Post by Dead Greyhawk on Nov 30, 2007 8:06:30 GMT -5
The Company opens the door into the room with the buzzing, honeycombed walls. The buzzing noise is much louder this time, and Otto has difficulty opening the other door. He slams his shoulder against it repeatedly, but the fleeing bugbear seems to have jammed it shut behind him. The buzzing sound resolves itself into large bug-like birds with batwings. The strange hybrids launch themselves at the Company, but Raven, prepared for such an assault, shoots them down with astonishing regularity. Otto finally opens the door and the crush of the Company is relieved, but the archer slays more than a dozen of the creatures before they are finally through. "Stirges," mutters Winthrop darkly, recalling the harrowing time spent in the abandoned house over the smugglers' den back outside of Saltmarsh.
The corridor appears unchanged, the dead green-scaled creatures having not moved in the least. Two doors are on the left side of the corridor, and the Company takes them in order. The first door opens to reveal a ramp descending towards the base of the Great Tree. The Company hikes downwards and downwards, until Al and Pfiffwin think the Company may be below the ground level. The corridor becomes damper and a thin sheen of water coats the stairs beneath their feet. The Company must carefully watch their step to avoid slipping and possibly injuring themselves. The walls of the passageway become rougher and rougher, appearing like a series of rough thorns pointed in the direction the Company travels. The thorns are easily avoided, but the Company will likely have to walk carefully back up the ramp. At the base of the ramp, a single door closes off the passageway.
Otto carefully opens the door, not wanting to lose his footing. Beyond the door is an irregularly shaped room. A smooth grayish floor bows slightly upward in the middle of the room, creating a convex shape, and, on the far wall opposite the door, a small pouch hangs on a thorny hook. Pfiffwin eyes the floor and then reaches down to touch it. The floor feels oddly springy to him, as if perhaps it was a membrane spread over a void space, like a pit. "Don't go in," he cautions. "We should toss something into the room to find out what this is covering."
"Get us a corpse," says Raven, pointing at Al. Al grimaces and then starts to work his way back up the slippery ramp, avoiding the thorns as he goes. In a few minutes, he returns with a reasonably intact bugbear corpse. "Heave ho," jokes Raven, grabbing the legs of the corpse while Al holds the arms. With a heave, they throw the corpse into the middle of the room.
The floor collapses as Pfiffwin expected, but then erupts in a geyser of polluted, foul water, which Pfiffwin did not expect. A flood of water pushes at the Company driving them off their feet and tumbling back up the ramp. Pfiffwin is bowled against the thorns, while Antonus and the others try to swim their way up the ramp, taking only minor injuries from the occasional scrape. The others, more heavily armored , simply knock against the thorns, snapping them off rather than the thorns impaling them. Jasper, equally agile in the water as in the air, helps the armored Al swim back up the corridor.
Winthrop is the only one who tries to swim against the flow, across the room. His floating stone orbiting his head, he doesn't find the lack of air burdensome. He grabs the pouch off of its thorny hook, thinking that anything set like a lure must have some value. With the rest of the Company having gone up and through the passageway, he swims easily after the others.
The company gasps and drains in the passageway above. The water flows up the full passageway and then down against the door where the honeycombed room is. "Must be an underground spring or something," pants Otto, winded from his chaotic swim. Winthrop opens the pouch and peers within. A small ring sits within. The ring is silver and is carved in the shape of a long, thin fish biting its tail. The shape of the fish's head is odd, in that it has a large fang that juts slightly into the middle of the ring; if donned, the ring would surely bite into the wearer's finger. Winthrop closes the pouch and places it in his pocket.
Once the Company has recovered from their dunking, they head up to the second door. This door is locked, firmly. Pfiffwin pulls out a set of fine tools and begins working on the door lock, taking his time and not allowing himself to be rushed. Eventually, the lock makes a clicking sound, and Pfiffwin opens the door. The passageway beyond slopes downwards and curves slightly to the right. The Company descends, the passageway eventually ending in a square, unadorned room. Opposite the passageway is a single door. The door is stout, and, similarly to the armory found earlier, it contains a locking mechanism. In this case, a thick bolt is drawn across the door frame, holding the door tightly shut.
