Pressing on with the wagon through the drifts and snow, you soon see patches of roughly-plowed snow, deep-sinking mud, and broken tree branches, which leave obvious sings of a caravan traveling before you and running into similar difficulties. However, there is something more among the falling snow.
Flakes settle briefly on a short, vaguely humanoid form ahead, before sloughing off. Prints appear in the deep snow, heading toward the wagon.
He proudly presents his implements of favor with Torag toward the spirit.
As Khaul presents his implements of favor to the spirit, it seems to leap into the space occupied by the dwarf.
Instinctively, Khaul drops his shield and hammer, allowing them to fall into the snow as the dwarf is beset by a rush of memories.
A bowl of rice. A desire for more.
A patch of forest mushrooms. A delicious, earthy smell.
A frightful roar. The approaching figure of a bear.
Pain. Black fur. Pain. Teeth. Pain. Red. Red. Only darkness.
The forest. Sunrise. Sunset. The changing seasons.
Sun. Stars. The seasons return. The seasons pass again.
The forest. Wagons. Screams.
A portly man. A capable woman. A mist filled with twisted, ghostly faces.
A fox walks on two legs. An open sack.
Paws on a paper lantern. A closed sack.
Foxtail slides behind a tree. Snow falls.
The road. The trees. A wagon. Six adventurers, one a dwarf.
A hammer presented along with a shield.
Following the onslaught of images, Khaul slowly regains conscious control of his thoughts and of his body. Despite the disturbing imagery, the parting spirit has left Khaul with an odd sense of comfort.
However, the visions seem to cling to the dwarf, causing him to catch flashes and glimpses of faint forms and phantoms within his peripheral vision.
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Swayaah clumsily leaps back when the... thing leaps into Khaul. "What was- Khaul. Khaul? You there?" She snaps her fingers to get his attention. "Okay, what happened there?"
"So the walking fox... probably a kitsune. Shapeshifting, crafty, all over Tian Xia."
Khaul casts his mind back into the vision. Do any of the people in it resemble the picture we have of our missing Pathfinders?
With visions and descriptions of visions to ponder, the party continues on. Although the snowfall let's up after some time, the going is no less difficult as drifts, mud, and roots make passage of the wagon a challenge.
By now, the weather had obscured much of the trail, but sight of an abandoned wheel provide confirmation that the party has not strayed too far from the path.
Ahead, the occasional breeze causes small flurries of snow fall from trees' shaken branches. The effect produces another brief outline in the snow, in all likelihood an approaching spirit.
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"Well, we are on the right track. Those people from the vision sound like the ones we are looking for. I just hope the spirit was someone else.."
"I think this spirit also is friendly. Perhaps someone else would like to interact with it.." he suggests.
"I'm not sure that hosting two such entities would be wise."
"I'll do it." Swayaah steps ahead. "Hey spirit. Spill the beans."
The spirit seems to take the tiefling up on her invitation, possessing her and then spilling the has beens.
Visions begin overtaking Swayaah's thoughts.
From the vantage of behind a bush, a kitsune is seen entering into a clearing. A sack is in its hand. Sitting beneath a tall, ancient conifer tree, the kitsune removes a paper lantern from the sack. The eyes of the fox-headed creature fix upon the lantern and continue to stare as the creature nods with an expression of resolve. Even as it does so, a furry thumb runs along a piece of silver jewelry in the shape of a spiral that is suspended from a chain that encircles the kitsune's neck.
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Swayaah's eyes are wide open as she visits a new world. "Fae, write this down. Location: old tree, probably conifer. Kitsune stole a paper lantern of some kind. Wearing silver, spiral jewelry around the neck."
"Wait, the jewelry is Pharasma's symbol. Birth, death, prophecy. That god. Kitsune must be a follower." Then she falls silent for a bit longer before calming down.
"I hope you got all of that." She pauses. "Wow, that's a trip."
Fae continues to scribble.
"I hope you got all of that." She pauses. "Wow, that's a trip."
