Forest of Wyrd Session # 44 - Three Men, Two Changelings and a Baby

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Jonesomon (Specialist 5)

Ranza (Changeling 4)

Gnarl (Wood Gnome 5)
Hobbs (Hedgefey 5) 

Thrax (Fighter 4)

Vegarious (Changeling 3)

The party moved into the clearing and at once noticed a group clustered around one of the lean-tos. Getting closer, they could see the crowd included a tall women in black leather; obviously the missing Ravenguard. There were also three clearly inebriated men and a scrawny albino boy. The group turned as the party approached, and they could see the reason for their interest; inside the hovel lay a woman who'd just given birth, the baby balanced on her breast. The Ravenguard and the men eyed the party warily, but the woman in the hovel as ecstatic the see them. She pleaded and begged for them to take her and the baby with them to safety, for she feared the lords of Faerie will come to take the newborn to raise him as a changeling slave. Discussion with the greater group revealed that this was not unknown; people who got stuck here did from time to time disappear. Asked about why they were all still here, the party was told each had taken of the food or wine of Faerie and could not leave. 

At this point, as the women Erthis continued to plead, everyone heard the sound of something approaching through the woods. "It's them" Erthis screamed, and everyone drew weapons and stood on guard. Moments later, a great shadowy creature rose above the treetops, glowering down on them with eyes of cinder. It did not approach closer, but held everyone's rapt attention as it stood there. Everyone except Ranza, who out of the corner of her eye noted movement, and turned to see the albino boy trying to snatch the baby from Erthis. Ranza tackled and pinned the boy to the ground, and moments later the shadow creature disappeared. Questioned, the boy admitted to being a servant of a fey lord, sent to kidnap the baby. The boy (Laskeris) took advantage of the party's arrival to cause a distraction (the shadow monster) and try to get away with the baby. Further questioning revealed nothing of interest, so the boy was released and driven away into the forest. 

Feeling there was nothing new to learn here, the party prepared to go. They tried convincing the Ravenguard to join  them, but she declined, believing herself trapped here in Faerie and saw no need to put herself in danger on the party's behalf. Parting on somewhat bad terms, the party did take Erthis and baby with them, feeding the newborn off milk from Thrax's robe of refreshment in case the mother's milk counted as Faerie-tainted at this point. Leaving the clearing, the party backtracked to return the old hermit to his tree, and then headed for the closest staircase so they could get into Eya's Manse and reset time with the pool. 

They found the staircase rising largely unsupported above a grove of dead trees. The second staircase rose from the west and the two met high above the forest. But nothing else could be seen at the terminus of the stairs. In spite of this, Hobbs, Thrax, and Ranza, plus Erthis and the baby, ascended the stairs while Vegarious, Jonesomon and Gnarl kept watch below. But not for long, for as the party above passed the treetops, the party below noted the trees starting to move and block the stairs. So rather than get separated, the three raced up to rejoin their companions just as the trees were barring the way . 

At the top, there was still nothing visible. Gnarl, reaching into his now dwindling flour supply, tossed a handful forward, which revealed a portcullis. After having it checked by Jonesomon, Thrax threw the gate open and stepped through. He found himself in a room, open to the sky above and with stone walls  lined with flower planters. Everyone else just saw Thrax standing in mid air, but once he gestured them forward into the walled garden, they could see the same. Directly ahead was a door, and to one side another gate. Going to the gate, the party observed this area too was open to the twilight sky above. Much of the space was filled with supports for a platform high above, and covering these supports looked to be a giant bee hive. And at this point, a flight of giant bees appeared and flew towards the party. Arrows took down a few, while Ranza used her wand of bees to initiate some bee on bee action, and before long the remaining attackers retreated back into the hive.

Deciding to avoid fiurther bee attacks, the party headed through the door, entering a foyer with a blue and sliver rug on the floor. A corridor covered in the same rug extended ahead of them, and to the side was a door. Proceeding through the door, they found themselves in a banquet hall. There was a table set with silver candelabra, three bottles of wine and a bowl of dried fruit and nuts. As Hobbs swiped the candelabra, and others grabbed the wine (golden for Ranza, black for Hobbs), Thrax examined some markings on the floor. These looked like footprints, laid out to show the steps of a dance. No one felt like dancing, so they headed through another door instead. Once more, Jonesomon checked for traps and Thrax opened the door. And found himself blinded as the light from Gnarl's light spear was somehow amplified into a shacking blaze in the room. The wood gnome cover most of the spear to block the light, which let him safely look inside. And he found the room was full of mirrors, lining all the walls. Now able to see again, Thrax stepped in to look. When he looked in one of the mirrors though, he suddenly found himself transported inside it and trapped. Being careful not to look directly in any mirrors, Ganrl stepped into the room to help. He found that in addition to seeing Thrax trapped in one mirror, he could see the fighters reflection in another on the opposite wall. He also found the mirror could pivot a bit, and was able to turn the one with the 'reflected' Thrax so that the image disappeared. And then the real Thrax popped out of his prison!

