DivineDetritusTheQueenAndTheEgg

Navigation

This is a chapter in Book 2

Prev: Vanquish the Horrible Curse
Next: Fish and Scales

Summary

NPCs

Darius Kolphan

Darius is glad to be alive again. Some lingering memory tugs at him from his time in the afterlife, and he scrambles to write down what little he remembers.

Green Guide

The one guide who rebelled against Queen Califisteri's insanity is glad to see his Queen returned. She has blessed him with power and independence, and he is the only one of the Green Folk allowed to help Ventshi with rebuilding the monastery.

Gwaeriel

("Daughter of the Wind" in Elven)

The harpy egg hatched and Fi named the young creature after the elements itself. Fi asks Queen Califisteri to raise her in the ways of being a druid, and offers her a cloak to remind her of the elf who helped her live.

Queen Califisteri

Thanks to your efforts, the fey Queen of the Forest is now sane. Plus she can walk again, although she is still fond of the pet giant fly trap she used to ride. She offers to raise the newborn harpy.

Torrin , Mayor of Norrison

With the town withering away, he faces an important decision: abandon the town entirely, or preserve what little property remains? The party convinces him to keep the town alive, and promises trade will flow from Deonsy. Workers will travel from there to the Monastery of Red Vipers.

Ventshi

Ventshi was a snakeman before he was reincarnated into a kobold. He returns to the monastery to rebuild the Order of the Red Vipers. His distrust of Queen Califisteri is evident, but he tolerates the guide.

August 18, 1236 AD

After taking a nap, the party returns to the forest to meet the Green Folk. The forest is overflowing with life now that Baat's taint has been ruined. Maybe too much.

Save the Queen?

The guide who helped them is now overflowing with energy, clearly too much to handle. The queen is still dying, terribly weak, and the guide will burst if it cannot unleash this energy in a safe manner. The party decides to use Reval's Healing on the Queen, rejuvenating her. She turns around and rescues the Guide from bursting.

Queen Califisteri thanks the party profusely. She's glad they were able to stop her from hurting more, and she would have been satisfied if they had slain her or let her rot away. Instead they purified her and she's quite excited. She can even walk again, which she hasn't done in decades.

Reincarnate?

Ventshi and Darius's bodies have been preserved. The Queen offers to Reincarnate them on the spot and Restore 1 negative level. She has no control over what race their new bodies will be, though. If they reject her offer, the bodies have been protected from decay for 10 days. The party decides to keep Darius human, but Ventshi will have a new body.

After an hour long ritual, Ventshi emerges in his new body: a gold scaled kobold. He really doesn't trust the queen, but Vegeta convinces him to at least listen to her. She wants to help rebuild the monastery and needs to make new connections with the villagers. Ventshi admits he cannot do it alone and chooses to tolerate her.

The Harpy Egg

The Queen and the Green Folk are terrible at naming things. Fi should think up a name for the harpy, as it will hatch within hours. Queen Califisteri offers to raise the harpy in the party's stead. But she wants to know if she should raise it as a druid, ranger, or sorcerer.

Fi names the egg Gwaeriel ("Daughter of the Wind" in Elven)

Oh and Claire has a disease.

Also, Claire has several sores on her body. Turns out the swarm of botflies laid a bunch of eggs, and larvae are growing across her skin. Nidri nips that in the bud quickly.

August 21, 1236 AD

The party follows Ventshi to his monastery. It is messy, but the student's quarters makes a good rest spot. He feels he is not ready to take his master's room.

The next morning, the party decides to leave and check out Norrison. Darius's body remains preserved, but for how long?

August 24, 1236 AD

Reaching Norrison, the party sees the crops have definitely withered. Patrols have increased around the town. Fi notices that the town population has clearly dropped, with villagers making their way to Deonsy. Even the mayor is thinking about abandoning the town of his grandfather. The party decides to speak to the mayor and earn some good faith (besides they may be recognized in Deonsy.)

The main points they make:

• Explain Reziel the Pheonix had to die and be reborn to be free of his robotic control
• Explain Reziel left on his own afterward
• The forest is an essential trade route
• The forest is safe now that Baat has been defeated
• The monastery needs help rebuilding but will serve as a hub for caravans
• It will be tough, but it's worth rebuilding the city.

With that settled, the half-orc sisters bluntly lead the party to the gates. The party makes haste for Deonsy.

August 26, 1236 AD

The spirits of the night are calm. There are carrion birds near the cliff where you fought the harpies.

You reach the gates of Norrison and the guard opens them as soon as he sees Darius's body. He directs the party to the temple of Virton, where they may be able to get the reagents needed to revive him. The party sees several Dragon Breakers enjoy the fruits of their partnership with the East Ferren Trading Company.

The party sells their loot and chips in to help with Darius's return from the dead. As soon as he awakens, he begins writing down as many notes as he can. Some the party recognizes from Baat's castle, some notes claim to be from his discussions with Reval Kolphan. And some just seem like nonsense. Darius is glad to be alive.

The party decides to send an update to Melvin Mel, using one of the three sending crystals:

Vampire Lord blocked trade routes, now banished. Pheonix fled Norrison. Now restoring trade to cities around forest. Dragon Breakers partnership. Fisherman's Wharf is next.

To which Melvin Mel replies:

Excellent progress! Thank the vampire hunters. Shame about phoenix.

Never heard of Dragon Breakers, must be new.

Harvest Wharf office misses you.

August 29, 1236 AD

The Dragon Breakers are very interested in reopening trade routes. Not only is it good in general, but they'll get credited over those other loser groups.

Mayor Torrin of Norrison is also pleased- it means much needed commerce and trade routes will open up.

September 3, 1236 AD

At the monastery dedicated to the Order of Red Vipers, Ventshi the kobold continues his training with a few new recruits. He is also busy reinforcing the temple. He's rejected all of the Green Folk who have come to help except one- the guide who defied the queen's command.

September 6 1236 AD

The queen herself is doing well, and so is Gwaeriel. She warns the party of torrential rainfall that started recently near Fisherman's Wharf.

September 7, 1236 AD

At midnight, the party stops near the lake that used to surround Baat's castle. Darius takes some time to paint his family crest on one of the rocks and declare victory over the forces of evil.

September 10, 1236 AD

As the queen warned them, wind and rain have picked up considerably. Fi urges the party to seek shelter. As they approach a sawed-off tree some of the puddles of water emerge as elementals! The elementals are dispersed in short order but- where did they come from?

September 13, 1236 AD

The party exits the forest and reaches the outskirts of Fisherman's Wharf. They can see some ships, a few buildings and a large hill in the distance. They spot a sign up ahead that reads:

"This area is Selvaydon's domain! Intruders will be repelled!"

Handouts

• Chat Logs (Text Only)

Lessons Learned

We need downtime!

After 4 months doing nothing but fighting a vampire lord, I figured it was time to do some house cleaning, Make some important decisions and figure out where you are going next.