Chapter 2: Terrors of the Void

Like a good wildspacer Quaxiver had hoarded the items they found on the mind flayer ship, and doled out what he had to the others as part of their shopping trip on the Rock of Bral. He saved the leather armour with the studs for himself, as he would always be the first to wade into battle, and did a little prance when Imti pointed out how decent it looked (once they had managed to prestidigitate the smell off it ...)

This One just follows his companions in their shopping. Its good to be about and see the Rock, but all the food vendors had nothing for him, weapons and armor neither.
He would greet friendly gnome he came across but otherwise he just followed the others.

Alone he would get to know Ioun stone better.

Not long after you get back to the Second Wind, you set out to meet this Topolah that Krux had mentioned.

You are introduced to the other members of the crew: The spelljammer is a female tiefling named Fel Ardra who seems more annoyed to be going on this trip than she is excited. Mister Flinch, the first mate, is an older hadozee man with an easy smile and relaxed disposition. The most unexpected surprise comes in the form of Starbough, the treant who has grown through the ship.

Imti gravitates towards the treant, clearly interested in learning about their origins and their livelihood seemingly attached permanently to the ship. Assuming that Starbough is willing to converse, of course.

Starbough speaks very slowly, as treants tend to do, and doesn't seem too bothered by Imti's company, speaking about being implanted into the ship as a sapling and spending years growing. Apparently, treants are great defensive tools onboard a ship such as this with their ability to throw large stones at attackers without the need to use a mangonel. This was long before Krux came into possession of the ship, of course.

"So, are you like, the only original crew still remaining?" asks Imti. Regardless of whether or not it's true, it's obvious that Starbough has been around for years. "You must have seen so much. What was the strangest?"

Ziggy listens in on Imti and Starbough's conversation without intruding. Wondering what kind of music treants like, he decides to play a gentle, meandering tune to accompany Starbough's words.

Quaxiver left the least friendly of the crew to Ziggy to warm up to, while he made an instinctive beeline for his fellow hadozee. Being so long away from his wildspace travels, he missed his kind, for there were none on Oerth. "Well met, I am Quaxiver, erstwhile traveller of wildspace, now displaced from Oerth."

Starbough thinks this over, "I suppose you could say that I am part of the original crew, but I like to think that I am a part of the ship instead," he says in his slow, sonorous voice, "The strangest thing? Hmmm. Many decades ago, I saw an enormous six-armed corpse floating through Wildspace. Many on the crew thought it was the body of a dead god."


Mister Flinch smiles and greets Quaxiver, "Nice to meet you! They call me Mister Flinch," he says.

"You from Oerth originally?" he asks, "I visited once, a long time ago. Nice place for having so many humans scurrying around. Spent most of my life out here in wildspace, though."

Imti whistles in amazement, imagining what a six-armed god might look like. "What did you think it was?" she asks, prompting for a story.

"Me too." Quaxiver was comforted to find a kindred spirit. "Oerth was somewhere I was stranded on for some years, so I do have some attachment to it."

This One looks at Starbough. Walks around him studying him.
I have seen any kinds of meatsacks, but you are the first wooden man I have seen.
The mechanical gnomes questions Starbough intensively. Do you have organs? Do you breath? And what? Can you regrow a limb? What do you believe happens after death?
This continues until duties calls on them both - or Starbough becomes unfortable.

You spend quite a bit of time during the voyage speaking to Starbough. He doesn't have much experience with the outside world, but he's seen many incredible things from the deck of this ship.

Two days into your journey, Starbough calls out in his booming voice, "Something it approaching!"

Closing in from behind is a gigantic, bioluminescent, jellyfish-like creature with a pair of flamboyantly dressed figures standing inside its glassy dome.

A magical doorway appears on the main deck of your ship. The flamboyantly dressed figures steps through it, each brandishing a trident, and the doorway closes behind them. The pair are completely identical, down to the markings on their faces. Sparkling light surrounds the figures. "Heading to Topolah's tower, are we? I don't think so. My friends in the Xaryxian Empire don't want you meddling in their affairs."

"But forgive me, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Hastain. When the elves came looking for a suitable world to nourish their dying star, I suggested yours. It isn't every day I get to witness the destruction of a planet. I promise, it will end beautifully—even if you're not alive to see it."

"Uh, who is this guy?" asks Imti, clearly ignoring the person's self-introduction. Or perhaps she's fishing for more context. Whatever the reason, she's put in a position of impending conflict so she begins to prepare herself.

Get a load of this guy. Ant he supposed to twirl his mustache when he gives a speech like that?

"You saved us the trouble of looking for you then. I'm Quaxiver, and two can play at this game." Twins? But this Hastain spoke in the singular, and the markings on their faces were exactly the same. Some sort of illusion then, the hadozee thought to himself as he conjured up his own duplicates.

Ziggy isn't pleased someone has just upstaged him. The bard prepares to show them who's the real star here.

The sudden appearance of the flamboyant duo has everyone except for Quaxiver caught off guard. The hadozee casts a spell, causing duplicates to flicker into life around him as he begins his bladesong.



Map

Hastain and his twin hold out their hands, each launching a bolt of flaming energy toward the party. Quaxiver's blade angles perfectly to move the attack off course, but Ziggy takes a bolt to the chest.
Ziggy: 22 vs AC. Damage: 15 fire

Map