Session 065

# The Heart of Darkness

**Age of the Wolf, Year 5, Autumn, Laelun Toil 1, Day 9**

*The heroes close in on the evil poisoning the Boars Wood, and face some dark elves in league with that evil. After a ferocious battle, they watch a would-be ally struck down, and get their first glimpse of Valarian the vilderavn, the raven knight who serves the spider.*

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## Player Characters Involved

* King Nygäär the Fey Blooded Rogue/Fighter/Crusader played by Dana
* Esbjörn Fireforge the Fire Giant Blooded Barbarian/Cleric/Surtr's Chosen played by Greg
* Heiða the Mother Fucking Veleda the Dökkálfar Blooded Dread Necromancer played by Justin
* Valindr Ymirsdottir the Frost Giant Blooded Human Scout/Ranger/Cleric played by Donnie
* Jor the Emberwrought the Giant Blooded Human Transmuter/Beguiler/Human Paragon/Ultimate Magus played by Jason

## The Dökkálfar Attack

The party reached the dark heart of the forest, and Nygaar's hounds stood growling menacingly, glancing out ahead and up into the trees. Seron's would-be king activated his magical eye, and scanned the treetops. The stallion Glaer also grew increasingly uneasy, and Valindr attempted to steady him. Suddenly, arrows began to rain down upon the party, and those equipped magically to do so saw a group of dark elves standing high in the trees, firing their longbows furiously. The large mound of vegetation some fifty feet ahead of them suddenly sprang to life; what had looked like dense and rotting foliage suddenly opened a yawning maw and swung long tentacles. The battle was on, and the heroes did what they could to attack.

As arrows rained down on the party, Nygaar moved forward bravely to face the tendriculos that lumbered towards them, giving his companions time to deal with the threat from the trees and exposing himself to attack from many enemies. Meanwhile, Esbjorn called out in rage at being injured by what he saw as the cowardly archers in the trees, and began to chop at the large tree in front of him. In a matter of seconds, the giant blooded warrior chopped the tree down with his vorpal blade, and the party could hear the sounds of a number of dark elves screaming as they plummeted down along with the large oak tree. Luckily, none of the party was crushed by the falling tree, which stood some seventy feet tall. Jor began to use his wizardry, creating a wall of smoke to try to fend off the attacks from above. Soon another large mound of vegetation moved in to attack, and the heroes were pummeled by arrows from seemingly every direction.

Esbjorn faced another of the large vegetation creatures, and the party watched in horror as the monster grabbed their massive companion and dragged him fifteen feet across the forest floor, wrapping him in large tentacles and biting him viciously. Luckily, Esbjorn was able to use his teleportation boots to escape the creatures clutches, as the creature had him poised above his massive mouth and had been making ready to swallow him whole. Meanwhile, Nygaar and Valindr in particular were getting feathered with arrows as they stood out in the open, and Jor saw that the party needed added cover from the missile onslaught. A misty vapor suddenly arose around the party, effectively obscuring them from their attackers. The party had seen this spell before, and everyone exposed immediately moved within the fog to regroup and escape the arrows. Heida frowned; the fates had not smiled on her in some time when it came to luck in battle. It was time to use her dark necromantic powers to turn the tide of the battle.

Mustering all of her Hel-given seidr, the veleda's very soul entered a large gem she possessed. Her life force then sensed out blindly, gauging the power of her companions and opponents and seeking out another body to possess. The magic worked; she had soon entered and had overtaken one of the massive plant monsters they were fighting. Jor used his knowledge of magic to sense what had happened, and advised the party to cut down the now non-threatening tendriculos. This turned the tide of the battle, as not one but two of the massive plant creatures were possessed in this way. After a ferocious contest, in which those invisible dark elves foolish enough to approach were soon exposed with more of Jor seidr, the heroes finally laid the last of those that threatened them to rest. Many of the dark elves had fled, and the heroes wondered in which direction they had gone. Unfortunately, they had little time to rest or recover, as they soon noticed that the bloodshed was not yet at an end.

## The Vilderavn and the Half Troll

To the south, the party saw the following:

*As the last dark elf is finally dispatched, you survey your surroundings; the forest floor is drenched in gore and strewn with the bodies of your enemies. Above the sound of the blood pounding in your ears, you hear the sounds of another battle nearby. Peering through the gloom and around the giant trees, you see a massive humanoid creature, some twenty feet tall, arrayed in battered pieces of armor. The monster has green skin, and foliage seems to grow from his limbs and torso. He is currently engaged in a desperate melee, slashing with his huge claws at a dark knight wearing armor patterned like raven feathers with a helmet shaped like a raven’s head and gauntlets fit for oversized talons. The knight is wielding a large curved blade, and gobs of green blood erupt in torrents from the giant as the raven knight’s sword strikes home over and over again. The giant moves quickly for his size, but is clearly outmatched by the speed and ferocity of the raven adorned warrior, and the roars and stomps of the monster’s displeasure make the surrounding landscape shake. As you watch, the raven adorned knight slashes the throat of the troll-like creature, who tumbles to the ground in a bloody heap. The black knight looks up at you, eyeing you menacingly.*

The heroes recognized the raven knight they had heard tell of, and it seemed obvious that the creature struck down was the half troll the spirits had spoken of. Heida quickly rushed forward, delaying the death of their would-be ally. The party followed the volva, and made ready to face this new threat. Surely they must be near the lair of the spider they sought, and were approaching an end to their wanderings in the cursed forest one way or another.

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