Thirty-sixth session - 30 July 2004 - The Elven Forests

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All six players in attendance:

In the pre-dawn light of July 13th, Kesi uses her Boots of Levitation and spyglass to see if the orcs are following. She spots them about two miles down the trail. Roget estimates they will arrive within an hour. Meanwhile, she spots something farther away (but in the direction of the Elven forest) flying toward them.

Despite the fact that it means abandoning their horses, the party implements a plan to get past the barrier: Roderick casts Air Walk on Bigby, who creates a Floating Disc to carry Roget, Roderick, Aramil, and Lashmere. Dhersion uses his Fly spell and Kesi uses her Boots. Vincent scales the cliff wall and attaches a rope swing for a quick escape, but remains behind to defend his horse from the orcs.

The flyers from the west turn out to be three members of the Elven Air Force, riding Hippogriffs. The first, a woman named Eäruwen, arrives mere moments before the orc army arrives. She makes a pass over the party and proceeds down the path to discern the strength of the orcs, then returns and lands near the main party. Dhersion is the only one who speaks her language and the two spend a short time in a polite, but tense verbal sparring match. She suggests to Dhersion that punching through the barrier to rescue the horses is worth the risk.

As she flies back over the barrier to defend the horses with Vincent, Dhersion casts a spell to summon a Celestial Dire Badger. This great beast is able to tunnel through the vines and create a useable tunnel five feet wide. Through this tunnel, Dhersion, Aramil, and Roderick move in to herd the horses to safety.

Eäruwen casts a Wind Wall spell to keep the orcs from attacking with their bows, and the spell has the added effect of delaying the superstitious army for a little extra time. Meanwhile, Vincent, Eäruwen, and Dhersion pick off the orcs that make it past the wall while Aramil and Roderick take the horses to safety.

When the horses are clear, Eäruwen returns to the air and Vincent swings back past the barrier to safety. Roderick then casts a Wall of Stone spell to seal the Badger's tunnel so that the orcs cannot easily make it through.

Despite these precautions, several orcs manage to hack their way through the barrier around the stone wall - but they are no match for the archers. As the day progresses, the orcs find themselves with two options: Push through a narrow tunnel one at a time to face elven archers on the other side, or retreat and wait for night. They choose the latter, but during the day, a steady stream of elven rangers (both on foot and mounted) arrive at the pass. By the time the sun sets, there are over a hundred well-armed and armored elves waiting. Even with a Fomorian Giant on their side, the two hundred orcs cannot mount an effective assault.

The next morning, after a long overdue rest, the party is ready to continue. Ahead of them lies the elven forest - and despite the fact that the Elves do not favor humans in their forests, they feel safe for the first time in months.

A group of seven Rangers, led by one named Hyndir, are selected to escort the party down to the elven “city” of Thréwiel, where their Queen Viondra lives. Hyndir is chosen for this task because he speaks two human languages (Rotan and Spindrift) and is therefore able to converse with both Dhersion and Roget.

While the trip could be made in shorter time, the party finds that a leisurely trek through safe forests is quite to their liking, so they take a full five days to travel to Thréwiel - arriving mid-day on the 18th of July. A great feast is offered to them that evening - and while they at first think it is in their honor, they later conclude that it is just an ordinary dinner for the elves.

The next day, July 19th, they are introduced to Queen Viondra, who thanks the party for their assistance with the orcs. They also meet the wizard Vaila Mará, who is the only elf on the Council of Wizards, Gludia, the High priestess to Aerdrie Faenya, and the legendary archer, Tarialaî Thoranna. The day is spent in discussions about the party's long quests and adventures. The Queen is most interested in the magical collars they found on the Ettin - and explains that this is clearly the work of the Drow, or Dark Elves, who live in the underworld. While the underworld is usually considered to be under the mountains of Thentao (what the elves call the Main Continent), Viondra explains that there are magical extensions and pathways that connect tunnels throughout the world. She fears that perhaps the Drow intend to expand their influence from Thentao to N'Galt (the Eastern Continent).

