(RoT-6) Bitches and Witchcraft!

"Do it yourself, lazy city elf!"

Having survived the Sea of Moving Ice and a second Council of Waterdeep, the party have decided to take their next steps in the Misty Forest - home to three of the party, and bound to be full of snooty elves, according to Rodin!

Starring, in order they sit around the table:
Sigurd, (played by Iain) a travelling swordsman, .
Venmir, (played by Brett) an elven clergyman, . 
Nyvan, (played by Jason) a elven knight, .
Rodin Halfbeard, (played by Lorne) the dwarven axeman, .
Nandrin the Naughty, (played by Hilton), the elven mage, (absent this evening).

and The DM, (played by Alex), who loves to comment in blue. And writes this blog. He's also a bit of a git and likes to make life difficult for his players.

Once more the party are at less than full compliment - and this is likely to continue for at least a couple weeks due to various reasons. Anything more than two down and we don't play D&D that night. 

The heroes were preparing to leave when Leosin Erlanthar approached.

"My lords," he asked, "I must ask for your time, before you leave. We had hoped to locate your giant children before you left, but our endeavours have not been without danger. Already several agents of the Harpers are dead. One of our top agents, he contacted us to say he was bringing details of their location home - he was using only a basic sending, so could not elaborate. His teleport, however, failed and he is trapped in limbo. Our mages have not the skill you do, Nandrin. We need your help."

Without hesitation, Nandrin joined Leosin. He waved goodbye to the others and left the inn.

The others made their way to the Misty Forest. It was an uneventful journey, and they seeon found themselves deep in the forest. As its name suggested, the forest was nearly always shrouded in mist - and visibility was rarely more than a few hundred at best.

they made their way to Altand, the village that Delaan Winterhound had told them had somehow survived a dragon assault, when all others had been destroyed.

The village was a typical elven village of the forest. Over two levels, on the ground were a few basic buildings, and most of the village was up in the trees, accessible by ladders, ropes and moving platforms. Bridges linked the trees. People were moving around the village like they were in a daze.

They stopped a hunter, who they came to find out was named Heremvor. He explained how he had run when the dragon attacked, fearing for his life and having heard so many stories of the previous attacks. He could only tell them how the dragon had attacked on the ground, then followed up by attacking the upper levels. He directed them to the home of Galin - up in the trees.

They stood on the platform and Venmir called to a passing villager.

"Here, you, activate this platform for us."

"Do it yourself, lazy city elf." replied the villager - and before Venmir's outrage could manifest, the elf left, leaving Venmir spluttering in impotent rage. He worked the mechanism himself.

On the second level, they walked to Galin's house, where they met his sister-in-law, Mirron. She told her stories of the night of the battle which matched Heremvor's. She told them how Galin was out in the woods, preparing the village's defences.

The found Galin in a clearing, his pet raven nearby as usual. 

He told his story, dispassionately, and refused to take any credit for his actions, only telling them how he had done as any warden would have to defend his village - and that the dragon and its cultist allies had retreated totally unexpectedly. He could give no reason why - but made it clear he had not seen a rider on the dragon, despite some of the others disagreeing.

They returned to the village, and setup in the village temple - the priest having been eaten by the dragon at the start of the battle.

Venmir was soon surrounded by villagers, seeking his blessing and healings. The other sat around, laughing at his discomfort, the gruff cleric more used to striking down the foes of Corellon Larethian rather than providing succor to his followers.

That night, they set watch and early in the morning, Nyvan saw a man flit off into the woods. He woke the others, but they were too slow and could not track the shadow. Quickly, Sigurd transformed himself into an owl of the tawny variety, and he dashed off after the shadow. He found it on its way back - and followed it. When the shadow, heavily hooded, cursed when it saw the other heroes and made its way upstairs by a back way. It went into Galin's home.

The next day, they confronted Galin, and found his reasons week. He had been out scouting, he had been looking for signs of the cultists, and he took to the forest for solitude. Sigurd was particularly mistrustful. The others, while not so vehement, agreed.

The party pretended to leave Altand, and headed out in the direction that Galin had gone the night before. Before long, they found a clearing, where half ot he clearing was flattened, as if by some massive beast. They hid in the bushes and waited.

Late in the night, they saw Galin, with his raven, approach and sit on a log near the other side of the clearing. He waited for an hour, then left. 

They searched the area, and found nothing. After a long period of arguing, they decided to wait for the full day to try and see what happened the next night. As they waited the next day, they were approached by Heremvor, who argued with them about their presence. Eventually, Venmir let slip that they suspected Galin. Heremvor sped off towards Altand. The others followed, but were slower than the forest-wise elven hunter.

By the time they arrived back at the village, Heremvor had his bow aimed at the warden's heart. He passionately questioned Galin but got nowhere, until the heroes got involved - and after a lengthy questioning, including rebuttal and counter-accusation, Galin admitted the truth!  

The warden had watched the village priest and his wife and children die moments into the battle and, when faced with the dragon and its elven rider, he found his bravery deserting him. He agreed to help the dragon and its lord with knowledge of local defences in exchange for his life and for the remainder of his village. The dragon had kepts it words and retired from battle.

The villagers cried their outrage - most of them shocked and horrified. None more so than Heremvor, who let loose his shaft which buried itself in Galin's chest. The warden collapsed, dead almost instantly. Heremvor fled, followed by the accusations of the party - convinced he was part of the conspiracy.

That night, they decided to question Galin. Venmir prepared his spell, and in the morning he cast it. The corpse sat up, ready to answer the questions prepared by the party.

"Where is the dragon?"
"I don't know."

"Where is the cult?"
"I don't know."

"Which villages have you given information on?"
A list was reeled off.

"Where will they attack next?"
"The nearest village."

The corpse settled back to the dais. They cursed - and they argued some more about what to do next.

Eventually, they decided to head off into the forest, in the direction that the dragon had flown away. After most of the day's travel, they heard a cry for help from ahead. Warily, they moved forward, where they saw an elderly woman, trapped underneath a fallen tree.

Sigurd, Nyvan and Venmir ran forward to help. Venmir overseeing, while Nyvan levered a branch under the tree. Sigurd tried to lift it with his hands. Rodin hung back, carefully creeping forward, examining the ground for traps, distrusting the woman.

Just as the tree lifted a little, Venmir pulled the woman free. She jumped to her feet and the tree lifted itself off the ground, just as two other trees on the side of the road moved forward to flank the woman.

"Bitch!" cried Venmir. 

"Heroes at last!" cried the old lady, "Even the cowardly dwarf and the potty-mouthed cleric. How many might fall back in fear at the sight of a stranger in the woods, or think first of their own safety before helping another? I grant you my blessing. May your hearts prove true where others fear to tread."

With that, she deftly built a number of necklaces from flowers which grew in her hair. She placed them around the necks of the heroes and, before they could speak, she turned herself into an owl of the snowy variety, and flew away.

They looked at each other in wonder, apart from Rodin, who tore the necklace from around his neck and stomped it into the floor.

"Witchcraft!" he cried.

And they marched on.

Not long after, they found themselves surrounded by strange webbing, which was so thin it could barely be seen. Sigurd shouted a warning and they were beset by massive spiders and strange beasts which Sigurd named Ettercaps.

The battle was short and violent and the beasts lay dead.

They moved further into the woods until they could hear the sound of a waterfall and they found themselves before a large waterfall, running down from a cliff face.

"Behind the water...." said Sigurd.

And they prepared themselves.