A Successful Rescue and a Thickening Plot

I find myself forced to admit, albeit grudgingly, that the forests surrounding Matron Sorrow are quite lovely. Enough old growth to be truly dark, plenty of nocturnal fauna and with a decent fog on it almost reminds me of home. The caravaners stayed with their wagons (not entirely surprisingly) though, equally unsurprising, our team did not. To paraphrase my dear Aunt Zedarra; “When trouble starts you can divide the world into two basic camps. Those that run away from it and those who bear their teeth and run towards it.” Despite our wildly different backgrounds and world views, I have always found the other members of Ursula’s Hand to fall into the same camp as the Felsprockets and the Burrowfangs and here in the Feywild, once again they did not disappoint. We followed the screams I mentioned at the end of my last entry into the forest proper. Nymyra took to the trees and spotted an upturned baby basket on the forest floor which she psychically led me to. Having no idea how long it had been there I feared I might be looking for a tiny corpse. Fortune, however, smiled and, thanks to Jarvyxx’s impeccable sense of smell and the freshness of the trail I’m pleased to write that we found the little fellow hidden cleverly in the hollow of an old tree not far from where we found its swaddling basket.
 
The rest of the party followed the other screams to where the group which included the child’s mother was being harangued by banderhobbs. Nymyra volunteered to take the child off of my hands which put it up in the trees with her and out of immediate danger and also meant that I didn’t have to try to fight while simultaneously minding an enormous Eladrin infant. Once we caught up with the rest of the group we made short work of the ‘hobbs and the needle and twig blights they felt compelled to bring to the party with them. This skirmish also marked the first time I’ve had opportunity to field test the enchanted revolver that bounty hunter gave me. While it lacks the stealth factor of a crossbow it most assuredly works the trick and I can’t recommend one highly enough for dealing with creatures like banderhobbs whose bodies are more coagulated than constructed. A crossbow bolt is in and out neat as you please but the revolver makes considerably more substantial holes and erodes their structural integrity. I must remember to ask Oozmi and Uncle Ozzryk about any possible upgrades they could make to it next time I’m home.

After dispatching the beasties and questioning the redcap who was their handler for this little field trip (one of the Eladrin who’d been fallen upon by the banderhobbs proved quite capable and we were able to get a few answers from the ghastly little thing’s corpse. He confirmed what we already knew about Amaranth and the fact that they’re not only searching for him but mean the Firbolg harm. The group we rescued didn’t appear to be affiliated with him in any way however. They were hunting them down at the behest of some local militia because of their religious practices. They belong to some group who seem to hold the crossing between Matron Rest and Stars Retreating as sacred somehow and were on a pilgrimage to a local waterfall near there. Evidently their order is not popular with the current fey lord and he’s utilizing his relationship with the covens controlling the ‘hobbs to hunt them. I’ll need to learn more but that will need to wait until morning. They took us up on our offer to ride with us and the caravan to our next destination and, though it took some haggling with the locals, they agreed to let us all stay new friends included in a barn on their property. As it stands now they’re all exhausted and have been through a truly traumatic experience so such questions can wait until we’re all better rested.
 
I’m a little worried about Fen to be honest. I never knew the circumstances of his coming to be adopted by humans but given his reaction to learning that the baby (which I suspect at this point the mother may have trouble physically wresting out of Nymyra’s hands. I’ve never known her to look so fondly at anything not made of finely sharpened steel) had been hidden in the tree was, while understandable, surprisingly intense for Fen. In my own giddiness following a successful hunt where all parties were found alive and intact I fear I may have seemed somewhat dismissive of his concerns. That was of course, the opposite of my intention, I’ve just always found that terrified people are not, traditionally, the most receptive to feedback regardless of how well intended. I’ll try to follow up with him in the morning and then maybe our new traveling companions can shed a little light onto this militia using banderhobbs to do its dirty work.