Session Twenty: Cyric's Curse!
General Summary
The session begins with Iris telling Cora she can feel there is something wrong with Emory Woods, an elder forest connected to the great tree spirit. Iris feels there is a darkness which is spreading and the forest is sick. As she is connected to the great tree spirit, a part of her is feeling the pain. She asks Cora for her help in finding out what is causing the darkness and stopping it. Cora agrees and tells the party what Iris is experiencing and her request to assist the forest. The party agrees and decides it would be faster to take the Legendary Valor instead of traveling by land. The party makes arrangements and sets off to the Old House where the Legendary Valor is docked.
The party meets the ship’s crew and Bjorn prepares the ship for voyage. Valna, so excited to test her sailing skills, forgets to have the moor lines released before trying to set sail. Bjorn quickly orders the lines released and Valna is able to navigate the Legendary Valor out of the hidden cove into open sea. Away from the cove, Valna stops the ship and engages the lode stone which engages the magical plates recently installed on the ship. The ship slowly begins to rise out of the sea and floats into the air. Valna checks the ships compass and sets the ship on a course to the Emory Woods. Cora and Nyx remain topside to take in the views while Galrik, uneasy about Valna’s skills goes below deck. Sneatcha, not feeling the best, camps out at the side rail. As the ship moves through the air, Sneatcha gets sick and throws up over the rail hitting a poor farmer on the ground. The farmer curses at the ship as it sails past. The sunsets and the party prepares for the next day as Valna was able to cut some time off their travels to the Emory Woods.
The next day the party arrives near the Emory Woods. The party notices a swirl of dark clouds over the woods and witness animals fleeing from the woods. Most of the animals fleeing appear to be sickly. Nyx senses the swirling clouds are some type of strong divine magic. Valna can feel the energy of Cyric pulsing from the woods below. Valna stops the ship before the woods and lands the ship in grass field just south of the woods. As Valna was landing the ship, Nyx notices a falcon break from the clouds and fly to the ship. It appeared to be struggling to remain in the air. Nyx grabs Cora and flies up to the falcon. They reach the falcon before it lost flight and fell to the ground. The falcon weakly lands on Cora’s shoulder as Nyx tries to heal it but the heal spell had no effect. Nyx returns to the ship with Cora and the falcon. Once on the ship, the falcon transforms into a half-elf woman. She introduces herself as Evelyn, the last druid of the Emory tree. Evelyn looks to Cora and tells her the elder tree spoke of her arrival in the time of need. Evelyn tells the party some evil curse has been placed on the Emory Woods and the woods are dying. The elder tree felt the pain connected to the woods and told her help would be arriving to help her. Evelyn does not know how to lift the curse but feels an ancient treant named Silvebark may know the answer. Evelyn asks the party to join her in her grove. The party agrees to help and follows Evelyn back to her grove.
At the grove, Evelyn introduces the party to the heart of the Emory Woods which is a group of treants. The party notices how sickly the treants look as well as Evelyn. All means to try to help the treants and Evelyn fail. The treants turn to Cora and tell her the Grandfather Tree speaks of her and how she will help. They feel better knowing Cora has arrived and willing to help. Nyx asks Evelyn if there is anyone who can assist the party once they arrive in Silverbark’s Forest. Evelyn tells Nyx she has send word to her friend Frick to help. Frick will be awaiting their arrival in Silverbark’s Forest. The party decided to head out with the remaining sunlight to see if they can make it to Silverbark’s Forest before sunset.
The party flies in between the trees as they do not know what the curse may do to them if they remain on the ground for a length period of time. The party passes a rather large tree and Galrik gets a smell of a sweet scent. Galrik stops and moves towards the tree trying to see what the smell is coming from. Sneatcha looks back and notices Galrik had stopped following them and was near a large tree. As Sneatcha turns to go back, the tree lashes out at Galrik and entangling him in a set of vines. Sneatcha calls out to the rest of the party and they turn to help Galrik. Nyx turns and fires an eldritch bolt at the creature. Cora flies up to the tree, unaffected by the tree’s spores and tries to hit it with her staff. The tree lashes out and ensnares Cora. Valna casts a spell on Cora and Cora is able to escape. Sneatcha slings a stone at the tree as he decides if he wants to get close to fight the tree because of its spores. The tree pulls Galrik in its trunk and begins to consume him. Cora tries to hit the tree with a flaming blade but misses. Valna moves up to attack the tree as well as Sneatcha. The tree lashes out and ensnares Cora in its vine. As Sneatcha goes to hit the tree, he is effect by the spores and stops his attack. Nyx hits the tree again with a eldritch blast as Valna hits it with Tranquility. The tree pulls Cora inside and starts to consume her with Galrik. The tree then ensnares Sneatcha as Valna and Nyx attack the tree. After several blows from Valna and Nyx the tree stops attacking releasing Sneatcha. Valna and Nyx cut out Cora and Galrik from the trunk of the tree.
