The Ophidian Forest Report

General Summary

Make It Worse invoked!
After gathering together the last of their supplies, the party gets ready to exit Tafeld, hoping to make it to Brenbrooke in four days time, and from there to Hydrus to seek out the ruins of Castle Nimue. However, a few conversations take place before they leave...
Rishaa Parbat and Marianne Snowden speak for a bit, Marianne commending Rishaa on her interactions with Callie and how well the monk could soothe the little shifter. Rishaa admits that she had a son who died, and that her purpose is now to help others. Marianne offers for Rishaa to stay here in Tafeld, to be part of her family, but Rishaa refuses, saying that just because she is called to wander, doesn't mean that Marianne is too - and just because Marianne is called to be homesteader doesn't mean that Rishaa is too.
Rickee Trail suddenly bumps into Marianne, and barely manages to mumble out a whispered, "you look pretty," before he rushes off. The two watch him go bemusedly. Rishaa asks Marianne how much she saw of Rickee when he put on the mask he carried with him during the fight with the cube in the sewers. Marianne admits she didn't see much, and Rishaa reveals how different he seemed. Confidant. Cocky, almost. The two of them wonder if it was the mask causing this behavior, or if it is something else entirely - a mental disorder, perhaps. Their conversation turns to masks, both literal and figurative.
Meanwhile, Rickee had been attempting to flirt awkwardly with the wizard Dimitri Markov. It unfortunately doesn't go well, and Rickee runs away in embarrassment, bumping into the girls before climbing up a tree to attempt to hide.
Dimitri, following, coaxed down Rickee with an offer of wine, which Rickee accepts. They sit and talk for a bit, with Rickee admitting that he was afraid to get to close to this group - afraid that they would go away and leave him one day. Dimitri sympathizes, but doesn't confirm or deny how probable that outcome might be.
Their conversation turns to Rickee's hometown, and Rickee lies, claiming to be from the Diamant District at the Port of Saphir. But no one catches onto this lie - in fact, Dimitri clocks him as a noble, and Rickee admits he ran away from home, which delights Dimitri. Marianne and Rishaa join back up with them, and they make one last shop at Willow Hollow Goods to get some cold weather gear.
Marianne sells the gems they got off the vampire, and Dimitri buys himself a brewer's kit. Rickee and Rishaa, both from Mercercle, are not used to such harsh weather and therefore have no winter clothes on them. They buy some for each of them, as well as ice spurs for Rishaa. The party then looks into buying cold weather tents, and Rickee pulls down his mask as he approaches the merchant to negotiate. His posture instantly changes, becoming smooth and suave. He manages to bargain down the merchant to 40 gold for the tents as well as two pairs of woolen socks: one blue pair, and one purple pair. Rishaa takes one of each color and pulls them on defiantly.
As they leave, Marianne sneaks over behind Rickee and suddenly tackles him to the ground! As he protests, she yells at the other party members how she thinks he might be possessed, which Rickee - or Dandy Heat, as he calls himself - vehemently denies. The party manages to smooth things over, after discovering that Dandy is, essentially, a persona that Rickee uses whenever he needs to use a smoother tongue or bend a stiff ear.
Finally prepared, the party sets off. As they do, a heavy bout of sleet begins to fall, soaking them to the bone and making travel difficult. They only get half as far as they thought they would the first day, but that is alright. They all sit down around the fire, and throw the foxfire charm into the midst of it. They watch as the fire elemental springs to life and begins to gather kindling for the small bonfire. Marianne and Rishaa both pet the fox spirit and get their hands singed for their trouble, but both declare it worth it.
Make It Worse activated twice more!
They all settle down for the night, each taking a watch in turn: Rishaa, Rickee, Dimitri, and Marianne, in that order.
Both Rishaa and Rickee's watches go by without incident, but as Dimitri begins his watch, he notices two eyes watching him from the forest. Heart in his throat, he reaches for his dagger, but the fox spirit pauses as well, head lifted in direct attention. He watches as a real fox slinks out of the woods, closer and closer to its elemental twin. The two sniff each other up and down, clearly very interested in what each other is all about. Then they take off together, into the woods as they bound and play together. Dimitri watches with a smile on his face, but all too soon his watch ends.
Marianne's watch is also interrupted, but not by something as benign as a playmate. No, she hears a terrifying scream of pain from the woods. Immediately on her feet, she wakes the others as she rushes towards the source of the sound. At first she stumbles blindly in the woods with no direction, but soon sees the light of the fox elemental in the dark, and barrels towards it. When she comes closer, she sees it is near its mundane friend... who is lying with one hind leg ripped completely off.
She wolfs out immediately, and Dimitri, following close behind, casts mage armor on himself as soon as he sees the grisly scene. Following from behind, Rishaa casts bless on everyone by her. It is a good thing they do, too, as they are taken by surprise by a pair of ravenous rotfiends and a devourer, who attack as one.
One rotfiend hits Dimitri, but it bounces off his magical defenses. The other one completely misses Marianne, and her claws dig into its back, ripping out a chunk of rotting flesh. Unfortunately, as she does so, the devourer's claws rake against her furry shoulder and take back a pound of flesh in turn.
The stench is overwhelming, but the heroes are stalwart and unphased by its presence. Yes, their spirits are emboldened perhaps, and the rotfiends' next two attacks are dodged nimbly!
