Session 18: The Ghost, the Dryad, and the Dragon Report

General Summary

The Menagerie began the session making camp at the top of the Inamja Cliffs, in an abandoned Voldrak Empire outpost. Bartholomew had just learned that their employer Osrick might not be who he said he was. Bart relayed this information to several members of the Menagerie, and it was agreed upon that they would keep an eye on Osrick and wait for the right opportunity to either subdue him or confront him about his identity. Their plotting was interrupted by a pair of haunted armors, which came to life and began trying to suck the souls out of the adventurers. They quickly dispatched the ghosts and recovered the sacred idol of Tiamat they had been left to guard.   During the watch that night, the group saw several odd creatures, some native to the jungles of Zandrazil, others unidentifiable even by Brakmat. During his watch, Dacha noticed a foul smell and sent Owly out to investigate, whereupon he discovered a hulking black creature stalking through the forest, dragging a massive sword through the ground but otherwise making no sound as it moved.   The following day of travel brought the group to a clearing where they were invited to tea with a dryad. Most of the group sensed something wrong with the invitation, though Osrick and Dacha drank the tea while Droknar was saved by a quick intervention from Bartholomew. When Brakmat asked for meat, the Dryad pulled out a bowl of severed human fingers, and admitted she needed food for her carnivorous plants. The group destroyed the dryad and her plants and left the clearing.   Further into the jungle the Menagerie came upon a shrine to the goddess Melora. Vines emerged from the cracks in the stonework, forming into a gladiator who challenged the group to single combat. Brakmat stepped forward and attempted to best the gladiator, but failed to defeat the champion of Melora.   Following the river deeper into the jungle, storm clouds began to appear to the south. The party encountered a wooden door standing in the middle of the forest, with a sign on it in Draconic which read "the Library is closed." They knocked on the door, and a few minutes later the door opened inward, a draconic voice from within inviting the group inside. Within the door, the Menagerie found themselves in a large library that stretched in every direction as far as they could see. Before them sat an ancient silver dragon, a book clutched in its claws, who introduced himself as Pustak'Viram, the Book Wyrm.