Forest of Wyrd Session #52- There Can Only Be One!

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Jonesomon (Specialist 5)

Ranza (Changeling 4)

Gnarl (Wood Gnome 5)
Hobbs (Hedgefey 6) 

Thrax (Fighter 5)

[Slugs MacKenzie (Hedgefey 1)]

The line of skirmishers had retreated towards the rock face, disappearing into some hidden entrance or cave. The still invisible Ranza followed, trailed by the rest of the party The changeling found a cleft in the jumble of massive stones, at the end of which more daylight could be seen. While the rest of the party took up position on either side of the entrance, she headed carefully into the tunnel. Reaching the end, she saw an open courtyard of sorts, enclosed by the surrounding rock. It showed signs of habitation; old fire pits, benches and other small comforts. But there was no one to be seen. There were two exits, one each to left and right. And on the opposite side from the entrance tunnel, and iron ladder was bolted to the rock, leading up to the top. Ranza decided to sneak over to the ladder. As she passed the left hand exit, she observe a mass of armed men waiting in ambush. But they did not see her, at least not this time.

At about this moment, the rest of the party, huddled under the edge of the rock face, were surprised by a group of archers who appeared above them. As arrows started to fly, everyone sprang into action. Ranza, hearing to commotion outside, ran across the courtyard and back to the entrance. This time, even thought invisible, her hasty retreat drew the attention of the brigands in the tunnel. Outside, Thrax summoned his nightmare stead, grabbed Gnarl, and then flew up to the top of the rock to deal with the archers. Jonesomon, Hobbs and Slugs headed into the tunnel to support Ranza, who was facing a mass of armed men, who were being reinforced by more every minute. In addition, a ring of archers likewise peered down in the courtyard from their perch on top of the rock. And in then in the right hand tunnel, there appeared a man and a woman. Jonesomon immediately recognized the woman as Baihu, his erstwhile and long dead magic user companion. It looks like there was a neo-Baihu to deal with as well as the neo-Jonesomon. 

And then everything starting happening at once. Hobbs, using some of Gnarls magical tobacco, dropped a couple of stink clouds into the courtyard, blocking the western exit and neutralizing most of the threat from that side. He followed this with a wall of fog to blind the archers above. Ranza meanwhile, used fear to drive away many of the brigands to their front, as while as neo-Baihu's companion. At which point the magic user cast web to block the eastern tunnel, and turned in retreat. She then used her wand to summon giant bees to harass the remaining archers. Up on top of the rock, the nightmare trio ground it's way through archers until the remaining few turned and fled. Gnarl then cast entangle on the crowd of brigands trying to flee up the ladder from the retching chaos in the courtyard, effectively ending the battle. 

Once the smoke (both literal and figurative) cleared, the figure of neo-Jonesomon appeared out of the western tunnel. He and his bodyguards approached carefully, making their surrender clear. He was just starting to make a deal with the party, offering a bag of gems he threw on the ground as ransom for his life, when the two Jonesomons noticed each other. Both immediately felt weak and nauseous, but were inexplicably drawn towards each other. As the two approached, the party tried to keep them apart, but Jonesomon and neo-Jonesomon pushed everyone aside. And then, in the moment the two touched, there was a blinding flash of light. When everyone's vision returned, there was just neo-Jonesomon left. And no indication of where their own Jonesomon had gone. Was he dead? Disappeared? Flung into some other dimension? They could not tell. 

They didn't really trust the new Jonesomon though, so he was trussed up as they searched the cave complex. They rescued a trio of captive merchants, and recovered their stolen goods. The captured brigands were put to work loading the goods onto the wagons, kept hidden in the nearby woods, and they then joined the merchants payroll as guards to ensure they arrived safely at market. After rough negotiation, the party secured a finders fee of 20% on the value of the recovered goods, and agree to accompany them to Kreland's Ford. So with neo-Jonesomon bound and in tow, the party headed out. And on the way, discussed what to do next. They settled on a visit to Twitten's Hollow and the faerie court of King Thorbus and Queen Botsum, hoping that the royal pair could provide some insight in to the fate of the old Jonesomon. 

