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Campaign writeup (2 updates September 7th)
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<blockquote data-quote="Eccles" data-source="post: 5527952" data-attributes="member: 5675"><p>9th April</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>* 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!</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>* We discover the following</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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</p><p></p><p>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).</p><p></p><p>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).</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>* A large statue of Anyariel (the elf hero) fighting the giant stag dominates the chamber, beneath presumably is where her body can be found.</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>* 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!).</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>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).</p><p></p><p>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</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>* 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).</p><p></p><p>* 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!)</p><p></p><p>* 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).</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>* 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).</p><p></p><p>* 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).</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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 .</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>* 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).</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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).</p><p></p><p>* 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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Eccles, post: 5527952, member: 5675"] 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. 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Campaign writeup (2 updates September 7th)
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