"More prisoners?" suggests Raven, looking at the locked door. Only something trapped beyond the door would be kept out of the Great Tree by the simple lock. "Or perhaps a tunnel?"
With Raven covering the entrance, Otto pulls back the bolt. The door explodes towards him, a mass of vile black sludge pouring out of the door and flowing over him. Tons of the sludge geyser through the room flooding it and the passage beyond with a blinding, searing, nauseating mass of foul effluvium.
The Company is stunned and disoriented by the sudden loss of sight and the surrounding disgusting mass. All but Winthrop flail and choke, unable to see or breathe. Otto and Raven have the mass and the strength to bull their way backwards up the passageway, but the others are trapped in a quicksand-like slurry. Winthrop barks out words of power and transforms himself into a hulking ogre, the largest creature that would fit within the tunnel, and begins driving his way up the sloping passage. As he passes other members of the Company, he grabs at them and pulls them along.
All but Jasper are dragged free of the vile sludge, and Winthrop lunges back into the darkness to find him. He finds Jasper bowled over and flattened on the floor of the chamber. When he finally gets Jasper back above the level of the sludge, Jasper looks quite ill. Perrin sets about invoking the powers of Phaulkon to heal the beleaguered monk, but his prayers only ease Jasper's breathing and do not return him to consciousness.
"My poor white robe," sobs Antonus, dripping black effluvium.
"Enough about your robe," snarls Raven. "Help with Jasper. We're going back up to Hugh."
The Company hoists Jasper up and begins to retrace their steps up the passageway to the throne room. When they approach the secret passageway, Otto calls a halt and looks more closely at the walls ahead. On the left side of the passageway, a long slit is in the wall, about six inches wide and two feet from the passageway floor. "Can you do something about that?" asks Otto of Winthrop.
Winthrop peers through the slit and avoids a sharp-tipped, probing tentacle that lunges for him. He responds with a barrage of magical bolts, repeatedly sending flights of bolts through the slit until the tentacle stops stirring. "Yes," replies Winthrop to Otto.
The Company walks past the slit and then continues up into the Great Tree. Diego and the others are surprised by the rest of the Company's appearance through the double doors; first because they departed down the trapdoor and second because they are all covered in a vile, nauseating, black slush. Hugh tends to Jasper as well as he can, and the others trek back down to where the water rushes up from the passageway and out into the honeycombed room. There, they all take long, cold baths in the watery torrent. Antonus then begins removing the stains from his white robes, using his magics to do so.
The Company has secured the Great Tree, but now that they have, they are unsure what to do with it. While drying themselves, they discuss what their next actions should be. Recovering Eig and Eats Salmon is high on the list of things to do, as is contacting Arden Prindive and informing him of their success. Raven suggests the rest of the druid buildings be searched for any hidden enemy forces. Both Antonus and Perrin have grown through their experiences in the Great Tree and could use further education in the magical and clerical arts as well. Otto hopes the giant owls that the Company defeated, but did not slay, can be replaced in their nest with their eggs. Al suggests that messages be sent to Dell and Adrienne to inform them of the Company's whereabouts as well. The Oytwood is sick, as is the Great Tree, and both seem related to the presence of the shadowy dragon and its vile effluvium. Winthrop suggests a dedicated effort towards flushing the bilious material from the Great Tree through the magical creation of much water in the throne room and sending it through the shaft.
Plan, or at least tasks, in hand, the Company starts doing them. Herbert, Otto, and Jasper, once he is healthy again, coax the giant owls back up to their nest, speaking with them in their native avian tongue. The giant owls were originally friends of the druids of the Oytwood, and the birds had made their nest in the Great Tree because of its safety. Their choice was not a good one, and they had little success in resisting the mind-numbing lure of the harpy's song. They are more than content to sit o their eggs and wait for their owlets to hatch.
Once the birds are relocated, Winthrop, Otto, Herbert, and Jasper fly over the thorn wall and into the outer temple area. No sign of Bugrot is found either within or without the thorn wall, to the Company's displeasure. The outer wall of the temple area is bypassed in a similar manner, with Winthrop transforming into a hippogryph and ferrying the others over the wall. While time consuming and tedious, it is effective. They hike down to where Eig was left in Eats Salmon's care, Herbert making sure to take the time to locate and enchant some fruit for the bear.
