Forest of Wyrd Session #5 - Below the Sepulchral Earth

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Baihu Cerrit (Magic User 1)
Gnarl (Wood Gnome 1)
Jonesomon (Specialist 1)
Ethanna Brightward (Wyrd Paladin 1)
Vergarious (Changeling 1) [NPC]

The night passed without incident under the watchful eye of the fountain guardians. While the rest of the party gathered the last of their food for breakfast, Ethanna decided to challenge the satyr Latreus to an arm wrestling contest. He agreed, with the stakes being a 10sp offering to Pan should the paladin lose. Should she win, Latreus promised the help of his folk should she encounter them in a time of need. In the end, the satyr emerged the winner and Ethanna ended up 10sp poorer. 

Martial games and breakfast complete, the party bade farewell and followed the satyrs directions back to the stream and pool, thence north to the barrow. While climbing a low rise about an hour later, they encountered a scurry of huge black squirrels moving through the trees along side them. Gnarl cast speak with animals and entered into conversation with a couple of the critters who had moved down onto the trail in front of them. He learned another group of men had passed this way the day before, armed with bows and weapons. Of the barrow the squirrels could tell little. The two groups parted ways amicably (though Baihu was miffed to find latter that the furry rats had stolen her coin purse.) Gnarl was able to find the trail of thearlier group, which led to the clearing with the stream and pool. That trail headed back east though, whereas the barrow was to the north. So north they went. 

Less than an hour later the party emerged into another clearing next to the stream. This was quite extensive, and featured at their end a dolmen and lintel gate facing east/west. Beyond it was a low hillock, obviously the barrow of Guri Bin Gur. It featured a tall willow tree growing on it's eastern side. Remembering the hint from the satyrs, everyone piled in the donkey cart and had Ethanna led them through the gate twice. Emerging the second time, they suddenly found themselves not under the noon sun, but at sunrise. In fact, looking at where the sun was rising they figured they were well away from their starting time. They were at the spring equinox, probably this springs' equinox as the rest of the barrow and foliage looked pretty much the same. They now climbed the barrow to look for the entrance, which based on the satyrs story should now be obvious. Well it wasn't, but after a while Baihu made note of the shadow cast by the willow tree. It should have been much longer thanks to the low angle of the sun, but in fact was truncated to end exactly at a point at the west side of the barrow. While Gnarl stood watch from atop, everyone else headed over to start digging, there being no obvious way in. They didn't get far before someone glanced up and noticed Gnarl was not alone; a ghostly looming humanoid figure, cloaked in rags with a stag skull and antler head and bony claws, stood at the top of the barrow watching them. As it started to move towards them, everyone stopped digging and prepared for battle. At which point the figure stopped again and stood there watching. They figured it was a guardian, placed there to prevent the barrow from being desecrated. No one really wanted to fight it, so Ethanna set a protection circle around the dig to protect them. The creature came right up to the edge of the circle but could not enter, instead standing there and watching eerily as they continued their digging.  

It took quite a few hours (since no one had a shovel), but eventually they broke through. Clearing away the last of the dirt, a narrow 5' passage could be seen leading into the hill. It was built of stone slabs but with large patches of loose soil and roots poking through. Still worried about the wraith, Ethanna elected to stay on the surface to maintain the circle, while Jonesomon led the rest of the party inside. Reaching a T-intersection, they turned left into a chamber that was empty except for some smashed stone slabs.  Turning back they stopped at an alcove with a rusty chain hanging from the ceiling, which Jonesomon carefully yanked at using his whip, bringing the whole ceiling crashing down. 

Worried now that they might get trapped underground by the wraith, the delvers headed back up to join Ethanna to discuss how to proceed. The wraith was now barely visible in the bright sun light, so best bet was to wait until almost dark. When they could see it clearly, they'd break the circle and try to overwhelm the spirit with a flurry of attacks. In particular, using their small supply of cold iron (Jonesomon's dagger lashed to Ethanna's spear, and his cold iron medallion which Baihu would use as a sling stone) to strike telling blows. And when the time came, the plan worked perfectly. The spirit was banished without even getting a chance to strike a blow, and the party could rest easy. And it being nightfall, they moved over into the woods to set up camp and rest for the night. 

