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- 02. Honey Queen
- 03. The Vengeful Heart
- 04. Challenge of the Fang
- 05. The Griffon Hatchling Heist
- 06. Gall of the Spider Crone
- 07. Blood and Thorns
- 08. Grandmother's Fire
- 09. The Vengeful Dragon
- 10. The Battle for the Eastern Heart
01. Hollow
As the heroes passed by Levoca Village, they heard that a child had gone missing. The missing child was, unfortunately, killed by a swarm of bees. That night the heroes saved several farmers from wolf attacks. It became clear that wild and domesticated animals were acting very aggressive.
The following night they witnessed, along with the rest of the town, the Hollow Man behead a villager and parade it around before nearly killing the hero Aldrik the Fierce.
On the next night, the heroes were able to defeat the Hollow Man, by playing football with a villagers head and tripping the Hollow Man into a prepared fire pit. In the morning, all that was left was Harvester, the Hollow Man's sickle. Despite this victory, something is still upsetting the animals in the village . . .
After successfully defeating the Hollow Man, the party thought their work was done. The next morning (over breakfast with Vidanya and Petrik who asked a lot of questions about adventuring) it became clear the animals in Levoca were still agitated.
With the assistance of a pig, Sir Oink, the party headed out to find the source. On the way they met Mother Molvor who gave them an odd Unknown and wished them luck.
In a dark part of the forest the party defeated the Singing Tree, a corrupted awakened tree that was the source of troubles from the last few days.
After some investigation the party understood the corruption was fairly recent, within the last several months, and it didn't come from the ground. Something else had caused this corruption.
02. The Honey Queen
The party agreed to get some honey for Mother Molvor from the Honey Queen. On the way they met Baba Migoriwho asked them to convince the Honey Queen to release Lyla, a girl who should have been sent home months ago. Baba Migori hinted that something was influencing the Honey Queen. She asked for an oath that they would do rescue Lyla and and not harm the Honey Queen, several (but not all) party members swore the oath.
The party found Lyla, with only a minimal amount of killing. When the Honey Queen arrived it was a little tense. She finally agreed to let Lyla decide if to stay or return home. She decided to go back to her family in Incot Village.
First the party returned to Levoca Village and to their surprise, Mother Molvor didn't have the 750gp. She said first she had to deliver the honey, then she'd have the money. In about a week.
The party left to take Lyla back to her village, and so began 03. The Vengeful Heart.
03. The Vengeful Heart
Someone, or some group, needs to take Lyla home to Incot Village. Pretty much everyone in Levoca Village agrees it's way too far away for a simple farmer. This needs some well seasoned Adventurers. Like the ones who brought Lyla into the village in the first place.
The party arrived in Incot Village, only to find all the adults a couple days dead and the children a day gone. Taking Lyla with them they followed the children. On the way they met a group of shadow fey led by Suzenga. They had a run-in with a group who they wanted out of the Margreve, though they were a bit reluctant to say why other than the Margreve willed it so. Several of the party swore an oath they would rid the Margreve of this group if they had the chance.
After fighting an Owl Bear the party found the children, led by Chairo. They went to Wheedon Village village where they met the group that Suzenga spoke about. Chairo became enraged when she saw him, drawing power from the Margreve around her, accusing him of killing the adults in her village. Gatonio attacked, scoring a direct hit. The next moment roughly eight villagers fell down dead.
It turned out the man, Eagehrt, and his retinue had performed a ritual on the villagers without being fully upfront about the consequences. Eagehrt and his men, at any time, could then draw the life force out of the villagers to heal themselves, likely causing the death of the villager.
After some tense negotiating, the party agreed to find some plants Eagehrt was looking for and Eagehrt promised to negate the magic binding the villagers and leave the Margreve once he received the plants.
The party easily recovered the first of three plants and also discovered a species of toad that explodes upon death. While recovering the second plant, some Bone Graspers greeted the party. The third plant was easily recovered from a Shadow Fey Guardian once it understood they were fulfilling a mission from Suzenga.
In Wheedon Village, Eagehrt exchanged his Blood Rings for the plants and left the village with his body guards. The party had a quick discussion and promptly followed them. That night they stole Eagehrt's arcane focus, and the real Blood Rings.
Eagehrt was killed in a barrage of arrows as Suzenga and her party arrived to help. The bodyguards were allowed to strip of all their gear and run into the forest to place themselves at the mercy of the Margreve.