Carefully prodding around the rest of the room, Ranza discovered a door hidden behind one mirror. Thrax opened it a crack, just to take a quick look. In the part of the room visible to the fighter, he could see a spiral staircase winding upwards. Standing next to it were two buggleburrs, tall slender goblins with yellow-green leathery skin, huge eyes and bat-like ears. These were dressed in blue and silver livery, and each held a crank or a lever attached to the staircase in their hands. The pair did not acknowledge Thrax, who pulled his head back and closed the door. Rather than try the stairs right now, the party decided to check the rest of this floor first.

The party backtracked to the foyer and headed down the corridor, stopping at a door halfway down. Just as they did, Thrax felt the carpet give way below his feet, and only quick action by Ranza grabbing his collar stopped the fighter from plummeting to the forest floor (and his likely death) 200' below. And just as they were recovering from that, from the area of the foyer appeared two more buggleburrs. These were armed with large bardiches, and drove at the party swinging their weapons. Unfortunately, Erthis had gotten shuffled to the rear and she was felled by a terrible blow. The baby was luckily unharmed, and while most turned to fight the foe, Gnarl crawled under everyones feet to reach forward and drag the newborn to safety. The two buggleburrs were cut down in short order, and once stripped of a bit of silver coin, were unceremoniously dumped down the hole to the forest below... 

TOTAL XP

927 

GAINS

6sp

2 silver candelabras (300sp each)

1 bottle of Pale Gold Cider

1 bottle of Black Wine

KILLS/VICTORIES

3 Giant Bees

2 Buggleburr

LOSSES

Erthis

Forest of Wyrd Session # 43 - The Fey Tower

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Ranza (Changeling 4)

Gnarl (Wood Gnome 5)
Hobbs (Hedgefey 5) 

Thrax (Fighter 4)

Standing over their fallen foes, the party's first thoughts turned to loot. Unfortunately, neither Shangrat nor the spriggan had anything of value on them. So everyone headed back up to the upper floor of the tower to look for loot in the lair. Hobbs examined the fireplace out of which the spriggan had sprung, but to no avail. Everyone else headed for the giants room to look around there. First order of business was the struggling figure in the burlap sack. Thrax opened it up and out popped a mountain tribesman. They questioned him a bit, but didn't really get much information and simply let him go. Gnarl then used the greenstone of earthseeing to scan the room, and discovered a hidden space behind one of the massive stones that made up the outer wall. Setting up the block and tackle, they were able to shift the stone enough for Hobbs to squeeze in. The hedgefey passed out bags of coin, a pair of potions and a curious black figurine that looked something like a horse. Thrax claimed this, and seeing the work 'trigger' on the bottom, read this out loud. Immediately, the object transformed into a massive black horse, breathing smoke and fire bursting from it's hooves as it stamped on the flagstones. Thrax jumped on, and the beast flew off the top of the tower and circled the Fortress, allowing the fighter to inventory the tops of all the towers. 

Mightily impressed, Thrax returned to pick up the rest of the crew one by one, and transported them all to the top of the next square tower. The mysterious one of which they could learn little. Thrax turned the horse back into figurine form, and everyone turned their attention to the stairs. While the way seemed open, there was a sign and sense of a strange shimmering translucency blocking both staircases. They first consulted the quilt, which suggested passing through this 'curtain' would cause no physical harm. They then experimented by lowering various objects through it; Thrax's troll head on the whip, his old sword on a rope, and a rock on a rope. The troll head (and part of the whip) simply disappeared, while the sword instanting returned to the scabbard from which had been drawn, and the rock simply came back with no change. Gnarl also hunted down a rat and used charm and speak with animals to question it about the tower. The rodent could only confirm what they already knew; things and creatures went in sometimes and never come back out. It did describe some of the beasts that it had seen emerge, including one that matched the description of Eya from the rearguard tower. 

