Adventures in Oerth- The Bane of Vecna: Book One, Chapter Six, Ekbir and the road to Zeif

The Bane of Vecna, those present in this chapter:
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard; "The Silver Tongued Siren;" who has more instruments than she can carry

Pharin, the Drow Wizard; "The Dark Conjurer;" summoner of demon bunnies

Skye, the Air Genasi Druid and saver of demon bunnies

Dervish, the Kasathe Fighter

Nanu, the NightmOrc Fighter who is late, slayer of innocent bystanders

Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin of Pelor

Jayce, the Human Barbarian of the Bear, Warlock of Pelor

       Our heroes spent several days and nights in the coastal city of Ekbir re-supplying, and by the morning of the fifth day they were ready to move on. On the previous day, the group has decided to travel south to the port city of Zeif by sea, hoping it would slim the cult's chances of tracing them down, and it would shave days off of their journey. As they prepared to leave they realized two things: No one had actually chartered a ship to take them to Zeif, and that they had not warded the Head that was in Aurora's care against scrying. While they were preparing to find a ship, Jayce joined them and announced he had already found one, but it would be 50,000 gold per head. They had just spent four days in the markets, and most of them couldn't afford the outrageous price of passage. Having to alter their plans last minute, the group delegated out tasks to get themselves quickly on the road and out of town, as well as find a way to protect the Head. 

       The group split up, part of them going to what few merchants were left in town to search for something of non-detection, to no avail. The merchants were all sold out of anything like that, and wouldn't have new items in stock for several more days. The other part of the group went to find cheaper transportation, also to no avail. Something was happening in Zeif and the ships felt it too dangerous to go near the town; so dangerous that several captains made comments about valuing living too much to take their ship there. 

       While everyone was working on their assigned tasks, Pharin stayed behind to scribe some circles onto Aurora's lute case that he hoped would protect the Head from prying eyes. After their ill luck at finding any of the things they had been sent out to get, Pharin decided to make do with what he had, and set a magical binding on the case, making it so that the only one who could magically sense what was in the case was him. Defeated, the group decided to travel by land to Zeif, and while discussing exactly how to travel (by horses, brooms, or magic) Jayce appeared with horses and wagons.They set out to begin their trek to the coastal town.

*****

Aurora

       Two days into our journey to Zeif, absolutely nothing had happened. No cultist attacks, no random creatures attacking or following us, no weather changes, NOTHING. Needless to say, I was bored. Nothing happening doesn't make a story good, nor does it make travel worth while. On our second night of camping I learned that Skye had purchased a bag of magic beans during our stay in Ekbir. My mandolin was rumored to have belonged to Jack the Giant Slayer, it even had his special insignia on it: a beanstalk encased in a harp. With as bored as I was, I simply had to find out if it really was Jack's mandolin, didn't I? It would make such an interesting story if it really was his!

       Skye had planted one of her beans and it transformed into a fruit tree, which was not what I was expecting to happen, but druids do weird things. I asked her if she would let me sing to one of her magic beans, just to see what would happen. She wouldn't let me do that, so I instead sang to her tree. I serenaded it using Jack's mandolin, singing to it the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. I figured if I could make anything happen to it, it would be by using that story on that mandolin. What happened though when I finished my song was not what I expected. Some of the fruit on the tree transformed into different types of fruit. That's it. No beanstalk, no cloud giant, no harp, no goose. Some transmuted fruit. Boring.

       That was when Skye said I could serenade one of her normal, non-magical beans. She even planted the bean for me and grew a modest beanstalk to get me started. I began my song again, singing Jack's tale exactly as I had to the tree, hoping that I could prove the rumors about my mandolin true- and maybe get a magic harp. As I sang, the beanstalk grew to be fifty feet in diameter, and it shot up through the clouds themselves! This was much more interesting than fruit. I added a bit more power to my song when the stalk began to grow, just to see if it would make things more interesting. It did. When I finished my song, a strange light came from the sky, surrounding my beanstalk. Dervish, Pharin, Skye, and I flew up to see what was going to happen next. I kept my fingers crossed for some entertainment.

       A fire giant came rushing down the beanstalk! That's much more interesting than the cloud giant Jack fought! The giant zoomed down the several mile long beanstalk in only a few short seconds! I've never seen anything move as fast as he did! Pharin had purchased a giant slaying rapier and finally had his opportunity to use it. He zipped in on his broomstick and slashed at the giant, causing it harm and drawing first blood. The giant was of course not happy about this, so he unleashed a fire storm right above Pharin's head. Battle against this beast had begun! But unlike Jack, I had backup and wasn't in the giant's home; I knew we could handle him, and the song I could write about this would be marvelous! 

       The battle didn't last long once the giant reached the ground. Nanu, Dervish, and Jayce rushed the giant, hacking at its legs and feet with their swords. Pharin decided to drop a rhinoceros on its head, and missed... Lucky for him I don't think Skye actually noticed. We made short work of the giant, then headed up the beanstalk to see what awaited us on top. 

       Nanu and Jayce stayed on the ground to work on chopping the stalk down, ignoring my assurances that in Jack's tale there was only one giant, so we need not worry about more coming down after us. We sent a bird up through the clouds, and it was returned to us instantly, dead and charred. We returned to the ground again, but since there wasn't much Pharin and I could do to help chop the stalk down, we decided to return to the top, letting the others work on chopping it down. Jayce had me punch him so he could become enraged, which would grant him better strength in dealing with this leafy foe.

       Through Pharin's insistence, I don't know why I listen to that draft drow, I began singing at the light surrounding the stalk. I sang about how just like Jack, we had defeated this giant and made a fool of it; a lovely, taunting, tune. When nothing happened, Pharin wrote a taunting note on a rock and threw it up there; it returned after a moment, and zoomed past us to the ground, leaving a small crater on impact. Finally, when nothing else had worked, Pharin suggested I send a fireball up there. That was a bad idea... But fun!

       Three storm giants burst forth from the clouds! These giants could fly, unlike their flaming friend, allowing them to emerge without gripping the stalk. On the ground, our friends hacked frantically at the beanstalk now, trying desperately to get it down before the giants reached them. I was struck by an agonizingly painful lightning bolt by one of the giants, apparently they also don't appreciate having a fireball thrown at them... Oops? 

       At about that time the others were able to get the stalk swaying, preparing to come crashing into the ground any moment. Seeing this, the storm giants returned to the clouds, knowing that once the stalk fell their portal back home would vanish. The falling stalk prevented us from having to face a much more grueling battle than the one with the fire giant, and it happened at the perfect time.

       I suppose it did not occur to me how different my tale would be from Jack's, I was operating the entire time under the assumption that my story would parallel his and there would only be one giant between us and a castle of treasure. Though my tale is more interesting than Jack's, it has me in it and I'm far more interesting than a silly human boy. The others were not happy about my "accidental" summons, but Pharin seemed amused; I think he likes it when I do things like this, and I'm not sure that's a good thing. We were rewarded by with a staff of fire from the fire giant, but I can't use such things- we gave it to the druid. If only we could have gone through the clouds to whatever was beyond, I'm sure we could have gotten such wondrous things from their lair.