04. Challenge of the Fang
Having left Lyla, Chairo, and the other children in the care of Wheedon Village (with a parting gift of 100gp from Gatonio) the party headed back to Levoca Village to collect their 750gp from Mother Molvor.
Despite following the well worn road they'd traveled several times, the party found themselves on a smaller path going in a different direction. It became obvious that the Margreve had a different destination in mind for them.
That night a horse rode into camp, the rider dead but holding onto a silvered Unknown. Moments later wolves started circling, demanding the return of Wolf Killer. Several attacked, going straight for Dodgy Fromage who held the axe but the party was able to defeat them.
The next day the party arrived at an Inn. They quartered the horse and Sir Oink and went inside. Eluine had his fortune read by Mother Babushka, she was quite confident in her reading, Eluine not so much.
A local man, Hodel, asked the party to find his daughter who was lost in the woods. After some questioning it came out that she'd been chosen by the Margreve, given a red cloak, and had play some part in . . . something. The party came to understand the story of Little Red Riding Hood was being played out in the Margreve. Later they would understand this was a battle of wolves against humans (or really, humanoids) and the Would Be King of Wolves was trying to gain dominance in the Margreve.
Mother Babushka told Hodel to go home and told the party to head out in the morning on their quest to find the daughter, Red. When asked where they should go, she told them the Margreve would guide them.
In the morning the party left and were promptly attacked by some werewolf-looking men. And a werewolf. They were clearly trying to recover the axe that Dodgy had, adding to his quills with arrows of their own. Gatonio and Stevnar Warhoof took care of the men on the roof (yes, the centaur climbed to the roof) and the party turned their focus to the werewolf, killing him in the woods. A few party members were bitten by the werewolf and Eluine's wound seemed especially bad.
After resting the party began their quest to find Red. Some Children of the Briar told them there would be three trials of honor, pass all three and they would be sped along to find Red. The first trial was at a river, where they party respectfully asked some bagienniks (large tree like creatures in the water) if they could pass. The bagienniks were a bit surprised at the party's politeness and granted them passage.
The second test was given by two female Villa. After challenging Eluine to an archery contest, which he won and got some Sand Arrows and Bracers of the Wind they asked permission to slap each party member. This was allowed and the party came to understand, had one of them been an Oath Breaker, it would have been an extremely painful slap.
The last encounter was with an old woman, Stuhac. She gave the party the choice of three tests: skill, strength, and wits. They chose to do all three. Gatonio was given a balalaika covered in wasps and played a song. Stevnar wrestled a dwarf and was able to overcome him. Lastly, Lavaell played a game of gul bara (backgammon) against Stuhac. Unfortunately he lost, although thinking about it later, Dodgy was pretty sure the pieces must have been moving on their own giving Stuhac and advantage.
Having won two out of three tests, Stuhac gave them a Matrushka Doll set and sent them on their way. It was night, and the party rested and began their quest fresh in the morning.
Following tracks and using Dodgy's Nail of Pointing, they traced Red to a treant that was walking through the woods. Up in the top of it was a small shack. The party climbed up and knocked on the door. No one answered them but they heard Red say, "My what big eyes you have, grandmother," and Babushka answered, "All the better to see you with." The party burst in, unsure of what was going on. They'd been expecting to find the Would Be King of Wolves, not Babushka. It further confused matters when eight wolves appeared and attacked the party. But when Dodgy took out his axe, Wolf Killer, the Would Be King dropped all pretenses, dismissed his altered form of Babushka and revealed himself.
A difficult battle ensued in the cramped quarters of Babushka's house. Gatonio took Red and made his way out into the limbs of the treant. The party fought off the wolves and injured the Would Be King, who misty stepped his way through the party to reach Red. Just as he reached Red, Eluine fired an arrow killing the Would Be King, ensuring that for the next three generations wolves must bow to humanoids.
The party rescued Babushka from the belly of the Would Be King and (naturally) she was very grateful. As a reward and thanks for playing their part in this, she gave them her magical pot, Inushka's PotSir Oink saw some distinct possibilities with this pot (think, traveling trough).
05. The Griffon Hatchling Heist
One the way to Levoca, the party came across a group of trees that appeared to form fingers of a hand growing from the ground. In the tops were some platforms and hanging from one of these was a cage. It turned out Gatonio's nemesis, Mateo (aka The Rat in the Hat), was in the cage and near death. He explained to Gatonio that several months ago (before traveling to the Margreve) he'd been caught, and in a fit of reckless honesty, confessed to everything he'd ever done. They wrote it all down, had him sign the confession, and sentenced him to death. Mateo was stunned, he'd admitted to everything so why the death sentence?
