Session 11: Warping to the Warped Woods - HA

General Summary

The Heroes

Emet-Selch {Vedalken Artificer}
Eralyse Sarrallon {Aasimar Paladin}
Jon Mastiff {Human Wizard}
Mala {Aarakocra Monk}
Mellow Leaf {Tabaxi Ranger}
Campaign:Heart of Annilation Current Year:756

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1

After having some time to recuperate, Zewyn presents the group with a sealed document. The letter is of high-quality vellum and has the royal seal on it.

I don't know what this is about, but Aleus gave this to me to give to you directly. So, whatever it is must be quite important. As for the information your group was able to recover they had information that Victorio had developed some new tactics, that he was going to experiment with within the forests near Grimford. The other group had an opportunity to stop him there for good but decided to go after Anuex instead. But I digress, travel to the area, and see if you can get any leads on where he may have gone from there. Sadly it shouldn't be too hard to figure out where he's been "experimenting". In the past he's attacked and destroyed villages, targeting spell casters. Putting the remains on display. He seems to believe that magic is an evil that needs to be "cleansed".

— Zewyn

When the group opens the letter it is written in golden ink in clean precise lettering

I would like to meet with you, you've been doing so much good work both inside and outside the kingdom's borders that I wasn't sure how else to reach out to you. So, I've given this letter to a trusted friend whom I know has the ability to get this to you in a timely manner. It's my understanding that your next destination will be the town of Grimford. I will meet you at the Best Mouse Pub. When you arrive tell the barkeep you're there to see how the bees make honey. I look forward to meeting you.

When the group uses the teleportation circle to Grimford, you arrive in a stone circular room. The room is lined with stone statues of wizards pointing wands at you approximately twelve in total. A shimmering dome surrounds and covers the circle and an audible gonging sound can be heard. After about a minute a young Veldalken in grey robes enters, accompanied by half a dozen guardsmen. The veldalken pulls out a scroll and asks a few basic questions regarding who you are and why you're in town. He largely seems uninterested in what the answers are and rather just that you answer the questions. He then nervously raises a hand that has a large iron ring on it and concentrates for a moment causing the shimmering dome to vanish. You are asked to quickly exit the circle and as soon as everyone is outside of the circle he concentrates again and the dome reappears. The guards then escort you through a winding maze of shifting stone hallways until you find yourself outside of a non-descript stone tower the entrance to which seems to have vanished.
It's not difficult to find your way from the tower to the Best Mouse Pub. The tavern is a grand half-timbered building, with a yellow tile roof. A sign sits over the door of a large grey mouse head wearing a golden crown. Walking inside you are met with the smell of fresh cheese. The tables and chairs are finely crafted with opulent curtains that can be drawn to give each table privacy. You do see a finely crafted bar at the back of the main room a female Arakocra tends the bar. She smiles at you.

Welcome to the Best mouse bar. Can I offer you a cheese and wine board Wine only 1 platinum per person.

— Ashu

The group told the barkeep that they wanted to see how the bees make the honey. She acknowledges the passphrase and leads the group over to a wall, you're not quite sure what she does but a portion of the wall slides to one side and all you see is darkness beyond.

This is one of our private rooms, feel free to use the sending stone if you need anything and it will be delivered promptly

— Ashu

As you step through the doorway everything goes dark for a moment and then you find yourself in a richly upholstered room with fine tapestries lining the walls and a finely crafted table and chairs that are even nicer than the ones in the previous room. Everything in this room is done in gold and red.
Seated at the table is a half-elf. He has a short grey beard and closely cropped hair. His eyes seem to glitter and he smiles warmly with a set of perfectly white teeth. He wears a fine black silk shirt trimmed in gold with matching trousers and supple black leather boots with golden soles. He stands with effortless grace and gives a short bow.

I'm so glad you decided to see me. My time is limited but it was important that I see you. This was the only thing is could get on such short notice, I apologize if it's not to your standards

— Myseterous Guest

He pauses and smiles giving an opportunity for someone else to speak. Jon questioned the man's motives and identity. The man apologized that he could not give his identity as it would put him at great risk. But that he was happy to present any other credentials.
He then continues,

I am here to bestow a gift to each of you. You have performed a mighty service for the kingdom with the slaying of that fiend Zadkiel. Kidnapping people and transmogrifying them, terrible business.

