Forest of Andor/In the trees
Swamp, boars and feet
As the party is discussing how to proceed, they are surprised by another Vine Leshy who bursts out onto on the back of a Gecko no less! With the new arrival introducing himself as Cordon, another would-be hero, also sent by his village in response to the call for help everyone relaxes and gets to know each other before turning in for the night.
After a good nights rest the group descend the great tree and, following directions from the guard at the bottom, head North on a slightly overgrown trail. Shortly, they approach the bog that the tree-guard warned of, and being aware that either direction would suffice to get us to the Fire break, Jadrol chooses the more heavily traversed path to the West.
However as they approaching the junction, Cordon picks out the snuffling noises typical of a boar, whereupon the beast comes charging out of the bushes to the West. Jadrol and Grel attack the Boar, and nimbly avoiding Callas Entangle spell, it comes running up to Jadrol squealing in his face.
Abruptly, 2 more boars appear as if from nowhere to hassle the party.
A crazed boar charges Riva the Gecko, impaling itself on Cordons spear, driving itself on and on and pushing the mounted pair back towards the swamp.
With two Boars killed, the remaining badly injured one flees, leaving a small nest of pups which the party decide to spare. Continuing on the path Calla and Grel spot a foot sticking out of the muddy ground. The limb turns out to be attached to a humanoid in soggy leather armour, and Cordons attempt to interrogate the nearby bushes placed the death at about 2 weeks ago. Is this one of the scouts?
Travelling on, the party encounter someone limping to towards them - an injured Elf. Turns out the elf (Franken) knew the dead scout (John) and agreed to return the pouch of coins to Johns family.
Franken told his story: There were no signs of life and the buildings seem to have been empty for several weeks. He had pressed on, past the firebreak following tracks Northwards, eventually setting up a small camp while he investigated the confusing array of tracks in the valleys to the north. There was so much activity by so many creatures that it was hard to make much sense.
On the third day, a looming sense of dread began to creep on him and something startled him so badly that he decided to head back towards the safety of Oakenspire.
As he was hustling back, something leapt from the trees and charged him from cover. Losing all sense of direction, he fled and he was forced to jump down a cliff into a pool by a waterfall to escape. He landed in the water, but it was shallow and he badly injured his left ankle. He hid and waited for death but the pursuer didn't follow or seek another way down.
Franken was unable to climb back up and retrace his steps due to his ankle so he slowly made his way out of the gulley by following the easier course along it to the South-East/West (depending), eventually returning to the firebreak several miles East/West of where he crossed it Northwards.
With his wounds (very) slightly healed, Franken headed back to Oakenspire to deliver his report in person, and the party continued North.
The Bard and the 'Temple'
As the day passed, the party marched on and found the village they had been looking for. It was clear the place had been thoroughly searched and the dozens of tracks made any further investigation pointless. Continuing North they came across the expected river and a rather uninspiring pair of ropes for crossing it. Grel mistrusting the ropes flew over, landing awkwardly in the mud, while Cordon slipped, broke the rope and fell in however Grel and Jadrol hauled him safely to dry land.
Spotting some ruddy mysterious activity by some crows, a corpse is found which with the aid of his fancy journal is identified as one Thomas Drinkwater.
It seems Thomas and his buddies had been out adventuring and had fallen found of some dangerous creature. With his dying breathes Tommy Dee had transcribed their final moments.
"Alas, my friends succumbed to the beast at Oughouh. I managed to run away, but I am badly wounded and I can go no further today, I must rest. " "All is lost!" "Words fail me as I swoon but I my devotion to my craft demands that I at least try to capture the valour of my friends in the best way that I can."
"To the temple strode Bors, in pride and might"
"The beast took his head, in an instant he died"
"Throw a bomb shouted Ector, set it alight"
"With a count one, two, five cunning Arthur complied"
"The missile deflected, a barrier there"
"To melee we charged, from out of the heath"
"Bravely we fought strange wind streaming our hair"
"Death took them with nasty, big, pointy teeth."
Further study confirms the writings of a youth, travelling with friends, a party of young adventurers all very much out of their depth. They were searching for the mysterious temple of 'Oughouh', a place of fear and legend among the Gathlain woodsmen (who are not know for long forays).
The party seems to have ridiculed the superstitions, believing them a way of keeping looters away from an ancient treasure-filled tomb.
There's a map of their exploration, displaying the route taken to the temple seemingly fairly close-by.
With little else to guide them in their quest, the party rest overnight and travel to the temple in the morning.
With extreme caution and no danger in sight, the party advanced on the front steps. As Jadrol set foot on the bottom step, a shimmering wall appeared all around the temple and a strange creature popped into sight.
Jadrol slips on some unexpected ice, and while Grels arrow is deflected by the shimmer, Calla's flaming sphere appears inside.
Although he rolls to the side, the beast mauls Jadrol, knocking him unconscious.
Grel and Fletcher move into the shimmer without issue, and despite hitting the beast with an arrow Grel is ignored in favour of attacking Fletcher.
The party poke and prod at the thing wearing it down, however it is Grel who gets the killing blow.
Continuing up the temple steps, they find a shaft leading straight down, and everyone lowers themselves on a rope. At the bottom there is a door with a handprint symbol beneath a plaque bearing the legend "G.J. OUGHOUH". The handprint matches Grels hand!
Pressing his hand against it, Grel is surprised to see the door opening and then closing a few seconds later.
Upon entering, the party find the lights coming on in a small room with strange symbols on the walls. Suddenly a strange voice is heard in an unknown language!
"Vulputate nec pharetra id, euismod vitae velit Dave. Curabitur pharetra Gath aliquam risus Oooh ad luctus?"
With no one understanding the words, the symbols on the walls start to change and the party is prompted to identify the symbols - is the voice trying to learn the language??
Eventually the voice changes and can be understood by all and identifies itself as Hal. Hal will only respond to Grel (who it keeps calling Dave) while everyone else seems to be John.
With some prompting, Hal informs 'Dave' that he is hurt and needs some help fixing some equipment. Would we be able to assist him by going further into the temple? With little more idea what is going on, the party agree and try to open the door.
Alas yet another pictograph seems to indicate that a small card is required to open the door, a card which seems very much like a ceremonial item used by the village elders.
As they go to leave, Hal informs 'Dave' that the automated defence system would react to all non-Daves but it could be disabled if desired. The party left it active for now.
