Day 21 (S11-12)

Started in Youngru, Ended at top of mountain
Rina 16

The next day, the boat docked at Youngru. This town was built into the rocks that tapered down from Mt. Ivatim. Each large rock had been hollowed out, the wooden doors on them were carved to fit the holes. The largest stone building in town had a sign, "Godfrey's Grogs."
"What's a grog?" Alice asked.
"It's weak alcohol," said Rina, "this is Godfrey's tavern I guess. We should start by talking to him."
"I'd rather go talk to... anyone else" said Kin, "I'm going to talk to some of the townspeople and ask the best way to get up the mountain."
"I'll go with you" said Aurelius.
The guys then went to look for townspeople who may know anything. The entire town seemed to be a mining town, many of the men there - and the women - were miners. They had caved out many large areas from the mountain.
"Excuse me" Kin said as he approached one of the men who appeared to be on his lunch break, "We are looking to get up the mountain, what's the best way to get up there?"
"Huh!" the man laughed, "Why you wanna go up there? Nothin there but saltwater."
"We think a friend of ours might have gone up there recently" said Aurelius, "We're looking for them."
"Ohh, a friend you say? You know the fellas who came through here a couple weeks ago then?"
"We know of them" said Kin, "but we are looking for them."
"Well, there's two ways. The long way is that path right there" the man pointed to a dirt path that circled the mountain up to the top. "That'll get ya there in a day or so, you'll most definitely need to stop here and there to take a break. Even us experienced miners have a hard time makin it up there."
"And... what's the other way?" Kin asked.
"Huh! The other way is through that shaft over there" he then pointed to a mine shaft with warning signs all over it.
"Is that safe?" Kin asked.
"Huhuh! Nah, it's new and hasn't been tested much. But It'll get you there in a few hours instead of a whole day."

Back at the tavern, Rina and Alice approached the bar.
"Heyo!" Alice yelled, not even able to see over the counter.
From the back, a large brawly man came from the back. His hair was shaved and his mustache and sideburns connected with no beard.
"Who is speaking?" he asked in a deep but boisterous voice.
"Me!" Alice yelled as she climbed into the chair.
"Ha! You are loud for someone so small" he said.
Then Rina walked up to the bar, "I'm assuming you're Godfrey?"
"An elf, eh? Yep! Godfrey's the name! What can I do for you... unusual two people?"
"We are here to learn more about the mountain top, we believe some bad things happened to friends of ours there a couple weeks ago" said Rina.
"Oh, you knew the Fearsome 5?" Godfrey asked, "They went up there, but they didn't come back down. Then the night got cold, real cold - just like it did 100 years ago when all those people disappeared. After that, a small creature came tumbling down the mountain and some mercenaries got to it. I never did see what it was."
"It was a person" Rina said, "it was one of the Fearsome 5 that had been turned into a Bodak."
"Oh no" started Godfrey, "They told me they were going to look for something. They said something about an End Medallion."
"A medallion?" asked Alice.
"They said it was in the center of the mountain, but I don't know if they ever found it" Godfrey answered.
"Do you know anything else about them or their mission that might help?"
"They did say the mission was posted in Basta'Thrope'" said Godfrey.
"Since we plan to go up there, I don't suppose you would be willing to go with us and help?"
"Huhuh! Nah," he said, "I don't feel like I need to worry myself with goings on in the mountain."

Kin and Aurelius then came back to the tavern.
"We have two ways of getting up the mountain" said Kin, "did you two find anything out?"
"We found out that their quest was only posted in Basta'Thrope'" answered Rina.
"So, they wanted Therianthropes specifically to take this quest." Aurelius said.
Rina thought a moment, then left the tavern looking disturbed on a deep level with this news.
"What's her problem?" asked Kin.
"Dunno" answered Alice, "she's really attached to the animal people it seems like."
"We should follow her and make a plan to get up the mountain" Kin said. So the three of them followed Rina out, and found her in the middle of the town, staring up at the mountain.

"We should all eat before we go" said Kin, "I will cast the Hero’s Feast spell and get us all a big lunch. I'll even see if the miners and Godfrey want some - this makes a lot of meals."
Rina noted that, and stepped away on her own for a moment. She didn't know how to speak directly to Agronoch, but she remembered that this was the day he would normally show up. So she spoke out loud to herself, focusing on her soul and the feeling of her connection to him, "Enoch, I am afraid I won't have enough time tonight to meet with you, but... Do you want to come up for a hero's feast with us now? There's more than enough for everyone, and it's the only opportunity I'd have to meet you today probably." After a little time went by, she had no answer. Enoch was silent. She sighed, then went back to eat with everyone else.

"Should we walk up there, or take the minecarts?" Aurelius asked.
"We should get up there as soon as possible" said Rina.
"The hero's feast does have a time limit," said Kin, "faster would be better."
"Then the mineshaft it is I guess" said Alice, "even though there's a ton of warning signs."
There were two mine carts and two rails that went up to the top paralleling each other.
"Two per cart, who wants to go with who?" asked Aurelius.
"Girls and guys?" suggested Rina, "Plus, Aurelius and I started this whole thing to escort you two - we, I feel like we should keep that tradition."
They split girls and guys, then headed up the mineshafts.

