The group realizes that this was the final week of summer. With fall fast approaching, the Day of Remembrance would soon be upon them.
Progress west into the foothills is slow, but Morro steadily guides the group to safety this first day and then to a safe place to camp at night. Enna finds a special potion ingredient along the way, and the group sleeps in the Tiny Hut cast by Gulden, and the night passes peacefully.
On Tuesday, Morro continues leading the group up the hills toward the mountains proper. They reach the edge of the tree line and continue on, with Morro finding a protected valley to sleep in that night, and the night is uneventful.
The next day, Wednesday, the group makes progress toward the peaks, though it is even slower than previous days, with much time spent clambering over and around boulders and rocks. Around evening, Morro finds a good spot to rest, but the group sees three very large creatures on the valley rim above them. All three are humanoid, with two very large ones and one slightly smaller green one. Whipp gives a curt nod of respect, which the creatures take as aggression (or perhaps weakness?); a giant stone comes flying down toward the group. Gulden uses universal speech to tell them the group is peaceful and will be gone soon, but they continue hurling rocks down.
Kestyn and Whipp attack the green enemy, and the battle is on. Morro casts a cloud spell that is strategically placed to obscure only the enemies' sight, and Orla uses Sickening Radiance to make them sick and tired of us.
Kestyn, especially, takes quite a bit of damage, but the group prevails and kills each enemy. Searching what they now know to be two giants and a troll, Morro finds that both giants have a brand on their hip in the shape of a dragon, with the letter B inside. During the battle, the green enemy seemed to heal until it was hit by fire, so the group chooses to burn its body to prevent it from regenerating.
On Thursday, the group comes upon three large crude houses a short way from the peak of the mountains. Kestyn and Morro sneak down and search the seemingly empty house, finding nothing except a large stone decoration carved with the same dragon shape as the brand. Morro makes a poor drawing of it, and the two sneak back to the rest of the group. Gulden goes down invisible, with Morro leading the way, and uses Comprehend Languages to listen to what the inhabitants of the other houses are saying. They hear that "Glorbi and Jingxiu haven't returned" and that "Birglia won't give us anything without something to trade in return." They seem to be low on food and are discussing how to possibly find more of it.
Morro looks for tracks and finds a well-traveled path in one direction. The group decides to follow the path off to the north to see if it might lead to Birglia. They sleep in a hut off the path that night, and Whipp falls asleep on the third watch, but nothing befalls the group.
On Friday, they continue to follow the path, eventually coming upon a door seemingly made of pure fire. Orla believes it might be a portal to the Plane of Fire, which means it might be a way to get the firey boys back home again. The group makes a plan to get the firey boys from the pyramid in Muftigowen and bring them here, but first they need to decide if they want to keep following the path.
Respectfully submitted,
Kestyn
Party Experience Before Session: 277,232XP
Experience Earned:
Party Experience After Session: 286,332XP
Needed For Level 9: 7 * 48,000XP = 336,000XP