Editing Game-Summaries:1/27/2018 Recollections (section)

==Recollections by Tallulah==

Investigate Hune - Portals 1.27.346

I woke up yesterday morning feeling excited about the day's mission.  It had been a long time since my last adventure and I was definitely eager to get back out there.  I've been working hard in my downtime, plus, this would be my first quest with [[Wethril]].  My companion wolf and I have a come a long way over the past couple months and I had a feeling this mission was exactly the next step our relationship needed towards working as a team.

[[Kaylorr]], [[Jeroy]], [[Pearl]], [[Ford]] and [[Tallulah|myself]] had come together to investigate [[Hune]] and how he may be responsible for the portals that some of our classmates have encountered recently. While Hune proved to be a tricky fellow to learn much about, Kaylorr and Ford were able to share some information that would get us on the right track.  Kaylorr filled us in about what he had witnessed just a few weeks ago on a mission where the group discovered overlapping portals from the "outside" realm to ours.  On this mission they uncovered a Pentagram symbol that seemed significant although we're not sure how just yet.  Ford had done some research prior to our mission and learned that the same types of symbols have been showing up about 20 miles east of Solace and had heard rumors that a wild mage may be involved in producing them.  The symbols include writings in an ancient, forgotten language but Ford was able to decipher a few of them which suggest a breach between the outside realm and our own.

After a brief discussion about strategy, Jeroy rented us some horses and I led the group out on the road heading east with Wethril padding along beside us.  The further we got away from Solace the more remote it became so, when we came across a farm, we decided to stop and ask if anyone had seen anything out of the ordinary of late.  The elderly woman we met described a dirty looking man walking from the east toward Solace who spoke with an accent which, to me, sounded a lot like it may have been Undercommon.  I suspected the dirty appearance might in fact be the grey skin discoloration we had seen in the training dungeon months ago.  Knowing we were heading in the right direction, we ventured on.

A short time later Pearl spotted someone similar to the man the farmer had described walking down the road towards us.  We decided to try to talk to the man.  As he approached I recognized him as a drow and he seemed to be infected by a fungus, as I had feared.  He ignored our greeting calls and when we attempted to pass him he slapped the side of his face releasing a cloud of fungal spores!  Two of the horses inhaled the cloud which sent them into a frenzy and they bucked Kaylorr and Ford to the ground.  Jeroy also came in contact with the cloud as he jumped off his horse but he shook off the effects and went into a barbarian rage swinging his ax at the drow.  Pearl planted an arrow in its chest and the drow went down easily.  We decided it best to see if we could find the infected horses.  With Pearl's help we were able to locate both of them.  They were pretty distressed when we found them, seemingly ravenous for food and drink and not too keen on us approaching them. Fortunately, Kaylorr was able to heal the horses from their madness and we were able to continue on our way.  I had taken a piece of the dead drow's clothing for Wethril to scent and he helped us find our path again.

Once back on the road we saw another drow approaching in the same condition as the last.  I drew my bow and as we got closer, Kaylorr attempted the healing spell that had worked on the horses but to no affect.  I panicked when the spell failed, letting an arrow fly and missing terribly, enraging the drow.  Ford and Kaylorr also missed their attacks; Pearl leapt from her horse transforming into an elk and charged at the drow but it was Jeroy who finished him off with a javelin to the jugular-effective to say the least.  Continuing down the road a bit further we encountered yet another drow and I decided to take it out from a distance.  I hit the drow in the shoulder and it began to charge.  My companions assisted in taking this one down too and it was suggested we burn the body in case the fungus is infectious even after the host dies, so we did that before continuing on.

It was becoming clear we were going to continue to encounter these creatures along the roadway and we recalled from our previous experiences that not only does the fungus infect healthy minds, it controls them too.  We hoped if we were to find and kill the leader responsible that the fungus would die as well allowing the infected to return to their normal selves.  Pearl cast a spell allowing us to pass the rest of the drow undetected.  We traveled until we came to an enormous willow tree.  This tree was bigger and more magnificent than any tree I had ever seen before.  We found a hidden place to tie the horses and I took Wethril to scout the perimeter of the tree.  We had indeed found where the infected drow had been coming from as periodically one would emerge from the tree canopy and head west.  I noticed a dim flash of light every now and then but the sweeping branches of the tree were too thick to determine the source of the light. I reported back to my group and we decided to rest before we made our approach.

