[Expeditions] Bark of Darkness

[Richard Jackson]

Prelude: Nothing to do with Isengard

"We're taking the armour to Klippica!"
"We're taking the armour to Klippica!"
"We're taking the armour to Klippica!"
"What did you say?"

"The armour, the armour, the armour, the armour to Klippica, to Klippica!"
"We're taking the armour to Klippica-ca-ca-ca-ca!"

"Tell me where is Meriel, for I much desire to speak with her?"
"Tell me where is Meriel, for I much desire to speak with her?"
"Arabella of legend..."
"What did you say?"
"Arabella of legend..."
"What did you say?"

"We're taking the armour to Klippica!"
"Spider-chewn armour!"
"We're taking the armour to Klippica!"
"We're taking the armour to Klippica!"
"We're taking the armour to Klippica!"
"Spider-chewn armour!"

"Leave now, and never come back!" Dramble heard the shout and ducked as an empty pint pot flew at the spot where his head had been a second earlier. "Oh, alright, maybe the musical montage approach needs more work," he mused. "I just figured I'd try something a bit different for a change. Shall I tell it the normal way then?"

The words "normal way" were innocent enough but, as he said them, the flames in the fireplace at the Lakeside Inn roared to twice their normal height, resolving themselves into the shape of what looked a little like a hunchbacked troll, but composed of vines and branches. Five smaller, fiery figures darted around it, loosing arrows and spells. Sparks twinkled in Dramble's eyes. He knew his audience.

"Aye, that'll about do," said the dwarf, now placated and staggering to the bar for another ale. The usual crowd of dwarves, hobbits and humans gathered around the hearth as the little gnome began his story again...

Chapter One: Return to Klippica

"Xryxina, Aila, Kallista, Newt and I set out to rid the Blightwood of it's Curséd Tree, but what we found there was far stranger than we could ever have imagined... But I'm getting ahead of myself. First we had a more sombre mission - returning the armour of the fallen elves to their brethren at Klippica."

"Yes, we got that part."

"It was a day and a half's journey. We considered asking the Aldalornans for horses again, but decided the Blightwood would be no place for them, so we travelled on foot. The journey to Klippica was uneventful. When we arrived, the elves greeted Aila as an old friend.

An elf named Luthein explained that Folociel (whom I met on a previous expedition) was not there - she had gone on a quest to the east, shortly after I had told her the story of the dragon Ikata in the time of the GoldFire. We surmised she had travelled in the direction of the lights we saw shortly afterwards. For some unknown reason, my comrades seemed slightly upset with me about this.

We spoke next with the High Priestess Quenella, who took us to see Queen Meriel. I had never been to Klippica village before, only to the stones. At its centre stood a magnificent hall, covered with carved images of flora and fauna. Some nonsense formality involving Xryxina and the Queen took place, and then we were admitted and presented the armour. The queen thanked us and, duty done, we began the much more pleasant past-time of sharing stories. It seems our halfling acquaintance, Maria Cloudsong, had passed by Klippica on her way to Duhlmora a week earlier. The elves speculated she may be connected to Arabella Goldsong..."

"Wait, I know that name," one of the drinkers interjected. "Don't tell me, isn't she...?"

"...the legendary explorer from Bella's Landing, who sailed into the north and disappeared? Yes!" finished Dramble, telling him anyway.

"In return, I told our hosts about the Fall of Sessaran and the curse of Heskaron's Tower. They seemed to appreciate the downfall of those who meddled with powers beyond their control. (The attitudes of some people, eh?) Afterwards, we settled down for the evening by the stones, to await Corellon's Lights. They did not disappoint - deep down in the water they shone a more brilliant blue than I had seen them before. I felt the blue Builder bolt I carried on me thrumming in reaction to the lights. Curious, I made my way around the lake and the lights seemed to follow me! The slightest of frowns crossed Quenella's face, so I stopped my experiment. For now at least.

We spent a pleasant night there (Xryxina made some new friends, with whom she spent a very pleasant night) and departed in the early morning."

Chapter Two: The Forest Battle 

"Just outside the Blightwood, the hut in the centre of the marsh (where we had such fun levitating our friend, Briar) was occupied by a dwarf named Kanbar. Four of us shared a lunch of smoked eel (I don't recommend it) with him, while Newt attempted to catch her own (I don't recommend that either). Kanbar is from Vacarune, a small settlement by a lake to the north, and was scouting ahead of his people to follow the herds. He seemed puzzled when we said we were from the north as well. He warned us away from the Blightwood, but we assured him we had vanquished many monsters and could do good there.

