HOME | DD

Description
Spoilers for The Blight mini map by Claire Stricklin, out of the Mini-Dungeon Tome from AAW Games, so be warned!

Having successfully cleared out the Hobgoblin lair the party once again returned to the Yawning Portal inn to meet up with the wizard Zacharias. With a number of trials successfully passed, it would now take but one more to secure their place in the upcoming tournament.

The final task, was one of great value to Zacharias' research: travel north to the Neverwinter Wood, and to discover the ancient paths of the Thunderbeast people, an ancient Uthgardt barbarian tribe, and retrieve a long lost artifact.

As per Zacharias, the tribe didn't wander randomly, but instead followed magical ley lines of sorts - mystical paths they'd be able to see with the help of a specific tincture, prepared by his friend, the druid Felosinney. (Yes, if you're gettign a sense of deja vu, that's because I'm a moron and mixed up the quests between parts 6 and 7 😝)

A couple of days later our intrepid adventurers arrived at the druid's majestic treehouse, finding it... oddly quiet. With nobody to greet them and let them in, they circled around the giant tree's trunk, and soon found a gap where the wood split, wide enough to squeeze inside.

Tobias, being by far the smallest, volunteered to enter first, only to be grabbed by a sticky tentacle-like protrusion of a sap demon, and taken over. A battle ensued, made difficult by the party unwilling to harm their friend. The sap demon eventually left and seeped back into the tree...

It was decided that Angela, being the group's tank, would enter first this time. She did so, only to get stuck head-first, to her utter embarrassment. Since pushing and pulling on her... behind... would have been awkward, Tobias offered to try out Thunderwave - to great effect!

Angie launched out of the wall, into the spiral staircase carved out inside, and ended up rolling a fair distance UP the stairs: i.imgur.com/wR0wRSo.jpg

(Poor girl ended up self-conscious about her weight for the next tenday).

Upon arrival at the platforms up high, it became abundantly clear something was horribly wrong. The tree was ailing with some kind of spreading rot, toxic spores were blown by the changing wind, and everyone who lived or stayed here was dead.

The remains of a group of hunters were found in the kitchen/dining area, apparently killed suddenly during a meal, their bodies now pinned to the dining hut's wall by... roots? Several of them awoke, now bloodthirsty undead, and had to be dispatched. Betheniel, the grave domain cleric of Sehanine Moonbow, performed a ritual to put the remaining bodies to rest.

The last living inhabitant was found in a storage shed... or rather, has found the party. A blighted and insane Dryad entangled the party in a cluster of extremely thorny vines, dealing significant damage every time they tried to move... Angela wasn't caught in the spell's effect and rushed the Dryad, but failed to land any significant hits before being charmed...

"Why are you trying to hurt her, we're all friends here, please, stooooop!" she cried, now actively protecting the Dryad with her shield. As the thorny vines faded, the Dryad quickly withdrew as well - much to Angie's relief. The party would still have put up with Angie arguing the Dryad was kind and couldn't have possibly meant any harm... for the next in-game hour.

Velatha attempted to communicate with a tiny bird, nesting in the branches just above one of the huts, to find out what exactly happened here. She froze mid-sentence when she realized the little sparrow was pecking at a severed foot of another... Then looked her straight in the eye and answered.

"DIE."

The poor Moon Elf bard nearly fell of the tree...

In another hut, the party managed to calm and befriend a grieving Giant Owl named Whisper... and finally found Felosinney - or what remained of her- gutted, stretched and stitched to the underside of a bear rug. Whisper was appeased enough to allow the party to perform respectful funeral rites on his master's remains.

The final hut, the unfortunate druid's living quarters, finally confirmed what the party suspected - the tree was badly injured by the ill-advised construction of the grand staircase, the spreading rot ultimately driving the Dryad, Catinella, mad from suffering. Catinella turned on her beloved Felosinney and murdered her - as well as all the guests they had on the tree that day...

The effect of Catinella's charm wore off Angela by now, but following an apology, the freckled fighter reaffirmed that... they should refrain from harming Catinella regardless. She was an intelligent being, driven mad. And she was horribly suffering.

Felosinney's notes contained enough information how to cure the tree, and thus hopefully save Catinella as well. She had been desperately working on the cure and was nearly finished when her partner murdered her.

All the party had to do was send someone to collect a crucial ingredient from the very top of the oak's crown, where the Druid had set up a fungal farm which upon germination would finally allow her to finish the fungicidal mixture. The party just about completed her work... but one final ingredient remained.

The very tincture they came here for, was a key ingredient in the cure. Using it, would mean giving up on the quest to discover the ancient mysteries of the Thunderbeast tribe for Zacharias... And possibly losing their chance to participate in the grand tournament they worked so hard towards.

The decision was unanimous.

Catinella was saved. Though grief-stricken, she was grateful for saving the tree and her own sanity, and would resume caring for the tree, healing it, and continuing her late wife's work... Sadly, she wasn't as advanced in the arts as Felosinney was, and was unable to even attempt recreating the lost tincture. It was, truly, the only one of its kind.

The heroes departed with sad news for Zacharias, but feling they've made the right choice.