There was obviously something off about this tower, but in the end the party decided to risk it and cross the threshold. And at once found themselves in a brooding dark forest, under a deep twilight sky filled with strange stars. Behind them was a stone door standing in the midst of the forest (which when open revealed the staircase which they'd descended), which ahead of them in the distance a pair of stone staircases rose into the sky to meet high above the treetops. The party started to move towards the stairs, but then noticed just a short distance away a small girl playing in the dirt. She had long blond hair and wore a simple linen shift. When hailed, she responded with a mix of precise response and vague wonderings. Sometimes before answering she would also creepily twist her head 180 degrees, and flip her hair over to reveal a second face hidden under her tresses.  She referred to herself simply as Girl, and answered no questions about who she was and where she came from. Probed about where 'here' was, she told them it was the faerie domain of the Lord of Nightmares. Asked about the missing flower seal which they sought, she quickly said the old hermit to the east had it. Asked what she was doing here, she said simply she was 'waiting for the one who would die', then walked over the Thrax and handed him a stone painted with a demonic eye. And turned to wander off into the forest. 

No one was sad to see her leave, and next planned to go track down the hermit. But first went looking for Thrax's troll. It proved easy to track a troll pulling itself along the ground by its lips, but the path soon showed signs of the beast regenerating its body and limbs very quickly. The trail ended in a swamp, and everyone decided it was not in their interest to go hunting what could now be a fully grown troll. So turning back, they followed the path leading to the hermit. The faint trail eventually disappeared under the boughs of a large pine tree. A small patch of cobbles pressed into the turf marked the entrance under the bows. Ranza stepped forward to check the patch for traps, but suddenly the cobbles pulled out of the ground to assemble into a humanoid form. In attacked Ranza, and the rest of the party rushed to help, soon knocking the thing back into a formless pile of stones. 

Passing now under the boughs, the party found themselves in a shaded clearing. At the base of the pine was a hollow that led under the roots. When Hobbs called out, an old man emerged from the hole and gestered them forward. He seemed happy to talk, but instantly disappointed the party by telling them he didn't have the flower seal. He confirmed they were in the domain of Eya Lord of Nightmares, whose manse stood at the top of the stairs they could see rising above the forest. The man also cautioned them to not eat or drink anything they found here, as that would trap them in Fairie forever,  just like him. He also warned them that time did not move the same here in Faerie. If they avoided food or drink, they could pass back through the door at anytime, but there was no way to know how much time would have passed on the other side in their absence. Asked if there was anything that could be done to avoid this time trap, the hermit told them a magical pool in Eya's manse would allow them to reset time by resetting the reflection of the stars to that which existed at the moment they entered Faerie.  The party also inquired about others in the area, and the old man indicated there was a small camp of others who were trapped here. He wasn't sure who was there now; they changed frequently as some found ways to escape, wandered off, or are carried off the the fey. Asked if he would guide them there, he agreed to do so if they would return him to his tree safe and sound. As they left, there were some apologies from the party for killing is guardian at the entrance, but the hermit waved it off saying the cobbleman would be back. 

The old hermit led them back past the door and in the same general direction they'd followed the troll trail. After some time he stopped and pointed, and in a clearing ahead they could see a small collection of hovels and lean-to's ...

TOTAL XP

6410

GAINS

2300cp

2400sp

Potion of Speed

Potion of Clairaudience 

Obsidian Steed

KILLS/VICTORIES

Cobbleman

LOSSES

none

Forest of Wyrd Session # 42 - Shangrat's Fall

 DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Ranza (Changeling 4)

Gnarl (Wood Gnome 5)
Hobbs (Hedgefey 5) 

Thrax (Fighter 4)

Vegarious (Changeling 3) 

The party look leave of the Queen of Ravens and were once more escorted blindfolded out of the tower. There the Ravenguard left them, and the party had to decide what to do next. General agreement was to explore the surface fortress further. Since they knew Shangrat the fomorian giant had one of the seals to access the hidden areas below the fortress, they decided his tower was the first place to visit. But only after first checking the curious black flame Thrax had just observed off towards the ruined keep. It emerged from a narrow crack in the flagstone, and behaved just like a normal flame, except that it was jet black and produced no heat. Thrax did note it imparted some sort of strange property to a dagger he thrust into it, but this was indistinct and disappeared after a few moments. 

Leaving this new wonder for now, the party trekked through the tumbled ruin of the fortress town to Shangrat's tower at the far eastern end of the fortress. The massive rectangular tower loomed over the party, and the 20' wide entrance led into pitch darkness. Snooping around the barest remnants of the original gates, Hobbs noted tracks of two different types of humanoids. One obviously the giant and the others smaller and closer to human size. There were also signs of a four legged creature, though the exact type was uncertain. Lighting a lantern, the party formed up and headed inside. The entrance led into a massive room with ceilings and walls lost in darkness. Scattered around was nothing but a fallen and rotted lacework of old wooded racks and frames. Moving in further, the party entered a second oversized room that had once been divided into many smaller spaces by wooden walls; Gnarl surmised this was likely once a stable for the garrison. 

