The combat went on a while longer, but the party eventually took down the trolls (and charred several of them without setting fire to the grove). As the combat was winding down, a hawk flew in the from the NE; outside, Meldrim, Ahlonna, and the archer opted to take cover, while inside Thorongil examined the grove again. He guessed that a druid had come by for routine maintenance about a month earlier, and the trolls had arrived less than two weeks ago.
The hawk landed near the center of the grove and glared at the party. The thieves rounded up the horses in case a fast exodus was called for, and Frankel used his hawk mask to open communications with the bird.
- Bird:
- "You are in grave danger here, my master says. You must follow me immediately. Bring my master's weapon and he will aid you."
- Frankel:
- "Which is your master's weapon? Can you use something to point?"
- Bird:
- "Swiftly! Even now the spirit-cries of these guardians are echoing through the trees. Their mistress will be back!"
During the conversation, Beeel verified first-hand that even trolls don't regenerate below -50 hit points. Lorcan guessed that the hawk was referring to Eluna but took a point of damage per round trying to hold the weapon. Eventually (with the hawk urging them to go faster), the party strapped Zenig's corpse onto Frankel's back; Frankel also picked up Eluna and received some confusing mental impressions but no damage. Lorcan called out to Ahlonna that it was time to leave, the hawk led the main away toward the west, and the thief/archer brigade circled around the grove with the horses and met the party emerging on the far side.
Frankel asked for some more details on what the party was being chased by; the hawk said they were running from Sulharb, an enemy of the bird's master (allegedly "the wisest mortal on this plane"). The name didn't mean anything to anybody, and neither Beeel nor Meldrim saw how following the hawk into the wilderness was a better plan than taking Zenig's body back to the Belhor Temple. Then it turned out that the hawk's master was Drusius; Beeel figured the druid wanted Eluna back, and it was definitely time to blow off the bird and head back to base.
- Bird:
- "No! If you go that way, you go to your peril! Korda will track you down and hunt you. Only my master can destroy your traces and give you freedom! You are making a grave mistake. My master will punish me (rightfully) for having failed in such a simple task. Surely you can see the wisdom in making the right decision?"
- Archer: [to Meldrim]
- "Why are we talking to a bird?"
- Meldrim: [to archer]
- "I'd be wondering why the bird is talking about Korda."
- Archer:
- "Fine. The bird is better than the keep -- provided that we're not being led to another fine death-trap."
The archer didn't care where he went, as long as it wasn't to the Keep of Damnation. He was nomcomittal when Meldrim asked if he was in trouble with the authorities, but he was very clear about holding Derdriu personally responsible for the demise of the Keeplands and the deaths of many of his friends.
- Archer:
- "As far as I can tell, the winged guy is not a vital component in our strategy, is he? I say we press on to the main objective, with maybe a week's rest to get healed."
- Lorcan:
- "Only he's the biggest healer with us right now."
- Archer:
- "But he's dead. That makes him rather useless right? Hell, I have no problem with the winged guy. Let's give him a decent burial, divvy up his items and move on."
The bird got frantic, but when everyone eventually followed Beeel back east, the bird flew off to the northwest. The archer agreed to stay with the party for an hour, but after that he preferred wandering around the Banditlands at 3hp to visiting the keep.
- Beeel:
- "There's no sense crying over split milk, you know."
- Archer:
- "It's not your milk, Easterner."
- Meldrim:
- "So, apart from the dubious information Shatru fed you, what can you tell us about the Face, Korda, and the other scum we'll be dealing with?"
- Archer:
- "All I know is that the place they are hiding in is a ruined fortress, with several ways in that are easier than the front door. I was planning to infiltrate through an exposed dungeon level."
The archer made Meldrim a rough sketch of the information he had -- a 75' hill with a 200'x200' walled structure at the top, featuring a three-story 50'x50' inner keep, probably a portcullis on the main gate, and the traditional archers on the walls. He figured there were probably holes in the hillside that led into the extensive dungeons under the ruins, but he didn't know the precise layout. He mentioned that Vajan had a detailed map, for all the good it did anyone.
- Meldrim:
- "Seems to me that wandering around at 3hp is worse than spending a day in the same locale as the priestess who brought the Cuthbert to the West (even if it did get almost everyone killed), but everyone's got choices to make..."
