- Long May He Reign
- Soliana Sends to the stable at the Moonveil Academy in Arrandale to order a carriage to come and get them from Lamara and take them back to Arrandale.
- Very very early the next morning, Ms Emmyth knocks urgently on Soliana's door saying there's something weird going on out at the stables.
- Soliana wakes up Zemma after throwing an overdress on over her nightgown and they head outside.
- The rundown stable is crackling with lightning.
- Soliana ritually casts Detect Magic and the lightning is crackling with Divination magic.
- Soliana does Message cantrips to Caleb and Niniel while Zemma runs out to get Poetry who is too far for the cantrip.
- Niniel says she is resistant to lightning, so she goes inside to take a look. She feels a wave of disorientation as she enters, and so does everyone else.
- She sees that the cairn she hid in there is shooting arcs of lightning into the structure of the dilapidated old stable.
- Niniel moves closer to the cairn, but as she approaches it it gets harder and harder to move and then there's a flash and suddenly everyone is sitting around a campfire.
- There is also another elf at the campfire. He is very confused about Niniel's sudden outburst about how she didn't touch anything and says they were hired to help him find and kill werewolves that killed his master (Morton Stanley).
- They are in the woods outside of Clarenville. No one in the original group knows where this is.
- Soliana conjures a Healing Elixir for the day since they are now hunting werewolves.
- Caleb starts shouting to try to draw werewolves to them.
- Despite all this, Zemma gets an idea of what direction the wolf howl they heard is coming from. And it's probably within a mile of their camp.
- Zemma and Poetry goes to sleep while all the elves and Niniel keep watch.
- After several hours, an arrow flies past missing Niniel. Niniel sends her angler fish dancing light in the direction the arrow cam from, but then something else attacks from the other side of camp.
- There are at least three werewolves attacking.
WEREWOLF BATTLE
- Valar (guest elf) moves up to the closest werewolf and slices into him for 9 and then again for 5 slashing dmg.
- Werewolf1 moves up to Valar and misses then biting for 11 piercing dmg.
- Zemma runs around a tree flanking W1 with Valar turning into a rage kitty as she runs clawing W1 for 10 slashing dmg then she misses.
- Poetry moves forward a little bit and then summons Ember within 10' of W1 a nd W3, but also Zemma and Valar. Most everyone takes 4 (half) fire dmg. Ember throws a Flame Seed at W1 hitting for 14 fire dmg.
- W2 moves up to Valar and misses then bites for 14 piercing dmg.
- Niniel summons a tentacle out of the side of the tree next to W1 and misses smacking it. Then she Eldritch Blasts W2 for 24 force dmg and then again for 11 force dmg.
- W3 bites Valar for 10 piercing dmg but misses with its claws. Niniel's tentacle shoves it aside so it wasn't as bad as it could have been (Niniel's reaction).
- Caleb moves around to see around Soliana and misses throwing a psychic knife at W2 twice.
- Soliana casts Magnify Gravity on W2 and W3. W2 gets pull 10' and takes 10 force dmg and its speed is halved, but W3 takes 5 force dmg and has not speed reduction. She then moves over to Valar putting the Healing Elixir into his hand and then moving away again.
- Valar swings at W1 that he is flanking with Zemma on for 11 slashing dmg then he misses. Then he Action Surges and attacks again for 20 slashing dmg and again for 12 slashing dmg.
- W1 bites Valar for 18 piercing dmg and Valar has 1 HP! W1 then turns and claws Zemma for 4 slashing dmg.
- Zemma claws W1 for 8 slashing dmg. Then she misses. Then she claws it again for 11 slashing dmg.
- Poetry casts Wither and Bloom on all the werewolves and also on Valar. W1 takes 8 necrotic dmg, W2 and W3 take 4 necrotic dmg. Valar regains 11 HP. Ember throws a Flame Seed at W1 for 4 fire dmg.
- W2 runs over to Zemma and misses biting her. Then it claws her for 10 (5) slashing dmg.
- Niniel orders her tentacle to smack W1 but it misses. Niniel moves around the tree she had ducked behind and then Eldritch Blasts W1 for 19 force dmg killing it! Her other Eldritch Blast hits W2 for 11 force dmg.
