Session 11

Side-Questing in Riversedge: Finnian's Goods
After the group had gotten their well-deserved rest, they prepared to depart from the halfling encampment. Before they could leave, however, they were stopped by merchant Finnian, who hoped they could provide some assistance. A caravan containing merchandise for his shop was supposed to have arrived a few days prior, and he was worried that something bad had happened to delay it. He was going to go out in search of it, and asked that the heroes accompany him on his journey. The group agreed, and they all set off down the route the caravan would have taken, Finnian leading the way.

They came across the wreckage some time later. The caravan had been overturned, goods scattered all around the road, and the caravan drivers were nowhere to be found. Guarding the rubble was a fierce-looking green dragon, not large enough to be full-grown. Taargus, being dragonborn, attempted to reason with the fiend, but he was too immature to be reasoned with, and he belched a cloud of poisonous gas at the group.

The surprised party was momentarily stunned, but then quickly regrouped, ready to take down the dragon. Finnian stood back, giving the heroes the room they needed to fight, but provided moral support from the sidelines. Working as a team, the adventurers ensured that the battle was over quicker than anyone expected. Taargus landed a dizzying blow to the dragon's head, leaving him immobilized. Meanwhile, Caraga unleashed searing ribbons of radiance from her Symbol of Battle, leaving the dragon dazed. Finally, Twitch launched a burst of divine energy at the beast, weakening him enough for the rest of the group to finish him off. While the heroes did not leave uninjured, none ended up too worse for wear, and they reclaimed all of Finnian's goods. The grateful merchant let each member choose a reward from the remaining merchandise at the caravan (Fausto chose theives' tools, Cora chose a climber's kit, Taargus chose two sunrods, Twitch chose 20gp worth of rare herbs, and Caraga chose a whetstone), and then escorted the group back to Riversedge.

Bactrian Forest (Part I)
Thanking the halflings for their hospitality, the company continued along the path through the woods, intent on reaching Zhanasburg before nightfall. Reaching the edge of the Bactrian Forest, they encountered two elven guards. Choosing to be diplomatic, they spoke to the guards, who informed them that their orders were to kill any strangers who attempted to enter the forest. Being unusually persuasive, Twitch convinced one of the elven archers to leave, but the other two held their ground and the group was forced to fight them. Taargus salvaged a pair of bracers of defense from the fallen scout. The adventurers then entered the forest, which seemed to become darker and gloomier with each passing minute. They quickly became lost in the ominous woods, and were forced to rely on their wilderness survival skills to navigate their way through.

The elven city of Zhanasburg was built directly into the forest, and was integrated in such a way as not to harm or displace the native flora and fauna. Homes and buildings existed naturally within the treetops, and because of this, despite the size of the city, it was very nearly hidden. Therefore, when the group finally stumbled into Zhanasburg, they barely even realized they were in a city before they were surrounded by elven archers.

One of the archers stepped out from the crowd and introduced himself as Peren Greywolf, Prince of the elves of the Bactrian Forest. Suspicious of outsiders, he asked the group why they had entered his forest. After much debate within the group as to why in fact they had come to the forest, someone remembered the items Whitehelm had left them, and explained the situation to the prince. As soon as it was mentioned that they had an elven flute, the archers surrounding the group put down their weapons and an excited murmur spread throughout the crowd. Prince Peren, seeming incredulous but overjoyed, immediately led the adventurers to the residence of the Songbird family.

Adrie Songbird and her daughter Lia greeted the travelers, amazed by the return of the flute. The Songbird women took turns explaining the significance of the instrument and what had happened since it had been lost: The flute was created by the Songbird ancestors generations ago, and imbued with an ancient magical power that allowed only Songbird descendants to use it. When played by a Songbird, the flute created a protective aura throughout the forest which repelled monsters. The elves used to use the flute to protect the forest, and in particular, a sacred grove at the edge of the forest. Here, magical powers are amplified due to the barrier between the Feywild and the mortal realm being thin. Located within the sacred grove is a special tree called the Tree of Life - when the flute disappeared, the tree withered and died, and ever since the forest has become sinister and foreboding. Many monsters now make their home in the Bactrian Forest, and the Drow have taken over the sacred grove.

Woefully, Adrie continued the next part of the story alone. Nearly 200 years ago, when she was still a young woman, the flute was stolen from her. A man named Whitehelm took advantage of her trusting nature and tricked her into letting the instrument out of her sight. The next thing she knew, both Whitehelm and the flute were gone, and had not been seen since. She blamed herself for the current state of the forest, and looked to the strangers with hope. She was now too old to make the journey, but she promised the group a reward if they would lead Lia to the sacred grove and protect her from any monsters along the way. The adventurers agreed, but before they set off, they were nervously approached by a young leatherworker named Varis. He explained that he had loved Lia from afar for many years, and, though too shy to tell her, he was doing his best to secretly protect her. He gave Fausto twenty piercing arrows, hoping this would be enough to shield his beloved.

The group set off deeper into the malevolent woods. Almost immediately, they were pounced on by two Fey panthers, though the beasts were dispatched without much of a problem. The majority of the group continued down the path, but Twitch and Fausto both broke off from the party to go exploring. While the others had encountered some very large spiderwebs blocking their path, Twitch had stumbled into a makeshift cemetery and Fausto had found his way to a still, dark pond. Poking around the hastily-set headstones, Twitch found an open grave. A cloak of survival rested loosely over a corpse's shoulders, and though it clearly had not helped its previous owner to survive, Twitch thought there might be some use in it. Fausto had also found an interesting item: a bottle floating on the surface of the pond. He attempted to use his acrobatics to leap over the pond, grabbing the bottle as he went, but this did not work out the way he had anticipated. Instead, he had to use what little athletic ability he had to swim to the bottle, where, treading water, he discovered 110gp inside. Back on the path, Taargus, Cora, and Caraga had discovered the creature that had created the web: an ettercap webspinner. Together, finished off the beast, but kept their eyes peeled for more to come.

Meanwhile, Twitch had continued to walk through the woods, off of the path. He inadvertently found himself on the edge of the sacred grove, where a group of Drow were waiting. Attempting to be stealthy, he sent TJ Max in, but the Drow spotted him anyway and captured him. They had only held him for a few moments before realizing they did not want him, so they left him back in the forest where they had found him, unconscious...

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