Back in Quietreach, Xalver reminds Alpha Company of the three Eberron airships recovered by teacher’s pet Charlie Company from beneath the City of Shade. Completion of the airship restoration, explains technomancer Solana, requires only a few elemental channel gems that can be sourced from Annallee Wysacaryn, an elven wizard who will have nothing at all to do with elephants. Rodolf has a door that will conveniently pop them safely near Annallee’s abode in Shadow Cat Gulley.
A river of non-trivial width and volumetric flow courses through the rain-soaked gulley. Tango reaches down to touch a skull and receives a pre-recorded message:
Greetings, brave traveler! I am the skull of Abraxis the Mighty, a genie of some renown. Although I left this mortal coil ages ago, my skull still possesses the means to grant a single wish. To earn this wish, simply shout to the heavens whatever it is you desire most.
Tango, desiring an untapped skull wish the most, shouts nothing and slips the skull into his pocket. Thinking outside the box, Tango attempts to scale the steep gulley edge. The box thinks outside of Tango and he slides back into the gulley.
Scram wishes he had a skull genie and stares longingly into the foggy distance where there may or may not be something staring longingly back at him.
The burble of gulley water is interrupted by the mighty caw, caw of an overcrow that incapacitates much of the party, compelling them to caw and flap uselessly. An unkindness of ravens swoops through the party peckingly. Scram unleashes shocking grasp and yells his trademark warcry which the ravens happily emulate. The echoing cacophony of Carnage! fills the gulley. Snory traces the forested edge of the gulley until he sights and blights the boss raven. A pair of shadow cats take advantage of the scrum to make a snack of Scram and Nala. Nala’s greatsword pivots from raven to cat. Moth flurries punches through seemingly invincible waves of ravens to get to Nala’s cat. Tango notices Scram is on the proverbial ropes and sneakily stabs his cat in its flank. The cat turns to bite Tango as Scram splashes a vitriolic sphere. Tango sneaks a fatal stab at the acid-washed cat. Scram witch bolts Nala’s cat down leaving only the ravens to punch, sword, and toll.
A short rest restores much needed vitality.
The party next regards the slime-covered tree trunk fallen across the swole river. Enthusiastic Moth proficiently glides across the improvised bridge and charges into a mob of zombies dispensing qi-fueled flurries of blows. Nala issues a warning javelin and joins Moth. They work back-to-back proficiently beating on the surrounding zombies while Snory and Tango fiddle with a buried bag of holding. Blurry Scram attempts to freeze the river with his mizzium apparatus.
Tango sneaks around behind the zombies, pausing only to see if a long-fallen skeleton decaying in the mud would grant him any wishes. It does not.
Zombies die, but the slain zombies tend not to remain reliably dead until Scram, finally successful at crossing the log, fireballs the clog of zombies into ash.