What happened next was a little unclear as Mateo was wracked with coughing fits. Somehow, someone named George broke him out of jail, took the signed confession, and the two of them left for the Margreve to find Gatonio. All Mateo said was that he'd left George at an Inn, somewhere in the Margreve, before he got put in the cage. Oh, and whoever put him in the cage was going to eat him. Before he took his final journey he gave Gatonio a Carved Cat Head and a ring that looked like it might be worth more than what Mother Molvor had promised to pay them. After Mateo died, the party "cleansed" this section of the Margreve of the bandits living in the finger-like trees.
That night, a bear brought a gift from the Margreve to Lavaell, charcoal that could imbue an object with magic. Lavaell put the charcoal on the fire and his shield over that. The smoke from the charcoal was absorbed into the shield and Lavaell was pretty sure it would protect him better now.
The next day they arrived at Levoca and Mother Molvor paid them the 750gp. She also said her employer was looking for colybiscus, apparently whoever he'd charged with finding some had disappeared in the Margreve. The party looked around at each other nervously, thinking of Eagehrt. They asked about this "employer" and Mother Molvor didn't have many answers, only describing the person as wearing a brown cloak. She thought it was a man but wasn't sure. After some further prodding she suggested they go see her sister, Jedza Nansa, who lived in Whistlehollow. Jedza seemed to know who the brown cloaked employer might be.
Stevnar went to see the farmer and paid him the gold for Sir Oink they'd promised. At first the farmer was grateful but then broke down in tears and gave the money back. He took Stevnar and Sir Oink to his barn and opened up an old trunk. "Here," he said to Sir Oink, "Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but I was afraid you'd go off on some foolhardy mission." He presented Sir Oink with studded leather armor that had a saddle that small creatures could ride on.
The party agreed they'd head to Whistlehollow and speak with Jedza. The first night, Elluine had a howling good time as he ran away from the party to enjoy the full moon. He showed up the next morning, looking very rough, with no memory of what happened. The next day the party passed though Wheedon and bought supplies, checked on the orphans, and Gatonio checked if anyone named George was at the Inn. There wasn't.
Continuing on to Whistlehollow, they came across a house cat who asked them to help her rescue her children/eggs before they were sold by a group of bugbears and ogres. After a moment of confusion, the party got the full story from Lesharrkk. She was actually a Griffon who'd been polymorphed by a wizard (or some magic user) and driven out of her nest. The wizard wanted something in the tower and left after he got whatever it was. The bugbears (about 30) and ogres (hmmm, unknown number) stuck around to try and make some gold selling off Lesharrkk's unhatched children.
The party agreed to help and Lesharrkk left to try and reverse the polymorph, which should have worn off. The Still Tower used to be for griffon riders but had been abandoned a long time ago. Rather than a full on assault, the party took Lesharrkk's advice and looked for a pond with an underground stream that would lead them into the basement of the tower. A rather rude plant attacked them on the way, but the party handled it with their usual skill.
Eluine volunteered to do the rescue alone. Sneaking, after all, was one of his specialties. Stevnar went with him to make sure the swimming part went all right. They got into the basement, found a secret room, and two not so secret statues that proceeded to pound Stevnar pretty good, much more than he was used to at any rate. Eluine and Stevnar assessed the situation and decided a strategic retreat of running away as fast as the could was called for. Meeting back up with the rest of the party, they began to create Plan B.
Plan B
This time the whole party swam up the underground stream and into the basement of the tower. Gatonio went up to scout the main floor and promptly decided he'd just run up the outside of the tower, grab the griffon eggs, and come back down before anyone in the party was any the wiser. The first part of his plan went off without a flaw, he climbed up the side of the tower. Unfortunately, he was seen by at least one of the thirty odd bugbears hanging around outside. Gatonio went in a window on the tower and bugbears started running into the room. So he went back outside and all the way up to the top of the tower. He also became a bit of a pincushion as archers fired their arrows. At the top of the tower was a hulking ogre. She noticed him right away. Thinking quickly, he climbed down and through a window in the floor below (again, arrows flew and some found their mark). Inside this room there was a total of three ogres. Not as hulking as the one on the roof, but still, three ogres. Gatonio went out the window again, arrows flew, and the last thing he saw was the ground coming up at him rather quickly.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party had no idea what had happened. Eluine knew that Gatonio ran up the outside of the tower and he could hear shouts of the bugbears. He shouted at a group of bugbears that ran into the room and then he dropped down into the basement, ran to the water, and jumped in the well where Lavaell was. Dodgy hid behind some barrels. And Stevnar, ever the tactical one, waited for the bugbears to see him and ran through the hidden room where the statues had attacked him and up the ladder. The statues came to life and proceeded to pound on the bugbears much like they'd done to Stevnar earlier that day. Since the statues and bugbears seemed preoccupied, the rest of the party followed Stevnar up the ladder.