*****

       After another day of peace, the group was beginning to believe that Pharin's spell to hide the Head had indeed worked. The spell Pharin had cast to conceal the Head had lulled the group into a false sense of security. Midway through their fourth day of travel, the group discovered that they were very wrong...

       On the fourth day of travel the group began to feel a sickly, wrong feeling. Skye sensed that a group of fifty dire boars were being slaughtered, and something negative and wrong was killing all plant life around the dying boars. The group could see nothing except a dust cloud that kept spitting the boars out. While the rest of the group was quite happy to go around whatever was causing the trouble, the druid insisted they stop the evil destroying nature. Resigned, Aurora insisted that they use ranged attacks to dispatch of it, since whatever was doing this was not something they should get close to. Jayce took up a boulder and in a flash he broke it into more manageable pieces that he could throw. As he finished breaking the boulder, the dust began to settle and a man with fiery red hair emerged... hair the exact same color as Jayce's. 

       The man standing before our heroes was Josiah- Jayce and Jarrid's older brother. The sight of his older brother stunned Jayce into silence and paralysis, and it took Pharin hitting him with an eldritch blast to bring him back to the present. Josiah had been turned by the cult, and was in possession of the Book of Vile Darkness; the very book that contained the ritual the cult was using to bring Vecna back. The book was apparently so evil and vile that it was killing the nature around it; and the closer the party got to Josiah and the book, the more that sickly wrong sensation sunk into their bones. It was even worse than the sensation they got around the cultists, for the Book of Vile Darkness is one of the most evil items in existence. Josiah announced he was only there for the Head, and if they simply handed it over he would leave. But our heroes could not let the Head fall back into the cult's hands, they needed to keep as many pieces out of the cult's hands as they could.

       The battle began quickly, with Jayce charging in to battle his brother. Josiah was as strong as Jayce though, and they gave the appearance that this was a dance they had done before, but under much different circumstances. When Jayce reached out to grapple his brother, they vanished for several seconds, only to reappear in the midst of combat. The group watched in horror as Josiah bashed his brother in the face with a hammer- a move they had seen Jayce use many times before; Jayce in turn grappled his brother. 

       Jayce restraining his brother gave the group an opportunity to grab the book. Pharin called to Aurora to get the book, but Nanu was closer. However, the book did not like the foul foal, and she was sickened the moment she touched it, rendering her unable to retrieve it. Aurora then swooped down on her broom and attempted to take it, but it vanished right before her hand could connect, reappearing once her hand was gone. The book had taken a shine to Josiah, and when that book likes someone it is always reluctant to leave them.

       The fight raged on, with Josiah frequently turning himself invisible, during one of these moments he appeared in the air right above Skye, and talked the poor druid straight out of the air. She was in the form of a small bird, and therefore easy to grab by the large barbarian. Josiah did not wish to kill her though, he instead planned to use Skye as hostage to exchange for the Head. He gripped Skye's tiny form in such a way that he could easily snap her neck if they continued to deny him the book.

       In response to this, I made one last attempt to get the book from Josiah. I don't know why I listen to Pharin, I really should stop, he's a terrible influence on me. Since I was able to serenade a kraken and a group of giants to come to me, I thought maybe it might work on the book; so I used my siren's call once again... Serenading the Book of Vile Darkness is a really bad idea, and one that should never be done by anyone. Ever. My siren song did get the book's attention, and I began feeling a malevolent darkness closing around me... It was like I was ripped into a swirling pit of darkness and despair, I frantically tried to release my hold on it book. I was lucky and managed to break my connection to the book before it consumed my soul. The book was again announcing that it liked Josiah and did not want to leave him, not even for the Siren.

       Nanu had purchased an item during the group's stay in Ekbir that would allow her to banish someone, and lacking options for saving Skye from Josiah's grasp, she decided to banish Skye. Since Skye is a genasi, she was banished to the Plane of Air for about thirty seconds before Nanu managed to bring her back. Skye had beseeched the clouds in her realm to send her back, and upon returning believed it was per the cloud's aid; according to Skye, Nanu had nothing to do with her return.

       Pharin, seeing no other options to save Jayce, summoned Haasenpfeffer, his giant happy bunny of doom...

       Josiah reiterated that he would gladly leave if they handed over the Head. I made the mistake of telling him to fuck off, bringing his attention towards me; that was a bad idea- I seemed to be making a lot of those in that fight. Once he actually looked at the bard, he realized she was the Head's guardian and vanished again, only to reappear right above Aurora. The moment he latched onto the bard, all of her magics stopped, and she began to fall. Had Pharin not given me a potion of Soul Shield, I would not have survived that fall. On impact Josiah wrenched the lute case from Aurora's back, but Jayce tackled his brother and the pair vanished, lute case and all, with the Head dropping to the ground. Jayce had used something that forced both of them home to their parents. 

            After the brothers vanished, the bunny appeared. I was quite proud of myself, I did not try to set it on fire, nor did I feel any fear toward it. The positive energy of Haasenpfeffer was enough to keep my terror at bay, and considering the sickly, darkness that I had just experienced, his calming effect was quite welcome. The party decided to ride the bunny the rest of the way to Zeif; though Pharin was tethered to the bunny, flying behind everyone on his broom so he could keep the Head away from the hare. 

       The next day the group encountered the cultists, but they were still riding the harmonious hare, and simply hopped over them. 

       With Haasenpfeffer increasing their speed tenfold, they reached Zeif that afternoon. When they were only a few miles out of town they saw a huge army standing between them and Zeif. Aurora called to the army that they were coming in peace, and the bunny was friendly, but that did not ease the guards. Zeif had been raided by demon bunnies three days prior to their arrival. I knew those blasted creatures needed to be put down, not set free; damn druids thinking all animals are innocent things that need saving. She made the monsters demons in the first place, you would think she would have wanted to rectify her mistake the next time we met them. 

       As the group neared Zeif, they found themselves surrounded by crossbow wielding soldiers, and attempted to explain the cause of their presence. 

       The group had to convince Pharin to send Haasenpfeffer away, to ease their ability to speak to the guards. They convinced the guards that they worked for Oryn by showing them that the pouches with Oryn's insignia were pouches of holding, not the pouches that can be purchased in trinket shops. A small group of soldiers was dispatched to town, while the group was ordered to "not move." They wouldn't even let me sing. 

       A group of thirty guards with crossbows aimed at the group was left to keep them surrounded while they waited. Pharin, being impatient and not wanting to just hold still during this wait, summoned Leomund's Tiny Hut to shelter the group from any stray crossbow bolts. They attempted to converse with the guards, but none of them were willing. After a couple of hours the guards who had been sent to town finally returned to where the group waited- with Lan in tow. After confirming their identities, Lan brought the party to a tavern in town and ordered them to not speak until three rounds of drinks had been consumed. With the stories he had heard of their doings, he needed to be intoxicated to absorb their antics and unorthodox way of doing things. 