[quote]Now, the gift that I present is magical in nature. You will be marked as a champion of Braedor. Should you ever betray the kingdom the gift will.... simply fade away.[quote]
Additionally, he said that if anyone wished to refuse the gift they were free to do so. After nothing bad seemed to happen to others, everyone agreed to receive the gift.
The old man reaches out and grasps your shoulder with unexpected strength. You feel a brief burning sensation and the seal of Breador briefly appears on the skin of your shoulder before fading. Emet-Selch {Psionic Reach: You gain resistance to psychic damage. In addition, you learn the telekinesis spell. You can cast this spell without expending a spell slot. Once you cast this spell in this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast this spell using spell slots you have of the appropriate level. The spellcasting ability is Intelligence}
Eralyse Sarrallon{Frightful Presence: As a bonus action, you can manifest your frightful presence. Each creature of your choice that is within 120 feet of you and aware of you must make a Wisdom saving throw against a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier. A creature that fails becomes frightened of you for 1 minute. The creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Once you use this ability a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.}
Jon Mastiff{Draconic Ally: You can cast the find familiar spell as a ritual without using any material components. When you cast the spell in this way, your familiar always takes the form of a pseudodragon.
Additionally, when you take the Attack action on your turn, you can forgo one of your own attacks to allow your pseudodragon familiar to make one attack of its own with its reaction.}
Mala{Toughness: Your skin toughens, making you resistant to certain types of physical harm. You gain resistance to piercing and slashing damage. }
Mellow Leaf]{Enhanced Senses: You gain 10ft blindsight and Advantage on Perception checks}

[quote]Well, I really must be going. A... heh, my work is never done

He then sweeps one of his arms and becomes bathed in a golden light. As the light fades you find that he is gone and the spot where he stood is remarkably clean, in fact, every surface in the room looks and feels cleaner than it was, including yourselves.

2

The group gathers and heads out searching the forest for signs of Victorio's "experiment". They make such a good time finding it that they feel inspired.

3

The group finds a section of road where the air seems to shimmer and the trees beyond appear slightly bent. You are about to investigate further when you hear the high-pitched whine of a frightened horse and the sound of wheels thundering down the road. A wagon appears around the bend before tilting and crashing onto its side before you. The lettering on the wagon oozes and melts like hot wax. There is a snarl and things leap around the corner full of teeth and malice.
The creatures attacking the group were identified as being the same extraplanar creatures they had been dealing with. These creatures have taken advantage of the weakened magic in the area to breach into the prime material plane.

4

A Tabaxi dressed in purple robes embroidered with white stars climbs out of the cart when he notices the melted lettering
[quote[it's ruined! Those monsters ruined it! do you have any idea how expensive it is to have both sides of a carriage covered in illusionary script? Unreal, how am I Segreth the Great supposed to draw in customers which such a shoddy looking place of business?|Aiko the Magnificent

Questioning the Tabaxi reveals the following He was traveling down this road on his way to Grimford from Thornpond. He passed through a weird heatwave and about an hour later he was beset upon by the creatures you fought. So he tried to outrun the things when the wagon flipped.
He offers some healing potions in exchange for righting his wagon and getting him on his way. The "healing potions" are in layers. When pointed out, the tabaxi becomes distressed saying that those were real healing potions not the cheap stuff. He begs their forgiveness that he has nothing better to offer before leaving.

5

The group makes its way into the disturbing forest. After a bit the air is choking the stronger the magical talent the harder it feels to breathe. But after the initial discomfort, you are able to "get used" to the "thinner air" of the area. You are never completely at ease but you are at least functional. Though you do not relish the idea of spending more time in this place than necessary.
Jon cast a first-level spell to "test the waters" and found that the effects were erratic and passed along the information to the others.
Special rules

DC: 5 con save to cast a spell. on a 5 or less then the spell unravels and targets in the area take 1d6 radiant damage per level of the spell, on a 15 or higher the spell functions normally and causes a wild magic surge (https://www.dndbeyond.com/classes/sorcerer#WildMagic)

