Session 7
General Summary
The party moved their way carefully through the lower halls of the Citadel, killing a few
goblinoids along the way until they came across a huge cavern full of briars. They made their way
through these carefully, and were attacked by nearly a dozen twig blights - like animated thorn
bushes as they passed through. These proved to be nothing but a minor inconvenience for our
brave heroes though.
Soon they found themselves on the edge of a sunken courtyard, in the centre of which stood a
huge, ancient and dead looking tree, twisted and evil in appearance. Near the tree stood two men
and a woman. One of the men wore a brown cassock, the other worn plate mail and the colours of
The Knights of the Sun. The woman wore the garb of a priestess of Pelor. The knight and priestess'
faces were strangely wooden looking. The man in the brown cassock spoke to the heroes and told
them he was Belak the Outcast - thrown out of the druid's Order by the ruling council.
Soon the pleasantries were dispensed and the inevitable conflict ensued. Belak used a wand to
entangle half the group on the edge of the courtyard. Meanwhile Kai ran into the courtyard and
began to fight Belak. The Knight stepped up and engaged Fortuna in melee, sundering her blade
with his glowing sword. Then Tor joined the melee. Fortuna withdrew - unable to fight now she
had no weapon. The Knight tried to break Tor's great sword and only it's masterwork quality saved
it from being shorn in two by the cleaving of the Knight. Eventually Tor's great power won
through and he felled the Knight. Meanwhile the priestess had moved forward and was engaging
Fortuna in battle. Fortuna grabbed a spear thrown to her by the entangled Flek and fought the
priestess. Kai was wearing down Belak, but the druid kept healing himself. With the Knight down
things started to swing towards the heroes and Tor stepped up behind the priestess and cut her in
half with his battered sword. Traubon and Flek were still struggling to get out of the entangling
briars to no avail. Now Fortuna and Tor moved into help Kai with the druid and soon him and his
three twig blight servants were dispatched.
The group cut the Gulthias Tree down and discovered a coffin underneath it - the root of the tree
going through the chest of the occupant of the coffin. They took the root out and suddenly the
body started to repair itself! Worried they put the root back through the body's heart again. They
tried burning it but the body would not burn, so, deciding it was a vampire they put holy wafers in
the body's mouth and cut it's head off. They collected the treasure on the bodies and left the
Sunless Citadel, never to return.
The group returned to Castle de Belame, rested up and looked over the spoils they had recovered.
Traubon examined the magical scrolls they had found and started to work on trying to decipher
them. After a few days the decided to head to Eldarran to see what they could find of Flek's
birthright.
On the way they stopped off at Thistledelve where Tor had his sword repaired. Kai went to the
Monastery and took his grading for Sempai again. He passed with flying colours! They rested in
Thistledelve a little while, then headed onwards.
They passed through the village of Hollywood, Flek's home village, and the villagers were
overwhelmed to see him again. The next day they pushed into the trees of Eldarran. Within
minutes they felt like they were being watched and saw a few animals with intelligent looking
eyes watching them. Before too long they encountered a patrol of elves. There was a little
confusion at first as the elves assume Flek was a resident of Eldarran. Soon it became apparent
that he was not and the elves blindfolded all the heroes bar Flek.
On the way through the forest they came across a pool and drinking at the pool was a perfect
white unicorn. Sat next to the unicorn was a stunning elven maiden, washing her hair. She gifted
Flek and beautiful smile of perfect teeth. He grinned back, blushing furiously.
Before long they reached the elven court. At this clearing they were taken and put into a hut with
no windows, lit by magical torches. The hut was extremely luxuriously appointed with fruits and
wine galore to enjoy. At the time that the moon rose the heroes were taken from the hut by the
elves and lead into the clearing that was surrounded with elves with spears making a circle. Inside
the circle was a tall, regal and stern looking elven woman wearing a flowing light blue gown and a
delicate crown. She was clearly the queen. Behind her stood a tall robed elf, her advisor and the
elves' wizard. Also in the circle were a good looking elf with a harp who winked at Fortuna as she
approached. Next to him stood the same elven maiden Flek had seen washing her hair, but this
time she was dressed in perfect white plate armour. On the opposite side of the clearing stood
Marik, the druid. Court commenced.
During this session much passed. Flek explained he was searching for the significance of his
tattoo. The elven minstrel, Zandinell sang the Fall of the Sylvarran and much discussion ensued
about whether Flek could be the One who was prophesied. The Queen explained that was not
possible as all Sylvarran were weaned on the sap of the Tree of Life that grows in the Bloodwood
and that withered and nearly died some 1200 years ago. Also, all the Sylvarran were killed at the
Battle of the Bloodwood as described in the song they had just heard.
Kai started to realize that the time the Tree of Life started to wither seemed to perhaps match the
time that the Dwarves had found the mysterious root in their mines and had started to chop away
at it. He suspected there might be a tie between these events.
Flek also mentioned the magical map they had found and Caladon, the Queen's mage, said he
would see if he could determine it's purpose. They told the Queen of the Sunless Citadel and the
strange Dragon carvings everywhere inside. She told them of the ancient Dragon Cult that had
sprung up just after the Reign of Terror.
Soon the court was over and the non elves were escorted to their hut once again. Flek spoke
briefly with Shilana, the elven maiden in the white armour, and she asked him about his plans. He
said he wanted to go and find the Tree of Life and see what was happening, but she warned him
that the Bloodwood was a very dangerous place, haunted by the souls of the fallen Sylvarran, and
she didn't think him and his friends would be safe there. He thanked her for her help and said that
he hoped their paths would cross again. She said the she believed he was the One of whom the
prophesy spoke and if there was anything she could do to aid him he knew where to find her.