Eig is still stunned by the loss of his leg and the way he was left behind, alone, by the Company. That said, Eats Salmon has been a good protector and fine company for the elf. Herbert explains about the capture of the Great Tree. It seems clear to him that the defense of the Oytwood was somehow orchestrated from the Great Tree. Herbert is only a minor initiate, and he has not yet been taught many of the mysteries of the Oerth. Eig is even more junior than Herbert is, but Herbert hopes his elven heritage will help the Tree of Rillifane communicate more clearly with him than with Herbert. Eig agrees to go into the Great Tree. He hopes that Herbert will be able to teach him some greater amount of the mysteries of the Oerth while they work together in the Great Tree.
Jasper and Otto talk with Eats Salmon. Eats Salmon is somewhat lonely for company. Eig spent much of the last few days moaning and cursing, says the bear, and wasn't a good conversationalist. Neither Jasper nor Otto can think of a good way to get Eats Salmon over the thorn wall, but they can bring him within the outer wall. Eats Salmon agrees to move in closer to the Great Tree and to not meddle too much with the buildings in the outer temple area.
Things settled, Herbert leads the others back through the gate, the portcullis sliding back through the tunnel as it did the first time. Eats Salmon is left with more holy fruit, and Jasper promises to come out and visit with him. Winthrop flies the other over the thorn wall and brings Eig up as close as he can to the top, landing on the branch adjacent to the wounded, tired giant owls' nest. Even from there, it is a long climb to the throne room, and Diego and Raven end up carrying the elven druid all of the way up.
Hugh and Perrin have spent most of the time that the others were gone creating large squares of clean water and letting them rocket down the shaft in the middle of the tree. Already, the black effluvium has been washed from the throne level down into the shaft, and it appears that the wood of the Great Tree is dissolving less.
Eig is helped by Herbert into the larger of the two thrones, and a look of concentration comes over Eig's face. He pauses for a moment and then looks as if he has been struck dumb, all affect leaving his features. Frantically, he waves Herbert towards the other, smaller throne. Herbert hesitantly climbs into the other throne and undergoes a frighteningly similar experience, looking dazed and then confused. The Great Tree sways and creaks as if in a sudden wind, and the tinkling of bells rings through the air. Something is occurring, but the rest of the Company is uncertain what that something is.
Winthrop prepares a series of short messages, trying to determine what should be said and then write it in the most concise way. He works on the text for a number of minutes and then sends the first of what will be many messages over many days. He first informs Dell and Adrienne of the Company's current position and where Arden Prindive can be found. He then sends similar messages to Arden Prindive, telling him to expect visitors from the rest of the Company and explaining the Company's success in the Oytwood. Much has happened, and it is difficult for Winthrop to express all that he wants to in the short messages he is able to send through the air.
The presence of the druids on the thrones has a perceptible change on the environment. The darkness that swaddled the Great Tree fades to a gray haze, and the dimness that covered the outer temples becomes nothing more than a light fog. The Great Tree itself moves and sways from time to time, unnerving those within it, but the other trees of the Oytwood, those in sight at least, seem to stand straighter and look healthier. The Company continues its daily deluge of water down the central shaft, Hugh using this activity as a training exercise for Perrin's control over his prayers.
Winthrop curtly instructs Antonus in the furtherance of his magical abilities, providing him access to selected, more powerful spells. After Antonus's apparent attempted thievery, Winthrop does not trust Antonus with Winthrop's books. Winthrop finds that some items and reagents he needs to train Antonus are not available in the Great Tree. He appends his messages to Arden Prindive, directing him to bring the necessary items and reagents with him, and saying that Winthrop will compensate him appropriately.
The Company searches the ruins of the druid grove, avoiding wild plants and native creatures, but finds nothing of interest. The fight for the center of the Oytwood is long finished, and no enemy forces skulk in wait for the unwary. The most dangerous thing in the area are the wild creatures and strange plants that grow nearby. The Company quickly learns to simply stay away from anything that might look like an interesting plant.