6

Your investigations have to lead you to a flower-covered meadow. Beyond the trees ahead you see a large wooden lighthouse with a burnt lens. Your attention is suddenly drawn away from the tower as a painfilled snarl erupts from the trees off to your side. Huge amalgamations of creatures limp forward, as if all the woodland creatures were merged together, then you hear a screech. "Kill the interlopers" the speaker looks to be a bisected fey creature that was perhaps at one time a dryad. She then moves in two separate directions and you realize in horror that each of her halves is acting independently of the other.
Eralyse let loose a mighty roar that shook the ground causing the smaller beasts and the split dryads to cower in fear. Not daring to draw closer to her. The group fought the larger abominations causing a variety of magical surges to occur. Most of these had effects that went away after a time, except 1. Eralyse lost 1" of height to the errant magic.
Once the larger abominations were eliminated the dryads fled and the smaller ones were cut down before being able to do the same.

7

After felling the creatures you move toward the tower and find yourself looking down into a valley. In the valley, you see the remnants of a semi-permanent encampment. There are a number of rough wooden sheds, that were used to serve a variety of uses. This one was a blacksmith, that one a stable, and that one over their sleeping quarters. But each of the buildings look damaged and torn and it's easy to see why. Amongst the buildings roam more creatures like those that you fought. A pulse of light confirms that the strange lighthouse structure in the middle of the encampment is the "experiment". You'll need to make your way to the building and up to the highest level of the tower to deal with whatever corrupt device is causing the problems.
The group was mostly able to sneak through to the upper tower except for Mellow Leaf who was finally forced to dash for the exit, as she found it difficult to sneak around the patrolling beasts.

8

Upon arriving at the top level you see a strange device has been placed in the center. Within it sits a crystal with a large crack down the middle. Strange energy crackles before being drawn into the cracks in the crystal. Surrounding it are strange... things. A large floating eye, two figures in robes, and a shadowy figure.
This was a hard fight, but the group was eventually victorious. Jon was brought low but ultimately survived. Partially thanks to mala's efforts to keep some of the enemies stunned along with his incredible string of normal blows to vital spots. The group then took a moment to heal before tackling the machine.

9

The device seems like it's been deliberately set up incorrectly in order to cause the sort of effect you're seeing. Thankfully, you're pretty sure if you do it carefully you can succeed.
The group made a couple of errors but managed to shut down the device before anything really bad happened.

10

When you remove the crystal a sudden flood of magic washes over you and outside you hear a commotion as animals flee, turning into multiple animals in the process. The entire area is deserted. Unfortunately, because of the abandoned nature of the camp, you aren't left with any leads other than the silent device you all stand around. A Shondae device that originally projected a defensive shield.
The group took some time scouring the area for anything that could be of use before taking the device and the cracked crystals. After some consideration, it was decided that the group should return to the druid island base that they helped establish. Upon arriving they found that the druids somewhat expected their return and had constructed permanent residences for them on the island. Each is customized to the individual's skills and capabilities.

Rewards Granted

• 20,000 gold pieces
• Champions of Braedor Emblams
• A cost Free Wealthy Lifestyle

Missions/Quests Completed

Grimford Greeting

• Travel or Teleport to Grimford
• Meet with the Mysterious Stranger
• Accept his gifts

The Distressed Merchant

• Save Aiko the Magnificent
• Speak with Aiko
• (Optional) Help Right His Wagon
• Defeat the extraplanar marauders

The Edge of Madness

• Navigate the Magic Ruined Forest
• Locate the Source of the Magical Disruption
• Subdue the Mad Dryad and her minions

The Warped Shield

• Sneak past the monsters guarding the lighthouse
• Kill the Covetous Interlopers guarding the Shondae Device
• (Optional) Determine the Shondae Device's True Purpose
• Disable or Destroy the Shondae Device

Character(s) interacted with

• Zewyn
• Several Nervous Grimford Guardsmen
• Ashu the Barkeep
• The Myserious Benefactor with clean hands
• 4 Frenzied Shoppers
• 3 Unruely Children
• 1 Curious Spectator
• Aiko the Magnificent
• 2 Dryads who were beside themselves
• 2 Large frightened abomininable horrors[/li[
• 4 Huge Brave abominable horrrors
• 20 Large abominable horrors that are really bad at hide and seek
• Several insect swarms that are good at hide and seek
• 2 disapproving undead mindflayers
• 1 thirsty eyeball that loves giving hugs
• 1 rather upset spector

Report Date

17 May 2022