Forest of Wyrd Session #57 - Around and Up

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Jonesomon (Specialist 5)

Ranza (Changeling 4)

Gnarl (Wood Gnome 5)
Hobbs (Hedgefey 6) 

Thrax (Fighter 5)

[Slugs MacKenzie (Hedgefey 1)]

While the rest of the party searched around the animal heads for more rings and things, Hobbs waded through the water towards the font at the far end of the room. Glancing in, he saw a strange scene of Faerie; a band of hideous hobs chasing a weird creature, half ram and half spider. As he watched, the creature turned to face him and moments latter it started to squeeze it's bulk out of the tiny font. Once fully emerged, it climbed up a wall and was followed from the font by the pursing hobs. As the party hesitated, it spoke "Whom do you serve?" After some attempt at evasion, in the end the party said they served the Prince Who Would Be. Which was not the answer the beast wanted to hear, and it and the hobs prepared to attack. But Ranza moved first, using her fear spell to drive it and and hobs back through the font. But not before two of the wicked faeries were slain. 

That done, the party pushed on into the next room, finding another set of stairs going up and two polished slabs of stone (one black and one white) standing on end just out of the water. Gnarl approached the black stone, and as he looked a face and pair of hands appeared inside it. And it once more asked the question "Whom Do You Serve?" Answering truthfully again, the hands moved within the stone and within moments had torn the slab in two from the inside. Leaving in the gap a key, similar in style to the two they already possessed. 

Deciding to once more ignore the stairs for now, they plucked up the key and headed towards the next door. This opened into a room with signs of fire and explosion; a layer of ash and bits of burnt wood floated on top of the now 3' of water. Before looking too closely though, the party headed for the opposite door, assuming beyond it they would finish the circle of the tomb  and be back to the entrance again. And they did indeed find one more room that seemed to connect to the entrance. And by judicious closing of other doors, they were able to drop the water level enough in both rooms to make it easier to explore. In the fire blackened room, they discovered four chests along the back wall, now just poking above the water level. One was open, and all signs pointed to the blast having emerged from it. And in fact, when Thrax looked closer he found the charred bones of whomever set off the trap in the first place. So while Ranza, Gnarl and Slugs huddled in a convenient alcove, Jonesomon, Thrax and Hobbs carefully examined and opened the remaining three chests. In the process, they unfortunately triggered a freezing trap that turned the water surface to ice, as well as a strange pair of hands that tried to drag them under water. But luckily all avoided harm and recovered a hoard of silver pennies from the time of the Half Blood King, a trio of begemmed necklaces, and the strange magical item Munzario's Mask of Moods. 

Moving on to the next room, they discovered a large dual bronze brazier and an overwhelming smell of perfume. They discovered a small workbench in one cover, with multiple broken vials and jars that seemed to once contain scented oils. Finding  nothing further of interest, the party decided to have one more thorough look around this watery level before going up the stairs. In particular, they wanted to know what lay in the centre of this ring of rooms they'd been exploring. So Gnarl sparked up the Greenstone of Earthseeing to have a look. And he observed that in the middle there was a garden of sorts. With a pool of water, trees and grass, all lit by a faint glow. But he could see no way in from their vantage point. The party thus assumed this was their goal (it looked like a suitable resting place for a king) and that the only way in was to go up the stairs. Though going up proved difficult; each time they tried, the stairs would dump them back in the room from which they started. It was only after further investigation and some trial and error that they discovered the way up; one set of stairs required climbing on your hands, whereas the other required walking up backwards. 

Choosing to go up the backwards stairs, the party found themselves in a narrow hall. The ceiling was well beyond their lantern light, and it showed signs of being partly damaged and unfinished, with undressed stones lying about. At both ends were doors, one locked and one not. Next to the locked door was another font, which Hobbs once more could not resists staring into. It glowed from within with a strange green light, and even the curious hedgefey knew better then to disturb this one. Through the other door they found a small chamber. A small door lay opposite the one they'd entered, and a pair of large double doors lay to the right. Through the smaller one lay another unfinished/damaged room similar to the one they had just left.   The other doors were of verdigris covered bronze, covered in a motif of leaves nad stars. And based on the location, they guessed it led into the central garden Gnarl had observed. There was also another small font, this one of clear cool water. Hobbs once more had a look, and also decided to also quench his thirst. Which miraculously healed him of some of his hurts! So everyone else crowded around for a drink, and then started hauling out whatever containers they could find to fill with the wonderous liquid. Which caused Gnarl to uncover his vial of true water from the resting place of the Gloaming Lord. Which he remembered had anti-magic properties. Which he then, when the specialists back was turned, poured over Jonesomon's evil new sword, releasing him from it's grip.  

