"Can not say I blame the mutt," Grevayne grumbles to Freyja. "I do not like this. A blasted area, this close to the fort? It is a bad omen. The rangers, if they live, appear to be besieged. One hopes we are not too late."
He calls a spell to mind but doesn't cast it yet. He cautiously enters the scorched area, following close behind Oona, ready to release the magic if they are attacked.
The bodies are charred husks, fused to the tree. Other than the fact that they were humanoid, you can determine nothing about them.
"This development is deeply concerning. Let's hurry to Fort Ristin."
She sheathes the scythe and draws her bow, continuing past the dead tree and onward toward their destination.
Grevayne gives the tree an appraising glance, shrugs, and follows close behind Mac and Oona. He keeps the spell close to mind, however.
As you are walking away, one of the scorched trees ahead of you starts ... changing. The bark almost seems to melt; it flows and morphs over the next few seconds, until it takes a clear humanoid form. When the transformation is complete, a nearly 15 foot tall creature with pointed ears and a ridged forehead stands before you, bow trained on you.
When the giant speaks, its voice is loud and bellowing; you can feel it reverberating off of your chests. It speaks in Common. "Stop! You may not leave until you have planted enough trees to replace what you have destroyed! I have little patience; act now or I will end you!"
"Excuse me!" Oona huffs. "We did not burn down any trees. We have no time for this; the men and women of Fort Ristin may be in grave danger from those who are actually responsible for this atrocity. I feel for the pain of the forest, but the real culprits, I suspect, are the hobgoblins of the Ironfang Legion. Surely you have seen their patrols skulking about. We need to move now or the people of Fort Ristin may yet perish."
Grevayne nods. "It is true. You appear to have been here for some time. Surely you saw us just arrive. This occurred hours ago, by the look of it."
The creature hesitates, but doesn't lower his bow. "Do you speak truly? I have seen no hobgoblins, and I have no cares for the conflicts of smallfolk. My charge is to protect the forest and its inhabitants."
Oona puts her bow away. "We do. You may wish to have a care for the conflicts of the small folk. The hobgoblins have no reverence for the wild world. They chop and burn and kill indiscriminately. They are a blight upon the natural world as much as they are to us." She puts her hands on her hips and considers for a moment. "We must see if the people of Fort Ristin are in danger. They are rangers, allies of nature as I am. Once I can secure their safety, I would be honored to come and help undo the damage that was done here."
She turns to her comrades. "Would you join me?"
Grevayne mulls over the words of the oread and the... giant? He crosses his arms and purses his lips. "You know, Wu always used to say, 'The hardest lesson you must learn in life is: It is not your fault, but it is your problem.' Never thought it would be displayed quite so blatantly in my life, but strange days and all that." He shrugs and nods. "Yes. I will come back and help, once our task is done."
Freyja also puts her bow on her back and calls Trjega to her side. "I am also a ranger. We are your allies, and we are forest inhabitants. The hobgoblins overran our town and only a couple dozen of us escaped. We now live in the Fangwood and seek allies to fight back. The hobs burn and destroy indiscriminately; they have felled hundreds of trees near Phaendar to construct walls and machines of war. If you seek to protect the forest, then the hobs are your enemies as they are ours."
The giant considers for a long few moments, looking at each of you in turn, then lowers his bow. "If what you say is true, the threat to the forest is much greater than these few trees. I wish to see it for myself, however. I will travel south. I am no warrior, but I am quite good at remaining unseen in the forest, as you have seen. Will you meet me here in one week's time? I cannot fight, but if I verify what you say, I have many other skills that may aid you and your people."
Oona bows her head to the giant. "You honor us. And yes, you have my word. We will return in one week's time, should we survive. May we have your name? I am Oona Clach-Ghuail. This is McAnally." She rubs the big wolf's neck.
"Woof," Mac says with the noblesse and aplomb of a seasoned diplomat.
"Grevayne," he says with a small wave. "Pleasure."
Freyja bows with just her head. "Freyja. And this is Trjega."
That dude is tall.
The giant repeats each of your names to himself, as if trying to commit them to memory. "My name is Herge. It is a pleasure meeting fellow protectors of the forest. Again, I apologize for jumping to conclusions, but I am pleased that we have come to an accord." He puts his bow on his back. "I look forward to seeing you again in one week's time. Farewell." As he walks past you, heading the direction you came from, it is impossible not to notice that the ground does not shake like you would expect it to when such a large creature walks so closely. Additionally, he leaves no tracks behind him, even when one of his feet steps into half-inch deep ash.
Grevayne notes the silence with which the giant moves and swallows. "Damn," he mutters after the giant is long gone. "That was... humbling. I do not want to think what an arrow the size of a large sapling would do to me." He shakes his head. "We better get moving."
Oona nods. "Agreed." She draws Zephyr again and continues in the direction of the fort.
You part ways with Herge and continue heading northeast. As predicted, you start to see signs of civilization around sunset, most obviously a well-trod trail. Freyja keeps off the trail but keeps it in sight, and after around another hour, you can see it, illuminated in the nearly full moon: Fort Ristin. It is constructed from weathered blocks of smooth, gray stone. There are three stout towers on the southwest (nearest to you), northwest, and southeast corners; you cannot see a tower at the northeast corner, though whether this is because it is blocked from your view or just isn't there, you cannot tell.
The towers appear to be nearly 50 feet tall and are topped with crenellated battlements. The walls are roughly a third as tall as the towers.
You all stop around a quarter mile from the fort.
Oona considers the fort, up ahead. "We could theoretically knock on the front door, metaphorically speaking. We have the letter of introduction from Aubrin. But if things have already gone south for the rangers, walking out into the open might just be suicide. Freyja, perhaps you should sneak ahead and check to see if those towers are manned? And if so, whether or not they're manned by hobgoblins."