After several days of waiting, the Company sees a small group of people in the area outside of the walls of the grove. Seven individuals approach, and the Company scrambles to get down to the base of the Great Tree and out past the thorn wall, wishing to meet whoever is coming. Arden Prindive, four Oytwood Scouts, Dell, and Adrienne arrive within the thorn wall, appearing as if by magic, as the Company prepares for Winthrop to shuttle the Company over the thorn wall. Arden is amazed at the success of the Company, and the Company is amazed at Arden's presence. Winthrop, tired of being treated like someone's mount, demands to know how Arden reached the Great Tree. Arden explains that he is able to bypass the thorn wall by entering into one of the seasonal temples and invoking Rillifane's name, the tree planted outside the temple, and the season represented within the temple. Touching the altar then teleports him into an arch within the thorn wall.
Raven wishes he had known that before. "An unfortunate oversight," responds Arden superciliously. Arden has brought with him and his men the supplies requested by Winthrop. Enthused by the Company's success, Arden fawns over the Company, engaging Antonus in conversation. The more senior members of the Company are taken aback by Arden's choice, since they know Arden, have rescued Arden, and expected Arden to talk with them, not the new mage. Antonus is, of course, more than willing to describe, repeatedly, his destruction of the bugbears and the dragon with his mighty wand of cold.
With Arden entranced by Antonus's description of events, the rest of the Company turns to Dell and Adrienne to find out what happened to them in the Stark Mounds. Dell tosses the cursed boots to Winthrop, saying, "For your collection." He tells the Company that he struggled to control his mount while wracked with spasms and dance steps and that, by and large, his horse simply ran wherever it wanted to run. It took hours for the dancing to stop, possibly because Dell fought it so hard, and by then he was totally lost in the wastes of the Stark Mounds. He knew that he was to return to Ainge McCurran's hamlet, but he was unable to determine where it was. It took many days for Adrienne to find Dell, and he was not in good shape when she did.
Dell had tried repeatedly to remove the enchantment on his boots, and each time he did so, the boots caused him to dance. Jigging, tangoing, and foxtrotting for hours on end, Dell was exhausted, famished, and without a horse by the time Adrienne found him. It took Adrienne little time to remove the cursed boots from Dell, purifying them with the vision of Lydia and then breaking their binding enchantment, but much longer to find the Company. They had only recently arrived in the Oytwood when Arden brought them the good news.
Dell has eavesdropped on Antonus's version of events, which is replete with Antonus using the wand on the creatures in the temples, Antonus using the wand on the bugbears, Antonus using the wand on the dragon. Diego begins to brood, listening to Antonus and recalling the Diego-shaped ice patch on the floor of the throne room. Sensing some discord, Dell collects his wand of cold from Antonus.
Arden brings good news as well. He tells the Company that with the Oytwood no longer fights against the elves. The trees do not aid the elves, but they are not opposing their efforts as they were before. It seems to Arden as if the Oytwood's spirit is somewhat confused, and Raven explains about the arrangement with Eig and Herbert. Arden is most interested, and he, the other elves, and the Company adjourn into the Great Tree. The sizable pile of bodies thrown out of the Great Tree is impressive, but the need to climb up the ladder to bypass disturbing the giant owls nesting is not.
Arden is shocked to see the stump of Eig's leg, a subject somehow avoided by Antonus when recounting his glories. Arden, Herbert, and Eig engage in deep conversation about their ability to commune with the Great Tree and the spirit of the Oytwood. The two druids do not control the Oytwood, as they suspect more experienced druids might, but they do soothe the spirits of the trees that feel hatred towards all that move more freely. The spirits of the Oytwood are roiled and they wish to strike back. Herbert and Eig are stretched to their limits dealing with the forest spirits, and they are forced to occupy the thrones night and day. Perhaps if a more powerful and experienced druid was to return, things would go more easily.
Arden announces that he will attempt to convince the faerie folk to come back to the Oytwood, to fight for their home, and to spread. It is a difficult time, but he hopes to regain the initiative, move forward, and retake part of the Oytwood. The Company plans to remain in the Great Tree for several weeks, completing the training of their men. Arden agrees to relocate some of his forces at the Great Tree, to provide Herbert and Eig with protection once the Company leaves, and to bring back necessary supplies, such as baking goods. With Grizela's information about the possession of Castle Crag by the Green Tree mercenaries, Arden thinks the Company could strike a vital blow for the Oytwood by removing them from the strategic picture.
