Oleander Briarheart

Oleander Briarheart is a Lightfoot Halfling from the town of Mixtrand, southwest of Sureharbor in Talevir. She had led an easygoing life among the farmers, loggers and fishermen of the western peninsula as a book peddler's assistant and local keeper of the farmer's almanac until around her 50th birthday. Her quiet life took a turn for the adventurous when she received an inheritance including the deed for a parcel of land in Deer Valley's hills north of Eastpointe Mills, in the shadow of the Cracked Tooth. The property had the remains of one of the many wizard's towers that dotted the hills surrounding the Cracked Tooth, and in the ruins, Oleander found plentiful arcane notes as well as a grimoire. Pouring over the arcane writings and delving into her spellbook, she was taken with a pressing need to learn more and a desire to rebuild the wizard tower of Briarheart Knolls and stock its library, seemingly as though touched by residual energies from the tower. Her inherited money and land gave her access to equipment from Eastpointe Mills and to the societies of Stagshead only available to Deer Valley landowners.
Oleander is well-read for a countryside halfling. She was accustomed to having books around her all the time growing up and being able to browse the arrivals of tomes into Sureharbor bound for Saddleback College as well as thumbing through the simpler fare bound for the farming and fishing provincial towns away from the city. In spite of a focus on enchantment (to attempt to overcome her awkwardness talking with people) she has made a particular connection to the Shadowfell and she has been somewhat changed by it.

LAIR OF THE CURSED LICH

A cone of freezing cold air and ice shot out in a cone through the chamber. "Did... did that come from one of the chickens?" Oleander thought, as her companion, Elogur, winced in the biting cold. "One of these is not what is seems." Oleander looked at a swarm of chickens ahead and decided it was time to expose which of these was an impostor. Opening her arcane grimoire to one of the first enchantments she transcribed, she outstretched her hand and repeated the words. A wave of arcane energy wrapped around the chamber, dropping all but three chickens to the floor, fast asleep. Enough games, the party will deal with these three directly.

In the year 906, a band of five disparate adventurers coalesced into a party. Elogur: the fighter, Oleander Briarheart: the brains, Harmony: the brawler, Ozul: the wildcard, and Ilialur: the defacto leader.
The five found their way to a familiar watering hole in the north end of Stagshead. Outside the Gaping Hole, the party was approached by a horse breeder named Silembra. Silembra beseeches the party to help save his horses, and that he suspects a troupe of goblins have been kidnapping horses from his ranch for the last month or so. The party accepts, upon promise of payment from the Silembra family. They would take off first thing the next morning.
Into the Gaping Hole. As the party drank and chatted with other patrons, Ozul spent her time trying to pickpocket each person in the tavern. She has a few successful passes before ultimately getting caught, being forced to give back what she had taken.
The following morning, the party sets out and soon enough, gets to the Silembra farm, just outside of the city. They continue down the trail until they come to an encampment of goblins. As Elogur tries to converse with them, Ilialour attacks, deeming them lowly evil creatures. The skirmish ends quickly as the goblins were no match for the party. Ilialour finds a large family or goblins hiding away within the camp, and snuffs them all out with a fireball.
During the fight, the party noticed that there was a peculiar amount of Squirrels somewhat paying attention to them. At the conclusion of this fight, a few of the squirrels revealed themselves to be rogue fighter assassin squirrels! The party engaged with these new foes... Ozul nearly fell to one of the assassin's blows. Harmony whacked and held them back while speaking to them with the power of Speak to Animals. The fighting was tense until Oleander cast Dispel Magic on one of these assassins, transmuting it back into its original form: A HORSE.
The party transforms the fighting squirrels back into horses and bring them back to the Silembras. Once there, they are rewarded... but their rest did not last long. Outside, swarms of squirrels encircled the Silembra estate. The party emerged from the home and were confronted by York, the SQUIRRELLICH.
After a decisive victory, punctuated by a dramatic uppercut strike from Elogur's halberd, The Inconvenient Truth, the party learned that York was in direct competition with the Lich Lord Zeek, who himself was hiding in a lair not far from Stagshead. Over the coming days, the party searched for any sign of a powerful Lich in the area. They asked of stories of missing loved ones, etc... Until one story led them to a strange fortified poultry farm.
The party entered the poultry farm and were confronted by several chickens that were gifted with evocation magic. Through some cunning, Oleander identified the gifted chickens, which allowed the party to focus on them to clear the threat. The party then came face to face with the Chicken Lich himself, Zeek.
The party battled Zeek and his enormous constructs. Elogur and the Inconvenient Truth fell, only to be brought back again by Ilialour's healing prowess. Zeek and Oleander traded spells and counterspells from nearly one hundred feet away, while Harmony assumed the form of a giant bear and attacked the Chicken Lich mercilessly. In the end, the party defeated the mortal form of Zeek as Oleander stuck the final blow with a Mind Whip attack. The party then captured Zeek's fortunes and his phylactery.
The party returned to Stagshead victorious. The Lord's Alliance acquires Zeek's phylactery and the party accepts a fine bounty, each taking in almost 8,000 gold's worth of loot from Zeek's lair added to their bounty.

Class: Wizard
Race: Halfling

Played by: Tommy S

Related Historical Events

• 906
  Lair of the Cursed Lich

Affiliated Adventurers

Elogur Hafson
Harmony Redwood
Ilialour Iiti
Ozul