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Message: <blockquote data-quote="amethal" data-source="post: 3824127" data-attributes="member: 22784">“No, no, I didn’t mean kill,” says Jonathan. “Of course not. Save the seela, that’s what I meant to say. How do we do that?”“I fear I lack the knowledge to answer that question. Once the seela sang news from one end of the forest to the other. Now they sing to keep the fire spirit imprisoned, for it is all that keeps the forest from burning to a cinder. If the forest dies, so do the seela. In time the forest may re-grow, but the seela will not.“No one knows where the fire spirit came from. Sometimes I hear words amongst the crackling of the flames. The word ‘trillith’, and the phrase ‘daughter of Trilla’.”Jonathan vaguely recalls there being a dragon called Trilla, but he does not know any further details.“Can you help us on our quest?” asks the greedy Gribron.“I need to stay here and tend to the suffering elves,” says Nelle. “However, I will give you what aid I can.”The unicorn moves to a small sculpture of a dragon and an eagle chasing each other in a circle. Several of the party recognise this as a depiction of the flamebringer dragon and the stormseeker eagle, two of Gate Pass’s elemental spirits. The other two spirits -  the worldshaper worm and the tidereaver kraken – are absent.At Nelle’s prompting, Caryk pulls three feathers from the eagle and three scales from the dragon. These turn out to be magical tokens – three birds, two whips and a boat.The party take their leave and head back down the river. There are several more cinder swarms, but they are adept at dealing with them so the clouds are nothing more than a nuisance.Scene 5A Glade, Fire ForestJanuary 7th, 5 pmIts twilight, but the party are pushing on downstream as the burning forest provides plenty of light. They have passed the remains of the elf village, and hope to reach the lake and scout out the seela village before it gets too dark.Agatha and Caryk hear the sound of singing coming from up ahead, and inform the others. Its coming closer. The party wait to see what kind of creature they have encountered. This could be the chance to bag their first bard. Caryk grips his quarterstaff tightly, anticipating combat.The creature that emerges from the forest appears to be an emaciated young woman, albeit one with wizened, dragonfly-like wings which emerge from her back. She hasn’t seen the party, so Solsus hurls a sling bullet at her head. It strikes true, and the unarmed and unsuspecting fey singer staggers back in distress.Its at that point that things stop going according to plan. Almost as if Solsus’s attack was a signal, a further six fey appear beside the original singer. They are armed with spears, and launch a concerted attack on the singer.However, the woman’s few bits and pieces of leather armour provide surprisingly good protection, and she suffers no more than a few flesh wounds before she is able to dance her way past her foes.Somewhat surprised by this turn of events, the party decide fighting six fey is more fun than attacking one, and join in on the side of the solitary singer they have just attacked.More by luck than judgement, they manage to bring down the attacking fey without killing any of them. A combination of stunning beams of scintillating colours from Gribron, and Solsus’s use of the local vegetation to entangle the fey means that they are immobilised in short order.The seela singer is surprised to see outsiders in the Fire Forest, but tries her best to remember her manners.“Greetings, strangers. My name is Tiljann. Thank you for rescuing me from my attackers.”“Not a problem,” says Jonathan. “I’ll just make sure they aren’t able to trouble you further. Won’t take a minute.” He draws his heavy mace, dedicated to Olladra and a boon to healers, and lines up a hefty blow at the skull of the nearest helplessly entangled fey.“No!” shouts Tiljann. “They are my brethren. I don’t know what possessed them to attack me, but we should take them back to our village so the Songleader can deal with them.”“Are all the rest of you fey congregated in the village?” asks Jonathan.“We are known as the seela,” says Tiljann, “and apart from us seven I imagine we are all in the village.”“That should save a bit of time,” says Jonathan. “Lead on!”Act 3 – Out of the FireScene 1 Seela Village, Fire ForestJanuary 7th, 6 pmThe seela live in caves beside a glowing lake. The only structure is a stone tower. Three seela are perched on top, singing in a language which Solsus identifies as sylvan.“We sing the Song of Forms,” says Tiljann. “It keeps the fire spirit trapped, and prevents the forest from burning down. Many of us, including those six,” she indicates the captive fey, “think it’s a waste of effort and we should cease the song and accept the inevitable. There are now only fourteen of us left who sing, and twice that number who do not. We sing in shifts.”Tiljann leads the party and their captives to the cave of Papuvin, the Songleader. He is ever bit as wiry and emaciated as Tiljann, but has a strangely commanding presence. A crowd of seela gathers at the cave entrance, curious as to what is going on.After Tiljann has explained the situation, Papuvin addresses the party.“Welcome to our village,” he says. “Thank you for saving Tiljann from these misguided youths. Allow me to offer you the shelter of our caves for as long as you wish to stay. They are not luxurious, but they are cooler than the rest of the Fire Forest.”“Do you know why these seela would attack Tiljann?” asks Solsus. “I’m sure when they have had a chance to think about their actions, their shame will cause them to explain what they have done. However, I can guess that they have been paying too much heed to the words of Vuhl, spokesperson of the defeatist faction, and decided to take drastic measures to silence our song.”“Have you considered stopping singing?” asks Caryk.“Never!” replies Papuvin. “We seela have always been the singers of the forest, and we will carry on that tradition as long as I am Songleader. We sing or we die, and I will not allow us to die so long as I can still sing the Song of Forms.”The party leave the cave, pushing their way through the crowd as they do so. One of the seela, clothed in black and with black wings, has been paying particular attention to the conversation. He catches their eye as they leave.“I think we should speak to this Vuhl person,” says Solsus. “Can you show us where he lives, Tiljann?”