Addermarch Campaign - Session 22

Timeline

• May 30, 1715 DR, afternoon: The party traverses Thornweald, following the river road. Along the way they escape the influence of enchanted drumming, and cross a river while fighting off two displacer beasts. During a brief rest on the far bank, Fazoth’s pseudodragon familiar finds Gwydren.
• May 30, 1715 DR, evening: The party convinces Gwydren to guide them, hears more of Caradoc’s adventures in the Feywild, and rests at Gwydren’s camp.
• May 31, 1715 DR, morning: With hunters nearby, Gwydren leads the party to Old Brindlethorn’s sett, where they soothe the sleeping badger enough to enter her tunnels.

Cast of Characters

• Yvan Greenrabbit - A halfling wild-magic sorcerer.
• Drou - Elven bard-monk.
• Fazoth de Brune - Human warlock-alchemist, accompanied by his pseudodragon.
• Gwydren - A moose-like forest dweller who agrees to guide the party to the Singing Tree.
• Old Brindlethorn - A cottage-sized female badger whose enchanted nightmares leave her blocking the entrance to her sett.
• Aurenxis / Caradoc - The alchemist whose youthful Feywild adventures Gwydren recounts.
• Lady Calanthë - The archfey whose boon rewarded Caradoc’s rescue of a captured knight, mentioned in Gwydren’s story.
• Harrow and Wend - The nightmare archfey whose realms lie beyond the Sunset Gate, mentioned in the discussion of Sunward Reach.
• The Gloomshaper - The archfey whose hunters are heard in the forest.

Places

• Thornweald - The Briarheart’s forest domain in the Feywild. The party travels to:
  • The river road and crossing - A woodland path leading to a swift river about sixty feet wide, with forest overhanging its banks.
  • Gwydren’s camp - A tent and fire among the great trees rising above the forest canopy.
  • Old Brindlethorn’s sett - A network of tunnels that Gwydren knows as a shortcut to the Singing Tree.
• Sunward Reach - The fortified fey realm where Caradoc earned Lady Calanthë’s boon, mentioned in Gwydren’s story.
• Darkfall - The realm from which Caradoc rescued a captured knight, mentioned in Gwydren’s story.

Narrative

Sunday, May 30th, 2 Robert I

The party continues down the river road, hoping to find Gwydren among the great trees on the far side of the river. After about an hour, they hear magically compelling drums from within the forest, off the path. Drou and Yvan resist their enchantment, but Fazoth is charmed and wanders towards the music. Yvan tries to grab him and fails, but Drou’s drumming partially counters the effect, giving Fazoth enough control to use Misty Step and cling to a nearby tree, holding himself in place until he breaks the enchantment. The party nearly loses the road in the confusion, but finds it again and continues, passing quietly beneath a fallen tree without investigating the skittering overhead, which goes silent after they call out a greeting.

The road ends at a swift river, about sixty feet across and overhung with trees. Drou summons a giant constrictor snake with her Staff of the Python to carry everyone across, but two hidden displacer beasts ambush them as they prepare to leave. One nearly knocks Yvan unconscious with its opening attack. Fazoth’s Witch Bolt misses, but Drou’s Dissonant Whispers and Yvan’s Scorching Ray wound a beast as the party scrambles aboard the snake. Both beasts follow into the river, flanking the party as they cross. Further spells badly wound one, and by the time the party reaches the far bank, both abandon the pursuit.

While the party rests, Fazoth’s pseudodragon searches the trees rising above the canopy. After a couple of hours, it finds Gwydren’s tent and fire, and the party sets out for the tree, with Fazoth leading them through the woods guided by his pseudodragon high above the canopy.

Gwydren is an eight-foot moose-like humanoid, with light brown fur, broad antlers hung with moss, and robes of plants and lichen beneath a woven fern cloak. He is suspicious of outsiders and fears the dangers of the forest. The party mentions Lord Serenveil, their plan to return the Singing Tree’s heart, and Caradoc, whom Gwydren knows as Aurenxis. Yvan’s sincere appeal and Drou’s impressive performance, supported by Yvan’s illusions, convince him that they are trustworthy and can keep him safe. He agrees to guide them.

Gwydren also tells them more of Caradoc’s youthful adventures in the Feywild. Traveling as Aurenxis, he visited Sunward Reach, a fortified realm between the Briarheart’s domain and the nightmare realms of Harrow and Wend beyond the Sunset Gate. After a raid left a prominent knight captive in Darkfall, Caradoc ventured in and rescued the knight, earning a boon from Lady Calanthë – the vine-covered wand he gave the party that can summon her aid. But the rescue also marked him in the eyes of Harrow and Wend’s agents, and he now fears they will hunt him if he returns.

After vegetable stew, roasted carrots, and honeycomb, the party spends the night at Gwydren’s camp.

Monday, May 31st, 2 Robert I

The next morning, a wolf’s baying and hunting horns announce the Gloomshaper’s hunters, seeking the heart, presumably to chaos in the Feywild for their own malicious reasons. Gwydren hurries the party towards a shortcut through Old Brindlethorn’s tunnels, warning them to be polite and leave her bedrooms alone. They find the cottage-sized badger blocking the entrance, thrashing in an enchanted nightmare that seems aggravated by the Singing Tree’s corruption and increases in violence when Fazoth, carrying the fey heart of the Singing Tree, approaches.

Yvan tries to push her aside or wake her, but catches a flailing claw; Drou’s rousing music has no effect, though suggests she can sense the party around her in her dreams. Realizing they cannot wake her, the party changes tack and tries to soothe her instead. Drou plays soothing music while Yvan uses Prestidigitation to create the scent of fresh soil. As she calms, Yvan slips past with the heart and carries it farther down the tunnel, hoping that moving the fey heart far from her will lessen her distress. This, combined with Drou’s soothing music, seems to be working until Yvan tries to sneak into her bedroom. He does this loudly and obviously, provoking another burst of agitation that catches Drou with a claw, but is short-lived, for after the swipe, she calms enough for everyone to get through.

We end as the party and Gwydren enter Old Brindlethorn’s tunnels.