Kay's Journal - 4/15 - Reaper Errant

 Kay’s Journal – 4/15

Pujol asks the captain if she knows anything about ‘the great tree’. She says no, so he goes to ask Morgot and we all tag along, though most of us stay just within earshot so as not to scare him. I’m not sure why we’re suddenly concerned about intimidating him. Morgot also doesn’t know anything about the tree – he says he hasn’t stopped at the island. He does tell us that you have to go north to get there and go through the Dragon’s Teeth twice.

Gooseneck asks what kind of terrain we can expect. He says rocky, with some wetlands and jungle. The island is an old volcano, or has one on it. CornCob asks about the fungus situation; surely there is some. Gooseneck asks about dangerous creatures. Morgot says there are some lizardfolk communities that could be hostile. CornCob asks what they trade with the lizardfolk – metal, linen, etc. Fathom asks if Morgot is excited to explore someplace new. Morgot is and asks if he can come along, we say sure.

We get to the island and go ashore. Some of us notice that something about the layout looks unnatural, like maybe the shape was originally a dock or something, and now sand and vegetation have built up over it. Others see some animal tracks in the sand. The tracks are large, probably boar. There are also some snake and crocodile signs. At least one crab is a good four feet(!) across. Abran notices that the tracks of the different types of creatures go off in different directions. He also sees a piece of iron driven in to or wrapped around one of the rocks.

We think the boars go left, the crocodiles go straight, and the snakes went right. 

Pujol wants to look for signs of an ancient road. It seems like as good an idea as any.

CornCob asks Morgot about the tide. Morgot says it’s at its high point now and will be again in four hours or so. Morgot also pulls out an astrolabe, looks around, says he thinks it’ll be evening before the feeding frenzy on the beach starts again.

We walk up and down the beach. Pujol spots an area that maybe used to be a road. Some of us could fly up and search for the great tree that way. So, Pujol casts levitate on me. Up in the air, I look out over the island and spot a couple of interesting features – the top of a volcano, which is not currently doing anything. It has a circular rim of tall trees. I also spot a swampy area. In the middle of the swamp there’s a peninsula of land with a big tree in the middle. There we go! It’s between the crocodile and boar paths, so we head off that way. I stay aloft as long as possible to keep a look out.

Good thing, too, as I spot a crocodile and boar going at each other. Somebody is going to have dinner, and somebody is going to be dinner. We hold back, waiting to let them work it out. It takes about five minutes and then the crocodile takes out the boar. We skirt around the crocodile and head on to the tree.

As we get into the swamp, we start testing the ground with sticks as we go. Abran looks for any indications of ruins. We see some movement at the edge of the water – Lizardfolk! They’re trying to be stealthy, but they are bad at it. I wave at them. They freeze. Gooseneck moves forward to talk to them. They as why we are here, and Gooseneck tells them about looking for the tree that needs help. They don’t like that at all and tell us to leave. Gooseneck says we have good intentions and offers some of our saffron as a gift. They aren’t buying it.

The rest of us move up and Pujol starts playing his harp. Pujol has them figured out, and his music calms them down. 

Then a croc jumps out of the water and grabs one of them.

I run in close, but can’t get close enough to attack. Gooseneck rages and attacks, but can’t get through the croc’s hide. On a second hit, he hurts it. Abran moves closer and shoots at it, hits it.

The crocodile moves back into the deeper water, but Gooseneck gets in a swing at it as it moves and hits it. CornCob moves toward it, walking out on the water to cast a spell at it. The lizard person the croc grabbed gets free and heads for land. He’s missing an arm. One of the others shoots and the croc, and the third helps his friend to shore. 

Fathom shoots a blast at it, hits. Pujol shots it with his crossbow, hits. Gooseneck swings at it again, misses. Abran’s next shot kills the crocodile.

Gooseneck brings the dead croc in and gives it to the injured lizardman. They thank Gooseneck as CornCob binds up the victim’s wounds. Gooseneck tells them their enemy is our enemy, and this time they buy it.

They say others like us showed up, touched an old rune, and then the plants turned dark and hostile. They tell us that Silia watches over the trees, and watches over them. She is at the tree. They are willing to take us to the area, but once there the plants will fight us and they don’t want any part of that.

We get there, and sure enough, evil plants. I look at it with the goggles. It’s living and has a magical aura. It’s ability to move was granted magically but is now intrinsic to it. Pujol thinks it was initially a protein eating plant, but the way it’s moving is not natural.

We can see some ruins from here. They look kind of familiar, like what we saw at Abran’s trial, but not quite the same. It’s also a bit like the big tree in Ven.

CornCob carries Pujol across the water to talk to the dryad. Fathom can also walk on water, so she goes across with them. They get most of the way there when three plant people form out of the ground. They wait and watch. Pujol greets them in Sylvan, telling them we are here to talk to Silia at her request. The plant people appear to confer amongst themselves. Pujol casts Speak with Plants and repeats. They respond with hostility and threaten to eat us. Pujol asks again to speak to Silia, but they say she is treacherous and won’t let us pass.

CornCob tries charming them with a spell. This seems to work; they are less hostile. The agree to let him approach the tree for 2 hours. 

On the peninsula with the tree, Pujol looks around for runes, and sees some. Also, they spot Silia. Pujol talks to her in Sylvan; she wants us to stop their ritual. She says we need to finish what the other humans started – reverse the pattern. She says whatever they are doing, it’s an arcane thing. Fathom looks around, and sees places where the blighted plants have traced patterns over some of the runes.

Abran asks how many people came the first time. It was just one person, wearing robes that were too hot for the weather.

CornCob casts a spell that will summon a guardian to fight if they attack us. Pujol watches what they are doing; it looks like they are drawing dark energy from themselves into the runes.

Gooseneck swims over to the island. The plant guys turn to look at him, but Pujol tells them he’s a friend. 

We decide the blighted plants need to go. Fathom casts Blight at one of them, and hurts it a bunch. Gooseneck swings at it, but misses. Pujol starts playing a counter-charm on his harp, just in case. The plants are no longer charmed, and attack. CornCob’s guardian hits two of them, and hurts them. One swings back at Gooseneck, but misses. Abran casts a spell that lets him run past the moving plant to get to the island. He shoots at one of the plants we are fighting, hurts it. CornCob casts a spell at the one Fathom hurt, and that kills it. The he summons his spiritual weapon, which attacks another one.

Fathom casts Blight again, and another of the plants dies. Gooseneck hits the remaining one and kills it. 

We still need to reverse the damage. CornCob sends the spiritual weapon to kill the guardian plant, and we all end up over by the tree.

Fathom and Abran check out the runes. Abran figures out they are runes of life. We talk to the lizard folk and ask if they have a spellcaster. They bring their shaman. Gooseneck explains the situation. The shaman helps them reverse the ritual.

CornCob casts a spell to fertilize the tree for a year. 

We learn more about the guy wearing the robe. He was human, with olive skin. He paralyzed Silia, did his thing, and then left. 

Abran thinks the area was a training ground. Same architecture as the trial area. He asks Silia what the runes do, and she says they give life to the plants in the area. 

Pujol asks Silia if she has any stuff we can loot. She gives him an amulet. The amulet has an engraving if a dryad and woven shield. Fathom identifies it, and determines that it’s protective, providing defense and armor.