[Horde] Chapter Two: Session Eight
July 17th
Where things left off, the group was trying to stop some of the ogres from dying. Sorak hopes on Wintermaw and starts to head toward the dropped ogres. They others continue to head toward the ogres as well.
Azgadaan is able to patch up the centurion enough that it won’t die, and he calls for the others to try and patch up the other ogres. Spinyl manages to patch another one up. They slowly get the ogres dragged back to camp, where they tie them up.
Azgadaan requests that the centurion be revived, and Remnii revives him with flash of light.
The ogre blinks his eyes open, and then quickly sees he is surrounded. He starts to try and wrestle with the rope he is tied with, and Spinyl starts to weave a suggestion.
Spinyl: “You should sit down, relax, and answer any questions we have.”
The centurion then settles down, under the influence of the spell. He asks what they want. Spinyl says they have some questions, and she turns him over to Azgadaan.
Azgadaan asks him about the warleader the ogre centurion had mentioned.
Centurion: “Warleader? He is… leader of war. He is supreme commander. Old veteran. Hundreds of war campaign.”
Azgadaan: “I see. How long has he been in charge of you and this campaign?”
Centurion: “Me. No good. Counting. Many. Since Highmaul.”
Azgadaan: “How far away is the warleader from you? Us? The place you attacked us from?”
Centurion: “Camp. Mmm…. hour’s walk. Few.”
Azgadaan: “Only a few hours away?”
Centurion: “Ish.”
Azgadaan: “Minus the garrison you attacked with, how many are you?”
Centurion: “Great army! Many number! Crush Horde! Pay for, um, duh…. Um… defeating!”
Azgadaan: “Have you seen him fight?”
Centurion: “Fought side by side. Great warrior. Greater now!”
Azgadaan: “Does your warrior have any magicks?”
Centurion: “No need! Crush! He show! Kill!”
Spinyl: “Why didn’t he come with you?”
Centurion: “We small band. He control war. Strike at orc.
Spinyl: “So where is your leader then?”
Centurion: “Few hours. Maybe gone for days searching. Camp scavenge. Preparing army for great con-fight!”
Spinyl asks Sorak to ask him a few questions in ogre, as Sorak speaks the language. Specifically, she wants him to confirm that the centurion’s battalion was a small offshoot of a larger one.
Sorak spits on the ground.
Centurion: “Me relax now! Later, me crush!”
Sorak then asks how many are in his regiment in ogre. The ogre returns only two escapes, but they will likely report back. He also confirms it is less than a day’s travel, but he is unable to give an exact number of the entire battalion
Remnii suggests that Sorak ask if it is big, middle, or small. The ogre responds it is “Massive!”
He isn’t lying, but he seems to be prone to exaggeration. It appears to maybe be a force that will be an issue, but it isn’t absolutely huge. Seeing he tried to count on his hands, they would have maybe 100 ogres.
Centurion: “If no more questions, me continue rest. Me smash you soon. After rest. If no more questions.”
They don’t have any more questions, and the ogre nestles up against the tree and goes to sleep. They go a distance away to talk, and Azgadaan comments it may be an issue to keep the camp here. It may also be an issue to keep the ogres.
Sorak comments that they aren’t keeping the ogres.
Thura mentions they should just be dispatched of, and Sorak agrees. Sorak and Wintermaw kill the centurion, while Thura dispatches the other two. Thura suggests that they leave the bodies outside the camp as a warning.
The group rests for the rest of the evening, and nothing else happens that night.
July 18th
0:45
The group talks about what they should do from here, in regards for pursuing the Ati-Kaso or not. Azgadaan suggests the clan be moved further away if they were going to be leaving.
Remnii suggests that just she, Yrel, and Samaara go so that fighters would be left with the clan. However, Arthak counters that he wants the war band to go with Remnii, while he, Thura, Lantresor, and some of the others will stay behind.
Remnii asks Raluhi to also stay, and a bit of relief washes over him in response. Namely to watch Dornaa.
The warband (sans Arthak) prepare to leave while Lantresor and Gramgun start to prepare for moving the rest of the clan to a safer region.
The warband passes through various locations as they stick primarily to the mountains. Samaara is working to track the Ati-Kaso. Spinyl is flying overhead, keeping an eye out, while Sorak brings up the rear.