After being freed, the party pushes on and makes it to the edge of the woods. The Emory River separates the Emory Woods from Silverbark’s Forest. The party flies across the river with limited difficulties as Galrik almost hits the river when a small wind gust hits him. Safely across the river and with the sun setting, the party decides to camp. As they set up camp a voice is heard from a tree. Nyx calls out to the voice and an owl flies down and introduces himself as Frick. Cora explains what is happening and Nyx ask Frick if there is any way to appease Silverbark. Frick tells them he has some friends who know Silverbark and they may be able to provide some insight on Silverbark in the morning. The party decides to camp for the night to rest.
During Sneatcha watch, he is attacked by three striges as they were out hunting for food. The striges buzz Sneatcha’s head as they try to bit him. Sneatcha easily crushes and returns back to his watch. In the morning, Frick returns with Derva and Nina, a pair of unicorns. Derva tells Cora Silverbark has been sleeping for a hundred and fifty years and he will be grumpy from being awaking from his slumber. Derva says a necklace of mistletoe will show Silverbark you have come in peace and will be a little more receptive. Derva tells Cora to be firm with Silverbark but not hostile as Silverbark by be stubborn. The party thanks Derva and Nina and Cora searches the area for mistletoe. After finding some, Cora makes several necklaces for the party to wear. Sneatcha sees some pine cones and decide to decorate his with a few of the cones. The party breaks camp and follows Frick to Silverbark’s Grove.
As the party travels through the woods, Sneatcha notices two of the pine cones on his necklace begin to move. Sneatcha grabs the pine cones and feels there is some type of resistance to them. The party stops and Nyx tries to uses fairy fire to see if there is anything thing invisible. The spell fails so she casts see invisible. Nyx sees two pixies struggling to remove the pine cones from Sneatcha’s necklace. Nyx talks to the pixies in Sylvan and they tell her Sneatcha stole the pine cones from them. They claimed to have spotted them first and they want the cones back. Sneatcha, intrigued by the small creatures gives them the pine cones with an additional pine cone. The pixies are happy with the exchange and they bless Sneatcha with the gift of invisibility. The party asks if they pixies are willing to help and they agree to because of the payment of pine cones. They introduce themselves as Jixie and Prite and they are brothers.
The party arrives at Silverbark’s Grove and they enter. Nyx addresses Silverbark and he awakens to much dismay. Silverbark turns to Cora and listens to Cora’s plea. Silverbark tell Cora there is nothing he can do and tells her to return to comfort them in death. Cora refuses to take Silverbark’s answer as acceptable and tells him there must be another way. Silverbark tells Cora the only other way is to cleanse the woods of evil by the next full moon. After the evil is removed, a heavy rain must wash the remaining evil away. To aid in removing the curse and to protect the forest, a rare pine tree must be planted (a Silver Pine). If this is completed Silverbark can remove the curse. Frick tells Cora he has some friends who know where the Silver Pines are in the mountains and can help. Frick flies off and returns shortly with some pegasi. Frick introduced the leader of the pegasi as Maiya. Maiya tells Cora she heard their plight and agrees to help. Nyx asks Silverbark what the evil is and he shows Nyx in the pool a distorted human with dark creatures with him draining the life force from the woods. The party decides time is short and splits up. Cora and Sneatcha decide to fly to the mountains in search of the Silver Pine’s cone. Garlik, Nyx and Valna decide they are going to find and fight the evil in the forest. The party mounts up on the pegasi and flies off.
Sneatcha and Cora fly deep into the Summitpines mountains in search of the Silver Pine when two griffons descend onto them from a ridge above. Sneatcha asks Jixie and Prite if there anything they could do to help. Jixie creates an illusion of a silver dragon flying over the mountain and has it swoop down after the griffons. The griffons, surprised by the dragon appearing, turn and flee from it. Jixie, finding humor in scaring the griffons, has the dragon pause in the sky and then has it take a victory dance. The pegasi turn up to the summit where the Silver Pine is located. Cora and Sneatcha get off the pegasi and look for a Silver Pine cone. Sneatcha helps Cora find the tree and they obtain one of its pine cones. They quickly return to the pegasi and fly back to the Emory Woods.