Well, how were we to know any differently?

At the edge of the wood, Aila and Xryxina extended their senses, but their elf eyes saw nothing unexpected. We nevertheless proceeded with care as we entered the trees, where it was dark despite the brightness of the early afternoon. Our caution was well placed, as the forest was infested with twig blights and needle blights! At first they appeared in ones and twos, with Newt and Xryxina dispatching them quickly using their arrows. But then more and more emerged from the gloom. A particularly pesky one caused some grief to Aila and Newt until Kallista finished it off with her (totally not evil, she swears) demonic magicks. I blasted another to splinters with a firebolt, but Kallista and Newt had both been clawed badly while that was going on.

We rested for a couple of minutes while our paladin laid on hands to heal their wounds. But out respite was short-lived as more of the creatures appeared. Now recovered, Newt made short work of one while Aila and I took care of a second. During the fight, Xryxina had discovered a ruined hut, which we investigated once we had vanquished our attackers. Inside were camping equipment and a small statue of Melora. The place had been abandoned for some time. Newt levered up a floorboard and found a small stash of gold.

As we pursued further, Kallista stumbled across a large ritual circle in a clearing. Shaped like a four-pointed crown, with the tips bending inwards, a large plant-like creature sat at its centre. The less knowledgeable party members did not know what we faced, but I recognised it at once and shouted a warning to keep their distance. The scholars refer to it as a Shambling Mound (though don't let it hear you call it that!), and it is deadly if you let it get close to you. Its resistance to fire meant my usual attacks were ineffectual, so I had to resort to my crossbow. We surrounded it, drawing its attention one way and then another, gradually wearing it down under a hail of arrows. Or, in Kallista's case, by summoning dark, evil-looking tentacles (only evil-looking, mind). After several tense minutes, we were victorious!

The circle it appeared from appeared to be part of some sort of transmutation ritual. We could feel a tingling if we stood in it (So we didn't do that. Much.) and the blue Builder bolts reacted strongly to it. Kallista translated the Builder runes inscribed on the circle as 'nurture', 'grow' and 'life'.

Delighted as we were at a device which could grow Shambling Mounds, a nearby metal hatch in the ground also warranted our investigation. This one had runes reading 'threshold' and 'change-way'. Inserting a blue bolt into its mechanism allowed it to open, revealing a seemingly bottomless shaft with a ladder leading down into absolute darkness..."

Interlude: Another Round

"Oh come on, you can't stop the story now! What was down there?"

Dramble smiled. The earlier griping had been forgotten and his audience was enraptured, as he knew they would be.

"Alas, my friends. The hour grows late and my throat grows dry from all this talking. If only..."

His eyes drifted in the direction of the bar. The dwarf who had thrown the tankard earlier rushed up to buy himself and Dramble a drink, as did two others. When all their drinks had been replenished, the gnome continued his tale. It was not going to be an early night. The Lakeside Inn would do well this evening.

Chapter Three: Into Darkness

"Obviously we wanted to venture down, but the ladder was designed for giant Builders, not normal-sized folk. Descending would be tricky. How far must we go? We quickly rejected the idea of dropping party members down to find out, and dropped a stone instead. From the faint sound as it hit the bottom, we estimated the depth to be 200-300 feet.

Xryxina volunteered to climb down, to see what her elf eyes could see. The air became thick and musty as she climbed down. Roots and vines broke through the stone walls in places, becoming thicker the deeper she went. Something glittered all amongst them (some sort of mineral?). Eventually the shaft opened into a large bell-shaped chamber at the base, which Xryxina dropped down the last 20 feet into, landing on the paved stone floor.

There were six exits leading in different directions. Five were caved in and a mass of vines was growing from the sixth. Something in the air threatened to combust as she made to light a torch, so she quickly extinguished it. At this point, Xryxina claims to have executed a perfect somersault move, bouncing off the cavern walls to land perfectly on the ladder above her. None of us could see her, so we have to take her word for it, but you know how much I like a good story.

Once our elven friend was back at the surface, we decided to clear whatever was threatening to burn us down there using Science(TM). Lashing together three torches, we hurled them down into the darkness and beat a hasty retreat. A blast of hot air and sparks shot up out of the shaft and cooler, fresh air rushed in to replace it.

