Excerpt from Discord
On reporting back to Hurst, he seems impressed by your deeds.
"You got to the bottom of that in no time, and knocked off a few of those cultists to boot. Shame the boss got away though--Odako is a known menace to the authorities here. But you've proved yourself enough for me."
He leads you to the secret room, offers a seat to you all, and explains a few things. He mentions how he actually runs his own mercenary group. That's how he gets the Returners involved with missions into the forest and other areas, without giving away their true intentions. He then gives you some of the intelligence he's recently received.
"We've found some ancient scriptures from the kingdom of Symbaroum itself. It was hard to decipher, and parts are missing, but it alludes to the fact that they were not native to this world. There are suggestions that they somehow travelled here from another place. There were mentions of portals, and even ships of some kind. We couldn't understand anymore than that. Make no mistake--this is some of the most hopeful news we've ever had.
"From what we can tell, they landed somewhere near the ancient capital itself - Symbar. We don't have a location for Symbar yet, but that's the next logical step. Getting out there, exploring the forest, and finding information on where it might be.
"I'm going to get you some merc work, and we'll use that as cover for the investigation. It won't all be in the forest unfortunately. We need to take what we can get. Your next job is promising though. We've had Ordo Magica contact us. They were actually investigating the same tomb where the kings skull came from--it might even still be ripe with treasure. They've had no response back from the investigating party, and they want us to find out what's happened there, and rescue them, if need be."
To get to the ruins, the party could choose between an arduous ten day forest trek or a day's ride to Kurun with a three day boat trip (river, lake, river) to get to the ruins. They opted for the shorter, safer option, at the price of extra cost for passage on a boat (more pricey than paying for a guide).
They got to Kurun with no issues, and opted for the cheaper of two options, a much dodgier looking boat. Wulf managed to haggle the price down as well. Wesley (the captain) was only going as far as Karvosti (to drop off some barbarians) via Jakaar, but was convinced to take them further up the Malgomor river, to the ruins. They decided they would make their own way back, downstream via raft.
The trip was uneventful until they were on the river within Davokar. They experienced the forest for the first time. It was denser than they realised, although some light still penetrated. There was a deep sense of forboding, and the crew seemed on edge. There was an eeriness unlike any the party had experienced back home, with many unexplained sounds, and mist rising up from the undergrowth. Close to the drop-off, they were ambushed by four blight fairies. Fortunately, Wulf spotted them early, and the repulsive creatures were easily beaten. Wesley explained that they were the results of corrupted Spring Elves.
They were dropped off near to the Ordo Magica outpost, as night set in. The forest was thicker here; the sun not penetrating--they were in dark Davokar. They said their farewells to the crew, and then got a good night's sleep on the river bank. They approached the outpost the next morning, as it started to pour with rain. Visibility was poor, but the party managed to spot six mare cats hanging around outside the palisade and gatehouse of the outpost, before they themselves were spotted. Hiding in the forest, away from the riverbank, the party's smell still attracted three of the cats, but this meant that they could deal with them whilst only taking minor damage. Lanky and Maddox took some hits and were poisoned, but Wulf hid up a tree, firing arrows down.
By this point, two of the other mare cats were asleep, and this meant they could also be dealt with, using a bit of stealth - no thanks to Wulf's clumsiness. But the final cat was gone - it had breached the palisade's barbed wire, and screaming could be heard from within. They rushed in, and barely managed to save two novice mages from the beast. One of them was severely injured, and they bandaged her up as best they could.
They introduced themselves as Marla and Plendel, and thanked the party for saving their lives. The novices explained that everyone else had gone further into the forest to the main HQ, which was at the most intact ruins in the area, an old keep, which was also closer to the king's tomb. Magister Senia had sent an expedition in to enter the tomb two weeks ago, and upon not hearing back had gone in full force a week back. The two novices had heard from no-one in a week, which was deeply worrying--they were expecting more contact--and so had been forced to lock themselves in the outpost. One of the novices drew up a map of the area. It showed:
- The outpost
- The main HQ
- The tomb
- A sinkhole
They explained that the sinkhole was an unnatural phenomenon that had appeared in the last few months, and the mages were unsettled by the magical energies emanating from it.
The party decided to head for the HQ, in order to see if any more survivors could be found, and to find out why the magic circle was not functional. On the walk, they came across strange, fifty pace wide streaks of dead land, within the lush surrounding vegetation Every living plant and tree in these streaks were dead, but with leaves still attached. It was unlike anything they'd ever seen, and they detected an ancient evil magic behind it. Only one type of purple flower had survived in it.
As they approached the keep, Wulf spotted some goblins wandering in. They got closer to the palisade, and found no more sign of anyone about. Lanky bashed the gate in, and saw no-one in the courtyard. As he had a rudimentary understanding of the goblin tongue, and an affinity with goblins, he approached the keep alone, while Wulf and Maddox hid. This proved to be a good choice. He was met at the door of the keep by goblin archers, and their chieftain Gabba Bigpaw and his shamen and sister, Njegg. He managed to talk his way in without reverting to violence, due to his appearance of a forest folk. Gabba agreed that Lanky could stay for a few days, if he so chose.
The goblins were less civilised than those the party had seen in the towns; they had never been outside of Davokar (and they'd not long arrived there even). Lanky then learnt the following from various goblins:
- They were the Urrbukktur clan from the Underworld, but some evil being they called the Fangafa, Queen of Thorns had attacked them and forced them up to the surface, killing many of their clan in the process.
- They had further been attacked by a Xanatha, killing even more.
- They were now living the the keep, using it as a refuge. Gabba was keen to stay there, but his sister was keen to leave, worried by the ramblings of the crazed human in the magic circle room (see below).
- They referred to the dead streaks of land as the Creeping Darkness, but didn't know anything about it.
- The goblins mentioned a human camp, about an hour the other side of the tomb, who had attacked the keep, but had retreated. They said these weren't mages, but their description made them sound more similar to dark cultists.
Lanky found the crazed human in the magic circle room, but did not step into the circle. There were seven dead humans stacked in the room, thay all appeared freeze dried, as if they'd been frozen dead for decades. Five were mages and two adventurers, and it appeared they'd met the same fate as the dead vegetation. The man was crazy, and raved that that the darkness had been going to take him, but he'd been saved by a spider that came from above, with a kiss of life that saved him. He was calling this spider a god, and handing out drawings depicting the sun of Prios, but with eight legs. The man had bite marks that could have been from a spider.
Lanky found a journal on the floor, it revealed than the man was Tonsel, the Ordo clerk. It said that the mages had been staying at the keep, and that some had entered the tomb but had not come back, and that another party had gone in to investigate. It also talked about a freezing cold darkness that had penetrated, killing those left in the keep, and then made more reference to Tonsil being saved by a spider.
Lanky left to retell all of this news to the others, now they had to decide what to do next... Possible leads and things to consider:
- The sinkhole, with emanating magic that concerned the mages.
- A "Creeping Death" killing all life it touched.
- A giant spider, attacking the goblins, and somehow saving Tonsil from the creeping death.
- The "Queen of Thorns", a primeval being, forcing the goblins to the surface.
- The cultist camp, other side of the tomb.
- The tomb itself.