Azgadaan is keeping an eye out for precious things given they are going through a crystalline forest. Sorak also pokes around, seeking out herbs and the like. Sorak is able to find one tree in particular that has roots that dig up out of the ground. He finds two olemba seeds, which are frequently used to combine with fronds and berries in rituals to commune with the dead and spirits. He also finds some razorthorn root.
He also finds a crystalline pinecone, which can be almost juiced and broken down to make a tasty, grassy tincture and can be used for a variety of potions that grant resistance to things.
Meanwhile, Azgadaan tricked himself out several times having spied things he thought were valuable but were not. However, as he continues around he finds something strange off the side of the trail. It’s a mound of grass and dirt with crystals placed in a particular manner.
He asks Samaara what it is, and she says no, but Azgadaan is pretty sure she does. Azgadaan asks her again. She insists it is nothing he has to concern himself with. Remnii looks at the mound with a sigh, but keeps moving, also knowing what it is.
1:13
They continue on, and they find a crystalline cave with some natural, ambient light inside. They set up camp, and Spinyl sets up a tiny hut spell while Wintermaw lounges outside it. Azgadaan and Samaara are on first watch, and Samaara doesn’t say much.
Azgadaan apologizes for his insistence at the mount, but he isn’t sure why he’s apologizing. Samaara asks him why he’s apologizing, and he comments that the mound must have been important to someone.
Samaara explains that the mound was a burial mound. She isn’t sure how much Azgadaan knows about such ceremonies, given the nature of the eredar is not one that has a need to venerate the dead.
Samaara: “Life is precious to the draenei. Age does not claim us like it does many, and so death is not something that is welcome. It is difficult. Hard. And those who dedicate their lives to ensuring that the living can continue to move on… they have rituals. Traditions to honor the dead. What you saw there was what was left of some of those rituals. Even from this distance I could see that one had been plundered, yet it never gets easier, Azgadaan. May the memory of whoever was buried there live on in our actions.”
Azgadaan: “Sorry.”
Samaara: “It’s alright.”
Samaara goes back to fletching her arrows, and is silent for the rest of the watch. For a moment, the soft light of the crystals reminds Azgadaan of home, even though they are much different than what he has seen on Argus.
Nothing happens on the first watch.
1:23
Second watch, Sorak and Phaedra on up. Sorak has to keep stopping Wintermaw from fetching things and chewing them. At one point he fetched a large femur and started chewing. Phaedra watches, and laughs, bringing up small conversation primarily about Wintermaw. Before the end of the night, she definitely pets the frostwolf.
Sorak has Wintermaw try to wrestle her, and they go back and forth for a bit. They stop before they got too loud, and Wintermaw ended up sitting on her, just narrowly beating her. Sorak commends her.
Third watch is Remnii and Spinyl.
Spinyl: “So… back with those Lost Ones. I believe I saw something you probably didn’t want me to see. If you don’t wanna talk about it, I won’t, but…”
She is referring to Leafshadow. Several emotions cross Remnii’s face, and she nods.
Remnii: “I prefer not to speak of it at the moment, but I thank you for your honesty, Spinyl.”
Spinyl: “I get it. Well, probably something different knowing draenei are different from demons in what they value and stuff, you know.”
Remnii: “For all that is different, the value of discretion is not lost on anyone here, I believe. Or. Perhaps it is.”
She looks back in the direction they had come from.
Spinyl: “Yeah, and well, know that things are bigger, it’s harder to have conversations like these now.”
Remnii: “It’s nice to get away from, well, not so much nice as-”
Spinyl: “Breathing room?”
Remnii: “Yes. I didn’t realized I missed quieter travels.”
They talk for a bit longer, musing on the pros and cons of traveling with a larger group, and Spinyl ends up thanking Remnii for doing some “shady things” for her, and her mentioning Leafshadow was her way of showing that she appreciated what Remnii had done for her.
After all, they were business partners.
While they were talking, as they look around, they find an almost straw-thin crystal shard. As they look at it, the crystal is a bit more iridescent than the stone, but it looks almost the exact same color as Leafshadow. Rather ironic.