With all that done, the party decided to search a little further before passing the bronze doors and into the garden. Going back though the first hall, they discovered the door next to the green fountain was locked (they found a similar locked door at the end of the other long hall) . Luckily, the key they'd recovered from the false tomb fit the lock, and the door open easily. Into another lengthy, narrow room. But just beyond the doors were three bodies lying in repose on stone briers. When the party moved in to look closer, the three rose up, and the party found themselves facing three fey warriors, armed and ready ....

TOTAL XP 

6342

GAINS

546sp

Munzario's Mask of Moods [1000xp]

3x necklace and pendant (3x 700sp)

KILLS/VICTORIES

2 Hobs

LOSSES

none

Forest of Wyrd Session # 56 - Of Water and False Kings

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Vegarious (Changeling 3)

Jonesomon (Specialist 5)

Ranza (Changeling 4)

Gnarl (Wood Gnome 5)
Hobbs (Hedgefey 6) 

[Slugs MacKenzie (Hedgefey 1)]

Reassured by the quilt that there was breathable air below, the rest of the party dove into the lake to join Ranza inside the Tomb. They accessed the interior without too much trouble, and Ranza lead them to the western door, which she proceeded to open to lower the water level. But they then realized a flaw in their plan for breathable air. Opening the outer door a second time had raised the water level overall, so even with the 2nd inside door open, the water was still 10 feet deep. Drowning became a real possibility, except for the person lucky enough to have the ring of water breathing. As people tried swimming, climbing walls and just plan holding their breath, each in turn attempted to open the closest door to further lower the water. Unfortunately it was both trapped by an electrical shock, and locked. In the end, and on the last try, Ranza was open to get the lock open. The door swung inward in a rush of water. This lowered the level just enough for everyone to get at least their head above the surface. 

The room they'd accessed was large, dominated by a trio of pillars down the centre. These were carved in the from a three woman in loose robes, glowing fainting yellow from inside, and each holding a candelabra. There were additional doors to the north and south. Jonesomon and Gnarl searched around the perimeter of the room below the water, followed by the rest of the party. The walls were jet black, yet the back wall crawled with scrolling type. After watching for a while, they realized it was telling the story of the Half Blood King and She Who Wore the Crown of Stars, a story they already knew well. As for the other doors, each was a slab of black stone, and on each was written a short epitaph the color of yellow starlight: "Here rests the Half Blood King, awaiting the time when they are called to be" on the north door, and a similar reference to She Who Wore the Crown of Stars to the south. The party was immediately suspicious; could the object of their quest be so easy to find? 

Before looking behind those two doors, the party decided to explore further down the water logged corridor. It lead to  a couple of rooms, one of which had a flight of stairs going up. The other was lit by a pair of glowing balls. These were suspended in the air, and rotated randomly, lighting up patches of the flooded floor, or alternately casting them into deep darkness. Watching closely for awhile, the party found the water above the dark patches would bubble and become agitated, indicting something not quite right about those spots. 

The party turned about, deciding initially to deal with the first room,. Along the way they had a short fight with a pair of pale and sickly batrachian creatures who leap at them from the water. These were however quickly dispatched.  Now reaching the room, they went first to the north door. Opening the door, inside they found a small chamber with a stone platform.  On top of which lay the perfectly preserved body of a man. Handsome, with dark hair and blue tinged skin, he wore armor of golden scale and a cloak of green and gold. In his hands he grasped a blue steel sword, and on his head was a crown of intertwined bronze and alien green metal, surrounded by a band of emeralds and topaz. All of which matched exactly with the description they'd received of the Half Blood King and the Crown of the Forest. But could it really be him? Gnarl boldly walked up to the body, and reached over to unclasp the hands from the sword. As he did, the figure sat up with a start, and immediately asked who they were and what they wanted. The party answered with the purpose of their quest (to gain the Crown of the Forest and release the Prince Who Would Be). And then politely inquired of the Half Blood King: aren't you supposed to be dead? They were surprised when the answer came from behind; turning there they saw She Who Wore the Crown of Stars. A beautiful woman with alabaster skin and hair of black, highlighted with starlight, and dressed in a gown of the deepest fuligin. Between them, the regal pair explained the legends were not quite true. The Half Blood King had just been imprisoned and magically placed in stasis, waiting to be recalled to life when the time was right to return to rule of the Forest. Their son, The Prince Who Would Be, was likewise in stasis elsewhere, just a baby and not the one who would rule. 

