Chapter XIV
in which wyvern steaks and condor eggs are promised but neither is to be had...
Previously (6/10):
traps the bandit, interrogate him and deliver him to Cadence.
pays for passage and protection to the people of Serosan. They go under the disguise of having interest in the traders' goods and pillar.
gets a good look of the colossal army from a distance.
Condors
After waking up from the centaur scout questioning the innkeeper, Rimi meets Glad and Krom outside their rooms, while Haas turns into a tiny lizard and crawls down to overhear the conversation. They talk about taking action or not, but decide it is better to leave the incident alone. After the decision is made, they see Haas return to her room and ask her what the conversation was about. It turns out they scout was inquiring about the group, why they are here and how long they will stay. Rimi informs the rest that Sovelus send back a message to ask how Cadence was taking the news. They send him back a message.
It was just 4 hours of sleep, but it will have to do. The group goes down to get a breakfast of wyvern eggs and chicken, which are surprisingly delicious. The innkeeper tells them that people in Serosan keep wyverns for meat and eggs, but the best meat comes from wild wyverns, who are hunted. The innkeeper himself used to be a wyvern hunter. When Haas inquires if there have been any messages for them, the innkeeper doesn't mention the centaur.
After breakfast Glad orders some baked goods and the group heads out to the market stalls outside the cavern gate. Almost all the stalls were empty. Centaurs marching for war means bad business. Haas bought jewelry of seals. Glad got some more information about seals and about the seal on his bow in particular. It turns out to be a bow for giant condor hunting. The condors are as big as 30 men and are hunted down by expert hunters. Their tears are medicine, their feathers very costly and their eggs are priceless. Again, Glad is interested in tasting a nice steak from this exotic animal. Unfortunately, no hunters are available for either condor or wyvern meat. Elias and Phrixus scan the wares for anything enchanted, but it seems that there is nothing worth mentioning.
When the group is done shopping they head over to the guards at the gate. They do not know anything about the request that was made the day before to see the pillar. A new request is issued. Though it seems like no outsiders would be allowed near, unless they can impress the guardians of the pillar. While Glad thinks it is a good idea to impress them by presenting them with condor feathers and eggs, Haas comes forth with the idea of reasoning with the condors. She has met rocs, giant birds that are attuned to the pillar of Poraxus, before. They are very intelligent and communicate through telepathy with other creatures. She made friends with them and tells how one of them lets her fly on his back. She received a feather as a gift. One of the guards agrees to ask a friend after his shifts ends to guide them to the condors.
Having some time to kill until the guide shows up, the group heads back to the inn, to find delicious boysenberry muffins waiting for them. Haas and Rimi use the time to train in sneaking and killing, using Glad as a training dummy to point out places to strike soft skins, much to his discomfort. As the rest of the group engages in conversation, Krom shakes his head and mumbles something to himself about the lack of sleep and alcohol withdrawal makes him see things. At the end of training something seems to catch Haas' eye. She stares up the roof and suddenly jumps up and climbs the inn. When she comes down, she drags a cat-like humanoid child down with her. He introduces himself as Ra'jira and has traveled with Elias and Haas in the past. He came here on foot, following griffins and wandering into the centaur camp. Although he was captured, the centaurs eventually let him go.
When Ra'jira finds out that Haas came to the city to study the pillar, he walks out of the inn, followed close by Haas. When he reaches the wall, the tries to climb the gate, only to be shooed away by an angry guard. When he returns, Haas offers him a cupcake. When he has to refuse of his diet, Haas helps him catch a mouse, which he devours live, in front of the group and the grossed out innkeeper.
Chasing centaurs
After the daughter of the innkeeper disposes of any leftovers of the mouse, the condor guide comes in to pick them up. He introduces himself as Hamud. The group explains that they would like to study and know more about the condors as well as stories and customs of the Serosan people. The scout asks if they have any horses to travel with, which Glad replies to with the great story of their magical flying raft. Which was supposed to be right there. And seems to be missing. Baffled by the fact that the raft has been stolen, especially because the Serosan laws are so strict about crime, Glad stomps off to the guards at the tower and demands to speak to someone of authority. The group continue to file their complaint while Haas and Ra'jira investigate the missing raft. Arrangements to have their condor watch another time are being made with Hamud, who agrees to take them tomorrow.
Haas finds hoof-prints and other signs of the raft being dragged away. She turns into a falcon and flies away to scout the area in the direction the prints lead to, to the centaur camp. After a while she spots the raft, carried by 4 centaurs in a steady pace. She flies back and forth to lead the group. The group however is trying to get other means of transportation to start a chase. A horse ranch is located not far away. About half a dozen horses are saddled and ready in front of the shop and more horses are grazing in the back. But when Glad confronts the man, it seems like all the horses are already reserved. All of them. None are available to them. Glad tries to get his way by intimidating him, but it soon becomes clear that the man has been visited before by far more intimidating individuals, insisting not to rent out any horses to the group. Concluding this will not lead anywhere Eieryn decides to take matters into her own hands. She uses her quasith to confuse the man. When the man is confused she impatiently tells him that they are here to pick up their reserved horses. And they will get them back at the time they have negotiated. The man seems to want to make some objections, but is too confused to argue. The group takes their chance and take the horses away quickly. Ra'jira jumps onto Elias' back when he sees them gallop past.
When Haas spots her companions, she lands on Krom's shoulder, conveying the information of what she has seen to him. Eieryn and Glad use their kinetic quasith to make the horses go faster, while Haas flies back and forth to tell them new information. The Centaurs have spotted them and stopped to engage them. Two are hiding behind a hill, while the other two are next to the raft. While galloping towards their destination, they make up a plan. Glad will make a bright lightning flash to blind their enemies while his companions shield their eyes. Haas will turn into a griffin and carry Rimi on her back towards the raft, while Glad and Eieryn use kinetic quasith again to pull the raft away from the enemy centaurs.
The plan works, maybe too good, as the raft is being yanked from it's position and propelled towards the group. Glad and Elias steady the raft, as Haas lowers Rimi onto the raft, where she can take control of it. The group flies away from the centaurs, but Ra'jira wanders off farther towards the centuars. Haas, still in griffin form, goes and retrieves him, and the centaurs attempt to capture her. She escapes with Ra'jira on her back, but she is shot in the leg with a centuar arrow in the process.
Upon reaching the Serosan cavern the group finds about a dozen centaurs waiting for them. Despite Glad's protests that we are under the protection of the Serosan, the centaurs fan out in an attacking stance and demand that the group goes with them. Instead, everyone quickly boards the raft and flees by flying straight up, and gets shot in the underside of the raft with a centaur arrow. Glad leaves a parting gift of one of his exploding arrows, which knocks one of the centaurs to the ground. The group decides to head back towards Cadence's camp.
On the way out of the Serosan they flag down another griffin rider and voice their displeasure with the "protection" they were promised. The griffin rider appears to have difficulty forming a response, so Haaszander requests that the rider escorts the group to the border. Perhaps he knows something else that he cannot tell us yet.
Post Game Summary
The group:
meets up with Ra'jira.
learn about giant Condor hunting and make arrangements to go see (and maybe hunt?) them.
have their magic hover raft stolen by 4 centaur scouts. They track them down, and take back their raft.
is set upon by a force of centaurs, and flees the scene.