Events, Mid Spring 5th

Lord Porthos confronts Lady Zanna

The large elf sat across from the wizened old gnome. He had asked to speak with her privately, and this hollow at the edge of the Grove seemed to be the best spot for such a meeting. It was quiet and not often intruded upon, which was right. After all, this was a sensitive discussion of a delicate nature.

“Lady Zanna?” he began tentatively.

“Yes, Lord Porthos?”

He sighed. he might as well get this over with. “I have heard something that I find disturbing. Tamasin Dolet tells me there was…an error, regarding the Peacebinding. She mentioned that she attempted to perform a healing ritual, and that the Bind prevented her from lending adequate aid to the poor fellow. She says he is dead now, because she could not channel her magic.”

“Regrettable. But she should rely less on distant and fickle gods and more on her own skills and communion with the living spirits of the world. Her reliance on such a crutch is her failing, not a fault of the ritual.”

“Er, yes, yes. But, er…she also mentioned that she was attacked by ruffians, and that he implement held its bond in defiance of the agreed-upon release conditions, and as a result she was nealry killed. She intimated that the rest of her companions were also so hampered.”

The old gnome raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really? How unfortunate.”

“Yes, yes, unfortunate indeed. And I was wondering, since it was you who placed the peacebond, if you shed some light on this matter.”

Lady Zanna was quiet for a moment.

“I see. Have you spoken with anyone else on this matter?”

“Well, no. I thought it best we speak in private before…”

“Before accusing me of deliberately sabotaging the ritual?”

“Oh, no! Not at all! I am aware that such complex magic is hardly infallible, and that the occasional mistake may be made…”

“Because it was deliberate, Porthos.” Lady Zanna stared at him, her small eyes boring into him.

Lord Porthos didn’t know what to say. This was unprecedented. This was unheard of!

In his shock, he could be forgiven for a lapse of perception. Anyone might have missed the faint rustle of the leaves from behind as Lady Zanna continued to speak.

“Yes. I set the ritual only to break once the Slayers were beyond the Veil, one way or another. I did this in hopes that their many enemies would finish them.”

”...I cannot beleive what I’m hearing. Zanna, why!? Why would you do such a reprehensible-URK! GAAK!” The vines slid around his throat, crushing his windpipe as the squeezed. He looked around wildly, saw a vague humanoid shape composed of vines behind him…

“Because, you old fool, the Grove is in danger every minute the Slayers remain alive. They have angered very powerful people, people with the power to crush our tiny village in an instant! The lives of those who depend on us hang in the balance, and it is crucial that we are not seen as a threat or an obstacle to them! The army is on the march, and no force in the Three Worlds can stop them, yet Leanna’s blind, sentimental attachment would doom us all! She wouldn’t have the courage to sacrifice her own daughter to appease them, you see. She would have us resist, a futile gesture that would only get every man, woman, and child in the grove slaughtered! It is up to me to do what is best for the people, and if a few violent mercenaries – or short-sighted and overly curious councilors – have to die to secure our safety, then so be it. I regret your accidental involvement in this, Porthos, but rest assured that your death will be for the greater good.”

Porthos couldn’t reply. The vine horror had crushed his neck and snapped his spine. His eyes rolled back into his head, and he collapsed.

Zanna waited for a few minutes, to ensure that the fat elf was dead. Then she called to a passing bird, and cast a short ritual.

“Take this message to the High Warden.” she told it. “The Slayers have killed Lord Porthos. They are now enemies of Shroudmist Grove, and are to be hunted down and slain on sight.”

She let the bird go, and watched it flap towards the Warden’s lodge. Then she bent down to the corpse, cut out its tongue, and returned to her home to plan her next move.

An Encoded Missive, Sent by Magic

To: The Glorious Lion

Lord and master, terrible news. The Second Gate has been assaulted by mercenaries. A trio of elves, suspected to be spies, passed through the Second Gate, suspected destination Shroudmist Grove. The Golden Hand has been captured.

A Reply

Send all available Wild Hunters and hounds after the mercenaries. I shall deal with this matter personally.

A letter to Lady Leanna Silverwind

My dear lady Silverwind.

I regret to inform you that I will be taking my leave of Shroudmist Grove. I have received news of a situation at home that requires my immediate attention. I have enjoyed my time among you and the people under your care, and I hope to return once this matter has been taken care of.

