Chapter 3: Onwards!

After an evening of respite (well, for most of you at least), the sun rises anew across the lands of Xhorhas. If you were expecting a peaceful morning sipping your morning coffee and watching the sunrise, then Jigow is the wrong town for you. From even before the crack of dawn, the city is restless and noisy. The earth-pounding footsteps shake your hotel rooms as ogres amble past the Inn, goblins and kobolds argue, haggle, and play alley games in shrill, raspy voices just outside your window, and the inn itself bows and sways slightly at the horizonback tortiose the inn is built upon wakes, stretches its legs, and begins eating the first of many breakfasts of the day.

In the morning, Faelen (or whoever has the Jewel and attuned to it) feels connected and protective of the jewel, and vice versa. You feel a slight increase in your maneuverability, a stronger bond with your allies, and a faint call leading you in a vaguely southeastern direction.You all regroup back in the main floor of the Unbroken Tusk Inn, where Agatha Silverspoon continually enters and exits the front door, hands filled with pies, pastries, and pancakes of all kinds: cherry pies, breakfast pies, meat pies, bagels, croissants, choloate pancakes, you name it and she's got it or can have it in 10-15 minutes. A steady stream of cityfolk wander in for both eat in and takeout options, giving the place a very lively atmosphere.

After his nightly adventure, the half drow has slept the sleep of the righteous and had rested much longer than normal. After an extensive half-hour of caring for his gear and appearance, the noble had strolled into the breakfast-room and had laden his plate with delicacies.

Balancing his loaded tray through the crowd to the table where he can make out some of his friends, Faelan settles on a comfy looking bench, with his back to the wall. Just how the Rosohnian likes it. Listening for a few minutes while eating, the fighter keeps his eyes open if he can recognize someone of the other team from yesterdays competition.

As soon as the fighter finished his breakfast and wiped his mouth with a napkin, he proposes to the team: "I would prefer to talk in a setting where there are fewer curious ears around. Maybe we can find a place where there are no listeners?" Outside the city, on a small ship, with a mindlink, or something similar.

"Well you find me intrigued, Faelan. Whatever may justify this need for secrecy?" Kailani flashes a teasing smile at her companion. "It was a night well spent, I hope? Something to brag about, even?" The young woman sips a cup of tea. There is no food before her and some strands of hair seem damp, as if recently in the water.

She has spend enough time at the docks to know about the ships that wait there and she is confident, their passage will be free - may the time come. But where would the winds take them? She chuckled, then softly blew on her beverage, watching her group over the rim of the china. "We could start the day with a stroll, I suppose. North will do, we'll be out of the town in a few minutes."

Tereze yawns and wipes her sleepy eyes. It had been hard to sleep, between the noise of the town and her own mind's preoccupations. Despite this, she musters a friendly smile to Agatha and orders a cherry pie and a tankard of water to clear her head.

"I could use some fresh air" She agrees with Kailani, and though there was a sliver of temptation to join in teasing Faelan, she concentrated wordlessly on her breakfast instead. Chomp chomp.

Holding Kailani's gaze for a long moment, the half drow shrugs it off and replies: "At least a night to remember." without revealing anything more.

Waiting for the Tereze to finish, Faelan leaves a few coins for their breakfast if necessary and is ready to take all the ladies for a stroll.

The party finishes their breakfast. Agatha clears your plates with a tusky smile and whisks away to throw another batch of pies in the oven. Faelen keeps an eye out, but doesn't spot any of the members of the rival party in the Unbroken Tusk. The group steps down off the back of the horizonback tortoise and begins walking through the streets (or wherever you would like to go to have a discussion).

As Kailani leads their small group out fo the inn and back onto the streets the half-drow stays alert, if they are followed. As inconspicuous as possible, but still. A bit down the road, at the sea side, the black-haired beauty decides for a spot with enough breaking waves and gurgling water that the noble feels save enough to distribute what he learned last night. Standing together closley, the fighter looks at his newly found friends for a long moment before he confines in them:

"After our shared vision last night, I visited an old acquaintance of my family. The name of the place the ancient warrior spoke of is Bazzoxan. A town with cursed ruins housing a temple that has been there since the Calamity. It is not fare from here - ust a short sea voyage away. North of Rhosona at the coast."

Following this revelation the Hythenos gives the ladies a summary of what he could find out:
The Betrayer's Rise in Bazzoxan is an ancient temple dedicated to the Betrayer Gods, the gods who fought against the Prime Deities during the Calamity in an effort to destroy life on Exandria and start anew. Ancient magic and curses keep the magics of their seat of power alive, and Bazzoxan the town exists purely as a means to prevent the horrors within from spilling out and engulfing the Kryn Dynasty in chaos and war once again. Many scholars believe this is one of, if not the, location where the Betrayer Gods' influence on Exandria remains the strongest in all the Prime Material Plane.

