The Final Session

As promised, the warm evening is full of wild music and wilder dance, with Fey wine flowing freely and both savoury and sweet treats laid out on every raised surface. Rifkin adds his voice and music to Magritte’s melodies and the Fey adjacent Arowe enjoys the wanton dancing and uninhibited ‘gifts’ of the Dryad women.

Despite his deep-rooted suspicion and rejection of the aromatic wines, Fortu still finds himself intoxicated by the charm and warmth of these strange woodland creatures. Creatures that he would have considered dangerous enemies just a month ago.

Liga Bur too enjoys the sudden change of pace and environment. Regardless of his ghostly guard; Padrik, the Halfling hadn’t slept easily in weeks, ever since he was first targeted by the nightmare Hag. Here, surrounded by enchanting pixies and nixies, he finally feels safe.

It’s Arowe though, who notices that there’re only three Dryads present, and casting around, he sees for the first time, that one of the four large oak-trees in the glade is dead and withered. He also realises that a new sapling is growing in its shade and beside that sapling is a shy little dryad girl. She appears to be about eight-years-old but Arowe knows well enough to understand the different growth rates and life expectancies of certain Fey.

The three Human mercenaries though are quieter, well aware that they’d attacked their hosts (and killed several of them) the last time they were here. One thing is certain though; all seven of them; Human, Elf and Halfling, are changed men. How could they not be? They’ve explored strange new worlds together, encountered bizarre creatures and discovered new civilisations. They’ve seen horrors and wonders beyond their imaginations and travelled to where few men have ever been before!

Love is in the Air

The octopus-armoured Fortu, eagerly (but unnecessarily) supported by two of the fawning, small but perfectly formed, amphibious Nixies, finds his footing, wades forward up the gentle slope and breaks the surface of the magical pool. Just drinking a mouthful of the enchanted water refreshes him as much as a full nights rest and he feels the aches and stresses from the previous day, wash away as if they’d never been. As the water cascades off of him, leaving him completely dry, he hears the exquisite voices of the Fey creatures singing in harmony. Looking up, he sees three of the Dryads, the smiling Satyr; Magritte and, in the centre, the beautiful ‘goddess’ herself; Estrid. They’re standing in a semi-circle, waist-deep in the water, with their hands outstretched in welcome.

Even as the Four Nixies swim up and down the underwater, hundred foot pipe, retrieving the less submersible Party members, Fortu, despite his distrust, can’t help but gaze upon Estrid. Her beauty is beyond compare, with flaming locks of auburn hair, ivory skin and, her (previously terrifying) eyes are of emerald green. Though not a man comfortable with the ‘gentler’ emotions, Fortu reflects upon the difference between the tall and athletic Estrid’s and overly curvaceous Hetzabah’s beauty; Estrid’s seems to fill his heart, whereas Hetzabah’s seemed to fill an entirely different organ, about two feet lower down.

The heavily armoured, but strangely unencumbered in the water, warrior, accepts Estrid’s proffered hand and allows her to pull him forward. She stands about the same impressive height as him in the water but her kind smile is like a breath of Spring and Fortu, for a moment, forgets why he was so angry with her.

Behind him, two of the Nxies emerge with his Halfling friend and his slobbery dog, before the small, green-skinned women dive back down to retrieve the others.

Liga Bur looks about himself suspiciously, but on seeing no signs of aggression, treads water while holding onto his soggy, doggy-paddling companion. The welcoming choral song the Fey creatures are singing is warm and genuine and even the ever-vigilant, Orc-raised Halfling feels himself lull a little.

Fortu and Liga Bur are soon joined by Arowe and Rifkin and all of them have been guided to the safety of the grassy bank before a coughing and spluttering Henshaw, Barbella and Doberman break the surface of the crystal-clear pool.

Still (mostly) wearing the same uniforms that they attacked the Fey in, the three soldiers weren’t given the magical, water-breathing Nixie kiss and are choking by the time they escape the hundred-foot deep, underwater sinkhole pipe. The four Nixies roughly pull them to the shallower water but their actions are obviously begrudging and Fortu is coldly reminded of the general ill-will felt between the Fey and Humans.

Still, when Estrid finally speaks, her voice is soft, like Summer rain.

“Welcome home my champions. We have much to discuss, but before we’re forced deal with the evil that’s to come, please rest after your arduous journey, share our food and enjoy our music, wine and… our company.”

Fortu feels a wave of confusion wash over him as he battles conflicting emotions. The goddess; Estrid seems so different this time around; kind, generous and objectively, (whatever he may think of her past actions) breathtakingly lovely.

