Chapter 5

Trouble in Paradise

Forced to lay low to avoid the alien invasion in Grey Hawk, the party explores the animal paradise of The Beastlands. Meanwhile, they begin to have strange interactions with the Astral Orb and party members begin to pop in and out of existence, seemingly at random. After an initial confrontation they make allies with Duuza the giant ape, Trisfina the elven ranger, and Romper the Grey Render. They learn of a group called The Vile Hunt that has been poaching petitioner spirits like their friend Clarence, and come face-to-face with a hunter who nearly kills the party in a tense encounter. After hunting for ingredients amongst the mystical flora and fauna of the Beastlands, the party takes on Grund Razorclaw and his band of orc raiders whose druidic powers have awakened here. Mirroring the original assault on Aired Helelar's village, they trick the orcs into getting drunk on poisoned ale, then assault their fort while the guards are distracted. With the orcs dead Clarence returns to send the party back to Faerun, but is grievously wounded by a Vile Hunter. The party heals Clarence, defeats the hunters, and acquires their weapons and map, but decide to head back home to regroup.

Session 23

Beastlands, Day 1 (unknown date)

The party woke up in the tree in The Beastlands to find Rip missing, but his gear and bedroll were still there
Breathing the damp jungle air the party felt wildly alive and connected to nature, everyone but Wrenn Lingenhall embraced this feeling
As they descended the tree they saw a baby gorilla eating termites off of a stick being manipulated with Mage Hand
When Cock approached he spooked it and an adult ape ran in to defend it
Defending themselves the party injured the gorilla, then a ten-foot-tall giant ape appeared and clashed with the party, using spells as well as its colossal strength to fight
Wrenn killed an ape and Aired Helelar finally wrestled the giant beast to the ground with a chokehold
As they subdued the ape a huge grey monster rushed Aired down and defended the unconscious gorilla
A small elven woman stepped into the clearing, revealing herself as her chameleon-like skin shifted into view, holding an ornate bow aimed at the group
Locking eyes with Aired, she lowered her weapon and called out to him, introducing herself as Trisfina, the sister of Aired's friend who died in the village assault years ago
She explained that she had fled the village during the orcish assault led by Grund Razorclaw several decades ago, and was pursued by orcs until she hid inside a glowing tree, which turned out to be the same portal to the Beastlands the party had just used
With tensions somewhat diffused the party lowered their weapons and the giant ape righted himself and complimented Aired on his wrestling skills, then introduced himself as Duuza, a petitioner like Clarence
Duuza was leader of the gorilla tribe, and had attacked when he saw Cock's gun, which resembled the weapons used by the Vile Hunt, an evil organization that has been killing all of the talking animals in the Beastlands
Trisfina introduced her companion, the Grey Render known as Romper, who had been a trained hunting animal of the Vile Hunt before she helped him escape
Duuza and Trisfina offered the party help in getting back to the Material Plane if they did something to dislodge the Vile Hunt from their camp to the south
When the party mentioned Clarence and the fact that the very orcs that killed Trisfina's sister were here in the Beastlands, she pledged to help Aired bring them to justice
Wrenn found themselves overcome with a strange feeling, they dropped to their knuckles and found thick black fur sprouting from their arms as they began to transform into a gorilla, a curse imparted by the Beastlands on anyone who slays an animal here
In a solemn ceremony Wrenn ate some of the dead gorilla's flesh, indicating that the kill had not just been for sport but as part of a hunt for survival, and the natural curse began to dissolve, allowing them to revert to their gnomish form
Romper gobbled up the rest of the corpse in a single bite, showing his terrifying maw but enjoying belly rubs from Trisfina afterwards

Session 24

Beastlands, Day 1 (unknown date)

The party went with Trisfina to scout out the orc's fort from a tall tree nearby
Watched as the orcs performed inhuman feats of strength to clearcut the forest near their fort, clearly their power had grown upon reaching The Beastlands
Aired Helelar attempted to crawn out through the savanna to track two orcs that were dragging a captured lioness back to their fort
He was spotted and the two orcs, one with large horns and the other with massive claws, attacked him with new physical and magical abilities, and he was narrowly able to escape with his life
The party strategized how to attack the fort and Feannag MacDamhan had the idea to smoke them out with some sort of stink bomb
Trisfina informed them about magically-enhanced skunks in the forest to the north where they might be able to harvest components for these bombs, but told them not to cross the river under any circumstances
They ventured up into the forest and found the skunk burrows, then flushed them out of the dens with the Endless Decanter
Fought and killed the skunks after being sprayed with various effects
Successfully harvested three glands and made bombs out of them
Short Rest

Session 25

Beastlands, Day 1 (unknown date)

On the way back to the orc fort the party heard a loud gunshot and an eagle fell out of the sky in a clearing in front of them
A moment later a large bald man with a scarred face stepped into the clearing carrying an evil-looking rifle on his shoulder
He was rude and racist towards the party, telling them to step aside so he could collect his prey
Feannag MacDamhan didn't let him finish, instead firing a crossbow bolt into the man's shoulder
The man seemed amused but when a second bolt struck him he got angry and returned fire, nearly killing Nira in a single shot
His attempted stealth was foiled by the party's perception, but he continued to take out heroes each turn
A large parrot attacked Aired Helelar, seeming to aid the hunter, but Aired caught it and knocked it unconscious
Using the hunter's pet as a bargaining chip and smoke bombs for cover the party paused the fight just as the hunter held Cock at the end of his gun
They tried to parley for Cock's life but the hunter demanded they surrender some of their magical items along with his parrot and the dying eagle

Session 26

Beastlands, Day 1 (unknown date)

