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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cafu" data-source="post: 5926990" data-attributes="member: 6692807">After consultation among the team, Crystin and Torrent decided to stay with the Seelah and we headed to Gwenvere’s reputed abode, a small pool some distance away. It was also said that she was attracted by the sacrifice of small burning animals. We managed to arrive at the pool without meeting any more strange creatures. It was not very deep but there were several patches of burning grass on the surface of the water. There was a large island in its middle and on the far shore, there was a visible entrance to a cave. There were also the remains of a multitude of bones on the shore. Looking over the situation, we decided to wade through as little of the water as necessary. It may not have been very deep but it felt very dangerous. Therefore, we decided to clear a path through the burning grass onto the island. I was willing to do that. During my studies, I had researched a spell which would give me special advantages against fire. In practical terms, I had devised a magic which prevented normal fire from burning me for a time. So, gingerly, I waded out and began sawing through the burning grass with my dagger until Longhelim muttering: “We’ll be here all day. Here!”, handed me a sword. After that it seemed to go quicker until suddenly I felt being yanked out of the water as John, Drudge and Longhelim were all staring at a point in the water. They had obviously seen something. A few moments later, they gave me the all clear and I began hacking at the burning grass again until I cleared a path to the island and triumphantly, I grinned at everyone else on the shore of the mainland. They were still too busy looking at the surface of the water to pay any attention to me. Longhelim was concentrating on the surface, Victor was getting ready to come across and Drudge had an arrow already nocked. Victor crossed over the island and then as Felix crossed, he began to struggle, obviously fighting with something that had him underwater but he managed to shake himself free. Drudge took a run on the shore with his bow drawn and jumped over the gap; as he did, he shot his arrow into the water! They way the arrow stopped and the water churned, it was also obvious that he had succeeded in hitting something. It was a magical shot! I had never seen anything like it. I would have applauded if the situation had not been so serious.  Longhelim roared and pointed at a spot in the water and as he did, something emerged. It was a truly horrifying figure; a small humanoid, bony, with straggly hair and huge, mad eyes.  For a time I felt a primeval impulse to run away but I shook it off. It opened its mouth in a grimace and jagged teeth became visible. It pointed a clawed finger at Drudge but nothing seemed to happen. Then several things happened in quick succession: Victor stepped forward into the fire and slashed the figure so hard it recoiled visibly. Then Drudge hit it with several arrows and finally Longhelim stepped forward and sliced it with his sword. The creature dropped into the water, bleeding heavily. We dragged it out onto the shore. Then we explored the island but there was nothing there. Following that we approached the cave mouth. Longhelim again concentrated to see if there were any more evil beings there but with result. So, cautiously, we moved into the cave. We found quite a large space and at its far end we saw a mirror next to a stone idol. The idol was draped with a long length of blonde hair. So the “lock” of hair seemed to be substantially longer than we expected. Felix cast a small cantrip and announced that the hair was magical. Despite this Longhelim stepped over there and touched it. As soon as he did, he suffered a terrible change. His face seemed to grow lumpy, his skin acquired a mottled, ruddy look, his nose began to run endlessly and as he turned and spoke to us, his voice became squeaky. Somehow, the magic made him lose his gravitas and majesty as well as making him very unsightly. Felix declared that it was a curse but there was little we could do about it now; however, despite our trials and tribulations and Longhelim’s new look, we had what we came for. We decided to bring Gwenvere’s body with us, hoping that seeing the end of her evil rival as well as the hair would also help Timbre’s disposition towards us. Again, the journey to Timbre’s abode was uneventful. We walked down a path towards a fiery grove. There was a circle of trees, all burning, placed around a small hill. Growing on top of the hill was an enormous willow tree. We stopped just outside the circle:“Timbre! Dryad Timbre! We have come with gifts. Please look. Anaryan’s hair and the end of Gwenvere! We only want to ask for your words of wisdom, nothing more!”We waited for a time and then it was as if the fiery trees parted and a slight figure came towards us. It was on fire. That would make sense. If her tree was on fire, than its dryad would most likely be as well. Following her were two large boars, huge slavering creatures with massive tusks. They were also on fire. For a long time, she looked at her rival and then the hair. We attempted to explain to her what we wanted but I don’t think we did a very good job. Strangely, John was the most vocal and passionate in our entreaties but we were too nervous; despite our clumsy efforts, she only seemed to have eyes for the two gifts we had brought. Finally, she raised her