Next morning was spent hunting, the party having run out of food the previous day. They had much success, obtaining enough food to get them through the next couple of days. That done, everyone headed back into the barrow, this time heading along the right hand corridor. They didn't get far before being brought to a halt by a thick mass of waxy white roots  blocking the way. Ethanna tried to push them aside, but they were solidly immobile and coated in a thick layer of acidic sap. The paladin hauled out her spear and started to hack away, but the roots would move out of the way making progress difficult. They also proceeded to wrap around her arms and legs, trying unsuccessfully to pin her in place. Baihu summoned an unseen servant to help hold the roots in place; thus assisted the paladin was able to hack through.  But as she reached the end of the roots, they had already started regrowing back at the start. So everyone rushed through behind her, finding themselves at a hairpin bend in the corridor, which now started to descend ...

TOTAL XP
2100

GAINS

2 Glossy Black Gems [2x 500sp]

KILLS/VICTORIES

1 Antler Wraith

LOSSES
nil 

Forest of Wyrd Session #4 - Off to the Barrow

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Jonesomon (Specialist 1)
Ethanna Brightward (Wyrd Paladin 1)
Baihu Cerrit (Magic User 1)
Gnarl (Wood Gnome 1)
Vergarious (Changeling 1) [NPC]

Safely though the gate, the battered group had only two thoughts; rest for them and returning Peta and Alish to their mother. They headed back into Brackenrae and knocked on Gwynna's door, and presented her two surviving children. This did not go as planned, for as soon as she learned the children had been in Faerie, she immediately rejected them as faerie-cursed and turned them out. No amount of argument and persuasion would change her mind; nor did the party have any luck finding another relative or kind soul to take them in. In the end, they bought the girls new clothes and bedding, and let them stay the night with the party in the stables of the "Nymph and Knight" Inn, that being all they could afford [Jonesomon correctly noted that their inaugural adventure cost then more silver than they made]. They spent several days in rest at the inn, receiving treatment from Fyn the Physician and wandering the market replacing lost gear. An attempt to sell  rotting mazegill mushrooms to the sniveling alchemist Jaskin was unsuccessful, but they had more luck with the goblyns at the still active fair.  

After a few days, they party was ready to move on and look for the barrow of Guri Bin Gur and it's supposed hoard of treasure free of the touch of fairy. As for the two girls, the owner of the inn, Cederic Aletower, was happy to take them on as indentured servants to help out around his establishment. He seemed above board, and with no other options, the party agreed. Peta and Alish were signed over for 12 years of servitude, with the understanding that they could have their contracts bought out in future [400sp / year each] if the party so desired.

Following the directions of the old man from the Gobyn Fair,  they followed the road west for a day before branching off to the north along the banks of a small stream. They followed a series of overgrown paths, unsure of where they would end up as thick woods didn't seem  a likely place for a barrow. After a few hours, Gnarl walking point overheard voices on the trail ahead. Everyone melted into the woods while the wood gnome slipped forward to investigate. He spied a man's body, hanging from a branch over the trail. It was cut open from crotch to throat, and below stood two little brown men, catching the blood in their hats and cackling madly. Gnarl stopped that with an entangle spell, and the rest of the party burst from the woods and finished off the pair. Cutting down the body, the party gave it a hasty burial next to the trail, then recovered the dead mans' donkey and wagon from just around the bend before moving on. 