This all sounded suspicious, and the party continued to poke at the story the pair unfolded. And they became even more wary as the two started pushing for the party to lead them out of the Tomb post-haste. Ranza serendipitously cast a detect illusion and to her own eyes revealed the truth. The two were cloaked in the illusionary form of the Half Blood King and  She Who Wore the Crown of Stars. Though some of the items they wore were real (sword, gown, the crown, and some jewelry), otherwise the creatures had the form of amorphous and featureless spongy humanoids. Touching Gnarl, she let him see the same, and the whispered warning of 'it's a trap' spread to the rest of the party.  With a shout, swords were drawn and spells prepared. the false pair lashed out in turn. The party found that when they touched another person, the strange creatures took on their targets form. So soon there were two Gnarls and two Vegarious'. Luckily Ranza was able to direct their attacks to the false pair, and after a short melee the two creatures were slain. And then stripped of loot, Ranza in particular taking the gown and Jonesomon the sword, Backbiter. With the occupants now slain, the two small sepulcher were searched. Hidden under the false-kings resting place, Jonesomon found a key. It was smaller than the one they used to enter the Tomb, but of similar style. 

That mystery solved, the party pressed on. They went back down the curing corridor, and quickly crossed the shadow/light room, avoiding the rapidly changing shadowed patches. On the opposite side there was a door, and off to one side another curved corridor that seems to loop back towards the main Tomb entrance. Choosing to first deal with the door, they opened it, allowing another gush of water to pour in ahead of them. Inside the long narrow room (now under 4 feet of water) there  was a row of stone plinths, atop which were carved animal visages; bear, eagle, mountain lion, wolf, boar. At the far end of the room, barely above water, was the curve of a font. Gnarl stepped in to look at the carvings, and noted the eagle held a ring precariously in it's beak. Ranza, coming behind, looked closely and noted the beak had a powerful hinge mechanism that would likely snap shut if at all disturbed. So Gnarl rammed a soggy torch into the maw, which as predicted immediately snapped shut with bone crushing force. That dislodged the ring, which started to tumble down inside the eagles head. Hobbs, Jonesomon and Gnarl all grabbed for it at once, the specialist successfully rescuing the piece of jewelry ahead of everyone else. The ring itself was magical, a ring of stone made of iron and gold, and set with three yellow gems ... 

TOTAL XP 

12100

GAINS

Circlet with ruby [1200sp]

Necklace with 3 black opals [800sp]

False Crown of the Forest [1800sp]

Backbiter (Sword -1, missed attacks must be rerolled on wielder) 

Gown of Displacement [3000xp]

Ring of the Stone [1200xp]

KILLS/VICTORIES

2 Ranine

The False King and Queen 

LOSSES

none

Forest of Wyrd Session #55 - Tomb of the Half Blood King

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Vegarious (Changeling 3)

Jonesomon (Specialist 5)

Ranza (Changeling 4)

Gnarl (Wood Gnome 5)
Hobbs (Hedgefey 6) 

Thrax (Fighter 5)

[Slugs MacKenzie (Hedgefey 1)]

As the sun came up over the lake, heralding a fine spring day, the party discussed their dilemma. How to release Thrax from his geas while retaining the key to the Tomb? Various ideas were concocted, but none seemed foolproof. Then someone had the idea of sailing back over to the island to see the crazy man, Gnart. Maybe they could drag some useful information out of him.  So over they went, and once more went through the pantomime show. Unfortunately, it seemed the wild man could tell them nothing of the key or Sir Azra; but they did glean that, with his antics with hiding the stone, he was trying to tell them something about how to enter the Tomb. Which may be helpful down the road, but not right now. 

