Season 2 - Zaraviya

Zaraviya Episode 27: “Blood in the Water”

Watcher:Mira
1. LV8 Paladin - Nokt Umbre
2. LV9 Druid Monk - Mira Adaptina
3. LV11 Rogue - Naelen Shadowtrike
4. LV9 Druid - Chorkva
5. LV11 Monger - Jace
6. ?? Bard - Tuff Cookie
7. LV11 Fighter - Farin

We begin by being trudged out into the center of an arena. Staring down at us are the three tribunal members: Drakkis, Sivath, and Zynath.

Tension is palpable, and the silence rings louder than church bells on religious days. Everyone can agree this is awkward- knowing that Sivath, who we thought was our ally-

(and someone I had considered a fair and just leader)

-has killed Kaela, it's just too much. Drakkis steps forward, looking down on us and says
“You think you are strong enough to take on Sylar, what makes you believe this to be true?”
Before anyone has the chance to reply, she holds up her hand:
“I know that he was able to take you on easily last time, why should this time be any different?”
“We learn from our mistakes” Jace says through clenched teeth.
“Are you strong enough to succeed though? Let us test your skills in a battle- defeat us and you shall go on your mission”
“Sylar may have grown stronger, but he isnt the only one”
“how do we know you won't betray us? After all, we betrayed you” Drakkis inquires.

(its true, they did betray the shit out of us)...

“If it means sparing our lives, we will bring you Sylar”
“You have no qualms with giving us Sylar to kill and take the power” Drakkis says, a mild curiosity creeping into her voice.
“Why do you need Sylar in the first place, what's he to you?”
“We already have three, we just need the fourth” Chimes in Sivath.
“Why do you need the power?” Asks Farin.
“Last time we tried to consolidate the power, our tools weren't good enough- and it caused catastrophe and it left Dreadmire sunk and trapped. She pauses once more and a look of longing and joy crosses each of the tribunal members' faces. Meanwhile our faces blanche.
“However, I have spoken to my compatriots, if you are willing to-” Drakkis pauses for just a moment “-bend your morals, we are willing to give you a chance. You successfully retrieve Sylar, or he kills you all- either way is fine with us.”
“If you are as strong as you claim, why don't you go capture him yourself?”
“We could easily go get him ourselves, WE don't need your help, this is so that you aren't left rotting in prison”
The party talks amongst themselves for a moment and reluctantly agrees to the trial.

(I mean, we can always betray them later right?)

Zynath steps forward
“We have a familiar face for you”
Snapping his fingers, a few guards drag out someone the party recognizes: It's Tom, the bartender from the Dreadmire. He is thrown onto his knees on the arena floor, beaten and bloody.

(For those who might not know, Tom was kind enough to harbor and aid us early on in the season.)

Tuff, infuriated by what they see steps forward:
“Let him go, he has done nothing wrong!”
“Nothing wrong? He aided and abetted fugitives” Zynath replies, raising one eyebrow. “And his punishment? Death.”
“A bargain then!”
“A bargain? What could you possibly have to offer us?” Sivath scoffs, but Drakkis seems intrigued.
“A wager, since you seem so keen. IF, and that is a big if, you manage to know one of us down before we knock one of you down, the bartender is yours. If our simulacrums knock you down first? Well, you know.”
With a snap of their finger, 3 simulacrum of the tribunal members appear-
“Obviously these are set to only a fraction of our power, but close to what Sylar has.”
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A passionate and vigorous battle ensues, our faithful steelhawks dodging spells left and right, throwing hands like only we could. But they were tough to be sure. As we fight, it's becoming apparent that they are communicating telepathically, combining their moves to prove most violent attacks. The simulcarums surround Nokt, who attempts to flee via teleporting; but Zynath reaches out and with what can only be described as a legendary action- holds Nokt firmly in place allowing Drakkis to blast him with a lightning bolt, and as he falls to the ground unconscious a scream rings out as poor sweet Tom, is disintegrated.

Fueled by anger and vengeance, we quickly work together to dispatch Sivath’s and Zynath’s simulacrums respectively. Drakkis, seeing that our victory is all but assured, runs around trying not to get hit while trying to take down Naelen. She is no match for us though. Annoyed that Sivath was the first to go down, we see him hand over a satchel of coin to Zyrath-

Zaraviya Episode 26: “The City we freed”

Watcher:Lumi
1. Lv 7 Paladin | Nokt Umbre
2. Lv 4 Fighter / Rogue | Black Hawk
3. Lv 5 Cleric | Lumi
4. Lv 6 Druid | Naeva Wilhelmina
5. Lv 6 Cleric | Elandor
6. Lv 5 Warlock | Yordad Eshome
7. Lv 7 Druid | Sinder
Scribed by Lumi, Spiritfarer of Frostfell

O Raven Queen,
I write not in triumph, but in reverence.
May these words serve not as proof, but as offering.
For what we walked through in Zaraviya was not a battlefield,
but a veil. And some veils are meant to part.

We moved through jungle so thick it felt like memory—dense, breathing, and slow to part. There were no ruins here, no monuments. Only growth. Only breath. Only the kind of quiet that presses itself against your teeth and asks you to wait before speaking. The fog grew as we walked. No wind stirred it. No sun broke it. It simply arrived—and with it, the sense that something knew we were here. Black Hawk crouched at a bend in the trail. “Tracks,” he muttered. “Large ones. Could be hunting.” Sinder nodded. “It’s watching. Whatever it is.”

Nokt simply said, “Stay close.” Even the birds had fallen silent. Elandor whispered a small prayer. Yordad cracked a joke—“At least we’ll die scenic”—and yet his grip on his focus was tight. And me? I listened. I always listen. But what I heard this time was not the jungle. It was the space behind it.

The attack was sudden. Thunderous. Dinosaurs—real, breathing, ancient things—burst from the foliage with the sound of cracking trees. They were not cursed. Not summoned. Just alive, and hungry.
Naeva reacted first, vines blooming up to trip one as its claws slammed into the earth.
Black Hawk loosed arrows mid-motion.
Elandor raised their shield between a teammate and charging teeth.
Sinder drew on the very ground beneath us, the earth responding in kind.
Yordad, breathless: “Not corrupted. Not seemingly summoned. Just great. That’s somehow worse.”
Nokt held the line, calm, immovable. And I—I stood with death at my back and whispered, Not yet. Not for them. When the roar quieted and the trees stopped shaking, we stood among breathing trunks and fallen bodies. The fog didn’t lift. It grew thicker. That was when I knew. It was not the jungle that had been watching us. It was her.

Drakkis stepped from the mist—not as a monster, but as judgment. Fog clung to her like memory. Her expression was unreadable. Her presence—oppressive.
“Come with me to Dreadmire,” she said. “There is more to be done.”*
Silence fell. Then debate broke it like glass. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Naeva stood firm—“We don’t even know if we can trust her.”
Elandor asked if a single envoy would suffice.
Sinder looked to the fog, then back to her. “She’s waiting. She’s letting us think we have a choice.”
Black Hawk said nothing—but his posture read: trap.
Yordad, hand tight on his arcane focus: “So who volunteers to die, then?”

I stepped forward.
“I’ll go,” I said.

I meant it.

To me, death is not failure. It is fulfillment. I have followed the Raven Queen through silence and frost. If my body fell in Dreadmire, then perhaps my soul would finally warm.
But Nokt blocked my path. “You won’t go alone.”

Something passed between us then.
Not defiance.
Not agreement.
Only understanding.

We all saw the truth.
Drakkis would kill whoever went alone. And she wouldn’t be wrong to do so.

There was only one choice left: together.

The world shifted. No spell, no chant—just a step. One breath, and then: elsewhere.

- Zynath

Syrath-

The air turned dense with rot and ritual. We stood in Dreadmire, beneath the water yet still breathing precious air. The three corrupted, traitorous leaders stood before us. We had already been told that they wanted Sylar, but what else would they ask of us? What else would we lose? We were far from the end of our journey; that was all that was sure.

O Raven Queen,
I carry their names.
I carry the moment they looked at me and said: not yet.
And I carry the step between life and what follows.
—Lumi
Watcher of the Dead. Witness of the Living.

Zaraviya Episode 25: “The Silence After”

Ignis greeted us in the war room, voice warm, smile sharp. "I don’t make promises. I make outcomes. Which one do you want?" Zypher was colder, calculating. A man of war worn thin. "You’re not the first to walk in here thinking you know the tide. But none of you know what it’s like to drown on purpose." They didn’t follow us far. Just far enough to make sure we crossed the threshold. The rest was up to us.

The jungle pretends to sleep. It yawns with roots and exhales mist, draping silence across the eyes of gods long buried. But silence is not peace. It is restraint. It is memory with its teeth bared.

We arrived like intruders, boots sinking into soil too warm to be dead, too quiet to be living. Already, the heat began peeling us apart. Naeva moved with purpose—too fast, too focused. The way grief becomes duty when there is no room left to mourn. Someone said her name again. Kaela. No one said it loudly. No one had to. I saw the way Aerith’s jaw set, how Nokt’s gaze sharpened, how even the ever-jesting Crispin had nothing clever to offer. Kaela was not a memory. She was a wound we stepped on every time we tried to move forward. I did not know her well. But I know what it is to haunt, to linger in the breaths of those who speak your name as if it were a spell that might undo the present. Crispin cracked a joke that didn’t quite land. Nokt muttered something that might have been a blessing, or a warning. Aerith walked with his fingers twitching like he was already casting. Resh kept close, watchful, green. Shadowgambit hummed under his breath like he knew something none of us did. Naeva did not speak.

The jungle did. It spoke in breathless heat, in vines that gripped like memories, in the way the light refused to fall where we needed it most. We found signs. Ash where there should have been leaves. Carvings that bent language into shape. Petals strewn like prayers.

And always, Kaela. Not her voice. Not her hand. But her. The silence broke in the form of an ambush. Jungle creatures—warped, twisted by whatever magic still clung to this place—burst from the canopy. They were swift, but we were ready. Crispin leapt forward with a shout, blade flashing in the green gloom. "Finally! Something that bleeds!"

Aerith raised his hand and summoned flame, his voice steady: "I’m done playing nice with the local wildlife." Nokt and Resh held the line. Shadowgambit moved like a whisper behind the fray, unleashing a chord that shattered bark and bone. Naeva did not hesitate. Her spells were not for beauty today—they were for survival. And me? I sang. I screamed. I remembered the girl I was beneath Fog Hollow skies and let her rise with claws. We won. But victory in the jungle never feels clean. Only necessary. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We stopped near a bend in the roots. Naeva reached out and touched a vine that curled like a question. She didn’t flinch. I thought of blood. I thought of her crown. I thought of a girl who might have once held her hand.

This is what grief looks like when it’s folded too many times. It becomes armor. It becomes command. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We continued through the jungle without lost, but not truly. Not everything breaks loudly. Sometimes it just fails to bloom. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I dreamt of trees growing from ribs. Of Naeva’s back turned to me. Of Kaela’s name whispered in a voice that was almost mine. I do not know if this is prophecy. Or if the jungle simply reflected what we brought with us. But I know this: something in those roots remembers. And it remembers her. — Names spoken like a wound. A silence that crawls. A shadow that stays. —Illyria, Watcher

Zaraviya Episode 24: “Where Heroes Break”

They say rabbits don’t wage war. That we run. Hide. Burrow and pray the wolves pass us by. I wish they were right.

I told them I’d help with the traps. I wasn’t built for charging walls or taking hits like Amadis or Apollo. So I set glyphs. Dug trenches. Organized the tinkerers. I carved sigils with trembling paws, whispered incantations I only half-understood. Magic and steel layered across the battlefield like a web of firecrackers just waiting to blow. To the north: glyphs and a trench so deep you could bury fear in it. Westward, rockslides, pitfalls—our little playground of pain. Every step, a trap. Every breath, a gamble. El collapsed once—just dropped. We thought we lost him. Then he got up like nothing happened. I didn’t question it. Some people glow with divine light. El... is one of them. And then there was Jack. The shopkeeper. Gave me a weird look – like flirting....or hunger. Like he wanted to say something but didn’t. Said something strange about not wanting his shop haunted. Gods, I still don’t know what he meant.

Sivath came from the west. Big, scaly, confident. That kind of energy that makes you unsure whether you want to punch someone or kiss them...at least the vibe I got from Amadis and him. So I did what any emotionally stunted harengon would do—I stood on the far wall and hoped he wouldn't come near me. Then Amadis hyped him up like we were at some weird lizard-fanboy convention. Nokt looked at me like... like he wanted to say something, too. His cheeks flushed. Was he... blushing? And before I could make sense of any of it, the storm hit. Through the spyglass: enemies.

A woman with wings like a tempest—Veyra Stormdancer. Dancers beside her. Juggernauts. A Deepseer cloaked in water and mystery. I fired first. That’s what I do. Get the first hit. Make it count. Then Amadis followed, dropping another dancer with precision that would make a bard weep. But they didn’t stay down. One dancer came for him, flames trailing like ribbons. The Deepseer lashed at me. I shielded, but still—gods, it hurt. Apollo blasted a dancer to ash. Nokt missed his mark. El gave us his blessing, holy light threading through my fur like a distant warmth. Then Illyria screamed her whispers. The dancer shrugged it off. A juggernaut swung at her—she took it, grit in her fangs. Another dancer came at Nokt. I stepped between them and—slash, slash, thrust, tear—ended them before they could breathe. Nokt swung a halberd of fire at the last one. We were alive. Still standing. For now. Amadis pulled out his damned haunting pipe—yes, the one Jack begged him not to use—and blew. It worked. The Deepseer reeled. The Juggernaut faltered. Apollo healed Amadis, then swung his blade. Nokt bathed his sword in divine wrath—strike, smite, strike again. The dancer didn’t last long. Illyria sent out a Thunderwave, like a storm in her lungs. Juggernaut staggered. El called on the dawn. Divine light—pure and raw—burned into them. The juggernaut flinched but didn’t fall. And then... I missed. Don’t ask. We don’t talk about that one. The Deepseer summoned a watery prison around Amadis’ rhino. That beast screamed like thunder underwater. Illyria struck again. El’s bolt missed. Veyra came closer. She was beautiful in that terrifying, end-you-with-a-smile sort of way. I tried to keep my distance. And then, like an idiot, I ran toward her. Amadis turned from me, fire in his eyes, striking the Deepseer. The rhino broke free. The Deepseer slashed Amadis. Apollo moved in—hexed Veyra, blade flashing. Nokt whispered his vow, thunder erupting from every strike he laid on her. Illyria’s trident missed. El healed himself. The juggernaut swung. Illyria deflected it like a goddess in blood and fury. Veyra took like a bolt to the sky. Came crashing down talons like fire against at least my skin. Knocked over blood seeping into my eyes. I take a gasp to get some energy back and stand to my feet. I stabbed Veyra. Twice. She bled finally. Amadis’ rhino slammed into her, knocking her down. Amadis stood over her, point-blank, crossbows drawn. He fired. Still she breathed. Apollo laid hands on me. Strength returned. I swung at her—my blades kissed blood and bone. She dropped. But her breath still clung to her chest like a curse. Nokt turned, cleaved the juggernaut in two with a final thunderous smite. Then Illyria… she leaned down and sank her teeth into Veyra’s throat. Finished it.... not before spitting the feathers out.

And then it all broke. Sivath and Kaela arrived. Kaela—the sweet raccoon girl, soft voice, gentle heart. She drew Veyra’s soul into her relic.

But Sivath... he betrayed her. One stab. She dropped, eyes wide, necklace clutched to her chest. She didn’t even get to scream. Drakous appeared. Killed the two generals Ignis had been fighting with. Took Sivath and disappeared into the arcane ether. And Ignis—the elder—stood alone. He had lost his family. Now, he had lost his only friend.

I don’t feel things easily. That’s always been the joke. Crispin the Cold. The Calm. But standing there, looking at Kaela’s still form, at Ignis staring into a sky with no stars left in it... Even I felt it. A stone in my chest that would never quite come loose. We won the battle. But some victories don’t feel like they’re worth what they cost. Not when friends die. Not when trust dies with them. Not when you realize you never said what you meant to say. Not when you’re still not sure what that was.

Zaraviya Episode 23: “Drums Beneath the Canopy”

Watcher:Khione Briar
1. Lv 7 Fighter / Cleric | Khione Briar 2. Lv 7 Sorcerer/Wiz | Shadow Gambit 3. Lv 6 Bard-barian | Illyria 4. Lv 6 Socerer/Warlock | Khraali 5. Lv 5 Paladin | Nokt Umbre 6. Lv 5 Druid | Reena 7. Lv 4 Warlock | Yordad Eshome
REPORT START Report date: [-----] Khione's POV It's been a while since I've taken the mantle to write a report, but I guess it's as better time as any to get on it.

We pick up from where the relic we've been carrying, was smashed, revealing that it was the fake the entire time. The party had informed the Steelhawk base about the incident, hoping Kaela was safe.

Sylar's army began their trudge towards the city after we had been defeated, leaving us to pick up the pieces of our loss and move forward to defend the people. We head back to the same gate we came through, noticing that the army come through this gate; making our goal to follow and scout to intercept and get around first. It was more likely that we, as a small party, would definitely arrive first, but the path would be difficult. With the familiars on our team, Khraali sends our her owl to scout, and though I'm not very privy to the form she's chosen to take on, I will keep my comments to myself to ensure that our guild runs smoothly. I let my echo go out ahead of me, hoping that with these defenses it would be easier to spot any enemies down the path.

Reena decides that instead of scouting forward, she forages mushrooms and eats one, letting us know that they don't taste great but by the looks of things, she doesn't seem to throw it up either. I certainly missed the Steelhawks. We start our journey south, leaving this gate and going three hours to get through because of a dust storm that started. On this forest path, we notice that there's been some rain over the course of the day the army has been travelling, their foot prints washed out and hard to see. But we notice them anyway, though it wasn't just the footprints of humanoids we notice. It seems that they were also travelling with large creatures, possibly mounts, cutting through the foliage and ruining the natural ecosystem. Clover's told me about a particular monk who would certainly hate to hear about this news. I send my echo to east (because we're travelling south and my left is east, obviously), I notice that there are animal prints there as well, it seems that the animals in the area are still around.

We had discussed our findings with each other and had the ide to send a familiar out to follow the army and report it's findings. We noticed the army had curved west, so we were thinking of going east. Khraali sends her familiar to follow the army. The party treks through the underbrush, needing to push our way though the dense foliage took us about 2 hours to get to the next clearing. ShadowGambit notices a very large footprint and animal shit close to where Illyria was standing, good thing she didn't step on it. We can hear something in the distance getting closer and closer. What ever it was, it was large enough to get the ground shaking with every step. Eventually, we see a dinosaur come out of the trees.

And yes, combat is a specialty of mine, it is most definitely not a specialty that I enjoy writing. Here is a brief of what happened during out encounter here.

There were several little dinosaurs the jumped from out of the bushes, fast little fuckers they were. The T-Rex certainly can bite, as it quite literally can take people into it's mouth and shake them around. Illyria bit the T-Rex onto for it to give her a bite back and knock her prone.

After we defeated the dinosaurs, Reena extracted a few teeth from the T-Rex, why? I'm not sure. A special one that Reena is. Khraali noticed something from her familiar. It got close enough to see where the army was. It turns out we've managed to pull ahead of the army. Even after the whole dinosaur encounter. They also seem to be sending scouts but they're not too far from the main army. We take a prayer of healing and use the little time we have to heal ourselves and get on moving. Though, Illyria does ask us to look for shiny rocks, for what reason? I am unsure s well. But I humour her, plus, it reminds me of Calla. To her dismay, there are no shiny rocks.

As we continue down the path, it starts to rain a little. I thank the Wildmother for the rain to wash out our tracks and to keep us hidden. But Nokt told me that he felt some unease as we approached this bridge, no support or railing in sight, but somehow sturdy enough to let us walk on it. I send my echo to the other side with one end of rope to ensure that the party can cross without any issues. Though, there was an issue.

On the other side, there’s a pulsing mass of fungus that my echo can see. Purple-ish, large mass of fungus and plant, moving towards her. There are bones and skulls inside of it too. It had reminded me of that massive water creature that Clover told me about in Wakewater. Perhaps it was similar? Who knows. My echo can tell it doesn’t have anything that it can use to see as it began to slowly move towards her. I take the chance and swap with my echo, tucking the rope between some rocks securely before getting ready to fight this thing. Here are the highlights and important notes to take from the combat: The purple people eater can throw spore bombs. Another one showed up, how exciting It tries to absorb people into it's body. Terrifying because it tried to do it to Illyria and nearly got her. Aviator also said that it jiggles menacingly.

After we defeat the two, my echo goes back to the other side and we assist with helping the party cross without any issues. Illyria and I pull out a thigh bone from the purple people eater. There are a few things I would like to make out of this bone, a new weapon I think would do. We notice that there was someone coming down the path, my hand still on my rapier before Zephyr came out:

"Hey got your message, Ignis and Kaela let me know what was happening. (They're) breaking the balance and altering things." (In reference to Sylar and Veyra) And with how they had decided to try and smash the relic, I wouldn't think otherwise. We follow Zephyr back to the office, but before we go, I breathe on him. Not weird, just something Calla taught me. We don't want him to be a simulacrum again right?

I hold my breath when we return to the office, happy to see that Kaela was well and the relic still around her neck. Ignis informs us of their current situation as well.

"the walls are all manned, women and children are in buildings as reinforced as they can be. We're looking for reinforcements from Dreadmire but we haven't heard back." Which concerns me a lot. I make a mental note to let Mira & Dash know about the situation so we can send a group out to check in on Dreadmire. We also let them know the Khraali's familiar was tracking down the army and it seemed they were about a day/day and a half out to the city still. It gives me a bit of hope, but not a lot. Khraali also starts to describe who they see and when she describes Sylar and Veyra, Ignis and Kaela have a pensive expression on their face. But then their expression switches to concern when Illyria informs them that Sylar was holding back. We tell them to prepare for the worst case, for there to be mass casualties. It was a difficult conversation but it was a conversation that needed to be made. Regardless of the outcome, us as Steelhawks need to be able to face the reality of our actions whether good or bad. REPORT END Dated, [——-] Khione Briar

Zaraviya Episode 22: "The Last Quiet Day"

We in gross spooky azul wastelands- go to big big big-black stone tower-stone man said made of obsidian- its pretty- tower have stinky smoke come out. All agree- tower look like Westbrook/Dreadmire - cities smushed together. Canna take lead-so stealth-make music-many people cheer- mission impossible music. Party play music- make Canna more sneaky. Trunks also percept. No one see nothing- Dark mysterious lady…Naeva- sense no danger for Canna. Canna run to tower- Trunks tell Canna there is shinies in tower- Canna love shinies- start running to tower. Party tell Canna- bunnies here- do Canna want shinies…or bunny… Canna want bunny- so stop. mushroom hat magics...maebe says- many pockets of magic steam and big holes in ground. Strong pretty lady find pretty black stone. No sign of anything but rocky area up ahead.

We move closer to big building. Hide behind many boulders, be so sneaky! Gator man hear what call “hum” from where stoneman stands. Stone man looking ahead, say see 1 big and 2 sort of big- apparently look strong. Canna think we can take em. They walk back & forth- but very chatty. No pay attention- stupid guards. Stone man say hole made of obsidian and plain stone made of lime. Canna wonder if taste like lime.. OH! So stone man look at lightning in hole and say look similar to lightning we saw in fog earlier. Is also source of humming sound- say no dangerous long as no jump in. silly to jump in canna think. Baddies wear no colour to be recognized. New baddies? Not baddies? But Big guy look like he float- like venya and sylar people. Magick’d in blood. Party ask, be sneak or attack? Canna say attack- rest vote sneak- boo. Dark mysterious lady cast spell make extra sneak! Baddies pace back and forth- easy sneak by. See Giant gate door wide open….

See no one patrolling the walls. it weird door open. Sound empty inside. Maybe more people deeper? Seems weird. Canna climb wall- fort is bigger inside- cant see too far- but see inside area with another gate. Seems weird no people there either. We go inside.

Stoneman checks for traps, but detects nothing. He and the saiyan man perceive because armor made noise- but are unsure if anyone heard us- keep going. See tall walls- see people at top of smaller walls inside- roughhousing amongst self- heading down stairs and into the building. Once they go in- sprint to building. Canna so fast! Stone man making a little bit of noise, but we manage to distract. We run to a door- not trapped but locked- canna unlock- Dark mysterious lady forces saiyan through door first- he notices nothing- A lot of the walls inside are made of obsidian. Hot melty rock flows around the edges.

