Session 35 - "Scavengers and Strays" Report

Venen 6, 1247

The party gets ready to leave Ghani's Ground, and as they're saddling up, Foenix grabs Thais's hand, but doesn't seat himself in front of her on Arkeo this time. Instead, he simply says quietly to her, "you know, you can only kick a dog so many times before it stops coming around."

Then he lets go of Thais's hand, and hops down, opting to ride with Olena instead.

As they continue to ride, Micaiah Louvre expresses surprise about Olena's horseback riding capability, stating that he thought that Valsáth riders used wolves, not horses. Olena laughs, though she does love the idea.

Foenix brings everyone's attention forward: there is someone on the road ahead of them.

As they approach, Foenix catches the slightest hint of horns on the head that melt away as the person becomes aware of the Fate-Steppers. But as the party gets close enough to see their full profile, it becomes clear that the person is a young human - a boy about 14 years old.

He introduces himself as Kendall, and he's also on his way to Siphone-Kett. The party offers for him to ride with them, but he refuses, choosing to walk alongside for a bit. He tells them that he is going to Siphone-Kett to become the greatest thief in Mercuria. Foenix immediately shoots down the idea, and as they leave Kendall behind, he comments morosely, "that kid is going to get eaten alive."

As they break for lunch, Micaiah asks thoughtfully what everyone wanted to be when they grew up.

Foenix replies glibly that he wanted to be taller. Olena says she wanted to be like her grandfather, the Great Wolf. Thais admits she didn't really have any dreams: she knew what she would be doing, and there wasn't much room for dreaming. Jacob Sterling says that he wanted to be normal.

After a pause, he breaks a smile and says, "and look where that got me, you fuckers."

The party laughs, and after it subsides, Micaiah asks what Jacob would do if he was normal. He says he'd like to go fishing.

As they eat, Thais begins to teach Kona the command "spot." It goes slowly, but she is able to lay the groundwork.

Crack! Everyone jumps as a gunshot goes off. Foenix raises his smoking gun, where he has just fired at the horizon line. Olena has to get her immediate "run" response under control, but then she and Thais both give him a reaming. He blows them off, but unfortunately he hasn't figured out how to take apart or clean the gun yet - so it is functionally useless at the moment.

He frustratedly glances back towards the desert horizon - and pauses. There is a cloud of dust growing steadily. Foenix grabs the spyglass, and through it he can see.... a wounded lioness, hounded by a pack of hyenas, barreling right for the party.

Urgently, the Fate-Steppers pack up their gear and move out of the path of the beasts. But that doesn't deter the lioness, angling her arc to run straight through the party. Foenix clocks that she is probably using their mass to deter her pursuers.

It works, with Foenix shooting and killing one, Jacob using chromatic orb to reduce another to a skeleton with acid, Micaiah kills two with eldritch blast, Olena shoots and kills two, and Thais charges forward on Arkeo and tramples the last one under his hooves.

The lioness runs past the party, a blur, continuing on, as Thais studies the bodies of the hyenas. On a hunch, she uses her divine sense, and is startled to get an aura of unholiness off of the beasts. She informs the others, and Olena steps up to investigate.

Using her knife and her skill as a hunter, Olena opens up one of the hyenas, and to her shock, there is a mark on the inside of the animal's skin. A circle with a line through it: the symbol of Reka. Peeling back the skin and meat further, there are also etchings all over the ribcage. A disease of some sort, they worry.

Micaiah immediately turns and begins riding out after the lioness at full sprint. He's faster on horseback than the wounded cat, and the eldritch blast finishes her off.

The warlock trusses up the body and drags it back to the hyenas, and together the party makes a pyre and begins to burn the bodies. Thais leaves a note in the sand: "Diseased. Do not touch."

The party continues on, reaching Siphone-Kett around dusk. They ride through the city and eventually come to the Golden Trinket, a tavern and inn on the edge of the public gardens.

Foenix goes out with Olena to talk with the local criminals, and Foenix is immediately overwhelmed with the number of thieves' cant graffiti messages there are, but eventually they find their way to the Victus Mercantile Guild. The teller they speak to at the bank-esque building is not able to tell them much about the great wurm in the desert that they seek, but recommends talking to the Sand Shift Navigators (and mentions that the wurm was big enough, smart enough, or dangerous enough to develop a taste for dragon eggs).

Meanwhile, Thais is feeling a bit more like herself, and decides to let loose a little bit. With Micaiah finagling her way into becoming the music for the establishment and providing the mood music, Thais strikes up a conversation with a lithe black-skinned tiefling with golden eyes.

It turns out that he is Cactsian by ethnicity - his grandparents came to Karasi and he's never gone back home. It's obvious that he is not Cactsian by culture, as he hesitates at first when Thais plonks a set of manacles onto the table by way of invitation back to her room. But he does eventually take her up on said invitation, and (to the surprise of all), Thais turns and asks Micaiah nonverbally if she would like to join them, which Micaiah accepts, and the three of them retire to succumb to their baser natures...