"I seek the relic of my ancestor. That is why I am here."
Teren, you calmed the fox creature that first night in the cellar, and it decided to follow you around. How much can you actually "talk" to wild animals?
Teren the Trailblazer got turned around, taking a couple of extra days to get to the grove. But Brian was able to supply (barely) enough food the whole way.
Zathra the Scout failed to spot some hungry wild creatures that attacked you, but you all were able to defend yourselves well and drive them off.
You've reached the edge of the Grove! It is a dark and forbidding place, packed densely with trees.
What do you do?
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"A MacGuffin! Oh that is excellent! I must write a ballad for this! Tell me, are you using it to destroy a rising evil that you foresaw a prophecy of, or are you trying to avenge a destruction of something? Is it your village? Hmmm, that would be the first option for the origin story then, eh?
Tell me you have a nemesis, yes? Oh you can't look for a MacGuffin without a nemesis. Is it an evil overlord? Or an evil warlord? Hrmmm, not usually much variety in that sector is there?
Perhaps we can start with a song? Hmmmmm...."
"Oh, there was was a barbarian from Nantucket.... No, no, that's not very good at all."
"Actually, my mema just told me to quest for it, and that my ancestoer's tomb was located around here. Now that I think about it, she might have just wanted to get me out of the house."
"Hold here a while, I'll be back within an hour" Teren tells his companions. He slowly circles the Grove, pausing every once in a while to taste the dirt, sometimes digging his fingers into the soil and leaving them there for a few minutes.
When you spend time in a place, making note of its resident spirits and calling on the spirits of the land, roll+Wis. You will be granted a vision of significance to you, your allies, and the spirits around you.
✴ On a 10+ the vision will be clear and helpful to you.
✴ On a 7–9 the vision is unclear, its meaning murky.
✴ On a miss, the vision is upsetting, frightening, or traumatizing. The GM will describe it. Take -1 forward
Teren, you see dark things (humans? creatures?) moving in the shadows of the grove. You can't tell if they are a threat to you or not.
The fox-like creature is as confused about how it changed as you are. One moment it was foraging for food, the next it was in the cellar. It calls itself "Hungry", because it always is. If you feed it, it will be your friend for life (or until you stop feeding it, probably).
Any thoughts on how to proceed?
Zathra continues pacing while waiting on Teren to return. Clearly, she does not favor waiting on others.
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"Hmmmm. Tis hard to write about great deeds when no great deeds are done. Well, come along, Sir Zathra! Let us go forward. If we encounter ill foemen, we can always retreat."
Whether well advised or no, Brian stalks forward, patiently waiting for the first sign of danger, at which point he plans to retreat a little so he and Zathra can kill the bad guys one at a time.
If asked, he'd say this was "Kiting, but I like to call it the 'Pez Technique.'"
Teren returns to the others. "Sorry, that was... Less useful than I'd hoped. Nothing for it but to head on in, I guess."
You all wander into the dark woods, finding what appear to be animal (or maybe human?) trails that you follow, taking random turns when choices appear.
You hear the sounds of wildlife all around you, but nothing threatening...yet.
Eventually, you come into a small clearing with a ray of sunshine coming down into it. In the middle of the beam of sunshine is a human figure in white robes, sitting cross-legged. You're approaching him from his back, and he does not stir as you enter the clearing.
What do you do?
"Is this area your land?" asks Zathra, speaking with much more respect than she does for others.
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"Oooo!" Brian exclaims, taking interest. "Have we stumbled across our Mysterious Old Tutor, who will give us some arcane prophesy of evil and doom, pointing us toward a seemingly-insignificant macGuffin that will bring peace and harmony to the galaxy?
Um, ahem, Hail to thee, wizened one! Many miles have we crossed, and faced dangers unnumbered! Pray tell, say unto us what wise council you would have for such poor wayfarers as we!" the bard says, as is expected of him in such places.
He searches his memory of Wise Old Men to see if this one comes to mind.
But nothing comes to mind? Maybe something starting with a G? Nah, that is another story.
The figure speaks without turning around - a melodious feminine voice, quiet yet easy to hear, thoughtful without sounding slow : "I have been waiting for you to arrive - please have a seat and rest your bodies."
