Chapter 2, Episode 6 (May 7, 2011):
Characters:
Nemis Figstone; Srongheart Halfling Spellthief 4
Grymtoe Stronghand; Dwarf Evoker 4
Grittil Rockstaff; Dwarf Cleric 4
Splitterin Twain; Strongheart Halfling Druid 4 RIP
Titanis Hedgepig; Orc (Titan Bloodline 1) Fighter 3 RIP
Begin Log: Day 12 (Hammer 11th, 1370DR)).
We continue the battle... chasing down the bodies being dragged away.
We eventually heal up and catch up to the fleeing Seela with Titanus and Tiljann's bodies.
We confront them. In the fray one of them attempts to kill Tiljann, Nemis gives her a potion of healing in an attempt to heal her.
Nemis does manage to save Tiljann's life.
We lose sight of the last Seela rebel.
Grittil heals Tiljann awake.
We converse with Tiljann.
The spirit of the great stag lies at the bottom of lake Seela.
Her people are divided on what to do.
She gives us some background on her people and Anaierial a hero who initially trapped the stag in the lake.
Some believe that perhaps his spirit can keep her spirit alive. If they destroy the 'Trilith' spirit.
She asks if we will accompany her to her village.
Buhl told her that's there's something that he came across that could help her save her people.
Buhl has been acting strangely as of late, but was an old friend of hers.
The leader of her people is Papuvin, 'a great and strong leader' but he is stubborn in his ways of keeping the Stag trapped.
She leads us to her village. Down a dried up path leading off the other river.
We walk for a few hours. We plan to rest at the village.
Up ahead the shores of river widen, fire still burns atop the cliffs above the distant banks.
We can see the grey surface of a murky lake.
The heat here is weaker.
A haunting chorus pierces the air.
The voices singing seem weary.
The singers begin beating a loud drum as we approach.
From atop the cliff we see Papuvin, their leader.
Papuvin says we are welcome to stay in their village, take rest, and recover from our wounds. But do not interrupt the song.
We rest for the evening.
Day 13: (Hammer 12, 1370 DR)
We wake.
Tiljann greets us and brings us some food.
She offers to take us around her village and introduce her to some people.
It was her old friend Buhl who sent her to where she was attacked.
She tells us that the 'Song of Forms' has always been sung.
Dryad named Timbre who lives in the first tree, the oldest tree of the forest. The blade of the hero who pinned the Stag is cut from the wood of that tree.
None have been able to speak to the Dryad for the past 40 years. If there was some way to make Timbre accessible we might be able to come up with a plan.
She must warn us that her grove is inaccessible.
There is also a nymph name Gwynevere at the other side of the lake. She may be able to help us.
Grymtoe casts comprehend languages to listen to the song.
Recovering the blade could be key to saving her people as it was cut from the first tree, and her people essence is tied to the first tree.
She tells us that Gwynevere's pool is 4 miles from the village and shows us where it is.
She then tells us where the Dryad's grove is.
We head to the Nymphs pool, some 4 miles away.
We come across a pool that is very beautiful.
The water is 3 feet deep. Crimson flowers crackles atop the island in the centre of the pool.
Scattered along the shore are bits of animal bones.
We call out to Gwynavere. 'We come in peace, we are friends of the Seela. We come for your guidance.'
A Bog Hag emerges from the water and hisses at us and attacks us.
Titanus is brain addled, but we defeat the Hag.
We use a feather boat token and paddle across to the cave.
We head into the cave.
At the back of the cave is a small shrine. We find an alter with a lock of hair. There is a full length mirror with a stone idol.
Nemis moves in and detect magic about the room.
We detect necromacy aura coming specifically from the mirror.
We fish the body of the Hag out and search the body.
We don't find anything on the body.
We're deciding on our course of action.
We decide to camp in cave and put a plan into action.
Day 14 (Hammer 13, 1370 DR).
We get the lock of hair, but not before Splitterin is cursed with the appearance of a Hag.
Grymtoe searches the water of the pond.
He finds the entrance to an underwater cave.
We travel back to the Seela village.
We look for Tiljann.
She has a look of astonishment when we show her the hair. It's a lock of hair of the hero. This might be enough to convince the Dryad to speak with us.
We rest for the evening.
Day 15 (Hammer 14, 1370DR)
A Seela asks us to come and accompany him to Bruhl's cave.
He takes us to Bruhl's cave. Says we're being led astray by Tiljann.
We meet a smiling Seela resting on some cushions on the back of the cave.
