Dragonwriter
First Post
On a different note, nice writeup Eccles! Definitely looks like a fun game you've got going. (I also really liked your Age of Worms Story Hour, a few years ago.
)
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Campaign writeup (2 updates September 7th)
On a different note, nice writeup Eccles! Definitely looks like a fun game you've got going. (I also really liked your Age of Worms Story Hour, a few years ago.
)
Eccles
Ragged idiot in a trilby.
26th March
* We converge upon the hole in the ground that our sorcerer ally fell down, we spy him some 40ft down, his leg and possibly worse broken upon the pile of rubble below, the rest of the cavern (as we discover it is, our hole the only visible entrance at the top of a high dome of stone) is dark, a single shaft of light serves as the only light source and its currently illuminating Khadral to anything within.
* A moan from below reveals he is still alive and squelching steps getting closer spur us into action. Kane takes a length of rope (50ft long) and ties it to the most secure thing he can find (the stone alter) and slings it down the shaft… it sways back and forth some 10ft from the ground… there is much sucking of teeth at the thought of the drop from Urien and Cricket… they are pushed apart by the illustrious bard who takes the rope and slides down to the end and lets, his safewing amulet flutters into angel song, caressing him in a guiding waft of air to the ground, pulling forth his sword with a dashing “A HA!” only to be pelted (rather harmlessly) with stones and moss thrown from the bumpy shapes lurking in the darkness (later identified as Fungal Gatherers)
* Cricket is down next, displaying none of the grace of the bard, landing in a grumbling heap atop the rubble, thrashes around a little trying to dislodge a stone stuck in an uncomfortable place. From the darkness comes a mushroom man (later identified as a Fungal Protector) sporting large sharpened fronds and clouts the bard quite savagely.
* The rest of the party slowly enter the cavern (some with more grace than others), Kane decides to stay dangling from the rope while Elisha sensibly remains at the top of the cavern, content to throw down spiritual lightning from on high.
* And so begins the fight against the mushroom people, many fungal beasts were slain, many wounds were taking and much mushroom was stashed away for consumption afterwards… with the threat ended our attention turns back towards Khadral still in the land of the living is brought into a stable condition and a complex arrangements of ropes, pulleys and muscle are utilised to get him out of his hole and back into the dryads grove (the owner of which remains near the lake, ever watchful of her children, unable to leave for fear of the flames).
* Torrent makes the wise suggestion of taking the foolish dragonborn back to his cellar, there with some tending he should be able to rest and recover. While Khadral is still in an immense amount of pain (something for which we are all grateful) he believes his ritual was a glowing success, it was just unlucky that he did not know the fragility of the earth the glade was situated in, but still progress was made.
* In the morning, rested and entirely too full of mushroom we make our excuses at leave; he offers some parting advice about our route. Some miles ahead on the path is a river that splits the forest in two (we take this to mean the rough half way point of our journey through this hell hole) and thank him, leaving him to lie swaddled in bandages in his cellar with an ample supply of food (mushrooms!) for his recuperation.
* We continue along the elf road through the indomitable fire forest, our potions taking the edge off of the heat and the strange bubble effect of calming the forest as we pass by continues. o http://photography.nationalgeograph...mages/POD/s/sequoia-forest-fire-505503-sw.jpg
* We’re eager to see the river… is it a real river (of water) or some river of fire? We’re keen to find out when all of a sudden BOOM! The bubble collapses and we find ourselves very much in the heart of a fire forest, up ahead cascading explosions rip apart the trunks of the huge trees, they collapse inwards into a barricade of burning splintered logs. o http://www.alfeldstein.com/img/forestfire.jpg o http://aikidoalive.co.uk/london/Blo...uesday,_12_January_2010_files/forest_fire.png o http://www.alaska-in-pictures.com/data/media/13/forest-fire_1076.jpg
* Behind us on the path, thick black smoke clogs the view and is quickly swallowed by a roaring wall of fire swooping towards us, and with a crack like lighting a spear of flame whooshes from the sky, landing in the middle of us a gigantic stag made of flame emerges from the eruption followed by two smaller bucks of dancing flame. o http://www.enworld.org/forum/blogs/...mitable-fire-forest-innenotdar-innenotdar.jpg
* Quick to react Elisha hurls the two bucks backwards, with a bellow of thunder the two fiery creatures are sent hurtling along the path, through the flamewave and out of sight. The rest of us form a fighting retreat from the Stag, closing in on the barrier as the wave continues along the path threatening to incinerate us.
* Brick is the first to near the barricade, the flames coalesce into a “draconic” form, slightly taken aback the bard stops, the eyes of the flame stares at him fiercely. o http://photothangs.com/A11112D-lg-b.jpg
* Back on the important side of the path (i.e. the one being slowly consumed by the flame wave) Cricket, Urien & Kane manage to defeat one of the bucks, it’s fire loses form and peter out on the soot blackened flagstones of the path.
* Lembit reaches the barricade next, spies the face and ever the curious academic asks “who are you?” with the volume and force of a back draft comes the response “I AM INDOMITABILITY!” before more questions can be asked the voice continues “No force shall ever defeat me, no wound shall kill me. My power can be yours if you free me… Halt the song of the deep, silences the forty tongues that hold me…” (And so on).
* Ever one for the path of least resistance the bard proffers that if we agree to help him, he could “possible, maybe, perhaps, see your way to putting out the fires so we can continue?”. Nothing happens, he then (all too easily) declares that he shall free him / her / it from whatever prison… while nothing outwardly changes, deep inside Brick feels some boon come across him (something that echoes in his soul many promises that I never wrote down… other than the all important and overpowered ability that no strong breeze will ever knock him over… such is the awesome power granted by INDOMITABILITY BOON)… “ALL OR NONE!” states the voice and then fades, but the barricade remains on fire.
* Back in the action a full-scale retreat is sounded and we scale the burning barricade, Cricket is forced to clamber back over as Elisha is unable to scale the barricade. Together with Urien the pair manage to get the invoker up onto the burning platform moments before the fiery wave slams into the barricade and vanishes, from the flames the Stag stamps its hooves in fury and darts off into the forest, the buck follows.
* The face appears in the flames again, the crackling of the forest fires all seem to whisper nonsense and then suddenly hush as the voice booms “FOLLOW THE RIVER, SET ME FREE!” however we are loath to follow the things sudden instructions as we are slightly burnt (some of us even still on fire but not seeming to notice…) so we rest right there by the burning logs… moments later the face roars in the flames again “You shall face one who has my boon, if you do not fall before his blade, you shall burn before my fire!”, Brick feels the etchings on his soul erase themselves, the boon has been revoked… our choice made, another enemy on the list (a growing list filled with blank entries, seems we make enemies without knowing who or what they are quite a lot).
* Rested and somewhat rejuvenated we venture further along the path, still keen to find the river and eventually we spy it and a large blackened stone bridge over it, in the middle of the bridge is an offshoot leading to a guard tower, across the river the forest seems to open up slightly, burnt and destroyed buildings hint at a village or town ahead.
* Lembit gets very excited as we close in on the bridge and its design becomes apparent, the whole bridge has been carved to resemble entwined trees and leaves, he regales us with
stories of the clan of elves that favoured this architecture style (and of course the other elves clans that thought it was a bit pretentious), as with many of the shamans academic anecdotes they’re ignored by the two half-Orcs who cannonball into the river, scrubbing the soot and ash off of them as best they can (and sadly leave the gloriously hot water covered in a gluey waxy paste as the soot has congealed), they’re joined by Lembit and Brick. Urien (clad in heavy armour and no time for frivolities) declines and Elisha avoids the water (much like all things potentially athletic) preferring discomfort to drowning.
* Brick is the first to actually set foot upon the bridge, rushing ahead heedless of danger and quickly veers off down the little jetty that leads to the tower, his face full of curious joy is quickly wiped away as he feels the floor sink beneath his boot, a loud ominous CLICK and a magical glyph appears upon the stout wooden door of the tower. Blue energy leeches from the doorway weaving into a glowing mace that saunters through the air quickly and smacks him in the face (with a critical hit), the bard back peddles quickly, the mace following him.
o Cricket falls over laughing uncontrollably while Kane takes a more sensible action of slipping past the jetty, trying to get a better look at the door, so that he (a man of roguish talents!) may deactivate the trap.
* Brick suffers another whack by the mace sending him sprawling, Lembit tries to come to his aid by lobbing a vial of Shatterspell (from the goblin cache we found earlier in the forest), its anti magical dust coats the air but the mace resists, dims in colour a little but still waves menacingly over the prone bard, it is then the Maces true weakness is noticed, it cannot strike a enemies below 2ft off of the ground.
o However this doesn’t stop it from floating over the bridge looking for targets for several moments before our “master thief” manages to deactivate the thing..
* The trap defeated only a barred door halts our entry into the tower, time for Kane to shine again, and mere moments before frustration would’ve caused us to break the thing down he manages to finally get purchase upon the iron bar and slides it from its holding where it clangs noisily to the stone floor.
* Kane’s luck continues as we spot another glyph on the floor, which explodes under his prodding, bathing the ground floor in blinding white light (striking Lembit but not Kane), its magic spent the rune fades and we can begin to search the place.
* The ground floor turns out to be a small barracks, kitchen and eating area. Poking around we find some gold and a potion of healing left under the covers of an old bed.
* On the next floor we find two bodies, badly mummified and desiccated by the heat, one has a key tied to his wrist that Kane neatly pockets without disturbing the bodies too much. The stairs leading up to the next floor look quite rickety, Kane (ever the explorer) gives them a heavy prod with a stolen spear (possibly too heavy a prod) and the whole thing collapses, only a few stairs remain at the top of the now ruined staircase forming a small landing to its door. He clambers up and secures a rope to the stairs so the rest of us can get up.
* We also find what looks like the commanders room, a large room filled with a long table and office. On top of the table is a charred map covered in small wooden tokens. We also find a logbook that Lembit is quick to leaf through it picking out key bits of information hidden within the tales of the slow retreat of the Elven author.
o A hidden cellar can be found under “The Willow”, however we are unaware that the willow is (other than a tree, perhaps a specific willow tree bigger than the others, or the name of a pub).
o The survivors constantly mention an Elven hero (some as praise, some as curses) name Anyariel, a holy warrior who died before the fires started.
* However Lembit has also heard of her and adds the following to her legend:
* She wielded a magical wooden sword given to her by her Dryad lover Timber.
* Her last foe was a great stag that could not be killed, she pinned the creature with her sword at the bottom of a lake.
* The lake (where the stag is held) belonged to a nymph who was also in love with her and jealous that she chose the dryad over her.
* The shrine of this village is mentioned a few times in the log and bears investigating.
* Finally we find a locked cupboard that Kane (once again) is unable to unlock, so we smash the door in and find amidst the assorted brooms and buckets a small leather pouch covered in crude symbols a note sat atop it reads (in Elven) “to investigate later”.
o Opening the pouch reveals a number of seeds and some goblin symbols, which can be deciphered as “swallow one to see big firemaker, two to sleep forever”, or one for some prophetic vision, two will kill you.
o Lembit identifies the runes are from the same goblin clan as we found items from before (the Razortooth clan) and supposedly still live within the forest in caves underneath where it is cooler. There are many rumours of the Shahalesti elves hiring these goblins to start the fires.
* With the tower fully investigated our sights turn to the village and the shrine within, but before that seeing that several of the buildings are still in tact we have a nose about, collecting some strange magical trinkets left behind.
o We find a necklace of ivory leaves (25g), wearing this necklace allows the person to understand the Elven language but while wearing it cannot understand any other language.
o A wonderfully made lyre (still in tact) along with an old songbook, this is lovingly stowed with the bards backpage, wrapped well to protect it from the heat.
o A book on tattooing, most of its pages are dedicated to a single huge tattoo designed to be spread across two lovers bodies to pronounce their endless love for each other.
o A chord that can be wrapped around two people, a gemstone changes colour to reveal any family connection.
* However during our searches we manage to wake some slumbering vermin and are attacked by groups of rats and bats, leaving Brick, Lembit and Cricket suffering from “Fiery Filth Fever” (both at stage 1, lose 1 healing surge that cannot be regained until cured).
o With the vermin defeated, we inspect our itching wounds… the journey to the shrine temporarily forgotten.
* We converge upon the hole in the ground that our sorcerer ally fell down, we spy him some 40ft down, his leg and possibly worse broken upon the pile of rubble below, the rest of the cavern (as we discover it is, our hole the only visible entrance at the top of a high dome of stone) is dark, a single shaft of light serves as the only light source and its currently illuminating Khadral to anything within.
* A moan from below reveals he is still alive and squelching steps getting closer spur us into action. Kane takes a length of rope (50ft long) and ties it to the most secure thing he can find (the stone alter) and slings it down the shaft… it sways back and forth some 10ft from the ground… there is much sucking of teeth at the thought of the drop from Urien and Cricket… they are pushed apart by the illustrious bard who takes the rope and slides down to the end and lets, his safewing amulet flutters into angel song, caressing him in a guiding waft of air to the ground, pulling forth his sword with a dashing “A HA!” only to be pelted (rather harmlessly) with stones and moss thrown from the bumpy shapes lurking in the darkness (later identified as Fungal Gatherers)
* Cricket is down next, displaying none of the grace of the bard, landing in a grumbling heap atop the rubble, thrashes around a little trying to dislodge a stone stuck in an uncomfortable place. From the darkness comes a mushroom man (later identified as a Fungal Protector) sporting large sharpened fronds and clouts the bard quite savagely.
