Post by Dead Greyhawk on May 19, 2008 22:05:25 GMT -5
The Oytwood is a blur of branches and leaves, the foul odor and miasma that once coated the air now beginning to dissipate. Otto jogs through the forest, his boots taking him at a pace that rivals a fast horse, on his way towards the Great Tree. Finally free of his clumsy and loud compatriots, Otto passes between the trees and shrubs with nary a jingle of armor or snap of twig. It feels good to be alone again, muses the mountain man.
Each night Otto makes camp in as secluded a spot as possible, knowing that humanoids and other danger still lurks in the Oytwood. The Company has struck many a blow against the mercenaries besieging the forest, but successful battles do not mean a won war. Worse, a misunderstanding with a dweller of the Oytwood, like happened with the centaurs, is all too likely. Armored humans are generally on the wrong side of the conflict here in the Oytwood.
Otto camps within pine and fir trees, the slope of the branches and the dead wood within providing cover from the occasional rain and the general damp. The remaining wildlife, skittish from being hunted by the humanoids and sickened from the rotting foliage overhead, steers clear of Otto, even when he calls on Joramy to grant him the tongues of animals. Sighing, he continues on through the trees.
Odd sounds and the occasional flapping of wings distracts Otto from time to time. He is faced with an awful quandary. Should he investigate the noises or conceal himself and let them pass? Placing his pride to one side, he vows that if he hears someone being injured, he will investigate, but his curiosity will have to be left unsatisfied in general.
The sky overhead is definitely clearer and brighter than the last time Otto tried to approach the Great Tree. The woodland paths and eventual roads leading to the druids' glade no longer loop back upon themselves or leave their travelers facing a wall of thorny brush. Once Otto is able to locate one of the white stone roads, his speed increases.
Otto covers the miles to the Great Tree quickly. The outbuildings of the druids remain in ruins, the forest recovering the land quickly now that no one tends it. The gleaming ivory wall surrounding the druids' glade still ominously darkens as Otto approaches it, but the the spike-laden gate is withdrawn into the glade. Otto strides through the passage into the glade and finds a small community of elves and humans camped within.
Otto is apparently expected, as he is immediately welcomed and pressed for news about the events happening far to the east of the Great Tree. Eig and Herbert have sent news down to the Oytwood Scouts, who make of the troops camped here, but they appear to have provided no or little details. Otto quickly recounts the story of the Company of the Blue Sun and the capture of Castle Crag, and the men listen raptly. Otto is somewhat terse in his description, not being a man of many words, but the Oytwood Scouts break out in cheers when he is finished. Otto blushes.
After freeing himself from his admirers, Otto enters into the temple of spring, cleaned if not reconsecrated, and passes into the inner glade, under the boughs of the Great Tree. Much of the damage done by the Company in freeing the tree from its occupiers has been repaired. Several elves carefully tend to the ground around the tree, and one escorts him up the tree, cautioning him every few feet to walk gently and not to scrape against the wood of the tree. Otto recalls the waste of the shadow dragon flowing through the heartwood and the slaughter of the green forest-fiends, the bugbears, and the quaggoth. He doubts his footfalls or his scabbarded Giantslayer will cause the tree further ill.
Eig receives Otto in the throne room. Eig looks much better than the last Otto saw him. A peg leg attached to his stump, Eig moves around fairly well, his innate coordination and dexterity having not totally been lost to him. His eyes are hollow though, and his face is distressingly pale, as if he had not seen the light of day in a long time. "Do not fear," says Eig. "The Great Tree knows us now. What you see is the worst that it gets, though I am certain that if one of us were to leave, the other would snap like brittle wood."
Otto peers beyond Eig to where Herbert sits in the larger throne, his eyes closed as if meditating. Herbert is haggard and shrunken, a shell of the man he was before. Otto wonders if the sacrifice is worth it. Otto and Eig talk about the Tree of Rillifane, the battle at Castle Crag, and the Company's questions about the future.