There is a split in the population. Bruhl wants to let the spirit escape.
The only way that you can fix things for everyone is to end the song and therefore release the Seela as well.
The wrath of killing the spirit could be the doom of us all.
"Tiljann cares only for herself and a minority of her people."
We tell Bruhl we'll give it some thought. We tell him we'll keep his secret.
We rest for another day.
Day 16 (Hammer 15, 1370DR).
We wake, and Titanus' daze seems to have broken.
We travel to Timbre's grove.
We find the gorge ends at a beautiful stone staircase.
Apparently the grove is at the top is the staircase. The top of this hill is flaming quite strongly.
Grittil casts some preparatory spells.
We call out to Timbre, tell her we have a lock of hair and that we're here for her council.
We don't think we were heard.
We approach the top of the staircase...
We get to the edge of the grove...
2 Large flaming dire boars block our way. We see emerge from the tree a flaming Dryad.
We convince her to talk.
It is true that the Seela are the children of the forest. The elves who set fire to the forest came after.
She came from the song of forms. The song was learned by the Seela from the rumblings of the very earth. The Shahalesti assaulted the elves of this forest. Timbre came to love their hero.
As a gift, I gave him a branch from the first tree. The living blade. He led the crusade against the Shahalesti and killed them.
But the forest was set fire. And a creature would not let it's natural course take place. Anariel died battling the creature.
As for saving the Seela, they are more directly tied to her tree then to the forest. As long as a branch yet lives, the Seela will not die.
The branch only lives when it is bonded to a lving creature. It is still bound to Anariel. It will need to be bound to a living person for the forest to yet live.
That is the only chance for us to Save the forest and the Seela people. The consequences of that is that you will unleash Indomitability who will still be very formidable.
We can kill him once he's freed. Our greatest task, and our greatest risk.
The sword may keep our allies alive as well.
She expects that she will die, but she cannot bear this torment any longer, and if it saves the Seela it is a fate she will accept.
Now please, leave me be.
For that she thanks us in advance.
If Gwenevyre is already dead, then the lake is already draining.
We thank her and head back to the village.
We get back to the village and lake.
The lake has drained quite significantly. But we remember there are Merrow who plague the village.
We decide to hunker down outside of the city and rest there as opposed to returning to the village.
We make camp and rest for a night.
Day 17: (Hammer 16, 1370DR)
We wake and prepare, and wait for the lake to drain.
As we're watching the lake, we get a visit from Kyzak.
We rest, watching for another night.
Day 18: (Hammer 17, 1370DR)
We head towards the lake as the levels look low enough.
We speak to Tiljann along the way and fill her in. She tells us it is the Song that keeps Indomitability in his present form. If the song ends Indomitability would be a much more powerful.
She will stand on the tower and sing from there. They will try and keep the song going as long as they can.
We approach and trolls attack us, we defeat the trolls quickly.
Kyzak appears to 'help' us.
We attack Indomitability and Kyzak.
Titanus is killed in the battle. RIP Titanis
With the help of Nemis and Grymtoe, Grittil manages to pull the sword from Indomitability's body.
Grittil, quickly uses the sword to finally dispatch Indomitability
Grittil must channel positive energy to keep himself and Splitterin from fading now that Indomitability is dead. Grittil manages to ward off the draining effect on himself. However, he fails in his attempt to remove it on Splitterin.
The forest Fires burn out all at once. The Seela sing in rejoice uplifting all our spirits in hope.
Then, they break down in cheers.
However, Splitterin eventually fades away and dies. RIP Splitterin
We rest for the night.
End of Chapter 2, Beginning of Chapter 3
Day 19 (Hammer 18, 1370DR)
We wake, and we heal Tiljann from unconsciousness.
She asks what happened.
We fill her in on what happened.
She tells us she is forever in her debt.
She asks to travel with us. We agree that she can accompany us.
We decide to leave immediately.
She leads us back to the river, and back to the main road. It's a much easier journey without all the burning debris and choking Ash.
We travel all day.
Day 20 (Hammer 19, 1370DR):
We travel for the whole of this day.
We make camp and set up watch.
Day 21 (Hammer 20, 1370)
We wake and continue our journey along the southern road which keeps us closest to the southern shore.
We travel for 10 days.
Day 30 (Hammer 29, 1370DR)
We have traveled for the entire day.
We emerge from the foothills just as the day is ending.
We are currently traveling through Dassen. At Dassen's southern tip lies Sequen.
We see in the distance that the road comes to and end. At the end of the road stretches a large vast swamp.
