Trouble in the Tasrand Forest

General Summary

As Precision ran back towards Alcaster she ran across two figures she recognized: Folsten Redsson and Thørn, son of Orn. They told Precision that they were tracking some of the individuals that were seen fleeing the incident at the Royal Plaza, and invited her to join them. Single-minded on recovering Pancake, Precision turned them down and was warned by the pair to be mindful of the wildlife in the forest. This warning proved prophetic as a short while later Precision was attacked by an angry mother owlbear. Still hurt from the fight with the Diligence and exhausted from her run, she attempted to avoid a fight by climbing a tree and staying out of the bear's grasp. While initially unsuccessful, after a time the bear became uninterested and left.
Meanwhile, Lethe and Erevan snuck deeper into the forest to make camp where they could wait for Precision's return while avoiding the royal soldiers now combing the woods for escapees from the battle. They too faced their own megafauna challenge as a pair of droghbirds emerged from deep in the woods. Similarly spent, Erevan hid while Lethe began running back towards the riverbank, hoping to lure the birds towards the Hildonian soldiers. During the chase however he managed to trip the birds and use the distraction to hide. After several minutes the two birds left.
Further north, Precision was psychically contacted by Percival Fould, who told her to stay put and that he would be there shortly. Before her eyes, one of the trees in the forest seemed to peel open and from it the elderly mage emerged with Pancake in tow. Retrieving his arcaltium ring, Percival informed Precision that he had been demoted for his failure and had been reassigned to Cartholt. He informed her that the Royal Plaza attack was being interpreted as an assassination attempt against Queen Harriet, and that the terrorist organization New Dawn was being held responsible. Percival had reservations about this however, as New Dawn had never shown themselves to be capable of such powerful magics. He had tried to raise this point with Crownmage Umarov who had teleported back to the city, but was ignored due to his perceived incompetence. Percival implored Precision to investigate the matter by seeking out New Dawn in Roselawn and finding out how they got such powerful weapons; he believed the Queen's life was in danger, and at this point Precision was the only person he felt he could trust. He then gave her a special multiplanar collar he had created to keep Pancake safe and stepped back into the tree.
Precision met back up with her compatriots and imparted this knowledge onto them. Together, they decided that since they were going to pass through Roselawn anyway (and because they felt a little guilty about Percival's demotion) they would investigate the matter. They camped out in the woods overnight, and as Lethe finished casting a protective dome they heard a ruckus off to the west. Lethe sent the Arch-Hoot to investigate the noise and he saw Folsten and Thørn battling five individuals. Gleaning that the two seemed to have the situation under control, Lethe observed as the pair easily cut down all five enemies and left after high-fiving each other. While Lethe finished the spell, Precision left to investigate the remnants of the battle. On the corpses she found that all of them bore somewhere on them the same symbol: a crowned sun rising over a red field. She was able to identify this as the symbol of New Dawn. She also found that three of them carried the same type of rough-hewn crystalline daggers seen at the Royal Plaza. The group then settled down in the dome and rested through the night.
In the morning they set out towards Roselawn, electing to travel on foot. When they approached the Aiberrun River, they noticed that both the Hildonian ship and the Amity were no longer present. A relatively uneventful three-day trek ensued, and at the end of it the three of them arrived in the city of Roselawn. The party stopped by the Roselawn Academy so that Lethe could investigate the library, but they found it in the process of closing. Following that, they began looking around for anyone with information on the organization. At one tavern they noticed a man with a New Dawn tattoo on his arm, and after some aggressive negotiation tactics from Precision the man identified himself as a member of the organization named Celbahr. He agreed to arrange a meeting with his superior, a man named Ra'zik, and told the group to meet him in the back room of the Five Brothers Inn the following night. Following this, the party went to another tavern, the Green Flagon, and rented beds for the night.

Chapter Thirteen

"Trouble in the Tasrand Forest"

---

Previous Chapter: No Honor Among Thieves

Next Chapter: Into the Underground 

---

Ingame Date: 5-9^th of Rainseed, 1855
Real-Life Date: July 26, 2020
Protagonists:

• Precision
• Lethe Argie
• Erevan

Featured NPCs:

• Percival Fould
• Folsten Redsson and Thørn, son of Orn
• Celbahr

Locations:

• Tasrand Forest
• Roselawn