"You oedd y cynffonnau? Pa mor ddefnyddiol. Beth am Rhowch un gyfnewid am slaying y Bwystfil?" Leonard scratches himself idly.
"O na! Mae tails yn gwneud gobennydd meddal, nid ydym yn rhoi cynffonau i chi oni bai eich bod yn dod o hyd i ni fwy o gath i'w fwyta!" One of the zoogs answer.
"Cadwch fynd sawl milltir i'r dwyrain o'r fan hon a byddwch yn cyrraedd tiriogaeth hela'r Catiau Fawr. Dod â nhw eu carcasau a'ch cynffon yw chi!" The Zoog promises.
Keep going several miles east from here and you'll reach the Big Cats hunting territory. Bring us their carcasses and the tail is yours!
Vincent taps the entire party with his wand of CLW.
On following the Zoog's directions, the party goes off an eastern direction.
The leaves and branches in this section of the forest canopy are open to the deep blue sky above and are bathed in bright sunlight.
The party sees a human who is bound, gagged, and staked to a leaf with wide thorns. He shakes his head slowly but definitively shakes his head side with wide eyes to side to warn them away.
Claude suddenly finds that a film of darkness coats over his eyes! The party looks around but sees nothing.
Howard and a rather lacerated Claude find themselves back on the Sellen Starling, and hear Monty sprouting bad poetry in the corner.
Oh woe, woe, woe is with me.
I'm stranded away from home.
I'm in such misery.
Shesha on seeing Howard wake up, tugs at him, alarmed. "Howard, mae rhywbeth o'i le gyda Monty! Nid yw erioed wedi bod mor ddiflas o'r blaen."
Howard, there's something wrong with Monty! He's never been that depressed before.
"Yeah fel arfer mae'n meddwl bywyd fel antur wych. A wnaeth yr ergyd hwnnw at ei ben yn y Dreamlands niweidio ei synnwyr digrifwch?" Verdigris looks at Monty worriedly.
Yeah usually he thinks life as a great adventure. Did that blow to his head in the Dreamlands damage his sense of humor?
Howard realizes that the staircase has shrunk to its normal size, and the red glow of dawn indicates it will be sunrise soon.
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Howard shakes his head.
"Mae'n swnio ei fod yn eithaf isel. Mae'n ffodus, dyna'r cyfan a ddigwyddodd - pan fydd eich breuddwydio yn marw yn y Dreamlands, tra bod eich corff yn byw yn y byd deffro, caiff eich meddwl ei thorri mewn rhyw ffordd, ar ôl dychwelyd."
"Dylech fod wedi dweud wrthym yn gynharach!" Verdigris scolds Howard.
You should have told us that earlier! Before we went to Dreamlands with you!
When Howard wakes up, he finds himself perfectly fine, as if he was never Lady Udrenda Splinterbone's drink...
Vincent growls and mutters, I really need to tell him to stop doing that.
He has the others hold back while he sends the thing ahead to see if there is something further ahead and looks around from where he is.
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Howard looks legitimately surprised.
"Rydych chi'n gwybod mor beryglus oedd yno - rwy'n cofio'n arbennig eich bod yn sôn amdani cyn i ni fynd ar draws. A fyddai'n well gennych chi, yn hytrach na bod braidd yn ysgwyd yn feddyliol, wedi marw mewn gwirionedd!?"
Leonard looks around quietly, not casting spells yet because he doesn't want to get ambushed.
Vincent shrugs, assuming it is some dream trick, and runs forward to attack the only thing he can see, the man on the leaf.
Leonard looks confused for a moment, then quickly begins chanting. The tattoo on his left hand writhes and pulsates to it's own inaudible rhythm. He follows Vincent warily.