* The rest of the party slowly enter the cavern (some with more grace than others), Kane decides to stay dangling from the rope while Elisha sensibly remains at the top of the cavern, content to throw down spiritual lightning from on high.
* And so begins the fight against the mushroom people, many fungal beasts were slain, many wounds were taking and much mushroom was stashed away for consumption afterwards… with the threat ended our attention turns back towards Khadral still in the land of the living is brought into a stable condition and a complex arrangements of ropes, pulleys and muscle are utilised to get him out of his hole and back into the dryads grove (the owner of which remains near the lake, ever watchful of her children, unable to leave for fear of the flames).
* Torrent makes the wise suggestion of taking the foolish dragonborn back to his cellar, there with some tending he should be able to rest and recover. While Khadral is still in an immense amount of pain (something for which we are all grateful) he believes his ritual was a glowing success, it was just unlucky that he did not know the fragility of the earth the glade was situated in, but still progress was made.
* In the morning, rested and entirely too full of mushroom we make our excuses at leave; he offers some parting advice about our route. Some miles ahead on the path is a river that splits the forest in two (we take this to mean the rough half way point of our journey through this hell hole) and thank him, leaving him to lie swaddled in bandages in his cellar with an ample supply of food (mushrooms!) for his recuperation.
* We continue along the elf road through the indomitable fire forest, our potions taking the edge off of the heat and the strange bubble effect of calming the forest as we pass by continues. o http://photography.nationalgeograph...mages/POD/s/sequoia-forest-fire-505503-sw.jpg
* We’re eager to see the river… is it a real river (of water) or some river of fire? We’re keen to find out when all of a sudden BOOM! The bubble collapses and we find ourselves very much in the heart of a fire forest, up ahead cascading explosions rip apart the trunks of the huge trees, they collapse inwards into a barricade of burning splintered logs. o http://www.alfeldstein.com/img/forestfire.jpg o http://aikidoalive.co.uk/london/Blo...uesday,_12_January_2010_files/forest_fire.png o http://www.alaska-in-pictures.com/data/media/13/forest-fire_1076.jpg
* Behind us on the path, thick black smoke clogs the view and is quickly swallowed by a roaring wall of fire swooping towards us, and with a crack like lighting a spear of flame whooshes from the sky, landing in the middle of us a gigantic stag made of flame emerges from the eruption followed by two smaller bucks of dancing flame. o http://www.enworld.org/forum/blogs/...mitable-fire-forest-innenotdar-innenotdar.jpg
* Quick to react Elisha hurls the two bucks backwards, with a bellow of thunder the two fiery creatures are sent hurtling along the path, through the flamewave and out of sight. The rest of us form a fighting retreat from the Stag, closing in on the barrier as the wave continues along the path threatening to incinerate us.
* Brick is the first to near the barricade, the flames coalesce into a “draconic” form, slightly taken aback the bard stops, the eyes of the flame stares at him fiercely. o http://photothangs.com/A11112D-lg-b.jpg
* Back on the important side of the path (i.e. the one being slowly consumed by the flame wave) Cricket, Urien & Kane manage to defeat one of the bucks, it’s fire loses form and peter out on the soot blackened flagstones of the path.
* Lembit reaches the barricade next, spies the face and ever the curious academic asks “who are you?” with the volume and force of a back draft comes the response “I AM INDOMITABILITY!” before more questions can be asked the voice continues “No force shall ever defeat me, no wound shall kill me. My power can be yours if you free me… Halt the song of the deep, silences the forty tongues that hold me…” (And so on).
* Ever one for the path of least resistance the bard proffers that if we agree to help him, he could “possible, maybe, perhaps, see your way to putting out the fires so we can continue?”. Nothing happens, he then (all too easily) declares that he shall free him / her / it from whatever prison… while nothing outwardly changes, deep inside Brick feels some boon come across him (something that echoes in his soul many promises that I never wrote down… other than the all important and overpowered ability that no strong breeze will ever knock him over… such is the awesome power granted by INDOMITABILITY BOON)… “ALL OR NONE!” states the voice and then fades, but the barricade remains on fire.
* Back in the action a full-scale retreat is sounded and we scale the burning barricade, Cricket is forced to clamber back over as Elisha is unable to scale the barricade. Together with Urien the pair manage to get the invoker up onto the burning platform moments before the fiery wave slams into the barricade and vanishes, from the flames the Stag stamps its hooves in fury and darts off into the forest, the buck follows.
* The face appears in the flames again, the crackling of the forest fires all seem to whisper nonsense and then suddenly hush as the voice booms “FOLLOW THE RIVER, SET ME FREE!” however we are loath to follow the things sudden instructions as we are slightly burnt (some of us even still on fire but not seeming to notice…) so we rest right there by the burning logs… moments later the face roars in the flames again “You shall face one who has my boon, if you do not fall before his blade, you shall burn before my fire!”, Brick feels the etchings on his soul erase themselves, the boon has been revoked… our choice made, another enemy on the list (a growing list filled with blank entries, seems we make enemies without knowing who or what they are quite a lot).
* Rested and somewhat rejuvenated we venture further along the path, still keen to find the river and eventually we spy it and a large blackened stone bridge over it, in the middle of the bridge is an offshoot leading to a guard tower, across the river the forest seems to open up slightly, burnt and destroyed buildings hint at a village or town ahead.
* Lembit gets very excited as we close in on the bridge and its design becomes apparent, the whole bridge has been carved to resemble entwined trees and leaves, he regales us with
stories of the clan of elves that favoured this architecture style (and of course the other elves clans that thought it was a bit pretentious), as with many of the shamans academic anecdotes they’re ignored by the two half-Orcs who cannonball into the river, scrubbing the soot and ash off of them as best they can (and sadly leave the gloriously hot water covered in a gluey waxy paste as the soot has congealed), they’re joined by Lembit and Brick. Urien (clad in heavy armour and no time for frivolities) declines and Elisha avoids the water (much like all things potentially athletic) preferring discomfort to drowning.
* Brick is the first to actually set foot upon the bridge, rushing ahead heedless of danger and quickly veers off down the little jetty that leads to the tower, his face full of curious joy is quickly wiped away as he feels the floor sink beneath his boot, a loud ominous CLICK and a magical glyph appears upon the stout wooden door of the tower. Blue energy leeches from the doorway weaving into a glowing mace that saunters through the air quickly and smacks him in the face (with a critical hit), the bard back peddles quickly, the mace following him.
o Cricket falls over laughing uncontrollably while Kane takes a more sensible action of slipping past the jetty, trying to get a better look at the door, so that he (a man of roguish talents!) may deactivate the trap.
* Brick suffers another whack by the mace sending him sprawling, Lembit tries to come to his aid by lobbing a vial of Shatterspell (from the goblin cache we found earlier in the forest), its anti magical dust coats the air but the mace resists, dims in colour a little but still waves menacingly over the prone bard, it is then the Maces true weakness is noticed, it cannot strike a enemies below 2ft off of the ground.
o However this doesn’t stop it from floating over the bridge looking for targets for several moments before our “master thief” manages to deactivate the thing..
* The trap defeated only a barred door halts our entry into the tower, time for Kane to shine again, and mere moments before frustration would’ve caused us to break the thing down he manages to finally get purchase upon the iron bar and slides it from its holding where it clangs noisily to the stone floor.
* Kane’s luck continues as we spot another glyph on the floor, which explodes under his prodding, bathing the ground floor in blinding white light (striking Lembit but not Kane), its magic spent the rune fades and we can begin to search the place.
* The ground floor turns out to be a small barracks, kitchen and eating area. Poking around we find some gold and a potion of healing left under the covers of an old bed.
* On the next floor we find two bodies, badly mummified and desiccated by the heat, one has a key tied to his wrist that Kane neatly pockets without disturbing the bodies too much. The stairs leading up to the next floor look quite rickety, Kane (ever the explorer) gives them a heavy prod with a stolen spear (possibly too heavy a prod) and the whole thing collapses, only a few stairs remain at the top of the now ruined staircase forming a small landing to its door. He clambers up and secures a rope to the stairs so the rest of us can get up.
* We also find what looks like the commanders room, a large room filled with a long table and office. On top of the table is a charred map covered in small wooden tokens. We also find a logbook that Lembit is quick to leaf through it picking out key bits of information hidden within the tales of the slow retreat of the Elven author.
o A hidden cellar can be found under “The Willow”, however we are unaware that the willow is (other than a tree, perhaps a specific willow tree bigger than the others, or the name of a pub).
o The survivors constantly mention an Elven hero (some as praise, some as curses) name Anyariel, a holy warrior who died before the fires started.
* However Lembit has also heard of her and adds the following to her legend:
* She wielded a magical wooden sword given to her by her Dryad lover Timber.
* Her last foe was a great stag that could not be killed, she pinned the creature with her sword at the bottom of a lake.
* The lake (where the stag is held) belonged to a nymph who was also in love with her and jealous that she chose the dryad over her.
* The shrine of this village is mentioned a few times in the log and bears investigating.
* Finally we find a locked cupboard that Kane (once again) is unable to unlock, so we smash the door in and find amidst the assorted brooms and buckets a small leather pouch covered in crude symbols a note sat atop it reads (in Elven) “to investigate later”.
o Opening the pouch reveals a number of seeds and some goblin symbols, which can be deciphered as “swallow one to see big firemaker, two to sleep forever”, or one for some prophetic vision, two will kill you.
o Lembit identifies the runes are from the same goblin clan as we found items from before (the Razortooth clan) and supposedly still live within the forest in caves underneath where it is cooler. There are many rumours of the Shahalesti elves hiring these goblins to start the fires.
* With the tower fully investigated our sights turn to the village and the shrine within, but before that seeing that several of the buildings are still in tact we have a nose about, collecting some strange magical trinkets left behind.
o We find a necklace of ivory leaves (25g), wearing this necklace allows the person to understand the Elven language but while wearing it cannot understand any other language.
o A wonderfully made lyre (still in tact) along with an old songbook, this is lovingly stowed with the bards backpage, wrapped well to protect it from the heat.
o A book on tattooing, most of its pages are dedicated to a single huge tattoo designed to be spread across two lovers bodies to pronounce their endless love for each other.
o A chord that can be wrapped around two people, a gemstone changes colour to reveal any family connection.
* However during our searches we manage to wake some slumbering vermin and are attacked by groups of rats and bats, leaving Brick, Lembit and Cricket suffering from “Fiery Filth Fever” (both at stage 1, lose 1 healing surge that cannot be regained until cured).
o With the vermin defeated, we inspect our itching wounds… the journey to the shrine temporarily forgotten.
Eccles
Ragged idiot in a trilby.
9th April
* With the fiery critter menace ended (for now!), we take a few moments to see to our wounds (our poor infected wounds!) and Lembit (rather sensibly) insists upon disposing of the temporarily dead burning vermin. We gingerly transport the bodies back to the river and pitch them in, the fire is quenched and the bodies give a little spasm before drifting down into the depths, finally dead.
* Our sights turn once again towards the village shrine, which we find on the other side of town a little way out into the forest and discover the Shrine is a large fountain, much like the bridge the stone fountain is carved to resemble wood, in this case a large Willow Tree (and no doubt The Willow mentioned in the diary we found before). In front of the willow is a large pool (once no doubt filled with crystal clear water but now clogged with ash) with a path of stepping stones across. Seventeen burning ancient oak trees form a ring around the pool, their blackened gnarled roots seep into the ash filled pool.
* As we approach the ground trembles slightly and ancient decayed hands start to push through the ash covered ground, the dead buried beneath the oak trees no longer seem content to remain in their rest and quickly we find ourselves being attacked by ancient Elven warriors. Some with rusty blades, but three stand apart from the others, less decayed, more noble in bearing and each holding a ghostly longbow.
* When we are suitably distracted by the horde their master appear, from the Stone willow comes a Ghast (those killed while committing the act of Cannibalism will rise as Ghasts, so sayeth the sage), he is trailed by a Spectral Panther that springs and leaps between the trees.
* And so begins our epic battle, causing us a few moments of unpleasantness until finally the Ghast’s Panther is killed (as it was very intent on reducing Lembit to bloody chunks) our attentions are fully directed against its master. Brick, the “noble” bard attempted to snuff out its unlife with a barb ridden insult, designed to cut the psyche as sharply as a blade cuts flesh. It reacted to the threat of “poohing down your face” as would any rational being and fled (where it was caught and promptly cut to pieces by the rest of us), but the damage had been done, odd looks and concerned glances all round!
* Eager to change the subject Lembit streams off academic information about Elven shrines while everyone else does what they can to avoid making eye contact with the Goliath, awkwardness is soon replaced with purposefulness as Kane locates a hidden door beneath the stone roots of the willow “the entrance to the real shrine, I’ll wager!” says Lembit. Kane starts withdrawing complex looking tools from his pouches, while the rest of us simply withdraw… so as not to distract him obviously.
