Quest #77: “Old Tree of the Stag”
2500 xp
Enindarian, Fighter/Mage – “Derrick Freeman”
Enindarian, Knight of the Ag Serpent – “Sir Kratos”
Enindarian, Paladin of Archael – “Raziel Silverhand”
Enindarian, Priestess of Ipiter – “Tevye Rose Bucater Silverhand”
Enindarian, Bard – “Marvis Mayhem”
Kildoran, Fighter – “Jack Blackrock”
Elithiaphiathein, Fighter/Thief – “Theles Laera Thiendel Blackrock”
Mottle, Thief – “Shila”
09/17/06
(Craig)
(Michael)
(Moose)
(Megan)
(Mike)
(Lauree)
(Mia)
(Jessie)
Following the end of last quest the party went to our respective abodes, preparing to take
on yet another deep dungeon; the eighth for some of us. The wizards sat in the cave, awaiting
their Nefari. Derrick gathered every book he could carry with him and brought them to pass the
time. His supra-genius intellect left him with an unquenchable desire to learn.
At the church of Ipiter, an acolyte pulled Raziel aside and told him that his wife was still
fast asleep at 10 Am, a very unusual thing for the priestess. Raziel walked in and tried to awaken
Tevye but could not. Quite worried, he called for Derrick and between the two they were able to
rouse her but Tevye was drowsy and confused. “I think you have a Nefari in your mind,” Derrick
explained. “We must go to the cave.” At the beach, Tevye was unable to find the demon on her
own but luckily Raziel was easily able to dispel it using the power of Archael. A thin red mist
escaped from her head and Tevye’s eyes unclouded. “I feel like a veil has been lifted from my
vision,” she said. Marvis looked up confused, “What just came out of your head?” Not waiting for
a response he waved his hand and set his head back down to resume his nap.
At Jack and Theles’s house, the two were discussing letters each had gotten from their
ancestral homelands. Jack had received a letter from Fortress Might; from the legendary Chief
Atacar, himself. It said only that he was to report there immediately and at the bottom a massive
red handprint stained the parchment. Apparently the messenger who delivered this cryptic note
roughed up a couple Tirimithian soldiers in delivering it. He would go, he said, but he forbade
Theles go with him. Theles looked somewhat cross but Jack knew she would want to go and any
softer language would not get the point across.
Theles’s letter came from Elithiador. Apparently, after hearing about the king’s threat to
use the Box of Heavenly Stars against the orcs, she had written a letter home, warning the elves
of what had happened. Theles’s grandfather’s dying wish was that she protect the box. She was
not about to let “the destroyer of worlds” be waved around like a sabre. In the response letter,
Theles found out that the elves were sending over an envoy to speak with the king personally if
he didn’t turn over the box immediately. The last thing these two kingdoms needed was political
tension when Krom was advancing daily. Theles told Jack she would speak with the king before
the elves sent their ships over.
At the castle, Sir Kratos was already having his own audience with King Thon. Kratos
passed on what wisdom we had gleaned from Broken Bars and the king gave him the
coordinates for our next dungeon – The Deep Dungeon of Autumnwind. He also gave him his
official approval to date his daughter, Celeste. Though he had to admit he was surprised that
after the princess had rebuffed sooooo many potential suitors she would choose Sir Kratos.
Kratos wasn’t sure how to take that.
Back at the cave, Jack let Tevye and Raziel into Ira’s room where they finally got to talk
about her gill issues. The two sat down in their “bedroom” in the temple. Tevye started by saying
that she wanted Raziel to know that she’d been doing a lot of soul searching and had come to
grips with the change she had gone under in Oathol Gorge. “But anyway, we’ve never really
talked about…this,” she said as she gestured to her neck. “I’m not sure what it is I’m looking for
at this point. I guess I just needed to hear something from you…and whatever that was…I didn’t
hear it.” Without skipping a beat, Raziel replied, “I’ve never even noticed your gills.” (Men are so
subtle) Tevye seemed to wince at the sound. “Well, I have kept them covered,” she replied. The
two sat, not sure what to say. Tevye looked at the floor and said, “It’s just that, you know, we
haven’t… well, ever since…” She trailed off, looking like she might cry. Taking the initiative,
Raziel grabbed Tevye by her shoulders and threw her down onto the bed and the priestess and
the paladin had sex for the first time since returning from the bottom of the sea.
The following day the party converged and set out for the Truetalon Forest, two weeks
ride east of Tirimith. The eastern third of the forest had been overrun by Krom some time ago.
