Netherstorm
First Post
21. The Feygrove
3/12/12: We flew through a bunch of stuff today...
Aurora Brightbolt - Unicorn-Person Ranger
Ardra - Eladrin Bladesinger
The Blue Monk - Half-Orc Monk
Ryltar - Drow Avenger
Scarlet - Human Fighter
Varis - Half-Elf Warlock
Sanctioning #: 12-03-3316723
The Blue Monk's blue-black hair fell over his angular face. Two small, sharp teeth rose up from under his lower lip, marking his perpetual frown. He was not impressed with his alternate universe counterpart. "That sucked. That Red Monk really took a beating."
"The Shaman looked like a pansy," said Ryltar.
Xiangmao the panda-person and paladin of Io, studied the drow. He had pale purple skin and a white mohawk. A long scar on the left side of his face stretched from the top of his head over his left left eye down to his chin.
She wondered how he had gotten it. The paladin was very uneasy around him, though she sensed that his devotion to his god, the Raven Queen, was deep.
Ryltar looked over to Aurora and asked her what she thought of her dark counterpart, Shade.
Aurora, her unicorn horn glinting in a ray of light, said, "She was evil... yet effective."
Varis piped up. "I found a reason why I will never be nice."
"People who are nice get picked up by pterodactyls and thrown into tar pits." Ryltar said, as he chewed on some rations. Narrow bands of light from the two suns filtered into the reliquary through arrow slits.
"One day, goodness will win over your heart," Aurora said to the boy.
Varis' skull familiar, Yasnabrinna, cackled and said "Let's watch it again!".
Scarlet muttered, "I can't believe how poor I looked..."
Ardra and Varis looked through a book they'd found in the wizard's tower. It was the Winterbole Codex, bound in white dragon scales and held talk of magical lines of power that extended from the Feywild to Gardmore Abbey. It also held notes on how the barbarians who worshiped Kava Frosthowl could channel the power to fuel their rage-based attacks.
The heroes stretched and discussed where to go next. They decided in a casual kind of way to investigate the fey grove, which was just past the orc village and the keep.
They left the reliquary, followed the outside of the abbey's wall, and climbed the ivy over the wall and into the fey grove. From the top of the wall they had a good view of the area.
The entire hillside, from the lip of the temple plateau to the outer wall, was covered in a thick, riotous tangle of trees, bushes, vines and ferns. The wood seemed ancient, undisturbed by the presence of humans and dwarves since the dawn of time, though the abbey wall hemmed it in and had checked its' spread.
Closer examination revealed that the forest's seeming pristine state was an illusion. At the northern end of the wood, rotting trellises and moss-covered paths suggested that this wild grove was once a cultivated garden. From a higher vantage point, the remains of other structures were visible amid the trees, though they seemed in danger of submerging beneath the vibrant green sea. A bell tower lifted it's head above the canopy a short distance down the slope from the temple. The remains of a small cottage lay near the outer wall in the northern edge of the grove. And a smaller building - a shrine, or tomb, perhaps - stood in a small clearing near the south end of the forest. At it's southern extreme, where the outer wall met the steep cliff of the hillside, a lone watchtower rose above the trees.
Everywhere among the greenery, the forest teemed with life. Squirrels and birds chattered and chirped in the branches, bees drifted amid blossoms, and the tracks of larger creatures crisscrossed the wood. Clouds of flies swarmed in the air, and iridescent butterflies floated on gentle breezes.
They heard the sounds of battle up ahead. Our heroes cautiously approached. They saw a band of adventurers battling six spiders.
Aurora whispered to her companions, "Remember - a unicorn always lends a helping hand."
Varis rolled his eyes.
Ryltar fixed his white eyes on the battle. "I'm not a unicorn."
Aurora looked down at the boy and said, "Poor little boy. How the drow have warped your mind! Don't worry, I'll take you back to my bungalow in the Feywild one day..." (The bungalow thing is a revenge of the giants reference... Clarissa had turned evil, and a freed prisoner said the bungalow quote to her, and Clarissa promptly beheaded him.)
"A lot of sunshine and rainbows would do your heart good."
Varis tried not to get sick. Ryltar poked him and laughed.
The other adventurers battling the spider were:
- A blonde-haired female human in scale mail. Ryltar recognized her from Olwynn. She had tried to join The Hundred along with him, but she failed the test.
- A half-orc wielding a great-axe.