head and looked at us. “Thank you, travelers. You are the first I have seen for a long time. My vigil has been painful but the return of Her hair brings me much joy. Come, sit, let me tell you a tale:The great willow you see behind us is the First Tree of Innenotdar and it is my Father, my Mother and my Friend. It was blessed by Ehlonna, the Lady of the Wood, herself. The Seelah are the first Children of the Forest. In time, the Elves of Innenotdar also became Children of the Forest. Then came the advent of the Elves of Shahalesti, who declared a crusade against the Forest; then came the arrival of Indomitability; a hero was needed against two such forces. My beloved Anaryan stepped forward and the First Tree gifted her with one of His branches as a living weapon. It is this weapon that is confining Indomitability to this day. Anaryan led the defence of the Forest against the Shahalesti and ultimately prevailed but was then slain during the conflict with Indomitability.  Despite her sacrifice, Indomitability was only trapped, not dead. When the accursed Shahalesti Crusade came a second time, there was no hero to defend the Forest and it was set on fire, which has become undying due to Indomitability’s power and corruption. However, time affects everything, even a trillith, and I know that if you retrieve the sword from its stag form Indomitability will be weak and at its most vulnerable. It could be defeated if you are strong and true of heart.Let me also tell you about the sword. When Anaryan was slain, I had to break her bond to the weapon and it is still waiting for its next owner. This mighty weapon will bind itself to the wielder, the first person to touch it; and that person must carry a great burdenIf you slay the trillith, the Tree as you see it, will perish; the fire will finally consume it as Indomitability’s perverse power leaves the land. The Sword, being a limb from the First Tree, will be the last remaining piece of the First Tree of Innenotdar. Thus the wielder of the sword must cherish it and look after it, for he will be responsible for the well being of the Wood, the Seelah and all the creatures within. They are all bound with the fate of the Tree. If the last remaining piece Tree perishes completely, then they will all perish. If the sword and its companion survive, like all nature, the Tree will renew itself in time; the wielder will not be defenseless however; as the bearer grows in power, so will the sword. What form these powers take, I do not know except that I do know that it will shape itself to give its wielder his greatest advantage.Now let me tell you exactly where Indomitability is held……”Timbre’s tale was slightly different but also more complete than the version known to Tiljann. It still fit the facts we knew. I was left with my thoughts. Foremost amongst them was how were we going to get underwater to Indomitability’s form? Even though we knew exactly where it was, it was still underwater and that was an element alien to us at this time. It was the Domain of the Kraken, the great Element of Water. This would be something we had to consider later. We thanked Timbre and left her fondling Anaryan’s hair. It was difficult to tell but I could have sworn that fiery tears were flowing down her face. Then we returned to the village of the Seelah. There we called Crystin and Torrent and told them our tale. Then we sat down to formulate a plan. Ultimately, there was little we could do about actually using magic to go into the water. The team would have to rely on their natural stamina and their ability to hold their breath to accomplish what they needed to do. Since everyone would have to relinquish any sort of armour while underwater, I had a spell which would provide some magical protection which duplicated that defence. Felix and John would also be able to provide added protection, especially against evil creatures; we had not forgotten about the tribe of merrow which were supposed to make the lake their home and we were almost certain that this magic would be needed. A brief discussion was held as to which warrior would bind himself to the former sword of Anaryan. I thought that Longhelim would have taken it but he baulked at owning a weapon that was so closely associated with a god different to that of his own; John offered to look after it and grinned mischievously when Longhelim shot him a look, made even more ferocious by his curse. Then Victor agreed that under the circumstances he would take it. He mentioned that as he had specialized  so much in learning to wield his strange wide bladed sword, he hoped that this new sword would shape itself to some sort of shape similar to his falchion, otherwise a great deal of training would go to waste. Finally, we also decided to use one of the magical tokens given to us by Nelle. According to her instructions, this one would turn itself into a large boat which would take us to the location of Indomitability. So, having planned as much as we could, we sailed the short distance to the location. We had left Crystin and Torrent on the shore. Despite their offers of help, we felt that this was something only we could do.As soon as we arrived, we could see that there was a glow in the water, coming from the bottom. We knew that it was not supposed to be very deep and the glow seemed to confirm it. As we looked into the water though, we realised that it would be very difficult to see in the murk, especially as most of the lake was covered in gray ash, blocking the light. After some discussion, it