Well, Nightwind, Ja'Lil, Bram and I, Solon, were standing inside the cave entrance of the Temple of Gruumsh preparing to leave when we noticed a magical wave falling over the world. I noticed a slight change in all my abilities, gear, and knowledge. The others said that they had noticed similar changes as well. (This was the effect of converting from 2.5 edition to 3.5 edition)
Right before we departed the cave, we heard an alarm sound from the orc village tower and we all heard an orc-language coming from that direction. Nightwind translated for us what the voice was saying. The voice said,"Owlbears attacking from all sides. Battle positions. Battle positions." We saw groups of orcs leaving the village going north and south and one group, lead by some orc, was coming towards us. I think they saw us. There were ten orcs all together, but I couldn't tell which one was the leader. They all wielded falchions and each had two javelins. They all wore studded leather armor. It was a quick fight for the four of us. We looted what gear we could find and quickly left.
After defeating the orcs we made it out of the village and headed towards our horses, but we heard some growling before we got there. Bram, Nightwind and I spotted two owlbears hiding by our horses, which they must not have seen or heard or smelled, but they noticed us when we moved closer. The owlbears charged us and we had a hard time getting into position for a good attack. Nightwind and I took the fight to them and once I got my flank on them, we defeated them quite quick, but it was touch and go there for a while. I think I lost consciousness once after receiving a blow from the one owlbear.
We rested the night nearby under cover of the smell of dead owlbear and departed for Trynt in the morning. We were a slow moving group, especially with the seventeen survivors of the Temple. We made it to Trynt in four days. Found out that the full moon was in three days time. We made plans to make toward the Black Tree Ruins the next day, but for now we'll rest and get some needed gear and maybe do some upgrading on our gear.
We left the next day, and had an easy two days travel to where we think the ruins were according to the map. Luckily, Ja'Lil found some shiny stones that turned into a trail. We couldn't have found it without his help or the full moon's light. We followed the trail, which turned into a paved path and led straight to a covered wooden bridge, but the moonlight didn't shine inside. Nightwind, Ja'Lil, and I were all kinda weirded out by this, but Bram didn't seem to notice and walked straight inside the covered bridge with his lit up staff and disappeared. We called out and he answered back, like nothing was amiss. Apparently there was a magic field of glamour at the front of the bridge protecting what was on the other side. When we walked through, I noticed right away that the glamour field extended further than just the mouth of the covered bridge. We didn't see anything from outside the entrance that we could see now. First was the silvery path inside the bridge and extending up the thirty-foot hill with the ruins where the black tree could be seen. All of this was visible from this side of the bridge. The path was wide enough for one horse and it zig-zagged all the way up the hill. We entered the ruins through an archway wide enough for one horse.
Inside the ruins, we discovered a guard station, a ruined building, an old, torn-up, worn-down stable and a circle of stones around the awe inspiring black tree. I searched the guardhouse and told the others that it was recently built within the last three years, but hadn't been used for the last year. I hypothesized that maybe something lived here, but was now dead or gone. I then told the others of a story I had heard from the merchants back in our village of the people of the south who had gardens of rock and how they only used rakes to keep them clean and organized. I told them that these ruins reminded me of a garden of rock. How all the leaves were gone from the ground, no tracks anywhere, and that the only leaves were black and inside the circle of stones around the black tree. Nightwind investigated the circle of stones around the tree and then stepped over the circle of the stones. Outside the circle, the black tree appears to be only about thirty feet tall, but inside the circle, which I entered after Ja'Lil and Nightwind, appeared to be over one hundred feet tall and while it was only five feet from the circle of stones outside the circle it was now thirty feet away from us and it was almost thirty feet in diameter. It was maybe two feet thick on the outside of the circle. I immediately left the inside of the circle and was amazed to find that I could not see Nightwind or Ja'Lil inside the circle, but I could still talk to them like they were next to me. I convinced Bram to try and he couldn't step over the stones to get inside the circle. The others couldn't even hear his voice. Bram started investigating the stones around the tree. I translated what he said to the other side of the circle. I witnessed Bram studying the stones when he pulled out this little broom and started sweeping the stones. He wasn't saying anything and was going from stone to stone around the tree. He got to the last stone and passed out. I told the others and Ja'Lil came out to check on Bram. Ja'Lil woke Bram up and asked him what was going on. Bram then remembered what he had been doing and relayed the story of the symbols that were engraved into the stones to us.
Long ago, there was a beautiful Elven city here called Shyvalti. Many lived here and all were welcome. One day a traveling person entered the city and vanished. People remembered him entering, but didn't remember what he looked like or where he had gone or if he had left. Other people started vanishing. The royal court's investigators came in and searched high and low for the missing people. On the eighth day, the investigators found all the bodies, forty-seven in all underground in the cavern that supported the city's well. They also encountered the evil that had started living there. It was a very powerful Troll ************. The Royal Court's wizards came in and bound the evil inside the well and put five wards on the tomb of this evil. The first ward was the iron tomb that sealed the body of the monster. The second ward was the tree on the tomb around the body. The third ward was the invisible force field around the tree preventing any from touching it. The druids had come in to plant the oak tree on the tomb, but the evil inside the tomb made the tree black. They used their magic to make the tree grow, but the evil eventually made the giant tree all black including the leaves that fell from it. The fourth ward was the field around the circle of stones that prevented any non-Elf from entering near the tree. The fifth and final ward was the field around the city preventing all from seeing inside.
Bram also told us of the stone after the symbol for troll that was eroded away. He told us that magical symbols don't erode away. He also told us of the last stone he read before passing out. He told us that the last stone was in a different hand and that it was extremely evil. He said that the words on the stone were: I'm coming back. SOON!
