Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
The Mask of Mask (updated 01/21/2023)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Salmakia" data-source="post: 8882999" data-attributes="member: 7038731"><p><strong><u>7. Ewan's Homestead</u></strong></p><p>“To get to Xey we’d have to pass through Onoln, right?” Ewan asked. </p><p></p><p>In the month since Callista had returned to her home, Ewan had exchanged letters with his mother and she had reported some disturbing signs around the village that aligned with what Ewan had told her about the necromancy that had killed his father Tavish and forced him from his homestead in the north. She even mentioned that one of the Onoln Rangers had reported seeing a ghoul, or some similarly foul essence, in the forest, and Ewan was anxious to check in and make sure his last surviving kinfolk was all right.</p><p> </p><p>“Metis, would you be ok with spending a few days in Onoln on our way to Xey?”</p><p> </p><p>“I suppose so,” the druid said. She and Burny were still the only ones who knew her reasons for traveling to Xey, and she was grateful to the others for accompanying her even in spite of her reticence to reveal to them what was truly happening with her sister. A short stopover in Onoln was a small price to pay for the comfort of traveling together.</p><p> </p><p>“Great!” exclaimed Burny. “We get in, we kill the necromancer, and it’s off to Xey. You know what necromancers often have, right? Fun necromancer spell-books...” Burny began laughing giddily at the thought of the powerful spells he could learn.</p><p> </p><p>“Whoever this is killed my father!” Ewan shouted.</p><p> </p><p>The rest of the party was stunned by the sudden outburst from one usually so quiet. Burny simply shrugged. “I’m not trying to be blasé about it. But we’ve proven that we can deal with dangerous things, and we’ll deal with this, whatever it is.”</p><p> </p><p>“It killed my father,” Ewan said again, quietly this time. Althea put a comforting hand on his shoulder and the party dispersed to prepare for their trip.</p><p> </p><p>Althea always kept the necessities for a journey such as this on standby, and so the group was able to set out the very next day. It was an eight-day journey by foot to Onoln, and then another fifteen days from there to Xey. The road to Onoln was sturdy and well-traveled, with a waystation providing good meals and a bed at the halfway point. There were established campsites along the road, but Ewan, Althea, and Metis preferred the relative peace and isolation of the open prairie and so more often than not the party slept on the untamed grass, dining on rabbits that Althea was able to hunt and tubers that Ewan and Metis gathered.</p><p> </p><p>While out among the wilderness, the three renewed their connections with the land, a relationship that had grown distant in time spent within the city walls dealing with legal Codes and political agendas. Metis recalled Hymnara’s teachings and hoped her elf mentor hadn’t been shaken too badly by her kidnap. Ewan felt his spirit growing stronger with every step he took toward his home. And Althea sat below the stars and meditated, clutching a small rock given to them by the Myrastuul clan of Dragonborn in the south. (aka the party leveled up to 3)</p><p> </p><p>In between the hours spent intensely studying the spellbook of August Firestorm, Burny took time to instruct Veu in the basics of magic, and Veu found him to be a surprisingly patient teacher. The Halfling seemed to have a knack for illusions and enchantments, two schools that Burny himself had neglected, but he was thrilled to see that she also took to his own personal joy of evocations. After six days of traveling, Veu made an arcane gesture and her shortsword ignited with green fire. Burny cheered her, silently wondering how she had managed to pick it up so quickly. Most practitioners of magic studied for weeks before being able to cast even a simple Cantrip. He vowed to work twice as hard, lest he suffer the disgrace of having his own student outpace him. (Veu has decided to go into Arcane Trickster)</p><p> </p><p>Onoln was a small frontier town that had been constructed on the route from Ekrido to Xey merely thirty years prior. It was a dangerous place to live, and attracted only the most hardy and adventurous of spirit. Entering the town the party registered the wary, guarded expressions on the faces of the passersby. Everyone in the streets wore a weapon, and they all seemed like they knew how to use them.