William listens to the suggestion and discussion and then says, "I think we should bring who we can. Taking this fort is the priority and taking out that dragon. Aerel I'll toss you for the ring. Hopefully only one of us draws the dragon's attention and it's the one with the ring. We should stay far enough apart that the dragon can't get two of us at once."
”Tell you what, dragons have good eyes, but I trust my ability to avoid notice more than yours. Keep this ring, I’ll take the next.”
The group pushes its way through the forest, working north through the rugged terrain. It's relatively easy at first, moving through previously explored regions of the Fangwood close to the caves. Eventually, they move into areas that they hadn't seen before, and it becomes slower going.
After the first day's midday meal, the forest suddenly erupts in a series of hooting and calling. Dark shapes start dropping from the canopy, surrounding the ones in the lead. They're small, but with oversized, forearms. Unruly green fur cover their hides, and they have long, barb-tipped tails.
These are canopy trolls, ravenous creatures that share the same sort of durability and weaknesses as the larger varieties
Aerel and Amkarang are up!
"Canopy trolls! Use what you would use on the trolls we've fought before!"
Aerel draws an alchemists' fire from his bandolier as he moves forward and tries to smash it against a nearby tree to catch two of the trolls in the splash.
Amkarang pulls out his meteor hammer before swinging at the troll that Aerel hit.
Aerel splashes an area with alchemist's fire, causing two of the canopy trolls to hiss as the flaming liquid burns their skin. Amkarang then smashes one with his hammer, breaking bones and ripping rubbery flesh.
The trolls bite and slash out with their claws, while their barbed tails jab at their prey.
==>Hit!
==>Hit
==>Hit
==>Hit, need a fort save!
==>Hit, need a fort save!
==>Hit, need a fort save!
==>Hit
==>Hit
Benedict strikes twice at the nearest troll.
William yells "Incoming!" and fires off three arrows aiming first at the one Amkarang attacked, if it goes down he aims at the other one on fire.
|
Grum took the hail of attacks, and responded with his own. Covered as he was in armor, retreating wasn't an option. It was win or die. Which was the only way he truly felt alive, so it all worked out. With flaming sword, he sought to teach the foe that one good hit could do far more than several scratches.
Aerel brings his bow up and lets two arrows fly.
Amkarang swings three times at the troll in front of him, a faster flurry than ever before. He smiles, he knew he was improving. This troll would know it too.
The archers help in dropping two of the injured trolls that had been scorched by the alchemist's fire. They fall to the ground, their skin not showing signs of regenerating.
Benedict and Grum both deal heavy wounds to their targets. The one on Benedict starts to heal. Amkarang brings his hammer down repeatedly on the remaining troll attacking him and it falls.
The three trolls left standing keep attacking.
==>j Hit!
Amkarang pivots around, bringing his attention to bear on the one unfortunately stuck between him and Grum. This troll's day was about to get a whole lot worse.
Benedict hammers away.
William fires at the one Grum attacked and then moves to Benedicts if the first drops.
The trolls fall to the martial prowess of the heroes. The few that are starting to regenerate are easily killed with Grum's burning blade.
"Nice work, all.
Aubrin, can I request the healing power of Cayden Cailean?"
Benedict also holds out the clay mug from his Pathfinder's kit. "And perhaps you can help me toast the Lucky Drunk for his healing?"
"Then let's get on the move again."
Aubrin obliges, holding up her tankard in the air.
"That was amazing how fast you took those things down," she comments. "I'll raise my mug again.
She then fills up everyone's cups with a refreshing lager, courtesy of Cayden Cailean.
Aerel looks over the bodies, unsure if these were animalistic creatures or just savages.
Aerel doesn't find anything of value amidst the corpses. Sadly, they were just savages.
The group resumes its travel through the woods.
As the day wanes, the group find an especially lovely area of the forest. Tall oak and walnut trees are practically spilling their nuts upon the ground while mid-height fruit trees are laden with apples and pears weighing their boughs low. Bushes adorned with berries cover the ground level. The entire area appears well-tended, with each tree pruned back just right to yield a plentiful bounty and provide enough sun to the lower levels.
A rustling in one of the bushes can be heard, along with a light tinkling of a bell.
Aerel says, "I suspect we find ourselves in someone's private garden. They might be willing to allow us to camp here or share the bounty of their orchard, but we'd best ask politely or they could make life difficult for us."
Raising his voice, and a hand to his allies, "Do not touch the fruit of these trees until we have permission to do so." He repeats the warning in Sylvan, on a hunch.
Benedict nods in agreement as Aerel speaks.
He looks towards the bushes in the direction of the sound.
Benedict spots a small figure a few dozen feet away from the spot where the tinkling bells are sounding. Seeing that she's been spotted, a miniature young woman steps into full view. Her white skin is covered by flowing, diaphanous clothing. Her long, braided hair is festooned with ribbons, and she has a large pair of gardening shears.