- A drow wielding an eldritch blade, commanding two lolthbound goblins
- A black-haired human female firing off arcane volleys from her staff
- And.. Kurik the dwarf. The black-bearded cleric of Dispater who'd gotten the heroes kicked out of Dagger Rock.
The black-haired female flared with energy. She had a card from the deck of many things!
The Blue Monk called out to the half-orc, "Do you need help?".
The other adventurers turned, surprised. The blonde-haired female yelled, "Yes! Help us!".
The Blue Monk raced forward and kicked one of the spiders. Aurora fired off arrows that bloodied a spider. Ryltar raced forth and bloodied another.
Kurik suddenly recognized the heroes and shouted, "Run!".
The half-orc killed a spider and began backing away. Varis killed another with a spell.
Scarlet called over to Tam, the blonde-haired leader of the group, "You don't have to listen to the dwarf. Unfortunately, we have a history with him."
Tam looked at Kurik. He laughed nervously and shrugged as he continued to maneuver out of the fight.
Scarlet grabbed a spider and plunged her broken blade into it.
Ryltar phased across the field, close to Kurik, and cut into a spider. He said to the dwarf, "Don't worry, Stumpy, we're not here to kill you today."
Kurik said under his breath, "F*ckin' a**hole...".
Tam called out, "Kurik, are you sure...?"
Kurik yelled, "We gotta get out of here!"
Tam called out to her team to evacuate the area. She turned and caught Scarlet's eye. Tam nodded and said, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Scarlet replied. Tam backed into the trees. Her allies began to follow.
The drow kicked one of his goblins and hissed, "Move it, you little maggot."
The half-orc cursed in orc, "Damn it!". Three spiders bit at him as he backed out.
The Blue Monk called to him in Orc, "Brother, why are you leaving?"
The orc called back in an extremely loud voice, "Tam said we are leaving!".
"You trust her more than one of your own kind?"
The half-orc spoke back, even louder, "I trust Tam!". A spider bit him in the leg. Poison coursed through his veins.
The black-haired sorcerer lingered. Tam's voice called from the woods, "Lenna!". Lenna seemed unsure if she wanted to leave.
Ardra held out her hand and sent a spider flying. It died. She absorbed its' soul into her helm of seven deaths.
Lenna held out the Idiot card. Energy exploded from it in all directions. A nearby spider was struck dumb, unable to remember anything. Then she turned and fled into the feygrove.
Ardra killed that spider, and absorbed its' soul as well.
The spiders were killed moments later.
As she pulled her blade from a spider's corpse, Scarlet said, "Wish we had gotten that card.."
Ardra cleaned off her blade. "Well, we impressed her. I have a feeling we'll meet again."
Spider blood stained the Monk's blue robes. He said, "Too bad they didn't stick around to help us."
Ryltar suggested checking out a cottage nearby that he'd spotted. The Monk thought maybe they should pursue the mysterious other group. "They have a card," he noted.
Aurora said, "Clearly, this is all a misunderstanding."
Scarlet sheathed her blade. She looked at Aurora and said, "You never met this dwarf before. He told us to 'f*ck off. Then we beat him up."
A gentle breeze caused Aurora's hair/mane to cascade. "We must be compassionate to the dwarf. He has not been exposed to the unicorn code."
"It might be a long time before he adopts that code.."
Our heroes decided to give chase, but to try to come off as non-threatening to the other adventurers. Ardra led the heroes, following their tracks. The trail led down the winding road and then into the woods. Unfortunately, she lost the trail.
The heroes headed back the way they came. They decided to investigate a nearby bell tower.
As they got close, they spotted a pale, slender figure with long silver hair fleeing through a dark grove, her desperate footfalls making hardly a whisper. Behind her and to either side, two feline monsters pursued her in eerie silence toward the ruined bell tower. Their black, six-legged forms were hard to focus on clearly.
Spiny tentacles whipped forward from the back of one of the beasts and lashed the fleeing figure, who dropped with an agonized shriek. A rustling at the top of the tower signaled a nest of stirges, awakened to the scent of blood. On the ground, the tentacled beasts moved in for the kill.
Aurora's blink dog growled. Those creatures were displacer beasts, the blink dogs' natural enemy!
The adventurers rushed in. The displacer beasts turned and lashed out at the heroes. Scarlet approached and sliced into one of the beasts, knocking it to the ground.
Ryltar stabbed it at the same time that it struck him. Varis called forth the power of his card, scorching not only the beast with flames, but also the blink dog and the Blue Monk. The blink dog vanished, sent back to the feywild until Aurora could summon him again.
