When they stepped through Misaye’s portal into the Wildlands they could instantly feel the difference. Where the realm of the Fey had felt exhilarating, the Wildlands felt more…primal. As if everything around them were alive and aware.
Before long they met a strangely behaving bear. It seemed frightened… but also like it was trying to tell them something. As it turned out, here in the Wildlands every beast was awakened – and Fidget could translate! Through her the bear warned them. Something big and dangerous had been tearing through, burning as it went.
That sounded like just who they were looking for. Misaye had dropped them right on target.
The headed in the direction the bear had indicated, and it didn’t take long to pick up the trail. Whoever Nezbal’s other Chosen was they certainly weren’t being subtle.
They followed the path for a while, keeping an eye out for dragon ambush from above. They should have been looking down as well, because a Remorhaaz and its young burst out of the ground below them! It seemed an odd creature to encounter in this sweltering environment, but this was not their world.
Before long the trail of destruction led them to a large fiery orc and his companion dragon. It wasn’t hard to guess his allegiance, and he immediately challenged them to battle.
Marty and Svetjana took down the fire lord.
While Winny and Hans dealt with his dragon.
In his belongings they found a message. From Baylan – the traitor. He and Zaren – their fiery new friend – had had a bit of a falling out over methods. Baylan was building a network of informants among the local beasts… while Zaren preferred a more direct approach. They suspected that would make Baylan far more difficult to pin down.
Following a few references in Baylan’s letter they located a native hunter camp. The hunters were not eager to help at first. They thought highly of Baylan – who according to them had come “as one with the beasts” and shown proper respect for their ways. But they were eventually able to convince the hunters to point them in the right direction. Baylan’s base of operations was a circle of dead trees some distance to the south.
When they found it, Baylan was waiting for them – looking not at all bothered by their presence. But as they drew close he grinned… and vanished. With the cryptic comment that they might never catch him if they stopped to smell the flowers…
They quickly discovered exactly what he meant, as Corpse flowers and their zombies lurched out of the surrounding jungle and attacked from all sides!
Yana and Hans cut down the hordes of physical foes.
While Marty and Winny pulled out the weed killer.
Afterwards they followed a faint trail, to find Baylan waiting for them in a clearing in front of a cave. With friends. They asked why he had betrayed them and the Academy, and he gave a low, wolfish chuckle. It seemed he had grown to hate humanoids and civilization. Nezbal had promised him large swaths of Solasta would be given to him and returned to the beasts after her ascendance.
They each picked an opponent, and battle was joined!
They defeated their foes, but even as Baylan fell he began rising again. Transforming into a new and larger form…
Requiring their combined efforts to put him down once again.
Unfortunately even this defeat did not stick, and Baylan escaped the killing blow.
They followed him into the cave – large, dark, and with disturbing sounds in the shadows.
Until Baylan reappeared, in an even more terrifying shape. With an entire hive of cave spiders at his call!
But they were no longer in the mood for playing his games. Winny took his brood out of the fight with a mass projection of anti-gravity.
While the others cut loose on on his monstrous form.
But even *that* defeat didn’t quite keep him down. With his waning powers he attempted to form him back together into some hideous… thing… of mismatched charred spider parts.
Winny put an end to THAT. Reintegrate, meet Disintegrate.
And yet the traitor still had enough magic left for one final escape. But Hans and Fidget were not about to let him get away this time!
And so they chased him down to his hidden sanctuary, finally reduced to his frail human self. They were angry with the traitor. Frustrated. But they were not going to murder a helpless prisoner. So they took him back to Misaye with them. She could decide what to do with a prisoner that no conventional prison could hold.
And she did indeed have plans for him… She stripped him of his magic, and then set him to work. At tasks she considered more appropriate to his character and talents.
After a good rest and a good night’s sleep, they prepared for their next excursion. Misaye’s servants provided them with a full set of Concordant gear to help them blend in. They didn’t ask how it had been acquired. The Vault itself looked neat and orderly when they arrived – not a hair out of place.
They were quickly confronted with an irate Maid wanting to know what they were doing in a corridor which had been cleared for cleansing. Marty – in the guise of a Concordant battle-cleric – talked their way out with hemming and hawing about scheduling having been filed improperly.
Continuing on they came to a guarded checkpoint. The watch captain was suspicious, but Marty convinced him that they were escorting Winny to the Archives Library with a new tome. He promised to properly update the notification forms – in triplicate – as soon as possible.
When they located the Library, it was *huge* – with a seemingly endless collection of neatly organized, carefully categorized tomes. They needed to find their target quickly. Winny convinced the Chief Archivist that she had been studying a recently acquired book which recommended revising the containment procedures for The Black Grimoire. The Archivist seemed skeptical and dismissive, but Misaye had told them enough detailed information about the Grimoire that Winny was able to convince her she knew her topic.
The Grimoire was held in an isolated chamber, an absolutely reeked of Evil. They could barely stand to approach it, but it was necessary for their quest.
After releasing the wards, Winny stepped up to grasp it – and was immediately assaulted as the Grimoire attempted to invade her mind! The others could only watch in fear and concern as she fought back and wrestled it into submission.
Then they secured it in a sanctified bag of holding, left the book Winny had brought in its place with a flimsy disguise, and hurried back to their hidden portal.
Now they had to prepare for a bigger challenge. Walking into the Hellish fortress of a demon lord and securing the release of the Purple Wolf. Without losing the Grimoire, their lives… or their souls.
Author’s Notes:
Really had to push on this set. Probably generated 400 renders in the process of getting to the set above. No matter how good the AI gets, we just keep pushing it harder!
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