Session 6 - Tree of Evil
General Summary
20 Planting, 498TA
After enjoying a short rest the party gathered their things and prepared to continue on deeper into the Citadel. Janora walked up to the next door and after listening for a moment, eased it open. Seeing nothing threatening, they cast Dancing Lights and sent two globes of light into the chamber for a better look. Finding what appeared to be the remains of a library, Janora called the rest of the party over to help them explore.Ell and Denye’s eyes both lit with the same avarice and all four adventures quickly started looking around to see what could be uncovered. After a few minutes investigation, the party managed to find several spell scrolls and a fascinating text on draconic lore, written in Draconic and bound with dragonhide. They also found an adorable children’s chap book called “‘Baby Dragon Destroys the Village.’
While the others were exploring Janora had moved on to checking the next door. Not particularly happy underground, they were ready to get this job over with and get the hell out. Hearing nothing they opened the door slowly and found a short dark corridor that turned to the right. Sending one of the Dancing Lights into the hall revealed a short flight of stairs downward.
As the party gathered, Jilken made her way to the front and said, “Let me check it out first, make sure there isn’t anything waiting for us in the dark.” Making her way down the crumbling steps she saw another short hall that ended in a similar set of steps going up. Calling over her shoulder, “It looks safe,” she made her way over and found another hall, this one dimly lit by strange small rocks that glowed a dull orangish light. Each glowing stone was held in the mouth of a small sculpted dragon that reared out of the carved marble walls. The hall went east for 100 feet or so and then turned again to the right.
Jilken stalked up and peered around the corner, seeing no one down this much longer tunnel, she motioned the party forward. After several hundred feet, they found two doors, both on the eastern side of the passageway, just before it dead-ended. Denye checked the first one, but found it locked.
Janora checked the southernmost door. It was not locked, but the faint sound of goblin voices could be heard inside. Looking around for Ell, they found him someway back up the hall, distractedly reading about the differences, magically speaking, of the various chromatic and metallic dragon livers. Walking up to him, Janora said, “Maybe we should focus on our mission, I think there are goblins in the next room.
Ell looked up, blinked a couple of times, and closed the book with a nod of his head. “There is always time for new knowledge. Now you say there are goblins?”
Janora pointed at the far door and Ell made his way over to listen for a moment. Unable to make anything out, he opened the door on four goblins sorting roots and bundles of twigs and leaves. All four jumped up with Ell opened the door and one picked up a crossbow and pointed it at the hapless human. With a few quick words, and the mention of a party, all four goblins took off running down the hall towards Balsag’s chamber.
Moving into this room the party found another door to the north, also locked. Assuming this must lead to the same chamber as the other door in the hall, Jilken borrowed the thieves tools and successfully managed to unlock the door. Opening it, they found what must be Belak’s office.
A thinish layer of soil covered the floor, piling higher around the walls. . Rough wooden shelves, filled with a scattering of tomes and scrolls, lined the north and east walls, and a rough-hewn desk stood in the center of the chamber. Fungus on the ceiling provided light, apparently in sufficient quantity to nourish several small bushes and pale saplings that grew in the soil.
Stepping inside, Jilken looked at the dirt all over the floor, even bending down and getting a pinch between her fingers. It appeared to be normal dirt, similar to what was being used in the rooms upstairs.
Denye immediately went to the desk and started rummaging through the papers. As she did so however one of the legs came off the desk and the entire thing tilted and slammed into the ground. Denye jumped back with a squawk of alarm but managed to grab a handful of the papers before they went flying around the room. Examining the papers relieved more notes about Belak’s various experiments and well as records about the plants that he was attempting to grow underground.
While Denye was doing that Janora and Ell started looking through the bookcases for any logbooks or other records of what the mad druid had been working on. They didn’t find much, most of the books and records on the shelves seemed to be concerned with seasonal records of growth, precipitation, harvests, and similar notes for the surrounding lands for the last dozen year or so.
Turning to the desk Ell noticed that there appeared to be a locked drawer. Pulling out the lockpicks again, he knelt down and attempted to unlock the drawer. Finding success he pulled open the drawer to reveal two items; a dark leather bound book called ‘Treasures of the Fire Lord’ and a small worn scroll case that appeared to have been carved from bone, with a short inscription carved on it.
