Picking up where we left off, the party marched valiantly into the Forest Temple to claim the Fairy Bow kill the basilisk in order to win an alliance with the elves. It was clear that the area surrounding the Forest Temple used to be a respectable city, though only the foundations of ancient buildings remain. The entrance hall was mostly bare save for six columns ensnared inside tough, climbable vines, so we used them to set about exploring. The first room yielded only Squirrel Plans #4, but the second room surprised us when a troop of lemurs greeted us with puzzled stares. One of them carried a Killer Rune like a trophy, so we captured the little creature with a combination of tiny vine-woven nets and empty treasure chests and claimed the rune. Taking pity on the creature, Daisy quickly carved a little lemur statuette to replace the lemur’s lost “treasure”, and its fellows were all very impressed. Bidding farewell to the lemur ball, we proceeded to the third room and fought a tribe of rabid zombie baboons.
Speaking of statues, we eventually came across a room full of statues, all elves save for one human. They all looked as though they had been turned to stone long ago, as some were cracked and damaged and missing various limbs (or their heads). They still had some armor that we could use, so after prying that off we followed a secret passage that Royce spotted and found two more statues in much better condition. These were both elves and similar enough in face to be brothers, standing together with bows drawn in a vain attempt at staving off their fate. Kuarjav’s spells could do nothing for them, but he theorized that he might be able to develop an antidote if we could get our hands on some of the basilisk’s venom. Royce took the Mirror Shield hanging on the far wall, though we realized he probably wouldn’t need it since he and Vasuki are immune to status effects (like Stone) so long as they stay close to each other.
The party stumbled across a rabid zombie deer-monster in another room and slew it quickly, with Harold getting the kill. The walls of this room were covered in engravings depicting ancient elvish history, some of which might even be beyond the memories of the remaining elves. A Counter Rune was found embedded in one of the carvings, so we took it with us.
Finally, Royce found a bare room with a single statue standing in the center, clad in attractive leather armor. The dragonrider quickly spotted a doorway leading to the final unexplored room and realized that the statue was probably placed there as bait to lure the unsuspecting into the monster’s line of sight. Trusting in his bond with Vasuki, Royce led the charge against the basilisk and the boss fight was on (scary boss fight music!). Royce drew most of the monster’s attacks and ire with his mysterious immunity to its power and habit of throwing himself in front of his comrades, giving Kuarjav time to discover that the creature had a weakness against Earth magic. We all did our part, dealing damage and protecting our comrades, until finally the beast was slain.
A basilisk fang in hand, Kuarjav returned to Liberty Castle and worked diligently to brew the antidote. In no time at all we were able to return to the temple and restore the statues to life, about a dozen of them in all. Those statues that could not be repaired before restoration did not survive, but most of the people were saved. The lone human turned out to be a human adventurer who called himself the Great Garth who traveled the world way back before the time of Harmonia, and he wondered how his (now extinct) homeland of Aronia was faring. We sent him back to our castle to get up to speed and recover from his long sleep, as he had nowhere else to go. As for the gaggle of elves, we took them with us back to Xavier’s village to reunite with their own kind.
The two archers were brother named Elric and Elmdor, frozen over two hundred years ago. They were disturbed to hear that so much time had passed, but eventually decided to join our army in thanks for saving their lives. Their sad tales can be read in more detail in the Detectives Investigations section.
Xavier was astonished to see us return, not only having bested the dreaded basilisk, but with so many survivors as well. The elven leader was old enough to remember when the city of the Forest Temple still stood, and made no secret of his joy at seeing the return of so many elves thought long lost. Leader Xavier, along with many of the newly awakened elves, promptly joined our army, and we will be able to count on the help of the elves from now on.
Taking advantage of one mission’s completion, Daisy talked her companions into giving the Beast Village another visit. The wild town was unchanged, with one glaring exception: Royce spotted an old man named Steve in the window of the inn, and this villager did not run from us. We filed inside and chatted amiably with him, trying to get any information we could about the village, but he insisted that most of the villagers had been killed or taken away by Harmonia some time ago, leaving room for flocks of wild animals to move in. Interestingly, he said that many animals were drawn to the village because of its ancient connection to the Beast Rune, which was stolen by Harmonia many years before and subsequently lost. Old Steve would not stray from his story, even when Daisy told him flat out that she could change shape and snuck the name Octavia into the conversation. Giving in for the time being, we had dinner with Steve that evening (Recipe #51 “Steve’s Soup”) and spent an uneventful night.
Dawn found Daisy pounding on Steve’s door, where she found, to her mild surprise, that he was still there. She checked both his arms (a tad aggressively) for a Totem Rune like hers, but could find none, and so the party said goodbye and left the inn. As Daisy slowly realized that Steve had left some kind of flesh-tone makeup behind on her hands, Royce called out that there was smoke coming from a different chimney. They rushed over and surrounded the house, which was clearly lived in, but when Daisy broke down the door they found that the inhabitant(s) had turned into some sort of rodent and escaped through a hole.
Increasingly frustrated, Daisy growled that she should just burn the place and stomped back to the inn. She and Royce pinned Steve on the floor and Daisy wiped the makeup off his left arm, revealing a Fish Totem Rune (which explained why he alone could not flee). Daisy declared that the jig was up and she wanted to see Octavia; luckily, the woman in question appeared at that moment, flanked by two guards. A hostile but controlled Daisy demanded an explanation from the shaman leader, who eventually explained that there was an ancient legend foretelling the birth of a Totem Rune-bearing child not of the Beast Village. This child was destined to take over the village and lead to massive destruction and death. The story left Daisy feeling dissatisfied, but she came to the conclusion that the only way she could live in peace with the likes of Octavia was if she promised to leave the village alone and not try to assume leadership of it, which she had no intention of doing anyway. Octavia agreed to her plan, but as they teleported away, Daisy was left with serious misgivings. Octavia had come across as deeply untrustworthy, not least because of Steve’s obvious terror in the shaman’s presence. And it felt wrong to Daisy to leave behind a place with such strong connections to her, even if her relation to the village was not through blood. But it seemed that there was no choice, for now. The last thing the team noticed about Octavia was that Octavia’s totem is that of an owl, while she kept a lion and a tiger for guards.
A surprise awaited us back at the castle, where Flik and Viktor were just returning from their voyage to Toran. Their mission to secure the help of the Toran ninja village was a success, and the ninjas Diaz and Cassie joined our castle. It will difficult for ninjas to take us by surprise again.
Lastly, the crew went up to see Caesar to figure out our next move. The Wingers of Wreckmar ask for our help now in attacking the castle of Witchport, which is defended with powerful magic. Caesar suggests using krakens in the assault as they are largely magic-resistant and spraying the castle walls with an aphrodisiac in order to draw them in. Kuarjav, now the leader of the army, expressed his hesitation with the plan, and we decided to give some more thought to our next move. The plan is risky, but then some say that “every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster.” – William Tecumseh Sherman.”
Next time, one way or another, we go to Witchport castle! Will we be able to recruit the ever-mysterious Jeane, or will her new alliance with Harmonia prevail?
Recruited: Xavier, Elric, Elmdor, Diaz, Cassie
Investigations: Xavier, April, Phoebe, Elmdor (bonus: Elric!)
