Session: Tears of Elaine
General Summary
Laenerin
The party awoke to find themselves in a glade in the forest at sunrise. After a short time pondering their salvation, a raven landed in their glade and psychically addressed them in a kindly voice. It introduced itself as Laenerin, the spirit of the forest. The party spoke with it about the boy and discovered that it did know of the boy who was missing and his slain father, but that a shroud hung over it's vision. It could only peer upon that in it's domain, and the best it could tell the boy Fanuiel had simply vanished in the woods, and the father Theoden mortally wounded by an unseen force. A wolf strode from the forest and sat before them, a spirit sylvan and verdant. It too was an avatar of Laenerin, and spoke to them in it's deep rough voice. It warned the party of the danger in the forest, that some force had corrupted a part of their domain and turned it from their vision. They spoke of a elvish meeting place in the forest, and told the party that they should travel there to seek aid in their quest. Raeth beseeched their guidance in finding the spot, and the wolf refused, while the raven acquiesced.The Mourner
A modest bit of hiking lay between the glade and the meeting spot, along which the party and raven conversed. It was the aspect of a natural death, a life well spent. It sought to preserve the natural order, but also to comfort and grieve those suffering an early demise. Eventually, the trail opened into a wide basin, about ten feet deep, in the forest. It was empty and natural in form, with a flat bottom. It's one feature marking it a place of gathering was a mournful statue of an elvish woman, standing atop the rim of the basin. Laenerin explained this was Elaine, the first of the elves to die. Hers was a sad story, for she was the most compassionate of the elves, careful in treading in the lands to break not a twig, and trample not an insect. She wept for all those that suffered, and yet her heart was weak, and so she eventually succumbed to this weakness and died. While the elves cared for life and respected the death of others, they had thought themselves immortal. Elaine's death shook them to their core, and so they erected this statue at the basin to memorialize her. The basin wall beneath the statue upon the rim was flat and smooth, at odds with the rough natural features of the rest of the basin. Malak noticed a small, thumb sized bowl in the wall, and tried to wring an ooze-mushroom into it. After a moment it drained mysteriously, and a few moments later Kyuzo noticed that the same black ooze was running as tears from the eyes of Elaine's statues above. After a brief delay of anticipation which grew into disappointment it became clear that nothing of note would come of this. Frustrated, Raeth wandered about the basin searching for clues, and found an elvish runestone, which Laenerin eventually revealed roughly translated to "rainfall" or "teardrop". After some frustration, Kyuzo suggested that the bowl need be filled with tears shed, and Raeth managed to shed a few while reflecting on Elaine's death. Brushing his tears into the bowl, they drained away, and flowed down the face of the statue above. The wall faded away, and a path leading into the ground under the statue opened.Morncelium
The path led into the earth, and opened into a small cavern lit by an abundance of luminescent mushrooms, of various shades of violet, purple, and blue. Their spores were plentiful, and swirled in a low-hanging fog. It swirled about the ankles of the adventures as they entered, the glittering motes within seeming as if they were walking amid a galaxy swirling about them. Small rivulets of water streaked down the walls, and ran in fingerling streams deeper into the cavern, glowing spores swirling within. Malak ran forward into the cavern, stirring up the cloud about him. When he breathed it in it fuzzed his mind, making him lightheaded and sad. He remembered his childhood and his decision to leave his home, and began to weep. Raeth and Kyuzo cut cloth to make primitive masks, Kyuzo tried to carefully navigate between mushrooms to the cavern wall to soak the rags, and in a stumble crushed a mushroom underfoot. A sudden swirl of spores shot up around him, and he was unable to make it to the wall before his breath gave out and inhaled sharply. Immediate grief struck him at having crushed such a precious life. He collapsed to the ground and was then occupied with thinking through the cataclysmic tragedy he wrought upon the poor fungal soul. Raeth was eventually able to communicate to Malak to cut a strip of his clothing to mask himself, and kicked himself for past foolishness as he watched Malak simply empty a bit of his waterskin unto the cloth to soak it. He masked himself, then used his amulet,lashed to the end of a bit of rope, to fish back his mournful companions. They waited some time for the two to come down, within which Malak went on a long meandering tale of his regret of leaving his family behind to seek treasure. Eventually, his sorrow faded into a slight thing and Kyuzo came down a good bit, and so they continued into the cavern. Coming to a ledge, they took a moment to wonder if it was wise to plunge down into the fog of spores before continuing downwards.The Tears of Elaine
Descending into the cavern, the party rounded a corner can came to a shallow pool. The fingerling streams of water which flowed down into the cavern joined this pool, and the glowing spores swirled together in a pool of stars. Looking out, the cave narrowed slightly then opened into an alcove, within which a second statue to Elaine stood, flanked by a statue of a wolf and a raven. Stepping down into the pool they found it to be little more than ankle deep, but as soon as they let go of the ledge they'd climbed down they felt themselves in another space and time. They were treading water in a great sea, under a dark star-filled sky. Malak felt a leaden weight dragging him down, under the surface of the waves. Desperate, he threw off the necklace he'd taken as payment from Theoden's wife, and bobbed back up towards the surface. Slowly trudging forward in the pool they swam towards a small island of white sand amid the black sea. Ashore they came to a slender elven girl, cradling something small in her hands. They approached her, and eventually she responded to their questioning. She was Elaine, and she was indeed dead. She challenged them as to weather life is worth protecting, becoming irritate when Kyuzo suggested "when it's time it's time", letting him be dragged down into the sea until relenting, her point made. After further conversation, she showed them what she'd had cupped in her hands. A broken, black bird. It'd been pushed from it's nest to learn to fly, but was too young and broke against the ground. Elaine had found it, and her grief pushed her heart too far. And so, she passed from the mortal world and came to the island where the party now stood. She was now a spirit charged with the protection of life, and so she in turn charged them with protecting those who could not protect themselves. She gave them her blessing and instructed them to drink of her fountain, and so the vision faded, and the party found themselves standing in the star filled pool, feet from Elaine's statue in the alcove. Elaine's statue wept the star-filled tears drawn from the fountain, and flowed back down into the pool at her feet. A small trickle flowed down her outstretched arms and filled two shallow vessels perched atop the statues of the raven and wolf. Malak drank form the bowl of the wolf, while Kyuzo drank from the raven, and Raeth cupped his hands and drank from the tears of Elaine directly. Empowered, they felt the tears settle in their stomach, sweet and sad. Raeth left his amulet at her feet, and the party departed. When they reached the surface again, Laenerin addressed them. They were aware what had waited in the shrine, but hadn't prepared the adventurers as it was Elaine's place to judge them worthy or trap them in a mire of eternal sorrow. She had been favored by Laenerin for her grief for the natural cycle cut short, and so when she passed he passed a small fragment of divinity to her, giving her some small dominion over the domain of life. Laenerin the wolf returned, and sat on his haunches beside the statue. Looking down upon the party it echoed in their minds "Come, I'd waited for Elaine to judge, but after long searching I've found where I cannot see. With hope, we will find the boy.".Rewards Granted
- Remaining experience to reach level 2.
- The boons of Laenerin the Wolf, Laenerin the Raven, and Elaine.
Character(s) interacted with
Created Content
Related Reports
Notes
- Raeth will have to return for his amulet or find another, as it's his holy focus.