</p><p> </p><p>Althea, who had journeyed to Onoln a few times in her stint working for the city of Ekrido as a border scout, was largely un-phased, but Ewan was shocked in particular by the number of graves. There was no cemetery in Onoln. Rather, graves were dug anywhere with six feet of open dirt – garden beds, ditches, or just on the side of the road. None had names, but were marked with simple sticks or blank stones. Many had a carved symbol of Shar, goddess of Loss, lying atop them. Ewan, fearing this to be in consequence of some necromantic incursion, began shaking.</p><p> </p><p>He grabbed the attention of a passing local. “What happened here?” he exclaimed.</p><p>“I’m sorry?” the man asked gruffly, clearly confused.</p><p>“What happened here? What are all the graves for?”</p><p>“People die.”</p><p>“But why so many? And unmarked?”</p><p>“It’s Onoln,” the local said bluntly. “The quicker you get used to it the better off you’ll be.”</p><p>Ewan quivered under the man’s unassuming hostility, and Althea took over the conversation. “Do you know a woman named Callista?” they asked.</p><p>“Sure. Who doesn’t know Callista? She provided for many of us at the start of the famine when no help was coming from the larger cities.”</p><p>“We’re friends of hers. We helped her get food from Ekrido.”</p><p>The man’s face softened considerably. “You’re friends of Callista?”</p><p>Althea nodded. “Ewan there is her son.”</p><p>The man gave him an appraising look. “That so?” Ewan gave a barely perceptible nod.</p><p>“Could you tell us where we might find her?” The local gave them directions to Callista’s abode, and Althea steered Ewan off in that direction.</p><p> </p><p>Callista was overjoyed to see them, although somewhat shocked by Ewan’s apparent state of distress.</p><p> </p><p>“You look like you haven’t eaten in a week,” she said, to which Ewan gave another subtle nod. Callista ushered them all inside and brewed a pot of tea. “I’m sorry I don’t have much to offer you. You should have written ahead that you were coming.”</p><p>“That’s all right,” said Althea. “We’re mostly here looking for information.”</p><p>“What’s happening?” Ewan asked shakily.</p><p>“Didn’t you get my letter?” asked Callista. Ewan nodded again. “That’s all there is to it, then. Some strange things in the forest. Trees dying unexpectedly. Whole patches of fruits and berries going sour. And of course the creature that spooked Eliana, one of our Rangers.”</p><p>"But what about all the graves?" Ewan persisted.</p><p>Callista shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh, I suppose you just overlook that once you've been living here long enough. An unmarked grave is part of the practice of Shar. The quicker you learn to let go of what you've lost the stronger you'll be. Life is in the <em>now</em>, and all that. It makes sense here in Onoln. Disaster is always right around the corner."</p><p>Ewan shuddered again at the thought of so tenuous an existance.</p><p>Althea chimed in once more. “Could we talk to Eliana? The ranger who saw the ghoul?” </p><p>“I don’t see why not. She’s in the Hearth Hall. I’ll take you to her.”</p><p> </p><p>Entering a large, sturdy, timber building warmed by numerous brick furnaces, the party saw a number of communal eating tables with assorted folk gathered about talking. Even with just a brief glance they could tell that faces were hard and laughter rare. Callista pulled aside one of the Rangers.</p><p> </p><p>“Eliana, this is my son Ewan and his... associates.”</p><p>“Friends,” Ewan corrected.</p><p>“His friends. They helped me gather food in Ekrido, and they’ve come to investigate the ghoul you sighted. They are uniquely skilled.”</p><p>Eliana gave them a terse nod. “I’ll be glad to help in any way I can. The forest is not what it once was.”</p><p>“What do you mean?” asked Althea.</p><p>“Well, it’s always been a dangerous place. A hostile place. That’s a given. But recently things have felt darker. The forest no longer feels like it’s brooding. More like it’s conniving. And then there’s the creature that I saw.”</p><p>“Yes, could you tell us what happened?”</p><p>“I was out on patrol to gather food, about a day’s walk northeast of town. I was on night watch, and I saw a bipedal figure off in the distance. It moved strangely. Shambling is the best way I can describe it. I took my torch and went to approach, but before I had gotten within thirty feet the smell became almost overpowering.”</p><p>“The smell of death,” murmured Ewan.</p><p>“Yes. I ran back to raise the alarm, but by the time I’d awoken the rest of the Rangers, whatever it was had vanished. We returned hastily the next day and counted ourselves lucky.”</p><p>“Would you be able to lead us back there?” asked Althea. “And I want to see these dying trees that Callista was speaking of.</p><p>“Of course,” said Eliana.</p><p>“I will accompany you as well,” announced Callista. “We can leave tomorrow.”