The bards, in frantically searching for a way to save Vierna, found records of a similar cursing attempt long ago.  The ancient poems said the defenders sang "blessed songs of silver".  The bards decided to use silver instruments and silver strings, asked the clerics to bless the instruments and sang.  The bards alternated between hymns to Tehuti and songs of love of home.

The clerics began to turn some of the skeletons and zombies, but they wer too numerous jsut for that, s otime has arrived for maces and blessed water to destroy them.

Then one fo the acolytes, the one knwn as Deacon Tarim,  took 3 other acolytes and moved to the roof where the old crone was to fight him, having to cross the undead lines to do so.

When the crone finally fell, Deacon tarin and 2 acolytes more wwere layin o nground, and Vans Terk and the rest moved to heal them, unsure if they could be saved.

"you were always too temeraire, Tarim" has Heard a saddened Vans Terk to say. "Sure Tehuti aplauds yourr enthusiasm, but it's not necessary to be so fearless"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:57, Wed 27 Oct 2021.

(13:31, Today: The GM rolled 1 using 1d2.  1 tarim lives 2 he dies.

Also: "temeraire"? Huh?)

Deacon Tarim himself lived, but one of the clerics with him dies trying to reach the witch or hedge-necromancer or whatever she was.

Still, the loss of life was kept to a minimum-- one cleric, one witch-or-whatever, and eight city guards. The city is otherwise (almost entirely) saved-- all thanks to an unfinished note found in a bar...

(The clerics and the bards each gain a temporary advantage: the thanks of the Merchant Quarter, which was closest to the west gate...)

Is this word wrong in English? The existence of HMS Tmeraire (https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Temeraire_(1798); https://es.wikiqube.net/wiki/HMS_Temeraire_(1907)) made me think that it was right. Reckless then.

(Translates in English to "reckless." Temeraire as such is not used in English at all. The Brits gave a ship a French name, to sort of celebrate the earlier capture of a French ship of the same name. (Thanks, Wikipedia.))

(Druids and Rangers Forest Surveying Mission

Druid Random Factor: Bonhomie

Ranger Random Factor: Independence

Team-Up Bonus: +1

2d6+3: 12:23, Today: The GM rolled 12 using 2d6+3 ((5,4)).

SUCCESS)

Two areas of the forest were found that led to other planes of existence. One was able to be successfully closed off right away. The second may be more difficult to seal...

Druids: Tell where the first portal, that you were able to work together to close, led!

(Suggestions: the feylands, the elemental plane of air, of water, of earth, of ice)

Rangers: Tell what threat came through a portal that you were able to defeat!

(Note: "defeat" could mean "kill," or "captured," or "make to surrender," or "drove back through to where it came from," etc.)

In reply to The GM (msg # 67):

The Druids surveyed the Forest of Mist, energized as it was with the new increase in its leyline flows. Using their mixture of both mystical and natural insight, they traced the lines and the places of power while slipping in and out of the veils of mist that covered the woods like they were flickering wisps all unto themselves.

The Rangers, however, not only supplemented the Druids' natural insight but their more martial natures and rugged toughness meant that the Druids' own jobs was made substantially easier as the Rangers could focus on defense, scouting, as well as helping with physical assessment of the terrain. Not to mention they thrived well in the wooded environment. This let the Druids focus purely on the surveying as the Rangers took out any threats that could have interfered with the druidic rituals and channeling.

Plus...there was a lot of common ground between the two factions and both sides had a pleasant time intermingling as well and swapping stories and sharing lore.

There were two major portals that the survey did reveal, which was part of Reed and the Priestess Alaris' fears. One, which took neither of them by surprise, was a portal to the feylands. The forest always had an ethereal, fey-like quality to it and the Druids had long known of a small fey presence within it. Although before this was always a lesser aspect of the forest due to it having had its ley energy siphoned by the necromancers. But now that things were back to normal for the first time in years, the fey connection strengthened.

This portal was not able to be sealed during the mission. It was much more intimately tied to the nature of the forest and the land itself and the spirit of the forest tolerated this fey connection as a result much more than it did other outside influences. And they fey in turn were more in tune with the forest than most normal creatures save beings like druids and treants and such.. Reed and the Druids simply needed more time to consider what to do with this fact.

HOWEVER...

