Session 17: ...And a Hurricane Forms at Bristlebelly

The party has opted to return to Gundrir Boll. They have some idea that Bristlebelly has had several extra days to catch up to the town, and it is still a couple days' travel back. On the way, they notice that the grass is rippling toward the direction of Thywicket, despite the way the wind blows.
  When they arrive, they will see that the boar has indeed caught up to Gundrir Boll. They arrive near sunset, and are able to see the silhouettes of the raiders boxing up goods and bringing them up to their stores on Bristlebelly. A rope bridge/staircase has been thrown down from Bristlebelly's armor to the surface, allowing for the raiders to plunder the few resources Gundrir Boll has to offer. Atop the boar's shoulders, at the highest point and nearly directly in front of the setting sun, they see the large silhouette of Soaring Eagle. A lithe figure clearly wearing some sort of headdress approaches and bows in supplication, and appears to whisper to him. Leaving after a bit.
  The party can see that several of the important members of town, namely Stella the merchant and Uthwyk, are being carried up the ladder to some sort of internal brig. A gaggle of raiders then approaches the figure of Soaring Eagle, and the party can tell by the horns that this is Vanderbiek. She is there for a while, and ultimately brought along the stiff mane to the huge tent on the spine of Bristlebelly.
  As they watch, a successful DC 15 Perception Check will reveal a few hunters/scavengers from Gundrir Boll hiding among some rocks, apparently arguing about what to do. If approached and talked to, these people may be persuaded to aiding in the raid on Bristlebelly in some way.
  The party will have to decide how they want to approach taking the city back. Most of the citizens are being held hostage on Gundrir Boll, and several more important or useful people have been taken prisoner in Bristlebelly.
  At some point, whether it is by being seen, being caught, or successfully unhitching Gundrir Boll from Bristlebelly, things go from sneaking to city on city combat.
  Gundrir Boll has no weapons, but can create advantageous situations by burning smoke bundles or other materials. Any passengers can be sent to man the Furnace Crew but repair crews for the leg have to be searched out. Anyone proficient in Land Vehicles can steer Gundrir Boll. At this point, the goal is to have Gundrir Boll escape Bristlebelly. Players can make this possible by taking out key members of the raider city, like Soaring Eagle, ballista crews, or the Lioness.
  Roll a D6 for The Chapel of Light and Bos Taurum separately. Each of these cities comes to turn the tide after city on city combat has begun, after that many rounds.
 
 
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  They opted to not try to help the panicking civilians of Thywicket, to rest in the forest. Pendeghast and Wren rejoined as they set up camp.
  Khashayar was beckoned by his patron to an ancient stone platform. It had the ancient symbols of Khashayar's tribe, with an elk skull symbol in the middle of a labyrinthine spiral. At his patron's request, Khashayar picked up a bone flute, and used it to summon a Peryton.
  They sent a letter to Pastor Vormic, detailing what happened and how to identify the people taken by intellect devourers. They then traveled at fast pace to return to Gundrir Boll. When they neared the city, they argued about plans of action, with Kestrel deciding to start running ahead with the intent of being captured for negotiation.
  Kestrel changed course upon spotting Johnny from the scouting crew returning to the city. He met up with the crew, and learned a bit about what the crew had seen, and that Bristlebelly had caught up with the city two days ago, and could have cleaned out all the goods within a day. Visayan also revealed that he had kept the bottle of illithid tadpoles, which Wren was able to see.
  The rest of the party caught up, and used the cover of darkness to sneak up Gundrir Boll. Johnny and his crew are standing by to evacuate citizens as needed. Atop Gundrir Boll, the party snuck into Stella's shop and Uthwyk's tavern to search for useful items, finding the flasks of Thywicket bile, and 4 bottles of alcohol strong enough to be used as a firebombs, and a jar of potent smelling white liquid (undecided effect).