Chapter 15 - A Strange Guide on a Strange Road

Days 32 to 35

Having carried his surviving friends to the safety of the ruined tower (or dragged, in the case of the half-ogre) and having retrieved the body of Blixhaven, Trykaar set to bandaging their wounds and setting up camp for the night. Focusing on his tasks, he was unaware that alien eyes were observing his labour until a voice spoke to him from the night. Whirling to encounter the potential threat, Trykaar spied an elven face peering over the ruined wall of the keep. Glancing about, he saw that he had left his weapons in a pile on the other side of the tower. Was he trapped?

But the elf made no immediate move for his weapons, and Trykaar's suspicions were slightly assuaged when the elf stepped slowly into the firelight. He (or she, it's so difficult to tell) hailed him in a conversational tone while making no move for his weapons; a longbow slung across his back and a rapier hung loosely from his belt. The elf introduced himself as Aldur, called Swiftleaf by some, of House Taramandil. Trykaar remembered that Ambassador Irimon, the elven emissary to Wasteward Keep, claimed the same house. Having exchanged pleasantries, Aldur told how he had observed the party's reckless assault on the keep, and offered to render assistnace. Trykaar was not about to refuse the elf's aid, but was still too wary to sleep, and instead chose to care for his wounded comrades through the night.

With the arrival of morning, Leandrie was fit enough to offer prayers to Isten, and used the healing power granted by his god to assist his comrades with their recovery. With others able to keep an eye on the elf, Trykaar finally found time to sleep inthe afternoon. The revived Neela paid respects to the dead, giving proper burials to Blixhaven and the fallen Genasi.

The party decided to rest for a second night before resuming their pursuit of the kidnapped children and their elven kidnappers. Their conversations with Aldur had at least given them some concrete evidence that the children had indeed been abducted by elves, as he had seen a wagon full of children, accompanied by elves, only a couple of days prior to encountering the party.

That night, as Neela kept watch at the keep's walls, a foul odour and faint sound alerted her to the approach of a shambling mount of fetid plant matter. Emerging from behind a nearby bush, it threatened to cut her off from the rest of the party in the tower. Moving quickly to the attack, her fists punched into the monster, apparently damaging it but also causing acidic burns to Neela's bare hands. But in her haste to engage, Neela had neglected to shout a warning to her companions, and two more of the creatures emerged from behind the ruins. Unbeknownst to the half-orc, another pair of the creatures were entering the far side of the tower. Soon, a desperate battle was being waged. The creatures succeeded in enveloping first Neela, then Leandrie, wrapping them in their acidic embrace. Neela wiggled free of her attacker, while a careful but lethal blow from Trykaar killed Leandrie's attacker. Soon, all five of the creatures, which Trykaar identified as fetid fungus, were dispatched.

The next morning the journey was resumed. Aldur had elected to travel with the party, and they set out in a light rain which threatened heavier rains later in the day. Their day's journey was uneventful, except for a chance meeting with an elderly-looking elf driving a horse and wagon in the opposite direction along the old highway. The party cautiously greeted him, but Aldur politely dismissed his offers of assistance with a warning look to his companions. When the wagon was safely past, he explained that the driver was not an elf, but a member of a more ancient fey race, the eladrin. One was best to avoid any entanglements that such a creature might bring.

As night fell, the wet and exhausted travellers spied a light in the nearby woods.

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