Into the realms of Pugmire we go! Over Zoom, sadly, because Michelle and I are both a little under the weather. But that's fine, we all used pictures of various dogs as our profile pics.
So! The characters are in the Fearful Forest, searching for the mythical Thunder Bird. Gelert Sausagedog catches up with them, and they continue working their way north into the pines. The find that as the forest fully gives way to pine trees, there are occasional clumps of needles and branches. Dire Newfoundland digs into one out of curiosity and finds skeletons - smaller than dogs, but clearly People.
Gelert identifies the bodies as rats. Dire swipes a ring off one of their bony fingers, and Peppa Papillion notices and calls him out. Stealing from the dead isn't being a Good Dog - is he doing it so the families of the deceased might learn of their fate? Dire, though, is just following his compulsion; growing up on the streets of the Riverwall District, you take what you can. Peppa points out that he's not on the streets anymore and that if he needs something, the group will help him get it.
Petunia Pibble looks at the bones a little more closely and notes that there are scratches on the bones, reminiscent of birds picking at the flesh. They decide to check the branches, and Dire hurls Gelert up into the tree, where he lands deftly. He finds a nest in the upper branches. The nest is long abandoned, but has pieces of eggshell as well as feathers and tufts of fur. Gelert descends and hands his findings over to Petunia, who identifies the fur and the feathers as belonging to young animals. "Maybe the birds eat bears?" suggests Dire.
Remembering that the tree that spoke to them yesterday mentioned that its older relatives might know about this "Thunder Bird," Petunia makes an entreaty to the pine to speak to her. It rustles its branches, and then speaks.
It has never heard of a "Thunder Bird," but these rats and many others in these woods fell prey to the "barool." These fearsome birds feast on what they can kill, and then the forest floor covers the bodies. The dogs thank the tree and move along, Dire going one way and Gelert going the other. Petunia whistles at them to stop, and they decide it's definitely better to stick together. And just then, the barool attack!
The barool are horrible things with the bodies of raptors and the heads of bears. One of them swoops in, picks Gelert up by his shoulders, and starts flying off. Two more fly in, fangs and claws at the ready. Dire roars a challenge and beheads one, and Boomer Pitbull flies into a rage and charges at another. It claws him up pretty good, but Peppa steps up behind him and casts a Shield of Faith to protect him.
Gelert stabs the bird in the leg and it drops him into the upper branches of an immense, gnarled tree. Sitting on a broad nest is another barool, but this one is twice the size of the others, with yellow ruff around its neck. It opens its mouth to devour Gelert, but Petunia comes running and casts Featherfall on the ratter, and yells "Gelert! Jump!"
Gelert trusts his artisan comrade and leaps out of the tree, falling gently to the ground. The barool that grabbed him swoops down, but apparently gets caught up in the magic and slows nearly to a stop before reaching him. Gelert vanishes into the shadows, while Boomer hacks at another bird with his axe.
The bigger barool takes to the sky and swoops down at Dire, snapping and clawing. Dire fights back, but this bird is much tougher than the others. Petunia turns and casts Color Spray on the ancient barool, rendering it unable to see or smell, and it tries to fly off. It hits a tree and crashes to the ground, and the dogs attack again.
One of the barool fells Petunia, but Peppa rushes in to heal her. Gelert strikes the ancient barool with his staff, and it tries to fly away again, but Boomer hurls his axe at its back. It falls, and Dire and Gelert finish the monster off (Gelert striking the killing blow after a flourish and backflip). The last barool takes off, but Petunia fries it with an Elemental Ray.
The dogs take a breather. Dire, true to his word, roasts one of the barool on a spit ("Tastes like chicken. And bear."). Gelert climbs back into the tree and checks the nest, and to his surprise, finds seven odd spherical metal objects with thin wire rings attached. He puts them in his rucksack and climbs back down, and shows one to the group. Dire immediately wants to play with it, but the dogs wisely remember the story they heard about the "eggs" of the "Thunder Bird" that "explode," and Peppa recognizes these things as relics of Man called, well, "explosive eggs." Keeping them out of Dire's paws, the group heads back to Pugmire and tells the whole story to Fiona Corgi and Bivi Affenpinscher.
Fiona asks if Bivi is willing to be their trustee, and Bivi says that they showed courage, curiosity, and wisdom (by not giving Dire one of the eggs), so he'd be honored. The Guild takes the head of the ancient barool and the corpse that Petunia brought, to stuff and mount them for the group's storehouse.
And we'll detail said storehouse next time!
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