The Scourge of Dryad's Rest

A Satyr snarls at the party.

The Dreamers' journey to Caerle'on continues. Fey ruins, aberrant rituals, and horrifying predators abound as they delve deeper into one of the oldest woods on the continent.

## Plot:

The Dreamers and John Glosten’s party carry on for a few more hours after the bridge encounter, but eventually it is noticed that Brionne and Trumpets’ injuries have started to reopen from the arduous travel and the group agrees that camping for a day might be wise to give them time to heal.  Lucius and Warbler manage to find an old Dryad camp with raised beds of root and moss high in the trees.  Emelya dubs the location Dryad’s Rest for the surreal beauty of the locale.

The Entity has a confusing conversation with John about the need for food, and then stomps off into the woods to acquire ‘biomass’ for the party while everyone else sets up camp.  About an hour later the Entity returns with a gigantic snapping turtle, dead from a strange puncture wound to the neck.  The Hand and Trumpets seem to think that it is a baby dragon, and the Entity simply replies that it is unfamiliar with this entity.

Shrugging that strange interaction off, the party gets to work butchering the turtle.  Gwendolyn remarks on how normal Dryad’s Rest feels to her.  The Fey-made structures feel like home to her.  Emelya and Saoirse gather herbs and Doc spends some time using his healing hands to mend Trumpets and Brieonne’s wounds.

During the first watch, the Entity converses with Saoirse and makes a verbal note of how Saoirse had been throwing bottles at people instead of using real weapons.  It then proffers an Atlanti Bolt-Thrower for Saoirse to use in a pinch.  Saoirse, happy to have a new toy to dismantle and duplicate, takes it gladly.

Meanwhile, Emelya overhears the sound of flutes on the wind, and follows the noise to find a circle of dark Satyrs dancing around a fire. The figures are large, muscular and grotesque, but do not notice Emelya and do not seem hostile. She observes them quietly for a few minutes and then returns to the group to inform Lucius of what she has found.  Lucius takes the news solemnly and continues his watch, eventually waking up Doc and Gwendolyn for the last watch.

Gwendolyn uses her sending stone to reach out to her Grandmama and her father, giving them each warm wishes and telling them that she is thinking of home.  Her father replies with a brief, but warm message.  Her Grandmama does not, however, and Gwendolyn can’t help but feel a little sad.

To distract herself from the communications, she instead picks Doc’s brain and asks him about his past and his medical training.  Doc feels very taciturn and private about his past, but he does reveal that his medical training is informal and not professional.  While this conversation is wrapping up, Gwendolyn receives a vision from her Grandmama, showing her scenes of home and nonverbally communicating desires and a mission for her to follow.

As dawn begins to break, Doc notices John slipping away to a nearby clearing and follows him quietly.  Upon learning that John is simply crying over a sword, Doc slips away and the party starts to rouse themselves.  They take until the mid afternoon to get moving, and then the party fans out into their marching positions.

Captain Tyr asks the Entity what its name is, and it replies that it does not have one.  Captain Tyr doesn’t seem to care at all, and they continue on.  A gigantic Elk corpse puts the group onto alert and Lucius, Doc, and Saoirse investigate the body.  They discover that the creature is missing its lungs, and that nothing else was eaten.  Lucius spots that four creatures seem to have ganged up on the Elk and Doc realizes that it was disemboweled while it was still alive.  Emelya collects some samples of Saliva.

Gwendolyn shepherds the weaker members of the troop and it is decided that they should move on quickly.  The Entity starts walking backwards so it can better view the rear of the group, and it strangely seems perfectly sure-footed walking backwards.  While the group carries on it seems to be all clear for a while, but Gwendolyn trips on a spiked log and gasps in pain, revealing the group.  The Entity is the first to notice that they are being watched, when one of the creatures slipped just barely into the radius of its Advanced Sensors.  The Entity whispers a warning to Captain Tyr and asks him to pass the information along the group, alerting everyone.

The surprise foiled, the creatures charge in, revealing themselves to be the Satyrs from the night before, and with a swift reaction, Gwendolyn covers John, Brieonne, and Karroway with a cloud of opaque cotton-candy.

A frantic fight ensues, with Emelya and Saoirse nearly being killed in the first few seconds of the fight, and Emelya discovers to her horror that magic had no effect on the creatures at all.  The Entity hurls one of Saoirse’s Battery Bombs at the two that had mauled Emelya and with the aid of Trumpets and Mance the Hand manages to bring one down.  Captain Tyr takes one on all by himself and destroys the creature without taking even a scrape.

Lucius, Doc, and Warbler hold the front lines against three of the creatures, Lucius managing to bring one down with his Spear of Returning and gravely wounding another.  Trumpets nearly dies to the creature that had been mauling Emelya, but Gwendolyn manages to protect him with an illusion, causing the creature to shift its focus onto Mance.  The Entity, using the cover of Gwendolyn’s cloud, takes aim and snares the one that had been smashing up Saoirse, towing it into the roiling cloud of pink sugar using its Grapple-Shot and restraining it to keep it away from the others.

Saoirse and Emelya light two of the remaining creatures on fire while Doc holds their attention.  Mance manages to bring down the creature that had nearly gutted himself, Trumpets, and Emelya with a series of well-placed warhammer blows.  And then Doc—seeing the last creature standing with grave spear wounds and horrific burns—advances while removing the wrap from his left hand, revealing it to be gnarled and withered.  He says a prayer to Mercy and then swiftly lays his hand on the suffering monster, which drops dead without a sound.

The Party has a brief discussion about what to do with the creature that the Entity captured, and Doc tries to explain the concept of Mercy to the Entity.  Gwendolyn and Emelya strongly argue for the execution of the creature, and the Entity offers to try to speak with it, but it is told not to and to instead kill it so it can’t kill anyone else.

The Entity begins to strangle the restrained creature, but Emelya shouts in anger at it and tells it to kill the Satyr quickly, so the Entity breaks the creature’s neck instead.  Doc feels a strong sense of unease, and notes to himself that this killing does not align with his understanding of mercy.

> It may have been Justice, but it was not Mercy.
>
> Scott

Before Doc can comment on that, however, the group notices that Captain Tyr, Mance, and Trumpets all look uncomfortable, and Brieonne and Karroway are hurriedly walking away with them.  John, however, comes up to the party and awkwardly does his best to both assure the group that he isn’t judging them, but also accusing them of using magic too flagrantly and warning them to be more careful because not everyone would understand.  He seemed almost afraid to be seen associating with it.  Gwendolyn and Emelya take the comment as a rebuke, and exchange sharp words with John, but the Entity follows him when he storms away and tries to ask for his advice in becoming “more normal.”

> Listen, when I figure out what being normal means for me, I’ll try to help you.  But maybe, just maybe, when you ask questions you should ask people questions about themselves, and not themselves in relation to you.
>
> John of Glostehn, **The Scourge of Dryad's Rest**

His shoulders quivering with emotion at the Entity’s blunt and thoughtless words, John gets a grip and keeps himself from rebuking it too hard.  Sensing that it seemed to have made some error, the Entity takes a step back and thanks John for his advice.  John continues his march away from the Dreamers and the Episode comes to a close with the party acknowledging that several of their members are severely hurt, and they are still a few days away from civilization.