27. The Bonetree Report

General Summary

22nd Dravago, 998 YK

The party arrives at Fat Tusk, and meet with Batul.
Batul formerly accepts Warden into the Gatekeepers as an Aspirant. They'll initiate him properly after they've dealt with the Bonetree.
Krepis is a sour puss about Warden being a better druid than him.
Orshok is wholesome, Warden's biggest fan.
Batul mentions that Geth's discovery of the Scale of Vvaraak is a good omen. Great things will happen on this raid.
Dax' Athla spends the night performing alchemy. Kalshana and Terfel meditate.
Orshok makes Natrac a knife hand.

23rd Dravago, 998 YK

In the morning, the raiding party departs. They leave Llyr behind in the village with the orc children and farmers.
They keep spotting black herons in the swamp. Batul is unconcerned, he's pretty confident they're just birds.
Batul talks to the native wild life. The animals remember Dah'mir's passing. His passage disturbed them, the small animals remember him with fear and the predator's remember him as a threat.
Another group of orcs join the raiding party, bringing the total number up to 33.

24th Dravago, 998 YK

In the morning, another group of orcs join the raiding party, bringing the total numbers up to 45.
Late in the day, the warband stops and the scouts refuse to move forward. Apparently there is a ghost ahead in a copse of trees.
The party investigate the ghost, along with the druids, Geth and Natrac.
It turns out there is no ghost, but the Bonetree decorate the trees in their territory with bones made into macabre wind chimes. It creates an unsettling ambiance when the wind blows.
The druids cast Pass Without Trace to mask their approach, and the party climbs a nearby hill to scout out the Bonetree Mound.
They see a large crowd gathering for something. A dolgaunt enters the ring, and the crowd cheers. A large woman brings Singe over and he enters the ring.
The party converse and determine they need to act now or Singe will die.
A small party will sneak into the Bonetree Mound to rescue Dandra. This group consists of Dax' Athla , Kalshana , Geth and Natrac.
The rest of them will assault the mound and attempt to rescue Singe.
Batul communes with Warden, Orshok and Krepis, drawing on their combined power to cast an 8th level Call Lightning over the Bonetree Mound, which all of them can control.

Rescuing Dandra

Dax, Kal, Geth and Natrac sneak around the village and approach the mound stealthily.
Dax disturbs a Chuul, which attacks. The sounds of fighting (and screaming Chuul) get the attention of a Mind Flayer which emerges from the mound.
Geth hits the Chuul and discovers that his magic sword really fucks them up. Neato.
The sword also fucks up Mind Flayers. Double neato.
They enter the mound carefully and stealthily. They avoid the tunnels with gibbering sounds and eventually reach a chamber where they see Ashi rescuing Dandra.
Dandra picks up a pouch from Virikhad's corpse and places his psicrystal into it.
On the way out, the pair run into the party and a brief conversation takes place.
Ashi is changing sides. Dah'mir is not what she thought he was and she has grown disillusioned with the Bonetree clan. This was encouraged by Singe, who spoke to her often on the journey back to the Mound. Apparently she is "blood of Deneith".
Dandra tells Kalshana about Medalashana and how she is now.
Kal decides if Medalashana can't be saved, they need to put her down.
Kal gives Tetkashtai back to Dandra.