Morning, Kelehess 14th - Night, Kelehess 14th
(16 days total; 23 days left to raise Isabella; 28 days until the New Moon)
The Rotter Pile
Along with the demon, half-demon, and their cadre, the terrain itself lent itself to evil. The pile of forty or so charred gnome corpses began spewing zombie soldiers under The Conjoined's control. These zombies seemed in an endless supply, two at a time clawing through the heap and out toward the group.
When the demon was eventually destroyed, his many zombie minions fell with him, and their production was halted. A closer examination of the heap revealed that it was squatting over a small tear into Cadavera, the shadow plane, where scores of undead thrived. However, without someone to maintain the tear, it quickly sealed itself back up.
Despite being small walking corpses, they packed a mean punch and managed to batter several scions.
Sister Complex
Krander Half-Demon harbored a strange fixation on the women of the group. At first his entire focus was on Hulda, trading mighty blow for blow until the urias made a mad dash after Nelisha. It wailed on her all the way, begging her to stay with him, and always calling her sister.
Then it turned its attention to Portia, smashing her again and again and knocking her prone besides. Finally the boggart had enough, unleashing a violent wrench beat down that left the half-demon a collapsed heap.
Nelisha's Demise
The huntmistress that parlayed her freedom out of the tower with the life of Pongwa, only to return now and try to destroy them again, was begging to be slain. Hulda was all too happy to oblige, though not without some effort. Nelisha, despite the tremendous blow from the urias, survived and began bobbing and weaving between her allies in attempts to delay her demise. She screamed for help all the while, managed to land a few blows and arrows to the half-giant, but ultimately screamed her last against Hulda's onslaught.
The Light of Kalinda
Kaylan very quickly found herself pitted against the true demon, light against dark, Kalinda's servant against a devotee of Krysarok. The Conjoined, though never landing a blow on the cleric, was no small matter, nearly slaying Jeda before her healing and Dokur, too. Yet all too soon its life was spent and it retreated to a circle of corpses utop the regenerating heap. There Kalinda's will was made known as Kaylan delivered two brilliant radiant attacks that jolted and frightened the abyssal entity. So worn from the cleric's efforts, it was a simple-enough matter for Hulda to cream the monster into oblivion.
Kelesha's Escape
The last survivor of the demon's cadre, Kelesha fled Jeda and made for the open plain. Though the group possessed ranged attacks and ample speed, they quickly found a gnoll with a headstart was nothing short of unreachable. She quickly outran any attempt to catch her, taking paltry damage for the effort, and vowing they would come to fear the name Kelesha. Jeda flipped her off as she went and the group went to consoling and aiding poor Dokur.
Burying the Dead
Dokur's people were dead, or so he thought. Efforts began to dig forty graves for the forty fallen just outside the village, a task that consumed the entire morning and half the afternoon. As Portia said passingly, at least they were small bodies. However during the whole time, even with comforting prayed from Kaylan and Giers, there was no consoling the wadi hafan guide.
Yet when all were bured, Dokur had a funny look. Though the bodies were burned, he didn't recognize even one of them. Portia also found that the many mud huts were practically vacant, missing the innards of homes, as if people weren't living in them at all. It was only later, once the army came, that they realized Tifana was emptied in the attack on Runnyeye and that The Conjoined had destroyed an empty town. Those charred bodies were actually the gnomes of Koorla, the village just outside Twisttongue Tower, Al'kek'uma's last stronghold on the Savanna, a mass murder out of frustration for fey inssurection.
Dokur's Decision
Kaylan invited Dokur to join them permanently as a member of their group. The guide was unsure, knowing Othyr was a sad place for a gnome. Yet what did he have but ruins and graves, a fact made plain but the not-so-subtle Jeda. He asked Kaylan if he could think it over and wandered off, trying to find his way. Though there was invitation to go to Othyr, there were other gnome villages in the south and east, also under demon rule (he being unaware of the news of victory to come).
Effigy of Krysarok
The group wished to wash off the dirt, sweat and char, but the town spring had been tainted with blood. Looming over it was a black stone idol of Krysarok, looking like a cross between a dragon and demon with tentacles for a face. Portia examined it, discovering its function due to magic versus any interesting mechanical work like in Mangletooth. The consensus was to knock it down, but before they could give a shove, Jeda and Giers' touch seemed to deactivate the monolith. Its red eyes faded black and the water became fresh and clear. The boggart quickly cleaned herself off, soon joined by the paladin.
