An untamed frontier. Dark cults. Fickle fey gods. Ravenous fiends. Nothing black powder and sorcery won't fix... . Timberlands Campaign Diary
While the primary party of heroes pondered on what thread of the waning princes’ plan to follow up on next, back at the Convent of Quiet Grace one of its original members received an urgent summons from Lady Ostara, the retired paladin in charge of the valley’s security. Gwaedd, the otterfolk bard, set to gathering a fresh group of heroes to answer the call. This included Cedwyn, another mustel and a shadow sorcerer with a murky background, and Nalyth, an eladrian echo knight wielding an accursed maul; The Feasing Maw. Both were members of the Second Horizon Exploration Company to which Gwaedd and the other heroes belonged. The trio were joined by two rabbit folk from the distant Field of Felled Giants. They were the paladin Shinâshè and artificer Freya. The leporidae women had heard tales of the dread direfly infection plaguing the Congressional Congress’ lands. As accomplished heroes among their people, they saw it as their duty to nip this potential threat in the bud.
The new troupe settled within the covenant’s chapel to speak to Lady Ostara and the gravely wounded tax collector Wren Holdfast. The shrewd woman was disappointed that none of the heroes she’d met were available (Sessions 20-23), but was still grateful that Gwaedd’s crew was willing to help. Wren explained that she, her two guards, and her prisoner Gerwald Knapp were traveling to the Grim Faced Bridge as expected. She was taking Gerwald to meet the respected paladin that was guarding the bridge, Ser Hademar Silvercrown. Ser Silvercrown had the ear of the colonies’ nobility and with his divine gifts could take Gerwald’s testimony against the Lord Mayor of Inniscrone, Levina Greye. Such testimony would then become all Wren would need to depose Levina and bring her to justice.
Alas, that was not meant to be. As the quarter approached the bridge they found hacked-apart corpses strewn about and were soon assaulted by Ser Silvercrown himself. The paladin didn’t speak, only grunted and howled. His armor and blade were caked with long-dried gore. Ser Silvercrown struck down Gerwald as the man pleaded for his life after killing one of Wren’s two guards. Wren and the remaining soldier foolishly attempted to stop the knight, but when it was clear all was lost the guard gave his life and gave Wren the opening she needed to flee. Despite her wounds, Wren tracked back to Hillsbrook Valley. She’d sent a missive to Wild, the tabaxi ranger who was nominally the captain of the party she’d met and received one in return to find aid at the Convent of Quite Grace. So, here she was.
Wren had little to offer in the way of gold to find out what had happened to Ser Silvercrown and the area around the Grim-Faced Bridge. But, she did offer two things. One, her gratitude and favor that would grant the heroes a powerful friend within the government. Second, she’d spotted Direflies and odd fey in the area as she escaped. No doubt, the Waning Court was behind this strangeness. She well knew the heroes wanted to see the dark fey dealt with. Gwaedd and the others readily agreed and prepared to head out the next day.
Overnight, Nayth perused the archives of the convent. He was an archeologist among the expedition company as well as a warrior. His keen interest in the lost Empire of Enuk’Lun was what led him to explore unclean ruins and become bound to The Feasting Maw. He discovered there was an old empire road on the west side of the Pond Peaks, the mountain range separating Hillsbrook Valley from the Grim-Faced Bridge and lands beyond. The road led to a series of ponds that gave the peaks their names. Perhaps there were some ancient Enuk’Lun relics there? It was something to keep in mind.
Gwaedd and the rest left Hillsbrook valley the following morning as planned. Autumn was in full swing with an early cold snap giving way to cool, crisp days. Still, as they approached the Pond Peaks two days later, winter storm clouds hung over the mountains. Undaunted, they continued.
As the party neared the top, they found it shrouded in thick hoarfrost. The ground was slick with a thin layer of melting snow. At the pinnacle, where most travelers rested for the evening, they saw figures and heard playful arguing within the fog. Concerned, but without any skulking skills, the heroes cautiously approached the scene as one.
A smattering of humanoid effigies carved from moonrock (reskinned gargoyles) stood silent guard, their heads very slowly turning to watch the heroes as they moved along. A swarm of grey-skinned pixies played within the mist, and once they noticed the mortals called out to their master. That turned out to be The Dragonfly Errant, a knight of the fey Golden Court. He and his friend, an Ebon Court fey named Baroness Moonseeker were trying to get an arbor juggernaut working. The Dragonfly Errant was happy to meet mortal folks, as he spent most of his time on the material plane. Cedwyn, using the false name of Lenore, chatted with the golden fey. He explained that his sister, Lady Last Hope for Spring, had brought news to the Golden Court of a Waning Court excursion on the mortal world. While the summer fey were very slow to recognize the autumn fey’s move as a threat, he and others had decided to act. The Dragonfly Errant was delighted to learn that Gwaedd had met Lady Last Hope for Spring before and recognized the mustel from her recounting.