Description
Spoilers for The Blight mini map by Claire Stricklin, out of the Mini-Dungeon Tome from AAW Games, so be warned!

Having successfully cleared out the Hobgoblin lair the party once again returned to the Yawning Portal inn to meet up with the wizard Zacharias. With a number of trials successfully passed, it would now take but one more to secure their place in the upcoming tournament.

The final task, was one of great value to Zacharias' research: travel north to the Neverwinter Wood, and to discover the ancient paths of the Thunderbeast people, an ancient Uthgardt barbarian tribe, and retrieve a long lost artifact.

As per Zacharias, the tribe didn't wander randomly, but instead followed magical ley lines of sorts - mystical paths they'd be able to see with the help of a specific tincture, prepared by his friend, the druid Felosinney. (Yes, if you're gettign a sense of deja vu, that's because I'm a moron and mixed up the quests between parts 6 and 7 😝)

A couple of days later our intrepid adventurers arrived at the druid's majestic treehouse, finding it... oddly quiet. With nobody to greet them and let them in, they circled around the giant tree's trunk, and soon found a gap where the wood split, wide enough to squeeze inside.

Tobias, being by far the smallest, volunteered to enter first, only to be grabbed by a sticky tentacle-like protrusion of a sap demon, and taken over. A battle ensued, made difficult by the party unwilling to harm their friend. The sap demon eventually left and seeped back into the tree...

It was decided that Angela, being the group's tank, would enter first this time. She did so, only to get stuck head-first, to her utter embarrassment. Since pushing and pulling on her... behind... would have been awkward, Tobias offered to try out Thunderwave - to great effect!

Angie launched out of the wall, into the spiral staircase carved out inside, and ended up rolling a fair distance UP the stairs: i.imgur.com/wR0wRSo.jpg

(Poor girl ended up self-conscious about her weight for the next tenday).

Upon arrival at the platforms up high, it became abundantly clear something was horribly wrong. The tree was ailing with some kind of spreading rot, toxic spores were blown by the changing wind, and everyone who lived or stayed here was dead.

The remains of a group of hunters were found in the kitchen/dining area, apparently killed suddenly during a meal, their bodies now pinned to the dining hut's wall by... roots? Several of them awoke, now bloodthirsty undead, and had to be dispatched. Betheniel, the grave domain cleric of Sehanine Moonbow, performed a ritual to put the remaining bodies to rest.

The last living inhabitant was found in a storage shed... or rather, has found the party. A blighted and insane Dryad entangled the party in a cluster of extremely thorny vines, dealing significant damage every time they tried to move... Angela wasn't caught in the spell's effect and rushed the Dryad, but failed to land any significant hits before being charmed...

"Why are you trying to hurt her, we're all friends here, please, stooooop!" she cried, now actively protecting the Dryad with her shield. As the thorny vines faded, the Dryad quickly withdrew as well - much to Angie's relief. The party would still have put up with Angie arguing the Dryad was kind and couldn't have possibly meant any harm... for the next in-game hour.

Velatha attempted to communicate with a tiny bird, nesting in the branches just above one of the huts, to find out what exactly happened here. She froze mid-sentence when she realized the little sparrow was pecking at a severed foot of another... Then looked her straight in the eye and answered.

"DIE."

The poor Moon Elf bard nearly fell of the tree...

In another hut, the party managed to calm and befriend a grieving Giant Owl named Whisper... and finally found Felosinney - or what remained of her- gutted, stretched and stitched to the underside of a bear rug. Whisper was appeased enough to allow the party to perform respectful funeral rites on his master's remains.

The final hut, the unfortunate druid's living quarters, finally confirmed what the party suspected - the tree was badly injured by the ill-advised construction of the grand staircase, the spreading rot ultimately driving the Dryad, Catinella, mad from suffering. Catinella turned on her beloved Felosinney and murdered her - as well as all the guests they had on the tree that day...

The effect of Catinella's charm wore off Angela by now, but following an apology, the freckled fighter reaffirmed that... they should refrain from harming Catinella regardless. She was an intelligent being, driven mad. And she was horribly suffering.

Felosinney's notes contained enough information how to cure the tree, and thus hopefully save Catinella as well. She had been desperately working on the cure and was nearly finished when her partner murdered her.

All the party had to do was send someone to collect a crucial ingredient from the very top of the oak's crown, where the Druid had set up a fungal farm which upon germination would finally allow her to finish the fungicidal mixture. The party just about completed her work... but one final ingredient remained.

The very tincture they came here for, was a key ingredient in the cure. Using it, would mean giving up on the quest to discover the ancient mysteries of the Thunderbeast tribe for Zacharias... And possibly losing their chance to participate in the grand tournament they worked so hard towards.

The decision was unanimous.

Catinella was saved. Though grief-stricken, she was grateful for saving the tree and her own sanity, and would resume caring for the tree, healing it, and continuing her late wife's work... Sadly, she wasn't as advanced in the arts as Felosinney was, and was unable to even attempt recreating the lost tincture. It was, truly, the only one of its kind.

The heroes departed with sad news for Zacharias, but feling they've made the right choice.