Participants: - Vhel, Ayla Lidarya, Yllatris Zinfaren
Location(s): - Millenium Forest
Vhel´s report can be found here as well.
Short summary:
It was rumored that little people were stalking around First Landing. There didn't seem to be solid proof. A local stableboy, Kal, was apparently eyewitness to these little people. The party was dispatched to investigate these rumors.
They ventured into the Millennium Forest, where they found a strange glade with treasure, and rescued a horse which was under attack by wolves.
Uncovering the location of the Monster Den, the party carefully retreated back to their camp. When they arrived, they found fey rummaging through their belongings inside Vhel's tent. The little people were revealed to be the Eyes, Brownie-like creatures with sparkling orbs for eyes, too big for their head.
Ayla Lidarya cleverly tricked the Fey into giving up information about the one who sent them to spy on them and First Landing, King Aseron.
The Eyes proceeded to escape.
Full report:
As usual, Vhel’s writing remains small and squished.
A cleric of Pharasma, Yllatris Zinfaren, requested my assistance in investigating a rumor she had heard by way of Elvira. We approached a sorceress named Ayla Lidarya, who I have good reason to believe has familial ties to the Fey. Given the nature of the rumors made it sound like Fey were the subject, this seemed opportune. The rumors were founded by First Landing's stablehand, Kal, son of some Guild contractor. Speaking to the stablemaster, Ahmad, we learned that Kal had come back one night after drinking speaking incessantly about tiny creatures.
We interrogated Kal, a nervous teenager, skittish and constantly watching behind his back for something. He lacked any education on the subject, but described the creatures competently enough. Smaller than a babe, fast, large eyes, and disappear instantaneously. I had likened the description to Brownies at the time, but this seemed insufficient a description for their behavior.
The encounter he recounted as such: after having too much to drink he walked home, and saw a small creature climbing boxes outside the Artificer’s shop next to the windows. He approached the creature, and in response it had turned to stare at Kal back. It then vanished, and Kal then seemingly blacked out. He has since become exceedingly paranoid about their presence.
The Artificer admitted to having seen creatures walking the streets, after having flirted extensively with Lady Lidarya, but declined to report it for fear of his reputation. He claimed the subject went eastward. Accordingly, we left eastward.
I discovered the remains of a very small campfire, the ashes befitting twigs, not logs, the firepit at most a quarter the size of a normal one. The campfire was about two miles out, the ashes scattered slightly by a drizzle of rain. The remains looked no older than three days. There were very tiny footprints leading to First Landing, as well as other tiny trails that proved difficult to work out.
Camping for the night was uneventful, but Ayla (only later) informed us that she heard the howling of wolves on her watch.
A note from Yllatris is left here reading: I'll raise the issue with the Guild Explorers that wolves seems to be a common menace in the Millenium Forest. The beasts are large, hunt in packs, and just one can fell a unprepared adventurer. Any trips eastward will, as with all things, require caution. |
We explored the forest at large, the trees seemed to be primarily oak, but the exacts slightly different from Old World oak trees. They were much more cramped together, creating a canopy that made it hard to see through, much less too far ahead given the density of them. When I climbed a tree to better orient ourselves, I observed that further out the trees transitioned to pine trees. Far south was a massive tree, towering over the rest of the forest as a whole. Its rough location is marked on the map I made and shared. The location seems notable and relevant.
We later found a strange clearing, which we investigated. It was observed that the grass in the center was young, indicating that the location was distrubed recently. I approached the area, and saw a flicker of dark orbs watching me approach, but saw nothing upon further inspection. I heard no creatures fleeing, so I suspect it was the Fey watching me before vanishing through teleportation or similar.
Ayla surprisingly took it upon herself to dig the location up, inside a wooden lockbox with oak leaf motifs carved into it, with silver accents painted over it. It was not locked nor trapped, and inside was merely a small cushion with a ring on it. It shared the silver accents of the box, and had several tiny rubies inlaid on it. It was magical, we determined, and Ayla was able to identify the item as a Spidereye Ring.
We made camp once more as night fell, away from the clearing, and heard wolves once more as we were about to rest. We then heard the sounds of a horse in distress. We decided to approach, and encountered a large black horse (we later learned was named Midnight), accosted and stalked by three wolves harming it. It was saddled and without a rider, we had intervened and fought the wolves off.
It was not an easy battle, Ayla and Yllatris’ lack of armor proved to make them a slight liability, and my own combat skill was not much more impressive. Still through a heavy expenditure of magic and luck, we pulled through and ended the wolves.
We calmed the horse and I healed it. Deciding it was prudent to try and find their rider, I had it guide us to them. It was reluctant to. Apparently it had lost its rider a very long time ago, we followed tracks for a very long while before we found a more dangerous seeming area. An overgrown hill with a large burrow in it was a tad further ahead. It would look like a badger den, or similar, but for the fact that there were bones like stag femurs lying near the entrance. Seeing as it was unlikely we would find the lost rider, we left. The location of this area is also marked on the map I created, should someone wish to investigate it.
Upon returning to our tent, we found creatures rummaging through our tent. I spoke not the language they did, but Ayla did, and handled negotiations. They spoke Sylvan, and looked similar to Brownies in appearance, but their eyes were much too large to be such. They also acted nothing like Brownies. I caught the conversation second-hand, but here is what was communicated to me:
The Fey called themselves a mere Eye, and failed to communicate its name. It was serving its master, the “Highlord of Soothing Dusk, Count of the Millennium Wood, Wellspring of Vibrant Melodies.” Ayla speculated it may be an Archfey. It was not very talkative beyond this, and refused many questions, but Ayla was able to extract its city was “past the Millennium Tree (the ‘Thousand Watcher’), in the heart of the forest being the ‘Flower of the South’. They informed us the rider of the horse we found had perished an hour ago or so, having come across the wolves’ den. He had a sharp, small iron blade, seemingly. They left.
They had also robbed my tent.
The stablemaster identified the rider as Rodrick, a forward scout.
Included with this report is another copy of the map I made, with landmarks marked as appropriate. Please be safe in any dealings with these Fey creatures, and be sure to bring someone with knowledge of at least Sylvan along should you investigate them. If you have any questions about the contents of this report, I am as always happy to answer them.
- Vhel
As promised, a map of the eastern forest is attached.