With a big smile, Remnii shows Spinyl, and then the conversation veers into Remnii showing Spinyl her small rock collection.
The rest of the night passes without anything bad happening.
1:35
July 19th
The group breaks camp and starts to head off again. Samaara leads them through the mountains. As Azgadaan is climbing, one of the stones slips out of his grasp as the stone breaks off. He takes a small tumble. Wintermaw, likewise, almost comically slips on some moss and tumbles over. Phaedra also slips, and she knicks her knee a bit.
Meanwhile, Remnii’s sinuses starts to clog as they continue on. Fungal forests always do this to her.
Eventually, they find themselves standing on a cliffside. As they look down into the nearby grotto, they see various tendrils of water snaking through the rocks and moss. There is a small forest of mushrooms expanding out through the valley below.
Overhead a flock of spore bats shoot through the sky.
Spinyl, who is flying, zoops down and hides behind Phaedra. Spinyl asks if the spore bats are dangerous, and Phaedra said they could be, but only if they were bothered or irritated.
Azgadaan asks if it would be better if he walked openly or put a hood on, given they were looking for the Ati-Kaso. Phaedra mentions that a cowl would likely be just as suspicious. From a distance, they would probably be able to see he is with them.
They continue on, and encounter several moss-colored vines that are glowing faintly, draping down from the overhead.
Sorak finds some flowers, and is able to collect them. As they meander around, Remnii and Spinyl sees a pair of bioluminescent eyes watching them, but they immediately disappear. Remnii mentions it to Samaara. Samaara says they should keep moving.
However, meanwhile, Sorak has gotten mossy tendrils tangled around his neck, and they are trying to pull him up. The faint glow is now glowing very brightly, and Sorak feels his strength begin to wane.
The tendrils also wrap around Wintermaw and start to try and pull him up.
Remnii also gets grabbed, and her vision starts to fade as she also gets pulled up into the vines. She’s unconscious. Spinyl tries to cut her down, but is unable to do so.
Samaara calls for them all to try and cut the others down and run. However, as Phaedra tries to flee, she gets grabbed by the moss and also dragged up into the moss.
Yrel runs in and smites the vines, slamming her hammer into the vines. She splits the tendrils that are holding Remnii, and she falls to the ground. Yrel then tries to cover Remnii.
Samaara disengages and then runs over to pick up Remnii, and then runs off with Yrel shielding them.
Azgadaan then goes and tries to cut Phaedra out of the vines. He is successful, and stands protectively over Phaedra.
The vines continue to strangle Wintermaw, and he falls limp.
Sorak tries to use inflict wounds on the vines that are holding him, but is unable to. However, a thin tendril of black smoke wisps out of Sorak’s eyes as his mind clouds with rage.
At that moment, there is a noise, and two small pebbles are flung from the edge of the cavern. They sink into the vines, but seemingly do nothing.
The vines then lash at Samaara, but she ducks out of the way of its attack. Another vine goes for Azgadaan, but it bounces off a magical shield.
Sorak tries to inflict wounds again, but is unable to land a hit still. He continues to struggle.
Meanwhile, the group sees a bunch of small creatures coming out, slinging pebbles up at the vines.
Spinyl tosses a bardic inspiration at Sorak, then disengages.
Two more of the strange creatures pop out and try to help Sorak. One hucks a small, leaf-wrapped bushel of something at the vine, but also misses. A vine reaches out to try and grab Yrel, but the blow misses.
The vine continues to sap Sorak’s energy, but he hangs on by a sliver.
Azgadaan continues to attack. He lands a hit, and then quickens booming blade to attack again.
One of the creatures flings one of the tonics, and the vines shrivel and drop Wintermaw. It tries to get Wintermaw again, but Yrel uses righteous defense to redirect the damage to herself. She recoils from the flood of damage.
She then runs to try and free Sorak. She grabs Sorak, and pulls him down. She then uses Gift of the Naaru to heal Remnii at a distance, and Remnii’s eyes open.
Spinyl fires an arrow into the vines.
Meanwhile, one of the vines go at Wintermaw, and the righteous defense shatters, dropping Yrel.