* Eventually he manages to open the thing and the rogue pushes the door open gently, the door is wrenched the rest of the way open by forces unseen, behind the portal awaits a knight in full armour, shield and sword raised for battle… the Half-Orcs worried shriek summons the rest of us, just in time to catch the growled Elven words of the Knight as he gestures rather pointedly at the Solar Polansis Badge upon Kane’s Tunic. A symbol that features quite highly upon the knights own armour and shield.
* Urien successfully manages to diffuse the situation, explaining that we found the badge of his Fellow Paladin in a cave and after giving the man a proper burial took the badge and then quickly steer the conversation away from the badge and who he is and more importantly what he’s doing here.
* We discover the following
o His name is Eta’ranth, a Shalhalisti Paladin and he was in the forest when things seemed to be going bad, he received a divine message to head to the burial shrine and once he entered he was put in stasis and new nothing more until we opened the door and freed him.
o He’s very confused when we catch him up to world events as the Ragesian Empire didn’t exist, it was just a clan of Orcs / Half-Orcs at the time
o Once he finds out about the state of the forest he is very angry at his god, given a mission to guards a shrine rather than aid the others. (A Shrine we quickly find that had been plundered of its Relic before he even arrived).
o He tells us a little more about the paladin whose body we found, Eta’Ranth is unaware of any dealings with goblins (and we don’t mention the goblin bodies) but did mention that the other Paladin did say he had another duty to perform and left them (presumably to meet with the goblins to pay them and then died).
* With him somewhat soothed we leave him to his own devices while we have a look in the shrine (which he doesn’t object to) and follow the little passage down into a hollow chamber beneath the pool.
* A large statue of Anyariel (the elf hero) fighting the giant stag dominates the chamber, beneath presumably is where her body can be found.
* We find the remains of two bodies, both elves. One a priest (and highly likely the priest who wrote the diary we found) as next to him is a man in chains (the prisoner mentioned in the diary). Both Lembit and Brick agree that the wounds upon the chained body suggest torture and the priest’s war hammer lays between the bodies, likely the implement used.
o Lembit discovers the war hammer is enchanted, bound with healing magic (which is ironic for a weapon used to torture a prisoner... but I digress) and so is presented to the Paladin Urien. His own / old sword is in turn offered to Eta’Ranth who takes it gladly.
* The final item of note is the Reliquary itself, a small smashed glass cabinet whatever relic it once held has been long stolen. Eta’Ranth has no clue what was inside or who stole it, he himself had never been in the shrine proper; being placed in Deific Stasis the moment the shrine was sealed.
* We spend the night here in the shrine, the energies of the shrine aiding us in shaking off the worst of the infection (no longer are we plagued by the Fiery Filth Fever!) and chat with the paladin. He is keen about more knowledge of his comrades’ death and once he has confirmed he was buried in the proper Solar Palansis manner (something Lembit was happy to talk to him in great detail about) he believes that his god meant for him to aid us.
* But he also wishes to test his theory, he will shut himself back in the shrine after we leave, If he should stay he believe his god will once again place him in stasis to guard the shrine, if not he will join us. We do as he asks and quickly hear thumping on the door, we have picked up another travelling companion (so he can keep Torrent company and hopefully is a better cook than her!).
* With the village and its shrine explored we are left with a decision of where to go next, the choices being to continue along the main path, a straight (ish) run south to the edge of the forest and beyond, or we search for a boat and ride the river down to the Lake (where the indomitable is said to be trapped) and deal with whatever situation we find there.
o After much discussion (and people with more knowledge from playing the campaign before keeping quiet) we decide upon the boat option, a shorter journey, the lure of more treasure and the fact we probably aren’t going to be able to leave the forest anyway unless we directly cooperate or defeat the Indomitable.
* And so begins the epic voyage of “Captain” Brick as we find a large row boat just big enough for us all to squeeze in, and soon the rhythmic beat of his drum and chants of “pull” are mentally drowned out and we travel down river by the sweat and toil of the half-orcs and paladins, with some meagre assistance of the flabby armed shaman.
* Our little boat trip suffers from several disturbances on our trip to the lake, the first occurs barely an hour into the voyage as up ahead lies another of the stone bridges (again carved to resemble entwined trees), rest atop it is the bearded devil we met earlier in the forest, his huge Glaive rests against the stone wall, as we drift closer the hails us and wishes to Parley and so we halt our journey to hear his words.
o He introduces himself by the name of Kazzak reveals to us that he is enslaved by the Ragesian’s (showing the cold iron collar fastened around his neck), but won’t say who exactly (but a whispered word from Blarney the Imp suggests that it’s likely the same mage who summoned him back in gate pass).
o However he has no respect for his “employer” and much for us, having watched and tested us during our time within the forest , so he has a deal for us and shows us the magical contract that bounds his service, highlighting two main points
* He is to return with the obsidian box (this time described in much more detail than just “the box they carry” that Blarney used to escaped the bonds of his contract) however again the wording of the box is vague enough to suggest that the contents do not need to be inside.
* He is not permitted to let us leave the burning forest with our lives. However he has been in contact with the indomitable, if we were to help free him from the “wicked twisted fey” that sing to keep him imprisoned he would leave this world, his spell broken the forest would no longer burn, thus negating the “burning forest” part of his instruction.
* He makes quite the convincing argument and as a first point of action we take another look at the box we are carrying, kane’s fumblings eventually bear fruit and with a satisfying click the box slides open, we remove the small leather pouch stored inside. Lembit quickly looks inside, seeing about 50 pages filled with tiny script and diagrams, clearly the blueprints for something but seems to be written in gibberish, clearly heavily encoded. We leave the box on the shore for the Devil and continue our journey downstream, eager to reach the lake and try to make more sense of the situation.
* Our next distraction comes several hours later, after passing under several more bridges (of a similar design to the towns, with a guard tower on a small jetty from the main bridge) we hear singing, a hauntingly beautiful female voice singing a song that seems both mournful yet hopeful (or at least that is what Brick informs the rest of us it is, could be a song about a cabbage as far as the half-orcs are concerned).
* As we get closer we can pick out the singer, a female elf like creature with butterfly wings (which Lembit instantly recognises as a Seelie, a type of faerie or fey), she looks tired and malnourished (and also on fire… but isn’t everything). As we drift a little closer it appears a band of similar on fire fairies step on to the bridge, quickly surrounding the tower area and begin throwing rocks at her (of course being the trooper she is, she keeps singing!)
* Ever the kind soul Brick insists that we help the woman (regardless of the fact we said to the bearded devil we’d stop all the fey at the lake from singing, but semantics we aren’t at the lake… so its ok) and he begins steering the boat over to the side of the river so we can get up on the bridge and we quickly find ourselves in a bit of a Mexican stand off, both Lembit and Urien attempt o diffuse the situation but are only met with “She must die, it is a point of honour, the song must be silenced!” from the head Seelie, as his band continues its assault on the singing woman (now looking very battered).
* In retaliation to this the Bard screams one of his magical attacks at the head Seelie (missing him completely), the female Seelie lets out a ear piercing screech, stunning the other fairies around her and then on flaming butterfly wings ungracefully launches herself from the tower jetty to our side of the bridge and lands behind the Paladin, hateful fairy eyes turn on us, it appears our choice has been made.
* It turns out to be a swift and bloody choice, the Seelie are cut apart, beaten, broken and in several cases blasted over the side of the bridge into the water below, their high pitched screams cut off as the water snuffs the fire, giving them a true death.
* And so we find ourselves with another companion (two in one day… they’re like busses!) with the odd name of Tiljam, we patch her up as best we can while she chatters non stop about something called the Song of Forms (the song she and others of her kind must sing), and that the others are rebels who now refuse to sing the song, the song that evidently protects them from the fires and keeps the Indomitable imprisoned. She wishes us to take her back to her village near the lake so that we may see the Elder there.
* Our journey to the village is somewhat stilted as Tiljam refuses to ride in the boat (the water being sudden death for her) so some of us walk along side the river, other ride the boat. This some what boring trudge is broken up by Kazzic taunting Tiljan from the wood, teleporting away whenever her temper gets the better of he and she tries to attack him, he returns a few minutes later, ready to goad her some more until finally the river starts to widen into the lake and the sounds of fairy singing filters through the crackling flames. The demon vanishes and doesn’t return.
* The “village” such as it is, seems to be a cliff face filled with caves, a stone wall and flaming barricade around the cliff forms an area that technically could be a village, if it lacked normal buildings other than a few stone towers (in which stand Seelie’s singing the song of forms in shifts).
* Here we are introduced to the Elder of the Seelie, Papu’van and we are invited into his cave and afforded much respect and courtesy (apart from Lembit who appeared to have insulted the Seelie by mispronouncing his named as Papa Smurf… obviously a grave insult to the Seelie).
o He tells us a little more about the song of forms, and we discover the song in its entirety takes over a month to sing, and offers to teach it to us, even Brick seems keen to let this ditty pass him by.
o The songs main purpose (aside from any ceremonial stuff) seems to be making sure the giant stag the Anyariel imprisoned inside the Lake stays there .
o He also tells us of Gwenver, once a Nymph but now a Hag. She was in love with Anyariel but the elf maid chose the Dryad Timbre over her which sent her mad with jealousy. She often appears near the edge of the lake to shout insults into the forest while clutching a lock of Anyariels Hair (the stolen relic from the shrine). Her and her twisted children now control the lake. But she comes times can be lured to the surface with a sacrifice of meat to eat, and then she’ll just sit there talking about her endless love for Anyariel.
o The other side of the couple, Timbre can be heard weeping in the forest. Her tree sits in the centre of the forest, the First Tree, heart of the wood. It was from this tree that the wooden blade that imprisoned the Stag was carved, a gift to Anyariel. Now the tree is guarded by the strongest of the indomitable and Timbre is most certainly insane from grief and pain. But wishes that he could try and talk to the Dryad but she is most illusive.
* Leaving the old man’s cave we are introduced and invited into the cave of Vuul (an evil Vizier name if ever there was one), inside we are given a courteous welcome speech and an offer of comfort and food (empty cushion casings and burnt acorns… a thinly veiled insult perhaps).
o We discover that he is the leader of the rebel faction and mostly the person that ordered the attack on Tiljam earlier at the bridge, something she starts complaining about until Vuul sings a little song and she calms down almost instantly (which from now on shall be dubbed Ro-HipHop-nol) as if nothing bad had happened to her.
o He reveals his grand side plan to us (all for the good of the forest!) that the curse must end; he and his people must given their all for the greater good. The song must end, but he doesn’t want to see his people butchered and believes and single act could shock his people into halting the song. If we were to just stumble across Timbre in the forest and maybe just end her life (nothing too disfiguring of course, that would be a step too far) and then preset the body to the Seelie this would shock them for long enough that the song would cease to be sung, the curse ended, the forest would burn and natural balance would be restored.
o He’s quick to point out that even Timbre burns within pain and madness, easing her suffering would be a boon to her as well… Upon this little speech Tiljam once again flares up in anger spitting in the mans face but before she stalks more than fives steps away, another song flutters on his lips and she is once more subdued (very creepy, but you could almost see Lembit trying to recall the words as he was singing).
* However that about wraps up our meeting with Vuul and so we wander back into the village, meet a few more Seelies and discover of the forty or two villagers, only sixteen of them still keep the song going, singing in shifts and soon Tiljam must leave to start her own shift.
o She does however share her thoughts that she wishes they could end the song but there must be another way to save the lives of her people, that is what she has been searching for and what caused her to leave the village in the first place, she believes that Anyariels sword is the key.
o She then leaves to perform her shift leaving us in the fairies village; we find an empty cave and start weighing up our options.
* With the fiery critter menace ended (for now!), we take a few moments to see to our wounds (our poor infected wounds!) and Lembit (rather sensibly) insists upon disposing of the temporarily dead burning vermin. We gingerly transport the bodies back to the river and pitch them in, the fire is quenched and the bodies give a little spasm before drifting down into the depths, finally dead.
* Our sights turn once again towards the village shrine, which we find on the other side of town a little way out into the forest and discover the Shrine is a large fountain, much like the bridge the stone fountain is carved to resemble wood, in this case a large Willow Tree (and no doubt The Willow mentioned in the diary we found before). In front of the willow is a large pool (once no doubt filled with crystal clear water but now clogged with ash) with a path of stepping stones across. Seventeen burning ancient oak trees form a ring around the pool, their blackened gnarled roots seep into the ash filled pool.
* As we approach the ground trembles slightly and ancient decayed hands start to push through the ash covered ground, the dead buried beneath the oak trees no longer seem content to remain in their rest and quickly we find ourselves being attacked by ancient Elven warriors. Some with rusty blades, but three stand apart from the others, less decayed, more noble in bearing and each holding a ghostly longbow.
* When we are suitably distracted by the horde their master appear, from the Stone willow comes a Ghast (those killed while committing the act of Cannibalism will rise as Ghasts, so sayeth the sage), he is trailed by a Spectral Panther that springs and leaps between the trees.
* And so begins our epic battle, causing us a few moments of unpleasantness until finally the Ghast’s Panther is killed (as it was very intent on reducing Lembit to bloody chunks) our attentions are fully directed against its master. Brick, the “noble” bard attempted to snuff out its unlife with a barb ridden insult, designed to cut the psyche as sharply as a blade cuts flesh. It reacted to the threat of “poohing down your face” as would any rational being and fled (where it was caught and promptly cut to pieces by the rest of us), but the damage had been done, odd looks and concerned glances all round!
