Chapter 53: The Withering Blight Tree (Session LXII)
The chamber’s air was thick with dread and the scent of scorched roots as Jean Marie and I debated the nature of the ancient tree—whether it was a vessel of evil or merely a victim of darker magics. As we pondered, a sudden wave of emotion crashed through my mind: loneliness, panic, and a gnawing hunger radiated from the tree itself, a psychic cry that clawed at the edges of my will. All save Jean Marie, Felonious, and Draxon fell under its thrall, compelled to approach and lay hands upon its bark.
Felonious, ever swift to act, unleashed a barrage of arcane missiles at the tree, while Jean Marie, with the clarity of a seasoned mariner, declared the phenomenon unnatural. The tree’s defenders—twig blights—emerged from the gloom, but Draxon, resolute, planted Sweet Nature into the earth, its magic bolstering our resolve. With a roar, he breathed fire upon the tree, and flames licked hungrily up its trunk. The tree’s panic echoed in my mind, a shriek of terror as fire consumed it.
Felonious dispatched the blights with blade and dagger, but I, still ensnared by the tree’s will, reached out and touched its bark. I felt my strength ebb, the tree’s essence entwining with my own before the flames severed its grip. Jean Marie wrestled with Burrel, who resisted the compulsion, and together we pressed the attack with fire. At last, the tree’s psychic wail faded, and we dragged ourselves and our companions to safety, coughing in the smoke as the unnatural presence was finally silenced.
With the danger passed, we searched the remains of our foes. Jean Marie uncovered a potion of anti-toxin from the blight druid, while Felonious found a journal, sword, shield, and mithral armor on the fallen knight, Sir Braziak Natalie. The knight’s journal revealed a tale of duty: a noble alliance, a quest to investigate goblins bearing strange apples, and the tragic loss of their ranger companion in these sunken halls. Draxon, searching the sorceress, discovered a gold ring bearing a starfield crest—Shanaria Calaudra by name. Burrel, ever thorough, found three healing potions, a wand, and a journal on the blight druid Belak.
Attempts to heal the knight and sorceress proved futile; their souls had long since departed, twisted into undeath by Belak’s foul magic. We gathered what we could, Jean Marie claiming the mithril armor, and I confirmed the sword’s enchantment—Shatter Strike, a blade of no small power. Jean Marie’s divine sense revealed no life in the tree, but a lingering presence in the stake driven into its roots. The frog, upon examination, was mercifully mundane.
As night fell, goblins attempted a surprise attack, but Savras’s blessing rendered me ever vigilant. I cast anticipation upon my companions and sanctuary upon myself. Draxon’s axe blazed with radiant energy, felling our foes, while Burell’s arrows and Lady Oleander’s aim scattered the rest. Jean Marie’s commanding presence cowed the survivors, and the night’s peace was restored.
After a brief rest, we tied a rope to the stake and pulled it free from the earth. I skimmed Belak’s journal, gleaning grim truths: he wrote of the Voldani, children of the blight, and his reverence for the Rotting Man and Deloma. The white apples were tools of corruption, spreading twig blights across the land. The vampire Gultias, once a servant of Ashardalon, had been slain in this very temple, and Belak had used Gultias’s essence to birth the cursed tree.
With our grim work done, Jean Marie fashioned a sled to bear the bodies of the knight and sorceress back to Melvaunt, that they might find rest among their kin. We returned to our kobold allies, the echoes of the tree’s anguish fading behind us, and prepared for the next chapter in Savras’s unfolding tapestry.
Continue reading...
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Entry #1: Our journey further into The Cave of the Foulwater Goblin Tribe
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Entry #2: In and out of the lair...
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Entry #3: Out of fire and to the Inn - blasted guards
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Entry #4: Respite in Phlan
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Entry #5: Jean-marie the dead-riser
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Entry #6 - a riot begins
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Entry 0.5 - the party forms then splits
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The battle of Phlan continues
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Entry #7: the riot escalates
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Entry #8: Jailbreak attempt
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Entry #9: confined to a nice jail cell - jailbreak#2?
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Entry #10: Down the well - ruins in labyrinth
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Entry #11 - out of the tunnels - finally rest!
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Entry #12 - finding the Harper agent
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Entry #13 - Evening entertainment (i.e. barfight)
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Entry #14 - to the lighthouse
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Entry #15 - exploring the island
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Entry #16: into the depths of the island
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Entry #17 -Down into the dark bowels of Toril
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Entry #18 Battle at jade totem
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Entry #19: Solving Igon's murder
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Entry #20 - Grim's guilt assured - attack from the sea!
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Entry #21: the relentless attack from the sea
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Entry #22: escape from Sokol Keep
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Entry #23 - Escape to Melvaunt
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Entry #24 - the trade bazaar
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Entry #25 - Trade bazaar continued...
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Entry #26 - Regrouping at the Inn, then going separate ways
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Entry #27 - 1st attempt at securing the purse
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Entry #28 - Next morning, next pursuit for the purse
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Quest list
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Entry #29 - Jean Marie's gold is recovered (partially)
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Entry #30 - To the pub, an orb breaks
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Entry #31 - Lightning!
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Entry #33 - What to do with Tret
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Items for "sale" from Church of Gond
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Entry #34 - Illusndra & the church of Ghond
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Entry #35 - search for the cult
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Entry 36 - Battle with the Leucrotta
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Entry 37 - Decent into the Sunless Citadel the sunken tower
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Entry #38 - further into the Citadel
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Entry #39 - Fel's luck, discovery of ancient chamber
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Entry #40: The Chamber of Secrets and Perils
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Entry #41 (session L) - Retreating from the Kobolds
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Entry #42 (Session LI) - Negotiations with the Goblin Chiefton
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Entry #43 (session LII) - planning for battle
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Entry #44 (Session LIII) - Battle with the Kobolds
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Entry 45 - 2.7 Session LV - Discussion with Goblin Chief
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Entry 46 - Diplomacy with Goblin Shaman (session LVI)
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Entry 47: Liberation of the Kobolds (session LVII)
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Entry #48 - Descending into the mines - the hunt for Belak
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Entry #49 - The Haze and the Goblins’ Secrets (Session LVIII)
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The Journal Entry’s title
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Entry #50 - The Tendrils of Fate (Session LIX)
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Entry #51 – Ashardalon’s Whisper (Session LX)
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Chapter 52: Shadows Beneath the Grove (Session LXI)
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Chapter 53: The Withering Blight Tree (Session LXII)
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Entry 54: The Fall of Durnn and the Liberation of the Kobolds (Session LXIII)
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Entry 55: Oaths in the Ruins, and a Kobold’s New Road (Session LXV)
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