Azgadaan puts Phaedra down, and then fires a lightning bolt at the nearest one. It’s wavering severely, and it seems to be retracting its tendrils. Azgadaan then runs for Yrel. He uncorked a potion and pulls it into Yrel’s mouth. She immediately reaches for her warhammer, ready to go.
Sorak, against his want, disengages and flees, leaving Wintermaw in the hopes that someone else can get him up. Yrel then casts healing word on Wintermaw, and flees, picking up Phaedra on the way.
Samaara tries to cover them as they retreat, raining arrows from the sidelines.
Remnii, now up, uses her Channel Divinity, healing Wintermaw, Phaedra, Sorak, and Yrel.
Spinyl fires off an eldritch blast at the vines near Azgadaan, and it hits. The vines retract, and the entire group is able to escape. Somehow. Azgadaan fires off a “fuck you” lightning bolt at the creature he had hurt before, and it shrivels and falls to the ground.
3:01
As they continue on, they see more of the vine creatures in the hall. However, as they stop, they see more of the iridescent eyes. One of the tiny creatures steps out and makes a noise, then turns back. There is a small passageway, about 2 feet in diameter. It makes another noise before running for it.
Remnii heals several of them again, and Yrel asks if they should follow the tiny creatures.
Remnii: “I’ve heard it often enough that ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’... we might as well attempt.”
The group drops down on their knees and tries to squeeze through the small space. Azgadaan gets permission from Sorak to use reduce on Wintermaw to make it easier to slip through the hole.
On the other side, there seems to be a village of hollowed out mushrooms with various members of the creatures scattered about.
3:07
The tiny creatures brings the group to a creature with a fancy stick. It appears to be their leader. Remnii uses tongues so she can speak with him, and the tiny creature is taken aback by the fact that she can understand him.
Remnii thanks him for his people bringing them to safety.
The tiny leader expresses he is happy they are safe and that his scouts found them when they did. He then introduces himself as Flooo, the elder of the village.
Remnii then introduces the rest of the group. To the others, she sounds normal, but there is a faint reverberation of other languages in the words.
Flooo expresses they are willing to trade and the like, and Remnii asks if they can have a safe place to stay in exchange for them helping them in turn. Flooo agrees, acknowledging that the “fleshlings” and their “vertical advantage” could prove very helpful.
Remnii also asks if he had seen other broken draenei, and Flooo mentions that his other scouts had just returned before they did. He suggests they go ask them.
Flooo leads them to a bright red scout wielding a bow made out of some sort of fungal stem. Flooo asks if he had seen anything, but the other creature, Zahgaa, wants to know if the strangers can be trusted. Flooo expresses that if the “strangers” wished to harm them they would have already done so.
Zahgaa looks to Remnii, and Remnii asks about the Ati-Kaso again. Zahgaa confirms he saw a group like them, and they had moved further into the ravine. If they hadn’t been so large, he might have approached. Zahgaa also expresses that it’s a dangerous time near the water’s edge as it’s rutting season for one of the dangerous shelled creatures there. He was not sure if they were aware of such.
Remnii relays the news to the group.
Samaara expresses if they stay and rest, the Ati-Kaso may be attacked by the “bogstrog” creatures. Through Remnii, she asks how far they were.
Zahgaa expresses they could probably reach the site by sundown, but the “shelled ones” could be very territorial.
Azgadaan suggests they send a message ahead, and Remnii asks Zahgaa if he could deliver a missive to the group warning them of the bogstrogs. In return they would do whatever they could for the small creatures.
Samaara also suggests that creatures could bring the Ati-Kaso back as well. Remnii agrees it may be best to do both.
Flooo expresses that would be far more fleshlings than they had ever had before. Remnii mentions if they return here, they would only be present for perhaps two nights, if that. They had a deadline of their own to return to their clan.
Flooo mentions that, long ago, it was said that fleshlings like Remnii had showed them kindness and mercy. Long ago the creatures had been savage creatures cloaked in spears and leaves. It was not until the world began to die that the creatures truly lived. As the caps shaded them from the hot sun, they learned to live in harmony. So long ago, Remnii’s people could have wiped his people out, and they would not have been here to return the favor.
So they would open their village for them.
Flooo then tells Zahgaa to find the friends of Remnii and return them back. Zahgaa scoffs, some red pollen coming out of his mouth, but obeys.
