Craven Hunger

Life, Achievement/ Win

The yet-to-be-named Sapphire Oath return to the Wendigo with answers, solutions, and a deal.  A trap is set for the ravenous Baron Harewell that require Ravel to be the prey in hopes that the party can save the Baron's soul if not his body.

Before leaving the faulted mine the next morning, Marduk confronted Samuel Joubert about his plans if everything settled down. The older priest confessed that if his sin were brought to a close within the village of Craven, he would be leaving the kingdom. The tome that had been central to so much darkness must be taken someplace that can protect it and value its worth. Joubert's destination would be the Temple of the Mighty Light in Argil.
  The party of adventurers cut their way across the hillands and roadway to head straight north towards the northern wood. Marduk and Ravel easily guided the party through the wilderness despite appraching the Wendigo's grove from a different direction than last time. On the way, they noticed a stark difference. The woods showed the full influence of the primal spirit without the overhunting of the Noble's Hunting Grounds. The beasts grew fewer on approach to the grove but also larger. Ravel found a squirrel the size of a small cat. Tapping into her magic, she spoke with the creature. The squirrel was sporadic, wanting the party away from it's stuff but refused to say what it was. It ordered them away but was cagey on where not to step. Despite it's increased vitality, it was still in the last stretches of winter preparation and protective of it's larders. Ravel tried to get it's name but it did not have one. That didn't prevent it from collecting all of the party member's names, claiming them for itself.
  Continuing on to the twilight grove, the party located the small cyan pool but no spiritual presence. Beetle attempted to fumble through a song, trying to remember what he had played previously. His estranged notes, got whisps of breathed words. The long, sharp eyes of the wendigo formed in the shadows just long enough to be seen before fading and appearing elsewhere. The airy voice came and went with the eyes. Lord Saphire incanted their spell of comprehension and followed the presence in circles, using the wand like and arrow to point towards the creature.
  The wendigo was questioning if the party's task was done, if the shadow on it's land had been eliminated. The party entreated Wendigo for aid, presenting the hide of Sparky as evidence of finding their quarry but needing aid to bring this situation to a close. The Wendigo brought the shadowhound back to it's semblance of life and demanded the further purpose of coming to the grove. Revealing the Driftglobe, Joubert's theory was given to the Wendigo of possible salvation for the soul. The primal spirit confirmed that if it took could fill it's spiritual spring with the daylight of the wondrous item, the wendigo could physically separate Powell Harewell's spirit from the bodily corruption. To do so, he would have to be submerged into the spiritual pool.
  The party had a choice. Attempt to convince Baron Harewell to come here of his own volition, essentially walking to his execution, or trick him. The party chose the latter. Knowing that the Baron fed at midnight upon the creatures of this would, they would present feast he could not ignore in these overstalked woods. Ravel would wander about in the form of a horse. When she knew she was being stalked, she would maker her way back to the grove with the vampire chasing after. Therein, she would transform back to herself with Lord Sapphire having conjured the illusion of the same horse having mostly fallen into the spiritual spring, barely staying above water. The Marduk and Beatle would then be in hiding near by to topple the vampire into the spring. Marduk built the hides, Ravel traced her return route, and Lord Sapphire practiced the illusion they would be setting through the day while Beatle inspired them through the process. Eventually, night came.
  The trio were in their hides in the grove. Ravel, in the form of a fast yet succulent horse, wandered the woods in the night. With their planning set, they only had to hope they could handle whatever snags were along the way. Ravel enjoyed her nighttime stroll and notice a bit too late at the point she was being stalked. Despite that, she kept her cool and began the slow movement back towards the grove, doing her best to get closer to reduce the effort she would need for the sprint once the chase began. When the true pursuit began, Ravels practiced routes saved her even though the run had fatigued her. She managed to get deep into the grove before the predatory Harewell lunged from a tree to ground level in the grove. She had not been caught prior to the grove. Despite that, the supernatural creature felt the difference in the atmosphere of the twilight grove. He conjured swarms of bats to take down the horse rather than chase needlessly through this austere place.
  Marduke, Ravel, and Beatle anxiously held in their hides, needing to trust in Ravel to get to safety on her own. She sprinted out, away from the bats. They bit and snagged at her, tearing flesh and breaking into veins. The druid lept into the air towards the spring and transformed as she descended, her smaller mass being carried further than it should with the momentum, over the springin and dropping into the bushed. The horse blood filled the air and splattered the ground around the spring. With the Sanguine aroma permeating the area, the caution fell from Harewell as the hunger overtook him.
  He stalked in, savoring the scattered blood and promising a release for the panicked, illusory horse. As the vampire moved up to the ledge, Beatle called upon the magic of his lineage, conjuring a gust of wind to burst across Harewell threatening to knock him over with only his preternatural strength holding him up. The companions lurched out as the bats came to Harewell's defense. Beatle gusted again, once more threatening the vampire if not for his incredible endurance under the strain, feet and claws digging into the pond's edge. No matter the supernatural constitution, though, there would be no aid for the bulk that was Marduk, plowing forward and body checking harewell, leveraging the vampire up and around, torquing him about his grip on the edge and head over heels tumbling into the waters.
  Within the spiritual waters, the wendigo released the daylight from the globe. The corporal body of there disintegrated, murking through water. The long claws of the primal spirit reached in and grabbed Harewell's soul in both hands and rent it in twain. The the pure soul went one way and the dark shadow the other, slipping through the fingers of the Wendigo and resurfacing as a spectre. The pure shadow of corruption lashed out angrily, focusing its ire on Marduk. Hands plunged into his chest, stealing vitality and strength from the bugbear. A Mixture of arrows, glaive sweeps, thunderwaves, and electricty tore throught the area, disrupting the spectre and felling bats alike. Beatle released a prismatic cone of light that caused the spectre to momentarily coil in on itself, swatting out blindly. Marduk to the opportunity to sweep through it time and again to cleave off portions of it that felt to the ground and vaporized. Ravel empowerered her staff with the vitality of nature, swinging through and vanquishing the corrupt spectre forever. From this victory, the party churned through bat swarms, Beatle having already put one set to sleep with Marduk and Ravel dispersing the others no longer under the compulsion to continue the fight beyond their own desire.
  With the shadow upon the Wendigo's woods gone, so to was it from the barony of Craven in total. They witness the baron's soul held back within the spiritual pool. The Wendigo not only presented the driftglobe back to the party but also retrieved an arcane amulet from the remains of the destroyed vampire. The Wendigo then welcomed Ravel into its spring where it bequeathed upon her a mantel for her service to the natural order. Before the party made their way out of the grove, Beatle requested a song from deep wilds, of the fey and the old spirits to take with him and spread respect for the ancients through the lands.