The night before reaching Fort Beluarian, tensions rise as Carnivore makes an unwelcome advance on Saefa, who firmly rebuffs him.
Upon arrival at the fort, the group debates their approach, focusing on the safety of the baby they just rescued, which they name Tiny Timmy, and their cover story. They decide Chos will pose as Timmy’s dad to avoid Timmy being deported to the slave city of Zoqoi. Inside the fort, they unsuccessfully attempt to bypass charter fees with the second in command there, the dragonborn, Gruta Halsdottir and reluctantly agree to pay for it a few hours later.
The party splits to gather information. Carnivore seeks out the dinosaur master; Chos and Ellie consult Shilau at the temple of Helme, where they learn of Fyonghan’s estrangement with Crag because he left for Omu and the Soulmonger without buying a charter. According to Shilau, the nearby shipwreck was probably pirates. Meanwhile, Sophi, Saefa, and Avilos fail to secure a free charter from Crag but gather bits about local pirates.
Lacking most of the money they promised to pay for the charter, the group schemes to fleece drunk guards with a mix of fried piranha, entertainment, gambling, bear wrestling, and magic buffs, and successfully secure the funds.
With the money earned, Avilos buys a tent for Carnivore at the bazaar while Chos buys clothes to make diapers for Tiny Timmy.
Before going to bed, Crag summons the team and offers them two missions in exchange for a charter and cheap mercenary hire. The heroes clarify terms and conditions and choose the mission to investigate and clear the area from ghouls because it’s more aligned with their quests and it doesn’t involve searching for giants.
That night Chos has a nightmare where he turns into a skeleton and Tiny Timmy turns adult and kills him.
The next day, the heroes head East.
Mid-day they spot a fishing village in the distance and attract a pair of skeletons that almost discover the hidden group. Thankfully Ellie distracts the skeletons by throwing a stone, and then she turns into a cat and goes towards the village where she finds a dozen skeletons re-enacting their previous fishing and farming activities. Inside one of the huts, Ellie finds 2 trickster gods figurines, and a journal from a dead adventurer mentioning mosquitoes, the aarokra’s knowledge of the location of Omu, and “a place of immense riches that is as deadly as they say.”
The heroes continue their journey and, a day later, arrive at the edge of the jungle in a swampy mangrove forest infested with alligators.
Mementos
- Avilos had the idea of putting Chos’s cursed necrotic finger into Tiny Timmy’s mouth to test the abjuration magic they detected in his marked forehead, but after serious deliberation, the idea was dropped.
- Ellie faced a skeleton on her way out but, in cat form, she’s able to miaow it away and get back to the group safely.
- Avilos tried to smooth talk the alligators into letting them be and feeding them goodberries but it didn’t work.