Sword Lord Report (#2)

The first Sword Lord report has gone missing...

Here's the second, written by none other than Durvil, the self proclaimed Wolf Lord of the Greenbelt.

"My honorable Sword Lords of Restov,

It is the pleasure of your servants to report the most recent discoveries in the Greenbelt.

Negotiations with the Soot Scale tribe has been completed and we are pleased to report that the tribe will now bow to your demands and accept our law.

Bridges crossing both the Shrike and Thorn rivers were found to be in good condition and access across can be guaranteed.

Additionally, a temple dedicated to the common folk has been discovered and will soon be holding services again. A new discovery, that is still to be explained, is the meeting of more fey creatures inside the Greenbelt boundary. WE have yet to determine the level of infestation, but will continue to investigate.

Your faithful servants,

The Greenbelt Guild"

Game Session 7 and 8 (Fest)

It's been a while since I've updated. Things have gotten a bit crazy in my RL job and I just haven't had neither the time nor the energy to sit down in front of a computer and update. But, there's no time like the present, right? This isn't likely to be very detail oriented due to the span of time between play and update, but it'll certainly help us keep track of time, XP and money...to a certain extent.

Session 7 saw us gaining another traveling companion in Tak Tak...the new kobold emissary. He was at one time the apprentice to Tar Tuk, the kobold shaman, so the little guy is actually pretty bright. For a kobold.

We spend the next 4 or 5 days exploring the immediate territory. That is until we meet a faerie dragon by the name of Percival. He appears unto us (sound rather religious eh?) and informs us that Tig Titter Tut, the Grig princess, has been kidnapped by a cunning race of frog men called Boggarts. Tig Gyr, the grig king requests that we go and rescue his daughter. If we do so we'd be honored among the tribe. And more importantly, he'd owe us a favor.

Sounds pretty good to us, so we let Percival lead us to the Boggart lair. Odd thing though, we travel a VERY long ways in an amazingly brief amount of time. How? We're not sure...But it was most certainly due to the faerie dragon.

Our journey terminated a marshy area on the Skunk river. The strange Boggarts had made a lair in an old ruin and were keeping Tig Titter Tut in a small cage, guarded by a stunted one of their own. After a bit of reconnaissance, it turns out that there are about 6 or 7 of the creatures in the largest ruin, looking after a monstrously huge prehistoric frog of some sort.

Now of course, all of these creatures have names, and a few of them were things like Garrum, UbbaGub, and Slurk. All of them sounding like something you might hear when a gas bubble pops in a swamp. Charming.

We plan our attack and actually carry it off w/out too much of an issue. Well, except for Durvil being nearly unseated from his horse by Garrum the chief. Slurk, the giant, prehistoric frog-thing was also giving us fits. In the end though we won through.

For our efforts we were given a hearty thanks from Tig Titter Tut and a few gems and gew-gaws as well. (Chunk of rhyolite worth 50 gp, a spinel worth 90 gp, and a blue quartz worth 25 gp.)

EXP: 3238 (total)

::FEST::

After rescuing Tig Titter Tut we continued our adventuring through the wilderness, well to the west of the Stag Lord's lake. We have a run in one evening w/ a pack of wolves. The creatures were being driven by an evil Worg. But after taking a beating the pack disbanded and decided to look elsewhere for easier pray.

On day 10 in the wilderness we stumbled across the lost temple to Erastul. J'Hod will be well pleased. An impressive affair, the temple was guarded by an enormous brown bear. Unfortunately we could not peaceably deal with the creature and had to put it down. (Not easily mind you...Durvil nearly passed this mortal coil.) But as it died, its form faded and in it's place lay an old old man, who in turn crumbled to dust at the ages finally caught up to him.

With 8 days of food remaining we decide to head for home. One evening a massive centipede appears and tries to eat Tak Tak. Kiril, who was on guard duty at the time, takes the monster down in two mighty swipes of his sword! Or so I hear...I was asleep during this so called "encounter".

On day 16 we stumble across a cave which contained a vein of gold! Yes...gold. We marked it well on our map and intend to mine it along w/ the silver mine, somehow.

Day 19 finds us tangling w/ a trap door spider. Nasty creature that. It was actually so quick that it wasn't until well into the encounter that we actually figured out what we were battling. After vanquishing our foe, we find a dessicated body of one of the Stag Lord's men at the bottom. And on it; 10 gp, leather armor, a silver stag lord pendant, and a piece of paper w/ a drawing of a dead, claw-shaped tree with an 'X' drawn in blood near the base of it. Strange...we'll have to follow up on this.

With 2 days of food left we finally straggle into Oleg's keep. There we receive the items that we had ordered: Boar spears, Kiril's armor, and the masterwork thief tools. (I think...) Brother Lothar puts an order in for seed barley and hops. He's interested in growing a small garden in order to practice the earliest stages of brewing. J'Hod is going to help him.