Strong pretty lady finds a crate with some weapons- Stoneman examines how deep the mamga goes and how unstable the area isbelow us- he feels footsteps in the distance- two people moving away down a hallway- a couple dozen more just wandering around- with magma- doesnt go very deep- feels shallow- not naturally occurring- similar to arcane lightning thing upstairs. Strong pretty lady tries to pour holy water into lava but trunks stops him. There are 3 walkways:
Canna go on ceiling- look- right one leads to a jail- bunch of cells and the like. The left one- hallway leads to a room with a table- see 2-3 people sitting. Come back and explain to party. Leader ask: should go to jail and see whats there? Or face the people? Decide go to jail- lots of stone on ground- crumble and rebuilt? It really quiet- hallway lead to gated area- no one is in jail and no one patrolling? Where all people? Look at cells- gatorman notices all doors are unlocked and slightly open- unsure if used or not. Tower looks like its been little fixed up or using stone for something important. Strong pretty lady say there should be more people for how large the area is. At the end of the hallway is another gated door - canna see moth. Yummy. Strong pretty lady look through gate- see big room with more doors- little holes in doors with bars- no share rooms. She hears the murmur of people way off in the distance. Go through gated door to next room.

Find box containing keys- strong pretty lady acquire. In middle of the room is a fountain- enchanted with a whirlpool. Strong pretty lady touches the water in the fountain- its very cold. It seeps up her arm. She goes- picks a lock into a room- and is met with: a mapach!. Attacked by 3 baddies.

During combat- we do note the sound of a door quietly closing- unable to discern what one... Canna pull out portable ram! Canna help! No? oh… Nothing to see here.
Suddenly- clapping sounds. Door open- bad waterkitty appears. He clap. he walks out- Gatorman fires. Bad waterkitty thank us for killing baddies? He want relic. We say no have. He no buy it- but he believe Canna no have. He say we annoying. Canna offended- no annoying- loveable. Bad waterkitty keep complaining- “you dont even LIVE here”- he say if we give relic he no kill us- just lock us here- and he be on way. We say no. Bad waterkitty take his anger out on stoneman. He then stop and ask if we change mind. Still say no. Bad waterkitty say give relic and be someone elses headache. But.. we no hit kitty head? We start fighting bad waterkitty. Dark mysterious lady turns into a kitty and runs away with relic. Bad waterkitty super fast- he knock her down. Canna help save. Party fight extra hard- but bad water kitty grabs relic- walks off with it… and sayian man- he no let go of it. Sayian come back very beat up- no relic. Bad waterkitty have.

BUT FAKE! Yay! Bad waterkitty broke fake relic- tells sayian his army go to city. Use sending stone to inform Zaraviyan fox leader.

The end.

Zaraviya Episode 21: "Shadows in the Scorched Sands"

The forest was humid, heavy. Steam clung to the bark like sweat. Streams had swelled since we last crossed—ankle-deep now, running fast. It wasn’t hard travel, but it was slow, and the heat made everything stick, took us a few hours of crossing

Then we stepped into the Azul Wasteland, and the air shifted—dry, thin, but not clean. Dust specs kicked up with every step, flickering like heat mirages. Couldn’t focus on them. Breathing them in made your chest tighten. I pushed through, but Mira, Ezekial, and Naelen started slowing. Too much moonsine last night, maybe. Or something worse.

We took a ten-minute rest. No spells, no talking. Just stillness. It helped. Everyone got their legs back.
Cindella started whining about not being on Clover’s horse—like she forgot that’s my wife she’s talking about. She didn’t stop ezekial gave her his horse to quote
"shut her up"
Loud enough to keep us from hearing the land shift beneath us.

Then a geyser blew. Molten sand and twisted steam sprayed into the air. Before we could recover, a dust storm slammed into us.

Blinded: Cindella, Mira, and Farin.
Still standing: Me, Clover, and Naelen.

I tied ropes around the others, took lead. Almost led us wrong. Almost. Something felt off. I stopped.
Looked again. Adjusted course.

We crested a ridge and found a valley choked in smoke. i sent my raven carrying one of cindellas infinite forgs—it grew massive, hopping out of the smoke and away, then we sent another. Liquids drained out like a fruit left drained by a rabbit vampire decided not to risk it.

I climbed up a rock face, using the higher ground i spotted a path around the cravace of weird magic smoke dropped a rope, got everyone over. Ezekial’s horse didn’t make it, the smoke claimed it
We crested a ridge and found a valley choked in smoke. Ezekial sent his raven in—it grew massive. Sent another. Liquids drained out like a fruit left in the sun. We decided not to risk it.

I climbed up a rock face, dropped a rope, got everyone over. Ezekial’s horse didn’t make it. Sand swallowed it.

Ahead: the Boneyard.

Massive dragon bones—half-buried, ancient. I pulled a femur from the dust. Good size. Good weight. It would serve. Then I squatted a skull. Why not.

We kept moving and came upon a weathered stone tower. Cindella tried to identify it. I gave her bad info on purpose. Petty, but she deserved it. Result: nothing. Just wasted time.

Then more smoke ahead.

$wolfstalker_aerial_view_of_Black_sands_stretch_across_a_fract_a7abd6a5-6575-4a46-8513-0b6c69909646_0.webp$

Farin sent his fog avatar into it. It surged in strength—then the ground gave way. Sinkhole. We adjusted, threading through safe paths while fissures split the earth. I dismounted and helped Cindella on the horse after literal hours of crying. The terrain was too rough for and contained too many gaps larger than cindella could cross, After that i take a long jump and thats when it happens

Combat Begins Twilight screamed—hit by something unseen. Invisible Stalker. Then the salamander rose beside me in a burst of heat. I caught it mid-rise with a reaction jab—Polearm Master.

Then came the lightning breath.

Cindella collapsed. Clover staggered, still on her feet. I took it too. Arcs of lightning remained after the breathe jutting from my platemail to the ground

The salamander vanished.

I dropped low, yanked the dragon femur out of the pack. Strapped on the spare glaive blade Mira made handed me back from a glaive i had her breakdown. Fast work. Crude. Didn’t matter.

Dragon-slaying glaive.

Farin rushed forward, dropped the salamander in a few savage swings. But then the dragon came back—targeted Naelen.
Ezekial smited the beast, marked it, forced it to stay
Then i intercepted.

Hit after hit. The glaive sang. Ezekial smite the beast, marked it, forced it to stay in this plane.

Mira darted to Cindella. Cure Wounds. Clover raised a Beacon of Hope. The second lightning breath hit. Clover, Ezekial, Cindella, me—burned again. Clover dropped. Unconscious.

That was it.

I looked at the dragon. “You will not draw another breath.”

Action Surge. Six attacks. All hit. The glaive buried deeper every time. It wasn’t just steel—it wanted dragon blood.

The beast collapsed.

Only the Stalker remained—still targeting Clover.

I struck, guided by blindsight. Caught it mid-lunge, it retaliated and so did i killing the husk of smoke. Everyone questioning what i was fighting, i then take the new glaive enchanting it in the blood of the first dragon it slayed

Aftermath
Cindella cast Prayer of Healing. Everyone steadied. I stayed on foot.

Ahead: a tower. with some debating and conversating, me nalen and mira deduce that its made of obsidian, and its Architecture is familiar. Westbrook? Dreadmire? Cant fully place it

Maybe the same mistakes.

Whatever it is, we’re not done.

Notes: No one to talk to besides ourselves
Cindella is oddly insistant one being carried, she would do well to join a work out routine to instill discipline
-End of Report-

Zaraviya Episode 20: "THE PAST UNEARTHED"

Steelhawks go woosh and arrive in…. ‘Zaraviya’. Canna want shop! Strong pretty music lady… Illyria- takes canna to store. We lose mission leader….puckleknob- just go POOF, Canna turn head and no more mission leader. Owell.

Anyway, Canna get to store- “the Guilded Tail”- owner is fuzzy fox…Jack Knocks- he no give Canna deal on items. Canna sad at spend full coin. BUT- got cool stick
SUDDENLY- a wand that go ~P-shhhhhuuuuuuuu- firework sounds~ starts flying and firesparkles go everywhere! Canna get revenge on fuzzy fox by convincing him shop is haunted. Hehehehe.
BUT~ fuzzy fox man get scared by Cannas words and he chase us all out-
Canna wonder, where is mission leader- but quickly forget because cool stick PLAYS MUSIC!!! Canna happy and hop hop with strong pretty music lady. We find mission leader as he run to catch up- says he was trapped behind shop door- Silly mission leader, just open door! Or use key!

~Mission Leader puckelnob

~Strong pretty lady Illyria
Steelhawks go meet Zaraviyan fox and armored raccoon leaders…Kaela and Ignis- They ask if we ready- We go spooky place - Azul wasteland… mission leader want know about people in wasteland. Fox leader says bedtime stories talked about cities. Scouts go out- no come back - big smoke rises now.

Leaders of city tell us investigate - Canna VERY good investigating -easily distracted- but no come back. Just keep go. Mission leader disappear again.. So Canna lead! With MUSIC!

We on trail. Canna wave stick make good music~ BOOM BOOM BOOM~ drums sounds from nowhere. It bad- make other birds go byebye. Strong pretty lady attacks air with tiny sword- air go ~inhale~Canna wonder, do wind do that lot?- but that all. Bridge ahead- Canna think what naelen said- not a game- friends could get hurt. No want friends hurt- she go first! It safe- but Canna get hungry being brave. Try find worm- but not worm. Was yucky. Some steelhawks cross bridge brave like canna- but other steelhawks must be scared- or good snacks… Canna hope they saved good wurmies for Canna. Canna like the big blue ones on leaves best.

~ Animorph with familiar, Archer Queen & J.Taco Bell
Animoph with familiar… Archer- takes animal with red butt…J.tacobell- ties long thick string to him and throws him off bridge! Why he do that? SO mean. Red butt very scared- just go AAAAAAA. All steelhawks-but mission leader gone… owell again.

Get close to river- many nature sound; mean safe. It rain- also warm- Canna feathers feel icky.Feet stay dry- no walk long. Everyone tired- but not eepy.

We get to city…wakewater- so much destroyed.Tomb covered with soft green, plants. Canna member report- tomb go POOF and appear- giant door- water all around. With that, Canna be smart!- walk up to door- Take water- throw on door while making Magic sounds. Nothing happened- Sad Canna.

~Quick hands Jace
Quick hands man…Jace go up, up, up, to the tippy top- so skilled, canna must learn! Quick hands says one chamber inside- go down. Strong pretty lady said tomb could be of water goddess…Falaysia. Mission leaders pet…gribblehex- opens door-super easy. That good? Steelhawks be brave- go inside.

Circular room- large. Pool of water in center- SUPER deep! Mission leader throws drum in- go blub blub blub as sinking. Does nothing. He go gets them- says exit on other side. God worishper…Elandor says some magic of enc..chantement in next room. Animorph says no bad wickedness so in we go!

~God worshiper Elandor

Drip drip drip All over new room is water sound- rain but no rain. God worshiper says the magic in water. Say make water flow- OR carry magic. Canna think both? Animorph go drink water- must be thirsty. He said it super duper cold- they look really sad. We follow path around water to center of room. OOO PUZZLE! Canna love puzzle! Around puzzle is writing- canna good copy:

Only when all tears flow as one… shall the gate open.

Steelhawks so smart! Complete puzzle- water glow, and rises! Feet wet- Canna no like. Glowy water flows and make door! So COOL. door have stairs - must go through waterdoor to go down the stairs. Canna get wet- so cold! Canna hear voice in head- so loud- it scream.

Go down- stairs wet- water keep going. At bottom rain noise stop- just babble babble babble as water flows. Quick hands goes SWOOSH down the railing- gets rat as gift from mission leader!

NEW room- BIG OPEN- many pillars.Giant pool of water in center. BIG statue in center of water. Canna need better eyes- swear statue look at us. Look at party- all look sad. Canna feel sad too- see giant waterjelly thing- want to cry (Can canna cry?). No need better eyes- statue move!

Big fight- almost lose steelhawks. Animorph became an octopus! Hits statue- it crumbles- smaller rock things crumble too. Spooky air rises and makes a shape- look like window on cold night! But not as hard as window. Canna see water all over shape- part of shape making? Look at beautiful shape of cat person- Canna no feel sad no more.

Cat spirit thanks Steelhawks - they no member name. Say member dying willingly- then poof back because something happen here- because of gross giant waterjelly. Mission leader ask bout next destination- smokey place. Spirit says no nothing of smokey place. Spirit say what happen here like happen past. This all because hoarding and misuse elements- should be shared and helpful. Spirit talk about persons like her- blessed by gods (Canna look at god worshiper). Spirit say giving some power - protect and keep balance.
He say had 7 cities- 7 avatars too- when a city to the north- azul wasteland area- fell. Thought natural- but wasnt- too late. God worshiper thinks- second city was at Zaraviya spot. Spirit say people here in past trying- make magic device. Device control all powers. Says one of their own betrayed them- person who betrayed all avatars- is last avatar- supported aetherion conclave- cant remember name. We ask about device- what look like? Spirit say it look like- circle carved- 4 different stones- attuned to element to best. Spirit say no member- something/someone blocking memory..
Steelhawks look worry. Ask about staffs. Spirit says if ALL staff broke- cities go bye bye. If bad guys finish idea- have power of all elements in area. Must use device to fix it all. God worshiper members- thinks device sounds like relic. Mission leader pulls it out and puts it back.

Steelhawks look guilty. Spirit say to infuse magic element back - gotta kill em - or give us freely. Steelhawks look at each other. Mission leader ask about room we in. Spirit say build for them as rest place.

Spirit ask us to save people- then disappears.

THE END!

PS: Canna no mention that Fast handsome bunny... Crispin was there- he save Animorph. Here he is!!

Zaraviya Episode 19: "The fire remembers"

Watcher:Jebediah

1. Bard 9 | Jebediah
2. Paladin 10 | Clover Briar
3. Rogue 9 | Roulette Diyods
4. Ranger Rogue 10 | Tahlia Beightleaf
5. Lvl 8 Cleric/Druid | Cindella
6. Lv 9 Fighter | Farin
7. Lv 10 Rogue | Naelen Shadowstrike

Classification: Tier 2 | Active Field Report | Unredacted

So we crossed that creepy magical border thing—the one that rips open your secrets and flings ‘em out like laundry on a windy day. Some folks got their feelings hurt, some got burned (literally), and one angry spirit showed up to yell about it. Thankfully, we smacked the anger out of her—with compassion and weapons—and once she cooled off, we had a little heart-to-heart.

She asked why we were there. I, being the diplomatic delight that I am, told her:

“We’re trying to stop some faction of people from destroying these Staffs of Power… but we failed. And when they did, this temple popped outta nowhere.”

She told us:

“Last thing I remember, I died giving my life for my city, Seraph.”

Turns out there were four of them who made the ultimate sacrifice. Clover—bless her chaotic curiosity—starts flipping through her pocket notes and sketches, shoving them under the spirit’s ethereal nose and asking if she knew any of them. Spirit said yep, those were the others who gave their lives too. Bit foggy upstairs though.

So, I asked if I could poke around in her mind a bit—and oh buddy, it was a full-on brain buffet. Got blasted with visions of the old world—four dominant races, each wielding a Staff of Elemental Power, standing proud in cities untouched by time. But the more I zoomed in on one of her companions, the fuzzier it got. Real suspicious-like. I got that gut feeling we need to find whoever that is—there’s something off.

Then the doom visions kicked in—storms, earthquakes, volcanoes, the whole “end-of-the-world starter pack.” Bad stuff. Real bad. Then she and the temple started fading... like a fart in the wind.

We regrouped in the temple, and I mentioned Ignis and that Kayla lady—y’know, the one holding the other artifact the villains want. It made sense to go check in with them, so after some debate, we headed back toward the city. I sang us along as we strolled through magic forestland.

Didn’t get far before the group started arguing again about where to go. I just leaned back and let them talk, but apparently someone heard something spooky down another path. “Flying rocks,” “spaceships,” “aliens”—a lotta nonsense talk, I thought.

Until it wasn’t.

We kept going and saw it: some floating hunk of metal, like an eyeball with a glowing orb in the middle, hovering above the trees. Thalia sent her bird up to scout, but fog blocked the view—classic creepy forest ambiance. And yeah, there was definitely a storm brewing in there.

The floaty metal orb thing seemed to be scanning the area. Cindella summoned a frog and sent it in—got vaporized instantly. R.I.P. frog.

Farin pulled a neat trick—sent his duplicate in instead. The thing scanned it, didn’t fry it, which was interesting. Naelen poked around looking for buttons, switches—nothin’. I tried a Dispel Magic, but nope. So I just walked up to it, confident as ever.

It scanned me, but then just... ignored me. But when it saw Clover—hooo boy—it got real nosy. Specifically with her bag. Y’know, the one holding the replica artifact the villains are after. It immediately floated off like it had found its golden ticket.

We followed fast.

We ended up in this half-burned, ruined clearing with ancient stonework, and that orb stopped there, hovering over it and going full alert mode—buzzing, vibrating, alarms. Roulette panicked and shot it. Clover followed in on her glowing pony and smashed the thing—right in time, too, because guess who came storming in?
Them.

An owl man, croc guy, tortoise brute, all rushin’ us. Owl guy made a beeline for Clover shouting:

“We will get that artifact!”

But every hit bounced off her shield. She even flexed on him. Real bold.
Then—bam—a snake fella tried to assassinate Farin from the bushes. Another tiger-looking assassin came for Clover. Then came the healer—a lizard priest of sorts, tossing healing spells at Owlboy.

Big brawl. Brutal stuff. But we came out on top.

Still don’t know who these people work for—if they even work for anyone at all. That just leaves us with more questions, and my poor brain’s already buzzing like that stupid floating orb.

-End Session/Report
Filed in dramatic fashion, as always.

Zaraviya Episode 18: "The Past is Never Dead"

Watcher:Mira Adaptina
1. Lvl 10 Fighter | Hollow Briar
2. Lvl 8 Moonmom | Mira Adaptina
3. Lvl 8 Fanger | Cybil
4. Lvl 8 Bard | Jebediah
5. Lvl 8 Pally | Pnymesis
6. Lvl ? | Mensius (believe he was there)
T1: Lvl 7 Cleric | Medvroth

Hi ya’ll its me again Mira. I promise I wont be responsible for every single Zaraviya recap, but when that promise will be fulfilled… eh? Who knows. Anyway, heres what we did last time:

attempted to capture fleeing villain- failed.

Rescue/evacuate the citizens of Valterra: somehow a success?

Explore earth temple: successful but failed- staff was broken

Get to fire temple: failed

Rescue Ignis and family: Ignis successful, family failed

Oof, thats rough. Not a great rate… mebe this time we will be more successful? Okay, got drinks? Snacks? Comfy pjs? Alright well then..

Our story starts today at the city of Seraph- our heroic steelhawks having not only defeated the elementally enhanced baddies, but also some of Ignis’ anger at the lost of his family through the spell calm emotions . After a moment of silence that rings out loud for what seems like eternity, Mira asks “are you okay?”
Looking down at her, the grief palpable in his voice-
“No, but thanks for helping, but you were too late.”
Ignis almost chokes on the words; its clear his emotions are only in check thanks to Jeb’s quick casting. Walking over to Ignis, Jeb starts:
“Im sorry we didn’t put it together until we were at the earth temple- “
“What were they even doing here?” Medvroth asks, “what did they want with you?”
“They kept asking for the relic that you gave us… they would ask, then they would slaughter my family members in front of me whenever I said I didn't know”
He pauses here, clearly trying to not picture what he says next: “no, they killed the children, my sister, and my parents..”
“So, what's the next move?” Jeb inquires,

It takes him a few minutes, but he collects himself enough to continue;
“Did they make it out okay? The people, they are all I have left.”
“Yes, they are all okay, just on the edge of town with mayor Aldric.”
“Thats good..” Ignis sighs in relief. Though filled with grief, he now has something to hold onto. Able to focus more on the task at hand he explains
“They broke all four of the staffs’... However, I am unsure if the relic we gave you is the real relic, or if Kaela has it and yours is just the copy we made to look like we shared equally.”
Hollow digs through his bag and pulls out the relic, it's warm to the touch, examines it and quickly puts it back. Ignis continues.
“Part of the reason they are doing what they did was to destroy the history of our city. As you remember they attacked our library, and burned most of the history section. If I recall, Deputy director Dash sent out a scouting party that found ruins in the Eastern Zaraviya Outskirts- (report 16.5). According to the report, they found 4 statues that look like myself and the other current rulers of Zaraviya.”
The party ponders about what to do next?
“I promise you Ignis, I will achieve vengeance in your name for your family” Pnymesis vows. Hollow puts his hand on his bag and ensure the rest of us that the relic is safe in his bag of holding.
“What about Kaela? And Zaraviya?” Mensius pipes up
“The city is protected, we’ve spent the last few weeks/months reinforcing our defenses, creating new ones, and preparing our soldiers. As for Kaela, shes back in the city-” there is a change in his voice when he says this, as the steelhawks had chosen to go to Valterra instead of Seraph.
“It would be bad to go to the city, as I dont think we should have both relics in the same place. It would make the city an easy target.” Pnymensis says.
“Can they even sense the relic?” Hollow asks.
“Well, if there is any hidden magic within the relic, it wouldn't have been able to be duplicated by our specialists, but by appearance it's exactly the same.”
After a few more minutes of discussion, we come to the agreement that its a risk we will have to take: either we do nothing and they can possibly take the relic, or we go and run the risk of them taking it.We start to make our way and wander back to the pile of burning bodies, now a smoking heap. It takes a bit longer than normal once again for the party to get where they are going. The fire from the battle in Seraph has spread and the path is slick with mud.

Eventually, we arrive at the city. While Ignis takes some time to collect himself and find Kaela, the party heads off to the crafting district. After a quick shop in the Clever Clow and shop-keeper Fenneck, we head to the office to find Kaela and Ignis. Kaela informs us that no one has attacked the city but that something weird has happened-
“Based on what Ignis told me before you arrived, around the time you were rescuing him in Seraph- we discovered a tomb, sealed by ancient magic. It appears that it just rose out of nowhere”
“Well, I for one am excited to actually explore the tomb, but what about the relic?” Jeb inquires.
Kaela pauses for a moment before answering:
“It could be related to the tomb you found in Wakewater, but I am unsure”
“What about guarding it? Making sure people we don't want getting to it first?” Jeb asks. “We did send some scouts to monitor, but nothing has gone in/out. It appears to be closed. They did find some markings on the outside. The wording on it is in the primordial “tomb of avatar Ignifix”. The party quickly agrees to go check out the tomb, however, it is evening, the sun is going down and the steelhawks are tired and hungry from their journey, so they head to the Taven for rest.

In the morning birds chirp- the sound of light rain continues to fall. There is music in the tavern. Coming down, the party receives a map of Zaraviya. A quick bite to eat and back to the office.
“Good morning, just wondering what tomb you plan to travel to, the one outside Wakewater, or the one we just discovered?”Ignis asks.
“The one that was just discovered” Cybil replies.
“Are you planning on joining us, Ignis? Since you have ties and all.” Medvroth asks. “Maybe we should bring someone more scholarly?” Cybil inquires out loud. Quietly we discuss bringing someone else. In the end, we decide to bring in a priest instead of Ignis. Ignis picks up a sending stone and requests a man named Pyrrion.

~Pyrrion While we wait for him to arrive we go over the location of the Tomb - it is south of Seraph.
Pyrrion arrives- and after discovering the reason for his summons, is excited to leave the city for the first time. Stepping forward, he looks at the map.
“Ah, yes. I believe I know where it is.”

Off the Steelhawks go, Led by Pyrrion, they travel through the jungle. While walking, Jeb cast aid on Mira, Mensuis, and himself. During the travel, we get to know Pyrrion.
“Well, im primarily a scholar, I’ve never even left the temple, let alone the town before except for missionary excursions”
After a while, the rain begins to let up in the forest. Hollow stops us and says;
“Theres the sound of popping coals or wood from a fire around here”
Unfortunately for Hollow, no one believed him, and after arguing for a few moments Mira goes:
“Fine Hollow, since you believe so much, lead us to this ‘fire’.

Following him, we come upon a clearing with a door. The smell of campfire hangs thick in the area. As we approach, we see a bunch of writing in primordial. It says: “tomb of avatar of Invictux” Pyrr can speak primordial. He goes to walk closer- but Jeb stops him and scans for traps. Detecting nothing and seeing no traps, both him and Pyrrion step closer- suddenly the runes begin to glow and fire erupts around the door. It's apparent that this fire is not hostile, but it has registered their presence. Mira coveres her hand in fire and touches the door. The fire in front of the door spreads up to meet Mira’s at the door. Not moving her hand away- they combine and spread- causing the runes to glow extremely bright and the door to open.