Aurora said, "I think you accidentally hit my dog."
"Yes. Accidentally."
"That's OK. I forgive you, friend."
A beast shifted and struck the Monk with a tentacle. Blood poured from his mouth, enraging him. The Monk beat the displacer beast to death.
Ryltar spotted a stirge feeding on the fallen woman's blood. He ran over and sliced at it. Most of the others joined him, as two more stirges also began to feed.
Varis dealt with the remaining displacer beast, pelting it with burning spray spells. The Blink Dog had been re-summoned. It would eventually tear out the displacer beast's throat.
The Blue Monk used his guardian whistle to teleport the unconscious silver-haired woman away from the stirges. Scarlet grabbed a stirge and smashed it against a rock, killing it.
The heroes cut down the remaining stirges, and Aurora healed the fallen eladrin.
The eladrin awakened, blinking.
"Thank you," she said in a voice as bright as silver.
"You're welcome," said the Monk.
"You have saved my life, and I am deeply in your debt."
Then the eladrin spotted Aurora, the magical unicorn-lady. She gasped. "I am honored to be in your presence!".
"I'm just glad you're safe."
The monk whispered, "Ugh, I'm going to throw up."
The silver-haired eladrin ignored him. "Come, follow me to my brother in the grove. He too will be grateful for your heroism."
Scarlet became hopeful. "Gratitude... sounds expensive."
Aurora pointed to her heart. "Scarlet, one day you'll learn that the real treasure is in here."
"No, I'm pretty sure I saw in that cube what happens to me when I learn that lesson. It's a T. Rex."
The eladrin led them through the feygrove, to where the heroes had spotted a fountain.
A font bubbled in the middle of the clearing, its' water sparkling in the light. At its' broad base was a mosaic of Bahamut battling Tiamat. The tiles that marked the beasts shapes also bore miniature runes.
Along the mosaic's perimeter were toppled walls that once must have been some manner of shrine.
A host of eladrin camped along the fallen walls, hair and mail shimmering like quicksilver. The male leader, tall and silver-eyed, looked as the heroes approached with his sister.
He yelled out, "Analastra! There you are."
Then he spotted Aurora and gasped, "A unicorn-person!". All of the eladrin knelt down, honored to be in the presence of one so pure.
Aurora made her horn glow, for effect.
Analastra explained to her brother, "They saved me from displacer beasts.."
He looked the heroes over. "Well done! Thank you."
"...And stirges," Blue Monk added. "I used my whistle to make her teleport, just like you guys do."
"Very nice. I am called Sir Berrian. My house is Velfarren. For a few weeks, I have searched to discover the mystery of my father's fate. All roads have led me here to this human ruin. This dark abbey crawls with peril, and orcs and giants infest the grounds. This place confounds us with its' mysteries."
"The grove thrums with life from the feywild, of home. But the closer we come, the farther we fall away. Fey beasts lair in the ruins, gossiping nymphs tantalize us with secrets, and my sister Analastra was nearly killed."
"Is there anything I can do to repay you?"
"Do you have any cards?", The Blue Monk asked.
Berrian held up the Throne card...
"This card..?", Berrian asked. "You are interested in this card?"
"Yes."
"Well, perhaps we could work out an arrangement. Would any of you like some feywine?"
Berrian had one of his guards fetch each of the adventurers a bottle. Aurora was too pure to drink it. She planned on giving it to a friend.
Berrian told the heroes they were free to drink from the font. He warned that it had unpredictable, magical effects.
Ardra looked at the font and the mosaic around its' base. She could sense that drinking the water might give the drinker visions, as well as a magical boon of some kind.
She also noticed that a ritual was encoded into the mosaic: Remove Affliction.
Ryltar spoke some more with Berrian about his father. Berrian explained, "I believe my father came here to the abbey to help fight the dragons, and I believe he was killed, but I want evidence of that.
"I'm at war with the drow," Ryltar said.
"I.. am not involved with that," Berrian said dismissively.
Scarlet asked, "Have you seen another group of adventurers come through here? With a foul-mouthed dwarf?"
"No."
Blue Monk said, "Well if you do, make sure to punch him in the face."
Ryltar pulled Berrian aside and said quietly, "I just want to thank you for accepting me into your company..". As a drow, Ryltar had expected the eladrin to be hostile toward him.
Berrian said, "If it is good enough for Aurora then it is good enough for us. I assume she has ironed out your personality defects."