The next few days we head out on the plains in order to explore the land closest to Oleg's. We meet Boken, the addled hermit. He's a bit mixed up but is apparently also quite talented when it comes to crafting potions. We'll keep that in mind. We've made an agreement with him as well: If we gather up two bushels of fang berries from the south, he'll give us a flat 25% off of his potion prices. Which is a pretty sweet deal actually.

On the way back we run into a very strange creature called a Shambling Mound. It is instantly attracted to Elsbeth, apparently elf brains are a favorite of these creatures. Wonderful. Well it's slow, but very hugely built, so avoidance seems best. We do so and head off for more exploration.

Not sure why, but we're always running into Benwick the ranger. I'm not complaining, mind you, he's always very generous with his campfire and whatever he's acquired during the day's hunt. He tells us a bit about the Stag Lord and his fort. Apparently Benwick used to be a bandit, serving under the Stag Lord.

His fort is surrounded by undead...Odd, I know. Why? Not sure. But it turns out that they don't bother the Stag Lord or his men. The only reason that Benwick can see is that the Stag Lord is bigger and badder and they somehow understand that and don't mess with them. But anyone else who treads on that ground is attacked immediately. Nasty business.

On the 29th of Gozerain we run across a slew of traps...Turns out there's a nasty trapper name of Breeg who's running around in this neck of the woods. He's got a nasty streak to him and apparently likes to torment his prey before skinning them. He deserves the same in my book.

While out west of Oleg's we end up running into a small pack of Tatzle Wurms. They're these strange dragon / snake hybrids that lair in trees and attack with stealth and speed. Quite ugly actually. But the upside is that Oleg will pay 600 gp for an intact head, which he intends to hang in his bar. I wonder if Svetlana knows of this.

Our fight w/ the creatures nets us two dead Tatzle Wurms and one head. Huzzah! And Oleg is naturally quite pleased. So pleased in fact that he not only pays us, but holds a feast.

During this feast a traveler appears. A noble woman by appearance, Taralisa is an agent of the Sword Lords and has come with a missive for us. She needs us to go and retrieve some honey. Sounds rather mundane until she explains a bit further.

The Ifel Donen flower blooms once every 50 years, and the honey from these highly magical flowers reputedly extends life indefinitely. Taralisa's employer has tried already to purchase some of this honey, but has been turned away. So now it falls upon us to do this thing. We'll be paid 500 gold for the vial. We've been given a magical ring of protection (+2) which is what we shall purchase this honey with. Oh, and the only way to find the bees is to contact the fae. This is also why we've been earmarked for this job.

We set off the next day with J'Hod in tow, 80 some days worth of food and an intent to find our friends the grig. By the way, there are those of us that are HIGHLY skeptical about this newest job. There's something fishy going on here, and I'm not talking about Svetlana's amazing rations either!

4 days of travel over the plains and through the woods, we finally reach the abandoned temple to Erastul. J'Hod is overwhelmed and promises that any spell he is capable of casting is ours for free. Good deal that.

After that we head to the south, hoping to somehow run into the fae. Miracle upon miracles, we find Breeg dead, caught in his own trap. And of course, who's hanging around but Percival. Luck's on our side. We tell him our mission and he gives us some information on the Honey Queen and her "daughter" Leyla.

Young Leyla is actually a human child who befriended the bees long ago. She was enamored of them and vice versa. Eventually her curiosity got the best of her and she was allowed to sample the purple honey, reserved only for fae. A deep sleep overcame her and she has since been kept by the bees, in good health, never aging, yet never waking either.

Percival agrees to take us to the queen, well "near" the queen actually. As it turns out, he's not in the best graces of the bees, for stealing some of that honey. Anyway, Kiril agrees to the magical journey this time as Percival promises to help "find" his ancestors. Not quite sure what that means, but it sounds extensive to me.

Powerful faerie magic shrinks us down to dinky little things and we travel in the span of a day, what would have taken us probably the good part of a week to cover! An AMAZING journey that I shall never forget for the rest of my life.

Once there, we get rough directions back to the temple of Erastul, which btw, is going to be our new base of operations. And Percival points us in the direction of the bees. Off we go.

A few hours later we come upon woman who is yelling up an enormous tree...."Stay still! Don't move!". Naturally we're curious. What's this woman doing out here in the middle of absolutely nowhere, and what's she yelling at. Peering up the tree we see a young boy, no older than 6 or 7 years of age, caught about 80' up on a branch. And just above him, a tangle of webs!

Rushing out we surprise the woman but Brother Lothar strings together two ropes and quickly scuttles up the tree to rescue the young lad. Kiril is quite suspicious of this whole thing and warily watches the woman.

Naturally a spider emerges just as Lothar arrives at the boy's position. Quickly wrapping the rope around his own waste, the Brother of the Empty Jug attempts to secure the boy as well. This turns out to be harder than anticipated. What with arrows whizzing about his head and a spider trying to put it's more than prodigious fangs through his exposed back.