"On it. Trjega, come."
korred:
basidirond:
Freyja and Trjega are gone for around twenty minutes. When they return, they come from the north.
Oona looks a bit on edge. "Well? What did you find?"
Freyja nods to the party as she returns. "Okay. It's quiet along the southern and eastern walls. No one in the towers or on the walls. The northeastern tower is destroyed and there is a huge hole in the northern wall. Two korreds guard that but don't seem to be taking their job very seriously. They almost seemed drunk. No one along the northern wall or in the northwestern tower. The front entrance on the western wall is overgrown and a basidirond guards that. It is trying to hide but I spotted it. It is a good thing we weren't closer because it can sense the slightest vibrations in the ground. They have spores that can cause hallucinations and are generally really nasty. We're going to want to avoid that area if we can help it." She pauses, mentally going over everything she saw. "That's it. No Rangers, no hobs."
Oona closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "S*$+. The rangers are probably either dead or scattered, then. Well, if we can retake the fort, we need to try. Might be better than the cavern. What's a korred? I've never heard of those."
"Korreds are short, grumpy little forest fey. They have crazy long hair and beards that they can animate like ropes. They also have a super loud laugh that can addle your mind; we can avoid that by stuffing something into our ears."
Grevayne snorts and raises an eyebrow at Oona. "Friends of yours?"
Oona scowls at him. "Hilarious." She grabs some sod and starts stuffing it in her ears. "Sounds like the korreds are the safer bet. We'll try to sneak up on them."
She plucks up her bow again and nods to Freyja. "Lead the way."
Grevayne smirks as he mimics the inquisitor, plucking up some sod, balling it up, and stuffing it into his ears. This is going to take forever to clean out, later. Once he's done, he follows close behind the others.
Mac is surprisingly patient while Oona stuffs a little sod in his ears. She has to do it a couple times because Mac keeps shaking his head to get the dirt out, but she finally convinces him to stop and let her work stay in. He looks pretty miserable, however.
Freyja leads you around the southeast tower and along the eastern wall. The northeastern tower of the fort has collapsed onto the northern wall, scattering chunks of stone across the area and knocking a ten-foot-wide gap in the wall. A massive keep looms over the courtyard beyond the gap.
As Freyja is pointing out the location of the korreds, Grevayne takes a small step forward to get a better view. Unfortunately, he failed to notice that Trjega's paw was in the spot he stepped, and she lets out a loud hiss-yell. The korreds' heads immediately turn towards the disturbance, and they notice the party.
Korred #1 (0 damage)
Korred #2 (0 damage)
#1 says something to #2, and they both bend over to pick up large rocks.
Freyja (60/60 hp)
Trjega (52/52 hp)
Oona (60/60 hp)
Mac (57/57 hp)
Grevayne (60/60 hp)
Korred #1 (0 damage)
Korred #2 (0 damage)
Bold may act.
Oona throws a sharp look at Grevayne and raises Zephyr; she takes a moment to focus on the image of a tiger before popping off a shot and striding forward.
Mac prowls up, and Oona points to the second korred. "Attack!" The huge wolf leaps at the creature without hesitation. Unfortunately the rubble is too thick and it takes him some time to even get to the korred.
Freyja points at the korreds and commands Trjega to attack, then moves closer and fires an arrow at #1.
The bowstring slips out of Freyja's fingers and the arrow goes astray, breaking on some rubble.
Trjega darts forward, staying on clear ground for as long as possible. She is just able to reach #2 and lashes out with a bite.
Moment of truth, Yang. Do not embarrass yourself again. He focuses, settling into a slight crouch, fingers bunched against his palms in mimicry of a claw, and sets his eyes on the second korred, rushing forward. He leaps and springs over the rubble with shocking ease, tumbling and juking left and right around boulders like a sinuous serpent, before racing up next to the korred with a leaping palm strike.
Apparently Freyja has been working with Oona's technique because Oona's arrow hits a vital spot on #1. It cries out but Oona thinks the shot should have done more damage. Freyja made an ass of herself, but Trjega took a nice chunk of flesh from #2's arm. Grevayne also landed a blow on #2. All of these hits are less effective than you'd expect.
#1 drops its rock and opens its mouth. It appears to be laughing, but none of you can hear it. It looks confused when nothing happens to any of you. At the same time its constantly writhing and twitching hair suddenly grows and reaches toward Mac, Trjega, and Grevayne, clutching at their clothes (fur), weapons (limbs), and necks (necks).
#2's hair does the same thing.
Only Mac gets caught up in the hair. He snaps and snarls at it as it wraps around him.
#2 then drops its rock, draws a club, and swings it at Grevayne.
Its club misses Grevayne and strikes a boulder on the ground, sending painful vibrations through it and affecting the korred's grip.
Freyja (60/60 hp)
Trjega (52/52 hp)
Oona (60/60 hp, +2 attack [1 round])
Mac (57/57 hp, entangled [1 round])
Grevayne (60/60 hp)
Korred #1 (11 damage)
Korred #2 (8 damage, NL club [3 rounds])
Bold may act.
Oona moves forward, stowing her bow and drawing her scythe, putting herself in melee with both korreds.
Grevayne sends arcane power into his fists, surrounding them with a layer of kinetic energy to enhance the force of his strikes, and brings his casting to bear on the korred.
Mac does his usual dance, with Oona providing distraction.
Freyja sends three cold iron arrows at #1. She immediately wishes she had brought more cold iron arrows. Will have to pick up any that miss.
Trjega turns into a whirlwind of claws and teeth.