Nyx, Valna and Galrik fly to where the evil was last seen in the magical pool. Nyx spots the evil creature and they fly down to the ground to attack it. They move in and notice the evil creature was once a priest of Cyric but now twisted into an undead creature. Four shadows follow the creature. The creature releases a snarl as it sees Valna and moves in to attack. The creatures claws at Valna and misses. Galrik moves in and hits the creature which staggers it. Valna and Nyx moves in and hits the creature dealing a killing blow to it. As the creature falls to the ground the shadows disappear. From the woods, several orcs appear. Behind the orcs is a dark naga. The dark naga tells Nyx, he is not here to fight them. It is seeking a gemstone which the creature possessed and it was promised to it. After a quick debate, Galrik, Valna and Nyx decide to attack the dark naga. The dark naga sees them moving towards him and he charms Galrik and Valna. The dark naga warns Nyx not to interfere again. Nyx remains watch over Galrik and Valna as the dark naga takes the gem and leaves. Nyx, Valna and Galrik return to the pegasi and flies to meet Cora and Sneatcha.
The party regroups in the grove and Cora uses the water Silverbark gave her to help Evelyn and the treants. Cora helps Silverbark with the ritual to cleanse the woods and save Evelyn and the treants. With the evil removed and the ritual completed life begins to return to the Emory Woods. Silverbark tells Cora the spirits of the trees have decided to give her the Sling of Dire Wind for the sacrifice she did to save the treants. Sneatcha asks if Jixie and Prite want to join him on his journeys. They agree and briefly return to their village to brag about their new wealth and adventures before departing.
The session ends as the party returns to the Legendary Valor.
The party meets the ship’s crew and Bjorn prepares the ship for voyage. Valna, so excited to test her sailing skills, forgets to have the moor lines released before trying to set sail. Bjorn quickly orders the lines released and Valna is able to navigate the Legendary Valor out of the hidden cove into open sea. Away from the cove, Valna stops the ship and engages the lode stone which engages the magical plates recently installed on the ship. The ship slowly begins to rise out of the sea and floats into the air. Valna checks the ships compass and sets the ship on a course to the Emory Woods. Cora and Nyx remain topside to take in the views while Galrik, uneasy about Valna’s skills goes below deck. Sneatcha, not feeling the best, camps out at the side rail. As the ship moves through the air, Sneatcha gets sick and throws up over the rail hitting a poor farmer on the ground. The farmer curses at the ship as it sails past. The sunsets and the party prepares for the next day as Valna was able to cut some time off their travels to the Emory Woods.
The next day the party arrives near the Emory Woods. The party notices a swirl of dark clouds over the woods and witness animals fleeing from the woods. Most of the animals fleeing appear to be sickly. Nyx senses the swirling clouds are some type of strong divine magic. Valna can feel the energy of Cyric pulsing from the woods below. Valna stops the ship before the woods and lands the ship in grass field just south of the woods. As Valna was landing the ship, Nyx notices a falcon break from the clouds and fly to the ship. It appeared to be struggling to remain in the air. Nyx grabs Cora and flies up to the falcon. They reach the falcon before it lost flight and fell to the ground. The falcon weakly lands on Cora’s shoulder as Nyx tries to heal it but the heal spell had no effect. Nyx returns to the ship with Cora and the falcon. Once on the ship, the falcon transforms into a half-elf woman. She introduces herself as Evelyn, the last druid of the Emory tree. Evelyn looks to Cora and tells her the elder tree spoke of her arrival in the time of need. Evelyn tells the party some evil curse has been placed on the Emory Woods and the woods are dying. The elder tree felt the pain connected to the woods and told her help would be arriving to help her. Evelyn does not know how to lift the curse but feels an ancient treant named Silvebark may know the answer. Evelyn asks the party to join her in her grove. The party agrees to help and follows Evelyn back to her grove.