The Company is not sold on Arden's recommendation. They debate whether they should try to locate this druid mentioned in the letters found in Bugrot's quarters. The Company thinks that this may be the missing Druid of the Dreadwood that they heard about before. Raven wishes to continue to assault Karmuk's tower, smarting from the Company's defeat there. Arden, somewhat less than wholeheartedly, agrees to support the Company if they go searching for this druid, but not if they throw themselves into the Stark Mounds again.
The corridor appears unchanged, the dead green-scaled creatures having not moved in the least. Two doors are on the left side of the corridor, and the Company takes them in order. The first door opens to reveal a ramp descending towards the base of the Great Tree. The Company hikes downwards and downwards, until Al and Pfiffwin think the Company may be below the ground level. The corridor becomes damper and a thin sheen of water coats the stairs beneath their feet. The Company must carefully watch their step to avoid slipping and possibly injuring themselves. The walls of the passageway become rougher and rougher, appearing like a series of rough thorns pointed in the direction the Company travels. The thorns are easily avoided, but the Company will likely have to walk carefully back up the ramp. At the base of the ramp, a single door closes off the passageway.
Otto carefully opens the door, not wanting to lose his footing. Beyond the door is an irregularly shaped room. A smooth grayish floor bows slightly upward in the middle of the room, creating a convex shape, and, on the far wall opposite the door, a small pouch hangs on a thorny hook. Pfiffwin eyes the floor and then reaches down to touch it. The floor feels oddly springy to him, as if perhaps it was a membrane spread over a void space, like a pit. "Don't go in," he cautions. "We should toss something into the room to find out what this is covering."
"Get us a corpse," says Raven, pointing at Al. Al grimaces and then starts to work his way back up the slippery ramp, avoiding the thorns as he goes. In a few minutes, he returns with a reasonably intact bugbear corpse. "Heave ho," jokes Raven, grabbing the legs of the corpse while Al holds the arms. With a heave, they throw the corpse into the middle of the room.
The floor collapses as Pfiffwin expected, but then erupts in a geyser of polluted, foul water, which Pfiffwin did not expect. A flood of water pushes at the Company driving them off their feet and tumbling back up the ramp. Pfiffwin is bowled against the thorns, while Antonus and the others try to swim their way up the ramp, taking only minor injuries from the occasional scrape. The others, more heavily armored , simply knock against the thorns, snapping them off rather than the thorns impaling them. Jasper, equally agile in the water as in the air, helps the armored Al swim back up the corridor.
Winthrop is the only one who tries to swim against the flow, across the room. His floating stone orbiting his head, he doesn't find the lack of air burdensome. He grabs the pouch off of its thorny hook, thinking that anything set like a lure must have some value. With the rest of the Company having gone up and through the passageway, he swims easily after the others.
The company gasps and drains in the passageway above. The water flows up the full passageway and then down against the door where the honeycombed room is. "Must be an underground spring or something," pants Otto, winded from his chaotic swim. Winthrop opens the pouch and peers within. A small ring sits within. The ring is silver and is carved in the shape of a long, thin fish biting its tail. The shape of the fish's head is odd, in that it has a large fang that juts slightly into the middle of the ring; if donned, the ring would surely bite into the wearer's finger. Winthrop closes the pouch and places it in his pocket.
Once the Company has recovered from their dunking, they head up to the second door. This door is locked, firmly. Pfiffwin pulls out a set of fine tools and begins working on the door lock, taking his time and not allowing himself to be rushed. Eventually, the lock makes a clicking sound, and Pfiffwin opens the door. The passageway beyond slopes downwards and curves slightly to the right. The Company descends, the passageway eventually ending in a square, unadorned room. Opposite the passageway is a single door. The door is stout, and, similarly to the armory found earlier, it contains a locking mechanism. In this case, a thick bolt is drawn across the door frame, holding the door tightly shut.
"More prisoners?" suggests Raven, looking at the locked door. Only something trapped beyond the door would be kept out of the Great Tree by the simple lock. "Or perhaps a tunnel?"
With Raven covering the entrance, Otto pulls back the bolt. The door explodes towards him, a mass of vile black sludge pouring out of the door and flowing over him. Tons of the sludge geyser through the room flooding it and the passage beyond with a blinding, searing, nauseating mass of foul effluvium.
