Harmony Session 14: The Caged Bird Screes

After the battle for the Heart of the Swamp, our six heroes took a moment to rest in the hazy comfort of the blooming white flowers. A moment here would end up being quite a bit of time in the real world; how much exactly, our heroes did not know. Still, the invigorating rest gave our heroes the strength to move on from the forever-changed Swango Swamp and tackle their original mission of finding Azure Kevin-Kevin's missing ship, The Exodus.  

A Farewell to Friends

Lady Blight spent this time with our heroes in quiet contemplation, but obviously perturbed by recent events. Gorr, the architect of much of her sorrow, was able to speak briefly with her, but did little to lift her spirits. She didn't know exactly how to proceed, fearing that Lord Vine was completely lost. Ultiamtely, she declined his invitation to return to Echwnk's Landing with them and would instead go back to her shack and Whiskers.   Before she could though, something very strange happened: the Heart of the Swamp opened and out stepped the Seedling Queen, but now looking about 7 or 8 humanoid years old. Concerned for the child's welfare, Gorr attempted to convince Lady Blight to take the Queen with her and protect her, but she was not into the idea. Only when Malachai began to coerce Gorr into caring for the child himself, claiming Lady Blight couldn't be trusted, did she accept her new charge. The pissed-off druid took the child's hand and melted away into the densely packed swangroves muttering something about "childish maizegrown" under her breath.   With that, our heroes set out into the changing Swamp after Azarki as he speedily rode the new currents.  

The Hidden Cove

Swango Swamp was noticeably different with the rebirth of the Heart. The filmy slime that settled on everything had receded and the smell of rot subsided. These signs did not diminish the danger however, and the newly wild swamp showed itself to our heroes. Speeding across another nondescript puddle of muck, our heroes were suddenly stopped short when their ankles were grabbed by a living slime! To make matters worse, it seemed that some psychically ass-kicking flowers had planted themselves around this natural trap and made to destroy the intuders. The fight that ensued was a tricky one, with the good Dr. Malachai getting properly downed by the distant range of the flowers. Thankfully, an embiggened Zoran's trusty crossbow, Enoch's judicious magic missiles, and Azarki's kind-of-cute spiritual weapon were able to give the slimes and flowers an early harvest.   After a brief rest, they continued their journey across the swamp and reached The Exodus in just a couple days.   Our heroes came upon the coast and found a small cove pushed back from the water. Dotted with tidal pools and ocean refuse, the remains of The Exodus and her 30-year-old cargo were scattered everywhere. The keel of the ship jutted up into the air, the back half missing somewhere in the depths. Azarki clambered up onto the deck, but no one else could get a handhold so they went around to the broken end. Inside, they found two lizard-like bipedal dinosaurs tearing at a huge bird locked in a cage. On closer inspection, the caged creature was identified as one of the lethal screegulls that plagued the First Expedition, but had turned undead at some point during its three-decade dive. Seeing this, Azarki was reminded that Azure Kevin-Kevin had a penchant for collecting exotic animals, most of which likely endured a grisly fate when The Exodus sank. Gorr and Enoch let loose a couple of thunderwaves into the broken ship, fully blasting the three creatures within and destroying the hull itself.   Amidst the wreckage, our heroes briefly discussed unlocking the screegull's cage, but the berserk violence it spat through its bars quickly sidelined that idea. Instead, Zoran put his big hands into the cage and ripped the zombie bird's head clean off. They then began to scour the beach and collect the abandoned cargo. All told, much of what Azure Kevin-Kevin had tried to abscond with survived the violent trip toward the cove. They were looking at quite a good chunk of funding for the growing expedition, should they ever return to camp.   With that thought, their scavenging stopped short as the sand and waters began to windlessly swirl together. It seemed as if the very beach itself was rising up to meet them, but instead turned into a vicious wide-mouthed monster. An elemental talus flow had been disturbed from its slumber and roared a challenged and charged at our heroes, boldly defending its home from invaders.