Ruins of an Empire, Session 2: Macros & Scion

Meanwhile in Elkridge, the members of GoHAC gathered for breakfast in the large yet comfortable farmhouse kitchen and discussed the events of the previous evening. Jym and Mongo were the first to the table. Lethe came down sleepy-eyed and told them that Dawn would be sleeping in. Rael had not shown himself yet. Mongo complained about not getting a reward for saving the farmers from the warwing drakes. Jym was more concerned about collecting their fee from Marvos. They decided to go in search of payment as soon as they had finished their morning meals.

A pair of road weary travelers were just now coming into Elkridge. Scion, an elven woman and archer, and Macros, a tiefling man and paladin, were traveling together and looking forward to seeing the famous Last Harvest Festival in Elkridge they'd heard so much about. They were disappointed to see that the festival appeared to be canceled, since they could see no signs of decorations or revelers. In fact, the village seemed almost deserted and many of the houses were boarded up. Finally near the village center they saw figures gathered in discussion and approached.

Jym, Mongo, and Lethe had just started looking for Marvos when a stout looking farmer pulling a cart stopped in front of them and greeted them warmly. "I'm farmer Bumpkin, I own the biggest pumpkin farm on the edge of the village", he introduced himself, "and you folks saved my family yesterday. I'd like to offer you this here reward" and he gestured toward the goods in the cart. "My wife was up early this mornin' and baked this here pie for y'all", he explained as he handed over a massive steaming pumpkin pie to Jym. Next he pointed out a cask of pumpkin ale marked "Bumpkin's Private Reserve". "That's the good stuff right there". Also in the cart were five bottles of faerie berry wine, jewelry worth 50gp, and a small wooden box containing 25gp and 250sp.

Bumpkin continued, "This was all I could gather between me an' the other families y'all helped yesterday. The rest o' them ain't so generous see'ins how they've lost friends an' family to them damned drakes. I might'n be able to convince some o' them to contribute if'n y'all promise to go deal with the drake problem. They'll need some sort o' proof though. I'd keep my eyes open if'n you go out in the woods." Jym didn't promise anything, but the farmer thanked GoHAC for their time and help anyway and then left them with the cart.

At this time Macros and Scion approached the group and made their introductions. They asked what was going on in the village and Jym brought them up to date while sharing a piece of pumpkin pie. Marvos, the historian, finally made an entrance, looking red-eyed and disheveled having spent the entire night up examining and cataloging the first of the dragon bones recovered from the dig site. Despite his exhaustion he appeared to be full of barely contained excitement. His first order of business was to pay GoHAC for their services rendered the previous evening at the dig site. He produced a bag of coins and handed it over to Jym, "This is 500 gold, the money I would have spent on a month of wages for the farmers who were helping at the dig site. In the short time the necromancer held the site his undead minions managed to dig out most of the bones! So in retrospect they sort of did me a favor. Anyway, you earned this and if I don't spend it this season my budget would get reduced."

Marvos then asked the group if they'd be willing to do another job for him that could be quite dangerous, but also quite lucrative. Jym remarked that his group was currently down a couple members, however if Macros and Scion were willing to join them then GoHAC would be able to take the job. Macros and Scion signed up and then the group followed Marvos back to a large barn he was renting to learn about the job.

Inside the barn many labeled dragon bones lay in crates filled with straw. Benches and work desks lined the walls covered with books and papers. Near the back was a desk and a heavy looking metal chest. Marvos donned a pair of heavy leather gloves and apron before opening the chest and pulling out two chunks of glowing crystal. Scion could detect a strong aura of magic coming from the crystals, but could not pin-point its effect. Marvos began to demonstrate and lecture about the crystals. The smaller of the two chunks was drawn across the desk toward the larger piece, exhibiting a magnetic quality. Marvos explained that he had found these crystals buried along with the bones at the site. He hypothesized that these "dragon stones" or "chaos crystals" may have been shards of the power source that kept the citadel of Ustraternes afloat.

