Fleet Foxes

The heroes got a big ole fleet now. Five new ships have been added, bringing the fleet total to 6:

• PS Admirable Effort, captained by Admiral Barty Cromwellus, sailing ship
• PS Seaward, to be captained by Captain Winona Pona, longship
• PS Sea Section, galley, no commission
• PS Flüf, warship, no commission
• PS Can I Go Home Now, longship, no commission
• PS Bonds of Love, longship, no commission

The bugbears join the team and Krump and Winona Pona become fast friends aboard the PS Seaward. The sailors begin training the bugbears in sailing and sailor life. The bugbears take to the cursing part very well. Amid sea shanties, the heroes come up with a plan: Go to Dorost to fulfill the kodama’s demands while Sora and the PS Seaward go to gather more crew in Osteros.

I fell into a burning volcanic island

The heroes arrive above Dorost, with Admiral Barty not wanting to get too close and catch the ship on fire.

The entire island is made of black rock, its shores pebbles and strands of dark earth indicating a constant lava flow. A band of tibbits stand around a stranded keelboat, its hull ruined. They wave to you. “Help us!” they cry out As you approach the island, you see red-robed figures emerge from a cavernous opening. They seize the tibbits and drag them away.

The heroes activate the kodama charm which gives them resistance to intense heat within a certain radius that I have forgotten already for the next 24 hours. It also has one charge of bear’s endurance.

Abraham hops over a lava river, barely able to hop across the gradually sinking rocks. He misses the last one but Nahk is able to fly overhead (that’s right, Nahk can fly now) and snatch Abraham up before he could sustain 6d10 fire damage (I’ll get you next time!)

Following a trail of gold coins worth 25 gp into the caverns, the heroes run across a group of patrols and absolutely trash them. Abe and Nahk pick up some plate armor. Wow. Must be nice. Anyway the heroes go into the puzzle room.

You solved my – wait, no, you didn’t, roll initiative

You find yourself standing on a marble platform, stained with ash, but otherwise protected from the volcano. Tall columns seem to hold up the ceiling. Surrounding you in a circle are seven statues. Each of them have the face of a different big cat. The statues are gigantic, 60 feet high. From this vantage point, you can see that the one in the center holds a scale out in front of it while the six on either side hold a steel orb, about the size of a softball. There are seven smaller rakshasa statues at the bottom. One in the center holds out two hands toward the viewer, while the rest of them hold one hand aloft. Behind the hands is a groove that seems to be able to be pushed left or right. An inscription on the center statue reads

Three on the left, three on the right. Five are heavy, one is light. Shake my paws and weigh them twice For deep below, you’ll need some ice, Choose the lightest of the six But beware and leave all affixed

KB, while not paying attention to Nahk reading the riddle out loud, climbs one of the statues and swipes an orb, which promptly turns to dust along with the other orbs. The statue awakens and clobbers KB, knocking him to the ground. Abraham then says, “Oh yeah that’s the seesaw riddle, I know how to solve that,” as the room comes alive with rattling and shaking.

Meanwhile, Sora sails to the Nemmonis Clan on Osteros with newly minted Captain Winona Pona, and a small crew of Argotian sailors and Charatosi bugbears. She aims to recruit them into their new navy, hoping to fend off enemies foreign (Mineos) and domestic (the two giant factions).

It is the afternoon on day 35 since the Battle of Aurochs Island, the first engagement in the Argoti-Mineosi War.

The Argotnauts are in the depths of the volcano on Dorost, having raised the alarm of the cultists on the island and the guardian of the seesaw puzzle room.

Two islands left: Nistora and Dorost.

All three keys have been retrieved.

The dogs are on the flagship.

Malory Whisperbottom is on the material plane with Hespero

Rho is with Paloma and the Skyswimmer.

Sora Nemmonis is on the PS Seaward heading to Osteros.

You have four solid cubes with keyholes and a ring of seven keys:

• KB has one of the pine wood cubes
• Livius has the cube made of bone found in Iskos Valley Village’s elders’ hut
• The Alchemist has one of the pine wood cubes, the obsidian cube found at Natalya’s tomb, and the ring of seven keys

You are on a demiplane, and Zulon has been on the material plane for four full days.

Previous Episode: remind me never to make a handshake agreement with you guys

Next Episode: summon me by your name and ill haunt you by mine