Each of the heroes drank from the magical font. Ardra took out a tome, watched the heroes, and took notes on what they saw and any apparent magical effects:
Scarlet dipped a wine goblet in and drank the cool water. She saw visions of many people building the abbey over the course of many years. He felt a bit faster (free action: +1 to speed until the end of his next turn).
The Blue Monk had similar visions. He, too, felt faster.
Ryltar had a vision of the paladins of Io battling the red dragons and their horde. He saw Lady Elaida, the paladin whose head ended up on the flesh golem in the wizards' tower, killing four orcs in one motion. He felt inspired (free action: Able to take an additional minor action during his current and next turns).
Varis saw the paladins making peace with the Draedsmasher orcs. He felt healing energy wash over him (Free action: when he second winded to spend a healing surge, he would heal as if he spent two).
Aurora saw a vision of the wizard Vandomar carrying dead Elaida up to his tower. She felt emboldened (Free action: take an additional action as if she spent an action point).
Ardra closed her book and drank from the font. She saw two red dragons attacking the abbey without an army. One was the dragon they'd seen earlier, with the gems in its' hide leaving light trails. The paladins fought fiercely, forcing the dragons to retreat. Ardra felt strong (Free action: Gain temporary hit points equal to her healing surge value).
Berrian pulled Aurora aside. "My lady, you should not drink from this again for a while."
She nodded and said, "You are very kind."
"And you are very magical. And wonderful! It is an honor."
Our heroes made camp with the eladrin. They ate together and swapped stories. Most of the eladrin were in awe of Aurora. The unicorn-people were almost as gods to the other races of the Feywild, because they were so rare as well as pure.
Night fell. A warm breeze blew through the trees, and there was a tinkling sound in the air. It was punctuated with sporadic rambunctuous calls from the orc village. The eladrin explained that the orcs argued and fought amongst themselves quite a bit.
Aurora retrieved her magic crystal ball from her pack. She approached Berrian and offered to let him use it to scry for his father's location.
Berrian excitedly called his sister over. Together, they huddled around it, their faces lit by its' luminescence. His efforts brought him visions of the watchtower connected to the wall. He knew that the orcs were very interested in it, and had tried to enter the watchtower numerous times. Magic seemed to keep them out.
He also saw shadowy visions of a twisted dragon in a cave to the west. It was working on a ritual. He believed it was Maluriath, the sister of the red dragon in the abbey (Mekkalath).
He worried that Maluriath was trying to raise an army, to take the abbey from her brother.
Berrian gathered the heroes by the font and explained all of this to them. "It is believed that Maluriath has a magic card, quite like the one that I have."
The heroes asked Berrian about his card. An agreement was made. He'd give them his card if they could retrieve a journal from a nearby cottage. The journal held proof that the eladrin created the grove, so that he could show it to Queen Tarentia if need be to stake his claim on a section of the abbey.
He warned that owlbears lived in the cottage. He pointed out that they feared the scent of displacer beasts...
The heroes went back to the broken tower and retrieved he remains of the displacer beasts.
They slept for the night. The next morning, Aurora skinned both of the displacer beasts. She looked up at her friends and said, "In the Feywild, we use every part of the displacer beasts."
With that, it was time to frighten some owlbears. Scarlet wore one skin, Monk wore the other.
An overgrown cobblestone path led up to a small hill to the shell of an old fieldstone cottage. The dilapidated roof was punctured by an oak tree, which grew up through the middle of the structure and spread its' broad branches like a canopy over the frame. Shutters and a door hung open, forced from their hinges by the wild growth.
Just beyond the dim entrance to the cottage rests a massive, feathered beast the size and shape of a bear. Its' short, curved beak rested upon another of its' kind. The creature's great golden eyes opened as it raised its' head to sniff the air.
The heroes crept close. Aurora imitated the displacer beast's cries with stunning accuracy. The owlbears perked up, eyes wide. They roared and ran out the back of the cottage and fled into the feygrove.
The journal was in the cottage, and it indeed held evidence that the eladrins founded the grove.
Ardra could not leave behind any books with historical value. Her pack was brimming over with tome kept by the monks who once lived in the cottage.
The journal was given to Berrian, and he handed over the Throne card in exchange. The Blue Monk took it (the card has some marking powers).
After some discussion, the heroes prepared to leave the abbey. They'd decided that the prospect of Maluriath raising an army needed to be dealt with. Our heroes had decided to kill a dragon.
3/12/12: We flew through a bunch of stuff today...