The stones are very rare and highly valued for the curious byproduct they make, raw residuum. However, they also cause chaotic mutations to anything left in contact with them for long periods of time. Marvos suspected that there were more pieces of this curious material all around Wyvern Mountain and wanted to collect as much of it as possible. He figured they'd be surrounded by dangerous mutated animals and plants, so needed capable adventurers to help recover them. To help with that task, Marvos felt he could construct a kind of lodestone or compass if given some time.

GoHAC negotiated terms, recovering the shards in return for significant compensation and possibly a single dragon tooth as a trophy, and then waited for Marvos to construct his compass. Marvos made a curious gyroscopic device with the smaller of the crystals suspended in the middle that would swivel and point in the direction of the closest detectable chaos shard. He also provided GoHAC with a loaner bag of holding to place any shards in, which would shield them from the compass so as to not interfere with the device. His own large chunk was carefully shielded as well.

The adventurers headed out into the wilderness, following their curious compass in the general direction of Wyvern Mountain. Scion steered the group around natural hazards that the direct path would have led them through. Eventually the party entered a wooded area that had signs of being a regularly used hunting ground. As they passed through, a pack of hyenas burst out of the underbrush and ambushed the party. Scion noticed a furry humanoid figure lurking in the trees and carrying a bow. After the hyenas had closed with the party the figure stepped out of the trees and fired its bow at Macros, driving an arrow almost completely through his shoulder. Scion used her knowledge of nature to identify the archer as a gnoll, an cunning creature with a passing resemblance to a cross between a hyena and a human.

Scion used her twin-strike ability to pepper the archer and his hyena pack with arrows. Mongo daringly charged into the hyena pack, slashing and vaulting over their fallen bodies. Lethe and Jym fought back to back. Macros charged the gnoll, striking him valiantly. The gnoll to dropped his bow and drew an axe then cut Macros, bloodying him. The hyenas were dispatched quickly and Mongo rushed to Macros's aid. When Mongo struck the gnoll it dropped its weapons and surrendered crying, "No, don't kill Snarl!"

Mongo and Macros intimidated "Snarl" until he answered their questions. Snarl told them that he had thought they were just "delicious soft pink villagers", but villagers rarely came out this far. When asked if he'd seen any strange plants or giant mutated animals, Snarl's ears perked up and he said, "Yes, yes! Giant ants and sickly dragon-bat things." He agreed to lead the party to where he last saw these things. Along the way they passed the fresh corpse of a warwing drake. This one was covered in blisters and pustules oozing a glistening substance. The corpse was curiously devoid of scavengers or feasting insects. Snarl told them they were getting close to the "dragon-bat" nest now.

At the base of the mountain they approached a steeply sided crater-like formation. A cave entrance pierced the side of the crater wall, the slope leading up to which was covered by small boulders and scree. Snarl pointed toward the cave entrance and said that the giant ants come from there and that the drakes nest inside the crater. The party decided to force Snarl to come with them into the caves as an extra fighter.

Inside was a bendy passage leading gently downward. The compass confirmed that another chaos stone was somewhere nearby. As they reached a bend in the passage, Lethe heard the sound of buzzing wings coming from the cave entrance behind the party. When he turned back to look he could see the forms of giant winged ants silhouetted in the opening and crawling workers ants behind them. Snarl called out in alarm from the front of the group as he spied a group of warrior and worker ants closing in on the group from the front. They were surrounded.

The party was outnumbered more than 3-to-1 as more ants came swarming into the passage. Snarl defended himself from the ants using bow and axe. Macros and Mongo surged to the front of the group, protecting Snarl and assaulting the tougher warrior ants. The warrior ants thrashed about in a frenzy, slashing and piercing them with sharp mandibles and pincers. The winged drones flitted about the battle field, stinging Jym, Lethe and Scion with their acidic stingers. The worker ants tried to surround their combatants and support the warriors and drones. Scion and Snarl focused their attacks on the workers, easily thinning their numbers. When the drones were heavily damaged they shredded their wings, flinging damaging debris in an area burst around them, but Jym shielded his companions from the worst of it.

When the battle ended, the passage was filled with the stiffening corpses of ants. Their bodies were dusted with a shimmering substance, possibly raw residuum. Mongo cut out the acidic stingers from the drones and put them in his sack along with his growing collection of strange animal parts.