Reposted form the Kenzer co forum
With the three full moons approaching, the party set off towards the swamp with a planned stop at a couple more of the villages marked on our map. The first was completely burned to the ground, apparently by some sort of magical ritual as evidenced by arcane runes surrounding the circular burn pattern. With a few days remaining, we went north to yet another of the unknown villages. This one too had been hit by a shadowy evil that left massive clawed gouges in the earth. A water spirit living there helped with our wounds and told us of the attack and how at the end she was able to fight them off, but not before the village was deserted. Our conversation with the enchanted creature was stopped short when the gnome somehow managed to offend it. A strange cold black aura remains over some of the fallen timbers. A mine there resembled climbing in to a geode. It was beautiful! Our light resonated on the crystals creating the most harmonious sounds! It was extremely soothing. With time nearly out, we headed for the swamp proper.
At the swamp, we dared to enter the village of the children where we learned there were being taken care of by "Mother". We would learn that Mother was the dryad of this area. Something was wrong with her though, for when she was angered she turned green and an evil red anger flared in her eyes. When she calmed, we offered to help her by riding the swamp of the bullywug invaders that were stealing her fruit. Suspect of her intentions, we met with the bullywugs and found them to be the displaced ones, and that something evil had befallen this area that had once been a great lake. We asked them to leave for their own safety, telling them we would take credit for defeating them in order to gain favor with the dryad. We returned to the children's village, but the dryad was not there. After waiting a few hours with nothing, we decided to go investigate the tree that now loomed far above the swamp.
After being nearly wiped out by three more of the vine-lizard beasts, we found little option but to press on, despite losing our newest party member, Jon, who had fallen to the beasts vicious attacks. The massive tree nearly pulsed with evil that the pixie-fairie could feel. Its red hue was unnatural. Catching a glimpse of shiny about the trunk of the tree we approached cautiously. What looked like a silver chain had been wrapped about the tree apparently years ago, for it was now embedded in the bark. Seeking to free the tree from the evil and thinking the chain might be the source of the pain, we moved in closer as saw the face of a woman seemingly frozen in the wood. Magic was used to try melt the chain, but succeeded only in awakening the tree's defenses. As the vines attacked us the pixe-fairy pointed out the pain seemed to come from the face in the wood. As we chipped away at the face, the dryad (in green scary evil mode) came out from the tree and summoned more of the giant lizards. It we could not solve this puzzle in the next minute or so those beasts would make short work of us. The face in the tree screamed in rage as the wood was broken away to reveal that of some sort of ghostly witch apparition. The screams sent a couple of us fleeing in terror, but a few well placed blows and sling bullets finished the task with seconds to spare. As the evil apparition was destroyed, the lizard-beasts reverted to what looked kind of like small alligators. More importantly, the dryad fell to the ground, the green tint leaving her. She thanked us for freeing her as she melted into the ground.
Back in the village, the children were confused, having no recollection of their time here. We took them to the water spirit and told her what had happened. She has offered to watch over them as she sees them as her charge while her cousin, the dryad, recovers. She told us of a Cult of the Blood that might be responsible for what happened in the swamp. We will have to seek them out and add them to the list with the were-rats of things to exterminate from this isle.
.........
With the three full moons approaching, the party set off towards the swamp with a planned stop at a couple more of the villages marked on our map. The first was completely burned to the ground, apparently by some sort of magical ritual as evidenced by arcane runes surrounding the circular burn pattern. With a few days remaining, we went north to yet another of the unknown villages. This one too had been hit by a shadowy evil that left massive clawed gouges in the earth. A water spirit living there helped with our wounds and told us of the attack and how at the end she was able to fight them off, but not before the village was deserted. Our conversation with the enchanted creature was stopped short when the gnome somehow managed to offend it. A strange cold black aura remains over some of the fallen timbers. A mine there resembled climbing in to a geode. It was beautiful! Our light resonated on the crystals creating the most harmonious sounds! It was extremely soothing. With time nearly out, we headed for the swamp proper.
At the swamp, we dared to enter the village of the children where we learned there were being taken care of by "Mother". We would learn that Mother was the dryad of this area. Something was wrong with her though, for when she was angered she turned green and an evil red anger flared in her eyes. When she calmed, we offered to help her by riding the swamp of the bullywug invaders that were stealing her fruit. Suspect of her intentions, we met with the bullywugs and found them to be the displaced ones, and that something evil had befallen this area that had once been a great lake. We asked them to leave for their own safety, telling them we would take credit for defeating them in order to gain favor with the dryad. We returned to the children's village, but the dryad was not there. After waiting a few hours with nothing, we decided to go investigate the tree that now loomed far above the swamp.
After being nearly wiped out by three more of the vine-lizard beasts, we found little option but to press on, despite losing our newest party member, Jon, who had fallen to the beasts vicious attacks. The massive tree nearly pulsed with evil that the pixie-fairie could feel. Its red hue was unnatural. Catching a glimpse of shiny about the trunk of the tree we approached cautiously. What looked like a silver chain had been wrapped about the tree apparently years ago, for it was now embedded in the bark. Seeking to free the tree from the evil and thinking the chain might be the source of the pain, we moved in closer as saw the face of a woman seemingly frozen in the wood. Magic was used to try melt the chain, but succeeded only in awakening the tree's defenses. As the vines attacked us the pixe-fairy pointed out the pain seemed to come from the face in the wood. As we chipped away at the face, the dryad (in green scary evil mode) came out from the tree and summoned more of the giant lizards. It we could not solve this puzzle in the next minute or so those beasts would make short work of us. The face in the tree screamed in rage as the wood was broken away to reveal that of some sort of ghostly witch apparition. The screams sent a couple of us fleeing in terror, but a few well placed blows and sling bullets finished the task with seconds to spare. As the evil apparition was destroyed, the lizard-beasts reverted to what looked kind of like small alligators. More importantly, the dryad fell to the ground, the green tint leaving her. She thanked us for freeing her as she melted into the ground.
Back in the village, the children were confused, having no recollection of their time here. We took them to the water spirit and told her what had happened. She has offered to watch over them as she sees them as her charge while her cousin, the dryad, recovers. She told us of a Cult of the Blood that might be responsible for what happened in the swamp. We will have to seek them out and add them to the list with the were-rats of things to exterminate from this isle.
.........
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