The ladder went all the way to the top. Stevnar jumped out first and began trying to push the ogre off the roof. Eluine ran around them and grabbed the griffon eggs. Lavaell began casting a spell. Dodgy mostly wondered how they'd ended up in this situation in the first place.
Unable to push the ogre off the roof, Stevnar grabbed her and jumped off so they both fell, rather close to Gatonio who was unconscious but breathing. Lavaell summoned two giant eagles. He and Eluine jumped on one and took off. Stevnar grabbed Gatonio and took off running as fast as he could. Dodgy climbed on the second eagle and followed Stevnar, who looked in pretty bad shape. It was a good thing he did because a few arrows later, the bugbears found their mark and took Stevnar down. A quick heal spell a moment later from Dodgy, and they all got away. The whole party agreed never to try that plan again.
Lesharrkk was very grateful for the return of her hatchlings (they started hatching while the party waited for her) and gave the party a few magic items as thanks. Now, on to Whistlehollow to find Jedza.
06. Gall of the Spider Crone
The first night after rescuing the griffon eggs, the party woke up and there was a stranger sleeping in the middle of their camp. It turned out to be Derriel Glass, a Druid of some renown in the Margreve. He was in need of some gold and offered to identify any magic items the party might have. After some negotiating over price, he identified quite a few magic items, some that Gatonio had but didn't know were magical that he'd acquired (without notice) from the Hollow Tree near Levoca.
Later that day, on the way to Whistlehollow the weather turned bad and the party began lookin for shelter. Instead they found some wagons with mostly eaten humans laying around the front of a cave entrance.
The party snuck into the cave and found some ghouls, led by some other ghouls, who were watching two spell casters trying to perform some ritual. A short conversation confirmed, yup, ungrateful undead up to no good in the Margreve.
It was a fierce battle with one of the ghouls making an unbelievable five attacks almost like the DM hadn't quite prepared and read through all the creature stats thoroughly enough. Despite the fearsome onslaught, the party prevailed leaving one of the spell casters alive so they could ask questions.
The spellcaster didn't have much information. He'd agreed to a job to get some of the "Tongue of Derende" and then found out he'd be escorted by ghouls. He didn't know who his employer was or how the ghouls ended up with Hazel Trotsky's journal. (Did I forget to mention that bit?) The party felt it was safe to let this patsy go and they stayed the rest of the night at the cave.
In the morning it was still stormy and they arrived at Whistlehollowmid-day. Following the sounds of screaming at the inn, they found Jedza Nansa upstairs with a huge gall growing on her belly. Any attempts to remove it only injured her. Hazel had tried to remove it and was poisoned and unconscious. Jedza begged the party to go to her sister, Baba Mavra, and retrieve a soul jug, the only thing that would keep her soul from being consumed by whatever was growing in her.
The party agreed and made their way through the storm (with Jedza's homunculus) encountering shock lizards, a shambling mound, some spiders including one that could vanish, and an Alseid named Flawn who'd been cursed and left human footprints. A simple remove curse from Dodgy solved that problem.
Baba Mavra's House was clinging to a rope with its eight legs, the rope being suspended over a chasm with a swift flowing river below. Eluine and Gatonio decided to climb across to the house and the moment both of their weight was on the rope, it broke and they fell into the river with the house. About a quarter mile downstream they all made it to the shore and the rest of the party met them there.
The party found the soul jug but couldn't get it out of the chest without getting themselves sucked in. Meanwhile the homunculus let the party know Jedza was close to death and they needed to get back to the inn quickly. After a few tries they were able to operate ropes that moved the house's spider legs. They sped there way back to the Inn, Jedza told them how to get the soul jug out, and the party moved quickly to get her soul inside it. Just as they did this, whatever was in the gall erupted out killing her. Her soul was trapped in the soul jug and clearly, a battle was about to begin.