Cordially yours, Lord Gaelin Rivendale, Bralani of the Autumn Winds

Events, Mid Spring 4th-5th, 174 ACW

• Minor Quest: Dalton speaks with Varda Jadeheart, who mentions her concerns about the Eladrin Merchants and their Warforged servants vanishing somewhere 2 or 3 times a week. She asked Dalton to investigate, offing 700 gp as a reward.
• Dalton and Topaz met, and discovered that Rali had been killed. They went to catch up with the rest of the party…only to find Zifer facing down Tayce!
• The party leaped to attack the shadowy spirit, who slipped into the darkness often and was hard to find. Zifer used Xat’s Sunblade, which proved to be a valuable resource.
• The spirit struck hard at the stragglers, but Tamasin called on her god to banish the spirit, sending it back to where it’s dagger lies.
• Meanwhile, in the Feywild, Xat and Bee broke a hole in the Faceless Mask on Erl, allowing them to feed the grateful (but sarcastic) changeling. They offered him a choice to travel with them, which he reluctantly accepted, having few other options.
• Rali’s soul had a run in with The Queen of Air and Darkness, who tried to claim the soul as her own. Rali’s force of personality won the day, though, and she escaped. Then she met with a mysterious figure, who offered to lead her to her destiny…
• Meanwhile, at Rali’s body, the wand she had picked up so long ago began to mutate, wrapping around her body, repairing the damage, and getting it moving. This got Rali crawling out of her grave…just as Topaz and Ura were paying their respects, causing a tense stand off as her vampire nature briefly took over. They hauled her to the Waystation, to figure out what to do next.

Mid Spring 4, 174 ACW

Events, Mid Spring 4, 174 ACW

• Xat and Bee, lost in the Feywild, try to outwit the Wild Hunt pack after them. Xat uses his magic to create false trails. He also remembers the Sending Stones Bodak gave the party, and used them to communicate with Zifer and the rest of the group.

• The pair came across a castle, apparently abandoned. The caretaker, a crazy old Eladrin guard talking to some invisible person called “Earl,”

Events, Mid Spring 4th, 174 ACW

• Xat and Bee are taken into the woods by Assassins. Near a magic pool Xat tried to get a jump on his assailants. A fight breaks out. Bee is saved by The Smiling One, who leaves an illusory duplicate to get killed in her place. Xat tries to steal the face of one of the assassins, sowing confusion among his comrades. He is almost successful, but is overwhelmed. He is thrown unconscious into the glittering pool, which turns out to be a portal to the Feywild.

• Bee pleads with the Smiling One to reopen the portal and allow her to help Xat. She agrees, extracting a promise from the changeling to investigate a place “where an orchard grows over the bones of her kin.” She gives Bee a magic boon, then opens the portal for her. The pair find themselves lost in The Feywild.

• Meanwhile, the rest of the party awaited their hearing before the Council of Vines. They head to the Menhir circle at the center of the Grove to meet the Councilors.

• The Slayers are able to convince the council to put Brother Gareth on as the swing vote, rather than someone less favorable to them.

• Corrin reads off a long, very slanted list of The Slayers’ past adventures, as he tries to paint them as a dangerous menace that should not be allowed to remain in the Grove. They made counter argument.

• Arguments were made, aspirations were cast on motives, choices were questioned. In the end, the Council allowed the Slayers to remain in the grove, provided they magically peacebound their weapons and caused no disturbances. With weapons enchanted, they were allowed free.

• Topaz spoke with Leanna, suggesting that she may have to step down from the Council now that she was an adventurer. She also learned some interesting things about her mother—she knows of the underground, and seems to have known Topaz’s true parentage as well.

• Tamasin spoke with Brother Gareth, informing him of Brother Maynard’s fall. She found her mentor somewhat inflexible and hidebound, which made her nervous about trying to reveal her divine prophecies to him.

• Now the party seeks a Shadar-Kai wizard who may be able to help them find a portal to the Feywild, where they can enter and try to rescue Xat and Bee.

The Assassin’s Report

To our Glorious Lion

The deeds are done. The eladrin Topaz was dispatched and her body disposed of in an owlbear cave. The fetch were slain and tossed into the Glimmer Pool, where they will not be found by casual patrols. One of our number was compromised, and had to be terminated.

The Glorious Lion’s reply

You have failed me. The Lady Topaz lives. Might I also assume you were as sloppy with the fetch? Did you, perhaps, simply dump them somewhere where they might recover, and return? Fools. You have one chance to make up your failure. Bring me the heads of the fetch. If they are dead as you claim, this should be an easy task. If they are not, then you will have to seek them out. If I do not have their heads delivered to me within three days, then you should throw yourselves on your swords, for what awaits you if you show your faces after such a failure will be far, far worse.

Mid Spring 6-7, 174 ACW

• The party was split apart and placed in separate cells; Xat, Bee, and Topaz were taken upstairs and placed in Eladrin-proof containers.

• There was another inmate, a huge half-giant by the name of Ura who was in the prison for a misunderstanding. He and Zifer spoke briefly.