Figuring it was now safe(r), we climbed down. After checking we could open it from within, we closed the hatch behind us, lest any blights follow us down. The only light now came from a torch carried by my Mage Hand. Alas, those rungs were really not well-spaced for someone of my height, and I found myself wistfully wishing we had brought the Halfling Hoversphere(TM). It took us a full hour to reach the bottom.

Now we could safely light torches, we could make out Builder glyphs above each of the six doorways. It was hard to get an exact translation, but they seemed to be depictions of places. As best we could tell, they read 'boat gate', 'forge', 'big cart', 'encampment', 'apothecary' and something like 'life stuff test place'. We deduced, from the pictograms and the directions they pointed in, that 'boat gate' must be Klippica and 'forge' was most likely the Temple of Power. Were these tunnels how the Builders moved around before they developed their marvellous teleportation?

The open tunnel led to 'life stuff test place'. What that was, we could only guess. So naturally we went down it to find out."

Chapter Four: Mysterious City of Gold

"The further we moved along the tunnel, the thicker the vines became. The glittering gold material also grew more prevalent. After ten minutes or so, the tunnel widened suddenly in all directions (including below us!) into the vastest cavern I had ever seen! Vines grew from the wall around us. Below us lay the ruins of a Builder settlement, it's buildings collapsed but with light sources still shining within. Above us, growing in the centre of the natural stone ceiling, was a gargantuan tree, glowing silver. Was this the Curséd Tree we had set out to find?

We quickly spotted many creatures, about my size, walking along the roots and vines, seemingly heedless of the constraints of gravity. They were not afraid and chirrupped excitedly at us in an unknown language. As they got closer, one of them poked our tiefling (I wouldn't.). We waved hello to them and they beckoned us to follow.

The creatures (which we eventually identified as myconids) brought us to their leader, a larger creature the size of my elf companions. He released a puff of spores which wafted over us. As it did, we could understand the meanings of what the creatures were saying as their thoughts appeared in our minds.

We inquired about their history and whether they knew of the curse in the Blightwood. To them, it is no curse. The tree is what gives their people life. On the surface, it is said to twist malevolent creatures made evil by the light outside, but down here it gives light and sustenance. It was clear they owed their existence to Builder magicks. They knew of the Builders from legend, but those people were gone before their civilisation evolved. This was as far as the Builders built.

Initially they were concerned we had come from the surface, as they knew of the "fire people" there and were concerned that we were hostile. (I subtly diminished the flames from our torches, so as not to alarm them.) They had been attacked by the 'fire people' from 'big cart' many times, until they had blocked off the tunnels in the chamber we had come from. We deduced that 'big cart' must be the nearby goblin city, and we assured them that the "fire people" were our enemies too. They presented us with a 'fire person' they had captured. It was indeed a goblin, but covered in fungus and mindlessly following their directions like a zombie. We quietly shuddered and made two vows to ourselves - (1) not to make an enemy of these people; and (2) to wash these spores off very thoroughly after we left.

Extinguishing our torches completely, we followed our guide down to the phosphorescent glow of the collapsed city beneath us. The golden spores filled the air more thickly than ever down here. Inside the largest building were skeletons of Builders, now overgrown with fungus, and one of their consoles, containing blue and yellow bolds but inactive. Another device in the room was still active - a table containing some sort of cannister covered in pipes, which appeared to be the source of all the glittering gold. The glyphs on it said something like 'life stuff / change material / tiny servants'.

Deciding not to stick around breathing this stuff in any longer, we thanked our hosts for their kindness and said our goodbyes. We returned to the surface and sealed the hatch behind us. It was dark by the time we emerged, and we had to fight off a few more twig blights who were emboldened by the darkness.

Clearly it would not be possible to remove the curse on the Blightwood without exterminating the inhabitants of the city beneath our feet. This was too high a price. It seems travellers will need to continue steering clear of the Blightwood in future, after all. Our mission was not a failure by any means, though. We now knew the source of the blight, and had discovered a hitherto unknown civilisation!

Epilogue: Returning Home

There was a light on as we returned to Kanbar's hut, but he was asleep inside so we decided not to disturb him. We camped outside for the night and used the water to clean off the glittering spores as best we could (I'm told that elves are absolutely not supposed to sparkle, under any circumstances). Aila detected no poison or disease from the spores, but there was a faint aura of transmutation magic. Fortunately, this diminished each day, but we took the precaution of seeking help at the local apothecaries and temples on our return to the Valley. (They recommended we 'self-isolate' for several days, to prevent us infecting others, which is why it has taken until now for me to come here to tell you this story).