The Rock
Kaylan, having not found Frederick in the pile of dead, wandered back down to the rock they once made love on. Jeda followed. There they found a brilliant patch of pink flowers had sprung in the exact impression of the cleric's pressed body. She took one to press and said a silent prayer for his well-being.
The Vergers
While down by the rock, Jeda and Kaylan noticed the grass in the distance begin to steadily rise. They soon realized those blades of grass were just simply blades belonging to spears and halberds. They fled an approaching army consisting of small, spear-holders and enormous halberd wielders, though heat distortion and distant preventing any real identification.
Once back in the village, the scions feared this was a demon army led back to them by Kelesha. Frantically, Jeda demanded Giers fly up and see who they were, but the ethrey was shone as a flightless bird. The tiefling took the opportunity to chide him, calling him penguin, but Hulda helped her brother out by simply tossing him a good thirty feet in the air. Portia scrambled onto a roof, wanting to see herself after a glimmer of green light promised her heart's desire. Both of them saw that the small soldiers were, in fact, gnomes, and the larger giants of grey skin with rhinocerous heads. There were also satyrs and humungous dogs with them.
Before much longer, a contingent of gnome scouts emerged from the tall grasses with bows trained. Some recognized you and lowered their weapons, while others seemed not to. Once the army caught up, most of the front-line gnomes also recognized you. These were Tifanans and to them you were heroes, doubly so when they found a slain Conjoined and Krander strewn about.
Bannoch!
Suddenly a hound the size of a pony burst through the ranks and lunged at Hulda, coat such a deep green it seemed nearly black. Giers readied his spear, until he saw the dog was excitedly licking the urias up and down. Hulda laughed and fell to the ground with it, happily reminded of the dire wolves of her home.
Dokur later revealed this was Bannoch, a favored son of the Beastlord Hound Arkith. Still little more than a pup, he didn't yet have the ability to speak, though was quite intelligent and playful. He took a shine to the urias immediately.
Frederick
King Pongwa and the leader of the rhinoceros people, called Rhreen, approached then, dragging a beaten Kelesha behind them. Forgoing greetings, Kaylan asked the king if he knew where Frederick was. The Nors questioning voice was her answer, whereupon she turned and hugged him fiercely. Words were exchanged, mixed with emotion and perhaps a little judgement.
A Precious Problem
Pongwa, for the life of him, seemed unwilling to part with the Heart, even at the continued insistence of Portia. Eventually she exploded in anger and insults, provoking the king to thrust the gem in her stomach and growl she'd have to learn its lesson the hard way. And so she stormed off to a private spot out of town to brood.
Mistrust
Most of the camp looked at Jeda warily at best, and had she been alone they'd have attacked her. As it was they held her by spearpoint, something she didn't much like. She should have known reason had little to do with things, but she pleaed her case anyway.
She also seemed to take a liking to Frederick, perhaps looking for a rise out of Kaylan, even as she parted ways with Frederick to go after Giers. The cleric seemed upset that the Nors would not be returning to Othyr with them, at least not yet. He was a member of The Verger war council and would not abandon them on the cusp of their final and most important battle.
Interrogations
General Rho, the Rhreen leader, approached Hulda and asked if she would do the honors of beating information out of the gnoll Kelesha. The urias agreed, tying a rope between Bannoch's back leg and Kelesha. Then she began playing with the Cu Sidhe, the hound's resulting hopping, running and jumping dragging the gnoll behind him. Before long she was an unconscious hunk of meat, where upon Hulda untied her from Bannoch and Jeda took over...
Gem Hopper
Having fought with King Pongwa, Portia was in a terrible mood, camped out on a roof wondering over the Heart of the Wild. She asked if it liked her and it scryed her own reflection starting into the Heart. Cryptic answer, at best. The boggart continued to emote and prod the gem for some sort of comfort and companionship which, being an inanimate object, it could not adequately provide.
Portia asked her sister for guidance and Hopper unexpectedly crawled out of her pack and leaped onto the gem. He began to hump it vigorously and with increasing croaks until which point he climaxed and was absorbed into the artifact. It flashed a blinding emerald and the result was a cross between the gem and the fey frog, a Gem Hopper.
It immediately reached out for a hug, which Portia gave, until he started humping her. She scolded the construct and it behaved itself.