As the Steelhawks step inside, the air is off- hot. Like the anger we feel inside is heating up the air. Like inhaling hot steam. Hollow, being a tiefling finds it quite enjoyable. Jeb looks around, but doesn't notice much. There is a doorway at the end of the hall. Mira takes a few steps and kicks a pebble down the hall. No traps or anything springs out- but the air seems to get hotter. Pnymensis recognizes that the air burning and the way it feels has some tie to Invictix, but all the things of importance and worship are further in.

“Remember, please be respectful to all ceremonial things” He mentions as we cautiously enter. Statues of stone lions line either side of the hallway, and towards the back it appears to open into a larger chamber. Pnymensis knows that these statues are more like guardians on the path.
Mira reaches out with her magic and concurs.
“These statues are ceremonial - not likely to animate and attack us.”
“What have your studies taught you Pyrrion?” Asks Cybil.
“a lot of the books that were burned in the raid were about this time. And all of this stuff is at least 150-180 years old.”

Stepping into the next room- it appears to be square- but difficult to make out what's inside it. As soon as we step in, carvings/runes on the floor light up. 4 fires immediately spring up to life, while a fifth one is burnt out. In front are four statues carved of obsidian, each containing a rune on its head with gold veins flowing through them; A Jaguar, a fox, an owl, and a racoon. We suddenly hear a rough but gentle voice in our heads: "One speaks flame’s falsehood. Three burn with truth. Only the voice of the guide will open the path"
They all begin to move around and look at us. As the party steps on to the pedestal they suddenly stop moving:

~The Jaguar says: “The raccoon is not the guide.”

The Owl says:“The liar is standing next to me.”~

~The Raccoon says:“The fox is lying.”

The Fox says:“I am not the guide.”~

The party takes some time to discuss what the answer could possibly be.
“The Racoon is the liar” Hollow shouts.
The racoon goes and stands on a previously unseen pillar.
“The fox is not the guide” Mensius shouts.
The fox also goes and stands on an empty pedestal.
“The Jaguar is the guide” Hollow shouts with confidence.
The jaguar looks at Hollow, opens its mouth and shoots fire at him.
Singeing ever so slightly, Hollow sarcastically announces
“The owl is the guide”
The remaining statues go and stand on their respective pillars, all the fires die and go away- only to collect at the fifth and empty place toform into a wall of fire and disappear to reveal a door.

As we walk into the next hall- the heat is palpable. The walkway is extremely narrow, and below us is a river of magma. Fire burns against the wall ahead of us. . As we come up the path, there is a carving in common that appears beside the wall of fire:

“Only those who speak the truth of themselves may pass unburned. Falsehood feeds the flame. Silence is surrender.”

Hollow says with confidence:
“My name is hollow briar and i love my wife”
He steps through the wall, and is burned with radiance. But he makes it through.
The same voice from the last room rings out again.
"Speak. Who are you, when no one watches?
Speak. What is the failure you carry but will not name?
Speak. What do you burn to protect?"
One by one we speak a secret and all go through this wall of fire unharmed.

Passing through into the next area we see a colosseum thing with smoke and ash rising from the top- one by one as we pile in we see some fire elemental mermadons, and in center of room; a vulpin shaped elemental- the embodiment of Invictix! but a female? A battle rages out, and unfortunately Pyrrion did not make it though.

~Vulpin elemental

~fire elemental mermadons
As last blow is dealt- this embodiment shifts once again into something new, something less wrathful, more humanoid and calmer.

And thats it, another riveting installment of the brave steelhawks. Lets just pretend that we didn’t lose our guide… I for one can't wait to see what happens next time. See you all next time on WORLD OF KARAGATAN: LEGEND OF ZARAVIYA!

Zaraviya Episode 17: "Smoke on Silent Roads"

Watcher:Canna Lili
1. Lvl ? Cleric Druid | Whiskey
2. Lvl 4 Druid Rogue | Canna Lili
3. Lvl 7 Cleric | Medvroth
4. Lvl 6 Ranger Monk | Jace
5. Lvl 7 Bard | Jebediah
6. Lvl 5 Barbarian | Rukus Kegstone
7. Lvl 4 Rogue/Wizard | Halfling with no name

Hi. Dis Canna- not Calla. Like Calla-but different. Canna Calla cousin. Hehe. Party starts by body of BIG dead lizard man. Group discuss- Bring back for question or leave dead? Do chase bad guy who run? Or do go to town like request?

~Jace
We run. Chase bad guy who run. Quick hands human- he actually super speedy…Jace- He FAST! He go ahead-spy tracks and lead party right direction. Find path- very obvious as many trees broken. Guy must be moving fast since large. Jace see 100’ off path disappear. He look round- seem tracks go into ground? Canna think into ground? That silly!) Quick hands human not sure- where bad guy? Look again… Look successful! Bad guy have bond with earth- can be inside ground and move.

Question: What do now? Go back to temple? Or go back to dead guy and ask it questions. Strong man- he good with stone..Rukus- can sense ground moving deep deep down. Moving far away from party but slower quite deep now. Talk again about going to earth temple. Where is earth temple? Is it where party was before? Jace think underground. (very smart; earth, ground)

~Rukus

~Whiskey
Team leader - little red-fur bear with tail…Whiskey- sends pretty bird familiar to go look at earth temple. Familiar finds a temple- not underground- door looks damaged tho. This is worrisome. We must go investigate!!
We mark x on tree- then race towards Gound Temple!

Party approach temple. Dragon god worhiper...Medvroth- see door is broken open. This very bad. Tiny gnome man - who sings many songs…Jeb- He grab stick and boom! Lots of tiny yummy food show up.

~Medvroth

~Jace
Tiny gnome man ask yummy food about seeing ppl- yummy food squeaks. Tiny gnome man give yummy food his food- yummy food squeak. This happens lot- tiny gnome man ask yummy food question- yummy food squeak. Then he say that yummy food was talking to him! He say food say big folk that not us here- break door days ago-happen dark time. He say food say big folk step on yummy food when leave. This make Canna mad- Waste good yummies. Team leader write letter to town and sends off…bye bye!
Tiny gnome man keep talking with yummy food- food says big folk break stick, step on food and leave- but no more stick- turn to dust- house fall down.
Party ponders. what do? We too late? Tiny gnome man think dis like air and water temple. Did HUGE scale guy who now dead have glowy symbols on him?? Scared earth guy who ran away- he got huge when glowy symbols appear on him. We go inside temple.

Inside is spooky! Walls fall down- plants grow over all. This space only one we can go- all other blocked. Stone man say stone is very old-but fall is new. Short person with “no name” - swears thats their name- finds different symbols in a rock- symbols are words!
-no words are able to speak but one- it called Racnox. Stone man finds prize! Canna take lots of these before- it giant drawing! Drawing of staff in a rock.

Tiny gnome man says Racnox is name of Lord of element from here. Party Panik!- 3rd stick broken by bad guys! Breath…Air, clear liquid…Water, & ground…Earth. Team lead think shaky ground happen in town. Tiny gnome man- very very old indeed- been here forever- member rhyme from childyears-

Four stood first, the primal kin,
Each a spark the world lived in.
Then came balance, sought and won,
A sacred circle seven-spun.
But harmony, when held too tight,
May shatter under hidden blight.
One dimmed early, veiled in lore,
Then six became but five, then four.
The count was kept, though names grew still—
A wound in time, a silent hill.
Now tell me, how many bound
The world before it came unround?

Long time ago- bunch of cities supported/run by 4 people- kind of eutopia that fell slowly over many sunups & downs. Party ponder- should go hot…fire - temple? Likely next spot bad guys go. Tiny gnome man knows fire temple by Seraph. Seraph city of fox-people - called vulpin. We run off to Seraph- but go to Valterra first- gotta do job- check on people leaving. We get to where HUGE dead guy is- still huge, still dead- come up to large group of racoon-people - called mapach.

They look like Kaela! But not Kaela- she older- must be Khatli. Party happy message received and they a-ok. Party and Khatli talk- we tell about what happen- talk about earth temple. She say it temple for worship. Party ask about staff- she say it artifact, used to contain power. She say it myth- avatars of Racnox used to use it. Now what?: Do we go with to keep safe? Or go get stick? Party sends racoon-people to Zaraviya by self. We examine symbols on huge dead guy. Quick hands human says the symbols are in ancient language…primordial- and mean earthy stuff. Party think- Evil kitty cat…Sylar- and kitty friends- had symbols in ancient language. Also think Night-flying baddie…Verya- had some glowy symbols on them- air words? Party runs to hot temple.

As party run- it start rain. Canna no like rain. It get hard to run. Yummy bugs everywhere tho! Canna cant eat all the bugs- party is bitten. Some people- including Canna- get less quick. Path is super muddy- mud is thick. Uh-oh, sun going down. Rain gets harder- takes us long time to get to hot temple. Not all way there- We see bridge. Canna look for bad things-see nothing. Quick hands human see lots footprints- appear fox-like. Prints fresh. Move forward- can smell cooking meat- not yummy meat, gross people meat. This make us run extra fast.
Also, Forgot show drawing- dis halfling with no name

~Halfing with no name

~Mayor Aldric
Turn corner- see BIG hot fire- many body inside. Group of fox-people come at us. Tiny gnome man reconize leader- city leader…Aldric. We examine, no symbols on any. YAY!- many fox-people make it out alive- they wear some armor. Bodies in hot fire are city protectors. Party no see Zaraviyan fox-leader…Ignis. Ask city leader. City leader is happy to see party- YAY!- but tell that Zaraviya fox-leader stayed in city to help people run. Bad guys kill soldier and steal people as run away- including Zaraviya fox-leaders’ family! Party mad- head to save Zaraviya fox-person and family!

~Ignis
Party go into town- try to be quiet- not very quiet. Ruckus listens- says voices ahead. Reconizes one as Zaraviya fox-leader: he sad and hurt sound. Team leader pet flies ahead to see we start be sneaky. Zaraviya fox-leader on other side ahead- many dead things by him. He look different- covered in dark liquid holding sharp shiny. He look tired-many inhales he make. So many bad guys standing around him still; Night-flying guy with glowy symbols, some random baddies with glowy ground symbols, and more new random baddies- they have new glowy symbols. Party decides too late- hot temple been invaded. Party attack group of bad guys. We fight very hard- they fight very hard. We better- only one remain. He big fox-person- is member of emberclad. We capture, but not sure what do with. Party ask Zaraviya fox-leader. Ask him what do? Ask about family. He look BIG MAD, scary big mad. Face is red- even under fur. He only say 2 words: “Kill him”

~emberclad member

Steelhawk Intelligence Report from Zaraviya: As Per Deputy Dash Panda

Watcher:Blaine Glasc
Naelen Shadowstrike - Level 9 Rogue (Mission 2) Dash Panda - Level 8 Monk (Mission 2) Shaq - Level 7 Bard (Mission 1) Blaine Glasc - Level 5 Ranger | "Expo & Reporter" Miu Toriiumi - Level 5 Bard TipTap - Level 4 Bard Melian - Level 4 Bard (Mission 1)

REPORT START

Report date: [-----]

Location: Uncovered Ruin Complex, Eastern Zaraviya Outskirts
Subject: Pre-Sundering History – Lost Era of Balance

Summary of Discoveries: Through the deciphering of ancient riddles and exploration of the buried sanctum, we have recovered fragments of a forgotten epoch—one predating any remaining history books and even the founding of Zaraviya itself.

In wanting to look further into the issues of the strange monster house and the mound of bodies, I asked Dash's permission to take a small scouting party to Zaraviya. At the time, I assumed that it was going to be a simple recon & scout mission. I've done plenty in the past, so why would this be any different? I was surely mistaken... I took Miu with me because... Well she practically jumped at the chance to leave the base. And thankfully she did because, well we really needed it.

Our little make shift party headed to the place where we fought the monster house and the mound of bodies. On our way though, I notice that there were other tracks leading away, possibly dictating where it came from. So I readied my weapons and lead the party. We passed by something that looked to be reminisce of an ancient playground, I make a note that possibly restoring it would be a nice thing to do. After some more travel we come up to the crypt, and upon closer look- it looked broken in. Like something had escaped. Wonderful. I walked ahead but there didn't look to be any traps, only a swarm of bats that caught me by surprise and flew away. I'll spare the details.

The tomb was not a mere burial site, but a sanctum of remembrance, chronicling a time when the elemental forces were not divided by race or dominion, but shared in harmony across seven great cities, each represented by an avatar of the elemental lords.
From the carvings, riddles, and visions revealed within, we discern the following truths:

In the beginning, Four grew to Seven once stood. The elemental lords helped establish society in Zaraviya through a balance with nature and a respect for their power. They formed 4 cities that grew to 7 and balance was upheld by seven avatars ties to all 4 lords, not bound by bloodline, but by purpose. Each race—Vulpin, Mapach, Strig, Tabaxi, Colubrith, Caimorin, and Anguari—participated in this pact of balance.

“The ring was seven, bound and bright—”

The lords gave freely. The elemental lords did not command or hoard power. They shared it, offering their gifts to those aligned with their ideals rather than their lineage.

“Their gifts were shared with purpose wide—”

Truth was fractured. Over time, history has been obscured. What is remembered may be only a reflection, not the truth itself.

“What’s shown in part may twist the past—”

The first breaking was hidden. It seems disaster may have begun unnoticed, an unseen fracture that went unnoticed even by the lords themselves.

“No thunder marked the first descent—”

Ambition began the end. It was pride, not war, that first broke the balance. And yet, the riddles seem to imply those who reached beyond their place did not perish—they changed.

“Ambition cracked the golden thread—”

Four stood in the end. When the collapse came, only four remained and were able tseemingly halt disaster

“They gave their fire to seal the stone.”

This leaves us with plently of unanswered questions. The nature of those changed by pride is still unclear—though implications suggest they did not perish, but it is unclear how true this is. An ancestral connection between the final four avatars and Ignis, Kaela, Veyra, and Sylar has yet to be confirmed, but strong symbolic echoes exist.

Recommendation: I hear in reports there was a tomb found in the ruins of Wakewater. More information may be available there. There wasn't anymore in the crypt itself, but it would be wise fore another once over just in case.

REPORT END

Dated, [——-]
Blaine Glasc

P.S. Attached is... Miu's report...

Hi! Miu also will write report!

Me go with Blaine-y because I wanted to explore! Zaraviya sound like cool place! But where we go... Not very cool. Miu was really scared... But it's okay because I had my friends with me! I had comprehend languages which was really helpful! Blaine-y tell me good job! Writing on wall make Miu sound smart!

But there were so many rooms... ALL SCARY!!!! But on second time come to place (Blaine-y call crypt) Mr. Sneaky and Mr. Panda came with us. Blaine-y thinks it was good Mr. Panda come. Anyway- we learn more about funny words but Miu no know... Miu tired after mission...

Zaraviya Episode 16: "The Silence that came After"

Watcher:Melian Iluvatar
1. Lvl 5 Druid/Cleric | Whiskey
2. Lvl 4 Bard | Melian iluvatar
3. Lvl 6 Fighter | Malakai Black
4. Lvl ? ? | Jace
5. Lvl 7 Bard | Jebadiah
6. Lvl 7 Bard | Shaq
7. Lvl 6 Rogue Fighter | Pau

Report date –/–/—--

The Steelhawks, having just defeated the Tide of Unmaking, stand in the aftermath of the fight. Director Rames -by way of sending stone- has requested us to meet up with khatli Stonewarden, and help evacuate a town of Valterra (Kaela’s home)- a city close to Wakewater in hope to prevent any more deaths.

Standing outside Wakewater, with task that had been given,
Travel now to Valterra, to rescue those who be livin’.
But in the moment our hearts were overtaken-
With curiosity we traveled in, to make sure we weren't mistaken.

Once in the city proper, it was a lovely sea-side town,
With beautiful ornate building structures, most now broken down.
Yet some remain untouched, like building statuettes,
Like something had gone over them, leaving them merely soaking wet.
Upon closer inspection, a path of obvious destruction,
Judging by the way it goes, it moved with clear instruction.
Though some of us spied only ruin, others continued to look around,
Malachai, Pau, and Shaq, managed to find something in the ground.

In the center of the path, made visible now in day,
Is a puddle of water, and what is an obvious doorway.
Upon closer inspection its clearly a tomb-
Could this be the thing that brought Wakewaters doom?

Jace looks closer with a keen eye he says “the writing on here is uncordial,
Words are eroded but it's clearly primordial.
Lots of its faded but 2 words there are,
The first one is ‘tomb’, and the other is ’avatar’."
Everyone reflects on what these words could mean,
All this destruction that no one had foreseen.
Glancing back at the door and pondering what's written,
The tomb is ancient, and had clearly been hidden.
It's still sealed shut, and we sigh in relief,
We must remember to mention this in the debrief.
But this means the creature is not from the tomb,
It came from the ocean, we can only assume.
Pau sends his familiar to scout overhead,
He finds no survivors, only the bodies of the dead.
Whiskey and Shaq approach closer to the door-
While Whiskey gets sad, Shaq falls to the floor.
An immense wave of sadness makes them feel bleak,
And wails of pain is what left Shaq momentarily weak.
He feels these wails deep in his soul,
But Shaq is the man and keeps his feelings in control.

Under the guidance of our dear leader Whiskey,
We head back out through the city, walking briskly.
Since we have 4 bards of all different schools,
To not sing a tune would make us all fools.
As we walked in a single file line,
The tune of choice? Sweet Caroline!

We wander back down the path the last party came,
There's bones and torn up rope (the last party’s shame).
Jebadiah keeps six, with Malachai to assist,
He spies the prints of a pather or displacer beast that Jeb had missed.
“Clearly this is what had eaten what was here,
Seems to have gone the other way though, so we have nothing to fear”

Approaching the fork, a decision needs to be made,
Malachai says “North!” and the party is swayed.
Finishing up Sweet Caroline,
The bards pick up the next tune of ‘Red, red, wine’.
The bards are so happy, they are playing quite loud,
Not a single sign of wildlife is to be found.
Clearly they are jealous of our clang,
Whiskey, Pau, and the bardic gang.

Too distracted they are, all but Pau,
Who happens to hear some crashing over the music somehow.
Scanning the ground, footprints he managed to find,
Not one, not two but three different kind.
One from the village, and two from the jungle,
They met up and ran back without even a stumble.
They are prints of anaconda, caymorian, and mapach,
It looks like they were quickly dispatched.
Pau, ever clever sends his familiar back out,
Looking through their eyes to better scout.
He spies three creatures that appear in a rush,
The bards stop playing, the steelhawks have gone hush.
Those creatures look armed and larger than normal,
But obviously they are still just mortal.
They aren't the ones enveloped in water,
However they do appear aggressive, and ready to slaughter.
Whiskey decides its best to give chase,
So the steelhawks band head off in a haste.

Quickly catching up, we spy the three guys,
Shaq slows one of them, much to their demise.
They turn around, faces filled with ire,
They glare and they ask “what do you require”
Shaq merely ask “Why do you scurry?”
The man responds “Cant a guy be in a hurry?”
“Well you're running away” Shaq said with a smile
“Why don't you stay and talk for a while?
“Drop the spell you have on my friend”
The first man said with a pause at the end.
The tension hangs high and weapons in hand,
Both parties not moving, less one should be damned.
Malachai raises his bow incase someone attacks,
He is ready to have our backs.
Melian uses her melodic words of persuasion,
To convince everyone to have a conversation.
All are agreement and weapons are stored away,
And through some quick questions they convey.
Nothing about the town they know,
It is to the earth temple they intend to go.
For that is where their boss sits and waits,
We ask for a description of defining traits.
They say that it's neither Sylar nor Verya that leads,
But a general is by whom they take heed.
The three humanoids we are chatting say where they’re from,
Two from dreadmire and Valterra they come.
We ask about Wakewater a second time,
They shift uneasily, maybe part of the crime?

The Mapach is named Kit, he asks why we inquire
Whiskey says “to make money is what we require!
For we are a troupe as you can see,
Our goal is to earn money and bring glee”
Kit and Whiskey are of similar kind,
And clearly Kit has something on his mind.
“You shouldn't tally up at wakewater,
These parts are dangerous and I’d hate to see you expire”
Whiskey is listening- his eyes not averting,
But clearly he thinks that Kit is flirting.
Jeb meanwhile, sitting in the back
Casts detect thoughts on Kit- a special attack.
For since he's a bard from the college of glamour,
He can do this without causing any clamour.
He sees what Kit sees as he talks with Whiskey,
A terrible site indeed, that of a burning city.

While this all happens, Pau scrawls a note,
In it is a simple quote.
‘Wakewater destroyed, evacuate immediately
Chasing the threat most obediently.’
He rolls it up and hands it to Pretty,
Who receives their instructions and flies to the city.
The rest of the party, continuing conversation
Convinces the strangers to take them to their destination.

The trail is wet, feet squish beneath us
But as we walk we don't make a fuss.
Kit and Whiskey talk up ahead
We’re told not to piss off the boss, or we shall end up dead.
Approaching the temple , Old stone and overgrown,
What's under the vegetation is simply unknown.
What can be spied, Jace does see
More primordial words hidden by a tree.
Under the arch as we approach,
The mere presence of their leader is enough of a reproach.

He is massive, 15 feet high at least
The only way to describe him is a beast.
Angrily he strides towards the party,
He holds a glaive in his hand, its sharp blade shiny.
“What the fuck were you doing, why did you take so long?”
He scowls down at Kit, who must have done wrong.
I must not of mentioned the bards are all playing,
No one can hear what anyone is saying.
“Quit that infernal racket” the general growls at the group,
Shaq starts up “we are a humble mariachi troupe-”
He bends down to Shaq, who's seven foot four,
And with a low voice and hot breath whispers “No more.”
“Who are you and why are you here”.
Merely looking at him brings fear.
Whiskey says we offer our service,
Even with clear words it's obvious he's nervous.

Not buying a word we are saying,
He turns back to Kit, his anger displaying.
“How stupid are you?” he roars exasperated,
Before Kit could reply, he's decapitated.
Looking back at the party, becoming methodical,
“You can get out of the way, or become my next obstacle”
Jeb all a-panic, dresses himself as a crocadillian in a guise,
“We need a new leader” he quickly lies.
This he believes, for jeb is quick on his feet,
“However, all of you are awfully weak.
Follow if you will, but there is something I must do,
Maybe you’ll be worthy of my crew”.
Stalking off, our party follows last,
Jeb asks “does he always have a stick up his ass?”
Walking back down the path which we came,
Whiskey inquires “What is our aim?”
The general just smiles but doesnt reply,
In the back of the line Pau checks the sky.
Through his familiars’ eyes he checks on the city,
Valterra hasn’t evacuated yet, and that is a pity.
The bards play music, mariachi infact,
While it annoys the boss, our heads remain intact.
We come back to the fork in the road,
But continue to Valterra, bad feelings forebode.

Looking at the group we have quote-unquote joined,
Everyone spreads out, a plan deployed.
The general is excited, grinning, holding his weapon tighter,
His pupils dialted, shining brighter.
“Pull out your weapons, I want you to start,
Go that way and do your part.”
The party, confused asks whats that way,
“The people you're going to kill” is all he will say.
After a pause he says with the tone that could condemn:
“Some of you have weapons, well- use them”
Whiskey looks at us and takes a moment to think,
“You heard the man,” he says with a wink.
Jeb charms Sivath and makes him grovel,
A battle ensued, our victory something to marvel,
Music and magic rang through the jungle,
One managed to escape, our only bungle.

The question remains, do we head to the town?
Or into the woods to track the man down?
This was the song of our travels,
Keep tuned to see how it unravels.

Zaraviya Episode 15: "The Hour of Unmaking"

Watcher:Mira Adaptina
1. Lvl 9 Devotion Paladin | Clover Briar
2. Lvl 8 Moon Druid /Monk | Mira Adaptina
3. Lvl 8 Druid | Chorkva
4. Lvl 8 Paladin | Pnymesis
5. Lvl 9 Ranger/FIghter | Tahlia Brightleaf
6. Lvl 7 Druid | Calla Lili

When we had last left off, the brave Steelhawk party members had just walked in to see Sylar breaking a staff, the same staff we had previously seen a portrait of 2 missions ago in the priests sleeping quarters. As he breaks the staff, Sylar becomes larger, growing and becoming enveloped in magical water- reaching out, this magical energy extends from his hand and surrounds his elementalists buddies.