At nightfall it was time to make our move.  Pearl transformed into a giant wolf spider and climbed into the tree while we held our distance.  Then, suddenly, the tree vanished from thin air!  In the blink of an eye I saw three dark figures standing where the tree had been as spider Pearl fell from the air; just as suddenly, the tree reappeared hiding everything from view.  I sprinted toward the tree with Wethril close behind me.  As soon as we reached the edge of the canopy a drow came through the branches and before I could react a javelin whooshed past us and killed the drow swiftly--thanks Jeroy!  Wethril and I scrambled through the tangled branches of the tree with quite some effort.  Once we broke through I was able to see just how dire the situation was: Pearl was no longer a giant wolf spider and was sprawled in an unnatural position on the opposite side of the tree trunk as a different giant wolf spider stood menacingly over her; closer to me stood a powerful looking drow wearing an elaborate helmet with a red gem gleaming in the middle of it and next to him was a glowing, pink portal-we had found Hune indeed.

I tried to run past Hune to the trunk of the tree, but as I began to move the ground turned to a bed of sharp, nasty thorns one of which pierced through my right foot.  I shortened my stride and gritted my teeth as I made it to the tree trunk.  I turned for Wethril to find him laying on the ground motionless next to Hune!  An overwhelming feeling of fear and anger washed over me.  I fired an arrow deep into Hune's side to which he responded by shouting in Undercommon: "I beseech thee, come forth" followed by, much to my horror and surprise, growing a second head!

At this point Ford and Jeroy had also made their way through the canopy and were engaged with both Hune and the giant wolf spider.  Desperate to get to Wethril but closer to Pearl I made my way around the tree trunk.  Pearl was quiet and still when I got to her; I focused all of my energy and attention to cast my new spell Cure Wounds while our friends fought behind us.  As Pearl was waking up I heard Hune shout again in Undercommon, this time his words were even more chilling: "I beseech thee [[Demogorgon]], send your servants!"  I turned to see him touching his fingers to the gem on his helmeted head just before he disappeared.

With stealth and agility Ford slid underneath the giant wolf spider cutting it with his rapier, then, Kaylorr burst through the tree canopy casting a spell transforming the giant wolf spider into a its original druid form.  I cast Hunter's Mark on the druid as something large began to emerge from the portal.  Ford dealt a final blow to the druid splitting him along his spine and as he fell, the thorns disappeared into the earth.  Out of the portal climbed a being resembling a massive, living mushroom monster carrying a scepter-it was really strong and really really angry.  Jeroy swung his ax at the monstrosity but as he struck it, it sprayed acid on the corpse of the druid seeming to absorb its energy and become stronger despite Jeroy's blow!  Pearl, now awake, had transformed into a wolf and launched herself at the monstrosity taking a bite out of it.  I moved Hunter's Mark to my new target and rushed to Wethril.  When I got to him he was awake thanks to Kaylorr, but in bad shape from Hune's attack.  I healed his wounds and with a powerful shake of his thick, dark fur my partner was back and ready for action.

Just then the monstrosity released a cloud of fungal spores which we all managed to avoid somehow.  Wethril attacked the creature with strength, ferocity and grace biting and ripping through its flesh.  I launched an arrow through the monster's body only for the creature to regenerate itself again by spraying acid this time over the corpse of the drow Jeroy had speared outside the tree canopy.  With its new-found vigor it slammed its scepter into Jeroy's face.  This thing was harder than anything I have faced up to this point but we fought with everything we had.  Wethril and Pearl attacked viciously with their wolf jaws tearing big chunks of flesh each time.  Ford moved stealthily to attack with his rapier and at one point was fully engulfed in a cloud of the fungal spores!  Jeroy swung his ax detaching the monstrosity's arm that held the scepter.  And it was Pearl who took the monster down by tearing out its throat with a final death shake.

With the immediate threat dealt with we examined our surroundings.  We took account of our injuries and while we were certainly a little beat up everyone seemed to be okay.  Pearl recognized the slain enemy as a druid; she pulled on a branch of the tree and the tree disappeared revealing a magical looking staff which she collected to bring back to Solace.  Kaylorr was able to determine that the pink portal was directional-from a dark, cold, cavernous place; he successfully closed the portal using Dispel Magic.

We headed east back toward Solace tracking the drow that we had encountered earlier in the day.  We caught up with one along the road and followed it to an underground cavern above the ruins of Old Solace approximately 10 miles from Solace itself.  Pearl returned to giant wolf spider form and made herself invisible to enter the cave and give us a report.  Inside she found hundreds of infected drow just milling about seemingly waiting for something or someone.  Wanting to prevent the drow from escaping the same way they entered, Jeroy collapsed the cave entrance.

We returned to the Magistery late into the night.  We found [[First Weaver|Wisakedjak]] to report everything we had learned and that Hune had gotten away.  Pearl showed Wisakedjak the staff she had recovered.  He examined it thoroughly and told us it was The Staff of the Woodlands; the staff had belonged to a druid of this realm named Wyny who had made a pact with the dark realm.  He told Pearl it was a powerful instrument and she should use it well.  I noticed that Wisakedjak gave pause when I informed him of Hune calling upon a Demogorgon before his disappearance. I get the feeling we may have gotten very very lucky yesterday and we may not be so fortunate the next time we encounter him.