Session Report: Oak Haven – 26 Weißhexe 3023
Morning: tension over tea
At sunrise in
The Merry Mug, Cathlynn and
Lev compared notes. The Star Crows had warned that a White Witch must be slain “when the Black Lightning strikes,” but there were rumors she might be pregnant. Both agreed they needed real answers before even considering that course, which pointed them toward
Candlekeep if they could secure entry.
Farrah brought breakfast and two updates:
Lilly and Dorian were south of town sorting vendor issues; don’t wait on them today.
Thaluin Mossmantle, the area’s long-steady druid, abruptly stocked up and headed north toward
Ilthmar, focused and unlike himself. With recent twisted births and deaths, that felt ominous.
Ikiri returns (and a private worry)
Ikiri came down late, still exhausted. She had recently carried a scaled, clawed stillborn infant to
Candlekeep for study and hadn’t felt right since, though the inn let her sleep deeply for the first time in days.
Outside, Cathlynn asked quietly if she might be pregnant. Ikiri admitted she’d met up with
Ironcast (Cathlynn’s half-brother) in
Mythan Belanore, and their encounter could have resulted in pregnancy. She didn’t feel ill, only drained, but agreed to let Cathlynn check tomorrow via Commune with Nature. Until then, she would stay inside and rest in Room 201. Cathlynn promised help and no judgment, whatever the result.
The book problem
Cathlynn still bore the sealed book meant for
Candlekeep. Delivery terms were strict: Cathlynn alone must deliver it, and it must not be opened.
Candlekeep lies about 60 miles south (roughly two and a half days by horse each way), and hauling the book into danger felt unwise. Lilly’s floor-safe was unavailable with her away, so Farrah suggested the inn’s old basements with their many loose stones.
Cathlynn hid the book on Basement Level 2, behind a stone no casual eye would notice.
Lev knows it’s hidden; only Cathlynn knows exactly where.
A strange traveler with stranger questions
Malrik arrived in humble, road-dirty robes and tipped five gold to confirm exactly which chair a certain Lord had used days earlier. Farrah recalled a band of a dozen hunters who passed through; some returned for ale at midday, and then the group headed east. The Lord in question was, by Farrah’s telling, strikingly handsome. Malrik asked after guides east but none were immediately at hand.
Two details stood out:
He ordered tea with citrus, a refined taste around here.
When he stepped away,
Lev recovered a loose journal page written in Draconic. Its tone was admiring and devotional toward a tall, bearded man with deep blue eyes. Whether that devotion was spiritual or romantic was unclear.
Candlekeep deferred; the forest calls
With
Candlekeep deferred until the full party could travel, Cathlynn and
Lev turned to nearer mysteries: the town’s wells and the blighted grove where
Lev had sensed a ley line.
In the northeast woods they found warped, blackened trees and loud insects in place of birds. These were local trees twisted into pain, not some alien species. Dispel Magic on a scarred trunk did little; Detect Magic lit the ley line clearly, a strong channel braided with conjuration, abjuration, and a hint of necromancy.
Lev’s working theory: a summoning corridor rather than an inherently evil anomaly.
The cloth of eyes and the thing beneath
The ground heaved where they had reburied the cloth sewn with eyes. A pair of huge lobster-like pincers punched up, and a tentacled head rose beneath the eye-cloth. The cloth melted into the creature’s face; those eyes fused across its carapace, all blinking at once.
A Chul.
Lev blessed them and conjured a spiritual weapon while Cathlynn moved to withdraw. They fell back in good order. The Chul pursued only to the forest’s edge, then stopped, as if bound to the desecrated grove. They did not press their luck.
A quick detour: the dry well
On the way back, they checked the dry well. Thann stood with Brannick, already fitting the new cap well ahead of schedule. For a breath, it felt like an ordinary day.
Picking up underground
Deep beneath the dry well, Cathlynn and
Lev tracked Thann’s cocoon into a webbed chamber. The boy hung twenty feet up while two giant spiders skittered along the stone.
The fight for Thann
Lev opened with a guiding bolt that lit a target and set up his spiritual weapon to follow through. The sword struck true, the combo staggering the first spider. Cathlynn wild-shaped into a giant lizard, clamped down with a critical bite, and forced that spider onto the back foot.
The spiders pressed back hard. Their fangs pumped venom while sizzling acid chewed into
Lev’s scale mail, leaving it pitted and soft and knocking his protection down step by step. Cathlynn tried to reposition on the wall, but a bite blasted through her temporary beast form; she reverted mid-climb and hit the ground hard.
Lev steadied the line. He called a storm of spirit guardians—swift, feylike protectors that shredded webs and harried both spiders every heartbeat they lingered near him. When one tried to ensnare Cathlynn again, she tore free and kept burning it down with quick, accurate gouts of flame.
The fight turned on a handful of choices:
Lev spent precious magic on healing at the brink and drank a greater potion when the acid almost dropped him.
Cathlynn repeatedly pushed healing word into the fray; one timely cast kept
Lev on his feet when two bites would have finished him.
Lev’s spiritual weapon kept carving openings, and the spirit guardians finally ground both spiders to twitching husks.
Silence returned, broken only by the drip of acid and the crackle of dying web.
Cutting down the cocoon
They sliced Thann free and caught him before he hit the stone. He was alive, but limp and venom-sick.
Lev pressed divine power into him—first purging the poison, then mending flesh—until the boy’s eyes fluttered open. Confused and sore, Thann could move, but he wasn’t climbing a hundred-plus feet of rough stone.
The rope, the haul, the turn
Working fast, the two tied a secure harness. Cathlynn steadied the knots while
Lev finished them; together they signaled the all-clear. Above, Brannick hauled the boy up hand over hand.
They heard the scrape of hands, a grunt, and Thann’s weight leave the line. A breath of relief—and then Brannick’s voice echoed down:
“Thanks, you f—ing assholes.”
Wood thudded. Iron bit. The new cap slammed home over the well mouth, plunging the shaft into darkness and sealing Cathlynn and
Lev below.
Aftermath
Thann lives, topside with Brannick.
Cathlynn and
Lev are trapped beneath the sealed well, low on resources and coated in dust and spider acid.
Lev’s armor is compromised by corrosion and will need repair or replacement.
The cavern network extends beyond the chamber; an alternate way out may exist.
For now, they make a hidden camp to recover before attempting an escape.
Leads and loose threads (from Part I)
Ikiri’s condition: Commune with Nature tomorrow; keep her safe inside the inn until then.
The Book: Hidden on Basement Level 2 (Merry Mug), behind a loose stone. Only Cathlynn knows the exact spot.
Thaluin Mossmantle: Abruptly left north toward
Ilthmar, unlike himself.
Malrik: Draconic journal page admiring a Lord among hunters who went east; wants a guide.
Ley line: Strong conjuration/abjuration/necromancy channel; likely a summoning corridor.
Chul with grafted eyes: Emerged where the eye-cloth lay; would not cross the treeline.
Candlekeep: About 60 miles south; defer until the full party can travel.
Brannick’s betrayal at the well: motive unknown; he sealed the heroes inside after saving Thann.
Thann’s condition: conscious but recently envenomed; he should recover with rest.
Compromised armor:
Lev’s scale mail has been eaten down by acid.
Underground exits: the tunnel system likely connects beyond the well shaft; an egress must be found.
The town: when (if) they emerge, there will be questions for Brannick—and consequences.
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