Runes in the Dwarvish alphabet spell out the word “Bel Khildor.” An old parchment is within the case. Age and water damage have destroyed most of it, but a short message in Dwarvish remained: “… the remaining few. By order of Durgeddin the Black, we have created a secret dwarven redoubt. None shall find us; however, …”
After looking around for a bit and finding nothing else of interest, the party made their way back into the previous chamber and took a moment facing the southern wall of the room, which had mostly collapsed and opened into a vast cavern. Luminescent fungus on the rough walls and the high roof loom over a twilight grove of sickly briars, bushes, saplings, and other woody plants. Ruined walls and hollow towers protrude from the briars in a few places and the blackened top of a giant tree was just visible in the distance.
Moving forward the party found that most of this largish cave was covered in pale, spindly briars pressed closely together, casting twisted shadows on the earth floor in the violet light. About 50 feet in the briars were packed so closely together that movement became much more difficult.
Annoyed at the hindrance Janora started burning the briars in front of them. The others quickly started adding their own powers to make a path through the briars. Unfortunately, the noise attracted several of the twig blights and well as a couple of larger clorafiends who seemed to be made out of thick leafy vines.
At their approach, the party broke off what they were doing to focus on the new threat. Denye responding first by casting Thunderwave, which shook two of the of the smaller twig monsters into pieces. The monsters jumped in, one slashing it’s wooden claws again Ell’s chest, leaving a few large scratches. In return, Ell whipped out his daggers and cut the blight into kindling. He finished by backing up a few steps to put some distance between himself and the remaining creatures.
Jilken, who had been standing back, keeping an eye on the door, ran forward and bringing her heavy crossbow to bear quickly fired off a bolt toward the two remaining twig blights. As she did so the large saber-tooth tiger tattoo over her left collarbone glowed and flowed down her arm into the bolt. As the blot flew, it became misty and flies right through the first blight and slammed into the second, making both explode with a burst of dry woody splinters
Looking around Janora saw that the vine blight was the only thing left standing, so they stepped forward and cast Burning Hands. The creature took the fire damage, many of its external leave curling in the head but kept standing. The little cleric Erky followed up Janora’s attack with a Sacred Flame attack, but still the vine blight held its ground.
Denye sends a Fire Bolt as well, and then seeing the thing still standing, squawked at it, “You're supposed to be falling over by now.”
The blight still staggering moved forward and wrapped its vines around Janora grappling them and squeezing the breath out of their lungs. As it did so a second vine blight moved into view from where it had been hiding in the shadows.
Ell looking at both of these threats decided to try casting Ray of Frost on this asshole that wouldn’t die. Thinking that since he had seen it burned several times, and wondering if maybe like, if he can freeze it, it'll just shatter now that it's all brittle. Unfortunately the beam of energy went wide striking into the cavern wall behind it, freezing a large patch of the luminescent fungi.
Jilken ran up to try to help free Janora. The elf grabbed hold of the vines and cast Shocking Grasp. As they did so, the battered clorafiend shuddered and went rigid for a second before releasing its grip on Janora and falling to the ground.
With a muttered thank you, Janora shook themselves and moved to put their back against the wall, needing a moment to recover from the blight's attack. Seeing this Erky steps over and said, “That looked like hurt,” and touching them on the arm cast Cure Wounds on the half-elf.
Denye stepped forward and hurled another Fire Bolt at the new blight, hoping to keep it off at a distance. Seeing the fire hurt it, she yelled, “I’m not afraid of you.”
In response the blight cast Entangling Plants and tried to ensnare both Denye and Jilken. The elf wasn’t quick enough and found herself restrained while Denye managed to dance out of the way.
Ell cast Create Bonfire around the monster, but it just took it and loomed over the party. Jilken struggled to get her handaxe out and attempted to cut her way free of the vines, but wasn’t able to get the leverage needed to do any real damage.
Seeing this Janora ran forward and with their dagger started to cut at the vines that were holding Jilken. They managed to cut through several, but not quite enough to free the archer. Erky came up behind and cast another Sacred Flame while Denye cast another Firebolt and together the monster collapsed in a small bonfire.
Janora moved over and bent down to investigate the body of the first vine blight. “We haven’t seen these before. I wonder what they are?” The blights seemed to be animated by the same magic as the twig blights, but clearly stronger and more resilient.
Turning back to the briars that blocked their way, the party continued to clear a path, spending the next twenty minutes or so taking turns casting various fire cantrips.
As the party moved on deeper into the Twilight Grove, their view of the ancient, twisted tree became much clearer. Rising over broken walls, beneath the fungal light, grew an evil tree. Its blackened, twisted limbs reached upward, like a skeletal hand clawing its way out of the earth.
