GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 1: The Gods Must Be Desperate

In which we are given a new mission.




We picked up this week where we left off last week; the adventurers were regrouping outside the winery after their fight with the druids.

Sadun and Talna worked to bury the druid bodies while Jaro attempted to help Elle with the swelling around her eyes.

"It burns!" Elle complained, as Jaro poured water over her face. Maximiliano snickered.

Balazar observed the scene while contemplating alcohol. Slowly, he realized that his satchel was burning against his leg. He ignored the fiery pain for a few moments, but soon grew tired of it.

"Gilligan, what in the hells is this, it hurts!" Balazar shouted, tossing the amulet at Gilligan.

"What's what? Agh!" Gilligan responded, catching and immediately dropping the burning amulet.

Jaro walked to the amulet and picked it up calmly. The glow left the amulet as the satyr held it. Jaro stared at the amulet as the glow faded, then looked at each party member in turn. "Thank you, all of you, for the journey. I apologize for what's going to happen, but I just got a message from the big guy, and... yeah," he said.

"I will kill you if you run away with my treasure," Balazar said.

"I'm not really running?" Jaro pointed out. "Goodbye."

As he says goodbye, columns of light descended on each of the adventurers, and they began to fade from view. As they did, Balazar raisesdhis crossbow and shot Jaro in the shoulder. Jaro fell to the ground in pain, but then stood again.

"Curse your bones Jaro!" Balazar shouted, as he disappeared. "Curse you!"

------------------------

Balazar appears in a black space. Before him is a familiar shadowy presence.

"Really?" came a familiar annoyed voice from the shadows. "After I gave you two gifts of life, you make a deal with the demon?"

"I needed my hand back," Balazar says sulkily. 

"You have your hand!" The voice says. "You could have had it reattached! There were churches where clerics can regenerate those things!"

"I wasn't allowed in to the church. That's why I got my hand cut off in the first place, I was kicked out of the church!"

"Nevertheless, when you made a deal with Strahd you spit on the gifts I gave you, so I shall now take them away."

"What?! I was using those gifts! I was phase-shifting for booze!" As he protests, Balazar feels the life force leaving his body, the cough clears up and he feels the loss of his phasing ability. It is replaced by an older life force, and he stands a normal living dragonborn once again. His hand is still a black shadowy presence however.

"Well the hells take you too then," he says to the deity.

As he says that, the rest of the adventurers appear around him.

"Well hells take you too!" Talna says, having only heard the last of Balazar's sentence.

"Where is my stuff?" Elle demands, "My pack is empty and I don't have any weapons!"

"My wine!" Maximiliano says plaintively. 

In front of each of the adventurers stands the god they worship. A crowd of dragonborn ancestors stands before Sadun, and the great Helm the Watcher stands before Gilligan. Talna faces Naralis Analor, and Balazar faces the Ravenloft Deity to whom he had promised fealty in exchange for a second and then third chance at life. Maximiliano sees a spirit bedecked in gold, holding a set of dice in one hand, a deck of cards poking out of a breast pocket and a flask of wine hangs from its belt: a deity of gambling and addiction.

"Ah, my soul," thinks Max.

Elle stands in front of nobody.

Each of the gods speaks simultaneously. "Welcome champions. You have been chosen to free a new world!"

"No!" Elle shouts. "I want to go home!" 

"Oh god," Talna mutters.

"Free, or conquer?" Balazar asks. Talna slaps him. "What was that for? Freedom can come from conquest!" Talna slaps him again.

The gods are whispering amongst themselves. "Are you sure we have the right people?" 

"Honestly, you're all making a mistake," Talna says pointedly. 

Elle walks over to Sadun and hugs her legs. "Sadun, I want to go home!"

The gods continue. "Ahem. If you do as we ask, we will grant each of you one wish."

"I want to be tall!" Elle shouts.

"You get the wish AFTER the deed is done," the gods emphasize.

"Two wishes!" Maximiliano shouts.

The god of gambling and addiction approaches Max and hands him two six sided dice. "Would you like to wager something?"