The Company is stunned and disoriented by the sudden loss of sight and the surrounding disgusting mass. All but Winthrop flail and choke, unable to see or breathe. Otto and Raven have the mass and the strength to bull their way backwards up the passageway, but the others are trapped in a quicksand-like slurry. Winthrop barks out words of power and transforms himself into a hulking ogre, the largest creature that would fit within the tunnel, and begins driving his way up the sloping passage. As he passes other members of the Company, he grabs at them and pulls them along.
All but Jasper are dragged free of the vile sludge, and Winthrop lunges back into the darkness to find him. He finds Jasper bowled over and flattened on the floor of the chamber. When he finally gets Jasper back above the level of the sludge, Jasper looks quite ill. Perrin sets about invoking the powers of Phaulkon to heal the beleaguered monk, but his prayers only ease Jasper's breathing and do not return him to consciousness.
"My poor white robe," sobs Antonus, dripping black effluvium.
"Enough about your robe," snarls Raven. "Help with Jasper. We're going back up to Hugh."
The Company hoists Jasper up and begins to retrace their steps up the passageway to the throne room. When they approach the secret passageway, Otto calls a halt and looks more closely at the walls ahead. On the left side of the passageway, a long slit is in the wall, about six inches wide and two feet from the passageway floor. "Can you do something about that?" asks Otto of Winthrop.
Winthrop peers through the slit and avoids a sharp-tipped, probing tentacle that lunges for him. He responds with a barrage of magical bolts, repeatedly sending flights of bolts through the slit until the tentacle stops stirring. "Yes," replies Winthrop to Otto.
The Company walks past the slit and then continues up into the Great Tree. Diego and the others are surprised by the rest of the Company's appearance through the double doors; first because they departed down the trapdoor and second because they are all covered in a vile, nauseating, black slush. Hugh tends to Jasper as well as he can, and the others trek back down to where the water rushes up from the passageway and out into the honeycombed room. There, they all take long, cold baths in the watery torrent. Antonus then begins removing the stains from his white robes, using his magics to do so.
The Company has secured the Great Tree, but now that they have, they are unsure what to do with it. While drying themselves, they discuss what their next actions should be. Recovering Eig and Eats Salmon is high on the list of things to do, as is contacting Arden Prindive and informing him of their success. Raven suggests the rest of the druid buildings be searched for any hidden enemy forces. Both Antonus and Perrin have grown through their experiences in the Great Tree and could use further education in the magical and clerical arts as well. Otto hopes the giant owls that the Company defeated, but did not slay, can be replaced in their nest with their eggs. Al suggests that messages be sent to Dell and Adrienne to inform them of the Company's whereabouts as well. The Oytwood is sick, as is the Great Tree, and both seem related to the presence of the shadowy dragon and its vile effluvium. Winthrop suggests a dedicated effort towards flushing the bilious material from the Great Tree through the magical creation of much water in the throne room and sending it through the shaft.
Plan, or at least tasks, in hand, the Company starts doing them. Herbert, Otto, and Jasper, once he is healthy again, coax the giant owls back up to their nest, speaking with them in their native avian tongue. The giant owls were originally friends of the druids of the Oytwood, and the birds had made their nest in the Great Tree because of its safety. Their choice was not a good one, and they had little success in resisting the mind-numbing lure of the harpy's song. They are more than content to sit o their eggs and wait for their owlets to hatch.
Once the birds are relocated, Winthrop, Otto, Herbert, and Jasper fly over the thorn wall and into the outer temple area. No sign of Bugrot is found either within or without the thorn wall, to the Company's displeasure. The outer wall of the temple area is bypassed in a similar manner, with Winthrop transforming into a hippogryph and ferrying the others over the wall. While time consuming and tedious, it is effective. They hike down to where Eig was left in Eats Salmon's care, Herbert making sure to take the time to locate and enchant some fruit for the bear.
Eig is still stunned by the loss of his leg and the way he was left behind, alone, by the Company. That said, Eats Salmon has been a good protector and fine company for the elf. Herbert explains about the capture of the Great Tree. It seems clear to him that the defense of the Oytwood was somehow orchestrated from the Great Tree. Herbert is only a minor initiate, and he has not yet been taught many of the mysteries of the Oerth. Eig is even more junior than Herbert is, but Herbert hopes his elven heritage will help the Tree of Rillifane communicate more clearly with him than with Herbert. Eig agrees to go into the Great Tree. He hopes that Herbert will be able to teach him some greater amount of the mysteries of the Oerth while they work together in the Great Tree.
