Dramatis Personae:
Ayrkin (Andrew), Alexios (Jola), Erica (Shelly), Jayden (Paul H), Thufark (Paul V), Gusten (David), Rook (Chris)
We continued following the trail of the stolen chariot. Gusten cast a wind watch and detected the chariot at the far end of the range which meant that they were about 38 miles ahead of us.
At one point we came upon an area heaped with bones that had been stripped of their flesh and partially melted. Night was approaching and rather than camp nearby we decided to backtrack and camp a distance away.
Before leaving Gusten cast a find snares and yelled a warning 20 minutes later that a snare had suddenly appeared above. The snare proved to be a huge web. Gusten used flame finger to burn the webbing. Rook, Al'xios, Thufark and Jayden took up a defensive position back-to-back. Ayrkin out his back against a tree.
The party was attacked by four phase spiders. The tide of the battle swung back and forth with both Ayrkin and Rook being poisoned (Gusten used neutralize poison to counteract) but eventually we killed two and drove the other two away.
We continued our pursuit and found a large gorge with another invisible bridge. On the opposite side the trees grew to an immense height and girth and the trees were covered by hundreds of the blazes. Gusten used an animal tongues spell to question a squirrel about the beings that had taken the chariot but wasn't able to secure much useful information.
After some additional travel the sound of forest life abruptly went silent. Ayrkin flew into the air and a weighted net dropped onto him pinning him to a tree. Out of the woods came a group of 7' tall beings who had bark-like skin and carries the articulated bone spears with which we had been attacked previously. Their leader cast a tongues spell and accused us of being allied with their enemies from across the seas. They indicated that the chariot was theirs and had been given to them thousands of years ago in trust only to be given to those who could prove that they were those foretold by the "Wind Amongst the Trees". We claimed to be those fire tolled and told them the story of E'heral, D'Lum and our dreams.
The tree people provisionally agreed to allow us to prove our claim and room us back to their tree community. After cleaning up and breaking fast, they escorted us to a cleft in a cliff side (our travels had brought us to the edge of a huge mountain range).
Inside the cleft we found a tunnel made of mithral that leading a chamber with a crystal dome through which the sun shone. In the center if the chamber was a metal book that when the tree person opened it cause an image to appear above it. He asked for proof of our story and Al'xios presented him with Eheral's dagger, D'Lum's blood and Eheral's necklace. These were held up in turn to the light which projected similar images and seemed to match. The tree person indicated that we were indeed those who were fire tolled and told us that there were items that we needed in the cave of light far above us on the mountain.
He went in to explain that at one time travel to the cave would not have been difficult but that 500 years ago a meteor had devastated the area and brought with it a corrupting shadowy presence that had twisted the light and the creatures and that these shadowed creatures now prevented approach. He also went onto explain how they had comes to this place thousands of years ago brought here by Eheral who had rescued them, brought them here to a new homeland, and charged them with the task of safeguarding her treasures until they were needed.
Most of us decided to return to the tree community. Al'xios elected to stay camped on the edge of the corruption. The next day we met up with Al'xios and decided to fly our way to the cave to avoid the dangers associated with travel on foot. We arrived at the cave mouth successfully to witness pulsing darkness oozing forth and the cave mouth bubbling and budding off foul creatures that quickly grew and scuttled away.
Meeting ended.
