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Lylandra's War of the Burning Sky continued
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<blockquote data-quote="Lylandra" data-source="post: 6944691" data-attributes="member: 6816692"><p>Before they head to Timbre and her grove, the elves decide to finally give the dream seeds a try. Since Crystin feels uncomfortable near the seed pouch and Torrent is still sort-of babysitter for the rest of the group, the two "brothers" decide to each take one seed in hope of getting a clearer vision on what happened to the forest. However, the results are not what they expected. </p><p></p><p>At first, they see the forest, burning and a conflict erupting from within. Tinuviel feels frightened and the image shifts toward a scene of a very distant path, taking him and Cuin'halar amidst a beautiful room full of sunlight where Tinu's beloved aunt Mariel sits down in grief while a blond-haired elf comforts his crying infant daughter. His face trembles with anger, and sadness while he explains that "dear Mariel should not fear or weep for both of their deaths will be avenged in time". Tinuviel recognizes Lord Shaaladel and deducts that the girl has to be a much younger version of princess Shalosha. The scenery freezes and the dream elemental tries to attack Tinuviel. He manages to fend the serpent off and Cuin tries to refocus the dream on the forest. </p><p>He sees a golden dragon flying over a young forest, planting a seed atop a hill and rearing her head towards the sky as if she was asking for guidance. Cuin suddenly remembers the stories his mother told him when he was a child: Stories of the wise gold dragon Syana. The momet he tries to remember the tales of Syana, a strange link between him and Tinuviel erupts and the scene shifts violently to a vision of the death of Syana. Arrows fly into the dragon's chest while she desperately cries out for her daughter. They see an image of Coaltongue trying to strike down another dragon and witness the creation of the Torch. Cuin is shocked and the dream elemental strikes again. He fends it off, but it manages to escape to the real world where Torrent and Crystin are suddenly attacked by the serpentine creature. They manage to wake the elves who come to their defense and together they diffuse the manifestation. </p><p></p><p><em>Note: I allowed the elves to lower their elven sleep immunity on purpose. The only other opition would have been a sleeping NPC which wouldn't have had the same effect. Elves do not trance in PF and need their 8 hours of sleep, so I thought it would be reasonable to let the PCs try out the seeds. They did nothing for Bhurisrava because he didn't know what they were meant for. I also let them have their victory against the elemental instead of ending the fight after 1 round once they were awake. I was hoping that Tinu realized the psionic nature of the dream elemental and sense a connection to himself, but he was oblivious at this moment</em></p><p><em></em></p><p>The elves realize that they have just witnessed events which happened decades ago and contemplate on what might have happened back then. Cuin explains that Syana was the dragon guardian of the Taranesti and that he thinks she might have something to do with this forest since he saw her in his previous vision. They still don't know who set the forest on fire, but they realize that stopping the forest from burning forever might be the more pressing subject right now.</p><p>With the help of Tiljann, the party travels towards Timbre's grove. They avoid getting too close once they get there because they quickly realize that the two burning dire boars might be the dryad's guardians and that enraged boars can get pretty dangerous.</p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Note: they mentioned my habit of nearly killing them with all sorts of swine, pig or boar. In a previous campaign, they were nearly TPKed twice because they wanted to hunt for "breakfast" and managed to enrage a herd of rabid boars. Twice. They also had a hefty fight with a dire pecari I added into a jungle section in that campaign which was just meant to be an hommage... they tried to fight it anyway. So yep, they are now terribly afraid of anything remotely piggish <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /></em></p><p></p><p>From a safe distance, they call out to the dryad who is writhing in pain. She doesn't react at first, but they call out the name of Anyariel and tell her that her old friend Gewnevere has returned her token of love so they might give it back to Timbre. Seeing a chance for change and remeembering her friendship with Gwen, Timbre orders her boars back and asks the heroes to come closer. She fights through pain and still breathes and trembles heavily at every word she speaks and the elves feel pretty