Post by Dead Greyhawk on Nov 18, 2007 13:03:30 GMT -5
The Company exits the building and continues their slow circle around the inside of the square formed by the mysterious black wall. As they now expect, another building is present at the next corner intersection. This building is hexagonal in shape and made of a pale, blue-streaked rock. Unlike the previous buildings, only one door provides entry, but it is made of a mainly dull metal, shiny only in parts and places. Two hoary willow trees grow to both sides of the door, the ground between them damp and muddy.
The Company carefully approaches the door, knowing full well the bad reputation that willows have as black-hearted trees. Otto leans his strength and weight into the door and easily pushes it open. The inside of the shine is cold and damp. A dim watery light shines from two curved pools to the right and left of the doorway, the water shining palely. Beyond them stand two white pillars, a sculpture scrolled across them. Between the two pillars is a shimmering, white curtain that seems to be slowly flowing from the ceiling above.
Behind Otto, who stands in the doorway, a gruesome bulbous creature spouting water from strange hoses, tubes, and nodules rises up from the muddy patch between the black willows. It lunges at Otto, hosing the Company down with high-pressure streams of water while it tries to jam the writhing tubes through the weak points of Otto's armor. Otto will not have it, and he quickly lashes out with his bastardsword. Between the efforts of the others and Otto's mighty blows, the creature is destroyed, a vast geyser of water spilling out from its corpse.
Nothing has moved or changed in the building, at least as far as Otto can tell, so he carefully enters the room. The building is very quiet, the sound damped. The hush is like that of falling snow, a subtle removal of background sounds as they are smothered. The light from the pools illuminates the interior of the building, and Otto sees no threats. The pools swirl, as if by some unseen current, and Otto approaches the left pool to see what causes it to move so.
The pool erupts in a sloshing of water as a great snake of water, complete with head, rears up out of the pool. Otto is surprised by its sudden appearance, and the snake wraps itself around Otto's stunned form. With a heave, the snake of water drags Otto into the pool, luminescent water sloshing over the edges of the pool.
Raven, seeing the that these creatures are water elementals of some sort, digs in his backpack. Long ago, the Company had found a scroll that could create a shell of protection against creatures such as these, and Raven has it somewhere in his pack. He digs down beneath the odd coin, spare arrows, and extra dagger until the crumpled scroll is found. Pulling it forth, he reads the enchantment from the scroll, a bluish fire igniting the words as he reads them. Then, he rushes towards the edge of the pool where Otto flounders.
Otto struggles in the shallow pool, the water barely deep enough to cover his frame, but he seems unable to break the surface. The warriors of the Company seems flummoxed. No creature is visible for them to strike and plunging their swords into the pool simply seems a sure way to strike Otto. Winthrop is not so constrained. He strides up towards the pool and unleashes a great burst of magical energy into it. Otto flails about and breaks through the surface of the water, gasping and hacking, as the luminescence of the pool dims and fades.
As Otto recovers from his near drowning, Winthrop sends Hugh over towards the other pool. With his enchanted armor and quick reflexes, the priest is likely to avoid an attack launched by the pool. As happened with Otto, when Hugh approaches the pool a sinuous form composed entirely of luminescent water writhes into being. Hugh dodges aside as it reaches for him, and Antonus, quick on the draw with his wand of cold, sprays it with freezing magics, narrowly avoiding Hugh. Hugh scowls at Antonus, as he picks himself up off the floor, but Antonus merely grins back. "It's all in the wrist," he jokes. Unfortunately, the watery snake seems mainly unaffected by the icy cone, only moving more slowly than before. Winthrop sends fleets of magical bolts into the creature, destroying it and the pool's luminescence.
The threat of the pools behind them, the Company turns to the strange shimmering curtain of cold. The chill that comes from the curtain is brutal, and large sheets of ice extend along the floor at its edge. It appears to be in slow movement. Winthrop and Antonus can identify small irregularities in the curtain that move from the top to the bottom. The pillars themselves are carved with scenes of winters and snow. They postulate that the curtain is a magical creation coming from the two pillars to the right and left, but Winthrop believes it could be blocked and caused to flow around the blocking object.
"All well and good," interrupts Alouicious, "but shouldn't we be more concerned that the pools are becoming brighter?" The Company turns to face the dwarf. Indeed, he is correct. Both of the pools, the left more than the right, are regaining their luminescent qualities. The Company quickly debates whether the pools are part of the druidic protections of these buildings or new guardians set upon them. As the pools approach their former strength, Alouicious pulls forth a ceramic flask. "These things are some magic done on the water, right?" he asks. Winthrop nods. "Then if I make the water pure, will it change the magic?" he continues. Winthrop shrugs.
"Anything's possible," Winthrop concludes. Alouicious upends the ceramic flask over the left pool, pouring half the liquid in his flask into the pool. The water darkens where the liquid drops into it, and the darkening quickly spreads.
