The Nature of Forest Elves
General Summary
We agreed to spend an additional day here in Bellaria to replenish our supplies, allow Bing to spend time with the gnomes, and get a well-deserved rest. Ti'ock had quite a list of items that he wished to acquire and was able to pick them up before we headed out of town. Bing informed Abworth Kanard that he had bought some time for him to repay the gnomes without them assaulting the institute. He still needed to pay them back the full amount, and he should get his finances in order to do so.
Bing spent the night with the gnomes again, and even though K'Taa was invited to stay with the gnomes, he and the rest of the group decided to spend the night outside of the town where we could rest undisturbed by the ruckus that human towns create.
When we met the next morning and regrouped in the tavern, I noticed that the markings around Bing’s neck had changed. One of the three designs around his neck had vanished! We took this as a good omen, maybe Bing was on the right trek in moving forward in his new existence after spending time with the gnomes. Mirra and K’Taa slept with the moonstones under their pillows and shared their dreams:
After we left Ballaria, about an hour down the road, we ran across a couple of chickens with eggs in a bush next to the path. Ti’ock decided to take the chickens and eggs to enhance our rations as we traveled north, nobody objected.
Two more hours farther down the path we met a wagon of dwarves traveling south. Upon getting closer to the wagon, we saw that it was filled with only women and children that looked fairly ragged in appearance.
Upon talking to them, they told us that they were fleeing the town of Wheatly, which is between where we are now and the Shadowglades where we are heading. It had been attacked by dark dragons. When we questioned them if they had actually seen the dragons they replied no, but had been told about the attack by Khardra. The entire village was devastated and, as far as they knew, they were the only ones to escape. They said that the dragons had even taken the statue of Flint that had been erected in the town.
Seeing that they needed food more than us, we gave them the chickens and eggs to eat as they traveled south. Khardra again, when were we going to meet up with him? We feel that it is in our destiny. We continued father north to make it to a wooded area where we were going to spend the night.
As we entered into the woods, nets were suddenly dropped upon us from above. The next instant, the nets were removed and 3 Kagonesti elves walked up to us. The leader of the elves was named Linsilee and she asked if we would accompany her to their village. They seemed friendly enough, after removing the nets, so we agreed. As we walked through the forest she greeted, and was greeted, by every animal that she passed. From deer down to the earthworm, all respected her. As we followed her deeper into the woods, it became even more lush with an abundance of trees and flowers.
We came upon their small settlement of about a dozen houses, we saw several animals that had been injured and been nursed back to health. A three-legged dog, an owl with one eye, a rabbit with a missing ear among several others that were uninjured. Linsilee explained that they were vegans and helped all animals that they felt were being abused and saved them from their oppressors. Mirra noticed some horses and upon closer inspection, realized that some of them were the horses that were taken from us before we made it to Bellaria.
The elves told us that they did not approve of us harnessing the horses and making them carry us. Neither did they approve of us killing the chickens and taking their eggs. They did not approve of K’Taa making his bison carry him and would have freed it earlier if they could have. Obviously, they had been following us for quite a while, possibly since we left Fair Meadows and entered North Estwilde.
K’Taa asked, in druidic, if there was a druid among the settlement of elves, one responded. He asked if she could explain to her clan the connection between a druid and their companion. That the companion was not property, but more of an alliance or bond between two living things. That he had taken care of him since he was small and motherless, and we cared for each other deeply. She said that she would explain it to the other elves, and they seemed to understand. Then K’Taa explained that Lady also did not belong to him, he viewed himself as her protector since she also was motherless.
Somehow, they knew of our quest to find out about the dragons and where we were going. They had mysterious ways of finding out about others that wandered in their region. Linsilee explained that where we were going, the shadowglades, Red Dog would not be able to travel. It was an area with water that was 8-10 ft. deep, and the bison would not survive it. K’Taa was welcomed to leave it with the clan if he wished. He said that he would continue to travel with Red Dog and send him back to them upon reaching waters that were too deep for him. They said that they would care for Red Dog upon his return.