After hearing this story, we all decided to go back to Trynt and send word to the Druids and hopefully prevent disaster from coming again.
Right before we departed the cave, we heard an alarm sound from the orc village tower and we all heard an orc-language coming from that direction. Nightwind translated for us what the voice was saying. The voice said,"Owlbears attacking from all sides. Battle positions. Battle positions." We saw groups of orcs leaving the village going north and south and one group, lead by some orc, was coming towards us. I think they saw us. There were ten orcs all together, but I couldn't tell which one was the leader. They all wielded falchions and each had two javelins. They all wore studded leather armor. It was a quick fight for the four of us. We looted what gear we could find and quickly left.
After defeating the orcs we made it out of the village and headed towards our horses, but we heard some growling before we got there. Bram, Nightwind and I spotted two owlbears hiding by our horses, which they must not have seen or heard or smelled, but they noticed us when we moved closer. The owlbears charged us and we had a hard time getting into position for a good attack. Nightwind and I took the fight to them and once I got my flank on them, we defeated them quite quick, but it was touch and go there for a while. I think I lost consciousness once after receiving a blow from the one owlbear.
We rested the night nearby under cover of the smell of dead owlbear and departed for Trynt in the morning. We were a slow moving group, especially with the seventeen survivors of the Temple. We made it to Trynt in four days. Found out that the full moon was in three days time. We made plans to make toward the Black Tree Ruins the next day, but for now we'll rest and get some needed gear and maybe do some upgrading on our gear.
We left the next day, and had an easy two days travel to where we think the ruins were according to the map. Luckily, Ja'Lil found some shiny stones that turned into a trail. We couldn't have found it without his help or the full moon's light. We followed the trail, which turned into a paved path and led straight to a covered wooden bridge, but the moonlight didn't shine inside. Nightwind, Ja'Lil, and I were all kinda weirded out by this, but Bram didn't seem to notice and walked straight inside the covered bridge with his lit up staff and disappeared. We called out and he answered back, like nothing was amiss. Apparently there was a magic field of glamour at the front of the bridge protecting what was on the other side. When we walked through, I noticed right away that the glamour field extended further than just the mouth of the covered bridge. We didn't see anything from outside the entrance that we could see now. First was the silvery path inside the bridge and extending up the thirty-foot hill with the ruins where the black tree could be seen. All of this was visible from this side of the bridge. The path was wide enough for one horse and it zig-zagged all the way up the hill. We entered the ruins through an archway wide enough for one horse.
Inside the ruins, we discovered a guard station, a ruined building, an old, torn-up, worn-down stable and a circle of stones around the awe inspiring black tree. I searched the guardhouse and told the others that it was recently built within the last three years, but hadn't been used for the last year. I hypothesized that maybe something lived here, but was now dead or gone. I then told the others of a story I had heard from the merchants back in our village of the people of the south who had gardens of rock and how they only used rakes to keep them clean and organized. I told them that these ruins reminded me of a garden of rock. How all the leaves were gone from the ground, no tracks anywhere, and that the only leaves were black and inside the circle of stones around the black tree. Nightwind investigated the circle of stones around the tree and then stepped over the circle of the stones. Outside the circle, the black tree appears to be only about thirty feet tall, but inside the circle, which I entered after Ja'Lil and Nightwind, appeared to be over one hundred feet tall and while it was only five feet from the circle of stones outside the circle it was now thirty feet away from us and it was almost thirty feet in diameter. It was maybe two feet thick on the outside of the circle. I immediately left the inside of the circle and was amazed to find that I could not see Nightwind or Ja'Lil inside the circle, but I could still talk to them like they were next to me. I convinced Bram to try and he couldn't step over the stones to get inside the circle. The others couldn't even hear his voice. Bram started investigating the stones around the tree. I translated what he said to the other side of the circle. I witnessed Bram studying the stones when he pulled out this little broom and started sweeping the stones. He wasn't saying anything and was going from stone to stone around the tree. He got to the last stone and passed out. I told the others and Ja'Lil came out to check on Bram. Ja'Lil woke Bram up and asked him what was going on. Bram then remembered what he had been doing and relayed the story of the symbols that were engraved into the stones to us.
Long ago, there was a beautiful Elven city here called Shyvalti. Many lived here and all were welcome. One day a traveling person entered the city and vanished. People remembered him entering, but didn't remember what he looked like or where he had gone or if he had left. Other people started vanishing. The royal court's investigators came in and searched high and low for the missing people. On the eighth day, the investigators found all the bodies, forty-seven in all underground in the cavern that supported the city's well. They also encountered the evil that had started living there. It was a very powerful Troll ************. The Royal Court's wizards came in and bound the evil inside the well and put five wards on the tomb of this evil. The first ward was the iron tomb that sealed the body of the monster. The second ward was the tree on the tomb around the body. The third ward was the invisible force field around the tree preventing any from touching it. The druids had come in to plant the oak tree on the tomb, but the evil inside the tomb made the tree black. They used their magic to make the tree grow, but the evil eventually made the giant tree all black including the leaves that fell from it. The fourth ward was the field around the circle of stones that prevented any non-Elf from entering near the tree. The fifth and final ward was the field around the city preventing all from seeing inside.
Bram also told us of the stone after the symbol for troll that was eroded away. He told us that magical symbols don't erode away. He also told us of the last stone he read before passing out. He told us that the last stone was in a different hand and that it was extremely evil. He said that the words on the stone were: I'm coming back. SOON!
After hearing this story, we all decided to go back to Trynt and send word to the Druids and hopefully prevent disaster from coming again.
No comments:
Post a Comment