Actual Play: Four Against Darkness III
The Continuing Adventures of the Chasm Crawlers
Quest: In Search of Herbs
Two days after they returned from the bat cave, the Crawlers received a missive from Lagis Moonscar summoning them to his tower. Lagis requested the party seek out a plant that he required for a potion. He promised to pay them ten gold pieces per bundle they return to him, and requested a minimum of ten bundles. The plant—Bloodwort—he told them, grows in a nearby enchanted forest: The Satyrs’ Grove, a day and a half journey east of the village. He described the plant as bearing nine white petals on a thin brown stem.
To the Satyrs’ Grove (day 16-17)
The journey back east passed through familiar terrain, and the Crawlers encountered no difficulties on the trek back to the forest. They reached the eaves of the Satyrs’ Grove at mid-afternoon on the second day out of Chasman (day 17), and, after a brief rest, entered the forest.
A trail led into the forest, and the adventurers pressed forward slowly. They searched the initial trail but did not find any trace of the plant they sought. Soon, they heard the sound of music wafting through the thick-boughed trees of the grove. Coming out into a meadow, they caught sight of the source of the tune: a merry gathering of goat-hoofed satyrs and bark-skinned dryads dancing around a smooth stump.,
The jaunty tunes ceased as the Crawlers entered the meadow, and all eyes turned to them. The silence in the forest was palpable, tinged with uncertainty and the unmistakable scent of fear. Calindis attempted to assuage the fae folks’ fears, but they could not be reasoned with. The gathering scrambled into the forest, disappearing amongst the trees and undergrowth.
The party moved north, down a well-worn trail and found themselves in a large clearing filled with waist high grasses and tall, yellow petaled flowers. At first, there seemed to be nothing of import in the clearing, but, as they moved toward another trail on the far side, Aria held up a hand in warning and the party stopped to listen. The sound of many hooves beating the ground, followed by panicked trumpeting, flooded out of the forest. An eight foot tall bloodstag stormed out of the trees, its massive antlered crown snapping low branches from trees as he passed. Following close on his trail was a herd of hinds and fawns. The bloodhinds were almost as tall as the stag, but lacked the majestic antlers. They screamed and galloped through the meadow, panicked and unthinking. The party just managed to sprint out of the way of the stampeding creatures.
The party's flight from the stampede startled a group of small, bramble treentlings—ambulatory bushes standing four foot high, bark-skinned, with thorn tipped appendages. Folgi and Artaeus immediately leapt to the offensive, reducing four of the six treentlings to splinters in seconds. Aria stabbed one of the bushes in the trunk. A thick yellow-green sap ran in thick rivulets as the creature died. Calindis slammed her staff down hard against the final treentling's crown, splintering wood and leaving the creature unconscious.
The trees opened up to a large, woodland lake. The water formed a rough crescent shape with a piece of land jutting into its center. The Crawlers, seeing nothing dangerous in the area, advanced out onto the causeway and to the jut of land. There, they discovered a stone bier flanked on either side by two tree trunks carved into the form of bears. Upon the bier, the party found six bundles of the plant they had been sent to find, as well as a single emerald (35gp), which Folgi took. They gathered the bundles of the bloodwort and returned the way they had come.
Facing the party down as they entered the winding woods once more was a seven foot tall creature they had only ever heard of in legends. The creature’s horse-flanks were black as midnight. His human half was bare chested, revealing well-muscled olive skin. The centaur drew back a massive bow and fired at Aria who happened to be closest. The rogue leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding being impaled by the arrow. Calindis acted quickly, even as Folgi and Artaeus charged the centaur. She raised the white-wood Wand of Sleep and willed it to release its magic. Purple light flew from the head of the wand and created a sparkling fog around the centaur's head. He swayed on his four powerful legs for a moment before crumpling to the ground, chest rising and falling in gentle rhythm. Aria stepped forward and took the centaur's discarded centaur’s bow and quiver, slinging them both over her back.
[Calindis gains a level, now 4th with 6 Life]
[Aria claims the +1 Centaur’s Bow and quiver of arrows from the sleeping centaur]
The party returned to the meadow where the stampede had trampled through only a few minutes before. They spent some time searching for more of the plant they needed, discovering enough of the white-petaled flower to collect seven more bundles, bringing their total up to thirteen. Before moving on, the party debates whether they would continue exploring the forest or return to Chasman (High/Low D6 = 2, leave).
In the clearing where the fae folk had gathered for their festivities, the party faced six satyrs armed with spears and shields. The lead satyr issued an attack order in their language. The satyrs charged even as Artaeus and Folgi advanced to attack. Their hammers slay one satyr warrior each. Aria’s dagger stabs into the hardened wood of a satyr’s shield. Calindis, standing back from the fray, spoke words of power and a flaming ball coalesced between her fingers as she weaved the magic into a potent fireball. She released the magic, sending the balls of flame spinning into the chests of two of the remaining satyrs, turning them to ash in an instant. The two surviving satyrs fled into the trees. Artaeus found a Scroll of Thorns1 on the body of one of the satyrs.
Back to Chasman (day 17-18)
The party left the Grove tired, but largely unharmed, and began their journey back across the wide plains toward Chasman. Just before nightfall, the party was accosted by nine raggedly dressed bandits. Folgi and Artaeus, now learning to fight as a unit, smashed their way through eight of the bandits before the outlaws could react. Aria bolted forward, frog-leaping over Folgi and slammed her dagger into the shoulder of the final bandit. She rolled to her feet behind the corpses and slung the blood from her blade. The rogue and dwarf loot the corpses for a total of eight gold pieces. They split the gold amongst the four of them.
By late afternoon on the next day (day 18), they arrived in Chasman and went straight to Lagis Moonscar’s tower. The wizard was grateful for their efforts and paid them one hundred and thirty gold pieces. They departed the wizard’s tower and returned to their rented home, splitting the gold four ways before settling in for a much needed rest. On the following day (day 19), Folgi visited Kelia’s General Store and sold the single emerald for thirty-nine gold pieces.
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Thorns (spell and scroll) is homebrew spell I designed for encounters with the nature magic wielding fae-folk of the Satyrs’ Grove. The spell is as follows: Thorns. This spell applies an aura of magical thorns to the caster. Whenever the caster blocks, or is damaged by, a physical attack the magical thorns apply 1 wound to a Boss, or kills 1 lesser enemy. This effect lasts until the end of combat.
Man I could really use that wand of sleep in my life. It would solve so many problems. No room on the train? Sleep. Manager said my project wasn't done on time? Sleep. Anxiety at night? You netter believe it, sleep.