"Hells yeah I would!" Max exclaims.

"Well, if you roll snake-eyes, you can have three wishes. If you roll two sixes, you can have the wishes now. But if you roll two numbers that are different, you will lose your arm."

Max rolls the dice. "Damn it!" he shouts, as they come up a three and a four. "Can I choose which arm?"

"No," the god says, and Max's right arm disappears. There is now a black void at the goblin's shoulder where his right arm should have been. 

"Well, I have to learn to use my sword left-handed then..."

The god laughs. "This man, he only brings embellishments to all I stand for! For your temerity and your humor in the face of loss, I will grant you the use of your left hand as though it were your dominant hand." 

"Double or nothing?" Max asks.

"Sure," the god responds, "but this time, you roll three dice, and they all have to match." Max lowers the dice he had been about to throw. "I see you know when you have met your match at least," the god observes.

"You could use your wish to get your arm back I suppose," Gilligan says.

"Hells with that," Maximiliano says, "I could have all the money I ever wanted! Who needs an arm?"

"I guess this is the best we could gather," Naralis Analor says mournfully.

"You were brought here on recommendation," Helm says.

"Who would recommend us?" Balazar asks bewildered. 

"Look to see who is not here."

"Oh, Jaro's too nice," Talna says.

"He stole my medallion!" Balazar complains.

"Ahem. You will be our champions. Free this world, and you will have one wish. Anything you desire." Naralis Analor says.

"The swashbuckler gets two!" the god of gambling points out.

"Any questions?" the Ravenloft deity asks.

"So we can't go home?" Elle asks again.

"After the task is complete." Naralis Analor says.

"Why did you take my phase shifting?" Balazar complains. "You could have left me with that!"

"No." the Ravenloft deity says.

"How do I get another arm?" Max asks.

"Make a deal with Strahd," Elle suggests.

"Oh yeah, I can hook you up with him!" Balazar says.

"THEN we shall send you on your way," the dragonborn ancestors say.

"Wait, where are we going?" Talna asks.

"To your friend Jaro's home," Helm says. "To Pangea."

"I need my phase shifting to complete the mission!" Balazar shouts.

"No," the Ravenloft deity says again.

"Maybe you should talk to the gambling god?" Gilligan suggests.

"To hells with the gambling god!" Balazar exclaims.

Max attempts to slap Balazar with his missing right arm, and Balazar taunts the goblin by waving his right arm back.

"If that is all, I shall send you to the new world," the Ravenloft deity says. "And I hope you shall emerge victorious."

"We may be powerful, but even we have limits," the dragon ancestors say, and the party's items appear before them. "You may each take only six items in addition to what you are wearing and your backpack."

The party begins sorting through their belongings with large amounts of muttered cursing. 

Gilligan examines the void at Maximiliano's shoulder, but jerks back in pain when he attempts to touch the stump. "The void hurts!" the paladin says.

The party lines up again, ready to depart. As the gods begin the spell to teleport the adventurers away, Helm rushes forward and grabs Gilligan with a shout. "No! He must stay to defeat Strahd! He may be able to do it without the interference of the rest of them!" 

And with that, the party fades from view.

--------------------------------

Talna, Elle, Maximiliano, Sadun and Balazar reappear in a grassland on the edge of a forest. The sun is shining brightly in the sky.

"So Gilligan is gone?" Talna asks.

"If they have limits, they have weaknesses," Balazar points out.

"He could have gambled to come with us," Maximiliano says.

"Thank the gods that goblin is gone!" Elle says.

"I'm still here," Max points out.

"Oh gods," Elle says in disgust.

Balazar immediately walks into the forest, looking for psychedelic mushrooms. A short ways in, he finds several intriguing looking mushrooms.

"What are you doing?" Elle says, climbing up the dragonborn's back. Balazar jumps in surprise.

"How the hells did you sneak up on me?" he demands.

The rest of the party saunters up behind them. Max notices a shape and a pair of eyes peering at the group from behind a tree. As soon as he sees it, it disappears. "Either I'm drunk, or we're being followed."

