After Petalfoot was given the news that both her parents were dead, she bolted from the room. Odds and Echo watched the young mouse flee. Echo reached out and gave Odds a quick hug to brace him. Odds thanked them for the sending and the support. Then he got to his feet and went off to find his ward.

Petalfoot was at the shrine. Odds kneeled down next to her. He asked her if she would like him to carve effigies of her folks in their civilian clothes – as they used to be dressed when they snuck into the garden. She nodded, and they sat in silence for a bit.

Odds gave her a quick side-hug and said that this would be a good place to talk to her folks and suggested she introduce her new elemental friend to them. He then left her to grieve in peace.

Meanwhile, Echo went to find Jay. Jay was anxious to start exploring the ruins below. They started arguing about the enchanted lantern. Echo wanted to examine it, but Jay wanted to keep it locked away.

Before joining the group, Odds found Jasper and proposed thatching Maggie’s house, with the understanding that Jasper would be the next to get a stand-alone house.

The path down

Eventually, they were joined by Odds and Bean. Together, they headed into the ruins, barricading the path behind them to prevent curious hoglets from following them.

They resummoned the golem. Jay was incredible excited to see the stone creature again and climbed up on top of the hand. Jay failed to actually communicate with the golem, despite trying hard. They had to conclude that it had no intelligence.

Once they pacified the golem, another door appeared on the far side of the room. 3 pedestals rose out of the ground in front of it.

Curious, the group studied the door. Around it was a carved relief showing pictures of ancient life, with a focus on 3 monks. The team realized that they could recreate the monks as statues on the pedestals using Mold Earth. Jay shined, creating 2 beautiful statues, including a mock-ruby embedded in one of them. Odds worked hard and with a little help managed a passable 3rd statue.

The 3 statues were the heroes of the hill:

• Rowdy – a mischievous hedgehog
• Finvara – a badger monk
• Earthswimmer – a mole

The door opened.

Deeper into the ruins

The passage lead down into the dark. Before heading that way, Jay consulted with some sand fleas about what was beyond. They warned of something dark and dangerous.

The team moved on, spreading apart into the sloping hall. Spiderwebs clung to the walls and ceiling. The team encountered a second door. This one bore a language riddle. working together, the team solved it. the door dissolved into sand.

Suddenly, they were ambushed by spiders! Jay and Bean were knocked down and webbed. Echo and Bean killed the spider on Bean and moved forward to protect their healer. Jay set fire to the spider on him and escaped and hid behind the bunnies. After that, they made quick work of the spiders. It helped that Bean had turned to a fiery elemental.

The insane elemental

They found an ancient mysterious forge, bearing signs of a massive burn. Inside, trapped in a glass chamber, was an elemental that introduced itself as Pyros. Pyros had been trapped since the time of the moles and seemed more than a little cracked. It tried desperately to convince the team to let it out.

The team decided to wait. they were uncertain about what to do. For one, it was apparent that the elemental was part of the forge’s workings, and some hoped to get the forge going again. It was also an obvious threat should they should guard the people of the bastion from. A final conflict – it was cruel to keep the creature locked up. Should they kill the elemental? Try to send it home? Try to recruit it? They decided to have the adults of the bastion vote.

Jay left his familiar with the elemental so it wouldn’t be alone.

Note: During the conversation, they learned that the elemental had been sent by a fire goddess in an ancient feud against Tharoom. Also, Odds found a very thick tome that logged items that had been built there and might possibly shed some light on how to use this forge.

The lost city

Moving beyond the forge, they found a massive cavern that held the ruins of a city and the scars of a fiery battle. The adobe building were broken and burnt. A large chunk of lava rock jutted down from the ceiling, blocking the view of the far side of the settlement.

All around them were spider webs.

The team explored. The spiders stayed at bay due to the flickering fires of Bean. Odds found an amulet of Tharoom, and buried several skeletons.

In the distance they spotted a temple and walked up to explore. Once inside, Odds ‘sealed’ the doorway with a barrier of earth.

They entered a large meditation room with glowing salt crystals. Those who made an offering to the crystal, or who honored it, received a temporary +1 to constitution. Here, Bean dropped his fire form.

Bedroom: Here, Odds found glowing “candle crystals” and a robe and staff of Tharoom (that he offered to Jay) and 5 books: an atlas (that he gave to Echo), a hymn book (that went to Bean), an earth arcana book (that Jay was allowed to take only after promising to give it to Orla when he was done), a murder mystery, and a personal journal of meditations (that Odds gave to Bean).

Treasury: Here, they found gems, spell components, ancient amber coins similar to those of the church of the flame (but a much older mint), damaged Vulcana Armor and a huge enchanted hammer- found by Jay but given to Odds.

Doodle room: this was a small meditation room with a floor of sand that shaped itself based on the meditations of the mind.

After looting. Jay loaded up the treasure and poofed it into his flask. He found the poisonous core that they had removed from Maggie was leaking a sickly goo all across the floor…

Spider Ambush

It was time to return. the team stepped out of the temple and were ambushed by a massive spider!

Bean burst into fire as an elemental, becoming spider proof. His fellows were significantly more susceptible to the bites and pounces of the arachnids. Odds was nearly downed, and Echo was frantically dodging mandibles. Jay sunk into the earth to escape the worst. But Bean, Odds, and Echo turned the tide and ended smushed in arachnid goo. They asked Jay to deliver a threat to the spiders who were still alive – leave or burn… the warning was sent quite enthusiasticly.

Limping but loaded with loot, they returned to the surface.

Outside

When they resurfaced, they called together the adults in Maggy’s house. Echo called the hoglets aside to engage in a campaign of distraction.

Odds and Jay spoke about the situation with the elemental, and put it’s fate in the hands of the bastion – they voted to free it.

After the meeting, Bonny talked with Odds and asked for fire at the shrine. Odds asked her to meet him for dinner there.

Bean boasted to Shorestrider about being a giant fire elemental. Jay found time to bond with Orla over new books, and Orla showed off a cantrip. She had mastered a spell!

Echo wore out the hoglets, and was fetched by Bean. Bean showed Echo the weed he’d planted, and they talked about the elemental.

By evening, Odds had built a fire bowl at the shrine. Bonny showed up and started a fire in it. She talked about the church of the flame. She mentioned that they were preaching that the end times were coming. Odds talked of his faith towards Mela, then waved out towards the budding settlement being build out of ruins by refugees and said, “My greatest faith is here.”

Notes

• Jay promised to teach Orla primordial
• Odds offered Bean as a primordial teacher to Petalfoot and Bonny
• Jay needs a way to deal with the poison orb
• Bean still needs to translate Bonny’s gran’s journal of herbs