A few more hours of wandering brought them to a 4-way intersection where stood a mos covered marker stone. Scrapping off the growth uncovered a image on the west side, of a stick figure standing on top of a dolman/lintal under a full moon or sun.  Jonesomon concluded this meant they should head west, and so they did. A few more hours brought them to a stream and pool, with more trails to the north-east and north-west. Following the one north east led after a couple of more hours to a small clearing, with trails exiting south and south-east. On the northern edge was a large fountain with a priapistic Pan-figure. The area around the fountain looked cared for, unlike the rest of the overgrown trails they'd traveled thus far. They led the donkey over for a drink, and noted the bottom of the fountain was covered in silver coins. One was fished out, but then tossed back in. Baihu in turned tossed one of her few silver penny's into the water and made a wish, followed by a few others in the party. This didn't grant any wish, but did draw a pair of satyrs [Hyalus and Latreus] from the woods beyond. They were guardians of the fountain, which was holy to their god Pan. The two thanked the party for the offering, and noted should they have hurts that needed healing, immersion in the waters of Pan would help them. Asked about the barrow, they replied it lay to the west. They knew little about it, but did tell the party that to find the entrance, they'd have to pass east twice through the dolman gate. 

It was getting late in the day, they party decided to rest in this clearing for the night, trusting the two satyrs to watch over them as they served their 101 days guarding the fountain of Pan. 

TOTAL XP
100

GAINS

1 Donkey and Cart

KILLS/VICTORIES

2 Redcaps

LOSSES
nil 

Forest of Wyrd Session #3 - Led Astray

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Jonesomon (Specialist 1)
Ethanna Brightward (Wyrd Paladin 1)
Baihu Cerrit (Magic User 1)
Gnarl (Wood Gnome 1)
Vergarious (Changeling 1) [NPC]

Standing next to the ruined tower, the immediate task for the party was to calm down the screaming Alish. Baihu just upset her more, but the paladin Ethanna was able to channel some sort of motherly instinct to get her to stop crying. Despite Jonesomon snarling in the background about the paucity of treasure on this so called rescue mission. Taking stock of resources, everyone decided it best to return through the gate to rest and refit, then come back to search for the other children (they didn't really believe that they had both ended up in the goblyn's stew-pot). This set Alish off screaming again. Still not speaking, she was silently adamant that she would not leave until they found her brother and sister. So the party reluctantly set up camp and rest for the 'night' under these weird twilight skies.

Lighting a roaring fire, the night was uneventful until the middle watch. While Ethanna sat at the edge of the circle of fire light, she was verbally accosted by  pair of angry feminine voices. They expressed their extreme displeasure at the party's presence, their polluting the forest with the smoking fire, burning the trees, etc. Challenged to show themselves, a pair of  elfin women of stunning beauty stepped forth into the firelight, nearly blinding the wyrd paladin with their radiance. Engaging verbally with the two pouty and petulant fey, Ethanaa found they knew quite a bit about what was going on with Blasphemous and the children. Essentially, the fey had kidnapped the children to give to Blasphemous so he would would not prey on the fairy folk.  Told that Blasphemous was dead and they party simply wanted to get the children back, the pair pointed out the thicket of wood nearby where they said the other girl child was held by a dead treant. They were very insistent that the party go get her now and leave ASAP! By now, the rest of the party was up  (and all luckily averted their gazes sufficiently to protect their sight) and agree it best to just finish the job and get out of this world.

The two nymphs led the party to the thicket, a mass of dead and dying trees covered in a white fungus. Jonesomon brandished his cold iron dagger and tried to get the two the lead the way, but the nymphs recoiled in disgust from him and the blade, disappearing in a blink. The party was forced to scout ahead themselves, and ended up in a small clearing. At one side was the dead treant, covered in a thick layer of the white fungus and with a look of horror frozen on it's face. Here they could hear the sound of a young girl singing a nursery rhyme. Alish brightened up and pantomimed that it was was sister Peta's voice. Moving forward, they party uncovered a hole in the gorund from which the sound seem to emanate. Pushing back the turf, they headed down the muddy slope and into a large chamber filled with a psychedelic display of huge mushrooms. Baihu was able to identify one as a 'Rotting Mazegill', a deadly poison when ingested. Gnarl carved off a few samples for later use.

