Session 30 - The Lost Woods Expedition

General Summary

Recovering From Battle

The party takes a short rest in the Forest Temple alongside Ransom, Leo, Mato, Wan Chimaera, and Rhalsar. Mato briefly flirts with Talitha and Meera, growing them custom colored flowers from his enchanted arcane staff. Talitha is absolutely not receptive -- Meera more so. 
Piers approaches Ransom and points out that Ransom has big wings like he does. Why, yes, he does. He did not have an angel parent like Piers did, though. Ransom was an orphan from Uradiel and was originally going to be trained as a monk in accordance with that nation's policies. But one day he was taken by members of the Silent Guardians of Verden -- an organization that all aasimar are forcibly recruited into once their heritage is made known. They injected him with some kind of alchemical elixirs when he was ten. It hurt quite a bit, but he grew wings after.
Ransom served with them for years, but eventually escaped and came to the Lost Woods, where he was taken in by Showsni. The Silent Guardians had a tale about a knight who refused to give his kids up to the Hegemony when the Guardians came calling for them, and wanted to hide them in a place out of sight -- reaching the Feywild via the Lost Woods was the most direct way to do that. The children were lost forever. That's why you need to make sure you safely hand them over to the Guardians for safekeeping, according to the Hegemony. Look what can happen.
The party is then escorted to Saria Village to meet Showsni.

Showsni's Offer

The village is small compared to the big cities down south, but most people in the Lost Woods live staggered out across the whole region, so it's more of a place for everyone to gather rather than a concentrated settlement. There are some basic businesses, a large tavern, a spa, and some military buildings. And koroks! The party is taken to the druid's tower on the east end of town. Showsni and some other warriors defended the village from some wayward undead stragglers that didn't make it to the Forest Temple.
Showsni is an older elven man with wild unkempt long hair, in which is braided numerous seashells. He has an equally wild scraggly beard and long nails. He is, apparently, a powerful archdruid. The Lost Woods is an anarchist society, he says, but people choose to follow "leaders" who have skills to address a crisis at hand. In these times, that is Showsni. He claims to be a powerful caster and an experienced strategist.
The group asks about the undead crisis. Seems bad.
Showsni says the undead are all former members of the Ninth Legion of the Hall of Heroes -- the legion commanded by Lord Jericho during the Hall of Heroes civil war. They are raising at old battlefields and ruins down south and traveling north. The Lost Woods just seem to be in the way. They attack any living creatures that stand in their way. Like that town where the party fought the banshee and "Skeletaur." 
He presumes they are gathering at the Grand Hall - the headquarters of the old domain - on the north side of the Lost Woods. Jericho was entombed there and allegedly Hoo'Ax'Dyuu possessed a man named Gabe and opened the tomb a few months ago. Which was when this problem started. 
Showsni would like to muster his troops to the west to stop the Hegemony from burning down the woods, but he needs to address the undead problem as well. Hiring the party would hopefully prevent splitting his troops. Would the party be willing? He'll give them 800gp in startup money, and then upon return he'll pay everyone 1000gp per person. 
The party agrees! 

Shopping

The party goes shopping. Nôx borrows 300gp from Abbit and picks up an enchanted quiver along with some fancy arrows from the bowyer & fletcher. Meera buys a +1 Life Stealing Rapier after selling Abbit's silvered cane sword (with his consent, albeit not with some salt that she sells it for more money than the basic silver rapier). Krud buys a Kokiri boomerang. Everyone buys some Deku nuts.
This section took longer than this paragraph makes it out to be.

The Great Deku Tree

Before departing, the group meets with The Great Deku Tree, an ancient forest spirit from the dawn of time. She is the heart and the center of the Lost Woods. And she has an aggressive southern accent. She can see everything that happens in the woods, but relies on mortal visitors to tell her about the goings on in the outside world. She is saddened to hear the world is on the edge of violence and things are spiraling down.
She says to make themselves at home, help themselves to whatever they want. And she promises none of the treants will attack them on their journey north. Just avoid the smaller plants and definitely don't buy tickets to see HAGSCAR from some random fey person. You probably won't come back.

Deku Tavern

The party has dinner and drinks at the Deku Tavern, which is run by a woman named Alphena. They find Leo there, who is aggressively guarding his many plates of food -- and expects the worst from them. Krud does get offered one of Leo's pancakes in exchange for sparing the rest of the food. Meera is -- surprisingly -- eager to try new foods and suggests they order one of everything. The entire bar is filled with plates of food, banquet style, for them to feast on. 
Hart goes around taking selfies with people, both the party and random guests, to the confusion of many. They learn a little more about how a "magic square" works. 
Mato hangs out with the group and mentions he's heard of their exploits from Grandma Gerties (with updates via Rose). Naturally, the group asks for a recap of their adventures and what Gertie has told him about each one. Hart likes to put people in barrels. Abbit is the cool uncle who is responsible and the group negotiator. Piers is innocent beyond belief. Talitha (who is tipsy and going to bed early) has a better head on her shoulders than most of them. Krud is the most adorable being to walk the planet. Meera is.... an excellent shot with a crossbow! Nôx is new to them since Rose left town before his arrival, though Nôx is certainly learning a lot.
Mato invites Meera back to his place after some back-and-forth, and they leave together. Nôx follows for a little while after casting Invisibility on himself. Meera asks if Mato was telling the whole truth. Well... no. Meera is.... also a bad baker and got her friends high off cookies. And? Well. And she has a ravenous sexual appetite and likes to conquer new people across the spectrum. Not that Mato judges. He does too! 
Nôx returns to the tavern as the pair enter Mato's treehouse. 
Abbit and Krud sleep outside the tavern in the soothing rain.
The group reunites in the morning. Hart finds a Korok while doing pull-ups. It deposits a korok seed from its mouth. Weird.
Nôx is a little icy when Meera returns. Abbit tries to offer emotional support, but ultimately says that if Nôx ever needs to talk, uh..... Hart and Piers are around. Yeah. 

Heading North

The party leaves the village and begins their journey. They are ambushed by an owl on the first afternoon. He begins rattling off strange tutorial sounding advice, and the party is forced to use the Lucky Lotto Card to escape his magical barrier that has them trapped. They somehow manage to warp off coarse and end up in a slightly different location, though still near the river they are meant to be following.
They camp overnight. Talitha and Abbit have a nice talk. It's morning time when something approaches the camp. A little gnome like creature wearing a red cap. Thick iron boots. 
It runs up and begins licking the Tiny Hut. And then another one. And another. Erratic and seemingly hungry. Soon there are about eight of them. Surrounding the dome.
Piers steps outside to negotiate with a friendly smile.
He is immediately shanked.
We begin next week in initiative! 

Report Date

21 Dec 2021