Days passed on the road, the hot sun beating down across the desert and pushing the party to the limits of their comfort. Thankfully, their bag of holding was well stocked, and everybody but Tenli wasa in exceptionally good shape. For her part, she complained less than one might expect from a wood elf traversing the sands of the Shifting Desert.
After many miles and a few sunburns, they came to the base of the Mitten. The landmark towered over the golden desert, a red stone pillar taller than 100 dragonborn stacked atop one another. On its western side, a smaller pillar jutted out from the middle, forming the thumb of the mitten.
Nestled at the intersection between the red stone and the sand, a cozy village puffed up fragrant chimney smoke, an inviting sight after so many nights spent out on the road. Small flags hung between the eaves of the houses, symbols of the spirits embroidered on the cloth. The party was happy to see that there were even some elves milling about the village, a rare and welcome sight in Dellin. About the village, a haunting flute melody could be heard, accompanied by an odd rhythmic shake of the earth.
Their first stop was the village inn, where who should they find, but Zain. Orophor communicated with the disappearist using the thieves’ cant. I share this detail, because it annoys me that I do not know what they said to one another.
Each adventurer got their fill of cool drinks and a quick scrub to wash off the sand. Starting to feel alarmingly ill, Fey asked the innkeeper if a healer plied their trade in the village, and was happy to hear directions to the active healer’s hut.
The party followed the giant to the hut, and after a blood draw, heard from the thin woman inside that indeed, Fey had contracted Sanguinare Vampiris. She offered Fey two choices. She could give her a monthly medicine that would stave off the effects of the illness. Or, she could inject her with a bit of vampire venom, carefully hoarded in the healer’s stock of wares.
Of course, Fey took the venom. It hurt terribly, but showed no signs of completing the transformation. Fey felt less ill, but no more vampiric. To test out whether the venom had done its job, Fey ripped the throat out of the healer. To her surprise, she did not enjoy the taste of the blood. Orophor stuffed the healer’s body in their bag of holding.
They left the healer’s hut and spoke with a local land-fisherman, who strongly recommended trying the village specialty, bulette. A sort of land-shark, these bulette swam through the sands surrounding the mitten, and were harvested by the local villagers. But, the villager also warned them of Gropple Rex, the giant bulette who made its home in the rock of the Mitten.
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Trying to figure out their next move, the party all attempted to fart as a means to communicate with the Spirit of the Forest. Orophor and Beorn shit their pants.
Tenli tried playing her flute to match the tune coming from atop the mitten. Astonishingly, mounds of earth moved with the melody. A passing villager mentioned that the music coming from the Mitten didn’t always used to be so melancholy. Tenli tried playing a more upbeat tune, and nothing happened.
They asked around to find out if anybody had scaled the Mitten, and found out nobody had since Chuck the Chaser. Zain snuck off to Chuck’s hut, and found him piss drunk, lying in a ratty bed. The party found him charming, and hired him to help get up the Mitten.
They began their ascent. The going was tough, having to time their movement with the occasional movement of the earth caused by the music. Chuck, despite his wavering drunkenness, proved expert at predicting where they needed to climb to next, and they successfully avoided Gropple Rex’s wrath.
That is, until they got close to the top. Gropple Rex had sniffed them out, and charged toward them. Thinking fast, Beorn molded earth, providing a shallow staircase to get them the last few body lengths remaining to the top of the Mitten.
At the top, the red rock stretched out flat in front of them. In the midst stood a towering creature, half a body length taller even than Fey. But it was skinny, hunched over its flute, dancing as it played. Its dark skin shimmered under the sunlight, the glitter seeming to sway with its movements, and the earth hopped at its feet. On its back, fluid blue piles swayed in a discordant manner, not matching its pace. Something about them looked painful.
They spoke with the creature, who could tell they were in commune with one of the greater spirits. It told them its name was Pellius, and it was a lesser earth spirit.
Pellius offered two rewards to them, if they helped remove the parasite attached to its back. Pellius could either form a tunnel that would carry them straight to Bastard Nigel’s bedroom, or give them a sigil much beloved of the dwarves.
Orophor somehow communicated with the thing on Pellius’s back - a minor sea spirit called Koko - who told him “fuck you.”
Pellius showed them a dance to summon an amulet, which, when put around his neck, would detach Koko from his back. But he warned them, once they picked up the amulet, Koko would take over his mind, and he would attack them.