Ulgrotha: Strongrock! At last!

Party: Iskren / Vultha / Sorval / Zantaroth / Taurio

Xivaskir 22

At long last, our heroes get to enjoy a night's rest in a town. Iskren, smartly, left their undead friends outside of town, so as not to trouble the locals. Sadly enough, a bit of a nightmare unfolds for them. A serpentine voice teases Iskren with intimate knowledge of the party and a certain bit of Iskren's power is drawn from them, leaving them lessened, somehow.

As luck would have it, the rest of the party also had troubled dreams. Some involving the destruction of Shademurk, some just feeling the alien presence of ... something. All of the party... except Taurio, who dreamt about a meadow where he was lectured by an older white bull.   

Vultha wakes up at the Parlor and checks out the local scene a little, ordering breakfast from Tarboo (the owner) and inquiring for the rules of the fighting pit. He is eventually joined by Zantaroth in a small pig-related food situation. 

Sorval wakes early, prays to Serra and seeks the guidance of Jared to shed the nightmares, while Iskren checks their body for possible damages, noting a red mark on their shoulder. Taking their coin, the power of Sengir comforts and a soft whisper assures Iskren of allies being on the way.

Taurio, on the other hand, wakes up abruptly. He heads for breakfast and meets his friends, chatting with Sorval about the town security before the conversation turns to the nightmares the group has been having. Sorval mentions his connection to Serra as a sort of shield against the draconic being, while Taurio says he has been sitting near a large minotaur (obviously Sandruu) who kept the bad things away. Considering the time proper for it, Iskren takes out his keystone and summons the Orzhovian thrull. This, in turn, draws a lot of attention from the other clientele, which Iskren turns into an audience whose knowledge and coin they peruse. While this is going on, Taurio notices a familiar sight and walks to speak to Sandruu, who is enjoying a book.

The winged Thrull finds Zantaroth and Vultha across the street and asks the pair to join Iskren's group after paying the Greying Bull his due and up front for dinner. Big Z and Vultha both had been infected with vision-dreams as well, about a large serpent laying into Shademurk, causing untold destruction. While eating and walking, they do notice the town guard being worried about large lizards eating meat off the bone, but after being accosted, they explain the meat to be pig and manage to not fight, eventually arriving as the two bulls meet up.

From Sandruu Taurio learns that the draconic being in his dream is 'The Doom of Fools", Tsevesh Szat, a planeswalker who has recently taken interest in the group that is causing trouble for Leshrac. There's also a bit about the immortality of the Goblin King being linked to the Wizarding School. News from Ravnica follows, with Jared having mentioned to Sandruu that several seals have been broken there and the mayor is dead, the Boros do try to keep order, but they're having a hard time. Sandruu explains he sees the future of Ravnica as bleak, but thinks getting to the Baron or Serra as soon as possible is a good plan. 

Iskren and Sorval chat about their dreams, with the lizardkin joining in. The line between the naturally inclined Gruul and the civilisation-inclined clerics is drawn as a point of conversation. They put together their collective knowledge after bantering for a bit, remembering the guilds were working as one in order to seal the Nephilim. Considering this, they suspect that they need to gain more power in order to fight off this being. They also put their priorities straight, going over what they hope to gain from their Patrons and adventures. A bit of a face-off also happens with Big Z getting up in the grill of the clerics, defending the Gruul pride with aggressive language in order to make clear that he will not tolerate being controlled. The clerics do explain they are not blindly obedient to their patrons and will judge for themselves what they see as right or wrong.

Taurio returns to the group and briefs them on his findings. Iskren takes in the information and attempts a divination ritual for discovering what to do next. The divinity that answers them is Serra. She explains that allowing time for the breaking of the seals would empower various individuals. She also mentions that the cost for that might be Ravnica. Returning with this information, Iskren relates it to the party as well. 

The party then splits up, with Zantaroth and Iskren going to deal with the paperwork (so the party can pass through the Koshun Pass). Sorval and Taurio head off to find a smithy and the Anaba Lodge respectively. Vultha seeks out the Mountain Shade Temple to pray and find guidance.

Zantaroth speaks with Iskren as they go, explaining his reason for going with Vultha and his goals beyond that (links to Eyjafjallajökull and the leadership grooming Z has undergone). As they arrive at the logistics building, they are greeted by bureaucracy in the form of a dour dwarven lady.

Taurio, at the Lodge, takes in the large wooden building. There's a large gathering of minotaurs around, approximately thirty are congregating here. He spots Obono and chats a bit with him before being shown around the place. A large ruddy minotaur with two claymores strapped to his back, Gnulliver, meets Taurio and speaks about the traditional lifestyle the herd is keeping in the Lodge. Metalurgy, brewing, woodcraft and cooking - the herd being intent on keeping their independence from a lord who seems unstable.

At the Mountain Shade Temple, Vultha notices minotaur guards, totems, graveyard sites... a lot of natural burial spots. A lot of coins are scattered amongst the tomestones and totems. A couple of caretakers walk around. A single stone structure, shaped bovinely, stands near the middle of the graveyard. As he enters the grounds, he spots the massive remains of a tree, which provides a location for him to sit down. Once seated, he reaches out to the primal forces of nature. Approaching him is the specter of a woman, made up of contradictions. Young, yet old and timeless. She speaks with Vultha about nature, about balance, about those that disrupt the balance, about heroes. She reassures him that things are changing due to his activity. A small change comes over him and more and more colour seems to seep into the previously ashen Vultha, bringing him more midnight blues and mossy greens where once but grey was. The lady then vanishes, leaving a single Edelweiss where she was standing. After she departs in this manner, Vultha builds a small bone shrine to her near the flower, with a single statuette that hums in the breeze.

After a long and silent walk, lost in complex thoughts, Sorval winds up at the general store, where the town smithy is located. He walks into the smithy and looks at a green-skinned male who is crafting a thing on an anvil. Sorval attempts to introduce himself, but the smith has none of it, asking him to prove his mettle by making a gauntlet. Sorval does so, routinely. Gunther, the smith, gives it a glance, sees it is decent quality and allows Sorval the use of his forge for the price of ten gold. He estimates the time for crafting as two days per full plate with Gunther's assistance. Sorval suspects he'll have to convince the party to stay another day, for he wants to make a pair of plate armours...