Session 37 - The Swarm is Summoned
Session 37 - The Swarm is Summoned
Date: 4/25/2025
DM: Wes
Summary
When we last left off the party had just had a visit with the Goddess of Death and some other Devilishly handsome fellow. With the temple clear of deities the party looks for that sweet sweet loot. Gootcha finds a crossbow that prevents an enemy from being resurrected when killed with the crossbow. (The Raven Queen is demanding the souls of Rezmir and Rath Modar in exchange for the power offered to Gootcha)
The adventurers began their hike out of the Hill of Lost Souls back to their flying castle and as they reached the castle, Keyleth's swarm of Pixies began behaving erratically.
Keyleth, being intimately familiar with her Pixie swarm understood that they were trying to lead her in a specific direction. Being a party of carefree spirits, Deez Nuts followed the pixies to the west, towards the Forest of Wyrms.
The Wagon Ambush
Along the trail through the plains, the party comes upon a pair of travelers trying to fix their wagon. Phil and Joline call out to the party asking for help but the party is immediately suspicious and begins searching the area. They find archers and bandits hiding behind nearby rocks.
The party attacks the bandits and Phil and Joline show their true colors and attack the adventurers. They shrug off some initial attacks but their plans fell apart once there was a polar bear in their midst.
After dispatching Phil, Joline, the archers and bandits, the party realizes that the wagon is in perfect shape and not broken down at all.
Guess who has a new horse and wagon to ride around in instead of walking for days at a time? Deez Nuts.
The Druid Circle
Eventually, the party arrives at a druid's circle—a ring of ancient standing stones, overgrown with ivy. At the stone circle you meet a party of druids from the Emerald Enclave. A weathered elder elf named Sylwen Moondrift greets Keyleth warmly as another member of the Enclave.
Keyleth knows the workings of the Enclave but Sylwen explains their structure for the benefit of the rest of the party. The Emerald Enclave is less... proscriptive than some of the other groups in Faerun. All members of the Enclave believe that the balance must be protected, but not all agree on what disrupts the balance. Sylwen is a member of The Talons of Veylan and follows in his footsteps to root out evil dragons as they believe that all evil chromatic dragons are abominations.
Other orders, like the Scales of Eldath, believe that even some evil dragons have their place in the balance. Some, but not all.
The orders in the Enclave don't select members, rather members find their true order.
Sylwen says that Keyleth's swarm has heard the call of the ancient hunter Veylan Duskbane himself. Veylan's tomb lies deep in the forests but his soul stirs, restless. A guardian of the balance must heed his call lest his slumber turn to wrath.
The fact that Keyleth's swarm is answering the summons of Veylan himself suggests that Keyleth is also a Talon of Veylan.
The druid circle has sent others to Duskbane's tomb but none have returned. The druids can sense an evil deep in the forest and have found dragon cultists going into the forest but haven't been able to stop them all.
Sylwen urges caution on their journey as they do not know what lies ahead.
Another member of the Enclave, Thalara Mistgrove, a Scale of Eldath acknowledges that Karma bears an aura of protection and balance. If that truth resonates then the Scales are a path for Karma to walk.
Into the Forest
The party bids farewell to the druids and continues upon the path dictated by the Pixies deeper into the Forest of Wyrms.
Along the path they come upon an encampment of Dragon Cultists. A fight breaks out and while Deez Nuts are victorious, their comrade Alexios falls in battle. A healing potion later and he's back on his feet ready to fight another day (though it was quite scary).
The party leaves a Dragonwing Cultist alive for questioning. Why are they here? What do they seek?
The cultist is fairly tight lipped but let it slip that they seek to turn a dragon deep in the woods to the cause of Tiamat.
The party agreed to spare the cultist if he gave them information and stayed true to their word. They bound him, but overnight he broke free and attempted to escape.
The cultist was less than stealthy, waking nearly the entire party, and was strangled to death by Gootcha for his sudden but inevitable betrayal.
The party is in the campsite previously occupied by cultists and are fully rested and ready to face whatever the Forest of Wyrms can throw their way.
XP Awards
To be added by DM
Notable Characters
- Alexios
- Gootcha
- Karma
- Keyleth
- Rath Modar
- Raven Queen
- Rezmir
- Sylwen Moondrift
- Thalara Mistgrove
- Veylan Duskbane