"On top I got the warning, that if we should decide to venture into this temple, we should gather as much information in Bazzoxan as possible, before daring such an endeavor."

Ending his narration, Faelan looks his partners in the eye and tries to see if their heart is in it, or not.

Tereze nods as she listens to Faelan's story, though something is still off about her demeanor, as if her mind is elsewhere. She forcibly injects herself with some enthusiasm - she could take time to herself later.

I'm sure finding passage on the sea will be straightforward enough, now our names are known and well.. because we have enough gold to make a compelling offer. And I'm sure the Moonweaver will bless us with clear skies and bright stars to guide our way"

The betrayer gods... Tereze hums, trying to recall some stories she had heard before. "Even if leads nowhere, cleansing that temple is a noble cause"

Tereze remembers the ancient family library at her family's estate and reading about the History of Exandria as a young adult. While it is still up for debate and often disputed by many scholars, the most widely accepted creation myth of Exandria is this. The world of Exandria was first a chaotic ball of wild elements, storms and fire raged on ceaselessly, and this chaotic rock was ruled by the Primordials-- elemental beings of near-deific power. But Exandria was devoid of life, just roiling water, earth, fire, and air.

The Creators (all of the gods except the Raven Queen and Vecna, who were mortals that joined the pantheon later on) arrived to Exandria and breathed life into the world, creating the first elves, dwarves, humans, and so on. Their creations tried to live on Exandria, but the Primordials and their elemental chaos made their lives short and dangerous, which saddened all of the Creators. There was intense debate amongst the Creators, but eventually the majority of them decided to gift their creations magic. This helped in their fight against the Primordials, but it wasn't enough. From there, the gods split into two camps.

The Prime Deities fought alongside their creations to destroy the Primordials and tame the world for their creations' safety. But the Betrayer Gods, as they would soon come to be known, frustrated by their losses, gave up and tried to abandon their creations. Some with mad with grief and loss, and others gave in to the temptations of the Lower Planes such as the Abyss and the Nine Hells. They returned to Exandria and fought alongside the Primordials against their creations and the Prime Deities. The Prime Deities were eventually victorious and sealed away their betrayer brethren along with the Primordials.

Humanoid society thrived in the following centuries, with the Prime Deities walking across Exandria at their side. This led to the grand Age of Arcanum, where magic became mundane and everywhere, often referred to as Exandria's golden age. However, humanoids became so powerful as to be able to fight the gods, and some tried to usurp them. In the process, the Betrayer Gods were unleashed once again, thus beginning the Calamity, the second war on Exandria between the Prime Deities and the Betrayer Gods. The Prime Deities were victorious once again, but not before centuries of untold death and destruction were wrought against Exandria, with over 2/3 of the world's population wiped out. Regretting the chaos their presence has caused Exandria, the Prime Deities locked themselves and their brethren behind the Divine Gate, which prevents the entry of any god to the Prime Material Plane.

There are some variations, such as followers of the believe that the young, formless, curious Luxon was the first to arrive to Exandria in search of an understanding of itself. And some even believe that the Luxon gave birth to the Primordials and shaped the elemental chaos of Exandria's first age.

"Well, Bazzoxan it is then. I'm sure we can get passage easily. We might think about provisions and equipment, though." The young woman cocks her head in contemplation. Then she grins and shakes her head. "Adventure found us, let's not have it wait too long!"

She takes a step towards Tereze and lays a hand on her arm. She bends closer and looks her straight in the eye: "Are you ok? You seem distracted. A heavy head still? A longing heart?"

Tereze shifts her weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably and sighed wistfully, she knew she could trust her companions but it was hard to open up despite her outward bravado.

"I.." She fumbles for the words. "I think there's trouble brewing". Her eyes fail to meet Kailani's, sliding towards the cobblestones beneath her feet instead. I too visited an old family acquaintance, but.. She paused "someone 'visited' them first.". Her appearance may make more sense now - the face of someone who needed to cry, but has forgotten how and stubbornly pushes on regardless.

Tereze channels her nervous energy into adjusting the straps and buckle of her armour, making sure they're secure. "Just... keep your wits about you. Even in a town as friendly as this, there can be people who would try to undermine and defy us "

Straps fastened, Tereze takes a quick breath and straightens her posture. "Mm. Like I said, the sea air will do me good" She bottles the emotions back up. "And you're right, we'll need some supplies unless we want to be eating crusty bread for the whole voyage"

Ardeth has been uncharacteristically all morning, looking tired and only partially eating breakfast. Occassionally a head will sneak into the bag at her side as if to check something is still here. Eagle eyed persons may spotted something hastilly wrapped in fabric.

The half-drow is only partialy listening to faelen until the name Bazzoxan draws her attention at least briefly. 'I have bery hazy memories of that place...If that is where that jewel wishes us to go...' Her hand reaches to her bag strap, unabe to rach in while its on her back.

