Rissi shudders as she gazes into the waters. "What a strange place. I wonder if the waters *chhh* reflect the state of their mistress"
+1 to Track
"The water is poisoned. Then again, I wouldn't eat or drink anything from these lands. Thank goodness for ale!"
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"Do you know with what?", Miana asks, looking into the water.
The usually centered paladin, leaps back after gazing into the waters, sweat now dripping from her forehead as she raises a fist towards Rissi and Sealman.
She looks at them again, clutching her forehead and wincing in pain. "Ugh... I apologize for that... don't look into the water, it's more than just poisoned."
She then turns to Lucian. "Do you have any curatives to recover from a magically induced headache? I can't focus like this and I dislike this feeling."
His spirits temporarily lifted thanks to the perspective of being useful to Miana, the oracle smiles sourly. "Of course, my friend. Though I doubt this will matter, for everything is bound to die in this forest."
Lucian chants words of soothing and lays his hands on Miana's forehead, seeking to ease her mind from what she saw.
"I shall stop for a moment to ask the spirits about what lies ahead, if it isn't a bother."
Sitting on the muddy ground, Lucian takes out his inkpen and parchment, and conjures the spirits of lore, begging them for insight from the future.
Will attempting to save the spirit instead of destroying it bring weal or woe?
Lucian looks down at the paper to see the word weal scribbled beneath his question.
The party moves on further until suddenly all around you, ghostly translucent forms emerge from the trees. Fey of all sorts—spectral satyrs, ghostly grigs, phantom nixies, and sprightly spirits float gently from the swamp around the party, followed by a parade of phantom animals. These were once the proud denizens of Whitewillow, now polluted by their mistress’s unsettled soul. The fey cavort and frolic as they march, eventually washing over you. They caress, dance through, and embrace you before passing.
Lucian's spirits soar when he announces the answer. "Good news, everyone! We should indeed try to save Yap's mistress, for only weal could come of it! "
Evanya's spirit remains unaffected by the many horrors of Whitewillow.
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"Thank you, Lucian.", bows Miana, her near migraine reduced to a mere pressing against her mind. Her will mostly intact again, she continues with the party.
Now more alert to the near haunted conditions of the area, the paladin is unfazed by the spectral entities surrounding her. "So many innocents ruined by a single act of horror. We must be strong, for their sake, to bring light to Whitewillow again.", looking steadfast at her companions.
Rissi squeaks in pain as one of the ghostly satyrs does not avoid her ... rather it moves right through her! Where the creature touches her, her black fur turns a speckled grey, although the damage is hidden by her thick cloaks.
"So is weal a good thing? Because both weal and woe sound bad. I always think of welts when I hear of weal which are painful. Or wheals which are itchy."
As the spirits of Bald Mountain dance throughout the party, Seal and Thunderpuss hop around as if they have been shocked.
Kufieno's eyes widen as the spectres appear. When they wash over him, his face blanches and his hugs himself. "Ccccold! Ssssso cold!"
Deep in the swamp, you suddenly come upon a derelict ship inexplicably located hundreds of miles from the Varisian shore. The vessel is badly worn and covered in thick dark green moss, but is completely intact and is obviously of a seagoing model.
The ship is deserted, but in his quarters belowdecks, the long-dead captain sits at a moldering darkwood harpsichord carved with demons battling angels. Still dressed in his rotten uniform, he clutches in one hand nautical charts that seem completely alien even to the most well-traveled of you, and a silver goblet inlaid with opals worth 100 gp in the other. A book of sheet music bearing several lyrical masterpieces never before heard by any of you sits on the harpsichord. The songs contained in the book appear worthless.
When you emerge from the ship, a white dog sits on deck watching you with milky blind eyes. The dog stares but does nothing else, eventually wandering off into the swamp and leaving behind no trace it was ever actually there. The source of this strange event is a true mystery—whether the wreck is anything more than crystallized dreams or an actual phantasm of a real wreck is beyond what you can discover.
"Evanya, any chance you could make something out of this song book?"
"Alas, I'm only versed in the art of dancing. I'm really sorry. Regardless, music is sacred so we should hold on to it."
"It looks like there are enough pages here to wipe our arse with after going dookie."
After getting strange strange looks, Seal shoots back his reasoning.
"What? I don't trust any of the leaves in this forest..."
Rissi tsks. "Show some decorum, Master Alerteyes. The nonsensical nature of this place only grows more *chhh* perplexing. Shall we press on? The captain awaits our rescue."
