Orhan 3 Day 4 TE 6062

Follow the coast down to the river and then folow the river inland until it goes through the pass. But be warned, it is a river of death. The jewel knights draw their power from the jewel wells so may not be so happy.

We head down to the marketplace (Crazy Akbar's!) to see what kind of artifacts are available. There appears to be a lamp. Yes, a lamp. The proprietor wants 10,000 gold. Sadly we do not have that much. He has a staff that is an essence/channeling multiplier with other forms that gives access to the twisting nether. There are arcane stave caps from the staff of power to increase the power of your spells (damage multipliers) for 7500 gold. He has a whole tray of rings. The ring of shapeshifting, the ring of allurement for 2500, the ring of ceiling running for 4000. Armor of all crit reduction, with comfort built in for 7000 gold. The Morningstar of the Air, what protects all who can hear its song from airborne weapons Deflections V every round. He also has a delicate crystal avenging angel figurine, that casts Holy Martyr, once. The Elemental Shield, constant Fire, Lightning, Ice Armor for 15k.

He shows Imre a small crystal, when struck it resonates until a giant bug burrows up out of the ground. It turns out, it's a riding beetle. It only works on Folleen. Turns out the crystals are 50 gold a piece. We buy seven riding bug crystals.

Rather than continue to make ourselves more heartsick, we ask about the moutain of gold so we can get some cash. On the far edge of the barren wastes (across the plains of death), is the barren peak, when the first ray of sunlight glints off its peak, for a brief while it is gold.

We get provisions. We head out!

Orhan 3 Day 5 TE 6062

We head out on our riding beetles. They're actually pretty fast. We scurry up-river. The first day. We notice that there's lot's of low vegetation, and trees and the like only get so tall. They stop at "that height".

Orhan 3 Day 6 TE 6062

We continue. We come to a small village on the river bank. We go to the tavern to try and get some stories about up-river. Kyrik buys a few rounds for the whole place. They tell us there's pretty much nothing but the blasted hills, death, and things falling from the sky. Tons of monsters too. We hire a guide. He's experienced of many adventurers. His name is JarJar. I blame Imre. We ask him about jewel wells and the mountain of gold. Don't mess with the jewel knights.

Orhan 3 Day 7 TE 6062

We set out with our guide. We find nothing.

Orhan 3 Day 8 TE 6062

In the distance we can see the mountains...

Orhan 3 Day 9 TE 6062

In the evening, there is a flash of light off away from the river. There's a corruscating glow a couple miles away. We jog on over. We get there in a little while. There's definitely a glowing patch with some figures near it. We move in closer. The glowing patch is surrounded by the breathless. Demons. About a dozen of them. Gah. That's a lot. We struggle for a bit about what to do about them. We might not be able to take that many. We prep and then charge.

As we charge we find they are in fact dancing around a jewel well. Battle! It's been a long time since we've seen Alynna fighting with her fierce mojo. They fall before her. Several rounds later, they are down and we rush up to the fading jewel well. Inside is the bubbling pool of magmatic material. The colors shift and swirl, and it's all hard to tell. The alchemists rush up and start their operation...

A couple of ladlefuls of molten jewel goodness later, Haeraan notices another dozen breathless and some sorrt of bug-riding cavalry approaching. Imre calls a retreat, and Oathar whips up an area-effect version of Safe Teleport to take everyone back to the river. Careful to include the muffin pan of molten goodness in the teleport field, he does not however account for the Jewel well's willingness to help. Rather than a 20' area, he hits a 1000' area and the party, muffin pan, jewel well, breathless, cavalry, and everything else around is teleported to the river safely.

Next time, combat!