Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mahiro Satsu" data-source="post: 305073" data-attributes="member: 4970">Episode XIII Into the WoodsCharacters: Aoth Sepret (human Rgr 1/Rog 3/Wiz 3), Artemus Thornwind (Human Drd 7), Kaemris “Danger” Tencoin (human Clr 6/Aus 1), Lenet cor Tarak (genasi Ftr 3/Sor 3), Van Dyksun (human Rgr 3/Rog 2/Clr 2) From the Journal of Aoth Sepret23rd of Ches, Year of Rogue DragonsWe have decided to look for the wild elves that we suspect ambushed the village yesterday. I wish to find them and enact justice upon theses murderous savages, but Kaemris has cautioned me about jumping to conclusions. Sadly we have no definitive clues as to their whereabouts. All we know is that they live to the west of Ossington. Arrangements were made for our horses to be guarded by Tully and Dyson while we were not in the village; they warned us to return soon else they be eaten by the starving villagers.A few hours before noon, the party set out in a west-by-north-westerly direction through the woods. I assumed my position half a dozen paces in front of the party. I enjoy the solitude I have at the point position, and I know my stealth keeps me protected much better than the company of my noisy companions. The woods we then walked through were tamer, almost reasonable, and I began to doubt our leader’s decision to leave the horses in town. The quiet was deafening, however; not a creature stirred, nor bird twittered in the branches above us. Ever since entering this forest some days ago, I have not seen or heard the presence of another living creature. Sometimes I fear that I have come to the end of the earth, and the hells lay beyond the next tree line.The silence was broken an hour into our trek, when the thunderous sound of hoof beats was heard, approaching quickly. A fear of unnatural power descended upon us and I attempted to flee into the woods. I do not remember much for the next few moments, just the desire to put as much distance between me and that sound as soon as humanly possible. The following description is based on the tale my companions spun around the campfire that night.After I fled into the woods, Van spotted the source of the noise. Beyond the closest trees came the specter of the Horseman atop his demon steed. With the sound of stone on stone, Van put his mighty bow, Stonegroan, to work by placing two arrows into the phantom. Kaemris called upon his goddess to calm Lenet, who was also taken by the horror. “Do not fear, for Tymora protects us,” he told her, and she became calm again. As the horseman closed upon them, Van continued to put Stonegroan to work and Kaemris said a prayer to his goddess. Lent lunged forward, drawing her sword, but the horseman charged past her trying to end the painful stings of Van’s bow. The demon steed’s hooves smashed into Vans head as he retreated, dropping his bow and brandishing his sword. Kaemris remained cool headed and struck flint on steel to call forth a fire elemental. The horse’s hooves continued to rain down on Van, but he managed to strike a mighty blow against the rider, dissipating the otherworldly being.Then the ground underneath the horse exploded with twisting vines that entangled its legs. Now on fire from the elemental’s flames and held by the mysterious vines, the horse panicked and tried to flee. Van’s swordarm, having felled its rider, now cut at the beast. A ball of flame appeared underneath the horse scorching it further. Hemmed in by flame and steel, the horse, fueled by fear, broke free of its bonds and fled, while the hunter now became the hunted. Seeking escape, the horse's hoof sank through Kaemris who said afterwards that it felt as if a corruption had tugged at his soul. Around this time I came to my senses. I was not far from the fighting; I could hear Kaemris shrieking not far away. But I was in the middle of about fifty dead elves, a massacre site. I couldn't spend time looking at this, running to aid my companions, following the sound of Kaemris’s voice. I let fly an arrow from my longbow when I could see the melee, but I do not know if I hit or not. From my niche I could see the burning horse with Van and Lenet swinging their swords, each strike passing through the insubstantial horse. Kaemris began to swell in size, apparently fueled by divine power. But the horse succumbed to the flames in the end, I suppose, for it disappeared.The source of the mysterious undergrowth and the flaming sphere emerged from the undergrowth a moment later. His name was Artemus Thornwind, and he was a Druid of the northern god Silvanus. Turns out that he was studying plants on the outskirts of the forest when he saw a sparrow fly past. Having not seen a living creature in a few days he called to it and learned of our mission, for it was the sparrow that was to give Lord Ironcrest Kaemris’s message. Artemus desires to return the forest to its natural order, and believes that we can help him. He has seen a number of devious traps about the forest and has identified them as the work of wild elves. I realized I would have to be careful to help my friends avoid these inconveniences. I directed the party to the site of the massacre. My initial assumption that they were elves cannot be confirmed; the bodies are too far rotted. We searched the bodies for a time looking for clues, but found none. Van, who was searching the perimeter, could not find any tracks. This is not surprising for the bodies have been here for weeks and it rained a few days ago. (Reader’s note: the following four pages are filled with notes about the placement of bodies, diagrams of the site, and hypotheses on escape avenues. All of it is over technical and quite boring. We have left them out for your reading enjoyment.)We finished our investigation and I climbed a tree looking for landmarks so we could gauge our progress. I saw a squirrel creature with cat ears on my way up the tree and called out to my friends, "A living thing!" Sadly, it ran, hopping from branch to branch at the sound of my voice. In the distance, approximately three miles away, I could see the site known as red horse hill, its clay surface easily visible from my high perch. About half a mile away I saw a structure. I looked as if trees had been bent over to create a home of sorts. Thinking it may be a part of the Grugach community we set out for it.</blockquote>

Verification