* Eager to change the subject Lembit streams off academic information about Elven shrines while everyone else does what they can to avoid making eye contact with the Goliath, awkwardness is soon replaced with purposefulness as Kane locates a hidden door beneath the stone roots of the willow “the entrance to the real shrine, I’ll wager!” says Lembit. Kane starts withdrawing complex looking tools from his pouches, while the rest of us simply withdraw… so as not to distract him obviously.
* Eventually he manages to open the thing and the rogue pushes the door open gently, the door is wrenched the rest of the way open by forces unseen, behind the portal awaits a knight in full armour, shield and sword raised for battle… the Half-Orcs worried shriek summons the rest of us, just in time to catch the growled Elven words of the Knight as he gestures rather pointedly at the Solar Polansis Badge upon Kane’s Tunic. A symbol that features quite highly upon the knights own armour and shield.
* Urien successfully manages to diffuse the situation, explaining that we found the badge of his Fellow Paladin in a cave and after giving the man a proper burial took the badge and then quickly steer the conversation away from the badge and who he is and more importantly what he’s doing here.
* We discover the following
o His name is Eta’ranth, a Shalhalisti Paladin and he was in the forest when things seemed to be going bad, he received a divine message to head to the burial shrine and once he entered he was put in stasis and new nothing more until we opened the door and freed him.
o He’s very confused when we catch him up to world events as the Ragesian Empire didn’t exist, it was just a clan of Orcs / Half-Orcs at the time
o Once he finds out about the state of the forest he is very angry at his god, given a mission to guards a shrine rather than aid the others. (A Shrine we quickly find that had been plundered of its Relic before he even arrived).
o He tells us a little more about the paladin whose body we found, Eta’Ranth is unaware of any dealings with goblins (and we don’t mention the goblin bodies) but did mention that the other Paladin did say he had another duty to perform and left them (presumably to meet with the goblins to pay them and then died).
* With him somewhat soothed we leave him to his own devices while we have a look in the shrine (which he doesn’t object to) and follow the little passage down into a hollow chamber beneath the pool.
* A large statue of Anyariel (the elf hero) fighting the giant stag dominates the chamber, beneath presumably is where her body can be found.
* We find the remains of two bodies, both elves. One a priest (and highly likely the priest who wrote the diary we found) as next to him is a man in chains (the prisoner mentioned in the diary). Both Lembit and Brick agree that the wounds upon the chained body suggest torture and the priest’s war hammer lays between the bodies, likely the implement used.
o Lembit discovers the war hammer is enchanted, bound with healing magic (which is ironic for a weapon used to torture a prisoner... but I digress) and so is presented to the Paladin Urien. His own / old sword is in turn offered to Eta’Ranth who takes it gladly.
* The final item of note is the Reliquary itself, a small smashed glass cabinet whatever relic it once held has been long stolen. Eta’Ranth has no clue what was inside or who stole it, he himself had never been in the shrine proper; being placed in Deific Stasis the moment the shrine was sealed.
* We spend the night here in the shrine, the energies of the shrine aiding us in shaking off the worst of the infection (no longer are we plagued by the Fiery Filth Fever!) and chat with the paladin. He is keen about more knowledge of his comrades’ death and once he has confirmed he was buried in the proper Solar Palansis manner (something Lembit was happy to talk to him in great detail about) he believes that his god meant for him to aid us.
* But he also wishes to test his theory, he will shut himself back in the shrine after we leave, If he should stay he believe his god will once again place him in stasis to guard the shrine, if not he will join us. We do as he asks and quickly hear thumping on the door, we have picked up another travelling companion (so he can keep Torrent company and hopefully is a better cook than her!).
* With the village and its shrine explored we are left with a decision of where to go next, the choices being to continue along the main path, a straight (ish) run south to the edge of the forest and beyond, or we search for a boat and ride the river down to the Lake (where the indomitable is said to be trapped) and deal with whatever situation we find there.
o After much discussion (and people with more knowledge from playing the campaign before keeping quiet) we decide upon the boat option, a shorter journey, the lure of more treasure and the fact we probably aren’t going to be able to leave the forest anyway unless we directly cooperate or defeat the Indomitable.
* And so begins the epic voyage of “Captain” Brick as we find a large row boat just big enough for us all to squeeze in, and soon the rhythmic beat of his drum and chants of “pull” are mentally drowned out and we travel down river by the sweat and toil of the half-orcs and paladins, with some meagre assistance of the flabby armed shaman.
* Our little boat trip suffers from several disturbances on our trip to the lake, the first occurs barely an hour into the voyage as up ahead lies another of the stone bridges (again carved to resemble entwined trees), rest atop it is the bearded devil we met earlier in the forest, his huge Glaive rests against the stone wall, as we drift closer the hails us and wishes to Parley and so we halt our journey to hear his words.
o He introduces himself by the name of Kazzak reveals to us that he is enslaved by the Ragesian’s (showing the cold iron collar fastened around his neck), but won’t say who exactly (but a whispered word from Blarney the Imp suggests that it’s likely the same mage who summoned him back in gate pass).
o However he has no respect for his “employer” and much for us, having watched and tested us during our time within the forest , so he has a deal for us and shows us the magical contract that bounds his service, highlighting two main points
* He is to return with the obsidian box (this time described in much more detail than just “the box they carry” that Blarney used to escaped the bonds of his contract) however again the wording of the box is vague enough to suggest that the contents do not need to be inside.
* He is not permitted to let us leave the burning forest with our lives. However he has been in contact with the indomitable, if we were to help free him from the “wicked twisted fey” that sing to keep him imprisoned he would leave this world, his spell broken the forest would no longer burn, thus negating the “burning forest” part of his instruction.
* He makes quite the convincing argument and as a first point of action we take another look at the box we are carrying, kane’s fumblings eventually bear fruit and with a satisfying click the box slides open, we remove the small leather pouch stored inside. Lembit quickly looks inside, seeing about 50 pages filled with tiny script and diagrams, clearly the blueprints for something but seems to be written in gibberish, clearly heavily encoded. We leave the box on the shore for the Devil and continue our journey downstream, eager to reach the lake and try to make more sense of the situation.
* Our next distraction comes several hours later, after passing under several more bridges (of a similar design to the towns, with a guard tower on a small jetty from the main bridge) we hear singing, a hauntingly beautiful female voice singing a song that seems both mournful yet hopeful (or at least that is what Brick informs the rest of us it is, could be a song about a cabbage as far as the half-orcs are concerned).
* As we get closer we can pick out the singer, a female elf like creature with butterfly wings (which Lembit instantly recognises as a Seelie, a type of faerie or fey), she looks tired and malnourished (and also on fire… but isn’t everything). As we drift a little closer it appears a band of similar on fire fairies step on to the bridge, quickly surrounding the tower area and begin throwing rocks at her (of course being the trooper she is, she keeps singing!)
* Ever the kind soul Brick insists that we help the woman (regardless of the fact we said to the bearded devil we’d stop all the fey at the lake from singing, but semantics we aren’t at the lake… so its ok) and he begins steering the boat over to the side of the river so we can get up on the bridge and we quickly find ourselves in a bit of a Mexican stand off, both Lembit and Urien attempt o diffuse the situation but are only met with “She must die, it is a point of honour, the song must be silenced!” from the head Seelie, as his band continues its assault on the singing woman (now looking very battered).
* In retaliation to this the Bard screams one of his magical attacks at the head Seelie (missing him completely), the female Seelie lets out a ear piercing screech, stunning the other fairies around her and then on flaming butterfly wings ungracefully launches herself from the tower jetty to our side of the bridge and lands behind the Paladin, hateful fairy eyes turn on us, it appears our choice has been made.
* It turns out to be a swift and bloody choice, the Seelie are cut apart, beaten, broken and in several cases blasted over the side of the bridge into the water below, their high pitched screams cut off as the water snuffs the fire, giving them a true death.
* And so we find ourselves with another companion (two in one day… they’re like busses!) with the odd name of Tiljam, we patch her up as best we can while she chatters non stop about something called the Song of Forms (the song she and others of her kind must sing), and that the others are rebels who now refuse to sing the song, the song that evidently protects them from the fires and keeps the Indomitable imprisoned. She wishes us to take her back to her village near the lake so that we may see the Elder there.
* Our journey to the village is somewhat stilted as Tiljam refuses to ride in the boat (the water being sudden death for her) so some of us walk along side the river, other ride the boat. This some what boring trudge is broken up by Kazzic taunting Tiljan from the wood, teleporting away whenever her temper gets the better of he and she tries to attack him, he returns a few minutes later, ready to goad her some more until finally the river starts to widen into the lake and the sounds of fairy singing filters through the crackling flames. The demon vanishes and doesn’t return.
* The “village” such as it is, seems to be a cliff face filled with caves, a stone wall and flaming barricade around the cliff forms an area that technically could be a village, if it lacked normal buildings other than a few stone towers (in which stand Seelie’s singing the song of forms in shifts).
* Here we are introduced to the Elder of the Seelie, Papu’van and we are invited into his cave and afforded much respect and courtesy (apart from Lembit who appeared to have insulted the Seelie by mispronouncing his named as Papa Smurf… obviously a grave insult to the Seelie).
o He tells us a little more about the song of forms, and we discover the song in its entirety takes over a month to sing, and offers to teach it to us, even Brick seems keen to let this ditty pass him by.
o The songs main purpose (aside from any ceremonial stuff) seems to be making sure the giant stag the Anyariel imprisoned inside the Lake stays there .
o He also tells us of Gwenver, once a Nymph but now a Hag. She was in love with Anyariel but the elf maid chose the Dryad Timbre over her which sent her mad with jealousy. She often appears near the edge of the lake to shout insults into the forest while clutching a lock of Anyariels Hair (the stolen relic from the shrine). Her and her twisted children now control the lake. But she comes times can be lured to the surface with a sacrifice of meat to eat, and then she’ll just sit there talking about her endless love for Anyariel.
o The other side of the couple, Timbre can be heard weeping in the forest. Her tree sits in the centre of the forest, the First Tree, heart of the wood. It was from this tree that the wooden blade that imprisoned the Stag was carved, a gift to Anyariel. Now the tree is guarded by the strongest of the indomitable and Timbre is most certainly insane from grief and pain. But wishes that he could try and talk to the Dryad but she is most illusive.
* Leaving the old man’s cave we are introduced and invited into the cave of Vuul (an evil Vizier name if ever there was one), inside we are given a courteous welcome speech and an offer of comfort and food (empty cushion casings and burnt acorns… a thinly veiled insult perhaps).
o We discover that he is the leader of the rebel faction and mostly the person that ordered the attack on Tiljam earlier at the bridge, something she starts complaining about until Vuul sings a little song and she calms down almost instantly (which from now on shall be dubbed Ro-HipHop-nol) as if nothing bad had happened to her.
o He reveals his grand side plan to us (all for the good of the forest!) that the curse must end; he and his people must given their all for the greater good. The song must end, but he doesn’t want to see his people butchered and believes and single act could shock his people into halting the song. If we were to just stumble across Timbre in the forest and maybe just end her life (nothing too disfiguring of course, that would be a step too far) and then preset the body to the Seelie this would shock them for long enough that the song would cease to be sung, the curse ended, the forest would burn and natural balance would be restored.
o He’s quick to point out that even Timbre burns within pain and madness, easing her suffering would be a boon to her as well… Upon this little speech Tiljam once again flares up in anger spitting in the mans face but before she stalks more than fives steps away, another song flutters on his lips and she is once more subdued (very creepy, but you could almost see Lembit trying to recall the words as he was singing).
* However that about wraps up our meeting with Vuul and so we wander back into the village, meet a few more Seelies and discover of the forty or two villagers, only sixteen of them still keep the song going, singing in shifts and soon Tiljam must leave to start her own shift.
o She does however share her thoughts that she wishes they could end the song but there must be another way to save the lives of her people, that is what she has been searching for and what caused her to leave the village in the first place, she believes that Anyariels sword is the key.
o She then leaves to perform her shift leaving us in the fairies village; we find an empty cave and start weighing up our options.
Colmarr
First Post
Sorry to bring up the past, but... that's hilarious!
Eccles
Ragged idiot in a trilby.
16th April
* So we still find ourselves in the village / caves of the Seela, the race of singing fairyfolk that are bound to the forest. Having weighed up our options we decide upon our plan of action, visiting the Hag of the Lake (Gwenlyn) and retrieving the lock of Anyariel’s hair with which to make contact with Timbre the dryad that leaves in the first tree of the forest and is guarded constantly by large indomitable creatures of fire.
* Recalling mentions that the Seela often offered her gifts of meat we hunt down a beast of the forest, douse its flames in the river and then take our gift to her. Following the lake we eventually find a little offshoot leading to a large pool of grey ashen water, wading through the water until we find a small island, on top of which dotted amongst the burning bushes and plants are ornaments of bone and stones that seem to arranged in some sort of tranquillity garden.
