Session 44 - "Tiny Monsters" Report

Venen 13, 1247

The Fate-Steppers have entered into the jungle Cactsian city of Valorum, and have set about to find a buyer for the treasures they plundered from the tomb of Narmer.

Foenix Stolnent and Thais Argyri take point, with Thais haggling while Foenix scoping out the fattest purses to bargain with. It works out nicely, with them leaving the marketplace in the district of Domaedo with what they calculate to be about 35% more gold than what the products were actually worth.

Afterwards, Ambrose Praxidice. Jacob Sterling, Thais, and H011-3 head to the Basilica of the Black Rose, a temple to the goddess Laravelle and tended by her Black Roses. Holly is well disguised, with Foenix having reaffixed her strange makeup and mustache before leaving the campsite the morning (critical success).

Olena and Foenix have no interest in touring a god's home, and instead strike off on their own, heading towards the ziggurat they can see in the distance.

At the basilica, Ambrose is warmly embraced by another one of the priests: a woman named Lucilla Amalthea, who it soon comes out is in fact his aunt. He asks for the party and her to be given privacy to speak freely, which she acquiesces, taking them into one of the adjacent viewing rooms for mourners of the dead.

Ambrose reveals Holly's true nature as an automaton, and asks if Lucilla knows anything about an inventor living in Valorum. Lucilla thinks for a moment, before positing that perhaps she is a creation of Syrus, a man who moved to Valorum in the middle of the The Cactsian Expansion War. She had heard he was working on some project, but she never saw the results of it. Technological progress is not really accepted in Cactsia, after all - perhaps he was afraid of what others would think of it.

Syrus died some years ago, and with no family his items were either buried with him or sold off. A new family lives in his old house now.

Holly is relieved to hear that their creator is no longer living and that they do not have to hide as they once did, but Lucilla does not only have good news.

She asks to speak with Ambrose alone, and then tells him that she has received a letter from Solon Domitius in Honestas, extending an invitation to Ambrose to join his staff. She fears that this is just a way to bring the Praxidice to heel once and for all. After all, Amrbrose's brother already serves as one of Domitius's personal guard.

Ambrose asks her to delay Domitius by telling the Solon that he is away administering to the Lady in Black's domain, and he will continue to travel with the Fate-Steppers through Valsáth in the meantime until a solution can be thought of. Lucilla agrees, embracing him before letting her nephew rejoin the others.

Thais interrogates Ambrose somewhat, recognizing that he is hiding something, but the cleric sidesteps all her questions and Thais is unable to read into his motivations.

Meanwhile, Olena and Foenix reach the ziggurat. They are somewhat put off by the distance the people have made between it and the rest of the district of Theta Nigrim. There is a path around the outside of the ziggurat, but no buildings, no guards, nothing. In fact, the ziggurat itself seems to be barred from entry.

A green-gold dragonborn on the lawn is able to answer a few of their questions as he paints the landscape of the ziggurat and surrounding jungle. He informs them that the ziggurat - Theta Nigrim - is said to be a portal to the land of the dead. The first people to come to this place in the Letalis Jungle recognized the danger (and potential) of this place, and built the ziggurat to house the portal. The city grew up around it, and though the ziggurat has long since become an abandoned place that it is forbidden to step within, the culture that cloaks itself in death and burial continues on. Even the streets of Valorum themselves are supposed to represent the underworld.

Foenix is impressed with the design, and chats enthusiastically with the rest of the party as they meet back up to walk along the Grand Felicity. But he stops as he notices some noises coming from a nearby sewer grate. He peers closer, and barely has time to pull back when the beady eyes he can make out below suddenly explode forth. Hundreds of rats come spilling out from the sewers, and as they do so, some of the little creatures begin to.... melt into one another. Their bodies become a boot, then a second, and then the body begins to form of a ragged halfling, who steps forth and howls to the sky: "Xavier!!"

Thais acts quickly, tossing down a hypnotic pattern, which calms the rats as the party tries to talk with the halfling.

Across the street from the sewer grate, a male halfling steps out onto a balcony. He seems frustrated as he stares down at the scene below him. He calls out to the party not to hurt the druid.

His name is Xavier, and the druid is his sister Angela. She's harmless, just... a bit off. She was a soldier who got lost in the jungle a few months ago, and came back a bit mad.

Angela continues to insist her rats told her that Xavier has been poisoning the nearby river, but when Olena steps in to use speak with animals to confirm her story, it becomes extremely clear that the rats are not intelligent enough to differentiate between truth and fiction. Indeed, they seem to be most interested in whichever answer will get them more food, and so whatever Angela or Olena ask them, the rats give them the answer that, based on what the rodents pick up from unconscious body movements that the humanoids make, will please the giants.

OIena, picking up upon this, attempts to school her motions and inadvertent body language to get the truth out of the creatures, but is unable to fool the creatures. She gives up in disgust, and the party decides to investigate Angela's claims, though they don't exactly believe her.

Xavier apologizes to the party for the inconvenience, which they accept. Foenix asks him about the kobolds outside of the city, and Xavier confirms that there have been odd behaviors from the kobolds. They've been attacking travelers, but as soon as the travelers fight back they run off. They've also tried to breach Valorum, but have been unable to as of yet. Thais determines that they'll investigate that as well, and the party heads off to the Hawk's Keep, where they report to an old orcish captain what they saw of the kobolds in the jungle. She makes note of it, then head over to the Owl's Roost in the Grand Felicity where they get rooms: Thais, Foenix, Jacob, and Ambrose getting separate rooms, and Olena and Holly sharing.

They all settle back to relax, finally no longer sleeping on the ground (at least for now).