Alouicious smiles. "Looks like that's the charm," he says as he heads to the other pool. He pours the rest of his potion into this pool, darkening it as well. "The water should be sweet to drink now," says Al, waggling his empty flask at the Company.
Winthrop returns his attention to the shimmering curtain. "I'm certain I can block this and allow us to bypass it," he declares, a plan forming in his head. The others urge him on, and he steps back and prepares his magics. Winthrop draws mystical force from the floor beneath the shimmering curtain and forms it in a arch, splitting the falling curtain. While the curtain is still intact and falling from the ceiling, it not longer falls in a sheet. Instead, a narrow gap, large enough for a single person to crawl through, has been opened in the curtain, revealing a frozen vista beyond. "Here we are," says Winthrop contentedly. "Who's going?"
The Company takes a proverbial step backwards as no one chooses to volunteer to enter the frozen space beyond the curtain. Grumbling, Winthrop gets down on his hands and knees and crawls underneath his creation, all while carrying a lightstone in his mouth. Beyond the curtain is sheet of ice in which an altar and several objects are embedded. Standing precariously on the ice, Winthrop shines his light around, taking in the scope of the area. The sheet of ice is what remains of a large semicircular pool of water. Originally surrounding a stone block altar, it is now frozen solid. On the altar is a fountain of some sort, the spraying water frozen solid in midstream. Winthrop gingerly slides across the ice towards the altar, trying to neither fall backwards into the curtain nor forwards onto the altar. Beside the frozen fountain are two vessels, an iron bowl and a tin pitcher, but both are frozen to the surface of the stone altar. Deflated by what lies before him, Winthrop crawls back through his archway before his magics fail. "Nothing of interest," he confirms to the others.
The Company exists back into the eerie twilight, the light intensity having neither waxed nor waned while they have been inside the walled enclave. Following their plan, the Company heads the the fourth, and final, corner of the enclave. As they hike along, Antonus hears a scurrying in the bushes. Since he succeeded in luring Bobbwin to be his familiar, he has noted his increased coordination and reflex speed. Quickly darting his eyes to the right, he catches the furtive movements of a large hare, a hare with a long spiral horn protruding from its head. Before he can point its presence out to the others, it scurries off into the underbrush, out of sight.
The building in the final corner is a perfect square. It is marked by an entry walkway, framed with trellises that are wrapped with long vines. At the end of the trellis is a single wooden door with copper fittings that must provide entry to the inside of the building. Two large hawthorn trees grow on the outside of the trellis near the door. "Let's see. Vines on a trellis before the only entryway into the building on druidic ground," sneers Raven. "Those vines aren't going to come alive and grab us, right? Hugh, get that flaming sword going."
Otto sheathes his bastardsword and shield, flexing his hands, and rolling his shoulders. "I'll hold them," he says over Herbert's protestations about the sanctity of nature. "You cut them." With those words, he walks forward between and under the trellises. Diego and Raven cover his movement, while Hugh, with his flaming sword, and Jasper, with his halberd, prepare to cut Otto free.
As expected, the vines on the trellis grab at Otto once he approaches the door. What is not expected is the sudden appearance of a gruesome undead hedgehog that burrows up from the ground between the trellises. It launches itself at the entwined Otto as Raven and Diego fire arrows into its spiky carapace. Otto, sorely displeased, flexes his muscles, magically enhanced by Winthrop long ago at daybreak, and strains against the vines. With a creaking sound, the trellises begin to deform, pulling in towards the mighty ranger, and then with a loud snap, the vines fail, their remains springing up into the air and then dangling limply from the trellis. Al, Raven, and Diego charge in, under the trellis, and hack at the gruesome hedgehog while Otto attempts to fend its blows off. The creature is no match for the four warriors and it quickly falls, dead.
Otto reequips himself and then shudders the door open. The square room inside has a tall ceiling, almost fifteen feet high. Though the building is made of stone, the walls are covered with sheets of wooden paneling. The panels are carved with scenes of growth; plants breaking free of the earth and animals maturing. Each of the carvings has been carefully inlaid with copper, creating a striking interplay of light and dark in the panel. Along the far wall is a semi-circular wooden altar, about waist high. Four small bowls, shining warmly like burnished copper accented with small red marks, sit on the altar. "Don't touch the copper bowls," quips Otto to Raven.
"Hah!" says Raven. "Funny if it wasn't true." Once Otto has convinced himself that the room is safe, Raven walks up to the altar. Standing a good distance away from the altar, Raven eyes the bowls. They appear to be rather valuable, as the red accents are made of ruby chips, but, as his experience has shown, more dangerous than they are worth.
The Company gathers by where they entered the enclave: the terminus of the gate. The buildings, apparently temples to the various seasons, have shed no light on the situation, outside of Hugh's vision. The Company has been hiking, fighting, or exploring for a full day, and all of them are somewhat fatigued. Winthrop suggests that the Company set up camp and try to gain some rest before tackling the wall of thorns. Herbert goes back to the iron grate and attempts to get it to open for him. The iron gate stubbornly does not move towards him in the tunnel, regardless of his actions. The fact that the Company can not retreat to some safer location and thus would be forced to camp in the enclave itself puts a damper on their plans. "I could summon a house," suggest Winthrop, half-heartedly, knowing that its protection would be minimal at best.