The singing could still be heard from the far end of the mushroom cave, so the party headed that way. The singing always seemed to dance just ahead of them, leading them around in circles and through various chambers; one with a pool of scummy water and a stream running uphill, another with an odd spiral pattern of flagstone on the floor, and yet another with walls covered in a glowing pink and white fungus. This Gnarl identified as a weirdly intelligent thing; touch it and it will take on your own form and follow you around like a glowing pink shadow.  At a number of points in the narrow winding passages the party discovered pits concealed beneath layers of brush and mud (two were found when Gnarl and Baihu fell into them). Examined closely, they found the pits were relatively fresh; someone had dug them in the last day or so. Which pretty much confirmed what they had begun to expect; someone or something was leading them on a wild goose chase.

The party decided to hunt down whoever or whatever was leading them around by converging on the last chamber from several directions. There they hoped Ethanna could set up a circle of protection to trap whatever it was (assuming it was fey), The plan went astray, however, when  Jonesomon stepped in the thick mud at the centre of the chamber. A muddy humanoid form rose up from the floor and clobbered the specialist, laying him out cold and leaving a thick layer of mud over his face which began to suffocate him.   Baihu grabbed her fallen comrade, and then the whole party retreated into one of the narrow passages, Ethanna taking point facing the mud guardian. Luckily, it could not move beyond the room, so she began to pepper it with arrows. But then from the end of the line came a cry from Baihu; something invisible had stabbed her in the back! After another hit, she dropped to the floor bleeding out. There was then a mad scramble for position as Vergarious and then Gnarl (standing on the changeling's back while he lay in the mud) tried to fight their hidden foe. They did strike a few blows, and after a while of their fumbling about, their foe appeared. It was the little fey fellow who'd led them through the gate in the first place! With a titter and a grin, he said "You're all much too fun; I'm going to enjoy bedeviling you all again!" Then with a wink, he disappeared.

By this point, the mud guardian had been knocked down and the party dragged themselves out of the muddy hole and back into the clearing. Jonesmon and Baihu were made comfortable, and Gnarl decided to check out the dead treant before the party headed back to the gate. (They'd settled again on leaving and recovering, coming back later to search for Peta.  This time the traumatized Alish did not disagree.) Gnarl found a hole in the rotting treant. To his surprise, inside was a chamber much too large for the space, and there sitting on  rough stool was a young woman of about 25 years. She was oddly dressed in a mix of scraps of clothing, plus leaves and boughs. And she spoke and acted like a 10 year old. When Alish appeared  with the rest of the party, the woman was most excited to see her and they started to banter like long lost friends. Or rather, separated sisters, for the party quickly learned that this was Peta. But physically much older than she should be.

That said, the party now had both surviving children (having accepted the nymphs word that Sim really had been stewed in the goblyns' pot). And back to the gate they trudged, shared the magic apples and made their way back in their own mortal realm once again ...


TOTAL XP

970 

GAINS

nil

KILLS/VICTORIES

Mud Guardian

LOSSES
nil 

Forest of Wyrd Session #2 - Blaspheemus' Tower

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Jonesomon (Specialist 1)
Ethanna Brightward (Wyrd Paladin 1)
Baihu Cerrit (Magic User 1)
Vergarious (Changeling 1) [NPC]

Just before entering the tower door, a burst of fickle fey magic saw Gnarl disappear and Vergarious, a shuffling changeling with a raspy voice, to appear from nowhere. Taking it all in stride, the party welcomed the newcomer to the party, Ethanna pushed open the door, and all entered the tower. Visibility was poor, as the walls oozed mist or smoke, limiting vision to about 10'-15'. First stop was a room with small three legged stools on the walls, a bad painting of a bee and crocodile on the floor, and exits in the ceiling and east wall. The east exit was very askew, propped up by boards and posts. Some experimentation by Jonesomon revealed that it was possible to walk on the walls and ceiling as easily as the floor. Heading to the ceiling, they noted loud sounds of a horse galloping coming from that opening. Examination of the painting from this angle proved it to still be just an ugly painting.  