A thin arm sweeps in an arc in front of the figure, and large toadstools grow up from the ground in front of her, unbelievably fast. They look sturdy enough to sit on. Trying them, you find that the cap is kind of flexible, like a firm pillow.
Seated in front of her, you see a pale face surrounded with long white hair, and pointed ears. You can't tell her age from her face, but her eyes speak of many years having been seen.
First she speaks to Zathra "This land is mine, and it is not mine", she says with a small smile.
Turning to Brian she says "You would do well to stop seeing life as a story with plot twists and characters, and rather engage fully with it, in order to actually *live* it."
Looking at everyone, she says "Have you not wondered what caused the calamity in this area? What caused the earth to rupture, and the land itself to be rearranged?
Many, *many* years ago, a wizard made a pact with a god (who some would call a demon), to become the Master of Chaos. Filled with power, he raised an army, and vowed to bring chaos down upon the entire planet. All the races united in an effort to bring him down, but we..." she pauses here, as if realizing she's given something away "...only managed to contain him in a prison. While he has not broken free yet, I fear that he has found a way to extend his influence beyond his prison, and new followers have fallen in line with him to execute his plans.
The destruction of your lands is probably soon to be followed in others, unless he can be stopped.
His prison is far to the north. I ask you to journey there, enter it, and reinforce the barriers holding him. Will you do this for the sake of the world?"
Without hesitation or further details, Zathra stands and says "My people would rightly string me up by my entrails, giving me enough sustainance to last for more than 3 moons before I was allowed to die should I refuse such a request."
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Brian is about to reply when Zathra speaks up.
He immediately looks like a hit hit on the head. "But, wouldn't you die right away...? And, how could you eat if your intestines were outside...? And how oh dear I've gone cross-eyed." He shakes his head to clear his mind's eye of that mental picture and returns to the task at hand.
"Yes! Wise Prophetess! We brave, brave heroes shall gladly take up this quest to save the world!" Somewhere in the distance you _swear_ you hear trumpets blare and a soundtrack that sounds vaguely John Williams-esque.
"Um, however, we do have several En Pee See, erm, ah, civilians with us who were displaced by the catastrophe you have so accurately described. Would it be possible to, ah, leave them here? Everyone knows that a group of heroes escorting a train of hapless villagers is just a target for a bunch of goblins, or a bunch of wargs, or a bunch of goblins riding a bunch of wargs, so if they would be safe here, that would help us out."
He turns to go, but then turns back, a coy smile on his face. "And to your first statement. Look again. As the Bard has told us, All the world's a stage, Love. All the world's a stage...."
He takes a pull from his waterskin, keeping his throat moist.
"There are rituals my people know to do this thing."
Teren is slightly more skeptical than the other two. "Certainly, if what you say is true. Might you have some means to demonstrate that? "
"Is not the violent rearrangement of your own lands proof enough? What kind of further 'demonstration' do you have in mind?"
The Knight turns to Brian and says "The civilians are under my protection. Most of them came with me, and I will gladly take the others. If I can but get some of the nutritious fruit from these woods, I'll go back to the ruins and try to set up some kind of permanent camp."
"Oh, proof of badness, to be sure. But if your mad wizard is far to the north, why here? How do you know it's even him?"
"I know it's him because I recognize his handiwork. His range of influence is probably limited, so he had to recruit people near his prison, which is on this continent. It makes sense that they would make their first attack relatively locally. However, the magnitude of the upheaval is...disturbing. His followers may have found some of his items of power that we were not able to locate once we defeated him."
Brian - you've heard of something that happened long ago that sounds *vaguely* like what the old lady is describing, but some of the details are different. How are they different, and where did you hear it?
What echoes of this ancient lore exist in the Druidic traditions?
That this Chaos Master was very powerful, and many people died just to imprison him.
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"Hrmmmmm. This sounds familiar...almost, as if, somehow, something before this involved a Big Bad guy making some kind of a deal, and then an unlikely alliance of plucky young rebels all rose up and defeated him. Well, that might have happened once, but that involved this Ring, so of course that was completely different.
Something that does sound a lot more similar is that...
