We had been hired by the Sun Stags company to investigate an aphid glade in Tibasa. The harvesters there had recently been attacked by strange bugs is what we were told.

When we arrived, we investigated the Sun Stags camp to learn some more information about what was going on. Apparently, this company was using pig-sized aphids to eat the nectar off of the dangerous Festersap Laceleaf, which is very protective. The harvesters would then milk these large bugs of the substance they created, the end product being called Honeydew. This is some sort of stimulant that seems highly addictive-- one of the workers who survived the recent attack was suffering from clear withdrawals of the Honeydew because he no longer received his daily rations from the company while he was injured in the hospital tent. It was only due to Gary's magical staff that we were able to purge the addiction from the poor soul, putting him into a coma but saving his life.

We moved forward onto the glade, finding some bug ranchers there that immediately attacked us, as well as the Laceleaf Mantid Harlequin. The Formicians were fairly quickly dispatched, but the Mantid was able to blend in and mimic the appearance of the Festersap Laceleaf all around us, making it difficult to discern its location. Eventually, I was able to locate the monster and teleport it in front of Bram and Mimic, who put the poor thing out of its misery.

We returned to the camp with most of the Aphids safely recovered, however I realized that we may in fact have been on the wrong side of this fight. In hindsight, we shouldn't have trusted the company that was exploiting workers, not paying their salaries while injured on the job, and giving them addicitive stimulants to be more productive at their job. The Sun Stags went on to fully destabilize the Tibasan ecosystem in the area, which the Mantid was maintaining. They overharvested the Festersap for excess Honeydew, then flooded the market with this drug, causing increased addicition all across Vianova.

New goal: destabilize Sun Stags and destroy the company.

A momentous occasion. We had gathered the party. Calliope had to tend to a last minute guild emergency, so she sent Ko-Bal and Zylrie in her place. They were excellent amongst the group.

We used the teleportation circles to get us to Thiramen, where we met Lord Aldric at his home. He talked about his son, how proud he was of him. But, we noted that he fully ignored his other son, and there weren’t even any portraits of him anywhere in the home. Aldric informed us that Eiran had contracted out a Sherpa company from northern Hfar to guide him through the mountains. So, we rode the train to Hfar and did the same thing.

Thorglad was our guide, it was his brother, Thorgrimm who had taken Eiran. He took us all the way to the base of Titan’s Peak mountain, but wouldn’t go any further as it was cursed, and told us we’d know why when we saw it. And we did. As tall as the mountain itself was this titanic skeleton, larger than any giant that’s ever existed. Nearby, we found the ruins. Smooth and unyielding to any weather, though we knew they were more ancient than possibly even the mountains surrounding it.

Inside the temple, we first found some weird hotdog-pistachio-bird demons. Very strange, yet more ancient than any living thing should have been. Tassi nearly died, but we eventually dispatched the aberrations. Afterwards, through some exploring of the chambers, we found it. Eiran’s body, scorched and frozen for the rest of eternity into a pitiful fae full of terror. We could have ended it there, taken his sword, cloak, and chain shirt back, but we knew we needed closure for Lord Aldric. So, we carried on through the tunnels.

As we progressed, we eventually came to a long corridor. At the end was this strange creature which seemed to have someone control over time itself, attacking before most of our party could react. Right off the bat, it cast a meteor swarm upon us. I was down. So were Zylrie and Mimic, and Tassi nearly fell as well. It was her magic though that brought us back and we were able to continue the fight and slay the creature.

NOTE: Next time, prepare COUNTERSPELL

As this strange creature was casting lightning bolt on us, we knew that was enough closure and vengeance. We received a pounding as well, so we decided to head back to Thiramen to finish our mission. In those tunnels still lies uncounted and untold horrors.

Lord Aldric thanked us, rewarding each of us with a sizeable sum of platinum pieces, and me with Eiran’s Chain Shirt.

All in all, the mission was a success and I hope that we can return to the temple soon to clear out what monstrosities lie inside.