- Archer:
- "It's a question of morals."
And the archer walked off into the sunset.
After dark, Beeel pulled out a con light; he, Frankel, and Meldrim walked along in its glow, while all the folks with infravision stayed outside the light. Around 10pm, Meldrim heard dogs baying, at most a mile behind him. Ahlonna sprinkled some dog pepper behind the party, and they pressed on.
Next Meldrim heard a bird flapping above, shadowing the party's movements; he figured it was something nocturnal rather than the hawk from before. After nearly attacking the bird (and being dissuaded by Thorongil), Beeel worked out an evasion plan, with the people on (or partly being) horses heading back at full speed (hopefully faster than the dogs) while he and Thorongil took a turn of flight in a different direction to throw off pursuit and then walked back. This sat well with Frankel and Lorcan, but Thorongil was against splitting up if it came to fighting hounds. After a moment's thought, Meldrim agreed with Thorongil, worrying that even if the hounds didn't track Beeel and Thor directly, they could still get between them and the keep. Meanwhile, Zenig's body started losing structural integrity and shedding feathers all over Frankel.
Beeel decided the big problem was not knowing how strong the pursuing force was, so he lit an augury candle and started the two-round casting to see if the party had a shot at beating whoever was coming for them. While he was doing this, Frankel broke away, Lorcan decided to make sure Frankel wasn't alone, and Ahlonna naturally tagged along after Lorcan. To nobody's surprise, after this turn of events the augury read woe for standing and fighting. Beeel and Thorongil took to the skies, and Meldrim rode off at a sprint to catch the advanced group -- but since the guys in front hadn't bothered with light sources, he couldn't see anyone and wound up riding solo.
A round later, Brand (Ahlonna's pony) and Lorcan's horse got zapped with a stop spell; Brand failed and Ahlonna tumbled off into the grass, while Frankel and Lorcan stopped themselves a bit further along. An owl overhead (named Osmium) asked them to stay put so his master could protect them, and a circular wall of fire went up around Lorcan and Frankel (hot side out). Ahlonna got back onto Brand and somehow convinced him to ride the hell away.
Meldrim saw the wall of fire spring up and figured he could spare a round to check it out. Meanwhile, Frankel and the owl argued about the situation, and the owl's boss (the one who'd cast the stop spell in the language of horses) chimed in.
- Drusius:
- "You are both in a very dangerous situation. Within 5 minutes, a dozen trollhounds will be here, eager for your blood, accompanied by none other than Korda the dark huntress. Fortunately, I can help you escape the hounds and bring life back to your friend. I understand that he is not seriously dead."
- Lorcan:
- "Cool! When we get out of this mess, care for a game of wom?"
- Drusius:
- "Every help must have its price, however. I claim as my price, the return of my friend Eluna. In life, Eluna was my daughter."
- Frankel:
- "May I make a counterproposal first? That, instead, we ask Zenig and Eluna both on Zenig's recovery?"
- Drusius:
- "Why should I care what a pawn of Good wants? But I believe that I may go along with this..."
Ahlonna and Meldrim found each other in the light of the wall. They overheard part of the exchange between Drusius and Frankel; when Drusius called out to them, they mounted up and rode off toward the keep. They considered doubling back and taking a shot at Korda (something that would help Lorcan and actually further their mission) but decided the odds were aginst them unless Beeel and Thorongil showed up, so they headed off in search of the fighters (using a set of dice that had helped Ahlonna find her way out of dungeons on occasion).
As the trollhounds approached, Frankel thought he heard a hint of trollish in their howls, which translated roughly as "Hunt, kill, eat, hunt, kill, eat..." The trollhounds surrounded the wall, and the verbal portion of the program got underway.
- Voice: [trollish]
- "Is the trollhunter cowering within?"
- [No reply.]
- Voice:
- "Silence will bring punishment down upon everyone within. Admission will meet with parley."
- Lorcan: [elvish]
- "What'd she say?"
- Voice: [trollish?]
- "Silence, elf!"
- [A black arrow comes whizzing through the wall of fire and bounces off Lorcan's armor.]
- Frankel: [trollish]
- "You seem to have some deep-seated neuroses about elves. Why don't you come in and discuss them?"