       Lan told the others that Oryn had a plan to hide the Head from the cult, but it involved the Zhentarim. The Zhentarim were not easy to get an audience with though, and without Oryn, Lan was having difficulty achieving the task. In the meantime, the group charged Aurora with protecting the Head again, since Pharin and Nanu already carried important pieces (the sword hilt and the Fang), and it was decided that no person should have more than one piece on them.

The red line shows the group's journey during this chapter

The Life of Skye

               I was born Princess Sakadi Vayu in the elemental plane of air one-hundred-twenty-six years ago, and am the only heir of the King and Queen in our region.  The region we rule, known as the Mistral Reach, mostly made up of djiin, air spirits, and air elementals with the occasional water or ice elementals and genasi due to our close proximity to the plane of water.  Mistral Reach is the only area in the plane of air that can snow and rain, has extremely chilling temperatures, and has a thick cover of ice.

The reach, allied with a very private and powerful region known as Aaqa, the exact location of such is privileged information, and the home to races thought to be myth, the aarakocra and the vaati.  Aaqa, known for being home to those known as The Wind Dukes, who are dedicated to law and good and keep a close watchful eye on elemental evil and the encroachment of elemental chaos.  While this area seems to be a paradise, they have made enemies with those in the Sirocco Straits who frequently attempt to lead raids to Aaqa. 

Because of our alliance with Aaqa, when I was around fifteen years old, Sirocco Straits threatened the power of my family, trying to overthrow us in order to remove the most powerful allies of The Wind Dukes.  After many long months of battle, we prevailed, thus gaining further respect and loyalty from subjects residing within the reach, as well as from those residing within Aaqa.
 

             Though we had won the battle, the ruler of the strait had declared us enemies and continued attempts to weaken my family in order to weaken our allies, wishing to be discreet and weaken from within, he intended to kill me and make it appear accidental.  My parents, hearing of this plot, and in a desperate last attempt to protect me, pleaded with some old friends from Oerth, a young couple they had known in their travels, to take me in to be raised as they would have done.  They agreed, and contingencies were put in place for my safety.  They used the portal in Aaqa for my arrival, so no one from the strait could follow, and my memories of life in the plane of air were locked away, only to be unlocked when strong enough to return and defend myself. 

Although I no longer remembered my first few years of life, my adoptive parents, a halfling and a grey elf, quickly grew worried that not changing my name may bring notice from those who wish to do me harm thus changing my name to Skye Vindhalle, telling me the change was to make me feel more part of the family.

I was told my birth parents passed away which lead me to the orphanage my parents found me at, but I can’t remember what occurred in my earlier years of life, in face, I cannot recall the orphanage at all.  For two or three years this plagued me greatly, as I was barely able to speak common, thus limiting communication with my family, and upon finally grasping the language had a rather breathy accent until around age twenty-seven.  I have not yet been able to figure out if all air genasi as children preferred to talk with the wind whistling through the trees as I did, or if they also had such a difficult time speaking common as I did, however it is something I used to ponder as I sat outside in the breeze as a child. 

I grew up with two older brothers, a Halfling and a grey elf, the races of my parents.  As children, we would run through Kelten and the neighboring Hraak Forest and Griff Mountains, feeling the magic of the wind and the nature around us as we played silly games.  Eventually my brothers became rangers, understanding the best ways to see and maneuver in the rough terrain of the area, I however, understood the nature.  I saw the magic in the plants and animals as they sang and danced through their lives, learning through them how to grow and appreciate what is around us. 

Around my seventy-seventh birthday, I began spending more time in nature than with the humans in Kelten, spending weeks at a time wandering the forest as a bear or swimming in ponds with frogs and minnows.  Returning home very seldom to restock my supplies, I would occasionally save an innocent bear wandering into the wrong area, or help bees find a new home after the humans had destroyed theirs.  One day, after a particularly long trip away from home, I returned to find a hostile air elemental destroying the town.  I don’t really know how it happened, but somehow, I managed to talk the elemental down and convinced it to return home without hurting any more of the city or its people.  Talking down the elemental gave me a little notoriety throughout the land which caught Oryn Talus’s attention.  A few years later, a wagon arrived to escort me to Blackmoor to protect the museum and join the Bane.  

Adventures in Oerth- The Bane of Vecna: Book One, Chapter Five, the road to Ekbir

The Bane of Vecna, those present in this chapter:
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard; "The Silver Tongued Siren;" who has more instruments than she can carry

Pharin, the Drow Wizard; "The Dark Conjurer;" summoner of demon bunnies

Skye, the Air Genasi Druid and saver of demon bunnies

Dervish, the Kasathe Fighter

Nanu, the NightmOrc Fighter who is late; slayer of innocent bystanders

Jayce, the Human Barbarian Warlock of Pelor

NOTE: Since these stories are being told by Aurora, notes in Italics will begin appearing in chapters. These are the interjections that Roe put in at the time she shared this tale, probably many years later.

A couple of days into their journey to Ekbir, the cultists attacked again. Pharin summoned his damned bunnies, while those who could shoot took up sniper positions at the windows. At first things were going well, the group was knocking the cultists out quickly, and soon there were only three left. When the three remaining cultists got close to the carriage they enacted a spell that caused them to explode in a vicious acid. The acid got on the wheels and all over the interior of the carriage. It had the same icky, necrotic, wrong feel to it that the cultist's magic had. The acid was also moving away from Jayce, most likely because of the positive energy amulet Pharin had made using Jayce as a positive energy battery of sorts; things as vile as the cult's magics are repelled by energy that positive. Try as they might, the party was unable to stop the acid from breaking the spell that created the carriage; in a only a couple of hours, their carriage was disintegrated. They found themselves stranded, and utterly unprepared for their four day walk to Ekbir.

Even during their trip on foot, Pharin continued to cast a spell on Nanu that made her feel like she was covered in itchy bug bites; this was part of the "curse" he claimed to be on the star metal she stole from him. Dervish knew it was Pharin causing this, but everyone found it amusing to see the foul foal being slowly driven mad by the phantom bites, and chose to say nothing about their origin.

Pharin and Skye decided to create a rotation for summoning mounts for everyone. Each of them summoned flying mounts for Pharin, Aurora, Dervish, and Jayce, while Skye wild shaped into a bird and Nanu walked- the NightmOrc was fast enough to keep up with the group and not build to ride a mount, though a horse riding a giant bird would have made a fantastic song. The mounts only gave them four hours of flight per day, but that was better than having to walk all day every day of their journey. It was odd for them to have to hunt for their food and set up a camp, the carriage had spoiled them; their wages had also stopped appearing in their coin pouches, apparently their payments were somehow tied to the carriage.

