Session: The Great Black Boar

General Summary

Back on the Trail

The triad of Malak, Kyuzo, and Raeth set back out along the trail, following Laenerin. The narrow deer trail they followed was at one point crossed by a massive trampled path through the woods, whole trees turned aside or toppled. Some massive beast had forged a trail through here, and the blood and fur upon a thorn hinted it was recent. Weary of danger, they elected to forge on rather than track the creature.

An Unwelcome Guest

Meanwhile Mortarion, a human outcast who lived among the woods in a small hut, heard an increasingly loud and disconcerting sound of tearing wood and falling trees. Grabbing his greatsword and other equipment he ducked out his hut and watched in awe as a giant boar broke through the forest line and stumbled dazed into the lower clearing of the area he called home. He snuck forward behind a tree, and got a better view of the boar. It was great in size, covered in matted black tar or ooze, especially around the neck and shoulders. It's eyes were bloodshot, and it seemed to be unaware of it's surroundings. After some time, it trampled the small vegetable garden Mortarion cultivated and ambled down the eastward trail. Angered at the destruction of his garden and worried at such a creature wandering the lands, Mortarion followed the beast into the woods.

Trailing the Trailblazer

As the party continued along the deer trail with Laenerin, a faint rumbling entered their perception. Continuing on, the sound grew louder and clearly was the sound of falling trees in rapid succession. Scrambling up a tree, Malak looked out and saw that some great beast was trampling it's way through the forest, and in it's wake a man worked his way through the forest in aged chainmail, a greatsword sheathed upon back. The beast's way crossed upon the trail they followed, and so they laid in wait for the mysterious man. Malak shot an arrow across his path, drawing his attention to the party. In this way, Mortarion joined the party, with Laenerin smoothing over the tension between the two. He informed them that this beast was a giant boar that had trampled his garden, and likely had to be put down before destroying more of the forest. Laenerin agrees, and insists the beast is slain. Mortarion suggested a clearing which the beast would pass could be used in ambush, and lead the group to it, except for Kyuzo who went ahead to bait the boar to them.

Black Blooded Beast

At the clearing, Malak scaled a tree to loose arrows from whilst Raeth and Mortarion hid themselves amid the undergrowth at it's edge. After some time, Kuyzo broke into the clearing at a sprint. A great trumpeting squeal sounded from the woods behind him, and moments later the forest edge exploded outwards as a giant boar trampled it's way into the clearing. In a rage it charged after Kyuzo, who in a dramatic feat of acrobatics led it to ram itself into a tree, dodging away at the last possible second. A long and bloody combat ensued, and at many points the boar was deeply wounded, sending long trails of blood and black ichor across the clearing. Finally, Mortarion smote down the boar with a great cleaving strike upon it's skull. Right as the party let down their guard, the puddles black ichor upon the clearing rose up and struck at the party. Raeth struck at one, splattering an arc of ichor across the clearing. As the fight continued and he struck again and again at the ichor ooze he realized his sword was rapidly rotting away as pits of black rust formed along it and flaked away. After a bitter fight throughout which his sword was reduced to a near useless rod of rust, Raeth managed to slay the ooze opposing him, as Kyuzo and Malak finished taking care of another. Mortarion, already weaked by the giant boar, was struck down by a third, which eagerly set to rotting away his armor. By a very narrow margin his fellows managed to destroy this final ooze right as it dissolved his armor, seconds before making quick work of the man underneath.

Darkwood Boon

Laenerin, being unable to influence or perceive that outside his domain, had been useless in the fight. After circling above until the fighting appeared to cease, he landed and questioned the party as to what had happened. They asked him for aid, and he offered to provide them replacements for their "obviously inferior" metal equipment that was lost in the fight. He flew off, leaving them to lick their wounds and tend to the unconscious Mortarion. After a short rest, a large brown bear strode out of the woods, two bundles of vine joined together and yolked over it's back. It knelt down and left them in the clearing, then turned and walked back into the forest. In them, they found a branch that came to a thorny spike in the style of a spear for Kyuzo, a set of interwoven and hardened vines in the style of chainmail for Mortarion, and a set of vines braided together in the style of a greatsword for Raeth. And so the party equipped themselves, and pondered what would come next.