GHG Session 34: INTO THE WOODS!!
General Summary
Month 13, Week 4, Year 918
As a new year loomed and Sanjuro City made its preparations for the gift-giving season of Ageless One Festival Week, the Fortunate Five began its journey east towards the Koulan Forests. Reetma spent more time discussing his faith with Dranaya, still grappling his troubled past but comforted by the possibility of redemption with Eldath's guidance. Zan'kiri used the last few days in town to gather as much intel as he could about Ownka Ramm and her Gruumsh-worshiping lizardfolk, learning how she'd traveled throughout the Northern Territories over the past decade and slowly gathered an army of cultists. With the potential site of Ownka's hideout narrowed down, he made sure the party quickly went on its way towards the forests to avoid all the holiday goodwill and cheer. It took the rest of the week for the party to make it to Strawberry Fields, the easternmost outpost of Chusei University's security force. Over drinks the FF learned plenty about the forests from Inaba, a kalashtar like Windred and captain of the garrison. Inaba told them about Kyoko's dreams of discovering an ancient black dragon in the forests, her disdain for Toshiro Matsui's outdated approach towards leading Chusei's security force, and about her quori's life of cruelty and evil before coming to Ekal. She even gave Ysmyrelda some tips for finding Theo Vechian out in the woods, how he was going around raiding villages and camps under the moniker 'The Quilted Man'. That night Windred tried speaking with her quori Cheyeashtai to try and learn more about their sordid past, but Chey was not ready to divulge their war crimes just yet. The next day would be the first of a long journey (a crawl, if you will) through the Koulan Forest's mysterious interior. Thick blankets of snow draped over all the trees and foliage, a humid atmosphere of magic energy could still be felt humming through the woods. It didn't take long before the party discovered some of the local fauna, a pack of kenku revenants warning the party against journeying further. Windred managed to speak with the lead kenku via telepathy to explain that the warning was going to be completely ignored, leading to a heated battle on the trail where even Frogina got to shine with some shots of 'Chill Touch'. Windred was paralyzed after staring deep into the lead kenku's hollow skull, and while Reetma managed to cure her of the paralysis the kenku grumbled a final guttural curse against the kalashtar before sinking into the cold forest floor. On a more positive note, the party had plenty of gifts to exchange in celebration of Ageless One Festival Week! Ysmyrelda had some curious gifts for the party, like a miniature horse glowing with constellations for Windred and a sprite-in-a-jar for Zan'kiri. She also had a small red egg for Reetma, but sadly it wouldn't be useful for all the cooking he planned to do for the party during their journey. Windred got an elegant feather quill for Zan'kiri and a cute little wool-knit apple hat for Beguiler, perfect for making him look as adorable as possible when he passed out all the fish and beetles he'd collected for the party. Zan'kiri decided to withhold his gifts for the time being, but he was unusually surprised by Frogina's thoughtful ink sketching of the first time Zan'kiri had consumed an enemy's lifeforce during battle. No matter how dark things got in the Koulan Forests, the party would always have these gifts and memories to hold onto in the days and weeks to come...
As a new year loomed and Sanjuro City made its preparations for the gift-giving season of Ageless One Festival Week, the Fortunate Five began its journey east towards the Koulan Forests. Reetma spent more time discussing his faith with Dranaya, still grappling his troubled past but comforted by the possibility of redemption with Eldath's guidance. Zan'kiri used the last few days in town to gather as much intel as he could about Ownka Ramm and her Gruumsh-worshiping lizardfolk, learning how she'd traveled throughout the Northern Territories over the past decade and slowly gathered an army of cultists. With the potential site of Ownka's hideout narrowed down, he made sure the party quickly went on its way towards the forests to avoid all the holiday goodwill and cheer. It took the rest of the week for the party to make it to Strawberry Fields, the easternmost outpost of Chusei University's security force. Over drinks the FF learned plenty about the forests from Inaba, a kalashtar like Windred and captain of the garrison. Inaba told them about Kyoko's dreams of discovering an ancient black dragon in the forests, her disdain for Toshiro Matsui's outdated approach towards leading Chusei's security force, and about her quori's life of cruelty and evil before coming to Ekal. She even gave Ysmyrelda some tips for finding Theo Vechian out in the woods, how he was going around raiding villages and camps under the moniker 'The Quilted Man'. That night Windred tried speaking with her quori Cheyeashtai to try and learn more about their sordid past, but Chey was not ready to divulge their war crimes just yet. The next day would be the first of a long journey (a crawl, if you will) through the Koulan Forest's mysterious interior. Thick blankets of snow draped over all the trees and foliage, a humid atmosphere of magic energy could still be felt humming through the woods. It didn't take long before the party discovered some of the local fauna, a pack of kenku revenants warning the party against journeying further. Windred managed to speak with the lead kenku via telepathy to explain that the warning was going to be completely ignored, leading to a heated battle on the trail where even Frogina got to shine with some shots of 'Chill Touch'. Windred was paralyzed after staring deep into the lead kenku's hollow skull, and while Reetma managed to cure her of the paralysis the kenku grumbled a final guttural curse against the kalashtar before sinking into the cold forest floor. On a more positive note, the party had plenty of gifts to exchange in celebration of Ageless One Festival Week! Ysmyrelda had some curious gifts for the party, like a miniature horse glowing with constellations for Windred and a sprite-in-a-jar for Zan'kiri. She also had a small red egg for Reetma, but sadly it wouldn't be useful for all the cooking he planned to do for the party during their journey. Windred got an elegant feather quill for Zan'kiri and a cute little wool-knit apple hat for Beguiler, perfect for making him look as adorable as possible when he passed out all the fish and beetles he'd collected for the party. Zan'kiri decided to withhold his gifts for the time being, but he was unusually surprised by Frogina's thoughtful ink sketching of the first time Zan'kiri had consumed an enemy's lifeforce during battle. No matter how dark things got in the Koulan Forests, the party would always have these gifts and memories to hold onto in the days and weeks to come...
Character(s) interacted with
- Hiro - a naive if passionate member of Chusei University's security force
- Dranaya - Reetma's kind old lady friend who's always willing to chat at Eldath's shrine
- Inaba - a female kalashtar and captain of the Strawberry Fields garrison
Comments