The Iruxi Affair
The Village
On 7 Lamashan 4710 the party found shed scales in the Greenbelt. Kairos knew iruxi lived in the area. They were rarely aggressive, but there had been reports of “altercations” with the locals.
The iruxi village sat on a sandbar in the river, ringed with stakes pointing outward. Djacques used Bullhorn to ask permission to visit, then cast Fly on the mounts to carry everyone across. A blue-scaled iruxi asked them to wait outside and gave their name: Xiat. Kairos knew them. Xiat was an old friend from her travels, and much bigger now.
Two Problems
Xiat said the king seemed possessed. He was acting strangely and urging his people to hunt humans—the cause of the attacks. Separately, one of the village’s own mounds held an evil spirit that came and went as a green skull.
Kairos suspected a will-o’-wisp: invisible except for its glow, immune to almost all magic but force barrage, and a creature that feeds on fear. Which came first, the spirit or the king’s madness, she couldn’t say.
The party returned to shore while the Fly spells lasted and built a raft.
The Mound
On 8 Lamashan they rowed across in silence. Xiat smuggled them in past the king. The mound was cold and dry inside, wrong for a mound on a river sandbar, and its walls were carved with a regal iruxi leading armies against humans and elves. Kairos told everyone not to touch the walls: iruxi build their ancestors’ bones into them, and those bones can rise when blood is spilled.
An angry green wisp flared into view, and the carved king began to move. Djacques opened with Courageous Anthem and Leonardo struck. Kairos used Force Barrage, as she’d planned. Djacques finished it with a Horde of Underlings made of summoned iruxi. The carvings went still. The movement had been the creature’s illusion.
The King
An iruxi walked in and asked what the noise was, and who they were. His name was Vesket, and he was the king.
Djacques did the talking, and leaned on him hard. It worked: the wisp’s remains convinced Vesket, and he asked the party to leave at once so he could fix his mistakes. Kairos wasn’t sure he meant it. He’d been intimidated, not persuaded, in front of his own ancestors. She asked Xiat to keep in touch and warn her if he slipped back.
The Truth
Djacques wanted to spread a rumor that the king had been fooled by a cheap illusion. Kairos asked him to wait.
On 9 Lamashan Xiat brought more news. Vesket had grown steadily more aggressive and fearful over a long time, starting when he began spending time in the mound. Before that he’d been a good king. The creature hadn’t possessed him. It had fed on him, and the hunts were the result.
The rumor would have been a lie aimed at a victim. Kairos said they would come back in a month or so to build proper diplomatic relations.
Aftermath
- The creature in the mound is dead, and Vesket should recover.
- Xiat is the party’s contact inside the village.
- The party plans to return around 9 Neth 4710. See Quests.