</p><p> </p><p>At first light the next morning the group of seven traipsed into the woods. They hadn’t been walking more than half an hour when Callista pointed out a copse of trees.</p><p> </p><p>“There, that’s the sort of decay that we’ve been noticing.”</p><p> </p><p>While the surrounding vegetation remained green and healthy, this small cluster of trees had turned an ashen grey. Bark was flaking off like wet parchment, and they were almost slimy to the touch. Both Burny and Ewan opened their senses to <em>Detect </em>unseen essences, but gleaned neither traces of magic nor extraplanar activity.</p><p> </p><p>Ewan, however, kept his heightened perception open as they continued walking, and it wasn’t long before he caught a flicker of something <em>other </em>at the very edge of his consciousness. <em>Fey</em>, his mind silently noted, before the presence vanished.</p><p> </p><p>“There’s something fey nearby,” Ewan said, causing the group to hastily scan the surrounding forests. “There are fey that live here. But they usually keep to themselves.”</p><p> </p><p>It was Veu who spotted the creature. About a hundred feet away, a being vaguely resembling a humanoid in shape, but with a body that seemed comprised of sticks and leaves. It was mostly brown with streaks of grey, and blended in to the forest almost perfectly.</p><p> </p><p>“Over there,” said the rogue, “a Dryad, or something.”</p><p>“The only Dryad I know of in these parts is named Draxoth,” remarked Ewan, “but her tree is several days’ journey north.” Still, he shouted the Dryad’s name. “Draxoth! Draxoth, it’s Ewan! We’re trying to figure out what’s happening to the forest! Can you help us!” The trees rustled nervously around them, and the wind disturbed a pile of leaves nearby.</p><p>“I don’t think she’s here anymore,” said Veu, still staring intently around.</p><p>“We were on good terms,” said Ewan. “I’m sure she means us no harm.”</p><p> </p><p>About an hour later, however, Veu saw the Dryad again, trailing them. And then she was off in front, and then perched high in a tree watching them. That last time Veu caught the Dryad’s eye, and she could have sworn that the fey was glaring at her. It sent shivers down her spine, and she felt that the sooner they were out of the forest the better. She mentally reviewed the few spells that she’d pieced together under Burny’s tutelage in order to distract herself from the fading light and the inscrutable fey that seemed to be shadowing them.</p><p> </p><p>At the onset of evening, Eliana stopped. “This is the spot. This is where we camped, and over there is where I saw the figure.”</p><p> </p><p>The rain had long ago washed away any tracks, but as they poked around the area inhabited by whatever creature Eliana had seen, they caught a faint but definite whiff of something foul.</p><p> </p><p>“The smell of death,” Ewan repeated. “I need to go home. To make sure my father remains in his grave. There is a foul essence at work in the forest.”</p><p> </p><p>The party made camp in the same spot Eliana’s company had occupied two weeks prior. They ate cold rations to avoid the attention that a cook fire would draw, and they set careful watch. Veu, who was on last watch, sat shivering in her bedroll when she heard a twig snap behind her. Turning slowly, she saw the faint outline of the Dryad against the backdrop of the surrounding forest.</p><p> </p><p>“Draxoth...?” she asked quietly.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, the leafy visage of the fey’s face pulled back into a horrifying, feral snarl. Beneath the brown of her outer covering was revealed a face marred by black veins, and her eyes glowed red. Then, just as quickly, the Dryad stepped into a tree and was gone. All thoughts of the cold forgotten, Veu sat shivering with fear until first light woke the rest of the party.</p><p> </p><p>“Everything all right?” asked Althea.</p><p> </p><p>Veu nodded shakily and managed to stammer out a “Yes.”</p><p> </p><p>Immediately suspicious, Althea pressed the Halfling for more information, but Veu was unforthcoming. “It’s nothing,” she insisted. “I just want to get out of the woods. I’m not comfortable here.” The fact that the Dryad continued to dog them as they traipsed west toward Ewan’s childhood homestead did nothing to better Veu’s mood, and she swore that at times the fey was intentionally allowing her to spot it to further unsettle her. These woods were definitely a bad place.</p><p> </p><p>Coming within a few miles of Ewan’s former homestead, they were assailed by the smell they had only faintly recognized at the site of Eliana’s campsite, but which their Ranger guide immediately placed as the scent she had detected that night. Ewan began muttering prayers under his breath.