An Unexpected Forest
We awoke fully refreshed once again and searched the last room in the west wing. This turned out to be the kitchen, full of ghostly servants washing up after the banquet and we found nothing of interest there. We moved to the end of the main hall and opened the door discovering an indoor forest. A path meandered south east from the doorway and we followed it, pausing for Holly to climb a tree to see if she could get a better view.
Even though we were now in daylight, the sun permeating the canopy of trees through a glass roof a hundred or more feet above, she could not see far at all. The undergrowth was dense forming a screen that meant we could see little off the path though there were occasional rustles hinting at the presence of small animals and birds.
We stuck to the path but suddenly it seemed to come alive, tentacle like branches from trees on both sides rising up and grappling the leading six party members. Each was grabbed by two or three tendrils, and my arms were pinned to my body so I could not even defend myself or cast a spell. Only Zionestes and Roscoe at the back were not seized.
Roscoe slipped round behind the trees and began back stabbing whilst several party members including me took severe wounds from the fearsome woody maws of the creatures. Roscoe’s back stabbing was highly effective and he killed the tree holding me enabling me to go to the aid of Zionestes who was trying to free Holly.
I fired the tree with burning hands and it was finished off but Holly had already fallen. Ripven was also badly hurt but we managed to triumph eventually over the woody beasts, I struck a couple of killer blows myself using magic missiles in the process and Roscoe was having a field day too. Zionestes managed to save Holly and Ripven discovered that his staff was capable of curing, somewhat riskily trying it to cure Eldras during combat.
We moved on warily, every tree a potential enemy. Ahead we came upon a sleeping maiden and unicorn with a chest. Resisting temptation we awoke them gently and engaged in polite conversation for a while. The woman identified herself as Mirabelle, a distant cousin of the D’Ambervilles, the unicorn Fobalax.
Our caution was wise as she made several remarks about humans in such a way that it was obvious she was not talking about her own kind. She clearly knew the forest well though said she was not allowed in the house. She indicated the location of the main entrance that proved a dead end, and also warned of hazards off the path including killer trees and pits.
She then took her true form, that of a gold dragon. Saladin went a little quiet after discovering that gold dragons have some rather uncompromising views on orcs. Her final warning was that time was meaningless here which seemed to fit our experiences. We made our farewells, especially as she had an alarming tendency to sneeze clouds of poisonous chlorine gas. Looping back north beneath the multi domed ceiling we stuck to the path, even less inclined than before to leave it to investigate strange noises after the dragon’s warning.
We reached a bridge over a fast flowing stream and Ripven moved forward to scout it for traps only to be attacked by a troll. He was badly wounded before Barakor and Eldras arrived to help him. He cast sanctuary on himself and withdrew, Saladin stepping in to the breach. The troll fell but reanimated unexpectedly as it was able to regenerate and we had to kill it a second time. This time we burnt its corpse to avoid a possible unfortunate incident.*
* This could have been very bad news for Barakor who had been risking some extremely valuable and delicate parts of his body in close proximity to the troll.
Continuing onward we reached a clearing with a gargoyle shaped fountain where we rested up for several hours to regain spells. During this time a giant rattle snake attacked Saladin on guard but fortunately he survived its deadly poisonous bite and Holly and he killed it before it got a second chance.
The pool seemed to contain a chest in its centre, and we could see a few coins on its floor. Saladin tossed a coin in and presumably made a wish but nothing appeared to happen. Roscoe volunteered to be thrown across the pool to grab on to the statues, but first Eldras with his grapple hook pulled off the chest lid revealing silver and gold within. Roscoe took a running jump aided by a launch assist from Barakor, and he clamped leech-like to the statue which he hit pretty hard.
He then set up a rope system for looting the gold and silver from the cavity in the statue base, the silver turned out to be a partial silver version of the teleport key that several of us had seen in our dreams including most recently Eldras. As he roped his way back, something invisible in the pool attacked Roscoe and it was lucky that we had him on a rope and were able to pull him clear as something would have made a nice meal of him.
