Session 67 - Beastlands
General Summary
The Party walked through the portal in Fawnelle's central tree and found themselves in Brux, the central layer of the Beastlands. They arrived in an arctic region, surrounded by pine trees and fresh snow. The sun’s rays shone from behind a single mountain peak before them. Nearby, a pair of reindeer fought for dominance.
Except one of them wasn’t a reindeer.
It was deer-ish, or had been at one point. But the evil creature was disfigured and horrific. It reminded the adventurers of the the wolf-ish monsters in the Golden Savannah or the thing that had once been Delli Millstone in Nanoen. They decided to advance and help the normal deer. While they moved forward, something else caught their attention. A funny looking man in a red coat rode a dogsled from the mountain and headed their way. As he got closer they realized it wasn’t a man, but a frost giant. The sled was enormous and the four wolves that pulled it were massive as well, each the size of a draft horse.
The giant rushed to the aid of the deer and fought the abomination. The reindeer succumbed to its wounds and one of the hounds was injured in the fight. Red healed the wolf and got the giant’s attention. He introduced himself as Vater von Berg (the Mountain’s Father). He was originally from the natural plane but had travelled to the Beastlands on vacation a decade or so ago and had no intention of going back. It seemed that Vater disliked dragons and enjoyed his new dragon-free life in Brux.
Mountain’s Father occasionally guided hunters and explorers who came to visit from Fawnelle. He told them that he always brought good little elves nice presents, whatever that meant. When they asked about their elf friend, he agreed to bring them along on a slay ride, but only if they helped with a local problem. There was a hole in the snow, as he described it.
The hole in the snow turned out to be a planar rift. The Beastlands was tearing and chaotic energy from the Far Realm was spilling through. Red determined that it was the same type of tear in the sky near the stars. The chaotic energy created aberrations, something akin to the demons of the Abyss, which the devils had fought against for millenia in the Blood Wars.
Just then a trio of monsters emerged from the purple-black storm cloud. They had once been mammoths but now grew too many tusks. Bones protruded from their skin. Vater von Berg and his winter wolves fought two of the creatures. The Party had to deal with the third.
The monsters were felled in short order. S’thom had taken a beating and Star, the wolf who had been previously injured, suffered more bites and slashes. Vater let Star head back to the mountain as he whipped Thunder, Lightning and Romeo Love Machine onwards.
A few hours later they arrived at their destination. Vater called for the “puny little girly man elf.” Kylar Bearcharger emerged and briefly greeted Gorgoroth. Before they could catch up properly though, Kylar had words for the frost giant.
“Sasha,” Kylar said. “This is not what I asked for.” He pointed to the crates and cages in the sled which contained various aberration monsters.
“I have what you seek,” the giant said. He unstrapped a cage and set it on the ground, then unlocked the doors. A pair of sahaguin waddled out of the cage and then transformed into their true forms. A succubus and an elf.
Gorgoroth and Kylar both recognized the elf at once.
It was Erthok Huntinghawk Huntinghawk.
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