The Road to Ostro
After being assured in the prior conversation that Dr. Collodi could (and would) make it back to Bluewick along with her research assistants, the group decided to set out to the east towards Orologio, with the natural first stop being in Ostro.
The first couple of days of travel were uneventful. As the group began ascending into the forested mountains, they entered the territory of a trio of sliver cats — unnatural creatures that bounded through the forest upside-down, striking intruders down with their eerily stretchy club-tails. Combat saw the group through, but this was only the beginning of what would prove to be a series of travel incidents.
In the mountain itself, a group of goblins waited in a poorly-planned and executed ambush (they were a little too noisy); the party first proved they weren’t worth robbing, then an exasperated Cynthia simply threatened to destroy them by being a ‘great and powerful sorceress’. They let the party go, on the condition that they bring something worth stealing when they come back. Will that be the case? Only time will tell.
After camping in the hills, descending the mountains into the plains, the party was beset by an unnaturally large flock of very aggressive birds, which attempted to steal Cynthia’s mechanical canary; Serafina scared them off by doing an unnaturally accurate imitation of the sliver cats’ territorial cries.
Lastly, within a few days of Ostro, the group came upon the camp of Jeanne, who also — like them — had no visible defense against the miasma yet seemed perfectly at home in the wilderness. Warily, the group declared a sort of ceasefire after trading some information about their destinations; Jeanne, who claims to be part of a group called the “Black Seal Knights,” filled in some more information about the situation in Orologio: their solution to stopping the miasma was to travel back in time and prevent the event that caused it, but something went wrong and seemingly un-stuck the city in time. Exactly what that means remains to be seen. The party went on their way, and a flash of magic at a distance could be seen, indicating that Jeanne teleported further along to wherever her intended path might be.
Just to beleaguer them a little more, a massive storm hits before the party reaches Ostro, resulting in the group being soaked and miserable. Arriving in town, the group was briefly mistaken for monsters; however, loaning the guard captain Reginald an amulet allowed them to briefly prove that they carried defense against the miasma. Word has begun spreading already, even as the party beds down, exhausted, at the Landed Bass Inn.