Deforestation

General Summary

As the Grey Outcasts continued their trek through the forest, Ent reached out with his magic to scope out locations of tranquility left within the forest. He managed to scry three beacons in the darkness. One nearby, but back the way they had come. One on the way, but it would seem a foreboding place, if not for the evil surrounding it, and one pinprick of light near the very heart of the forest. Not wanting to waste any time, the party surged towards the third presence. As they fought their way forward, the party came upon a pack of warped wolves with barbed tongues that lashed out like those of frogs. Unfortunately, caught in the mouth of one of the beasts, Martin found himself infected by the disease permeating the rest of the forest. Not wanting to risk the disease getting any worse, they made haste to their destination, praying that it held some hope for their afflicted friend. They came upon a small grove of birch trees surrounding a pool of glimmering water, but before they could inspect it, one of the trees came to life; a treant named Birchwyrd, who had warded off the effects of the affliction by supping from said pool. The party asked if he would be willing to share some, but Birchwyrd became angrily violent in protest. With some gentle words and some charm, the party was able to calm him and convince him to share but a little with Martin to keep him going. The Grey Outcasts slept the night in the grove, but were awoken by Birchwyrd standing over them, mouth agape and filled with rows of sharp teeth. The party managed to get Birchwyrd to come to his senses and snap out of his madness for a moment. In the calm, the party asked one more time if he'd share more of the water with them. This was enough to send Birchwyrd over the edge and he fully gave into the affliction consuming him as flesh tore through his bark and rows of teeth began to tear their way out of his body. The party fled with Birchwyrd in fast pursuit, tossing boulders and logs at them as they ran. Thankfully, they were saved by a behemonth of warped flesh that closelined Birchwyrd and devoured him. Leaving that carnage behind, the party found themselves in the very heart of the forest, which seemed to almost beat with an ancient and menacing energy. In this place there was no sepearation between flesh and vegetation, as the party passed fleshy trees covered in scabs and deer made from bone and root dined on bloody strips of flesh that hung on dead bushes. In the center of this mangled wood, there sat one massive hollow tree with a figure standing in an archway at its base. The Grey Outcasts approached and greeted this figure, who appeared to be a humanoid woman covered in boils and sores. She introduced herself as Bellonack in the third person and guided the party inside, where a circle of figures was gathered, performing a ritual of some kind. At the center was a wrinkled old man with a matted grey beard and dried black inchor trailing from all of his orifices. At his side were two figures: one who was clearly Clarimund, and the other could have only been Nina. While he began to speak, Naelen called down a bold of lightning from the roiling heavens and began a bloody battle. Not wasting time, the old man waved his hand and a hole opened in the ground, swallowing Nina. He then appeared to grow in size and four tentacle like arms grew from his back and lifted him off the ground right before slamming them down onto Clarimund, killing her. The Grey Outcasts charged forward and met the old man and his guard on even terms, matching them blow for blow. The tide turned when Kaizzt called upon the powers of the Wodenhelm, something he only did in dire circumstances, and warriors from Valhalla came charging forth and made mincemeat of the old man. As he died, the forest around them rumbled and the fleshy mass began to melt into the ground, leaving all traces of its curse behind. What remained around the Grey Outcasts was a metal hill, upon which sat a strange contraption and a perfectly circular door. Naelen then quickly made his way to Clarimund's broken body and casted revivify over it. Though Clarimund rejoined the living, there was something missing in her eyes, and she did not respond to the party's voices. She simply laid on the ground motionless. Stumped, the party tried to find Nina and inspected both the body of the old man and the contraption on the metal hill. On the man's body, they found two things, a glowing black crystal and a small plate made of a strange metal they had never seen before. Ent consulted with his diety, Beory, about the crystal and determined that it housed an ancient demonic evil and that the only hope of containing it was to return it to the depths of the metal hill. Ent grabbed hold, but the will of the crystal was too much to bear. It grabbed hold of his psyche and forced him to smash it onto the ground. From the shards of the crystal grew a tall figure, cloaked in a robe that seemed to be made of a waxy substance. Naelen called down another blast of lightning onto it, which landed, and seemingly evaporated the creature. Though it appeared to be dead, the party all heard a dread voice in their minds which told them that "with his release, the blood war would finally end". Unsure what this meant, the party moved on to the contraption on the top of the hill with the metal plate in hand. Martin noticed that the card and the contraption had similar markings on them, but could not decipher them. After some tinkering, Martin discovered that the plate was some kind of magical key that when touched to the contaption, opened the circular door, which revealed a floating disc. Stepping onto the disc, the Grey Outcasts were lowered into the depths of the hill. Inside, the walls were lined with odd glowing bulbs and etched with glowing runes. When they had reached the bottom, they found Nina laying on the floor unconscious next to a recepticle which looked like it was designed to hold a crystal. As the party approached her, Nina awoke suprised to find herself where she was. The party inquired how she had managed to get so deep into the forest unscathed and why the old man had kept her alive. Nina told the party that the old man had something sinister planned and that she was, for whatever reason, the only person that could succeed him. Nina was unable to elaborate further as her memory of her time in the forest was mostly clouded. With Nina and Clarimund rescued, the party made their way back to the town of Zalgend to redeem their reward and plan the next stages of their mission.

Report Date

27 Jan 2024