Linsilee told us that some dragons have been seen entering the shadowglades, and the scent of death is strong. It was a dangerous place and we should take great care when traversing in the shadowglades.
She then led us on a short tour of her village. When walking through, we noticed that they were all females. When we asked if there were any males in the village, she said that all of the males refused to become vegans and stayed behind. Seems like a village that is destined to expire over time, but they seemed to have a plan.
She then led us to a tub of water with a golden dragon head in it. She reached her hand into the bucket and began scratching the dragon and it responded to her touch! She said the dragon’s name was Ky.
Recall a dream ...
K’Taa asked how he was able to stay alive and Ky responded with great moaning and said Talgar. Linsilee explained to us that Talgar was an evil mage that lived in the shadowglades. We then left Ky to rest.
If the shadowglades was no place for Red Dog, it certainly was no place for Lady. K’Taa cast “Speak with Animals” upon himself and talked to the animals that resided with the elves to make sure that they liked it here. He especially wanted to talk to the cat that was in the village and ask if she could be a friend to Lady. She assured K’Taa that she would be a friend to Lady and help her to get accustomed to the surroundings.
Linsilee asked if we would like to eat with her clan and spend the night. They had accommodations for us if we would like. It was better than sleeping in a human town and we did not have to set up a watch, so, we spent the night there, got up the next morning, and prepared for breakfast.
After breakfast Linsilee gathered 3 bees from a hive that was next to the village and placed them in a small magical box. She gave the box to Ti’ock and told him that if we ever needed the elves help, to release one of the bees. It would travel back to the elves and let them know where we were.
We then headed out towards Wheatly. After we were on the trail about 1 ½ hours, K’Taa noticed something moving in the grass and motioned for Red Dog to move to the spot so he could investigate. K’Taa noticed a horse lying in the grass with huge claw marks down its back. K’Taa used his healing belt to heal the horse and once again cast “Speak with Animals” upon himself so he could ask what had happened. The horse said that he had been attacked by a dragon and carried off, and managed to be dropped before it was eaten.
We saw a brand on the horse that was the letters KW. On our map there was a ranch farther up the road past Wheatly that had the name Kwitters on it. We wondered if that is where it came from. K’Taa told the horse to go into the wooded area, he would meet elves there and they would take good care of him. He wondered towards the woods apparently in good condition.
We finally came upon the town of Wheatly. There was nothing left but scorched earth. Everything was burned, buildings, bodies, equipment…. everything. Wolves were feeding upon the burnt bodies; the smell of death was everywhere. Mirra was investigating bodies and saw the markings of a trident on one of them. Khardra carried a trident, bastard.
Mirra piled stones in a memorial to the village, Ti’ock wanted to pile the bodies in a pile and cremate them. If we were going to do that K’Taa said we would have to fight the wolves and spend most of the day doing it with so many dead. K’Taa convinced the others to let nature take its course and let the wolves take care of the bodies. We headed north towards the Kwitters ranch.
After Wheatly was a half-hour behind us we met a man on the path with several goats. He said that Kwitters was selling goats at a really good price if we were looking to buy. All of the goats had a brand on them that matched the brand on the horse that we had found wounded earlier that day.
We continued forward until it was time to set up camp. Bing and K’Taa took the first watch. During our watch Bing pointed to the sky and told me to look up. We saw 4 dragons cross the moon heading north towards the Shadowglades.
Mirra saw the corpse of a large animal in the bushes
K’Taa had a vision of a tiny dragon, the size of a housecat, covered in fur
After we left Ballaria, about an hour down the road, we ran across a couple of chickens with eggs in a bush next to the path. Ti’ock decided to take the chickens and eggs to enhance our rations as we traveled north, nobody objected.
Ti’ock’s dream was a large bucket holding a dragon head, but its eyes were open, and it appeared to be alert..
Comments