The following morning, Cocamer tells the party that he has divined that the party can find the route to 🐲Judaxasis in a village up North. He sends the party on their way with some elven bread.
🧔♂️Harald, feeling better, joins the party despite a rasp to his voice.
Discussing the concept of the God of Hierarchy and the God of Money merging, the party encounters a small boy. 'You speak in the accent of the people across the sea!' he says. He invites the party to visit his village, introducing himself as Hlolo. He says the village needs help from heroes. He explains that they're a farming village, and their goats keep being eaten.
Hlolo leads the party into the village. In the central house is the village Bruja, a wizened old woman who greets them warmly, offering tea, biscuits, crumpets, strawberries, and boiled sweets. She explains that Chupacabra has only ever taken the occasional goat, but two weeks ago it started eating up to 5 a night.
😎Bori remembers that this was the same time the druids declared war on the Arcanum.
The Bruja is concerned that recent events might draw unwanted attention from the West. She explains that there's another continent to the West, inhabited by the empire of the Farrow.
The party helps out with the villages, and discuss religion, finding commonalities despite 🐰Faefina's fierce devotion to ☯Ila. Later that night, surrounded by the village goats, the party spots a giant hyena shaped beast. Just one of these Chupacabra would be no great, but 4 more appear, and then finally a sixth one, much larger than the rest, also slips into view. The goats scatter.
Faefina runs up to the largest beast, hitting it with her mace for 18Dmg. She then casts Spiritual Weapon, summoning a spectral mace, that misses the beast.
Harald runs up too, using his polearm, hitting once for 15Dmg.
The beast teleports behind Gronk, hitting Harald once for 22Dmg, poisoning him.
The beast then tries to hit Faefina, opening itself up to Harald for an attack of opportunity. Harald hits it for 17dmg.
The first small beast teleports besides it's larger peer, dealing 7dmg to Faefina.
The second, third, and fourth small beasts swarm the party, and the fifth attacks Bori but misses.
Gronk casts Chain Lightning on the largest beast, branching it for the first, second, and third smaller beasts too. The smaller beasts are fried with 47dmg, and the largest beast is shaken.
Bori, suffused with rage, seems to grow in size and charges towards the largest beast. The fourth smaller beast hits him on the way past for 14dmg.
Bori slams his fists against the larger beast twice, dealing 17dmg.
Faefina swings at the largest beast, dealing 19dmg. Her spiritual weapon misses again.
Harald hits the big beast and the fourth smaller beast, hitting both - the first for 17dmg, the other for 18dmg, slicing open ragged wounds.
The fourth smaller beast attacks Gronk but misses.
The fifth smaller one attacks Harald but misses.
The big beast throws back it's head and howls, dealing 36dmg to everyone and scaring the party of all of the beasts. It teleports a short distamce off, with one of the smaller beasts.
Having placved themselves in a line right in front of Gronk, Gronk seizes the opportunity, casting Wall of Fire right through them. The two smaller beasts are incinerated, and the largest is left reeling, suffused in fire.
Bori takes advantage of the break to calm his mind, and heal himself.
Faefina hits the beast, dealing 15dmg. Her spiritual weapon misses again.
Harald swings at the beast, barely scraping it but somehow hitting it for 18dmg.
The beast teleports out of the flames and next to Bori. It swings at Bori, hitting once for 16dmg and poisoning him.
Gronk surrounds the beast with a wall of fire, and it collapses to the grpund while a thick black smoke of smoking fur rises to the night sky.
The villagers, drawn by the commotion, celebrate the success. A particularly buxom and comely woman approaches Faefina, but is rejected. She approaches Harald and Gronk instead - Gronk offers to show her where Harald sleeps later that evening.
After a disrupted night, the party wakes in the morning to see hundred horsemen riding into the village, bearing the insignia of House Rodham. They insist that the party join them, as Lady Rodham has called to see them. Harald refuses, calling her a monster with blood on her hands.
The lead says that her priests have seen unsettling visions of them, and Lady Rodham insists on getting to the bottom of it. Faefina realises that Cocamer did say that this village was where the party would find the path to 🐲Judaxasis, and elects for the party to go.
The horsemen lead the party south for a league, finding themselves in Lady Hillaria's camp, where they find Lady Rodham in an exquisitely appointed tent. Harald barely manages to hold himself together.
Next to Lady Rodham is the 🎖Genial General, who greets them warmly and offers them danishes. Faefina sees Lady Hillaria in her white rabbit fur coat and jumps into Bori's coat.
Lady Rodham mentions the death of her clerics and asks what the party is doing. She asks also about the Fate Compass, which is being held by Judaxasis. In a rare flash of insight, Gronk remembers that the fate compass was being held by someone who said he worked with the Archmage, so Lady Hillaria doesn't know where the compass is.
She says she knows about the war between the 🌳Druid Enclave and the Arcanum, and could be a useful ally to the druids.
Gronk laughs, and tells her that she doesn't know where the fate compass is - it's really nin the hands of the Arcanum. Lady Rodham explodes in anger, but Gronk is firm that he has helped her. At this point, a man in purple robes enters the room.
Faefina screams that this is the man who destroyed her village, and launches herself at him.
Faefina casts Harm, dealing 50dmg. The purple robed man laughs as blood trickles out of his mouth.