</p><p> </p><p>The group attempted to proceed quietly, but all except Ewan, Althea, and the residents of Onoln were unskilled at traveling through the wilderness. As they emerged from a thicket of trees, the pack of eight ghouls up ahead saw them and began shambling in their direction. If the stench of one ghoul had been bad, the stench of eight was an abomination of the senses.</p><p> </p><p>The party vacillated for a brief moment, unsure of whether they should attempt to wipe out this wandering pack of undead, but Ewan shouted “Run!” and that snapped them out of their indecisiveness. Ewan had gotten a brief look at the ghouls, and was almost certain that none of the bodies were that of Tavish. Much as he loathed the undead and longed to bring his wrath down upon them, he had studied them as much as he could during his time in Ekrido and he knew when the party was outmatched.</p><p> </p><p>Fleeing downhill, back in the direction of Onoln, Ewan and Althea,(who were in the lead) suddenly found themselves scratched and torn by a thicket of brambles that hadn’t been there moments before.</p><p> </p><p>“<em>Spike Growth</em>!” Ewan exclaimed, cursing Draxoth and wondering what stake the fey had in this or if she was simply meddling wantonly.</p><p></p><p>Ewan and Althea led the group around the thorny area, and were relieved to find that the brambles were confined to the typical area of the enchantment and were not somehow magnified by the fey’s natural potency.</p><p> </p><p>Even with the added obstacle, they were able to handily outrun the ghouls, who seemed disinterested in giving chase past a couple of minutes. For good measure they continued back south for another half hour before circling back around to approach Ewan’s homestead from a different direction. All in all the detour cost them two hours, and they realized that they would be reaching their destination after dark. Still, they decided to press on, deeming it better to walk through the night and remain alert than to make camp in an area known to be populated by undead.</p><p> </p><p>The sun set, and, by Ewan’s estimation, they were still at least two hours from his homestead. They lit a small torch for those without the benefit of darkvision, and proceeded cautiously. All their wariness, however, could not have prepared them for the dark shadow of a creature that dropped silently from the canopy onto Althea. It had six hairy clawed legs, a flattened head with piercing yellow eyes, and its body was covered with all manner of fungal growth.</p><p> </p><p>“A Hazrith!” exclaimed Eliana, just before the Fungal Spider lashed out with one of its forelegs, knocking their Ranger guide back against a tree where she landed, unmoving, with a sickening thud.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Salmakia, post: 8882999, member: 7038731"] [B][U]7. Ewan's Homestead[/U][/B] “To get to Xey we’d have to pass through Onoln, right?” Ewan asked. In the month since Callista had returned to her home, Ewan had exchanged letters with his mother and she had reported some disturbing signs around the village that aligned with what Ewan had told her about the necromancy that had killed his father Tavish and forced him from his homestead in the north. She even mentioned that one of the Onoln Rangers had reported seeing a ghoul, or some similarly foul essence, in the forest, and Ewan was anxious to check in and make sure his last surviving kinfolk was all right. “Metis, would you be ok with spending a few days in Onoln on our way to Xey?” “I suppose so,” the druid said. She and Burny were still the only ones who knew her reasons for traveling to Xey, and she was grateful to the others for accompanying her even in spite of her reticence to reveal to them what was truly happening with her sister. A short stopover in Onoln was a small price to pay for the comfort of traveling together. “Great!” exclaimed Burny. “We get in, we kill the necromancer, and it’s off to Xey. You know what necromancers often have, right? Fun necromancer spell-books...” Burny began laughing giddily at the thought of the powerful spells he could learn. “Whoever this is killed my father!” Ewan shouted. The rest of the party was stunned by the sudden outburst from one usually so quiet. Burny simply shrugged. “I’m not trying to be blasé about it. But we’ve proven that we can deal with dangerous things, and we’ll deal with this, whatever it is.” “It killed my father,” Ewan said again, quietly this time. Althea put a comforting hand on his shoulder and the party dispersed to prepare for their trip. Althea always kept the necessities for a journey such as this on standby, and