The Queen also studies the Dwarven Waraxe that the party retrieved from dead city, Myagmarsuren, and translates the inscriptions for them. On the handle, it says, “Einerk, son of Morif, queen of the long deep”. And, on the back of the axe head is written “Dendd, true blade Wharloda”. The name Morif is known to the elves and she suggests that the dwarves would very much like to have this axe back - perhaps not for its magic, but for its history and sentimentality.

Meanwhile, Gludia is intensely interested in Dhersion's weather staff. Once she learns that it is consecrated to Matchitisiw, though, she becomes satisfied that it is not a threat or insult to the local elven goddess of weather, Aerdrie Faenya. Additionally, both she and the wizard, Vaila Mará, are interested in the soul gems that the party retrieved from Myagmarsuren and are able to relate the story of the fall of that great city:

   The city of Myagmarsuren was once a grand city.  It was the far east outpost
   of the great Syiin empire from the late second age.  When the world was
   destroyed, the mountains served to protect this city much more than others.
   So, in the early third age, this city was viewed by many as the bastion of
   civilization.  Refugees flocked here from all corners of the world, making it
   the premiere center of magical study anywhere!

   Sadly, this concentration of power was also its downfall.  In III:364, a
   power struggle between the now clannish wizards broke into open warfare. Much
   of the city was destroyed and most of its people killed or fled.  Once the
   fighting subsided around III:385, the city began to recover and by the early
   5th century, it was once again a thriving place.  However, the wizards had
   moved on and the great magics went with them.

   Then, in the year 568, the sorceress Qojin Beki returned to reclaim the city
   for her own. She began enslaving the city leaders with her magic, but ended
   up triggering a long-dormant "dead man" spell left behind in the 4th century
   war.  The result was an infusion of evil that instantly killed Qojin Beki.
   However, she had her own "dead man" spell, which unleashed a torrent of evil
   that within a day killed the city's entire population and transformed the
   lake fauna into monsters.

The soul gems provide the first significant strain in the party's relationship with the elves. Gludia is well aware of the power of the gems, but is more concerned with the souls that inhabit them. She explains that these souls could date back to the dangerous time of Myagmarsuren - and that because they have been locked in the gems so long, their minds could be unstable. Since the elves have sufficient magical skills to handle the gems safely, they argue that it is therefore prudent that they take custody of the gems. In exchange for this, the party will be allowed to retain the two empty gems and will be given the command word for the one they do not yet know.

While most of the party agrees to this arrangement, some are hesitant. Vincent, especially, is insistent that he be duly compensated for what he perceives to be a enormously valuable magic item. In the end, despite the fact that he is the sole voice of opposition, the elves agree to give him a Hippogriff hatchling and the services of a trainer for one year.

The following morning, July 20th, the party is introduced to a young elven woman named Elsa. She will be the trainer Vincent requires, as well as their escort to “Alrik's grave” - which the elves describe as the only human enclave allowed in the forest, and the first logical step on to the city of Farflen. In addition to her service to the party, Elsa has been tasked to be the official liaison to the people living at Alrik's grave.

This leg of the journey takes only one day, and the party arrives at Alrik's grave that evening. There, they meet a motley crew of magicians, led by the famous Sorgul, one of the heroes of the wars with the Dark Mage. In addition, they meet Karelia, Shale, Arundel, and Cindy - all of whom have been involved in great adventures of their own.

Sorgul turns out to be quite friendly and helpful. He has access to a Teleport spell that can take them a great distance - but only to places that he is familiar with. Sadly, he has never traveled across the mountains to the east, so he is unable to take them directly back to the resort. However, he explains that his friends Cale & Strachan possess the three disks of Odin - one of which has the power to teleport the group back to the resort.

Quite suddenly and unexpectedly, the party finds themselves within reach of not only their first quest (return to civilization), but also their second one (rescue the stranded people back at the resort). In a matter of days, their long quests could be finally over!

XP awarded: 2,000, Running Total: 48K for Dhersion/Vincent, 45K for Kesi/Bigby/Roget/Roderick, 43K for Aramil. Everybody except Aramil is now 10th level.