Moving inside the walls revealed several varieties of plants growing around the perimeter of the clearing, including a few suspicious-looking saplings, but their importance paled before that which stands at the courtyard’s center. Before the monstrous tree stood a few twig blights; a heavily armored, young human male with a shield and sword; a blonde, young human woman in a robe fit for a noble; as well as middle-aged, bearded human male wearing a hooded brown robe and armed with a staff and sickle. The younger humans have black eyes and gray skin with the texture of bark.
As the party approached the bearded man raised a hand, “Hold a moment, you know what you do! Join me and give up this foolish quest.”
Jilken stepped forward and pointed at the tree, “I know that tree is evil and needs to burn.”
Glancing for a moment at the tree, the druid shook his head. “How can you say that? The Gulthias Tree is a magical marvel. It lives, though it looks dead. In an age long past, someone staked a vampire on this very spot. The stake took root. And so grew the Gulthias Tree, reverberating with primal power for those who can tap it.”
Denye called out, “It’s killing people and you're helping it. That's wrong.”
At this Belak started roaring, “Wrong...wrong! I’ll tell you who was wrong, those fools of a circle who expelled me. Just because I dared to expand nature’s reach in ways they couldn’t grasp.”
“No,” said Jilken sternly, “They could probably grasp how you’re doing it. It's just a matter of being willing to make inhumane sacrifices and be totally self-centered. This tree needs to go. You need to be stopped. Denye folded her arms trying to look tough, “We will give you one chance, you need to leave. You need to not do this again and not take anything with you or we will stop you and then we are going to burn the tree.”
Janora stepped up beside the others and pointed at the two grey skinned humans, “And what about these two, what have you done to them?”
Belak laughed and said, “They were the first supplicants. The Gulthias Tree has accepted them, and they are mine to control, just like the twig blights. You can’t save them.”
As he was saying this Denye cast a Firebolt at one of the twig blights, sending it up in flames. At the same time Janora attempted to cast Bane of the Simple Mind on the Outcast, but he shakes it off in his madness. Jilken sent a crossbow bolt into the druid’s shoulder and attempted to banish him to the Feywild, but he was too clearly rooted in this space. While she was taking that shot, Ell sent a Ray of Frost at the armored human, sending frost patterns over the silvered breastplate.
Janora attempted to cast Charm Person on the druid, but that too he was able to shrug off his connection to the Gulthias Tree keeping him anchored and focused.
The armored human advanced towards Ell and took a two handed swing with his longsword, catching Ell in the rib cage. The warlock responded by immediately casting Hellish Rebuke causing the warrior to stumble back a step.
Erky cast Sacred Flame at the other visible twig blight, sending it up in a cloud of sparks and removing one more distraction from the field. The other young woman, who must be Sharwyn Hurcele, cast a Ray of Frost at Janora, who blocked it with Defensive Craft.
Jilken sent another bolt flying at the druid, this one slamming into his thigh. She then Action Surged and followed it up with a two-handed spear attack. That failed when the young woman stepped into Jilken’s path, blocking the cackling druid.
Denye cast Scorching Rays at all three combatants, hitting both Belak and Sharwyn, but missing Sir Braford entirely. Ell swung at Sir Braford with both daggers, but the armored man danced out of the way of both blades.
Another twig blight came running out and clawed at Denye, pulling a few feathers out of her tail. Meanwhile, Balek cast Barkskin on himself and backed away from the fight.
Janora circled around, trying to keep their back against the wall and attempted to cast Charm Person again at both the druid and the young wizard. Unfortunately, it had no effect on Sharwyn, and the crazed druid just ignored the second attempt as he had the first.
All of a sudden a giant frog jumped down out of the tree and bit Jilken’s arm. At the same time Sir Braford took another two-handed swing at Ell. This time Ell was ready for it and dodged out of the way of the blade. Erky sent another blast of Sacred Flame at the new twig blight, destroying as he had done the others.
Sharwyn attempted to swing at Jilken with her dagger, but the elf blocked it with her spear. The elf then hit the frog over the head with one fist and cast Shocking Grasp and the frog let out a huge croak as it seized up.
Denye sent a trio of magic missiles at the druid, striking him in the face and chest. The druid was looking rough, but he still refused to run. Ell attempted to cast Ray of Frost on Balek, but the blast went wide. The druid, feeling the numerous injuries quickly cast Cure Wounds on himself. Janora, now sick of this fight, cast Bane of the Simple Mind on the Outcast again. This time the druid was unable to resist and he slumped down and started drooling out of one corner of his mouth.