helpless for they know they can do nothing for her right now. </p><p>They tell Timbre that Gwenevere has made up her mind and that she asks for forgiveness and friendship. She is relieved that at least one creature in this forest might be saved from this madness that has taken them all and starts explaining what really happened. She tells them that she is the embodyment of the first tree which was given life by the blessing of Arcadia, the goddess of life. The seela are her children, born from the first tree, and they gave her her form afterwards when they had learned the song of forms from something deep below. They lived in harmony and joy until the elves came to them. Being friends to all life, they accepted the elves who claimed to be refugees and exiles from a far away land. But there were others who hunted them for their "treason". Shahalesti elves and Innotendar elves have fought many battles since then and it was Anyariel who finally drove them away. Timbre tells them that she fell in love with the elven hero who fought so courageously and that she offered her a branch from her tree as both a gift and a weapon to defend her home. When the unnatural "undeath" in form of a stag came to the forest, Anyariel hunted him down, pinned him down in Lake Seela and died. The stag could not die, but he was bound for eternity and everyone had hoped that he would be of no further problem. But something from the stag must have sipped into the forest (maybe through the blade) for when the Shahalesti came back and torched the forest, it did not simply burn down, but instead remained ablaze for 4 decades. </p><p></p><p>Cuin'halar and Tinuviel are enraged over the reveal that the Shahalesti are behind all this (they thought the Torch would be responsible...) and vow to bring this crime to justice. The dryad explains that the tree saved one of the culprits from dying with the help of the priest Bhurisrava so that justice can be served. Timbre also explains to them, that even when she dies the Seela might live as long as someone binds his life essence to Anyariel's blade. Tinuviel accepts the proposal all of a sudden, but Timbre shakes her head and says that no one of Shahalesti blood will ever be accecpted by the blade, not after this tragedy and Anyariel's fight against them. Cuin then offers himself and the dryad releases the bond of Anyariel. She warns them that the Stag will be free once someone claims the blade and removes itt so they might have to fight him. She also tells Cuin that she senses "something familiar" inside him and prays that he will take good care of her children.</p><p></p><p><em>Note: Giving the balde to Cuin was a bit of DM fiat on my side, but I wanted to give every player their own, unique progression and since Tinu has a trillith spirit, Cuin will have to explore his connection to Syana and wield the Living Blade. It was also never mentioned who on earth put the temporal stasis (that's a freaking 8th level spell!) on Diashan, the Shahalesti who torched the forest, so I decided to use the power of the Tree. </em></p><p></p><p>Cuin explains that he does not wish to fight Indomitability and that he hopes they might come to an agreement. He calls out for the Trillith and claims that he wishes to speak to him again. The Trillith agrees and his blazing, draconic face appears again among the ever burning trees. The elves state that they will set him free and keep their promise and that they will ask the Seela to remain silent for a while so that he might return to the form he once had. They just want to ask him one more favour: That he takes the fire with him and spares the first tree before it turns to ash. They say that since Indomitability's essence is in the forest and tied to the first tree (otherwise it would have burned down already...), he must have some connection to the fire as well and that taking his essence with him might conduct the fire to him. Indomitability states that he might try to do that, but he needs proof that they are "of his spirit" - truely indomitable theirselves. He claims that once they remove the wicked blade, he will challenge them to a duel and only if they prove to be as bold as they claim, he will absorb the fire of the tree. The party agrees and they bid their farewell to Timbre.