We started in the wilderness between Shaitam and Barston, heading back toward the bridge to get into Barston. We took a brief rest to recover from the fight and then set off. Moving through an old growth forest, we began to notice some of the trees were moving more than usual and suddenly they attacked, slamming several members of the party with flailing limbs. Orla responded with a fireball, immediately crisping three of them. Enna cast speak with plants and discovered that they saw us as invaders. Whipp smashed one despite Enna's attempts at diplomacy, though their smashing was less than usually effective. Gulden hit the other with Tasha's hideous laughter. Morro shot off some fire arrows; Kestyn raged against the green tree, managing to finish one off. The sole remaining tree rudely slammed Gulden, so Orla singed it with a fire bolt and Whipp stepped in to end it. Our conflict had left the forest on fire, so Enna created some rain and Kestyn threw river water. We left a couple slightly singed Barstonian uniforms on the ground in hopes of throwing any Elvish suspicion off our trail.
As we set off again, moving quickly away from the chaos we'd caused, Orla helpfully recalled that the last time we'd traveled through this region, our guide had sung poems to the trees. Enna then remembered a poem and taught it to Gulden so he could lull any future arboreal aggression. This method seemed to work and we reached the bridge before dinner.
We stopped for a quick strategy session to plan how to approach Barston in the least suspicious way. We decided to make Kiiv and Orla invisible plus hide them in the cart, wildshape Enna into a donkey, and disguise Whipp (aka "Ppihw") with a big beard. Kestyn and Gulden (aka "Nyk" and "Nedlug") put on Barstonian uniforms, while Morro (aka "Orrom") led donkey-Enna on a rope.
Gulden interfaced with 4 soldiers, claiming we were returing from a "supply gathering mission." After much deception, we convinced them to let us in under the vague pretence that we were headed to the capital.
Entering Bridgeville, we found ourselves in a very urban area with docks, buildings, and people. We made our way to the nearest inn and arranged rooms and stabling. Our invisible comrades clumsily drew attention to themselves, so Orla had to use suggestion on the bellhop to get him to temporarily overlook any weirdness about our party. Meanwhile Kestyn pretended to go sell the donkey; then he and Gulden made her invisible and snuck her into the inn, the Etched Goblet.
Kestyn and Gulden summoned the bellhop (Hogurd) to the room and bribed/convinced him to stay quiet, pretending that Gulden was having an affair with Orla and needed to keep it quiet.
We managed to eat dinner and went to bed.
We rested all day, completing a long rest, then slept over again.
The folks staying in Kestyn's room noticed he has a bunch of tattoos with sayings like "save the others" and "look before you leap." He calls them "reminders of life's lessons."
Before we set off in hopes of finding Dr. Scriggs, we used the ring of Zooming to contact Flutt, who explained that he hadn't heard from Scriggs but understood Scriggs to be headed for far northeast Barston. We decided to go with the cart in that direction with the plan to stop at an intermediate city where Scriggs might have stopped, asking about him along the way.
Gulden went to the university to inquire about Scriggs: turns out our quarry had stopped there on Week 5 Lunday. Gulden talked to Professors Breeks and Gnudd, discovering that Scriggs was headed east, accidentally acquiring a copy of Breeks's manuscript explicting his theory that the famine had been caused by a war among the gods that injured Sylvanus, god of wild nature.
We left the inn with Hogurd's help, having invisibilized Orla and Kiiv. Enna turned into a mouse and rode with Morro; Whipp put on a beard. We loaded up the cart and headed out, stopping at a magical curiosities store along the way to sell the giant carvings. Kestyn splurged on a Javelin of Lightning.
As we left the city, Kestyn seemed agitated and nervous. Enna turned back into herself and asked him why. He dropped a bomb that he had not been back here in some time.
Party Experience Before Session: 194,970XP
Experience Earned:
Party Experience After Session: 213,845XP
Needed For Level 8: 7 * 34,000XP = 238,000XP