Atticus’ Adventures, Journal entry 1

Today Song of Paradise and I arrived in Rootgrow, my town of destination. The town is built in a giant tree stump with tiered tree rings resembling a stadium. In the centre of the town stood a tree with golden leaves, which is connected to Lutea the Dryad. It was her who spread the message about the ongoing problem in the jungle, and her call has brought me here.

Next to the tree stands the local tavern, where I met some remarkable travelers, who were also called here with the same rumors about the bleeding trees. I met Aelin, a leonin with a gorgeous full mane I was allowed to braid. She meowed at me. I neighed back. That made me happy. I also met Raven, someone who claims to have died before and woken back up as an amalgamation of parts. They also go by Aurorus, Vengeance, Elmura and Naryerk. He recommended me a nauseating drink. Thanks Raven. Anyway next to these two I feel like I might not be the weird one for once. I like that feeling.

Lutea filled us in on the current situation regarding the bleeding trees. She told us that dryads like herself are one with the trees, and hurting them meant hurting her sisters too. Dryads without their tree would go insane, or even die. We were tasked to find out who’s behind all this carnage, and put a stop to their doing. We were directed to The Dryad Grove.

I had to make a short stop at the local brewery to meet up with Song, so I could properly pay and thank him for his guidance through the jungle. Without him I wouldn’ve survived that trip, so many snakes man.

When we arrived at The Dryad Grove, we were far too late. Many trees were chopped down to stumps, and the logs were being disposed of. The snake-like leader, who we later learned was called Zatsa, was already commanding her men to clean up around the place. I tried to approach the site with a friendly attitude, but my scythe and longbow on my back seem to have given me away. Luckily I was able to distract them just enough for my companions to surprise them with a sneak attack.

We managed to take down Zatsa and knock out her two men. I managed to shoot an arrow through her neck right as she tried to get away. We interrogated the other two bandits, and learned of Glycon and someone who goes by the alias “Axe man“. In their tents we found two amulets. One of a forward facing snake, and the other of a coiled snake which was burnt.

The bandits had two goblins captured, with large stone collars we managed to pry off of them. They lead us to their home so we could speak with their leader, who allegedly knew more about the situation. We made our way to The Inkwell Tree so we could speak with Ghor, the bugbear who was the first line of defense of the town. He had lost his left leg in battle, so he couldn’t partake in battle any longer. He and his wife, a dryad named Albuca, sent us to go speak with the shaman, who should know more.

The shaman, Mix, offered us magical tattoos to boost our defences. Aelin got a jaguar, Raven got their pet raven, Patches, tattooed, and I got wheat grains for The Grainborn. And definetly not a butterfly. Mix told us about a temple we should check out, as their troops have never returned from there.

After a night’s rest we traveled towards the Yuan-ti temple, being the 18th of Gizmel. We found a bunch of goblins locked up, who we quickly freed after finding out the coast was clear. Raven found a bunch of letters written in draconic, a conversation between Axe man and someone called Ushkil. He managed to copy four pages before all the text dissapeared, as Aelin discovered a statue with amethyst eyes, trying to pry those out. The statue, a bust of a snake person with arms, spoke back to us in dismay and must’ve called the Axe man on us, cause suddenly he was stomping right at the front door. Snakes were also released, which gave Aelin a bad time. We managed to break through the wall and make it out, hitting the Axe man a couple times before retreating. This was not a battle we could win at this time. At least I now know of a snake with legs. I’ll let Alex know in time.

Thanks to Raven, we learned that the letters were referring to an ambush planned on the 20th of Gizmel. Since Ghor is out of commission it is up to us to prepare for the attack. At least, we took it upon ourselves. We’re all they’ve got. So we’ll be busy setting up traps around The Inkwell Tree and gaining forces to fight the Yuan-ti troops. They won’t get to Albuca.

Campaign 3: Blood and Vines

Word reached the ears of three people willing to answer a call. In the Veilwood Jungle strange things are turning as some trees bleed red and others gold and animals are fleeing out of the depths of the wood.

A darkness is taking a foothold, and be it for the sake of doing good or the gold reward promised, a trio answered the calling.

May your path be gently shaded as you traverse the jungle heat.