Saga of Valor
Book One - NyrodSpace War 3
Chapter Twenty-One: The Feygrove
Book One - NyrodSpace War 3
Chapter Twenty-One: The Feygrove
Aurora Brightbolt - Unicorn-Person Ranger
Ardra - Eladrin Bladesinger
The Blue Monk - Half-Orc Monk
Ryltar - Drow Avenger
Scarlet - Human Fighter
Varis - Half-Elf Warlock
Sanctioning #: 12-03-3316723
The Blue Monk's blue-black hair fell over his angular face. Two small, sharp teeth rose up from under his lower lip, marking his perpetual frown. He was not impressed with his alternate universe counterpart. "That sucked. That Red Monk really took a beating."
"The Shaman looked like a pansy," said Ryltar.
Xiangmao the panda-person and paladin of Io, studied the drow. He had pale purple skin and a white mohawk. A long scar on the left side of his face stretched from the top of his head over his left left eye down to his chin.
She wondered how he had gotten it. The paladin was very uneasy around him, though she sensed that his devotion to his god, the Raven Queen, was deep.
Ryltar looked over to Aurora and asked her what she thought of her dark counterpart, Shade.
Aurora, her unicorn horn glinting in a ray of light, said, "She was evil... yet effective."
Varis piped up. "I found a reason why I will never be nice."
"People who are nice get picked up by pterodactyls and thrown into tar pits." Ryltar said, as he chewed on some rations. Narrow bands of light from the two suns filtered into the reliquary through arrow slits.
"One day, goodness will win over your heart," Aurora said to the boy.
Varis' skull familiar, Yasnabrinna, cackled and said "Let's watch it again!".
Scarlet muttered, "I can't believe how poor I looked..."
Ardra and Varis looked through a book they'd found in the wizard's tower. It was the Winterbole Codex, bound in white dragon scales and held talk of magical lines of power that extended from the Feywild to Gardmore Abbey. It also held notes on how the barbarians who worshiped Kava Frosthowl could channel the power to fuel their rage-based attacks.
The heroes stretched and discussed where to go next. They decided in a casual kind of way to investigate the fey grove, which was just past the orc village and the keep.
They left the reliquary, followed the outside of the abbey's wall, and climbed the ivy over the wall and into the fey grove. From the top of the wall they had a good view of the area.
The entire hillside, from the lip of the temple plateau to the outer wall, was covered in a thick, riotous tangle of trees, bushes, vines and ferns. The wood seemed ancient, undisturbed by the presence of humans and dwarves since the dawn of time, though the abbey wall hemmed it in and had checked its' spread.
Closer examination revealed that the forest's seeming pristine state was an illusion. At the northern end of the wood, rotting trellises and moss-covered paths suggested that this wild grove was once a cultivated garden. From a higher vantage point, the remains of other structures were visible amid the trees, though they seemed in danger of submerging beneath the vibrant green sea. A bell tower lifted it's head above the canopy a short distance down the slope from the temple. The remains of a small cottage lay near the outer wall in the northern edge of the grove. And a smaller building - a shrine, or tomb, perhaps - stood in a small clearing near the south end of the forest. At it's southern extreme, where the outer wall met the steep cliff of the hillside, a lone watchtower rose above the trees.
Everywhere among the greenery, the forest teemed with life. Squirrels and birds chattered and chirped in the branches, bees drifted amid blossoms, and the tracks of larger creatures crisscrossed the wood. Clouds of flies swarmed in the air, and iridescent butterflies floated on gentle breezes.
They heard the sounds of battle up ahead. Our heroes cautiously approached. They saw a band of adventurers battling six spiders.
Aurora whispered to her companions, "Remember - a unicorn always lends a helping hand."
Varis rolled his eyes.
Ryltar fixed his white eyes on the battle. "I'm not a unicorn."
Aurora looked down at the boy and said, "Poor little boy. How the drow have warped your mind! Don't worry, I'll take you back to my bungalow in the Feywild one day..." (The bungalow thing is a revenge of the giants reference... Clarissa had turned evil, and a freed prisoner said the bungalow quote to her, and Clarissa promptly beheaded him.)
"A lot of sunshine and rainbows would do your heart good."
Varis tried not to get sick. Ryltar poked him and laughed.
The other adventurers battling the spider were:
- A blonde-haired female human in scale mail. Ryltar recognized her from Olwynn. She had tried to join The Hundred along with him, but she failed the test.
- A half-orc wielding a great-axe.
