By the old fishing hut Ravina and Pete found a moment to themselves. Ravina said that it was getting too hot for them in the area, since they were both worth 1,000 GP dead or alive. It was probably time to take off. The beaver dam and the molehill were both promising possibilities. They would escort Lady Blackberry and Petunia to safety.

In Ravina’s words, “If we go somewhere else, we could go on fun adventures and not feel bad because we wouldn’t have to have conversations about it with Odds.”

Ravina approached Blackberry and asked to travel with her. Lady Blackberry accepted, relieved to have such a foxy guard accompany her.

Ravina let Bean, Jay, and Odds know that they would be parting ways. Odds thanked Ravina and said that was a wise decision. Ravina thanked everyone for their help.

There were awkward hugs, and then the 3 remaining party members left for home.

Those who don’t learn from history…

The trio arrived home and was greeted by Shorestalker and a few of the others. Odds and Bean then headed to bed. Jay, unbeknownst to anybody, went to investigate the geode room. With a flick of his wrists, he cleared the path of the sand he’d set as a barricade. Then he strolled down the path without a worry in the world. Jay reached the geode room and started striding across the sand.

Then the tremors hit, rippling out from out from the center. The sand started bulging in the middle. Then a massive stone elemental broke out to the surface. It held out its hands towards Jay and spoke a request in primordial.

Meanwhile, Odds woke to the rumbling of the hill. He bolted out to the hallways and saw the sand barrier was gone. He grabbed his stone armor and looked for others who were awake and sent someone to rouse Bean.

Back in the geode, Jay didn’t respond fast enough. The elemental struck, nearly killing the hedgehog.

Odds shoved the wizard hat on Orla, and told her to get everyone out of the hill. He, Bean, and Shorestalker rushed down the hallway. They arrived to see the elemental, but no sign of Jay.

Just then, Jay (who had popped into his flask to survive), popped out and rushed to Bean. The elemental started to move again. This time, Bean was there to translate. The elemental is asking for a tithe? Gift? Passkey? Together, Bean, Jay, and Jay’s Sugar Daddy figured out that what is wanted was a salt statue similar to one Jay found back when he was first granted his powers. Jay quickly molded such a statue and placed it in the elemental’s hands.

Appeased, the elemental vanished. Sand drained out of the room revealing a very large door or the opposite side of the room.

Jay, although nearly dead a moment before eager urged the others to continue exploring with him! Bean took the opportunity to knock Jay unconscious before the hedgehog could try anything else. They tied him up, carried him out, and constructed an impromptu barricade out of anything that wasn’t earth.

A New Hop

The next day, a wandering cartographer/bard named Echo was traveling towards Nottinghill with 2 raccoon rangers and an old squirrel druid. They spotted a campfire in the distance and headed towards it. There, they met a small, peaceful communityof refugees, lead by a rabbit named Odds’Mabobbins and a rooster named Jasper. They were invited to stay for for breakfast, and swapped news about the world.

Odds listed our surviving settlements they had encountered: Bumblebrook, Nottinghill, and Reed farm. He gave them news of a massive armed force gathering North to tackle the rats.

Breakfast gave way, and the new travelers were invited to stay and rest. They all found tasks to do for the day:

• Echo updated their maps with new information
• Jay started working on learning to understand Primordial
• Bean checked on the farm plants and animals. There he met Scarwood, the old squirrel druid. They chatted about their powers and nature.
• Odds tracked down Naul (who was still shaking from the cave-in) and they talked about their fears. Naul vowed to find a way to stop the sand-cave ins. Together, Odds and Naul built a pavilion to shelter those who didn’t trust the hill enough to sleep inside of it.

That night, the travelers got together and combined magic and music to present a call for help, to come save the Great tree of Sheerwood. Rats had taken it over, and were gnawing into the roots. The travelers were seeking recruits to help save it.

After the presentation, Odds told Scarwood about the great battle that was planned in a few days. Odds said that afterwards, they might be able to help with the tree.

That night they went to the small shrine and Bean joined them. Bean told the told druid squirrel about his dream of a great beast gnawing at the roots of the tree.

In the hill, Orla found Jay studying books in the library. She joined him, reading, until she fell asleep with her head on the desk.

Decisions

In the morning, Odds woke up early and talked to Petalfoot. They had a tough discussion. Petalfoot didn’t want Odds to go without her. She tried hard to convince him that she should come along. “Together is more important than safe!” Odds didn’t cave.

Odds told her to study hard while he was gone, to learn a way to defend herself. Then she might start to come along on more dangerous missions. Petalfoot hung her head and shuffled away throwing and then following one of her painted “stones”.

Meanwhile, Echo talked with their companions and made the decision to stay and join the fight up North. The other three would continue on towards Nottinghill, Bumblebrook, and beyond to seek out more aid for Sheerwood.

The Departure

Early the next morning, the team headed out. But not before Odds did a very thorough inspection of the cart to ensure Petalfoot wasn’t hiding in it.

Bakersfield

Day 2 of their trip northwards, they stopped at the ghost town of Bakersfield.

Bean investigated the general store and found some goods.

Echo investigated the church and grabbed a hymn book.

Odds looked through the houses and found a few books for Orla and the bastion library: a math book and an astronomy book. He also grabbed a handful of toys for the hoglets.

Fire in the Dark

They were continuing North when they spotted black smoke in the distance. They snuck close, and found a farmstead with rats swarming the barn. Making a decision, the heroes struck first.

Bean cast enlarge on Odds, who bolted in and started hurling rats at each other. Echo was right on his tail, fighting alongside Odds as if they’d trained together. Jay and Bean stayed towards the back, flinging spells and inflicting pain.

Things were going well, until a gigantic rat burst out of the barn. A smaller rat was riding on it and injected a canister of green goo into the giant rat’s back. The giant rat’s muscles started twitching and convulsing.. They bulged, and the beast grew even more massive frothy saliva flowing from its mouth.

Odds tackled the beast. He was bitten, over and over, but kept it pinned as everyone whittled (and moonbeamed) away at it. The smaller rat took the opportunity to inject green goo into Odds’s shoulder. The reactions was fast – muscles swelling and contorting. Odds fought through the pain and kept the beast pinned down until until it was slain at last.

Once the enemies were down, Bean rushed over to cleanse Odds’s injection, calming everything down.

Odds, still light headed, went to sit on a cart of raided food, where he found a bottle of old whiskey and took a swig.

Bean, Echo, and Jay investigated the farm. They found a pair of mouse farmers – now dead, broken experiments. They buried the bodies.

They brought the stash of food back to their cart, along with an intact sample of the goo. They new they would need to warn the other gathering warriors about this new development.

Notes:

Bastion role = 82