Intro
The Symphony of the Trees followed the story of party after a local duke, named Duke Logan, begged them to deal with a noise complaint filed by citizens of a backwater village. He received numerous passive aggressive letters from them and didn't want to deal with it any longer. They insisted that there had been the incessant symphony of instruments being played within the forest. They said it echoed across the woods, always coming from the same direction. Nobody from the village had the courage to investigate it in person.
The party consisted of a masked ranger, a wizard, an old rogue, a blonde paladin, and a blonde wizard lady.
Plot
The party set off on their journey to the village who had filed the complaint. The village, named Brunswick, was located under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Vollachia. On their way to the village, they attracted the attention of a pack of wolves, which they eliminated with ease. This caused the party to begin to think that the task they had been assigned would be beneath them.
After traveling for a few hours, they finally reached the town, which was true to it's description - backwater. They interacted with a few villagers, one of which who eerily appeared to be The Chinese Mongolian. Most of them were irritable, overworked, and rigid. It was explained to the party by one villager that they had not been able to rest because of the sounds.
After a while in the village, an elderly villager offered the party to guide them to the source of the noise, which began to play at dusk every night. After following him, they arrived at the origin of the noise, basked in the evening light - the tip of a spire poking out of the ground, almost as if the rest of it were buried in the earth.
The party began to cautiously investigate The Spire, which had yet to activate. One of the party members discovered that there was conjuration magic present at the scene. They also discovered that there was footprints and animal tracks all leading to the spire, but never turning back. One party member cast a fire spell at the structure, but the party witnessed at it had dispersed, almost as if there was a force field around it.
After briefly discussing these findings, the party reached the conjecture that the spire's song had some sort of effect that could draw living creatures towards the spire. They also believed that making physical contact with the tower would trigger some sort of effect.
The blonde wizard lady decided to touch the tower, and the rest of the party witnessed as she promptly dissapeared. Shortly after, another member also did the same. The rest of the party discussed a solution, one suggesting to turn back and cut their losses. During this however, they had lost track of time, and the sun had already begun setting. Due to this, the spire had begun to emanate an enticing symphony.
The old man who had guided them there was the first succumb to its effect, and began walking towards it. A party member used hold person on the man in order to stop him. In the process of this, two other members were already being lured in by the spire, leaving the wizard and the old man left.
In a desperate attempt, the wizard decided to knock the old man unconscious and attempt to flee, but this failed as he was ultimately charmed by the symphony.
After touching the tower, the whole party found themselves in what looked to be the attic of the tower, however it appeared much bigger than it did on the outside. The party found a chest within the room alongside two mannequins. One of the party members decided to shoot one of the mannequins to test for a reaction. Sure enough, they sprung to life and began rigidly marching towards the party. The party disposed of them, one of them being thrown into an abyss that split the center of the room.
After the scuffle, the party opened the chest they had spotted earlier and found a ticket that read "Admission to the Symphony." The party found that this let them open the door within the room.
They found that the door lead to the small room that contained a rug, chair, and an armored statue. There was also a different door present. After opening it, the party was assaulted by a group of animated armors, one of which seemed to be a commander of sorts. The party fought with them, and ultimately succeeded in winning. A member of the party looted the armor from the commander.
In the middle of the room, there was a platform which could be reached by a ladder on the front or stairs on the side. On top, there was a chest and a hatch. Inside the chest, the party found a broken trumpet and a note that read "The door responds to the fallen trumpet's cry!" After attempting to use the trumpet, the locked hatch flew open, revealing nothing but darkness below.
After a scuffle between two party members, one of them was thrown into the abyss, finding themselves teleported to what looked like the interior of a stone fortress. After further discussions, the rest of the party followed. Shortly after arriving, the party heard the sniffing of an animal growing closer, which they decided to confront. They found themselves face to face with an ordinary wolf, which they managed to eliminate very quickly. However, in its death thralls, it cried out a yelp which seemed to attract the attention of various creatures in unseen parts of the building, as the party heard countless guttural howls.
The party prepared for an attack, and sure enough, a massive group of werewolves engaged the party. The ranger of the party used spiked growth in the hallway, temporarily halting the assault. A few of the enemies succumbed to the spell, but managed to alert the others of the danger. The werewolves retreated further into the halls, and for a minute, all was quiet. However after the spell ended, the fight resumed. The party attempted to flank the group of werewolves but another group, alongside what appeared to be the alpha of the pack, had surprised them with an attack from behind.
