Stop the Poachers - Group 1, Session 1
From the game session held on 13 June, 2021
General Summary
The adventure began with the party - Ahronelle the Elven Rogue, Dayvezbek the Goblin Alchemist, Endrin the Dwarf Sorcerer, Hestia the Halfling Barbarian, Osric the Human Fighter, and Raelin the Dwarf Cleric - killing time around the Bugbear's Head Inn as they waited for Amalthea the Druid to appear. When she finally did, the group was able to deliver to her the testimony scroll retrieved from the Taxlatl village deep in the Lizard Fens - the testimony that made eyewitness claims to humans in the vicinity of Spirit Lake actively capturing and killing the small fey creatures: pixies and sprites that lived in the Feywood.
After explaining to the party that this only confirmed what had already been suspected, Amalthea asked the party to help once more. The Fey Council and Elves of the Feywood had already approached the Elders of the village of Spirit Lake, but the officials claims to have no knowledge of any sort of poaching or other wrongdoing being carried out by residents of the village. This testimony suggested that either the operation was successfully hidden even from the townfolk, or the elders were lying. Amalthea asked the party to figure out which, and if possible to stop the killing and taking of lesser fey from their homes in the Feywood. The party agreed.
Deciding on the most practical direct route, the party set out the next day for Spudbarrow to the southwest. After a few days on the road, they were able to spend one last comfortable night in the Hearth & Home Inn. Hestia appreciated "proper halfling meals - plural"; Dayve appreciated anything that could be shoved into his mouth.
The next day, they set out north through the wild forest intending to skirt the Lizard Fens and the western shore of Spirit Lake itself to approach the village. The first several days were uneventful, but as the party made camp on the sixth evening, they were accosted by some of the gremlin denizens of the forest: two Quicklings. The assault started with one of the pair darting in on the party completely unnoticed; a quick, playful slash of a dagger left Hestia's leggings in tatters around her ankles - but no blood was drawn. Then, as the party focused on the sounds of a second attacker's taunts coming from one direction in the forest, Dayve had the instinct to turn the opposite way - which allowed him to get a shot in on the second assailant who was darting in from the opposite side. Dayve's slingstone struck true, but did not stop the creature from completing its dash into the party. In an instant, it was Osric that was standing without leggings, as the creature darted toward - and to the party's amazement - straight up the side of a large tree.
The Sorcerer Endrin let loose a volley of magical missiles at the first attacker. Hestia, now enraged, had started running toward her attacker, but changed course and started climbing the tree to get at the one she thought she could reach first. As she did reach the surprised Quickling, she let fly a fist, but missed her mark. The first attacker began to circle the group, getting a bit closer and setting up for another dash-strike-escape sequence, but further magical assaults from Endrin finished the creature. The treed one, meanwhile, took a swipe at Hestia and missed; it then decided to attempt to flee, but ran into several of the party at the bottom of the tree. The angry adventurers made short work of the creature.
As Hestia dropped from the tree onto Osric, leaving the two in a heap on the ground, the others watched in amazement as the bodies of the two unmoving gremlins seemed to decay before their eyes, leaving nothing but two steaming - and horrid-smelling - dung piles with weapons lying atop them. Jokingly, Raelin asked Dayve the Goblin whether or not the steamy pile tasted as bad as it smelled, and as Dayve reached down to take a tasting sample, he also discovered a piece of parchment. After announcing that the substance did indeed taste rather terrible, he read the alchemical notations on the parchment to discover that he had in his hands the formula for a Lethargy Poison that could be applied to weapons.
The party finished making camp and headed out in the morning. Another couple of days brought them to an area where the foliage was changing. Near the swamp, and getting nearer the lakeshore, the thick forest was giving way toward more sparse tree cover, but far more tangled shrubs to make their way more difficult. Some of the party members recognized some of these plants as dangerous things to be around: Bloodvines Bushes. Warnings were shared, but Raelin - in a playful mood for a dwarf - asked Dayve what one of the thorny bushes tasted like. Dayve -always willing to stick something new into his mouth - approached a plant, and as he attempted to lick one of the thorny branches, the plant seemed to come alive. Two thorny tendrils lashed up at the goblin - one from each side, leaving a series of bloody gashes along both the arms and sides of the unfortunate goblin. As the party began to react, the bush began to spin violently, whipping its long tendrils around and attacking (but doing no damage to) three other party members. As a second bush came to life, the Sorcerer Dwarf decided enough was enough and used his magic to set the second bush on fire. As it burned, and as others began slashing at the first bush to hack away at the tendrils, Hestia decided to deal with the offending bush quickly, and with a single scything motion with her greatsword, she cut the shrub down. The second was died as it was engulfed in more flames courtesy of Dayve's alchemical bombs.
But the fracas had awakened another plant creature. WIthout warning, an Assassin Vine whipped a great tendril out and cam very close to grabbing the unsuspecting halfling barbarian. Instead, Hestia was dealt an almost stunning blow. But the Assassin Vine was a plant - fixed to the ground - and the party was mobile. It took a while, but they were able to deal with the deadly plant by dashing in, slashing and burning, and dashing out of the plant's reach.