"Are you holding out on me?" Balazar asks.

"I saw something too, in those bushes," Talna says. Sadun walks over to the bushes and rustles around.

"I don't see anything," Sadun says.

"The goblin is lying!" Elle shouts.

A spear embeds itself between Balazar's legs, thrown from the top of one of the trees.

"You missed him!" Talna says.

"If you eat those mushrooms, it can cause severe problems," a woman's voice echoes from above.

"Define severe," Balazar says.

Looking up, the group sees a small figure, a human woman wearing a half mask that covers the top of her face clings to a tree with elongated finger claws. The mask is covered in druidic markings, and is designed to resemble a fox with two small antlers emerging from the top and two fangs emerging from either side. Strings of rocks and feathers hang off either side of the mask like earrings. Connected to the back of the mask is a long white fur pelt, extending down the woman's back to her legs. She is wearing makeshift armor crafted from bark, cloth and leather. A carved, hardened bark is attached to one arm, extending to her elbow like a shield. Her face is covered in ash markings, especially darkening her eyes. 

"You travelers came through a portal. Are you with them? The evil ones?" she asks.

"We're with no-one, because we just got here," Talna says.

"What, they've heard of you already Balazar?" Elle asks sarcastically, and slaps Balazar.

"Why do I keep getting hit today, I haven't done anything yet!" Balazar complains.

"I believe we are here to stop the evil ones," Sadun calls up to the woman.

"Why should I believe such an unusual group? Two lizard-folk," she begins.

"Who are you calling a lizard you hedge-pig?" Balazar demands. "I'm a dragon, there's a difference."

"Not really," Elle says.

"Be quiet, little sheep," the woman rebukes. "Or you shall face my fangs. A goblin, a halfling," she continues.

"HALFLING??" Elle shouts, incredulously.

"Did you call her a goblin?" Maximiliano asks.

"And an elf?" the woman finally finishes.

"Close enough," Talna says with a shrug.

Elle puts an arrow to her bowstring. "Take that back!"

"Would you believe we're on a mission from the gods?" Sadun asks.

"I barely believe it," Talna says.

"Would you believe I am one?" Max asks.

"Sadun, do you really believe someone would choose our group?" Talna asks.

"Yes! It is finally proof of what I have long believed, we are destined for great things! I thought we were destined to defeat Strahd, but this world must truly be our calling! The gods themselves have said so!"

"You're very optimistic Sadun," Talna says.

"We may have messed some things up in the last world," Balazar says, "But we came through when it counted. Sometimes."

"You don't seem to be lying," the woman says, "and there have been tales of strange beings from other worlds."

"I am not a goblin," Elle says.

"We were in another world, and we were fighting against the evil in that world, but our respective gods pulled us out to stop the evil here!" Sadun explains.

"I got swindled into having a god," Balazar says.

"My god made me one!" Max says proudly.

"So you are heroes sent by gods?" the woman asks.

"Heroes... might be pushing it for some of us," Sadun allows. "But we are certainly a force that can disrupt..."

"Everyone?" Talna interjects.

"...evil," Sadun finishes, "in this land and any land."

"So what is your name, stranger?" Talna asks.

"One should give their name first before asking for another's" the woman says coldly.

"Talna," Talna says begrudgingly.

"I apologize for my lack of manners, I am Sadun." Sadun says.

"My name is Fei," Fei replies. 

"Feel free to hit him," Talna says, pointing to Balazar. "We all do."

"I don't know why!" Balazar says. Talna slaps him. 

"You'll understand, if you stick around long enough," Talna adds.

"She's just a bully," Balazar says.

"Well, heroes or not, I don't recommend you stay in this area," Fei says. "It can be a dangerous place.

Elle hops on Sadun's back. "Let's go then."

"We do not know where anything is here," Talna says. "And I don't know where Gilligan is."

"I saw Helm grab him," Sadun says.

"That's never a good sign," Talna says.

"It's fine," Maximiliano says.