As Tereze mentions her own acquantaience she offers a soft smile and places a hand on the other womans shoulder. 'I m..sorry to here. Is there a way we could track this person? We may have time while organsing the trip. or even delay it for a few days.'

"Well, family first, I say. I cannot see a reason why we shouldn't take some time to find out what's what." Kailani's gaze turns to the town. She does not know what happened at her friend's acquaintance, but grasps the severity of what Tereze has only hinted at. "We'll visit some merchants to stock up on a few things anyhow... and sailors, maybe other good citizens of Jigow ... maybe somebody knows something about who threatens Tereze's extended family and why. Can you tell us more about what you saw?"

Kailani looks at Tereze with serious eyes. Focused and all business.

Tereze sighs. "I have nothing to go on, they were killed about an hour before I arrived, and they were efficient. Not a sign of who might have done it"

"My family does have its fair share of enemies, like any powerful family" She adds, "That's my only suspicion"

"I... appreciate your concern" She places a hand on Kailani's shoulder. "but don't let it hold us up. We'll be free of them once we're on the water" She hoped.

And with that, the group packs up what little they have in the inn or other places in Jigow, completes any last-minute errands, says their goodbyes to the people they've met in town, and heads to the docks to find passage on a ship. There, the party finds The Coral Demon, a medium-sized fishing vessel heading out to go on a multiday fishing trip to a spot near the coastline close to Bazzaxan. The wooden figure of a leaping shark with a number of small fish in its jaws champions the bow of the ship. The ship is captained by a young, but surprisingly grizzled water genasi woman by the name of Douglaa "The Handsome". She and Kailani instantly hit it off, and before the rest of you know it, you've got free passage to the coast, provided you pull your weight doing what you can, and subtly let Douglaa win a round of the crew's nightly poker game.

The trip from Jigow's docks to the coast is close to exactly 100 miles, which means you'll have about a day or so before you reach the coast (in case there are any downtime activities you'd like to pursue), reaching the coastline the next morning. From there, it'll be about a 50 mile hike through the rocky coastline and the northern edge of the Barbed Fields, a nasty wasteland, ran asunder by the crazy magics of the Calamity.

It doesn't take long before the ship is all prepared and suddenly you're off! The Jigow skyline of rickety scaffolding and lumbering giants shrinks behind you as an endless flatness surrounds you on all sides. It's a peaceful, cloudy day at sea. The air is warm, the waves are mild...

The ship is quiet for most of the day, the crewmembers sitting idly and chatting up the newcomers since they have not reached their fishing destination yet. Most of the crew is hanging out on the top deck, enjoying the sun's ray or each other's company when suddenly three dolphins, one on one side of the ship and two on the other, leap 10, 15, 20 feet into the air. Their bodies begin morphing in midair, and by the time they reach the deck of the ship, they have transformed into three fishl-ike humonaids. They wear very little clothes or armor, but their bright blue skin has taken an almost bark-like rigidity to it, clearly some kind of protective magic. Their faces are beautiful and elegant, but they hiss and bare their razor-like teeth with unfettered rage at everyone they can see.

"Yee be the scourges of the sea! Yer ship, yer treasure, and yer skulls are destined to decorate the sea floor!" they scream in unison at everyone.

Douglaa chuckles from the ship's helm, "Yeah, ok." She grabs a Warhammer from a rack somewhere near her.

One of the druids raises their dripping quarterstaff into the air and a mass of slippery, slimy seaweed grows up out of the floorboards around Kailani, Tereze, and Douglaa. Tereze and Douglaa are able to fight off the sudden invasion of sea grass, but the tendrils of wet plantlife hold Kailani in place.

BATTLE MAP (link)

The sea druids look self-consciously down at their skimpy, tattered, soggy clothes. Defensively, they snarl and hiss, "What? We be rather regal looking; much better than ye and yer land-lubber leather!

Douglaa wades through the seaweed, cursing under her breath as she brushes and crushes the slimy plant life off her legs. She finally reaches the space next to one of the druids, but is out of breath by the time she gets there and has to take a second.

Map (link)

Kailani all but ignores the seaweed and blasts at the enemy. In the meantime a huge tentacle emerges next to the troubled vessel and strikes at the attacker to protect the young woman.

Hearing all the noise above deck, the fighter climbs the stairs and overhears the preceding words expressed. Their skulls destined to decorate the sea floor? Oh those sea dwellers! You can count on them for some good boasting.

"Your brittle bones will decorate the brow of our ship if you won't leave right away!" the noble replies in the same manner. Suddenly the shadows of the mast and the rapidly grown sea weed stick together and form a humanoid half drow sized shape right in front of Kailani, giving her cover from the druid. The shadow strikes out with a blinding flourish, while Faelan himself takes his rapier to the other attacker on deck.