Lucky needs YOUR help
| Lucky needs YOUR help | |
|---|---|
| Date | 1/25/24 |
| Storyteller | Sushi |
| Tier | Trainee |
| Player Characters | Batective, Evergreen, Lazarus, Wrax, Niko, Melfyra |
| Rewards | 250 xp, 15 gp, Aeon Stone (azure briolette), aeon stone (polished pebble), striking, sapphire x 3 |
| Result | Success |
| Author | Batective |
| Downtime | 1 |
Log
A bright day greeted us, the crew gathering outside Lucky's Studio with little knowledge to what the job would be. As it turned out, we had two jobs here: The first and most important, we had supplies to gather. Y'see, the client's a real go-getter, a busy lady that was preparing for a big show. Not enough time for the daily necessities when the world won't stop moving. That's where we come in, getting all the things she needs. These supplies also just so happened to be what was necessary for a fantastic-sounding cake, topped by a chocolate rose. That's all well and good, but the second job sounded significantly more tricky on paper; And significantly more my style. She'd seen a creature out in the woods, looking like a fox mixed with a ram, and if we could find it that'd be real swell. So, we had two teams that split nice and evenly. Lazarus, Niko and Wrax went out to get the supplies. Evergreen, Melfyra and I went into the woods to find our mysterious and illusive creature. Neither team could've predicted things'd turn out the way they did, for better and worse.
On our end, things were just a whole heap of fun wrapped in a mystery. Melfyra, our nature expert, identified that illusive beast as a "Clever Fox". Interesting name for a fox with ram horns, but who am I to question the knowledge of the walking bestiary? Anywho, we traversed the dark, ominous woods. My intuition led us right on to the exact tree Lucky'd seen it at, but there came the hard part. It wasn't an ordinary beast, it was more a spirit than anything else! No tracks to follow, no droppings to locate, nothing. Best we could do is look for signs of a shrine nearby it'd be waiting around, and the footsteps of travelers were all we had to go on. Sad to say, we guessed wrong in that regard and wound up lost. "Lucky" for us, getting lost was one of the best ways to have that spirit guide show up to guide you back to the main path. Not so luckily, that ain't what showed up.
Some sorta grass monkey straight outta the ethereal plane is what greeted us, real keen on speaking our deaths into existence with all this "starvation" mumbo jumbo. Didn't attack though, and a quick pass of the pesh from Evergreen meant this primate was more than willing to show us to his friend, who could show us a way outta the forest.
Sounded like our quarry, and indeed it was. Standing there in all its ram-horned glory was the clever fox, not so keen on calling death on our heads. In order to prove our trustworthiness to the both of them, we had to pass a test. The lights dimmed on all but those two and the three stones that stood as a shrine, and the test began.
First question: You wake up in a jungle, what's the first thing you do? A. Swing tree to tree B. Look for your friends C. Hunt some prey with your keen senses
C was the correct answer, and only Melfyra had figured it out.
Second question: You're hungry, what do you do? A. Hunt B. Don't need to hunt because you're too powerful C. Go with your group to forage
B. was the correct answer. I believe nobody got this question correct, and the fox was looking rather confused at the monkey's questions at this point.
Third question: Would you kill A. Absolutely B. If I ever have to C. Never ever
A was correct, and once more only Melfyra got this one correct. The monkey was quite proud, while the fox was disappointed in comparison.
Fourth question: Which of these quotes resonate with you? A. "In this world it's kill or be killed" B. "Without family you have nothing" C. "I tried being normal once, didn't like it"
A was the correct answer, and the teary-eyed Melfyra not only got this one correct as well, but she also instantly became friends with the grass monkey named Aegis.