There was a second portal that was found during the survey that most definitely was NOT part of the natural fabric of the forest. A potent locus to the plane of air had been uncovered! And while such portals are normally not all that harmful, this was a major portal to the forces of air and storm that was completely alien to the Forest of Mist itself. Left unchecked, it would eventually haver spawned elementals not in tune with the land that would have ended up rampaging and severely damaging the land and possibly the nearby city. And the feylike misty woods could have evolved into some sort of terrifying fey-air hybrid and become The Forest of Stormy Nightmares! Even the anima of the land was growing more and more agitated by this, and the sigh of relief from the forest was almost auidible when the Druids sealed the portal. The land itself helped aid the sealing ritual and the rangers protected the boundary of the ritual site and helped the druids maintain focus.

First Portal Closed = To Plane of Air
Second Portal Open = Feylands

(I have decided to act for the Rangers, as I think they aren't coming back.)


The rangers were instrumental in disrupting the cyclonic air elemental that was whipping through the forest, trying to test its might by knocking down all the trees it could. Most of them were too big and well-rooted, but it had toppled more than a dozen before it was stopped. The rangers served (safely) as multiple excellent distractions while the druids disrupted the winds that kept the elemental able to remain on this plane, and its spirit was finally banished.

Reed A'lyn's leadership shone through during this entire enterprise, and the internal politics of the Circle of Mist are now slightly stronger than they were last year. Clearly, working together regardless of differing philosophies is what's best for the druidic circle.

(Reed's hold over the Circle is once again solidified-- more than before, really-- and its internal strife is quelled. Another internal challenge to Reed's leadership will not happen soon.)

(Bardic Training Mission with Druid Help

Random Bardic advantage: Mobility

Random Druidic advantages: Bonhomie

Team-up bonus: 1

2d6+3 = 11:34, Today: The GM rolled 10 using 2d6+3 ((5,2)).

Success!!

Druids: tell what emergency came up that threatened the training!

(suggestions: something that came through the fey portal, perhaps? Or something that came through the Air portal that we didn't realize at first had escaped...?)

Bards: tell how it was overcome! (sorry, I do realize that this means the Druids will have to go first, but oh well!))

In reply to The GM (msg # 70):

During the training practicum, Archon Reed and Mistress Varanda agreed to put the Druids and Bards into several paired off groups, with the membership of both being broken down into roughly thirds. Reed made sure to mix druids from various clique-factions as well. Reed personally was paired off with Varanda, and invited Priestess Alaris (of the nature goddess Chirosa) and her acolyte Yerun to go with the "leader group" of Reed and Varanda if they were around still as well.

The groups were not allowed to take any food and water with them, and were to survive and camp for three days in the forest before meeting back and combining into one large group of druids and bards on the fourth day to share notes, have a feast, and enjoy a communal bonfire. There were druids from various cliques together showing their respective bardic charges how to gather, identify poisonous plans and edible berries, how to make a makeshift weapon and bow and arrow for hunting, makeshift fishing rods, lean-to tents, make a fire with a twig and log, tie a square knot, nagivate bia the sun and moss and stars, and so on and so forth. The bards played their music and shared their lore for the druids when they'd camp each night as well as literally were forced to get their hands dirty preparing and cleaning food, finding water, etc.

Things did go well, without any issues as far as the forest and participants were concerned.

However...one thing did happen. Reed had warned Varanda that there was an increased risk of fey activity recently and that tgis could pose a potential danger to the practicum, but that if the bards and druids combined their respective skills together they'd be able to overcome such threats.

And good thing too. Because all three groups of druids were plagued by groups of satyrs, pixies, nymphs on the third day of the practicum. Some whimsical sidhe even attemped to bedevil the 4th "leader" group that Reed and Varanda were in.

For the sidhe...these were fey nobles, and even a few were a serious threat. But they respected natural power and hierarchy despite their whimsy, and Reed did not negotiate with them or play their games when they harassed his group. He made sure to teach them, then and there, who was at the top of the food chain in The Forest of Mist as he unleashed unbridled natural fury against them while instructing Varanda to single-handedly display her talent and play bardic counter-charm music and not even bother speaking to the sidhe until they either submitted or died. And the Sidhe were surprised when their command over nature and their noble auras failed in the face of an Archon, as the trees worked against them, thorny vines crept along their fey flesh and drew blood, and the ground shifted and threatened to swallow them up while Varanda's music muted their fey auras.

Needless to say, the Sidhe submitted, acknowledged their insolence (for the apology of fey nobility carries great weight), and retreated back to the fey portal.

The other groups handled things based ont he situation but Reed and Varanda had prepped them ahead of time. For the Satyrs plaguing group 1, the Bards sung counter-charm songs while the druids shifted into wolves and bears and forced them to submit and retreat to the portal. For the pixies plaguing group 2, the bards enthralled them with jokes and stories while the druids used magic to ensnare them in spider webs, bundle them up, and toss them back through the portal. For the Nymphs plaguing group 3...the bards used their charisma to win over the fey while the druids made displays of natural plant and water magic to show kinship, and the nymphs (who turned out to actually be benevolent just cautious) relented and gave a kiss of favor to group before retreating to the portal.

