The ettins had attacked the party mid-day. Several party members were sorely wounded after the battle. Menka cured light wounds on Lycovyne for 7 points and twice on Ulland, bringing both characters to 27 points. The party decided to travel a bit more before healing and resting and headed northeast. Strangely, we did not keep a map.

The woods were thick with vines and thin on roads. No evidence of people traveling through and only rough animal paths to follow. Kyril was quite comfortable, the other party members’ curses seeming to improve his day even further.

Kyril changed form from a bear to a spitting snake (MM pg.88), gaining 30% (10 hp) in the process. While scouting ahead as a snake he returned abruptly, changed form to human, shouted Halt! at the party, and then we were surrounded by more than a dozen centaurs, each armed with a bow and arrows. Of course. Kyril smelled them as a spitting snake and only just got back in time.

Stamping about, snorting and pissing like the horsey idiots they were, they told the druid they would not allow the humans and the dwarves to travel further into the forest. They could stand to suffer the elves, but the elves only. Kyril remonstrated in our favor, with some success.

The centaurs demanded tribute before they’d even consider allowing us passage. They stamped and fussed about, pissing and snorting and being generally very annoying. If there were a few less of them the swords, maces and knives would have come out. Showing extreme forbearance (and failing to find any oats or apples among our gear) we decided to dig some gorgeous gems out of the amphora in the Bag of Holding, one for each of us to provide as tribute ^{[The elves and humans gave 1 gem, the dwarves gave 2, bless their stony little hearts.]} . We each laid a gem at the piss-covered hooves of the lead centaur, each trying in his own way to show at least some amount of deference, and the beast was quelled somewhat.

Kyril asked the lead centaur if he could tell us how to get out of the forest and reach our destination. Describing the monastery and the old caravan road somewhat, the centaur told Kyril:

“None of your kind or any of these others” have been there in a very, very long time.

Asked again how to get out of the forest, the centaur beckoned to a much younger centaur with an injured hoof. Kyril cast cure light wounds on the creature, and Menka offered \spell{cure disease}, but it was not required. Kyril healed the young centaur’s hoof completely, calling upon the spirit of the woods and, of course, upon Grugach.

The lead centaur accepted the tribute and the druid’s healing prowess. He pointed in the general direction to go, briefly describing the way out of the forest and telling Kyril that he should pick his traveling companions more wisely. Then all the centaurs stamped and snorted and pissed all over themselves and everything else and buggered off into the forest in the direction from which they had approached.

The party marched on, generally east-by-northeast. Strangely, we did not keep a map.

The Northern Vinewood#

Following the centaur’s scant directions, the party marched on. Everything was overgrown, there were no signs of humanoid passage at all. Perhaps the old trading road no longer existed, at all. The centaur had described a clearing on our path where we would be allowed to build a small fire, unmolested, due to the opening in the tree canopy. Reaching that clearing, we did so, finally resting and healing.

Through a mixture of cure light wounds spells and all of Kyril’s goodberries the party was returned to full health, or at least close enough that they would be at full after a full overnight rest. Kyril changed form into a starling to scout ahead, gaining 7 points in the process. He scouted ahead for a bit and returned, stating that he wished he chose a different flying creature to scout ahead in the dark. He told the party it looked like we still have a couple days’ travel ahead of us to reach the edge of the Northern Vinewood.

Menka and Kyril drew the first watch. Kyril cast animal summoning, calling upon 2 giant owls to keep watch over the area while we rested. Menka cast Sanctuary and began to pray, silently.

The Interstellar Satyr#

Shortly, the owls returned. They settled on a tree branch and, in their owlish way, informed Kyril that someone waited to speak to Menka and himself just out of firelight. Having delivered their message they flew off, post-haste, the summoning spell having been broken somehow. Menka and Kyril decided to meet with the stranger without waking the others.

Wandering out of the clearing, Kyril and Menka met a creature very much resembling a satyr in an impeccable double-breasted black suit, smoking a cigarette. Kyril took the visitor to be some sort of devil (goat legs, horns and all).

