Episode 5 Part 1 "Welcome to War"

Session #8: 7/27/2019

18 Myonastas 2350 of the 5th Age

Recap

 * The session began in the Kuo-Toa lair with a giant-sized Thokk still trapped in the entrance, Vendrin with both of his legs broken, and Lio and Kandra catching their breath as the Archpriest falls to the ground dead.
 * As the party catches their breath, a door opens about ten feet off the ground; from which Zevah and her panther Tennebris come falling out.
 * Zevah had just been tricked into being mazed by the lady of pain, but for some reason instead of taking her back to Sigil or Selunim City, her doorknob is malfunctioning and randomly opening to different places on different planes.
 * Lio asks the still animated Lighthouse titan to dig Thokk out and the lighthouse does just that.
 * Now one member stronger, the party sets about searching the caves and Kandra stumbles upon the Kuo-Toa breeding pool.
 * The party ultimately decides that they need to destroy the eggs, lest they risk another generation of Kuo-Toa terrorizing the island. Vendrin, Lio, and Kandra set to work, wading into the water and smashing the eggs.
 * Once the still giant-sized Thokk was freed, he found himself being strangely called to a pool of water and reaching deep into the muddy bottom he found something.
 * From the other side of the room, Zevah watched as Thokk was bathed in white light and suddenly returned to normal size, tumbling end over end into the water.
 * Zevah pulled Thokk from the water and was surprised to see that all of his hair had grown much longer and that he seemed to be a little thicker.
 * The party returned to find Thokk changed after smashing the eggs and then turned their attention to what they should do about the Lighthouse god.
 * After debating for a while, they ultimately decided to ask the lighthouse what it wanted. With the titans input, Vendrin, Thokk, and Lio set off back for the town of Bahn to speak with Mayor Whistletook and convince him to let the lighthouse stay as a sort of guardian. Kandra and Zevah stayed at the cave, keeping an eye on the infant god.
 * About half a mile out of town, however, the party could hear screams and found a group of Gnoll pirates pillaging the town and murdering townsfolk.
 * Back at the cave, the gigantic lighthouse could see the town being pillaged and scooped up Zeva, Kandra, and Tenebris; then began sprinting toward Bahn.
 * Thokk found himself in his first battle rage and sprinted forward, shedding his heavy armor and tackling a gnoll as the fray began.
 * Together the party shredded through the first wave of Gnoll Pirates and then watched the Lighthouse god sprint into the bay and punt the pirate ship off into the distance in a spectacular debut as Guardian of Ixrove.
 * Having seen the Lighthouse destroy the Gnoll ship, they rushed to the inn to find Rolan and Skord defending Tyri and a small group of civilians, having killed several gnolls all on their own.
 * The party helped to slay the last of the gnolls then each aided in the recovery before heading to rest.
 * In the morning the party discussed payment with Mayor Whisletook before introducing him to his islands new guardian, who he welcomed with relative ease.
 * The party spent an extra day at shore to rest before continuing their journey north. Lio helped to treat the wounded, Thokk examined his new totem, Vendrin purchased supplies for their trip, Kandra worked to train Hermes, and Zevah purchased arrows at the local fletcher.
 * In the afternoon of their day off, Zevah and Kandra took time to introduce the adolescent dire wolf, Hermes, to the panther, Tennebris. It nearly went horribly wrong, but Thokk discovered that his totem granted him the ability to speak with animals, and was able to convince Hermes and Tennebris to accept one another.
 * The party boarded the Red Lion once more and set off north.
 * Halfway to their next stop, they came upon a skirmish between an Elberethian ship and an Arkinian ship. The Good Samaritans decided to intervene, helping to sink the Arkinian ship.
 * Vendrin used his message spell to communicate with the pilot of the Elberethian ship. They decided to sail north together, despite the pilot's warnings about their sailing into an active warzone.
 * Thokk took the nightshift sailing the shift and was flagged down by a sailor on the Elberethian ship who had Thokk drop anchor and pulled their ship around.
 * A sailor from the other ship dropped a gangplank so he could get over to the Red Lion and speak with them. However, the rest of the party was asleep below decks, and having heard the gangplank drop, immediately assumed they were being boarded Vendrin threw a flare which flashed up through the boards of the ship, knocking the soldier from the gangplank and into the water.
 * Thokk dove overboard and managed to haul the soldier back up onto the deck as Kandra burst onto the deck, half-dressed, and brandishing her rapier.
 * Thokk explained the situation and introduced the paladin of Corellon, Ver Runningwood.
 * Ver Runningwood turned out to know who the party was, having heard of their exploits in Selunim and Korma Tol. He excitedly explained that the island of Wirrothe (The party's next planned stop) is under siege by a new kind of ship from Arkinash. He told them that the admiral in charge is looking for mercenaries to help and that they would be well compensated for the job.
 * The next day the party arrived at Wirrothe to find Elbereth on the losing side of a vicious battle. The gigantic city-ship,  the Io'Galiroth, was towering hundreds of feet into the sky and raining endless fire down onto the eastern shore of the island.
 * The party docked their ship on the western side of the island, in the port city of Kybelle. Kybelle had been appropriated by Elbereths military and turned into something of a forward operating base for their defense of the island.
 * The party stopped off at the Callon inn and found blacksmith to outfit Thokk with a new battleaxe. Thokk also purchased gifts new swords for Rolan and Skord, in recognition of their valiant actions back in Bahn.
 * The party then headed to the town hall, which the military is using as their headquarters, and spoke with Vice Admiral Rinalle who explained the situation and told them that if they manage to sink the Io'Galiroth, they would be compensated with 20,000 gold pieces and an hour of free reign in Wirrothe's diamond mine.
 * The Vice Admiral also gave them some information on the city-ship and told them they were free to question the Arkinian soldier they captured.
 * Thokk, Kandra, and Liosynth took it upon themselves to interrogate the soldier. In the beginning he would answer every threat, question, and beating with his identification "Xafiq Green12-23", in the end though, Kandra was able to get the information they needed with the carrot rather than the stick. Offering to free him if he told them what they need to know.
 * Between the Admiral and the Prisoner they were able to discern that the weakness of the city-ship lies in the Bilges connection to the two shafts which run the height of the ship. If you manage to create a breach between the bilge and the rest of the ship, and then blow a hole in the bottom of the bilge, the whole thing will sink to the bottom of the sea.
 * Armed with their new knowledge of the Io'Galiroth, the party just had to figure out how to get near it. Without resting for the evening, the party set out to the forward encampment to find out the latest on the enemies movements.
 * The party met back up the Ver Runningwood who has taken up command of the Elberethian ground forces.
 * Ver told the party that the Io'Galiroth is resupplied multiple times each day with ammunition, food, and water and that if they wish to get aboard, that is the way to do it.
 * The party spent the rest of the night planning and trying to decide how best to go about completing their contract.