Session 7

Slappy pulls away from Capstone as fast as Cosmo can go, a slight limp still apparent as he runs from previous injuries. Staying along the road and passing over a bridge, as the distance between the party and the village widens, the orange glow from the burning manor pulsates - a beacon igniting the entire landscape too bright to look at directly without squinting. The red and orange glow takes on a life of its own as smoke billows into the sky, a dark black cloud forming directly above the village. There's a chuckle, Rats Ass grinning and smiling to himself. "some heroes you are" He leans back and lets out a deep, satisfied sigh, resting his eyes.

Some time passes.

Slappy pulls Cosmo off the road into a misty grove slowing down to navigate through the dark. Hardly a word has been spoken between the party over the 2 hours that have been traveled away from the town of Capstone. The smell of smoke still pungent on the clothes of anyone who was inside the mayors home. Within those hours of traveling, it was mostly quite. About an hour in Slappy warned an arguing husband and wife, who had gotten lost on their way to Skywatch, to stay away from Capstone, the glow still faintly visible - or was this merely a trick of exhaustion? The couple, bewildered & initially hesitant, were convinced after seeing the battle worn Zephyr & Twitch sitting inside the tent upon Cosmo's back. Slappy gave them an alternate route that would take them nearly 3x longer along the south - if they wanted to stay on the roads. The couple was seen arguing, and then turned back in the direction they came the husband's shoulders slumped over. As the party travels deeper into the forest, the sounds of nightlife come more alive as the road vanishes from sight. Crickets chirp in a symphony, each one adding their own melody to the mix. The sound is steady, rhythmic, like a heartbeat bouncing off the fungal and mossy overgrowth that spans around, over, and underneath the overgrown trees. Cosmo's deep breaths add a low bass, out of sync with the natural song of the woods.

Deeper yet, the terrain becomes more uneven and Cosmo starts struggling to keep a steady balance stumbling slightly over vines, tree roots, and overgrown mossy rocks barely visible against the darkness. The trees here look ancient, gnarled, widening trunks coated warmly in a blanket off moss bound tightly by tendrils of mist rising from the ground. An oppressive musty smell fills the air, the scent of rotting wood, and decaying leaves contradicted by the occasional burst of sweetness from blooming wildflowers. The light of the stars now eclipsed behind the overgrown canopy, darkness reigns here, as the sounds of owls join into the chorus of nightlife, and a howl far in the distance.

Not much further, Cosmo slows to a halt. An open space deep enough in the woods you won't be disturbed or found. The sound of running water not far off but hidden behind a veil of mist.

"Should be safe enough to camp here for the night. We are getting closer to that keep at least." Slappy explains. He disembarks from Cosmo, petting him proudly and feeding him a crisp apple.

The ground is soft and spongy, a lush carpet of moss and ferns. Slappy rips off some of the bark hanging loose from a tree and starts a fire. The trunks of the trees here are wide enough that it would take a few people to wrap their arms the full circumference. Some of them even have hollowed out spaces creating natural alcoves. Slappy takes his bedroll out from its bindings just behind the saddle where he directs Cosmo and places it within one of the alcoves for himself.

"I could use some help unpacking if Ye don't mind. Yer bedrolls are in the tent."

Zephyr begins to unload the bedrolls and other camping gear from the tent upon Cosmo's back where a faint rustling is heard, followed by a voice...

"I said stay still you!" Another quick cheep, some rustling, then, silence. Zephyr calls out to the voice under the fabrics and pelts. "uhm, hello?"

"SHHHH! They can still hear you!"

"I can hear you...?" Zephyr explains and pulls back the fabrics revealing a flustered halfling and two ferrets on either shoulder - the bartender from Capstone!

"Names Perrin Proudpot - and if my voice changed and my name - its all because I'm makin a new alias for myself. After that crazy that just happened in Capstone I had to get out of there I don't mean to be a burden - just drop me off at the nearest town and I'll be on my merry way you won't even know I'm here!" 

He offers the party 3 half-baked biscuits - a special menu item and Perrin's specialty that provides a 50% chance to negate 50% of damage from a spell. Unfortunately, thats all that he had been able to bring with him.