TOTAL XP 

9780

GAINS

20% Share of recovered goods [500sp]

Bag o Gems (2x250sp, 6x100sp, 8x10sp)

Leather Armor +1 [300xp]

Ring of Protection +1 [2000xp]

KILLS/VICTORIES

12+ of neo-Jonesomon's Brigands 

LOSSES

Jonesomon

Forest of Wyrd Session # 51 - What's Happened While You Were Away

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Jonesomon (Specialist 5)

Ranza (Changeling 4)

Gnarl (Wood Gnome 5)
Hobbs (Hedgefey 6) 

Thrax (Fighter 5)

Vegarious (Changeling 3) 

[Slugs MacKenzie (Hedgefey 1)]

The party started their time in Upland by making inquires into what had happened in the last year and a half of 'mortal' time. Apart from a cacophony of local issues of little interest to them, the biggest news was of war. In their absence, Nimon the Gloaming Lord had raised larger forces and started to spread fire and terror throughout the Forest, especially in those areas controlled by the Earl of Brackenrae. The Earl was forced to respond, and called for help from his liege-lord, the High King of the Rock at Carnock.  He also hired mercenaries from far and wide, and through the pervious spring, summer and fall war raged under bough and bower. By the time the leaves fell, the Gloaming Lord's army had been decimated and scattered. Nimon himself disappeared, whether to Faerie or just to hiding in the Forest none could tell. But many areas of the Forest were ravaged, settlements burned, and  bands of now out of work men-at-arms had turned to brigandage. 

Now up to date on the news, the party restocked supplies (including a new donkey Thrax dubbed 'Bagfeed') and a raft, with plans to head south the Brackenrae and check in on their home and hirelings. Hobbs also went looking for a squire, and hired the slimy slug hedgefey Slugs MacKenzie. They left Upland and drifted south on the Western Finger through the day, reaching the outlet to the River of Sorrows as the late afternoon sun cast long shadows over the lake. Thrax, on watch, noted a trio of silhouetted, winged figures on a rock mastiff to their west. Two leaped into the air and flew towards the raft. Thrax roused everyone to potential action just as the two creatures flew overhead. They looked like a hybrid of a stag and a bird of prey, and as their shadows passed over the raft,  most of the party was immediately paralyzed. Only Gnarl, Vegarious and Slugs were left free to fight off the two creatures when they turned around and flew back to the raft. One of the creatures landed atop Thrax and started to gore into his chest with it's antlers, while the other tried to lift off with Hobbs in it's claws. Slugs used a slime rope to keep Hobbs on deck, while Gnarl and Vegarious turned their attention to the one attacking Thrax. This one they slew, which caused the second to release Hobbs and fly off into the setting sun. 

The paralysis passed as they continued to the south, and after an uneventful night and part of the next day, the party arrived in Wickerwood. The town was still only partly rebuilt from its' razing at the hands of the Gloaming Lord; but the Keep was a bustle of activity as stonemasons and other tradesmen worked to rebuild the structure. They were met at the dock by a handful of men-at-arms, who announced they served the new Thayn Woland, a mighty warrior lately in the service of the Earl of Brakenrae.  They also demanded a landing fee, tolls to pay for reconstruction. The party anted up without fuss, and landed to seek out Sister Taritha  at the shrine of St. Myrrha who confirmed the news. They stayed a few days in town, also seeking out Thorguld Red-nose to obtain some healing poultices before boarding the raft again to continue the journey to Brackenrae. 

Brackenrae showed signs of fighting, with areas outside town burned and crowded tent cities holding refugees and out of work men-at-arms. The town was likewise busy, but first stop for the party was their house. Which they quickly found out was no longer theirs; they had missed a year of rent and their landlord had kicked them out. Wondering where their stuff had gone, they tracked down Brutus Killpenny, their erstwhile landlord, to demand their belonging, The short bald man protested that he had sold their things to cover lost rent and pay for cleanup (their two hired men-at-arms who were watching the place weren't very good to the property.) The party accepted there was some validity to that, but Thrax was insistent on getting back the mirror in which his sister was trapped(?) That led them to the purchaser, the Wulgard, Bishop of Brakenrae at the Church of St. Viglis of the Shield. After a few rounds of embarrassed denial, threatened violence, and 'active' negotiation, Thrax got his mirror back. But the party was now once more unwelcome in town as rumor's of them roughing up the Bishop started to circulate. That probably also explained some of the frostier than usual response from Jaskin the Alchemist when they stopped by to purchase a potion of growth [2000sp].

But before leaving town, there was one more unusual incident involving Jonesomon. As he sat in a tavern that evening, two shady types approached him. The two asked what he was doing in town, when he should be laying low and waiting for a signal from them that a rich merchant had left town. A little back and forth untangled the skein. It seemed Jonesomon's time-twin (Gnarl's had died in the fighting) had turned to brigandage, and now lead a group of ex-mercenaries raiding rafts and road traffic to the west of town. These two would pass word when an especially juicy target left Brackenrae, which the rest of the band would ambush. Intrigued by this, the party decided to ambush the ambushers. The 'real' Jonesomon ordered his pair of henchmen to escort him and the rest of the party ('new recruits') back to the brigand base. The two scouts didn't make it though, as they were shived once they'd led the party within easy striking range of the camp. Following the directions they'd learned, the party struck off the road and into the deep woods, until a rock face with a barley discernable cave entrance appeared ahead. While the rest of the party waited, Hobbs and an invisible Ranza slipped ahead to look. Unfortunately, the hedgefey ran right into one of the brigands  taking a nature break in the bushes. He raised a hue and cry, and a skirmish line of men was soon moving towards the party. Gnarl turned them back with a spikegrowth, and the party turned to planning their assault now that their target was alert. 