• Rali, bored with her prison stay, attempted to pick the lock of the cell. Though she succeeded, she also tripped a magic alarm that drew the attention of Bjorn the Stout, the minotaur watching the prisoners, who “politely” warned her to knock it off.

• From Bjorn, the party learned they were to face the council and answer for the destruction wrecked by the air elemental. Apparently a rumor had started that they summoned the creature, in an attempt to show off their prowess as adventurers.

• Tamasin made a grisly discovery—during their capture, someone had slipped a note into her corset…a note containing a severed elven finger and the phrase “catch me if you can.” It seems the person killing changelings and elves in town has decided to taunt the party.

• Meanwhile, upstairs, Lady Topaz had an argument with High Warden Corrin, who accused her of grandstanding and of taking her customary pranks too far this time. He heaped scorn upon her, blaming the deaths caused by the Air Elemental on her recklessness, and told her we would be recommending that the Council of Vines that she be banished from Shroudmist Grove.

• a few hours later, there came a knocking at Topaz’s cell door, and a voice asking her to remain quiet. The voice claimed that “The White Fox” had taken an interest in her and were here to help her escape. She was blindfolded and led out of the prison, out into the wood…where suddenly her benefactors turned on her! Topaz tried to escape, but alone, unarmed, and unarmored she was quickly felled.

• It turned out they had only knocked her out, though…and dumped her, tied up and hooded, into the den of a mother Owlbear and it’s cubs!

• Back at the prison, an alarm was raised when it was discovered that Topaz, Xat, and Bee were missing from their cells. Rali and Tamasin pleaded with the Wardens to allow them to help with the investigation, which they reluctantly agreed to. Ura offered his tracking expertise. This proved invaluable; Ura’s keen sense of smell allowed him to distinguish several scents, and he led the party through the forest to the spot where Topaz had been ambushed. Zifer’s skill at reading tracks and Tamasin’s knoweldge of the surrounding forest led them to the owlbear cave in short order.

• “Lucky” for Topaz, the owlebear wasn’t interested in eating her…but on teaching its cubs to hunt. So the party found her surrounded by owlbear cubs, poking her, prodding her, closing in for the kill. Zifer created a distraction with his magical bag of tricks, pulling a scorpion from it to drawl off the bear. Meanwhile, Ura tried to grab Topaz, but, not knowing what was going on, she resisted him, and he had to face the ire of the mother Owlbear. So Rali used her magic to pull Topaz from the clutches of the bears, and Dalton heaved her onto his shoulders. Ura retreated, and the bear decided not to chase them further than it’s lair.

• Returning to the Grove, they were taken into custody again…but this time it was protective custody, and the party was allowed to keep their arms in case they were attacked again.

• Xat and Bee are still missing, the town council is considering banishing the slayers, and there are now assassins claiming to be members of “The White Fox” trying to kill them, and the portal is a day closer to opening. The next day should prove interesting.

• The party notices the windstorm released among them is not natural…it seems to move as if directed by some force inside, and is bent on destroying as much of the town as it can reach!

• The Slayers spring in to action, trying to reign in the rampaging storm. This proves difficult, as the storm is dangerous just to be near.

• Several members of the party go down. Tamasin stops an inch from death, but is saved by Briar, of all people, who feeds her a healing potion in the nick of time.

• Dalton takes a few trees/boulders to the face, and winds up stunned for a bit. Shaking it off, he turns to the destructive power of his fire techniques to scorch the elemental, delivering flame cyclones of his own.

• Xat forms a tiny hole which draws the elemental to it and traps it, allowing Briar, Zifer, and Rali clear shots.

• Rali, a hunger awakened by her near brush with death, leaps at the elemental, biting it and drawing it’s life force into herself. This seems to kill it.

• However, Zifer, addled by the Shroudmist, mistakes Tamasin for a bugbear and shoot her, starting a chain reaction of retaliation that ends when Dalton yells for them all to stop this nonsense.

• Then the wind kicks up briefly…it seems the elemental is not dead after all! It strikes at Briar, who draws it into himself to destroy it. He perishes in the attempt, however.

• Afterwards, a very cross Corrin Corris has the party brought in. The party is again arrested after a first day in a town.

An encoded missive, sent by magic

To Our Beloved Lady Wynowill.

Those you spoke of, the Slayers, have arrived. I have taken the liberty of employing a magical trick to test their mettle, and see how formidable they are.

They prove remarkably effective as a team, able to handle a dangerous monster with minimal casualties. Though one of their own was felled, the others banded together quite well.

However, they are now in a position where it will not be difficult to turn public opinion against them, and they have been wounded. Given time to recuperate, I have no doubt they could weather such adversity, which is why I do not intend to give them any such time. They are currently being held in captivity, isolated from each other.