Just as the road ends we see a small thorp.
We head towards the settlement.
As we approach we realize it's comprised of pretty ramshackle buildings in disrepair. Pop maybe around 100. We note that there is no tavern or inn. we learn the town is named Lydor.
Different camps are set up of all different manner of people refugees, adventurers, etc.
We do find a small storefront.
No one's willing to help us.
We make camp.
Day 31 (Hammer 30, 1370DR).
We wake and try the general store again.
We learn that lots of refugees have been coming through here. Lots of mages. Folks who can afford a boat have already left. One Red Head hired some burly guys and left. We deduce this is probably Rantle's sister.
Sometimes mages, get lost in the swamp and go crazy and start eating folks in the fog.
Two weeks ago I overhead a big Orc speaking with a swamp woman.
Leeto Moore, is the one selling us the boat.
We buy a boat, 2 oars, a map of the swamp and portage to the end of the road.
Within the hour a couple of locals throw a boat over their heads and say follow us.
They lead us down the road towards the swamp.
The road is fairly tame, about a 5' wide path.
As we head south it gets lower, and swampier.
The weather is also miserable and rainy.
Eventually, a short while later we reach a run down shack at the end of the road. All the trees have been cut and a bunch of half-made rafts lay scattered about.
'Stay in your boat if you can.'
They say it should be 2 days through the swamp.
It's the end of the day.
We make camp with out porters.
Day 32 (Midwinter, 1370DR).
We wake and head into the swamp...
By the end of the day, we're rather exhausted and look for a good place to rest for the night.
We drag the boat up onto a little island and make camp there.
We get attacked during the night by 3 Tiefling witches.
The battle is long and difficult as we retreat from island to island, but eventurally we defeat the witches, but not before Tiljann is killed. RIP Tiljann
We notice that the crocodile has a peculiar looking harness.
We remove Tiljan's gear, and give her a proper burial.
We finish off our rest.
Day 33 (Alturiak 1, 1370DR)
We pick up a slight trail through the reads and attempt to follow it.
We see a small column of smoke billowing in the distance.
We head towards the smoke.
We find the witches' island. We see smoke coming from the middle hut.
We see 13 boats scattered around the island. An old dock stretches into the water.
We approach with our boat.
We dock and get off on the island... we are greeted with a wave of skeletons. we quickly dispatch all 20 of them.
We then explore the island.
The doors are locked, so we search them and use the brass keys we found off the witches.
In the first hut we see a huge cauldron and other implements.
The second shack has sleeping quarters and a dead man hangs from one wall. Also empty vials on the floor.
The third shack we find curled in one dried corner, a hostage, a very attractive looking woman. We see that she was trying to escape.
In the fourth hut we find a storage room. And, a small figure bound on the floor. It looks to be a Halfling.
We free the hostages and Nemis searches everything thoroughly.
We find 300pp in Shahalesti coins, we find Katrina's gear.
As soon as we un-gag the female she says 'it's about time.' We quickly deduce that this is Katrina.
She asks about her brother and we give her the notes. And quickly leave the island. We watch her read the note with eagerness and then disappointment.
We head to Sequin.
We spend the rest of that day traveling and by nightfall we get to the edge of the swamp and find dry land.
We make a camp.
The Halfling awakens.
We introduce ourselves to the Halfling.
The Halfling claims to be Splitterin's brother, and Introduces himself as Crackerin.
We rest...
Day 34 (Alturiak 2, 1370DR)
We wake to Katrina telling us we need to be on our way.
We keep the boat with us for now.
We notice a hawk above us that looks 'out of sorts'.
A couple hours later we see the hawk again, this time it's accompanied by the sound of horns.
And about 60 ft. behind it on the road are several humanoids.
The lead humanoid yells 'halt.'
Katrina says they are Shahalesti, be on your guard.
My name is Thalan. I am from the Shahalesti ship Osprey.
We are to ensure that no hostile forces enter Sequen. We are working to protect the region from infiltration from Ragesian spys and agents.
They approach with fairly decked out soldiers with longswords and longbows.
Thalan appears like more of a caster.
'My ship the Osprey was one of a fleet sent to Sequen to offer an alliance with the forces in Sequen.'
He tells us we're a couple of days walking yet at least.
He demands to search us, but when we refuse they attack us.
They drop entangle spells on us and attack us with ranged.
Grittil is peppered with arrows and dropped.
After a while we defeat their leader but the battle still rages.
End Log (Day 34 (Alturiak 2, 1370DR)).
