Session 8: Scouting, Taking Care of Namina and Frode, The First Night and The Expedition Begins!

General Summary

Scouting

The session began with the lot of you getting your bearings in this strange new land. You discussed amongst yourselves whether you wanted to camp on the path you found yourselves on or to head into the woods and find a clearing. Many options were weighed including Namina's health, the exhausted state of the group after such a long day, and how dangerous it might be to travel through this forest as the sun was soon to set.
Eventually it was decided that camp would be made on the side of the road while Agave and Hysteria scouted the nearby edge of the forest for any dangers. They found signs of animals, interesting plants which Agave grabbed for future examination by DAN Wildcloak, but nothing entirely "dangerous" to the group. Just a lovely, strangely colored forest so far.
However, during the scouting mission, Hysteria did find ...something, and while they did live to tell about it, something strange did happen. First they heard the wind blow, owls hooting, insects buzzing, and within these natural noises they heard Agave's voice say, quite flatly, "I will kill you tonight." After this, they saw out of the corner of their eye a long palm, with even longer fingers, and long, sharp, claw-like nails wrapped around a tree. As Hysteria turned to look at the hand it was gone, and in its place were scratches along the trunk of the tree.
Hysteria called out to Agave hoping to discuss what they found, however, Agave was unable to see the scratches and when he explained away the voice as merely being a creature that can imitate things, Hysteria was ... skeptical. They both eventually went back to camp to help set up and get ready for bed.

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Taking Care of Namina and Frode

Meanwhile, back at camp, the rest of the group thought it best to keep Namina hydrated and to put Frode's arm up in a sling. DAN decided to set out and find something to help with these tasks, and they were able to find a person-sized leaf along with some long hanging branches that they figured could be fashioned into a sling for Frode. They determined these plants to not be poisonous with their expertise and brought them back to camp.
Namina was placed inside the person-sized leaves along with some water to keep her hydrated. In addition to this, DAN attempted to wrap the vine-like branches around Frode's arm and body to help hold it up, but Agave stepped in to make sure it was done correctly. Their collective fumblings led to Frode being a bit uncomfortable throughout the night.

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The First Night

You all determined your order of guard-duty and began the first watch with Frode. Kaswink completed her nightly ritual and the rest of the party tucked in to bed. The night was remarkably uneventful for Frode aside from some Fog rolling in as he woke Agave and went to bed.
During Agave's watch, more fog filled the camp and seeped from the forest. It was incredibly dense and made his fur feel rather damp and grimey. The night became unusually darker with the fog as the only bit of light from the waxing crescent moon was being further obscured by not only the pink-beige clouds but the fog that had covered his head. His dull watch was interrupted just as he was about to stand, stretch and wake Kaswink for the third shift. A knock, single and resounding just behind him as if coming from the exterior of a door.
Agave woke Kaswink, the noise further disturbing Hysteria as they were at the end of their meditative rest. Agave and Kaswink woke the rest of the group while Hysteria began to analyze the knocking which grew more rapid and more intense as the night went on. While the rest of the group was waking up and preparing for battle, Hysteria reached behind themselves and found a door...unusual. As their hand was locating the handle with hopes of opening it and letting whatever was "outside" in, they were swiftly interrupted by a realization from Kaswink and Namina as they had been frantically searching The Field Guide.
They discovered that these signs seem to be a prelude for some creature referred to as "Fjarverand", and they further discovered that "If it is a foggy night, and you hear knocking, do NOT open the door. It will appear."
As they were discussing this and decidedly NOT opening the door, the knocking began to decrease in intensity, slowing down and becoming quieter until a single, soft knock could be heard. The Spiritual Travelers settled in for the night once again and found some purchase in their dreams until the sun rose, still obscured by those same clouds...though they were definitely thicker, more obstructive, and Agave knew that worse weather was still to come.

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The Expedition Begins!

You all spent some time discussing the next move. The world before you was full of options and there were many different directions you could go in. Frode was of the opinion that a town should be found and moved towards, others wanted to head into the forest to commit to the expedition, and many wanted to also find a town to take care of Frode's illness.
Speaking of Frode's illness, in the morning he found that his arm was now fully paralyzed from the shoulder down, and that he had such a bad fever he was experiencing incredible dizzy spells. Namina utilized her magic to heal his disease, though it seemed as though only one symptom was removed as his arm went back to normal but he was still incredibly feverish and dizzy. She ended up spending more of her magical energy to heal his fever and Frode was feeling mostly better...still a little bit dizzy but not nearly as bad.
Meanwhile, Agave climbed up a nearby tall tree, hoping to see over the fog that was currently inhibiting vision to a mere 15 feet in front of you. He was capable of doing so, finding a sturdy enough trunk and utilizing his natural climbing ability to get over the fog... and then a bit more to see as far as he could.
He saw a river, a good 3 days away down the path you were all on, and a town another day out on the other side of the river. He had successfully found a town and water in one go, but they were very far away.
You all weighed your options and eventually chose to walk through the forest towards the town. This would bring you closer to civilization and if you happened to pass water along the way then that would also be ideal and fully possible in such a forest. You, at long last, began the expedition proper and stepped foot into the forest for reals.

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Within the first four hours (12 miles) of your journey, you found an interesting spot to stop at and take a look around. In this area, still dense with trees, you found that a single tree had been felled by some ax and that, per some expert observations, the cuts in this tree were rather fresh. You all peered over the stump and the life around it for a time finding Spiderwebs and other evidence of spiders nearby, ferns and other vibrantly colored plants, and a bullfrog which was seated on top of the stump.
In this area, a Wisps also crept up into the air followed by 4 more wisps. These 5 wisps floated about as they were analyzed by Namina who eventually captured the lot of them for further study at a later time.
You played with the bullfrog for a bit, Namina analyzed the stump (checking it for spirals), and eventually the frog was adopted along with a plan to continue forward towards the water that Agave managed to feel out in the land. Kaswink and Hysteria shot some Monkeys out of a nearby tree for further research. Kaswink dissected one of them and then the party was ready to move on to the next destination.

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Closing Segment: The Stream

You all eventually happened upon the aforedetected water source and it was revealed to be a stream gently babbling from North to South. It was surrounded by gorgeous flora including a plethora of different wildflowers, reeds, ferns, and a rather peculiar flower. This flower was growing isolated from the other flowers and from others of its kind as there was only one every 50 or so feet. As it was being gazed upon in this serene setting, you all began to feel more ...distrusting and selfish. Additionally, almost with purposefully bad timing, a deep cry for help could be heard down stream followed by far higher pitched sneering taunts from some group of aggressors.

In-Game Date:
Nurend 03, 308 - Nurend 04, 308

Report Date

13 Dec 2021

Primary Location

Tympi's Forest

Related Plots

• The Expedition

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Discovered Creatures this Session:
Monkeys
Frogs
Spiders
Fjarverand

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Discovered Plants this Session:
Coffee Trees
Spicy Mint
Ulunor's Hair
Two of Cups
Large Leaf Plant
tree with long, hanging, vine-like branches

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Discovered Spirits:
Wisps