Her head tilts to the side as she regards the group with large, slanted eyes of deep violet. Then she giggles, putting a hand over her mouth coyly. "There's plenty to share. But it was kind of you to ask."
This is a fey called an anhana. They are an uncommon fey that appear in deep forests, but are known for helping civilized folk. They carefully prune and tend bushes and trees to yield bountiful harvests.
Benedict doesn't know what this creature is, but he suspects it to be a fey of some kind. Be polite, but make no promises you cannot keep.
"We thank you for your kindness. I am Benedict of the Hemlock Brigade. May I ask your name? My companions and I would like to rest here for the night if you would allow it. We will move on in the morning."
He thinks a minute. "We have heard that there is a blight or rot in the Fangwood. And we encountered a child of the First World that seemed to have been corrupted by it. This rot does not seem to have touched your grove, or indeed most of this part of the Fangwood. But we will share what we know of this rot so that you may keep yourself and your grove safe."
Aerel bows awkwardly to the diminutive creature. "Thank you for your generosity."
The small fey looks pleased as Grum begins to eat. Turning to Benedict, she gives him a slight curtsy. "I am Lailai. You're welcome to stay here for the night. I haven't seen many travelers through the forest lately."
She grows melancholy when he mentions the rot. "There's a sickness far to the east. Some of my sisters have tried exploring that way. I haven't seen them since."
William smiles at her and says "Nice to meet you. I'm WIlliam."
Benedict will also have some fruit and nuts.
"These are delicious. Thank you. If our paths take us to a place where we can cleanse the Fangwood of its rot, we will do our best.
We will keep our usual watches for the night in order to maintain our habit. It will mean you will have someone to talk to at any hour of the night."
The night is uneventful in Lailai's garden. In the morning, the party is able to eat their fill again from her bounty and move on.
Travel during the second day is uneventful, or whatever small encounters are easily dispatched or driven off by the group's numbers.
The group finds a small dry creekbed that Cierio estimates should lead to the larger river where Fort Trevelay is situated. At first, it seems that the narrow ravine will be a good place to shelter for the night. However, as the shadows grow deep and dark as the sun starts to set, an unnatural cold seems to descend.
The sides of the ravine are covered in spider webs -- nothing too unusual, but further up the creekbed are a couple deep recesses into the earth. Suddenly, lurching out of those pits, come a pair of enormous spiders! Worse, those spiders are covered in hundreds of smaller spiders.
As the two large spiders move into the waning light of day, they do not appear to be alive, but animated husks filled with smaller spiders!
These are undead abominations called deathwebs. They have swarms of living spiders inside their animated carapaces, making it very hazardous to go near them.
The horrifying creatures strike swiftly, with one rushing forward and snapping its mandibles down on Benedict. The other throws a sheet of webbing at Grum.
Grum is entangled and stuck in place.
William gets out a alchemists fire and throws it at the spider on Benedict as far away from everyone as possible and shouts out, "These are undead creatures called Deathwebs. They have swarms of spiders inside of them so be careful!"
"Fire! If you've got fire, use it!"
Aerel delays to see how the rest of the party reacts.
Benedict strikes twice at the spider and steps back.
Amkarang moves next to Grum and strikes with his meteor hammer at a range, trying to keep out of the giant spider monster's reach.
Aerel steps away from the undead carapace and puts two arrows into it.
Cierio moves up and uses his halfling's sling staff to send a bullet at the monstrosity.
Aubrin moves forward, not able to get all the way to lay a touch spell on Benedict, so she channels positive energy to harm the undead.
Rhyna sends a magical missile streaking at the spider.
Yangvit calls down a blessing on the group while Jet and the warriors all draw their bows and launch arrows at it.
The barrage of attacks from the heroes and their militia bring down the first deathweb.
The second unnatural spider rushes forward and bites at Amkarang.
Seeing the creature advance William fires three arrows at it.
Benedict cheers as the Phaendar archers take down a Deathweb, with one refugee landing a critical hit!
Benedict moves up next to Amkarang and attacks the remaining undead spider.
Amkarang swigs at the spider as it advances before shifting his grip and swinging with both heads of the hammer.
Aerel follows William's lead and starts putting arrows in the air.
Grum's attack, though it wasn't quite as powerful as he had hoped, still put a brutal end to the deathweb, after it was weakened by the stream of attacks from the other heroes.
The spiders within the carapaces, no longer influenced by the negative energy of the undead creatures, disperse harmlessly into the underbrush.
The militia all breath a sign of relief or whoop and cheer. Aubrin moves up to Benedict and applies some magical healing.
"Maybe this isn't the best place to rest for the night," Jet offers.