Feb 24, 2025

The party rested, then continued to visit the Herbivores and chatted with their leader, a powerful looking elephant. She said the dead goat (turns out it was a goat, not a bird, the gnolls were eating) was an esteemed historian of their group. The Carnivores had recently attacked and she’d personally defeated their leader so he might be out for revenge. If the party found the goat’s killer, she’d give them a symbol of her group’s power: a figurine of wondrous power (serpentine owl).

So, the party headed out to visit the carnivores (a few miles away), passing through groups of wolves and hyenas on the way to Fang Rock where the sabertooth tigers live. Ebonclaw, leader of the carnivores (looking a little banged up), was a little stand-off-ish to the party at first. He noted it was lucky for the party they’d just hunted and eaten a pack of yak and it was a big deal that they “Take meat when it was needed”, but didn’t kill things for sport. He believed the best future of Faunel was one where each individual was able to become the strongest, best versions of themselves.

He said his folks didn’t kill the goat, and didn’t like the gnolls because they hunted for sport. All of which the party just instantly believed, which was the right call because it turned out to be true, but was still kind of funny. He didn’t know where the gnolls’ camp was, but the Fliers knew where everything was so maybe ask them.

The party then hiked to Fliers’ camp in a big forest a few miles away. All the nests and houses were way up in the high branches 40-50’ up in the air. The party talked to a passing hawk (I forget how, though many of the birds spoke Common) and found out the leader was a few miles away in the petrified forest talking to the flying lizards and pterodactyls. 

So the party hiked to the petrified forest, arriving just before sunset. The leader, a huge albatross, knew where the gnoll camp was, and the party didn’t even bother asking if he was involved in the goat’s death, they were just ready to kill some gnolls. The leader said the gnolls weren’t a threat to his folks, so he didn’t care about them. But the party gave him a vial of holy water and talked him into telling them. He said it was fine to spend the night there, most larger animals did not come into the Fliers’ territory so it was probably safe, but he didn’t really care.

After a safe long rest, the party hiked to the gnoll camp and found the gnolls! Fight! Mick Mangehide and his Four Gnolls (a fine name for a bad) fought the party and they did some damage (nearly knocking down Hunter Mario), but the battle wasn’t nearly as close as the last time the party tangled with some gnolls. 

However, the final gnoll opened up a large covered cage releasing a panicked triceratops! It immediately charged the first person it saw, Solara, and rolled a crit, nearly one-shotting the light cleric. But Harvey managed to put it to sleep, and after finishing off the gnolls the party hid in the cage and waited for the triceratops to wake up and wander away. In the camp, the party found a lot of old meat, a long magical snakeskin that worked as a Rope of Entanglement and 1000gp.

The party returned to the Herbivores who expressed their gratitude and gave the party the serpentine owl. Then the party returned to Greenbriar Village, the trading camp they started at, because apparently the Gate was close to it. In the village, Razzak the friend sloth from before greeted the party. He was sad to hear of the goat’s death but was happy the party had killed the raiding gnolls. He gave the party a feather and claw adored bracelet that worked as a very decorative +1 ring of protection.

The gate was half a mile away in the woods, by the ruins of what remained of the prior Faunel. A large pond stood in the middle of some small vine-covered ruins, and a 20’ stone statue of a humanoid with glowing eyes appeared to stand guard. As the party approached, the statue stood up and asked the party what their business was in Faunel. The party said they were looking for the gate, and the guardian said it was in the pond. At the bottom of the pond was a large glowing circle that was apparently the gate.

Botticelli took the mimir, got it close enough to the gate, and described the gate and its environs in… ugh. I don’t have my notes and can’t remember exactly how he said it. Impressionist-pointillism? No, that was how Harvey described the first gate. Shoot, I can’t remember.

The party then headed back to the tower, leveled up and decided to head to Glorium next.

Matt's Notes

After resting up, the party searched the bodies of the gnolls and slain ibex. The ibex was wearing a necklace of some sort which gave us the impression that it might actually be an awakened animal. We took the necklace and continued on to herbivore territory.

Upon arriving we met with the leader, an elephant named ???. She told a group called the Wicked Hunt had been hunting animals indiscriminately and asked us to find and confront them. She suggested we talk to Parvaz, the leader of the carnivores, to track down the Hunt. When we showed her the necklace taken from the slain ibex she recognized it immediately and told us he had been a skilled storyteller and valued member of the community.

We hiked into carnivore territory which was centered on a sharp mountain peak called Razortooth Rock. Parvaz seemed unconcerned about the killings as they were mostly focused on the herbivores. His philosophy was "When you're hungry, meat is meat." He suggested we speak to the leader of the flying animals, a giant eagle named ???

Upon arriving at the flyers' territory, we learned the leader was away at a meeting with some other animals. We followed their directions and eventually found the eagle and caught his attention.

The eagle also seemed unconcerned about the Wicked Hunt but was able to direct us toward their camp. He also gave clear directions to find the portal. It was located in a pool near a ruin guarded by a gigantic statue with glowing eyes.

The party spent the night (long rest) and headed out in the morning. We found the camp in the early afternoon. We faced off against a group of gnolls and defeated them without difficulty. They also had a caged triceratops which was loosed mid-battle and trampled Umbra. The party hid in the cage and the triceratops eventually charged off into the woods.

We returned to the herbivores to report our success. The leader gifted us with a magical statuette that could turn into an animal. We returned the ibex's necklace to their next of kin, then headed back to the central area. We met back up with Razzak, the three-toed sloth. As a reward for dealing with the Wicked Hunt he gifted the party a ring of protection +1.

Next we found the portal and described it to the mimir. We also spoke with the statue, who claimed to be a guardian of the portal.

Misson complete! We decided to visit Glorium next. The party levels up to 7th level.