The fox, introducing itself as Ayer, agreed to escort us back using some sort of passage magic, explaining that while it could not leave the forest, it would give us directions back here so Lucky or otherwise could visit it going forward. Along the way Evergreen inquired about Melfyra's answers, to which I was fairly certain it was just them understanding the sadistic-killer mindset the monkey was posing these questions under from the get-go. Turns out my intuition was wrong for once, Melfyra confessed to being a vampire! Nothing wrong with it in my opinion, my cousins are vampire bats, but Evergreen didn't seem too keen on it. Guess we'll have to wait and see if this is a storm brewing, or just some strong winds. This conversation ended with us meeting some lady wandering the woods named Heather, who invited us to come watch her feed a giant crocodile named Chompy. This is where our journey stops, for the time being.
The other group had a far more interesting time, to my understanding. They got most of the ingredients with no issue, except the chocolate rose to top the cake. Wrax couldn't get the last rose due to it being reserved by a Ms. Madison, but she could apparently be convinced to give it up according to the baker. The group headed to her mansion and spoke with her, Lazarus successfully convincing her to let them have it. It came with a contingency, however; She was not satisfied with her cleaning services, and wanted the wizard she hired to end their services.
Heading to the wizard Pontifer's home, the three found him turned into a sheep by a spilled potion. They tried to open the de-sheeping potion, but its cork was stuck and they ended up breaking it. They needed to go to Anna the potion seller to get a new one, and upon meeting her they found she didn't particularly care for the wizard. After a bit of arm twisting she agreed to help him anyway, she just needed them to go check on her friend Drew, who hadn't come around in a few days. Checking on Drew they saw a man waiting nearby flipping a coin, but didn't think much of it at the time. Knocking on the door, Drew seemed scared of something and thought he was going to die soon. Wrax opened the door by force to see what was going on, finding a drunk Drew on the floor with not much more than an injured ankle. Turned out Drew owed some money, and a man named Steve outside was waiting to collect, one way or the other. Steve was willing to overlook the debt, but only if they got a ring back from a man named Telltale Tony, a local loudmouth who was no longer part of their exclusive club.
Finding Telltale Tony at the bar, Niko and the others found the poor sod's whole hand was missing, ring and all. He tried telling a crocodile a story a couple weeks back and it didn't particularly care for it, taking his hand and the desired ring as compensation. He was fine with them taking the ring if they found it, they'd just need to go get it back from the croc. So, they headed out to a marsh near Pettyport in search of it. They found the croc real quick when it leapt out of the water and attacked Wrax, who proceeded to nearly kill it in one swing. Before it could fully flee into the water Laz finished it with an ice blast, leaving them to cut it open and look for the ring.
This was where we came in. We arrived at the marsh to see Heather feed Chompy, only to find these three dissecting the creature for a ring that had long-since passed through its bowels. Heather was heartbroken, Melfyra was sick to her stomach, and Evergreen was just plain disappointed in them. This run-around had apparently driven Lazarus mad, so when Heather offered to go find the ring in the crocodile's feces as long as we could go find some special turtle soap for her, he had some choice words to loudly exchange. Ended up leaving the rest of the job to us (not quite cut out for the stressful life of an associate, seems like) and heading back, but his words had the intended effect. Heather went and dug out the ring with a bit of help from Evergreen, and then it was back through the pipeline for us five.
We took the ring back to Steve, then took Drew back to Anna. Anna gave us the potion that we took back to Pontifer, learning the old goat's name came from Pontificate. Pontifer, adorned only in a robe Evergreen let him borrow, came back with us to Pontificate at Ms. Madison. Evergreen wanted him to also come with us to Pontificate at Lazarus, but he got upset and left after arguing with Madison. Still, she agreed to let us have the rose, signing off the receipt and sending us on our way. We got the chocolate and went back, picking up some snacks for the road beforehand. Meeting up with Lazarus and Lucky, Lucky paid us 12 gold and invited us to hang out for a while.
Once we left, a squirrel ran up with a pouch. It had a note from our spirit friends, and the pouch was loaded with shiny stones. Some magical, some valuable. We should visit more often.