43 - The (Animal) Fight Club

When entering, it's similar to a classic Japanese inn. After talking to the inn keeper, we get a common room, and we're heading to dry of our encounter from the sewers, but we're all stopped by an elder Firbolg in a simple clothing, with a stick to walk and fishy bucket hat.

He sticks his hand towards us.

Axel shakes his hand.

He raises a hand, and with a swift breeze, we're all dry and cleaned.

We follow him in the common living room and he sits, where we do the same.

Bog stands up, then leaves.

Sabine leaves and will rejoin us tomorrow morning.

For the ones who went to sleep, we had a quiet sleep, as each of us were on what seemed a dark beach.

For the ones who slept and had that dream, when they waked up, the sheets were wet.

Persy wants to casts [Identify] on Balnorin.

Persy casts [Identify] on Axel.
[Identify] Axel is not affected by any spell.

As none of us has a proper answer at the moment, we're focusing more on what we can have an impact, and we're going outside to gather intel on Anathema.

[Investigation] When we're asking around, people are mostly trying to recruit us. But we learn more information about the Druid Corps, similar to the round down we heard before.
Along that, we discovered the following:

• The Archdruid daughter Willow has gone missing too.
• The Druid circle is on high alert, and they speculate that Death Inc kidnapped her.
• We learn that the police presence is lighter after midnight.
• There are shady way to make money at night.

We go to a rental place to get a Speed Cruiser for 300 credits for deposit and will cost 300 credits each day.
As we're going to the elevator to reach the vehicle, we see a wave of water, arcing from the air, and it slams to the elevator, and the bass girl against us, and she pushes herself through the glass. Finally, her hands gets through the glass of elevator.

Reylynn goes to high five her, and she explodes and disappears.

We finally arrive on the roof, where are present different vehicles on all sizes and categories, going from sails we've seen to brooms and carpets. We finally reach that fish boat, and Sabine shows Persy how to drive it, and we hear an engine for the first time, understanding what Naus was mimicking.
We take off and Sabine teaches Persy how to drive it.
We're hearing some kind of alarm behind us, and we see a group of four feral winged hogs, flying straight above us, down the block.

We finally arrive at Aves Heights, welcomed by an arch, with all these trees and all the parking places for the vehicles.

We pay 50 credits for the parking, and we get a map of the area, where we notice a rail station present to reach the other districts.
On the top of the buildings, it's filled with trees. It's a silent area, apart the roar of the visitors.

[Investigation] We go around, and the place is really gorgeous. But we notice that the trees aren't real. They're not plants, but more fake habitats to replicate the biome where the animals are from.
It's also hard to find a local. Asking the employees, we don't hear much about Anathema or Willow, until Reylynn and Persy realized that talking to the animals would be a better and more reliable option.
Some of them are intelligent enough to speak some druidic speech, which the pills translate for us.
After speaking to the animals, we hear that Anathema likes to frequent a certain spot. But it seems open only after midnight, and we need to bring credits.
Another animal mentions that the pigs patrols starts at 9, but they tend to stick to the paved street, so if we stick to the foliage, we can avoid being detected.

We're waiting that the day pass, meanwhile, Axel asks more about Nesvalyn's choice to be an archeologist, and the clan culture from his home, revealing about the system and the Matriarchs.

We find our way near the spot, and we're stuck by people, holding black magic staff. There's a large orb on a stand.
Standing in front of the orb is two people wearing these outrageous costumes.
One is a very tall (around 6'3", maybe 6'4") in a super jacked red costume, with a golden C on a flying cape.
Next to him is a beautiful elf woman with blond bombshell air. She's wearing a shimmering gold cloak.

They lunch into this PSA for animal conservation. We're not really sure what's happening there and to who they talk to, but they seem to play an act or ad in front of that orb. We wait until they're done.

As they seem to prepare to go away, we comment between ourselves how it was a weird play or act of a theatre, without being sure why they did that. The only thing being that Axel loved it.

Near the end of everything wrapped, Captain Comrade puts his fingers on his tempers.

He grabs Gecko Girl and flies away.

Persy points his boots, and Nesvalyn where his wings are when they're summoned.

Persy pauses on Axel's comment.

Persy blinks and pauses.

Persy puts his fingers on his temples and looks at Axel.

The night begins to fall, and we're hiding in the vegetation, far away from the main trail to avoid the authorities.
We often hear the pig cloves passing through, but we're far enough so they don't pick our scent.
But every time we sit or touch something, it's wet. It didn't rain or anything similar involving water.
Persy collects the water to put it in a flask.

We reach the indicated spot which is a low long building, marked as storage for animal conservation people. We come out as people are approaching this building. We hear music coming from inside, with a crowd forming and getting in.
We go, and two bugbears are presents at the door. They let us in a door, where another bugbear guard leading us in a crowded room.

It's a large warehouse, with three circular rooms with the crowd stretched. We see animals fighting in pits. There are different pits size, with the biggest with large circles (a blink dog vs a gorilla), then the medium size (a wombat vs a dog), and the itties bitties (two hamsters are fighting).
As we're moving around, we hear someone clearing their throat, a porcupine looks for us, then bows.

He takes a moment to mark his last words, taking a dramatic pose to insist this silence.

↪ [Insight] Balnorin and Axel notices he genuinely believes what he says.

Persy kneels down to Sir Brendal.

He gives a deep bow.

He pulls out a quill and uses it as a rapière yelling "En garde!", unleashing a flurry of attacks and deals 28 dmg (from 3 attacks).

Persy stands up and tries to play it cool.

↪[Deception - Pass ✔] He manages to play it cool to hide the pain.

He gives a deep bow.

Balnorin and Persy put 500 credits each.

Then he waddles away. The party goes to see the fights with Sir Brendal, whereas Nesvalyn searches for informations about Anathema on his side.

[Investigation - Pass ✔] Nesvalyn spots a VIP box, and when reaching it, with an Orangutan smoking a cigarette. When asked about Anathema

By checking from the VIP box and having a global view of the area, Nesvalyn enables the [Psychic Whispers] with the party for the next four hours while gathering information.