- W3 bites Valar for 9 piercing dmg and Valar and the werewolf missing clawing him with another Interposing tentacle helping. W3 turns to run and Valar manages to slash it for 17 dmg.
- Caleb runs around a tree to get line of sight to W2 throwing a psychic dagger into it for 27 psychic dmg.
- Soliana moves up to Valar missing with a third level Chromatic Orb then she moves back next to a tree.
- Valar slices into W2 for 7 slashing dmg and then again for 10 slashing dmg killing it!
- Niniel turns to look at the area where the arrow came from. She doesn't find anything.
- Valar looks at the two bodies of the werewolves, but he does find a letter that has a description of Morton Stanley and where to find him. So it looks like Morton's death was a hired kill.
- SHORT REST - Soliana conjures a new Healing Elixir giving it to Valar while Poetry bandages his bite wounds. He gets 13 HP from the healing elixir and then she conjures another one for the future.
- Once Valar is patched up, Zemma starts to follow the trail left by the werewolf that ran away. Following the trail is pretty easy at first, but then they are afraid they are lost, but then Zemma is sure she's on the right track.
- Shortly after dawn they come upon a small village of people going about their morning routines.
- Stardust flies through, but doesn't find anything suspicious.
- Niniel goes up to a lady whose gardening and asks if there is a place in the village to stay because she was lost in the woods. The woman asks if she saw the monster in the clearing and point Niniel in the direction of the clearing. It's west (not the direction they came from). The woman seems sad.
- Everyone heads in the direction of the clearing. Valar follows reluctantly. He really wants to questions more people.
- There is a section of forest that has been clear cut and is full of stumps.
- Everyone starts looking around and Poetry finds an axe that was left behind with an inscription on the side that MS Logging and Lumber. That is tucked into the Bag of Holding.
- Soliana sees that the stumps are oozing a green viscous liquid, and a few of them look blackened and decayed.
- Caleb finds some stumps that look like they have a sprouted sapling in the center of the stump.
- Soliana ritually casts Detect Magic and the green ooze is Necromantic.
- Niniel gather some of the ooze in an empty potion bottle.
- The ooze is only present on the stumps of the cut trees. There is none on any standing trees.
- They find the spot where the trees were dragged and loaded onto carts. It looks like it's back in the direction they came from.
- Stardust flies along the cart tracks to scout.
- The cart tracks go on a long way.
- Valar is complaining a lot.
- They head back to the small village and Niniel goes back to the woman who was gardening. Niniel asks if there was particular significance to that area of the forest.
- The woman just looks sad. She whispers to Niniel to go to the circle at midnight. The circle is to the north and not to be seen or we will be killed. She immediately goes back inside her house refusing to answer any more questions.
- Zemma finds someone who is doing some mending or building and starts immediately helping. They are apparently building a new chicken coop.
- Everybody else heads to the local tavern, the Spirits' Spirits. The innkeeper is Galvin Talbot.
- Niniel goes up to one of the old men and asks if he knows anything about the MS Logging and Lumber axe they found.
- He says he almost never leaves the bar, and Niniel can tell he is hiding something, but she can't tell if he is a werewolf.
- Soliana, Caleb, and Valar sit in the corner of the tavern and Trance.
- After that they head north into the forest.
- The village itself is deserted at this time of night.
- Pretty quickly they can see through the trees a large bonfire with a large crowd around it.
- Zemma climbs a tree.
- Niniel casts invisibility on herself and Poetry.
- Soliana ducks behind a tree and sends Stardust into the clearing to sit on an a branch and watches through her eyes and ears.
- Valar walks into the clearing milling about like he belongs there. (16 Deception)
- There is a stone alter in the clearing behind the bonfire.
- The crowd seems to be mostly just people from the town.
- Poetry notices there are carving in the trees. Five trees have what looks like it has a hand print about 36" above the ground. Higher up on the trees maybe 15-20' off the ground there are wolf heads carved into the trees. Between the hand prints and the wolf heads, each tree has a carving of one of the stages of human to werewolf transformation carved on it.
