Adventure Brunch #39 -- May 25, 2020
Dear Diary,
I, Zuraleigh of House Ayarra and Total Failure, am sitting here at the bottom of the now-defiled sanctuary of Pelairem, Champion of Spring. My companions and I were unable to protect it, and now its guardian is likely dead, two of us are heavily injured, and we are all weak from low spirits and stolen resources--Kano took both druids' arcane focus scales, the bard's instrument, and Jingles' spider bow. He also took... my very expensive mithral armor AND my steel shield AND my Bag of Holding AND my very plushy Owlbear Snugglebeast! I'm taking it as a silver lining that I must have annoyed him the most and given him four times the trouble that the others did during our battle.
The dull and dirty lining is that I am now a very vulnerable fighter without my armor, he is now heavily armored, and all my other items (which thankfully he did not take) are scattered around me in the mud. I will have to figure out a way to neatly fold all of my nice clothes and bedding to package it up with my other magical knickknacks to haul out of here.
"How did we get here?" is a question I'm sure everyone is asking themselves right now. Well, the adventure started off well, with Jingles successfully leading us to this mausoleum. It turned out be guarded by a swampy--though beautiful--elf in the moat, who inducted me into the Green Pact. As such, I was able to invite my compatriots to cross the moat and enter the mausoleum: a strange but beautiful, open-air structure made of wood.
There was a large hole in the ground, which we had to climb down by rope (or fall, in my unfortunate case), and at the very bottom we found two sets of large doors. Within one room we found five figures stuck in large bubbles of amber: a female elf with a wooden, branched circlet down on one knee; a small spring sprite that looked like Fua; a strong-looking female elf sitting with a sword on her lap; a minor treant; and a male elf with weapons (a ranger, perhaps?) and also branches coming out of his body.
It is my suspicion that these beings are Eilinora and others associated with Pelairem, caught in a moment in time and protected in amber--perhaps to defend against the spreading elf plague! It does seem to be a common defense mechanism of the Court of Spring to stop time in some way (sleep, entombment in amber...?) when confronted with a problem they cannot resolve in that moment.
Well, luckily they stayed unaffected by time and by our fight with Kano. He arrived with his undead wyverns and quickly overcame us. I can only assume that the guardian took out at least three of the wyverns with her large, magical hand of kelp when they were flying over the moat, however she was ultimately overcome (perhaps not murdered, but I don't have much hope), up there fighting alone against all of them. Next time--and there WILL be a next time!--I plan to fight along side the guardian to make strategic use of her magical powers and ensure our success and survival!
My fellows and I set up a "last stand" down in the second room, which held a small copse of trees (I assume a burial site of sorts in the way of the Spring Court) and a shallow pool. Kano's wyverns are very strong (or just numerous) and made quick work of the door. Though I killed two, there were just too many and they distracted us with their poisonous attacks while Kano overpowered us from the shadows.
I hate it when people will not fight me face-to-face! It is dishonorable! I'm sure Kano spelled Shakkax in some way--he left the battlefield and took a nap in the other room! I mean, this is Shakkax!?! Magic was definitely involved, and Shakkax has been looking suitably ashamed ever since. With Croxia sulking about the new scar on her face, Shakkax sulking about not impressing her with his fighting skills, and Pascan (understandably) sulking about his broken ribs... and Cyrus avoiding my golden-eye glare (I saw him chugging our only flask of anti-poison right before collapsing! Way to be helpful!) and Jingles mumbling to himself about just being a "regular ranger" now his magic bow was stolen... our party is acting like a bunch of lethargic lizards on a cold, rainy day.
Anyway, I'm not sure what Kano did, but Jingles fell out of the tree next, and he was no where near the wyverns. As we all realized Jingles was bleeding and unconscious, further away Croxia and Cyrus were downed by the wyverns quickly after. Pascan held out longer, fighting as a guard drake, but was overcome by the wyverns as well. Meanwhile, Kano taunted me with his words and magic, blinding me and telling me to join him--as if I would ever do that! He stands for everything that I stand against! He will rue the day that he let me live...
I successfully evaded his sneaky attacks, blinking in and out of the ephemeral plane and attacking him with Dawnbreaker, but it wasn't enough. The wyverns caught up to me as well, after Pascan went down, and this turned out to be an even harder fight than the hordes of undead in the last few weeks. I really need some comfy, cuddly nap time, but now is the worst time. Isn't that always the way?!
When we all came to, the pool was corrupted and black, the trees were all dead, and the walls were defaced. I'm also very worried about the 17 large holes in the ground... I think he dug up dragon bones. We were told this is/was an ancient dragon burial site!
While Kano took pieces of our valuable property, he also tauntingly left a note with a map of the next sanctuary he plans to desecrate in 7 days. Unfortunately, I do not think we will make it; we must regroup, re-gear, and heal! Though I am an ally of the Spring elves, I am a Sun Elf and will push ahead against the odds! We must find a way forward and act on it!
One of the Sunmaker's vestiges is in the general vicinity of the Oasis as well. Perhaps I could at least be productive in that regard, and re-empowering the Sunmaker could only enhance my ability to succeed in this quest.