The Company approaches the wall of thorns to search for a weak point, a tunnel, or some way through the tangled mass. No obvious passage through the thorns is found, nor any hidden entrances or burrows. Herbert points out that druids of greater experience can pass through wooded areas without leaving the slightest trace or even transport themselves over long distances by walking through the trees. Perhaps the wall of thorns is meant as an absolute barrier.
"The thorns are deadwood," says Winthrop. "That mean they burn." He rubs his hands together gleefully, envisioning a great circular pyre surrounding the Great Tree.
"Enough," chides Raven. "Turn yourself into something that flies and begin ferrying people over the wall." Winthrop glowers and pouts but accedes. With a few passes and an incantation, Winthrop transforms himself into a hippogryph, and he begins carrying people over the thorn wall. The thorns are equally impressive when viewed from above, as the wall is easily ten feet thick, if not more.
The process is slow and cumbersome, and Antonus grows frustrated. Pulling a metal flask out of his pouch, he unstoppers and drinks a chalky, white liquid. Change ripples through his body as he and his belongings swell and grow in size. He shoots up in height and weight until he towers above the Company, five times the nearest person's height. Reaching down with one cupped hand, he booms, "Climb on!" The Company is quickly moved over the top of the thorn wall, and Antonus joins them, easily stepping over the wall that comes up to his thighs. "Got to be careful," he booms, as he hops from one foot to the other over the sharp tines of the wall. "Wouldn't want to stick myself down there!"
The Great Tree towers over the Company, soaring into the sky above. The land inside of the thorn wall is poorly lit, with an oppressive blackness weighing down on the Company. Even their lightstones seem to struggle against the darkness, the edges of the light they shed more clearly demarcated than normal. Raven and Otto look up at the Great Tree and confer. To them, the tree seems much larger than when they looked at it towering over the wall. The girth of the tree, rather than measured in the feet, is measured in tens of feet. Whacking Antonus on his ankle gets his attention and he booms that from his vantage, he would estimate the tree to be hundreds of feet high, with the first set of branches an easy hundred and fifty feet off the ground, and the trunk an easy two hundred feet across. The Company grows concerned about the magics that are being wrought on them without their knowledge or apparent resistance.
The Company is struck by a not-uncharacteristic moment of unsureness. The Great Tree seems to be a central goal, but no creature has challenged them so far. The Great Tree was, in their minds, an object, not a location, and they now find its scale to be both distracting and distressing. Should they try to scale the Great Tree?
Antonus grows tired of the Company's equivocation. So far, the Company has been well practiced, in his estimation, in arguing with themselves and going in circles. "Some direction will help them," thinks Antonus, as he walks up to the behemoth tree. Antonus grabs hold of the tree and begins slamming and shaking it, hollering up the tree trunk. "Come on out! We're tired of waiting for you," bellows Antonus up the tree. The great girth of the tree defeats Antonus's efforts to move it, so he scoops up his glowing staff, now several feet thick, and smacks it repeatedly against the tree. "The Company of the Blue Sun is here! Leave the Oytwood or feel our wrath!" he booms.
Beating on it like a big drum, Antonus begins circling the Great Tree. The rest of the Company is agog at Antonus's actions. While the Company has never been a great supporter of stealth and secrecy, Antonus is taking 'announce your presence' to new heights. The others spread out in two groups, one following after the behemoth in the white robes and the other circling the Great Tree in the other direction.
It is not long before Antonus makes a gasping sound and keels over onto the ground, arrows protruding from his fine white robe. Antonus, injured, crawls back away from the Great Tree, chanting short syllables. More arrows arc out from the side of the tree, at about the thirty foot height, but a shimmering field deflects them. Antonus's magics protect him.
Hugh rushes over to heal Antonus, as Diego returns arrow fire up into the Great Tree. He yells for Raven to join him, so that both of the archers can convince their enemies to flee or die. Normally, such contests are easily won by the Company, as few archers are as regular and accurate as Diego and Raven. Things become complicated though, as giant goblins come charging from the left around the arc of the Great Tree. With the company split, they lack the fighting line that they normally could establish, and the giant goblins are likely to get in among them.
The other half of the Company, led by Otto and Winthrop, hear the sounds of combat and shouting from the far side of the Great Tree. As they turn to retrace their steps and join their beleaguered companions, a wistful song trickles down from the darkness above. Herbert and Perrin stand staring upwards, reaching with their arms as if to climb up into the air. To Otto and Winthrop, it seems nothing more than a melody, but Winthrop immediately understands. "Harpy! Somewhere up above us," he cries, as he turns back into a hippogryph.
