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01/23/02 |
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GREYHAWK 2000 - Stories ADVENTURE 12 - The Lost of the Dreadwood
Godsday, the 4th of Growfest 593CY | We are in Greyhawk - what a great city! But it is full of danger for us in the form of the Scarlet Brotherhood. What they want with Zensun and us I do not know. Today Damoni told us of a great evil brewing in the Dreadwood. His former teacher, Blalock Abamarindeyl Lonione, was able to get a message to him telling of a small group of evil druids called the Lost. These druids have gone against the very laws of Nature and will bring destruction to the forest if they are not stopped. Damoni insists that Blalock needs our aid and we must make the thousand mile journey to the Dreadwood. Who knows, a thousand miles from Greyhawk might not be such a bad idea right now... Waterday, the 5th of Growfest 593CY We are in Longspear - that's right, all the way from Greyhawk to Longspear in one day. It cost us a pretty penny but we were able to convince a powerful cleric of Pelor to cast a wind walk spell on our party, and here we are. The flight was amazing, we traveled many times faster than I can with my fly spell and we were able to see all the terrain along the way, unlike my teleport spell. Anyway, enough rambling. Damoni went straight to see his mother. He did not find her but he did find a note. Treants lead by Firstroot lead an assault on an elven village, many died but many got away as well. We will set off for Blalock's hut first thing tomorrow. Starday, the 22nd of Planting 593CY I am exhausted. We have spent the last month, almost, in the Dreadwood. We traveled to Blalock's hut and found no sign of him except for a secret message that he left Damoni. Next we made our way to the lair of some mist wolves. There we found a single, injured mist wolf with her 5 pups. After that we set off for the ruins of the elven community that had been attacked by the Treants. On our way there we were attacked by a pack of huge dire wolves. We fought them off and killed one. When we checked our wounds Dreadyn warned us that we had been attacked by the undead. When we searched for the body of the wolf we had slain, we could not find it! From that night on, I have been haunted by terrible dreams of demons and vampires in the forests. The dreams have sapped at my health and nothing but a restoration spell from Dreadyn has been able to help me. The ruin of the elven community was a nightmare. There were bones strewn all about. The trees were all twisted, and the buildings were all crushed into rubble. Near the center of the town we were ambushed by 4 huge plant creatures. These things were over 20 ft. long and 10 ft. tall and had long sinewy tentacles. Each of these things grabbed at my companions and soon had thrown many of them into their gullets. I could hear their muffled screams as I flew high in the canopy of twisted branches overhead. I blasted at those things with every spell I had, but nothing I or those valiant few still left fighting below could do stopped them for more than a couple of seconds. All we could do was blast away at one at a time until we had stopped it long enough to get our companions out, then we fled for our lives. Now we are safe in the elven refugee camp. In the camp we have found out that Blalock has probably gone to the sacred grove. We are also pretty sure that the dire wolves that attacked us live at the old stone circle. Waterday, the 26th of Planting 593CY It is daytime as I write this. We are at the ancient stone circle of the druids. Waiting for a visitor tonight. Living here were 4 vampires, all of which we have killed. They had also tricked 4 mist wolves into serving them. We tried to save the mist wolves but were only able to save one in the viscous melee that we fought here. I pity these wolves and what they have gone through. Tonight we expect to be visited by the Witch of the Hool Marshes. The wolf tells us that he has never seen her but he knows when she is around. Sunday, the 2nd of Flocktime 593CY 
Five nights ago we saw the Witch of the Hool Marshes for the first time. Our new wolf companion warned us when she got close. I immediately cast a see invisibility spell and sure enough there she was. She was a hideously ugly human woman with flesh of deep purple and black. She was covered with huge warts, blisters, and open sores. Her hair was jet-black and straggly. Her teeth were yellow and jagged. The eeriest part of all was her eyes. They burned like hot coals and threw out a thick palpably evil radiance. We fought a quick skirmish with her but she quickly retreated when she realized that I could see her.Had this witch been physically visiting us each night and slowly saping my health and then Grocks? Had she done the same thing to the druids and the treants? Two days ago we killed one of the blighted treants. Despite its tremendous strength, the thing was nothing but a husk. If it were possible for a plant to be undead, this was one. The witch harried us for several nights but we were always on our guard and no one had any more of the bad dreams. Now we are on our way to the hut of the druid named Kozan. The wolf tells us that he is in league with the witch, that he has a fiend (albeit a beautiful one) as a wife and a half-fiend for a child. Fantastic, but not hard to believe after what we have been through. Godsday, the 4th of Flocktime 593CY 
As I write this the sun is setting, seeming to sink into the Hool Marsh itself. When we arrived at the hut of the druid Kozan we spotted a single old man out front. Ash decided to sneak around to the left. He got just out of sight when we heard an earth shaking roar. My stomach churned at the sound. We rushed to Ash's aid but got there too late to stop the huge dire bear that had a hold of him from ripping his body in two. In the confusion we were quickly surrounded by opponents. The dire bear was now advancing on Grock. The old man was advancing on Damoni. A strange child with small deer like antlers rushed out from the hut. And lastly I found myself wrapped up in a magical rope even though I was invisible. I turned to look and saw the most beautiful woman. This was no ordinary woman, however. She had huge, feathery wings folded at her back. The site seemed very familiar for some reason…could that have been the same fiend that we fought in the caves of chaos, she certainly looked the same. I did not stay long to think about it, however. Instead I teleported a short distance away, and most importantly, out of the rope.Damoni took out the old man with just a couple of shots from his longbow. Feanor advanced on the winged woman, but our mist wolf companion got there first and killed her quickly. Grock did not have as easy a time. This dire bear must have been part fiendish. It stood at least 20 ft. tall if not more and the bone over its eyes almost looked like small horns. The thing killed Grock, Draedyn, Zensun, Ash, and our wolf companion before we could stop it. Their dead bodies lie in the hut with Feanor, Damoni, and I as we await nightfall and hope the Witch does not pay us a visit. Or, for that matter that strange little boy who we did not see after he ran out of the hut. |
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