Attributes
Featured NPCs141-harbrite141-reyfax141-oona141-morea141-rhett141-tommin141-haylak141-keiko141-anwir141-maddie-cassius
Chapter Number5
TitleSmall Problems
Primary Location141-deepwood
Detailed NarrativeOn the road they meet Tommin, a traveling salesman who lost his wife and daughter to a quick-talking half-orc — Olek — by charm rather than force.
In Deepwood the party finds the aftermath of a fight between dryads and spriggan cutting a bonded grove for wand-wood, traded illegally to merchants in the Sparrow tribe. Whoever investigates the grove risks a Will DC 20 save against a powerful faerie circle; Maddie, healing the wounded, walks into it and is shrunk to the size of an ant and pulled into the great stump.
Inside they meet Harbrite, a Grey Bear druid trapped while trying to lift the curse. He explains that Arla's elders pass knowledge down through ritual reincarnation — some are hundreds or thousands of years old, the Raven Wing elder reputedly the oldest — and that elders are not formal leaders but are deferred to. Now tribes are defying their elders and the elders themselves are divided. A council of elders has been arranged; Stormcloud of the Grey Bear has left to attend, and Macklot has been arranging smaller meetings. Fey are fleeing fey violence into Grey Bear lands.
Also in the stump is Reyfax, a vermlek daemon, caught mid-way through inhabiting a shrunken adventurer's corpse. Pressed, he insinuates 'The old gates are being opened' and that he is preparing the return of the Black Legions — banished Hesh warrior-sorcerers led by Pavek Shim, the Prisoner of Trayalon. Reyfax cast the curse on Pavek's instruction; his life force sustains it and spreads corruption, though the forest's own magic made the spell backfire. He has enslaved Oona, the faerie circle's creator. Loot includes a wand of cure serious wounds (50 uses) and a wand of invisibility (13 uses).
Events
SummaryInto Deepwood. A dryad grove is being felled by spriggan for wand-wood; a faerie circle at the grove's heart shrinks Maddie into the stump. Inside, the party finds Harbrite, learns how Arla's elders reincarnate, and meets the vermlek daemon Reyfax — who names Pavek Shim.
Campaignpath-to-arla-arla-and-craynoth-pavik-shim
Locations141-deepwoodarla
Player Characters141-finn-gallund141-artemon-tretcord141-trankle141-harfur141-maddie-cassius