Session 98: In the Wake of the Hart

The two harts had left, one to the east and one to the west. The Champions, having freed themselves from the thorny entanglement set by the Thorned Knight, each took direction to hunt what they thought was the true hart.   Eryndor Haraldsson and Yegor Sokolov left together, heading northwest. The Thorned Knight left alone to travel due west. Doctor Caligast Murk and Eirwen the Still-Breathing left together to the southwest.   Black Bill took to the air to look for the stag. Freydis Dahl went southward.   Marlow Clyst and Mynki headed northeast together.   Bolvaic was directed by Sylas Staghorn that he was headed in the wrong direction, and Myohn was directed by Aisling to head east. They joined a large group heading directly east, which consisted of Aralmeni, Bolvaic, Myohn, Zadock, Aisling, Levi, Tertius, Ilbryen, Aisling Hollowthorne, Sir Hearts Aflame, Mitch, Crepe Myrtle, and Mira of the Shallow Pool.   Illevaere, meanwhile, moved through the forest with more ease than the others, joining the White Hart at the Silent Grove, where Illevaere set a snare spell trap.   The large eastbound group made it to the river, with the crossing being a what appeared as a fallen tree, but turned out to be a treant who rose to cut off the bridge. He told the group that he would allow them pass with the payment of a toll, offering many choices.   Sir Hearts Aflame paid one heartbeat's worth of his courage. Although Crepe urged Zadock to come with her--she did not want to tread upon a tree, Zadock paid with a trinket he had before entering the Feywild--giving his ring of underwater breathing he obtained from the Oleander Throne mages. Mira of the Shallow Pool took a silver coin to be planted in the deep forest so that it might grow a silver tree. Aisling Hollowthorne paid with a ribbon from her hair. The four crossed eastward.   Ilbryen and Mitch did not pay the toll and instead went northward to find a new crossing. There they found a white hart across the stream, though realized that it was not the hart they were seeking and crossed without pursuing it.   Aisling, Myohn, Levi, and Tertius did not pay the toll and instead went southward to find a new crossing. They found a shallows where three niaids were bathing. They asked what the group was seeking and said that if one of them would remain to entertain them, they would tell them where the white hart had gone. The group turned down the offer and crossed, though Myohn did say that he would return to them later.   Aralmeni, Bolvaic and Crepe did not pay the toll and as they headed southwardly, Crepe felt something "off" and veered from the river toward it, as Bolvaic and Aralmeni joined her. There they found a small farm with a field of root vegetables and Crepe became fiercely determined to free the carrots and beets and to release their seeds out to the wild to grow free, rather than leave them condemned to the chains of neat rows. Aralmeni and Bolvaic decided not to join her as she charged into the fields and started to free the oppressed vegetables.   Ilbryen and Mitch passed a Satyr in a tree, playing panpipes, avoiding his charming magic and passing on the offer to remain and play with him. They traveled to the Canopy Path, and then to the Caves where Mitch found evidence that a family of raccoons lived in the caves, but, unfortunately ended up chasing them out without catching any to eat.   Zadock, Almost-Aisling, Mira, and Sir Hearts went to the farm of Arandari, a Firbolg farmer who sings to his crops. While they were there, Mira noticed a trail of spores along the fence. Arandari was friendly toward the group, packing them up some bundles of food to take with them on their chase. They continued on toward the Canopy Path, but found fresh antler rubbings on the bark of one of the trees. Mira tasted the sap bleeding from the tree and discovered that it allowed her the ability to speak with plants. The rest of the group then did the same, also gaining the ability. They then began their return to Arandari's Farm.   Myohn took to the air with his new wings to lookout for the hart. Levi, Tertius, and Aisling made their way to the Silent Grove where Tertius was caught in Illevaere's snare trap which pulled him into the grove. Levi rushed in to help free him, however, both were then affected by the grove, and became silenced. Black Bill arrived and told the group that he saw that the hart had come this way, then gone south--staying true to his word that he would help Aisling to a point. Levi lost the scent of the stag here and the group looked for tracks, discovering that the stag had apparently taken humanoid form. The group started to follow the tracks, but the forest shifted and bended the ways, causing them to circle back and end up at the Silent Grove once again, where they were met by Bolvaic and Aralmeni who had just crossed by the niaids, also turning down their offer to entertain them.   While the now larger group was at the Silent Grove, a stag-man approached. Knowing that the hart had taken humanoid form, Aisling realized that the stag-man's rack mirrored that of the white stag. Aisling spoke with him, suggesting her hunt, while he responded that a hunt truly needs to be worth it and he headed north toward the farm.