so the group was able to set out the very next day. It was an eight-day journey by foot to Onoln, and then another fifteen days from there to Xey. The road to Onoln was sturdy and well-traveled, with a waystation providing good meals and a bed at the halfway point. There were established campsites along the road, but Ewan, Althea, and Metis preferred the relative peace and isolation of the open prairie and so more often than not the party slept on the untamed grass, dining on rabbits that Althea was able to hunt and tubers that Ewan and Metis gathered. While out among the wilderness, the three renewed their connections with the land, a relationship that had grown distant in time spent within the city walls dealing with legal Codes and political agendas. Metis recalled Hymnara’s teachings and hoped her elf mentor hadn’t been shaken too badly by her kidnap. Ewan felt his spirit growing stronger with every step he took toward his home. And Althea sat below the stars and meditated, clutching a small rock given to them by the Myrastuul clan of Dragonborn in the south. (aka the party leveled up to 3) In between the hours spent intensely studying the spellbook of August Firestorm, Burny took time to instruct Veu in the basics of magic, and Veu found him to be a surprisingly patient teacher. The Halfling seemed to have a knack for illusions and enchantments, two schools that Burny himself had neglected, but he was thrilled to see that she also took to his own personal joy of evocations. After six days of traveling, Veu made an arcane gesture and her shortsword ignited with green fire. Burny cheered her, silently wondering how she had managed to pick it up so quickly. Most practitioners of magic studied for weeks before being able to cast even a simple Cantrip. He vowed to work twice as hard, lest he suffer the disgrace of having his own student outpace him. (Veu has decided to go into Arcane Trickster) Onoln was a small frontier town that had been constructed on the route from Ekrido to Xey merely thirty years prior. It was a dangerous place to live, and attracted only the most hardy and adventurous of spirit. Entering the town the party registered the wary, guarded expressions on the faces of the passersby. Everyone in the streets wore a weapon, and they all seemed like they knew how to use them. Althea, who had journeyed to Onoln a few times in her stint working for the city of Ekrido as a border scout, was largely un-phased, but Ewan was shocked in particular by the number of graves. There was no cemetery in Onoln. Rather, graves were dug anywhere with six feet of open dirt – garden beds, ditches, or just on the side of the road. None had names, but were marked with simple sticks or blank stones. Many had a carved symbol of Shar, goddess of Loss, lying atop them. Ewan, fearing this to be in consequence of some necromantic incursion, began shaking. He grabbed the attention of a passing local. “What happened here?” he exclaimed. “I’m sorry?” the man asked gruffly, clearly confused. “What happened here? What are all the graves for?” “People die.” “But why so many? And unmarked?” “It’s Onoln,” the local said bluntly. “The quicker you get used to it the better off you’ll be.” Ewan quivered under the man’s unassuming hostility, and Althea took over the conversation. “Do you know a woman named Callista?” they asked. “Sure. Who doesn’t know Callista? She provided for many of us at the start of the famine when no help was coming from the larger cities.” “We’re friends of hers. We helped her get food from Ekrido.” The man’s face softened considerably. “You’re friends of Callista?” Althea nodded. “Ewan there is her son.” The man gave him an appraising look. “That so?” Ewan gave a barely perceptible nod. “Could you tell us where we might find her?” The local gave them directions to Callista’s abode, and Althea steered Ewan off in that direction. Callista was overjoyed to see them, although somewhat shocked by Ewan’s apparent state of distress. “You look like you haven’t eaten in a week,” she said, to which Ewan gave another subtle nod. Callista ushered them all inside and brewed a pot of tea. “I’m sorry I don’t have much to offer you. You should have written ahead that you were coming.” “That’s all right,” said Althea. “We’re mostly here looking for information.” “What’s happening?” Ewan asked shakily. “Didn’t you get my letter?” asked Callista. Ewan nodded again. “That’s all there is to it, then. Some strange things in the forest. Trees dying unexpectedly. Whole patches of fruits and berries going sour. And of course the creature that spooked Eliana, one of our Rangers.” "But what about all the graves?" Ewan persisted. Callista shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh, I