The intrepid adventurers sailed down the river on Captain Murphy's riverboat, headed towards the capital. As they came to a bridge, they spotted a few figures perched atop it. They called out, and the beings demanded their money! As they got closer, they saw that at least two of them were shifters. Ooka flew into a rage and charges up the bridge. After a heated battle, two shifters and a wererat lay dead. The party decided to hunt for tracks to see if they could find the shifters' lair. Axe's angel of fire spotted a figure in the distance, so they set off down the road. About a quarter mile down the road, the group was attacked by a bunch of predatory vines! After some harrowing grabbing and squeezing, the group slew the vines.

After defeating the vines, the group encountered a man covered in ashes, trapped in a cage of thorns, presumably the figure that the angel of fire saw. He claimed he had been trapped by an evil wizard and needed to find his true home, after which he spouted a riddle. After some thought, the party solved the riddle and the man transformed into a phoenix! Grateful, he gifted the party with a pair of Burning Gauntlets before flying off.

Labels: travel