Fae continues to scribble.
The experience has not left Swayaah unchanged. She feels a certain affinity and connected to the forest and its denizens.
However, she cannot seem to escape a sense of disturbance and annoyance with the presence of the undead and restless spirits.
As the party moves further ahead, trees and other sights observed in the visions can be seen in patches of forest ahead. A windy patch of the road reveals three wagons stopped ahead. A rotund, clean-shaven man is bent over alongside one of the wagons, inspecting the wooden spokes of a wheel. The man matches the sketch of Lin Po.
Map of scene is now up on Slides.
The man shouts an apparent greeting in Tien, before calling out in Taldane, "Greetings! One of our wagon wheels has been damaged and we seem, at present to be stuck. Not to mention, perhaps, a little bit lost! I hope you have decided to come to our rescue."
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"So, if that's Lin Po..." Swayaah walks up to the woman. "You must be Ti Lan, right?" Swayaah attempts a bow.
But a spirit skirts around her and she wheels around. Or at least she thought it was a spirit. Her bow is much too shallow and she broke form along the way.
"Sorry, not from around here. Venture-Captain Li sent us to help you deliver the package to her. And yourselves, of course."
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"Well chaps, it's good to finally meet you both. Your Venture-Captain speaks very highly of you. We're here to assist in anyway you think is useful. We've had an interesting journey so far. I'm sure the Swayaah and Khaul here can fill you in with some spirit-related shenanigans. We've also had undead attacks from 4000 year old skeletons. But anyway, how are you both?" Rafe seems like he may just continue rambling.
"I think I can help with this..."
Lin Po seems pleased with the offer, stepping aside to give Khaul access to the wagon. The dwarf quickly notices a crack within the wooden wheel, although its source is not evident.
"Well, good thing you're alive. VC Li was pretty much writing you off. We left wagon a little ways back just in case yours were to destroyed to continue."
"Pleased to hear it," Lin Po replies.
"Sorry, not from around here. Venture-Captain Li sent us to help you deliver the package to her. And yourselves, of course."
Ti Lan politely holds her tongue in response. "Of course," is all she manages to say.
"But anyway, how are you both?" Rafe seems like he may just continue rambling.
"An interesting story, actually." Lin Po begins. "It would seem that there may be more to our cargo than initially thought. Not long after we entered the forest, you see, we began experiencing a series of strange occurrences..."
Ulfgar grunts, scowls and spits when they find the two missing people and the problem seems to be quite mundane.
In the Forest of Spirits with restless undead around? His mother did raise a fool, but he's not it. He eyes them all suspiciously and rests his hands on the hilts of his weapons.
The dwarf's upbringing and instincts are impeccable. His eyesight among the snow, however, is not.
For, suddenly, a harsh breeze disturbs freshly fallen snow, forming a hazy, swirling mist that begins to take the shape of a collection of horrid faces with horns and tusks! The mist forms around a junction in the road where two wagons nearly meet.
Area of misty faces now appears on map on Slides.
FACES OF MALICE! - Round One Begins!
Khaul
Rafe
Faces
Graeyson
Swayaah
Lin Po & Ti Lan
Amelia
Ulfgar
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Khaul raises his shield as the figures appear. "By Torag, these do not appear as friendly as the previous ones."
Clambering over the wagon, he tries to get to close enough to his allies to help if they are attacked.
Of course, once on top of the wagon, he gets a better look at the ghostly figures, and tries to work out what they might be.
"Torag's Beard. This mist is of the most malicious spirits. They will attack our minds and our spirits..
Reaction
"Ti Lan! Come with me! We must get away from these things!"
"Agreed! Some space would seem wise!" Ti Lan says, as she rushes to one of the wagons seeking shelter.
A spectral face appears in front of Swayaah!
An ephemeral mask with horns, tusks, and yellow eyes covers her face.
The tiefling feels compelled to harm herself with surrounding forest debris, her strength being fueled by the spirit possession!
She wounds herself!
