Session 85

* The Woods of Woe

**Previously...**

## And Now...

### Against the Dead.

One of the weird, living dead men lurches towards Goldie, raking horrible claws down their arm. They respond by mixing together an array of volatile ingredients into a clay gourd and hurling it at a large mass of the horrible creatures. Unfortunately, as it arcs towards the horde, it strikes a stray tree branch and is deflected away, landing, unbroken, in a clump of bracken and brambles.

Gar launches himself into the fray, swinging Fluffy in a wide arc, trying to break apart the ring of feral Wild Men pressing us. Unfortunately, while grievously wounded, they don't appear otherwise impeded. Leshrac alights in a tree branch and re-assumes human form. He summons a familiar ball of crackling, black energy and hurls it into the massed horde. It destroys the one Gar wounded and damages several others. Whatever these things are, they're shockingly resistant. The voracious wights begin to close in, dealing damage to Dandy and Thanden. Several attack Gar, but he escapes with only minor scrapes and scratches. One staggers into the dead tree Leshrac is perched in and its weight causes the tree to collapse, entangling it in a mass of gnarled roots, but still, the horde is still swelling and the group is increasingly in danger of being overwhelmed by sheer force of numbers. Spotting a tiny break in the ring of opponents, Dandy makes a break for it, heading straight towards the unexploded clay gourd. Snatching it up, she turns and waves it over her head, calling out, "Woo Hoo! Look at what I got! Go get it!"

### An Opportune Opening

The combination of Leshrac's magical energy burst and the tree's collapse has created a passage through the woods and back towards the riverbank where the trees thin out, and she's attempting to widen the gap enough to allow her allies to fall back to a more defensible position. It's effective, but she underestimates the force of the explosion and is launched backwards unceremoniously onto her butt. Fortunately, the explosion not only thins out the group's path, but also the crowd of wild men.

With their enemies momentarily on the back foot, the group surges forward, attempting to decisively turn the tables while they have the chance. Leshrac attempts another magical burst, but he's still rattled from his plunge out of the tree and it largely fizzles, however, the stray energies mingle with Goldie's attempt to turn themselves into a Fire Elemental, and instead, they become a huge, vaguely ambulatory carnivorous plant instead. Despite this unexpected development, the plant's thrashing vines and venus flytrap-like maw prove effective against the enemy. Gar follows this up with a powerful swing, cleaving through three like a whirlwind.

With the enemy temporarily in disarray, the group gathers their forces and plunges towards the riverbank. With luck, they'll manage to leave the wild men on this side as they head north towards The Inverted Keep. But first, they need to find a way across the river.

### An Escalating Series of Calamities

Recalling the collapsed tree from earlier, Dandy suggests we might be able to fell a tree so that it lands across the river forming a bridge. Gar, shrugging, pulls a hatchet out of his pack. After a brief search for an appropriately large and suitably-positioned tree, he begins hacking away at it. After three or four swings, however, he hears a noise above him. There are four extremely large spiders, the size of his fist, scuttling towards him. Reacting to Gar's surprised outburst, Goldie sees this and blasts one with fire. It shrieks and shrivels as it dies, but this noise seems to have alerted something much larger in the tree branches above. In response, Goldie follows up with a large fireball, which immolates the top of the tree.

In the clearing haze of mist and smoke, an immense spider, easily the size of a horse and cart, leaps down amongst us! Reacting quickly, Gar leaps atop its back, brutalizing it with several deep swipes of the hatchet. It attempts to dislodge him, but not only are its efforts ineffective, it also opens itself up to further attacks.

Seeing this, Goldie follows up with more fire, causing hideous deep burns along its side. Agonized, the creature lurches towards them, spraying great gouts of sticky webbing. Goldie is able to evade the webbing, but many of the nearby trees are absolutely swathed in it.

Intoning a series of horrid, gutteral words, Leshrac tries to target the spider, but the arc of ynfernael energy goes wide, slicing a hole in space. From beyond the portal, he feels an awakening presence. The presence begins to fix its attentions onto the portal, and onto its creator.

Dandy spots one of the smaller, fist-sized spiders and scoops it up in one hand while readying her sling. She uses the sling to launch the baby spider through the portal, hoping that the larger one will instinctively follow. As she does, she feels a burning sting at her wrist where the small spider has bitten her. She manages to launch the spider through the portal, but at the same time, her legs collapse beneath her. Seeing this, Thanden rushes towards her and tries to mix some sort of anti-venom.

A sinister voice emerges from the portal, asking if we have come to release it. After a short general discussion, with the general response appearing to be negative, a flaming black tentacle lashes out from it, grabbing Leshrac and dragging him inward. As this is happening, a feverish is Dandy is desperately explaining things to Thanden as he tries to mix ingredients, "It's simple, y'see, you chop the tree and it falls down. Boom. You aim it so that the top's on th' other side and the bottom's on this side. heh. Bottom. Nex' thing y'know. It's a bridge. Doop de doop doop. Easy peasy. Straight across. What's wrong with that?" She grabs his collar, wrenching his face close to hers, "What's Wrong With THAT?"

Atop the frantically thrashing spider, Gar is still able to maintain his position with the aid of the hatchet, the blade of which is buried deep into the creature's back. He releases his grip with one hand and uses the other to flail about until he can get hold of Fluffy. Releasing the other hand, he grabs Fluffy's hilt with both hands and drives it down, through the spider's thorax and pins it to the ground. It continues to thrash out spasmodically, but it's held firm. It frantically sprays webbing in every direction, but to no avail. Goldie delivers a magical coup de grace.

In desperation, Leshrac activates his anti-magic field and the tentacle instantly releases him as it's neatly severed. It flops to the ground, lashing out at random before erupting into a gout of white-hot liquid flame. From there, without the distraction of the spiders, it's easy for Leshrac and Goldie to combine their efforts to close the portal and eliminate the rest of its young.

As the group catch their breath, they notice that several of the spider's errant strands have crossed the bridge. Using them as a framework, they kludge together some stray branches and form a makeshift bridge. Goldie and Leshrac fortify it with magic and they hurry across before anything else can happen.

### A Bargain is Offered

Once across, Dandy is unable to proceed much further without rest, something Thanden advises might be appropriate for everyone. As the group finds a suitable place and rests up, he treats minor wounds and scrapes. In the background, Dandy snores raucously, having passed out almost immediately.

Meanwhile, Leshrac attempts to see a vision of the future. In his vision, he sees us arriving at the keep, which is a colossal well-like shaft, extending deep underground. Within its inky black depths, he can see a dim, reddish light. A presence makes contact with Leshrac's mind. "Have you come to set me free?" it asks.

Within his mind's eye, Leshrac composes an image of the Elven Crone lying dead. In response, the voice scroffs, "Such a task is a simple matter for one such as me. If you will release me, it shall be done." At this point, Leshrac is forced to break contact as his concentration flickers out. He suspects he may have overextended himself, and feels more than a little ragged afterward.

Those group members still conscious discuss their next course of action. Eventually, they come to an accord and push on, continuing North towards the Inverted Keep...