Into the Green, Part 2

The Party: Arcturius-9, Corwen, Farrow, Khonshu

The night passed with the adventurers taking turns on watch. The deep forest was filled with moving creatures but the party was left alone to their own reminiscences. In the morning, they found Arcturius-9 once again in droid form, and Farrow made a net leash to pull him along.

A break in the trees revealed a field of grass with giant dragonflies fluttering from spot to spot. Across the field, the group spotted some rustling foliage. Farrow’s drone discovered a pack of velociraptors, something between a flightless bird and a reptile, tall as a man. A warning shot scared most of them off, but two sprinted in the direction of the party’s hiding place. Khonshu conjured a flame to scare them into other directions.

They found the aid came from two frog men in the trees. The grippli introduced themselves through a croaking language Khonshu could comprehend through his helm but not speak. They invited the group back to their tree village to recover. A feast of fruits and giant insects was served as they attempted to communicate. Eventually they met with an elder shaman grippli who spoke common. He told the party about the dangers of the Green, many of which they had already seen. They called the random mutating power that affected outlanders Legacies and showed them how to meditate to recover from their effects. Spellcasters could channel the font of energy to power their spells, though doing so defiled the area around them, leaving it barren. Such channeling also affected their physical and mental wellbeing.

They spoke of their deity Ka who was a dinosaur who grew so large it became a god. Ka protected and collected life that was on the verge of extinction to preserve them. They called the lizardmen in the Green the Defilers of Ka who sought ritual sacrifices of large creatures to channel the power of the land.

Unable to provide information on the splinter engine, the grippli did recognize the waterfall on the painting the party had. They said the painting at one time belonged to outlander elven traders they had met. On their way off, the first two grippli they met gifted Corwen with five sleeping arrows. He returned a gift of a magic walloping arrow.

Carefully passing through the waterway they found behind the falls, a cavern surrounded by high rock walls appeared. Old stone steps and other ruins stood around a pool of water. Some areas seemed to be dust and ash slowly being reclaimed. They saw what looked like a desiccated body on the other side of the pool. Farrow’s drone confirmed in was a humanoid, but the head seemed misshapen, the arms twisted, the legs missing. Investigating closer, Farrow found a crippled shape gasping for air. Its mouth overwhelmed the space where its face should have been. It talked to them with a dry voice, asking if they had returned with his treasure, the painting he wished to see one more time. Taken in by its piteous plea, they showed it the painting. When it had the scroll in its grasp, its aspect changed into a maniacal laugh and it summoned an area of oily tentacles to restrain some of the party.

The mutations flowed into them again as they fought to get free. Corwen fired off some arrows as Khonshu, Mule, and Farrow attacked closer. The creature was now levitating and turned invisible with an incantation. The party had no way of knowing its exact location and relied on attempting faerie fire spells, thrown rocks, and splashed water to try to find an indication. Eventually, they directed the Arcturius-9 droid into a blind charge and somehow struck the creature. Still unseen, it fled and a shadow demon emerged from the stones. At this point, Arcturius-9 transformed back to life and joined the fray, wielding his magic javelin. The party’s combined might tore the shadow apart, but the dried creature reappeared to conjure a cloud of poisonous vapours, harming Farrow, Corwen, and Khonshu. Seeing his chance, Arcturius-9 dropped the javelin and charged in to land numerous heavy sword blows. Corwen’s arrows and Khonshu’s magically catapulting stones finished it off before more damage could be done.

Getting back on track, Arcturius-9 led them into the mountain pass to a valley where he could see the outline of the cloaked splinter engine. After some discussion, the group decided to approach openly to negotiate. They were met with a welcoming party, some of which were familiar to Farrow. Eventually being let onto the ship to talk, a determined negotiation resulted in several terms being agreed to.

• The splinter group would return the Enigma of Combination to Lanternwurm.

• Any residents that were taken on the splinter engine unwillingly would be released.

• There would be a peace between the splinter engine and Lanternwurm, but the splinter engine would be left alone and not followed anymore.

However, they now found themselves with nearly a hundred Lanternwurm residents still in the Green.