Diplomacy by Other Means (with elderly Pterrafolk)

This May session picked up on the cliffhanger from April, as violence broke out, Maxwell was magically abducted/rescued by a snake-man, the Pterrafolk of Firefinger were defeated, and the party learned the fate of the lost Airship known as the Star-Goddess.

The session began with the party surrounded by Pterrafolk on the penultimate level of Firefinger. One of the elderly Pterrafolk freaked out, tried to push her way out, and bumped into Maxwell. As he lost his balance and risked tumbling hundreds of feet to the jungle below, he whistled a couple notes. At that point, time froze, and a large snake with a roughly humanoid head appeared, coiled itself around Maxwell, and disappeared in a puff of smoke with him.

Once time unfroze, violence broke out. There was an intense skirmish between the party and the Pterrafolk, leading to a couple close calls, but eventual victory for our heroes. After some debate over potentially leaving, the group decided to finish the job, get the tiger mask, and not risk descending the exposed ladders back down to the surface while under threat from flying opponents.

A plan was hatched to divide the party, with some climbing the outside, and others coming up a natural chimney in the stone of Firefinger, and the group managed to defeat the remaining Pterrafolk in this manner before acquiring Azaka's mask, and getting information.

The group interrogated a survivor, and learned the fate of the Star Goddess, which the Pterrafolk brought down as a bit of cruel sport. The session ended with the party traveling to the wreck of the Star Goddess in hope of salvage, or even rescue.

All characters will level to 3 at the beginning of next session. It'll be a bit of a doozy. I'm going to do some prep to try and make it easier, and may send out some materials to each of you to help make some choices about it.