Session 19: Tempest, Volodar 31

 The group made their way through the path in the forest they thought would get them back to Garth. They tried their best to do so stealthily, and despite their best efforts and slow moving, they found it quite difficult to move quietly, due to the extensive debris on the forest floor, and thick brush they were constantly running into. As it became darker, the forest looked less and less familiar. Was this the tree we just passed? I don’t remember seeing this rock before, this must be the way! Wait, we just came from here…

The party was lost. After many hours, they realized they had to set down camp, or become exhausted. As they debated what to do, they started hearing noises coming from the forest surrounding them. The noises were getting closer. Within seconds, they found themselves surrounded by a large and hungry pack of wolves.

The group hacked and slashed through the wolf pack with ease, however just as they thought they were almost safe, they were approached by a bat, who then turned into a man, who said: “ah, how I love when food makes its way to me!”.

The party began fighting against this creature. He seemed resistant to their normal weapon attacks, as well as necrotic damage. He also seemed to very quickly heal from his wounds. Luckily, some of the party members remembered that vampires are sensitive to running water, and Lenny also made good use of holy water. The vampire didn’t seem to heal as well after Lenny splashed him with it. Ultimately, the party was able to carry the vampire to a nearby creek and hold him in the water until they defeated him. Hazel spotted some beautiful glowing flowers that grew on the creek’s margins. She picked two of them to try to study later.

After this battle, the party definitely felt like they needed to rest, and set up Lenny’s Magic Hut on the north margin of the creek. They decided to just have a short rest, and while they were doing so, Lenny noticed a person coming out of the tree line on the south margin of the creek. The person looked around for a while and then returned to the trees. When Lenny conveyed this to the group, Hazel got very curious about who this person might be. She decided to infuse some marbles with a magical scent that mimics blood. She then proceeded to throw the marbles across the creek and rush back into the hut to see what would happen.

A few seconds passed. Nothing. And then the person came out again, apparently sniffing the air. And then another. And another. And a total of 7 people came out of the woods looking for something, apparently drawn by the scent of the marbles. One of them picked up one of the marbles and showed it to the others. They seemed to communicate something and then rushed into different directions in what looked very much like a hunt.

Terrified, the party opted to stay in the hut until sunrise, and take a long rest. The night went on. Lenny noticed that some of the people may have gotten fairly close to the hut. But at least they weren’t discovered. Once the group had their rest, they made their way back to Garth the next morning. They rushed. And fortunately they made it back in time. Garth is still alive! He looks in very poor shape, however. Additionally, Garth is in the company of a silver-skinned dragonborn, who seems to be comforting him. Marvin sits beside this dragonborn.