Barakor tried to drain the pool with his bag of holding but only got badly injured by his invisible opponent for his trouble and we continued onward. We then came upon some golden squirrels that were gathering acorns which turned to gold at the squirrels’ touch. Holly had a chat with the squirrels’ leader, Croidon. It revealed that they were under the protection of someone called Andre David. Around this point Eldras also tried out his new banquet ESP gift.
Resisting temptation to follow Mr T’s advice* we followed a short spur of the path to a door which led us into a chapel containing many statues of notable D’Ambervilles and an altar. We decided to rest again, especially as I had somewhat unwisely cast an Identify spell on Ripven’s staff, a spell that suggested it had only three charges left. Anyway, the spell had drained me severely and I was grateful to see the amber mist descend again as we rested.
*Get some Nuts!
8.2.14
Kravaine
Mapping 20
Characterisation & Roleplay 30
Killer Trees 600
Not attacking Dragon & Unicorn 200
Recovery of the fountain gold and key 600
Identifying staff of curing 100
Dragon Questioning 50
Not attacking the Squirrels 100
Total 1700
Eldras
Characterisation & Roleplay 30
Killer Trees 450
Not attacking Dragon & Unicorn 200
Using ESP 200
Recovery of the fountain gold and key 600
Suggesting use of fire against troll 100
Troll 200
Use of grapple on fountain 40
Roping Roscoe 40
Dragon Questioning 50
Not attacking the Squirrels 100
Total 2010
Barakor
Characterisation & Roleplay 30
Healing 50
Killer Trees 450
Not attacking Dragon & Unicorn 200
Recovery of the fountain gold and key 600
Using Vitrix to find traps/ detect magic 40
Troll 200
Tossing Roscoe 20
Not attacking the Squirrels 100
Total 1690
Holly
Characterisation & Roleplay 50
Killer Trees 450
Tree Climbing 20
Not attacking Dragon & Unicorn 200
Snake 125
Recovery of the fountain gold and key 600
Interrogating squirrels 200
Troll 200
Dragon Questioning 50
Not attacking the Squirrels 100
Total 1995
Saladin/ Grom
Characterisation & Roleplay 30
Killer Trees 450
Not attacking Dragon & Unicorn 200
Snake 125
Recovery of the fountain gold and key 600
Troll 200
Dragon Questioning 50
Not attacking the Squirrels 100
Total 1755
Roscoe
Characterisation & Roleplay 30
Killer Trees 600
Not attacking Dragon & Unicorn 200
Recovery of the fountain gold and key 600
Vaulting Pool 300
Not attacking the Squirrels 100
Total 1830
Zionestes
Healing 50
Killer Trees 450
Not attacking Dragon & Unicorn 200
Recovery of the fountain gold and key 600
Critical heal on Holly 100
Not attacking the Squirrels 100
Total 1500
Ripven
Characterisation & Roleplay 30
Healing 50
Spiritual Hammer 25
Use of Sanctuary to escape troll 75
Killer Trees 450
Not attacking Dragon & Unicorn 200
Recovery of the Fountain key and gold 600
Warning/ predicting troll under bridge 50
Troll 200
Use of staff of curing 150
Not attacking the Squirrels 100
Total 1930
Name Class 2nd Class B/F Cumulative Target Current Level
Kravaine MU*
1870 19,610 21,480 22,500
(5) 4
Eldras T*
2211 17,153 19,364 20,000
(6) 5
Barakor F*
930 C*
930 11,137/
11,137 12,067/
12,067 18,000/
13000
(5/5) 4/4
Holly M
1995 16,855 18,850 22,500
(5) 4
Grom/ Saladin F*
1931 18,828 20,759 35,000
(6) 5
Roscoe T*
2013 13,982 15,995 20,000
(6) 5
Zionestes C*
1650 15,531 17,181 27,500
(6) 5
Ripven C*
2123 11,495 13,618 27,500
(6) 5
*EP Bonus applied
8.2.14
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