Somewhere in there, Remnii picks up that they call themselves “sporelings.”
Remnii sits down to cast sending to the Ati-Kaso.
Meanwhile, Spinyl goes to a soft, violet pink sporeling with blue bioluminescence. They assign Spinyl to a large, spherical thing jutting out of the ground which has orange sacs in it. They explain the sacs are where the next generation is produced, and it’s very important to them.
The sporeling requests that Spinyl massage the sacs, as otherwise the sporelings inside will be born malnourished and weak. Remnii translates, struggling to keep a straight face.
Spinyl: “...honestly not the worst thing I’ve ever massaged.”
Spinyl flies up and starts to do so. It’s a strange sensation, almost like massaging an egg yolk. However, it’s kind of really gross. She might have lost her appetite.
The sporelings seem to be very happy and pleased by Spinyl’s work. 3:42
Sorak, meanwhile, is just resting. One sporeling comes up to him and offers him a small tonic. It smells similar to the flowers that Sorak had been collecting before the moss vines attacked.
Sorak makes a drinking gesture, and the sporeling pushes it into his hand. Sorak drinks it. It’s really, really spicy. Sorak uses absorb elements to reduce the spice, but one of his levels of exhaustion is removed.
Wintermaw, meanwhile, looks a bit perturbed as there is a sporeling spreading spores on his back. The sporeling then hops off, and Wintermaw shakes, sending the spores EVERYWHERE.
The sporelings seem to have wanted exactly that to happen, and they repeat the action.
Remnii sends the warning via Sending to Ahonan.
“Ahonan, parrdon. It's Remnii. Am Norrth with Restalan's daughterrs and party I left with. Sporrelings will be arriving with missive, stay away from shorreline. Dangerr!”
Ahonan responds, happy to hear her, but clearly tired. He acknowledges the warning.
The sporelings put Azgadaan to work pulling up large, squat mushrooms. He manages to get one, and the sporelings then gesture to 10 more they want help with.
They have Samaara helping to gather and find things, while Yrel is picking up stone-like, heavy seeds from nearby fungi. Phaedra is legitimately babysitting, as there are a number of small sporelings crawling all over her.
3:52
Samaara, at some point, comes back with the other scouts. The sporelings are panically talking, and Remnii casts tongues again. Samaara says there are a herd of dangerous predators migrating that will be passing by the village.
Floo looks at Remnii, saying it’s very bad. They are Fen Striders. In the distance, they can see the very tall creatures walking in the stream.
There are 10 of them.
Many sporelings are running about in a panic. They gather a bunch of rotten fruits and the like and try to set them up, while Flooo asks the fleshlings to try and distract them. He expresses he has seen them claim a great many sporelings in the past 7 years.
They show the group how to “activate” the rotten fruits by pulling out the core without crushing them. They need to be careful, otherwise the stench wouldn’t be strong enough.
They have about three minutes until the fen striders arrive.
Yrel and Spinyl double team, and Spinyl gets ready to airdrop several.
Azgadaan helps Sorak, and they are able to plant several in place, the pungent odor magnified.
Remnii pairs off with a sporeling scout. Remnii isn’t super good at it, but every little bit helps.
As the fen striders get closer, there is actually about a dozen of them. However, half of them leave, but the last six almost seem to be enraged by the stench and continue to move closer.
The fen strider in the lead shoots a lazer of acid at the group. Azgadaan gets a face full of the stuff, though Sorak was able to duck out of the way and used absorb elements. A second one points its lazer up a cliff, and it singes through one of the mushroom buildings up on top of it. Some of the remaining warriors proceed to flee from the damage to get back into better cover.
Wintermaw runs to the fen strider at the head, but the strider bats Wintermaw off with one of its tentacles. Sorak spins a crackling bolt of electricity in his hand that is vaguely in the shape of a hammer. He hurls it forward, and it slams into one of the fen striders, stunning and crackling with electricity.
Sorak was able to notice that the hammer itself, being a bludgeoning weapon, didn’t seem to do a lot, but everything else did.
Samaara fires a shot at the stunned fen strider, and then another one, and the stunned creature is riddled with arrows. Clear liquid starts to ooze from its body.