~Sylar

Elementalists

As the party walks up, Sylar's head turns, he smiles and says:
“Ah Steelhawks, you are late as usual”
“Im running on Clover time, so YOU can just shut the fuck up” Clover snaps back.
Calla, mimicking Clover's voice, says “Get his ass”
“Sounds like an excuse to me” Sylar sneers at Clover.
“Sounds like your mother never loved you to me” Clover quickly claps back.
Sylar rolls his eyes, taking on the tone of a parent tired of its child's antics:
“You can never take anything seriously can you?”
“Life is supposed to be full of whimsy which you clearly don't got!” Clover sasses.
Mira backs away from Clover. Twilight and Calla follow suit.
“What's going on, Sylar? Why are you doing this?” Mira asks, finally managing to find her voice.
Sylar turns, a look of anger finally flashing across his face upon recognizing Mira. The smile turns to a scowl, as he says:
“YOU! You were there when I offered you guys the job, the initial deal- informed you of the relic in the first place. And YOU shunned me, you ignored me-”
“In my defense, it was a group decision” Mira replies- holding her hands up in front of her.
“Maybe we could talk about this?” Thalia pipes in- “I haven’t been privy to all that’s gone on and maybe we can come to some sort of a deal?”
Sylar strides over to a bench and sits down.
“Sure, let's talk. Waste more time, spill more innocent lives. There's a lot going on- All your choices have consequences…including this one”
Thalia and Clover sit down. Calla casts Aid on Pnymensis Mira and Calla. Sylar’s eyes, which had the anger drained from them upon being asked to talk, move and settle on Calla.
“Your buffing spells wont help you depending on what you choose to do at this very moment.” A smile creeps across his face.

Alright- Time for a quick rundown on Who Sylar was/is for those of you newbies and a refresher for you old-timers. Sylar is a Tabaxi, and up until the storms hit Zaraviya, was the leader of the delicacy district. When we first came to the city of Zaraviya - he was the first leader we ran into, and he initially offered us a deal and told us about the relic. I don't believe any of the other leaders (Ignis, Kaela, and Venya) knew about the relic. Continuing our tour of the city, the party decided to see what deal the other leaders would offer. We spoke to Ignis and Kaela, and managed to convince them to team up and work together in order to receive the relic. We never went back to talk to Sylar about anything until we brought the relic back and rubbed it in his face. He and Venya then disappeared.

“Why you do this?” Calla asks, tilting her head.
“I do this because you all made choices that are having consequences on my city. The leaders you chose are inadequate. And therefore endangering my people. So Venya and I are working to change and correct it by killing Ignis and Kaela and taking their places”
All the steelhawks, but especially Calla and Mira- exchange a look.
“Well, what if we help you with your plan?” Thalia offers in order to sway them.
“Balance is what is needed- All of these storms, all these issues are at the hands of Kaela and Ignis, they started the storms, they are responsible for the deaths of innocents”
“Hang on a moment” Mira interjects. “Sylar, I read the notes that Dxxty’eear and Furnie took while exploring the air temple. Furnie and Dxxty would never lie, for lying is a foreign construct to.. Well.. constructs, and Dxxty’eear cares too much for knowledge and facts to consider lying- they both noted that the Venya’s feathers were discovered inside the Air temple, but we never saw them."
“Of course they were, you fool. Venya was there to stop the storm.”
Mira looks Sylar square in the eye, all 2 feet of her quivering. “Thats. Not. True.”
Clover casts a zone of truth on Sylar, who willingly fails. He believes that Venya and him are only stopping all the repercussions of our actions.
Pnymensis steps forward "You're the only fool here! Being used to destroy Zaraviya.” He scoffs and spits on the floor "Your hurt feelings are making you blind.”
“I will say the same of you. I'll give you all a choice: you can stay here and fight and die, or you can leave and try to save the people of Wakewater. Yes there are survivors, those who are loyal to Ignis and Kaela. But you won't make it there in time. The choice is yours.”
He stands up. Thalia looks at the party and mouths “Now?”
Calla’s voice rings clear in the room “Calla believe good in everyone. Even Sylar. But if want fight, steelhawk fight!”
Sylar approaches Mira (who is closest), leans down, and says “choose your next movement wisely. Remember, your actions have consequences” then teleports to his cronies, and goes-
“Do not initiate fire. Let the party decide.”

After only a few moments of battle Sylar comes up and says:
“I think they've been delayed long enough” and putting his arm on his friend, they both disappear in a whirlpool.

The party rushes back out the way they came in and the party ends up back at the archway. Picking up the pace back the way they came until we come back to the weird fork in the road and turn and follow the main road back to Wakewater.
Mira-in lion form- takes the lead and heads up the path, Pnymensis sends his bird up through the trees to scout ahead. As we travel, there are no wildlife sounds. There's no hustle and bustle of a town teaming with life, and yet, no screams of people in danger or pain (which would be obvious if something major had happened)

Climbing up the muddy path, the party races on. Spike and Chorkva hear chatting- it sounds very relaxed and casual, like they are making jokes. Sniffing around, Mira picks up the smell of a wet tabaxi- someone related to Sylar. She notifies the party and they take off, everyone but herself being stealthy. Coming through the brush, we come upon the smell in question, a tabaxi warrior holding a sending stone, clearly having a conversation through it. He isn't paying too much attention to his surroundings-clearly focused on the conversation going on.

The party decides to hold tight for a second- being safely covered by the brush, and then Calla sends her familiar in to attempt to steal the sending stone. She succeeds and brings it back to Calla- but it is quickly snatched away by Clover. Clover hears the reply from the stone:
“Yup they are all in there”
She creeps forward and throws the stone into the bush, knowing it's useless. Chorkva flies down on his bat and casts hold person on the tabaxi. Tahlia leaps in and hog-ties him so he can't escape, and Clover casts zone of truth.

“Who were you talking to?” Clover asks, towering menacingly over the captured tabaxi.
“The lookout in .. well what was Wakewater”
“Are the people alive?”
“For now. Though they are probably going to be digested soon”
“What thing?”
“The thing that's going to be digesting you too eventually”
“What is it?”
“You haven't heard of it, but it's called the Tide of Unmaking”
The party spends mere moments discussing what to do with our captive- take him, leave him, kill him? Overhearing this the tabaxi goes:
“If you head to the left of me- you will get to the city but id rather be here and not get killed”
“Ha, like that's going to happen” Tahlia says, and snaps her fingers.
Tiberus grabs him by the scruff of his neck and starts dragging him.
We loot this despicable man's pockets , upturning them, managing to find some regular weapons. We agree to leave him tied to a tree and rush down to Wakewater- Tahlia stays behind to investigate and finds sending stones numbered 3 & 4.

We race down the path into the city- turning Mira stops suddenly and Clover bumps into her, looks up and both let out a scream as they see a gargantuan creature drifting towards them. As it gets closer the party can hear not a roar, not a scream. But a slosh; rhythmic and deliberate, as if the river itself has learned to breathe. From the treeline, the massive tide drags itself forward—too thick for water, too wet for flesh. It glows faintly from within, shimmering with the colors of drowned magic and unnatural life. Trapped inside, dozens of Tabaxi twist and contort in agony, their outlines distorted by the ooze. Some pound silently against the inner walls, their claws leaving streaks that vanish as the sludge reabsorbs them. Many of their faces frozen in muffled screams as the acid dissolves their flesh. Others are still—unmoving-already lost.
And at the very center of the tide, a child's skeleton floats, caught in a slow spin with bones chalk white bleached with the acid. Strips of flesh still cling to its tiny frame, melting like wax, face half-erased by the consuming tide. It drifts like a warning buoy, marking the point of no return.
The earth quivers as the thing moves. Each surge forward kills the grass, cracks the stone, turns the soil to brine. Birds have gone silent. Insects dare not chirp.

A thick mist begins to rise around it—not fog, but something elemental, ancient, wrong. As it gets closer, all you hear is muffled screams of agony drowned out by the sound of the tides’ slow, methodical approach.The party squares up: all are in agreement that the best way to save everyone is to defeat this tide.

Calla quotes Sylar at the tide “Your actions have consequences”
The steelhawks strike true and swiftly, doing everything in their power to bring the tide down quickly, so sure that destroying the tide would save the people still alive inside. Clover goes in dealing the final blow, causing the tide to collapse into itself.

As the tide shrinks, the surviving people inside smile and look joyful- the prospect of being freed right in front of them- when suddenly their smiles turn to twisted screams of pain as they disappear- one by one being ejected into the astral plane to disappear and die. Mira rushes forward trying to grab the closest one to her, but their hand disappears before her.

So, that is what Sylar meant by their deaths being on our hands…I have no idea how we could have saved them. If only we could have done something different. I, I don't know how to end this on a positive note, what if Sylar is right? What if we put the wrong people in charge? We just have to keep moving forward I suppose… Thanks for reading guys- im going to go drink now.

Zaraviya Episode 14.5: "Before the Break"

Concurrent with the storyline game

Watcher:Blaine Glasc

1. Lvl 4 Hunter/Ranger | Blaine Glasc
2. Lvl 5 Sorceror | Barron von Zemmo
3. Lvl 5 Bardlock | Bold
4. Lvl 6 Freedom Fighter Extraordinare | Adamis De Gaul
5. Lvl 7 Druid Monk | Mira Adaptina
6. Lvl 7 Monk | Captain Karagatan

Report date: [-----] Blaine's POV So- you might be wondering (or maybe not idk) why the hell am I of all people writing a report while we were doing training in Zaraviya (lovely place, would love to climb the trees here). The other team was dispatched on a mission while we were on standby, you know, just in case anything happens. Good planning on the Steelhawks part right? Yeah.

Well. Director. I write this because we were attacked. Not my each other- or by the training dummies they gave us to punch and shit- No like actual, OTHER PEOPLE THAT BROKE INTO THE TRAINING AREA AND WANTED US DEAD OR SOMETHING! IDK MAN. You better be grateful that I was able to attach images of this because... I felt like the camera man y'know? That guy never dies. I didn’t even go down once, unlike SOME GINGER IDIOT. I won’t name any names but it starts with Clover and ends with Briar.

Arena training grounds

Strig Stormtalon comes flying in like a fucking bat outa hell, targeting Adamis specifically, striking with his sword and deals… Way to much damage for me to count. But, Amadis goes right after, shooting with his cross bow, getting onto Pain Bringer (The coolest fucking name for a Rhino), shoots again, then again, and one more time for good luck. Basically dealing as much damage to him as the Strig did unto him. The Captain is a living legend, to see him in action makes me stare in awe, but somehow, these creatures seem to avoid his bread and butter technique that he’s known for. The Deepseer taunts the Captain, by dashing just out of his insane 15 foot reach to provoke him, showing us that he can’t be knocked prone. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.
With the Captain’s tried and true techniques to pin down enemies, we had to rely on landing our attacks and get them down as quickly as possible. With our powers combined- lol no. We put everything into defeating these elementals? Humanoids? Humentals? Whatever you wanna call them went down. We start to investigate as to who and what they are.

The Captain can 100% tell they’re NOT humanoid, but they’re also NOT elemental. So… Humentals. He also points out that some of these people were the ones who helped to set up our little training area… Which is fucking scary to think yeah? Made me think… What about the rest of the people who helped us? Are they also in kahoots or what’s the deal? Is it linked to the whole simulacrum issue with the senior members? And, we also notice that some of the Tabaxi fur is ice- Like it’s solid while unconscious which means it’s gotta be conscious to be water. Freaky…

STORMTALON

GALEHUNTER

DEEPSEER

We leave the arena training ground and start to move into the city, wanting to help just incase there were more attacks. And wouldn’t you know it. There is. And it’s horrifying. The screams of people, young, old… It’s something I never would want anyone to witness. The civilians are running between houses, carrying their young in a desperate attempt to flee from the fire we smell coming from further in the city. But I could recognize a smoke plume anywhere.

We try to make it past any further, a figure stands in our way. Mira recognizes him immediately as Tachanka's neighbour- possibly a close relative even. But now, he stands before us, waiting to strike. I do my best to feel sympathetic towards him- This could all be because of more underlying magic, or something else caused by that sapphire crystal staff thing that Sylar destroyed previously. It could be a possibility that they're also simulacrums? But they would've melted... So there's more to these guys- the Humentals. LMAO that sounds weird idk I'll workshop it.

Maelstrom Fang

These guys look a lot tankier than the last couple guys we fought and probably were considering there was only three guys instead of five. They were also a lot strong, a few of our members struggled to hold onto consciousness was they landed devastating blows to each of us. I stayed mostly to the back and avoided must of the damage, no need for a ranger to get into the fight when I’m clearly better in the back.

Once we taken these three down, we secure the area for a short rest before taking off closer to the town hall district.

When we arrive to the town hall district, the chaos even bigger now. Like, we can see the fucking library burning kind of close. We can see Kaela and Farin running out of the library and away from some creatures, hearing her yell out “They’re burning part of the library!”
Mira knew exactly what Kaela meant by that, she knew which room of the library they were burning down. It was the oldest part of the library with historical books that probably dated way older than all of the Steelhawks combined. It seems that the information housed there had information that Kaela, Ignis, and the Steelhawks didn’t know- and they didn’t want us to know. It’s most likely done by those who are loyal to Sylar and Veyla. Also have I mentioned how much I don’t like Baron. I have? Great. He’s such a fucking asshole and dickhead, why did they even hire the guy? Superiority complex bastard.

Before we can proceed, two Tabaxi come us and begin to attack us, both unfamiliar, but equally dangerous. One Galehunter comes in as their backline breaker. Holy shit, I’m writing like Luxanne lol. They’re significantly stronger than the other two parties sent after us, with water coming out everywhere slamming their weapon down in the middle of where our party so conveniently gathered up just within his radius- the Tidecaller looks the most “elemental” than the last, less humanoid.

The Galehunter comes in to attack me and I’m like, “Bro is it because I’m fucking purple?”

“Yeah, it’s because you’re purple.” HOLY FUCK- THE AUDACITY? AM I FIGHTING BARON OR WHAT? I get as far away from this guy as possible.

Also, I would like to mention how funny it was when Mira was prone, she crawled over to punch the guy in the ankles and managed to deal some pretty okay damage LOL. Not like funny that she was prone, but because she punched his ankles out.

Anyway, our training party managed to defeat a bunch of the Humantals but... I still feel like there's more- This definitely has connections to the staff breaking and possibly to the simulacrum situation. If I'm not dispatched on the mission, I'll just have to... Extend my visa to visit Zaraviya.

REPORT END

Dated, [——-]
Blaine Glasc

Zaraviya Episode 14: "Before the Break"

Watcher:Mira Adaptina
1. Lvl 7 Druid | Calla Lili
2. Lvl 7 Druid | Miralion
3. Lvl 7 Paladin | Pnymesis
4. Lvl 7 Druid | Chorkva
5. Lvl 6 Monk | Chiun Dublefisten
6. Lvl 5 Bardock | Bold
7. Lvl 5 Ranger | Cybil Hugh

When we last left off the brave members of the Steelhawks were standing in 6 inches of water outside of the door with the sharks in it. checking around– and moving forward- nothing but the sound of water still flowing gently.Muffled splashing and thrashing tones still emanate from the room we were just in. No traps seem to be detected. Our fearless leader Calla points in a direction- and the party heads up the hallway. Calla heads forward taking the lead, she spies a door to her left. And as she approaches a torch in the left corner lights up. On the door are runes carved so intricately that they appear to be waves as they wind and swirl over each other. Calla, with the help of Bold the Brave, combines their Mage hand spell, and they manage to open the doors.

Inside is a circular stone room- it appears to have almost no water in it. One or two steps lifts most of the room above all the water past the doorway. Bold and Callas mage hand hi-5 with the success. The party leans in, one head appearing on top of the other in the doorway.
“Hellooooo?” Calla calls into the room, only to hear her voice echo back.
Looking around, Chorkva sees some droplets along the floor and walls that could be from someone who had been walking in water- but Calla with her sharp kenku eyes is able to discern that there is some source of water in the room but is also unable to tell if they are footprints. After a momentary discussion, everyone agrees that it seems most likely the tabaxi elementalist we are chasing after came this way. Looking deeper into the room, there are 4 statues in each “corner”. Looking at it, calla is having difficulty seeing the statues due to the light, But it is clear one is of mapach, vulpin, tabaxi, and strig. Each statue holds an ornate bowl that appears to go with the statue's theme. Mira can recognize the statues as those of lords worshiped but is unsure which ones in particular. Thankfully, Cybil recognizes that it's probably the 4 elemental lords worshiped in the region. Calla hears stone begin to grind beside her, unable to locate the source, she ignores the sound.

Calla goes and grabs some water and comes back and pours water into the tabaxis bowl. Nothing happens but she notices the inscription on the statue:
'In yielding, we endure.'
Chorkva goes up to the Mapach one and puts sand into the bowl, nothing happens but he sees the inscription:
'From stillness comes strength.'
Boon interacts with the Vulpin statue and starts a fire: nothing happens but he sees the inscription:
'From passion and spark, creation is born.'
Mira goes to the Owlin and creates a tiny tornado in the bowl, nothing happens but she sees:
'The unseen path guides the soul.'

Calla notices that the grinding sound is emanating from the center of the room. Arising from the middle the floor is a bowl attached to a pedestal. Inside the bowl is an amalgam of the four elements pulsing together and separately constantly. each element pulling together yet simultaneously pushing apart in a dance of cohesion and separation.

Bold and Calla, being closest, hear the door closing. As it grinds shut- the room begins to fill with water! The bowl at the center displays an inscription etched into it that Bold manages to see: 'The elements must stand apart, each in its rightful place. -To bind them as one is to invite calamity- Only through their division can harmony endure.'

Bold shouts this out to the party as everyone scrambles slightly to figure out what to do. Pnymesis reaches out and attempts to grab the earth element: his hand goes through it, some parts feel warm, some feel cold- and it seems one of his fingers gets stuck in the earth
Chorkva, seeing Pnymesiss hand get stuck, casts elementalism on himself- he grabs the ball of fire and moves over to the statue, it looks like it's carved to be a vulpin made out of fire wearing robes with a golden bowl.

as he places the fire he goes stiff as he gets a vision- he sees Zaraviya, the jungle area, but it's different, more cities, no lake, everyone including the dreadmire citizens living their life, and then he flashes to dreadmire, but its on land not a lake, they are having a celebration and then the ground cracks and opens up- he snaps back.

The water begins to touch the party's ankles.

Mira does the same thing with the air element- it turns into a glowing yellowing line. Walking over to the air statue- A marble statue of a strig barn owl with wings extended- the embodiment of wind-with a matching marble bowl.

As she places the yellow line of energy into the bowl her eyes light up. She shes what must be a continuation from chorkva, the sound of people screaming, watching helplessly as the ground trembled beneath her feet, stone buildings crumbling into heaps of dust and debris. A deep, unnatural rumble echoed through the streets as water surged upward, flooding alleys and plazas. The city—once proud and unshakable—began to sink, swallowed by a rising tide that offered no mercy. She snaps back and falls to the ground- stunned from the vision of her city dying before her.

Calla attempts to grab the water energy- but, unable to grab it, she slips and bumps into the bowl and the water begins to fill up faster.
Callas' eyes flash as she has a vision of drowning- its only brief, and as she comes to she is unsure if it was herself drowning in the room or someone drowning in the past- she becomes very afraid.

Ironically, we had mostly shorter party members this time- so it's thigh to waist high for most of us.

Chuin comes over to Calla and picks her up out of the water. Calla offers a grateful hug.
Cybil (who stands proudly at 3 feet tall) calls over their beast of the land- and climbs up,leans in and attempts to grab the earth's energy, but is off balance and bumps into the bowl as well- they have the same vision of drowning- but who was it of?
Bold attempts to take the earth's energy. He grabs it and brings it over to the statue of A mapach carved out of stone that looks like it has earth and plants growing out of it holding a wooden bowl.

As he places the energy in the bowl the next part of the vision: They see the Dreadmire and the earth crumble under the city. He sees everything catch fire around them as people scream in pain. Suddenly a giant waves comes rising up and as it crashes down on him he snaps too.

The water is about 2 feet deep

Pnymesis grabs the water and brings it over to a tabaxi female carved out of marble so beautifully that it looks like it's made of liquid holding a crystal bowl.

As the water starts to touch the bowl a vision appears: None of the fire, none of the earthquakes or waves anymore: he's standing in the center of the city, all he sees is water. Surrounded by water but able to breath, being filled with immense fear and sadness. Swimming in front of him is a monster he can't make out. And as it comes up to him he snaps back. The monster is the aboleth elemental monster we fought looking for the relic.

Having placed all the elements into the correct bowls, the water begins to drain- the amalgam disappearing with it. And in its place upon the pedestal stands a stone tablet with words etched in primordial. Meanwhile the door begins to grind and opens. Luckily the 4 people who placed elements into the bowl see the runes shift into words that can be understood:

Beneath the waves where silence dwells, A kingdom wove forgotten spells. Fourfold powers, forged as one, Bound in hubris, lost and spun. The ember sparked, the tempest sighed, The river swelled, the earth denied. Each voice was called, each bond was made, Yet none could calm the price they paid. Stone split asunder, fires burned high, Winds tore the heavens, waters defied. The veil was torn, the tempest wept, And in the deep, the reckoning crept Their voices lost, their names unspoken, Their chains remain, yet none have woken. But heed the tide and shun their art— Lest folly tear the world apart.

Mira reads it out loud for everyone else to understand, and Chorkva writes it all down.
The party then decides to leave the room. As we walk further down, the lights seem to ignite before we get to them, lighting our way. Hanging a right down the hallway, Chorkva looks for traps, and manages to hear some noise beyond the door in front of us- as if something is grinding behind it.

It appears the floor on the other side of the door looks weak. Boon (a familiar) is sent ahead under the door to explore. As he steps on the floor it begins to crack underneath him. Trying to go around it, he looks around and notices a few puddles on the ground that appear to be moving. Not being able to see very well, and being fearful, he flees back to the safety of the group and tells Chorkva what he saw in the room, who then tells the party in turn. Bold decides to put some torches in the room to better see what the puddles are. He then summons his own familiar, and tells him to fly in and report back on what he sees. As the torches are dropped on the oozes, they seem to shy away from it, but nothing major happens, only the corrosion of the torch slightly. Boons imp spies racks of waterdamaged items, as well as a chest in the middle of the room. Suddenly, an ooze tentacle attacked the imp! He manages to take the attack head on, but the Imp is forced to land on the floor in front of the door, breaking the pitfall, exposing a bunch of quicksand and some obviously corroded bones. It appears that the whole room seems to contain pitfalls. Upon hearing this, the party comes to the quickest unanimous decision to NOT go into that room.

Continuing down the hallway, Chorkva takes the lead again to help find traps, but all seems well. We come up to a path to the right, and it could be possible that this path leads back to the hall we began in. Cybil tries to listen for the sound of footprints but all that can be heard is the sound of water flowing, no sound of splashing or disruption. Passing on by the hallway, into a slightly round “lobby area” A trap is triggered causing a bunch of icicles to fall upon Calla, Bold and his Imp. Bold and Calla team up and use mage hand to open the next door they pass on the right.

Inside is a bunch of graves, some braziers, and a statue of the tabaxi goddess. Mensuis tries to read some writing on the wall, but it's all primordial. Bold pushes open a gravetop, revealing the skeleton of a tabaxi, with it are only some moldy, rotting clothes. Chorkva writes down all the writings on the walls to be translated later, as well as what's on the gravestones and braziers.
Chorkva then hears the sound of splashing footsteps in the distance, and the party takes off after the sound to the left. Calla casts ‘Past without a trace’ and we run off. It would appear we just passed him, and the Steelhawks head off down the hallway they had previously passed. No traps ahead, so we slow down and make our way south down the hallway.
Creeping as quietly as possible, our way lit by torches ahead of us giving away our position.
We pass a closed door on our left, but we never hear the sound of a door closing… We pause, listening for the sound of footsteps however none can be heard. The general mindset amongst the party members was that he has gone on too far ahead and that's why we can't hear him. Bold sends his Imp further down the hallway to scope out and manages to catch a glimpse of the tabaxi elementalist as he rounds the corner. He does not seem to be in any hurry as he moves.

