Session 25: Trust Given

As the party is leaving, Melithril asks Aaler to stay a moment. The mask of leadership fades when they are left alone, leaving place to the sorrow of a mother who has lost her son. She asks Aaler if he would be willing complete Eschenal's lifelong endeavour to map the stars... he was almost finished and had planned to mark the last few stars in the Glen of Gozreh after performing the Urna Guldur. Aaler gracefully accepts and rejoins the rest of the group.

Our heroes make a few final preparations and set off towards the Glen of Gozreh, following a trail of upturned earth and orcish bodies. On their way they stumble upon an old crone named Wormtooth who is collecting ears of orc. They learn that she is from the Feywild and she offers to help them get there and even act as their guide. In exchange the party accepts to meet with her two sisters and potentially aid them with a tricky problem they’ve been having.

Wormtooth uses her magic to rip open a portal between the material plane and the Feywild in the Glen of Gozreh, allowing the group to save time and bypass the mysterious guardians. Isaya feels uneasy about this, but in the end she accepts hoping to save time and ensure safe passage for her non-elvish friends.

Upon arrival in the Feywild, it takes a couple minutes for the party to notice the subtle differences from the material plane. The glen seems the same, save for the lighting. A perpetual dusk shines colorful lights through the trees and the breeze carries with it sweet scents of strange flowers. Awaiting them is a Satyr named Arfurl who knows of the Urna Guldur and offers to guide the party through the Laowise forest to perform the ritual. However, Wormtooth insists that the party honor their deal and follow her to meet her sisters first. They invite Arfurl to come with them but he seems terrified of the old crown and her lair and would prefer to wait at the glen for the party to return.

The group follows Wormtooth through a treacherous swamp that seems to be in the same location as Minas on the material plane. Mushrooms grow as large as trees here and the waters are dark and murky. Wormtooth leads the party to the biggest mushroom in the entire swamp and enters through an underwater hole. The heroes hesitate only for a moment and then plunge in after her. They emerge on the inside of the mushroom only to find that Wormtooth had fooled them and led them into an ambush. She and her sisters, Mushroomtop and Beeheye offer to let them leave with their lives if they hand over their magical equipment. Negotiations break down, threats are spoken and gruesome combat ensues.

The party emerges victorious and a furious Jerky removes Wormtooth’s ears... more than anyone else in the party he had truly trusted the old Hag. Shed then applied his threat word for word and sews the bodies of the three sisters together under the horrified gaze of the other party members. They are so shocked that they leave him alone and regroup outside the giant mushroom. Isaya leads the group safely back through the swamp and they meet up with a nerve-wrecked Arfurl whose condition only grows worse when Shed tosses him Wormtooth’s severed head. Arfurl gulps down his fear and begins leading the party into an unknown part of the forest. On the way he warns them that the Feywild is in turmoil and has become highly dangerous but that as long as they stick close to him they will avoid getting lost and wandering aimlessly here until they meet a horrible end. Unfortunately, he then perishes against a terrifying mutant giant known as a Fomorian who towers above the now guide-less party.

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