by Renee "Kindrianna" Booke
When Blackwood put out a call for aid, my countrymen and I were eager to answer it. We were wary about leaving our own lands with fewer soldiers while the threat of the Strangers loomed over us, but our Druid King insisted that we must never let fear stop us from doing what is right, and so we marched to the aid of our allies. We journeyed northwest in force; determined to defend Mova, the Mother Tree, and gather alongside other heroes of the Realms who cared for nature as much as we did.
Acolyte Stewhart, Druid of the Hunt, had spoken with a man named Sergeant Becker at Feast of Chimeron and informed me that he believed creatures of the Underdark could be involved in Eroewan’s problems. By all accounts, the corruption we were facing only seemed to move during the night. Lending credence to Stewhart’s hypothesis, creatures normally residing underground were becoming increasingly hostile and active above ground.
On the other side of things, Thoril had put his magics to work and warned me ahead of time that we were also dealing with an adversary that targeted those using Seer Magic or High Magic to investigate. He claimed that a mark had been put on his soul and he was now being hunted by a twisted version of himself. I wasn’t sure how the two were connected, but I knew we were walking into a dangerous situation and would need all our wits about us.
Upon arriving in Eroewan, the party was greeted by the familiar Sergeant Becker. He apprised us of the situation and we learned the state of the area’s defenses. We quickly split into several groups to cover more ground. Some went out looking for a group of missing Blackwood soldiers and an elusive Librarian, some went to the battle maps to help strategize and direct troops and resources more efficiently, and the rest of us awaited the arrival of an important guest named Cleric Andrew.
Cleric Andrew was a follower of Edaonae, a nature Goddess of Blackwood. He introduced himself and greeted the Knights of Blackwood whose names were familiar to him. Sir Mathies and Sir Tao checked his neck for a mark just to be safe and asked him a few questions about the Librarian we were waiting for to make sure he was who he claimed to be. Mathies quickly explained to me that some of the creatures we were facing were using needles or stingers in the necks to attack people and take on their magic and traits, spreading corruption onto our friends. We needed to be cautious and keep a lookout for such. Furthermore, our options for removing such corruption were limited to the abilities of my adopted daughter, Acolyte Tempest. Cleric Andrew told us that tomorrow he wished to do a ritual to call the attention of our Gods to the battlefield and was looking for as much help as we could give.
Before I knew it we were off again, looking to court the Children of the Forest for their aid in the oncoming battle. Eroewan had many assets of its own yet to be utilized in the war effort, but the denizens of the forest were wary of outsiders and would not so easily give their assistance. In the darkness of the Hag’s Hut, we were asked to find a special branch and return it as a favor to prove that we were trustworthy. Sir Magnus was the first to complete this task and was named liaison between the mortals and the Children of the Forest, receiving the ability to command some of their troops.
Upon being told that the roads appeared clear of danger, we rested until the next day when our challenges began anew. As a self-proclaimed scribe, I regret that I am not omniscient, for I am sure I will miss many individual triumphs and contributions that deserve their own stories. Alas, I am but mortal and can only write upon that which I saw with my own eyes. We adventurers had the day to prepare for the Siege that evening and had multiple duties to attend to. Some began to search for quality lumber to construct barricades and siege weaponry, Magistrate Evie almost married Wrath of Invictus while trying to help two poor spirits that had botched a ritual of unification, and the poor Librarian had lost a bunch of books that he needed for research if he was going to be able to provide more information.
Luckily for us Voranians, the contingent of Wolves that Druid King Hygar had sent for arrived to assist that morning as well, and Commander Cronin Barbaria, Druid of the Mountain, was given command of the unit and quickly put them to work. I personally spent most of the morning returning books and was rewarded with a library card for my efforts. While we were out and about, Esto’miel and High-Druid Gavin the Green realized that there were blue crystals upon the ground. They began to gather them up and petitioned the Librarian to help identify what purpose they might have. Investigations revealed that these crystals could be used to empower Eroewan’s defensive wards, and Esto’miel and Gavin later made sure that each group charged with the defense of a ward received an equal portion of what our nation had found.
On my travels, I was also lucky enough to meet a Hag (that seems rude?) named Agatha. She was a very kind creature, but still apprehensive and wary of outsiders she didn’t know. Agatha wanted to help in the war, giving many brave heroes the opportunity to sacrifice from their own flesh and soul to bring powerful nature magic to the aid of our allied troops. I watched many a selfless person have an eye or ear removed to this end, some giving up even more. With each sacrifice, Agatha was able to grant us more boons that our battlefield commanders could later use during the Siege.
Nobody warned me about all the other strange creatures I would encounter in Blackwood that day. Besides being attacked by bugs and Illithids, I was also chased by leopards, avoided the trial of an apparent drug dealer, and witnessed the trials of the First Gorilla. Fortunately, a nice fur trader named Harry taught my fellow adventurers how to snare the leopards and I managed to avoid being mauled to death by cats. As for the First Gorilla, adventurers needed to prove their strength to him by completing a series of challenges. First, there was a challenge of general physical fitness, followed by a trial of combat in which participants teamed up and functioned as what could only be described as a two-headed ogre. There was even a relay obstacle course that challengers had to run not once, but twice, and they couldn’t be in the same position both times. The greatest of these challenges, at least in my humble opinion, was the trial of Corsican Banana. Participants wrestled one another in an attempt to either shove their opponent out of bounds, make them drop their banana, or squash their banana.