"Well, personal attention from his deity is probably what he wanted his whole life, so it is probably a good thing?" Sadun says.

"But to put him back in Barovia?" Talna asks.

"Well, someone has to complete the Destiny there," Sadun says. "And Gilligan can do it if anyone can. Sometimes it felt like we were only holding him back."

"All I know is, no more untimely sobering up for me!" Balazar crows.

"I can at least lead you to the road to the nearest town," Fei says. "It will be good to get you out of this area."

-------------------------------

The adventurers follow Fei out of the trees and into the grasslands. As they walk, they notice a herd of giant elk grazing nearby. Elle walks up to the elk. As she approaches, the elk look at her cautiously. A moment later, Balazar shouts "Boo!" at the elk, startling them. One elk charges at Elle.

"Gods damn it Balazar!" Talna shouts.

Elle is able to dodge out of the way of the elk. "Well that was rude," she says, looking at Balazar. The elk stop, staring at Elle suspiciously. Elle picks up some grass and holds it out towards the elk, but they refuse to come closer. 

Fei notices the herd seems to be protecting a particular member, who seems to have a necrotic rot on its back leg. She walks towards the herd, and calls out to the wounded elk, who allows Fei to approach. Elle walks away, jealous.

Examining the wound, Fei determines it was caused by a bite of some kind. She casts Speak with Animals over the course of ten minutes while the group waits. Sadun watches the ritual, intrigued, while Elle pouts and Balazar lounges with his mug of endless ale.

"A man-thing crawled out of the ground, it was missing its flesh. It bit me, and we ran." The elk explains, after the ritual is completed.

"I can heal you, but I will have to cut away the diseased flesh," Fei explains.

"No pain," the elk says, fear in its eyes.

Fei walks back to the group. "Do any of you know any healing magic?" she asks. Talna raises her hand. 

"Will you lend me your aid in healing this poor creature?" Fei asks. Talna nods, and follows Fei back to the elk. A swift Cure Wounds clears up the rotted flesh and begins the mending process.

"Will you show me where this creature attacked you?" Fei asks the elk. The elk shivers in fear, and points its head in a direction but refuses to go back there. 

Fei and Talna return to the rest of the party. "Will you help me put down the monsters who attacked these gentle animals?" Fei asks. "In return, I can lead you to the nearest town.

"Yes!" Sadun says excitedly. "Well, I don't speak for everyone, but I certainly will."

"All I want is to fight something," Balazar says. "That and beer. This sounds like a fight at least."

"Will there be wine?" Maximiliano asks.

"There is likely a tavern in the town?" Fei says.

"I'm in!" Max replies.

"Well, I don't want to let Sadun go alone, and going with these two is about equivalent of her being alone, so I will go as well." Talna says.

"Damn, I already agreed to go!" Max says petulantly.

Elle stands quietly, looking away from everyone, before turning back to them. "Fine! I'll go, but only because Talna and Sadun are going!" and with that, she climbs onto Sadun's shoulders.

"I'd rather you not go," Max says quietly.

The group travels, giving proper introductions to Fei as they do so. After awhile, they notice a stench in the air, as of decaying flesh. The stench grows stronger, until the group crests a hill and sees a giant skull with an indentation in the middle of it in the midst of a copse of trees. Six humanoid creatures with rotting flesh shamble around the skull. Five of the zombies look like they were human, but the sixth is larger than the others.

Studying the set up, Fei and Max gasp in surprise.

"B-b, b-b-b-b-b-b-beholder!" Max stammers.

"Stop!" Fei says, raising a hand to the group. "We should approach carefully. This could be dangerous. Beholders do not always stay dead when they die."

"You mean, it might be undead?" Talna asks. "Don't worry, I've got this."

Talna strides confidently towards the zombies, followed by Sadun for protection. Sadun lifts Elle into a nearby tree before she leaves. "I thought we might take them by surprise?" Fei says after the pair depart.