That was where the party met Bloodtalon not too long ago. Our trip on horseback (and wolfback)
was largely uneventful save stopping a highway robbery. We entered the forest, a known druidic
haven, and began our search for a man named Stagus, the keeper of the forest and the one who
knew the location of the entrance to Autumnwind.
As we walked, a pack of wolves gathered around Valor. Tevye cast speak with animals
and talked to the leader of the wolf pack. The wolf was amazed when she told him that Valor
stayed with us out of loyalty. He was even more amazed that a human was able to kill something
that Valor could not (the red dragon that threatened her life and killed her cubs). On hearing
that, the wolf agreed to take us to the nearest druids.
Soon after we came upon an old woman, very mean looking, with twigs knotted in her
hair and the orcish symbol for vengeance on her face. The forest was under attack and none of
the druids were too keen on outsiders about now. War was upon them. Daily they suffered as
they could feel the old forests of the north burn to fuel the machines of war. She would take us to
see Stagus, she said. He is the Grand Druid of Xo, come from far east to defend Truetalon from
the orcs.
We walked some distance with the old woman when five large birds of prey landed
amongst us. The sun rose behind them as four of the five changed into very old human druids,
two men and two women. The fifth, Stagus, changed into an old man wearing brown robes. We
thought beneath the long flowing robes that Stagus must actually be a satyr for his feet were
cloven and all around them little weeds and flowers grew as he walked. Giant horns grew from
his head.. We were suddenly reminded of the vision we received in Splinterbone; of King Thon
speaking to a man with horns.
Stagus lead us blindfolded several miles on foot to a sacred grove. A waterfall splashed
nearby into a perfectly blue pool. Fifteen druids stood around a tall pillar of rock, carved with
symbols of the Natural Order. Stagus welcomed us and we all sat down as the druids took time
to play music before getting down to the business at hand.. Marvis, in a rare moment of cultural
harmony, joined in and played his lute with the others.
Stagus had been expecting us for the forest told him we would be coming and he was
glad of it. We got to talk for hours with the Grand Druid about the many natural wonders of the
world. Stagus was actually from Esitheresitha and knew the mijji personally. Of note from the
conversation, we got one of our oldest questions anwered. Sir Kratos asked, “Who burned down
the Sootwood?” At this, all the druids faces darkened as they cast their gazes downward.
Stagus told us that long ago, an order of dark druids came to power in that forest. In order to
protect the balance, the druids burned down the forest and everyone in it, trapping the souls of
the dark druids forever in ash.
We talked all through the day and into that evening. Looking around at the beautiful
grove, knowing that very soon it would be turned into a battle field, Marvis was moved to action.
Acting on behalf of the group, he made a dirt pact with the Grand Druid, promising that if we
could, we would come to defend the grove when the time came.
Theles and Jack also got to find out about their baby. Stagus put his hand to Theles’s
stomach and told her that her baby would be a boy and that he would come into this world on
Hollowshein 50. He has a fiery heart, he said. “This baby is of three bloods that don’t mix in the
human world”. He shook his head. “Nature doesn’t believe in races but in love, wisdom, and
purpose.”
As night fell we knew our time with the kindly old druid was coming to a close. We took a
moment to pray and were again blindfolded, walking late into the night until we were unmasked in
front of a tree in full fall color. This tree was the entrance to the Deep Dungeon of Autumnwind –
easy to find because it lives in perpetual autumn, it’s leaves bright red and orange. The door
would appear on the trunk at dawn, he said.
So for several hours we waited. Tix waited with us in human form. We couldn’t help but
notice his demeanor had changed since coming back from Broken Bars. He was quieter, less
fidgety. Tix had been given the Great Fire dream and it raised in him a sober determination like
he had never before known.
As the sun rose a door shimmered into being and the words “The Deep Dungeon of
Autumnwind” appeared. We bid farewell to the druids and walked inside the tree to find a night
time forest. Overhead were thousands of stars. The air was crisp and dead leaves blew in the
wind. A mist lay on the ground. In the distance we could hear a violin playing softly. Creepy.
Up ahead Theles spotted a road with her keen elven eyes. Behind us the world ended in
blackness. There was nowhere to go but forward. On the road we passed a sign pointing ahead
that read “Autumnwind”. We continued walking (bypassing a small road that we spent probably a
half hour o/c discussing whether or not we should investigate) and eventually hit the edge of the
forest. The road sloped down into a valley where a little town sat eerily quiet. A ghost town.
Thirteen buildings, most lit. At the edge of the town a body hung dead from a tree. And the only
sound was the violin becoming louder with each step we took.
And so ended our seventy-seventh quest.