The party gets to see Junyan’s “rustic charm” whilst trying to find more Undead to bring to Healer Danxia.
Characters Interacted With
Liu: Unexpectedly forced to face their dark past. Comforted by Brooks.
Yael: Pointed the party toward leads in finding more Undead around Junyan.
Trader Zhou: Supplied the party with hunting tools and his own signature BBQ sauce.
Dustin: Pointed the party towards the Yujiang River and a rocky overhang where he knew Undead could show up.
Junyan Kids: Played on top of Barley’s cliff-dwelling. Luckily managed to not blow themselves up with Pourronium powder.
Liu’s Father (Barley): Confronted the party about the racket on his roof. Told the party to not bring Nyssa around his property.
Giant Eagles: Showed the party an area across the Ondinia-Lingguo border where they’d seen people wheeling carts covered in tarp and Undead pop up.
Gate Attackers: Caused several deaths and great destruction to Junyan’s front gates. Demanded that the metallic card one of their own lost be returned to them. The leader is now captured.
Other Characters Mentioned: Healer Danxia
Locations
- Junyan
- Junyan Outskirts
Session Overview
Seeking Out Leads
The party resumed from where the last session ended. Not sure what to do next, the party decided to further help Healer Danxia by trying to hunt and trap another Undead for her. Wanting to get traps and bait for the task, Fanna went back to Trader Zhou to survey his wares. Trader Zhou was incredulous as to why Fanna insisted on needing traps for an animal bigger than a bear, but Fanna was satisfied after purchasing a a fox cage from him. Trader Zhou pointed Fanna to a butcher elsewhere in the market so they could acquire bait.
Fanna walked up to the butcher, who was cutting up a lamb for a village, and asked if he had any spare animal parts that would not be used. The butcher gave them a bucket of spare animal parts and sent them on their way.
Before heading back, Fanna stopped by Trader Zhou’s stand again to see if he had any sauce the party could slather on the animal parts to help attract animals. Trader Zhou happily pulled out a mason jar of canned barbeque sauce with his own “Trader Zhou’s” logo pasted on it, explaining how he was hoping to start selling branded products. Fanna paid for the barbeque sauce and went back to the party.
Once back together, the party opted to try and find a hunter or scout that new the area now and could report on areas near Junyan they could most likely find Undead. They came across a young Yumalyan Halfling man sitting nearby the market, whittling away at something to pass the time. After the party explained they were helping Healer Danxia try and combat the monsters roaming around the village, the man admitted he had only been in Junyan for a few months and was not an experienced hunter. The party asked him if he knew any more experienced hunters he could point them too, and he gave them directions for the residence of one of the more senior village hunters. Before the party left, he warned them that this hunter had a rather grumpy disposition, and to be careful.
Liu’s Father
The party walked up the scaffolding attached to the cliff which allowed the villagers to traverse up and down the village. As they walked up to the cliff-dwelling that the Halfling man pointed them to, they overheard kids kicking around a shuttlecock above the house. While playing around, one of them accidentally kicked the shuttlecock into the chimney of the house, receiving chiding and complaints from the other kids. While the party debated on what to do, one of the kids told the others that they could just play with something else she found, pulling out a small bag of Pourronium that she had found in her father’s belongings. As this happened, Liu asked if there was any reason the party was stopping at this residence specifically. When the party mentioned that’s where they had been pointed, Liu nervously said that this was where his father lived.
The party attempted to convince the kids to knock on the door and ask for their shuttlecock, but ended up getting nowhere with them. Bored and wanting to play again, the kids went back up to their original spot and started pouring Pourronium dust on the rock near the chimney. Brooks sensed footsteps from inside—Liu’s father was approaching the door—and told Liu to run and hide. Liu didn’t waste a second flying away to avoid seeing his abusive father again.
The door, opened, and the party saw standing in the doorway an older Aarakocra male, with some greying feathers and patchy unkept areas near his shoulders, and thicker defined feathers on his brow ridge, forming an Aarakocra equivalent to bushy eyebrows. Upon seeing Nyssa, he grabbed his crossbow and pointed it at her. Nyssa responded by pointing out to Liu’s father that there were kids on his roof.
Liu’s father, named Barley, took a few cautious steps forward, stepping out onto the scaffolding walkway, still keeping the crossbow on Nyssa. Fanna pointed to above his cliff-dwelling, and Barley followed their gaze up to the children currently playing. The children realized what was happening and frantically scattered, leaving the Pourronium dust behind. Turning back to the party, Barley asked Fanna “who is she”, gesturing to Nyssa. Fanna explained she was with them. After a moment, Barley requested that everyone leave, as he didn’t want someone like Nyssa near his house. The party, also eager to leave, confirmed with him that they would leave immediately, and Barley went back into his home, slamming the door behind him. The party promptly rushed back to the ground level.
Setting the Bait
The party went back to the Halfling man, asking if he knew anyone else that could help them, as the interaction with Barley didn’t pan out well. Apologetic, the Halfling man pointed them to an acquaintance of his, also a Yumalyan immigrant who had arrived about a month before he did. The man’s name was Dustin, a Human with brunette hair in a ponytail, and wearing a red cloak with swirly cloud patterns on it. The party asked for the Halfling man’s name as well. After being interrupted by a loud belch and apologizing and saying he had a condition that he had seen Healer Danxia for, he introduced himself as Yael. As it would turn out, Dustin was talking with Brooks’ mom, so Nyssa and Brooks stayed behind while Fanna talked to Dustin.
