Session 2x7

Session 2x7 occurred on 25 Feb 2021. The players were Primarch (Marr), veerserif (Artan), reembodied (Aziza Dustgazer), PsychoXer0 (Gregor Blackhall) and Ghost (Harlac Wayfinder). Their goal was to pathfind towards the druid hamlet in the Groveland Woods.

## Summary

The party headed east, following an existing path, before cutting north around the Dread Keep into the Groveland Woods. On the way, the party encountered a procession of Flagellants, and Marr avoided a magical compulsion to join them. Continuing on, the party forded a river and set up an ambush against a party of undead, crushing them beneath falling rocks. A failed Hunt roll turned into combat against Chad Boar (see image), and the party was set up with food and pelts for the day.

Pushing through to the Grovelands, the party set up camp on its outskirts. Gregor saw a path through the woods that no one else could, and when the party chased after him they were drawn into combat with Strangling Vines. The vines killed Artan White-Waves-Crashing and Gregor Blackhall, while the others just managed to crawl out.

Unbeknownst to the party, they managed to get to outskirts of Cairnwell, the druid hamlet, before being forced back by the vines.

## In-character tales

### Artan's last words

*To the tune of Queen's I Want To Break Free:*

I want to break free,

I want to break free from your vines,

you lush green divide,

you don't neeeeeed us

I've got to break free,

Flow knows! Flow knows I want to break free!

They say that, on a still night, you can still hear the ghostly restrain of ~~Queen~~ Artan when the winds kick in from the river.

### Gregor's final thoughts

*I refuse, I refuse, I refuse you death. I shall never truly die long as my soul stays true. I will learn all secrets of this land even if I must lose by body to attain them!*

### Harlac's tale

**Springrise 21**

Another day with a slow start in town. I've spent the morning building up my tolerance for cold. I've been lucky enough not to feel it's icy bite so far, but I've seen others suffering from it. Not me, if I can help it, and I'll do what I can to protect others, too.

We head to the southeast mountains in the afternoon, and Aziza spots a bit of old road leading to the Southwest (connects to 12.25). I found a used campsite with some familiar bootmarks - I make a joke about being able to detect Tolgyrd's lingering scent, but finding a dead and rotting rust brother takes much of the humor out of it.

**Springrise 22**

Drizzly Rain. Bleh. We continue through the mountains and down into the valley. We hear the harpies in the distance, but keep moving to the southeast. We camp for the night and all seems well... but then we are awoken in the night - our fire has attracted the attention of the Flagellants. Marr decides to speak to them, while the rest of us hide. Eventually they pass on, after Marr resisted their offer to join them. Their wailing and whatnot was almost as bad as the hydra, but everyone but Gregor managed to get to sleep regardless.

**Springrise 23**

We let Gregor sleep in the morning while the rest of us gather supplies. Artan catches sight of a family of wolves with various human bits - one has hands instead of paws, another a human leg, and a third has human teeth. They've scared off most of the game and I only manage to catch a mouse. Meanwhile, Aziza runs into a boar running from the handwolves. I ran to help and felled the beast with a pair of arrows.

We crossed the river to the NE and camped for the night with little difficulty.

**Springrise 24**

We head into the mountains east of the dread keep and come across a band of 10 or so restless dead. The rest of the group wants to just leave them so we can get to the forest, but I convinced them that we should destroy them - for the good of any others passing this way and the loot we can recover from them of course, no other reason. Artan lures them into position with their song, and Marr drops rocks on their head while I feather the few that remain. We loot some fancy clothes and coin from them, and continue down into the woods.

Finally, the woods! I haven't seen so many trees in far too long. So much life compared to everywhere else I've been since arriving at Dryvault. Gregor sprains his ankle trying to hunt, but not too bad.

**Springrise 25**

We push into the deeper woods. Gregor sees a path, but the rest of us just see brambles and vines. He walks straight through and we follow.... but are are attacked by strangling vines! I barely escape from their clutches, but tumble to the ground, barely able to move. As I slowly crawl away I hear screams and terrible noises behind me.

Suddenly, I am picked up by Marr and carried away. Back at camp I see that Aziza made it out already. Gregor and Artan.... didn't make it.