The cultists were persistent, constantly hounding the Bane. They were usually easy enough to dispose of, most of them being merely human and nowhere near as powerful as the party. One day there was a fight that didn't go very well, partly because the only person on the ground was Nanu, everyone else was in flight; but of course our heroes prevailed in the end. Those cultists managed to keep themselves under their shields for a good portion of the fight, which lasted several minutes- much longer than any fight they've had with the cultists before. Though fights lasting that long occur frequently in the tales, it just means we're becoming a great story. Pharin had already used his summons for the day to get mounts, and was unable to summon any bunnies- Aurora and Skye were pleased about that. Though this left Pharin thinking that he needed the bunnies against the cultists and couldn't fight them without the furballs of doom; every other time they had fought the cult he had bunnies and the cultists went down easily.

One night at camp the cult sent two assassins after the Bane, and they actually managed to sneak up unnoticed and stab Pharin and Jayce in the back. Once again there were no bunnies (Yay!). Jayce dealt with one of the assassins, while Pharin decided to use his sneaky innate drow abilities on the other. He dropped a globe of darkness over the second assassin and plunged in, attempting to level the playing field a little. While Pharin attempted to fight the assassin in his darkness globe, the other assassin managed to blind Jayce. Dervish and Nanu surrounded that assassin, with Skye giving air support (haha, yes I had to do that) to them, while Aurora healed Jayce. After a few seconds Pharin borrowed Aurora's fireball wand and threw a powerful fireball into his globe, hoping to hit the concealed assassin. Unfortunately that assassin was clever and had turned itself invisible to make its escape, which it succeeded in. The group did manage to kill one of the two assassins though, so at least they had a partial victory.

Pharin took the amulet off of the dead assassin, and using Jayce as a positive energy battery, he purified it. Pharin traded Jayce the new amulet for the one he had gotten off of a cultist back in Blackmoor and had purified via barbarian also. Pharin using Jayce like this for a second time ended up turning him into a Warlock... of Pelor. Jayce is not terribly smart, so him being a mage doesn't fit quite right (he's pretty much the worst warlock ever). The amulet Pharin took filled him with positive energy, which felt odd to the drow who is used to being negative, so he decided to store it in his pocket and only use it while meditating.

The group was finally five miles from Ekbir when they saw another group of cultists approaching. Pharin decided to do a "magical experiment," and used Leomund's Tiny Hut to grant shelter while he set up a ritual. Dervish made a sarcastic comment about someone volunteering to get splorted, and Jayce, not understanding sarcasm at all, ran off. Dervish, understanding Jayce better than anyone else, was able to call him back long enough for Pharin to activate the Hut, then the fighters stepped out of the circle, leaving Skye, Aurora, and Pharin in its safety.

*****
Aurora

I decided to stay back and keep Pharin inspired, so he could get his ritual done quickly. This is what I consider to be one of the largest mistakes I've made in my one and a half centuries of life. I knew he was trying to do something big that would help us against the cultists, but I wasn't expecting what that bloody imbecile did...

We watched the cultists approaching, and the plan was to keep them busy until Pharin was done with his spell; he was trying to do a ritual in less than half the time it normally takes to do one, but I didn't know what the purpose of this was. Suddenly, the cultists were gone, just vanished, and I felt a slight vibration under my feet that I recognized as a giant worm moving underground. The fighters went to investigate, while Skye and I stayed behind with Pharin. They found that the cultists had fallen into a hole made by a purple worm, who had then collected his meal and devoured our enemies for us. They called to us to tell us this, but Pharin did not stop his ritual. He later claimed he didn't hear anyone tell him the cultists were gone, which the others were far enough away that he may have been telling the truth, but drow always lie so you never know with that wizard.

I was watching the others make their way back to us when Pharin finished his ritual. Behind me there was suddenly a thirty foot tall bunny! I may have overreacted a little... I screamed, used my fireball wand to scorch the horrible monster, and leapt backward. But looking at this giant monster, even in my terror over seeing such a horrid beast, I wondered breezily why I was afraid of bunnies; then the stupid thing reminded me exactly why by attacking me and throwing me backward through the air. Not only was I facing the source of constant emotional torment, but I was also facing a giant happy bunny intent on killing me. Apparently bunnies, no matter how happy they are, don't like having fireballs thrown at them... imagine that. Then the daft wizard decided to climb and ride the stupid thing, and invited Jayce to join him; he said something about frolicking, but who in the hell would want to frolic with that damned thing? Before the monster could destroy us, Dervish activated his paradise again, taking everyone except Pharin. I hugged him and thanked him profusely.

Nanu doesn't seem to understand any emotions except for anger and cunt (I know "cunt" isn't technically an emotion, but there's no other way to accurately describe the pony's other mood). She flipped out at me, and then at Skye when she tried to defend me. The stupid horse doesn't listen and refuses to hear any opinion that doesn't match what she seems to think is relevant. Apparently the pony has never heard of phobias before, or manners, or being nice to people... I'm getting off track here... I told her to piss off and refused to argue with her. To distract the stupid horse, Dervish finally told Nanu that Pharin was the cause of her bites, which she was not happy about (shocking, right?). I looked forward to seeing her confront, and hopefully smash, the stupid wizard about this later.

I didn't used to be terrified of bunnies you know, but Pharin constantly summoning them has fucked with my head a little. I keep having this dream about a bunny outside of a cave, the ground littered with bones, and a group of knights trying to ascertain how to get around the bunny alive... There's talk of needing some holy weapon to destroy it, but they don't have it with them; things get hazy from there and I can never remember past that point when I awaken. The dream didn't start until after the demon bunny incident, and I fear it may be a glimpse of what is to come.

Anyways, after a few minutes of pointless arguing at the hooves at that stupid nightcunt, Dervish brought us back out of his paradise. Pharin was nowhere to be seen, and there was no evidence of his death. The damned thing could have eaten him, I'd rather hoped it did, but alas, I was not that lucky.

*****

While the rest of the group was in Dervish's paradise, Pharin decided to ride his giant bunny the rest of the way to Ekbir. The bunny he had summoned was one of pure positive energy, that made everyone around it (except me) feel happy and at ease. Supposedly the horrid hare was only defending itself from Aurora's attack, something so pure and positive does not attack for no reason. When he reached Ekbir, hours before the others, the elf guarding the gates made Pharin send the rabbit away. The giant happy bunny now frolics in the Vesve forest, and Pharin and Jayce plan to visit it eventually. Pharin was taken to a meeting hall to wait for the others to join him.

The rest of the group arrived much later that night, since they had to walk the five miles instead of riding a giant bunny, and were brought to the same meeting hall as Pharin. The guards at the gate were disappointed to see that they did not have another happy bunny in tow. Our heroes were met by one of Oryn's agents, a druid named Aerathema, who wanted to know why they were there. They explained that they were following the direction provided by the Fang, which had pointed south. They planned on stopping here to resupply and then they would be heading to Zeif, another coastal town that was a little further south. At Zeif the group planned to enact the rite again, to see which way the Fang wanted them to go; putting their backs to the coast while doing this could help them get a better handle on exactly where they needed to go. It was clear Aerathema wasn't happy the Bane was here, but that could be because of the stupid rabbit, and that she wanted them to leave as soon as possible. They were given lodging in her hall, and left to have a free evening. It was far too late to do any shopping, so Aurora, Skye, Dervish, and Jayce went drinking. Pharin decided to find the black market so he wouldn't have to wait to do his shopping.