suppose you just overlook that once you've been living here long enough. An unmarked grave is part of the practice of Shar. The quicker you learn to let go of what you've lost the stronger you'll be. Life is in the [I]now[/I], and all that. It makes sense here in Onoln. Disaster is always right around the corner." Ewan shuddered again at the thought of so tenuous an existance. Althea chimed in once more. “Could we talk to Eliana? The ranger who saw the ghoul?” “I don’t see why not. She’s in the Hearth Hall. I’ll take you to her.” Entering a large, sturdy, timber building warmed by numerous brick furnaces, the party saw a number of communal eating tables with assorted folk gathered about talking. Even with just a brief glance they could tell that faces were hard and laughter rare. Callista pulled aside one of the Rangers. “Eliana, this is my son Ewan and his... associates.” “Friends,” Ewan corrected. “His friends. They helped me gather food in Ekrido, and they’ve come to investigate the ghoul you sighted. They are uniquely skilled.” Eliana gave them a terse nod. “I’ll be glad to help in any way I can. The forest is not what it once was.” “What do you mean?” asked Althea. “Well, it’s always been a dangerous place. A hostile place. That’s a given. But recently things have felt darker. The forest no longer feels like it’s brooding. More like it’s conniving. And then there’s the creature that I saw.” “Yes, could you tell us what happened?” “I was out on patrol to gather food, about a day’s walk northeast of town. I was on night watch, and I saw a bipedal figure off in the distance. It moved strangely. Shambling is the best way I can describe it. I took my torch and went to approach, but before I had gotten within thirty feet the smell became almost overpowering.” “The smell of death,” murmured Ewan. “Yes. I ran back to raise the alarm, but by the time I’d awoken the rest of the Rangers, whatever it was had vanished. We returned hastily the next day and counted ourselves lucky.” “Would you be able to lead us back there?” asked Althea. “And I want to see these dying trees that Callista was speaking of. “Of course,” said Eliana. “I will accompany you as well,” announced Callista. “We can leave tomorrow.” At first light the next morning the group of seven traipsed into the woods. They hadn’t been walking more than half an hour when Callista pointed out a copse of trees. “There, that’s the sort of decay that we’ve been noticing.” While the surrounding vegetation remained green and healthy, this small cluster of trees had turned an ashen grey. Bark was flaking off like wet parchment, and they were almost slimy to the touch. Both Burny and Ewan opened their senses to [I]Detect [/I]unseen essences, but gleaned neither traces of magic nor extraplanar activity. Ewan, however, kept his heightened perception open as they continued walking, and it wasn’t long before he caught a flicker of something [I]other [/I]at the very edge of his consciousness. [I]Fey[/I], his mind silently noted, before the presence vanished. “There’s something fey nearby,” Ewan said, causing the group to hastily scan the surrounding forests. “There are fey that live here. But they usually keep to themselves.” It was Veu who spotted the creature. About a hundred feet away, a being vaguely resembling a humanoid in shape, but with a body that seemed comprised of sticks and leaves. It was mostly brown with streaks of grey, and blended in to the forest almost perfectly. “Over there,” said the rogue, “a Dryad, or something.” “The only Dryad I know of in these parts is named Draxoth,” remarked Ewan, “but her tree is several days’ journey north.” Still, he shouted the Dryad’s name. “Draxoth! Draxoth, it’s Ewan! We’re trying to figure out what’s happening to the forest! Can you help us!” The trees rustled nervously around them, and the wind disturbed a pile of leaves nearby. “I don’t think she’s here anymore,” said Veu, still staring intently around. “We were on good terms,” said Ewan. “I’m sure she means us no harm.” About an hour later, however, Veu saw the Dryad again, trailing them. And then she was off in front, and then perched high in a tree watching them. That last time Veu caught the Dryad’s eye, and she could have sworn that the fey was glaring at her. It sent shivers down her spine, and she felt that the sooner they were out of the forest the better. She mentally reviewed the few spells that she’d pieced together under Burny’s tutelage in order to distract herself from the fading light and the inscrutable fey that seemed to be shadowing them. At the onset of evening, Eliana stopped. “This is the spot. This is where we camped, and over there is where I saw the