In the end, the party opted for a combination of subterfuge and violence. Rowing back to the headland, they untied Thrax and gave him the key. Then followed the fighter as he charged up the hill to the Blue Knight's camp, Jonesomon taking a somewhat circumspect route to get behind their foe. Reaching the camp, they found it much as before. Thrax called out, and the Blue Knight emerge from the pavilion and walked over to the fighter, hand out for the key. Which Thrax delivered, and was rewarded by the lifting of the heavy obligation he had been under. At which point, everyone else attacked. Jonesomon backstabbed, Hobbs charged in with swan and lance, Gnarl entangled , and everyone else laid in with various weaponry. Sir Azra, reveling his full might, put fear in their bones and caused Jonesomon and Vegarious to take off back to the raft and out onto the lake, But under the overall onslaught, the Blue Knight soon fell dead. They grabbed the key from his hand, stripped the armor to reveal a blue giant underneath, and likewise ransacked the camp to find nothing of interest beyond the warhorse (whom Gnarl engaged in conversation with speak with animal and learned his name was Quince).   They took the knights body and burnt it on a funeral pyre out a combination of respect for their opponent and fear of what might happen if they left him around. 

It getting late in the day, the party decided to stay in the camp and rest overnight, and then head the next day into the grey mist to search for the Tomb of the Half Blood King. The next morning under a leaden and misty sky, they rowed the raft to the fog for a closer look. It was visually very like the green mist, just a different colour. Hobbs took Waddle into the air to fly overhead, but could see nothing new. So they rowed the raft into the mist, and immediately all felt the same woozy, mentally light feeling as they did in the green mist. For most, the feeling passed quickly. Thrax and Vegarious, however, remained confused and had to be restrained on the raft to keep them from walking off the edge and drowning. Gnarl, relying on his well honed tracking skills, guided them by fits and starts through what he hoped was the centre of the mist, expecting the Tomb would be somewhere along that line. They wandered for an indeterminate time and in a vaguely planned fashion, until suddenly out the fog loomed an island. It was a strange island, almost perfectly circular, with a narrow band of grass and shrub around a massive translucent black glass dome that capped the centre. There was no sign of entrance, keyhole, or anything of help. 

Finding nothing above water, Ranza donned the ring of water breathing and dove into the lake to see what may lie below. She followed the strangely symmetrical island all the way down, reaching bottom about at about 100'. Circumnavigating, she at last found what they were looking for; a pair of massive stone doors, carved with a complex design of intertwined stars and leaves. And right in the middle, a keyhole that matched the key they'd gained. She inserted the key, and the doors began to open on their own. A large bubble of air emerged and rose to the surface, and the changeling was drawn inside by the inrush of water. She found herself in a large chamber, now filled to the roof with water. A pair of black marble slabs with bas reliefs of fey warriors stood on either side of the doors. She could see a larger room beyond, but as she started to move deeper, the doors behind her started to swing shut. Not wanting to be trapped, she rushed outside, barely squeezing through. Returning to the surface, Ranza described what she'd found to the rest of the party.

Now left the problem of how everyone else could get safely below without drowning. Consulting the quilt, they learned that it would be possible to breath once inside the Tomb, though it wasn't clear how long they'd have to hold breath underwater before reaching that point. So after much discussion, it was determined that Ranza would go below and explore a little more. But with an invisibility spell from Vegarious and a length of rope around he waist and tied to the surface for additional protection. 

Once more the changeling dove, entered the Tomb (leaving the key in the lock outside), and proceeded deeper into the room. The doors closed behind her, leaving Ranza trapped. Looking around, she found  one end of the room was a twisted mess of filigree metal; whatever it was originally, the in-rush of water had wrecked it. And there were doors. One to the left opened into the flooded chamber and could not be budged. One to the south opened outward easily, the water pressure forcing Ranza into a small storage room where she crashed into a collection of clay amphora, which smashed to pieces releasing their brightly coloured contents into the water. And one to the west, beyond the twisted metal, opened outward. Tying herself down on to avoid another battering from rushing water, Ranza opened the door. Again water rushed out, and when it died down she found herself staring down a long curved corridor. The water now stood about 5' deep, so here at least was the breathable air the quilt had promised. There was also a door about halfway down the corridor on the west wall. 

Raza opted against further solo exploration, and instead retraced her steps, planning to exit the doors and return to the surface. But reaching the doors, she could see on the inside a glowing green mass of slimy vines, writhing and flicking towards her menacingly. It would seem, that for now, she truly was trapped ... 

TOTAL XP 

1750

GAINS

Quince the Warhorse [500sp] 

KILLS/VICTORIES

Sir Azra, The Blue Knight 

LOSSES

none