07/09/5-10

The group looked at the large fire giant and discussed how they would handle it, before agreeing to just pretend all was well and no engage. Soon after the teleportation armour activated and two figures emerged, a half-orc man in well use plat armour and a half-elf woman in studded leather, holding a banner depicting a giant in gold on a violet banner. The half-orc looked at them and asked where everyone one was, noting that they didn't look like a welcoming party. Valeyo explained that they were just arriving themselves. The man offered a hand shake saying that his name was Ratka, and he looked forward to seeing them on the battlefield. Valeyo said that he looked forward to avoiding it, to which the half-orc laughed. He pointed to the banner and told them to look out for The Primal Giant, their mercenary company.

A little after the steward that they had met, returned and asked if they are keeping it for slaughter later. Valeyo said it was something like that and had Cassini toss the dinosaur in the cage, which they then pulled with them towards the office of the Master of Ceremonies, which they were told to visit to record their hunt. On the way, the Giant gave them an odd glance, but they managed to reach the MC in the south. In the tent Ratka and the half-elf were signing up. They told the MC of their hunt and the details about the large dinosaur, which put the MC's jaw on the floor. She said that she would arrange for a steward to come by their tent later and get a full report so they could attempt to recover it and verify their claim. Generally in the case of hunts like that a celebration and a reward would be in order. They thanked him, before nodding at Ratka, who was looking on, impressed.

They prepared to return to their tent, casting Augury on the way, which revealed that using Cassini's Truesight pulse would be a bad idea. Dobrovnik cast detect magic as they approached and he felt 4 evocation auras, one central and 3 around the tent. The one around also had enchantment auras around them. Cassini turned into a spider to investigate before the others walked in. He didn't see any living creature inside, but on one of the seats, there was a knife stabbed through a piece of parchment. He headed to some of the other sources and saw that it was just Blazh's room, where he was asleep. He returned and reported this back to the group.

Valeyo assumed that this was case of their companions being put to sleep magically. The note was a ransom note asking for the dagger and the note would disintegrate upon being read. They entered and saw that his guess was exactly right. On the note, written in handwriting different from Midnight's was the following.

"Your companions are in a sleep they won't wake from. If you want to save them and get the smart one back, put the dagger from Shiek's chest in the Hungry Twin".

Unsure on how to deal with the Fey's magic, Valeyo suggested they speak to Dr Stanov who may be able to identify it. Milivoj was worried that he may require something in return, but Valeyo waved it off, saying that the doctor owed them for Moratopp and had shared stat secrets with them so they were in this together.

As they approached the door to his Mansion, on the the side of the tavern, they saw his Animal Companion, a bird, outside which upon noticing them flew away. Inside, it was empty, but they chose to wait a bit for the Doctor to return, which he did around 10 minutes later. He entered through the door, moving past them and heading straight for the table, before slouching down in his chair, looking tired and worn out. Valeyo told him that he wasn't looking great, to which the doctor said that he has been running. He then turned the conversation into needing them to speak to Riid Eztan Magmaheart, the fire giant. He is a representative of the Barons. He had questions about the Surturite, the metal they had found. It was something they didn't talk much about, a secret of theirs. He said it was something akin to adamantium, but not quite as hard, though it is denser.

Valeyo turned the conversation to their issue with the fey, which he explained and Dr Stanov said he understood why they needed help. He would help. They also mentioned that they had info on the Taina, which he said it was always fun. As for the giant, it should be safe for then to speak to him, as it was unlikely that he was there to kill them. They returned to talking about the fey, describing what it looked like and giving him the horns and venom to examine. He cast identify on the venom and after the spell finished, swiftly moved away. He said that while it is venom, it functioned more like a curse. It put something between disease and a curse and kills within a few days. It’s a lethal venom (DC 17 CON, on Fail they take 4d8 necrotic and get corpse cough. Every day, you take 4d8 necrotic, which reduced max HP until death.) They asked if this told him what the creature is. He said that it narrowed it down, but not enough to fully narrow it down. Valeyo said that they didn't care about what the creature was, as much as helping their friends. Before they left for their tent, he asked if there was anything else they needed to discuss in private.

