Terror of the Fellgrim Forest

Written by Chrundle_the_Great

General Summary

Overview

While Kapital attempts to grow its available resources, they see opportunity for food and lumber in the Fellgrim Forest; however, it is fervently guarded by the Order of the White Stag. Ambassador Aelin suggests that the guild can earn his order's favor by dealing with a troublesome individual known as the Bramble King who stole the Bramble Crown from the elves long ago. With this powerful item, the king and his Children of the Briar use the forces of nature against all who enter the Fellgrim Forest, including the Order of the White Stag.
Will Kapital fell the Bramble King? Who will they ally with? Who will claim the Bramble Crown?

Garden Friends

Founder Chuma and hunters Bruswick and Ravix were joined by two travelers: Ricochet Jones, a bounty hunter and trickshot from the Amber Kingdom, and Henry McOak, a half-elven spy sent by the White Stag to safely guide the party through the forest. Somewhere along the way, Chuma lagged behind in the forest's wild overgrowth, but, before the rest could search for him, they heard horrified shrieks deeper into the woods.
Terrified alliumites fled from bramble constructs, while vicious thorns snaked through their village, swallowing up their wig wams and preventing any escape. With a fiery swing of his claymore, Ravix felled one of the strange bramble creatures; the other constructs and the mass of thorns retreated into the forest, as if called back by their master. As Henry calmed the still-scared villagers, Bruswick inspected the thorns scattered during the battle; he noticed all were dripping with a very caustic poison, but none of his allies had suffered its effects.
Rising from the earth was the well-respected alliumite elder, who are said to possess prophetic powers. He gifted the party a pathfinder weed, which was imprinted with his knowledge of the Bramble King's location. Also, much to everyone's surprise, he plucked six cloves of fate from his own head and gave them to Ravix because he was now a "garden friend."
With some using the pathfinder weed and others trusting in Bruswick's expert tracking abilities, the party soon arrived at the last location of the Bramble King. Like pillars, huge gnarled oaks formed a half-circle around a weathered wooden throne. Always cautious, Henry cast ear to the earth and sensed a massive presence below the ground. He warned the party of this, much to the creature's annoyance. Vines wrapped tightly around the party's ankles, the earth split apart, and a great shadow loomed over the entire clearing. Soon, Henry found himself face to face with a bark-skinned face twisted with primal fury.

Man vs. Nature

Ranting in Sylvan, which only Henry could understand, the Bramble King raged at the party for daring to enter his court. As poisonous tears glided down his face, the Bramble King pulsed with raw magic, and Henry realized this was an archfey, a being far too powerful for the Order of the White Stag or Kapital to even hope of slaying. Carefully, Henry listened and guided the conversation, fully aware of the ever-changing nature of archfey; the party could go from his good graces to mortal danger in an instant, so the investigator had to tread lightly. Importantly, he noticed splintered wood at the Bramble King's forehead; someone else had hacked the crown from his head.
As his anger subsided, the Bramble King sobbed as he remembered visiting the Summer Court and dancing with his now-dead courtesans. Leaves withered in their branches and fell like dust over the party kept captive by a tearful king. Although the Bramble King's emotions flared a few times more, Henry remained steadfast and gently reminded him how elves can change, while eladrin remain stagnant. Finally smiling, the king's eyes gleamed mischeviously and he said:

Right you are. Return my crown, and I will be reborn. You will be remade and given a place of honor in my court!

— The Bramble King

He cast geas to ensure Henry would follow his orders. Finally, the Bramble King sank into his ruined throne and pierced himself through the heart with a spike of cold iron, a metal deadly to fae.
The Bramble King was no more, but his crown had been claimed. As the party pressed Henry for details, two figures stepped into the clearing: Chuma, who found the party with his hellsight, and then a mage who introduced herself as Skylla.