* Urien takes charge here, first merely called for the hag, and when that gets no response he hails he by name, the water ripples slightly and she rises from the water inches from him, the nauseous aura rippling from her almost overpowers him but he resists the reflex, swallowing hard to keep his composure. “Oh my dearest, the jealous here come to gaze upon our love” she starts before her ode turns slightly poisonous and immediately calls us upon our reasons for seeing her.
o Urien being close to her spies that she is not “ugly” as you would expect of a hag, merely tainted, she still moves with unearthly grace and agility, but as if some how cracked or broken beneath.
o Meanwhile the others notice that the lock of hair is not about her, we must learn where she has hidden it.
* Urien protests our innocence, twisting her accusations towards the idea of mere knowledge, we wished to hear her side of the story, how she was wronged and turned upon, and it is while telling her story that she seems to have a moment of clarity, a single crystal clear tear rolls down her cheek and drips into the ashen water instantly purifying the water around it. She confesses to herself the Anyariel, her love is dead, more tears fall and suddenly she throws her head back and wails in grief.
* Shortly after she bids us to follow her, she turns and wades back towards the island, diving underneath and into a small cave hidden in the hollow of the island. Inside the cave is a small shrine, a huge polished mirror (in a very cracked and broken frame) and an assortment of shiny things amongst various ruined pieces of furniture.
* She takes the hair from the shrine and hands it to the paladin, already the changes across her are visible, and the dirt begins to flake from her skin and hair as she begins reverting to her true form as a lake nymph. She must travel to a shrine further up the river to regain her strength, but as reward for opening her eyes she gives us the treasures of her cave and her blessing (which allows us to swim through the water like fish until the next sunrise) and so she departs, the ashen water filters turning crystal clear behind her as she slips through the water and vanishes from view.
* Armed with the lock of hair we can now try to track down Timbre, Tilljam gives us the directions we need and soon we’re approaching the huge willow tree that is the First Tree of the Forest (naturally burning). Herds of Fiery Stags and Boars form a protective ring around the forest but they spread as we present the hair, a figure peels itself from the burning trunk and steps towards us.
* After a little chit chat finally we get some answers as she tells us the history of the wood and how the first tree was planted by a Gold Dragon (keen gardeners obviously) at a key location, here the ley lines of the feywild touch very closely to our world, the seed was further blessed by a deity of the wilds so that it grew in both the material world and the feywild and soon grew into a mighty forest in this world and theirs.
* This link drew the Seela to the forest, forming a bond with the first tree, and soon elves came from the Feywild to the Material Plane and settled.
* But of course peace doesn’t last eternal and various wars and battles were fought with Timbre picking her lover Anyariel as a guardian of the forest, giving her a branch from the First Tree (and thus part of her self) is was carved into a weapon used to defend the forest.
* Then came Indomitability, who couldn’t be defeated and mortally wounded Anyariel, who then used the sword to imprison the stag, pinning it beneath the lake. When she died “ownership” of the blade passed to the stag as it lay stabbed through his heart and his own twisted link passed through to the forest, to ever burn but never die.
* The sword is the Key, being a part of the first tree the Seela are still bound to it, should the blade be pulled free and the stag slain the forest will have a new guardian, and through them the Seela will be saved. The forest will grow again and in time life will once more prosper here.
* Lembit is the only one who wishes to be a champion for the fairies of the forest and so he shall be the one to draw the blade free. Satisfied Timbre agrees to accompany and fight with us against the stag, we tell her that Papu’Van of the Seela wished to speak with her and head to the village.
* Just outside we are met by Vuul, who offers a cloak to the dryad explaining in silvery words his plan to hide her, so the salvation of the village can be revealed in a dramatic fashion and once covered he calls to the village, we wait as they gather up (the faithful still continuing their song, seriously in the minority among the gathered Seela) and he prepares his speech “Beyond, the time of our salvation is at hand” and he gestures at the Dryad who begins to shed her cloak, like lighting Vuul produces a twisted black dagger and hurls it straight and true, slamming into the wooden heart of the dryad who stands stunned… the song abruptly stops as everyone gasps in confusion.
* Before anyone can react Vuul’s hand twists and stretches into a writhing mass of tentacles and grabs the dieing dryad, flinging her burning body over the village towards the lake, her flames doused the moment they touch the water. His body starts to ripple and twist, growing extra limbs and a horribly hooked nose, he begins to laugh. There is an ominous churning of water from the lake, a dreadful red glow starts to appear deep within the lake.
* The “fight” continues to go down hill for us as he manages to rip several Seela apart with his tentactles before we can do anything about it, Urien, Brick and Lembit goad and encourage the fairy folk to start the song again, scared they begin singing… only to stop again as with a crack of thunder Kazzik appears “I COME AT YOUR CALL, THE SLAUGHTER HAS BEGUN!” and begins summoning lesser demons… the rest of us can merely groan… apart from Urien who stares dagger eyes at Lembit and his conspiring with devils… immediately the Shaman begins trying to reason with the bearded devil, “we did not call you!”.
* Brick tries to salvage the situation by screaming at the little devils, killing a few of them, however the attack on Kazzik is blocked by the demon dragging one of the Seela in front of him, Brick’s magical enhanced voice ripping her to pieces “YES, YES MAKE IT LOOK LIKE AN ACCIDENT!” cries the devil in glee! He then teleports over to the shaman whispering in his ear “I thought we had an agreement, I would come to finish this!” the two then begin arguing, until the demon is attacked again, he then vanishes leaving behind the promise of having another “chat” later about our deal.
* To further confuse methods Vuul disguises himself magically as various member of the party, causing a little friendly fire here and there as people can’t pick one from the other. However eventually the Seela are all encouraged to sing, the Song of Forms affects whatever Vuul is or has become and as the song grows in strength he is restrained back into his fairy
form and killed. However the damage has been done, the bind on the stag has been weakened, the lake bubbles and churns, and sooner or later the stag will be free.
* So after seeing to our wounds and head stagwards, the Seela follow all singing in harmony stopping at the edge of the lake (ready to douse the flames the moment the stag is freed and his curse lifted) as we head into the water, take deep breaths and using the boon given by the nymph swim quickly down to the stag. Down in the darkness we spy him, wreathed in flames even while underwater he is pinned to a great rock, the wooden Sword of Anyariel impaled through its side, as the beast thrashes left and right the sword groans in protest, slowly being levered out.
* As we get close two aquatic ogre like creatures (perhaps the hags children, we never did see them before) attack us, demonstrating a rather nasty attack ability as Urien gets grabbed and the thing clamps its huge mouth over the paladins face and tries to force water into his mouth and nose!
* Once they are dealt with only the stag remains, we take our positions around the thing and wish Lembit luck as he swims close, takes hold of the sword and then tries to brace his legs on the thrashing beast and wrench the blade free. As soon as the blade is free of the rock the beast kicks throwing the Shaman off and makes a dash for the side of the lake leaving a trail of fire (yes even underwater!) behind it. We chase after it and manage to kill it (or banish it, whatever it does when it “dies”) however it would seem it knew its days were numbered and enacted one last final act of spite. Upon its death it exploded, causing a huge plume of water to spout some 30ft up into the air from the lake service, dangerously close to the edge, this searing hot water boils about eight of the Seela alive.
* We drag ourselves out of the lake to be greeted and thanked by the Seela (about as well as you can thank people that saved you but also saw some of your closest friends boiled alive) and they give a chorus of the Song of Forms welcoming in their new champion Lembit who grasps the sword in both hands, and suddenly transforms from a mighty weapon into a length of throbbing wood (or a stave as some may call it) as the song peaks a huge gust of wind whips through the entire forest, fanning the flames and beating them out in a single moment.
* We retire to the Seela village for a rather meagre victory feast, work is starting to be done to rebuild and settled. It appears while the fires are out most of the forests wildlife was not so fortunate and either burnt to death upon the release of the stag of flambéed during the back draft that blew the fires out. (Still for a short time meat was plentiful and precooked).
* And so we end the session as we started it, inside a cave in the Seela village, starting to make choices about when to leave the “not so Indomitable” Forest of Innenotdar, once Lembit has done all the speeches and ceremonies required of the “Guardian of the Forest”, which probably involves a lot of seed planting and hugging trees or something.
* So we still find ourselves in the village / caves of the Seela, the race of singing fairyfolk that are bound to the forest. Having weighed up our options we decide upon our plan of action, visiting the Hag of the Lake (Gwenlyn) and retrieving the lock of Anyariel’s hair with which to make contact with Timbre the dryad that leaves in the first tree of the forest and is guarded constantly by large indomitable creatures of fire.
* Recalling mentions that the Seela often offered her gifts of meat we hunt down a beast of the forest, douse its flames in the river and then take our gift to her. Following the lake we eventually find a little offshoot leading to a large pool of grey ashen water, wading through the water until we find a small island, on top of which dotted amongst the burning bushes and plants are ornaments of bone and stones that seem to arranged in some sort of tranquillity garden.
* Urien takes charge here, first merely called for the hag, and when that gets no response he hails he by name, the water ripples slightly and she rises from the water inches from him, the nauseous aura rippling from her almost overpowers him but he resists the reflex, swallowing hard to keep his composure. “Oh my dearest, the jealous here come to gaze upon our love” she starts before her ode turns slightly poisonous and immediately calls us upon our reasons for seeing her.
o Urien being close to her spies that she is not “ugly” as you would expect of a hag, merely tainted, she still moves with unearthly grace and agility, but as if some how cracked or broken beneath.
o Meanwhile the others notice that the lock of hair is not about her, we must learn where she has hidden it.
* Urien protests our innocence, twisting her accusations towards the idea of mere knowledge, we wished to hear her side of the story, how she was wronged and turned upon, and it is while telling her story that she seems to have a moment of clarity, a single crystal clear tear rolls down her cheek and drips into the ashen water instantly purifying the water around it. She confesses to herself the Anyariel, her love is dead, more tears fall and suddenly she throws her head back and wails in grief.
* Shortly after she bids us to follow her, she turns and wades back towards the island, diving underneath and into a small cave hidden in the hollow of the island. Inside the cave is a small shrine, a huge polished mirror (in a very cracked and broken frame) and an assortment of shiny things amongst various ruined pieces of furniture.
* She takes the hair from the shrine and hands it to the paladin, already the changes across her are visible, and the dirt begins to flake from her skin and hair as she begins reverting to her true form as a lake nymph. She must travel to a shrine further up the river to regain her strength, but as reward for opening her eyes she gives us the treasures of her cave and her blessing (which allows us to swim through the water like fish until the next sunrise) and so she departs, the ashen water filters turning crystal clear behind her as she slips through the water and vanishes from view.
* Armed with the lock of hair we can now try to track down Timbre, Tilljam gives us the directions we need and soon we’re approaching the huge willow tree that is the First Tree of the Forest (naturally burning). Herds of Fiery Stags and Boars form a protective ring around the forest but they spread as we present the hair, a figure peels itself from the burning trunk and steps towards us.
* After a little chit chat finally we get some answers as she tells us the history of the wood and how the first tree was planted by a Gold Dragon (keen gardeners obviously) at a key location, here the ley lines of the feywild touch very closely to our world, the seed was further blessed by a deity of the wilds so that it grew in both the material world and the feywild and soon grew into a mighty forest in this world and theirs.
* This link drew the Seela to the forest, forming a bond with the first tree, and soon elves came from the Feywild to the Material Plane and settled.
* But of course peace doesn’t last eternal and various wars and battles were fought with Timbre picking her lover Anyariel as a guardian of the forest, giving her a branch from the First Tree (and thus part of her self) is was carved into a weapon used to defend the forest.
* Then came Indomitability, who couldn’t be defeated and mortally wounded Anyariel, who then used the sword to imprison the stag, pinning it beneath the lake. When she died “ownership” of the blade passed to the stag as it lay stabbed through his heart and his own twisted link passed through to the forest, to ever burn but never die.
* The sword is the Key, being a part of the first tree the Seela are still bound to it, should the blade be pulled free and the stag slain the forest will have a new guardian, and through them the Seela will be saved. The forest will grow again and in time life will once more prosper here.
* Lembit is the only one who wishes to be a champion for the fairies of the forest and so he shall be the one to draw the blade free. Satisfied Timbre agrees to accompany and fight with us against the stag, we tell her that Papu’Van of the Seela wished to speak with her and head to the village.
* Just outside we are met by Vuul, who offers a cloak to the dryad explaining in silvery words his plan to hide her, so the salvation of the village can be revealed in a dramatic fashion and once covered he calls to the village, we wait as they gather up (the faithful still continuing their song, seriously in the minority among the gathered Seela) and he prepares his speech “Beyond, the time of our salvation is at hand” and he gestures at the Dryad who begins to shed her cloak, like lighting Vuul produces a twisted black dagger and hurls it straight and true, slamming into the wooden heart of the dryad who stands stunned… the song abruptly stops as everyone gasps in confusion.
* Before anyone can react Vuul’s hand twists and stretches into a writhing mass of tentacles and grabs the dieing dryad, flinging her burning body over the village towards the lake, her flames doused the moment they touch the water. His body starts to ripple and twist, growing extra limbs and a horribly hooked nose, he begins to laugh. There is an ominous churning of water from the lake, a dreadful red glow starts to appear deep within the lake.
