Session 4: The Hunt for the Heart Report

General Summary

The Party regrouped and rested after their battle with the two warlocks. At dawn, another slime creature attacked the party, this time opting to attack Nabs. Nabs managed to pry it off his face and throw it into the fire. The intense heat was too much for it, and it shriveled and died. Upon careful examination, Nabs, Cava and Greg noticed a thin silver string or cord connected to the ooze creature's corpse; this knowledge managed to be the final piece in helping Nim figure out what these slime creatures are: oblexes. Slimes mutated with psionic energy to be memory sucking monsters to impersonate humanoids, sometimes to spy and bring information back to their creators.   Nim, Toni, Cava and the others managed to find the "parent" oblex that was still connected to the little psuedopod sent out to steal memories from Nabs, and the party made quick work of it. As the party investigated the woods, with Brume's help, they ventured further and further, deeper, towards the center, and they happened upon a clearing with what seemed to be some kind of ring. In this ring, the party met another one of the warlocks of the Blackthorn Grove, Abigail Plusfort. Abigail is a strong, muscular human woman who knows her way around a scimitar, and is also the wielder of a set of magical bangles called the Arm Bands (See below).   She made a deal with the party; she and Toni fight one on one. Winner gets to keep the bangles, loser has to leave the grove on their honor as a fighter. Toni accepts, and with a little help from her friends, gets some magical enhancements to tilt the fight a little more in her favor.   The fight began with a dirty trick from Abigail, cursing her with a hex. However, even this was unable to deal with the power of the pint-sized gaba. Toni beat her quite handily, knocking her unconscious, taking the bangles. When she finally awoke, she was infuriated that Toni let her live, thus shaming her. She cast misty step, fleeing from the party, and though the party tracked her at first, eventually it seemed as though she gave them the slip, though she did lead them to the path to the Heart.   The path to the Heart lead the party into a part of the forest that seemed to be stranger than any seen so far. The trees seemed to almost be more like pillars of some sort of slime than true trees, and they move when poked or prodded, until eventually they began to hiss and corral the party towards the Heart. Down a pathway that eventually became like an artery, the party saw a pulsing green light, the light coming from a tree in the center of a large pulsing chamber. The leaves of this tree glow green, and the tree itself contains the form of Charlemaj, former leader of the coven of Blackthorn Grove warlocks, still conscious as though he were still alive.   He told them what the nature of the Grove was; he likened it to a tumor or disease. Not evil, but simply growing endlessly, because that's all it can do. When Cava asked about the end of suffering, the promise that the Grove made to those that seek its power, Charlemaj simply replied that when you start using the Grove's power, all your pain and anguish does seem to go away for a while.   "You're stronger, and your emotions are so much more heightened, and you've recently overcome this great hardship of the ritual to join of removing your heart and replacing it with a seed of the Grove. But this is all temporary. Eventually, this wears off and you ask for more and more from the Grove, until it takes everything from you. Ultimately it's all one big lie."   But when Charlemaj became aware of Brume, suddenly the tone of his voice shifted. Now seemingly the Grove was in control.   It charmed Brume using some sort of unusual, heretofore unknown magic capable of charming an elf, and made him prepare to take his vows and become a warlock of the blackthorn grove, but thankfully Greg managed to dispel the magic on Brume. He returned to his senses, but unfortunately the Tree seemed only angered by this, and began to attack.   Using all their cunning and might, as well as some of their new magic items, the party managed to take down the tree and all of the plant constructs that emerged from its branches, especially when Cava landed a nasty critical hit expending a charge for massive thunder damage, vaporizing part of the tree.   With the death of the tree, the party noticed the chamber walls starting to fade, as normal reality began to come back. Brume faded away as well, going wherever he came from, seemingly.