 Once alone, Nanu confronted Pharin about her bites. While Pharin never admitted that he was the cause of them, he didn't outright deny it either; he used the typical drow double-talk. After confronting him, Nanu stopped being itchy the following morning; she had stayed awake all night and apparently the spell Pharin had been using only worked if someone was sleeping. (I was curious if he would resume the spell the next time she slept, if he did he could really screw with her head; make her think that sleep was the true cause of it and not a spell. I don't think the stupid horse is smart enough to figure out that the curse is only castable when someone is unconscious.)

After trying a smaller bar first, the group eventually ended up in a crowded, rowdy bar that was full of jovial fights. Dervish got into a few fights, and by the time Aurora and Skye got there, someone had made the mistake of hitting Jayce- sending him into rage. The drunk, raging barbarian was taking bets on if he could hit people with the unconscious imbecile who hit him and instigated this. After that round of bets was over, and Jayce was done hitting people with that guy, he threw the now-dead body across the room. The group tried to get him to leave, but he liked it there, punctuating that by punching out another guy so he could throw him.

Aurora decided to charm Jayce, which was easy enough to do since he isn't very smart, but even charmed he still didn't want to leave. (For the first time Jayce actually noticed me, but I couldn't take advantage of his while charmed, he can easily kill me. Besides, I wouldn't have actually succeeded in the challenge I had issued myself of getting Jayce in the sack if it was under coercion, that's just cheating and I only do that at cards.) Dervish convinced him that they needed to go back to the building they were lodging in because the guards there wanted to fight him. Unfortunately, there was a group of guards waiting right outside the doors that Jayce was expecting to fight. Aurora then had to make Jayce confused with another spell, while keeping him charmed, and that combined with her and Dervish's persuasive powers got Jayce back to his room. He passed out as soon as they got him to his room, and he didn't remember a thing in the morning.

While everyone else was drinking, Pharin found the Underdark bazaar, and a merchant who kept appearing where Pharin was. Lyathfikash, the drow merchant, had sold to Pharin in Blackmoor and Eru-Tovar, and now he was in Ekbir (this is too many locations to be coincidence). Pharin noticed while in the Underdark that there seemed to be a lot of empty houses, as if the people had left in a hurry. When he inquired about that, he was told that the drow thought the druids from the Vale were attacking, because of the giant bunny (shouldn't that mean that drow fear bunnies and Pharin shouldn't summon them?). After Pharin finished his shopping, he happened upon a group of looters, and decided to kill them and take their earnings for himself; they were weak and he dispatched of them quickly.

Among his prizes he found a bag of devouring. He, of course, had to test it out, so when he got to his room he summoned a monkey and put it in the bag. This ended up becoming a ridiculous struggle, the monkey was strong and really didn't want to be eaten; it screamed so loudly that it roused Dervish and Nanu and they went to investigate. It took much effort on Pharin's part to keep the monkey in the bag long enough for the bag to eat it. Dervish burst into Pharin's room in time to see the bag severing the hand the monkey had gotten out of the bag before being eaten (he was lucky it wasn't Skye, she may have attempted to kill him for that offense). Pharin mummified the hand with some new item he got, which also turned the monkey's blood into a diluted marble. Pharin kept the mummified hand for himself and gave Dervish the marble of blood.

Aurora's Adventures: The life of the Bard before Bane

I was born 153 years ago as Anoron of Moonhollow, we don't use surnames in the Vale, simply the village we are from. Moonhollow sits in the northern part of the Vale; I am the ninth child out of ten, though there could be more now, I've been away for a long time. Our village was one of the nature-based ones, mostly druids and rangers occupied it. There are two types of villages in the Vale: the nature villages, which are surrounded by forest and near the river, and the mining villages, which are close to or on the mountains that surround the Vale.

My family has been the ruling clan of Moonhollow for many centuries. My grandparents are- or were at least, a lot can change in fifty years- the head of our family and clan, with both of them approaching a millenium of life. As a member of the head family, I was given certain freedoms that most children do not receive. I was allowed to explore our forest at length, and while I always felt a tug of power swirling the woods, it always took the form of music. I would wander for hours, making up songs as I went, then performing my favorites at gatherings.

While children in the Vale are taught instruments, stories, and songs, they are expected to use those only for leisure and as teaching tools for children. I fell in love with the stories and songs, and demanded to learn every instrument I could. I was a quick study, first mastering the bagpipes, which were developed in the Vale and brought to Flanaess by the gnomish traders who live in our valley. After mastering the bagpipes I moved on to string instruments, and the violin quickly became my favorite.

At age twenty-five every child of the Vale is required to begin a trade. Since I lived in a nature town and spent so much of my childhood in the forest, I was naturally expected to join the druids or rangers. My family sent me to the druids first, but after a few years I hadn't made much progress, I just didn't have the finesse required to be a priestess. I could see the magic swirling in the woods, but it refused to work with me unless I sung. Since I had shown promise with a bow, I was then sent to study under the rangers. While my ability to use their weapons was passable, I still just didn't have the magic needed to join them. It aggravated my parents, since our village seer had told them there was magic in me, and I knew I could somehow touch the magic, if only it would let me.

Shortly before my fortieth birthday I was sent south, to Seer, a town near the Black Keep, where our rulers have lived since before the Sundering. Seer is the home of our mage tower, there is no need for more than one in our little valley. This is the town of magic, in addition to the mage tower this is where our clerics are trained. In the old times, before the Spell Plague, this was also where the drow enforcer lived; she was the Mage's right and left hand, and she commanded our troops in his stead.

My parents thought my powers could be unlocked by the wizards; and they were wrong again. My family was humiliated by my failings at this point; someone of our station should have a prestigous career and not be stuck as a common guard or merchant. I wasn't good enough to be a druid, ranger, or wizard; they knew sending me to study with the clerics would do no good either, I had never truly followed Ehlonna, the only deity in the Vale, since no others would acknowledge us.

The closest thing to a deity I had ever followed was the Battle Bard Gabrielle, the legend who left her small town to accompany a great warrior who saved countless lives throughout all of Flanaess. I felt drawn to her, to music, but that was not what a Child of the Vale did. We knew all of our tales, and never had any new ones being forged, or transported in; we had sealed ourselves into the Vale, the Dim Forest only let those who carried a special insignia travel unmolested. This insignia was one of the hardest things to acquire, they didn't want us just roaming about, we can't afford to lose every restless child. The druids had awakened the Forest centuries ago, to keep out "undesirables," meaning the rest of the world. The merchants were permitted to leave, but they seldom ventured far out of the forest, we have had trade agreements in place with Geoff for centuries.

