==Roll Call==
Childe Raymonde, Githyanki Paladin (Doty)
Bell, Kenku Cleric (CJ)
Blynce, Human-hybrid Fighter (Eric)
Vaal, Eladrin Rogue (Tim)
Bumi, Goblin Sorcerer (Matt)
Morgid, Hobgoblin Envoy (NPC)
To the Sanctuary of Albahith, Jigow Township
Greetings to the Masters of the Pilgrims, and hail to The Luxon:
Mission Report from Childe Raymonde (Part 6)
We were asked by the leader of the swamp village Urzin, Buff-All the 2nd, to escort his aide Morgid, who was being sent to Jigow town as an envoy to the Kryn Dynasty government. Morgid was being sent to give them the information we had found about the Dwendalian Empire's activities at the edge of the Brokenveil Marsh.
We set off east-ward through the desolation that lay between the swamp and Jigow. We noticed a sandstorm heading our way, a bad one. We hurried towards some nearby hills, seeking shelter. It was evening before the sandstorm subsided, and we decided to stay where we were for the night.
There were a couple narrow, small canyons in our vicinity, and we wanted to scout around a little bit before camping down. Blynce volunteered to be levitated to the top of a pinnacle, and he notices some odd stony proturberances in some sandy areas among the canyons, reminiscent of buried shark fins. He fired a test arrow at one of the areas -- a noticable tremor resulted?
We conjectured that there were abominable beasts hidden in the sand and proceeded carefully. Skirting the edge of one of the sandy areas, the goblin sorcerer Bumi lost his footing, rolling into the center of one of the sandy areas. Ant Lion!
The beast erupted from the sand, menacing our goblin friend. It grappled Bumi, hurting him grievously. Twisting free, Bumi climbed out of the shallow cone of sand that was the Ant Lion's lair. The Ant Lion threw a glob of sand at Bumi but missed. From his high vantage, Blynce shot the Ant Lion with an arrow, causing it to stumble in its pursuit of Bumi. Morgid pierced it with a thrown spear.
Vaal slashed it expertly with his rapier and stepped back out of the fray. The Ant Lion was looking ragged. I stepped forward to the attack but stumbled! I was now behind and below the thing, and used my divine smite on it, finishing it.
The remains of a previous victim were found, and we retrieved something that looked like the hilt of a rapier. Elvish writing on the hilt said "Sandstorm." Vaal thought he might be able to activate the thing given some time.
We regained the trail, and groaned to realize we had to pass another one of those Ant Lion lairs. We tried to use a rope to climb past it and only found ourselves next to a very large lair indeed. Avoiding that one, we found a sack laying on the ground, which Blynce retrieved. The sack contained an odd cactus-headed mace? Weird.
In trying to navigate out of the canyons, Blynce stumbled into yet another Ant Lion pit. It attacked! We returned the hostility, but began to hear digging…as if another Ant Lion were attempting to enter the combat area. Our fight raged back and forth … Blynce sometimes appeared to be in two places at once? (I must remember to ask him about this later.) When it was sorely wounded, it attempted to flee, but our Kenku cleric finished it off with the cactus mace. A menace to travelers was eliminated!
We found a chest nearby and grabbed it as we made our escape (other Ant Lions were approaching). We regained the main road once we cleared the canyons. The chest contained a golden cloak, adorned with cactus ornaments, and a thing that looked like a sword hilt made of quartz, with holes on either end….