\textit{(puff) I, and certain powers I serve, have a keen interest in the completion of your (puff) objective at the monastery. (puff) We are concerned with the endeavors of those on this plane - and others - to reawaken certain long-dormant powers. }

The creature appealed to not only our aptitude and skill but to our respective loyalties towards balance. He stated that while we (the party) and the powers he served had their philosophical differences,

\textit{“as [pause] SIGNIFICANT as they may be we can all agree on the fact that the chaos that would be introduced by these long-dormant powers returning from their dormancy would be (long puff) undesirable.”}

He encouraged us to confer with our companions \textit{“who would be less … sympathetic towards he and his kind. Our commonalities should win the day and result in a fruitful and mutually productive alliance, for this limited purpose.”}.

He smiled, bowed and said he’d reconvene with us in the future, or be in touch via some other agency.

Menka asked: To which plane do you belong?

Many. (puff) All. We may see you again soon.

Kyril and Menka thanked the creature for introducing himself and it saw itself out, as it were. The duo returned to the campfire and finished their watch in relative silence. As their watch ended, they attempted to rouse the next watch, which included Gonchar.

This wasn’t easy. Some malaise or spell had come over himself and Lycovyne making it nearly impossible for either to wake up. Gonchar roused just enough to roll a saving throw but an 18 wasn’t good enough so he fell back to sleep and could be roused no further. Ulland replaced Gonchar in the next watch and all succeeding watches passed uneventfully.

With the watches complete, the party once again tried to rouse Gonchar without luck. He failed his save once again (13) and stayed asleep. Lycovyne was under the same effect - he failed his save as well (2!!) and stayed asleep. The party was forced to wait for the two to wake under their own steam. When they finally awoke, however, they felt better and more refreshed than ever before. Alignment effects?

Kyril cast cure light wounds on Lycovyne and gave him a couple goodberries. (Did Lycovyne sustain damage somehow?) Menka and Kyril informed the party about the encounter with the satyr-like creature during the watch and the party continued into the forest, generally eastward.

We marched through the forest until sundown without incident. At one point Kyril saw something nobody else could see (really? what?) and advised us to steer very clear of it, whatever it was, which we did. Giving whatever it was a wide berth we semi-circled back to our preferred path.

Preparing to rest for the evening, Kyril cast animal summoning 1 again, attempting to summon some primates. I guess he was lonely. Some primates showed up, answering the call by telling him to bugger off. Still summoning, he attempted to call on some Irish deer. This summons was successful and 2 very large deer with 10’ antler racks showed up. Kyril asked them to stay close and wake us up if anything or anyone approached.

Once settled in, all watches passed without incident.

The Serpent’s Teeth#

Having passed the night quietly, the party continued north by northeast. We were just beginning to smell the sea in the distance, so decided to travel east, along the coastline known as the Serpent’s Teeth, in search of the old, abandoned caravan road.

Entering a clearing, the party startled two gigantic stags, with antler racks 10’ across. Ulland attempted to take one down with his bow (and Kyril said what??) but missed, badly. Twice. With a sullen Ulland in tow, the party marched on. The day of traveling passed uneventfully.

Near dusk we found what appeared to be the ancient road. Not wanting to seek out ancient evil without a full night’s sleep, we decided to rest just off the road. Ulland (played for half the evening by no less than Herr Bulmer) wandered off into the forest (left the room with the DM).

During Lycovyne’s and Kyril’s watch the party was attacked by sturges.

• Lycovyne whipped out a burning hands spell and incinerated most of the sturges
• Kyril, simultaneously, cast faerie fire, illuminating the few left alive
• the party cleared off the remaining sturges with axe, mace, sword, dagger and bow
• ( no HP total/count for sturges )

Passing the remaining watches unmolested, we set forward on the ancient caravan road. Our road was, indeed, less traveled. We may have been the first group in celestial, long-forgotten aeons to walk this path.

The Ancient Caravan Road#

Working our way along the overgrown road, we encountered a structure. Long abandoned, the remains of a sign hanging over the door read The Dancing Dryad Inn. The entrance was at one time gorgeous and ornate, but was now collapsed. Vines covered and supported all the old bones of the structure. Kyril drank a potion of plant control, asking the vines and greenery to draw out any valuable minerals (treasure, gems, etc). The vines began to move and the whole front of the structure collapsed. ( no mention of the vines bringing forth any treasure ).