Otto mounts the hippogryph and, with a glowing stone firmly attached to his helmet, launches into the air. The harpy, a hideous winged hag, sings sixty feet above them, but she is no fool. Seeing the half-bird/half-horse creature with the warrior atop it coming towards her, she flees up into the night, back towards the tree limbs far above. Otto and Winthrop pursue her up into the night.
Antonus, now at least partially warded against the arrows, regains his feet in a rage. First, he turns towards the charging giant goblins, draws and level his sapling-sized wand of cold, and sprays a cone of frost over them. Though the wand is giant-sized, the mist that comes from it is no broader than when it was smaller, and only some of the giant goblins are caught by the freezing mist. Then, he begins pummeling the tree where the arrows flew, bits of bark and wood flying off the tree. In his fury, he slams his foot against the base of the tree and, with a cracking sound, puts his foot through the bark of the tree, revealing a tunnel within. Still angry, he thrusts the wand of cold into the tunnel opening and sprays freezing mists within the tunnel as well, simply for good measure.
Jasper climbs up the side of the Great Tree, trying to avoid Antonus's furious beating and the attention of the archers. He reaches what appears as long holes in the side of the tree, too narrow to climb through, but easily wide enough to fire arrows through. He tries to thrust his fist or foot through the opening to strike the archers within, but the combination of confined space and precarious perch serve to foil him. Instead, he stabs his halberd in through the hole one-handedly, trying to prevent those within from firing out it.
Al who has hurried around the tree to reach Antonus, joins Hugh in fending off the giant goblins, while Raven and Diego split their attention. Antonus's furious pounding of the tree has prevented those archers from continuing their bombardment of the Company, instead causing them, seen now as more giant goblins, to grab hold of the tree to prevent themselves from being pitched from it. Raven sends precise shafts arrowing up and through the giant goblin archers while Diego focuses his attention on those giant goblins that have come around the side of the Great Tree.
The flight of the harpy up away from the ground breaks the effects of her song. Herbert and Perrin shake themselves as the enthralling music fades away. Far above them, many dark objects fly through a globe of light, but the sounds of combat echo through the darkness. Perrin agrees to stay here while Herbert goes to help the others. Perrin can see that the harpy is not alone.
The harpy, having reached the lowest branches of the Great Tree, screeches like the half-bird that she is and swings around one of them. She plummets towards the two of them, extending her talons towards Otto. Otto, having quietly trained with Winthrop in the magical arts while they were in Oytpass Keep, mutters a minor magic, one that should put the creature to sleep. As he does so, large shadows fly in behind the harpy, diving in behind her, and his spell is ruined.
Winthrop goes to warn Otto of the effects of a harpy's touch, but all that comes out of his beak is a tortured squawk. Otto, fortuitously, fends the harpy's touch off with his shield and delivers a hammering series of blows with Giantslayer. Its name could easily be changed now as the harpy curls in on the large rents the bastardsword makes in her body and then plummets towards the ground.
The harpy's allies are not so easily dealt with. Two giant owls dive out of the darkness onto Winthrop, raking at him with their talons and pecking with their beaks at his eyes and vitals. The whirlwind of razor sharp talons and pointed beaks is dizzying and deadly. Winthrop feels his feathers fly off and his wings begin to lose traction against the air. Looking at the great distance between himself and the ground, Winthrop makes a hard choice. With barely a moment of warning, he folds his wings in and dives for the ground. Otto is taken aback by Winthrop's sudden motion. The presence of his mount suddenly lessens beneath him as Winthrop dives. It is only Otto's long familiarity with steeds that allows him to keep his seat following the contortions that Winthrop goes through as he spirals towards the ground.
Antonus, having discovered the crushed covering of the passage below, pokes his glowing staff into the hole, rattling it around and around. "Come on out!" he bellows, more bellicose than before. he's made. Herbert, having made the long run around the tree trunk, calls upon the grasses to entwine the last of the giant goblins, assuring the Company's victory. Alouicious, Hugh, and Diego make short work of the bound giant goblins.
For Perrin, his choice seems to have been a bad one. Opting to avoid the clear sounds of combat, he stares up at the battle occurring overhead. Only a momentary premonition warns him that the dark object dropping towards the ground is in free fall, not flight. He dodges to one side as the rent body of the harpy splashes to the ground near him. He only barely recovers his feet before the hippogryph that is Winthrop makes a barely controlled landing, spilling Otto in a roll off of his back. Otto staggers to his feet in time to meet the first giant owl's charge, batting it out of the air like a stuffed animal. Perrin strums the banjo as he has been taught, and the other giant owl in encased in a glowing orange light. Winthrop, changing from his hippogryph form to his human one, weathers the battering of wings, talons, and beaks to launch a burst of magical energy into the glowing giant owl attacking him. The giant owl falls from the sky, and Otto smites it with the flat of his blade, stunning it into unconsciousness. Recalling Herbert's anger about the Company's earlier actions, Otto hikes over to the giant owl he originally struck down, jamming a large berry down its beak and stabilizing it in its descent into death.
