The Keys of Telku / Witch War pt. 8 / Von the 9th through the 10th, 3593 CE / 1-24-21

It has been 14 days, almost a full Anorian week, since the Adventurers entered the wilds of Greenwood Forest. In that time they have found themselves embroiled in the conflict between the elven kingdom of Celene and the dark forces of Tanlin Marsh under the command of a coven of evil hags. In the hope of being allowed to leave Greenwood and return to their home base of Liem, the Adventurers have agreed to conduct a reconnaissance mission on behalf the elves' allies, the druidic council, joined by the elven scout Thorne and Sonya Raskoven, a former retainer of Tarrus the One-Eyed and now envoy of the Greenwood druids. They have journeyed south with the intention of infiltrating Tanlin Marsh, along the way encountering another old adventuring companion, the elven warrior Florina. Now Florina has taken Thorne and the undine swashbuckler Blur on an advanced scouting party while the bulk of the party carefully makes their way towards Tanlin Marsh. After breaking camp and once more commencing their hike, it is an uneventful morning until the expedition is stopped short by the sound of a distant scream. Those with sharper eyes also spot a whisp of white smoke rising into the air from the direction of the scream. Roisyll decides to take the form of an eagle in order to scout ahead. She comes to an area where some of the trees have been cleared around a hill and a bubbling stream. Floating in the water is the bloody corpse of an elven woman. Roisyll lands in the branches of a large tree cresting the hill, only to learn to her surprise that the tree is in fact a treant named Tetherus. Tetherus is the guardian of an elven outpost that has been built into the hill on which he resides, but when Roisyll inquires about the fate of the dead elven woman, whom Tetherus identifies as "Yanna," the treant is distressed to reveal that it saw nothing but flames and the impending doom of itself and its fellow trees. Roisyll concludes that this vision must have been some sort of hallucination, as their is no evidence of a fire having ravaged the area. Tetherus asks Roisyll if she and her companions will assist the remaining elves living inside the hill, and Roisyll returns to her companions to explain the situation and bring them back to Tetherus. While Coron remains outside to converse with the ancient tree and look after Henry's horse , the rest of the party follows the treant's directions to locate the hidden door in the side of the hill. After a tense negotiation with the occupants of the outpost, they are allowed inside the underground home by two elves named Derrim and Atlee, who are shocked to hear that their companion Yanna has been killed. The elves inform the Adventurers that their expedition here was to investigate a magical spring located underneath the hill, the gasses from which provide a boost of strength and vitality to any who breathe deeply of them. They believe harvesting this gas could provide a great boon to the elven army in their struggle against the dark fey forces of Tanlin Marsh. But something has been affecting the minds of the elven expedition, resulting in Yanna fleeing the complex. The Adventurers are alerted to sounds of distress coming from the underground well-room and discover another member of the expedition, Reppo, cowering in fear of "spiders." The party can find no evidence of spiders in the outpost and begin to suspect more and more that the gasses from the spring could be affecting the elves' minds, as Atlee shares that the feelings of dread are most palpable in the sub-basement of the compound where a well to the spring has been dug. The Adventurers agree to keep watch over the spring themselves to see if they suffer an feelings of dread or similar undue effects. Other than some pleasant chats and a chance to get to know each other better, John, Henry, Adrienne, Sonya, Moss, & Roisyll feel no other effects. As the day has now gotten late, Coron recommends they stay the night in the outpost before heading once more to Tanlin Marsh. That night Adrienne, Henry, and Stazia are wracked by vivid nightmares as they are forced to confront their worst fears. With the rising sun the party is awoken by Atlee's screams. They find that Derrim has been killed in the night by shards from a shattered mirror. John finds two mysterious footprints in the pool of blood around the body, but no sign of tracks leading to or from the dead elf. After checking the feet of all present, the party concludes it could not have been an act of treachery. Atlee once more asserts that an outside agent is attempting to disrupt the elves' efforts to harvest the magical gas from the spring. She decides to bottle as much as she can to deliver to elven high command before sealing off both the spring and outpost, and the party agrees to assist her, with Adrienne and John helping with the bottling, Henry standing guard, and Moss cleaning up the corpse of Derrim. Sonya and Roisyll have taken an interest in a magical vase that the elves discovered while excavating the hill. Though they cannot determine the vase's purpose, they do determine that it has a strong aura of conjuration magic. In addition, there are words in Ancient inscirbed on the vase, "When day is Night and Night is day, the Sun and Moon shall pass this way." After about an hour, Coron finds the others with grim news: Reppo , who had been mostly catatonic since the day before, has hung himself. Adrienne decides that there may be a curse coming from the vase and decides to destroy it. Atlee remains in the basement bottling the magical gas while the others assemble to watch as Adrienne smashes the magic vase. The artifact explodes in spectacular fashion, showering the hapless swashbuckler with razor-sharp pottery shards. Suddenly all-assembled find their minds filled with the sound of evil laughter, immediately followed by screams coming from the basement. Hurrying down the stairs, the first to arrive in the well-room find Atlee cowering in a corner, screaming about someone coming for her. John and Sonya's vision fill with images of things they dread, making it difficult for them to focus. The confrontation with their invisible enemy seems to be all-too imminent.