Post by David on Feb 9, 2011 23:50:50 GMT -8
2/9/2011
Having rested after your first encounter with the vine creature and defeated the reaper that the persistent will-o-wisp brought to you, the party decided to attempt once more to recover the key from the fountain. To prepare for the water-snake guarding the key, you sent Mummyjohn and Josan outside to stretch a rope across the river, in case a party member was teleported out there again. This came in handy after Gwen had retrieved the key and was bitten by the serpent (and therefore teleported into the river). Watcher recovered the key from where it fell and rushed out of the room.
At Aeron'eth's urging, the party went to investigate the last remaining outbuilding. Noticing something strange about the door, the party came to understand that it was not actually one building but three, existing in different times or places or planes and all overlapping in the Feywild. Careful to not become separated in these three locations, the party investigated one of these buildings. Josan stayed behind so that the party would know for sure when they had returned to their original location. Gwen experienced one of the other buildings briefly, and described it as a place of desolation and screams.
The building in which the party ended up appeared to be a decrepit dungeon, with all its traps sprung and few if any treasures left to plunder. Of note was a stone statue of a demon head on one wall. It seemed at one point there was something magical in or about its mouth. The only item of note that was retrieved from this dungeon was a small porcelain statue of a gnome making a rude gesture. Proceeding through the dungeon, the party found itself once again in the Feywild, in a small courtyard where lay the dead bodies of a previous group of adventurers. Noticing Josan on the other side of a dense group of bushes, the party hacked their way through to rejoin him.
At this point, Watcher seemed fed up with the odd multilocated building and insisted upon taking another run at the ivy creature. Along the way, the party stopped once again in the tapestry room, where Aeron'eth figured out the function of the tapestry in which the key was pictured along with a great door. Upon pressing the key to the lock in the picture, a resounding *click* sounded through the chamber.
Seconds after you solved the tapestry puzzle, Josan disappeared with a loud crack of thunder. Moments later lighting began sparking in that place, gradually coalescing into a hooded figure with a bow slung across her back and glowing blue scars running out of her cloak down the backs of her hands.
The party readied for battle, but hesitated once they recognized the figure as Bren's deputy, Valna, smiling up at them with what looked like relief as the scars on her arms slowly faded. She looked much more worn and tired than the last time you saw her, with her cloak in tatters and her clothes little more than layers of rags.
When questioned, she claimed to have been sent by Gydd, although how Gydd would know your exact location wasn't clear. Valna seemed disconcerted when she was informed that her arrival had displaced Josan, and even more so when she realized the party had not yet defeated the Ivy Heart (as she called the ivy creature the party had encountered).
With Valna's assistance, the party completed this task, defeating also a few (relatively weak) giant spiders that had taken up residence in the ivy.
When the creature was defeated, Valna pleaded that the gem at the end of one of the creature's stalks be destroyed, which Watcher did. In explanation, she made vague reference to how "he" could almost certainly see through such gems. When asked who "he" was, she indicated that the party would be better off not knowing, so as to not be perceived as an immediate threat to some larger plan, since "he may yet be listening." Valna then turned to Watcher as her scars began to once more glow blue. She said "Time... there was supposed to be more time..." "Take this," she said, handing Watcher an invisible dagger. "Go to Sharn, find a place where the barriers are already weak and cut through. This will want to go home."
She had to raise her voice at the end as lightning crackled up and down her arms, glowing blue, then green as she gradually became shrouded in mist. With a final flash, she disappeared, to be replaced in a peal of thunder moments later by a harried looking Josan.
Together once more, the party proceeded through the now open door beyond the chamber of the Ivy Heart...
Having rested after your first encounter with the vine creature and defeated the reaper that the persistent will-o-wisp brought to you, the party decided to attempt once more to recover the key from the fountain. To prepare for the water-snake guarding the key, you sent Mummyjohn and Josan outside to stretch a rope across the river, in case a party member was teleported out there again. This came in handy after Gwen had retrieved the key and was bitten by the serpent (and therefore teleported into the river). Watcher recovered the key from where it fell and rushed out of the room.
At Aeron'eth's urging, the party went to investigate the last remaining outbuilding. Noticing something strange about the door, the party came to understand that it was not actually one building but three, existing in different times or places or planes and all overlapping in the Feywild. Careful to not become separated in these three locations, the party investigated one of these buildings. Josan stayed behind so that the party would know for sure when they had returned to their original location. Gwen experienced one of the other buildings briefly, and described it as a place of desolation and screams.
The building in which the party ended up appeared to be a decrepit dungeon, with all its traps sprung and few if any treasures left to plunder. Of note was a stone statue of a demon head on one wall. It seemed at one point there was something magical in or about its mouth. The only item of note that was retrieved from this dungeon was a small porcelain statue of a gnome making a rude gesture. Proceeding through the dungeon, the party found itself once again in the Feywild, in a small courtyard where lay the dead bodies of a previous group of adventurers. Noticing Josan on the other side of a dense group of bushes, the party hacked their way through to rejoin him.
At this point, Watcher seemed fed up with the odd multilocated building and insisted upon taking another run at the ivy creature. Along the way, the party stopped once again in the tapestry room, where Aeron'eth figured out the function of the tapestry in which the key was pictured along with a great door. Upon pressing the key to the lock in the picture, a resounding *click* sounded through the chamber.
Seconds after you solved the tapestry puzzle, Josan disappeared with a loud crack of thunder. Moments later lighting began sparking in that place, gradually coalescing into a hooded figure with a bow slung across her back and glowing blue scars running out of her cloak down the backs of her hands.
The party readied for battle, but hesitated once they recognized the figure as Bren's deputy, Valna, smiling up at them with what looked like relief as the scars on her arms slowly faded. She looked much more worn and tired than the last time you saw her, with her cloak in tatters and her clothes little more than layers of rags.
When questioned, she claimed to have been sent by Gydd, although how Gydd would know your exact location wasn't clear. Valna seemed disconcerted when she was informed that her arrival had displaced Josan, and even more so when she realized the party had not yet defeated the Ivy Heart (as she called the ivy creature the party had encountered).
With Valna's assistance, the party completed this task, defeating also a few (relatively weak) giant spiders that had taken up residence in the ivy.
When the creature was defeated, Valna pleaded that the gem at the end of one of the creature's stalks be destroyed, which Watcher did. In explanation, she made vague reference to how "he" could almost certainly see through such gems. When asked who "he" was, she indicated that the party would be better off not knowing, so as to not be perceived as an immediate threat to some larger plan, since "he may yet be listening." Valna then turned to Watcher as her scars began to once more glow blue. She said "Time... there was supposed to be more time..." "Take this," she said, handing Watcher an invisible dagger. "Go to Sharn, find a place where the barriers are already weak and cut through. This will want to go home."
She had to raise her voice at the end as lightning crackled up and down her arms, glowing blue, then green as she gradually became shrouded in mist. With a final flash, she disappeared, to be replaced in a peal of thunder moments later by a harried looking Josan.
Together once more, the party proceeded through the now open door beyond the chamber of the Ivy Heart...