At the grove, Evelyn introduces the party to the heart of the Emory Woods which is a group of treants. The party notices how sickly the treants look as well as Evelyn. All means to try to help the treants and Evelyn fail. The treants turn to Cora and tell her the Grandfather Tree speaks of her and how she will help. They feel better knowing Cora has arrived and willing to help. Nyx asks Evelyn if there is anyone who can assist the party once they arrive in Silverbark’s Forest. Evelyn tells Nyx she has send word to her friend Frick to help. Frick will be awaiting their arrival in Silverbark’s Forest. The party decided to head out with the remaining sunlight to see if they can make it to Silverbark’s Forest before sunset.
The party flies in between the trees as they do not know what the curse may do to them if they remain on the ground for a length period of time. The party passes a rather large tree and Galrik gets a smell of a sweet scent. Galrik stops and moves towards the tree trying to see what the smell is coming from. Sneatcha looks back and notices Galrik had stopped following them and was near a large tree. As Sneatcha turns to go back, the tree lashes out at Galrik and entangling him in a set of vines. Sneatcha calls out to the rest of the party and they turn to help Galrik. Nyx turns and fires an eldritch bolt at the creature. Cora flies up to the tree, unaffected by the tree’s spores and tries to hit it with her staff. The tree lashes out and ensnares Cora. Valna casts a spell on Cora and Cora is able to escape. Sneatcha slings a stone at the tree as he decides if he wants to get close to fight the tree because of its spores. The tree pulls Galrik in its trunk and begins to consume him. Cora tries to hit the tree with a flaming blade but misses. Valna moves up to attack the tree as well as Sneatcha. The tree lashes out and ensnares Cora in its vine. As Sneatcha goes to hit the tree, he is effect by the spores and stops his attack. Nyx hits the tree again with a eldritch blast as Valna hits it with Tranquility. The tree pulls Cora inside and starts to consume her with Galrik. The tree then ensnares Sneatcha as Valna and Nyx attack the tree. After several blows from Valna and Nyx the tree stops attacking releasing Sneatcha. Valna and Nyx cut out Cora and Galrik from the trunk of the tree.
After being freed, the party pushes on and makes it to the edge of the woods. The Emory River separates the Emory Woods from Silverbark’s Forest. The party flies across the river with limited difficulties as Galrik almost hits the river when a small wind gust hits him. Safely across the river and with the sun setting, the party decides to camp. As they set up camp a voice is heard from a tree. Nyx calls out to the voice and an owl flies down and introduces himself as Frick. Cora explains what is happening and Nyx ask Frick if there is any way to appease Silverbark. Frick tells them he has some friends who know Silverbark and they may be able to provide some insight on Silverbark in the morning. The party decides to camp for the night to rest.
During Sneatcha watch, he is attacked by three striges as they were out hunting for food. The striges buzz Sneatcha’s head as they try to bit him. Sneatcha easily crushes and returns back to his watch. In the morning, Frick returns with Derva and Nina, a pair of unicorns. Derva tells Cora Silverbark has been sleeping for a hundred and fifty years and he will be grumpy from being awaking from his slumber. Derva says a necklace of mistletoe will show Silverbark you have come in peace and will be a little more receptive. Derva tells Cora to be firm with Silverbark but not hostile as Silverbark by be stubborn. The party thanks Derva and Nina and Cora searches the area for mistletoe. After finding some, Cora makes several necklaces for the party to wear. Sneatcha sees some pine cones and decide to decorate his with a few of the cones. The party breaks camp and follows Frick to Silverbark’s Grove.
As the party travels through the woods, Sneatcha notices two of the pine cones on his necklace begin to move. Sneatcha grabs the pine cones and feels there is some type of resistance to them. The party stops and Nyx tries to uses fairy fire to see if there is anything thing invisible. The spell fails so she casts see invisible. Nyx sees two pixies struggling to remove the pine cones from Sneatcha’s necklace. Nyx talks to the pixies in Sylvan and they tell her Sneatcha stole the pine cones from them. They claimed to have spotted them first and they want the cones back. Sneatcha, intrigued by the small creatures gives them the pine cones with an additional pine cone. The pixies are happy with the exchange and they bless Sneatcha with the gift of invisibility. The party asks if they pixies are willing to help and they agree to because of the payment of pine cones. They introduce themselves as Jixie and Prite and they are brothers.