A beast creature riding in a whirlwind attacked the party. It was able to summon small lightning creatures and the party took a bit to get themselves organized. First Lavaell went down and then Eluine. They were revived and the party pressed the fight. Soon they were victorious, although the room was in quite a state of disarray. They quickly walked out hoping no one would notice.
07. Blood and Thorns
The night after defeating the gall, Gatonio received a gift from the Margreve like the other party members had. The owl that delivered it told him, "To save the child, you must save the Margreve."
In the morning he was reunited with his old friend, Gina. Georgina, to be precise. Clearly, the George that Mateo had spoken about. Gina introduced Gatonio to her son, Gatonio Jr. There was no doubt this was the son of Gatonio, they looked so similar. Junior was sick and Hazel and Stevnar examined him. It was similar to the sickness Hazel had seen in the forest and they didn't have an idea for a cure. Gatonio promised to return to Gina once he'd finished his work in the Margreve.
At a celebration that night for the Heroes of Whistlehollow, the ogre from The Still Tower crashed the party. Zyzhashcha had four vine creatures with her animating elk skeletons. When they first met her she'd been covered in horns and eyes, a mutation that sometimes happens to ogres. Now though, she was covered in plant like growth, as if she was changing into something else.
Zyzhashcha shouted, "The King of Thorns promises that we shall rule this forest. Dryad, nymph, and vila will serve us; man and alseid, wolf and hag, will bow to us. The Kingdom of the Briar is coming," and attacked the party.
It was another quick defeat for her, this time ending in her death. Consulting with Hazel, she tried to scry on the King of Thorns and only got back this message:
Thorn King nestles in a green enclasp,
Seekers find nothing but a thorny rasp.
His lair cannot be known or shown,
Thanks to the wisdom of a Spider Crone.
In the morning the party set out to find Baba Mavra, the Spider Crone. Her house wasn't at river they found it last time so they continued on using Dodgy's Nail of Pointing.
That night Lavael heard nocking coming from Dodgy's backpack. It got louder and Dodgy woke up, assuring Lavael that it wasn't anything at all. Dodgy cast silence and took the box he'd been unable to open out of his backpack. Now there was a seam on it. He took the lid off and two hands reached up and pushed the sides of box apart to widen it. A dwarf climbed out, followed by a human. They were clearly panicked and screaming as they pulled an unconscious human out of the box and a large bag. At that moment, six tentacles erupted out of the box and began attacking anything they could reach, which included some sleeping party members.
It was a quick combat, once everyone woke up. What followed was a bit of confusion as the dwarf and his comrades figured out they weren't where they expected to be, and the party wasn't who they expected to be with.
Evidently the box was some kind of escape route for a heist that had gone almost well. The dwarf and humans conferred and agreed, even though the party weren't Khazzak bandits, and they weren't in Zobek, some amount of gratitude should be shown for saving their lives. They gave the party a Saddle of Wings and Gatonio, at Dodgy's suggestion (who was invisible for the whole conversation), helped himself to a pair of gloves.
The Khazzaks took the box they'd climbed out of, the rest of their treasure, and headed to Zobek.
The next day the party found the Mavra's house, in a cave of spiders. After a small tussle with the doorman, they climbed up and spoke with Mavra. She told them the King of Thorns used to be a piney who was after the Great Hunt, but he'd changed and was something else now. More plant than piney. Originally she'd shown him how to hide his Palace Briar, but now was willing to aid the party, giving them a spider that allowed them to follow a Ghost Thread to the King of Thorns.
While following the magical silk string, the party ran into that thing (pictured on the right), which proved to be rather unfriendly. Swarms of crows fought with it and cawed about the King of Thorns. The Palace of Briars was in the middle of a series of barrows. Surrounding it were a group of plant type creatures and undead looking plant type creatures. Stevnar volunteered to draw all their attention off which almost worked without a hitch. The rest of the party snuck inside and began searching the palace.
The party found Briar Men and a swarming Briar Army (a bunch of tiny briar creatrures) collecting blood from vampire spawn stuck to the ceiling. Moving on, Stevnar caught up with everyone after ridding himself from a point Briar Man. Finally, they came to a throne room where the King of Thorns had a vampire captured in a chair (Dame Valanora).