Fanna went up to Dustin and explained like they had to Yael before that the party was helping Healer Danxia. Happy to help, Dustin explained how the Yujiang river was a general hotspot for beasts and creature alike, as it was a source of drinking and bathing water for them. Near the river was an outcropping of rocks that formed a small overhand which animals sometimes sheltered in that the party might find some Undead in. Fanna thanked Dustin, and as they went to leave, Dustin asked if Fanna could tell Yael that he “still owed him from last time.”
Meanwhile, Brooks went to go fetch Liu. He found Liu hiding behind the village waterfall, pressed tightly against an indent amongst the rocks. Liu was quite anxious, admitting that this was the spot he hid in when his father grew violent before he officially left the village. Hiding here again reminded him of those bad times previously. Brooks, understanding that this was a sensitive topic for Liu, reassured him, telling him how they dealt with his father without incident. Liu explained how that while his father was definitely a skilled hunter, he often let the violence inherent to the job affect other areas of his life. He ended up with the scar on his cheek after Barley threw a plate at him. Brooks told Liu that he didn’t deserve to go through what he did and that he deserved better, which seemed to cheer Liu up a little. He further explained that his mom had remarried after her first husband—Liu’s dad—had died, and that she had grown more passive and was forbidden to go outside by Barley ever since their marriage. Though Liu had drifted, he still worried about his mom, and asked Brooks’ if he saw her. Thinking back on the encounter with Barley, Brooks said that he hadn’t seen Liu’s mom, but he did see signs of someone else living in the dwelling still. Liu seemed relieved to hear this, and fully announced he was ready to return with the party now. Now that the two had a meaningful bonding moment, Brooks and Liu flew back to where Nyssa and Fanna were.
With the party reunited and now with a lead on where to find more Undead, they headed out the back gates of Junyan village to the spot Dustin had talked about. After arriving at the rocky overhang, they inspected the inside to see if there was anything in there, only to see a single owl sleeping inside. Satisfied, they laid out the raw animal meat, slathered it in the BBQ sauce, and waited nearby in some shrubbery.
At first, a mountain lion showed up and entered the overhang, looking interested in the meat. Fanna used a Thunderwave to scare it off, sending the frightened owl flying off as well. After some more waiting, a group of Giant Eagles began approaching from the air, landing in front of the overhang. The party decided to ask them for advice on where to find Undead, and Fanna was sent out Polymorph’d into Giant Eagle form. The Giant Eagles regarded them with amusement, but decided to humor them and told them they’ve seen what they think is the source of where the Undead keep coming from. In return, they’d be allowed to eat all of the BBQ-slathered meat. Fanna let them eat their food, and the party gathered up and followed the Giant Eagles across the Ondinia-Lingguo border. The Giant Eagles showed them an area amongst a mountain, telling them they’d seen figures moving covered carts around the area and Undead milling nearby. Both parties flew back to the overhang back in Lingguo, and the party thanked the Giant Eagles and bid goodbye.
Now with a solid lead, the party made preparations to cross the border again to investigate the area. Wanting to be travel under the cover of darkness to avoid being spotted by border security, the party opted to wait for nightfall. As they waited around outside of Junyan, Brooks heard sounds of fireworks coming from Junyan. He glanced over and saw a distress signal fired off from the front gates. The party quickly gathered themselves and prepared to fly over to help.
Attack on the Front Gates
The party arrived to the front gates of Junyan being attacked by robed figures, the guards clearly struggling. On the first round, one was even killed. The party was shot at by hidden figures from trees in front of the gates, and a Pourronium bullet containing a Stinking Cloud expanded around where the party was, forcing them to move forward.
On the second round, figures from further up mountainsides on both sides of the gate threw down Pourronium grenades, significantly damaging the party and gates. Even though the guards’ numbers were dwindling, the party was able to cut down some of the roguish attackers as well. They gained an upper hand after smoking out the attackers hiding by the trees, and quickly closed in on them.
Before they could finish them off, the leader paused and said things didn’t have to be this way. Fanna threatened them with their scimitar, and they responded by pulling out a bomb with at least a dozen grenades taped to it. After an investigation check, they were able to discern that the makeshift “enhanced” bomb didn’t have a visible fuse, but instead seemed to be activated once enough force was applied to it.
The two parties began talking. The leader insisted that the party bring them back a card. Not knowing what they were talking about at first, Fanna remembered Healer Danxia attending to some guards that were injured the previous day, and one of them reporting that they grabbed a metallic, credit-card sized card off of one of the attackers.
Liu arrived at the scene right as Fanna was mulling this over. The party told Liu to fly back to Healer Danxia and get the card back from her. Liu took off, and after a few minutes, returned holding the card, saying that Healer Danxia was confused and wanted to know what happened.
Fanna held the card, staring down the leader. Both argued for the other person to hand it over first, not wanting to budge. Eventually, they agreed that Fanna would place the card down on the ground, and then the leader would place the bomb down and grab the card at the same time, allowing both items to be handed over to their respective wanting parties.
Fanna placed the card on the ground as agreed, and eyed the leader as they waited to see what they’d do. After some hesitation, the leader swiftly snatched the card and turned around to run. Nyssa lunged forward and successfully tackled them, and the session ended on Fanna stowing the bomb in their Bag of Holding as the leader cursed out the party.
Key Learnings
- The Undead in the area seemed to be coming from a specific area across the Ondinia-Lingguo border, which the Giant Eagles had showed the party and Liu.
Items Of Importance
- 1x Fox Cage (purchased from Trader Zhou)
- 1x Mason Jar of Trader Zhou’s BBQ sauce (purchased from Trader Zhou)
- 1x Makeshift Pourronium bomb