1.2 Jing Shen to the East

This recap covers the arrival of the Cradlers, the exploration of the construct-infested areas to the east of Fengqi, and the Great Kobold Liberation.  

Travelers from Another Dimension

Unbeknownst to our current group of adventurers who arrived from a different plane, an even more eclectic trio would appear from out of thin air.    Enter the Cradlers, saviors of a far-off world.   We have Biggles Cristo, the lovable 'halfling' bard noble who's really a big ol'  sasquatch that plays the ukulele. Next up is Vrinill, the passionate satyr monk with abandonment issues and an aversion to chestwear. Finally, we have Umeiri Tamanami, the sassy merfolk dancer diplomat whose hard hitting roasts are flavored with a lot of salt.   The trio had just beat back a great evil that threatened to consume their home world Cradle, but knew that their victory was not permanent - the big bad was merely driven away. As the being made its escape, it tore holes in the fabric of reality, creating strange portals to who knows where. As their final stand against this monster, Biggles, Vrinill, and Umeiri stepped through one such portal in search of answers. None of them could have ever predicted that they would be dumped into a whole new world whose magical metaphysics were quite different to that of Cradle. Their power was severely dampened as they were forced to adapt to this foreign environment - the Fengqi marketplace.   The Cradlers' sudden appearance led to some shenanigans, which was nothing new for our heroes. However, their "species" were rarely seen in Fengqi, and that could not be as easily ignored. Biggles was thought to be a brown yetifolk, who were reclusive but not unheard of. Vrinill was thought to be a silenos, who usually resided underground and rarely surfaced. Umeiri was thought to be a triton, who were primarily aquatic creatures.   With some persuasion, running, and lots of good fortune, the party eventually came across one Luo Kai Ren after several days' worth of stressful survival. The dragonborn offered them both a place to stay and a position as members of SKRUNGUS, sensing that "they were exactly the type of people that should represent the guild."    Thus, our roster of protagonists doubled, and the mystery grew tenfold. What the hell was going on in the multiverse?  

The Eastern Clocktower

While Badice, Haliah, and Lyca were exploring the western coast, Biggles, Vrinill, Umeiri, and temporary newcomer Loralynn explored the eastern coast as their first official SKRUNGUS mission. Who the heck is Loralynn you might ask? Well, she is relevant for only this part and was played by our mutual friend Bread for a few sessions and the most important trait of hers is that she plays with a lot of fire. Continuing on, after successfully taking an aquatic shortcut in a similar vein to the Descended trio, the Cradlers plus Loralynn began their trek through the robot-infested forests. During their journey, they encountered several robot triangles, squares and assorted shapes capturing innocent kobolds.   The four adventurers naturally intervened, and followed the animate shapes towards a cave whose entrance was blocked by a large mechanical cube. After dealing with said cube in the most explosive way possible and starting yet another forest fire, the quartet rushed into the cave to investigate. There, they befriended two kobolds and navigated the trap-laden cave system in order to reach the kobold settlement farther in. Several small earthquakes and triggered lightning glyphs later, they learned that dozens kobolds have been kidnapped and enslaved by squares  (and circles and pentagons) to toil away in a large clocktower. With the kobold leader's blessing and a cool wand in tow, the party was ready to face Jing Shen and her army head-on.   Little did our protagonists know of the absolute shitstorm that was to come.   Words cannot properly describe how utterly chaotic this dungeon would be. The details of this session live forever with my and my players' memories. Here's just a snippet of the journal entry I wrote shortly after the events of the eastern clocktower transpired.  

"Biggles would then grab as many kobolds in his arms as he could and dump them in floors that needed reinforcements."

  To summarize, the party skipped the entire dungeon by taking an elevator and holding off on liberating the enslaved kobolds, blew up the giant cannon at the top of the tower which led to its gradual annihilation from the top down, and then frantically rescued as many kobolds as humanly possible within the span of like, a few in-game minutes.   Of the thirty or so kobolds that were held captive, none of them were injured past a few scrapes and bruises. Of the four adventurers, all of them were conscious and standing. It was a freaking miracle, and the kobolds treated it as such. These short dragon people were hootin' and hollerin' and singing the party's praises, but especially for Biggles. You see, Biggles was the one who inspired them to not give up and who singlehandedly escorted like ten kobolds out of the clocktower mere moments before its complete collapse. And, this man was ginormous compared to the average kobold.   To these people, Biggles was a saint. No, a legend. No, a god.    And with that, Biggles had a whole village of kobolds willing to die for him (and his compatriots to a lesser extent). Finally, with that, and you know, a few important pieces of information concerning the Clockwork Empress and a magical chisel, our brave adventurers returned to Fengqi and regrouped with their fellow guild members. Their next step: infiltrating the Mechanical Dam and confronting the Clockwork Empress herself.