After being bitten twice, not succumbing to the poison, Lothar finally gets the boy set and lowers him down as quickly as possible.

Kiril eventually hits the spider as does Ix w/ his magical missile. This of course causes the spider to up it's attempts to get a meal as quickly as possible. As the boy attains the ground, Elsbeth slices the rope and Ix magically mends another to its end. Durvil grabs this loose end and shouts for Brother Lothar to jump!

Not thinking about more than the nasty arachnid, Lothar does exactly that...and down he plummets. Up comes Durvil and CRASH! The meet quite solidly in mid air. Both reach the ground w/out further ado just as Elsbeth skewers the spider for good.

The grateful mother grants us a powerful blessing as a form of thanks and takes off into the woods telling us not to follow. Curious, yet respectful, we follow her wishes and stay put. Eventually, after healing up, we take off again in the direction of the bees.

Next we run into an old woman sitting on a stump and humming. What is this place? In the span of a few hours we've encountered 3 people in a place that is supposedly wild and uninhabited. The matronly figure asks for a bite of food and Lothar, the soft-hearted fool that he is readily agrees to such a venture and shares a portion of his iron rations. Not the best of fare, but something to fill the belly.

She thanks the group and imparts advice upon her leaving. Treat royalty with respect but sometimes they need to be corrected when they're wrong. The sword is not the way. Use Leyla's name to enter and she must be set free.

With that she bids us adieu and disappears around a tree. Turns out this is Baba Migori, some type of witch or spirit who's lived in these woods for years upon years. Oh, she also warns us about the hallucinogenic affect of the Ifel Donnen flower. Uh oh.

Over the next hill we come upon the valley of the Ifel Donnen. Full of bees, we know we're in the right place and the only way is across. So down we go... Seilah, Kiril and his horse Chisel are caught in the flower's hypnotic embrace almost immediately. Kiril has small plant-like friends joining him while his horse Chisel slorps through honey. All the while Seilah is having an engaging conversation with a tree.

Working together we pull the three along with us through the fog inducing valley and win through with perseverance. On the opposite side we track the bees to their hive, a huge cave of sorts under a giant oak tree.

Outside the entrance we spy a young girl twirling and dancing, and as we gain upon her she disintegrates into a swarm of bees! This must have been Leyla. Baba Migori told us of the "forms" that the young girl was wont to take.

Now fully convinced about our mission, which has changed by the way. We have found out that in order for the imbiber to gain eternal life they must trap a soul. This is decidedly evil and we've agreed (for the most part...Durvil?) to warn the bees and not say anything about the purchase of honey.

Well, the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray....as they say. Elsbeth decides that it might be a good idea after all to open with the offer to purchase the honey. This angers the young Leyla, who is the "voice of the queen", and her "daughter" to boot. Not sure how that works really, but she's insistent. Leyla responds angrily that the honey is for the fae only and that we must leave immediately. So much for the negotiations I suppose.

Just before she again dissipates in a swarm of bees though, Lothar mentions that she should be free to live the life of a young girl. This visibly saddens her...but still, she leaves.

We sit as a group and talk and eventually decide that maybe those that are armed are not helping matters and that Durvil, Kiril and Elsbeth should probably wait outside while the rest of us request an audience w/ the queen one last time.

Our humble entreaties are met with the appearance of Duxit, the mite champion of the hive, who rides the largest bee we've ever seen. Apparently the aging mite has not missed many meals as his ill fitting armor attests. And after challenging us, and being turned down, he is visibly relieved. "I like eating more than I like fighting." says the mite. And after a brief discussion we're able to convince him that meeting with the queen face-to-face is in the hive's best interest.

Seilah is an apt negotiator and this is quite likely our saving grace. Between her and Brother Lothars pleas, the queen is eventually convinced, after a rather tense introduction, that the girl Leyla should be set free. She also takes our warning into consideration but laughs at the intent of the message. The honey is misunderstood by mortals. It will indeed prolong life, but the imbiber will fall asleep for 50 years, neither aging, nor waking until the next bloom of the Ifel Donnen flower.

As a bit of a spiteful joke, as the fae are wont to play upon us mortals, she gives us a vial of the honey and tells us to deliver it. Guaranteed that it will way lay any further requests for the stuff for quite some time. We're now free to go...and by the way, you're not welcome back, says the queen. OK...we breathe w/ a sigh of relief as we emerge under the open sky.

Brother Lothar though gasps as he realizes that a heavenly mead, well worthy of Cayden, might be made of this honey. Not the purple mind you, but the standard honey itself, which must be delightful. He summons Daxit again and the "champion" agrees to consider a possible deal for the honey. They'll be in touch.

We journey back to the temple of Erastul w/ the young girl Leyla in tow. Once there we ask J'Hod if he might be willing to take on an acolyte. Not interested says he. So it's off to Oleg's, in the hope that we can somehow find a safe and secure environment for our newest charge.

And this is where we ended it.

EXP: 5254 (Third level!!!)