OOC: In short...the druids and bards teamed up and repelled a fey exploratory group and forced them back through the portal.

OOC: Hmm, there's really nothing for me to add.

(The Bards get a new Advantage: You are Independent (you can delegate stuff to your group well instead of you having to supervise everything)

The Druids get a new advantage: Nymph's Blessing (Temporary).)

(MONKS AND DRUIDS ELEMENTAL WOOING MISSION...

Gonna do a little extra role-playing with this one...)

Hoichi gestures magically and an area of thick fog appears, about 40 feet in diameter... but only on the ground, about two feet thick.

"Step on, everyone, step on..." Hoichi says, demonstrating...

The monks step up onto the layer of fog, which proves to be solid-- it's like stepping on wet sand at a beach...

"Everyone on? Good!" says Hoichi, and he raises his hands, and the fog layer rises, and starts carrying himself and the monks south, toward the forest... "...I learned this trick from the gal who created the scroll," says Hoichi. "Oh, she's full of wonders..."

The cloud flies above the Forest of Mist, and then lowers itself... in front of a man wearing a brown robe.

---

An odd-looking cloud, flat like a griddlecake, comes moving in fast from north-by-northwest... and lands in front of Reed.

Standing on the cloud are a band of monks and a strange little man with a very hairy beard. "Say there," says the little man. "I don't suppose you'd be the head druid around here? The energies tied to you suggest that you are, but I suppose that doesn't automatically make it true..."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:27, Wed 10 Nov 2021.

The man in the brown hooded robe nods, before speaking.

"Yes, I am Archon Reed A'Lyn of the Circle of Mist. And you all are the monks..." he said, as he suddenly lowered his hood.

..."that I've been expecting. Welcome to the Forest of Mist." he said.

The speaker, despite claiming to be a leader, was surprisingly young for the amount of energy tied to him. Reed is an attractive, dark haired young man with well-bred aristocratic features. From the nearby banks of mist, several other druids emerge of different ages, some older some younger. They watch silently as the monks address Reed.

"I am surprised to see monks flying around on clouds, but I've seen more surprising things in my life. Tellme more about this elemental..."

"I don't want to speak for Hoichi, but . . . in summary, he has been investigating and studying elementals.  It appears that he has been living, somehow, among them.  And one has, for some reason, come to our realm to cause mischief and havoc.  Hoichi would like to encourage it to return, unharmed, so as to prevent that mischief and to preserve his standing with the elementals."

Jaesin turns to Hoichi.

"Is that the essence of it?"

Reed considered, and nodded.

"While now and then, we put down rogue elementals that are raging beyond reason with the full blessing of the land, this is an exception and not a rule. We'd much rather commune with the elements and help them reach a harmonic balance with one another and the Forest instead." he replied. Some of the other druids watching from the edges of the mist also nodded in silent agreement with Reed.

"In this case, it seems your elemental isn't raging beyond all reason anymore and can still potentially be re-homed and sent back to the plane of air. We should be able to ritually bind the elemental with the blessings of the land and the sky, slap it on its wrist, and then open a miniature portal to send it back home to the plane of air. However...luring it into the right position to bind it will be the real challenge...and be where the order of monks will come in most effectively." he continued.

"This isn't a summoned elemental, so we cannot just do a little jig and snap our fingers and poof call it into a circle or something. No...the monks will have to herd the elemental and corral it into an area where we druids will be waiting with a binding ritual secretly set up to snare it. We could just just our magic to brute-force subdue the thing or blast into it, but that would have too much risk of accidentally maiming or killing it. And like I said before, the Druids really don't want to do that. That is a last-resort emergency sort of deal. No...we want to capture it with minimal harm to everyone - the elemental included." he added.

"We will enchant your fists and feet with power so that your punches and kicks can hit the elemental. You will have to give it a few good licks for good measure so it knows you're a threat, but then restrain yourselves as much as possible and instead chase it and corral it into the ritual site we'll set up."

Jaesin bows. "I defer to your superior knowledge and wisdom in these matters.  We will do our best to walk the line you have described."

"Yes, but..."




