Dragons & Vampires campaign

The group, still stood under the tree that Lysandra and Altarion hid in, decide the safest thing to do for now is to separate Lysandra and Altarion to make them less recognisable and get them to the tavern, picking up hoods or disguise kits along the way. Lysandra, Onyx and Merla leave first, heading towards the market. They find Roger the Vendor who seems to be selling clothing, and start bargaining with him - he keeps calling Merla a DILF, which she ignores for a bit and then questions - thankfully, it’s a local term for halflings, gnomes etc and stands for Dear Little Friend. Thank goodness.

Getting a touch sidetracked from their immediate quest to cover Lysandra’s face, the three buy 12 winter coats, 4 blankets, extra sleeping bags, a huge cloak/cape for Onyx that covers their wings, 50 ft of rope, and after agreeing on all this for 55GP, Roger is so delighted with their custom he gives them a Bag of Holding for free. Lysandra promptly gives this to Merla to carry all their goods, to Onyx’s great disappointment. While chatting to Roger, the group mentions where they’re going and Roger mentions the stone statues and the occasional bandits, but says it’s pretty safe on the main trail overall. As they leave, they realise they’ve forgotten to buy something to disguise Lysandra, so Merla reluctantly lends her her new cloak and makes sure she puts the hood up as they head back towards the Rolling Bear.

Meanwhile, waiting for the others to get out of sight, Altarion brings up the Nom Nom he saw in the market to Jhin and Lucia. Clearly deeply concerned, he tells them that it’s a sacred creature to the Fey and it being here means it must have been taken out of his world. It’s his duty to find it, make sure it’s safe and bring it home to the Feywild. Jhin and Lucia agree to help him find it, and Altarion disappears behind a tree to remove the bark armour that makes him stand out, emerging in his more common clothing. The three head towards the market, discussing how to find the Nom Nom - Altarion says it likes honey, so they head towards a food vendor. The first lady they ask doesn’t sell jars of honey, although she does give them samples of delicious fresh-baked chocolatey bonbons - they buy a box of 20 for 2sp - and points them to a bee farmer three stalls down. They buy the flavour of honey that most reminds Altarion of home for 3sp, each take some on their hands or a bonbon, and split up to search.

Lucia, wandering around, notices a ball of purple vaporous glowing energy, bouncing around on people’s heads and shoulders, and realises that she’s seeing the magical energy of the Nom Nom even though the creature itself is invisible. Edging as close as she can, the Nom Nom jumps to her hand and starts eating the honey. She carefully cups an arm around it protectively and heads back to their meeting place.
Jhin, wandering through the marketplace, notices a man dressed like a monk, all in white. Intrigued, he goes up to the man and introduces himself, feeling a need to talk to him. The man asks what he’s holding and Jhin gives him a bonbon to eat. The man asks what’s weighing on his heart, and Jhin starts telling him about the monastery he grew up in, (Dow Jhun), and his brother named (Gow) who took to the most brutal aspects of the Open Hand way, eventually coming across a technique that enveloped him in darkness. Now Jhin is duty bound to find his brother. The man encourages Jhin, saying that he believes Jhin can save his brother, and Jhin asks the man’s name - Lif. Jhin gives him another bonbon and begins to take his leave, bowing to Lif, who bows back in a very specific way - exactly as if he were trained at the same dojo as Jhin. Taken aback, Jhin asks where he learned that bow and Lif tells him he learned it in the Docian. Jhin is shaken but chooses to return to his companions.

Jhin, Lucia and Altarion meet back up and the creature chooses to reveal itself, still on Lucia’s palm. Jhin pulls out his journal and begins taking notes, and Altarion confirms it’s a girl, it’s unhurt, and she will have to stay with us until we reach the Feywild. Jhin tells us about Lif, saying he regrets walking away from the conversation, and we agree to go looking for him. Lysandra, Merla and Onyx reach the Rolling Bear tavern. They take a look around but don;t see anyone suspicious, and head up to the room, giving the secret knock. Snowball opens the door, hanging off the doorknob adorably, and the three start filling Rupen in on what’s happened. Jhin, Altarion and Lucia fail to find Lif again, and also head back to the tavern room. The Nom Nom is still on Lucia’s hand, and she shows it around the room - Lysandra tries petting it and it’s very happy with the attention, ALtarion explaiins where it’s come from, and Lucia asks whether it’s likely to have been a result of an illegal fey creature trading ring, at which point the Nom Nom spits in her eyes. Despite Altarion asking it in sylvan, it just blinks innocently and curls up again.