- A drow wielding an eldritch blade, commanding two lolthbound goblins
- A black-haired human female firing off arcane volleys from her staff
- And.. Kurik the dwarf. The black-bearded cleric of Dispater who'd gotten the heroes kicked out of Dagger Rock.
The black-haired female flared with energy. She had a card from the deck of many things!
The Blue Monk called out to the half-orc, "Do you need help?".
The other adventurers turned, surprised. The blonde-haired female yelled, "Yes! Help us!".
The Blue Monk raced forward and kicked one of the spiders. Aurora fired off arrows that bloodied a spider. Ryltar raced forth and bloodied another.
Kurik suddenly recognized the heroes and shouted, "Run!".
The half-orc killed a spider and began backing away. Varis killed another with a spell.
Scarlet called over to Tam, the blonde-haired leader of the group, "You don't have to listen to the dwarf. Unfortunately, we have a history with him."
Tam looked at Kurik. He laughed nervously and shrugged as he continued to maneuver out of the fight.
Scarlet grabbed a spider and plunged her broken blade into it.
Ryltar phased across the field, close to Kurik, and cut into a spider. He said to the dwarf, "Don't worry, Stumpy, we're not here to kill you today."
Kurik said under his breath, "F*ckin' a**hole...".
Tam called out, "Kurik, are you sure...?"
Kurik yelled, "We gotta get out of here!"
Tam called out to her team to evacuate the area. She turned and caught Scarlet's eye. Tam nodded and said, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Scarlet replied. Tam backed into the trees. Her allies began to follow.
The drow kicked one of his goblins and hissed, "Move it, you little maggot."
The half-orc cursed in orc, "Damn it!". Three spiders bit at him as he backed out.
The Blue Monk called to him in Orc, "Brother, why are you leaving?"
The orc called back in an extremely loud voice, "Tam said we are leaving!".
"You trust her more than one of your own kind?"
The half-orc spoke back, even louder, "I trust Tam!". A spider bit him in the leg. Poison coursed through his veins.
The black-haired sorcerer lingered. Tam's voice called from the woods, "Lenna!". Lenna seemed unsure if she wanted to leave.
Ardra held out her hand and sent a spider flying. It died. She absorbed its' soul into her helm of seven deaths.
Lenna held out the Idiot card. Energy exploded from it in all directions. A nearby spider was struck dumb, unable to remember anything. Then she turned and fled into the feygrove.
Ardra killed that spider, and absorbed its' soul as well.
The spiders were killed moments later.
As she pulled her blade from a spider's corpse, Scarlet said, "Wish we had gotten that card.."
Ardra cleaned off her blade. "Well, we impressed her. I have a feeling we'll meet again."
Spider blood stained the Monk's blue robes. He said, "Too bad they didn't stick around to help us."
Ryltar suggested checking out a cottage nearby that he'd spotted. The Monk thought maybe they should pursue the mysterious other group. "They have a card," he noted.
Aurora said, "Clearly, this is all a misunderstanding."
Scarlet sheathed her blade. She looked at Aurora and said, "You never met this dwarf before. He told us to 'f*ck off. Then we beat him up."
A gentle breeze caused Aurora's hair/mane to cascade. "We must be compassionate to the dwarf. He has not been exposed to the unicorn code."
"It might be a long time before he adopts that code.."
Our heroes decided to give chase, but to try to come off as non-threatening to the other adventurers. Ardra led the heroes, following their tracks. The trail led down the winding road and then into the woods. Unfortunately, she lost the trail.
The heroes headed back the way they came. They decided to investigate a nearby bell tower.
As they got close, they spotted a pale, slender figure with long silver hair fleeing through a dark grove, her desperate footfalls making hardly a whisper. Behind her and to either side, two feline monsters pursued her in eerie silence toward the ruined bell tower. Their black, six-legged forms were hard to focus on clearly.
Spiny tentacles whipped forward from the back of one of the beasts and lashed the fleeing figure, who dropped with an agonized shriek. A rustling at the top of the tower signaled a nest of stirges, awakened to the scent of blood. On the ground, the tentacled beasts moved in for the kill.
Aurora's blink dog growled. Those creatures were displacer beasts, the blink dogs' natural enemy!
The adventurers rushed in. The displacer beasts turned and lashed out at the heroes. Scarlet approached and sliced into one of the beasts, knocking it to the ground.
Ryltar stabbed it at the same time that it struck him. Varis called forth the power of his card, scorching not only the beast with flames, but also the blink dog and the Blue Monk. The blink dog vanished, sent back to the feywild until Aurora could summon him again.