Fighting a battle on two fronts, several party members were grievously wounded, with one of them falling unconscious several times. Despite this however, the party managed to eradicate all of the werewolves with no casualties.
During the fight, the party realized that the wolves, much like the mannequins and armor, were moving very oddly, almost as they had strings controlling their limbs. However, the strangest part is that the werewolves were still completely alive, but it was as if their movements weren't of their own volition.
Entering the main chamber of the building, they found another chest which contained a drum and stick as well as a wand of secrets. After attempting to play the drum like they did with the trumpet, a part of the southeast wall erupted in a fiery explosion, completely blasting a part of it out, revealing a black void beyond.
Luckily, nobody was caught in the blast. After their hearing returned to normal from the deafening blast, a party member pointed out that both the trumpets and drum sections of the symphony that had been incessantly playing the entire time was gone.
After contemplation, the party decides to enter the black void, and they are brought to what appears to the lobby of an opera house. However, along with this, they were greeted with a horrific sight. In the midst of the room, what appeared to be a large creature resembling a wendigo stood. In front of it, appearing to be in immense suffering, were the villagers from before, on all fours. Much like the encounters before, their movements were all rigid and not of their choosing. However, this time, seemingly ethereal strands descending from the darkness above them attached to joints of each creatures body.
After registering this, the large creature initiated combat by charging at the party and releasing a deafening roar, which managed to paralyze a portion of the party. Continuing the fight, the members of the party who had not been affected to this engaged in combat while the others managed to slowly break out of their fear-induced paralysis one by one.
Being targeted by wendigo-esque creature, one of the party members was on the verge of death when he used the last of his strength to smite the creature with a blow by the likes of which any party member had never seen before.
In the aftermath of this, the old rogue in the party, separated from the rest, was assaulted by one of the villagers, who has been crawling on the floor in a disjointed position. It managed to incapacitate the rogue before the party could reach him, which immediately resulted in a wave of threads entangling his body and dragging him into the darkness.
The party regathered and began finishing off the hostile villagers, who were begging for death while at the same time attacking them. The crawling villagers didn't pose much of a threat to the group.
After clearing the room, the remaining party members began walking towards a large door in the back of the room, which had yet another chest in front. Inside, they found an off tune flute as well as a broken violin. Knowing what to do, they played the instruments one by one, which each destroyed a lock on the door, as it slowly opened. The only sound that could be heard now was the ticking of a clock encompassed in ever present silence. Seeking to avenge their fallen member, the group moved forward.
They found themselves in front of a stage, with The Old Man from before, his back turned raising a conductor's wand to a mass of glowing strings above him which spread out across the room in every direction. After a moment, without turning around, he said "I fear that the show has come to an end.. however, I managed to gain one new toy."
He then dropped the wand and turns to the group, bursting into a sprint towards them, laughing manically the entire way. He attempted to punch one of the members, but he was stabbed by her and falls to the floor. Dying, he uttered "Come listen to the symphony again!" and he snapped his fingers. Much like the rogue from earlier, strands quickly enveloped him and dragged him off. Back where he dropped the wand, the members of the party found a watch and the conductors wand, which happened to be a magical arcane focus.
Investigating the watch further, they found that the ticking was emanating from it, although the sound had recessed back to a normal range now. The party discovered that instead of a hand telling time, the 'watch' was actually a compass, but behaved much like a watch. When turned, it would point in a consistent location as it ticked in its direction. The party also found a switch that ejects a slot out of the watch-compass, showing an image of a man and a woman, who they presumed to be the man and his deceased wife, as they recalled him talking about her passively earlier during their walk.
Shortly after this, they found that their surroundings were being warped into where the previous location of the spire was. It was midday whenever they returned, however the spire, the villagers, and the old rogue were nowhere to be seen. The party members, shocked and exhausted, decided to head back to the village. As if they hadn't already dealt with enough, they found that the village was now decrepit and long abandoned, appearing to have been manipulated with some sort of illusion magic.
Dejected, the party returned to Duke Logan's quarters to collect their reward. They lied about what they had seen, reasoning that they would never be believed. Just before exiting, the masked ranger from the party, in a moment of utter surprise, turned to Duke Logan, declaring: "The Black Ops send their regards," before shooting him point blank with a crossbow. The Duke collapsed to the floor, choking on his blood with an arrow in his neck. Shortly after this, armored footsteps could be heard running through the halls, along with the shouts of guards.
It is currently unknown what happened after this point.