When Kron, the Unholy Light, gained enough power from his insane cultists, he corrupted the soul of Dargor, the brave knight and Champion of the Realm. Dargor brought war to the Seven Kingdoms, and only when the Order of the White Angel sent there most trusted heroes to gather together the Seven Books of Darkness and, finally, retrieve the Emerald Sword from it's resting place, did light triumph.
Indeed, it was said that in the end, in the darkness of chaos, Dargor at last regained his will enough to sacrifice himself and bring Kron into the Serpents of the Black Abyss, bringing peace and light to good people of the Seven Kingdoms once again.
At least for awhile, until the rise of Kron's son, Nekron, the Dark Lord...."
Brian heard this in the place that he hears most of his tales. In a tavern. It was probably his favorite tavern, the Sweet Doomed Angel, in HardWheat.
"So, will you do this thing, or not?" the old lady asks.
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"Hm?" Brian asks, trying to think of a word that rhymed with 'fruit'. "Oh, yes, yes of course. It seems that I won't be able to pursue the romantic subplot with the knight, but I don't see what the quest reward wold be from that anyway, and it might divert from the main plot too much, so whatevs.
Anyway, yeah, I'm on board. Everyone all set?"
Teren studies the woman carefully before nodding. "Will you be joining us? Or do you have a map, at least? "North" is very big. "
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"Alas, I can no longer leave this place. You must travel due north from here for a couple of weeks, until you run into the Ravenous Swamp. Skirt around its edge to the west, until you can go north again. After about a week you will reach the Evergreen Mountains, home to many Dwarves. Perhaps they will let you rest and restock. Follow the River Valley north until you reach the Triple Peaks. Go to the middle peak, Gorlac is there."
She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a large key, and gives it to Teren, saying "This key will open the first door. The caves are heavily trapped, but I was not in charge of their making, so I cannot help you there. Once you reach Gorlac's prison, make sure all the crystals are whole and in place."
"What should we do if they are not whole and intact?"
"There used to be extra crystals stored by the device that holds Gorlac imprisoned. They are color-coded, simply replace the bad crystal with a new one of the same color."
" And... What do we do if we get there, and they are whole and intact?"
She looks at Teren and says "Then you will have to find the source of the problem, for which I'm afraid I can't help you."
To Brian she says "Every race is unique and special, even different communities within the same race. But I would say they are 'typical' Dwarves."
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"Yes!" says Brian, doing a fist pump. He starts mumbling something about roaring fires and red meat right off the bone. And maybe malt beer. Possibly that too.
"Come on guys, I'm sure it'll be self-evident. There will only be some many environment points that we can click on. And I'm sure some low-level entry baddie will babble on about their master's ultimate plan and how we'll never be able to do X, Y, and Z to stop it. Let's not overthink this.
Oh, hey, can we get more rations? Apparently I'm not "that" good at my Survival skill. I had to sink the points into Disguise and Perception. And Sleight of Hand, for some reason that I can't remember."
"What is wrong with you?" asks Zathra without a hint of sarcasm, concern, or levity.
There is something seriously wrong with him.
But all Teren says is "Alright... let's gather some supplies and go, then."
The old woman speaks to the Knight and the group, saying "I can direct you to the trees whose fruits can sustain you for a whole day per fruit, and with my blessing the creatures of these woods won't harm you. If you would each come over to me so that I may touch you..."
What do you do?
Teren's curiosity overcomes his skepticism, and he moves to accept the woman's blessing, senses alert; the druidic circle has never been able to penetrate this place before.
Zathra moves forward without hesitation.
So does Sarthel and the Knight.
One by one, she touches your forehead and traces an intricate design there. Those watching see a line of light where her finger traces, which fades from sight once she finishes.
"Unfortunately, that will only protect you from the creatures in these woods, nowhere else."
She gives you directions to a grove in the forest of the fruit trees, and bades you to get to the north with all speed.
What do you do?
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"Woohoo!" the bard chirps as he gets up and runs in the direction of the fruit trees. "Alright, now, don't take too many, but still take a lot. Just, take until you feel it's "enough". If we have to have a sub-plot to find resources -nobody- is going to want to read that and I couldn't make it sound exciting to talk about how we put our quest on hold to reap a farmer's hay for two weeks while we got enough coin for a decent breakfast."
Once that is done, Brian is ready to head "north".
Zathra will take as much fruit as she has room in her pack for, then head North.