As Vincent does his mad charge towards the bound, gagged and staked human, the humans eyes widen in shock and alarm and he meeps. Then branches as well as the leaf they are stepping on give way, dumping both Vincent and the man onto the forest floor. At the bottom of the forest floor is a 30 ft deep pit of corrosive spores. The man as he crashes heavily on the floor makes muffled, "Mmmph Mmmph Mmmph! Mmmph!"
Leonard and Seamus find a black flim cloud over their eyes.
"Na! Dywedasoch wrthym mai croeso i ni eich dilyn chi, ni wnaethoch ddweud wrthym am y peryglon dan sylw!" Verdigris scolds Howard.
No! You just told us were welcome to follow you, you didn't tell us about the dangers involved!
Leonard closes his eyes, which are now useless, and concentrates on waking up. Looks like it's time to get outta here, he says loudly, sounding quite calm.
Vincent manages to pull himself out of the pit and gets on the forest floor.
The man continues to give muffled yelps as the corrosive spores dissolve him.
He seems slightly resistant to acid.
The fortunate thing is that the corrosive spores dissolve the leaf that was tying the man down, as well as his bonds. He pulls out his gag as he suddenly grows a pair of golden wings and flies out of the pit, into the forest. "Thanks awfully. I was trying to warn all of you of the trap but you charged right into it. I'm outta here."
Leonard tries to wake himself up, but doesn't quite manage it.
Leonard hears the fluttering of wings in the air, then feels four daggers strike at him, and the fluttering of wings again.
One of the daggers get through his chainshirt, nicking his lung and he feels the insidious poison on it weaken him.
Vincent groans as he looks up the long distance and gives up, hoping the other two do the same.
Vincent wakes himself up and finds himself on the Sellen Starling. Outside their cabin, the sky is glowing the red hue of dawn.
He also sees Verdigris scolding Howard, ""Na! Dywedasoch wrthym mai croeso i ni eich dilyn chi, ni wnaethoch ddweud wrthym am y peryglon dan sylw!"
No! You just told us were welcome to follow you, you didn't tell us about the dangers involved!
Monty is moping in a corner with Siriss and Shesha trying to cheer him up.
Leonard races off in the direction he remembers the pit to be in, preparing to use feather fall as soon as he feels the ground disappear.
Leonard runs towards the pit but does not feel any daggers hitting him. Then as he steps off the ledge, he feels himself falling through the air.
Seamus hears the flutter of wings and feels something try to stab at him.
Seamus is stabbed by a dagger in the ribs but manages to fight off its insidious poison.
Seamus gets stabbed by another dagger in the back, and this time does not manage to fight off the insidious poison.
Seamus gets stabbed by another dagger in the kidney, and this time does not manage to fight off the insidious poison.
Seamus feels a sharp pain in his back, and then he feels his legs fail to support him as he knows nothing more...
Leonard manages to fight off the poison.
Leonard activates his flight hex. He hears Seamus's cry of pain, and something land on the canopy above him.
Seamus begins to bleed out a little.
Leonard tries to wake himself up as he hears the sound of wings getting closer.
Knowing that whatever that was chasing them is nearly upon the party, Leonard concentrates even harder, pushing himself to his limits, and wakes up with a humongous headache on the Sellen Starling. He also finds that his nose is bleeding from the psychic strain.
Sadly for you - you never awaken in the Dreamlands. The only mercy is that you were spared of feeling the agony of being sacrificed to open a gate to their homeland...
Madness gained:
Phobia (Nyctophobia)
Each round an afflicted character is within 30 feet and can see the object of her phobia, she must succeed at a Will saving throw or become shaken. The next round, the afflicted character can choose to attempt another saving throw to end the effect, but if she fails, she becomes scared instead. A scared character can choose to attempt another saving throw to become shaken again, but if she fails, she becomes frightened for 1d6 rounds instead.
Seamus awakens back on the Sellen Starling, relieved to see the continuous flame lamps still lit up, abeit dimly.
You have this vague impression of being stabbed multiple times in the dark, and you know that once the lights go out...a horrible fate awaits you...