Imp also relays that there are some statues and several doors in the area as well. The Imp throws a pebble to get the tabaxi’s attention. Hearing it, the Tabaxi turns around, placing his hand on his weapon. Not noticing anything, he turns back and continues on and disappears, still in no hurry.
Since the elementalist does not seem to be in a hurry or heading anywhere in particular, the Steelhawks check the first door on our left. Boon opens it with magehand- inside a fireplace springs to life as we open the door. It kind of looks like a stable of some sorts. As he walks in, Boon spies a very large puddle of black stuff on the ground. It looks different from the oozes we saw in the previous room. The black ooze lunges and the party begins to fight!

Defeating the black ooze, but losing Bolds’ Imp, the party stands in the room- wondering what has happened with the elementalist we were chasing. Calla recasts past without a trace on the party and the head towards the next door. Bold recalls his familiar. Looking around, Calla tries to find traps. Nothing seems to be around.

Opening the next door on the left, it leads back to the room with the sharks in it. We bandage up Boon, Calla, and Cybil as we walk. Chuin casts waterwalk on the entire party and we head inside. There is no sign of the elementalist we were chasing. As the party walks in the familiar room with deep water is before us. As Pnymesis steps up, a giant shark appears in front of him. Fighting for our lives, the party quickly dispatches the sharks.
Mira - now wild shaped as a lion- Smells around for more fish, but instead smells something familiar- the smell of perfume Sylar was known to wear. It is coming from the same direction that the tabaxi was heading. Following Mira and her nose, the Steelhawks head down the hallway; Chorkva looks around being Mira's eyes- and sees that the water bunches up around the corner. It might be due to hitting something. We pass another statue with a door behind it.

Quickly opening the door behind the statue. There's what appears to be a storage room with a bunch of unanimated statues. As we round the corner more torches begin to light up. The water is bunched up here, splashing back against a staircase.

The steps lead up to a giant door with a giant Tabaxi face similar to one we’ve seen previously. Mira can smell that Sylar is beyond the door up the stairs. There's no traps around us, and it's weird that the statues aren’t animating like normal. Like something has been turned off, no longer needing to delay us. Climbing the stairs and opening the door: Inside stands Sylar, as well as 2 elementalists.

~Sylar

~ elementalists

Sylar is holding a staff similar to that of the picture we saw, one hand on the sapphire, one hand on the staff itself. Looking over, he smiles as we walk in, and breaks the staff, removing the sapphire. As he does, the water around the floor envelops him, and we see him gesture to the elementalist and they become engulfed as well. He turns and walks forward towards us, a little bit bigger than he was before.

And that's it, We had to fade to black there. It's clear that something big and bad is happening.. We might need to send in some bigger guns.

End of report!

Zaraviya Episode 13: Currents Of Chaos

When we had last left off, the Mighty Steelhawks had just defeated the ambush they had stumbled upon, however one managed to escape by running into the bushes, and unfortunately we lost track of where he went. Chuin heads over and investigates the area looking for tracks, channeling all his focus to do so. and manages to find them! Following Chuin, and the instructions of Brave Calla, the party clambers on through the forest after the escaped tabaxi. As we walk, over the sounds of birds and wind through the foliage is the distinct sound of water falling on stone- it is briefly interrupted for but a moment- and then it continues unwavering. “That must be them,” Dorfus says. “Should we follow the sound, Calla?” Chorkva asks. Calla nods and points towards the sound. As we approach it is clear to see that this is where the sound was coming from. Before us stands a monumental temple. .

Clearly, this is a religious temple- it has 6 inches or more of flowing water on the floor and large pillars and carved stone statues. A carving saying temple of the tides over a flowing waterfall obscuring a large stone door. Clover inspects the temple, and recalls that the arch we came through said something about Felysia - the water god that they worship- and some of the carvings and faded leather that says “Temple of the Tides”.
Dorfus puts Calla on his shoulders, and run up the stairs and through the waterfall in the center. The water is quite cold- and Calla ends up feeling exhausted for a few minutes due to the temperature. Clover and Medvroth use their shields to walk under, and thanks to Chorkva casting of move water, we manage to make our way past the waterfall with no ill effect.. As we walk through the waterfall, there are large stone doors that are already parted open, the water is relatively deep and moving.
As we walk through the waterfall, there are large stone doors that are already parted open, the water is relatively deep and moving. Stepping through, we see the tabaxi elementalist waiting and when he spies the party, some people heard him whisper “do it” into a sending stone then run off into the temple. The party decides to go after him. Dorfus decides to check for traps, and doesn't see any pit traps. A few lit fountains on the floor however.

“All clear” he whispers back to the party and motions them to move forward cautiously… Chorkva notices a spark in the brazier in the center of the room “Wa-!” But before he can even get the first word out, Dorfus-
(Still with Calla on his shoulders mind you… poor Calla)
Dorfus walks forward and they trigger a bolt of lightning from in between the braziers. It lines up in a chain about 7feet tall. Seeing this, the party other than Dorfus and Calla walk around. At the end of the pathway is a door. As Chuin approaches, too distracted by Dorfus triggering the previous trap, he steps on a pressure plate and is attacked with saws. Calla casts mage hand and pushes on the door, opening it. Everyone passes around the pressure plate with ease. As soon as we walk into the hallway on the other end of the door, the lights on the side of the wall light up.

There appears to still be 6 inches of water pouring down the stairs ahead of us with some statues along the way further up ahead. Unable to make them out from here, we climb up the stairs. Upon closer inspection, one appears to be a male tabaxi priest with blue sapphire emblazoned on it (embedded in the creature itself) with water all around it flowing slower than normal.The one on the left is a female tabaxi, with a sapphire in her right hand, water also flows around her.

Male Tabaxi statue

Female Tabaxi statue

Clover walks around both statues, examining them.
“These are statues of worshippers of Felysia- the Goddess of Water”
“Makes sense, I mean, you said that the Arch outfront had something about her as well.” Mira replies.
Dorfus remembers seeing a book about the goddess once. He remembers that the pictures in the book were really pretty. And connecting the two- nods in agreement. Unsurprisingly the party somehow manages to all stand in a line between the statues. Chuin- ever observant- (except for that one time)- saw the status’s eyes light up when we all stood in line. Mira splashing in the water, somehow feels more attuned with water elements.
Curious and intrigued, Clover spies a door and heads down a path to the right. She sees another tabaxi statue almost fully engulfed in water, and to be almost glowing itself. It is very intricate the way it's carved and placed, the way the water plays around it

“So..Pretty”
Clover is mesmerised and begins to take a few steps towards it, and suddenly she gets very cold, as ice forms around the water, over her feet and up her legs. Triggering a fierce battle: All the statues begin moving and they look angry, sapphire eyes glowing. Meanwhile, the rest of the party just hear Clover shriek as her feet are engulfed, turn and see the glowing eyes of the two statues as they step off their pedestals. A terrible battle ensues, requiring the best efforts and all the tricks of the brave Steelhawks!
With the statues having been defeated, the water in the area calms and becomes more normal. Passing through the door Clover initially wanted to head towards, the lights automatically turn on. She spies a chest, and as she opens it she finds….. some books! (BOOKS!?), and some priest clothes similar to that of the statues. Chorkva is studying the statues in the room, ensuring they don't come to life. Across the hall is another doorway containing another chest. There are way more books in this one, most of which contain similar runes from that of the archway. A picture captures our eye

it is Intricately carved staff with a sapphire- this staff looks as ancient as that found in the air temple - but distinctly different as the air temple was ancient wood with a diamond that held a tornado- this one is just as old but made of ice with sapphire blue as the ocean itself. It is apparent though that they have some relation. Dorfus meanwhile, disappears and remains hidden as the rest of the party trudges on.

Opening another door down the main hallway, there's about another 6 inches of water along the floor. Dorfus comes back- obviously from snooping- and explains the layout, “This is the way we should go I think” he says, then opens the door in front of the party. The water is deeper beyond it, about 10 inches deep.

And as we walk through a torch lights up. On the other end is a weapons rack, but before they can reach it a trap triggers under Dorfus, who feels the water turn into a whirlpool trying to pull him towards the center. Easily resisting the pull, he makes his way over and examines the weapons. “Excellent types of weapons and would be of great quality… if they weren’t waterlogged and damaged” He sighs. There's also a few barrels on one side, one appears to be full of ale. As the rest of the party enters the room, the whirlpool seems to calm down and some symbols appear in the water. As more members enter, the water does not seem to be disturbed, in fact it remains quite calm. The symbols in the water seem to brighten. The door on the south end is locked as Clover attempts to open it, the lock only jiggles and makes some noise. Once all of us are in the room, the torch turns off and the door shuts. Panic begins to set into the Steelhawks.

The symbols turn brighter, and pictures begin to form in the water. Images of rooms we’ve been in and ones we haven't. Images of us fighting the statues and some other images. The party's fear is replaced by intrigue in the water, as some words begin to form in the center of the room :

“the past is hidden but the future is revealed to those who listen”

As Dorfus reaches out and touches those words, he begins to see visions, that of himself falling into a pit of fire, him killed by one of the statues, one of him killing the statues. The rest of the party just sees his eyes light up with the visions. He is overwhelmed by all the images and almost lifts off the floor, but he winds up being okay. It gives him the understanding that by saying the right word, he could glimpse something that could help him in the future. Blood pouring out of his nose he enters a trance like state. But he is quickly brought back.
Examining the runes, Chorkva is unable to totally make them out, but out of the periphery the runes make out his name but that's it. He states his name and sees a vision of the dangers ahead.
Clover says her name and sees herself frozen from the statue, seeing herself falling into some traps.
One by one everyone takes a turn saying their name and receiving visions and once done, leave the room and force open the door on the other side.

This room is also filled with water, much deeper than the previous room- easily you’d need to swim- and completely still. Clover and Dorfus are the first in, Clover dipping her feet into the water- causing a bunch of fins to rise up and charge straight towards her!

Everyone panics and runs back out the door, and Calla- never one to panic- Quietly closes the door, turns around and starts pretending like nothing happened...... fade out

Report #2: Reporter- Calla Lili

Recap:{/i]

The storm-ravaged village of Westbrooke had gone silent, swallowed by tempests and whispers of chaos. The Steelhawks rode hard into its shadow, seeking not only to uncover the fate of the settlement, but to find Veyra, the elusive leader of the Strigs.

What they found instead were echoes of desperation—refugees, hunted and cornered by ruthless recruiters of the local regiment.
Swords were drawn. Steel clashed. And amidst the chaos, the Steelhawks made their stand. Against force and fear, they rose—a bulwark of resolve.

By blade and will, they freed the refugees and escorted them through wind and ruin back to the sanctuary of Zaraviya.
But peace would not last.

There, in the halls of power, Ignis and Kaela—newly risen leaders—brought grim tidings: Sylar was missing. Their voices were calm, but the air trembled with tension. Politics had sharpened the divide between factions, and this disappearance could shatter what fragile balance remained.

~Sylar~

True to their name, the Steelhawks did not hesitate. With loyalty burning in their blood, they traced Sylar’s last known path, pushing into the untamed forests east of Westbrooke. But fate is never kind to the bold.

From the trees, shadows leapt—Tabaxi warriors, cloaked in elemental fury. Fire danced on arrows, wind howled through blades, and water coiled like serpents. These were no mere skirmishers—they were Elemental Wardens, and they struck with the wrath of the wild itself.
Lightning split the sky as scimitars slashed and bows rained destruction. Several Steelhawks fell beneath the fury—but the tide turned. Through grit, steel, and magic, the Steelhawks prevailed... but one Tabaxi, a tiger-striped warrior with a hunter’s grace, slipped away into the green.

The hunt began.

Pursuing the lone survivor through tangled vines and fading trails, the Steelhawks pressed deeper, driven by instinct and suspicion. This was no ordinary warrior—they could feel it. And soon, the truth revealed itself in stone and water.

They arrived at the hidden Temple of the Tides—a lost relic of power veiled beneath the forest canopy. It pulsed with ancient magic. Water cascaded from the sky in a single, shimmering column at its entrance, defying the laws of nature. The very air vibrated with arcane energy.

Without hesitation, Dorfus, bold and brawny as ever, swept Calla into his arms and charged through the watery veil like a warhorse through a thunderstorm. But the moment they passed, a cruel chill gripped them—the water was freezing, a magical test of fortitude that left their breath ragged and limbs heavy with exhaustion.

The others hesitated. They saw the truth in that cascading wall: this was a threshold, not just of stone, but of spirit. Chorkva, wise and clever, raised her hands and bent the water to her will, sculpting a path through the curtain with her magic. With the tide turned, the Steelhawks stepped forward, their eyes fixed on the mystery ahead.

The temple loomed before them, whispering secrets of power, of memory, and perhaps... of Sylar.

The air was damp and heavy with magic as the Steelhawks crossed the threshold into the Temple of the Tides. Dim light shimmered along moss-streaked walls, reflecting off the ever-present water that blanketed the floor in a six-inch tide. Every step sent ripples echoing through the chamber like quiet alarms—stealth was no longer an option.
The soft roar of cascading water echoed from every corner. Pillars loomed in the dark like silent sentinels, and the atmosphere felt charged—as if the temple itself were awake, watching.

Their eyes adjusted.

There, amidst the ruin and stillness, stood the Tabaxi Elementalist—his striped fur damp, his piercing eyes aglow with elemental fury. He didn’t flinch. Instead, he smiled, clutching a glowing sending stone in one clawed hand.

“Do it!!” he whispered, and then he vanished into the depths of the temple.

No time for hesitation—the Steelhawks gave chase.

But not ten paces into their pursuit, fate struck.

Dorfus, charging ahead with Calla on his back, triggered an invisible trap—a blast of lightning surged from the walls, cracking through the corridor in a blinding flash. The pair was thrown back, smoking and stunned. It was a dire warning: this temple was more than ancient—it was armed, and alive.

Steeling themselves, the party gathered and pressed forward, trading recklessness for caution. Calla, ever the careful mind, summoned her mage hand, gently nudging the next door open. The party stood back, breath held, ready for whatever sprung forth.

Beyond, the temple opened into a sloping hallway, water flowing like a lazy river down stone steps. Statues lined the path ahead—silhouettes of feline figures half-shrouded in mist. Their features were impossible to read from afar, but the Steelhawks climbed, hearts pounding.

Up close, the figures revealed their silent story. On the right: a male Tabaxi priest, carved in regal poise, his chest embedded with a glowing blue sapphire. Water coiled around him, suspended in unnatural calm. Opposite him, a female Tabaxi, her right hand raised with another shimmering gem, a tide of water orbiting her form like a halo.

Clover stepped between them cautiously, eyes wary, ears twitching.

One step too many.

Chuin, ever watchful, saw it first—the faint glow in the statues’ eyes. Then movement. Smooth, fluid, like dancers in water. The temple came alive with ancient fury as torrents of liquid coalesced into whips and blasts—animated guardians, wielding elemental power.

The Steelhawks sprang into action—but the challenge had only just begun.

Miralion (Mom) with her secret tricks transformed into a Lion preparing to deal paws of furry towards the incoming attackers.

As Clover and Mira moved to flank and distract, a third, massive statue surged from the temple’s lower depths. Its towering form radiated cold, and with a single motion, ice magic burst across the floor, freezing water and warriors alike. The battle turned desperate. Limbs numbed. Movement slowed. Hope flickered.

But Steelhawks do not fall easily.

Chuin launched into a flurry of blows, stunning one guardian mid-lunge and locking its limbs in place. Clover and Mira stood fast on the frontlines, blades flashing as they held back the tide. In the rear, Chorkva and Calla called upon the power of the stars, weaving spells of radiant healing and loosing streaks of starlight that carved through stone and water alike.

However, that was not the only trick up Chorkva's mapach arsenal. Suddenly he switched gears and requested the help of winged water foul to aid in defeating the statues of ice and water. What better animal to call upon than the Penguins. Truly a fearsome combination

Medroth roared with divine fury, his mace cracking against enchanted stone with thunderous force. Dorfus, cloaked in shadows, struck with a beast’s fury, blinding his foes and disappearing before they could retaliate.

It was a storm of ice and water, magic and steel. And after a brutal, breathless clash... Silence returned.

The water rippled gently again, disturbed only by the panting breaths of the victorious.

The Temple of the Tides had tested them—and they had endured.

But deeper within its halls, secrets still waited. And somewhere ahead… the Tabaxi Elementalist remained.

The Steelhawks pressed onward, their footsteps sending ripples through the flooded corridors of the Temple of the Tides. The air was humid, scented faintly of salt and stone, and the faint hum of water magic pulsed through the very walls. As they reached a forked passage, two doorways emerged from the gloom—one to the left, one to the right.

Ever cautious, Calla extended her glowing mage hand, gently creaking open each door from a safe distance. The first chamber they investigated seemed sacred—a prayer room, its walls etched with ancient glyphs of devotion. Blue mosaics depicting flowing rivers and celestial tides adorned the stone, revealing this place once honored Felysia, the elusive Water Deity. The sanctity of the space still clung to the walls like mist.

Further down the right-hand corridor, Clover stepped into a chamber where, as if reacting to her presence, the sconces flickered to life, casting pale blue light across the room. She discovered a dust-covered chest, and within it: sacred books, priestly robes, and weathered scripture—their style mirroring the garb of the temple’s ancient statues. Across the hall, another door opened to reveal a second chest, this one brimming with aged tomes inscribed with the same strange runes seen on the temple’s archways.

Among the pages, a carved illustration caught their attention—a staff, ancient and regal. It was wrought of ice, with a sapphire embedded like a frozen heart. Though different from the airy wooden relic of the Temple of Wind, the kinship between the two was unmistakable. One held a diamond and the winds of a storm; this one bore the sea itself.

As the others delved into these relics, Dorfus silently vanished into the shadows, watching from afar as his companions unearthed secrets long buried.

Their path led them deeper still, through the corridor of water—and with every step, as though the temple sensed their presence, torches lit one by one, bathing the passage in shifting blue flame. Another door appeared along their right. Dorfus, ever bold, entered first.

Then—a sudden tremor.

The ground beneath him shifted, and the water began to churn. In seconds, a whirlpool trap erupted beneath his feet, spiraling like the maw of the deep. Muscles straining, Dorfus resisted the pull, dragging himself free from the vortex’s grasp. The room, now revealed as an ancient armory, contained rusted racks of once-fine weapons—many warped or broken by time and tide, but clearly once master-crafted.

As more Steelhawks entered the chamber, the whirlpool fell dormant. But before they could take another step, the doors slammed shut, and arcane symbols ignited across the walls, casting eerie blue reflections on the water. A wave of déjà vu washed over the party as shimmering visions took form—echoes of the battle with the water statues, and other fragmented scenes not yet lived.

The Steelhawks had stumbled into a trial of fate—a sacred rite within the Temple of the Tides. One by one, they stepped forward, speaking their names aloud. As they did, the runes responded, pulsing softly before revealing personal visions—glimpses of the dangers to come, omens wrapped in mist.

Chorkva read his name in the runes—only his name—but when he spoke it aloud, his eyes flashed with stars, and he saw the shadows of future threats, looming.

Clover saw herself frozen in battle, caught in the blast of a statue’s curse, helpless against a trap she never saw coming.

Each Steelhawk faced their reflection in the water’s memory, and each emerged changed—wiser, warier, but also somehow... blessed.

When the last vision faded, the runes dimmed and the southern door creaked open. Dorfus, scouting ahead once more, pushed forward into the next chamber—a room that immediately felt different. The water here was deeper, the air colder. Then they saw it.
Fins.

At first, only faint disturbances beneath the surface. Then—teeth. Shapes swirled—corrupted sharks, their eyes glowing with unnatural hunger, circling for the kill.

There was no time.

With barely a word, the Steelhawks slammed the doors shut, sealing the beasts inside. Water sloshed against the threshold, but the room held. The party stared at one another in silence. Then, as one, they turned, they acted like nothing happened.

And so, with secrets stirring in the water behind them, and omens of fate etched into their minds, the Steelhawks continued deeper into the drowned halls of the Temple of the Tides.

Perhaps, as the Steelhawks press deeper into the temple’s submerged heart, the sound of rushing water grows louder—unnaturally so. There, within a colossal chamber veiled in mist and shimmering arcane light, they find it: an enormous reservoir of suspended water, hanging weightless in the air like a beating heart. The walls hum with latent energy, and ancient runes pulse beneath the surface. At its center, the elusive Tabaxi Elementalist stands, channeling power into a ritual that threatens to awaken something far older than himself—a slumbering Avatar of Felysia, the ancient Water Deity once worshipped in these halls. His voice echoes with fury and desperation as he attempts to merge his essence with the elemental force, seeking godhood or annihilation. If the ritual is completed, the waters will rise—not just in this temple, but across the region, bringing devastation in their wake. The Steelhawks must act swiftly, for within moments they may face not just a corrupted spellcaster, but a transcendent elemental horror born of tide, wrath, and prophecy.

-End of report-

Zaraviya Episode 12: The Hunt for Answers

Watcher:Mira Adaptina
1. Lv 7 Ranger/Rogue | Thalia
2. Lv 7 fighter | Hollow
3. Lv 6 Druid | Mira
4. Lv 6 Rogue | Roulette
5. Lv 6 Druid | Calla Lili
6. Lv 5 Fighter | Malakai Black
7. Lv 5 Druid Cleric Cindella

When we last left off, the Brave Steelhawks were in the courtyard of Westbrook after rescuing the strig villagers. Verya is the only remaining survivor, who happened to escape)
(if you cant remember- Verya just so happened to be the flying creature off in the distance we saw; they disappeared in a rush of air when Taric yelled “Hey you!” at them).

Come to find out that the queen is back! Turns out all the people of Westbrook were corralled and given the choice to join them and gain power or die. Verya was also responsible for all the storms at the air temple and the area. (hence the strig feathers we found)

Rook tells us that she is unsure if Venya has recruited anymore people or faction leaders. After a quick discussion, the party and Rook agree that the best and safest place for them is the city of Zaraviya. After some time the survivors gathered what little they could, Steelhawks with the refugees made their way back to Zaraviya. Cindella, with all the energy going around, thinks that the bridge we took to get here is full of traps. As we head back, Thalia sees what was a large beast passing through about an hour or two ago- the sounds of the forest are back! It seems the jungle has had some balance restored.

As we approach a second bridge, it appears that the first few planks are weak and there is a 20ft space we need to cross. Hollow offers up a javelin to reinforce the planks allowing us to walk across one at a time, and Roulette manages to jam it into place. Hollow leaps over the planks. Malaki and Thalia leap over, cinderella acrobats, Roulette gracefully walks across, and Mira turns into a lion and carries Calla over. In the water the party notices some gators and the like just being normal. As the party continues forward, we hear bestial roars, it frighens the children in the group. The party encounters a total of 3 owlbears (2 large and one smaller).

Moments after the owlbears appear, a swarm of stringers approach and the party swiftly dispatches. We continue parrying the owlbears but Malachi and Mira notice that the larger primal owlbears we are fighting are looking back at the smaller one - it is apparent that they are the smaller ones' parents. The party decides to spare the family and after a quick few moments of peace between miralion and the baby owlbear they go their separate way. Continuing on, both Thalia and her mount try to see if any other beasties are up ahead- tiberius is too distracted to be of much help, but they think things are good up ahead. The party quickly heals itself and then trudges on.

Arriving back at Zaraviya, the party heads immediately for the meeting hall where Kaela, Ingnis, and Zephyr. Meanwhile the Strig survivors are led away to be taken care of. The party informs the leaders about their adventures in Westbrook. The leaders kind of blame Evelyn for all of this- and Cindella agrees. Ignis asks about Sylar- they are growing very concerned about Sylar- because he is not in the town anymore- unsure if faked death to go join Verya or…who knows.
Some of the Steelhawk members bring up the option to fortify the city as it is possible that Zaraviya can be attacked at any moment. Kaela says as soon as everything was rebuilt- they started working on their army, but if they have the power of wind and elements there isn't much that couldn't be done. When asked about what possible villages Sylar might have headed toward, they're not sure.We decide to immediately head to Wakewater- since we decided to go to Westbrook instead of Wakewater last time so Zephyr offers to teleport us to a closer point, though the trail may be colder. We gathered in a circle and BOOM teleported.

Malachi looks around but nothing seems to be up ahead as the party continues forward towards Wakewater. As we go forward the foliage gets denser along the sides of the pathway, the road itself watery and trails long gone. It seems to get marshier as we get closer to the coast. Thalia sends her bird, Spike on ahead to scout ahead- he sees what looks like a single trail veering off from the main one- but the path ahead does seem to split off. Up ahead we spy a deep angry rain cloud- we are hoping that wind blows the storm past before it unleashes its torrential downpour- and we are successful. The party reaches the split in the road- and there are clear faded tracks on the path to the right- it looks like condenses and stretches in way that make it apparent a group of smaller animals traveling together- probably med/lrg heading that direction.