With the front of the structure now entirely destroyed, Flint circumnavigated the building, " adding detail to our map" (which we weren’t keeping). He located a door in the eastern wall. Gonchar was chickenshit and wouldn’t go through the door (because the structure wasn’t stable) so the party stayed outside while Flint went in.

Dancing Dryad Inn#

The door opened into a large, ancient kitchen - 50’ x 50’. Windows were long gone with most of the door; the kitchen was open to the elements. The whole structure was indeed, unstable. Hurriedly Kyril cast detect magic and scanned the area. He detected a mild magic source, so there was something there just waiting to be found.

Flint went around back and entered the old back door. Judging the eastern window opening reasonably safe, the party followed him in, through the window. Kyril stated in passing that the vale says there is safety inside. (Kyril? Wot?)

With the party assembled in the old kitchen, Flint heard noise - that of leaves rustling. He moved silently while hiding in shadows and snuck into the room, opening the door in the western wall. He was immediately attacked by tentacles!

• Flint takes 7 points of damage and is held fast by the tentacles, being drawn into the creature’s beak-like maw
• Flint rolls a save vs paralyzation (17)
• Lycovyne fired off two magic missiles, doing 12 points of damage and causing a tentacle to drop from the fray
• Flint took another 11 points of damage but made his save
• Menka cast prayer, giving each PC +1 to attack/damage/save and enemies a -1!
• Flint attacked a tentacle twice, hit once for 7 points
• Lycovyne again fired off two magic missiles for 8 points total
• Ulland attacked (with his bow?), missed
• Flint attacked twice, missed
• Gonchar hit by the blessing of Thoth!
• Lycovyne hit the creature (with his sword?) for 9 points
• both beak and tentacle attacked Flint, hitting for 15 points of damage (ouch)
• Flint hit the creature back for 4 points
• Ulland missed, again
• Flint grasped his Periapt of Healing, gaining 4 hit points
• Lycovyne hit the creature again for 12 points, splitting its head wide open
• it dropped Flint
• grell, 35 HP

Menka and Kyril each cured light wounds on Flint, who was now up to 35 HP. With Flint restored, the party searched the room. The room may have been the inn’s common room at one time but little survived beyond vines and rotting wood. A desiccated body lay on the floor, likely killed by the grell. Flint searched the mangled body, finding 25 nice arrows, 5 of which appeared to be above average! The arrows were given to Ulland.

First Opportunity Missed#

The party left the building and moved on, following the ancient road north. We came upon a second building. Dilapidated, but maybe not as bad as the Dryad. The northern wall of the structure had that lived-in look.

Ulland went in first. He pulled open the door and then a fraction of a second later, Gonchar and Flint failed their saves, and structural timber rained down on them. No damage, apparently. Flint checked for traps but didn’t find them. Gonchar and Ulland pushed all the timber out of the way and found horses tethered within.

The heraldic designs on the stables were of known business entities. There were, however, enough horses present for the whole party to mount. It was rumored that Gonchar mounted at least one horse twice when no one was looking. While he was at it he checked around for anything else valuable to plunder and found nothing.

The dwarves, once inside, noted that the building went farther into the hillside than the size of the stables would indicate.

Gonchar and Ulland “put the fallen timber back in place” and the party left the building (through the front gate?) on horseback with Gonchar and Flint above on the Carpet of Flying. An arrow from inside the building chased the party down the road. ( What did we miss here? Occupied stables on an old, abandoned road? What? )

Several miles later we reached the coast. The Serpent’s Teeth to the left of us, huge stone pillars sticking out of the sea. Ships could not navigate to the shore along this coastline. Gonchar and Flint brought the Carpet to the ground. Gonchar joined Menka on horseback, while Flint joined Ulland.

The ancient, derelict road followed the shoreline, close to the sea. It was late afternoon so the party sought out a high vantage point for resting. Apparently, we found an old, abandoned building ( marked ‘B’ on the map we weren’t keeping). Kyril and Ulland build an earthen bulwark for defense while on watch.