The wild-bearded little man waves his hands. "It's not that simple, friend. For one thing, this elemental is... special. Powerful-- practically a demigoddess-- but very young yet. But she breaks the rules for other reasons... She's a high-level-- royal, in our terms, more or less-- hybrid of Air and Earth. You don't see that every day, am I right? And it's made her as much of a headache to deal with as a fey. She's capricious and wild like the wind, but stubborn as a rock... when she wants to be. ...Can I take you to 'er...? She's decided she won't listen to me..."

Jaesin bites his lip a bit; Hoichi hadn't shared all of these details, but that slight is not worthy of attention now.

He turns to Reed A'lyn with a quizzical look.

"Does that change your plan in any way?"

In reply to Jaesin Je (msg # 80):

Reed frowned slightly. He was not expecting this.

"Unfortunately, this changes everything." Reed replied.

"Not only is this particular elemental a royal tier, but it seems the thing is much more strong willed and self-willed than normal. I almost wonder if it wants some sort of social interaction, but with someone it deems worthy according to its own arbitrary values. And as druids we're probably the closest beings in the region the thing will deem worthy to speak with." he continued.

He considered.

"Its power isn't actually the worst part of this. It's a royal, but we've got the backing of the land itself on this one as the royal obviously doesn't belong here and is causing trouble. No...the real complexity in all this is going to be dealing with its increased awareness and sentience, and trying to not kill it so we can maintain Hoichi's standing among the elemental courts."

Reed turned and conferred a moment with the druids who were standing silently nearby. Even the three faction leaders conferred with him on this matter and gave their perspective in muted whispers before he nodded to them and returned to the monks.

"Ok...so we're thinking we need to try and play nice with it, but not kiss up to it. If it gets out of control, the land will back us and give us the power to forcefully wrangle it if necessary. HOWEVER...we think we should try to take a social approach to the elemental first. It's earthen nature means it will respond better to ceremony and protocol than a purely aerial elemental would, while its aerial nature means it will have more curiosity and dynamicism than a purely earthen one. It may simply feel lost, or disconnected, or in need of companionship or perhaps need some sort of favor, or even have some sort of problem that its too embarassed to ask for help about except to beings it deems close enough to itself or something." he said.

"So with that said, the new plan is for the druids to go and commune with the elemental and try and establish a rapport with it. It may not listen to monks or most people, but we're druids. And we have Archdruids and an archon among us at that...it simply won't be able to ignore that many people backed by the land and elements. What the monks will have to focus on is acting as an escort while we travel there, and if problems arise as a mix of runners, fixers, and helpers. If something is bothering the elemental we may dispatch groups of monks and druids to do troubleshooting and such."

He then looked at Jaesin.

"What do you think? Does this sound like an acceptable plan? The druids will act as diplomats and the monks as guards and helpers?"

Jaesin nods.

"What you say about its motivations gives me a thought.  From what little I've been told, I believe that the elemental is acting capriciously -- out of spite, or hurt feelings.  But there's someone who can provide us more detail, I believe, as to exactly what prompted this elemental to visit here, because I think it is a direct response to . . . "

Jaesin turns to Hoichi.

"Master Hoichi's visit to the plane of air.  So, Master Hoichi -- what more can you tell us about the reason that this royal elemental has opted to visit our plane at this time, and in this mood?  There's no sense in hiding it -- not if you want this effort to succeed, because it sounds like the druids' efforts will be more likely to succeed if you present the full picture.  Like, perhaps, your dealings with this elemental's . . . aunt, was it?"

"Her, ah, auntie... wants her to come home and stop toying with mortals. Afraid she'll... pick up bad habits. She doesn't want to... I think mostly out of contrariness. To her, I'm just an errand-boy sent by Auntie. But if she doesn't know I've sent you..."

"So -- no idea why she chose now to explore our realm?  No information that might help the druids persuade her to go home?"

Reed considered.

"I'm fine with acting like we don't know Hoichi. However, I agree with Jaesin...if there's anything else you can tell us about this elemental that would be useful. In particular I could use some examples of some of the incidents its been involved in lately. Like what are some of its more recent shenanigans? What people and towns has it bothered, what environmental areas has it disturbed, and so on?" Reed asked.

"Basically...I need to be armed with reasons to accuse it of causing trouble above and beyond the monks saying so. This will allow me to not only have a stronger position in talks with it, but also will make it a lot easier to try and downplay a connection to Hoichi."

Hoichi sighs in frustration. "I don't know. I'm not sure. I think sometimes she's been messing with people... teasing them, misleading them... and then sometimes I think she's been just kidnapping them to the elemental planes. I haven't yet found anyone who she's done that too... Maybe because I've only been checking the plane of Air... Or maybe she's just been killing them, for all I know..."