- Not long after everyone is in position, a large werewolf arrives with men who are carrying two very wounded werewolves who get placed on the alter. One of the wounded wolves is the one who ran away from their fight.
- The large wolf says to the crowd, "Our brothers have been injured in our fight. We fight to preserve the village and our way of life. We must help our brothers so they can continue to defend us." Or something like that.
- Five people approach each of the trees and put their hands on the hand prints while the rest of the crowd chants and sways rhythmically.
- The people touching the trees begin to moan in pain and their hands seem to sink into the trees. The next thing is that the eyes in the wolves' faces start to glow, and then glowing rays of magic shoot down onto the wolves on the alter, and you can watch them healing.
- Just as the two werewolves are sitting up looking around, someone on the edge of the crowd starts screaming and everyone turns to flip around and look and there are small, humanoid creatures with sharpened sticks for spears, fluffy, leafy bodies, and what looks like sticks growing out of their bodies. There are also some glowing clouds.
BATTLE à TROIS
- A Green Cloud of Ethereal Energy (GC1) moves into the crowd, surrounds someone, and starts to consume them.
- Werewolf1 darts through the crowd past Valar who slices into it with his sword as it goes by dealing 14 slashing dmg. W1 runs up to one of the fern-bodied guys and eviscerates the BlueFern1.
- Soliana runs around towards where she saw Caleb disappear and then casts Magnify Gravity at 2nd level next to the bonfire and gets two of the werewolves with 8 force and fire dmg. She then summons Grim's spirit next to the Werewolf Leader (WL).
- GC2 misses stabbing Valar.
- GC4 moves up into Zemma's tree and surrounds and starts to consume her dealing 9 necrotic dmg.
- Valar turns from where he was watching WL and slices into GC2 for 5 slashing dmg and again for another 5 slashing dmg.
- WL moves next to GC2 and bites and claws at the GC1.
- Poetry casts Scorching Ray at 3rd level on WL, three of which hit, for a total of 23 fire dmg.
- BlueFern2 moves up to Niniel and misses because she is invisible.
- W3 runs up to Caleb misses biting and then misses clawing as well.
- GC3 surrounds Valar and starts consuming him for 13 necrotic dmg.
- RedFern1 moves up to W1 and stabs for 6 piercing dmg
- RedFern2 moves up to W1 and misses.
- OrangeFern1 moves towards Poetry
- OrangeFern2 moves towards Poetry
- Caleb gives a sort of surrendering hand to W3 and runs around a tree to see Zemma and throws a psychic dagger at GC4 then misses again. W3 does not attack him as he runs away.
- W2 moves into the crowd up to GC1, but because of Soliana that's all he can do.
- Zemma turns into a Rage Kitty her first attempt to claw misses, but then she gets it for 7 slashing dmg. Her last attempt also misses.
- Niniel moves out of the crowd and casts Lightning Bolt on RF1, YellowFern1, and YellowFern2 for 26 lightning dmg incinerating all of them straight to ash. Then she summons a tentacle and hits GC2 for 3 cold dmg and -10' speed.
- GC1 misses W2
- W1 misses RF2.
- Soliana tells Caleb who is now next to her that she thinks they made a mistake attacking the werewolves, so she runs around Poetry and casts another Magnify Gravity killing both the OrangeFerns and dealing 10 force dmg to GC4
- GC2 hits Valar for 17 necrotic dmg.
- GC4 hits Zemma for 7 necrotic dmg with a helping nudge from Niniel's tentacle.
- Valar slices in WL for 9 slashing dmg and again for 6 slashing dmg. He Action Surges but misses the first attempt and then manages to slice into him again for 10 slashing dmg.
- WL turns to Valar and bites him for 15 piercing dmg then misses clawing him.
- Poetry summons Ember within 10' of GC1, GC2, GC3, and W1. Only W1 takes the 4 fire dmg. Ember throws a Flame Seed at GC3 but misses.
- BF2 moves up to Niniel and stabs her for 9 piercing dmg.
- W3 moves up to GC3 and next to Valar but because he has to weave through the crowd, so he can't attack yet.
- GC3 misses W3.
