[06e05] The Stormherd

Munin pecked Freki’s eye. Freki had a vision:
- What was. Fire. Burning. Blood. Talos sneering disdainfully: “There is nothing else I need from a lycan” and he turns away.
- What is. Sabrina scoldingly to Andalla: “That bird was his friend!”; Andalla grinning wickedly with pointed orc teeth: “So? Spirit animals are delicious!” and she turns into a raven and flies.
- What might be. A ring on Talos’s hand flashes, and his fist begins to glow. Effortlessly, he lifts Freki off the ground by his neck. “You are weak. Your people were weak. Afraid of who you really are, and the power within you. What a disappointment.” He throws Freki down and swings the spiked chain…”
- WAKE UP! utters Munin, pecking Freki’s eye again. It explodes in pain.
- Munin tells Freki he is not yet ready. “It is not strength you lack, but wisdom. And allies.”
Freki’s left eye got all cataract-like. Callie tried to heal it, but there was nothing physically wrong.
Upon further consultation of the compass, the party decided to head toward the Stormherd, which seemed close. Munin also flew in that direction (westward). Ghensh flew above the trees on his magic carpet.
The party asked Kavaki whether she had any experience with the yakfolk. She said she had only encountered them once, as hostiles, and she barely escaped with her life.
After a time, the party discovered several plumes of smoke, the Stormherd encampment.
Outside the encampment, some yak kids are crowded around a scorpion and a spider, while the two creatures viciously fight. Cal notices one yak child slumped against a tree, apparently sleeping despite the noise. The children ran away once the yaks detected the party nearby.
The party requested entrance into the camp to speak with Solomon, who they had learned was a powerful diviner. The yaks initially refused to let the party in, but Bec convinced them that the party was elementally balanced (which was apparently somehow important to the yaks). Naamah the spokesyak was the only one who spoke Common.
Zanqaa the Devoted, an obsequious dao genie servant, appeared. He extended his master Solomon’s invitation for the party to spend the night and witness the Joining of the Elements ceremony at dawn.
Bec threw veggies on the ceremonial fires in an attempt at cultural respect. She tried to grab some of the ash from the fire, but the yaks stopped her.
Ghensh sang songs of his ancestors, and their (fictional) partnership with the yakfolk in past efforts to spread their race across Aecus.
The party started poking around the camp. They found Grosh’mog the orc in a cage in one of the tents. He told them he was an oracle from the Blood Hand, and said the yaks were planning to sacrifice him very soon now. He begged them to free him.
While party members debated whether to do so, Zanqaa appeared again and said his master was ready to receive them.
As the party entered Solomon’s pavilion, they found three strong-looking guards inside, who Kavaki recognized as the ones she had fought previously. Solomon was sitting up in a king-size four-post bed. Next to him on one side was an end table with a spell book, and on the other side of the bed was a large scrying pool.
The party had a conversation with Solomon, during which it became clear that his intentions were quite nefarious. While Cal was noticing something odd about one of Solomon’s pillows, Bec realized with dawning horror that Solomon must be the one who had somehow orchestrated Kavaki’s actions: Kavaki had been attacked by yaks, so Solomon could have been watching her via his scrying pool. She panicked, and shouted, “Run!” But the yak guards blocked the party’s escape.
Solomon shook his head in a tsk tsk sort of way. “Too bad it has to come to this. Behold the union of the elements!” He pulled something out from under his pillow—it was the Flux Capacitor. Solomon moved to break the weapon across his knee; Cal, who had been watching like a hawk, moved to stop him…!