"Let's go find the others," says Winthrop. With that, the three of them head around the Giant Tree, towards where the sounds of combat have stopped.
The Company carefully approaches the door, knowing full well the bad reputation that willows have as black-hearted trees. Otto leans his strength and weight into the door and easily pushes it open. The inside of the shine is cold and damp. A dim watery light shines from two curved pools to the right and left of the doorway, the water shining palely. Beyond them stand two white pillars, a sculpture scrolled across them. Between the two pillars is a shimmering, white curtain that seems to be slowly flowing from the ceiling above.
Behind Otto, who stands in the doorway, a gruesome bulbous creature spouting water from strange hoses, tubes, and nodules rises up from the muddy patch between the black willows. It lunges at Otto, hosing the Company down with high-pressure streams of water while it tries to jam the writhing tubes through the weak points of Otto's armor. Otto will not have it, and he quickly lashes out with his bastardsword. Between the efforts of the others and Otto's mighty blows, the creature is destroyed, a vast geyser of water spilling out from its corpse.
Nothing has moved or changed in the building, at least as far as Otto can tell, so he carefully enters the room. The building is very quiet, the sound damped. The hush is like that of falling snow, a subtle removal of background sounds as they are smothered. The light from the pools illuminates the interior of the building, and Otto sees no threats. The pools swirl, as if by some unseen current, and Otto approaches the left pool to see what causes it to move so.
The pool erupts in a sloshing of water as a great snake of water, complete with head, rears up out of the pool. Otto is surprised by its sudden appearance, and the snake wraps itself around Otto's stunned form. With a heave, the snake of water drags Otto into the pool, luminescent water sloshing over the edges of the pool.
Raven, seeing the that these creatures are water elementals of some sort, digs in his backpack. Long ago, the Company had found a scroll that could create a shell of protection against creatures such as these, and Raven has it somewhere in his pack. He digs down beneath the odd coin, spare arrows, and extra dagger until the crumpled scroll is found. Pulling it forth, he reads the enchantment from the scroll, a bluish fire igniting the words as he reads them. Then, he rushes towards the edge of the pool where Otto flounders.
Otto struggles in the shallow pool, the water barely deep enough to cover his frame, but he seems unable to break the surface. The warriors of the Company seems flummoxed. No creature is visible for them to strike and plunging their swords into the pool simply seems a sure way to strike Otto. Winthrop is not so constrained. He strides up towards the pool and unleashes a great burst of magical energy into it. Otto flails about and breaks through the surface of the water, gasping and hacking, as the luminescence of the pool dims and fades.
As Otto recovers from his near drowning, Winthrop sends Hugh over towards the other pool. With his enchanted armor and quick reflexes, the priest is likely to avoid an attack launched by the pool. As happened with Otto, when Hugh approaches the pool a sinuous form composed entirely of luminescent water writhes into being. Hugh dodges aside as it reaches for him, and Antonus, quick on the draw with his wand of cold, sprays it with freezing magics, narrowly avoiding Hugh. Hugh scowls at Antonus, as he picks himself up off the floor, but Antonus merely grins back. "It's all in the wrist," he jokes. Unfortunately, the watery snake seems mainly unaffected by the icy cone, only moving more slowly than before. Winthrop sends fleets of magical bolts into the creature, destroying it and the pool's luminescence.
The threat of the pools behind them, the Company turns to the strange shimmering curtain of cold. The chill that comes from the curtain is brutal, and large sheets of ice extend along the floor at its edge. It appears to be in slow movement. Winthrop and Antonus can identify small irregularities in the curtain that move from the top to the bottom. The pillars themselves are carved with scenes of winters and snow. They postulate that the curtain is a magical creation coming from the two pillars to the right and left, but Winthrop believes it could be blocked and caused to flow around the blocking object.
"All well and good," interrupts Alouicious, "but shouldn't we be more concerned that the pools are becoming brighter?" The Company turns to face the dwarf. Indeed, he is correct. Both of the pools, the left more than the right, are regaining their luminescent qualities. The Company quickly debates whether the pools are part of the druidic protections of these buildings or new guardians set upon them. As the pools approach their former strength, Alouicious pulls forth a ceramic flask. "These things are some magic done on the water, right?" he asks. Winthrop nods. "Then if I make the water pure, will it change the magic?" he continues. Winthrop shrugs.
"Anything's possible," Winthrop concludes. Alouicious upends the ceramic flask over the left pool, pouring half the liquid in his flask into the pool. The water darkens where the liquid drops into it, and the darkening quickly spreads.
Alouicious smiles. "Looks like that's the charm," he says as he heads to the other pool. He pours the rest of his potion into this pool, darkening it as well. "The water should be sweet to drink now," says Al, waggling his empty flask at the Company.