Leonard and Seamus are relieved to see that they can finally see again, and find there is no trace of whatever insidious poison they were subject to in their system.
Vincent heals the two
Vincent rubs his eyes, So I fell in a pit of acid. Looks like we all made it out, but still no tail. We need to go back in.
Shesha and Siriss finally manage to convince a moping Monty to get some sleep, saying that things will be better tomorrow.
The party sleeps for the rest of the day, except for Howard and Leonard then makes plans to go back to the Enchanted Forest the very night. The day is exceptionally rainy and stormy as Captain Skywind tries her best to keep the ship on course. Howard glimpses the longship with ambersails tailing them, some distance behind. Then there is a flash of lightning, then the ship is gone. Seamus and Vincent wake up later that evening, feeling slightly nauseous after sleeping on a ship in stormy weather.
The party performs the ritual with Vincent leading.
Vincent drinks his alchemical allocation extract, then drinks his potion of heroism and spits it back out.
The party sits in a circle as Vincent begins to chant the incantation with Howard, Leonard and Seamus supporting him.
"We, The Seekers, are bound by a common purpose - the thirst for knowledge."
He then passes the miniature ivory and horn staircase to Howard, who feels each of its 70 steps.
"We have gathered this very night in order to open the gate to the Dreamlands."
Howard passes the miniature ivory and horn staircase to Leonard,who feels eager of its 70 steps. The miniature ivory and horn staircase is now heavier. The continuous flame lights seem to dim.
"For beyond lies the knowledge we seek."
Leonard passes the ivory and horn staircase to Seamus, who feels eager of its 70 steps. Seamus realizes the staircase has now grown bigger.
"Let the portal open between this world and the Enchanted Forest"
Seamus passes the staircase back to Vincent,who feels each of its 70 steps.
Vincent takes a deep breath, then drops the staircase in the center of the ring made by the party.
Vincent feels the staircase sap his life energy. The party sees the staircase sinks into the ship deck, expanding to the size of a normal staircase and leads downwards into darkness...
The party moves towards the staircase, and fall fast asleep the moment they touch it.
They find themselves falling through cold darkness…then they see a speck of light in front of them. Moving towards it, the party finds themselves in arriving on wide, flat branch of an enormous oak tree, drained from their ordeal.
Smaller branches end in sprays of wide, sturdy leaves and connect to the branches of other trees throughout this arboreal landscape. However, this time there is a marked difference. The wide sturdy leaves are splattered with blood and the chewed up bones of Zoogs lie strewn around a small eight legged beast with golden fur and a fox tail.
Howard and Vincent recognize the creature as a Aurumvorax.
Aurumvoraxes are very aggressive creatures, and lead solitary lives except when they mate. Adults typically claim the hunting area within a mile of their warrens, ruthlessly driving away other predators. In addition to fresh meat, aurumvoraxes are fond of gnawing on metals (particularly gold and copper), though whether they do this to sharpen their teeth or because of some nutritional need is unknown. Aurumvorax warrens can stretch for thousands of feet, often winding deep into the earth. The avaricious appetite of aurumvoraxes has earned them the appellation "golden gorger" among dwarves, who have lost more than a few miners to the dangerous beasts.
It has DR 10/piercing or slashing and it can grab with its claws, up to medium size creatures. It has ferocity.
The Aurumvorax notices the party and gives a warning growl as they approach.
The party does not notice any more zoogs peeping out from the holes of the trunk of the tree – in fact – those tree holes look damaged, as if something forced its way in in a hurry, and the edges of those holes have been splattered with blood and have tufts of zoog fur on them.
Not wanting to get too close Vincent moves forward, charging his spear and stabbing.
The Aurumvorax sees the party attacking and gets ready to defend itself.
Seamus starts singing to inspire the party.
Leonard sends a rush of flame down Angliliath, closes his crackling left fist tightly, and charges forward.