No Choice at All

Emerging out of the vertical watery portal first, Fortu draws his massive sword and, although slightly disoriented from the mind-bending dimensional trip, looks around the Givrad void for potential trouble. He’s not eager to fight anymore of those gigantic Hooked Horrors again after nearly having his throat ripped out last time. Thankfully there’s nothing of immediate concern, other than the disorienting sky, odd gravity, pool of dried blood beneath his feet and the dark crimson trail of it leading away.

Liga Bur and Arowe emerge next, reassured by Fortu’s stalwart presence. The canny Halfling immediately confirms Fortu’s suspicion that it’s the slaughtered camel’s blood and follows the trail until it splits. One bloody trail leads back to the portal to Fissa and Estrid’s pool, the other to wherever Hetzabah has taken her son to raise his army.

Although Liga Bur has no interest in pursuing Sir Briefadel, he still notices the words, scrawled in blood on the path beneath each of the portals. The writing under the one the evil Eldrich Knight and his Mother went through reads, ‘Chase me to Hell!’ and the one leading back to Fissa reads, ‘Run back to Daddy!’.

The astonishingly tall and slender Elf; Arowe smiles. The overwhelming hate that he’d felt for Sir Briefadel has, thankfully, faded to a more rational level and he can see the goading messages for what they are. 

As soon as Rifkin and the others are safely through, they all head to the portal they all first entered the Givrad Void and prepare to swim back. The Bard hesitates for a moment, before Fortu’s about to step in.

“I hope Magritte has got those Nixies in place, otherwise some of us are going to drown at the bottom of that hundred foot, underwater pipe!”

Running his tongue around the circular scar inside his cheek, Fortu merely smiles, confident in his magical armours special ability. He knows that he’s safe from drowning while wearing the helmet and that the armour will allow him to swim upwards as if he were completely unburdened.

Sunk like a Stone Cold Killer

With an eyebrow raised, Rifkin considers Fortu's comments. 

"Morality is subjective I suppose. What's perfectly reasonable to one person can seem monstrous to another. There's one point you've raised that I hadn't considered though... Why should Estrid trust us with her secret?"

As the slender Bard ambles away, Fortu stares past him at the 'goddess' of the pool. Almost as tall as he is, she's screaming down at the four diminutive, web-footed Nixies.

She's shouting in her own weird language but the Nixies are bizarrely responding in an oddly accented 'common'.

"We tried Goddess! We tried! He was just a Human, laden down in clunky metal armour! We pulled him under and pushed him down. We could see him holding his breath but, despite his heavy armour, he was a powerful swimmer. Too powerful! Freakishly powerful!! Rather than struggle against us, he exploited both the weight of his own armour and our efforts to force him further downward to move deeper. By the time we realised what he was attempting to do, where his intentions truly lay, it was too late. Once he'd dragged himself to the lip of the vertical pit, even the four of us weren't strong enough to pull him back up!"

Estrid speaks gibberishly again but in a much calmer tone, reaching down and gently stroking each of their upturned, tear stained faces before being distracted by Rifkin. This time though, Fortu can't comprehend either side of the conversation.

Rewards, Exchanges and whatever was in the Dead Soldiers Pockets

The magical, shimmering portal used by the soldiers has faded and in the silence of the aftermath, Fortu looks around at the carnage. The bodies of the dead Human soldiers lie scattered like wheat amongst the tiny, fallen Sprites and, despite near immediate attention from skilled healers, one of the Dryads had also been wounded beyond saving.

Many of the other Fey were lucky though. The Human soldiers were well prepared and all carried 'cold-iron' tipped crossbow bolts and swords. This dark metal an anathema to Fey magical defences. Arowe shudders at his realisation of how forgiving the goddess Estrid and the Dryads had been for his use of the evil sword; 'Amargor Feybane'. He'd felt its warnings before but hadn't suspected its evil intent.

Only five of the Human invaders are still alive and they are all bound and kneeling in a line beside one of the rock formations in front of the magical pool. Of those five, Captain Hall and the 'Wizard' Egrow have already had their eyes burned out by Estrid's power.

The terrified, middle-aged and slightly greasy looking Sergeant Philco pleads for his life.

"Please spare us! Sir Briefadel tricked us all. Don't you see he just used us as a distraction? We were just fodder in his plans!"

He's cut off by his Captain, who despite his burned out eye sockets, strains against his bindings and screams at his Sergeant.

"Stop your snivelling, you cowardly dog! These inhuman scum are incapable of compassion. Act like a man, they're going to kill us all regardless of anything you say."

Estrid smiles and even Liga Bur is taken aback by the rage he senses behind it.