A vicious battle began and the King turned Stevnar against the group briefly, almost escaping as Stevnar carried him off. At last, even though Gatonio was nocked unconscious, the part prevailed.
After catching their breath the party began negotiating with the vampire who was willing to trade information for her freedom. She told them that the Briar King was giving much of the vampire blood to someone named Kerok. Her impression was that Kerok was simply using the Briar King, and was never going to let the Briar King become a power in the Margreve. She didn't know where Kerok was, other than in the Eastern Margreve. Her suggestion was to seek out Baba Yaga and make a bargain. If anyone could find a power such as Kerok, it would be her.
08. Grandmother's Fire
On the way to find Baba Yaga the party met a group of panicked villagers who ran right past them. Close behind were four humanoid creatures and two dog-like creatures. They were some kind of corrupted plant creatures made of twisting black and purple vines.
A viscous battle began that saw several party members go unconscious at different times, only to be revived by Dodgy. Stevnar was overwhelmed at one point, dropped into unconsciousness, only to have one of the creatures strike him several more times to ensure he was dead. Even in the middle of battle the party was shocked.
Gatonio remembered, from way back when the party fist met, Baba Migori gave them a twisted root and said if anyone ever died, stab it in their heart. Near death himself, Gatonio couldn't see a way to get to Stevnar and survive. Still he dug it out of his backpack and the moment Eluine saw it, he shouted at Gatonio to throw it to him.
With a quick flick of the wrist, Gatonio tossed the root to Eluine. Eluine secured the root to an arrow, said a quick prayer to the Margreve, and shot it at Stevnar. It was a perfect shot, better than any he'd made before. The arrow sunk the root in Stevnar's heart and moments later Stevnar rejoined the battle. After that, it was quick (though hard) work defeating the rest of the corrupted plant creatures.
The villagers, it turned out, were headed to Baba Yaga to entreat with her. A sage told them she had cursed the Margreve and that's why fires wouldn't light anymore. They traveled with the party but refused to go into her house.
Inside the house, Baba Yaga admitted she'd cursed the Margreve to stop all fires because someone had stolen the cinders from her fire. Until she got them back her curse would remain in place. She knew who stole the cinders, but she was trying to figure out why, or really who was behind it. The party suggested she try and scry Kerok, and gave her a brief summary of what they knew about him.
The party followed a magical trail which led them to some cages where werewolves were stacking the bodies of the corrupted plant creatures they'd killed. After some tense negotiations, (and an invitation to Eluine to join them) they parted peacefully and the party spoke with a young man, who the magical trail led them to.
Dimitri admitted to stealing the cinders from Baba Yaga, to dry out the cloak of his beloved (Elena) which would release her from a Vodyanoi that had captured her. He took the cinders to the Vodyanoi and it grabbed them and sank beneath the water. Dimitri was had no time to think of what to do because he was instantly chased and caged by the corrupted plant-people.
He agreed to help the party get the cinders back as long as he could use them to dry out Elena's cloak and release her from the watery grave the Vodyanoi kept her in. On the way to the Vodyanoi's lair the party was stopped by Elena. She warned them the vodyanoi planned to give the cinders to Kerok (although she didn't know his name) in exchange for the power to rule over this party of the Margreve. She also revealed Dimitri was a werewolf. Everyone was cool with that, especially Eluine.
The battle with the Vodyanoi looked like it was going to be rough, but then Lavaell summoned four giant octopi that surrounded the vodyanoi and drug him out of the water. The two water elementals were dispatched with minor trouble (to the horror of Gatonio he got completely soaked several times during this combat).
Dimitri dried out Elena's shawl, releasing her from the vodyanoi's spell. Rather than be alone, Dimitri joined Elena in passing into the afterlife, leaving behind a Margreve Fur as thanks to the party. Elena told the party to take some rose petals and brew tea for Baba Yaga and she might grant them a favor.
09. The Vengeful Dragon
After returning the cinders to Baba Yaga and taking her some rose tea, she almost became friendly. Not only did she identify a couple magic items, but she told them she had found someone who knew where Kerok was, a centaur named Hazel who lived in Bluth Grove. As an added bonus, she'd taken the liberty of having her house walk to Bluth Grove while they were talking. When the party emerged her house several days had passed. A few of them grumbled it might have been quicker just to walk there on their own.
The town was shocked when Stevnar walked in wearing a saddle, and didn't seem to care whether it let him fly magically or not. For the time being, he let Sir Oink wear it. Hazel wasn't home but Gruffias Neigh-Mane said she, and her friend Chairo, expected to be back in the morning.