After Raelin tended to the still-bleeding wounds of Dayve the Goblin, the party decided to find a safe place to make camp. They did so, hoping that they would not have much more of this part of the forest, where the plants themselves were deadly.
After explaining to the party that this only confirmed what had already been suspected, Amalthea asked the party to help once more. The Fey Council and Elves of the Feywood had already approached the Elders of the village of Spirit Lake, but the officials claims to have no knowledge of any sort of poaching or other wrongdoing being carried out by residents of the village. This testimony suggested that either the operation was successfully hidden even from the townfolk, or the elders were lying. Amalthea asked the party to figure out which, and if possible to stop the killing and taking of lesser fey from their homes in the Feywood. The party agreed.
Deciding on the most practical direct route, the party set out the next day for Spudbarrow to the southwest. After a few days on the road, they were able to spend one last comfortable night in the Hearth & Home Inn. Hestia appreciated "proper halfling meals - plural"; Dayve appreciated anything that could be shoved into his mouth.
The next day, they set out north through the wild forest intending to skirt the Lizard Fens and the western shore of Spirit Lake itself to approach the village. The first several days were uneventful, but as the party made camp on the sixth evening, they were accosted by some of the gremlin denizens of the forest: two Quicklings. The assault started with one of the pair darting in on the party completely unnoticed; a quick, playful slash of a dagger left Hestia's leggings in tatters around her ankles - but no blood was drawn. Then, as the party focused on the sounds of a second attacker's taunts coming from one direction in the forest, Dayve had the instinct to turn the opposite way - which allowed him to get a shot in on the second assailant who was darting in from the opposite side. Dayve's slingstone struck true, but did not stop the creature from completing its dash into the party. In an instant, it was Osric that was standing without leggings, as the creature darted toward - and to the party's amazement - straight up the side of a large tree.
The Sorcerer Endrin let loose a volley of magical missiles at the first attacker. Hestia, now enraged, had started running toward her attacker, but changed course and started climbing the tree to get at the one she thought she could reach first. As she did reach the surprised Quickling, she let fly a fist, but missed her mark. The first attacker began to circle the group, getting a bit closer and setting up for another dash-strike-escape sequence, but further magical assaults from Endrin finished the creature. The treed one, meanwhile, took a swipe at Hestia and missed; it then decided to attempt to flee, but ran into several of the party at the bottom of the tree. The angry adventurers made short work of the creature.
As Hestia dropped from the tree onto Osric, leaving the two in a heap on the ground, the others watched in amazement as the bodies of the two unmoving gremlins seemed to decay before their eyes, leaving nothing but two steaming - and horrid-smelling - dung piles with weapons lying atop them. Jokingly, Raelin asked Dayve the Goblin whether or not the steamy pile tasted as bad as it smelled, and as Dayve reached down to take a tasting sample, he also discovered a piece of parchment. After announcing that the substance did indeed taste rather terrible, he read the alchemical notations on the parchment to discover that he had in his hands the formula for a Lethargy Poison that could be applied to weapons.
The party finished making camp and headed out in the morning. Another couple of days brought them to an area where the foliage was changing. Near the swamp, and getting nearer the lakeshore, the thick forest was giving way toward more sparse tree cover, but far more tangled shrubs to make their way more difficult. Some of the party members recognized some of these plants as dangerous things to be around: Bloodvines Bushes. Warnings were shared, but Raelin - in a playful mood for a dwarf - asked Dayve what one of the thorny bushes tasted like. Dayve -always willing to stick something new into his mouth - approached a plant, and as he attempted to lick one of the thorny branches, the plant seemed to come alive. Two thorny tendrils lashed up at the goblin - one from each side, leaving a series of bloody gashes along both the arms and sides of the unfortunate goblin. As the party began to react, the bush began to spin violently, whipping its long tendrils around and attacking (but doing no damage to) three other party members. As a second bush came to life, the Sorcerer Dwarf decided enough was enough and used his magic to set the second bush on fire. As it burned, and as others began slashing at the first bush to hack away at the tendrils, Hestia decided to deal with the offending bush quickly, and with a single scything motion with her greatsword, she cut the shrub down. The second was died as it was engulfed in more flames courtesy of Dayve's alchemical bombs.
But the fracas had awakened another plant creature. WIthout warning, an Assassin Vine whipped a great tendril out and cam very close to grabbing the unsuspecting halfling barbarian. Instead, Hestia was dealt an almost stunning blow. But the Assassin Vine was a plant - fixed to the ground - and the party was mobile. It took a while, but they were able to deal with the deadly plant by dashing in, slashing and burning, and dashing out of the plant's reach.
After Raelin tended to the still-bleeding wounds of Dayve the Goblin, the party decided to find a safe place to make camp. They did so, hoping that they would not have much more of this part of the forest, where the plants themselves were deadly.
The Session Ended Here
Rewards Granted
Alchemical Formula: Lethargy Poison (Level 2)
Missions/Quests Completed
The party completed the first parts of its journey to the village of Spirit Lake
Character(s) interacted with
2 Quicklings
2 Bloodvine Bushes
1 Assassin Vine
2 Bloodvine Bushes
1 Assassin Vine
Comments