Our journey back home was otherwise uneventful, though we were cheered to see a familiar face as we passed the road to Aldalorna. Kaskan the farmer was wandering back to the Valley, in the company of two halfling friends. They had evidently been enjoying a few drinks and had been to visit the elves at Aldalorna.

It seems our little society is opening up, and venturing to the world outside more and more. Where will that lead us? Well, my friends, together we will find out. A toast, to further adventures!"

[Ed Chivers]

Kazkan stood up from a seat in the corner and raised his glass. "I'll drink to that!" he said, before adding "so who's out there now, then? I didn't hear about anyone else going out exploring, but there were lights out in the forest last night - is someone messing around with those white towers again?"

[Rory Cullen]

"Some nonsense formality involving Xryxina and the Queen took place..."

"Xryxina made some new friends, with whom she spent a very pleasant night."

 I think we can read between the lines there. Please can all explorers be extremely careful when seducing the leaders of nearby communities, lest matters of the heart spill over into political disagreement and thus jeopardise our endeavours?

 Many congratulations on defeating the shambling mound - they are said to be extremely dangerous! From what I've read of them I think your strategy of relying on ranged attacks and staying out of its grasp was very shrewd.

 Although the Myconids are doubtless sociologically fascinating, I fear the greatest revelation from your trip is the canister of "life stuff / change material / tiny servants"

 We have wondered in the past how it has come to pass that the structures and devices of the Builders are able to repair and restore themselves almost like living creatures and here, I think we have the beginnings of an answer. These "tiny servants" - think of minuscule golems, smaller than ants, but in tremendous profusion - each might only be strong enough to lift something the size of a speck of dust; it might take thousands of them to lift a grain of sand, which to them would seem a huge boulder.

 However in their millions upon millions (a million is a thousand thousands, for those unfamiliar with higher mathematics) such constructs might, over time, alter their immediate vicinity beyond recognition. Powered by the transmitted thaumaturgical energy of the hydro-arcanic generators, and able to build more of themselves as required, one could transfigure the landscape in any way one chose.

 One would need some way to direct and control such tiny servants - perhaps in a similar way that the Builders used to control the statues for larger-scale labour? - and this thought leads me back to the terrifying vision found by the group exploring the teleport network.

 What if the black clouds destroying the hapless Builders were swarms of these tiny servants either escaped from their masters' control or re-purposed as a weapon? Or perhaps more disturbingly, designed specifically as a way of wiping out a city - an entire civilistion - by its enemies or some faction or individual within Builder society?

 I must once again urge caution in our dealings with such terrifyingly eschatological devices.

-Tagariel

[Richard Jackson]

Just for the record, Queen Meriel did not attend the evening revelries at the Stones.  The nonsense formality was some sort of diplomatic introduction to which your storyteller was not invited, but he has no reason to believe anything untoward was going on.

[Kathryn Karnage]

I also recall that amongst the various glyphs on the canister of yellow, and to my mind, the most important ones, were those representing "warning" and "danger" and having seen what happened to the builders, I suggest keeping a copy of these in the inn and circulating them to all adventurers to recognise and avoid.

I would also suggest we agree to not revisit the Blightwood, there is nothing to gain from doing so, when there is so much more of the world to explore.

On Mon, 4 May 2020, 22:18 Richard Jackson, <rich.ja...@gmail.com> wrote:

Just for the record, Queen Meriel did not attend the evening revelries at the Stones.  The nonsense formality was some sort of diplomatic introduction to which your storyteller was not invited, but he has no reason to believe anything untoward was going on.

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[Rory Cullen]

On Tuesday, 5 May 2020 21:13:32 UTC+1, Kathryn Karnage wrote:

I also recall that amongst the various glyphs on the canister of yellow, and to my mind, the most important ones, were those representing "warning" and "danger" and having seen what happened to the builders, I suggest keeping a copy of these in the inn and circulating them to all adventurers to recognise and avoid.

I would also suggest we agree to not revisit the Blightwood, there is nothing to gain from doing so, when there is so much more of the world to explore

Let us not go to the Blightwood. It is a silly place.

R.