Of A Feather

The party's carriage continues heading east towards the mountain, mostly following the shoreline. Makani has been keeping to herself throughout the journey, looking back into her cloak before reintroducing herself to the group and announcing her role as thief due to her proficiency in stealth and speed. A hovering longsword then emerges from her cloak, which she introduces as her friend Eurus. Oracle also reintroduces himself, saying he works as a support and is skilled at buffing others. Omar says that his sister Iris is from an adventuring guild in Myona, and Spítha recognized the name and revealed she was also part of the guild and that her mother is the guildmaster. Omar saw Spítha long ago, but she was so young she doesn't remember. Spítha also shared her age, prompting Makani to question why she is so comfortable giving so much information to strangers, to which the former replies that she is an open book. The others insist this is normal conversation and question why Makani is so secretive. Oracle agrees that sharing information with strangers is not the best idea.

 

The carriage passes by a fishing town, with buildings made primarily of wood, before it stops. A yellow tiefling with deer antlers in place of horns is in the middle of the road, looking distressed, and asks the party for help. The village is being attacked by harpies, when ordinarily they would keep to themselves in their home a mile east. The party agrees, and the tiefling introduces himself as Vesper, the only capable fighter of the village. Oracle keeps watch as the carriage moves along, shifting into his archer Starry Form. Following clusters of harpy feathers north, the party fashions makeshift earplugs to protect themselves from their song. Not long after, everyone hears the song and resists, and looking up they can see they are surrounded in the cardinal directions by 4 harpies.

 

Oracle hits the harpy coming from the north with a Guiding Bolt, doing extra damage because of his Starry Form, and Spítha hits it with an arrow. Vesper attacks the westernmost harpy on the ground with a longsword and misses, and he turns his sword and shield into two curved swords. Remedy hits the western harpy with its spear as the northern harpy swoops in to attack Oracle, missing both times. Seeing this, the eastern harpy also moves to attack him, and it lands a hit with its club. Makani uses an Air Burst to jump onto the northern harpy, killing it. She jumps again, Eurus flying with her in a dance, and lands a hit on the eastern harpy. Omar pulls the southern harpy in with a Thorn Whip. The western harpy attempts to attack both Vesper and Remedy, but it bounces off of their armor. The southern harpy also misses its attack on Omar. Oracle moves next to Makani and pulls her in by the waist, asking her to trust him, as he casts Thunderwave, shielding her from the blast by keeping her in the epicenter and killing the eastern harpy. Spítha hits the southern harpy with her arrow. Vesper and Remedy both land hits on the western harpy as Makani smoothly jumps out of Oracle's arms and onto the southern harpy, killing it. Omar runs to the remaining western harpy and kills it with his hammer, annoyed at it for attacking people and distracting him from learning about Remedy.

 

After a moment, a bigger harpy with a crown of bones and a larger wingspan descends and dive-bombs Spítha before landing. Makani goes to jump onto it and misses as the harpy's head jerks forward just as her foot touches it, and she and Spítha fall prone beside it. Eurus lands one hit on it. Omar identifies a 1-pound rock and uses magic to throw it like a catapult, but it misses. The harpy attacks Makani and then lets out a scream, which all but one save against. Omar is hit with the equivalent of a Confusion spell. Oracle casts Healing Spirit, summoning a pale humanoid fey with a fox mask similar to his own, which heals Makani, and then casts Wither and Bloom to heal Spítha and damage the harpy. Spítha gets up from prone but misses her shot, but Vesper lands both hits on the harpy. Remedy also hits it and gives Makani's next attack advantage. She pushes herself up before suddenly leaping high into the air, Eurus zooming up with her, blade pointing at the harpy once they reach her altitude. As Makani falls, Eurus picks up speed, and they crash through the harpy's head and Makani uses the body as a landing pad.

 

Oracle takes the crown from the harpy's head and puts it on top Jinx's witch hat. Vesper, thankful for the party's help, offers to take them to the mountain. Students and mentors from a local wizard school passed through the village of Fogpoint about a week ago, heading towards the base of the mountain to investigate. He adds that he was on his way there himself and that he can be of help free of charge. He gets back in the carriage alongside the group and expresses concern for Oracle's hand, saying that the newly dark water can be deadly. Those that stay in it too long being to feel fatigue before having their life drained out of them entirely. Oracle notes that he feels fine, and Vesper says the wizards may be able to help.

 

Vesper switches out his weapons again, and when questioned elaborates on his ability. He can do this with any weapon using a metaphorical "drawer" to do the swapping out, but is limited to 2 weapons and a set of armor. Meanwhile Omar's mustache has moved to his cheek, and he puts it back into place. Oracle sees this and recognizes his mustache as two fuzzy caterpillars, which Omar introduces as Carla and Darla. Oracle is perplexed, and Vesper and Makani keep their distance. Along the way the group has another conversation about the dangers of oversharing, during which Spítha reveals her mother's name and age, and that her family can handle themselves if the wrong people ever got ahold of information from her. Makani remarks that the people drunk at bars telling their whole life stories were the ones she robbed, but clarifies it was for a job and that she won't rob her coworkers.

"You have a lot of trauma to unpack, don’t you?" -Omar's reaction to Makani's secretiveness

 

"If you’re gonna pat someone all over, at least take them out to dinner first!" -Spítha

"She took you out to an alleyway first" -Oracle

 

"That's just pathetic" -Oracle, in response to the northern harpy failing both its first attacks

 

"Is something wrong?" -Omar, after putting his "mustache" back into place

"... why?" -Oracle

"Because they're friendly!" -Omar

• There were so many nat 1's rolled, mostly by Kate. One of which was also a 0, rolled by Omar.
• Several jokes were made about party members taking a romantic interest in Makani. Most notably, Oracle pulled her in by the waist (her head is at the height of his chest), and Spítha missed her shot against the final harpy because she was "too lost in Makani's eyes."
• At some point, when Omar spoke, Mephitis Naptha's voice came out instead. This led to the non-canonical line near the end of the session, “I’m good thanks for asking, I have a sad finger and I want to die.”
• Makani got 4 out of 5 final blows in combat.