### Marr's tale

*It has been some time since I've seen death face-to-face. I thought I grew braver with age, but I just grew more forgetful of how its cold breath feels on my face.*

**Springrise 21**

In the morning Aziza went to go purchase some supplies for us, while the others prepared for the trip in other ways. Unfortunately, the merchant was out of warm furs, so we'll all need to share what we have or make more. I made sure Orion was ready to go and then did a shift at the Quarry.

When we set out, we soon came across an old ruined road leading to the southwest (12.25), probably made by dwarves. I tried my hand at hunting, even spotted a crow the perfect distance away, but these old hands shake too much now and I missed it by a wide margin with my sling and it fled. Ah well, we have plenty of food.

**Springrise 22**

The harpies continue to prowl the area (15.25 i think?), we should find their nest and kill them some point later. Later that night the Flaggelants approached near our campsite. We knew of none who had spoken to them, so while the others hid I waited in the open to meet them (mounted on Orion of course, in case I had to flee). The symbol they carry has a black magic to it, compelling people to join them in their horrific bloody self-mutilation. Luckily I was able to resist its haunting call, and managed to speak briefly with them. There are six women in red at the head of the procession, followed by around twenty figures in black robes, plus more in chains, spiked cages and nailed to crosses, it was truly horrific to see. The woman in red who bore that symbol, Mother Catayla, said that she can be found wandering the areas nearby and then continued marching past me. When I looked on, stomach churning, I think around half of those in the throng are enchanted by that woman, and the other half are 'true believers'.

I stayed watch, still hearing the distant wailing. It kept Gregor up as well.

**Springrise 23**

While Gregor slept, I chopped down a tree while the others hunted and kept watch. Artan saw some wolf creatures with human parts on them. Apparently they weren't hostile to us, but my skin shivers just thinking about it. Harlac and Aziza managed to hunt and kill a mouse and a boar, though I heard the boar gave quite the fight.

Always use a rope when crossing a river, especially when it is full from the rain. Myself and Gregor both slipped and would have been taken by it had we not been secured.

**Springrise 24**

The mountains were also peaceful, save for the restless dead wandering about. We could have slipped right past them, but Harlac very much wanted to rid the world of those creatures, though I think it was their possessions he was after more than anything. We dropped rocks on them and finished off the survivors trapped under it. I found this strange oversized helmet with a horse statuette on it.

We descended the mountains and came to the edge of the woods. I had heard stories of forests so large, but with the bloodmist I never thought I'd get the chance to see them. They seemed peaceful, almost quaint, smelled of pine and other sweet scents. I wish we left then and there...

**Springrise 25**

Instead we moved further into the woods (18.22), and started searching for the hamlet of rumor. Almost immediately, Gregor said he saw some kind of path that none of us could see. Skeptically, we urged him to lead us down this supposed path. Only a few minutes of following (and we could still see no path) a voice sounded in our heads. It was ancient, low, and angry, and it came from every direction at once. I tried to mediate, to speak to it, tell it where we hailed from. It only called me a liar. Part of me thinks I could have said something to convince us, but I know deep down that it cannot be convinced by any words.

The being, the druid it must be, used its protective magic to create living vines to strangle all of us...except for Gregor. While it claimed to see darkness in our hearts, it said that Gregor has a pure heart and did not attack him. But being purehearted, he would not leave his friends to die and so set magical fire upon the one of the living vines just before it struck me. I would surely be dead if not for Gregor, for the druid then rejected Gregor as well, and the vine about to strike me instead turned towards him.

It was a slaughter, not a battle. The vines wrapped around us with the strength of iron. Some of us managed to wriggle our way free, only to be caught up again as the vines moved as fast as we did. Aziza finally slipped free and fled, Harlac crawled slowly away with a broken body, consigned to mere hope. I managed to break out of a stranglehold myself and heard the desperate singing of Artan grow quieter and quieter - *(Why can I still hear it in my head sometimes?)*. Gregor was caught as well, and I couldn't help him, I couldn't help either of them. I picked up Harlac and fled.

Gregor Purehearted, titled so by his killer and proven so by his valor. He saved my life, and I will never forget that. During our journey he tried to use some boar pelts to make warm furs. It wasn't good, the stitching was awful even though he redid it over and over until the pelts were ruined. We threw the pelts away after that, I wish I had kept them as a token of remembrance