Hollow looks around and with Mira’s help- discerns the path to the left will take you to Wakewater- but is unsure where the right path leads- could be to the temple? The party decides to take the path to the right (aka a trench of water) and trudges on. The muck is about shin deep- Spike scouts ahead and Thalia notes the path turns into a rocky pathway. Malachi spies footprints- at least a dozen people or more about a day ago- We follow the footprints but walk off the path to avoid being seen- A lot of noise is being made but we are not on the path. At the end of the foliage we spy a stone archway and can hear the sound of water. As we approach, examining the arch, it's hard to discern what the words on it are since it's so faded, but one word that appears to be“temple” clearly stands out- we also locate a status of a Tabaxi soldier.
As Thalia steps forward the illusion of the statue disappears, and it begins to move- it changes into a tabaxi warrior- sharp claws and all!

A tabaxi tiger comes out shortly after, and he was followed by a shambling mound
AND some archers! The Party engages in fierce battle, it doesn’t look too good at first… unfortunately, one tabaxi managed to slink back into the temple. However, we ultimately succeeded in defeating the rest. Nothing else left to do but Charge ahead and see what devious things the enemy has planned for us.

Well that's all that happened last time. Will we manage to capture the escaped enemy? Will we run into Sylar? Do you think we have made it in time? All will be revealed soon on-
WORLD OF KARAGATAN: THE LEGEND OF ZARAVIYA

Report #2: Reporter- Roulette Diyods

Team: Steelhawk Mercenaries
Mission Location: Westbrook → Zaravaiya → Wakewater Trail, somewhere in the Jungle
Rescue in Westbrook:

Our mission took us to Westbrook, where Strig (I want to call them) ‘separatists’ had cornered a Strig civilian family, including children, inside a barricaded home.

Steelhawk team on the job:

Thalia – Ranger beastmaster, fearlessly in the thick of things more often than not
Hollow – Polearm fighter, a pretty effective wall between us and harm.
Calla Lili – Circle of Stars druid, reading fate in the constellations.
Malakai Black – Fighter, grim and precise, also front liner keeping us safe.
Cindella – Circle of Stars druid, a celestial guide in her own right.
And lil ole me.

We got the Strig civs out safely, but the journey to Zaravaiya was not without blood, 'cause a family of owlbears—apparently riled up by stirges—came barreling toward us.

They were irritated. Angry. Probably hungry. But mostly angry and irritated.

We stood our ground, keeping the civilians behind us. Claws met steel. The air filled with the shrieks of dying stirges and the snarls of wounded beasts.
When the dust (and feathers) settled, we stood victorious. No civilian casualties, and we hadn't had to kill the owlbear family. (Though I'm not clear for sure why- they're clearly more monster than beast, but, yanno, we had something of a druid coffee klatsch in the group, so, probably that.)
We took counsel with the Council in Zaravaiya (which is just a bit of me indulging in some wordplay, but I like it, so it stays in the report).

There, we met with its leaders:
Kaela (mapach), and Ignis (vulpin), and the talk turned to Sylar, the missing Tabaxi faction leader.

Theories swirled, because he'd run away—but why?

Had he defected to follow Venya's (leader of the Strig separatists) lead, or was he simply trying to survive?

One thing, at least, seems clear: Venya was retaliating because we hadn’t backed their power grab in Zaravaiya. And if Sylar had gone to Wakewater, we had to find out why.

I think it was Zephyr teleported us ahead to cut off his trail- all in all, I'm new to missions here, so I'm fairly sure my understanding is less complete than our Watcher, so trust them more for deets. Either way...

We landed at a fork in the jungle.
The obvious carved path was leading toward Wakewater, but a more subtle, unpleasant and marshy swampy path led deeper into the jungle.

Steelhawks don’t go for the obvious, and Thalia pointed us along the unpleasant sorta trail. Which wasn't too bad for Cindella and me on my trusty giant bat, Vlad the Impatient.

Anywho, the marshy trail led us to a Tabaxi temple, ancient and still.

And then?

An ambush. I mean, one could argue we were the intruders, but whatever happened to speaking first?

From the shadows sprang:
A Tabaxi Elementalist – raw arcane fury from a distance.
A Veteran Tabaxi Warrior – skilled and ruthless.
Bowmen - raining arrows from the jungle canopy on the side.
A vine creature - conjured or unleashed by the Elementalist.

The battle was fast moving and brutal.

The elementalist was a menace—hurling destruction at us from a safe distance. Hollow held the line, taking fire and dishing out damage with his various and sundry polearms-for-every-occasion. (Personally, I think that instead of table manners- you know, which fork to use for salad, and which spoon to use for sorbet?), he had totally different teaching.

Anyway, Thalia and I worked on thinning their numbers while the druids and Malakai hammered their defenses and pulled attacks his way (instead of at me or Cindella).

When the dust settled, we were still standing.
But this wasn’t the end of the mission, just a pause.

Or with the Tabaxi, should that be Paws?

Mission Status: Ongoing Next Steps:

Explore the Tabaxi temple in the Jungle

Find Sylar—or his trail.

Uncover what secrets lie within these ruins.

One thing’s for sure: we’re not alone in these jungles, and there's intel to gain here.

End of Report
Roulette

Zaraviya Episode 11: In the Wake of Betrayal

Watcher:Mira Adaptina
1. Lvl 5 Druid | Calla Lili
2. Lvl 5 Druid | Mira Adaptina
3. Lvl 5 Fighter | Taric Gibraltar
4. Lvl 5 Rogue | Chessie Silksneer
5. Lvl 6 Ranger/Rogue | Thalia
6. Lvl 4 Wizard | Elwynd
7. Lvl 7 fighter | Hollow

Report #1:

The Steelhawks- along with Drakkis, are about 30 mins away from the city of Seraph. Thalia sends Spike out to perceive ahead- the mist seems to have cleared up quite a bit since Ignis disappeared..
“Theres a city on the cliff about 10 min hike uphill!” Thalia shouts. They continue to make their way to Seraph. The sun is coming up, and off in the distance you can hear the typical sounds of a quiet mountain town. Thalia and Calla take the lead, Elywnd looks at the ground trying to find some tracks - only manages to find what are clearly wheelmarks but what kind? Tahliah discerns that the wheels have spikes, as well as some humanoid footprints, assumes it to be the people of the village. As the party rounds the corner a bustling city greets them.

The streets are filled with lots of vulpin walking around as well as a few other humanoids.

And in the distance someone familiar - Zephyr!- talking to what could be the mayor of the town. As the group approaches the main thoroughfare and market, Zephyr sees us and calls us over.He appears to be excited to see us, and asks if we had something to do with the mists clearing up. Turns out he was talking to the mayor- Mayor Aldric.

Zephyr continues on and says there's more information back in Zaraviya, he is willing to teleport all of us back. Calla- remembering that the last Zephyr we saw turned to snow and sticks- breathes on his ankle. When he doesn't melt, she hugs him and goes back. Zephyr explains that he's actually been in Seraph for a whole day already. When we manage to tell him that Ignis was the one who attacked us, he informed us that when he teleported here that he left Ignis in Zaraviya.
After a quick snack break in the market. Drakkis steps away from the party and is speaking with the mayor Aldric, he seems calmer than before and like mostly it should be. Taric has a weak stomach for teleportation. Calla grabs a micekabab for Ignis- and we all teleport back to Zaraviya

Back in the office, Taric immediately gets sick on the table. But!- we see Ignis and Kaela. Calla goes up Ignis and touches him, Ignis pats him on the head. Calla gives the chocolate mice to Ignis and she attempts to feel scales, not feeling anything due to pants, she breathes on him. But he doesn't melt. Ignis says he has a lot of information. The team from the temple informed us that they found some string feathers in the temple, and we have not heard from the city of Westbrook in a while. The city took a lot of hits in the storm and we are unable to account for a few people Including (the tabaxi) Sylar-

Sylar- the head of the delicacy district

"His office was destroyed in the storm, but we hear rumors that he was heading to his home village of Wakewater." Says Kaela. They have not heard anything from Wakewater either- Zephyr interjects and mentions that the party found some interesting things on the way to seraph too.

As we remember - Evelyn slighted the strig leader Veyra and Sylar (in a smaller way)- explicitly rubbing it in their faces- so something could have happened, or he could be faking it all because he is in danger. After finding out that Wakewater and Westbrook are on opposite ends of the map, we decide to go to Westbrook, as it was the first city the steelhawks visited when they first came here. Mira also remembers that an old member, Screechy, owns a plot of land there- and we could probably get more helpful information there as an established member lives there. Ignis and Zephyr points us in the right direction and were off.

Luckily Mira is from Zaraviya, so she knows her way around here pretty well. She leads the party. Taric releases several of the rats in his pocket, but all are scooped up by wild beasties. He tells Chessie they have a new pet as only one was remaining. Going ahead- its clear we are on the right path, and will be there within the next few hours
Looking around hollow notices theres not a lot of recent travels on the ground, but in the treeline there is what could be seen as more frequent travel, leaves and branches stripped in a clear path. The party coming up to the bridge, Mira remembers that prior to the storm the bridge was less covered in grass and debris and plant matter, But we are quite close to the city.

However the party doesnt seem to hear anything, barely any sounds of wildlife and almost no sound of the city. Crossing the bridge Hollow breaks a board but manages to not fall in. The area is sort of marshy due to the recent storms. The party rounding the corner, comes to the city of Westbrook.

On one side of the river ( the area where screechy home was) is completely devastated, and not a single person in sight. On the other side of the river, the city seems to be more intact.

However only 1 single creature remains- Taric shouts out:
"HEY YOU WHATS YOUR NAME??"

The creature flies up and disappears in a whirlwind. The party heads further into the city. We see a few strigs running towards the direction of the breeze. The party heads towards the area, running, and we hear a few door slam. It would seem that the villagers (who were quite friendly normally) are afraid...

As the party comes up the stairs and charges through the doorway, they come into a courtyard and across 4 strig warlords and 3 MASSIVE strig commanders.

Strig commanders

Strig Warlords

One of the massive commanders stands in front of a giant door- clearly whatever is on the other side is important. He insists we don't belong here and sics his goonies on us, and we find out his name is Thorn

Thorn

Engaging in battle, the party struggles at first to gain ground but eventually ends in success.. As we calm down the party hears some yelping coming from behind the steel door. Taric knocks on the door and hears someone ask if the guards are gone. They tell us that the door is locked from the inside. He manages to break the door open, and inside is a pretty broken down warehouse.

A bunch of children in rags stand about- a few different people, some adult strig, including Rook, who sold the plot of land to Screechy. She comes up and thanks the party- they’ve been trapped inside since the storm began. And the town was betrayed by Thorn around the same time all the other weird stuff around Zaraviya has been happening.

Report #2: Report By Calla Lili

As the fog of battle cleared and the spectral veil of evil dissipated, the Steelhawks stood victorious. The malevolent Ignis had vanished in a flash of arcane light, and the impostor Simulacrum Zephyr was no more—reduced to a sorrowful puddle of melting snow and shattered illusion. A quiet calm swept over the battlefield… the fog lifted, and the path ahead lay open.
With the enigmatic Drakkus still in their care, the Steelhawks pressed forward on their mission, journeying toward the mystic settlement of Seraph. The wind whispered promises of answers as they trekked across open plains and wooded paths.

Thalia, Champion of Beasts, proved once more why her name is whispered with reverence. She sent her majestic sky-beast, Spike, soaring high to scout the path ahead, while her loyal white tiger, Tiberius, prowled the perimeter, sniffing out signs of life—some rabbits, fortunately (or unfortunately), met his attention. In the presence of Thalia and her menagerie, the party felt at ease, surrounded by nature’s silent guardians.

Elwynd attempted to join the reconnaissance with his owl familiar, but alas, the effort bore little fruit—proof that even seasoned scouts have their off days. However, between him and Thalia, the party discovered something else: wagon tracks and footprints, faint impressions etched into the earth, leading toward something… familiar.

And then, in the distance, nestled between ridges and evergreen trees—they saw it. A small, fox-like settlement, a quiet mountain town where the air tasted of spice and snowmelt. Seraph, home of the vulpine folk.
With a keen eye for subtlety, Mira the changeling assumed the form of a local, her features morphing into that of a Vulpin villager to avoid undue attention. As the Steelhawks entered Seraph’s lively marketplace, they were met with the charming sights and scents of this peculiar town—skewers of chocolate mice, fragrant teas, and hand-woven trinkets.

And then—Zephyr.

He called out with warmth, waving to the group, seemingly unharmed and… real. No hint of frost or mimicry. No illusion. Drakkus, notably cautious, remained calm—suggesting this Zephyr was genuine. Before the Steelhawks could question him, a dignified Vulpin approached, tail flicking with curiosity.

Mayor Aldric Firetail, his fur like embers and voice like honeyed smoke, greeted them warmly. “The mists vanished just this morning,” he said, narrowing his eyes slightly. “I wonder… did you have something to do with that?”
Drakkus, ever mysterious, expressed her interest in staying in Seraph for a while. With that, the Steelhawks' mission was complete—at least for now.

As the town bustled around them, Calla, ever eloquent and sharp, took Zephyr aside. With words both graceful and direct, she recounted the fog-shrouded battle and the twisted mimic of his face. But words weren’t enough.
With the practiced confidence of someone who had seen simulacra melt in her breath before, Calla embraced Zephyr, exhaling softly. No chill. No snow. Just warmth. It was him.

Meanwhile, Taric, heart ever attuned to nature’s smallest creatures, browsed the marketplace. He purchased a few live mice—not for eating, but for future release. Compassion in its purest form.
As the misty memory of Seraph faded behind them, Zephyr raised a hand, runes of light spiraling in the air around his fingertips. With a sharp crack of arcane energy, the Steelhawks were whisked away—teleporting back to Zaraviya’s grand council chamber, where two familiar figures awaited them.

There, cloaked in the flickering light of floating crystal lanterns, stood Kaela, the enigmatic tactician, and Ignis, the fiery foxfolk who had once guided the Steelhawks in darker times. Their expressions were solemn, eyes searching for answers as the Steelhawks began to recount their harrowing tale.
They spoke of the Temple of Air, nestled near the outskirts of Seraph—a place steeped in elemental energy and riddled with secrets. Feathers of the Strig, an owlfolk people thought long-forgotten, had been found there. But stranger still was the encounter with twisted reflections—evil clones of both Zephyr and Ignis. The vile mimic of Zephyr, once defeated, had melted into a pitiful slurry of snow and mud, leaving behind no trace but the chill of illusion shattered.

But the doppelgänger of Ignis was a different beast entirely. Munster, ever the fearless observer, had spotted something deeply wrong—scales, not fur. Something draconic lurked beneath the fox-like guise. Calla, ever bold, refused to let such a clue go untested. She stepped forward, arms open, and without hesitation—hugged Ignis. A heartbeat passed. No scales. No illusion. Just the warmth of a familiar ally.

Relieved but troubled, the Steelhawks listened as Ignis leaned forward, voice hushed and grave. “We’ve lost contact with Silas,” she said, the name hanging heavy in the room. Silas, the eccentric but resourceful Leader of the Delicacy District, was last seen journeying toward Lakewater—but that was some time ago, and now, there was only silence.

But that was not the only troubling news.

Kaela, lips pressed into a tight line, spoke of Westbrooke—a once-thriving town now ravaged by the great storm. No word had come from the village since the hurricane struck. The fate of its people hung in the balance. That name stirred a memory in Calla’s mind—Screechy, the retired Steelhawk with his odd sense of humor and unmatched instinct, had purchased a small home there to live out his twilight years in peace.
If anyone could help them connect with the locals, it was Screechy.

With the weight of duty once again pressing on their shoulders, the Steelhawks made their decision. The skies to the west churned with lingering clouds. Thunder echoed in the distance. But the storm would not keep them at bay.

Steelhawk International rides again—toward Westbrooke, into the heart of devastation, where new mysteries await and lost voices may yet be found. The journey to Westbrooke was a muddy, rain-soaked crawl through the thick jungles of the southern rainforest. Branches clawed at cloaks, and the earth squelched under every step. But nothing could have prepared the Steelhawks for what they found.

Once a thriving town brimming with humble joy, Westbrooke now stood as a ghost of itself—its streets littered with debris, rooftops collapsed under the weight of recent storms, and a silence heavy enough to strangle breath. The only sounds were the wind through broken shutters… and then—a hoot.
From the shadows between crumbling homes, eyes glinted.

Figures moved like whispers—owl-like silhouettes, humanoid in form but wrapped in mystery and wind. The Strig. Their feathers caught the moonlight for a moment… and then, as if the wind itself obeyed them, they vanished—gone in a rush of air, leaving only fleeting doubt and tension.
Cautiously, the Steelhawks crept deeper into the ruins, trying to blend with the darkness. But fate had other plans. A misstep. A clatter. A snapped branch. Suddenly, the illusion of stealth was shattered by screams—piercing, panicked, human. Then the unmistakable sound of cracking wood and cracking whips.

Without hesitation, the Steelhawks charged toward the cries.

There, beneath the pale shimmer of a broken lantern, two platoons of elite Strig veterans assaulted a barricaded home. Fists pounded on the door, and behind it, muffled voices begged for mercy. Survivors—innocents—were trapped inside, their fate hanging by a thread.

The battle was swift, brutal, and magnificent.

Thalia, astride her mighty tiger Tiberius, rode into the fray like a thunderclap, her spear flashing in the rain. Together, woman and beast danced through the battlefield—blow after blow struck true, sending feathers flying.

From the shadows, Chessie the rogue emerged like a phantom, her crossbow bolts whispering death from every angle. Using crumbled walls and broken rafters for cover, she became a ghost in the fight—seen only by the dying.

Then came Mira, who unleashed her full power, transforming into her fearsome Kung Fu lion form. With claws like razors and the strength of a storm, she tackled the Strig head-on, pinning veterans to the muddy ground in a blur of speed and fury.
Calla, beacon of resilience, stood amidst the chaos, her hands glowing with divine energy. With every wound she closed and every prayer she uttered, she turned the tide, ensuring none of her allies would fall while hope still flickered.
Elwynd, ever the tactician, aligned his strikes with pinpoint focus. Using the True Strike cantrip like a conductor’s baton, he delivered incapacitating blows that turned hardened foes into defenseless prey.

But the heart of the battlefield—the unshakable core—was Taric.

Driven by a force beyond reason—passion, loyalty, and love—he stood tall at the vanguard. Where the Strig struck, Taric stood. Where his friends faltered, he roared in defiance. His shield bore every blow. His armor cracked but never fell. He was the stormwall.

Feathers fell. Rain poured. And when the dust settled, the door to the barricaded home creaked open, revealing survivors, eyes wide with disbelief, tears cutting through the grime on their cheeks.

However, it was not a total victory as some of the assailants managed to escape into the wind.

The Steelhawks managed to secure the safety of the refugees of the storm, but what the Strig veterans want with these refugees is an enigma til this day. But one things for sure, the Steelhawks did come and they did the one thing they're good at - to save the day and keep the peace.

-End of report-

Zaraviya Episode 10: The Broken Path

Watcher:Mira Adaptina
1) Lvl 15 Cleric Druid | Evelyn Vandaris
2) Lvl 15 fighter/cleric | Thor
3) Lvl 15 Barb/Monk | Ashley
4) Lvl 15 Barb/rogue | Munster
5) Lvl 15 moondruid | Mira adaptina
6) Lvl 15 fighter/druid/wiz | Thistlebloom
7) Lvl 14 Bard | Selune

Hey guys! Mira here. New look, new story! And by that I mean I have a fairly quick recap of what happened on my last Adventure. Ill be honest with you guys, NO one could have seen this coming. It shook me so bad I had to take some time to process it all, heck some of the members even retired after this due to the shock! SO grab your drinks, and your snacks. It's time for another (if brief) installment in World of Karagatan: Legend of ZARAVIYA!

When we last left off, The party had just defeated 2 zombie T-rexs’ able to make more zombies, and had camped for the night on the road to seraph. The party, refreshed but tired of walking, whips out various flying methods and continues their journey towards the source of the problem. Munster detects that there are bodies lying around, and after some examination determines that they are old. Some footprints, undiscernable as to what creature, lead towards where we were but that was about it. There seems to be less mist behind us, but it gets denser up ahead.
Braving on, we notice that the path begins to be more treacherous- to incline steeply, but luckily everyone is flying! Munster- who usually has the best eyes in all the steelhawks- looks ahead but is too distracted by the fact he can see through the mist to see anything!
Thor takes the lead, he manages to notice a flash of arcane light through the mist in the distance and notifies the party. Mira looks down the other pathway, just a ledge at the end. Continuing our trek upwards we get closer and approach the area where Thor noticed the flash of light, and stealthing up, we see two people… its Ignis and Zephyr… Evelyn questions if they are real. Both of them notice the party and wave us over. Flying down, Cindella immediately questions if Ignis is real. Evenlyn and Ingis flirt, which is common. Mira gives both of them a hug. When questioned about their sudden appearance, Zephyr says Ignis is worried about his homecity, and agreed to help teleport Ignis here to calm him down so he would stop pestering…

Zaraviya Episode 8: “"

Watcher:Mira Adaptina

Zaraviya Episode 7: “Temple of the Forsaken Sky"

Watcher:Dxxty'eer (as told by furnie)
1. Lvl 9 Barb/Fighter | Kargus "Lunatic" Rocksplitter
2. Lvl 8 artificer | Dxxty and Furnie (utility)
3. Lvl 10 Paladin | Burnaby
4. Lvl10 Divine | Rune Knight Duck Test
5. Lvl 7 Barbarian/Cleric | Garacaius
6. Lvl 11 Druid/Cleric | Jezzebelle

Greetings and Salutations! I, one Mr. Furnie Sanders- am back with more notes to translate for my Master; the Marvelous Dxxty’eear Neotetrac, Inventor supreme! Our brave(?) adventures had discovered an Air Temple and had begun to explore….
In what could only be the main hallway, Kargus leads the way into the temple and opens the door to the left. Peering around, he sees some holes and dust on the ground but nothing in particular. Duck flies into the same room but only sees Kargus. Kargus, emboldened by nothing attacking Duck, heads further in the room, he spies a chest. As he moves towards the chest and steps on pressure plate that sends a spike through his foot..,, Then the chest opens to reveal 2 not one, but TWO basilisk
R1:
Garacaius-holds attack action as the doorway is full of party members
Duck casts searing ignition- blinds the two creatures, grapples one and drags them over the spikes. Jezebel sees Kargus “you fool!” - casts a spiritual weapon and lands a hit.
Kargus rages- attacks recklessly, hits!
Basilisk go-unleashes poison breath on Duck.
Other basilisk angles poison breath at where Kargus was once was- but he resists.
Dxxty casts warding bond on Garacaius and sends Furnie in to swing his mitts of mayhem.but misses.
Burnaby swings twice with a halberd and once with a polearm- 2 hits.
R2:
Garacaius comes up into the room and swings with the battleaxe, and then gets out of there
Duck takes the grappled basilisk and drags him across the spikes like a cheese grater, he kills him! Goes up to the remaining basilisk and hits him twice with an axe.
Jezebelle swings with the spiritual weapon and begins to cast conjure animals.
Kargus accidentally looks at the basilisk… he begins to be petrified! But still manages 2 swings but will miss.
Basalasic fires another poison breath- Hits Kargus, Duck, and Burnaby.
Dxxty has Furnie come over and hand him a tin can, and fires it using catapult (soup for my family anyone) - it hits but Dxxty also begins turning to stone.
Burnaby hits twice with a halberd.
R3:
Garacaius swings twice for the final blow
EoC

Garacaius looks around the room for anything else to kill. Seeing nothing he exits the room. Meanwhile Jezzebelle heals Kargus and manages to conjure up two bears. Burnaby looks in the chest; he sees nothing but some bones and snake poop.
The rest of the party leaves the room while Duck sticks his fingers in snake poop- its cold and…poopy. Garacaius crosses the hall and as he reaches for the door opposite- he hears a lot of buzzing emanating from behind the door. (It gives Kargus flashbacks) Backing up, the party heads south down the hallway- a door rolls open at the end of it. No one seems to know how this circular door opened- it just rolled into the wall on its own. Burnaby, leading the way, calls people over and points out that the door opened on its own. The rest of the party looks around, we spy two more doors (one on either side of us just prior to the circular door. Not knowing what to do, Dxxty calls forth an unseen servant to wander around the room behind the round door for traps. Nothing is detected by the unseen servant. Meanwhile Kargus ties a rope to a door and the other end to Jezzebelles bears and they pull- it pops off the hinges. Throwing the door away, Kargus hears the sound of a mechanical Hissss- thinking it might be a poison gas chamber. Duck casts mold earth and moves it around trying to trigger pressure points. Suddenly seeing 2 tunnels of flame coming out in front of the doorway, one on either side. It appears to have broken a bit due to the door being taken off the hinges. Duck runs through the flames. Now on fire, Duck looks down and sees a giant puddle of tar reaching up for him.