</p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Note: brilliant idea again. Cuin knows pyrotechnics, so he would have had the tools to save the tree "by the book", but asking Indomitability seemed like a far more elegant solution. This way I also managed to include the fight with Indomitability who had not that much of a reason to fight otherwise - the party explained to him in his logic what happened, why the Seela were singing ("they were preserving their lives as you do preserve yours") and how they could free him and that they wouldn't bother him again, that he would be free to do whatever he wanted and just had to be "a teeny tiny bit more careful when interacting with fragile mortals". Testing their spirit would be totally canon for him in my opinion. </em></p><p></p><p></p><p>They head back to the Seela village and explain to Papuvin and the others what Timbre told them and that they will have to stop singing once Cuin'halar emerges from the lake and has claimed the sword. They say that they will fight for the lives of Timbre and the first tree, but that it will be a duel and no Seela should try to intervent unless they want them or Timbre to be killed. Torrent puts all of her strength blessings on the (rather weak) Cuin'halar and he barely manages to pull out the blade.</p><p></p><p><em>Note: The required Str check to pull out the blade was totally unbeatable by anyone other than a fully buffed Torrent. So I lowered it a bit to DC 19. </em></p><p></p><p>Indomitability, now in the guise of a burning stag, emerges from the lake and storms towards the shore. He eagerly awaits that arrival of the two elves and lowers his head as a challenge. A dripping wet Cuin (he totally ruined his hair!) and Tinu stand side by side and await the coming charge. Luckily, Cuin prepares to go all defensive and parries the hefty gore attacks. Nonetheless, the stag manages to send Tinuviel flying with his antlers who is only "severely scratched" because he had buffed himself with shitloads of temp HP. After a long and intense battle, Indomitability calls off the attack and praises the heroes for their honor, strength and will. He storms off suddenly and absorbs every flame he gets in contact with, heading towards the first tree. As the Seela stopped singing and the stag vanishes slowly from their sight, one after another the fey realize that they might truely live in freedom from now on. </p><p></p><p><em>Note: The fight with Indomitability was intense. He's pretty dangerous and offered a worthy "end boss fight" that we all enjoyed. I will add the conclusion of adventure 2 in the following recap. My party did not use Haddin as much as other parties did, mainly because they did not trust him and had morale reservations on domination/charm spells. Tinuviel did a great job in trying to help Crysting to understand her visions and for now she's some sort of little sister to him. Cuin also has to deal with the fact that he is kind of responsible for, or at least bound to the Seela. What I really enjoyed was the additional Syana lore that came with the 4e module - as I want to expand on the gold dragons and their history, every bit of their life and deeds is more than welcome. </em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lylandra, post: 6944691, member: 6816692"] Before they head to Timbre and her grove, the elves decide to finally give the dream seeds a try. Since Crystin feels uncomfortable near the seed pouch and Torrent is still sort-of babysitter for the rest of the group, the two "brothers" decide to each take one seed in hope of getting a clearer vision on what happened to the forest. However, the results are not what they expected. At first, they see the forest, burning and a conflict erupting from within. Tinuviel feels frightened and the image shifts toward a scene of a very distant path, taking him and Cuin'halar amidst a beautiful room full of sunlight where Tinu's beloved aunt Mariel sits down in grief while a blond-haired elf comforts his crying infant daughter. His face trembles with anger, and sadness while he explains that "dear Mariel should not fear or weep for both of their deaths will be avenged in time". Tinuviel recognizes Lord Shaaladel and deducts that the girl has to be a much younger version of princess Shalosha. The scenery freezes and the dream elemental tries to attack Tinuviel. He manages to fend the serpent off and Cuin tries to refocus the dream on the forest. He sees a golden dragon flying over a young forest, planting a seed atop a hill and rearing her head towards the sky as if she was asking for guidance. Cuin suddenly remembers the stories his mother told him when he was a child: Stories of the wise gold dragon Syana. The momet he tries to remember the tales of Syana, a strange link between him and Tinuviel erupts and the scene shifts violently to a vision of the death of Syana. Arrows fly into the dragon's chest while she desperately cries out for her daughter. They see an image of Coaltongue trying to strike down another dragon and witness the creation of the Torch. Cuin is shocked and the dream elemental strikes again. He fends it off, but it manages to escape to the real world where Torrent and Crystin are suddenly attacked by the serpentine creature. They manage to wake the elves who come to their defense and together they diffuse the manifestation. [I]Note: I allowed the elves to lower their elven