Jasper and Otto talk with Eats Salmon. Eats Salmon is somewhat lonely for company. Eig spent much of the last few days moaning and cursing, says the bear, and wasn't a good conversationalist. Neither Jasper nor Otto can think of a good way to get Eats Salmon over the thorn wall, but they can bring him within the outer wall. Eats Salmon agrees to move in closer to the Great Tree and to not meddle too much with the buildings in the outer temple area.
Things settled, Herbert leads the others back through the gate, the portcullis sliding back through the tunnel as it did the first time. Eats Salmon is left with more holy fruit, and Jasper promises to come out and visit with him. Winthrop flies the other over the thorn wall and brings Eig up as close as he can to the top, landing on the branch adjacent to the wounded, tired giant owls' nest. Even from there, it is a long climb to the throne room, and Diego and Raven end up carrying the elven druid all of the way up.
Hugh and Perrin have spent most of the time that the others were gone creating large squares of clean water and letting them rocket down the shaft in the middle of the tree. Already, the black effluvium has been washed from the throne level down into the shaft, and it appears that the wood of the Great Tree is dissolving less.
Eig is helped by Herbert into the larger of the two thrones, and a look of concentration comes over Eig's face. He pauses for a moment and then looks as if he has been struck dumb, all affect leaving his features. Frantically, he waves Herbert towards the other, smaller throne. Herbert hesitantly climbs into the other throne and undergoes a frighteningly similar experience, looking dazed and then confused. The Great Tree sways and creaks as if in a sudden wind, and the tinkling of bells rings through the air. Something is occurring, but the rest of the Company is uncertain what that something is.
Winthrop prepares a series of short messages, trying to determine what should be said and then write it in the most concise way. He works on the text for a number of minutes and then sends the first of what will be many messages over many days. He first informs Dell and Adrienne of the Company's current position and where Arden Prindive can be found. He then sends similar messages to Arden Prindive, telling him to expect visitors from the rest of the Company and explaining the Company's success in the Oytwood. Much has happened, and it is difficult for Winthrop to express all that he wants to in the short messages he is able to send through the air.
The presence of the druids on the thrones has a perceptible change on the environment. The darkness that swaddled the Great Tree fades to a gray haze, and the dimness that covered the outer temples becomes nothing more than a light fog. The Great Tree itself moves and sways from time to time, unnerving those within it, but the other trees of the Oytwood, those in sight at least, seem to stand straighter and look healthier. The Company continues its daily deluge of water down the central shaft, Hugh using this activity as a training exercise for Perrin's control over his prayers.
Winthrop curtly instructs Antonus in the furtherance of his magical abilities, providing him access to selected, more powerful spells. After Antonus's apparent attempted thievery, Winthrop does not trust Antonus with Winthrop's books. Winthrop finds that some items and reagents he needs to train Antonus are not available in the Great Tree. He appends his messages to Arden Prindive, directing him to bring the necessary items and reagents with him, and saying that Winthrop will compensate him appropriately.
The Company searches the ruins of the druid grove, avoiding wild plants and native creatures, but finds nothing of interest. The fight for the center of the Oytwood is long finished, and no enemy forces skulk in wait for the unwary. The most dangerous thing in the area are the wild creatures and strange plants that grow nearby. The Company quickly learns to simply stay away from anything that might look like an interesting plant.
After several days of waiting, the Company sees a small group of people in the area outside of the walls of the grove. Seven individuals approach, and the Company scrambles to get down to the base of the Great Tree and out past the thorn wall, wishing to meet whoever is coming. Arden Prindive, four Oytwood Scouts, Dell, and Adrienne arrive within the thorn wall, appearing as if by magic, as the Company prepares for Winthrop to shuttle the Company over the thorn wall. Arden is amazed at the success of the Company, and the Company is amazed at Arden's presence. Winthrop, tired of being treated like someone's mount, demands to know how Arden reached the Great Tree. Arden explains that he is able to bypass the thorn wall by entering into one of the seasonal temples and invoking Rillifane's name, the tree planted outside the temple, and the season represented within the temple. Touching the altar then teleports him into an arch within the thorn wall.