The party is happy to have Perrin, and they let him rest by the campfire Slappy put together, some skewers cooking over it. 

"Arr do ye want to talk about what happened?" Salppy asks.

Some deep conversation ensues. Cyrell states they just need to get to the cultists keep and get things moving. 

"But what are we doin here?" Slappy insists. 

Cyrell explains how he is most interested in getting on the good side of Rayla as that might be his best lead to getting back at Leviticus. 

It takes some time, but when Twitch finally realizes what he is being asked he pulls out a letter that supposedly was from his mother Pooka to his alledged brother, Slaar. He opens up and asks back, "where else would I go? I killed my own brother"

"Oh SHIT! For real!?" Cyrell asks

Twitch continues - he believes he is here because of circumstance. but has found a bit of a brother in Cyrell and will stick with him on his quest. 

Slappy tells Zephyr that he will take her where she wants to go but she says she's willing to stick around for a while longer.

"Arr, they get a lot of people killed, you know." Slappy tells Zephyr

"Maybe I can stop that."

Cyrell asks about Zephyr and she explains that she had two travel mates, but they disappeared when she got to Capstone and abandoned her. Cyrell asks if she wants to find them, but she says it's all good because she had only just met them.

After a quite evening of reflection, the party agrees that they should go to sleep. "None of that telepathy nonsense either!" Slappy proclaims. Cyrell immediately opens up a telpathic communication to Twitch to speak to him before going to bed.

In the morning, Zephr, only needing a few hours of sleep, notices a fungal creature trying to pull Cosmo away from the camp. She jumps up and screams to get everyone awake. Slappy rages at this, and Twitch comes to Cosmo's defense as well. Cyrell is exhausted and sleeps through the initial bought of hysteria. The party members who are awake see 4 fungal creatures, two large and two small, that are raiding the campsite. 

The two large fungal creatures stomp into the ground, and a massive maze of vines erupt from the earth grappling Zephyr, Lazlo, and Slappy. Twitch uses this opportunity to retreat back a bit and line up a shot, allowing him to critically strike his crossbow with expert precision at one of the large fungal creatures. He then sprints up to the beast and slices into it with his dagger. Several of the mushrooms growing out of his wooden body wither and die instantly as the beast struggles to maintain its footing.

Zephyr breaks free of the vines, as the smaller creatures run up to Slappy to claw at him while he is restrained hitting him badly. In the midst of combat, everyone is shouting for Cyrell to emerge, who lazily peers out from his tent, rubs his eyes, and immediately casts eldritch blast at the closest one exploding it into pieces. In a fury of blows between Zephyr and Twitch, the second large fungal creature is easily dispatched. The two smaller ones attempt to retreat, but not before Twitch is able to line up another expert shot killing one of them as the other flees into the low bushes.

Slappy calls out that he is missing some gear, and the rest of the party is too. Twitch has lost his helmet of the pestilent prince and a gold pouch, Cyrell his signet ring, and Zephyr a potion of healing. Another pack of these beasts, it seems, must have come during the night. In a second attempt at more loot, they did not seem to expect an elf would be among the party who would be awake to spot them. A clear trail leads deeper into the marshland towards a heavy bog. They follow it, bringing Lazlo along as Slappy cares for Cosmo. 

The trail is easy to follow, clear marks from their viney legs leaving a distinct path in the wet mud. The air grows heavier, and pools of stagnant water begin to appear until it becomes a full swamp. A dead deer carcass lies on the side of a rotted dock just in the mud, a creature standing over it, about human sized, flees into the woods before the party gets a good look at it. 

The dock is broken and the path through requires passing heavy, deep mud. The party first tries pulling a log over and standing on it, but too much weight causes it to sink in the mud. Twitch and Cyrell work together to mage hand a large strip of rope across and tie it to the other side. Twitch nimbly walks across without any issue. Zephyr crosses easily as well.