Back down to the east wall, they choose to first head down the precarious tunnel. From it emerged  the sound of knocking, like that heard when outside the tower. Knocking back caused the sound to once more cease. The tunnel itself was crooked and apparently on the edge of collapse, given the range of pit props and supports along the way. It led to a large room of similar decrepitude, notable for the many small (>1' high) tunnels exiting in all directions, and the conical piles of mining spoil on the floor. Jonesomon headed over to dig at one of the piles, which resulted in 6 small creatures emerging from the walls of the room. About 3' tall, they looked like tiny humans with abnormally sized, elastic facial features, wearing leather aprons and carrying mining tools. They started jabbering in a language only Jonesomon and Vergarious could understand, yelling at Jonesomon to leave their mining piles alone. They party learned little from the creatures, other than the fact that someone (thing?) named Blaspheemus lived at the top of the tower. They knew nothing abut the children, and in general payed no attention the the rest of the tower, bring content to mine the walls (although they were coy on exactly what they were mining). 

Taking leave, the party backtracked and headed up towards the sound of the horse. They entered a larger room, where they found a pony with an abnormally large head racing around the walls, jumping over hurdles. Getting dizzy and confused as they watched blaze around above their heads, Ethanna, Baihu and Vegarious lost control of their minds and lashed out at each other and at Jonesomon. Baihu and Vergarious loosed their spells to no ill effect, but Ethanna skewered Jonesomon, and the specialist fell to the floor, bleeding the death. This shocked the paladin out of her stupor, and she rushed to Jonesomon's side to lay on hands and bring him back from the brink of death. They then turned to face the other two, who had continued their wild fight. Ethanna knocked Baihu out cold with the shaft of her spear, while Jonesomon used his whip to disarm Vergarious before tackling and pinning him to the floor. 

Choosing now to ignore the horse, they headed out a passage to the east. It turned north in a twisting spiral, leading towards a pulsating multicolored light. The tunnel ended at a small round room, in the centre of which floated a pulsating ball of light.  Around it orbited three small gemstones. Baihu, being very careful to avoid the room and the light, used her staff to knock one of the gems [pink rhomboid] out of orbit. This caused the light to fade and disappear, allowing Ethanna and Jonesomon to grab the other two gemstones [pale lavender ellipsoid and clear spindle, respectively]. After a little experimentation, the three found they could get the gems to orbit around their heads and thereby gained some particular benefits [Baihu, +1 CON; Ethana, spell absorption; Jonesomon, sustain without food/water]. 

Moving back the the pony room, and once more taking care to not look at the creature, the party headed towards another ceiling exit. This led down a long hallway to a circular bronze door. It was inscribed with twelve groves, labelled with various mealtimes; breakfast, mid-breakfast, late-breakfast, brunch, first snack, and so on. A handle in the middle could be turned to select the different meals.  They ignored the knob and simply knocked on the door. After a few moments, it swung open and they were confronted by a stumpy goblin wearing a greasy apron and holding a large wooden spoon. He seemed happy to talk, especially about food, as he was Blapheemus' cook. However, the conversation went downhill as they learned the contents of the menu, which include human, faerie, and various other meat sources not served on a civilized menu. Including, they learned, one of the children they were looking for (Sim), who had been cooked in a stew the day before. They also learned one of the girls was held at the top of the tower awaiting her date in the stew pot. At which point, Ethanna could no longer control herself, and skewered the goblin with her spear. Kicking the body aside, the party rushed on toward an exit in the ceiling, anxious to find the girl before it was too late. A cursory glance around he kitchen revealed many vile ingredients, but also a fine collection of herbs and spices one would use in any fine cooking establishment. 