Eig is surprisingly well informed about the events to the east. The Tree of Rillifane sees all in the forest, and while Eig and Herbert share the duty of communing with it, they also each know half of what it sees. All through the Oytwood, the mercenaries are on the wane. The Great Tree, throwing off the pollution caused by the shadow dragon, has been stirred to anger and that anger has been clearly transmitted to the faerie and woodland creatures. The humanoid mercenaries in the Oytwood are stalked and hunted mercilessly. While before the druids and the Tree of Rillifane were more likely to urge the animals to flee before the mercenaries, now they die in droves merely to slay one member of a patrol. The poisoning of the Great Tree has struck some primal chord and the Tree of Rillifane fights like a cornered beast.
Over the next few days, Otto talks with Eig or Herbert to discuss their lot. He gives Herbert the scimitar found at Castle Crag, much to Herbert's delight. Herbert has successfully made friends with the giant owls and their new owlets, and he introduces them to Otto. The giant owls seem to remember Otto and not fondly at that, but in the interests of pleasing Herbert they accept several dead giant rats as a peace offering from Otto.
Eats Salmon is overjoyed to find Otto has returned, and he hugs Otto, cracking several ribs, and searches him for delicious berries. Eats Salmon has been pleased to eat from the nearby stream, catching the occasional fish, but he is also more than slightly bored. Otto promises that he can come along when he leaves.
Otto sees that there is little left for him to do here at the Tree of Rillifane. He speaks with the Oytwood Scouts and has Cyfael, Guiseppe, and the rest of the Company's horses made ready to travel to Castle Crag. Once that is done, he and Herbert sit once again to make plans. Herbert, though seemingly exhausted and in worse shape than Eig, believes that their rapport with the Tree of Rillifane is important and helps guide the Tree's efforts. Without their understanding of short timeframes, the Tree is easily confused and unable to put forth its efforts in a consistent and helpful way. Herbert plans on remaining at the Great Tree until a more powerful druid comes to take his and Eig's place.
When that will be is a great unanswerable question. The druids' circle in the Dreadwood was destroyed by Keefe O'Mara, as was this one here in the Oytwood. With the Archdruid Reynard Yargrove missing and two of the circles beneath him destroyed, who is powerful enough to fill those gaps and where will they come from? asks Herbert. Otto has no good answer for him. Herbert tells Otto that the Tree of Rillifane has tried to communicate to Eig and to him about the missing Archdruid, but that the Tree is hard to understand. Perhaps the Tree learned this information while it was being poisoned or perhaps the ideas it is trying to communicate are too subtle for the partial link that they have with the Tree, Herbert knows not. But the Tree repeatedly shows images of spiders and sprawling mountain ranges along with a statue of a man. Herbert knows these are related to the missing Archdruid, but not how.
Otto leaves the Tree of Rillifane somewhat troubled by what he has seen. Herbert and Eig are stretched thin, and they are surrounded by people more concerned about the Tree than about the druids in it. As he rides south and around the Oytwood, back to Castle Crag, a string of horses and a bear in his wake, he thinks to himself about what he can do to ease the pressures on his friends.
Avoiding contact when you have a string of horses and a bear in train is harder than when you travel alone through the forest, but Otto brings them all to Castle Crag with little difficulty. Eats Salmon, out of shape from his time at the druids' glade, is glad for the rest, though the piles of burnt bodies makes his nose wrinkle and occasionally sneeze. Otto is greeted and let through the gates by Winthrop, Hugh, and the alive Grizela!
Grizela looks healthy, hearty, and hale, but Winthrop and Hugh are sallow, jaundiced, and weak, though they don't seem to realize it themselves. They relate to Otto their experience in Longspear while Otto tells them about the Tree of Rillifane. He then tries to convince them that something is wrong. Grizela adds her voice to Otto's concerns as well, able now to agree with a more senior member of the Company.
Hugh and Winthrop disbelieve that anything is wrong with them; they feel fine! Otto continues to apply the pressure though, asking them what protections they used when they were experimenting for days with the indestructible unholy altar? Hugh and Winthrop, both of whom can protect themselves against evil, realize with some chagrin that they have used no protections at all. "I think we're cursed," says Hugh, peering at himself in the mirror.
