Session 12

The Bactrian Forest, Part II
Twitch had only just regained consciousness before, not learning anything from his past mistakes, he went back into the grove full of Drow. Again, they were much stronger than he was, and knocked him unconscious. This time, however, they took TJ Max with them before leaving Twitch in the woods. Fausto, still soggy from his encounter in the lake, made his way back to the trail, where he found himself tangled in a giant spider web. He was able to twist his way out, destroying the web in the process; this did not make the creators of the web, two deathjump spiders, very happy, and they immediately targeted the archer. Fausto ran through the woods, stumbling upon a drowsy Twitch along the way, and the two teamed up to battle the leaping arachnids.

Meanwhile, Taargus, Cora, and Caraga were embroiled in combat with two ettercap fang guards. Taargus found himself continuously snared in the ettercaps' web, while Cora fought off the effects of the poison from the ettercaps' bites. Caraga evaded the swing of the arachnids' axes while tending to the wounds of her teammates, and soon enough, the enemies were destroyed. Meeting back up with Fausto and Twitch, the group (along with Lia) entered the grove, where they came face to face with the group of Drow that had previously antagonized Twitch.

His fighting skills having failed earlier, Twitch attempted to be diplomatic with the group of Drow. Their leader agreed not to hurt them, under one condition: "Hand over the elven girl to us." While Twitch was all for this plan, the rest of the group did not see it as a good compromise. The Drow leader sweetened the deal, saying he would trade TJ Max for Lia, but the group (minus Twitch) did not go for it. Fausto attempted to infiltrate the group, and created a disguise by using flint to darken his skin and putting spiderwebs in his hair. Unfortunately, the Drow were merely amused (and probably a bit offended) by this, and were not fooled. Having no other options, the group, set on defending Lia, entered into battle, despite being outnumbered by the Drow. One by one, they fell beneath the blades of the Drow warriors, and Lia was kidnapped.

Many hours later, they awoke refreshed in Zhanasburg, having been resurrected by Prince Peren. He hypothesized that the Drow had made camp somewhere nearby, as the journey to the Underdark was too far to make in just one day, and urged the adventurers to find the camp. The group used their collective tracking skills to find their way through the forest, and made good time to the edge of the Drow camp. From there, they couldn't decide on the best way to enter the camp undetected, so they split up. Cora and Taargus decided to use an underground tunnel, while Twitch, Caraga, and Fausto tried working their way across the treetops.

The non-human members of the team worked their way down into the tunnel. Fortuitously, Taargus had in his possession two sunrods, and he used one of them to bring light to the pitch-black cave. He was immediately glad that he had, as in front of him was a giant pool of blue cave slime. He and Cora were able to leap over the slimy basin, and on the other side of the puddle, Cora found a piece of amber and 90gp hidden in a hollowed-out stalagmite. The light also allowed the duo to spot the angry destrachan, who had sensed the pair with its blindsight when they entered its cavernous home, now charging at them. It sent waves of thunderous sound pulses at the duo, but they stopped the eyeless beast before it could do much damage. Feeling a surge of emotion after the battle, Taargus threw caution to the wind and grabbed Cora in his arms, giving her a passionate kiss. Stunned (and not at all attracted to dragons or their kind), Cora removed herself from the embrace, and informed Taargus in no uncertain terms that if he tried something like that again, she would kill him. The pair made their way out of the cave in an uncomfortable silence.

Meanwhile, the humans worked their way into the forest canopy, and were able to get a terrific view of the Drow camp from the treetops. One at a time, they began leaping from tree to tree, some more gracefully than others. Always perceptive, Caraga discovered 500gp in an abandoned bird's nest in the branches of an oak. Fausto reached the edge of the treeline first, and was able to get a clear view of the camp below him. Caraga was nearly to the end as well, when Twitch (who had made several rather unfortunate attempts at jumping earlier and was now quite far behind his two companions) scrambled onto a tree that, as it turned out, was not a tree. Twitch found himself in the branches of a dryad, which was using its massive claws to try to dislodge the pesky human. On his own (though being encouraged by his friends several trees away), Twitch defeated the tree-like creature and stumbled his way to Fausto and Caraga.

Cora and Taargus were exiting the cave just as Twitch, Fausto, and Caraga were descending the last tree trunk. They met up just out of earshot of the three Drow warriors sitting around a campfire, and formulated a plan. The Drow were directly in the way of a large metal cage containing Lia and TJ Max. They decided that the rangers should go in, as they were the most likely to be able to get in and out without attracting attention, but did not know how to release the prisoners once they had made it to the cage. Surprising everyone, Twitch hatched upon a brilliant plan: get the acidic TJ Max to dissolve the bars, allowing Lia to escape easily. There was only one problem - the bumbling Twitchwould have to go with the rangers to control the ochre jelly. Fausto offered to carry Twitch on his back so he would not alert the Drow, and they set off.

The mission was going absolutely according to plan: the metal bars of the cage quickly corroded once in contact with the jelly, and Lia was able to squeeze through the opening that had been made. Fausto and Twitch had made it all the way back to where Taargus and Caraga were waiting, when Cora, with Lia on her back, stepped on an errant twig. The snap drew the attention of the Drow, and they headed toward the cage to investigate. Attempting to hide herself and the elf were all for naught; the Drow discovered Cora with their prisoner and drew their weapons. While Cora was defending herself and Lia, Fausto had his own brilliant plan: the Drow's attention elsewhere, he moved through the camp, coating everything with the brandy given to him in Rowen. He then threw a torch into the nearest tent, and almost instantly the entire camp went up in flames. The Drow, horrified to see camp burning, let their guards down just long enough for the gang to finish them off. They then set off to do what they had originally intended: escort Lia to the sacred grove.

Once safely in the grove, Lia procured the elven flute and began to play. The melody was haunting and beautiful, and soon the group began to notice a distinct change in the atmosphere. The darkness and gloom began to lift, and with them the travelers' spirits began to feel lighter as well. In the distance, one could hear the chirping of birds. The brown grass beneath their feet transformed into a verdant green, and, most spectacularly of all, the shriveled, dead tree at the center of the grove - that which had once been called the tree of life - began to bloom again. The Bactrian forest had become a paradise. And, from a newly-blossomed flower on the tree of life, a small piece of metal slowly drifted to the ground, catching the attention of the adventurers. Sure enough, it matched the three other pieces of metal they had found.



The elves threw a celebration that night in the heroes' honor, and they were thanked and rewarded for all the good they had done for Zhanasburg. They took the opportunity to relax until the time came for them to set off on their next big adventure.

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