You come upon the mangled body of a beautiful dryad half protruding from a tree whose limbs have been smashed from the trunk by massive clubs. As you approach you hear soft feminine whispers in your ears—“She should not have fallen in love—her heart brought this upon us—why won’t she let us go?”
"I didn't say I wanted to decorate with them. That would be nonsense!"
Coming upon the body of the dryad, Sealman's vigor fades a bit and the scene before the party. He appears to withdraw, wanting to fall behind the group but maintains his post.
Suddenly the tangled swamp gives way to a relatively large clearing, a calm pool of unnaturally still water ringed by twisted, decayed willow trees. Wind blows, but the trees do not sway. It is as if the very land has died.
Yap quails at the edge of the clearing. "We're here. . . my lady waits for you within. I dare not go any closer. . . . " He steps back to cower behind a gnarled tree.
Once soul-shakingly beautiful, the nymph princess Myriana is now a haggard, hostly horror. Her disembodied arms float at her sides, exposed bone and sinew stretching toward her torso but ever too far out of reach. Her lower torso fades away to smoke, savaged too cruelly by the ogres for even her insane ghost to retain. But her most terrifying feature is her eyes: wells of hellish horror, crying out silently in an agony beyond anything a mortal creature could ever know. She is beauty undone, and torment incarnate.
As you enter the glade, she rises with a howl from the waters.
In a shrieking, hate-filled voice, she howls, "You! You failed him! You failed Lamatar, you failed to protect the Fort! You let the Kreegs take him to their lair on Hook Mountain! You did this to him! To us!"
Rissi indeed goes blind, but remains calm - she was expecting something of this nature to occur.
"My lady, we we were never the forts defenders - we were sent from many miles away to discover Fort Rannick's fate. Now we are here to do what we *chhh* can to bring safety and salvation to Lamatar and any others who have been captured or harmed - including you. The rangers with us fought until they were captured - it is meaningless to turn your *squeak* vengeance against them, or us."
Evanya's gaze turns white as she's blinded by the sheer beauty of the nymph. She doesn't lose heart but speaks up, joining Rissi in her chorus of appeasement.
"She speaks the truth, we have come to solve the situation in Fort Rannick, and have every intention of helping you. I'm a creature of good, an azata, please trust us."
Lucian is also blinded by Myriana, his resolve shaken by what he has seen in these twisted woods. Yet Desna gives him strength to carry on his purpose as her evangelist.
His soothing voice echoes Evanya's and Rissi's, seeking the remains of good and peace in the hollowed shell presented to them.
"Great Queen Myriana please her us out, for we have come to help you in this dark hour. We have travelled many leagues to succor the rangers of Fort Rannick, knowing that they had been conquered by the Kreeg. While it is obvious that the Black Arrows have failed their keep and their commander, we have mustered the few survivors wishing for atonement to reclaim Commander Lamatar from the hags, and return it to you. Our sole wish is to see you at peace, and him if Lady Pharasma extended her embrace to your lover. I conjure you, find in yourself the strength to see past despair and loss, to gaze in the night skies for Desna's guiding star, a clear sign that all hope is not lost. We are that hope, and we've come to free you from the shackles of torment! Allow us to aid you, please."
Seal begins to rage as vision fades from nymphs beauty. Remembering his training, he whips out a canteen of ale and begins to chug it.
"Ahhh, my eyes! You better fix my eyes or I will chop the rest of your limbs off here and now!"
Sealman begins to stomp and scratch the ground like a bull ready to charge.
Kufieno glances at his party with astonishment, then peers again at the horror of the dryad. Eh', she's not that hot....
"Madam, clearly we would not come here if we did not have a.....'heroic' purpose in mind."
"You think that Lamatar still lives? Is that why my reincarnation failed? If you think so, then your hope is greater than mine. Just bring me his remains. I need not the entire body; just a portion. I can bring him back if you will do just that for me."
Myriana is about to say something when suddenly something bursts through the dead bushes at the edge of the clearing. A young man stands before you, startled. His clothes are dirty and torn and he is out of breath. He parts his sopping-wet hair and yells at you over a boom of thunder. "I've found you!" he says, ignoring the nymph ghost for a moment as she fades into the shadows out of his sight. "You must come! There's trouble in Turtleback! A flood is coming and worse with it, if the rumors be true! I risked weather and ogres chasing you down, only just missed you at Fort Rannick, so you'd better be coming back now! Please!"