At this point Vegarious, at the rear of the party, heard something behind them. Turning, she saw a huge black feline with tentacles extending from each shoulder. It, like the shade hounds in the colossus, seems to shimmer or waver, it being never clear exactly where the creature was standing. This thing leapt past the changeling and fell upon Gnarl, slashing  ferociously with the barb-tipped tentacles. At the same time, the strange black kitten he'd purchased at the Goblyn Fair poked it's head out of it's basket and started the mewl. Reeling, the wood gnome released the kitten, which bounced over to his attacker. That placated the beast. and the pair started to move away. But Gnarl was not about to let his pet go, and enticed it back with toys and treats. Which likewise brought back the larger beast, and a short vicious melee was required to finally kill it (out of sight of the kitty of course). It would seem Gnarl had a very interesting pet. 

The party finished exploration of the entry level, finding nothing more of interest beyond an abandoned forge and more debris. A pair of stone staircases led up to another abandoned and ruined serious of rooms, these apparently old barracks. Beyond a serious a large fireplaces, all long cold and dim, they found a nest or bed of sorts make of boughs, rags and moss. While rooting around in it, the party heard behind them a shrill voice, demanding to know what they were up to. Turning, the observed a creature with a wizened little body and a huge, grossly ugly head. After some back and forth evasive banter, the creature screwed up it's face into a frightening visage, scaring several of the party into stunned stupors. Gnarl, now recognizing this thing as a spriggen like the once he'd fought in the black tower so many moons ago, hauled out his spear and with one swift thrust impaled and killed the dark fey. 

After unsuccessfully ransacking the nest and the fireplaces for treasure, the party headed up to the next level. Vegarious first cast invisibility to scout ahead. She crept up the stairs, and just beyond the top landing came upon the giant Shangrat. He sat on the floor of a room lit by a blazing warm fire, cracking and twisting bones open to suck out the marrow. In the corner was someone or something, occasionally wiggling back and forth, tied up in a canvas sack, The changeling retreated and went to get reinforcements, and the rest of the party climbed up to the top of the stairs. There, they stood whispering back and forth for a bit, trying to decide what to do. The out of giant's room boomed a voice "I know you're there. Why do you disturb Shangrat?" Now caught, the party decided to parley. Although Thrax nearly got them squished with his banter, they did in the end talk the giant into trading the bronze aster (which they could see stuck in his ear like an earing) for the bear statue Hobbs had been hauling around forever. 

Now made the feel unwelcome by the giant, the party turned to leave. After checking the roof of the tower, they talked about what to do next. Gnarl rightly pointed out that they had the seal, but giant's were also known to hoard treasure. And there was that captive who just might be of importance. Maybe a carefully laid ambush to take out the giant was the best course of action? No one could think of a really good reason why killing the giant was a bad idea, so they got to work. Looping back to the lower level, Gnarl crept up the second set of stairs and laid a snare spell there on the landing. He, Ranza and Hobbs then set up defenses at he bottom of the stairs. Vegarious, still invisible, lurked in the shadows at the head of the stairs while Thrax headed up to the roof too make sure nothing appeared there to take them from behind. Vegarious then caused a ruckus, attracting Shangrat's attention. The giant thundered across the tower towards the stairs, and tripped over the snare,  tumbling down into a stunned heap at the bottom. Gnarl, Hobbs and Ranza then took advantage of the battered giant and charged in to attack.  Vegarious, and soon Thrax as well, ran down the stairs to help. At this point, another spriggen appeared behind Gnarl, Hobbs and Ranza. After first scaring Ranza into inaction, it swelled up to near giant size and started to press hard against the remaining two. At about the same time, Shangrat recovered his wits, and lashed out with his weapon, a tree trunk studded with swords to form a giant spiked club. Between Shangrat and the spriggen, it was starting to look grim, especially for the battered Hobbs and Gnarl. But in spite of all, they soon succeeded in landing final blows on  both and brought the battle to an end ...

TOTAL XP

2240

GAINS

Bronze Aster Seal (20sp)

KILLS/VICTORIES

Phase Tiger 

2 Spriggan (Ollo and Grunk)

Shangrat the Fomorian Giant 

LOSSES

none