* The “fight” continues to go down hill for us as he manages to rip several Seela apart with his tentactles before we can do anything about it, Urien, Brick and Lembit goad and encourage the fairy folk to start the song again, scared they begin singing… only to stop again as with a crack of thunder Kazzik appears “I COME AT YOUR CALL, THE SLAUGHTER HAS BEGUN!” and begins summoning lesser demons… the rest of us can merely groan… apart from Urien who stares dagger eyes at Lembit and his conspiring with devils… immediately the Shaman begins trying to reason with the bearded devil, “we did not call you!”.
* Brick tries to salvage the situation by screaming at the little devils, killing a few of them, however the attack on Kazzik is blocked by the demon dragging one of the Seela in front of him, Brick’s magical enhanced voice ripping her to pieces “YES, YES MAKE IT LOOK LIKE AN ACCIDENT!” cries the devil in glee! He then teleports over to the shaman whispering in his ear “I thought we had an agreement, I would come to finish this!” the two then begin arguing, until the demon is attacked again, he then vanishes leaving behind the promise of having another “chat” later about our deal.
* To further confuse methods Vuul disguises himself magically as various member of the party, causing a little friendly fire here and there as people can’t pick one from the other. However eventually the Seela are all encouraged to sing, the Song of Forms affects whatever Vuul is or has become and as the song grows in strength he is restrained back into his fairy
form and killed. However the damage has been done, the bind on the stag has been weakened, the lake bubbles and churns, and sooner or later the stag will be free.
* So after seeing to our wounds and head stagwards, the Seela follow all singing in harmony stopping at the edge of the lake (ready to douse the flames the moment the stag is freed and his curse lifted) as we head into the water, take deep breaths and using the boon given by the nymph swim quickly down to the stag. Down in the darkness we spy him, wreathed in flames even while underwater he is pinned to a great rock, the wooden Sword of Anyariel impaled through its side, as the beast thrashes left and right the sword groans in protest, slowly being levered out.
* As we get close two aquatic ogre like creatures (perhaps the hags children, we never did see them before) attack us, demonstrating a rather nasty attack ability as Urien gets grabbed and the thing clamps its huge mouth over the paladins face and tries to force water into his mouth and nose!
* Once they are dealt with only the stag remains, we take our positions around the thing and wish Lembit luck as he swims close, takes hold of the sword and then tries to brace his legs on the thrashing beast and wrench the blade free. As soon as the blade is free of the rock the beast kicks throwing the Shaman off and makes a dash for the side of the lake leaving a trail of fire (yes even underwater!) behind it. We chase after it and manage to kill it (or banish it, whatever it does when it “dies”) however it would seem it knew its days were numbered and enacted one last final act of spite. Upon its death it exploded, causing a huge plume of water to spout some 30ft up into the air from the lake service, dangerously close to the edge, this searing hot water boils about eight of the Seela alive.
* We drag ourselves out of the lake to be greeted and thanked by the Seela (about as well as you can thank people that saved you but also saw some of your closest friends boiled alive) and they give a chorus of the Song of Forms welcoming in their new champion Lembit who grasps the sword in both hands, and suddenly transforms from a mighty weapon into a length of throbbing wood (or a stave as some may call it) as the song peaks a huge gust of wind whips through the entire forest, fanning the flames and beating them out in a single moment.
* We retire to the Seela village for a rather meagre victory feast, work is starting to be done to rebuild and settled. It appears while the fires are out most of the forests wildlife was not so fortunate and either burnt to death upon the release of the stag of flambéed during the back draft that blew the fires out. (Still for a short time meat was plentiful and precooked).
* And so we end the session as we started it, inside a cave in the Seela village, starting to make choices about when to leave the “not so Indomitable” Forest of Innenotdar, once Lembit has done all the speeches and ceremonies required of the “Guardian of the Forest”, which probably involves a lot of seed planting and hugging trees or something.
Eccles
Ragged idiot in a trilby.
30th April
* Celebrations for the forests freedom from the flames are called short as the reality of the situation starts to show itself for the Seela. The remains of the forest is quickly blanketed in thick drifts of ash, but as the heat dissipates this is replaced with snow and ice as winters touch finally returns from its forty years absence forcing the fey folk to start thinking towards winter clothing and food collection. We prepare to depart as we still have quite far to go to reach Seaqueen and the Lyceum.
* Tiljan asks to join us, keen to know more of the outside well and to improve her grasp of magic. She had studied from a series of books written by a mage called Etin’eefi but has reached the end of her lessons; she hopes to track him down at the lyceum or news of his whereabouts. With no good reason to deny her, she joins the party
* Leaving the forest behind us we have a tough journey through a snow covered mountain path ahead of us, to aid him Brick attempts to build some snow shoes (which turn out rather well) and Kane copies his design managing to fashion something remarkably similar. o http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Ground/english/images/ms/mfn/snowshoes.jpg
* The rest of us trudge on the old fashioned way as we shoulder and dig our way through waist high and deeper snowdrifts, finding small clearings or hollows to rest in until one eve a miraculous sight graces us, a cave… the lure of solid shelter too tempting we dig our way to it.
* Inside we find a body half trapped within a wall of opaque ice, as we step close the corpses arm twitches, reaching and grabbing as the ice around him suddenly splinters and collapses revealing more zombies behind him, an aura of intense cold rippling from the largest of the moving cadavers.
o And so we battle them for the cave, RAWR! Claiming it for our own we dispose of the bodies and get the paladins and cleric to bless and sanctify the place and spend a shivery night near the small fire.
* In the morning we press on through the pass into shallower snow, in the distance we could see a small village alongside a frozen river, a small group of men seemed to be fishing on the ice. Cricket spies a valley that promises a much easier route down to the village, however in this case the “easy route” led to an ambush.
o As we pass through the ambush a bunch of hobgoblins attack us, hiding behind trees and snow dunes they get the drop on us but the tables are rapidly turned, only two of their party manage to escape with their lives, a shaman and his little henchmen flee out of range before we can chase themdown.
* It is while picking over the meagre possessions of the killed hobgoblins that a contingent of guardsmen from the village arrive ripe and ready for battle, they sit in quiet awe (or something) that we are still alive, and immediately their leader questions where we had come from and is shocked to hear of our stories of the forest as he announces we are the first travellers to arrive by this “road” for forty years. We are welcomed to “Lord Reego’s lands” and realise that we have crossed over into the Kingdom of Dassen, of which Seaqueen is “officially” a part of, but still futher south, still we’re on the right track. We are taken back to their village, promises of room at their best tavern in the village are made and so we are taken to the Palatial Inn (which has evidently seen better days, but then the same can be said for the town).
* We are given as much “watery” ale as we can drink and a hearty meal of mutton, beets and tubers, many apologies are made for the poor fair but they’ve had a hard year, lack of trade, the thick snow and hobgoblins has cut them off from the entire northern range, losing them good grazing ground and much of their livestock.
* Brick takes it upon himself to entertain the village, telling them his tales and songs and stories of our (but mostly his) adventures and how we put out the fires in the fire forest,
battled abominable yeti’s and used their thick icy hides to breach the fires… and battle an evil dragon and other such nonsense that they lap up with a ladle.
* The rest of us talk with some of the hunters of the village and start making plans for our journey further south, first we must travel to Cornerwood village and from there we have two options, the east route would take us through the Thornwood and pass through the capital of this fiefdom, the west route follows along the mountains with promises of monsters moving down from the mountains for better weather (but nothing we can’t handle, we’ve fought dragons and yetis!) but also passes near the hot springs which proves too tempting an offer and we spurn civility for some primal wonder.
* In the morning we buy some horses to make the journey a little easier and set off towards Seaqueen.
Day 1
* The journey to Cornerwood is remarkably uneventful and scenic spoiled only by two minor things, the first would be Kane getting saddle sores and spending a large portion of his evening consulting the village herbalists for some cream for his arse.
* The second is a brief visit by the taxman wishing to charge us for using the kings road, but some quick words from Brick invents some imaginary hazards on the roads that we had to “handle” and should really get compensation for, in the ends they decide to call it quits.
* Brick then spends a small fortune (ten whole gold pieces!) on what he described as a “massage” but the rest of us really don’t wish to know.
Day 2
* Having made our choice to go to the hotsprings we set off around the forest, Brightstaff Commons our destination and make it in good enough time for a leisurely evening relaxing in the hot springs.
* Here we hear the tale of the Brightstaff, a legendary holy relic the place was named for. Once protected by a cadre of Dwarven Clerics, the brightstaff was stolen decades ago by a red dragon called Sindar (who has a taste for dwarf flesh it would seem). We pencil this away for something to investigate properly when we are actually capable of dealing with a dragon rather than the feverish delusions of Brick’s stories.
Day 3
* Our first evening without a town to stop in, but our fortune continues as we bump into a group heading in the other direction, hailing them we discover that it is a questing knight and his entourage (servants, armourer, page and squire etc). Sir Quincy Felthoof (fel-thoo-f), a knight of the King, he patrols the roads keeping them clear for good honest travelling folk like ourselves.
* Brick is quick to embellish our story, toning down the more outrageous aspects (battling yetis) but conjures a complete fantasy about his own lineage (a landed noble) with an evil brother than has stolen his land, inheritance and honour.
* The two spend the evening discussing their devices (coats of arms) and the like. Brick is of course unable to show his having refused to wear his armour until his honour is restored!
o Quincy offers Brick one of his lances are a gift.
o The rest of us “commoners” spend a much more humble evening drinking ale with his servants.
* When the Lyceum is mentioned Quincy tells us of his dislike of them, Dassen requested aid from them (which the mages ignored) to help deal with a sorcerer that was trying to tamper with air spirits and ended up causing a huge storm that destroyed quite a large area.
Day 4
* In the morning we leave Sir Felthoof’s camp, continuing on south along the base of the mountain range that follows Dassen’s Coast and around mid-afternoon our slightly dull ride is disturbed by a terrific roar, looking to the sky we see “a large cat with wings” which Lembit eventually recognises as a Sphinx.
* The Sphinx eventually lands near a dwarf who holds up a box and performs some ritual or ceremony.
o We notice the box has a strong resemblance to the box that Erdan Menash asked Brick to take to his sister at the Lyceum.
o We try to find our way up to where the Dwarf and its Sphinx was but by the time we arrive they are long gone.
Day 5
* On the fifth day we reach the end of the mountain range, the coast slowly hoves into view (quite a sight for some who have never seen the ocean!) and we quickly notice that we’re being follows by a small group of knight errant.
* Eventually we slow a little and the catch up and we learn that we have entered the fiefdom of Namen (nay-men), these are knights of Lady Namen and they have orders to hasten refugees and stragglers onwards towards Seaqueen they have no interest in giving charity and taking in any waifs and strays.
Day 6
* Our journey continues through the fief of Namen as we are politely chased out of the region by her road guarding knights.
Day 7
* And so we find ourselves in the Duchy of Megadon (who sadly is not a dinobot) and discover several barricades have been set up along the “Prince’s Road” making sure the tax has been paid, and a fine road it is indeed. After paying the rather bloated travelling fee we spy no less than three groups of peasants repairing, sweeping and generally tending the road as we pass by.
* We find ourselves generally ignored at the town we stayed at, happy to take our money and always making sure we’re passing through rather than staying.
* Brick manages to strike up a few conversations with locals in the tavern and discovers that pretty much everyone praises the duke (or prince as he calls himself) and believes that he would be a much better ruler of Dassen than the current king, they also foolishly believe that the Ragesians are no threat at all.
Day 8
* We pass through the bulk of Megadon *chortle*
Day 9
* Leaving Megadon behind us we reach the duchy of Dean, another loved ruler simply because his taxes seem aimed at lodging and hostelries, more than a few towns have little ghettos outside where refuges have stopped unable to pay the bloated prices for necessities of inside the town.
o We learn the duchies army is quite small but large companies of mercenaries are hired if a show of force is required (unlikely this far south).
* Our kingdom crossing journey ends here in Dean at the town of Veedor, a few miles from the swampy marsh that sits between Dean and Seaqueen.
* Like other towns in Dean this one also has a large refugee camp of people making preparations to cross the swamp (and be fleeced by the towns’ people). The road into the
town is marked with lots of shallow graves, people who fell to frostbite, trench foot, sickness and of course starvation.
* We meet with one of the towns many merchants offering his “last minute bargains for the swamp” and Kane purchases a necklace made from Alligator teeth that will ward off the beats of the swamp.
o We’re also offered some flimsy looking rowboats for the bargain price of 100 gold pieces each, oars not included… each or costs 5gp and of course a further 5gp delivery charge to take it the few miles to the swamp.
o When we ask about travelling the swamp by foot we’re immediately bombarded wit tales of “alligators, owl bears, goblins, evil mages, desperate refugees, swamp spirits and a shrieking dragon” that and more than a few “Maps of the swamp” that are unlikely to be any help at all.
o We do hear one story of a fiery redheaded sorceress who set off into the forest on foot with her bodyguards, and was probably powerful enough and stubborn enough to make it through.