The man waits for a moment and then turns and runs back out of sight.
Myriana comes back to the center of the clearing and says, "It seems you are needed. Thank you for the kind words though. Go with my blessing." She hands Lucian a lock of silvery-golden hair.
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Miana is nearly blinded by the nymph's form and current state, but is steadfast from her training and centering.
After hearing Lucian blindly plea his case to the Myriana, her heart proud that he is among her friends.
Upon hearing the news from the lad, Miana jumps up, ready to move on, until she notices that everyone except her fellow sulijann s moving slower and more confused. Hearing the startled cries, she makes a plea to Myriana. "If we could have one more blessing from you Queen Myriana, please restore sight to my allies, so we can save Turteback Ferry before seeking out Captain Lamatar."
"I shall treasure your blessing and this lock of your magnificent hair as long as I live, Lady Myriana. I am humbled by your words and grateful that you have found some peace in our words. We won't fail you."
Myriana sighs. "I am sorry, but I do not have a way to fix your sight. In my distress I forgot to shade my beauty from your weak eyes."
Rissi seems undaunted. "Some of us are blind, but we'll just have to make do. If someone *chhh* hold a rope I can fly behind them. Another can guide Lucian. We should get to the ferry then perhaps we can find someone there to aid our condition while - or after - we deal with their woes. They must have a cleric in town - they could free Lucian from his affliction at the very least."
"Then that will be the last mistake you'll make as I'll be the last thing you see alive!"
Seal charges head first toward the nymph in a blinding rage.
Lucian sighs, and immediately yells at Sealman to stop!
Once the matter is resolved, Lucian will let his voice guide Evanya to his shoulder so that she can land on it, then call forth a phantom steed that can lead him wherever he needs to go.
Seal swats Miana's hands away from his helm but does not retaliate.
Rissi squeaks in confusion at the sounds of battle. She flys up, hoping "up" is safer then the noise.
"Brihz, help me... be my eyes... but don't look at the ghost!"
She'll cautiously fish her familiar out of the folds of her cloak.
Seal's blade slices through the ghost but does not seem to harm her in any way. She looks on the verge of cracking for a second but keeps her calm and simply floats away into the swampland....
Winter rises but before her cold breath descends on the Hook, the skies darken like blood-muddied water, and ominous clouds writhe on the horizon, bringing the near-constant rain to new heights of torrential downpours. Pure misery reigns as cold and wet become the order of the day and mud seems to befoul every square foot of the region and you wonder as you stumble blindly through the wilderness back to Turtleback Ferry: will this rain never end?
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Miana sighs, placing her palm against her face in an Iroran sign of disappointment for the events. At least he can't kill what is already dead., she thinks to herself, before simply stating, "Let's go.", placing a hand on Lucian to help guide him, figuring Sealman would have Thunderpuss aid his direction.
"What are we to do about the blinded? I could try using the scroll, but would almost assuredly fail."
The village of Turtleback Ferry is drowning. The muddy, surging waters of the Skull River tear through the center of the community to fill Claybottom Lake with a terrible fury—many of the buildings that once sat comfortably on the river’s banks are already flooding and in danger of collapsing from the rushing water. A group of children and a woman huddle aboard one of the old turtleshell ferryboats, the tiny flood-bashed vessel lodged up against the general store and threatening to capsize at any moment. Beyond, the town’s church stands solid, its foundations already three feet deep in floodwaters. Frantic movement is visible in the upstairs windows as townsfolk trapped inside rush about in a desperate attempt to save scriptures, comfort the sick, and pray for deliverance.
"I hate the rain. I hate not seeing. I hate blinding beautiful woman ghosts. I hate giants. Fitza-raka-Pakaluma-Dirty-Ratza-Frass."
Kufieno peers at the village, frowning. "By the gods! What are we going to do? We have to save those people! Does anyone see a boat?"
As the town was on the waterfront, you know that the dock is nearby and there will-or should-be plenty of small boats there.
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Seal would punch Kufieno if he could find him. =v)
Looking around, Kufieno points. "Look! Over there! See the docks? Let's go try to find a boat. Miss Rissi, do you think you could fly over to a group of people?"
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Seal flatly says, "Thunderpuss, eat the dragon thief."
Thunderpuss turns to look at Sealman and cocks his head at him and gives a confused look. Thunderpuss also has a depressed look about him as his wet fur clings along side his massive frame. Duo continue to slosh through the muddy roads.