Sir Braford took another swing at Ell, but overbalanced and slammed the sword halfway into the ground. Ell went to kick him in the nuts, but only managed to connect with a knee. Erky ran up and cast Cure Wounds on Ell, saying, “That paladin keeps trying to kill you!”
Sharwyn takes another swing at Jilken with her dagger, but again the elf deftly blocks it. Jilken attempts to return the blow with her spear, but tangles to the shaft in her legs.
Denye sends another trio of Scorching Rays toward Belak, Sharwyn and Sir Braford. Only the one aimed at Sharwyn hit, knocking the dagger out of her hand. At the same time Ell sent another Ray of Frost at Sir Braford, again it just dissipated over his armor.
Belak crawled his way over to lean against a wall. Seeing him, Janora advanced and with a two handed swing brought the dogstaff toward the man’s head. As they did so, the dog staff writhed a bit, turning the large mastiff’s mouth so that it could latch on to the druid’s neck. As Janora pulled the staff away, it ripped out a huge chunk of the Outcast's throat and the body slumped to the ground, bleeding out.
Seeing this new target, Sir Braford swings at Erky, driving his blade into the little cleric's thigh. Erky in return cast a Sacred Flame directly into the paladin’s face, killing the grey skinned human.
Sharwyn started to cast Color Spray, but Janora blocked her spell with Defensive Craft again. Jilken pushed forward and pinned the young woman to the ground, calling out, “Destroy the tree.”
The others quickly set fire to the ancient evil horror and as it burned, the young woman’s eyes changed from solid black back to normal human eyes of a green/brown hue. She also stopped struggling in Jilken’s arms, eventually just laying there crying.
As the party gathered, Jilken sat up and allowed the young woman to do the same. She slowly stopped crying long enough to say, “Thank...thank you. That was horrible. I could see and think, but I had no control over my body or actions.”
Looking down at her arms Jilken shook her head, “Well judging by the marks on my arm you barely missed a couple of times.”
While Jilken and Sharwyn were having this conversation Denye moved forward and started examining the strange gray bark like skin. As she did so she was muttering, “The tree had you...it must have left some kind of impact. Do you remember what happened?”
Shaking her head the girl looked over at the small Corva wizard and said, “Not really. We...we were captured by the goblins and taken to that mean Durnn. My br...brother tried to escape and the hobgoblin killed him. Then he threw us down here and that huge bugbear brought us to that evil druid. He tied us to the tree, telling us how lucky we were to be serving such a spirit. That lasted for a couple of days before I blacked out for a while. I swear it felt like the tree was swallowing me tho. When I woke up, I was like this…..and I couldn’t do anything.” At that last she started crying again.
Jilken looked slightly puzzled by this, “So that druid hooked you up somehow to this vampire tree and you were possessed, yada yada yada, How are you feeling now?”
The young girl wiped at her eyes, “I have my mind back….but I’ve only got 24 hours to live.” At that she started crying again, “I wish I never left Oakhurst, I should have listened to Granny Kero.”
At this declaration all of Denye’s feathers slick back and she winces, “I’m so…...sorry. We can escort you back. You and your brother deserve to go home.” After a moment’s thought, the crow added, “Maybe the spring can heal you.”
Hearing that Jilken snapped her fingers and pulled out the waterskin that they had that had been Blessed by the cleric of Oakhurst. After taking a small sip to ensure that the water was still fresh, Jilken handed it over and said, “Have a drink and take a moment to calm yourself.”
The young human looked distrustful for a moment, but then took the waterskin and lifted it to her lips. As the first splash hit her tongue, her eyes widened and she swallowed almost half of the contents. As she did so, the most amazing thing happened! The rough bark-like texture of Sharwyn’s skin began to fade, receding back to almost normal, her skin remained a dark grey hue. Handing the skin back to Jilken she said, “Thank you. That was...that was refreshing. I feel considerably stronger, at least for the moment.” “That settles it,” said Janora from where they had been standing next to the dead druid. “We need to get you back to Oakhurst as soon as possible.”
At that the party turned to discussing what to do next, Janora was ready to get out of this cave and back up to the surface while the other three wanted to finish exploring. Jilken was quite excited about the tunnel in Balsag’s chamber while Ell was focused on the tomb of the Dragonpriest.
In the end it was decided that Janora would take Sharwyn up to the campsite and then take the horses and the girl back to the town while the rest of the party finished tying up the loose ends down in the Citadel.
Report Date
14 Aug 2020
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