Raven wishes he had known that before. "An unfortunate oversight," responds Arden superciliously. Arden has brought with him and his men the supplies requested by Winthrop. Enthused by the Company's success, Arden fawns over the Company, engaging Antonus in conversation. The more senior members of the Company are taken aback by Arden's choice, since they know Arden, have rescued Arden, and expected Arden to talk with them, not the new mage. Antonus is, of course, more than willing to describe, repeatedly, his destruction of the bugbears and the dragon with his mighty wand of cold.
With Arden entranced by Antonus's description of events, the rest of the Company turns to Dell and Adrienne to find out what happened to them in the Stark Mounds. Dell tosses the cursed boots to Winthrop, saying, "For your collection." He tells the Company that he struggled to control his mount while wracked with spasms and dance steps and that, by and large, his horse simply ran wherever it wanted to run. It took hours for the dancing to stop, possibly because Dell fought it so hard, and by then he was totally lost in the wastes of the Stark Mounds. He knew that he was to return to Ainge McCurran's hamlet, but he was unable to determine where it was. It took many days for Adrienne to find Dell, and he was not in good shape when she did.
Dell had tried repeatedly to remove the enchantment on his boots, and each time he did so, the boots caused him to dance. Jigging, tangoing, and foxtrotting for hours on end, Dell was exhausted, famished, and without a horse by the time Adrienne found him. It took Adrienne little time to remove the cursed boots from Dell, purifying them with the vision of Lydia and then breaking their binding enchantment, but much longer to find the Company. They had only recently arrived in the Oytwood when Arden brought them the good news.
Dell has eavesdropped on Antonus's version of events, which is replete with Antonus using the wand on the creatures in the temples, Antonus using the wand on the bugbears, Antonus using the wand on the dragon. Diego begins to brood, listening to Antonus and recalling the Diego-shaped ice patch on the floor of the throne room. Sensing some discord, Dell collects his wand of cold from Antonus.
Arden brings good news as well. He tells the Company that with the Oytwood no longer fights against the elves. The trees do not aid the elves, but they are not opposing their efforts as they were before. It seems to Arden as if the Oytwood's spirit is somewhat confused, and Raven explains about the arrangement with Eig and Herbert. Arden is most interested, and he, the other elves, and the Company adjourn into the Great Tree. The sizable pile of bodies thrown out of the Great Tree is impressive, but the need to climb up the ladder to bypass disturbing the giant owls nesting is not.
Arden is shocked to see the stump of Eig's leg, a subject somehow avoided by Antonus when recounting his glories. Arden, Herbert, and Eig engage in deep conversation about their ability to commune with the Great Tree and the spirit of the Oytwood. The two druids do not control the Oytwood, as they suspect more experienced druids might, but they do soothe the spirits of the trees that feel hatred towards all that move more freely. The spirits of the Oytwood are roiled and they wish to strike back. Herbert and Eig are stretched to their limits dealing with the forest spirits, and they are forced to occupy the thrones night and day. Perhaps if a more powerful and experienced druid was to return, things would go more easily.
Arden announces that he will attempt to convince the faerie folk to come back to the Oytwood, to fight for their home, and to spread. It is a difficult time, but he hopes to regain the initiative, move forward, and retake part of the Oytwood. The Company plans to remain in the Great Tree for several weeks, completing the training of their men. Arden agrees to relocate some of his forces at the Great Tree, to provide Herbert and Eig with protection once the Company leaves, and to bring back necessary supplies, such as baking goods. With Grizela's information about the possession of Castle Crag by the Green Tree mercenaries, Arden thinks the Company could strike a vital blow for the Oytwood by removing them from the strategic picture.
The Company is not sold on Arden's recommendation. They debate whether they should try to locate this druid mentioned in the letters found in Bugrot's quarters. The Company thinks that this may be the missing Druid of the Dreadwood that they heard about before. Raven wishes to continue to assault Karmuk's tower, smarting from the Company's defeat there. Arden, somewhat less than wholeheartedly, agrees to support the Company if they go searching for this druid, but not if they throw themselves into the Stark Mounds again.