The zombies immediately notice the pair approaching, and the giant skull shudders into movement, rising slowly off the ground and spinning to face them. Elle fires her longbow from her perch in the tree, both arrows slamming into the nearest zombie, knocking the corpse to the ground where it ceased its movement. 

Balazar takes a drink of his beer and observes events unfolding.

Sadun rushes into the midst of the zombies and plunges Briarblade into the ground, but the poisonous flowers seem to have no effect on the walking undead. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, you were raging last time you tried that on zombies and it didn't work!" Talna calls out.

The undead beholder, judging Elle to be the largest threat, turns an incorporeal eyestalk on her. A beam shoots out at the gnome, leaving her quaking in fear at the very sight of the massive floating skull.

Talna strides forward with confidence, raising her holy symbol high and chanting words of power. The overlarge zombie turns to flee from her approach, and all but one of the smaller zombies crumble into dust. The final zombie and the beholder appear undeterred. The beholder turns its empty gaze on Talna as she does so, and Talna casts Shield of Faith on Sadun, hoping the barbarian can take the brunt of the attacks.

Max charges down the hill at the only unturned zombie, but in his haste forgets he is now left-handed and hurls his rapier away from himself. With a squeak of surprise, the goblin turns and runs to where the blade landed and bends over to pick it up, just in time for the zombie's claws to swipe through the air where his back had been.

Fei, seeing the party rush in with no plan, sighs. She chants a spell, and three stones rise into the air. One of the stones flies away from her at speed, hurtling directly into the beholder. She looks at the sun beaming down through the blue sky and sighs again. Chanting another spell, dark storm clouds appear from nowhere to cover the area. Lightning hurtles from the gathering clouds, striking the beholder and scorching the nearby extra large zombie. Satisfied, Fei ducks back to hid behind a tree.

The large zombie begins shambling away from Talna as fast as it can.

Biscuit the horse neighs in the background.

Elle, unable to bring herself to look at the beholder, attempts to climb down the tree in order to hide behind it, but finds herself descending the wrong side. Forcing herself to look up, she manages to hit the zombie behind Max with an arrow.

Balazar begins creeping slowly around the outside of the battlefield, looking for an opportunity to hit something from behind.

Sadun enters an enraged state, and begins swinging with utter abandon against the beholder. Her first swing chips bone from the undead aberration's skull, and her return swing knocks off large chunks from the cheek bone. The beholder bites Sadun in retaliation, and attempts a paralyzing beam, but Sadun shrugs the beam off without noticing.

Talna summons her spiritual dove, but the dove fails to find a pecking target. She then casts Chill Touch, chilling the beholder's joints.

Max, having retrieved his rapier, turns and sees the zombie behind him. Ignoring it, he runs to flank the beholder opposite Sadun, getting zombie claws across his back for his trouble. Ignoring the pain, Max stabs hard with his rapier into the back of the beholder skull. The zombie, not to be denied, moves to flank Max, and claws him again, though Max barely notices.

Fei again hurls a magic stone into the beholder, but the stone soars through a gap in the jawbone and fails to connect. Shrugging, she summons another bolt of lightning, scorching the floating skull.

Elle ducks behind her tree so that she no longer has to look at the terrifying beholder, and fires on the zombie flanking max. The arrow strikes true directly in the zombie's neck, taking its head clean off. The body slumps to the ground. Shutting her eyes, and hoping, Elle fires another arrow at the beholder itself. The arrow miraculously hits the beholder directly in the indent in the middle of the skull, cracking the bone. The beholder splits in half and falls to the ground, unmoving. Elle casts hunter's mark on the fleeing large zombie.

Balazar walks up to the group that had been fighting the beholder and congratulates them. "Well done!"

Sadun ignores Balazar and charges the fleeing zombie, smashing it twice with Briarblade. The zombie turns to defend itself as Talna's Chill Touch strikes it, cracking rotting skin and muscle from the walking corpse. Maximiliano dashes in to flank the zombie and stabs deep into what were once its vital organs. Fei finishes the zombie off with another bolt of lighting from her storm clouds overhead.

