Pele barked, *That's a spicy meatball!*
Wulfram moved up and belched fire on the blighted fey.
Rogar considers trying to shield his allies, but instead falls back on his old habit of simply killing their enemies before they can kill them.
Wulfram's flame blast takes down the faun Nik'o wounded and slightly singes another. Rogar's blast annihilates the uninjured faun, and his follow-up badly wounds the one Wulfram scorched. Nik'o lays into the final faun, bringing him down. Only the blightguard remains, and it too quickly succumbs to your combined might.
As the combat dies down, the quicklings in the cage call out for help. Wendel zips from the shadows and frantically fumbles at the locks on the cage, eventually popping them open. The quicklings cheer and rush out, including one who is missing one of her eyes and several patches of skin, though her wounds have been carefully dressed. A tarnished gold ring is around her ankle, similar to the one you recovered from Naphexi's lair--another piece of Dryad's Song. "Meril! Sister, it is Wendel! Wendel thought he would never see you again!"
The two quicklings share a moment hugging and comforting one another. Meril shakes her head groggily and turns to you. "Oh—oh-oh-oh! Is it over? Is it well and truly over? Meril thought she was doomed! Her family was gone, and the evil one’s minions dragged her to this hell-place, and that was it! They took Meril’s skin and Gorvin’s eye and Petulia’s hand and they made a man who danced and stank of rot. But new friends have rescued her—yes, shiny and so new—and now Meril must tell her friends the horrible things she’s heard. The minions experimenting on Meril were vile! Bragged about mocking the earth queen as they visited the evil one far below!"
Wulfram introduced himself, "I am Wulfram. We came upon your village, and met Wendel, who told us of what happened. I am a healer; the damage these villains have inflicted on you can be repaired.
"Are you hungry? We have food and drink."
He took out his iron pot and intoned a prayer, filling it with water, and offered the quicklings some of his rations. He cast another spell, and surveyed the area for magic auras.
The quickling eagerly accept the water and the rations. "Meril thanks you for keeping Wendel safe. We will gratefully accept any healing you can offer," Meril says.
Wulfram notices numerous magic auras in the area, and quickly gathers the items in the lab. The strongest aura comes from the ring around Meril's ankle.
Karla rushes over to Nik'o and checks her wounds while the others introduce themselves. Once she knows Nik'o is out of danger, she turns and smiles at Meril: "We are here to meet the Evil One hiding below. She's the reason for the dead, the sufferings. We want to give back the forest..."
As she speaks and notices the potions of healing, she grabs a potion and feeds it to Nik'o. It takes her a while to figure out which image of Nik'o she should feed the potion to...
Nik'o laps the potion hungrily, then gives Karla a very, very long look.
Karla goes to pick up the second potion.
Wulfram healed Nik'o, and any of the quicklings that needed it.
Eustoma greets the quicklings. "We are so glad to have found you. We are very interested in what you have to say Meril. Tell us what those evil ones boasted about." Eustoma does her best to help heal them if it's still needed.
"They say the evil one has the earth queen imprisoned deep below these chambers. Gendowyn, a legend among the Fangwood's fey--a nice queen, terrible and wonderful, depending on who was asked. But she vanished along ago! Kidnapped-imprisoned-tormented all these years! Meril weeps for her."
Wendel holds his sister close again. "Wendel is overjoyed that his sister is safe. Wendel still wants revenge against the evil one, but... Things are getting very dangerous, yes? But Wendel made a promise that he must keep."
"Meril will help too, but we cannot risk life and limb any further," Meril says. "Four times. Four times you can call upon our aid, and we will do all we can to assist you. Oh! And take this ring! It has kept Meril safe for many years. Perhaps it will keep you safe, too."
Meril removes the ring from her ankle and gives it to you. You can see it has an inscription in Abyssal that reads "Moss and rot shall grow unchecked."
Wulfram looked around for any other passageways leading off from the chamber. He asked the quicklings, "Do you know how big this complex is? Is the dark lady near here?"
"Thank you. This ring will help us very much. We thank you for your offer of help. We won't use it lightly."
Karla lets her smile bestow her thanks above those given by her comrades. She listens to Wulfram and nods as indeed, she had been under the impression that their quarry was nearby, but it seemed her domain was much larger and dangerous than she expected.
"And also, do you know of any other fearsome guardians or allies the Dark Lady may have?"
"We are in the Upper Reaches now. The Pestilent Palace goes deeper still, much deeper beneath the blighted woods," Meril says. "Doubtless many more minions stand in your way, blighted fey, twisted half-breeds, and worse. Somewhere lurks the frumious bandersnatch that ravaged Meril's village. You will have your work cut out for you to reach the evil one!"
Karla swallows hard: "That sounds like a lot of opposition. I wish we could find a way to trim it down. Avoid what can be avoided to reach the Dark Lady and free the woods from her influence... Perhaps I could try my powers, but I would need to know more about her, or about the deeper levels of her palace..."
Rogar actually perks up slightly at the sounds of the dangers of the woods, "Doesn' sound ta bad if ye ask me. Coul' be interestin." he notes.
Wulfram made sure that no-one needed more healing, before telling the quicklings, "Do you need our help to leave this place? We need to press on, and work our way to the lower levels, but we don't want to leave you stranded here."
Karla laughs echoes like a waterfall at Rogar’s take: "You are probably right, Rogar. Let’s be rid of her agents then as well."
The quicklings assure you they can find their way out. After another round of thanks, they zip off to freedom! Only Meril and Wendel remain behind, though they stand still long enough to turn invisible until you are ready to cal upon them.