Rishaa grips her short sword tightly and drives it into the leg of the devourer with a yell, pulling it free as blackish blood pours from the wound - more like oil than blood. Marianne's eyes glow red as she rages, and with Rishaa's divine guidance she hits the rotfiend that attempted to strike her with her hand axe, slicing off a few long, grotesque fingers.
Rickee pulls down his mask, yelling out to Rishaa, "on your right!" His words bolster her to action as he moves to flank the rotfiend that had just attempted to sink its teeth into Dimitri and stabs at it. It's attention on Dimitri is to his benefit; his blade cuts deep.
Dimitri's hand forms into a fist, and in that fist a blade begins to form. A small dagger, which he throws at the rotfiend facing off against Rishaa and Marianne (ray of frost). The dagger sinks into its chest, and before anyone is quite sure what happened, the undead scourge explodes, coating anyone nearby in toxic organs and rotting blood. Marianne, the closest to the creature, is lucky and able to wipe off most of the substances before they can do much damage, but Dimitri is suddenly aware of how great the danger here is and attempts to run. The rotfiend intercepts his exit, a fist hitting him on the side of his head and nearly knocking him to the ground. Rickee, seeing this happen, attempts to distract the undead (silvery barbs), but to no avail.
The devourer leaps after Rishaa, and hits her square between the eyes with its thick, bony hand. The strike rings her bell and Rishaa collapses, her nose bent and bleeding.
Meanwhile, the rotfiend that had been menacing both Rickee and Dimitri turns his head towards the more accessible prey, and swings a long arm out at Rickee. It hits him square in the chest, and Rickee gasps as he hears a rib crack. He stumbles back, tripping over a root in the snow and goes down hard.
Rishaa's life becomes more untenable as the devourer climbs towards her, maw opening to rip and tear flesh from bone. Marianne, noticing the creature and Rishaa's predicament, moves to stand over her and screams as loudly as she can at the creature, successfully gaining it's attention. She swings with her hand axe, and it buries itself into the joint of the creature's elbow. When it comes free, the arm dangles from nothing more than a piece of sinew, skin, and muscle, useless for attacking.
Rickee yells at the rotfiend standing over him, "you smell worse than my vomit!" (vicious mockery) and attempts to roll onto his stomach and run away as the creature grapples with the confusion of the phrase. Unfortunately, the undead is unaffected by such an insult and rakes a claw out, catching Rickee in the back and tearing his coat. It's not much damage, but red still begins to seep into the torn fabric from the divots in his flesh. 
Dimitri, further away from the fight now, turns around and sees the ever worsening circumstance that his friends are facing. He puts out a hand, and the snow around the devourer's feet begins to turn to water, then resolidify into a glassy, icy surface - incredibly difficult to remain standing on, and - he hopes - enough to give Marianne and Rishaa a chance.
Unfortunately it is all for naught, as the creature's clawed feet grip into the ice and it slams another fist into the shifter barbarian, who takes it with only the slightest grimace of pain.
Meanwhile, the rotfiend that had been attacking Rickee catches up with him as he runs towards his wizard friend. It hits him in the back of the head, and Rickee pitches forward off balance. He doesn't even see the rock hidden in the snow before it cracks against his skull, breaking the bone open and exposing his brain to the environment as he lays on the ground, senseless.
Rishaa moans on the ground, and even Marianne's stalwart wolf form is having trouble with the stench of these creatures. Hacking and coughing, she leans over and uses the bandages in her herbalism kit to stabilize the monk, even as the devourer continues to try and tear their flesh off their bones to, well, devour.
Rickee is likewise still alive, but his life remains untenable. The rotfiend leans down to bite into his shoulder, to take the whole arm like a dog takes a bone, but then a bolt of ice knocks into it, and it turns it's head to snarl at Dimitri (ray of frost). Unfortunately, it is not enough, and the rotfiend takes hold of the arm of the bard and yanks. The sound is like a wet quilt being torn in half, and crimson spills across the wet snow as half of Rickee's arm comes free from his body, the man unable to do anything to save himself. Still, he is not dead yet - he has not given up the fight.
The devourer again slams it's bony fists into Marianne, this time hitting her knee and making it buckle outward at a painful angle, but she lets out a grunt of pain and nothing else. In desperation, she tries to grapple the thing, taking it to the ground. It works... for now, keeping it away from Rishaa and the others.
Dimitri notices Marianne and follows suit, running forward and tackling the rotfiend. However, there is a downside to this plan: the undead are far stronger than the mortals, and their flailing limbs are still bruising and cutting the two conscious party members. The devourer simply hits Marianne in the face, and her cheek begins to swell, but Dimitri is knocked backwards and hits his head on the very same rock that Rickee was so unfortunate to have found. The last thing he sees is the rotfiend getting to its feet and stalking towards them as everything goes dark.
Marianne, tears welling in her eyes, realizes there's only one way out, and she can't save everyone. With a scream of despair, she takes up her axe and brings it down onto the joint of Rishaa's left leg, where it connects with her body. It's a clean cut, and Marianne has the strength to sever it in one stroke. She takes the leg and tosses at the devourer, then slings her friend over her shoulder as they run into the woods as fast as she can go, leaving the others to their fate.
They run and run, for how long no one knows. But eventually they reach a clearing where Marianne takes the time to stop and try and to staunch the bleeding. She sobs as she wraps it: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
Then she picks up Rishaa and continues to run, through the night into the morning, until they make it back to Tafeld.