- Voice:
- "OK Trollhunter, for there are few others who speak the tongue, know that I am Korda, also known as the Dark Huntress, also known as the Bringer of Ill Omen. I am here on a mission of punishment."
- Frankel:
- "I know you're Korda. I know you have a high opinion of yourself. I know you can go jump in a lake."
- Korda:
- "You shall watch those you love die, as I saw my sisters die. We will begin with a horse... any horse..."
Another black arrow came in and nailed Lorcan's horse, which found the experience a lot painful than your garden-variety shooting. Based on a comment from Korda (in Western common), some snakes had arrived in the area (courtesy of Drusius, presumably), and the trollhounds were busy killing them. Lorcan decided this was a good time to see what his random corkscrew of earth-related magic did, so he started winding it into the ground.
- Korda:
- "So who are you working for? I control the fate of this mute animal now, and I'll will cause it excruciating pain unless I hear some truthful answers. Like this."
- [Lorcan's horse screams and bucks, but Lorcan stops it from running off through the flames.]
- Frankel:
- "Working for? Working for? I pity your limited brain. Or did you leave it at home, not thinking you'd need it? Whatever pain you cause this horse, you will feel someday, magnified a hundred times. I keep my promises -- ask my dead foes when you meet them."
Buzzing noises started up outside, and Korda said something about insects ("but you will find I do not mind taking a little damage doing my duty"). Grinding and rumbling noises started up inside, and the corkscrew took over and dug itself a 3'-wide pit. An obscurement dropped over the area. And something very big started growling in Lorcan's pit.
Frankel activated his flight item, Lorcan climbed on next to Zenig's still-shedding corpse, and they flew out of the area. A few segments later, a purple worm rose from the hole, plowed through the wall of fire, and chomped on a trollhound. Alas, it was only a shadow purple worm, so one chomp is all it got before the damage from the wall of fire killed it.
Frankel flew for a few turns, and an owl flew along with them. Once the good guys landed, the owl (called Osmium) led them to Drusius' tree, which turned out to be a big oak all by itself in the middle of the plains, with a plant door and a druid inside.
Ahlonna and Meldrim managed to find Beeel and Thorongil, but they figured whatever action had happened by the wall of fire would be over by the time they found their back, so they decided to head back to base. Within half an hour, they heard hounds closing in on them (though the sounds were from an unexpected direction, indicating that the party may have gotten lost in the darkness). The party decided to stand their ground and take a shot at Korda, so Ahlonna rigged a flaming oil trap, Thorongil summoned some cavalry with a magical horn, and Meldrim found a hiding spot to try avoiding the trollhounds and stalking Korda.
Five trollhounds engaged the party (with one getting badly singed in Ahlonna's trap). Meldrim circled around and encoutered a goblin with a shortbow doing the same thing; they both dove for cover and lost track of each other.
The next round, the rather wounded trollhounds started pulling back; the fighters followed in a line, being careful not to allow the hounds an opportunity to single one out for mass chewing. From one side, casting sounds started up; Ahlonna investigated, found a goblin spellcaster, and convinced it to donate some hit points to her (in this day and age, even cute little halfling thieves carry vampiric touch daggers). Oddly, the goblin continued casting through the damage. Ahlonna finished the goblin with a thief strike, and it promptly exploded into a ball of something like 6d6 of cold damage. From the other side, someone took four shots at Beeel and stuck him full of black arrows.
- Korda:
- "Answer now, for your misdeeds, trespassers. I, Korda, come to avenge the crimes that you have committed!"
Meldrim realized that the voice was coming from the goblin he'd just avoided, so either some weird possession thing was going on or his sources were mistaken regarding Korda's species.
At the end of the round, the black arrows sucked some more hit points out of Beeel; he went prone to get some cover but still managed to drop the trollhound he was in melee with.
Meldrim stopped the hail of arrows by lobbing a stinking cloud into Korda's vicinity. She called one of the remaining trollhounds to chew on him and started to retreat, and he called out a summary of the situation. Thorongil saw Korda sneaking away, but she quaffed a potion, turned into a mole, and burrowed away before he could do enough damage to stop her. Beeel took more damage pulling out the barbed arrowheads (and eventually quaffed both his and Meldrim's healing potions), Ahlonna dropped the trollhound chewing on Meldrim, and the party eventually downed and cremated all the mutts.
