The Adventures of the Big HELP, Session 14

General Summary

• The first three days of travel for The Big HELP were uneventful. The continued on their way from Ghispar to Valadris with Amroth in tow.
• On the fourth day, not far from Popoki Village, the party met some merchants on the road traveling for Ghispar. They had been attacked and all of their stuff stolen. Petrichor gave them 10 gold when they asked for help. The merchants tried to warn the HELP away from where they'd been attacked. When the HELP decided to continue on anyway, the merchants asked if they would deliver a package and Petrichor accepted. The merchant leader said that they had lost the rest of their caravan. The package should go to them, namely a man named Bell, and that they'd be heading to Valadris as well.
• Both Bigwig and Petrichor were keen to sneak a peek at the package contents. Amroth offered to help by deftly rewrapping the package afterwards but realized he could cast Identify instead. The spell revealed an enchanted pair of glasses meant for sorcerors. No one was interested in opening the package anymore.
• As night began to fall, the HELP started traveling more warily. They heard a distorted howl in the distance and spotted a figure atop a tree far away. Eris Tisani asked Pistachio to scout ahead, which worked until her connection to her familiar cut short. She felt that Pistachio had been killed and she would need to re-summon her familiar. The party was on high alert. Eris and the rest snuck their way to where Pistachio had ben de-corporealized and found an arrow. When she followed the line of trajectory, a voice told her to lay down her weapons and leave without trouble. Eris fired an Eldritch Blast which missed. The HELP's hidden assailants moved in.
• Petrichor surprised the raiders by casting Daylight, blinding them temporarily. Larka recognized the scent of her childhood bully, Shoko, and realized these her tribespeople. The HELP easily dispatched two raiders while Larka immobilized Shoko. The raiding leader, Terrin, surrendered and asked to speak with Larka. Bigwig looted one of the dead raiders and found 50 gold.
• Terrin asked what Larka had heard about the fall of the Fell Tribe. She said that King Hespiro had conquered it, captured her family, and killed her sister Reina. Petrichor saw Shoko flinch at that last fact. Terrin confirmed what Larka said. He recalled that Hespiro's attack came without warning and total surprise. Any defense they could muster was perfectly countered. Terrin and others chose to run away. When Larka asked if they had no tribe loyalty, Terrin recounted that all of the loyal people lay dead in the fields. Though he admired Hespiro's strength in battle, he thought Hespiro foolish for sparing and caring for any who surrendered. The raiding party was made up of people that had fled Hespiro's attack. The pillaged and raided from anyone they encountered.
• Petrichor asked Shoko, in front of everyone, why Reina's death seemed to affect her so much. Larka sprung to Shoko's side when it became clear Shoko was hiding something. Shoko recounted how Hespiro had placed a pink crystal in the center of Agarthi, where the Fell Tribe had been camping, before summoning all of the druids and magic users together. He commanded that they give up their magic, saying it put the world at harm, and tried to assure them he'd have something else they could use in time. Scared, Shoko used some illusion magic to escape when Hespiro wasn't looking.
• Larka knew there was more to the story and threatened to cut Shoko's throat. Shoko revealed she had made it look like Reina was preparing to attack Hespiro with magic. She fled in the confusion and heard Reina's death cry. Larka nearly killed her at this revelation. Even Terrin felt that Shoko had gone too far in her cowardice and banished her. Larka followed, but not before Terrin could warn her about strange things in the forest.
• Seeking revenge, Larka followed Shoko into the woods and pierced her heart with a psychic dagger.
• When Larka returned, Amroth gave her a hug, comforting her and telling her to let it all out. Eris was meditating. Larka had taken some of Shoko's things and offered Petrichor her Nature's Mantle and a Moon Sickle. Petrichor asked what the strange things in the forest were. Terrin said that every night, their raiding party had been visited from dreams that would drain their vitality. If they couldn't resist the dreams, they would wake up the next morning exhausted. At this point, Terrin talked about his distaste for magic. He said druidic magic, like Petrichor's, was alright but didn't trust other forms. Eris gave him a sideeye while trancing when she heard that.
• The raiders went to bed and Bigwig kept watch. Petrichor, when waking up to take her watch, found that Bigwig had fallen asleep. The night was uneventful when Eris took over. She used her watch-time to restore Pistachio. When Pistachio returned, his eyes were inky black. A sure sign that Eris's eldritch patron wanted to speak with her. It said that it had a mission for her. Lemore's ignorant tinkering had awoken an unusual energy within his test subject, Windtooth. This energy seemed to disrupt magic and seemed to constantly kill then revive Windtooth. Eris's patron commanded her to find the vargar, kill him, and then perform a ritual that would transport his body to Eris's patron. Upon success, it would give Eris a boon and a more important mission. She agreed.
• The next morning, Terrin's party was getting ready to leave. Larka said she would reform the Fell Tribe one day and asked him to rejoin then. He said that such a thing was so unlikely that there was no reason not to agree. He admitted that she was much stronger than given credit for back at the tribe. The Big HELP marched further eastward, on the lookout for Windtooth.
• After a couple hours' march, the HELP found a massacred caravan. Larka determined that they had been killed by a vargar and something that left splinters and sap behind. Bigwig investigated the caravan and found a pile of gold alongside a store of magic items including: 5 Arrows of Beast Slaying, an Alchemist's Ring, an Arrow of Displacement, another Nature's Mantle, a Wand of Magic Missiles, and some Enchanted Soap.
• After traveling most of the day, Larka howled to attract Windtooth. He came, looking feral and with several grievous wounds across his body. He glowed with an unusual white light. Bigwig tried to cast Protection from Evil and Good on him but nothing happened. He slashed at her with his claws in retalliation. Petrichor charged at him with her Flame Blade. When the sword struck Windtooth, the white energy erupted from him. He was thrown back into the brush while vines began to emerge from the ground and twist into humanoid shapes. A tree collapsed as on massive vine creature emerged from its roots. They seemed to be corrupted and energized with the same ferality that drove Windtooth.
• Larka and Petrichor vaguely remembered hearing about such creatures before. They were plantlife soldiers created by Sindara and her Disciples. They had disappeared in the intervening millenia but occasionally one would be unearthed, dead and fossilized. Larka wondered if the vine creatures weren't, in fact, dorment in those cases. Petrichor feared that this might be what Ivy had warned her about, a corruption of the natural order.
• The creatures, now vine blights, attacked The Big HELP.

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Report Date

25 Feb 2024