Aurora said, "I think you accidentally hit my dog."
"Yes. Accidentally."
"That's OK. I forgive you, friend."
A beast shifted and struck the Monk with a tentacle. Blood poured from his mouth, enraging him. The Monk beat the displacer beast to death.
Ryltar spotted a stirge feeding on the fallen woman's blood. He ran over and sliced at it. Most of the others joined him, as two more stirges also began to feed.
Varis dealt with the remaining displacer beast, pelting it with burning spray spells. The Blink Dog had been re-summoned. It would eventually tear out the displacer beast's throat.
The Blue Monk used his guardian whistle to teleport the unconscious silver-haired woman away from the stirges. Scarlet grabbed a stirge and smashed it against a rock, killing it.
The heroes cut down the remaining stirges, and Aurora healed the fallen eladrin.
The eladrin awakened, blinking.
"Thank you," she said in a voice as bright as silver.
"You're welcome," said the Monk.
"You have saved my life, and I am deeply in your debt."
Then the eladrin spotted Aurora, the magical unicorn-lady. She gasped. "I am honored to be in your presence!".
"I'm just glad you're safe."
The monk whispered, "Ugh, I'm going to throw up."
The silver-haired eladrin ignored him. "Come, follow me to my brother in the grove. He too will be grateful for your heroism."
Scarlet became hopeful. "Gratitude... sounds expensive."
Aurora pointed to her heart. "Scarlet, one day you'll learn that the real treasure is in here."
"No, I'm pretty sure I saw in that cube what happens to me when I learn that lesson. It's a T. Rex."
The eladrin led them through the feygrove, to where the heroes had spotted a fountain.
A font bubbled in the middle of the clearing, its' water sparkling in the light. At its' broad base was a mosaic of Bahamut battling Tiamat. The tiles that marked the beasts shapes also bore miniature runes.
Along the mosaic's perimeter were toppled walls that once must have been some manner of shrine.
A host of eladrin camped along the fallen walls, hair and mail shimmering like quicksilver. The male leader, tall and silver-eyed, looked as the heroes approached with his sister.
He yelled out, "Analastra! There you are."
Then he spotted Aurora and gasped, "A unicorn-person!". All of the eladrin knelt down, honored to be in the presence of one so pure.
Aurora made her horn glow, for effect.
Analastra explained to her brother, "They saved me from displacer beasts.."
He looked the heroes over. "Well done! Thank you."
"...And stirges," Blue Monk added. "I used my whistle to make her teleport, just like you guys do."
"Very nice. I am called Sir Berrian. My house is Velfarren. For a few weeks, I have searched to discover the mystery of my father's fate. All roads have led me here to this human ruin. This dark abbey crawls with peril, and orcs and giants infest the grounds. This place confounds us with its' mysteries."
"The grove thrums with life from the feywild, of home. But the closer we come, the farther we fall away. Fey beasts lair in the ruins, gossiping nymphs tantalize us with secrets, and my sister Analastra was nearly killed."
"Is there anything I can do to repay you?"
"Do you have any cards?", The Blue Monk asked.
Berrian held up the Throne card...
"This card..?", Berrian asked. "You are interested in this card?"
"Yes."
"Well, perhaps we could work out an arrangement. Would any of you like some feywine?"
Berrian had one of his guards fetch each of the adventurers a bottle. Aurora was too pure to drink it. She planned on giving it to a friend.
Berrian told the heroes they were free to drink from the font. He warned that it had unpredictable, magical effects.
Ardra looked at the font and the mosaic around its' base. She could sense that drinking the water might give the drinker visions, as well as a magical boon of some kind.
She also noticed that a ritual was encoded into the mosaic: Remove Affliction.
Ryltar spoke some more with Berrian about his father. Berrian explained, "I believe my father came here to the abbey to help fight the dragons, and I believe he was killed, but I want evidence of that.
"I'm at war with the drow," Ryltar said.
"I.. am not involved with that," Berrian said dismissively.
Scarlet asked, "Have you seen another group of adventurers come through here? With a foul-mouthed dwarf?"
"No."
Blue Monk said, "Well if you do, make sure to punch him in the face."
Ryltar pulled Berrian aside and said quietly, "I just want to thank you for accepting me into your company..". As a drow, Ryltar had expected the eladrin to be hostile toward him.
Berrian said, "If it is good enough for Aurora then it is good enough for us. I assume she has ironed out your personality defects."