Thorongil tried a taunt on goblins to draw Korda back, but nothing came of it. Ahlonna and Meldrim examined the remains of the exploded goblin, which looked to have been some kind of zombie.
The party made their best guess on which way the keep was and headed for it. After a few hours, Meldrim heard some people shouting in the distance; after dousing their lights, the party saw a bandit encampment off in the distance. The shouting changed to singing, and Meldrim figured the camp was full of drunk bandits having a party. He briefly toyed with the idea of picking off a sentry for questioning, but with the party (especially Beeel) pretty beat-up, they just backed off a ways and camped for the night.
Nothing else happened to them that night, and in the morning they got back to the keep.
In the plant door, Drusius placed a golden necklace on Zenig, who improved to alive and weekly. Said necklace was now keeping Zenig alive, but would only function for about half an hour...long enough to discuss Eluna. It turned out that the life force providing Eluna's intelligence was the little bit that was left of Drusius' daughter (her soul got shattered somehow, and Drusius is hoping to collect all the other pieces someday), so he was less than thrilled to have her being carted around the world by random people.
- Drusius:
- "I want to hear your long-term plans. Think of this as a marriage proposal. It is very important that you convince this doting father that you are the right match for his only daughter."
- Zenig:
- "I will happily consult with my masters at the first opportunity."
- Drusius:
- "Your masters? And who might those be?"
- Zenig:
- "I think they are known as Whitemoon."
- Drusius:
- "Whitemoon is a myth, son."
- Frankel:
- "That's rather a controversial statement to make to people who've encountered its representatives and component members in person, Drusius."
- Drusius:
- "You want me to explain the myth of Whitemoon? Very well. The first thing to realize is that there is no such thing as `Good' or `Evil' -- there is only `good' and `evil'. Much like things are colored `red' `green' or `blue'. For instance, I am `good', you are `good', etc. But that doesn't mean that we belong to some great Good-thing-in-the-sky. Say I said that Whitemoon was a club of people all of whom happened to be slighly pink in color -- that's pretty much the truth. Whitemoon is a bickering, factionated, impotent organization. And that's from someone who's good. Any questions so far? Feel free to disagree, you know."
- Frankel:
- "I think you know that as a representative of the Beastlands, I do disagree, but I will hear you out. You clearly have a point to make."
- Drusius:
- "The Beastlands? I didn't realize that you were so...integrally connected to extraplanars. As a centaur, do you not feel that you are sacrificing your prime material identity by doing this?"
- Frankel:
- "I will gladly discuss the matter -- after we've solved my friend's problem."
- Drusius:
- "Hmm...what was the problem again? I got carried away in this philosophical digression."
- Frankel:
- "The problem? That he has 20 minutes to live. That I'd like this period to extend, to, say, oh, I dunno, 60 years?"
The necklace required additional magical energy to keep Zenig alive: one day per level of whatever Healing or Necromantic priest spell (touch spells only) gets cast into it (with the limitations that the necklace can't store anything beyond the spell it's currently running with, and the running spell can be wiped out by a dispel magic). Frankel wished that Good could help somehow, and this engaged Drusius' curiosity. Frankel drew Good out, and Drusius was very excited to meet a strongly good extraplanar that wasn't involved in extraplanar politics (and looked like a primeval couatl. So a deal was very quickly worked out: Zenig gets Eluna (and guards her with his life), Drusius gets Good (and guards it with his life), and Frankel gets the warm glow of the selfless. (Good was a little confused by all this but eventally seemed to get the idea and healed Frankel a bit before parting ways.)
Drusius cursed the necklace onto Zenig as a safety measure and cast a cure serious wounds into the torc to provide some initial power. Lorcan offered to handle Zenig's maintenance in exchange for joining the wom team.
Drusius also wanted to know why the party was wandering around at reduced strength; Frankel said he wasn't clear on the details but it had something to do with getting a teammate a body of the proper alignment instead of one provided by their enemies (which is pretty much the story).
Frankel asked Drusius what he knew about Korda and found out that the Beastlands were quite pissed at her, that she was allied with whoever killed the treant in the grove, and that when the time came, Drusius would help Frankel track down Korda.
The rest of the night passed uneventfully, and in the morning, Osmium led Frankel, Zenig, and Lorcan back to the keep.