03-01-2025: The Dryad's ritual

This session starts just outside of the Tower of Albon Farrow. The party made an agreement with the wizard to assist them with repairing Tacton at their The Keep of Adamant. Alban had to make some preparations before heading to the Keep, so they agreed to meet each other in Thalaniel over a week. In the meantime, the guards they hired, Ornn and his crew, were heading to Thalaniel simultaneously.   As they had a few days to kill before meeting with any of them, they decided to pick up some small quests. They headed to the village of Pharkan which was just a day of travelling away. The village reported that a few weeks ago about a quarter of their guards were missing during their patrol. The party travelled over to their town and met in the Struggling Donkey with their guard captain, Leroy. He explained that on two separate nights, his patrol of guards mysteriously disappeared. The guards always patrolled the town in a clockwise motion. While investigating their disappearances, he and his men couldn't find any signs of a struggle. A total of 15 guards were missing. Not wanting to risk any more men, Leroy decided to not do patrols anymore. The party offered to help and asked what the expected pay is. Leroy mentions to them that their pay will be determined by the threat they eventually have to deal with. It's an iniatitve of the government to pay mercenaries and adventurers fairly for the risks they had to take. The party found this a fair deal and, after some diner, headed out into the forest.   Leroy provided them with the info that the guards patrolling north of the village were the ones missing. So they headed North and tried to find any trace of what took the guards. Plans of posing as guards were mentioned, but they decided against it, since there was no reason to believe that guards were the focus. While travelling through the forest, Jaina's keen ears could hear faint singing through the sounds of the rain. Warning her party, she believed that the singing may be of some fey creature which is trying to charm them. Everyone except Jaina stuffed their ears, to prevent them from being charmed. Jaina being the guide to follow the voice. After some time, they reached a clearing in the forest, with a very big tree catching the eye. Around the clearing, guards and small animals were busy arranging stones and planting certain seeds all over it. Some of the party immediatly thought about it being for some kind of ritual. In the middle of the clearing sat a green feminine figure who was the source of the singing. When Jaina came close enough, she felt that the singing was something magical, attempting to charm her, but she managed to fight of its magic. Mind with Message tried to come up with the plan to let Gotrick Command her to stop the singing. Aerith had a very strong instinct and was very much against it, because it could be seen as hostile behaviour and they were not sure yet what was happening here. They confirmed the guards were charmed, as they did react to familiars flying up to them, but being mostly concerned with their work. The party decided to sneak past the 2 guards that were busy closeby and go along with Mind's plan. By putting one of them to sleep, they managed to come close enough, so Gothrick shouted (to the dismay of others of the party): STOP SINGING!.... The command spell failed, but because the figure was so suprised with the suddening shouting, she turned around to ask what that was for, indirectly succeeding into stopping her from singing. Jaina asked her who she was and what she was doing.   She explained that she is a dryad, busy with a ritual to cleanse the forest. The lumber work of humans and the negative emotions of sentient creatures living in it, leave a negative impact on the forest. Most notably in the form of more blights and other foul creatures in the forest. Her ritual is meant to cleanse the forest from this negative energy and to promote the growth of the trees and bushes, to counteract the deforestation. Jaina asked her why the guards appeared to be charmed, to which dryad explained she needed protection for her ritual. As soon as her rituals begins, the blights will try to stop her from completing it. As she cannot protect herself while performing the ritual, she needed help. Jaina signalled to the party, that it was save to pull out their makeshift earplugs. The last concern the party had, was why the dryad did not simply ask for help. To which she answered that in her experience, the humans from the village are not keen to have any 'monsters' appear next to their village. As the guards were missing for a while, the party took a look at how they were faring. They looked healthy and well-fed to which they concluded that the dryads story was indeed true. However, they could not condone her kidnapping, so they made an agreement. They asked the dryad to release the guards and the animals to which in turn the party would assist with her ritual. The dryad agreed and the guards were released from the charm. Mind also tried to exchange some flirtatious words with the dryad, but she didn’t fall for them in the slightest. Gotrick took up the role of interim captain and explained to them the situation. The guards, moved by his words, decided to assist them and went back to the preparations. After they were done, they deserved a well deserved rest and were tasked with protecting the dryad if any of the blights managed to break the ranks up to her. At this point the party prepared for a battle as the dryad started the ritual.   The entire field started to glow a vibrant light, which gave of a serene and warm feeling. Not much later, the first blights arrived at the clearing. Hugin, transformed into a Hippogriff by Mind's Phatom Steed spell, Gotrick and Serosh took point as frontline. While the rest of the party provided backup from afar. The first few waves stood no chance against the party up until the Shambeling mounds showed up. During the fight, they were not allowed to use any fire, as the dryad had a great dislike for it. It meant that Mind had to use other means to assist. The smaller blights were easily dispatched and couldn't land any significant hits on the frontline, the shambeling mounds however could put some good hits in. Ieghi received quite some pummeling, and Mind who came up to assist, also took a heavy hit, which he would not survive if he received another one. But eventually the shambeling mounds were defeated swiftly as well, allowing the dryad to finish her ritual. They could feel the difference, as the forest felt different. That same feeling of serene and peace during the ritual was now spreading through the forest and they couldn't help but feel good about it. The dryad, pleased with their help, rewarded the party to thank them. She gave Jaina a few magical seeds. When plantened, the herbs that grows from them have magical properties. Most commonly used to enchance the power of potions. She also gave a Dryad's charm which protects the wearer from poison and allows them to breath in any natural environment. Afterwards they parted ways with the dryad and lead the guards back to Pharkan.   Now well in the night, the party and the guards arrived back into Pharkan. Leroy, impressed with the speed to which the party solved this case, rewarded them with a hefty bag of gold after hearing what happened. The session ended with the party going to a well deserved rest at the Struggling Donkey.