The group gave Belak's wand of entangle to the druid, Marik, and he thanked them and promised
he would get them something in return when they met him next.
That night the bard Zandinell snuck into the hut and woke Fortuna, taking her outside into the
forest to wander and chat under the stars...
The next day the heroes spoke to Caladon who said he had been unable to determine the purpose
behind the map, except that the magic was divinatory and he believed it was designed to show
magically the way to something. He apologized for being unable to give more information. Flek
asked him if he would be happy to train him in the mystical arts if he asked sometime and Caladon
said he would be delighted to.
The party were escorted, blindfolded once again, to the edge of the forest. As they made their way
out they encountered Shilana, riding the unicorn that Flek had seen her with before. She spoke to
them for a while, again warning them against travelling into the Bloodwood and finally departed,
leaving Flek a present of a simple grey cloak. The cloak was magical and enabled him to blend
into the background with ease. They noticed that as Shilana walked, her gleaming white armour
changed colour, blending in with the background foliage.
A short while later the group arrived back at Hollywood. There at the inn the encountered the
strange and mysterious sorcerer called Myrddin. They asked him some questions but as usual he
gave no answers, only replying with questions of his own. He gave Fortuna a warning, telling her
that she would become a great Knight, but that all was not as it seemed in the Order. He then
walked off into the night. Flek spoke to the elder of the village about his childhood, but the elder
didn't know anything about it.
The party arrived in Thistledelve thinking about heading to the Abbey at Mount Macarack to do
some research when they were approached by a half easterner who called himself Nakkarra. He
told them he was a merchant and was after some guards for a trip into the east, to Sapporo village.
The party agreed to a wage of 10 pieces of gold per day, twice that if they saw action on any given
day.
The next morning they set out. They chatted to Nakkarra about the customs of the east and Kai
warned Tor and Traubon to keep their wise cracks to themselves when they got there as the
slightest insult could mean death in the east. That night Nakkarra took some food out to the
wagon, saying he was going to check on his stuff. He returned without the food. Traubon followed
him and nosed around.
The next evening they reached Waymeet. They chatted to Tallisan about all sorts of things. He
was keen to hear what they had been up to and he told them what he knew about the death of
Kronos, the court mage in Littlebrook. Apparently Kronos had been into demonology and had
summoned a demon that had got out of control and killed him. He was buried with full royal
ceremony though.
That night Traubon snuck out of the inn and went into the stables. Here he got to the wagon and
peeked inside. He saw a figure of a man curled up under a blanket. The man was an Easterner.
Traubon suspected perhaps he was a spy? He went back inside and back to sleep.
The next day Traubon told his companions what he had seen, without alerting Nakkarra to that
fact. The group passed an uneventful day on the road, stopping ay a way house as evening fell. In
the stables there were 12 horses of Prince Jake's soldiers - a patrol was at the inn. The patrol was
lead by Captain Boden who knew Nakkarra. The two swapped stories like old friends, which they
were. At one stage in the evening Kai got Captain Boden alone at the bar and told him that he
thought Nakkarra was smuggling an Eastern spy to the east. Captain Boden thanked him for his
information and went outside. Time passed and he didn't return. Traubon went out to check what
was up. He got into the stables and found the cart empty. He climbed the ladder to the hayloft and
came face to face with the Easterner, a dagger pointed at his head. Captain Boden's body lay
behind him. The Easterner claimed that the captain was not dead and allowed Traubon to check
and he was right. The Easterner told Traubon to go and get his friends and Nakkarra and bring
them all out here so they could talk.
The group gathered in the stables and the easterner stepped from the shadows. It was Sensei
Osaka, Kai's father! He explained what was going on. Apparently 5 years ago Prince Jarrad has
started to begin negotiations for peace with the east. He did this by approaching the Monastery of
the North Winds. Sensei Osaka had been working as a diplomatic envoy ever since. The group
saddled up the horses and left the inn quickly, camping some distance down the road. Osaka and
Kai spent the night catching up on old times.
The next evening they reached the frontier town of Eastward. They passed through the gates and
stayed at the Lands End Inn. On the way they passed the barracks and stopped to watch Prince
Jake's troops training. They looked sharp and in good shape.
At the inn they met three Knights of the Sun, from the local Abbey. Sir Balain, Sir Karl and Lady
Olissa. They chatted with Fortuna for a while, asking about her sponsor. They were impressed to
hear Sir Caelon was her sponsor and told her that Sir Alfred was Sir Caleon's sponsor and it was
generally believed that Sir Alfred would be the next head of the Order and that Sir Caelon would
follow him.
The next morning the group heard that the dwarves were in town. They hurried to the market place
to speak to Nolo Ironbrand and do some trading. They told Nolo that they believed the root that
the dwarves had been chopping down was the root of the Tree of Life. He confirmed that it had
been perhaps about 12 centuries since the root was found. In addition he told them that the root
seemed to have healing properties and it used to be sold to people around the world but that the
practice was stopped as it was deemed unprofitable. The group told him that the elves would
probably buy it as it was legendary in their lands. Nolo said that he knew it cured elves as he had
once sold it to a sick elven woman who was heavily pregnant. When pressed on the matter he said
he thought it was in a village called Hollywood and was about 100 years ago. All he could
remember was that the woman was made better by the draught and she told him that her husband
had been killed in The Black Swamp by lizard men. Could this explain how Flek had the mark of
the Eye on his hand? Had he been infused with the sap of the Tree of Life when his mother had
been healed by a dwarven potion?
Nakkarra arrived on the scene, telling the heroes that they really had to get going now. They said
their farewells to the dwarves and returned to the Lands End Inn to collect their stuff, ready to
head out into the unprotected wilds of No Man's Land between Albion and the east...
Report Date
10 Apr 2024
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