Session 4

(Insert session of dickering about with old wood and being clueless about ruins. Not worth logging.)

Session 5

The party returned to the Sunchaser to oversee progress on repairs. Everyone set about to their own relaxing activities. Trance sneaked close enough to the kenku family to realize these were not prey creatures, then went to sulk in her box. Sylas examined the ring prized off the corpse of the slaver captain, and determined its magical uses. Mischief tinkered happily (I forget what she made, please insert here). Alarac stood about on the top deck, supervising work being done by the underlings. (I forget what Umi and Helena were doing, please add)

A night was spent in deep rest.

It was decided the next morning that the cargo needed to be moved out of the ship to progress repair. The minotaur (Henry? Hendrick? It starts with an H) unknowingly carried Trance's crate out with everything else, and she woke with a start and much swearing. She heard Sylas' pep talk to the workers, trying to boost morale, and felt she could help. In the face of uncertainty, she offered to do a reading from the Deck of Trees. Sylas accepted, and cut the deck. The cards drawn were the Mirror, the Wheel, and the Stag. The answer to this Mirage was right in front of him, as clear as his own reflection. There was much labor to be done that would take much time. And the last card warned of something on the island that was ancient and deadly, but not necessarily evil. "We are infection, here. It does not want us. We do not belong." Basically, a warning to tread lightly. Which Trance absolutely did not do. She is bad at taking her own advice.

The party decided to head southeast toward another copse of trees. The tops of these trees were inhabited by vulture-looking birds with massive nests. Trance immediately drew her bow and knocked an arrow, but Sylas put a hand on it and lowered her aim. "Tread lightly, remember?"

"But… bird. Prey."

Everyone agreed that the birds were unappetizing, anyway, and no one knew what would happen if they were provoked. Trance relented, belly rumbling.

One of the birds stood upright and flapped its wings, revealing that it was four feet in height, and bigger than expected. It was agreed that this copse of trees should be avoided henceforth.

There was another copse of trees on the horizon, green visible, so the party sallied forth in that direction. Upon reaching it, the trilling of insects was heard.. they could see some of these crawling sluggishly on the trunks of trees, 5-6 inches in length, resembling cicadas. Trance's eyes grew large, pupils dilating, butt wiggling. Before anyone could stop her, she pounced on one of the bugs and struggled with it under her paws. She then nipped its head off with a satisfying crunch, to the disgust of everyone else. Sylas reprimanded her again, and she apologized, offering him a bite. He declined, leaving her to her snack, shaking his head. He began discussing the location with the rest of the party when Trance interrupted, asking Helena if she might be permitted to forage for useful plants. Helena gave permission, and Trance disappeared into the sparse underbrush. The rest of the party looked to Alarac, the resident wood expert, to determine if the trees were viable resources. Many of them appeared to be dead, but many were green-needled pines perfect for repairs.

Trance failed to find useful herbs, but returned with a small sack full of blue-red swirled berries that had a crunch similar to fresh cranberries, but had a sweetly exotic flavor similar to passionfruit. These were shared among the group, who nibbled a few of them with gusto.

Further ahead, there was a hill that looked to be a good vantage point, and the party decided to travel onward. An hour's journey from the pine copse, Trance noticed some curious furrows in the fine desert gravel. She dropped to all fours to sniff, drag her hands through, and closely examine them. They were tracks of something large. Her kitty-senses were triggered, causing her to hop in place, tail poofing, ears flat. She instinctively leapt onto Alarac's shoulders, alarmed.

"Something big! We need to leave! Now!"

Before anyone could react, the gravel rumbled, and a bulette erupted from under them, slashing at Helena and Sylas, and pinning Umi under its immense weight. Just before Umi was crushed, however, Sylas instinctively cast a radiant shield between it and her, barely saving her life. He then cast fracture sprint, creating illusory copies of himself behind him as he ran. These confused the bulette as the rest of the party attacked it from all sides. Trance leaped down long enough to apply a potent balm to Umi, healing her enough to allow her to drag herself further away from the monster. Trance returned to the highest point, but, in the tumult, she fell from Alarac's shoulders and scrambled into some dry bushes. Every arrow she loosed and every bullet Mischief fired ricocheted off its tough carapace. The bulette then dove beneath the gravel, and the party spread out. Umi was further healed by Alarac and Sylas, enough to retreat to some rocks nearby. When the bulette resurfaced, it loomed over a stunned Trance, and crushed the small tabaxi beneath its massive claws. She was knocked unconscious. Alarac rushed to her while the rest of the party attacked and distracted the monster. As soon as the claw was off her, Alarac dragged her to safety and healed her enough to regain consciousness. She coughed and wheezed, but thanked him in her native tongue.

Sylas continued his duplication act, and transported Mischief and himself, swapping places to further confound the creature. Umi fired blasts of frost and ice at the thing, driving it back beneath the gravel, but dragging Alarac with it. He only sunk to his chest before it let him go, and he was able to scramble back out. Both Umi and Trance climbed a tall rock, licking their wounds in the momentary calm. Tension stretched as they waited for the beast to resurface. When it did, all hell rained down upon it, bullets and ice, blades and arrows, cracking its scales and slowing it with poison. They felled the vicious bulette, but it pinned Alarac beneath its corpse. Sylas and Helena shoved it off him, and he seemed relatively unscathed.

Trance climbed somberly down from the rock, padding to the dead creature, placing a hand to its head and murmuring a prayer. This was not really an apology, but a promise that its body and sacrifice would be respected and used according to the laws of nature. With that, she and Alarac set to butchering it as best they could with what time they had. Umi and Alarac had sizeable pieces of chitin, and Trance had a nice sheet of rich muscle that Umi rolled like a rug for transport.

Trance thanked Alarac for saving her life again, offering one of her health potions in gratitude.

Guncat slept through ALL of this.

The party continued onward to the hill under the sweltering sun. The heat hit Trance hardest, as she was coated in fur. She panted miserably. Umi saw this and took pity on her, breathing frosty breath on her to keep her cool. Trance sidled up to her, rubbing against her cool side and purring.

They arrived at the hill, where they made camp. Umi and Mischief climbed higher to scout the land while Trance built a fire, and proceeded to season and cook the sheet of bulette meat. During this process, Alarac discovered Trance could magically summon fire, and they set small fires and extinguished them for fun.

The scouting party saw a vast landscape of rock spires and shipwrecks, some of which looked new enough to be salvaged for wood and metal. Their biggest concern laid to rest, they returned to camp. On the way, Mischief smelled a horrible scent, while Umi detected a delectable aroma. The cooked bulette meat was appetizing to the beastrace members of the party, but repulsive to everyone else, so Umi, Alarac, and Trance filled their bellies.

Bedrolls unfurled and hammocks strung, the party settled down for another night's sleep.