The party rested in the building while those on watch stayed outside, behind the bulwark. Lycovyne returned from his watch during the night. Morning came and Lycovyne was already awake.

“Did everyone get contacted?”, he asked.

The party responded in the negative. During the night, Lycovyne was apparently contacted by the same smoking, satyr-like creature which approached Kyril and Menka earlier. He called to Lycovyne by name and offered to train him in Southern Magic in return for help with (puff) parallel goals. The satyr’s group could work with us on a common objective though they would not ordinarily do so. The satyr did not like the dwarves at all and was quite certain they would not like him. The creature then disappeared, as before.

Two More Opportunities Missed#

The building within which the party rested the night was perched on top of a plateau overlooking the sea, though it was miles down to the shore. The foot of the plateau was an enormous, foggy flood plain. A tall, thin building stuck out above the fog on the plain, and the smell of a cooking fire wafted our way. The building seemed to be made of wood and built atop one of many stone outcroppings in the fog. The building lay in our general direction.

Menka cast an augury to see if it would be beneficial for the party to venture to the building in the fog. The augury was unclear, indicating only that the journey could be beneficial to some of us; it would depend upon how events unfolded. We decided we would give it a wide berth for now and go around it, if possible. That’s one.

We traveled all day through the flood plain along the coast. At one point we saw a ship wrecked near the shore among the rocks. This was unusual as no other ships seemed to have made it so far through the Teeth.

Kyril shape changed into a seagull to check out the wreckage from above. The ship appeared to be entirely wrecked, no life onboard, only a single, broken ballista. The party moved on. That’s two.

Moving generally north (I think - the map we weren’t keeping isn’t very clear) we followed the coastline until we reached a crossroads. Running east and north from this point were real, actual roads. Coming down the road from the north was a large caravan, including 30+ wagons and many riders. As we approached the caravan, many of the horseman nocked arrows.

Caravan At The Crossroads#

A merchant addressed us: “These are dangerous roads.”

He called himself Thomas Meadswell, from the Kingdom of Many Isles. Hybernia was immediately to our west, with the City just beyond it. By his accent, this merchant was certainly from the Kingdom of Many Isles.

The caravan came to a halt and invited us to take lunch with them. We did so. We explained to Mr. Meadswell and his associates that we’d traveled north and east through the Vinewood to reach this point. He said he’d not heard of anyone else having done that in many, many years. He had not heard of St. Cuthbert, but he had heard of the Temple of Diancecht.

The caravan master suggested we avoid Innsport completely. He also offered us an electrum piece each to travel east with his caravan as protection on the road. We declined, saying that our path lay to the north and west. Saying farewell, the caravan continued its journey east while the party marched north.

Red Jack#

After some traveling we came across a man sitting on the side of the road with a huge hound. He had a long sword and a mandolin on his back and called himself Red Jack. Jack had come from Bog Brook. He was looking for the caravan, though it seemed to have gone in the other direction and now he wishes to return to Leilon. (??) The party decided to camp there for the night, with Jack.

He sang all night through the watches and also offered up some local rumors:

• there is a brothel-style caravan wandering the northern woods
• a noted ranger who was murdered now wandered the area undead, possibly as a vampire

Kyril cast speak with animals and talked with Jack’s hound. He teased it for having a “master”. The hound growled at Kyril, pissed off. Red Jack was offended as well and would leave in the middle of the night during the watches. So much for our bard NPC…

As it happened, Menka and Kyril drew the first watch. Menka cast Sanctuary and began to pray, silently. Kyril cast animal summoning, calling for a mountain lion. One such lion showed up. The lion made it clear he was not a fan of Red Jack’s war hound. The watches passed uneventfully, Red Jack left, and the lion reported in the morning that the war dog was indeed gone and that something dead stalked the road ahead.

It was a dour, foggy morning. We continued north. A small caravan approached us coming south on the road. One of the wagons was empty. All were pulled by ugly, disgusting mules and were manned by a very strange looking people. We moved past the caravan in silence, and they stared back at us malevolently.