As a last resort, when I was fifty-two, my family sent me to Ebonwood, the capital city of the Vale, where I was to learn to become a guard. This was not something that many Moonhollians did, since we are a nature village; guards usually came from the mining villages, where people tended to be more muscular. Sending me to Ebonwood was the biggest mistake my dear parents ever made. It was in Ebonwood that I met my mentor, friend, and love- Ayre. He was fifty years my senior, and had managed to get around tradition and become a bard at a young age. Ayre had a similar outlook on music and tales to my own: these teach us who we are, where we came from, and could never be allowed to be forgotten. New tales were just as important though, since they can teach us of the outside world, lessons new and old could bring so much joy to our people, if only we could leave to collect them. He taught me how to play new instruments, I learned every story he ever wrote, and for a while he was the center of my world.

After five years I was ejected from the guard academy, my shortest apprenticeship yet. I was expected to return home within a tenday, to meet my failure and lack of future. My only choices now were to learn a trade or become a merchant, neither of which was the least bit appealing to me. I didn't want to go home, I wanted to stay with Ayre, so we completed the ritual that binds mates- this is similar to the human tradition of marriage, but more involved and lasting. My family was furious that their rebellious child had chosen her heart over duty. I was finally getting what I wanted: to be a bard.

For a little over thirty years, Ayre and I were quite happy. We lived in the bard college in Ebonwood, the only one in the Vale; though we were the youngest occupants besides the children that ran amok. We traveled some, visiting the other villages in the Vale to share stories. We even ventured out to the Citadel, the former home of our king of old, who vanished into the mountains several centuries ago. The Exalted One had taken it as his home when he rose to power, but he eventually had the Black Keep built, and filled the Citadel with nasty traps. The traps were too much for us, so we never made it inside; I vowed to return someday and unlock the secrets of the fortress.

 One day tragedy struck, and my time with Ayre ended as quickly as it had began. There was a tavern brawl, and Ayre always had to be the hero- he loved a good fight. He died in my arms. Grief-stricken, I packed up our life, and taking few mementos, I spent the next ten or so years aimlessly wandering the Vale. I eventually ended up back in Moonhollow, though I am unsure exactly how much time passed between my leaving Ebonwood and my arrival back home. I know I spent a few years with my family, but I no longer could focus on the flow of time, so I do not know how long I was there. I only know that a decade happened in that time, for when I finally snapped out of my greif-zombie state, I learned the year and was shocked.

When my 100th birthday arrived, I knew it was time to move on. I had to give my life some sort of purpose or meaning again, so I decided to leave the Vale. I gave myself two missions: to find out what happened to our king after he went into the mountains to try to earn back favor with the gods, and to find and create more stories- stories can always motivate me. I changed my name to Aurora Isilime, which has a similar meaning to Anoron of Moonhollow, and after getting the insignia carved into my violin, which was no easy feat, I left.

I spent the next fifty years wandering the continent, collecting new stories and having my own adventures. I was finally living out the dream Ayre and I had whispered to each other so often, and I was doing it in his honor. I refused to let anyone get close to me, I couldn't bear to lose another person I loved; I had temporary friends, who were really just travel companions or lovers, but nothing real. It was when I was traveling as a caravan guard to Chendl that I became known as the Silver Tongued Siren. Fourteen bandits attacked our caravan, and I talked them down, and convinced them to join us as guards; there was more profit to be had that way. They were wonderful people, once you got to know them, they were just misguided. That's how Oryn found out about me and recruited me to join the Bane.

Adventures in Oerth- The Bane of Vecna: Book One, Chapter Four, Yecha

The Bane of Vecna, those present in this chapter:

Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard, "The Silver Tongued Siren," who has more instruments than she can carry

Pharin, the Drow Wizard, "The Dark Conjurer," and summoner of demon bunnies

Skye, the Air Genasi Druid and saver of demon bunnies

Dervish, the Kasathe Fighter

Nanu, the NightmOrc Fighter who is late, slayer of innocent bystanders

Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin

Jayce, the Human Barbarian

Aeryn and Aerys Shayl, the Human Ranger twins

Upon seeing Yecha in flames, our heroes asked their driver to move faster, and since the carriage is magical, they arrived at the gates of Yecha quickly. The gates were smashed in and the terrified screams from the villagers, along with the sounds of battle, reached the Bane's ears. They asked the driver to bring them straight to the center of town, where the fire appeared to have begun. Pharin had Nanu make him a large circle and fill it with water so he could summon water elementals to quench the fire; Aurora stayed near Pharin to keep him inspired while he did this. Skye attempted to contain the fire using her air abilities, with mixed results, while Dervish used his magic water jug to help get the fire out. The group quickly realized that the fire wasn't normal, it was a magical fire, making it more difficult for them to quench. They also noticed that the doors to the houses and buildings they could see were blocked off, trapping the occupants inside.

After Pharin summoned his first elemental, who he offered it the same deal he had given the fire elemental- that if it put out the fires it would be set free, the fire was quenched enough for Nanu to charge into the building. Nanu burst into the flaming building, and using her decanter of endless water, she sprayed the flames that were scattered in the room... She also killed five people who had been trapped in the room. Pharin ended up summoning a total of seven water elementals to help get the fires out, and they eventually began a downpour, putting an end to many of the fires quickly. By this point Pharin had also opened a small hole into the Plane of Water.

*****
Aurora

I had been playing my bagpipes during the fire fighting to keep the group inspired, while staying inside the Circle Pharin had laid down. When he finished summoning his elementals he asked me if I "wanted to play with the big boys." I was intrigued, so I gave him a nod that I wanted to hear more. Pharin told me to send my Siren Song through the tear into the Plane of Water to call forth what he hoped would be a bigger elemental. I decided to give it a try, and altered my tune to something more fitting for calling water. I played my heart out, giving the song as much power as I could, and after a few seconds we saw results. A large tentacle began snaking out of the tear... I hadn't intended to call anything with tentacles, but I decided to work with what I got, adding more charm to the song; but the creature I had summoner was too strong willed for me.

I had accidentally summoned an enormous kraken, who was trying to rip its way into our world. Yes, I summoned a kraken with bagpipes... How many bards can say that? The beast began attacking us, and at that moment a giant dwarf looking fire guy appeared outside the circle; the rest of my friends had to deal with that, I had a kraken to banish. I tried a couple more times to exert control over the monster I had called, but it responded by whipping me out of the Circle. Somehow I managed to keep my song going even while flying thirty feet through the air. During my battle of wills with the kraken, a group of cultists showed up, adding more to the fight my comrades were engaged in. Lan, Aeryn, and Aerys appeared at about the same time that the cultists did; apparently the Head of Vecna was somewhere in this... city... calling it a city is generous, but as far as size goes, it fits.

With the appearance of those three the cultists were taken out quickly, but Lan was banished to another plane, with one of the cultists. We still had to get rid of the bloody kraken. Pharin tossed me an enchanted dagger, and told me to ask the kraken its name; if he got its name he could put it in a phylactery. The kraken was stubborn though, and refused to give me its name; it also threw me again, this time by flooding the area. The tear was growing, but we couldn't let it finish ripping its way through. Pharin managed to bring Lan and the guy who had banished himself with Lan back, and Lan simply yelled at us to run and took off.