The exit led into a large room stuffed with precarious piles of junk towering off the floors, walls and ceiling. It was almost impassible, and it was also impossible for some of the party to fight the temptation to poke around. Jonesomon hauled out a fine pewter plate that seemed oddly warm, while Baihu untangled a big ring of keys from one pile. She was unfortunately not as careful as Jonesomon, and the pile teetered and tottered, until it collapsed down with a tumultuous crash, crushing her against the wall. Everyone turned to frantically dig her out, and only timely binding of wounds saved the magic user from death. 

Now pointedly avoiding the piles, the party pushed on again though a exit in the ceiling. This led to a red door with a gold star, underneath which was scrawled 'Blaspheemus'. Wasting no time,  Ethanna kicked open the door and all charged into the room.  Inside was a small table with a bowl and spoon, while high on the north wall was a 7' tall mirror. Mist also lingered here, but it smelled of tobacco smoke. Out of the shadows in one comer came a gravelly voice: 'You boys lost?'. And into the light stepped an ugly gnarled humanoid. It stood there smoking a huge cigar, about 3' tall and wearing nothing but a red tartan vest. He brushed off all questions about the children, and suddenly shouted out 'Get them boys!'. From the mirror then emerged another 8 Blaspheemus', and a mighty melee began. The mirror Blaspheemus' swarmed the party as the real one held back at first. Baihu, worried they'd loose track of the real Blaspheemus, threw her ink pot, covering him in a stain of lilac. Meanwhile Jonesomon tried to cover the mirror with a bedroll, afraid that more minions might emerge. Ethanna and Vergarious, after a few shots at the real Blaspheemus, started to cut through the minions one by one. Blaspheemus himself transformed into a misshapen ogre-like beast and waded into the fray. After suffering several blows, he pulled back to the corner and returned to his small form, before letting out an almighty scream to accompany a newly twisted, frightening and horrific visage (which caused several of the party to quiver and shake). But that was his last action. Baihu, desperate for something to use as a missile, hauled out her tinderbox and hurled it at Blaspheemus, striking the creature in the head and splitting open it's skull. 

At about the same time, the other three finished off the last of the mirror minions. And then the tower started to shake wildly, rubble and dust falling down. It was obviously on the verge of collapse, so the party rushed through the eastern exit, looking for the girl. Faced by a series of locked doors barring the way, Baihu used the key ring she'd found to open them all in  a hurry, finally reaching a tiny room at the end, There sat a little girl, mute and looking scared. As the tower tumbled down around them, Baihu grabbed the girl and dragged her along behind the rest of the party as they fled. At this the girl started screaming, and her piercing wails accompanied them out of the tower, from which they emerged just before it collapsed into a pile of rubble and dust ....

TOTAL XP

1410

GAINS

3x Ioun Stones (clear spindle, pink rhomboid, pale lavender)
Pewter Plate of Warming
Blaspheemus' Keys

KILLS/VICTORIES

Blaspheemus and his mirror minions

LOSSES
nil

Forest of Wyrd Session # 1 - Three Missing in Faerie

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Jonesomon (Specialist 1)
Ethanna Brightward (Wryd Paladin 1)
Gnarl (Wood Gnome 1)
Baihu Cerrit (Magic User 1)

Four met at the Goblyn Fair, held each High Summer outside Castle Brakenrae. They did not make it far into the fair before they waylaid by an old man sitting on an overturned bucket; 'come drop a silver penny in my cup and I will tell you tales of old, of days before Faerie'. The four complied and he told them stories of the first men in this place, the D'war. Fantastic tales of great deeds and great treasure, particularly about the legendary hero Guri Bin Gur. The old man hinted that he could tell them where to find the hero's barrow, which was almost certain to be filled with treasure untouched and free of the curses of the dark fey. Another handful of silver and he gave them directions in the deep of the Forest, not much more than a day's march away [Hex 09.08].  Pressed by Jonesomon for more tales of great artifacts and treasures, the old man wagged his head, picked up his bucket and wandered off through the now thickening crowd. 