figure.” The rain had long ago washed away any tracks, but as they poked around the area inhabited by whatever creature Eliana had seen, they caught a faint but definite whiff of something foul. “The smell of death,” Ewan repeated. “I need to go home. To make sure my father remains in his grave. There is a foul essence at work in the forest.” The party made camp in the same spot Eliana’s company had occupied two weeks prior. They ate cold rations to avoid the attention that a cook fire would draw, and they set careful watch. Veu, who was on last watch, sat shivering in her bedroll when she heard a twig snap behind her. Turning slowly, she saw the faint outline of the Dryad against the backdrop of the surrounding forest. “Draxoth...?” she asked quietly. Suddenly, the leafy visage of the fey’s face pulled back into a horrifying, feral snarl. Beneath the brown of her outer covering was revealed a face marred by black veins, and her eyes glowed red. Then, just as quickly, the Dryad stepped into a tree and was gone. All thoughts of the cold forgotten, Veu sat shivering with fear until first light woke the rest of the party. “Everything all right?” asked Althea. Veu nodded shakily and managed to stammer out a “Yes.” Immediately suspicious, Althea pressed the Halfling for more information, but Veu was unforthcoming. “It’s nothing,” she insisted. “I just want to get out of the woods. I’m not comfortable here.” The fact that the Dryad continued to dog them as they traipsed west toward Ewan’s childhood homestead did nothing to better Veu’s mood, and she swore that at times the fey was intentionally allowing her to spot it to further unsettle her. These woods were definitely a bad place. Coming within a few miles of Ewan’s former homestead, they were assailed by the smell they had only faintly recognized at the site of Eliana’s campsite, but which their Ranger guide immediately placed as the scent she had detected that night. Ewan began muttering prayers under his breath. The group attempted to proceed quietly, but all except Ewan, Althea, and the residents of Onoln were unskilled at traveling through the wilderness. As they emerged from a thicket of trees, the pack of eight ghouls up ahead saw them and began shambling in their direction. If the stench of one ghoul had been bad, the stench of eight was an abomination of the senses. The party vacillated for a brief moment, unsure of whether they should attempt to wipe out this wandering pack of undead, but Ewan shouted “Run!” and that snapped them out of their indecisiveness. Ewan had gotten a brief look at the ghouls, and was almost certain that none of the bodies were that of Tavish. Much as he loathed the undead and longed to bring his wrath down upon them, he had studied them as much as he could during his time in Ekrido and he knew when the party was outmatched. Fleeing downhill, back in the direction of Onoln, Ewan and Althea,(who were in the lead) suddenly found themselves scratched and torn by a thicket of brambles that hadn’t been there moments before. “[I]Spike Growth[/I]!” Ewan exclaimed, cursing Draxoth and wondering what stake the fey had in this or if she was simply meddling wantonly. Ewan and Althea led the group around the thorny area, and were relieved to find that the brambles were confined to the typical area of the enchantment and were not somehow magnified by the fey’s natural potency. Even with the added obstacle, they were able to handily outrun the ghouls, who seemed disinterested in giving chase past a couple of minutes. For good measure they continued back south for another half hour before circling back around to approach Ewan’s homestead from a different direction. All in all the detour cost them two hours, and they realized that they would be reaching their destination after dark. Still, they decided to press on, deeming it better to walk through the night and remain alert than to make camp in an area known to be populated by undead. The sun set, and, by Ewan’s estimation, they were still at least two hours from his homestead. They lit a small torch for those without the benefit of darkvision, and proceeded cautiously. All their wariness, however, could not have prepared them for the dark shadow of a creature that dropped silently from the canopy onto Althea. It had six hairy clawed legs, a flattened head with piercing yellow eyes, and its body was covered with all manner of fungal growth. “A Hazrith!” exclaimed Eliana, just before the Fungal Spider lashed out with one of its forelegs, knocking their Ranger guide back against a tree where she landed, unmoving, with a sickening thud. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
The Mask of Mask (updated 01/21/2023)
Top