This session begins with Dugby teleporting with a flash back to Savahaa, inside of the Church of Selune. With him he brings [[Paul Mascari]] and [[Esmeralda Mascari (Gigi)]] and Betsy, their donkey. He arrives to be immediately be ambushed by family members and orphans asking where he’s been. Through all of the cries for bread and play with their favorite uncle Dugby, a melodic tune can be heard over all the sounds Dugby had missed so much. A slight headache stirs within his head, as he heads out the kitchen to check on where the song was coming from. ![[Pasted image 20260901105021.png]] Out in the sanctuary amongst dancing children and family members, Dugby is surprised to find a dwarf strumming a lyre and bringing joy to the faces of those interested in listening. Dugby finds himself entranced as a familiar face seems him from across the room, and rushes to embrace him in haste. He introduces himself as [[Silvertongue Fornicus Goldenloin]], a bard who claims to have adventured with Dugby as a member of The Phoenix 5. Dugby confesses that as he may appear to be old, he doesn’t have the last 50 years of his memories. A woman named [[Timichi]] had told Dugby that he was given a potion that separated portions of his mind that would give him his long term memory, and it’s locked away in his mind… somehow. While this explanation didn’t quite make sense to [[Silvertongue Fornicus Goldenloin]], he didn’t much care, as his old friend was back in front of him, which was a comfort he hadn’t had in quite some time. Dugby explained to his old friend that he had been adopted by the Mascari Family 10 years ago, and had been helping them in any manner he could. After a brief catch up, Silvertongue expressed that he wished to bring what aid he could to the family that had recently helped him, and pick up stories to sing to the masses along the way. Dugby accepted this, but said it would be up to the family to decide whether Silver could tag along. Dugby needed to rest and replenish his spells, after which they would teleport back to Rivera to meet with the family. Back in Rivera, the family had spent a large portion of the day accomplishing small personal tasks and discussing their goals going forward. Should they investigate the tree now? Or seek out the Bhanti family first and see what they could offer each other? Amidst the deliberation, a flash caught their eye from outside, signaling the return of the Dugster. When going out to greet the young old man, they were surprised to find he had brought a friend with him. Again, Silver greeted the team and stated he simply wanted to help this family, and pick up stories to sing for years to come of amazing adventures. Silver offered a huge amount of support spells and quick whit to offer the family, so they graciously accepted his offer of help, with a light threatening of a tongue being cut out if [[Emmy Mascari]] feels Silver would ever betray the family, or sing falsehoods of their adventuring. ![[Pasted image 20260901180602.png]] With that, the new group made their way south. Following the river south as instructed by [[The Bhanti Family]], they found themselves moving through multiple biomes. What started as rolling plains slowly turned to a gentle woodland area, that morphed and twisted into a muddy and marshy swamp. The crew traveled for a good half a day, to wind up deep in this jungle where the river split into three. A small shack barely held up by rotting supports stood at a large transition area. The shack had multiple docks that ran off of the back, with several boats docked… or marooned in some areas. Everything was… disgusting. Tormin could feel how this place used to be… a splitting point that used to be a hub for humanoids and their animal humanoid counterparts. Destroyed buildings that stood tall and healthy, a river that was clean and bountiful, tree’s that… probably stood much stiller than the ones that were moving in the dark. ![[Pasted image 20260901182650.png]] Blasting through the front door, came a large hippo humanoid with a 4 barrel device… and a treant with more holes in it than it should. Dripping purple ichor, the treant’s cries drove the other moving tree’s into action. In a blur of motion, 4 more tree’s leapt from the surrounding brush and struck at the adventurers. After a decent battle, the tree’s returned to their natural “not moving” state, and the party was left with a massive hippo humanoid. At this point, going to do a bit of back tracking. After mentioning the Mascari name, [[Jory Bhanti]] happily complies with the group and asks them to board his small boat to take them down to the River to Jungen. The party gains 5500 xp for the efforts against the treants, and we will begin the next session with boarding the boat.