pneumatik's WotBS 2 - The Indomitable Fire Forest of Innenotdar

[Rhun]

"We have Anyariel's hair, Timbre," calls Hollister. "The hair from the shrine, that Gwenvere took."

 

[HolyMan]

"Yes, yes the hair," Shaylir says stepping forward holding it up. "See. But more importantly we are going to destroy the fire stag, like the one I saw in a dream. Once that is done the people who are lying about barely alive and burning will need healed." Shaylir looks sad and puts down her small hand holding the hair.

"I tried once," she continues. "With the people Nelle is trying to help. It could have worked I'm sure it might have, but this 'poison' is to potent and needs to be cut out at the source. Please Timbre help us. Help us like you did Anyariel."

 

[Thanee]

Lytha

“We came here to quench the flames, not to be consumed by them. But we need your help in order to succeed!” Lytha adds.

 

[pneumatik]

The wall of flames surrounding Timbre's tree dies down. Timbre begins to walk down the hill towards the party. "I am nearly as old as the world, mortals. Beory herself blessed my tree when She founded Innenotdar. Its first seeds were the seela, the children of the forest and my caretakers. The seela learned the Song of Forms from the rumbling of the earth. The first time they sang it I came into being."

Timbre reaches the bottom of the hill and begins crossing the clearing towards the party. "Ages later the elves came and settled in their village. When the Shahalesti elves first invaded the forest Anyariel fought them, and when she could she came to rest beneath my tree. We came to love each other. When she left I gave her a piece of myself, a branch from my tree that become a living blade in her hand. My lover went on to lead the forces of Innenotdar as they drove the Shahalesti out."

Timbre is stunningly beautiful. You realize she's made out of wood, but still she's got something ... it's hard to explain. It breaks your heart to see her engulfed in flames. Her surface is charred and blackened. Her face is hard and set against the constant pain.

"Many years later a strange creature entered the forest. It was a terrible thing, an amorphous beast of indomitable life. Again Anyariel led the fight. She pinned it to the bottom of Lake Seela, but not before it killed her. We built a shrine to her, in hopes that in another time of need the shrine would call to her spirit. But when the Shahalesti came again and the forest started burning she did not appear."

Timbre stops directly in front of the party. "In that shrine we put the one part of her the beast did not destroy: a length of her beautiful hair. Give it to me now, halfling."

 

[HolyMan]

Shaylir cowers a but holding the hair close. "But... but," she stammers looking first to Liiros than to Hollister, her eyes asking what it is she should do.

"We came here to stop the fire, to free everyone. Please won't you help us?"

 

[Rhun]

Hollister nods at the halfling. "Give her the hair." He turns his smoky grey eyes upon Timbre. "We do this in hopes that you'll aid us in our endeavors to free this place of the fires of Indomitability."

 

[HolyMan]

Shaylir timidly holds out the lock of hair, her hands trembling a bit.

 

[pneumatik]

Timbre takes the lock of hair from Shaylir. Timbre's flames don't harm the hair, and it stands out as the single item you've seen in days that's been untouched by heat and fire. She holds the lock in both hands and looks at it, standing immobile. Flames flicker around you. The burning forest pops and crackles.

After an indeterminate amount of time Timbre drops to one knee and looks at Shaylir. Her face has softened. "Innenotdar and the seela are bound to me," she says to Shaylir. "As long as I live, they will live. There is nothing left that can save the forest now. The same creature that keeps the forest from fully dying also keeps the fires from burning out. If it is freed from the bottom of the lake everything dies. Including me.

"There is one other possibility. The living blade I gave to Anyariel. It is part of me, and if it survives then so will Innenotdar. It was bonded to Anyariel, and that bond kept the blade alive while she lived. Now, like the rest of the forest, it's kept alive by that creature. If someone draws that blade from the creature they can choose to bond with it, like Anyariel did. That will keep the blade alive as long as they live, and if the blade lives, Innenotdar will live.

"That is the most I can do to help you and your friends, halfling. Please kill that creature."

 

[HolyMan]

Tears well in Shaylir's eyes as she listens. The dryad may appear to have given up but the halfling senses the hope still down deep and it moves her.

"I will," Shaylir says with a sniffle than wipes at her nose. Turning back she walks past the group. Then looking back she sees them as they truly are... heroes all. It was told to her in a dream that the fire stag would fall before this group, and The Green Man has ever been good and truthful to her.

Shaylir dabs at her tear filled eyes as she looks at each of them. "Come on everyone, old Fire Face is about to have a bad day."

 

[Rhun]

Hollister strokes his goatee as he ponders. "My understanding is that Indomitability and this living blade are at the bottom of the lake...how are we supposed to reach them to retrieve the blade?"