Cyrell attempts to go next, but at the very edge, looses his balance and falls into the mud. A ripple gets sent out through the water and immediately about 50 feet away from the dock, the water begins to furl. Twitch fights to pull Cyrell out of the mud as the waves in the water get larger and closer. Cyrell casts an illusion, causing 4 of him to appear all doing different movements as the beast gets closer, a gaping maw emerging from underneath the brackish water. The beasts mouth towards the illusions, and then bites into them, snatching the real Cyrell in it jaws and begins swimming away. Cyrell retaliates with hellish rebuke, Lazlo throws his axe but misses and it falls in the mud, Twitch and Zephyr line up ranged attacks unable to kill the beast, but hitting it hard enough to cause it to let Cyrell loose from its grasp. Cyrell rolls into the mud, considerably wounded and darts for the docks, climbing out. Unfortunately, the rope is broken. Lazlo is scared to cross.

The party manages to convince him - and he says he'll brave the waters for Cyrell. He jumps into the mud, his dwarfish size bringing it up to his chest. The mud creature is seen turning around for a second attempt. Lazlo panics, and summons up all his strength moving to the deer carcass and YEETING it away from him. The beast turns its attention to the new disturbance in the water as Lazlo uses the distraction to trudge through the mud gap to the other side. It is close, but Lazlo makes it. The party spends some time looking for Lazlo's axe, and finding it to which he is grateful. 

Not much further, and heavy bog subsides to wetlands and pools of stagnant water once again. The party marches onwards

continuing push on through some muck and you notice the mushrooms around you grow from being small, normal sized, able to fit multiple in the palm of a hand then some of them get a little bigger, about the size of a large fist and they gradually get larger until some of them are as big or slightly bigger than Cyrell, growing out of decayed trees.  As the party walks through they swear you see some of the fungus around you moving out of the corner of their eyes, twitching and possibly even turning as they walk past, although none of them move. Yet deeper in the fungal creatures start to make themselves more apparent turning behind you to your direction but not moving towards the party. They realize they are fully in their territory now. Some of the creatures, embedded in the trees you notice have swords and rusted spears in their hand and the like, and others are just openly walking around and they sort of part as the party walk past to move out of the way. The earth starts shaking beneath your feet. The sounds of branches creaking, cracking, twitching, as all around various fungal creatures begin ripping themselves off of trees, a sticky sap like substance, like flesh left behind, hanging between them and where they've torn themselves away from their hosts - and in front of the group a large tree begins to shake its branches, leaves spilling off. It twists and contorts its upper branches as though trying to reach for an itch that it cant scratch and then one large bulbous eye opens slowly, followed by a second eye - and the tree blinks several times before extending branch hands from its sides gangly and loose, they're too thin for its body and you see massive amounts of sap dripping in globs from its arms where it was attached before and - it smacks together its bark lips and looks at you intently blinking hard as though its trying to get you into focus.

YOU STAND IN THE PRESENCE OF LORD ALDERMOORE - KING OF THIS FOREST AND CONQUEROR OF THE LANDS YOU HUMANOIDS CALL THE PLEASANT VALLEY..BASK IN MY GLORY!

The party speaks cordially to Lord Aldermoore, but accuse him of stealing their stuff. He says that he is the ruler of all in the pleasant valley, and anything in it belongs to him. He needs these items in order to research them to extend his reach beyond the pleasant valley. Also, he likes how some of them feel. He pulls out Twitch's helm of the pestilent prince and rubs it on his bark before placing it gently on one of his branches. Cyrell attempts to trade a dagger for his signet ring, but the 'wise' tree is able to tell it is just a normal dagger and pays merely a silver piece for it. "Let it be known that Lord Aldermoore is a fair and just ruler!" he states. 

Lord Aldermoore explains to the party that unnatural beasts have taken residence in his woods and he wants them dealt with. Quickly. He will give each of the party members one item back if they kill them all. The party speaks on it for a bit, then agrees. He describes the beasts as something roughly similar to the thing they saw before the docks earlier. Lord Aldermoore promises the party he will make the passage back easier for them and lives up to his word by closing the gap over the heavy swamp with vines making a bridge. The party sets off, if a bit unenthusiatically about yet another distraction in their way towards Leviticus.