Each of the heroes drank from the magical font. Ardra took out a tome, watched the heroes, and took notes on what they saw and any apparent magical effects:
Scarlet dipped a wine goblet in and drank the cool water. She saw visions of many people building the abbey over the course of many years. He felt a bit faster (free action: +1 to speed until the end of his next turn).
The Blue Monk had similar visions. He, too, felt faster.
Ryltar had a vision of the paladins of Io battling the red dragons and their horde. He saw Lady Elaida, the paladin whose head ended up on the flesh golem in the wizards' tower, killing four orcs in one motion. He felt inspired (free action: Able to take an additional minor action during his current and next turns).
Varis saw the paladins making peace with the Draedsmasher orcs. He felt healing energy wash over him (Free action: when he second winded to spend a healing surge, he would heal as if he spent two).
Aurora saw a vision of the wizard Vandomar carrying dead Elaida up to his tower. She felt emboldened (Free action: take an additional action as if she spent an action point).
Ardra closed her book and drank from the font. She saw two red dragons attacking the abbey without an army. One was the dragon they'd seen earlier, with the gems in its' hide leaving light trails. The paladins fought fiercely, forcing the dragons to retreat. Ardra felt strong (Free action: Gain temporary hit points equal to her healing surge value).
Berrian pulled Aurora aside. "My lady, you should not drink from this again for a while."
She nodded and said, "You are very kind."
"And you are very magical. And wonderful! It is an honor."
Our heroes made camp with the eladrin. They ate together and swapped stories. Most of the eladrin were in awe of Aurora. The unicorn-people were almost as gods to the other races of the Feywild, because they were so rare as well as pure.
Night fell. A warm breeze blew through the trees, and there was a tinkling sound in the air. It was punctuated with sporadic rambunctuous calls from the orc village. The eladrin explained that the orcs argued and fought amongst themselves quite a bit.
Aurora retrieved her magic crystal ball from her pack. She approached Berrian and offered to let him use it to scry for his father's location.
Berrian excitedly called his sister over. Together, they huddled around it, their faces lit by its' luminescence. His efforts brought him visions of the watchtower connected to the wall. He knew that the orcs were very interested in it, and had tried to enter the watchtower numerous times. Magic seemed to keep them out.
He also saw shadowy visions of a twisted dragon in a cave to the west. It was working on a ritual. He believed it was Maluriath, the sister of the red dragon in the abbey (Mekkalath).
He worried that Maluriath was trying to raise an army, to take the abbey from her brother.
Berrian gathered the heroes by the font and explained all of this to them. "It is believed that Maluriath has a magic card, quite like the one that I have."
The heroes asked Berrian about his card. An agreement was made. He'd give them his card if they could retrieve a journal from a nearby cottage. The journal held proof that the eladrin created the grove, so that he could show it to Queen Tarentia if need be to stake his claim on a section of the abbey.
He warned that owlbears lived in the cottage. He pointed out that they feared the scent of displacer beasts...
The heroes went back to the broken tower and retrieved he remains of the displacer beasts.
They slept for the night. The next morning, Aurora skinned both of the displacer beasts. She looked up at her friends and said, "In the Feywild, we use every part of the displacer beasts."
With that, it was time to frighten some owlbears. Scarlet wore one skin, Monk wore the other.
An overgrown cobblestone path led up to a small hill to the shell of an old fieldstone cottage. The dilapidated roof was punctured by an oak tree, which grew up through the middle of the structure and spread its' broad branches like a canopy over the frame. Shutters and a door hung open, forced from their hinges by the wild growth.
Just beyond the dim entrance to the cottage rests a massive, feathered beast the size and shape of a bear. Its' short, curved beak rested upon another of its' kind. The creature's great golden eyes opened as it raised its' head to sniff the air.
The heroes crept close. Aurora imitated the displacer beast's cries with stunning accuracy. The owlbears perked up, eyes wide. They roared and ran out the back of the cottage and fled into the feygrove.
The journal was in the cottage, and it indeed held evidence that the eladrins founded the grove.
Ardra could not leave behind any books with historical value. Her pack was brimming over with tome kept by the monks who once lived in the cottage.
The journal was given to Berrian, and he handed over the Throne card in exchange. The Blue Monk took it (the card has some marking powers).
After some discussion, the heroes prepared to leave the abbey. They'd decided that the prospect of Maluriath raising an army needed to be dealt with. Our heroes had decided to kill a dragon.
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