“That won’t be necessary,” says a calm voice from behind them. It is the black clad seela. “I am Vuhl. I would be honoured if you would accompany to my cave.”Tiljann seems unsure whether the invitation includes herself. She clearly has no love for Vuhl, but is reluctant to leave the outsiders alone with him.“Not you, Tiljann,” says Vuhl smoothly. “I’m sure you don’t want to associate with the likes of me. Anyway, these outsiders have had to put up with your chatter for long enough. It is only fair that they receive a more balanced viewpoint.”Vuhl leads the party up to his cave, and offers them what hospitality he can. “Have a seat; these cushions are very soft. Try some of my succulent acorns; you will find them very tasty.”The party sit themselves down on Vuhl’s badly made cushions, and politely take a handful of burnt acorns.“I’m sure you can see that the village is in desperate starits,” says Vuhl. “The seela are doomed. If Papuvin has his way we will wear out what is left of our existence delaying the inevitable, and eventually we shall succumb to the fire anyway.“I am horrified that those foolish lads took it upon themselves to try and attack Tiljann, but it’s symptomatic of the desperation the majority of us seela feel. You’ve spoken to Papuvin. He was a fine, strong leader in our days of plenty, but in our current state his pride and obstinacy are dooming us to a nightmare existence.”“So what do you suggest?” asks Agatha.“Not more violence, seela fighting against seela – although if something is not done soon I may be unable to stop it.“What we need is to stop the song.”“I can do that quite easily,” says Jonathan. “There are only a dozen or so singers. It should be straightforward enough to shut them up.”“I am a fey of peace,” replies Vuhl. “In any event, not all who follow me are fully committed to my cause. Any attack on the singers would likely cause some of them to switch sides and take up the Song.“What we need is something which would shock the entire village, causing the song to falter for long enough to free the flames and bring us peace. “There is a dryad, called Timbre, who is held in high regard by us seela for her noble deeds in ancient times. Nowadays, she and her tree have been condemned by Papuvin to burn forever. If you could enter her grove, remove her head and display it in the village, the shock would be such that the song would surely stop.“She is a twisted remnant of her former self, maddened by pain. You’d be doing her a favour, although I would ask that you try and be as gentle as possible.”The party are touched by his obvious sincerity, and ask for more details.“She is guarded by two monstrous boars, eternally burning just like their mistress. In her insane state, she sends them to attack all who visit her domain. I can see that you are mighty warriors, but I am concerned that in defeating the boars you may weaken yourselves such that one or more of you falls before Timbre’s sorcery.“You need a token to attract her interest and cause her to dismiss the boars. Are you familiar with the legend of Anyariel?”“Who’s Anyariel?” asks Gribron before the others can stop him.“Anyariel is a local elven heroine,” says Vuhl. “You may have seen her shrine in the elf village. The shrine once possessed a lock of her hair, but it was stolen by the nymph Gwenvere, who lives in the lake. The effect of the Fire Forest has turned Gwenvere into something horrible and twisted, but at one time she and Timbre were rivals for Anyariel’s affection.”“But aren’t all three of them female?” says Caryk, struck by visions of a mountain of unfertilised eggs lying on a beach. “I’ll never understand mammals.” Vuhl ignores him. “Anyariel chose Timbre over Gwenvere. The only thing that will get Timbre’s attention is the lock of her lover’s hair. I suggest you seek out Gwenvere in the morning, and use all means necessary to recover the stolen lock of hair from her.”Our heroes leave Vuhl’s cave with plenty of food for thought.They spend a relaxing evening chatting with the seela, and formulating plans.Jonathan is intrigued by the stone tower, but on investigation it proves to be completely unremarkable. Tiljann, mistaking believing that he is interested in the song being sung by the seela on the tower, translates for him.“So as we were born from the First Tree, so as from our homeland’s breast was cut a living blade, as this our lives are bound to thee, the forest’s heart in Timbre’s glade.”Jonathan, conscious that the group has not yet decided on a course of action, resolves to control the flow of information and keeps this verse to himself. However, it turns out to be a popular part of the song and the seela sing it later in front of Solsus, who translates it for the benefit of the others.Presumably, it refers to Anyariel’s sword, which appears to have some connection to Timbre the dryad, although the significance of the verse is not immediately apparent.Ambar happens to pick up an interesting tidbit about Vuhl. Apparently he only became fully convinced of the need to stop the song about three weeks ago, and since then he’s been somewhat preoccupied – there’s often a noticeable pause between someone asking him a question and him starting to answer.The party begin to wonder whether Vuhl is under the influence of some outside force.Scene 2 The Lake, Fire ForestJanuary 8th, 9 amFully rested and refreshed, the party set out in search of the nymph Gwenvere – or whatever she has become. They have been warned by the seela that there used to be ogres living in the lake, but they see no sign of them.Gwenvere is a strange creature, having apparently developed a taste for burning meat.Solsus, being in tune with nature, is not keen on the idea of supplying an innocent forest creature to the nymph to try and win her favour. However, the party have left a trail of bodies behind them en route through the forest, and one of those might do equally as well.The party mount a brief expedition upstream and recover the body of the rast they killed the previous day. There is no shortage of fires to cook it on, but for some reason the rast body refuses to burn. Eventually Jonathan remembers that rasts are immune to fire damage.Solsus suggests they use one of the ghouls they defeated at the shrine of Anyariel. It wouldn’t make for an appetising meal, but Gwenvere probably isn’t too choosy. Caryk and Jonathan both confirm that ghouls have no particular resistance to fire – but it turns out that this ghoul does. Presumably this is another irritating side effect of the constantly burning forest – any undead spawned here are gifted with protection from fire.The party decide to give up on the burnt offering at this point.</blockquote>

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