Now is the perfect time to strike.

Your Glorious Lion

Events, Mid Spring 6th, 174 ACW

• The party walks into the ashes of a bugbear raid; several fires rage. Topaz, Zifer, and Tamasin pitch in to help battle the blazes.

• Xat and Rali notice a huge tree, also on fire. Exploring it, they notice the tree is protected by strong wards…the tower of the wizard Tol’thanoth that Granny mentioned. The wards had so far kept the fire from reaching the tower, but holes in the wards were beginning to show. The fire was too intense to approach directly, so Xat and Rali left for the time being.

• The party retreated to The Waystation, the local inn and tavern, to meet Lorne, the local Draconic Brotherhood representative, who seemed pleased to meet them, mentioning that he had several jobs lined up for the group. One of the jobs was investigating Tol’thanoth’s tower, which was in line with what the party was planning to do anyway. He also presented them with a “gift from someone who wished to provide a small token of esteem.” Fearing it might be a trap, the party set the mysterious gift aside for now.

• The party split up to check leads. Rali and Zifer went to Bart’s Keg, an open-air alehouse with roasting meat and an interesting clientele. There, they met The Smiling One, who had a cryptic conversation with them. It seems the Smiling One might be a changeling…or the goddess herself. It also seems she is another Shard of Jillian.

• Topaz and Xat (disguised as Tamasin) sat in on a meeting with The Council of Vines, the governing body of the Grove. They met several of the councilors, including Lady Zanna Gnarlroot (an old gnome), Lord Darrin Selvern (a portly elf), and High Warden Corrin Corris (young, hotblooded elf), as well as two ambassadors from the Feywild, Lord Gaelin Rivendale and his wife Lady Silen’we. They learned several interesting things about the problems facing the grove, including that a “White Fox” is supposedly behind the problems. Due to some incautious words from Lady Topaz, it was revealed that a whole society was at work, and though she tried to make it known that normally the Foxes were benign, she failed to put the council at ease.

• Returning to the inn, the party decided to move to more private chambers to talk. They went to Lady Topaz’s tree-top home, and discussed what they had learned. Rali opened the mysterious box. They were all expecting some kind of explosion…they weren’t expecting a tornado of massive proportions to rip the tree home apart!

An Encoded Missive, Sent By Magic

To Our Glorious Lion

Greetings and salutations. I trust your preparations for the nullification of The Grove are nearing completion, which is why I must inform you of a rogue element which might cause you some problems. The Watcher of St. Clarice has informed me that a troupe of adventurers under the banner of The Draconic Brotherhood travel towards the Winterend Passage, intent on rallying the population and hindering our magnificent design.

This group consists of one eladrin female Lady Topaz, a bowman of some skill, who was raised in the Grove; one elfkin female, Tamasin Dolet, cleric of the Raven Lord, also raised in the Grove; two fetch posing as eladrin, male and female, Xat and Bee, one of whom apes wizardry and another who bears the mark of the race traitor R’yll; one human male, Zifer Cwellen, a fighter of the tempest technique; one dragonborn male, Briar, a fighter; and one rogue warforged, answering to the designation “Dalton Krieg”; one female tiefling, Rali Andreas, In Oath to a fey spirit.

You are hearby ordered to contain them, discredit them, and eliminate them. Your priorities are the paired fetch, the eladrin female, and the rogue warforged. If prudent, the female tiefling is to be captured and returned to Minas Mesidii.

Hail to the Empire.

Our Lady Wynowill

An Encoded Missive, Sent By Magic

To Our Glorious Lion

Greetings and salutations. I trust your preparations for the nullification of The Grove are nearing completion, which is why I must inform you of a rogue element which might cause you some problems. The Watcher of St. Clarice has informed me that a troupe of adventurers under the banner of The Draconic Brotherhood travel towards the Winterend Passage, intent on rallying the population and hindering our magnificent design.

This group consists of one eladrin female Lady Topaz, a bowman of some skill, who was raised in the Grove; one elfkin female, Tamasin Dolet, cleric of the Raven Lord, also raised in the Grove; two fetch posing as eladrin, male and female, Xat and Bee, one of whom apes wizardry and another who bears the mark of the race traitor R’yll; one human male, Zifer Cwellen, a fighter of the tempest technique; one dragonborn male, Briar, a fighter; and one rogue warforged, answering to the designation “Dalton Krieg”; one female tiefling, Rali Andreas, In Oath to a fey spirit.

You are hearby ordered to contain them, discredit them, and eliminate them. Your priorities are the paired fetch, the eladrin female, and the rogue warforged. If prudent, the female tiefling is to be captured and returned to Minas Mesidii.

Hail to the Empire.

Our Lady Wynowill