From there we received word from a frantic Clove that one of the Children of the Forest was under attack, so many of us ran to find her. We arrived on the scene to see an Illithid corrupting her, and warriors of many nations sprang to life in a valiant attempt to save her. Sadly, we were too late and the deed had been done, but heroes of the Realms are not so easily deterred. They attempted to banish the corruption from her and give her a chance at a new life. Last I knew, she was given a second chance as a Human that she seemed loath to take, but that life was hers to do with what she wished.
After this encounter, I ran into Cleric Andrew again who was gathering divine casters for his ritual. I and several others followed after him ready to call upon our Gods and draw their attention to where it was needed. Without warning, a shadowy figure appeared to interrupt Andrew before he could start and we were assailed by a force we could not wound with steel. I was thrown across the battlefield and tried to rise to defend the others around me. Cleric Andrew was on the ground with this entity hovering over him and I was filled with the fire of Vandor’s vengeance, eager to smite my foe. I tried to call down my God to save Cleric Andrew, but the strangest thing happened. My magic was hijacked, and the menacing being warned that I would soon be hunting myself should I persist in my use of the divine. (Was this what happened to Thoril, I wondered?) Our enemy then grabbed Cleric Andrew and disappeared through a black portal. We had been thwarted and my heart was heavy with the sting of defeat.
Soon after, a benevolent Moth spirit appeared looking to help willing adventurers in conquering their inner conflict. Still filled with self-loathing over what had happened to the Cleric, I joined in this quest and decided I needed to find peace before I could continue the fight. Many of my country came with me, and I also met new faces such as Bjorn of Arken. We shared with one another our greatest fears, the names of those we loved, lies we told ourselves, who had shown us the truth, and identified the greatest barrier standing in our way of becoming our best self. When we finished sharing these things, we joined together to fight against a physical manifestation of our fear and doubt.
The next thing I recall was the ritual to awaken the Ents. Pilpus led us all to a field bordering the forest and warned the adventurers that once he started his magic, all the nearby enemies would sense the power and come swarm the area to stop him. If the ritual was interrupted in any way, it would fail. Pilpus required three anchors for the ritual, so Seeker Artair, Sir Tao, and I volunteered while our comrades kept us safe. As battled raged above us, Pilpus took us deep underground where we found some of the missing soldiers. We also discovered that the Illithids had been torturing and tormenting the Meanlocks that we had been fighting, explaining their new patterns of behavior. We fought a giant worm and had to make our way through it before we arrived to communicate with the Mother Tree and urge her to awaken the Ents. She was wonderful and gracious, understanding that Eroewan needed her help. The Ents awoke, and not a moment too soon, for out on the field an Umber Hulk was wreaking havoc.
We breathed a collective sigh of relief, knowing that this was a huge boon; but the main assault was still to come. Thoril knew that the wards were preventing the corruption from seeping forth through Eroewan, so we suspected that we would be prioritizing their defense throughout the night. Druid King Hygar also believed that Commander Cronin would need more troops to this end, so he pulled as many Voranians as he could down into the earth with him to see if we could awaken a large earth elemental. Artair and I immediately recognized the Illithid we stumbled across as one we had seen during Pilpus’ ritual. He was tormenting the Earth Elemental we had come to awaken, and four points were being used to suck out his essence and hurt him. Voraniss kicked in the proverbial door and I urged Vandor to enfeeble the evil creature as my allies fought their way through. Together we worked on disabling the magics holding the elemental down and our warriors were able to beat the Illithid and bring much-deserved retribution upon him. The elemental was so grateful that he let us ride him back to the surface where he joined in the war efforts.
The nighttime brought much more danger, and just as we suspected, the wards were falling under attack. The party needed to separate to cover as much ground as possible. Voraniss followed the Druid King into battle, using his earth magic to fortify our position and make it more defendable. Some of our kin: Tempest, Tulkhan, Mogar, and Gavin split off to act as a go-between squad and coordinate with Prince Saegan and Blackwood’s defenses. Thanks to them running back and forth, (and runner Vesper!) and Quatra, Thoril, and Toah working on cracking the code of the enemy over the communication crystals, we were never taken by surprise and always had some notice when a large force was coming our way. It was a brilliant display of teamwork, and I do not think we would have claimed victory if the nations of the Realms hadn’t worked together the way they did. Heroes fought valiantly against overwhelming forces and managed to snatch their victory out of the jaws of defeat.
The next day we celebrated by clearing out some remaining hostile Meanlocks and Illithids. On this mission we found a strange man sleeping under the ground who seems to be lacking in memories. I wouldn’t be able to spell his name for the life of me, so I hope someone else wrote it down. Who is this mysterious man? What is his connection to all that has transpired? Is there another being behind the abuses the Illithids forced upon the creatures of the underground? There are still many mysteries that the taste of victory cannot blind me to. I fear the Realms may still be in danger, and that this siege will not be the last.