was decided that I would stay on deck. This was because I had used up almost all my magic by casting the protection spell on the whole group and simultaneously, it was impossible for me to cast spells underwater as most of them needed words to give them power and this would be impossible to do underwater. So, as everyone stripped themselves down to their normal clothes, Longhelim came to me and gave me the precious case containing the Ragesian military secrets that was the major reason why we left Gate Pass. After that, everyone tied a rope to themselves and then tied the other end to some sort of protrusion on the boat and jumped over the side. Except for the ropes uncoiling into the water, I lost all sight of them, with the exception of Slippery John and Drudge, who seemed to be having trouble  swimming down to the bottom.Things began happening almost immediately after that. Distracted as I was, I almost missed the arrival of our nemesis with the straggly beard and the very large glaive who appeared in an explosion of flame right next to me. Thankfully, he was still recovering when I grabbed the case and jumped over the side, immediately sinking like a stone. As I reached the bottom, in the distance, I just about saw the form of Longhelim who was fighting with something underwater. I couldn’t make out exactly what it was except that it looked large and green and was swinging its arms at him. I could not see anyone else with the exception of John and Drudge on the surface. Just as quickly, my gaze was drawn to the source of the red glow. On the bottom lay a large stag, pinned to the ground by a huge sword. This weapon bore an exact resemblance to that wielded by the statue in the Shrine of Anaryan. Although pinned, the stag still thrashed and struggled mightily. The glow was caused by the fact that it was on fire, even underwater. Truly, the magic of this place was strange. Unfortunately, as I saw this, I had other more pressing concerns. Swimming was not one of the skills I had acquired in my youth so I struggled almost as inelegantly as the pinned stag. Several times, I tried to rise to the surface but it was in vain until with one mighty shove of my legs, I finally managed to shoot up to the surface and grab the side of the boat, taking huge breaths. A moment later, I saw that John, Drudge and Felix were on deck, facing the bearded enemy. The confrontation seemed quite unequal, especially as the creature wielded the glaive with great skill but the three were putting up a terrific fight. Felix especially looked as if he had been badly wounded. John was also bleeding heavily. Drudge was stalking the enemy, trying to put him at a positional disadvantage. The enemy looked as if it had been lightly wounded but then a new figure made an appearance; Victor heaved himself from the side and as soon as he did, he leapt forward and hit the enemy strongly, causing a huge slash. The enemy roared and immediately hit Victor with his glaive, causing the warrior to struggle; Victor had obviously already been in combat as he was already substantially wounded. Then the creature struck John and he fell over, bursting into flame and causing me a great deal of worry. Felix managed to reach John and healed him, although not without suffering himself. He was hit and then he fell over, bursting into flame. John groaned and promptly turned invisible. Everyone was on fire or looked badly hurt at this point but Victor managed to hit the enemy several times. Unfortunately, it looked as if his weapon was not penetrating as deep as it should and finally, with one blow of his glaive, the bearded creature struck Victor down. He also promptly burst into the flames.His preoccupation with Victor however gave Drudge an opportunity and he confronted the enemy alone; with one mighty swing, he managed to lay him low. Then with horror, I saw a new enemy make its presence known as the boat swayed; a large, hulking, green brute, vaguely humanoid, climbed onto the deck and stalked towards poor Drudge. It looked wounded but very vicious, with large jagged teeth and long, sharp claws. This must have been one of the merrow that we had been warned about. It was really ugly!I had managed to get a potion from Victor’s pack and fed it to him.  It was acquired from the Inquisitor’s support team. He stirred and groaned and then I gave him my potion which we had taken from the same group and he drank it again; then the merrow strode forward and hit him; Victor slumped again, bursting into flame. I cast one of my last spells at the creature and it shook its head in befuddlement, briefly allowing Drudge to close with it. With a wonderful flourish, the archer hit it with his longsword and with a groan, the creature sank onto the deck, bursting into flames. John began to frantically pull on Longhelim’s rope. It was obvious that something must have happened to the paladin and yes, as he was dragged to the boat, it could easily be seen that he was on fire. We managed to get him on deck and then finally we turned the boat to the shore. Looking around, I realised that the boat had already been moved but I had not noticed. On shore, Torrent used her healing on the group until everyone was at least conscious although still badly hurt. We all felt that the first hurdle had been crossed although the major one was still left. Few of us had any magic left and we debated as to whether we should rest and replenish. Fortunately, Tiljann had a wand of healing which quickly restored everyone physically. However, it did not replenish