While Pharin and I worked to rid ourselves of the kraken, by trying to get its name, and by simply telling it to leave, it took hold of Skye. Everyone except Pharin and I ran to her rescue, trying to sever the tentacle; if they could summon the tentacle Pharin could close the tear and seal the beast back in its realm. Try as we might, I was unable to get its name or make it leave, and Pharin was unable to put it in his phylactery. Finally our friends managed to sever the tentacle, and we were able to slam the door it was using shut.

*****

The villagers thought that the Bane was to blame for their town being set on fire; who could blame them, all they saw was the Bane summoning elementals and krakens, flooding their town and hurting their crops. They surrounded the Bane and began making accusations, which could have been calmed but the group did not let the Silver Tongued Siren deal with the crowd, and every attempt they made to soothe them only made things worse. Dervish produced an item that allowed him to send everyone except Lan, who had left while everyone was battling the kraken, to a paradise. They agreed to spend the night there, to let things blow over a little with the villagers. It was in this paradise that Aeryn and Aerys told the group that the Head had appeared in Yecha after the pieces had been scattered.

Eight hours later the group emerged from Dervish's paradise feeling refreshed. They found themselves surrounded by villagers who had been up all night cleaning up the mess of bodies and kraken pieces that the Bane had left. Needless to say, the villagers were not happy to see the Bane. They tried to talked to them, but they wouldn't listen, not even to Aurora; but that was kind of her doing, since she was using the bagpipes to help give her friends inspiration to make this easier. Their carriage was also nowhere to be seen, and they had left it near the battle. Pharin summoned thirty-two bunnies to offer the villagers as breakfast, but that made matters worse, since the bunnies would destroy what crops hadn't been destroyed by the flooding the tear had done. Pharin's solution was to give all of the bunnies heart attacks, which angered Skye; they still didn't want the bunnies, so Pharin sent them away, much to Aurora's relief.

For a moment it seemed that the villagers would attack the Bane, but the group explained exactly why they were in Yecha. The townspeople presented the Bane with a chest, containing both the Head of Vecna, and the vampire skull they had gone there to obtain. The Bane gathered their belongings and found their carriage waiting outside of the gates. Pharin performed the ritual with the vampire skull, fang, and lich blood to find out which direction they needed to go next. The fang pointed south, so they set their carriage in that direction and entered the Yecha Hills.

They spent eight days traveling through the Yecha Hills and the Udgru Forest that lies south of the Hills. The cultists came after the Bane on three different occasions, and the Bane made quick work of them. Much to Aurora and Skye's vexation, each time Pharin summoned another batch of bunnies to hurtle at the cultists; Aurora's fear of the bunnies kept growing. They finally emerged from the forest and decided to head to Ekbir.

Adventures in Oerth- The Bane of Vecna: Book One, Chapter Three, the road to Yecha

The Bane of Vecna, present in this chapter:
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard who has more instruments than she can carry

Pharin, the Drow Wizard and summoner of demon bunnies

Skye, the Air Genasi Druid

Dervish, the Kasathe Fighter

Nanu, the NightmOrc Fighter who is late

Oryn Talus, the mysterious and ancient "Halfling" who has employed the group

Jayce and Jarrid, the Human Barbarian brothers

Lothar the Sovani Smith

With only nineteen hours to prepare to leave Blackmoor the group scattered to the market, determined to find supplies to help them on their journey. Nanu enlisted both Skye and Aurora's help in purchasing some horse shoes, since she had discovered her abrupt and abrasive personality does not make shopkeepers inclined to give her a fair price. Pharin looked for components needed for a ritual that would give the group a chance at finding some of the pieces of Vecna, and plotted revenge against Nanu for taking a piece of star metal Oryn had given him. Pharin had convinced Nanu that the metal was cursed, and planned to mess with her accordingly. One of the components Pharin required for his ritual was lich blood, and the only way that can really be acquired is by summoning a lich. Once Pharin gathered what he needed to summon the lich he and Oryn did so. While the lich he summoned was weaker, a weak lich is still extremely difficult to beat. Pharin managed to defeat the lich, but it was no easy feat, and he was unable to summon its phylactery until after he beat it. 

The Bane met Oryn in the museum at the end of the nineteen hours, and were introduced to another agent of Oryn's, a Sovani named Lothar. Somehow during this time the museum had completely emptied of its exhibits, and they were now in a large, empty room. Oryn told the group that he still had two wishes left from the Moon card he had drawn, and had a couple of ideas on how to use them to help the group. The first idea was to wish for all of the pieces of Vecna to be scattered throughout Oerth, to force the cult to have to seek them all out again; Oryn explained that would take up both wishes. The other idea he had was to break the blood bond on the Eye, Hand, or Heart, which could potentially get one of them out of their hands. Oryn had another agent in the field who was near the Hand, and with the bond broken he could potentially get it away from the cult before they could redo the bond. That would only take up one wish, but without super powering the wishes they still wouldn't be able to scatter the pieces. While the group was arguing over which would be the better course of action, Lothar received a suggestion from Moradin, to use sacrifice to charge the wishes. He shredded his wrists, and used his own blood to power the spell, giving the group the ability to break the blood bond on the Eye, and scatter the pieces. Since they chose to break the blood bond first, the Eye was scattered with everything else, leaving the cult with only the Heart and Hand. As soon as the wishes were made, Lothar was helped and his death was prevented. 

Oryn instructed the Bane to travel to Yecha, where they could find a vampire skull; the final component needed for Pharin to perform the ritual that would help them find the pieces before the cult did. Oryn suggested they stop in Eru-Tovar for any final supplies, since they would not see another city until they reached Yecha, which was about three hundred miles from Blackmoor, and would take about thirteen days to complete. Lan had already left for a different destination, having a separate mission from Oryn; Jarrid and Lothar also went in different directions, and Oryn vanished after the meeting adjourned. Oryn left the Bane with an item that gave them Leomund's Tiny Hut once a day, so they would have shelter while traveling, and a carriage that was bigger on the inside, with the same mysterious driver and horses they had all had on their way to Blackmoor.