An Enticing Offer

Wasting little time with formalities, Skylla told the party she and her patron were interested in obtaining the Bramble Crown, but had little freedom to directly influence this plane; noting the symbol on her staff, Henry identified it as one belonging to Baba Yaga, the Mother of Hags. Skylla offered to "pay well" and reiterated that the Order of the White Stag clearly did not have the party's best interests in mind. After Chuma told her the party would consider her offer among their options, the warlock broke the charm placed on Henry, not asking for anything in return, lest she owe the party a favor of their choosing.
Before leaving, Skylla provided them with more information about the one who attacked the Bramble King. A troll from Chief GorGo's court hacked off the crown with a hatchet and fled north to start his own faction. The mage left the party each peculiar charms should they want to meet with her later.

The Old Hunting Lodge

As the party explored the northern reaches of the forest, they had a tense encounter with Lemiticus Tealeaf, a fearsome bandit lord who insisted he had them surrounded. Bruswick, who found Lemmy's voice deeply annoying, gave him a few gold pieces and sent the nervous man on his way. Not long after, they found an old hunting lodge, now blanketed in moss and lichen. After breaking the door, the party stepped into a once-comfy cabin; from the still-readable papers and hunting trophies inside, they surmised it had once belonged to the Warlords of Gaea's Teeth.
After splitting up to loot supplies, the party quickly discovered they were not alone in the lodge. While some battled an animated bearskin rug, others fought to survive against a mass of lichen and its deadly spores. Once blood had been spilled and rare items had been looted (including a ritual for the Hunt of the White Stag, which was written in Druidic) the party settled down to rest. During the night, an explosion sounded from Chuma's glyph of warding; the party rushed to one of the side rooms and found a mysterious figure caught in a cold iron bear trap.

Evil Choice, Stupid Choice

The woman, who had the head and wings of an owl, remained silent as the party stepped closer. Noticing the cold iron burning her skin, empathetic Henry realized she was fae and offered to free her if she answered five questions. Clumsily, the party used up two of these questions, which they never specified had to be answered truthfully. Sensing a looming danger, Chuma called upon one of his contacts for guidance: the reliably self-interested Pbhaub.
The impish lawyer arrived through a hellfire portal and silenced another room, so the party could ask him questions without the fae overhearing them. He theorized that she was drawn by the party finding the ritual to summon the White Stag. Furthermore, he identified her as one of the nine daughters of the Lady of Owls. Pbhaub saw two courses of action: (1) the party could simply kill her, since she was likely to kill them when she was freed, or (2) he could sell her to an archdevil, removing her as a threat and moving himself up in the hierarchy of the Nine Hells. Callously, Pbhaub mentioned that the "Lady of Owls always has nine daughters, and she will just have to choose between saving this one from the Hells or making another one."
While Chuma was ready to make the deal, it was ultimately Henry's choice, since he made the original deal. Pbhaub urged him not to make "the stupid choice," but Henry was repulsed by the thought of selling this fae lord into the service of an archdevil, who Pbhaub unapologetically said would "drain every ounce of magic from her." In the end, Henry remained firm, and Pbhaub shrugged before returning to Hell. Chuma voted to leave the Daughter trapped in the cold iron, and all except Henry left the hunting lodge.
Henry spoke with the fae lord and showed her kindness. She asked him questions in turn, which he answered truthfully. Eventually, the investigator purposely asked the remaining questions, allowing the Daughter to escape her shackles. She was indeed worried about "someone worse" finding the ritual. Telling Henry to call her "friend," she magically transported him to the rest of the party; as they continued, a barn owl could sometimes be seen watching them from the trees.