On the way up they saw giant holes in the sides of the shaft, "What are those holes? They look like... giant worm holes" Alice said.
Just then, they heard a loud roaring sound. A Bulette crossed in front of them through one of the burrow holes.
"We've got company!" yelled Kin, "Get ready!"
One of the Bulette's lunged at Aurelius and Kin. Aurelius hit it with his sword, as did Kin.
The next one lunged at Alice and Rina, knocking them both out of the cart. Rina grabbed Alice and Dimension Doored them back into the cart, Alice hit one with an ice knife.
Kin and Aurelius killed one that landed on the cart with them. Rina killed one with an eldritch blast, Alice using healing word to make sure they were all healed.
They finally made it to the top, out of the danger of the Bulettes. It was dark now, it had been hours.
"That was crazy" Alice said, "We need to rest."

Just then, the air went cold - the same cold they had felt in Riverbend. As they looked around the top of the mountain, they saw something hovering above the pond at the center of the dilapidated town.
It was another Bodak - larger than the others, with wings and a scorpion tail. It had a lion's feet, and the body of a man. This was one of the Fearsome 5 - their leader, and he saw them immediately.

The bodak dashed toward them first, Rina hid behind an old building, Alice turned into a giant snake, and Kin used some magic to shield himself. Aurelius, however, jumped straight into the line of sight.
"Don't look at it!" Rina yelled, "Remember Cricket, only those who didn't look at it lived!" They agreed, but took disadvantage on all attacks.
Kin, Rina, and Aurelius all put walls up around it: Wind wall, wall of fire, and Wall of Force respectively.
The bodak then summoned lightning all around the area and hit everyone. Kin took the most damage, then went down to 0hp in the first round. This freed the bodak from the trap and it started to move away from the pond.
Alice put up a healing ring, and Aurelius went into his giant form to toss Kin into the ring to heal him back up.
Rina threw some eldritch blasts at it, but it picked up shadows from the ground to take the damage like shields. The shadows were all around, they were exactly like the ones seen in Riverbend that were the souls of the townspeople.
Rina tried to talk to the Bodak, now knowing he was a member of the fearsome 5, "We don't want to be doing this, please remember your friends!"
The bodak did not listen, and went to corner Aurelius and began to smash at Aurelius.
Alice wildshaped into a large snake and constricted the Bodak, biting him to do damage.
The bodak attacked Alice until she fell out of wildshape, then it summoned electricity that hit everyone on the field, including some of the shadows which got destroyed.
The bodak then went for Aurelius again, hitting him over and over. Rina tried a Cloud of daggers just where the bodak stood, but it quickly moved out of the way of them and continued to hit Aurelius.
Despite all efforts, the bodak took Aurelius down to 0hp, and he could not be healed. Aurelius had died on the battlefield, bloody with his armor caved into his chest.
"No!" Rina yelled, "Not him!"
The Bodak then turned its sights on Rina, who used continued to send eldritch blasts its way while she tried to dodge its attacks.
Kin got out a revivify and crawled over to Aurelius - trying to be as stealthy as possible.
"I gotcha buddy" he said, "I can bring you back."
With a handful of diamond dust and a spell, Aurelius awoke with a gasp. No longer afflicted with the necrotic damage, Kin was also able to heal him.
Alice had constricted the bodak again after using another wildshape, while Rina did her best to not hit Alice when using her spells.
Once again, Alice was attacked until she fell out of wildshape, and Aurelius ran up once again to attack the beast.
Rina could tell that one more blow would kill it, "Stop Aurelius! Don't kill him!"
At the last moment, hearing Rina's plea, Aurelius opted for a non-fatal blow to end the fight. The Bodak was knocked unconscious.
Rina ran up to it and used the Greater Restoration scroll from Sullivan Frey, "Please work" she said, "Please, please work."
The spell restored the man to his normal form. He no longer was covered in the sludge-black coating, he no longer looked like a monster, and the shadow people no longer lingered on the field to fight them. He was now just a Manticore, just another Therianthrope once again.
"Thank you Aurelius" Rina said, "Thank you for not killing him. And... thank you for dying for us."
"Eh, don't mention i-" he was cut off by his own cough, he coughed again and blood came out of his mouth.
"You died by getting hit in the chest" said Kin, "You may always have a breathing issue now. Your constitution will always be a bit lower because of this."
"Eh I'll be fine" Aurelius said, "It was worth it." Aurelius looked at Rina, who was crying in relief over this man they came to save.
"Why do you care so much about the beast people, Rina?" Alice asked.
Rina smiled, "Because they are my family, too. My son's family."
"You have a son?" Kin and Aurelius asked at once.
"Yes" she said, "He's the reason I came to Kay'Lend. He came here to fight for Basta'Thrope's independence. These are his people, which makes them my people."

"We are about 6 hours into our Hero’s Feast" said Kin, "Which gives us another 16 with the advantages it gives us."
"We have to rest" said Alice, "I know it'll take 8 hours, but none of us have any spells left and we are all hurt."
"We also don't know if someone is following us" said Aurelius, "That scry in Castle Frey meant at least someone is onto us being here."
"I can use Tiny Hut" said Rina, "That will protect us from everything and we can get some rest. When we get up we will still have 10 hours of the hero's feast left - hopefully that's enough to do what we need to do."
So they did, they moved the Manticore man into an abandoned house and Rina made her Tiny Hut - it was in the form of an igloo, with frost and snowflakes making it look like frosted-over glass.
"Woah" said Alice, "Why's it all frosty?"
"Enoch..." Rina said quietly, "it's Enoch's tiny hut."
It was not cold on the inside, though, and they all rested for 8 hours until the sun came up.

Next: Day 22 (S12-14)