'You know I could have stopped that Faefina. Are you lying to yourself still?'
Turning to the room, he says that Faefina invoked the darker aspect of Ila, and that killed her village.
He tells Hillaria that the party is of no more use but are under the protection of their oath of the hearth. Lady Hillaria says then that she will do nothing as she walks out of the tent, flanked by her bodyguards. The party realises that this is not her hearth, but that she is still breaking her oath.
Bori uses Step of the Wind to dash with Harald at Lady Rodham, blocking her exit.
Two wizards enter from the side, next to a tall handome man in a suit with very sharp nails. Behind the curtain, the party makes out a humanoid shape holding a staff in fron of him.
Faefina fires a poisoned arrow at the first bodyguard, dealing 5dmg and poisoning him. She casts Spirit Cloud to protect and help her attack as well.
Gronk casts Wall of Fire on the wizards to the side, dealing 30dmg.
The two bodyguards pull out their greatswords. The second points his hand at the first, healing him of his poison. They both hit Bori for 32dmg, which is partly deflected, dealing some dmg to the first bodyguard.
Harald takes 32dmng from the bodyguards.
The Wall of Fire dissipates suddenly. The first wizard fires three necrotic bolts at Gronk, hitting him twice for 15dmg.
The second wizard turns to Bori and Gronk, and thick large webs surround them but fail to restarin them.
The handsome sharp nailed man runs in front of Faefina, hitting her for 15dmg and holding her neck. He licks his lips.
Bori swings at the bodyguards and Lady Hillaria, hitting the bodyguards once each, and Lady Hillaria three times. The bodyguards are both pushed back 15ft, and Lady Hillaria crashes to the ground. The first bodyguard takes 11 dmg, the second 6, and Lady Hillaria 25dmg, knocking her out.
Harald walks up to the first bodyguard, hitting him once for 29dmg and stepping back. The bodyguard tells Harald that the wizard woman behind the curtain is their real enemy.
Faefina manages to break out of the sharp nailed man's grip, and swings her morningstar at him, hitting him for 19dmg. The man tries to force her to drop heer weapon, but she resists.
Gronk throws his necklace of fireball between the three wizards, deaing 54dmg. Behind the tent flap, the party can now see a feminine shape wearing a death mask. She does not seem harmed by the fireball. She commands the other two to fight. Gronk follows up with Synaptic static in the same sphere, dealing 28dmg. The wizard behind the curtain seems unaffected, but the two mages are battered.
The second bodyguard attacks Harald for 34dmg. Harald is able to riposte for 20dmg.
The first wizard, still confounded, hits Gronk for 25dmg, the second does the same for Bori.
The wizard behind the tent announces that the portal has been opened.
Bori rushes to Lady Hillaria and the guard helping her, hitting 5 times and toppling the second bodyguard and stunning him.
Harald tries to strike the guard but fluffs it.
Faefina casts Flame Strike on the two guards and Lady Hillaria, dealing 26dmg. Lady Hillaria and the first bodyguard are killed.
The wizardess, revealed as a lich, mutters to herself: 'I'm going to have to deal with House Clinton now'.
Gronk casts fireball on the guards and Lady Hillaria, killing all three of them. Gronk walks around the sharp nailed man, flanking him, and drinks a potion of Heroism.
The sharp nailed man turns to look at Gronk, and Gronk is Charmed. Walking past Gronk, he attacks Bori with his nails, missing him. he tries to bite Bori next, but misses that too. He steps back a few feet in dejection.
The first wizard blasts Faefina, Bori, and Gronk, dealing 31dmg.
The second wizard fires three arcane bolts at Harald, dealing 75dmg and felling him.
The second bodyguard swings at Bori, but Bori deflects his blow enough to kill him before being felled himself.
The sharp nailed man laughs at them.
The lich heads through the tent toward the first exit.
Faefina casts Mass Cure Wounds, healing the party for 29dmg.
Harald, still barely holding on, sees the [[Dread Maiden]], who offers to free him from this.
Gronk walks up to Harald and tries to stabilise him, failing to do so.
The Lich and sharp nailed man start walking off, followed by the last wizard as the tent has filled with smoke and flame.
Bori runs up to the vampire, kicking him three times and dealing 22dmg, stunning him.
Faefina, muttering to herself, casts Spare the Dead on Harald, stabilising him and bringing him back to 1hp.
She then casts Cure Wounds on him to heal 11dmg.
Gronk casts Synaptic Static on the retreating man and wizard, killing the wizard.
The sharp nailed man tries and fails to hit Bori before running out the tent. Bori takes advantage, dealing 10dmg.
Gronk takes advantage too, dealing 8.
Bori runs up to catch the vampire, hitting him 4 times for 40dmg, slamming him to the ground and smearing the head into the ground.
In a blink, there is a suddenly mist on the ground, but no body.
Faefina recognises that the vampire has two hours to find it's lair in mist form. She blasts it with Sacred Flame, but the mist somehow evades it and slips away.
The entire camp is now on fire, and the party decide to run off before any of the soldeirers notice.
On their way, they see a warrior tribe lead by a warrior chieftess and handsome chief in a cowboy hat, who winks at them and says 'Hello'.
Party gets 10800XP ea.