Baroness Moonseeker was a dear friend of the Dragonfly Errant, despite the usual animosity between the summer and winter fey. The Ebon Court was already battling the Waning Court in the feywild, so there was more support there to open a front on the material plane, but their resources were too thin to make a definitive move at present. Baroness Moonseeker, who shyly and silently watched the mortals from behind the arbor juggernaut, had borrowed the war machine from a relative of hers. However, after producing a minor snow squall it had stopped working. The pair planned to block the pass through the Pond Peaks with an out of season storm to keep the various Waning Court forces from connecting. Once that was done, the fey partners were planning to check in on Baroness Moonseeker’s friend, the glastig that watched over the Pond Peaks, Lady Lichenclaw. Lichenclaw hadn’t been to court gatherings for quite some time, and the Ebon Court was worried about her. This lined up to a request from Wild’s ‘adoptive father’ The Mercurial Counselor that the ranger had chosen to ignore months ago (Session 9-10).
Sure of herself around any arcane device, even one of the feywild, Freya offered to take a look. As the rabbitfolk paced around the arbor juggernaut the others made small talk with the various fey. It didn’t take Freya long to find the problem. The war machine had three nodes which drained a magic item each for power. All three magic items had been depleted. The Dragonfly Errant laughed! Of course, they’d been given a machine low on power! He was shocked as the mortal heroes delved through their inventory to see if there were any magic items they could spare. Alas, Gwaedd had given the bag of holding to Wild and the unused magic items went with it.
The Dragonfly Errant stepped aside to speak to Baroness Moonseeker privately. From their body language and quiet tones, it was clear to the party that the two fey were sweet on one another but they suspected neither had expressed their feelings to the other. Baroness Moonseeker conjured a fist-sized diamond and gave it to the golden fey, who came back to the party. The Dragonfly Errant offered the gem out so the heroes could perhaps trade for it down at the Grim-Faced Bridge. He knew that the mortals had a festival there this time of year. As long as waning court intrusion there hadn’t ruined everything. The heroes worried that was exactly the case, but agreed to try. The Dragonfly Errant let them know the diamond was there to keep if they could not find any magic items. He was pleased that they wanted to help.
The champions spent the night amidst the fey and cold. Down the mountain pass, they could see the hellish crimson glow of direfly infestation all around the Grim Faced Bridge. They also watched with amusement as the two fey gravitated around one another despite being of different courts. In the morning, the heroes steeled themselves and headed down the mountain.
Shinâshè elected to scout the Grim Faced Bridge atop her paladin mount, Hibou - a griffin she’d raised from hatching. The rabbitfolk knight spotted the gore-smeared Ser Silvercrown. The fallen paladin paced the bridge, dragging his greatsword along. The causeway was strewn with bodies from commoners, merchants, and warriors. Unsurprisingly, direflies buzzed all around the structure too, their wasp-like hives covering the bridge’s ancient supports. After she reported back, the heroes wisely decided to avoid the knight for now.
They moved further to the north. The river was wide and fast, but with a combination of magic and resourcefulness, they were able to ford the river by temporarily freezing sections as they moved along. On the other side, they rounded through the woods. It wasn’t long, though, before their progress was stymied.
The whispers of direflies pressed from all sides and the fear-inducing mist of Gloom Bloom enveloped the heroes. Gwaedd quickly cast calm emotions to keep them from giving in to the oppressive dread. Swarms of the murmuring insects assailed the heroes from all sides, and worse yet Armillaria Dryads
warped out of the plentiful trees. The party found themselves separated and surrounded.
While largely outnumbered, the heroes employed a variety of skills to even the odds. Freya not only had her mechanical companion Remington but with each attack, she or the clockwork coyote landed an arcane jolt that helped finish the foes. Shinâshè and her mount Hibou fought in tandem, the reach of her glaive and the griffon’s claws and beak tore apart insects and plant women alike. Gwaedd kept the party inspired while Cedwyn summoned up spectral hounds to aid her as well as spread firebolts across the field. Finally, Nalyth summoned his echo and together they crushed their way through the remaining dryads.
It wasn’t long before the shroud of fear withdrew from the area and revealed it was a corrupted dryad grove. Within the center lay the corpse of Old Elery, the matronly dryad the other troupe had previously befriended in a past visit (Sessions 9-10). These heroes paid their respects, gathered the dryad’s magical bag of apples, and set the grove ablaze to cleanse the corruption. They put some distance in before settling in for a quick rest.
All of them knew it was only going to get worse from here.
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