Loose ends: potentially more Bargests impersonating wolves; malevolent Fey guarding the gaol of the Millennium Sequoia; a group of Dryads interested in sharing stories
Participants: Delcan Bray, Kodzak, Hecret, Sir Caterwald, Guhdhag, Blight
Locations: Millennium Forest
Short summary:
Delcan and Co. ventured into the Millennium Forest to find and rescue the hedgehog Quilliam. Along the way, they unsuccessfully tried to parlay with the malevolent Fey guards of the Millennium Sequoia; witnessed Dryads worshipping a large tree and exchanged stories with them; and tried mending the relationship between Guild hunters and a pack of wolves. The leader of this pack turned out to be a disguised Barghest, and the group managed to beat the monster, finding and retrieving Quilliam at last.
Full report: Delcan
Quilliam Quest
Day 1
The troupe gathered outside of First Landing with a nervous energy to us, perhaps just to myself, as we set off to save the young ward Quilliam. We found ourselves beset by luck as Caterwald, a mighty Champion, came along to aid us in our quest and provided a helpful, if somewhat dangerous, ride for me upon his mighty destrider. We surmised the best route to take would be southeast, deep into the Millennium Forest, and made good time as there were horses enough to provide transportation to all. The day was uneventful and the night proved much the same, although some reported flickering ghostly orbs at night, a trick of the eye?
Day 2
We now found ourselves firmly within the old forest. We set out to scout the lands in hopes of any sign of the small hedgehog. After a half day's journey we stumbled upon the Millennium Sequioa, a jail (Gaol) of sorts, which is controlled by a seemingly malevolent Fey. We attempted to parlay with a creature we found hidden behind some sort of illusion within the tree but had little success and wished to avoid conflict so we pressed on.
As a note for future readers, others from the Guild have previously investigated this tree and have more information on the specifics of the Fey within it. Refer to a report by Vhel.
We made camp a good distance from the tree, not trusting the Fey within it. During the night our ranger Blight, and his wolf companion Rosie, made contact with a roving pack of wolves. They visited our camp and seemed open to brokering a deal. In exchange for knowledge of where Quilliam might be, we were to help rid them of troublesome hunters who’d harried their pack. They pointed us southwest.
Day 3
We awoke in the morning, somewhat troubled by a night of being woken up by monstrous wolves and decided to set out on the path suggested by the wolves. It took the majority of a days travel by horse before we came across a campsite that appeared to be currently in use, embers still warm in their recently doused fire. Quilliam was still our main task, and as such we pressed on hoping to find him first before dealing with whatever or whoever the camp might belong to. We eventually make camp and spend a peaceful night in the woods.
Day 4
The troupe is awoken by the sound of voices not far from our camp. We find four creatures, two small, two tall in front of a tree, one of them appears to be worshipping it. We slowly make our way towards the creatures, attempting to be silent, until Hecret reveals himself in a bombastic display to the Fey. The author is unable to transcribe much of what took place next, as Hecret and the Fey exchanged a lengthy series of stories in their native tongue. Apparently he shared with them tales of his nightmares until they were either satisfied or grew bored. Their true nature was never revealed to me although my assumption is perhaps the creature called a Dryad... and I cannot say what they were or what their intentions with their tree were. Once again we traded a favor, a nightmare it seems, for more information on Quilliam. At this point though it appeared as if we may be running around on a wild goose hedgehog chase.
The group eventually moved on, continuing on our southwestern path. It was not long before we stumbled upon the hunters that the wolves had told us about. A dilemma befell us, they were members of the Guild and had their own side of the story. Tense negotiations were had and they seemed unwilling to come to terms with working something out with the wolves. Jastira, Matthias, Derek, and a few unnamed among their group, were working to gather hides for the scouts of First Landing as well as meat for their own profits. An uneasy truce was worked out for the time being, and we decided for the time being to push aside our differences and try to get some sleep for the night.
In the midst of the night we were once again awoken by the wolves, claiming they wished to have their vengeance on the Humans. We attempted diplomacy but sadly failed as neither side seemed open to a solution, Matthias smartly used Jastira’s Recaller to send her back to the Landing, as she only served to aggravate tensions further. Eventually a duel was set in order to settle the grievances of the parties, and after some confusion about the terms, our champion, Caterwald fought the Alpha Dire Wolf in one-on-one combat. The wolf somehow managed to be able to drag the formidable mushroom knight down, shaking him violently, but the good knight prevailed in the end.
Day 5
We went our separate ways from the scouts, and the party was rather sullen as no one wished things to go the way they did the night before. Sometimes there is no peaceable solution it seems, the scouts did leave a small peace offering and hopefully we can reconcile with them after our quest.
We had Quilliam in hand now, but ailing, we continued our journey to the den of the creature that seemed to be the cause of his troubles. Once again we found our group be-set by wolves, they stalked out of their den, and a rather large hideous one was leading them. As we did battle with the creatures, their leader revealed itself to be a Barghest in disguise. The creature appeared to have a knowledge of spells, attempting to confuse us, and it must have some mastery of illusion if it can disguise itself as a wolf. The troupe fought bravely in the defense of Quilliam and before long we’d managed to slay the beast. Upon inspection it appears that the Barghest bore the wounds that Jastira had discussed inflicting on the ‘wolves’ that had attacked her and caused their initial conflict with the previous pack that we’d ran into in the first place. Hopefully we can mend relationships with this knowledge.