With everyone finally met back up together again the group chats about their exploits and, most importantly, their shopping. We start strategising about Medusa, but decide to talk to Illusius first. Rupen is sent out for food and finds a bakery called Dominoes selling a strange delicacy of flat circular bread. He confuses the first baker so much with his attempted explanation of lunchables that the man storms off - the second baker has slightly more patience and Rupen comes away with a massive stuffed crust pizza, fried chicken and fish, and returns. The group is bemused by Rupen’s pizza, but agree that it’s delicious, and Altarion mentions that the Nom Nom must never eat flesh. The group agrees that we still need to stock up on disguise kits and food and water for the road, as well as going to find the author of the Medusa book, Illusius. Onyx, Merla, Lucia and Jhin head for the bar, Lysandra and Altarion staying behind to lay low, Rupen staying behind presumably to finish off the pizza. Jhin leads the group straight to the bar he found earlier with the giant woman tending bar. Lucia points out Illusius and Merla confirms that she’s seen him before in a shady bar and decides to hang back with Jhin while Lucia and Onyx approach. Illusius mentions Onyx’s new state and we change the subject, with Onyx asking where Illusius got his information about Medusa, and whether that means there were survivors. He tells them that the only survivors were those who had chosen not to fight Medusa - the only thing all the eyewitnesses had was that none of them had ever seen her. When approaching her lair, you first encounter the statues, and then the dark starts to close in. It can’t be pierced by light, or by darkvision, you lose sense of your party members - the only survivors were those who’d chosen to flee this magical darkness. Illusius asks if we’re going to find her because Onyx was charged to do so by a God, and they tell him that they want to try and talk to her without resorting to violence. Illusius eventually reveals that Medusa is family to him and that the research that informed his book was research looking for a cure for her. We ask why he hadn’t been to see her and he says he’s not a warrior and couldn’t survive the trip alone. He says he wants to come with us. Illusius sees the Nom Nom and Lucia tells him about being spat on - he pulls out a magnifying glass to examine her eye and tells her that she now has True Sight in that eye. He starts laughing, asking what the odds are that he would find someone as powerful as Onyx with the desire to find Medusa coupled with someone who can now penetrate the magical darkness with True Sight. Lucia mentions that now Onyx will have to let someone come with her to see Medusa and Onyx refuses, prompting an argument loud enough that Merla and Jhin come over to check everything’s alright.

Merla tells Illusius that she’d seen him in the shady bar and he tries to laugh it off, but Lucia asks why they should trust him. He references how powerful the group is to make the point that we could kill him if we chose, and makes a reference to three types of magic inside Merla. Merla asks him what he means and he says he can sense the Draconic magic, the fey magic (from being a halfling from the fey?) and a third type of magic that’s been created by the clashing of the other two types within her. Onyx says they think we should bring Illusius - Merla says we need to consult the whole group on this, and we agree to talk to everyone first. Jhin leaves, telling Onyx on his way out to accept help, and they refuse again. Lucia follows behind Jhin. Merla stays, quizzing Illusius on his attitude towards vampires and vampire hunters, before leaving Onyx alone with him.

Illusius starts discussing Onyx’s demi-God status - they say they wouldn’t have chosen this, and he tells them the Gods would not have done something this drastic without being asked, while they maintain that they only asked for help. Illusius asks what they offered up to the Gods on the day they were turned, and they say they aren’t sure. He suggests that they could always give it back, and they say they want to keep it for now to protect the people they’re with. Illusius points out that by choosing to keep the power, they’re accepting the responsibility. He reveals that Medusa made a promise to Athena, and that Medusa is his sister. Onyx tells him that Medusa found a way to kill Athena, which is why Athena keeps trying to send people like them to kill Medusa. They tell him that we’re leaving in the morning and that once they’ve checked with the party, they’ll come find him here in the morning for breakfast. Onyx rejoins the other three outside the bar and they walk back towards the tavern. As they do, Merla asks Lucia about the three types of magic inside her, and Lucia tells her similar to what Illusius said, as well as mentioning that her draconic magic is based on emotion and flares up and becomes more noticeable when her emotions are heightened.

Lucia takes the opportunity to pull Onyx to one side and tell her about the research she’d done on celestial Aasimars. The four return to Roger the Vendor - Onyx making no secret about their desperation for their own Bag of Holding, although Roger doesn’t have another. Merla mentions their need for something to help a friend blend in, and he offers them a hat for 5 sp. Merla puts it on, and a mechanical moustache jumps down. Merla is utterly delighted. Roger also shows them a silver bangle which, when Lucia puts it on, transform her into the image of an elderly uncle. He says the bangle is a kid’s toy, something his children made, and he’ll give it to us for free. He doesn’t have disguise kits, but he does give us a variety of rations to last eight people two months for 10GP.

Jhin asks if Roger has something for someone more dexterous, and Roger asks him if he’s ever tried punching someone in the face with metal gloves - he gives them to Jhin for free, since they were paid for by someone who left them behind. He also offers Merla the bracers of archery, since they’re no use to him. Merla asks what we can do to repay his kindness and he tells us about a vampire at the entrance to the Aegean mountains who has been extorting merchants trying to use the road, and asks that we deal with him. We agree, and all leave except for Jhin, who bows and uses a Ki point to drop 10GP on the desk and run out in a whirlwind of speed.

Returning to the tavern, Merla gifts the Bracers of Archery to Altarion, and we produce the silver bangle, much to Lysandra’s disappointment. We relay what happened with Illusius, and the group votes to bring him along.