R1:
Duck flies back through the fire- and douses himself.
Dxxty waits and watches to see this creature attack to discern things about it. Furnie flies at the ready.
Garacaius heals Duck and holds an attack.
Burnaby casts compelled duel on the tar- succeeds
Jezzebelle heals Burnaby as well and gets her bears to take watch.
Kargus holds action until the tar thing comes through the flames.
The tar-ooze feels compelled to fight Burnaby who takes an opp attack, forcing him to stay in the fire.. The tar-ooze…now on fire hurls a flaming thing of tar at burnaby, but it goes wide.
R2:
Duck flies to the other end of the hallway..being worried about the flaming tar creature. He breaks open the door only to be hit with an arrow trap.. today is not really his day.
A corrupting ooze forms out of the shadow.
Dxxty throws a dagger at the tar-ooze, misses, and sends Furnie over to Duck.
Garacaius throws 2 javalins and one almost hits Kargus.
Burnaby swings with 3 attacks and all hit!
Jezze sends her bears into the room with the round door- they see only nice circular fountains.
A statue stands in center: its an alabaster blue Strig elemental god. Jezzebelle peers through the doorway and looks at it- she notices that the eyes are a lite a bit- it starts to shift in shape and the way it look… Its form comes more animalistic as winds whip around the room, its robes becomes feathers.
Corrupting- Ooze goes and tries to hit Furnie, but thanks to bracers they miss.
Kargus moves down towards the statue. He rages.
The alabaster golem leviates and emits a shockwave. One of jezzebelles bears goes prone, causing the golem to attack- hits twice and kills the bear.
Tar-Ooze -on fire- throws flaming tar at Burnaby. But misses.
R3:
Duck casts enlarge on himself and casts mind sliver on the corrupted ooze- ooze fails.
Furnie tries to swing at the ooze and misses, Dxxty goes over to Kargus and casts heroism on him.
Garacaius moves over towards Duck and fires 2 javalins off. He misses with one but hits with the other.
Burnaby hits the flaming tar for 3 hits and adds a burning smite just to top it off.
Jezzebelle shoots a guiding bolt on the alabaster golem. She sends her bear to attack with some claws and attempts to grapple - succeeds and whacks it with her spiritual weapon
The corrupted-ooze attacks Furnie and grapples him.
Kargus charges in at the golem and swings with all the hits possible!
Golem casts slow at the bear and Kargus- only gets the bear. It swings at the bear and kills it. Kargus gets one whack in retaliation.
Tar-Ooze continues to throw tar at Burnaby. Hits finally
R4:
Duck backflips to the other size of the corrupted-ooze and hits with warhammer and a menacing strike-
Furnie cant escape the grapple, Dxxty learns Corrupted-ooze is immune to acid
Garacaius goes into a rage, runs at the golem and swings with the battleaxe -hits twice and casts ancestral protectors then backs up.
Burnaby heals himself and moves away.
Jezzebelle uses another guiding bolt at the golem, then spiritual weapon the golem as well.
The corrupted-ooze grapples Duck and tries to melt Furnie.
Kargus charges at the golem and misses with one swing, then hits with a second.
The golem tries to move and Kargus takes an opp attack- who misses- the golem attacks Garacaius.
The tar-ooze burns to ash as it sits in the fire.
R5:
Duck panic and swings at the ooze grappling him, one hit, and then heals himself
Dxxty tries to vortex warp the ooze but it's too strong- Furnie cant escape.
Garacaius hits the golem with 2 swings of the greataxe then runs away.
Burnaby hits with the butt of the polearm at the golem.
Jezze casts a guiding bolt and hits with the weapon at the golem.
The ooze destroys Furnies bracers of defense. Ducks hammer stays in place.
Kargus smashes the golems head into dust- whoopsie- steps over the debris.
As the head crumbles- it de-animates and returns to a pretty statue.
R6:
Duck swings with his warhammer and hits.
Dxxty casts catapult at the corrupted-ooze with a button, and Furnie manages to break grapple and run away, thankful that he himself did not melt.
Garacaius runs in and swings aggressively at the ooze. Hits! Then speeds away. Hes so fast!
Burnaby shoots lightning at the ooze and hits!
Jezzebelle’s bird comes in for the final kill.

Duck, still in the room that contained the corrupted ooze, opens the chest and finds some loot and armor. Kargus runs through the door with the flames and opens the chest inside. Runs out and catches on fire- but immediately puts himself out. Dxxty takes the time to examine the statue. He discerns that the way the statue was animated was very common of a golem, but it wasn't animated properly, the magic/energy inside was more primordial/elemental. More chaotic than planned. “What could have done this…” he mutters to himself in undercommon. On the other side of where the statue should have been is another door.
As the party opens the door, a torch in front of them lights up. They party goes down a hallway- at the end there is a door in the corner. A larger, metal door looms off to the right. Kargus goes up to the larger door- And he feels an electrical charge go through him as the floor is electrified. It hits Kargus, Burnaby, Duck, and Garacaius.
Fun fact: the door did more damage than any hit the party took.

Kargus open the door and sees a giant Baheir. Or more specifically.. A giant Baheir mouth as it goes to swallow Kargus….

Well now… it would appear that Master Kargus has really gotten himself in quite a pickle so to speak. Will this be the end? Alas, you will have to tune in next time to find out what happens to the steelhawks -End transcription-

Zaraviya Episode 6: “The Calm Before "

Watcher:Hadmar
Lvl 7 Barb/fighter | Kargus "Lunatic" Rocksplitter
Lvl 6 Hexblade | Hadmar
Lvl 7 Druid | Goose test
Lvl 5 Rogue | Bombshell Grubs the Sleeper
Lvl 7 Ranger/Fighter | Briarson
Lvl 7 Bard/warlock Pinky

As we arrive in Zaraviya, we are welcomed by Igns, who informs us of unusually strong wind storms plaguing the city. He leads us to Kayla to discuss the issue further. There, we learn that the winds are coming from the north, prompting us to head in that direction to investigate their source.
Venturing into the jungle, we spot tracks from large, lizard-like creatures. Out of nowhere, a deinonychus leaps from the bushes, knocking Kargus to the ground, its jaws snapping wildly. More of the creatures emerge from the tree line, charging toward us.
In the chaos, Jimmy Jong, Goose’s flying monkey companion, is devoured by a spinosaurus. After defeating the beasts, we take a short rest, during which Goose performs a ritual to create a new body for Jimmy Jong. But as soon as we resume our journey, a tree crashes down, crushing both Jimmy Jong and Jimmy talon, Hadmar’s faithful owl.
We then arrive at the ruins of an ancient temple known as the Air Temple of Ophirox, the Strig God of Air. Upon entering the temple, we find a fountain, but instead of water, it is flowing with air that mimics the appearance of water. As Hadmar enters one of the rooms, a sand pit suddenly opens beneath him. He manages to leap out, yelling out which alerts the others. Kargus enters the room and falls into the pit, while fiery red bees swarm out, attacking the group.
Bombshell Grubs pulls out an alchemical bomb, attempting to stabilize the sand pit, but his plan fails, and in the process, he frightens the party by lobbing the bomb directly at us. Then Hell bees swarm out of the pit, attacking the party with a furious buzz, unleashing shockwaves of both fire and wind as they strike and as they die. Their fiery stingers ignite the air, creating chaotic blasts that leave the group reeling from the intensity of the assault. Despite the chaos, we manage to recover a chest containing 3000 gold.
Shortly after, Grubs moves into another room to inspect an old, decrepit chest. As he steps closer, he triggers a spike trap, and upon seeing glowing green eyes, he panics and flees, seeking help. Kargus enters the room next, locking eyes with a creature known as a basilisk. The rest of the group quickly follows, ready to engage the deadly beast. Tension builds as the battle looms.

To be continued...

Zaraviya Episode 5: “Tides of Power"

Watcher:Ian
Lvl 10 Warlock/Sorc/Bard | Evelyn Vandaris
Lvl 10 Rune knight/Sorc | Duck test
Lvl 10 Druid/Monk | Yar
Lvl 8 Ranger | Ian Hoff
Lvl 8 Monk | Durn Goldbeard
Lvl 10 Moondruid | Mira Adaptina

"Ian here, first time making a report. usually I would ask Jin to do it, but he won't be here for a good while."
"After getting the weird looking compass relic thing, we made are way to the surface. Do to our carelessness, we attracted the attention of a group of Elemental Bull Sharks and a Large Elemental Eel."
"We concentrated our attacks on the Eel, for it was the most dangerous of the group, suddenly and Shark tried to attack me from behind, but it was not quick enough, we engaged in fierce combat. the shark got me on the 3rd tried, thank to my bond with Wyn I could withstand the elemental aspect of the bite."

"Victory was almost mine, but then my companions decided to rob me of my kill. Does no one respect a Hunter's Pride?"

"After the fight we took a rest near a by, this time making sure that there were no other Elemental Beast nearby, then went back up to the surface."
"After exiting with the help of Mira and her Air Elemental form, we ascended to the top of the water fall and just as the last of us got out, a surge of electricity spread from where we came from. We don't know what that was, but we wanted no part of it."

"When we arrived at Zaraviya we contemplated the idea of just selling the relic or give it to the leaders in charge of the tribes."
"We went with the Lupine and Racoon Alliance and we got rewarded 3k gold. I would've said they ripped us off, but then the gave us our own Elemental Beast pets and something called a "Pocket Ball" to store them for easy travel."

"That concludes my report. Ian Hoff Signing off."

"PS: Ducky, if your reading this, sorry I hit you in the ass with a Sticky Arrow"

Zaraviya Episode 4: “The Drowned City"

Watcher:Naelen Shadowstrike
L9 Warlock Sorcerer Bard | Evelyn Vandaris
L10 Rogue | Naelen Shadowstrike
L10 Druid Monk | Yar
L9 artizard | Ned Crotic
L11 Bard | Enrick Bergomot
L 8 Paladin | Astraeus Galaxian

The Steelhawks finally made it to the city after the battle they had at the and noticed that when they entered the underwater city. The strangest thing happened. They were still swimming and underwater but they could breathe the air around there without the use of the Cloaks of the Manta Rays. When they entered the city they noticed a couple of buildings two of them being called the Sunken Archive which is the archives of the underwater city itself. Also another place called Caymen's cove. The group decided they were going to try and go in the sunken archives first because it would make the most sense to go there if they needed more information about the relic. Come to find out though the place was closed for the night so the steelhawks decided to go an visit Caymen's cove.

Once they entered the water completely disappeared and in it was a tavern with the bartender completely ecstatic to have visitors he welcomed them warmly and the steelhawks got some information from him saying that the tribunals were the people to speak to in order to get more information about the relic and they also learned that the city at one point was above water and something had caused it to go underwater but no one knows what it was. After they found the information they paid the bartender very well and the bartender let them rest the night in Caymen's cove....But not without playing drinking games and having fun of course! Morning comes and they leave the tavern and they decided to go and visit the archives.
The curator of the place welcomed the steelhawks and was ecstatic to see visitors. Clearly because the city was underwater they barely get visitors to go there. The curator informed the group about how the city thrived above water at one point but when the city sunk (by unknown reasons) the ones who adapted and survived underwater rebuilt the city and lived their lives the way they do now.
They then began asking questions about any old and ancient objects they had and the curator decided to show them from what it looks like a jeweled compass
The steelhawks could not grab the item because it was protected by a mysterious barrier. The curator had told them the only thing they could do was speak with the tribunals about it because they were the only ones who had access to deal with it. The steelhawks then decided to go to the main building where the tribunals were located and they made their way to the throne room.
There they met the Tribunals and the steelhawks had convinced them to give them the relic in exchange of killing the menace that keeps killing their villagers whenever they leave the city. The tribunals also provided the companions with some equipment to prepare them for the monsters ahead.
Once they leave the city they ended up finding the monsters and with a swift victory the Steelhawks achieved their win. With the townsfolk able to leave the city freely they gladly gave them the relic since now they can leave the city to go to other places. The only question now that remains is what will they do now that the relic is in their possession.. which faction will they give it to? who will get the power to leave everything in the city divided by the main districts of power? tune in next time for the next episode of Zaraviya to find out what happens next!

Secondary Report: Evelyn Vandaris

The Steelhawks plunged into the depths of the tranquil lake, cutting through the waters with determination. Along the way, they encountered formidable guardians of the deep—beasts whose presence reminded them of the mysteries hidden in the abyss. After what felt like an eternity of swimming, they arrived at a breathtaking sight: a magical bridge walkway that led to a dazzling underwater city. As they stepped into this marvelous realm, they discovered that their swimming gear was unnecessary—the enchanted waters allowed them to breathe as though they were on land. Yet, they could still feel the buoyancy of the water surrounding them, a gentle reminder of the strange magic that permeated this wondrous place.

The Steelhawks reached the heart of the city as the evening sky above darkened, casting the city into a twilight glow. Many of the shops were closing, and the streets were quiet, save for the flicker of lights from a few lingering establishments. Hoping to find shelter for the night, they wandered through the city’s streets, noticing a few shy townsfolk and curious fish darting away before they could speak. The first building they came across bore the name “The Archives,” an imposing structure that seemed to promise knowledge and secrets. However, the grand doors were locked for the night, and it was clear that this library would not serve as a place of rest.

Their exploration continued until they came upon a promising sight in the eastern quarter—a warmly lit establishment with the sign “The Caiman’s Cove.”
The Steelhawks approached, knocking on the door to find a charming underwater tavern with elegant blue-framed windows that offered a mesmerizing view of fish swimming freely, like birds in the open skies above.
Inside, they were greeted by Tom, the barkeep, who informed them that he was about to close for the night.
~Tom the barkeep
However, intrigued by the Steelhawks’ presence and their apparent wealth, he struck a deal with them. For 1000 gold pieces—a sum that earned a raised eyebrow and a bemused chuckle—Tom provided them with five bottles of the finest Blue Kelp, a seaweed-distilled vodka, and entrusted them with the keys to the tavern, allowing them to stay the night.
What followed was nothing short of legendary. The Steelhawks turned the empty bar into the setting of a wild, unrestrained celebration. Bottles were stacked precariously in balancing games, drinking contests brought forth roars of laughter, and magic items were tested in ways their creators never intended. The air was filled with the chaos of revelry—drinks balanced on bums, impromptu party tricks, and enough rowdy cheer to echo through the quiet underwater streets. The party raged on until the early hours of the morning, leaving the group in a state of blissful exhaustion.
As the last bottle was drained and the final laugh faded into the quiet hum of the underwater city, the Steelhawks finally succumbed to rest. In the back of their minds, they knew that tomorrow would bring new challenges and an audience with the city’s Tribunal—a gathering of its most influential leaders. But for now, they reveled in their camaraderie, their spirits buoyed by the magic of the deep and the bonds they had forged in their adventures.

At the break of dawn, the Steelhawks set out for The Sunken Archives, their curiosity piqued by the promise of uncovering the mysteries behind the humble underwater city of Dreadmire.
As they stepped inside, they were greeted not by a dusty old repository of books, but a pristine hall filled with ancient relics and treasures that seemed untouched by time. The air of preservation was remarkable, almost as if the building itself resisted the decay of the deep. This was no ordinary library—it was a sanctuary of history and power.

~Monty
The steward of this grand archive, a meticulous figure named Monty, welcomed the Steelhawks and offered them insight into the town’s enigmatic past.
Once known as Dreadmire, this settlement stood proudly above a great river that fed into Hammerlake. However, over fifty years ago, an unknown cataclysm struck, sinking the town beneath the waters and transforming the river into the vast lake they now traversed. Monty’s retelling was tinged with both reverence and sorrow, a reflection of the town’s resilience in the face of such tragedy.

As seasoned adventurers, the Steelhawks were here with purpose: to retrieve a magical relic of great importance. Careful not to rouse suspicion, they exercised subtlety in their inquiries, masking their true intent behind polite curiosity. With some deft persuasion, Monty revealed a critical piece of information—Dreadmire’s Tribunal, the city’s governing council, had placed strict orders upon him to clean and guard a specific relic, one he tended to religiously. Intrigued, the Steelhawks pressed further, their natural charisma coaxing Monty into revealing more than he likely intended.

At last, Monty relented and led the Steelhawks to the basement, his caution evident in every step.
There, in the center of the room, surrounded by a glowing magical force field, stood the object of their quest: a compass of unparalleled beauty. Its quadrants glowed with hues of earth, wind, fire, and lightning, each portion carved out of a different gemstone symbolizing the primal forces of the world. The relic’s brilliance was undeniable.

Eager to claim the relic for their mission, the Steelhawks attempted to charm Monty further, testing the limits of their persuasion to see if they could gain closer access—or perhaps even pocket the treasure without raising alarm. Yet Monty, bound by duty and a fierce loyalty to the Tribunal’s decree, stood firm. No one, he declared, could touch the relic without the Tribunal’s explicit permission.

With their immediate plan thwarted, the Steelhawks resolved to pursue their next course of action: seeking an audience with the Tribunal. As they departed The Archives, their minds swirled with questions. What role did this relic play in the city’s history? Why was it so fiercely guarded? And what challenges would await them in convincing the Tribunal to grant them access? The path ahead was uncertain, but the Steelhawks, as ever, were prepared to face it with boldness and ingenuity.
he Steelhawks strode into the Tribunal Hall, a structure far grander and more ornate than any other building in the submerged city of Dreadmire. Its intricate design and shimmering opulence spoke of power and authority. Within its grand chamber, seated at a crescent-shaped table, were the three elders of the Tribunal. Their presence commanded respect, and their appearances were as striking as the room itself.
The Tribunal members turned their keen eyes to the Steelhawks, recognizing at once that these were no ordinary travelers. Drakkis of the Camimorin, a caiman-like humanoid woman with emerald scales and an air of regality, sat at the center. To her left was Zynath of the Anguari, an eel-like humanoid with sharp, darting eyes that seemed to pierce through the soul. On her right was Sivath of the Colubrith, a towering figure with the coiled strength of an anaconda and a calm yet imposing demeanor. Together, they were the stewards of Dreadmire, and their judgment held great weight.
~Evelyn
The Steelhawks bowed deeply, recognizing the importance of showing respect. Evelyn, ever the diplomat, added an elegant curtsy to the gesture, her movements a testament to both admiration and tact. She addressed the Tribunal with clarity and honesty, declaring the Steelhawks’ intentions to claim the relic held under their guardianship. The elders exchanged glances, their expressions unreadable as their sharp eyes assessed the adventurers before them.
To the Steelhawks' surprise, the Tribunal agreed without hesitation. Their acquiescence came so easily that it set the group on edge, the simplicity of the negotiation almost too good to be true. As Drakkis rose to address them, there was an unmistakable glint of resolve in her gaze.
“Yes,” she said, her voice a deep and regal tone. “The relic may be yours. But there is a condition.”

The Tribunal explained their plight: the citizens of Dreadmire, though amphibian by nature, had tried to return to the surface world to reconnect with their kin and reclaim their heritage. Yet, each attempt had ended in disaster.
The waters above were plagued by monstrous aquatic beasts, creatures of such ferocity that even the strongest of their warriors had perished. These leviathans had made the waters around Dreadmire a prison, and the Steelhawks were the city’s last hope to break free.
Without hesitation, the Steelhawks agreed to the challenge. Their confidence and courage inspired the Tribunal, who, in turn, bestowed upon them enchanted gear from their own stores to aid in their hunt. Among the treasures were magical weapons, Armor, and a Staff of Healing. Grateful for the gifts and the trust placed in them, the Steelhawks promised to vanquish the beasts and return victorious.
Before embarking on their mission, the party made a stop at the magical shop, Current’s Cauldron, run by the jovial shopkeeper Sal. Here, the adventurers prepared themselves for the trials ahead.
Among the group, Yar was particularly fortunate, acquiring a legendary golden ring, the mere sight of which caused Evelyn’s envy to flicker visibly, her usual blue complexion tinged with green as she muttered her disapproval. After a spirited debate over magical trinkets and gear, the Steelhawks departed, fully equipped and ready to face their daunting task.
The Tribunal, impressed by their resolve, assured the Steelhawks that the relic—a compass representative of the powers of earth, wind, fire, and water—would be brought to them before their departure. With their spirits high and their determination set, the Steelhawks plunged once more into the unknown, their path leading toward the domain of the great beasts. Their courage and skill would soon be tested, and the fate of Dreadmire hung in the balance.
The Steelhawks set out into the shadowy depths of the unknown, heeding the Tribunal’s instructions with resolve. Their mission was clear: descend into the murky waters of the lakebed and confront the monstrous terrors that had plagued Dreadmire. With the confidence of seasoned adventurers, they ventured into the inky abyss, their senses sharp and their spirits unwavering.
From the shadows of the lakebed, a pale-skinned, amphibian-like humanoid emerged, its haunting gaze locking onto the party. The Steelhawks paused, momentarily captivated by the eerie figure’s appearance.
Before they could react, the stillness of the moment shattered as a serpentine monstrosity lunged from the vegetation. Its massive, twisting form ended in a serrated, tooth-filled maw that spun with horrifying precision, a true nightmare of the deep.

But this was no ordinary beast—it was an elemental Aboleth, a terror of legend. Its alien eyes glowed with an unnatural power, and the Steelhawks felt the creature’s will pressing against their minds, attempting to wrest control of their thoughts. Yet, with their mission—and their hard-earned reward—so close, the Steelhawks’ resolve proved unyielding. They stood united, their iron will and determination thwarting the Aboleth’s psychic assault.
Yar, ever the master of the dance of death, struck with unmatched precision, delivering swift and deadly blows that cut deep into the creature’s flesh. Evelyn, undeterred by the chaos, kept her companions standing with bursts of divine healing, her magic a radiant counter to the shadowy menace of the deep. Meanwhile, Naelen, the swift and silent assassin, darted through the fray with blades flashing, sinking steel into the beast’s vulnerable points with deadly efficiency.
The battle was ferocious, but the Steelhawks’ skill and teamwork proved overwhelming. In a final, desperate thrash, the Aboleth fell, its otherworldly screeches silenced as black, viscous blood poured into the dark waters around them. The Steelhawks floated amidst the remnants of the struggle, victorious once more.

As the black ichor drifted into the shadows of the lake, the Steelhawks steadied themselves, knowing their journey was far from over. The relic they sought—and the trust of Dreadmire—awaited them. And so, with their spirits undimmed by the horrors they faced, they pressed onward, deeper into the lake’s secrets, their legend growing with every step.

-End of Report-

Zaraviya Episode 3: "Into the Depths"

Watcher:Burnaby
Lvl 11 bard | Bergomot
L8 rogue | naelen shadowstrike
Lvl 10 druid monk | Yar
Lvl 10 Barbarian | shenanigans
Lvl 10 paladin | fang
Lvl 8 paladin | Burnaby

The adventurers received word of a valuable relic hidden beneath the waves. Veyra Stormdancer, a well-known merchant with a vested interest in the relic, offered to supply mantas to aid the expedition. Frank, ever pragmatic, was quick to support the endeavor.

With the decision made, the group headed to the Trade District to evaluate competing offers. Word of the relic had spread, and factions across the city were vying for their involvement. The raccoon-folk from the Crafting District were particularly invested, proposing an alliance that included generous compensation and crucial underwater equipment like Cloaks of the Manta Ray and Mariner’s Plate. They were also open to partnering with the Vulpine faction, though they expressed concerns about the vulpine’s lack of strong leadership

After much deliberation, the Steelhawks determined that the raccoon-folk’s offer was the most advantageous. It offered not only the necessary tools for the dangerous underwater mission but also a heavy purse to sweeten the deal. Though the worst potential partnership lay with the Strig—ruthless and unreliable—the Vulpine showed promise, provided they could unify under stronger leadership.

Equipped with their new gear, the adventurers set off. The journey took them down a winding path that hugged the water’s edge. It wasn’t long before danger struck. A crocodile emerged from the murky depths, attacking with sudden ferocity. The Steelhawks fought valiantly, but the commotion attracted more aquatic predators. Wave after wave of creatures fell to their might, their newfound equipment proving invaluable in the fray.

