Session 24
First Night
AAfter the encounter, the team decided to keep watch during the night. It is to be a 2-man watch, Kaimos and Aragir are first, then Delbellis and Cerrule, and finally Cassius and Cynic.
During Kaimos and Aragir's watch, they start talking about the current situation, their connection with the Scarlet Academy, and the Crimson Dawn. Kaimos mentioned that he would return to his own mission after dealing with Weylin.
He also briefly expressed his interest in the Crimson Dawn and how he ended up joining. He wanted something exciting, a group that would reach their goals and that it would give their all. However, nowadays this desire has been lessened.
The next 2, Delbellis and Cerrule start keeping watch. Aragir decides not to go to bed, but stay watch. The three continue and keep their conversation, including Cynic's battle behaviour as well as looking for strengths against ghost-type
creatures they may encounter when getting deeper into the forest. Ghosts seem immune to physical attacks and most status effects, however they are vulnerable to most elemental and magic based spells/attacks.
The last pair: Cynic and Cassius are next. Cassius starts a conversation and asks Cynic a few questions. He seemed to be especially interested why he is hiding his wings. It seems he has met a person that resembles Cynic, but more so has white wings instead of Cynics black ones. Seraph is his name, he encourages Cynic to see this person if able and mentions Diremound, a place somewhere up north in a different region. The two exchange their past with each other, where they came from and how they came to be the person they are today. Here, Cassius reveals he has a mother and sister who live anonymously on the southern regions of the Kingdom. He hopes to see them soon again. He relates to Cynic's lack of a father figure as Cassius himself also never knew his father growing up.
The following day, the group tells Lavarr and Jules goodbye and go on horseback further into the Siren Woods. Eventually they reach a crossroads. They decide to continue on foot and sent the horses back to the cabin where Lavarr and Jules are, using Aragir's familiar bird. Moving deeper in the woods, they find a hidden chest under a crack in the ground. Using a rather unconventional way they attempt to retrieve it: shrinking Kaimos and then lowering him down with a rope, they were able grab the chest and open it. A claw-like weapon was in it, a beautifully decorated blue'ish green metal. It seems special, the weapon is able to warn the user of impending danger. Delbellis has decided to take the clawweapon as a weapon for her.
Further ahead, the party encounters an open misty area. Inside the mist there was a small pond. A noticeable chest was conveniently placed in the middle of it underwater. Cerrule decided to use her Shape Water spell, and brought the chest all the way to the edge. With the support of Cynic's Mage Hand, the chest was opened. Inside it 250 gold pieces and a large diamond gem, worth 300 gold pieces!
Without a break, the party resumes their journey and encounters a fork in the road. There, in the middle of it, they meet with a rather friendly goblin: Zazz. Zazz advises the party to not take the right side of the forked road, as it leads them into their goblin village. They do not want any trouble. The left road is the better choice and would lead them further into the forest towards the mountain path. The party decides to take a break here and share a drink with Zazz. The goblin tells them about their village and how it's protected by a larger tree: the Elder Tree. Their goblin village used to be where Greenmill is now but were drawn away by humans, they would fight over territory for a while until the Elder Tree offered a pact of protection. Zazz explains the night is full of dangerous creatures and mentions a three-headed monster looking for their young. The forest may be enchanted by some evil witch, the goblin explains. But he's never encountered it before and doesn't believe it's true. After some more talk, the party wave goodbye to Zazz and continue their path.
During the trek through the forest, Kaimos begins teaching Cynic a new magic spell that Cynic had seen him do a few times. Kaimos starts showing more interest in Cerrule and her origins, asking her about the time travel and how it worked. Cerrule offered no answers but intended to head to Avalon and find out more. Here, Kaimos reveals that the concept of time travel troubles him but he shares a secret: in his years before the Crimson Dawn, he was looking for a legendary artifact that was capable of controlling the flow of time - an object called the Wand of Continuity. He intended to undo a petrification effect on a large amount of people in Abador, which includes his parents.
They reach a large rock formation with a shallow tunnel eroded through. Unfortunately, the party would find, the tunnel housed several unlucky adventurers who lay on the ground, disembowelled. After examining the bodies, it looks they may have attracted a group of young owlbears. As the party moves in to examine the scene and determine the way it happened, Delbellis discovers a sketchbook in the pocket of one. Flipping through the pages, it is revealed the body belonged to a young man they have met in Brassdorf before, on the day the Adventurer's Guild was closed for investigation: a young man named Penzi.
The party decides to give these unfortunate travellers - and Penzi - a proper burial and begin digging a grave for each. Aragir honors them with the symbol of Angharradh, may it watch over the dead, and plants a seed to allow a moon flower to grow. Kaimos whispers a silent prayer and suggests to keep moving. The party agrees.
They begin entering a denser forest and encounter a small opening between the trees. Here, they encounter what looked to be an old altar portraying the god of the Hunt - Malar, a malevolent deity. The party delibrates a little among them whether to stay or go. Delbellis recalls a nomadic group, the Minari, who honor this god to give them the strength to form a unique community: they are all cursed with lycantrophy. Cerrule insists to keep moving and leave this place. The group obliges and they depart.
The dense forest splits away from its more sparse region by way of a large ravine with only a rope bridge that may be used to cross it. Delbellis and Cynic were unfazed as they can simply fly over, but the rest cannot. Aragir was thinking of using his floating disk to allow several others to stand on it as he crosses the bridge himself. Delbellis and Cynic were ready to support him in case something happens. As Aragir begins the steps to cross the weak rope bridge, it quickly turns to be a disaster. Planks begin breaking apart and falling into the dangerous stream below, leaving Aragir hanging on the rope. However, as this begins to thin and split, in a decisive split second decision Delbellis swoops in to catch a falling Aragir, saving him from an untimely death. By the skin of their teeth, the group makes it across. The bridge behind them, however, succumbs to the break and splits leaving behind an open ravine with no proper way back. A worry for another time, remarks Kaimos.
The group hears voices, they lay low and look over two individuals some 30 meters ahead. A man named Peshka speaks to the half-ling Jago, who are then joined by Gustav and another unknown individual in silver armor. Gustav came to pick up Peshka in order to help Weylin prapare for his journey to Yggdrasil. Jago is left behind to welcome the final donors. And as the three men walk further into the dense forest, Jago begins to talk with the party who were still watching over. He appears frustrated with the party, telling them Weylin seems to think they are powerful and a part of some destiny to be fulfilled. Jago disagrees and instead believes destiny is the fight that is ahead between him and the parrty, there and then. In a final shout, Jago calls out the party to come live or die!