Winthrop returns his attention to the shimmering curtain. "I'm certain I can block this and allow us to bypass it," he declares, a plan forming in his head. The others urge him on, and he steps back and prepares his magics. Winthrop draws mystical force from the floor beneath the shimmering curtain and forms it in a arch, splitting the falling curtain. While the curtain is still intact and falling from the ceiling, it not longer falls in a sheet. Instead, a narrow gap, large enough for a single person to crawl through, has been opened in the curtain, revealing a frozen vista beyond. "Here we are," says Winthrop contentedly. "Who's going?"
The Company takes a proverbial step backwards as no one chooses to volunteer to enter the frozen space beyond the curtain. Grumbling, Winthrop gets down on his hands and knees and crawls underneath his creation, all while carrying a lightstone in his mouth. Beyond the curtain is sheet of ice in which an altar and several objects are embedded. Standing precariously on the ice, Winthrop shines his light around, taking in the scope of the area. The sheet of ice is what remains of a large semicircular pool of water. Originally surrounding a stone block altar, it is now frozen solid. On the altar is a fountain of some sort, the spraying water frozen solid in midstream. Winthrop gingerly slides across the ice towards the altar, trying to neither fall backwards into the curtain nor forwards onto the altar. Beside the frozen fountain are two vessels, an iron bowl and a tin pitcher, but both are frozen to the surface of the stone altar. Deflated by what lies before him, Winthrop crawls back through his archway before his magics fail. "Nothing of interest," he confirms to the others.
The Company exists back into the eerie twilight, the light intensity having neither waxed nor waned while they have been inside the walled enclave. Following their plan, the Company heads the the fourth, and final, corner of the enclave. As they hike along, Antonus hears a scurrying in the bushes. Since he succeeded in luring Bobbwin to be his familiar, he has noted his increased coordination and reflex speed. Quickly darting his eyes to the right, he catches the furtive movements of a large hare, a hare with a long spiral horn protruding from its head. Before he can point its presence out to the others, it scurries off into the underbrush, out of sight.
The building in the final corner is a perfect square. It is marked by an entry walkway, framed with trellises that are wrapped with long vines. At the end of the trellis is a single wooden door with copper fittings that must provide entry to the inside of the building. Two large hawthorn trees grow on the outside of the trellis near the door. "Let's see. Vines on a trellis before the only entryway into the building on druidic ground," sneers Raven. "Those vines aren't going to come alive and grab us, right? Hugh, get that flaming sword going."
Otto sheathes his bastardsword and shield, flexing his hands, and rolling his shoulders. "I'll hold them," he says over Herbert's protestations about the sanctity of nature. "You cut them." With those words, he walks forward between and under the trellises. Diego and Raven cover his movement, while Hugh, with his flaming sword, and Jasper, with his halberd, prepare to cut Otto free.
As expected, the vines on the trellis grab at Otto once he approaches the door. What is not expected is the sudden appearance of a gruesome undead hedgehog that burrows up from the ground between the trellises. It launches itself at the entwined Otto as Raven and Diego fire arrows into its spiky carapace. Otto, sorely displeased, flexes his muscles, magically enhanced by Winthrop long ago at daybreak, and strains against the vines. With a creaking sound, the trellises begin to deform, pulling in towards the mighty ranger, and then with a loud snap, the vines fail, their remains springing up into the air and then dangling limply from the trellis. Al, Raven, and Diego charge in, under the trellis, and hack at the gruesome hedgehog while Otto attempts to fend its blows off. The creature is no match for the four warriors and it quickly falls, dead.
Otto reequips himself and then shudders the door open. The square room inside has a tall ceiling, almost fifteen feet high. Though the building is made of stone, the walls are covered with sheets of wooden paneling. The panels are carved with scenes of growth; plants breaking free of the earth and animals maturing. Each of the carvings has been carefully inlaid with copper, creating a striking interplay of light and dark in the panel. Along the far wall is a semi-circular wooden altar, about waist high. Four small bowls, shining warmly like burnished copper accented with small red marks, sit on the altar. "Don't touch the copper bowls," quips Otto to Raven.
"Hah!" says Raven. "Funny if it wasn't true." Once Otto has convinced himself that the room is safe, Raven walks up to the altar. Standing a good distance away from the altar, Raven eyes the bowls. They appear to be rather valuable, as the red accents are made of ruby chips, but, as his experience has shown, more dangerous than they are worth.
The Company gathers by where they entered the enclave: the terminus of the gate. The buildings, apparently temples to the various seasons, have shed no light on the situation, outside of Hugh's vision. The Company has been hiking, fighting, or exploring for a full day, and all of them are somewhat fatigued. Winthrop suggests that the Company set up camp and try to gain some rest before tackling the wall of thorns. Herbert goes back to the iron grate and attempts to get it to open for him. The iron gate stubbornly does not move towards him in the tunnel, regardless of his actions. The fact that the Company can not retreat to some safer location and thus would be forced to camp in the enclave itself puts a damper on their plans. "I could summon a house," suggest Winthrop, half-heartedly, knowing that its protection would be minimal at best.