* So with very little choice we allow ourselves to be ripped off and purchase several boats, pay the 5gold (per boat) for the delivery charge and are then both amused and annoyed to see our carpenter hire the services of some scrawny looking refuges to carry the boats for a few coppers.
o We are then bombared with beggars on the trip to the swamp “oh please sir I only need a few more gold to buy my alligator necklace so I can make it through the swamp!” “Please sir just a few coins so I can feed my family more than mud for dinner!” and the like, all are ignored or rebuffed and into the swamp we go in our little boats.
* And so we spend many hours punting and rowing our little boats through the dank and musky swamp, both Brick and Kane suffer from leeches attaching themselves and so we make camp on a little island so they can be treated (or rather poked with fire heated sticks).
* Its while we’re enjoying an unpleasant evening in the swamp when we hear hymn singing coming from the darkness, a few moments later we can barely pick out the light of a lantern drifting across the dank water.
o Torrent recognises the song as some religious hymn she knows and sings back, loud and clear, the light changes direction slightly getting closer and closer until finally a little boat emerges … and that’s when we see its being punted by two female tieflings and the boat itself is laden with broken skulls… (proving that singing brings nothing but trouble!) Torrent stops her song but the damage is already done… to arms behind us we hear rustling in the bushes and two huge crocodiles attack (avoiding Kane, giving falsehope that his necklace worked… this was to be proven wrong very soon).
o The tiefling wizard (name Handria) opens the fight with a large fireball, while the Tiefling cleric (also named Handria) punts their boat to a little island ready to rain death from afar but are slightly surprised when Cricket manages to leap from island to island and plows straight into both of them with his mighty full blade, causing Handria to destroy their own little boat with one of her misdirected spells.
o Eteranth the paladin spends the majority of the fight trapped within the jaws of one of the huge crocodiles into a losing war of attrition.
o The master of the crocodiles as a tiefling druid (also called Handria…) comes walking across the swampy water guiding them to attack.
o And so the three Handria’s are defeated and their crocodiles reduced to so many meaty chunks we find a Large Brass Key on a necklace around the clerics neck.
* Searching around a little we think we manage to spy the route they came from and paddling quietly in our little boats discover a large island compound, a rickety looking wooden fence encircles five or so tumble down shacks… what’s inside… find out next week!
* Celebrations for the forests freedom from the flames are called short as the reality of the situation starts to show itself for the Seela. The remains of the forest is quickly blanketed in thick drifts of ash, but as the heat dissipates this is replaced with snow and ice as winters touch finally returns from its forty years absence forcing the fey folk to start thinking towards winter clothing and food collection. We prepare to depart as we still have quite far to go to reach Seaqueen and the Lyceum.
* Tiljan asks to join us, keen to know more of the outside well and to improve her grasp of magic. She had studied from a series of books written by a mage called Etin’eefi but has reached the end of her lessons; she hopes to track him down at the lyceum or news of his whereabouts. With no good reason to deny her, she joins the party
* Leaving the forest behind us we have a tough journey through a snow covered mountain path ahead of us, to aid him Brick attempts to build some snow shoes (which turn out rather well) and Kane copies his design managing to fashion something remarkably similar. o http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Ground/english/images/ms/mfn/snowshoes.jpg
* The rest of us trudge on the old fashioned way as we shoulder and dig our way through waist high and deeper snowdrifts, finding small clearings or hollows to rest in until one eve a miraculous sight graces us, a cave… the lure of solid shelter too tempting we dig our way to it.
* Inside we find a body half trapped within a wall of opaque ice, as we step close the corpses arm twitches, reaching and grabbing as the ice around him suddenly splinters and collapses revealing more zombies behind him, an aura of intense cold rippling from the largest of the moving cadavers.
o And so we battle them for the cave, RAWR! Claiming it for our own we dispose of the bodies and get the paladins and cleric to bless and sanctify the place and spend a shivery night near the small fire.
* In the morning we press on through the pass into shallower snow, in the distance we could see a small village alongside a frozen river, a small group of men seemed to be fishing on the ice. Cricket spies a valley that promises a much easier route down to the village, however in this case the “easy route” led to an ambush.
o As we pass through the ambush a bunch of hobgoblins attack us, hiding behind trees and snow dunes they get the drop on us but the tables are rapidly turned, only two of their party manage to escape with their lives, a shaman and his little henchmen flee out of range before we can chase themdown.
* It is while picking over the meagre possessions of the killed hobgoblins that a contingent of guardsmen from the village arrive ripe and ready for battle, they sit in quiet awe (or something) that we are still alive, and immediately their leader questions where we had come from and is shocked to hear of our stories of the forest as he announces we are the first travellers to arrive by this “road” for forty years. We are welcomed to “Lord Reego’s lands” and realise that we have crossed over into the Kingdom of Dassen, of which Seaqueen is “officially” a part of, but still futher south, still we’re on the right track. We are taken back to their village, promises of room at their best tavern in the village are made and so we are taken to the Palatial Inn (which has evidently seen better days, but then the same can be said for the town).
* We are given as much “watery” ale as we can drink and a hearty meal of mutton, beets and tubers, many apologies are made for the poor fair but they’ve had a hard year, lack of trade, the thick snow and hobgoblins has cut them off from the entire northern range, losing them good grazing ground and much of their livestock.
* Brick takes it upon himself to entertain the village, telling them his tales and songs and stories of our (but mostly his) adventures and how we put out the fires in the fire forest,
battled abominable yeti’s and used their thick icy hides to breach the fires… and battle an evil dragon and other such nonsense that they lap up with a ladle.
* The rest of us talk with some of the hunters of the village and start making plans for our journey further south, first we must travel to Cornerwood village and from there we have two options, the east route would take us through the Thornwood and pass through the capital of this fiefdom, the west route follows along the mountains with promises of monsters moving down from the mountains for better weather (but nothing we can’t handle, we’ve fought dragons and yetis!) but also passes near the hot springs which proves too tempting an offer and we spurn civility for some primal wonder.
* In the morning we buy some horses to make the journey a little easier and set off towards Seaqueen.
Day 1
* The journey to Cornerwood is remarkably uneventful and scenic spoiled only by two minor things, the first would be Kane getting saddle sores and spending a large portion of his evening consulting the village herbalists for some cream for his arse.
* The second is a brief visit by the taxman wishing to charge us for using the kings road, but some quick words from Brick invents some imaginary hazards on the roads that we had to “handle” and should really get compensation for, in the ends they decide to call it quits.
* Brick then spends a small fortune (ten whole gold pieces!) on what he described as a “massage” but the rest of us really don’t wish to know.
Day 2
* Having made our choice to go to the hotsprings we set off around the forest, Brightstaff Commons our destination and make it in good enough time for a leisurely evening relaxing in the hot springs.
* Here we hear the tale of the Brightstaff, a legendary holy relic the place was named for. Once protected by a cadre of Dwarven Clerics, the brightstaff was stolen decades ago by a red dragon called Sindar (who has a taste for dwarf flesh it would seem). We pencil this away for something to investigate properly when we are actually capable of dealing with a dragon rather than the feverish delusions of Brick’s stories.
Day 3
* Our first evening without a town to stop in, but our fortune continues as we bump into a group heading in the other direction, hailing them we discover that it is a questing knight and his entourage (servants, armourer, page and squire etc). Sir Quincy Felthoof (fel-thoo-f), a knight of the King, he patrols the roads keeping them clear for good honest travelling folk like ourselves.
* Brick is quick to embellish our story, toning down the more outrageous aspects (battling yetis) but conjures a complete fantasy about his own lineage (a landed noble) with an evil brother than has stolen his land, inheritance and honour.
* The two spend the evening discussing their devices (coats of arms) and the like. Brick is of course unable to show his having refused to wear his armour until his honour is restored!
o Quincy offers Brick one of his lances are a gift.
o The rest of us “commoners” spend a much more humble evening drinking ale with his servants.
* When the Lyceum is mentioned Quincy tells us of his dislike of them, Dassen requested aid from them (which the mages ignored) to help deal with a sorcerer that was trying to tamper with air spirits and ended up causing a huge storm that destroyed quite a large area.
Day 4
* In the morning we leave Sir Felthoof’s camp, continuing on south along the base of the mountain range that follows Dassen’s Coast and around mid-afternoon our slightly dull ride is disturbed by a terrific roar, looking to the sky we see “a large cat with wings” which Lembit eventually recognises as a Sphinx.
* The Sphinx eventually lands near a dwarf who holds up a box and performs some ritual or ceremony.
o We notice the box has a strong resemblance to the box that Erdan Menash asked Brick to take to his sister at the Lyceum.
o We try to find our way up to where the Dwarf and its Sphinx was but by the time we arrive they are long gone.
Day 5
* On the fifth day we reach the end of the mountain range, the coast slowly hoves into view (quite a sight for some who have never seen the ocean!) and we quickly notice that we’re being follows by a small group of knight errant.
* Eventually we slow a little and the catch up and we learn that we have entered the fiefdom of Namen (nay-men), these are knights of Lady Namen and they have orders to hasten refugees and stragglers onwards towards Seaqueen they have no interest in giving charity and taking in any waifs and strays.
Day 6
* Our journey continues through the fief of Namen as we are politely chased out of the region by her road guarding knights.
Day 7
* And so we find ourselves in the Duchy of Megadon (who sadly is not a dinobot) and discover several barricades have been set up along the “Prince’s Road” making sure the tax has been paid, and a fine road it is indeed. After paying the rather bloated travelling fee we spy no less than three groups of peasants repairing, sweeping and generally tending the road as we pass by.
* We find ourselves generally ignored at the town we stayed at, happy to take our money and always making sure we’re passing through rather than staying.
* Brick manages to strike up a few conversations with locals in the tavern and discovers that pretty much everyone praises the duke (or prince as he calls himself) and believes that he would be a much better ruler of Dassen than the current king, they also foolishly believe that the Ragesians are no threat at all.
Day 8
* We pass through the bulk of Megadon *chortle*
Day 9
* Leaving Megadon behind us we reach the duchy of Dean, another loved ruler simply because his taxes seem aimed at lodging and hostelries, more than a few towns have little ghettos outside where refuges have stopped unable to pay the bloated prices for necessities of inside the town.
o We learn the duchies army is quite small but large companies of mercenaries are hired if a show of force is required (unlikely this far south).
* Our kingdom crossing journey ends here in Dean at the town of Veedor, a few miles from the swampy marsh that sits between Dean and Seaqueen.
* Like other towns in Dean this one also has a large refugee camp of people making preparations to cross the swamp (and be fleeced by the towns’ people). The road into the
town is marked with lots of shallow graves, people who fell to frostbite, trench foot, sickness and of course starvation.
* We meet with one of the towns many merchants offering his “last minute bargains for the swamp” and Kane purchases a necklace made from Alligator teeth that will ward off the beats of the swamp.
o We’re also offered some flimsy looking rowboats for the bargain price of 100 gold pieces each, oars not included… each or costs 5gp and of course a further 5gp delivery charge to take it the few miles to the swamp.
o When we ask about travelling the swamp by foot we’re immediately bombarded wit tales of “alligators, owl bears, goblins, evil mages, desperate refugees, swamp spirits and a shrieking dragon” that and more than a few “Maps of the swamp” that are unlikely to be any help at all.
o We do hear one story of a fiery redheaded sorceress who set off into the forest on foot with her bodyguards, and was probably powerful enough and stubborn enough to make it through.
* So with very little choice we allow ourselves to be ripped off and purchase several boats, pay the 5gold (per boat) for the delivery charge and are then both amused and annoyed to see our carpenter hire the services of some scrawny looking refuges to carry the boats for a few coppers.
o We are then bombared with beggars on the trip to the swamp “oh please sir I only need a few more gold to buy my alligator necklace so I can make it through the swamp!” “Please sir just a few coins so I can feed my family more than mud for dinner!” and the like, all are ignored or rebuffed and into the swamp we go in our little boats.
* And so we spend many hours punting and rowing our little boats through the dank and musky swamp, both Brick and Kane suffer from leeches attaching themselves and so we make camp on a little island so they can be treated (or rather poked with fire heated sticks).
* Its while we’re enjoying an unpleasant evening in the swamp when we hear hymn singing coming from the darkness, a few moments later we can barely pick out the light of a lantern drifting across the dank water.
o Torrent recognises the song as some religious hymn she knows and sings back, loud and clear, the light changes direction slightly getting closer and closer until finally a little boat emerges … and that’s when we see its being punted by two female tieflings and the boat itself is laden with broken skulls… (proving that singing brings nothing but trouble!) Torrent stops her song but the damage is already done… to arms behind us we hear rustling in the bushes and two huge crocodiles attack (avoiding Kane, giving falsehope that his necklace worked… this was to be proven wrong very soon).
o The tiefling wizard (name Handria) opens the fight with a large fireball, while the Tiefling cleric (also named Handria) punts their boat to a little island ready to rain death from afar but are slightly surprised when Cricket manages to leap from island to island and plows straight into both of them with his mighty full blade, causing Handria to destroy their own little boat with one of her misdirected spells.
o Eteranth the paladin spends the majority of the fight trapped within the jaws of one of the huge crocodiles into a losing war of attrition.
o The master of the crocodiles as a tiefling druid (also called Handria…) comes walking across the swampy water guiding them to attack.
o And so the three Handria’s are defeated and their crocodiles reduced to so many meaty chunks we find a Large Brass Key on a necklace around the clerics neck.