A spectral face also appears before Rafe!
The face of Rafe is now covered with an ephemeral mask with horns, tusks, and yellow eyes.
Possessed, the fighter feels compelled to harm himself with debris as well!
"Only those whose faces they mask are subject to potential harm," Lin Po declares as he, too, seeks refuge in one of the wagons.
FACES OF MALICE! - Round One Cont'd/Round Two Begins!
Faces
Graeyson
Swayaah -7 HP
Lin Po & Ti Lan
Amelia
Ulfgar
Khaul
Rafe -5 HP
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"Uh, what?" Swayaah tries to fight off the spirits. "Get offa me!" Her swing goes wild and she claws herself in the face.
"Wow, that was a bad idea."
"Boo! Go away!" Swayaah screams at the spirits. Did they just laugh at her?
She focuses a bit more, but she's unable to get much headway.
"Get... off of me..." The spectral mask remains stuck.
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Khaul calls out to Swayaah. "Calm yerself. Calm!"
"Get back yer foul spirits of t' woods. Yer been kiit once, and it be time for yer to visit tha Boneyard."
"Ah Said, I abjure yer, in the Name of Torag!" he repeats himself.
"Let his hammer reforge yer souls, cause hangin out in des woods ain't no good for yer."
◆ Religion check to lower Haunt DC (Failed)
◆ Religion check to lower Haunt DC (Succeeded)
◆ Religion check to lower Haunt DC (Succeeded)
"Get back yer foul spirits of t' woods. Yer been kiit once, and it be time for yer to visit tha Boneyard."
"Ah Said, I abjure yer, in the Name of Torag!" he repeats himself.
requires spending two-actions.
the result counts as two successes and the haunt is disabled.
The ephemeral masks covering the Pathfinders' faces dissipate and the swirling snow and mist burns away in the rays of sunlight.
Peering out from a hiding place in the wagon, Ti Lan and Lin Po make sure the cost is clear.
"Thank you for coming to our rescue!" Ti Lan begins. "I must admit that I had feared that we would be trapped in this forest forever."
"We have that lantern to thank as the source of our predicament," Lin Po interjects. "Perhaps, we should have ignored its message."
"You know that we could not have,"{/b] Ti replies. She then turns to the party and explains. [b]"We starting receiving messages from a paper lantern we were bringing with us--from a kami within the relic, to be more accurate--shortly before we were to reach the village of Tano."
"The message was vague," Lin adds, "but we were able--well, Lan was able, to be more accurate--to discern that the kami was trapped within, and that it was afraid that some sort of nefarious force in the forest would try to capture it."
"At the time, I had a strong sense that the kami’s ward was close by, and so I convinced the caravan to take a minor detour to assist a spirit in need." Ti notes. "Unfortunately, the detour ended up being far longer than I had expected. Then, to make matters worse, the lantern was stolen."
"Since then, we have been following trails left by the spirits in hopes of finding the thief, not to mention our way back to the spirit road." adds Lin. "I think the spirits are trying to lead us to the thief, but now--I must admit--I am so tried, scared, and frustrated."
"I feel guilty for leading an entire caravan into such a troublesome situation." Ti concludes with sigh. "I do not think I any longer have the strength to track down the thief and put an end to this trouble. But, now that you are here, perhaps you can help?"
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"Khaul here has had a vision from a spirit which seemed to suggest a kitsune might be responsible for this problem." He gestures at Khaul, [b]"Then Swayaah had a vision from a different spirit that seemed to back this up."
He pauses briefly. "I say, could anyone help me out, I seem to have hit myself in the face with a rock whilst under the influence."
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"Torag be the lord 'help, don't yer know. " mutters Khaul.
"Sometimes I wonder why yer humans worry 'bot all du otha gods. "
He eyes up the wounds. " O'caus it maybe blasphemy, but perhaps given yer weak frames, if yer all worhipped th' father o' creation, maybe that be taxing even his mighty powers ta' keep yer all on yer feet."