Once ready, you continue on to the next chamber. The wild roots growing from the floor here grow thick in several places, folding upon each other to form simple chairs and benches. This faux furniture circles a massive tree smelling of sickly sweet fruit. Various sundries of high society—engraved flatware, needle lace doilies, and delicate porcelain—rest upon finely carved real tables and sideboards, which are hopelessly stained with mildew and rot.
A trio of blighted dryads recline in this chamber, laughing and gossiping. They haven't noticed you quite yet...
Eustoma smiles and sends draws her bow. She waits for Wulfram to do his thing.
Wulfram considered throwing a fireball at the blighted dryads, but didn't want to destroy the items near them. Instead, he roared and charged the nearest enemy.
The dryads smile enticingly and pluck fruits from the twisted tree. "Why don't you come closer and have a bite? They are quite tasty!" they call. The fruits look vaguely like human heads, each fleshy melon dripping with ooze. The air fills with an unnaturally sweet aroma.
Karla gets off Nik'o and laughs and spins, sending waves of confusion at the dark fey.
Nik'o resists the enticing fruit, but stays in place, waiting for Karla to send her.
Wulfram resisted the hypnotic power of the scent, and told the dryads, "I don't care for your accursed melons!"
Rogar easily resists the urge to eat the fruit (he'd been enjoying food less and less as more of his body slowly metamorphosed into stone, it seemed), and retaliates by blasting the dryad trying to charm Wulfram.
Sia moves toward the tree, but Eustoma shakes off the effects of the scent. She lets a barrage of arrows fly at the creatures.
Wulfram moves up and stabs the closest dryad, then Rogar finishes her off with a powerful metal blast! He follows up with a swift blast that doesn't pierce the tree's bark.
Karla's spell overcomes the resistance of one of the remaining dryads, who looks about in confusion. As Sia approaches the tree, Eustoma fires off several arrows, but only one hit lands!
Her mind temporarily clear, the confused dryad sends a crackling black ray at Wulfram. The other one uses her magic to transform into a tiger, roaring angrily!
The strange tree animates, trunk opening to reveal sharp teeth as it bites at Wulfram and swings its limbs at him!
Rogar focuses on the tree first, shaping his blasts into giant axeheads to try and chop it down.
Karla's eyes widen as she watches Wulfram get hit by the dark ray and her eyes turn to ink as she points a finger at the tree and sends a ray flying towards it.
She then sends Nik'o at whatever is left alive.
Nik'o hurls herself at the nearest foe.
Wulfram cursed, feeling the black ray draining his life energy; he moved forward and stabbed the dryad that had fired it at him.
Portions of the evil tree crumble to ash as Karla strikes it with her spell. Moments later, Rogar tears it to shreds with his powerful metal blast. His follow-up blast pummels a dryad, then Nik'o pounces on her, ripping her to pieces! Wulfram moves to stab the last one, but she dodges his strike.
Deciding to exercise the better part of valor, the last dryad leaps into the bark wall of the tree's interior, striding away to some other location.
To the east, choking vines and ropy fungi haphazardly seal a chamber's only entrance, in addition to a thick chain and padlock. A single, horned skull hangs from a sloppily written wooden sign on this barricade. A causal examination of the skull reveals that it has no teeth. The sign on the barricade is in Sylvan and it reads "Danger! Do not release!"
To the norhteast, rampant, woody growths fill the passage, climbing upward from the floor like stalagmites. Drab paintings of scarred fey in various acts of debauchery line the walls.
The darkness in Karla subsides. She feels Nik’o watching her with perplexity. She walks up to the place where the Dryad disappeared and tries to determine where it went and it works.
"Do we hurry and go right after it? That portal might work for us too..." asks Karla.
"It might or we could end up someplace else complexly. If the evil fey think something's dangerous here and not to release it. Maybe we want to do just that."
Wulfram replied to Karla, "We don't know what we would be stepping into, and we might not know how to retreat if we had to. I'd prefer to explore the way ahead here."
He asked everyone, "Is everyone OK to keep going for a bit? I imagine we'll need to rest before we confront the evil one, but it's hard to tell how much we'll have to go through to reach her.
"If we are continuing on, I'll use a scroll to refresh my vitality; that black ray was draining!"
Wulfram retrieved a scroll and recited the prayer written on it, which reinvigorated him.
That done, he flew ahead and looked in the opening on the right side of the passageway.
Wulfram moves to the end of the pathway and looks into the room beyond. Thick webbing crisscrosses this wide chamber, settling heavily in its irregular corners. Here and there, fluorescent mushrooms peek out of the web, casting a sickly pall over the entire room.
The room appears to be empty, but Wulfram spots something tucked into the webbing--a desiccated human body. The corpse still wears a noble's outfit, as well as a cloak of arachnida, two ruby rings (worth 1,000 gp each), a silk-and-pearl choker (worth 500 gp) and a bag of holding (type I) containing 658 pp and a small oil painting of a well-dressed, elderly couple (worth 100 gp).
The central corridor winds on past this room.
Karla feels more exposed, now that they've breached the Dark Lady's first defenses, and casts a protective spell she usually uses for Nik'o on her as well.
Wulfram retrieved the body from the webbing and searched it. Once he finished, he went back out to the main corridor, and advanced further.
Eustoma follows Wulfram along. "I wonder what's coming up for us next. This is a terrible place, and I feel as if it wouldn't be safe for use even if the darkness wasn't here."
As the central corridor winds on, its woody stalagmites give way to sharp, broken growths. As it curves around a bend, most of the passage falls away into a massive pit. Two lumbering ape like monsters stand on the near side of the pit. They have blood-red fur, twisted horns, and a hideous fanged orifice set in the center of their chests. They howl and move to attack!