* Searching around a little we think we manage to spy the route they came from and paddling quietly in our little boats discover a large island compound, a rickety looking wooden fence encircles five or so tumble down shacks… what’s inside… find out next week!
RangerWickett
Legend
I liked Handria. But not her friend Handria, though. She was insufferable.
Eccles
Ragged idiot in a trilby.
7th May
* Having followed the “trails” left by the Handria sisters passing we manage to find our way to their home, a little island in the swamp with a few ramshackle buildings and fences , along with a bunch of old boats and a rickety looking jetty. Glancing in some of the boats as we pass we spy rotting bodies, seems a large number of travelling refugees have fallen foul of the sisters.
* On our way to the jetty a hushed conversation blossoms into a shouting argument about the difference between a “Hag” and a “Crone” and which is the correct description of the sisters, this starts a thudding sound from one of the huts… suddenly aware we may have been heard everyone goes on alert.
* Ever Brave and keen to do brave things… Brick leads the way onto the island and feels a ripple of dark energy rush over his body (followed by the rest of us) and the clikity clackity sounds of bones snapping together and a horde of skeletons pull themselves together from the bushes and stumble towards us.
o Lembit quickly uses his academic skills and previous lifetimes of knowledge to determine we’re up against three types of undead, bog standard skeletons that shouldn’t pose much of a problem and then two special types, one filled with necrotic energy that oozes from the blow their killed them (necromancers would harvest this energy and left untapped would cause them to explode). The third type was large things made from the bones of many and sits like a twisting cyclone of jagged bones that engulfs people.
* With much swinging of swords and slinging of spells we emerge victorious and notice the banging is still continuing, so tracking down the correct hut we spy its chained shut with a large brass padlock, utilising the key from the dead witches we unlock and look inside. There on a rotten straw pallet sits a rather curvaceous redheaded female thrashing and crying for help, though at the sight of us she stops her thrashing and does her best to look demure, Brick is instantly smitten and introduces himself, telling tales of our (but mostly hit) daring do as he un-gags the poor wench.
o She introduces herself as Katrina and tells us that she was waiting to be rescued and hopes none of us died on her account.
o Recognising the name and face (and some prompting from the rest of us) Brick recalls he accepted a missive from Rantle (the hero of gatepass!) for his sister, who this of course is. She takes the note gladly, reads it and a flush of disappointment creases her face, “he will not be joining me, he plans to stay in the city… oh well” and bounces back quite quickly. Brick then invites her to join us on our journey to the lyceum, she accepts instantly and parks herself in his boat leaving a clear indication she won’t be rowing.
o A quick search of the other hut reveals a stash of coin and a magical gewgaw that goes to Elisha. Along with some magical orbs (that make your hands drip blood, and allow you to pass through strong winds and oceans as if it were calm… altogether confusing).
o And so we go off into the swamp searching for a safer place to camp, we find a large crocodile nest that only Kane seems keen to camp near (with his “magical” necklace to protect him) and eventually we do find somewhere.
* The following day we come across a large section of the swamp that seems to have rather stable footing or severly low water and find ourselves walking (while carrying our tiny yet expensive boats) when something large swoops overhead, Lembit swears that it was a Ragesian wyvern but why would they be this far south (some 400 miles away from gatepass!). Still we continue on with an air of caution, and soon we find a large shallow lake, in the centre is an island with a rather droopy looking gum tree on, a bunch of Half-Orcs in
ragesian military attire are picking over something on the island, off to one side is a large wyvern (though not large enough to carry all of them!) is lapping at the fetid swamp water.
* We attempt to get closer, something a few of us manage better than others (ok… one of us managed better than others) and its no surprise that we are noticed almost immediately.
o The wyvern takes to the air and spends the whole fight flying back and forth screeching at people and slapping them with its poisonous tail.
o Kane and Cricket manage to get into the thick of things very early… to their own detriment, and Kane spends a chunk of the fight unconscious while waiting for one of the healers to catch up and heal him.
o We kill all but one of the infiltrators and the Wyvern who manage to escape (however tracking the fleeing infiltrator we find him killed and partial eaten by some large spiders who he blundered into).
* Brick takes the +2 Lightning battle axe that the captain of the group were using, hoping to transfer its enchantment over to a more suitable sword upon reaching the lyceum.
o We find a note on the captain addressed to a “Farthal” and mention something about a Druid Orb & Control Rod being in the right hands, and he must use a locator to find something. The note is signed “Gufwulfl” a senior Inquisitor and the person who summoned Kazzik and sent him after us.
* On the next day it finally looks like we are nearing the edge and the swamp and its while walking along the main trail that we are hailed “CEASE” comes a shout from up ahead and a band of Shalhalesti soldiers lead by a Solei Palancis (templar) stand in our way, weapons at the ready (we spy a couple of scouts in the near by undergrowth with bows pointed at us).
o Tiljan shrieks and begins flinging curses in whatever butterfly language fairies speak at the Shalhalesti (a result of them probably being somewhat involved in the burning of the forest) and has to be calmed down.
o With this little episode over the Templar lays down a proclamation, essentially demanding our surrender and turning over contraband, generally calling upon his authority and that of his king… however as he isn’t on his own soil, we don’t really think he can make such demands and come to terms of they won’t try to kill us, if we don’t try to kill them. Things become a lot less tense when we present Ettaranth (a templar himself) and they have a little catch up and we are free to continue on to seaquen after telling them of the Ragesian infiltrators we found earlier.
* Finally we leave the swamp and enter the peninsula of Seaquen, passing through a large swath of forest (ah pleasant forest) and when we come out of is we see where all the refugees (that made it through the swamps) of Gatepass ended up, a huge city sized camp of tents, shanties and even a few “pre fab” style houses stretches out for miles. With no good reason to stop in the camp we push on through, beset by beggars and filchers at every corner.
* Once we get passed the camp there is still a good stretch of land before we reach the city of Seaquen and of course the Lyceum. Its on this path that we spy for all intents and purposes an abandoned cart (well still with horse but no driver) covered by a tarp.
o Being the inquisitive fellows we are we approach the cart and from the woods nearby emerges a blustery looking half-orc in half plate (try saying that three times fast!) “get away from my cart!” and other such protests, we tell him we were just curious and wish him on his way when he reaches into the cart and pulls out a short bow… it would appear that once again we have walked into an ambush!
o Lots of arrows come flying from the bushes, it would appear that a lot more than a Ragesian Scouting party have made it this far south as we soon find ourselves toe to toe with an inquisitor (complete with huge bear mask and claws!) however he
evades us right at the end, with his entourage dead he grips the emblem around his neck and growls “next time I shall bring better troops!” and vanishes in a pillar of fire.
* Checking the cart we find a bunch of empty crate (certain they had been transporting something but no idea what). Kane has a good search for any secret of hidden compartments but finds nothing…
* The Lyceum awaits… welcome to level 8!
* Having followed the “trails” left by the Handria sisters passing we manage to find our way to their home, a little island in the swamp with a few ramshackle buildings and fences , along with a bunch of old boats and a rickety looking jetty. Glancing in some of the boats as we pass we spy rotting bodies, seems a large number of travelling refugees have fallen foul of the sisters.
* On our way to the jetty a hushed conversation blossoms into a shouting argument about the difference between a “Hag” and a “Crone” and which is the correct description of the sisters, this starts a thudding sound from one of the huts… suddenly aware we may have been heard everyone goes on alert.
* Ever Brave and keen to do brave things… Brick leads the way onto the island and feels a ripple of dark energy rush over his body (followed by the rest of us) and the clikity clackity sounds of bones snapping together and a horde of skeletons pull themselves together from the bushes and stumble towards us.
o Lembit quickly uses his academic skills and previous lifetimes of knowledge to determine we’re up against three types of undead, bog standard skeletons that shouldn’t pose much of a problem and then two special types, one filled with necrotic energy that oozes from the blow their killed them (necromancers would harvest this energy and left untapped would cause them to explode). The third type was large things made from the bones of many and sits like a twisting cyclone of jagged bones that engulfs people.
* With much swinging of swords and slinging of spells we emerge victorious and notice the banging is still continuing, so tracking down the correct hut we spy its chained shut with a large brass padlock, utilising the key from the dead witches we unlock and look inside. There on a rotten straw pallet sits a rather curvaceous redheaded female thrashing and crying for help, though at the sight of us she stops her thrashing and does her best to look demure, Brick is instantly smitten and introduces himself, telling tales of our (but mostly hit) daring do as he un-gags the poor wench.
o She introduces herself as Katrina and tells us that she was waiting to be rescued and hopes none of us died on her account.
o Recognising the name and face (and some prompting from the rest of us) Brick recalls he accepted a missive from Rantle (the hero of gatepass!) for his sister, who this of course is. She takes the note gladly, reads it and a flush of disappointment creases her face, “he will not be joining me, he plans to stay in the city… oh well” and bounces back quite quickly. Brick then invites her to join us on our journey to the lyceum, she accepts instantly and parks herself in his boat leaving a clear indication she won’t be rowing.
o A quick search of the other hut reveals a stash of coin and a magical gewgaw that goes to Elisha. Along with some magical orbs (that make your hands drip blood, and allow you to pass through strong winds and oceans as if it were calm… altogether confusing).
o And so we go off into the swamp searching for a safer place to camp, we find a large crocodile nest that only Kane seems keen to camp near (with his “magical” necklace to protect him) and eventually we do find somewhere.
* The following day we come across a large section of the swamp that seems to have rather stable footing or severly low water and find ourselves walking (while carrying our tiny yet expensive boats) when something large swoops overhead, Lembit swears that it was a Ragesian wyvern but why would they be this far south (some 400 miles away from gatepass!). Still we continue on with an air of caution, and soon we find a large shallow lake, in the centre is an island with a rather droopy looking gum tree on, a bunch of Half-Orcs in
ragesian military attire are picking over something on the island, off to one side is a large wyvern (though not large enough to carry all of them!) is lapping at the fetid swamp water.
* We attempt to get closer, something a few of us manage better than others (ok… one of us managed better than others) and its no surprise that we are noticed almost immediately.
o The wyvern takes to the air and spends the whole fight flying back and forth screeching at people and slapping them with its poisonous tail.
o Kane and Cricket manage to get into the thick of things very early… to their own detriment, and Kane spends a chunk of the fight unconscious while waiting for one of the healers to catch up and heal him.
o We kill all but one of the infiltrators and the Wyvern who manage to escape (however tracking the fleeing infiltrator we find him killed and partial eaten by some large spiders who he blundered into).
* Brick takes the +2 Lightning battle axe that the captain of the group were using, hoping to transfer its enchantment over to a more suitable sword upon reaching the lyceum.
o We find a note on the captain addressed to a “Farthal” and mention something about a Druid Orb & Control Rod being in the right hands, and he must use a locator to find something. The note is signed “Gufwulfl” a senior Inquisitor and the person who summoned Kazzik and sent him after us.
* On the next day it finally looks like we are nearing the edge and the swamp and its while walking along the main trail that we are hailed “CEASE” comes a shout from up ahead and a band of Shalhalesti soldiers lead by a Solei Palancis (templar) stand in our way, weapons at the ready (we spy a couple of scouts in the near by undergrowth with bows pointed at us).
o Tiljan shrieks and begins flinging curses in whatever butterfly language fairies speak at the Shalhalesti (a result of them probably being somewhat involved in the burning of the forest) and has to be calmed down.
o With this little episode over the Templar lays down a proclamation, essentially demanding our surrender and turning over contraband, generally calling upon his authority and that of his king… however as he isn’t on his own soil, we don’t really think he can make such demands and come to terms of they won’t try to kill us, if we don’t try to kill them. Things become a lot less tense when we present Ettaranth (a templar himself) and they have a little catch up and we are free to continue on to seaquen after telling them of the Ragesian infiltrators we found earlier.
* Finally we leave the swamp and enter the peninsula of Seaquen, passing through a large swath of forest (ah pleasant forest) and when we come out of is we see where all the refugees (that made it through the swamps) of Gatepass ended up, a huge city sized camp of tents, shanties and even a few “pre fab” style houses stretches out for miles. With no good reason to stop in the camp we push on through, beset by beggars and filchers at every corner.
* Once we get passed the camp there is still a good stretch of land before we reach the city of Seaquen and of course the Lyceum. Its on this path that we spy for all intents and purposes an abandoned cart (well still with horse but no driver) covered by a tarp.
o Being the inquisitive fellows we are we approach the cart and from the woods nearby emerges a blustery looking half-orc in half plate (try saying that three times fast!) “get away from my cart!” and other such protests, we tell him we were just curious and wish him on his way when he reaches into the cart and pulls out a short bow… it would appear that once again we have walked into an ambush!
o Lots of arrows come flying from the bushes, it would appear that a lot more than a Ragesian Scouting party have made it this far south as we soon find ourselves toe to toe with an inquisitor (complete with huge bear mask and claws!) however he
evades us right at the end, with his entourage dead he grips the emblem around his neck and growls “next time I shall bring better troops!” and vanishes in a pillar of fire.
* Checking the cart we find a bunch of empty crate (certain they had been transporting something but no idea what). Kane has a good search for any secret of hidden compartments but finds nothing…
* The Lyceum awaits… welcome to level 8!