As the group catches its breath, Fei continues to strike the beholder's remains with lightning, until nothing but charred ashes remain. A nearby tree catches fire from the overzealous lightning strikes, but Fei's druid craft quickly quenches the flames.

"I told you we had this!" Max says.

Elle searches the field for her arrows, pulling them out of the dead zombies. As she does so, she notices a silver amulet in the beholder's ashes. One side of the amulet has a image of a beholder, and the other has a ticket embossed on it.

Talna also looks around the area. The zombies seemed to have gathered around the dead beholder near the remains of a campfire. She looks at the beholder's ashes and notices the impression of a coin, circular in the ash with the impression of a ticket left in the dirt underneath. 

"Oh, I found this over there," Elle says, showing Talna the amulet. A short investigation determines the amulet to be magical. 

"I recognize that," Fei says, approaching the pair. "Beholders always drop these... coins? When they die. None know what they are for, save perhaps the beholders themselves. All examples that have been found have disappeared within three days of their discovery."

Talna and Elle begin attempting to determine the coin's purpose. They sprinkle water on it, set it aflame, and Elle even cuts herself with her dagger and dribbles some blood on it, but the coin fails to respond to any stimulus they can think of.

"Why did you cut yourself?" Fei asks Elle. Elle ignores the question, so Fei leans over the beholder ash, adding it to the ash marks on her face. Max grabs some ash too, rubbing it on the stump of his right shoulder. As he does so, he begins to hear whispers in a language he does not understand. The whispers grow and intensify until the goblin has a splitting headache. Finally he hears one sentence in common: "You are now our target."

"Fascinating," Max says quietly.

Talna, seeing Fei marking her face with the ash, thinks of another test, but has to bribe Elle with a copper coin to get the beholder coin back. She moves to the beholder ash and picks some up to sprinkle on the coin. As she does so, she hears voices speaking undercommon, a language she learned as a drow child. The voices say "You have killed one of ours, congratulations. You are worthy. If I see you, I will kill you."

"Don't touch the ash!" Talna calls out. Elle immediately begins playing with the ash, but nothing seems to happen to her.

"Wait," Talna says, looking at Max. "You touched the ash, did you hear anything?"

"No," Max says, petulantly.

"You're obviously lying," Talna says, pinching his left arm. Max manages to twist out of her way. "I heard voices," Talna says, turning to Sadun. "He did too, but he's been stubborn. The voices said 'congratulations, you killed one of us. If I see you, you are dead.'"

"Well," Fei says, "there used to be original inhabitants of this realm. When the beholders started conquering everything, the evil ones placed marks on everyone's hearts. Tainted marks that marked the victims as their prey. I think the same thing might have just happened to you two."

"Fantastic," Talna says sarcastically.

"I recommend you tell no-one about this, because you would be chased out of any towns or cities you come across."

"Sadun, Balazar, please don't touch the ash," Talna says, exasperated.

"I will not touch the ash," Sadun promises. Balazar reaches out a hand as though he is about to touch the ash, but pulls it back instead. 

"If you really hate someone, you could carry the ash with you, and throw it at them. It is a good way to ruin someone's life," Fei suggests.

Talna begins burying the ash so that it does not ruin any random passerby's day.

"This does feel a bit familiar, Strahd was keeping track of us in Barovia," Sadun points out.

Talna smears ash on Max's face. Max collapses unconscious. "I didn't mean to do that!" Talna says.

---------------------------

Max opens his eyes. He is in a hazy place. A large skull with a single glowing eye in the center looms over him. Red lights float around the periphery of the skull. 

"You killed one of myself," the skulls says. "I will be coming after you. You cannot run. You cannot hide. I have sent three more to your location now."

"Do you grant wishes?" Max asks drunkenly.

"Why would I grant you anything?" If a skull could cock an eyebrow, this one would have done so.

"So it would be a fairer fight? You could have fun with this," Max says.

The skull glares at him as best a skull can glare. "I will give you something better," the skull says. Max's head bursts into pain from a sudden psychic attack. 