The two of them spend days casting spells and counterspells, blessing, chanting, praying, and removing any ill magics that might have accrued to them. After almost a week of dedicated effort, their skin tone begins to improve, and they appear to have shaken off the worst of the vile magics.
Each night Otto makes camp in as secluded a spot as possible, knowing that humanoids and other danger still lurks in the Oytwood. The Company has struck many a blow against the mercenaries besieging the forest, but successful battles do not mean a won war. Worse, a misunderstanding with a dweller of the Oytwood, like happened with the centaurs, is all too likely. Armored humans are generally on the wrong side of the conflict here in the Oytwood.
Otto camps within pine and fir trees, the slope of the branches and the dead wood within providing cover from the occasional rain and the general damp. The remaining wildlife, skittish from being hunted by the humanoids and sickened from the rotting foliage overhead, steers clear of Otto, even when he calls on Joramy to grant him the tongues of animals. Sighing, he continues on through the trees.
Odd sounds and the occasional flapping of wings distracts Otto from time to time. He is faced with an awful quandary. Should he investigate the noises or conceal himself and let them pass? Placing his pride to one side, he vows that if he hears someone being injured, he will investigate, but his curiosity will have to be left unsatisfied in general.
The sky overhead is definitely clearer and brighter than the last time Otto tried to approach the Great Tree. The woodland paths and eventual roads leading to the druids' glade no longer loop back upon themselves or leave their travelers facing a wall of thorny brush. Once Otto is able to locate one of the white stone roads, his speed increases.
Otto covers the miles to the Great Tree quickly. The outbuildings of the druids remain in ruins, the forest recovering the land quickly now that no one tends it. The gleaming ivory wall surrounding the druids' glade still ominously darkens as Otto approaches it, but the the spike-laden gate is withdrawn into the glade. Otto strides through the passage into the glade and finds a small community of elves and humans camped within.
Otto is apparently expected, as he is immediately welcomed and pressed for news about the events happening far to the east of the Great Tree. Eig and Herbert have sent news down to the Oytwood Scouts, who make of the troops camped here, but they appear to have provided no or little details. Otto quickly recounts the story of the Company of the Blue Sun and the capture of Castle Crag, and the men listen raptly. Otto is somewhat terse in his description, not being a man of many words, but the Oytwood Scouts break out in cheers when he is finished. Otto blushes.
After freeing himself from his admirers, Otto enters into the temple of spring, cleaned if not reconsecrated, and passes into the inner glade, under the boughs of the Great Tree. Much of the damage done by the Company in freeing the tree from its occupiers has been repaired. Several elves carefully tend to the ground around the tree, and one escorts him up the tree, cautioning him every few feet to walk gently and not to scrape against the wood of the tree. Otto recalls the waste of the shadow dragon flowing through the heartwood and the slaughter of the green forest-fiends, the bugbears, and the quaggoth. He doubts his footfalls or his scabbarded Giantslayer will cause the tree further ill.
Eig receives Otto in the throne room. Eig looks much better than the last Otto saw him. A peg leg attached to his stump, Eig moves around fairly well, his innate coordination and dexterity having not totally been lost to him. His eyes are hollow though, and his face is distressingly pale, as if he had not seen the light of day in a long time. "Do not fear," says Eig. "The Great Tree knows us now. What you see is the worst that it gets, though I am certain that if one of us were to leave, the other would snap like brittle wood."
Otto peers beyond Eig to where Herbert sits in the larger throne, his eyes closed as if meditating. Herbert is haggard and shrunken, a shell of the man he was before. Otto wonders if the sacrifice is worth it. Otto and Eig talk about the Tree of Rillifane, the battle at Castle Crag, and the Company's questions about the future.
Eig is surprisingly well informed about the events to the east. The Tree of Rillifane sees all in the forest, and while Eig and Herbert share the duty of communing with it, they also each know half of what it sees. All through the Oytwood, the mercenaries are on the wane. The Great Tree, throwing off the pollution caused by the shadow dragon, has been stirred to anger and that anger has been clearly transmitted to the faerie and woodland creatures. The humanoid mercenaries in the Oytwood are stalked and hunted mercilessly. While before the druids and the Tree of Rillifane were more likely to urge the animals to flee before the mercenaries, now they die in droves merely to slay one member of a patrol. The poisoning of the Great Tree has struck some primal chord and the Tree of Rillifane fights like a cornered beast.