- RF2 stabs WL
- Caleb runs around between Soliana and Poetry and misses twice with his daggers. (This dice was put into the dice jail.)
- W2 misses its attacks.
- Zemma claws GC4 for 16 slashing dmg, then she misses, and then she claws it again for 7 slashing dmg.
- Niniel casts Misty Step and steps to the far side of a tree to get away from BF2 and Eldritch Blasts GC1 for 10 force dmg and then again for 10 force dmg.
- GC1 hits W2
- W1 eviscerates RF2
- Soliana runs around Caleb and Zemma fighting GC4 and casts another Magnify Gravity getting the three GCs for 18 force dmg each (They do not like force dmg.
- GC2 misses W1.
- GC4 hits Zemma for 13 necrotic dmg with help from Niniel's tentacle.
- Valar misses the WL then slices into him for 12 slashing dmg.
- WL misses biting Valar, then he claws him for 13 slashing dmg knocking him unconscious.
- Poetry casts Scorching Ray on GC4 hitting all three times for a total of 21 fire dmg, which kills it!
- BF2 starts stabbing civilians in the crowd.
- W3 moves up and misses biting GC3
- GC3 hits W3 for 9 necrotic dmg.
- Caleb moves up to Zemma's tree and throws two daggers missing twice. (Another die in the dice jail)
- W2 moves up to and attacks GC3 for some dmg Jeremiah never said aloud.
- Zemma leaps out of the tree landing amongst the crowd behind W3 clawing him for 9 slashing dmg and then missing then clawing him again for 12 slashing dmg. She then gives a loud Draconic Cry affecting W3, W2, and GC3.
- Niniel moves her tentacle missing GC3. Then she Eldritch Blasts GC2 killing it, and then sends the other bolt to GC2 but misses.
- W1 bites GC3 for some dmg.
- Soliana runs up closer to Caleb and casts Wither and Bloom such that GC3 takes 4 necrotic dmg and Valar can spend a Hit Die and gets 8 HP back.
- Valar stands up and slices in WL for 16 slashing dmg and then he misses.
- WL misses Valar twice.
- Poetry casts Scorching Ray only hitting once for 22 fire dmg killing GC3. Ember chooses not to attack the werewolves, but she does fly over next to Valar to try to get him out if he goes unconscious again.
- Everybody misses Valar
- Caleb runs along the edge of the crowd and throws a psychic dagger and BF2 where it is stabbing villagers and kills it. Then he calls out to the werewolves to knock it off. (19 Persuasion) W2 stands down.
- Zemma readies herself to attack if W3 if he attacks first.
- Niniel steps out from behind her tree and she casts Fog Cloud centered on Valar. Then she calls out "We said knock it off" channeling the Kraken to get everyone to stop (27 Persuasion check). For a brief moment of time tentacles spike out of her body before disappearing.
- W1 holds his action for now.
- Soliana just calls out, "Please! Please, can we just talk?!"
- Valar spins around confused.
Battle Paused
- Caleb asks what is going on with the grove?
- The werewolves do not answer, just breath heavily.
- Soliana calls out "We're not with the plant and cloud guys, just to be clear."
- One of the werewolves growls, "No, you're with the dirty desecraters."
- Niniel lowers the Fog Cloud and Zemma pounces on Valar to hold him back.
- The werewolves explain that the forest spirits were harvesting life energy to regrow itself.
- Caleb bonds with the werewolves over taking rich peoples' money but ignoring what they say if it's wrong and also being a viscious fighter who does best when he has friends in the fray. They suggest he try running naked under the light of the moon. Caleb thinks that sounds pretty dope.
- Soliana suggests they tie up a still squirming Valar and toss him into the tavern, then have Poetry cast some Plant Growth in the Clearing, and then the non-Valar part of the group heads back to the town with MS Logging and Lumber and convince them to stop taking the special trees.
- The WL offers to come with them to help with the "persuasion".
- It's decided that the werewolves will stay back to guard the trees and the group will go into the town several days away where the trees were taken.
- They rest in Galvin's tavern overnight.
- 2,500 XP ea for 16,500 total ea.
