Fly Me To The Moon (Part 2)
| Fly Me To The Moon (Part 2) | |
|---|---|
| Date | 3/12/25 |
| Storyteller | Jolyne |
| Tier | Trainee |
| Player Characters | Swaying Petals, Quill, Life Giver, Crows, Sabelle Regalia |
| Rewards | 250 xp, Firecracker Fulu, Scroll of Ignite Fireworks, 40 gp genuine misprint DaVinki painting, 21 gp 7sp, 5 cp |
| Result | To Be Continued |
| Author | Swaying Petals (Cloyster) |
| Downtime | 0 |
(Associates infiltrate a Bugbear Fortress and seek a council with King Hellknight)
Log
Log penned by Swaying Petals
After that vicious wolf attack *(shivers)*, we recovered and made our way to the Bugbear fortress by the lake that Owlbear had described to us. Our aim was to see if we can just ask the Bugbear King to let their captive Onado go, as the Bugbears seemed to be reasonable so far. We found a cozy, if a little run down, stone complex with a dock on the lakeside with a few Bugbears on patrol. We talked to one at an alley and Sabelle claims that we are expected to meet with their king to help him get to the moon! I was confused because it’s honestly hard to tell what Sabelle is thinking, but the Bugbear believed us and pointed us to a door in the alley. We knocked only to be let in by a Bugbear chef who hurries away and continues his work frantically in a busy and chaotic kitchen. The chefs did not have time to deal with us, so they sent us to the bar area where we found two guards standing in front of a staircase that leads down. We conversed with the guards, who said that Owlbear often sends people to this fortress to trick travelers so they can ambush them. The Bugbears then said with a smile that they usually captured them and grind their bones into bread! Eek! As the most edible member of the party, my opinion of them soured after that, as I suddenly felt very nervous in a bar full of hungry Bugbears.
After further conversing, the guards said that their boss. named King Graveknight, has a full schedule. Now everyone was looking at each other a little nervously, as we knew that Bugbears named themselves after things that they had killed. If this guy had seriously taken down a Graveknight, then we would be in a lot of trouble. See, Graveknights are like super powerful undead with cursed armor, so they’re a little bit out of our pay range right now, to say the least. We ask the guards to fit us into his schedule, so in 2 hours we will have a 5 min meeting with this King.
Quill sits down at the bar and orders a Bugbear brew. Sabelle approaches a table of card game-playing Bugbears and teaches them how to play Balatro. Life Giver tries to help the Bugbears understand math and numbers bigger than 4. Crows wandered off and I was eager to follow him as I didn’t feel too comfortable sitting next to these people-munching Bugbears! To my dismay, Crows seemed to have even less idea of what he was doing than I did, and I watched as he stared at a painting for a while. Life Giver came over and asked me to help pick up the painting, and I said sure! Not knowing he was carrying it right back over to the table full of Bugbears! The Bugbears seemed nice though, and somehow with the big picture, Life Giver won the card game? They gave us some gold as winnings and then the card-playing Bugbears marched off out back past Crows, to what they called “The Shadow Realm”, which seemed to just be the back alley. With the booth empty we all sat down with Quill, Crows, Serenity, Sabelle on one side and me and Life Giver on the other. I didn’t realize how nervous I was when I found myself sitting really close to Life Giver. Hee hee! How embarrassing! The Bugbears came by and took our orders, Life Giver and I just got water while Quill got a really big pretzel and Sabelle ordered a guacamole dip, made at the table. But I honestly had to cover my eyes seeing these Bugbears expertly crush the plant matter into paste. I tried to dissociate myself from it as Sabelle took a teensy bite and offered some to me. But I forgot I can’t taste… so I just pretended it was good. Crows treated Serenity to a healthy portion of salt from the chips. Eventually, time passed and it was time for our appointment with the King.
We entered the lounge where there was a large Bugbear wearing scary looking armor. I’ve never seen a Graveknight in person (thank heavens), but looking at this guy made me think he was the real deal! We sat down at the chairs opposite of him as we saw there were Bugbear guards all around us with one of them keeping watch over a tied-up scrawny looking guy with glasses. That’s our guy, Onado! He did not seem happy to be there, but he was gagged so he just watched us with confusion. We talked with King Graveknight and it turns out that he wants to go to the moon so that he can claim to be the first to land there and so that he can claim all the cheese on the moon for himself! Life Giver and I tried to explain that the moon probably wasn’t made of cheese, but came up empty trying to prove it. Crows said that his accomplishment would be forgotten in the sands of time anyway, but King Graveknight said that they’ll just figure out a way to keep a good record of it. Finally, Sabelle and Quill argued that he would have to hold his breath as he climbed higher in the air on a rocket. King Graveknight countered by saying he could hold his breath the whole time. Sabelle then offered a competition to have each of us hold our breath. If Graveknight wins, he gets the card game-winning DaVinki misprint painting Life Giver had (that we found in this fortress mind you, but I didn’t tell him that!) and if we win, then we get Onado. King Graveknight refused to bargain with Onado, but he did accept the game as a measure of pride to prove he could hold his breath for the whole lunar trip.
We then lined up and began to hold our breath. Crows immediately began cackling, dropping out of the competition, and kept casting a hex to try to frighten King Graveknight. He was unfazed and one-by-one tried to intimidate us with a glare. I puffed out my cheeks and still held onto my breath. Life Giver released his breath and grabbed the painting, holding it over the fire and threatening to drop it in. A Bugbear guard came up and brutally struck Life Giver down! He caught the painting and I rushed over to help Life Giver up. Life Giver’s body and spirit was bruised, so he sat back down on a chair. Sabelle seemed unphased by the competition behind his mask while King Graveknight started looking flustered. Quill finally took a breath and it was just me and Sabelle against the King and I didn’t want to let my friends down… so I held my breath until I passed out! I woke up quickly after Quill started swatting my face with their tail, but I was relieved to see Sabelle still in it! He stood on the table and stared King Graveknight down. Is he really good at holding his breath, or did he somehow sneak a breath under his mask? Finally, King Graveknight turned purple as he fell over, unconscious. We won! But the Bugbear guards weren’t too pleased. I hoped they would be honorable and let us go, but they attacked us anyway!
It was a long battle, with Quill finally getting some powerful hits in, Crows timbering logs on their heads, Life Giver going into a kind of awesome Starlit pose??? But he retreated to attack foes from afar, understandably. Sabelle was surrounded and caught by the Bugbears, but managed to dodge their attacks with Sanctuary and their cape. Eventually, we were able to defeat all the Bugbear guards and were confused by the fact that King Graveknight was still unconscious; he should have woken up as soon as he passed out! As Quill and Sabelle untied Onado, he yelled at us to run! Apparently, somehow King Graveknight indeed is wearing genuine Graveknight armor and he was going to die from not breathing, meaning he will soon arise as a real Graveknight! Sabelle booked it and I followed suit. I threw open the door and threw needle darts at a large window, shouting at everyone to run outside! The Bugbear guards still at the bar were confused as everyone jumped through the window. I was happy to see everyone had gotten out safely, but before I could join them, I started hearing something big suddenly moving in the King’s Quarters…. Eep!