The Vile Hunter held Cock at gunpoint and demanded the surrender of his billowing cape, but Cock foolishly refused
Everyone leapt into action as he pulled the trigger with the gun an inch from Cock's head, but they were late in tackling him
Using sleight of hand he triggered one of Feannag MacDamhan's smoke bombs and used the distraction to escape along with the eagle
When the smoke cleared the hunter was gone and Cock was miraculously alive, having been saved by his Lucky Cowpoke Hat, that now lay in tatters on the ground
The party trekked back to their lookout camp by the orcs' fort, left with only a single smoke bomb from the skunks they had harvested
Trisfina was pleasantly surprised they survived an encounter with a vile hunter
The party hatched a new plan to take out the orcs by tricking them into drinking poisoned ale, the one thing they couldn't resist
Trisfina informed them about an area to the west that was infested with a neuro-toxic fungus which was incredibly dangerous but would definitely be strong enough to overcome an orc's natural poison resistance
She warned them that the animals in the area had formed a symbiotic relationship with the fungus and had become toxic themselves, and that she had no interest in entering the area, but could lead them to it
The party split up to prep for the plan, Aired Helelar and Feannag went with Trisfina to collect the poison, Wrenn Lingenhall began crafting a barrel, and Nira set to work on disguises
Trekking 3 hours west through the jungle they reached a desolate rocky outcropping about a mile across where the only life was a sickly blue-green fungal bed covering every surface
No life from the teeming jungle went near it and when a bird flew overhead it was snatched by a wicked-looking tentacle from within the rocks
Feannag and Aired stealthed in, sneaking around patches of fungus until Aired found the spore bulb they needed
He nimbly snatched it with the some acrobatics and the help of his eldritch claw tattoo, but fell into the fungus when he landed
This alerted a nearby fungal beast that attacked with pseudopods and spore clouds
Feeling threatened without the support of their more magically-inclined party members, the pair fled, barely making it to the edge of the jungle before Trisfina drove the beast away with a rockslide caused by a well-placed arrow
They went back to camp and prepared the poisoned ale, but Feannag inhaled some spores in the process
Long Rest

Session 27

Beastlands, Day 2 (unknown date)

Nira and Feannag MacDamhan disguised themselves, Cock went invisible, and they brought the poisoned keg of beer to the orcs' fort posing as traveling merchants from a micro-brewery who were lost in The Beastlands
They haggled with Grund Razorclaw over the price of the beer, and when they accepted Cock snuck through the gates along with the barrel
Grund told one orc to keep watch while the rest broke into the keg raucously
They set up a fight between an emaciated lion and an enraged silverback gorilla in a primitive fighting pit and watched as they drank and drunkenly shouted at the animals
Cock snuck a mug of ale up to the guard on watch and tricked him into drinking it, then waited for it to take effect
After a few minutes the fight ended and the orcs went to the cages to collect more victimized animals, but a few of them collapsed as the neurotoxins took effect on most of them
Cock used Skywrite to call in the party
Feannag arrived first, sneaking in over the wall and went toe-to-toe with the strongest of the powered-up orcs after a brutal sneak attack weakened it
Cock began to blast away at the orcs, taking out a few in their weakened state, but Grund shrugged off the poison and charged him
Aired Helelar arrived next, scaling the wall, finished off the poisoned guard with the help of Wrenn Lingenhall's Spiritual Weapon, and opened the gate for everyone else
Feannag and Aired, feeling the effects of their contact with the neurotoxins, found themselves unable to perceive pain, so when Grund buried his axe deep in Aired's shoulder he barely felt it until the blood loss knocked him unconscious
The party, along with Romper and Trisfina, closed in on Grund and just as he felled Aired, Cock put a bullet in the back of his head
Exhausted and satisfied with their victory once Aired was revived, the party took a short rest and collected the spoils from the captured fort
Trisfina freed the remaining animal captives and Romper was discouraged from feasting on the poisoned orc bodies
A few hours later they heard the telltale clip-clop of hooves as Clarence approached, then a deafening gunshot from nearby

Session 28

Beastlands, Day 2 (unknown date)

After hearing the ominous gunshot the party ran up onto the makeshift rampart to see a spray of blood behind Clarence as he dragged himself behind a rocky outcropping in the savanna
Rip, Wrenn Lingenhall, and Nira went to go save Clarence while Romper, Feannag MacDamhan, and Cock went around the back of the fort to try to flank the hunters
Romper tossed Trisfina up into a tree to get a good sniping position, but she fell badly
Wrenn and Rip used invisibility to cross the open field, but were still detected and shot at, nearly killing Wrenn instantly
Nira created decoy horses to draw attention away and succeeded in distracting another Gray Render sent by the hunters to retrieve their kill
Wrenn healed Clarence and rode with Rip back to the safety of the fort where they slammed the gates and rained attacks down on the gray render to drive it off
Meanwhile Feannag and Cock found the hunters' packs and sent Romper up into the tree to attack them
An elven woman fell out of the tree and Feannag made quick work of disarming and tying her up, but Romper's ferocity had her teetering on the edge of death
Cock scared the other hunter, the same scarred bald man from their previous encounter, and he fell out of the tree where he too was disarmed, but he managed to get away into the jungle
Feannag tried to interrogate the dying elf but they didn't speak the same language so she died in his hands as he withheld healing potions from her
They raided the hunters' packs for supplies, potions, ammo, an a map of The Beastlands, and Cock absorbed the dead hunter's gun, confirming it to be connected to his in some way
Used the sending stones to contact Alduin Silversmite who was thrilled to hear from them and told them to come back to town soon
Long Rest
Level Up (5->6)