our spells. We only had the boat for a day though; we were not sure if we had a time element once we began the assault on Indomitability but there was a strange, almost instinctive urgency to our actions, based on intuition. Again, we began planning our next course of action.After a brief discussion, the decision was unanimous: we spell casters were going to attempt to learn our magic without any sleep. It was risky, potentially leaving us dangerously tired but we all agreed: Indomitability had to be confronted as soon as possible. So, I studied my book of magic. It was difficult to keep my eyes open, I felt slow and sluggish and memorizing the complicated words and gestures felt as if I had lead in my brain but finally, I felt confident that my spells were ready. We had already agreed that I would learn several protective spells, including the same spell which protected me from fire. We all remembered that the stag in which Indomitability was trapped was on fire. It was likely that any blow it made would also burn. Our reasoning was that any battle against the stag was going to be titanic, therefore any tiny advantage we could eke out was welcome. This time, we decided that only one person would go down to try to remove the sword. As discussed before, our chosen warrior was Victor. So, having cast the various spells, leaving me with almost no magic, Victor tied a rope around his waist and jumped overboard. As we watched, suddenly, we saw the stag give a mighty heave and it began to swim just below the surface to the shore. The sword was still in its side but it was obviously free. We reeled Victor back on deck by the rope tied to him while John guided the boat after the stag. We managed to catch up with it but we could only follow it until it approached the shore. As it broke the surf, I blanched. It was huge! Bigger than a horse, much bigger. The enormous sword in its side looked almost like a toy. Its antlers looked very dangerous and it shook them menacingly towards us. We all felt our veins burn and moments later, I felt a little hotter, as if something had happened. We had sailed a little ahead of it and Longhelim took a slice out of it with his sword as it swam past. The flame around it seemed to part a little but then the cut actually closed. This was a highly magical being indeed. Then Victor moved towards it but before he could get within striking distance the stag lowered its antlers, hit the warrior and then almost gathered and threw him a short distance into the water. Thankfully, we were able to reel him in again. He looked badly battered, with several bleeding gashes but was game and moved in again. This time, the stag was not quite so alert and Victor struck him a terrific blow with that falchion of his. Drudge was keeping a steady rate of fire but although he was hitting the stag, his arrows did not seem to doing a great deal of hurt to it. Every so often, the stag’s cuts would also close although due to the sheer amount of wounds he was taking, this was now happening at a much slower rate. I had tried to cast my last spell at him but my ray missed the fast target. It was now almost out of the water and in the flame surrounding the shore. Longhelim and Victor had followed it as they were protected from the fire; Crystin and Torrent had appeared from the shore and Tiljann’s song could be heard even in the heat of battle. It was both encouraging and martial. Then there was almost a disaster. Victor had hurt the stag again and so it turned its attention to its tormentor. The antlered head lunged again and again Victor was entangled and thrown into the water. This time, as we reeled him in again, he was a sodden, bleeding mass with no sign of bursting into flames. This left only Longhelim facing the monster stag. Longhelim braced himself, grasped his sword in a powerful grip and ruthlessly thrust it into the stag’s throat with a war cry to Heironeous. The creature gave a great, animal cry and recoiled. It thrust its head forward again in the way that had been so effective against Victor but this time, the lunge was blocked by Longhelim’s shield. Ruthlessly taking advantage of his enemy’s faltering stance, Longhelim repeated the sword thrust into exactly the same place and this time the mighty stag collapsed and lay still. We were not fooled. These burning creatures had a habit of coming back to life and we had also seen the cuts made on the stag by our weapons closing rapidly. Therefore, Drudge kept up a steady stream of arrow fire into its body. Victor, having been healed by Torrent, but looking as if he was barely on his feet, moved forward and shouted at everyone to keep striking it. Then Longhelim calmly took his sword, put it against the stag’s throat and sliced……and the world stopped. Or that’s how it felt like anyway. As Longhelim completed his slice, there was a massive explosion of flame originating from the stag and seemingly sweeping through us and the whole forest. We all looked at each other. Amazingly, we were still alive; even more importantly, the fire had stopped! It was as if the explosion had robbed the whole forest of its fire and the trees, the blackened, burnt, thin trees still stood; and slowly, at first just a few but then others, began to sway in the wind in the way that trees should. I saw that everyone around me had blackened faces from the flame; I could feel that I had also lost some facial hair due the flame; I also felt strange. I should have been incredibly hot, still feeling the after-effects of the fire but I did not. I felt….normal.  