The Company approaches the wall of thorns to search for a weak point, a tunnel, or some way through the tangled mass. No obvious passage through the thorns is found, nor any hidden entrances or burrows. Herbert points out that druids of greater experience can pass through wooded areas without leaving the slightest trace or even transport themselves over long distances by walking through the trees. Perhaps the wall of thorns is meant as an absolute barrier.
"The thorns are deadwood," says Winthrop. "That mean they burn." He rubs his hands together gleefully, envisioning a great circular pyre surrounding the Great Tree.
"Enough," chides Raven. "Turn yourself into something that flies and begin ferrying people over the wall." Winthrop glowers and pouts but accedes. With a few passes and an incantation, Winthrop transforms himself into a hippogryph, and he begins carrying people over the thorn wall. The thorns are equally impressive when viewed from above, as the wall is easily ten feet thick, if not more.
The process is slow and cumbersome, and Antonus grows frustrated. Pulling a metal flask out of his pouch, he unstoppers and drinks a chalky, white liquid. Change ripples through his body as he and his belongings swell and grow in size. He shoots up in height and weight until he towers above the Company, five times the nearest person's height. Reaching down with one cupped hand, he booms, "Climb on!" The Company is quickly moved over the top of the thorn wall, and Antonus joins them, easily stepping over the wall that comes up to his thighs. "Got to be careful," he booms, as he hops from one foot to the other over the sharp tines of the wall. "Wouldn't want to stick myself down there!"
The Great Tree towers over the Company, soaring into the sky above. The land inside of the thorn wall is poorly lit, with an oppressive blackness weighing down on the Company. Even their lightstones seem to struggle against the darkness, the edges of the light they shed more clearly demarcated than normal. Raven and Otto look up at the Great Tree and confer. To them, the tree seems much larger than when they looked at it towering over the wall. The girth of the tree, rather than measured in the feet, is measured in tens of feet. Whacking Antonus on his ankle gets his attention and he booms that from his vantage, he would estimate the tree to be hundreds of feet high, with the first set of branches an easy hundred and fifty feet off the ground, and the trunk an easy two hundred feet across. The Company grows concerned about the magics that are being wrought on them without their knowledge or apparent resistance.
The Company is struck by a not-uncharacteristic moment of unsureness. The Great Tree seems to be a central goal, but no creature has challenged them so far. The Great Tree was, in their minds, an object, not a location, and they now find its scale to be both distracting and distressing. Should they try to scale the Great Tree?
Antonus grows tired of the Company's equivocation. So far, the Company has been well practiced, in his estimation, in arguing with themselves and going in circles. "Some direction will help them," thinks Antonus, as he walks up to the behemoth tree. Antonus grabs hold of the tree and begins slamming and shaking it, hollering up the tree trunk. "Come on out! We're tired of waiting for you," bellows Antonus up the tree. The great girth of the tree defeats Antonus's efforts to move it, so he scoops up his glowing staff, now several feet thick, and smacks it repeatedly against the tree. "The Company of the Blue Sun is here! Leave the Oytwood or feel our wrath!" he booms.
Beating on it like a big drum, Antonus begins circling the Great Tree. The rest of the Company is agog at Antonus's actions. While the Company has never been a great supporter of stealth and secrecy, Antonus is taking 'announce your presence' to new heights. The others spread out in two groups, one following after the behemoth in the white robes and the other circling the Great Tree in the other direction.
It is not long before Antonus makes a gasping sound and keels over onto the ground, arrows protruding from his fine white robe. Antonus, injured, crawls back away from the Great Tree, chanting short syllables. More arrows arc out from the side of the tree, at about the thirty foot height, but a shimmering field deflects them. Antonus's magics protect him.
Hugh rushes over to heal Antonus, as Diego returns arrow fire up into the Great Tree. He yells for Raven to join him, so that both of the archers can convince their enemies to flee or die. Normally, such contests are easily won by the Company, as few archers are as regular and accurate as Diego and Raven. Things become complicated though, as giant goblins come charging from the left around the arc of the Great Tree. With the company split, they lack the fighting line that they normally could establish, and the giant goblins are likely to get in among them.
The other half of the Company, led by Otto and Winthrop, hear the sounds of combat and shouting from the far side of the Great Tree. As they turn to retrace their steps and join their beleaguered companions, a wistful song trickles down from the darkness above. Herbert and Perrin stand staring upwards, reaching with their arms as if to climb up into the air. To Otto and Winthrop, it seems nothing more than a melody, but Winthrop immediately understands. "Harpy! Somewhere up above us," he cries, as he turns back into a hippogryph.
Otto mounts the hippogryph and, with a glowing stone firmly attached to his helmet, launches into the air. The harpy, a hideous winged hag, sings sixty feet above them, but she is no fool. Seeing the half-bird/half-horse creature with the warrior atop it coming towards her, she flees up into the night, back towards the tree limbs far above. Otto and Winthrop pursue her up into the night.