Over the next few days, Otto talks with Eig or Herbert to discuss their lot. He gives Herbert the scimitar found at Castle Crag, much to Herbert's delight. Herbert has successfully made friends with the giant owls and their new owlets, and he introduces them to Otto. The giant owls seem to remember Otto and not fondly at that, but in the interests of pleasing Herbert they accept several dead giant rats as a peace offering from Otto.
Eats Salmon is overjoyed to find Otto has returned, and he hugs Otto, cracking several ribs, and searches him for delicious berries. Eats Salmon has been pleased to eat from the nearby stream, catching the occasional fish, but he is also more than slightly bored. Otto promises that he can come along when he leaves.
Otto sees that there is little left for him to do here at the Tree of Rillifane. He speaks with the Oytwood Scouts and has Cyfael, Guiseppe, and the rest of the Company's horses made ready to travel to Castle Crag. Once that is done, he and Herbert sit once again to make plans. Herbert, though seemingly exhausted and in worse shape than Eig, believes that their rapport with the Tree of Rillifane is important and helps guide the Tree's efforts. Without their understanding of short timeframes, the Tree is easily confused and unable to put forth its efforts in a consistent and helpful way. Herbert plans on remaining at the Great Tree until a more powerful druid comes to take his and Eig's place.
When that will be is a great unanswerable question. The druids' circle in the Dreadwood was destroyed by Keefe O'Mara, as was this one here in the Oytwood. With the Archdruid Reynard Yargrove missing and two of the circles beneath him destroyed, who is powerful enough to fill those gaps and where will they come from? asks Herbert. Otto has no good answer for him. Herbert tells Otto that the Tree of Rillifane has tried to communicate to Eig and to him about the missing Archdruid, but that the Tree is hard to understand. Perhaps the Tree learned this information while it was being poisoned or perhaps the ideas it is trying to communicate are too subtle for the partial link that they have with the Tree, Herbert knows not. But the Tree repeatedly shows images of spiders and sprawling mountain ranges along with a statue of a man. Herbert knows these are related to the missing Archdruid, but not how.
Otto leaves the Tree of Rillifane somewhat troubled by what he has seen. Herbert and Eig are stretched thin, and they are surrounded by people more concerned about the Tree than about the druids in it. As he rides south and around the Oytwood, back to Castle Crag, a string of horses and a bear in his wake, he thinks to himself about what he can do to ease the pressures on his friends.
Avoiding contact when you have a string of horses and a bear in train is harder than when you travel alone through the forest, but Otto brings them all to Castle Crag with little difficulty. Eats Salmon, out of shape from his time at the druids' glade, is glad for the rest, though the piles of burnt bodies makes his nose wrinkle and occasionally sneeze. Otto is greeted and let through the gates by Winthrop, Hugh, and the alive Grizela!
Grizela looks healthy, hearty, and hale, but Winthrop and Hugh are sallow, jaundiced, and weak, though they don't seem to realize it themselves. They relate to Otto their experience in Longspear while Otto tells them about the Tree of Rillifane. He then tries to convince them that something is wrong. Grizela adds her voice to Otto's concerns as well, able now to agree with a more senior member of the Company.
Hugh and Winthrop disbelieve that anything is wrong with them; they feel fine! Otto continues to apply the pressure though, asking them what protections they used when they were experimenting for days with the indestructible unholy altar? Hugh and Winthrop, both of whom can protect themselves against evil, realize with some chagrin that they have used no protections at all. "I think we're cursed," says Hugh, peering at himself in the mirror.
The two of them spend days casting spells and counterspells, blessing, chanting, praying, and removing any ill magics that might have accrued to them. After almost a week of dedicated effort, their skin tone begins to improve, and they appear to have shaken off the worst of the vile magics.