Elluine left in search of the piney he'd heard about and spent the night in the forest. The rest of the party slept in Stevnar's home, except for Gatonio who climbed up on the roof to sleep.
That would have been fine, except for the three headed dragon (a zmey named Manje) that showed up in the middle of the night. It destroyed Hazel's home (next door to Stevnar's) and demanded that Hazel return what she'd stolen. He gave the town two days to return it or he would destroy everything and everyone.
To emphasize his point, he left some zmey headlings (including one that had grown two of its heads back) behind to ransack the town. The party defeated them, but at the cost of Stevnar's house which burned down.
The party knew even if a zmey was killed, another would take up the hunt for stolen treasure. Neigh-Mane said the Kariv knew of a spell that could break this and that some had been living in Whistlehollow. Also, he suspected Baba Ludva was wrapped up in this. He'd seen Hazel and Chairo with her and didn't trust her, saying she was the oldest and most devious of all the spider crones in the Margreve.
Elluine showed up with Lesharrkk and some other griffons who'd been asked by the Margreve to help the party. This let them go quickly to Whistlehollow where they convinced the Kariv to give them the Spell: Zmey Trap that would save Hazel.
Flying to Hag's Tooth Hill, the carefully explored until they found Hazel under some kind of enchantment. Baba Ludva (and her spiders) came out and after some contentious and suspicious talk, they came to realize Baba Ludva was actually there to help. She'd put a spell on Hazel to hide her from the zmey, but it wouldn't last for long. They also found out the Chairo had gone off to confront Kerok by herself. Baba Ludva gave them the Orb of Upcasting that Hazel stole from the Zmey. The Margreve had told her to take it before Kerok could.
Knowing they needed to be fresh for battle, the party reluctantly slept through the night and planned to go to the Legion Oak in the morning where the Zmey Trap had to be performed.
The next morning the griffons took the party to the Legion Oak. They spread the salt around the oak, had Hazel stand inside it, and started the incantation. Six hours later they heard the zmey approaching. It crashed through the underbrush and went straight for Hazel. She took the first bite from it, but the second was too much for her.
The party was ready though. Stev got Hazel out of the combat and used his healers kit on her while the rest of the party attacked the zmey. It didn't stand a chance. By now the party was well honed for a combat like this and though they took some damage, it was nothing of much note.
The zmey was defeated, it's lust for revenge wouldn't be passed on to a different zmey, it was a good victory.
10. The Battle for the Eastern Heart
It was late and the party was exhausted from their victory against the zmey. Although they wanted to press on and rescue Chairo, they knew they'd be doing her a disservice if they tried to face Kerok at anything less than full strength.
They spent a restless night under the Legion Oak and left first thing in the morning, following a map that Hazel made for them. The griffons landed about a mile away and bid them good luck.
The closer the party got to Kerok's lair, the more corrupted the forest became. Plant life had turned black and looked dead even though they still grew. Even more eerie was the lack of animals, they had clearly fled the area.
They finally came to a large open area walled off by thorny plants. Lavaell cast a spell that let them pass through unharmed and they saw Chairo chained to the ground at the north end. In the center was a large tree with a giant heart with black and purple veins running into the ground.
Some party members began trying to free Chairo and others attacked the heart. The moment they damaged it, two fighters and two spell casters appeared, along with a giant moth that circled overhead.
The battle was well in hand with the fighters and spellcasters until the moth entered the battle. With a flash it teleported and two party members dropped unconscious along with three of their enemies. The moth flew into the battle making attacks with its tentacles and beak. Suddenly it was a much harder battle. Still with all this happening, there was no sign of Kerok.
Enemies and allies that had gone uncounscious slowly woke up. Dodgy cast a powerful healing spell using the Orb of Upcasting combined with his Armband of Healing. The battle wasn't over yet.
While they got their footing back Kerok arrived, furious that all his work was being destroyed. The party methodically dealt with the remaining casters and fighters and turned their focus on the moth and Kerok.
With a final push they brought down the giant moth and everyone focused their attention on Kerok. Stevenar dealt the killing blow in both cases, bringing the battle to a close.
They were able to unchain Chairo and revive her, and she helped them cut down the tree that held the heart which Kerok hoped to use to take over the Eastern Margreve. The party had accomplished what the Margreve had set them out to do.