I turned to the person nearest to me:“John, how do you feel?”“Pretty good actually” was the answer and then as if realizing what he had just said, John looked surprised. Everyone else was still looking around and then we heard the Seelah song again. This one was very different, full of joy and pride. They came forward and looked in wonder at the trees. Then they began to talk and laugh, excited. Tiljann especially was skipping around like a young girl, her wings catching the wind and lifting her: “Oh, I want to go with you. Torrent, take me with you. I want to see the world. I want to see the ocean. I can finally leave this place.”Torrent looked at us and Victor came forward. The warrior had been looking at his sword dubiously. It was a huge weapon but it looked like two bits of wood that had been put together quite primitively. He had also made a few testing swings with it and looked surprised and then thoughtful. He told Tiljann: “You must realize that we are going into great danger. Gate Pass has been invaded and we are going to look for help where we can. Ragesians make bad enemies. As soon as they see this forest no longer burns, they will be marching through here into either Dassen or Shahelesti, or most likely both. This fire has been a barrier to them but it has now ceased to be an obstacle.”I had not thought of that but it was quite true. Victor had quite clearly been thinking about this from the beginning and had discussed it with Longhelim. The holy warrior then looked at the other Seelah:“Victor and I both believe that the Ragesians will be marching through here very soon. Do not confront them. Hinder them if you can but whatever you do, do not have a pitched battle with them. You will lose and you will be enslaved.”The Seelah looked at each other and Papuvin promised that they would hinder but not confront the Ragesians. Papuvin added: “My friends, yes you are our friends now; what you have done cannot be repaid but take Tiljann with you. She is a gifted Singer, she knows the Song of Forms and she has other Songs of great power; but please, protect her. She is young and she has never been out of the forest.”I was not sure what to do. Tiljann was a very pleasant companion and she did sing beautifully; but she also looked like an elf with black butterfly wings and almost no clothing. She was not exactly inconspicuous. If we ever tried to pass somewhere without drawing attention, we would have to leave her somewhere safe. She was looking at us with a mixture of eagerness and apprehension on her face and finally Longhelim and Victor nodded, whereupon she jumped up, spread her wings and did a little pirouette. Crystin had been conspicuous by her absence and I had noticed that she was standing with an unseeing look on her face, much like the one she had had when we first met her. Then she came forward and said: “You will meet Indomitability again. You will also meet Deception, whom you knew as Vuhl. You will  meet him again when the bones of his grandmother watch them and weep for their fate”. I wasn’t sure what that meant. Was Vuhl another trillith named Deception? Gods, there were more of them? And they had a grandmother? Why had he not helped Indomitability? Why had he not interfered with us? Was Indomitability still alive? Who was this grandmother? Was she dead as Crystin had mentioned only her bones?My mind swirled with questions. I was exhausted. I had to sit down. I had to rest. The Seelah were celebrating, singing, dancing, laughing and talking. It was completely different from when we first met them.  We settled, sitting around in a circle and we were asked again and again to tell our tale. I was not very good at storytelling as I mostly read it out from my journal but Longhelim and John were both great storytellers who stood up in the center of the circle and told everyone how we had walked through the forest, what we had seen and done. It was a magical night. We had survived and the Forest was not burning any more. Finally, after many hours, we slept. The next morning, we noticed several changes to all of us. Most notably, Victor’s sword was no longer the same. Instead of being a two handed sword, it was now a wooden falchion. Victor eagerly took it and began a series of complicated practice exercises. I knew that I had several several magics that had occurred to me that I wanted to write down and try to learn before they slipped my mind. Felix sat down next to Longhelim and was casting a spell on him. I watched fascinated as slowly but surely, Longhelim’s former noble visage emerged from the lumps that used to be his face. He tried out his voice and it had returned to its previous charm. Seemingly, we had all learned new things.After our excitement of the morning, we said our goodbye to the Seelah, again urging them not to confront the Ragesians directly and then we returned to the deserted village. We made one small detour: we went to Timbre’s abode and found that the poor dryad, her boars and most importantly, the First Tree of Innenotdar had perished in the final fire. Therefore, as predicted, Victor’s sword was the last living remnant of this majestic monarch of the Forest. Reaching the village, we also made our way to shrine. It was unchanged. The ghaele appeared again and told us that she was still the guardian of the shrine and that “those who set fire to the Forest still lived.”With those sobering words, we set out to the South and into Dassen.</blockquote>

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