The party arrives at Silverbark’s Grove and they enter. Nyx addresses Silverbark and he awakens to much dismay. Silverbark turns to Cora and listens to Cora’s plea. Silverbark tell Cora there is nothing he can do and tells her to return to comfort them in death. Cora refuses to take Silverbark’s answer as acceptable and tells him there must be another way. Silverbark tells Cora the only other way is to cleanse the woods of evil by the next full moon. After the evil is removed, a heavy rain must wash the remaining evil away. To aid in removing the curse and to protect the forest, a rare pine tree must be planted (a Silver Pine). If this is completed Silverbark can remove the curse. Frick tells Cora he has some friends who know where the Silver Pines are in the mountains and can help. Frick flies off and returns shortly with some pegasi. Frick introduced the leader of the pegasi as Maiya. Maiya tells Cora she heard their plight and agrees to help. Nyx asks Silverbark what the evil is and he shows Nyx in the pool a distorted human with dark creatures with him draining the life force from the woods. The party decides time is short and splits up. Cora and Sneatcha decide to fly to the mountains in search of the Silver Pine’s cone. Garlik, Nyx and Valna decide they are going to find and fight the evil in the forest. The party mounts up on the pegasi and flies off.
Sneatcha and Cora fly deep into the Summitpines mountains in search of the Silver Pine when two griffons descend onto them from a ridge above. Sneatcha asks Jixie and Prite if there anything they could do to help. Jixie creates an illusion of a silver dragon flying over the mountain and has it swoop down after the griffons. The griffons, surprised by the dragon appearing, turn and flee from it. Jixie, finding humor in scaring the griffons, has the dragon pause in the sky and then has it take a victory dance. The pegasi turn up to the summit where the Silver Pine is located. Cora and Sneatcha get off the pegasi and look for a Silver Pine cone. Sneatcha helps Cora find the tree and they obtain one of its pine cones. They quickly return to the pegasi and fly back to the Emory Woods.
Nyx, Valna and Galrik fly to where the evil was last seen in the magical pool. Nyx spots the evil creature and they fly down to the ground to attack it. They move in and notice the evil creature was once a priest of Cyric but now twisted into an undead creature. Four shadows follow the creature. The creature releases a snarl as it sees Valna and moves in to attack. The creatures claws at Valna and misses. Galrik moves in and hits the creature which staggers it. Valna and Nyx moves in and hits the creature dealing a killing blow to it. As the creature falls to the ground the shadows disappear. From the woods, several orcs appear. Behind the orcs is a dark naga. The dark naga tells Nyx, he is not here to fight them. It is seeking a gemstone which the creature possessed and it was promised to it. After a quick debate, Galrik, Valna and Nyx decide to attack the dark naga. The dark naga sees them moving towards him and he charms Galrik and Valna. The dark naga warns Nyx not to interfere again. Nyx remains watch over Galrik and Valna as the dark naga takes the gem and leaves. Nyx, Valna and Galrik return to the pegasi and flies to meet Cora and Sneatcha.
The party regroups in the grove and Cora uses the water Silverbark gave her to help Evelyn and the treants. Cora helps Silverbark with the ritual to cleanse the woods and save Evelyn and the treants. With the evil removed and the ritual completed life begins to return to the Emory Woods. Silverbark tells Cora the spirits of the trees have decided to give her the Sling of Dire Wind for the sacrifice she did to save the treants. Sneatcha asks if Jixie and Prite want to join him on his journeys. They agree and briefly return to their village to brag about their new wealth and adventures before departing.
The session ends as the party returns to the Legendary Valor.
Rewards Granted
Experience for the session: 6,000xp. Party's total experience to date: 51,769xp. This will level everyone to eighth level.
The party found 600gp (100gp each).
The party found 600gp (100gp each).
Notes
Key Findings:
- Eulaos, a priest of Cyric, was told to unleash a curse upon an ancient forest called the Emory Woods with ties to the Grandfather tree to weaken it. The curse consumed Eulaos turning him into an undead wright. Eulaos traveled the woods draining life from creatures as the hunger of undeath consumed him.
- Evelyn is the last druid of the Emory Woods and member of the Emerald Enclave. A great evil attacked the Emory Woods killing those in her order. She used her last remaining strength to protect the treants of the woods which are the heart of the forest. She was stricken by the curse.
- Silverbark is a great treant born from the Grandfather tree. Silverbark was in a 150 year slumber when awaken. Silverbark was in a slumber to help ground the evil which has been trying to get to the Grandfather tree.
- Iris has a deep connection to the Emory Woods and the Grandfather tree.
- The creatures of the woods can feel Cora's bond with Iris and the calling of the Grandfather tree from her.
Report Date
21 Jan 2022
Primary Location
Secondary Location
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