, but seems dubious of Irongorge's good intentions, citing their governing body, a council known as “The Chisel,” founded by Adventurers who had done battle in the Demonscar and freed the island from a great evil long ago. Mayor Navalant sees their descendants as nothing but troublemakers stirring up the common rabble for their own gain. Lulu objects to the Mayor’s perspective, and believes that he is only pandering to Nari even as he agrees to consider the Seneschal's proposal. Nari meanwhile notes with interest that the Mayor wears a clasp of the same design as that worn by Lord Orbius Vhalantru, Nari's patron in her other works project in Cauldron. Of particular alarm to both Nari and Lulu is the Mayor's assertion that there will be a raid within the coming days by Captain Skellerang on The Chisel, whom the Mayor views as an insurgent group and a threat to Cauldron. The party retires for the night at the Butter Bath with plans to travel to Irongorge sooner rather than later, only to be awoken by the sound of the city alarm bells, alerting citizens to the deadly threat of a fire within the walled city. Fearing that the foretold inferno from Manzorian's painting has finally come to pass, they make their way to the site of the blaze, an inn known as Minuta's Board. There they find the gnomish proprietor arguing with a fierce-looking half-orc sergeant over the cause of the fire. It appears that Minuta's Board is the primary boarding house for the half-orc mercenaries working for the city guard. The half-orcs have formed a bucket brigade against the blaze, even as common folk jeer at the brutish mercenaries. It soon becomes clear however that this is no ordinary fire as two huge fire elementals burst from the side of the building. Not by Choice quickly joins the fray, as Idra wards the party against flame and Jozu and Taavi engage in melee with the elementals. As one elemental is dispatched, Nari conjures a roaming pit in the lake drawing its immense water in and closer, before releasing over 37,000 gallons of water in a torrent, surging skyward through the fire and the flames, dousing the inn, greatly wounding the last fire elemental, who flees in a cloud of steam, only to be ended by a barrage of Nari's magic missiles The party finishes saving whom they can from the firey wreckage of the inn, with the aid of Brother Ruphus from the Church of Jeda, who admonishes the crowd for their prejudice. The half-orc sergeant is joined by the mercenary company's commander, an imposing human with blue hair who goes by Zarn. Zarn is begrudgingly grateful to the party and declares his intention to “investigate” by bringing this matter directly to the Mayor’s attention. Not By Choice on the other hand looks for clues at the site of the blaze, discovering only a hidden basement safehouse, but with the innkeeper already departed, they are unable to discover its purpose or whether it may have been related to the appearance of the elementals.