sleep immunity on purpose. The only other opition would have been a sleeping NPC which wouldn't have had the same effect. Elves do not trance in PF and need their 8 hours of sleep, so I thought it would be reasonable to let the PCs try out the seeds. They did nothing for Bhurisrava because he didn't know what they were meant for. I also let them have their victory against the elemental instead of ending the fight after 1 round once they were awake. I was hoping that Tinu realized the psionic nature of the dream elemental and sense a connection to himself, but he was oblivious at this moment [/I] The elves realize that they have just witnessed events which happened decades ago and contemplate on what might have happened back then. Cuin explains that Syana was the dragon guardian of the Taranesti and that he thinks she might have something to do with this forest since he saw her in his previous vision. They still don't know who set the forest on fire, but they realize that stopping the forest from burning forever might be the more pressing subject right now. With the help of Tiljann, the party travels towards Timbre's grove. They avoid getting too close once they get there because they quickly realize that the two burning dire boars might be the dryad's guardians and that enraged boars can get pretty dangerous. [I] Note: they mentioned my habit of nearly killing them with all sorts of swine, pig or boar. In a previous campaign, they were nearly TPKed twice because they wanted to hunt for "breakfast" and managed to enrage a herd of rabid boars. Twice. They also had a hefty fight with a dire pecari I added into a jungle section in that campaign which was just meant to be an hommage... they tried to fight it anyway. So yep, they are now terribly afraid of anything remotely piggish :D[/I] From a safe distance, they call out to the dryad who is writhing in pain. She doesn't react at first, but they call out the name of Anyariel and tell her that her old friend Gewnevere has returned her token of love so they might give it back to Timbre. Seeing a chance for change and remeembering her friendship with Gwen, Timbre orders her boars back and asks the heroes to come closer. She fights through pain and still breathes and trembles heavily at every word she speaks and the elves feel pretty helpless for they know they can do nothing for her right now. They tell Timbre that Gwenevere has made up her mind and that she asks for forgiveness and friendship. She is relieved that at least one creature in this forest might be saved from this madness that has taken them all and starts explaining what really happened. She tells them that she is the embodyment of the first tree which was given life by the blessing of Arcadia, the goddess of life. The seela are her children, born from the first tree, and they gave her her form afterwards when they had learned the song of forms from something deep below. They lived in harmony and joy until the elves came to them. Being friends to all life, they accepted the elves who claimed to be refugees and exiles from a far away land. But there were others who hunted them for their "treason". Shahalesti elves and Innotendar elves have fought many battles since then and it was Anyariel who finally drove them away. Timbre tells them that she fell in love with the elven hero who fought so courageously and that she offered her a branch from her tree as both a gift and a weapon to defend her home. When the unnatural "undeath" in form of a stag came to the forest, Anyariel hunted him down, pinned him down in Lake Seela and died. The stag could not die, but he was bound for eternity and everyone had hoped that he would be of no further problem. But something from the stag must have sipped into the forest (maybe through the blade) for when the Shahalesti came back and torched the forest, it did not simply burn down, but instead remained ablaze for 4 decades. Cuin'halar and Tinuviel are enraged over the reveal that the Shahalesti are behind all this (they thought the Torch would be responsible...) and vow to bring this crime to justice. The dryad explains that the tree saved one of the culprits from dying with the help of the priest Bhurisrava so that justice can be served. Timbre also explains to them, that even when she dies the Seela might live as long as someone binds his life essence to Anyariel's blade. Tinuviel accepts the proposal all of a sudden, but Timbre shakes her head and says that no one of Shahalesti blood will ever be accecpted by the blade, not after this tragedy and Anyariel's fight against them. Cuin then offers himself and the dryad releases the bond of Anyariel. She warns them that the Stag will be free once someone claims the blade and removes itt so they might have to fight him. She also tells Cuin that she senses "something familiar" inside him and prays