A Horrible Scene
Drawn by screaming that anyone outside the celebrating camp could hear, Portia and Hopper slipped off the roof to investigate. What she found was Jeda in the middle of her interrogation. A confrontation was had, the details known only to those two alone.
Under the Umbrella Tree
Kaylan followed Giers out of town. Feeling dejected, the paladin climbed one of the few, but enormous, umbrella trees that dotted the Savanna. In its bows he sulked, until the cleric came to him and assured him of her feelings. She shakily climbed as he came down and before long their love was consumated.
During the act, the Wild a very emotional place, the umbrella tree itself leaned over to shelter them from the brilliant, starry night.
Experience: 300xp (5138xp total)
Magic Items: Heart of the Wild... Gem Hopper (Portia)
Loot: None
Money: None
NPCs:
Kelesha
Frederick
Bannoch
General Rho (Rhreen leader)
Gem Hopper
Monsters: Gnoll Huntmistresses, Gnoll Demonic Scourge, Crocrotta (The Conjoined), Zombie Rotters
Places: Ruins of Tifana
Organizations: The Vergers: A small army of fey united in removing demonic influence from the Wild, starting with the Savanna and Al'kek'uma's towers. Soldiers consist of Rhreen, Wadi Hafa, Ganadon Satyrs and Cu Sidhe. They are led by a war council consisting of General Rho, King Pongwa, Frederick of the Kingdom, Lady Goldhorn of Ganado and Arkith the Beastlord Hound. Only just recently formed a week ago, the army's existence is owed almost entirely to the scions. Had they not freed and inspired King Pongwa to take action against the demons, granted extra boon through the Heart of the Wild, the fall of two towers would not have been possible.
The Vergers are now poised to strike the final tower, Twisttongue, within the coming week. In retaliation for the fall of Mangletooth, Al'kek'uma had the gnomes in the town of Koorla, just outside Twisttongue, executed and left to rot in the ruined Tifana. However this has not shaken Verger resolve, rather focused it even sharper to the task of defeating the demons and gnolls.
Though The Vergers are not a religious order, The Green God seems the common faith amongst soldiers and the faction they are aligned with.
Rhreen: When Lordanna fell through reality, a planar sinkhole spun in her wake. Races from the Winters War were sucked in after her and deposited on the new-born Wild. Jotun were among these wayward mortals. Marooned, they were forced to band together to survive the emerging Fey, which sprung from the goddess's fertile corpse at an alarming rate. They withdrew to the Southern Watering Hole, where they lived for a time in peace... that is, until the Beastlord Rhino Rhilm appeared with a strong herd of fey rhinosauri. They bullied the Jotun from their settlement and made them laborers and servants.
The albino Rhilm was also very lustful and took all of the Jotun women for his own, siring rhino men over many generations, what became known as Rhreen. Rhreen numbers grew until they outnumbered even the fey rhinos. At that point, the Jotun bred almost entirely out of them but for size and Giant language, they turned on their masters. Rhilm and his ilk were slain and the Southern Watering Hole reclaimed.
A small race, Rhreen thought to stay isolated and removed from the greater Savanna. Though often forced into battle and extremely difficult labor during their days under Rhilm, they were inherently a shy, introspective people. Rhreen have always felt a guilt for their existence, a sort of inherited notion that their creation between the rape of giant women by an animal, however fey or lordly, was wrong on countless levels.
They holed up, doing nothing when The Green God and Al'kek'uma came to power in their region. However, having seen the devastation wrought by demons, Pongwa was able to convince them to enter the war effort. Instead of wallowing in shame, perhaps they could seek atonement by helping others. General Rho, leader of the Rhreen, agreed, and their small, but powerful, population struck out to help in the defeat of Runnyeye Tower. And now, with a bit of pride in their people, seek to finish the job and free the Savanna.
Cu Sidhe (Fey Hounds): Just as the fey panthers of the Twistwood are larger, smarter versions of their Othyrian counterparts, fey hounds, or Cu Sidhe, are larger, stronger, more cunning dogs. Looking like mastiffs with a range of colors from deep green to fawn, they can grow anywhere from the size of ponies to full-grown horses. Their sire and leader is Arkith, Beastlord Hound, sprung from Lordanna's heart and possessing its good nature and sense of loyalty and selflessness. It wasn't hard to turn them against the evil plaguing the Wild, as they'd been raiding gnoll and demon outposts since Al'kek'uma came to power fifteen years ago.
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