"You are quite correct Human. I have no kindness in my Fey heart for monsters such as yourself."

And with that, she takes the rapier from the Satyr; Magritte and stabs him through his unarmoured throat. The tied soldiers whimper as each of them is killed in turn until only Sergeant Philco and the blinded Egrow remain.

"Neither of you raised a weapon against my people. Possibly due to cowardice but I believe you both. This 'Briefadel' obviously somehow knew about the hidden portal to the Givrad Void and viewed you as dispensable. Sadly for both of you though, your Captain was correct; I have little sympathy for your kind."

Her smile fades as Estrid slashes both their throats without a stroke of joy.

Uninterested in the items the Human invaders brought with them, Arowe, Rifkin and Liga Bur are allowed to rifle through the limp Egrow's brightly coloured robes...

Gifts from Estrid: For pursuing Sir Briefadel into the Givrad Void.

Bracelet of Friends: Containing four named charms:   

(Each one can summon the creature represented by the charm once for one hour, no matter where you are.)  

1) Shananaghan: Sprite (Tiny, winged, stealthy Pixie.)

2) Loralai: Nixie (Small, amphibious, big eyed, observant fish-woman.)

3) Magritte: Satyr (If Tom Selleck was a handsome elven, pirate, goat creature.)

4) Tsigan: Centaur (Horse-man Prince of the woodlands.)

A quiver of 20 Masterwork Dryad medium arrows for Arowe.

A quiver of 20 Masterwork Dryad small arrows for Liga Bur.

Arowe also accepted an exchange of Magritte's flamboyant, gold hilted magical +2 Rapier for the darkly sentient; Amargor Feybane.

The soldiers had nothing magical or of any immediate worth other than the Masterwork 'cold-iron' weapons but it seems unwise to take them.

Sergeant Philco had a coin purse containing 25pp, 79gp, 32sp, several (never to be paid now) IOUs from the soldiers and a pack of (apparently, according to Rifkin) marked cards.

Captain Hall's coin purse only contained 2gp and 14sp.

Their old 'Fire-starting' travelling companion; Egrow though had that 'Burning hands' wand, a Magic dagger, and a surprising amount of colour coded Magical Scrolls.

Wand of Burning Hands. Unknown number of charges left.

Dagger (Cold iron) +1

Scrolls:

1) Windwall x 3 (Blue)

2) Fireball x 3 (Red)

3) Stinking Cloud x 3 (Green)

4) Levitation x 3 (Yellow)

5) Invisibilty x 3 (Black)

6) Cure Light Wounds x 6 (White)

Gold: 20gp

Experience of Water, Wood, Wolves and Women!

From the Nixie river crossing, the Lightning tree and Kane's wolf pack to the Dryad trap and the season Finale at the Pool of Temporary Immortality, you've certainly earned this level. 

Fortu: 15,967xp (Up to 6th!)

Arowe: 16,042xp (Up to 6th!)

Liga Bur: 15,875xp (Up to 6th!)

Rifkin: 10,191xp (Up to 5th!)

Level five was a bit flat but sixth is a great one! New Feats all round and, as you're all Fighter classes, an extra attack each round! 

Personally, I think that Sixth level is the beginning of being a mid-level character. Good bye Rats and City guards, hello truly terrifying monsters of the void!

Congratulations!

Survivor's Guilt

After padding along behind his new group of two-legged friends for a while now, he's suffered through a whole gamut of emotions.

They've shown him nothing but kindness; the little one especially. Back in the hidden valley he'd eaten nothing other than fruit and vegetables but the little two-legs had given him hot meat!

He'd been nervous at first, despite the encouragement of the big dog and little fox. He'd always been told that eating other animals was wrong but those skinned and flamed rabbits had smelled so good and when he licked at them... The hot, sweet, greasy taste! His stomach growled in the memory and his muzzle instantly dripped with saliva.

Although already greying around his feathered eyebrows and jowls, he'd never travelled far beyond the secret valley path. Maybe a half-days trek with his master. Now though, he's weeks away from that security. He'd seen and smelt wonderous, terrifying things. The monstrous wolf-boar guardian, whom he'd only seen before from a safe distance and exciting/terrifying new creatures such as the giggling fish-women and whispering, life-sucking tree!

Still, he was alive and fitter than ever...

If only he knew what happened to his slightly-smaller-than-a-man master and his friends the tiny red bug-man and the owl-horse? Once, when given the chance, he'd asked the little-two legs about it but he'd just replied that he knew nothing about it.

Perhaps they'd just got lost and couldn't find their way home? 

Without fully understanding why, the Dork cranes his feathery neck skywards and screeches a melancholy cry to the heavens.

River Song