Episode 27
General Summary
Waking to a drizzly day, the group head off into the Okina Forest, led by the halfling druid Welie.
Welie takes the party east, where it's believed most of the creatures are coming from. She is very quick to spot signs of danger, and steers the party away from potential threats. After travelling for a short amount of time, Atlas notices that something feels a little off... his belt feels lighter as he reaches for his coin purse - finding it missing. Realising that nobody has been walking behind him, he looks around and hears a melodious giggling from a nearby bush. The party stop, as Atlas searches the bush for the source of this laughter.
Darting out from the underbrush, a small orange creature appears and assaults Atlas' senses with a display of wild colours. Atlas resists whatever spell this might have been, and regards the small creature - a tiny dragon with butterfly-like wings. The creature holds the missing coin purse in its mouth, and looks somewhat surprised by Atlas' resilience.
Leah recognises the creature as a Faerie Dragon; a mischievous creature from the Feywild that likes to pull pranks on people. Speaking the creature's language, Leah convinces the tiny dragon to return the coin purse, in exchange for a couple of Shadow Dragon teeth that Atlas was carrying. The eladrin manages to convince the creature to also share some information on the forest in exchange for a couple of shiny coins. The Faerie Dragon reveals that a woman has been riding through the forest on a giant hog recently, and she seemed to appear not long before the animals started going crazy.
Continuing on through the forest, the group are attacked by a group of giant insect-like creatures - which Welie identifies as Ankhegs. The acid-spitting creatures are defeated, and any forest fires are averted thanks to Welie's ability to magically put out flames. Veda manages to dissect some of the beasts, collecting some of their plate-like hide with the hope that a blacksmith may be able to make a decent breastplate.
Further into the forest, the group hear somebody speaking in the trees above them. The voice is quite high, and slightly shrill... and seems to be trying to calculate something. Looking up, the party spy a red squirrel... apparently trying to calculate if it can jump to a nearby tree branch. Atlas calls up to the critter, asking why it doesn't just climb down and go up again... to which the squirrel somewhat takes offence. The squirrel apparently is one of many "awakened" beasts in the forest, something that Welie explains is rare but not unheard of. The squirrel trades some information in exchange for acorns, revealing that a group of nasty looking women came through the forest a few days ago, heading east. They carried "sticks" of varying length and had many cats with them. Not far from their location, one such woman is currently positioned, with large hog companions.
Bidding the squirrel farewell, the party head towards the direction of this woman - eventually stumbling across the snoring sounds of a giant boar. Sneaking forward, Atlas spies the large beast sleeping soundly - unaware of their presence. Pressing on, a dark-haired woman can be seen speaking to somebody. The woman is facing away from Atlas however, and whoever she is speaking to is out of sight. With the help of his new boots, Atlas successfully creeps back to the party and fills them in on what he has seen. A plan is concocted and most of the group move in to surround the giant boar. Eva, under the disguise of one of the Shadow Witches they met in the Temple of Mortona, approaches the woman, with Godric in tow as a fake enthralled captive. The woman believes Eva to be someone known as 'Jadis', and is somewhat surprised to see her in the Okina Forest. Looking upon the purple-skinned tiefling she has a realisation of who "Jadis" has captured - the purple-skinned tiefling Knight of the Order can only be one person... "Morgana" will be pleased that they have found the son of "Verana".
Confused and enraged by these lies, Godric loses his composure, and attacks the woman with his full divine wrath. With the go-word of "Squirrel!" shouted, combat ensues with the woman and her three giant hogs. Godric's initial strike gravely wounds the unprepared woman, who melts into a tree and disappears. She is spotted not too far away however, attempting to climb upon one of the boars. The two other giant pigs begin attacking the party, but one is held fast by Leah's nature magic, and then brought under Welie's control. The other skewers Eva as she leaves a column of ice and snow conjured by the witch. The sudden sleet storm hinders Eva and Godric's attempts to chase the woman, but it isn't enough as the party work together to bring her down. With none of the boars slain, Welie is able to remove whatever influence the witch held over them, and coaxes the creatures back into the forest.
The Shadow Witch now lies defeated in the dirt, as the Unlikely Association decide their next course of action...
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