Jonesomon was ready to head off to the barrow right away, but then Ethanna overheard a fretful mother. The wyrd paladin intervened, and learned that the woman's [Gwynna] three children  [Peta, Alish, Sim] had gone missing. The trio had gone off to explore  an old ruined tower just north of town, a place rumored to be touched by the fey realm. She implored Ethanna to go recover her children, to which the paladin gallantly agreed. Much to Jonesomon's dismay. Gnarl took the paladins side, while Baihu remain mysteriously aloof. Jonesomon was placated by the promise of looting Guri Bin Gur's barrow after recovering the children. Before heading off to the ruined tower, the party was accosted by a fey goblyn named Humbuddle, who tried to sell them some rocks. And succeeded in getting a few silver pennies out of Jonesomon for a seemingly useless rock. Ethanna also nabbed a bright looking kid by the name of Ola, and paid him a silver penny to keep an eye out for anything weird at the Goblyn Fair; which request sent the poor lad into confusion as all at the Goblyn Fair was weird.  But he took the penny and scampered off. 

The ruined tower was easy to find, not far out of town. Once the site of an outlying hamlet, the place was now ruined. Besides the tumbled down tower, the remains of several fallen buildings still stood. In one fire blackened ruin was a curious sight; a bowl of perfect apples sitting on an undamaged table. One of which was snatched by Jonesomon and tucked in his pack. Gnarl checked around for signs of the children, and found tracks leading to the apples, then away to the ruins on the other side of the trail. These led to another building, blown apart in the distant past by some blast. Inside on the grassy floor grew a perfect circle of sage. Sensing faerie evil, they stayed away for now. Heading to the ruined tower, they observed a stone stair, still leading up to the fallen second story. In the hollow below, the walls sported some amorous graffiti. Seeing nothing at the top, Jonesomon tossed up his goblyn rock; which then came hurling back down at him to the sounds of a maniacal titter. Racing up the stairs, he sensed something else was there, said something then jumping away and running off over the grass. Gnarl cast entangle to capture the thing, tied it up, then smeared the invisible shape with mud to reveal a little man-like creature about 2' tall. Questioning the creature, they learned the children ate the apples and then passed through the faerie gate in the centre of the sage circle. Told to lead the way for them, the creature dutifully obeyed. But when it stepped into the circle, it disappeared, leaving the rope behind. 

The party decided to partake of the apples and step through, Ethanna going first and followed a few minutes later by the rest. On the other side, they found themselves standing into a circle of menhirs, in a land of twilight. A quick exchange of conversation also revealed that the paladin had been waiting hours for the rest to arrive. 

Looking about, they could see they were in an open forest. Off in one direction was a layer of haze or smoke, looking like mist covering a lake. Next to it stood an odd, double, twisted black tower. Out of the door of which the mist poured. Heading that way they encountered a cheerful sprite, who was unfortunately completely unhelpful and could answer no questions about the children. They continued on towards the tower, and as they got closer, noted a creature standing in front of the smoking door. It was a dog with two heads, both seeming blind. One head sniffed wildly at the wind, while the other perked up its ears, alert for sounds. Before getting too close, they party called out to the dog(s). They/it reacted fiercely, charging the quartet with fangs bared. Gnarl and Ethanna set spears and did it terrible hurt, and it was not long before Jonesomon and Baihu helped finish off the odd creature. 

Approaching the door, they noticed the actual wood door was much to small for the opening, allowing the mist to pour out around it. Politely knocking, they were answered from inside by rhythmic knocking. Knocking a second time, this time there was no response. So, politeness done, they prepared to enter the tower to search for the children ...

TOTAL XP

75

GAINS

A few faerie apples

KILLS/VICTORIES

Char & Sid, the Two Headed Dog

LOSSES
nil

Forest of Wyrd - A Few Points About the Campaign

A few other points to note about the Forest of Wyrd Campaign:

· Silver Standard: Base coinage in the Forest of Wyrd is the silver penny rather than the gold piece. LotFP uses a silver standard rather than gold anyway, so this agrees with the rules. From a setting perspective, gold is typically mistrusted as much of that found in the Forest is faerie gold i.e. may be cursed, disappear at the wrong time, etc.