-------------------------------

Once Maximiliano wakes from his nightmare, Fei leads the group to the nearby town of Grengten. Along the way, the group explains about Balazar's repeated deaths in Barovia.

"You do not need to worry about that here," Fei says. "When you die, you will stay dead."

"Then how do I get my powers back?" Balazar asks.

Grengten iss a small town, with only the beginnings of a wooden stockade around it. In the middle of the town stands a tall spire, at the top of which sits a large golden bell with no obvious way to ring it.

Elle walks up to a passing elf and asks about an inn. The elf points to one of the larger buildings.

"Is there a general store?" Talna asks. The elf points to the same building. 

"How about a tavern?" Balazar asks. The same building is indicated a third time. "Race you to the booze!" Balazar shouts at Max, simultaneously picking the globing up and hurling him back as he begins to run to the tavern.

Inside the building, the tables are crowded with patrons drinking and eating their evening meals. An orc tends the bar.

"Give me a cup of your strongest alcohol," Balazar says, sitting at the bar. 

"We only have one kind here," the orc says, filling a mug.

"I'm not paying if it's not strong," Balazar says. 

The orc freezes midway through passing the mug over. "What did you say?" he demands.

"I said I'm not paying if this isn't strong booze." 

The orc pulls the mug away. "You pay or you don't drink."

"Balazar, just pay the orc," Talna says.

"No," Balazar says, and slams his head forward into the mug, sipping greedily and damaging the mug in the process.

"That will be one gold coin!" The orc shouts.

"One gold?" Balazar says, coming up for air. "This stuff isn't worth one gold!"

"You pay for damages too!" the orc pointed out.

"I'm not paying anything!" Balazar says.

"Excuse me, could we get a room for the three ladies?" Talna asks, indicating herself, Elle and Sadun.

The bartender looks at her, nods, and says "10 silver pieces."

Talna pays the orc and Sadun carries the half-asleep Elle to their room.

Balazar continues to escalate the situation with the orc until the entire bar stands up. Three angry looking dragonborn come forward. "If you mess with this bar," one of them says, "you mess with us," a second finishes.

"Barfight!" Balazar shouts, rushing the dragonborn. The three immediately open their mouths. One breathes fire, another jet of extreme cold, and the third lightning, all three attacks slamming into Balazar. Balazar responds with his own fire breath, but the dragonborn dodge away from the worst of it.

"Could I purchase some waterskins?" Max asks the bartender, as chaos ensues behind him.

"Sure," the bartender says. 

"Could you fill two with wine, and the third with water? Here is some money," the goblin says.

Talna is finally able to pull Balazar away from the fray. "Just pay the man!" she insists.

"No!" Balazar says, hugging his money pouch close to his chest.

"Is this civilization?" Fei asks, "because it seems fun."

"Try some wine," Max suggests, handing her one of the skins.

Fei immediately becomes inebriated. "I'll help!" she says to Talna, and shapeshifts into a giant snake. She coils around Balazar, attempting to get him to release his coin pouch.

"I got this," Max says. He sidles up to the restrained dragonborn, reaches up, and suddenly Balazar's coin pouch is in the goblin's hands. Max walks to the bar, lays down two gold coins, and returns the pouch to the dragonborn.

Finally, as the room calms down, Talna notices one figure in the tavern had not moved during the entire confrontation. The figure is a three foot tall rabbit, its table covered in paperwork and a great sword almost as tall as it is sitting next to it. Talna walks up to the rabbit.

"What are you working on?" she asks.

The rabbit turns to Talna slowly. "What is it to you?" it asks.

"Just curious what could engross you such that you don't notice a bar fight," Talna responds.

"Well, I don't like to be concerned with anything," the rabbit says, reaching for its sword.

"I'm not looking for a fight," Talna says.

"Most people aren't," the rabbit replies steadily.

"The one looking for a fight is the idiot," Talna points out, glancing at Balazar.

"The idiot talking to me now or the idiot that started the bar fight?" the rabbit asks.

And that is where we ended the session. To be continued!