Antonus, now at least partially warded against the arrows, regains his feet in a rage. First, he turns towards the charging giant goblins, draws and level his sapling-sized wand of cold, and sprays a cone of frost over them. Though the wand is giant-sized, the mist that comes from it is no broader than when it was smaller, and only some of the giant goblins are caught by the freezing mist. Then, he begins pummeling the tree where the arrows flew, bits of bark and wood flying off the tree. In his fury, he slams his foot against the base of the tree and, with a cracking sound, puts his foot through the bark of the tree, revealing a tunnel within. Still angry, he thrusts the wand of cold into the tunnel opening and sprays freezing mists within the tunnel as well, simply for good measure.
Jasper climbs up the side of the Great Tree, trying to avoid Antonus's furious beating and the attention of the archers. He reaches what appears as long holes in the side of the tree, too narrow to climb through, but easily wide enough to fire arrows through. He tries to thrust his fist or foot through the opening to strike the archers within, but the combination of confined space and precarious perch serve to foil him. Instead, he stabs his halberd in through the hole one-handedly, trying to prevent those within from firing out it.
Al who has hurried around the tree to reach Antonus, joins Hugh in fending off the giant goblins, while Raven and Diego split their attention. Antonus's furious pounding of the tree has prevented those archers from continuing their bombardment of the Company, instead causing them, seen now as more giant goblins, to grab hold of the tree to prevent themselves from being pitched from it. Raven sends precise shafts arrowing up and through the giant goblin archers while Diego focuses his attention on those giant goblins that have come around the side of the Great Tree.
The flight of the harpy up away from the ground breaks the effects of her song. Herbert and Perrin shake themselves as the enthralling music fades away. Far above them, many dark objects fly through a globe of light, but the sounds of combat echo through the darkness. Perrin agrees to stay here while Herbert goes to help the others. Perrin can see that the harpy is not alone.
The harpy, having reached the lowest branches of the Great Tree, screeches like the half-bird that she is and swings around one of them. She plummets towards the two of them, extending her talons towards Otto. Otto, having quietly trained with Winthrop in the magical arts while they were in Oytpass Keep, mutters a minor magic, one that should put the creature to sleep. As he does so, large shadows fly in behind the harpy, diving in behind her, and his spell is ruined.
Winthrop goes to warn Otto of the effects of a harpy's touch, but all that comes out of his beak is a tortured squawk. Otto, fortuitously, fends the harpy's touch off with his shield and delivers a hammering series of blows with Giantslayer. Its name could easily be changed now as the harpy curls in on the large rents the bastardsword makes in her body and then plummets towards the ground.
The harpy's allies are not so easily dealt with. Two giant owls dive out of the darkness onto Winthrop, raking at him with their talons and pecking with their beaks at his eyes and vitals. The whirlwind of razor sharp talons and pointed beaks is dizzying and deadly. Winthrop feels his feathers fly off and his wings begin to lose traction against the air. Looking at the great distance between himself and the ground, Winthrop makes a hard choice. With barely a moment of warning, he folds his wings in and dives for the ground. Otto is taken aback by Winthrop's sudden motion. The presence of his mount suddenly lessens beneath him as Winthrop dives. It is only Otto's long familiarity with steeds that allows him to keep his seat following the contortions that Winthrop goes through as he spirals towards the ground.
Antonus, having discovered the crushed covering of the passage below, pokes his glowing staff into the hole, rattling it around and around. "Come on out!" he bellows, more bellicose than before. he's made. Herbert, having made the long run around the tree trunk, calls upon the grasses to entwine the last of the giant goblins, assuring the Company's victory. Alouicious, Hugh, and Diego make short work of the bound giant goblins.
For Perrin, his choice seems to have been a bad one. Opting to avoid the clear sounds of combat, he stares up at the battle occurring overhead. Only a momentary premonition warns him that the dark object dropping towards the ground is in free fall, not flight. He dodges to one side as the rent body of the harpy splashes to the ground near him. He only barely recovers his feet before the hippogryph that is Winthrop makes a barely controlled landing, spilling Otto in a roll off of his back. Otto staggers to his feet in time to meet the first giant owl's charge, batting it out of the air like a stuffed animal. Perrin strums the banjo as he has been taught, and the other giant owl in encased in a glowing orange light. Winthrop, changing from his hippogryph form to his human one, weathers the battering of wings, talons, and beaks to launch a burst of magical energy into the glowing giant owl attacking him. The giant owl falls from the sky, and Otto smites it with the flat of his blade, stunning it into unconsciousness. Recalling Herbert's anger about the Company's earlier actions, Otto hikes over to the giant owl he originally struck down, jamming a large berry down its beak and stabilizing it in its descent into death.
"Let's go find the others," says Winthrop. With that, the three of them head around the Giant Tree, towards where the sounds of combat have stopped.