Since Eru-Tovar was a little more than a day's journey from Blackmoor, they stopped before sundown and made camp for the night; the driver and horses vanish daily at sunset, and do not reappear until sunrise. The Hut provided a force field to keep the group safe, so they did not set up a watch schedule, and all just went to sleep instead. After a few hours Skye was awoken by something shifting the air, and she saw humanoid looking shadows out of the corner of her eye, Skye decided to wake up Pharin first, but his spider bit her when she tried; she then tried yelling at the spider to wake Pharin to no avail. She thought about trying to wake up Nanu after failing to wake Pharin, but realized that the foul tempered NightmOrc would probably have a worse reaction to being woken up; Skye decided to wake up Aurora instead. Aurora saw the shadows as well, and helped Skye wake Dervish and Nanu. They realized that the shadows were avoiding the area where their fire was, and began lighting torches to help repel them; they planned to light a path to their wood pile so Dervish could get wood to help them ring the Hut in fire. During the commotion Jayce woke up, as did Pharin, though Pharin decided to play opossum whilst readying a flaming sphere. Skye suggested Jayce wake Pharin by kicking him, and Jayce, not sensing sarcasm, kicked him in the torso, setting Pharin's flaming sphere off, and hitting Jayce with it. This sent Jayce into rage, and he ran out into the darkness to gather wood; Dervish followed a few seconds later, while the rest of the group began pouring oil flasks around the perimeter of the Hut to spread the fire. Dervish returned quickly, but Jayce stayed outside gathering wood. Pharin got the idea to summon a fire elemental to keep their fire going until sunrise; he summoned a very tiny one, and offered it freedom in exchange for keeping the fire going, which the elemental accepted. While Pharin was making his deal with the elemental, Nanu decided to help Jayce collect wood, but got hit by one of the shadows instantly and it sapped her strength. Jayce threw the wood he had been gathering into the ring and tried to throw Nanu back into the hut because her strength was so badly diminished, but she decided to attempt to fight him, so instead he was only able to shove her to the edge of the ring of fire. The NightmOrc angrily went back into the circle, and after pummeling a couple of shadows Jayce followed. Nanu hostilely confronted Jayce about man-handling her, but he was clearly unwilling to fight her about it, he was trying to protect her and felt he had done the right thing. The group was able to rest in safety for the rest of the night, since Pharin's elemental kept the shadows at bay. 

The next day the group arrived in Eru-Tovar and decided to stay until sunrise, hoping that would give them enough time to shop. While in Eru-Tovar, Pharin arranged for Nanu to receive a crate containing a vermin infested bale of hay as part of the "curse" that was on the star metal. The sneaky drow was able to have the crate delivered in a way that could not be traced back to him. Nanu did not notice the crate, even though it was in the carriage, for several days. The next morning marked the beginning of their journey toward Yecha.

The first few days of their journey were quiet, and the space in their carriage allowed them to comfortably work on various projects. After multiple mishaps with burnt potions, Skye was given the moniker "Burnt Potions" by Aurora, who refused to stop calling Skye that even after several well-made potions. Pharin began using a spell that allowed him to create a block of air hot enough to be a forge, but it was not hot enough for the star metal. Pharin decided to summon a fire elemental to see if he could convince it to help him. He summoned the same elemental that had helped them with the shadows, but the elemental had grown a lot in the days since their first meeting. This time the elemental did not want to help Pharin or comply with his request, and instead took offense to it and left. 

After a few days on the road, while traveling through the Wolf Nomads, Skye sensed a pack of about forty wolves near them. She told the group that the wolves were hungry enough that they might try to attack, and that needed to be prevented. While the carriage did contain two tables with the Heroes Feast enchantment, a spell that lets food constantly be restocked no matter how much is eaten, it could not produce it quickly enough. Pharin got the idea to alter the magic on one of the tables, he planned to only make the steaks on it multiply, but instead made the entire table quadruple the amount of food being generated. The group quickly threw food out of the windows to help the hungry wolves, and after a few miles Pharin was able to shut down the spell. Skye was pleased because they had just helped all of the wildlife in the area, not just the wolves, and not a single wolf was harmed in the process. 

A few days later, Pharin decided to summon bunnies to test a gaseous poison, but Skye caught him before his test was complete. Skye used her abilities to clear the poisonous air around the bunnies, but did too well and broke the barrier of the protective circle that Pharin had the bunnies in. She then healed the bunnies, but did that too well and made them super bunnies; she thought this was great at first. The group spent about ten minutes running around the carriage trying to deal with the bunnies, with Aurora yelling to get rid of them because she thinks all bunnies are evil, while Skye tried to convince her otherwise because they're fluffy. The group was so focused on the bunnies that they did not notice the group of bandits surrounding them until it was too late. They heard a couple of thumps outside the carriage and looked out the window to see the bandit leader laughing at them all because of the bunnies. Pharin responded quickly by throwing a bunny at the leader's face, knocking him off his horse and getting his face clawed in the process. The leader attempted to salvage the attack, by picking himself up and announcing that "if you surrender..." That was as far as he got before being hit by a couple of arrows and another bunny that exploded into an ice knife, while being entangled by Skye's vines. The rest of the bandits abandoned their leader and the Bane took him prisoner. Skye set all of the bunnies free.

Nanu finally noticed the crate with her name on it after Aurora asked her is she would get the damned crate out of the way; it had been sitting by the door to the carriage the entire time. Since the hay had been sitting for several days, it was moldy and foul smelling when she opened it; the vermin had vacated the hay several days earlier. Nanu was furious at being given hole-riddled, moldy, vile smelling hay, and began throwing it out of the carriage; few things are more insulting to the NightmOrc than people treating like she's just a horse. The rest of the Bane vacated the interior of the carriage, moving to sit on top of it to get away from the stench of Nanu's "curse." She did not find out that it was Pharin's doing.

One night after the carriage had stopped for the evening, the group saw a large group of people on horseback riding toward them. They immediately assumed it was the bandits returning for their leader and began preparing for battle. As the group drew closer the Bane realized that they was carrying royal banners; these were not bandits, but instead part of the royal guard. They had come because they heard the group had encountered bandits, there was a rather nice bounty on the gang. The Bane gave the guard the bandit leader, and Pharin decided to summon the bunnies again, to give them the opportunity for revenge. The bunnies had grown in the few days since Skye had them released into the wild, and the way that Skye had broken the circle Pharin had had them in made them evil. They certainly wanted revenge against the bandit, and would likely have tried to slaughter everyone present if Jayce hadn't intervened. When Jayce saw the rabid rabbits, he put himself between them and everyone else, making it so they would have to go through him if they wanted the bandit. He managed to intimidate a gang of demonic barbarian bunnies to run away, but it was close; for a few seconds it was unclear if the Bane would have to fight these beasts. After Jayce made the rabbits run away the Bane was able to return to the business at hand, trading the bandit leader for a bounty. Aurora saw the encounter as proof that bunnies are indeed evil and spent the next two days writing a song about the evils of rabbits.

A day or so after the encounter with the demon hares, the Bane found the same group of bandits approaching them again. This time the group was not scrambling after the devil bunnies and actually saw the group coming. The bandits seemed reluctant to be attacking them, as if their new leader had forced them to come. Pharin went to summon more rabbits to use as projectiles against the bandits, but Skye forbid him from summoning more bunnies. Pharin summoned a group of flumphs instead, and knocked them unconscious so the group could safely throw them at the bandits. Unfortunately the Bane did not get the amusement of throwing slumbering flumphs, since Aurora, Dervish, and Nanu had been intimidating the bandits to leave. They succeeded at about the time that Pharin was ready to begin chucking flumphs, leaving the drow a pile of flumphs to clean up... Which he did by dropping a flaming sphere on them...

The rest of the trip to Yecha was uneventful, and soon saw the skyline of Yecha on the horizon. Yecha is basically a nomadic village that has spread out to resemble the size and population of a city, but calling it a city is generous. As the Bane watched their approach to the little city, they realized something was terribly wrong with Yecha... Most of Yecha was engulfed in flames.