Siege on the Bramble Keep

Following the guidance of birds, the party crested a hill and saw the keep owned by the new Bramble King. Its walls crumbling, the keep had seen better days; curiously, the party spotted horses and sheep grazing in well-kept pastures. As expected, they spotted archers from the Children of the Briar patrolling the walls. As Bruswick fired two tarred arrows and clouded the entrance with thick black smoke, the party charged across the fields, dodging arrows and cutting down bramble guards and creatures alike. Working together, they lifted the portcullis and slipped into the keep proper.
Wearing a false crown of thorns, a forest drake spat caustic poison from its perch; as paladins are wont to do, Ravix smote it in one devastating blow, its crown burning to ash. After struggling against an opportunistic mineral ooze, the party rested briefly; soon, they knew they would meet the new Bramble King and decide who, if anyone, they would ally with in the Fellgrim Forest.
The party investigated a nearby field. Silent as a mouse, the Bramble Prince approached them. The massive troll calmly asked what the party hoped to gain by attacking his subjects. According to him, Chief GorGo controls ogres, troll, giants, and even the Order of the White Stag allied with him out of fear. The Bramble Prince aimed to make war machines to defeat GorGo. Before his minions could ambush the party, Chuma offered up the ritual; only then did the Bramble Prince hold his hand up to his sneaking warriors. A smile on his face, the troll said, "Kill the Order of the White Stag. Kill the Gladekeeper. Do this, and I will make you an army."
Before the trade was made, a flash of feathers took the scroll from Chuma's hand and burned the troll with a bolt of pure moonlight. Henry saw his "friend" on a nearby branch; she met his eyes before disappearing. Enraged, the Bramble Prince shouted for his minions to "attack the deceivers," and he summoned a mass of poisonous thorns below their feet. As they surrounded Ricochet Jones and Henry, the troll easily sent Chuma flying with his greatclub.
One-by-one, Ricochet Jones and Henry felled the bramble creatures, while Bruswick loosed arrows of sunlight into the Bramble Prince. Trusting in the sun's might, Ravix took a gamble; he sunstepped high above the troll and crashed into him, impaling the Bramble Prince with his flaming greatsword. As the paladin fell to his knees, the troll, now bloodied, raged and erupted with a poisonous cloud as his control on the Bramble Crown began slipping. As Chuma and Ravix lay dying, Bruswick peppered the troll with zephyr strikes, always staying just out of his reach and drawing him away from his companions.
Eventually, Chuma rose and drained a sheep's vitality with his infernal conduit. After healing Ravix, both of them aided Bruswick in battling the titanic Bramble Prince. Meanwhile, Henry felled the last of the Children of the Briar, but Ricochet Jones was ripped apart by vicious bramble creatures. Finally, the three members of Kapital felled the troll. While the troll's skin began stitching itself back together, runes Henry traced throughout the keep began to glow; as gallows tree took effect, the vines he once controlled wrapped around the Bramble Prince, hoisting him above the keep, where he screamed, trapped between life and death.
The party quietly gathered around Ricochet Jones's corpse and mourned. The silence was broken by a voice asking Henry if "he was your friend." Looking up, the party saw the Daughter; no longer trapped, she could kill them all if she wished. However, Henry's kindness convinced her to look past Ricochet Jones's first impression on her. She breathed life back into the grizzled gunslinger and bade him to end the troll's suffering; Ricochet's pistol fired an eldritch bolt of moonlight. He thanked her for saving him and vowed to repay her kindness. Leaving her owl as a companion to Henry, the Daughter disappeared.

So Many Options

After exploring the Bramble Prince's keep, the party discovered a contact he had in the Feywild: a pirate captain named Big Red traded him elven slaves for magic items. Considering their options, the party finally called Skylla and were brought to a cozy log cabin in the Feywild.
In exchange for the Bramble Crown, the warlock agreed to pay the guild a hefty supply of lumber and offered them the services of an experienced carpenter to build fortifications and infrastructure. Once the deal was made, Skylla handed her card to Chuma, saying her order, the League of Malevolence, had worked with illriggers in the past. Bidding them farewell, she sent them back to the keep.

Rewards Granted

Gifted by the Alliumites

1 x Pathfinder Weed
6 x Cloves of Fate
2 x Mirage Flowers

Looted from Hunting Lodge

5 x Barbed Arrows
2 x Tarred Arrows
2 x Splintering Arrows
6 x Celestial Silver Arrows
2 x Celestial Silver Ingots
1 x Magical Bearskin Rug

Creatures to Harvest

Black Bear
Mineral Ooze
Forest Drake
Troll

Report Date

11 Feb 2023

Primary Location

Bramble Keep

Related Characters

• Bruswick
• Chuma
• Henry McOak
• Ravix
• Ricochet Jones