TOTAL XP 

140

GAINS

nil

KILLS/VICTORIES

1 Peryton

4 of neo-Jonesomon's Brigands 

LOSSES

nil

History of the Forest of Wyrd - The First Age

In the beginning, there were the spirits of the Forest, manifestations of the nexuses of power over which the wood lay. Over time, some of these started to grow stronger and more sentient. Eventually, the greatest of the spirits became the defacto rulers of the Forest of Wyrd: the Green Man, the Prince in Yellow, and the Black Mother. The three took on different parts of the forest as their own; the Green Man took the trees and the growing world, the Black Mother the depths of the earth and caverns below, and the Prince in Yellow the skies and cloud above. For help and companionship, the Green Man uplifted seven spirits to become the Daughters of the Green Man. Likewise, the Black Mother lifted up [REDACTED]. The Prince in Yellow, meanwhile, choose [REDACTED]. And for untold millennia, the Forest stood undisturbed and in balance. Then the first newcomers came, dwellers from the Fey realm that lay as a shadowed veil behind the mortal realm. First there came [REDACTED], humans who had been enslaved in Faerie and discovered a way to form gates through the veil. These were few and caused little disturbance in the Forest, so the spirits let them be. These men were followed by seelie fey, driven from Faeire by their darker kin. These fit well with those creatures dwelling in the Forest, and they too were allowed to stay. But when the dark fey started to cross over the barrier between space and time, they brought strife and war, and so the three powers of the Forest wrested the knowledge of the gates from the unseelie, pushed the hoards back beyond the veil, and sealed the gates against further intrusion from Faerie.

After this time, the Forest once more sat undisturbed and at peace for a countless years. And then there appear at the eaves of the forest a new nation of men. These people were the D’war, those first men to spread far and settle the wide reaches of the known world. These were many, and started to shape the Forest to their own liking. As they cut trees, dug into the earth and fouled the airs with smoke, the spirits of the Forest grew angry and turned against them. And so war raged in bower and under bough, causing great death and destruction on both sides. But for all the power of the spirits of the Forest, it was man, ascendant at the prime of his power, who eventually gained the upper hand. And so the Green Man, the Black Mother and the Prince in Yellow turned to their old foes, the dark princes of Faerie. Allying with this power from beyond the veil, they opened the gates and let the unseelie hoards into the Forest. And war most terrible raged again, and the fight turned against the D’war. But they too called on allies, this time the seelie fey of the Forest, who until this point had stood aside in the fray. But they knew their kin and the darkness which they would bring to the Forest, and so joined men in the fight. Though the war was long and hard, the D’war and their allies prevailed in the end, and once more drove back unseelie fey through the gates. In this they were helped by the Prince in Yellow, who had been horrified by the fighting and destruction, and turned away from the Green Man. Likewise, the Black Mother tired of the fight and retreated to her dark places in the depths of the earth, drawing back further from the wood and away from those who dwelled in the surface world.

It seemed the war was over, but the Green Man was still angry. Under the guise of peace offerings, the Green Man tricked the high king of the D’war, Mac Em Doma. [REDACTED] This finally broke the power of the D’war, and the remnants of the tribes scattered to dwell quietly in the Forest. As they were no longer a threat, the Green Man let them be, for he was tired and needed rest.

But soon another arose to lead men. At the height of the war between D'war and Faerie, Liadan, the daughter of the High King, was captured by the dark Faerie lord, Crindis the Hidden One. They fell in love, and she secretly bore a half blood child. Child and mother stayed in the Forest when the fey father was forced back to Faerie at war's end.  And when the child came of age, he claimed rule of the forest as the Half Blood King. Men and seelie fey rallied to his side.  And for a brief time, the Half Blood King ruled all the wood at peace, and took a daughter of the Green Man (She Who Wore the Crown of Stars) as his wife. She bore him a son, the Prince Who Would Be, who could rightfully claim to lordship over all the powers of the Forest. But this golden time did not last, for the Green Man awoke from his slumber and turned once more on those who would claim his woods. He killed the Half Blood King and destroyed his realm. The Prince Who Would Be was rushed off into hiding against the day when he could return and claim his right.