Session (§2)

General Summary

The mysterious figure walks into the hut, cursing and swearing. It turns out to be Ember, a young human girl with blazing ginger hair, harsh character and a tough blade on her back. She talks about some elk bodies with severed heads in the forest. The scenery sounds gore and terrifying. She was trying to find Scarf, the missing hunter, and that he too has stumbled upon an elk with a head missing. He went out to scout the woods and the marsh ruins, 2 days have passed and he has not returned. You notice some blood dripping from ember's cyan coat. She seems severely damaged, but she does not mention that. She walks to her bed and slams the door behind her in anger. A young woodcrowned child was witnessing this scenery. Beatrice noticed him and quickly put him back to sleep. Some of your party members overwhelm Everest with tedious questions about the locked basement and the child. Everest seems confused and irritated. He gives you quick answers such as "it is just a basement where we store food, it is mostly empty because our food supplies are running very low" and "Vincent is my son, I do not understand why you must be so oppressing with such questions". In the process, your party finds out that the whole forest hut is of unknown origins, that Everest and Beatrice found it with Scarf when they arrived on the island 16 years ago. You have a feeling that a lot of things do not make sense in here, the basement, the hut and... and... Perhaps you are losing your minds? Who wouldn't go insane after arriving on an island castle filled with nightmares and demons? And since you arrived, you have had an eery feeling like something is searching for you, like something wants to be able to see you, but it can't, you are invisible to "it", yet.
Everest begs you to find Scarf. Beatrice joins the conversation, stating that it is not safe to go out in the forest in the middle of the night, especially when there is a strange thing out there that attacks elks and severs their heads, without touching the meat or inflict any other harm to the animal's body. It can not be a beast, nor a demon. Your party feels well-rested and decides to venture out into the forest to find Scarf.
As you start walking through the night woods, 4 Thicket Demons attack you. You swiftly kill three of them and decide to capture the fourth. It twitches and screams in pain and terror while you hold it. It's painful screams echo through the misty night forest. Suddenly, Everest walks up to you with a charged metal crossbow. He shoots the poor beast in its head, ending its sufferings. He did not like what you have done to the poor thing and asks you to follow him back into the hut to give you additional information about the map and the world.
You walk back inside the Woodland Hut. Everest points out that Scarf's initial route was through the Deep Forest and all the way to the Deep Swamp alongside the river. Everest recalls your past actions with the Thicket Demon and tells you that exposing a creature to great discomfort, pain or fear under a long period of time can awaken the dark energies within the wild creature. These energies will turn the creature into a demonic aberration that will seek out and destroy all life.
With the new directions, your party decides to head out to the Mossy Marsh in search for Scarf. As you arrive at the marsh, you meet some unwelcoming wildlife. The whole marsh looks more like overgrown ruins, flooded by the streams of the nearby river. You scout the ruins and find some traces of orange shimmereye fur as well as gunpowder from a rifle and shimmereye blood stains. Further exploration reveals a place of recent combat with traces of more shimmereye blood stains on the white chalky stones. You battle some wildlife, and in the battle, your woodcrowned becomes exposed to the darkness. You have a feeling that something evil can now see you... Suddenly, you feel a familiar and otherworldly presence in the forest...
After some short rests, your party decides to head to the north, towards some mysterious pillars in the distance. The location is marked as "Stargazer's Pillars" on the map. The night begins to settle. You arrive at an alien-like wasteland. Huge salt pillars, almost like stone trees rise from the dead ground. This stone forest is covered in layers of salt, sulfur, basalt, and glass. The air here toxic, saturated with sulfur vapors. Further exploration reveals strange giant claw marks of unknown origin, as well as some straight engraved lines in the ground and rocks. There are traces of strange metal dust in the titanic claw scars.
While most of the party is investigating the scars and the strange geometric engravings, one of your members decides to find an adventure of his own. He begins to collect some salt from the pillars when he starts to feel an unpleasing gaze watching him. He dives into stealth, although the mysterious observer can still see him. The party member looks around and sees a pair of strange cyclops creatures in the distance, silently watching him with their green glowing eyes. The party member tried to communicate with the strange humanoid beasts but gained no significant reactions from them. The rest of the party noticed the disappearance of their party member, and the dragonborn decided to use thaumaturgy to amplify his voice and call for the missing member. The magic turns out to be way more violent than intended and creates a massive shockwave that fells the giant salt stems all around the area. The missing party member hears the shockwave and begins to run towards it.
When the sulfur dust settles, it turns out that the party is trapped in a prison from the fallen pillars and rubble. The missing party member climbs on top of the prison and sees a huge tower in the distance, with strange silhouettes around it. Reuniting with the missing party member, the party tries to find a way out. Suddenly, you feel ill from the toxic elements in the air. Staying longer in this place may lead to severe chemical poisoning or even death. You hurry up to find a way out as fast as possible. After some time you manage to find a way out, although 4 out of 5 party members gain severe chemical intoxication from exposure to the toxic chemicals in the area.
You decide to quickly investigate the mysterious tower that was seen by one of your party members. As you approach the colossal building, you witness an eery scenery. Thousands of small roach-like mechanical constructs, completely solidified in salt stone, trying to climb the tower. Their gun-like rods on top of them are pointing to the top of the tower. You can see some solidified plasma beams from their guns, trying to reach for the unknown top of the pillar. A titanic 8-legged mechanical roach, completely covered in a layer of salt crystals and pillars, is trying to fell the tower. You can't identify a single trace of movement, this whole place seems to be as dead as it can be. This seems to be the epicenter of the chemical spread around the area. You get an idea to try to climb the tower, but you give up on it as the piercing pain from the harch chemical-infused air starts to get into your lungs and burn your eyes. You decide to swiftly head back to the Mossy Marsh.

Rewards Granted

+ Monster Notes
+ Salt
+ Sulfur
+ Monster Bones
+ Mechanical salt rod

Character(s) interacted with

Ember
Beatrice
Everest
Vincent

Created Content

+ Met Ember
+ Met Vincent
+ Explored Mossy Marsh
+ Explored Stargazer's Pillars

Notes

4 of your party members suffer from chemical intoxication.

Report Date

20 Dec 2018