· Experience: 2XP per silver penny of treasure looted ... er salvaged. XP will also be awarded for magic items, using the values in the AD&D 1st Ed DMG as a guideline. There will quite a bit of magic which will be largely useless in a mechanical sense, but worthwhile for XP and ‘story’ value.

· Cold Iron: Fey and demi-fey creatures take double damage from cold iron. Cold iron is unalloyed, pure iron that has not been quenched or tempered. Which means it is quite brittle and prone to shatter/break. Any time a cold iron weapon hits in combat, it must pass a saving throw or the weapon is thereafter useless until repaired. Note also that due to the difficulty in forging cold iron, weapon cost is also doubled.

· Unique Monsters: Most of the monsters will either be unique or ‘fey’ versions of standard monsters. In other words, don‘t assume the thing that looks like a goblin is just a typical 3HP cannon-fodder goblin.

Background on the Forest of Wyrd

Reposted from the Facebook group ..... if you read it there, ignore it here.

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From “Reflections of Many Goodly Matters and Curious Places” by Hengist of Jarlahad:

“… the northern reach of that part of our world known as Esrae is home to yet another unique locale. This area is known variously as the Feywood, Forest of Wyrd, Wosenbrae or Fairy Border. Approached from the northern Cold Nar, one passes southward over a cold and treeless tundra. This leads to the foot of a sparsely forested mountain range, beyond which one passes through a temperate wood of no special note before debouching  into the settled lands of the Earldom of Brakenrae and the Kingdom of the Rock at Carnock. Approach from the south, however, and matters are much different. Entering the wood, one encounters an enchanted realm of fey creatures and mysterious locales unseen on the journey south. This wood, it seems, it infused with a deep and power magic of a sort unseen elsewhere. But the greatest surprise is beyond the mountains; the tundra is no more and instead there is a seemingly endless dark and cold forest bathed in perpetual twilight. Here dwell dark fey, cold sidhe and creatures of grim  chaos, where  the lords of the dwimmer realm hold sway. The Wise contend that by some unknown means, a portion of the dwimmer realm has become overlain here on our own world. And at times, the dwimmer lords lead their hordes south into the lands of men, whether to conquer or simply slay and spread chaos is unknown to even the Wise ... "



From “Expansion of the Three Fold Faith across the Known World” by the Most Virtuous Athenfae of Kalin:

“… while not nearly as troubling as the scandalous fertility sects of Saule in the Western Wold, the Church of the Three Virtues in those scattered lands under the nominal suzerainty of the Kingdom of the Rock at Carnock has likewise drifted from the path of the true faith. Little are the Three worshiped here; instead a vast array of saints are venerated. These are purportedly holy men and women who served the faith in years long past. But one suspects they are more likely ancient false gods, reimaged to placate the Faith when the Imperator Vilorian the Second carried his sacred banners north into the Forest of Wyrd. Without doubt, this false faith has displeased Habuu, Velas and Salue (blessed be the three!) such that the servants of the church do not possess the same powers of prayer as do those in other lands. While the priests of the Faith hold some powers of protection from the Fey, only the Paladins, the spiritual descendants of the Imperator’s crusaders, possess divine connection to the gods and receive their favors …”



From “Epic of the Kingdom of the Rock at Carnock” by Osric Speareaver [translated into prose]:

“ … from that cursed wood on the northern marches, three times in the memory of Man, came invading hordes of Fey devils. They first sought to enslave Man when he was new to these lands. Only a pact with the seelie Fey pushed back the dark ones and brought peace. The second was defeated by the appearance of the mysterious Wose, wild men of the wood who harnessed the power of earth and root and stone. And ten generations past, it required the legions of the Third Imperium to push them back. Imperator Vilorian the Second used the power of throne and faith to defeat the unseelie, losing his own life in the final victory ..."