---

Rishaa wakes up in a bed, with Marianne's hagard form watching her. She begins to sob. She apologizes over and over again for letting the others die, but Rishaa comforts her, and they swear that they will seek out and destroy this curse that has taken Vespmar. For Callie. For Rishaa. For Rickee and Dimitri, who at this very moment are limping back to the city in their destroyed bodies....

Notes

Quotes of the Session

Rickee: "I like you all, but what if you die, too?"

Rickee (to Dimitri): "I will pay you to make this conversation go away."

Dimitri (to Rickee): "A noble and a bad boy?~"

Rishaa (about Marianne's aversion to mind control): "I really want to ask, but we don't have time to unpack all that."

Marianne (to Rishaa): "I just feel for some reason you were supposed to live."

Marianne: "I want to be someone people live for."

Campaign

Our Last Best Hope

Protagonists

Rishaa Parbat

None Wood Half-Elf (Monastic Learning)
Monk 6

51 / 51 HP

STR
8

DEX
20

CON
16

INT
12

WIS
16

CHA
13

Rickee Trail

None Tiefling (Urchin)
Bard 5
Warlock 1

33 / 33 HP

STR
9

DEX
16

CON
10

INT
12

WIS
15

CHA
18

Dimitri Markov

Zombie (Acolyte)
Wizard 5

32 / 32 HP

STR
11

DEX
14

CON
15

INT
18

WIS
12

CHA
11

Marianne Snowden

Lawful Good Shifter (Sage)
Barbarian 6

71 / 71 HP

STR
19

DEX
18

CON
19

INT
18

WIS
16

CHA
9

Report Date

19 Aug 2022

Primary Location

Ophidian Forest

Secondary Location

Tafeld

Related Characters

• Dimitri Markov
• Marianne Snowden
• Rickee Trail
• Rishaa Parbat