There is a sleeping ailment and a sleeping snake coiled around his body, with its fangs over its neck. It was a magical construct, worked similarly to a glyph of warding. The power behind it was approaching that of an archfey. The snake would try to kill the victim, if anything happens, but he might have a way around it. He explained that banishing the victim, might make the spell miss instead. Before doing this, Shiek shared what was on the note and asked if there was something he could do to track down Ysomir or whoever took him. After collecting some of Ysomir's possessions, Stanov used Scrying on him, but the spell failed. The group was unnerved by the idea of this, as it meant that he was either in the Feywild or dead. They proceeded to try the banishment on Zbignew, but immediately, from Stanov's impression they knew it hadn't worked, as Zbignew dead body returned from the demiplane. Cassini immediately went to revive him. Dr Stanov apologized and said he may have a way to help them over the course of a couple of days, but he was unsure. They thanked him and he left.

Sbignew came to and asked what was going on. They explained it to him and wanted to know if he had seen anything odd. He thought for a bit, before shuddering and saying that the last thing he remembered was seeing Blazh return to the ten and hook up with some one, before going to sleep. They wondered if this could have been the snake person and said that asking around camp for anyone who could have got a better look at her could be useful. With that they decided to go see what the fire giant wanted with them, before hunting the snakes tomorrow.

Riid Eztan Magmaheart was standing by the arena, waiting and upon seeing them locked eyes with the group. Once they arrived he asked if they were the ones he was looking for. They confirmed and asked if Riid was his title. He told them that it was before telling them to follow. AS they did Valeyo asked where they were going. Eztan explained that he wanted to be away from prying eyes, Valeyo asked if he needed his sword with him. The giant just looked at him, before stabbing the sword in the ground and saying that he would leave it if it made him feel better. Once they were a few hundred feet south of the keep, he sat down in the grass and explained that the metal was from  a stolen shipment that he was tasked with recovering, so he needed to know where they got it.

Valeyo gave him the full information and the entire time, the giant kept insisting that there is no way that the dinosaur appeared, as it cannot make it to the surface. As they pointed out the worm-made hole and the metal, he kept saying the same thing. It was clear to the group that he was sticking to a story and would accept no deviation. When Valeyo suggested that the metal may have been used as part of device used to bring the creature to the surface, he tried to discretely coop the dirt near him, for any stones he could look as a weapon.

He explained that the creature of the size they ask about don't burrow, but somehow they did. The people who stole the metal must be involved, but once he found them and killed them, they will have nothing to worry about and offered them a bag of gold. Valeyo and the giant were staring each other down and Valeyo eventually asked him about Isra Talonvar. This startled the giant, who immediately took up a more aggressive stance and asked where she was Valeyo tried to play ignorant, but Eztan threatened to kill them of they didn't tell him. He came up with a lie to direct him away from Isra and Hilda, telling him that Isra was between Otusta and Yamitae. Seemingly satisfied with this, the giant stood up and left, to recover his sword, before heading south.

As he departed, Milivoj went to collect a bag of gold that Eztan had left behind. Shiek looked at Valeyo and asked if he was trying to get them killed on purpose, by antagonizing the giant. Valeyo's calm facade broke and he breathed a sigh of relief, saying that this was terrifying. Shiek pressed on asking why he would do it if he was scared. After collecting himself, Valeyo explained that the way the giant spoke was slow and methodical, speech tailored to exude confidence, which suggested that it was practiced. Backing down would let Eztan think that he is winning, but as soon as there was some resistance, Valeyo could tell the giant was getting unnerved. Milivoj returned with the bag and said that this was the most impressed he had been with Valeyo, suggesting he take such more aggressive stances in talks in the future. With the gold in hand, the group started walking back towards Novograd.

They talked about what to do for the rest of the day. Cassini would get incense for Divination and use Commune with nature to look for portals. Other would try to ask around about the person Blazh was with.  Cassini cast his commune and felt that there was a portal about 2 miles south of here. Milivoj said that there was a pond there and they agreed to check it out tomorrow. They returned to the camp, which was looking livelier than before, with more people arriving for the main tournament. The taverns had pulled out extra seating outside and many were drinking and celebrating around the tents. Valeyo went amongst the people to ask about Blazh. One local had seen him with a goliath woman, who matched Meagak's description.

Valeyo and Shiek ran to the tavern where they had met her before and saw that she was there chatting with a group of people. As they approached she locked eyes with them, before telepathically reaching out to Valeyo and saying that she had wondered when they would arrive. From there they continued a mental exchange, where she revealed herself to he the "mother" they were looking for, the person in charge of these serperts after them. Shiek joined Valeyo, but "Maegak" seemed unable to reach into his mind for some reason. Valeyo told her that she wasn't getting away with this and she just chuckled, pointing out the gemstone on her necklace, inside of which was a small visage of Ysomir. Telling her that this isn't over, the two men retreated from the tavern and returned to the tent to warn the others.