Another acid lazer goes searing across, and Remnii gets blasted while Samaara is able to duck mostly out of the way. Phaedra runs up to the fen strider trying to climb up the cliff, and knocks it prone, and it falls off the cliff.
Yrel heals Remnii with lay on hands.
Another lazer cuts through at Wintermaw and Sorak, but both of them duck out of the way. Wintermaw also dodges two blows by tentacles.
Spinyl casts Faerie Fire on the majority of the fen striders. Unfortunately, it only sticks on two of them. Remnii runs over and heals Azgadaan.
Azgadaan holds out his hand, and a bolt of lightning surges through several of the fen striders. One of them drops, dead.
Another fen strider approaches and grapples Sorak, the acidic nature of its tentacle biting into his armor. Wintermaw is also grappled, but it is unable to land a bite on Wintermaw.
Yrel charges in and blinks, reappearing in the center of several fen striders. She then begins whalloping them with her hammer.
Spinyl uses dissonant whispers on the far fen strider, and it immediately flees, circling around outside the camp in a different directly and effectively leaving combat.
Azgadaan goes and casts dragon’s breath on Wintermaw, and then attacks one of the fen striders with his pact weapon. The fenstrider drops Sorak.
Yrel and Phaedra duck under the fen strider’s attacks, and Remnii uses her channel divinity to heal Sorak and Wintermaw. She also uses flash of light on Samaara. Samaara then fires an arrow at one of the fen striders and it staggers backwards a bit.
Sorak watches as Wintermaw rears back, and his eyes glow blue for a moment before a gale of icy wind escapes his jaws, covering two of the fen striders.
One of the fen striders attacks Samaara, but she ducks out of the way of both attacks.
Another fen strider grapples Wintermaw, and the two fen striders seem to be fighting over the frostwolf. Another fen strider fires off its lazer at Azgadaan and Sorak. Both of them were singed, but it was not as bad as it could have been.
The fen strider continues to try and attack Samaara, and one blow misses, but the other clips her as it grapples her with a tentacle. However, it is unable to pull her in to bite her.
Sorak dives forward, and his eyes shift to black for a moment as he sheathes his weapon and grabs on to one of the fen strider’s tentacles. Shadowy energy washes through the creature, and it shrivels for a moment as it recoils. Samaara is dropped from the grapple.
Azgadaan slices into one of the fen striders he is fighting, and its tentacles fly off in every direction with an explosion as his booming blade eradicates it.
Remnii uses channel divinity again.
Another one of the fen striders whips around at Yrel, and several of its attacks hit as it grabs her in its tentacles. It drags her closer, and then bites. Yrel goes limp, and the fen strider then tries to leave with Yrel in its clutches.
Phaedra follows up on it, and lands a hit. The fen strider isn’t looking too good. Wintermaw tries to chase after the fen strider, snapping at its tentacles. Spinyl tries to hit its tentacle with an arrow, but misses, however Samaara manages to land the attack. However, Yrel isn’t dropped.
Phaedra tries to beat through one of the other fen striders in the way.
Sorak fires a poisoned dart at the creature he’s fighting, but it resists the poison.
Azgadaan runs off and kills the fen strider that is holding Yrel, and she drops to the ground.
Spinyl uses dissonant whispers on the last fen strider, and it starts to flee. Azgadaan hits a strong blow, rupturing a spore sac on it. It doesn’t look like it’s intending on stay.
Phaedra goes and stabilizes Yrel.
The last fen strider also flees.
5:04
The sporelings then start to pop out as the situation begins to resolve, and they start cheering. Flooo thanks them.
Remnii expresses she is glad they could help, but doesn’t think they could do that again. The sporelings fetch food and drinks for them, and they urge them all to rest. The sporelings will take any watches that night. They also shower them with gifts and the like.
Remnii starts a prayer of healing, and sleep comes easy to them.
July 20th
Early the next morning, Remnii is awake when the Ati-Kaso arrive. They are weary, and have heavy footfalls as they come, but she hears a few of them comment that it really is Remnii.
Ahonan greets Remnii, and they embrace. He examines Spinyl and Azgadaan cautiously, but doesn’t say anything.
Remnii goes around hugging all the Ati-Kaso.