After subduing the crocodile and its companions, the adventurers pressed onward, scaling cliffs and waterfalls to reach the lake that held their goal. As they approached the center of the lake, an eerie sensation crept over them. Their instincts proved true when an aboleth emerged from the depths, flanked by its charmed minions. The battle was fierce, the aboleth’s psychic attacks testing the adventurers’ resolve, but they fought through, defeating the creature and breaking its hold on the enslaved beings.

With the threat vanquished, the Steelhawks pressed on, finally arriving at the underwater city. As they entered its ancient limits, they realized they could breathe normally, as if the city itself allowed them to adapt to its submerged environment. The shimmering architecture and otherworldly aura hinted at the mysteries yet to be uncovered, and the relic they sought felt closer than ever.

Zaraviya Episode 2: "Echoes of Leadership"

Watcher:Vestin
L7 Artificer/Wizard | Powder
lvl 6 Ranger | Vesten
Lvl 7 moondruid | Mira adaptina
L7 Warlock Sorcerer Bard | Evelyn Vandaris
L7 Warlock/Sorcerer/Bard | Lucifer
Lvl 5 Druid | Goose Test

We meet up with Zepher, he called us in to setup a new expedition to Zaraviya. He set up transportation in the form of a teleportation circle and secured from Frank 500Gps and a bag of holding to secure as much insect repellant as we could get our hands on.

We teleported just outside City hall and decided to work our way from district to district Searching for the insect repellant and other useful things and information.
Mira purchased 500GPs worth of insect repellant from a magic shop, located in the Crafting district, called The Clever Claw.

We proceeded to the Delicacy district where we stopped off for a bite to eat at a restaurant named Nobu. While there we were approached by a man that claimed to be the leader of the district named Sylar Watersong who asked us if we wanted to help him. Most of us were not interested in helping as we already had a mission to do.
We heard him out: Sylar explained that there are four groups of specialists that lead the city and that some of the trade leaders are trying to become "cohesive leadership". "We dont have cohesive leadership and some of us trade leaders would like to become that leadership."
He stated " all four factions here do their own thing, I dont think that is a negative thing to an extent. I think what we need is a unifying voice to help us all collaborate, improve the city and keep the city strong in the long run while still allowing all of us to do our own thing, flow down our own path if you will but make sure the paths we end up on are all flowing in the same direction.

They believe there was a city that was flooded and now resides under a lake. Within that city is a non magical Relic that has symbolic meaning to the people raised in Zaraviya. If we retrieve the Relic and give it to Sylar he will be favored among the people. He offered 800GPs per person if the Relic was brought to him.
We then proceeded to the art district were we meet a man with a very well crafted Bow. Upon conversing with him we discovered that he was Ignis Valara, leader of the Arts District. We informed him that we were approached by Sylar and that he was asking us to retrieve the Relic for him. Ignis explained that he would make a better leader and offered us 1300GPs per person if we retrieved the Relic for him.

Ignis said "I am an artist, I think the city needs a strong vision to grow and become a unified force and I can be that vision."
I asked the Gods and received no Sign that either of these candidates would please or displease the Gods of life. At the moment I would not recommend helping either of these trade leaders take control of the entire city. I recommend further investigation into what would be best or simply leaving it to the people of the city to determine their own fate.

He was the second leader to mention that we should build our reputation by battling in the Arena and we decided to go earn some notoriety in the fighting pits.

At the fighting pit we completely dominated two different groups of Elementals without taking a break and earned the rightful acclaim and a modest amount of Gold for our victories.
Afterwards we returned to base and completed our mission by delivering the insect repellant.

Zaraviya Episode 1: "Into the Jungle"

Watcher:Mira Adaptina
1) L7 Barb | Screechy
2) L4 Barb | Goryo
3) L6 Moon Druid | Mira Adaptina
4) L7 rune knight | Duck Test
5) L5 rogue | Naelen Shadowstrike
6) L7 shadowmonk | Rogue Kurt wagner

Mission: One of our Steelhawk explorer's has found something interesting in an as of yet unexplored area Zaraviya. We need you to come hear what he has to say and take an expedition down! PS> dont let the new guy die!

Mira adaptina here! Again! This time with the first official recap of a whole new series we’re calling Zaraviya! record scratch & music stops really? Just Zaraviya? Nothing like…Tales of Zaraviya?..Okay so I can't think of anything better. I have a 0 mod to my INT, what's your excuse??? Anyway..music cuts back in ~ Episode 1: Into the jungle. All new plants! All new animals! A new adventurer! What's going to happen to our brave adventurers? As always, Grab your libations, your snacks, and you favourite teddy bear. And remember to always enjoy your libations responsibly! Check out our local tavern karagataneer’s-keg and be sure to tip the barman! Are you ready kids? I cant hear you?? Okay shhhhh. Here we go… fade to black

Our story starts with the party hanging out at Steelhawk international. While milling about the mess hall, Duck Test strides in and shouts “Heard that there is an expedition! Form up recruits! You know who you are! And grab the new guy…” “Goryo, sir?” pipes up Kurt Wagner. Screechy hoots in agreement and rushes off to find him. “Meet us in the briefing room” Duck shouts.

The party, having finally arrived, pull up seats around the square wooden table. At the head, we see a familiar Steelhawk member, Azure - a staple in the Steelhawk guild.

And beside them, a man with an unfamiliar face but,upon hearing his name “Zephyr” the entire party snaps a little more to attention.
His stern but kind face and indomitable fighting spirit were almost palpable to the soul. Zephyr, finishing a quiet conversation with Azure, turns to the waiting party and says:
“Hello, I am Zephyr, an original member of the Steelhawks. I trust you have gathered your party "
"yes sir” Duck replies, saluting.
“Are you ready to explore and face whatever may come?”
“Yes sir!” the party replies,screechy just hooting pleasantly. Azure smiles, “Zephyr will set you up. I leave them in your hands” And with a sharp click, turns on his heel and heads out, clear eyes and determination on his face.
Zephyr turns to the party and with a wave, motions for the party to follow. He strides towards the teleportation room.
”You are all here because Frank asked me to explore the jungle and help you out. I managed to get there, and realized I hate the bugs- specifically mosquitos..”
Party gets shuffled into the Teleport room. As usual, they see Aether behind the desk in front of the dais. “Is everyone ready? This place is new and I've tweaked the circle a bit-hopefully for your enjoyment and not detriment..owell here we GO!”
Before the party can respond they are teleported, while flying through time and space there is a faint music sound to be heard… (what is this? An elevator?)

Landing quite deftly if I do say so myself, the party looks around and gathers themselves. Remembering that Zephyr told us that the jungle we are in is called Zaraiya- Mira looks around, turns to Duck and ask “Sir, what is your plan of action?”
“Look around soldiers, see what we find!” Duck shouts out, but ends up only looking skyward “... well I can tell you it's a beautiful day” The group looks around, some seeing there's beautiful rocks, and a peppering of trees around. Looking north, the forest appears to get sparse- maybe about only a mile up, and gets thicker down south and east. The air around them feels hot and humid. Mira is enamored with the trees, are they real??

“We should go south, as to the north seems to be the end of the forest,” Naelen suggests. Since they have the best eyes in the bizz, the party agrees, and begin trudging south. Kurt -never to be caught off guard- sticks to the shadows, Brave leader Duck, taking the initiative, flies into the air to scout ahead. “What do you see?” Shouts Goyro.
“Only trees far and wide”
They turn and head due south. Shadow master Kurt protecting the party, cast pass without a trace to ensure lack of detection. Continuing down the path ahead, Naelen takes the lead and checks for traps- detecting nothing. Kurt remains stealthy in shadows along the path. Mira, hearing a small rustle- turns to see signs of large animals wandering through the woods. Luckily nothing appears to be recent. As they keep moving ahead. Naelen only senses mosquitoes- because they are everywhere goddammit. Travelling forward down the southern path, Duck and Kurt walk directly into a swarm of mosquitos! There's no way they can defend themselves from so many! Direct bites from the mosquitos. Our leader Duck, a natural fighter- shakes off whatever ill effects these bugs could carry, but Kurt begins feeling woozy and exclaims: “I suddenly feel exhausted, like i’ve run a whole 10 miles."
“Explorer Kurt, are you okay?” Duck inquires.
"I'll be fine sir, I just wish I had some bug spray”

Seeing their two compatriots basically walk through a wall of mosquitos thicker than molasses, Goryo just runs through, sheer willpower keeping the mosquitos off like an invisible shield. Screechy decides to fly over and nibble on one as a snack to aid the party. Mira decides to use her one good idea of the day to cast mage hand and starts swatting the mosquitos in front of her, Nealen follows suit and the two of them create a path through the haze of buzzing blood beasts.
Keeping due south, Duck flies 30 feet into the air. Taking a quick 360 scope, notices the foliage is getting denser and denser. Further south he shouts down that he spies what could be a slight clearing in the woods. Naelen hears a collective buzzing further south, and a trill of a little bit of water to the east. Nothing particular to the west. Landing on the ground, Duck leads the way south over a bridge. MIra and Naelen notice the buzzing sounds they hear aren't near the bridge, they are further further south. Coming up to the bridge everyone sees there's a hole about 15 ft across. Its a stretch, but possibly jumpable. Screechy hoots, and climbs a tree and then glides down over to the other side. Goryo and Duck throw Kurt, then Naelen, both of whom nail their landings like olympic gymnasts. The two then throw Mira, who was woefully unprepared, makes it all the way over only to fall flat on their face in a bush. Duck then flies Goryo over.
A split in the road lies on the other side of the bridge. Does the party go left or right? Looking each way our leader spies the river to the right, a giant lake to the south and mountain ranges to the west/north. Party mulls it over for several minutes.
“Mira, you're a druid, what do your druidic senses make?” Closing her eyes, she sends her senses into the ground for any sign of human population. The world responds with the sense that there is no human population to the south, but the road to the east and west is well travelled. The one to the west looks more worn than the east, but not by much. Party feels pressured by each other to go west.

Travelling for what seems like forever (but really it's only been an hour), sounds of mosquitos pick up to the left. As the party approaches a clearing, they spy a lake in the distance. In the foreground of the lake they see a man, with scaly skin, an eel like head and electricity faintly buzzing around it.
He is digging through the grass looking for something. Duck greets the stranger, while Naelean stays stealthy in the shadows of the woods.“Greetings there stranger! We are travelers who simply seem to have gotten lost!”
The man stops what he's doing, and the crackle of electricity pops as he turns to face the group. Laying eyes on the party he replies: “I have not seen anyone as strange as you in a long time, but we don’t seem to have many visitors around here” “You wouldn’t happen to know if there is a town close by would you?” Kurt asks, appearing as if out of nowhere. “I can't show you where they are, but I can give you directions. There are 4 small villages in this forest, which one were you looking for?” Duck, inquiring about the closest town, is told: “ Well, you were close to town 30 mins ago, so the next closest is the town called Westbrook.” He points. “Keep going west towards the mountains and you will find it. My name is Sparrik, by the way.”
Everyone goes around and greets Sparrik. Naelen asks about natural deterrents for mosquitoes. Sparrik offers to sell 2 vials deterring lotion for 4gp each.
“Each of these candles will deter mosquitos for 24 hours. We call it Suckleys. It smells awful,but it works!” Party decides to get Naelen to persuade Sparrik for retail value (And is successful!) “What brings out out this way? We were surprised to see someone out in the middle of nowhere.” Duck inquires of Sparrik.
“I was simply looking for food to eat, but it seems ill be out here for a while” Our kind leader Duck gives Sparrik a ration and Kurt buys up Sparriks last vial of lotion. Duck, having an idea of his own, uses his Hat of the Rat and conjures a frog, and holds on tightly. “I COMMAND YOU TO EAT THE MOSQUITOS!” Duck cries as he waves the frog around. The frog looking unimpressed, and a little sick, only manages to catch one mosquito. Huzzah…?
Mira turns into a Sparrik look-a-like to blend in. Duck conjures another frog and throws it at Goryo, who almost allows it to slip out his hands. A third frog is thrown at Screechy who attempts to eat it. Trudging onwards…

Okay, I just need to tell you guys that this lotion stuff we’ve been talking about? It's gross. It smells like pea soup mixed with dirty socks, and weirdly enough…cinnamon. And boy is sticky.. Almost tacky if you will. Like when you were a kid and would put horse paste on your thumb and pointer joint and push them together until the paste was almost dry and try to pull them apart sticky. But it works…maybe try one of the other options

Party turns and heads to the west, meanwhile they see Sparrik head towards lake and into trees. The party members who decided to put this lotion on unfortunately are a little sidetracked, either by the smell or the feeling of it on their skin, and that takes priority over being stealthy. After a little while the group comes up to a river from the left side. Half heartily looking around the area- mosquitos seem to be the only thing in sight.
“Thank goodness for this frog” Goryo says, keeping the mosquitos at bay.
“Ho-oot hmph-tt" Screechy cries, managing to deftly stuff the frog into their mouth, only to spit it out after a minute. Now disappointed, they point out a river to the group, its choppy water making it difficult to see the shapes underneath. But it's clear the shapes underneath are moving independently from the current….
Battle music begins R1: 2 shapes in the water move forward- Froghemoths step out of the water, spit out the fish in their mouths and stare angrily.
Naelen moves- aims steadily, and attacks the one on right with their shortbow. It hits. First blood! Screechy hoots and rages out, attacks the one on the right with 3 hits: two swings and a javelin toss, 2 out of 3 succeed. The creature looks funny with a javelin in its armpit.
Kurt goes- activities his eldritch maul and strikes at the one on the left twice. Both miss. (Its okay, Kurts just getting used to having physical form instead of pure shadow)
Duck cast enlarge on Mira.
Mira turns into a hunter shark and marks the one on the left for death.
Froghemoth on the left tries to bite Mira, misses. Hits with 1 tentacle, but duck causes them to miss.
The creature strikes out with a 2nd tentacle and hits! Mira the hunter shark is now grappled!
Goryo rages, and uses a shortbow on the one on the right, and misses with both shots. He's too mad to focus!
Monster on the right gets out of the water and tries to bite Kurt. Direct hit! Kurt becomes swallowed. Tries to tentacle Goryo, Goryo is grappled.
R2:
Screechy comes in, and swings with an axe at the one on the left, once, twice, Misty steps backwards, and then crits on the third hit. He takes a second to notice that this guy was hurt prior to us.
Naelen steady aims- shoots left one with shortbow, barely hitting. And throws in wails from the grave to deal extra necrotic damage to the one on the right.
Kurt shadow steps out of the frog, as if nothing had happened. And then strikes out with their fists of fury. But it slides off their slimy body. Swinging with a cross jab it bounces off, backing up. Cries about his fists
Duck enlarges himself and then tries to shoves the monster on the left up to 15 ft away from the party. He then flies up and hits him with a warhammer, striking him and attempting to knock prone. The creature stays standing.
Mira the hunter shark bites at the creatures grappling her, but fails.
Creature on the right pulls Mira along towards the rest of the party members to aid his buddy, and lashes out with his other tentacles. He attacks Naelen twice, but Naelen dodges.
Goryo, breaks the grapple,and swings a greataxe- at the one on the left. A hit! They are looking rough. He swings again and he is down! Goryo cuts off all his tentacles.
R3:
Screechy, guided by a vision had by Duck, swings with a greataxe, and with a hit, goes reckless for one more hit, a misty step and then a thrown javelin.
Naelen steady aims- fires an arrow, critical hit!, this baddie could go down at any time.
Kurt runs up and says “lets hope I hit” and swings. AND he is correct- swings again and he punches the bad guy to death. Wailing left right left right. End of battle

Mira, still a shark- begins exploring the river, while Duck and Naelen loot the bodies. Mira finds rocks. Duck examines the left one- finds nothing. Naelen examines one on the right- the face looks like strawberry jam, noticing the body has bite marks- feline in appearance. Duck sends Mira to go scout upriver. Mira the hunter shark notices that it looks like a cliff area up ahead and further in the distance it comes to a head and we see what look like man made structures. Mira, turning humanoid once again, relays info and the Duck makes the decision that “we should take the high ground” so the party sets off towards the cliffs.
Walking along the cliff, Duck flies ahead to scout but is mesmerised by the water and sees nothing else. . Naelen notices some cat-like footprints in the area, two different types of creatures, 1 large and 2 smaller of one type, and a smaller, sharper looking set, heading towards the city. The ones with sharper claws (small) went away from the river, while the others seem to keep going north towards the town. Deciding to take a challenge, the party continues north STEALTHILY.
Goryo, taking the lead, perceives threats ahead but doesn't notice anything.
Goryo, taking the lead, perceives threats ahead but doesn't notice anything “Where are you, you bastards…I can smell you…”.
Duck flies as high as possible to try to see the town, but is clouded over by the sky.(hes really pulling a LeVar Burton here). While everyone looks around, Mira focuses with all her might and notices the smaller, sharper ones are in a circular pattern…
“These footprints are pretty fresh!”
Party continues, keeping all eyes, out when there's rustling in the bushes! Fades out
R1: : Goryo goes first, sees that the creatures are displacer beasts, and rages out. Lashing out twice at the large one, misses and just posts up.
Kurt sees 2 smaller displacer beasts and a large forest prowler, which lashes out at Kurt and strikes with its claws for a direct hit.
Screechy rages out, and with a fearsome shriek throws everything at the prowler, hits with 2 misses with one.
Naelen goes next: backs up, takes out their shortbow, and strikes at the prowler. Firing; they hit with a sneak attack bow shot. And then casts wails of the grave on the large displacer beast. Naelen then hides. The small displacer beast, seeing a tasty snack, reaches out at Screechy. It takes a bite and lashes out with 2 tentacles for 2 successful hits
Kurt punches the prowler 2 times and succeeds. Killing it, turning to the smaller displacer beast casts a flurry of blows, one hit one miss.
Medium displacer beast dashes down and swipes at Goryo, crit hit.
Mira calls forth lightning and strikes the medium and large beast singeing the fur of both.
Large beast tries to strike duck, for 3 consecutive hits. What will happen to our fearless leader??
Duck, retaliates by oiling himself up, shouts “I've got you for 3 minutes in the cage!!” and grapples the large displacer beast and drags him over the edge, and drops him into the river below, only to be licked by the creature before it drowns. He then twirls and throws a handaxe with all the might in the realm at the small displacer beast, critically wounding it and leaving it restrained, prone, and frightened.
R2: Goryo swings twice at the small beast, chopping off his tentacles and using them as a jump rope. Killing the beast
Screechy reckless attacks 3 times, 2 hit and the third misses
Naelen steady aims, shoots with shortbow, uses cunning action to hide
Kurt goes, runs in and punches, misses one and hits on the next and maxes out with 2 more flurry of blows. Killing the final beast.

As party walks up to town greeted by muscular owl image Naelen explains we are traveling the forest and in need of supplies and rest. Owl says we can stay, his name is Thorn Nightwing.
Naelen mentions that Sparrik told us this is the closest town and we are welcome to stay.
Duck: “I challenge you, Thorn, to an arm wrestling match!”
But Screechy demands to go first, Flapping their arms infront of Duck so as all he can see. Screechy slams Ducks arm onto the table and trills in triumph, leaving Duck and his wounded pride at the table. Thorn agrees to the wager (500gp) believing he can't lose. With help from Mira “Its all in the wrist Duck…remember”, Duck wins and receives his winnings. The rest of the group looks around; Westbrook is a small town with food, taverns. They trade with the larger town further in called Zaravia; the metropolis that is in the center of the forest by following the river. The party comes to the agreement to spend some coin and time and the night in the town, and in the morning travel Thorn calls over to a ladyowl named Rook Silentclaw, who asks about rooms.
Screechy initially starts their usual charades dance, and spends about a minute doing so before Rook goes:
“I can understand you, you know.”
“FINALLY! These people are ridiculous! Having to dance about to be understood. Anyway, what land do you have available?”
“There’s some land by the graveyard available, let me show you.” Rook says, and the party goes to examine it. Screechy buys it and its content. (-10000gp). Rook then gives the party free lodgings at the hotel. Party takes a long rest. At the store, you can buy lotion, candles, or a pendant to ward off mosquitos for 24 hours for 2gp a piece. Naelen buys 5 necklaces for 10gp.Duck buys 1 type of mosquito repellent.screechy buys 1000 incense. Gives 500 incense. Party takes a long rest.
Next day:
In the morning, Rook brings the party a breakfast pizza with shaved rats on one, fish bits on the other. Thorn comes over and asks if we would like to go by boat. Party decides to rent the boat, and Screechy just hands Thorn 60gp. While Naelen fails to persuade them for a free ride.

The river ride down is peaceful, passing an area we had previously seen to an unseen area.
Travel is lazy. Suddenly we come upon a metropolis, all the buildings are in the trees, the city zigzagging around the river.
Looking around the party sees all kinds of people: owl people(Strig), a lot of tabaxi (cat people), fox people (vulpins), and raccoon people (mapach). Coming off the boat, the part is greeted by a vulpin<;
“Greetings, I am Ignis, the trade leader here in Zaraviya! Welcome!”.
What direction should we head to purchase magical items?”
Ignus mentions: the arts district, “magical jewelry, the best in the business if you ask me!”
the crafting district;”the mapach run that area, their items are crude, but serve their purpose”
The delicacy district; “food and drinks of all kind can be found here made typically by the tabaxi folk”
There's the arena; “in the very center of town for entertainment,
And finally, there's the soldiers' roost: “where the strig train up the city guards and most of the army's soldiers. There's lots of hostels, a chapel, and even a city hall as well! Feel free to explore and welcome once again to the great city of Zaraviya!”
Party thanks him for his help and heads off to the crafting district. The members of our tale do seem to notice mostly mapach in this area. Party enters weapon shop. Naelen asks about a dancing sword.
“Don't have one.”
Screechy asks about activated frostbrand.
“We got one.” Screechy buys it
Duck inquires about special enchanted chains
“Only have regular.”
Which duck ends up getting.
Naelen asks about the sword of life stealing.
“Don't have that either”
Disappointed, Naelen and the party head to the arts district looking for a cloak of protection, and a ring of protection, acquiring both. It should be noted that as Mira looks around, it seems that while there is no racial tension between species, there is a sense of natural separation based on skills and preferences and riviraly- saying their skills are most important. fade to black

well there you have it folks, A first look at the first adventure in the magical jungles of Zaraviya! What will the steelhawk members do now? Will Duck fight in the area? Will Screechy buy the town? Will Naelen ever get his requested items? Wait… Where did Kurt and Goryo run off to? Who knows … *out of frame you hear Duck yell “MIRA THEY HAVE AN ANIMAL AREA!!”
AN animal area? Well that's my cue to finish up. See you all next time home skillets! And remember...
Crying is a free action.

Season 2 - Zaraviya

Zaraviya Episode 27: “Blood in the Water”

Zaraviya Episode 26: “The City we freed”

Zaraviya Episode 25: “The Silence After”

Zaraviya Episode 24: “Where Heroes Break”

Zaraviya Episode 23: “Drums Beneath the Canopy”

Zaraviya Episode 22: "The Last Quiet Day"

Zaraviya Episode 21: "Shadows in the Scorched Sands"

Zaraviya Episode 20: "THE PAST UNEARTHED"

Zaraviya Episode 19: "The fire remembers"

Zaraviya Episode 18: "The Past is Never Dead"

Zaraviya Episode 17: "Smoke on Silent Roads"

Steelhawk Intelligence Report from Zaraviya: As Per Deputy Dash Panda

Zaraviya Episode 16: "The Silence that came After"

Zaraviya Episode 15: "The Hour of Unmaking"

Zaraviya Episode 14.5: "Before the Break"

Concurrent with the storyline game

Zaraviya Episode 14: "Before the Break"

Zaraviya Episode 13: Currents Of Chaos

Report #2: Reporter- Calla Lili

Zaraviya Episode 12: The Hunt for Answers

Report #2: Reporter- Roulette Diyods

Zaraviya Episode 11: In the Wake of Betrayal

Report #2: Report By Calla Lili

Zaraviya Episode 10: The Broken Path

Zaraviya Episode 8: “"

Zaraviya Episode 7: “Temple of the Forsaken Sky"

Zaraviya Episode 6: “The Calm Before "

Zaraviya Episode 5: “Tides of Power"

Zaraviya Episode 4: “The Drowned City"

Secondary Report: Evelyn Vandaris

Zaraviya Episode 3: "Into the Depths"

Zaraviya Episode 2: "Echoes of Leadership"

Zaraviya Episode 1: "Into the Jungle"

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