that he will take good care of her children. [I]Note: Giving the balde to Cuin was a bit of DM fiat on my side, but I wanted to give every player their own, unique progression and since Tinu has a trillith spirit, Cuin will have to explore his connection to Syana and wield the Living Blade. It was also never mentioned who on earth put the temporal stasis (that's a freaking 8th level spell!) on Diashan, the Shahalesti who torched the forest, so I decided to use the power of the Tree. [/I] Cuin explains that he does not wish to fight Indomitability and that he hopes they might come to an agreement. He calls out for the Trillith and claims that he wishes to speak to him again. The Trillith agrees and his blazing, draconic face appears again among the ever burning trees. The elves state that they will set him free and keep their promise and that they will ask the Seela to remain silent for a while so that he might return to the form he once had. They just want to ask him one more favour: That he takes the fire with him and spares the first tree before it turns to ash. They say that since Indomitability's essence is in the forest and tied to the first tree (otherwise it would have burned down already...), he must have some connection to the fire as well and that taking his essence with him might conduct the fire to him. Indomitability states that he might try to do that, but he needs proof that they are "of his spirit" - truely indomitable theirselves. He claims that once they remove the wicked blade, he will challenge them to a duel and only if they prove to be as bold as they claim, he will absorb the fire of the tree. The party agrees and they bid their farewell to Timbre. [I] Note: brilliant idea again. Cuin knows pyrotechnics, so he would have had the tools to save the tree "by the book", but asking Indomitability seemed like a far more elegant solution. This way I also managed to include the fight with Indomitability who had not that much of a reason to fight otherwise - the party explained to him in his logic what happened, why the Seela were singing ("they were preserving their lives as you do preserve yours") and how they could free him and that they wouldn't bother him again, that he would be free to do whatever he wanted and just had to be "a teeny tiny bit more careful when interacting with fragile mortals". Testing their spirit would be totally canon for him in my opinion. [/I] They head back to the Seela village and explain to Papuvin and the others what Timbre told them and that they will have to stop singing once Cuin'halar emerges from the lake and has claimed the sword. They say that they will fight for the lives of Timbre and the first tree, but that it will be a duel and no Seela should try to intervent unless they want them or Timbre to be killed. Torrent puts all of her strength blessings on the (rather weak) Cuin'halar and he barely manages to pull out the blade. [I]Note: The required Str check to pull out the blade was totally unbeatable by anyone other than a fully buffed Torrent. So I lowered it a bit to DC 19. [/I] Indomitability, now in the guise of a burning stag, emerges from the lake and storms towards the shore. He eagerly awaits that arrival of the two elves and lowers his head as a challenge. A dripping wet Cuin (he totally ruined his hair!) and Tinu stand side by side and await the coming charge. Luckily, Cuin prepares to go all defensive and parries the hefty gore attacks. Nonetheless, the stag manages to send Tinuviel flying with his antlers who is only "severely scratched" because he had buffed himself with shitloads of temp HP. After a long and intense battle, Indomitability calls off the attack and praises the heroes for their honor, strength and will. He storms off suddenly and absorbs every flame he gets in contact with, heading towards the first tree. As the Seela stopped singing and the stag vanishes slowly from their sight, one after another the fey realize that they might truely live in freedom from now on. [I]Note: The fight with Indomitability was intense. He's pretty dangerous and offered a worthy "end boss fight" that we all enjoyed. I will add the conclusion of adventure 2 in the following recap. My party did not use Haddin as much as other parties did, mainly because they did not trust him and had morale reservations on domination/charm spells. Tinuviel did a great job in trying to help Crysting to understand her visions and for now she's some sort of little sister to him. Cuin also has to deal with the fact that he is kind of responsible for, or at least bound to the Seela. What I really enjoyed was the additional Syana lore that came with the 4e module - as I want to expand on the gold dragons and their history, every bit of their life and deeds is more than welcome. [/I] [/QUOTE]
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