Forbidden Lands - Session Five

Verik the Rogue

An uneventful night was spent with the traveling thespians and we parted ways in the morning. We made good time to the cabin with no mishaps, surprisingly. We knew we were close when I noticed a red eyed fox who was following us. It was obviously following us and so when we halfheartedly decided to catch it he evaded capture then began to mock us. Staring down those beady red eyes it spoke to us. The vermin was elusive with answers and almost as if we were bait for out of nowhere 9 dead goblins were upon us. Belinda was pinned beneath 3, Corlis' adversaries had gotten under the reach of the spear and were surprisingly getting the better of him. I had kept my feet at shoulders width and a deep defensive stance to prevent myself from going down like Belinda but the goblins were everywhere. I could see my companions struggling as I stood over a goblin freshly cleaved. One was around my leg, the other had clung to my shield when I heard Corlis scream as a goblin had bitten through his chain mail, his face fully engorged in the elf’s chest. Time slowed as the goblin lifted his bloody face with Corlis’ ruby heart gripped within it’s mighty jaws and that’s when I felt a piercing pain in my neck. The weight of the goblin on my shield had carried him back towards my neck, gnawing and thrashing at it. Hot, wet and sticky and unaware is how nobody wants to regain consciousness in the woods but I could feel the coarse bandages wrapped tightly around my neck with Perko and Belinda standing above me. A parched throat and very weak we made it to our destination with a handful of dead goblins riddled with arrows around the huntsman's domicile. We brought the huntsman up to date about the Hollows, he about Kjel for us. We rested, slept and buried Corlis. He made mention of some sisters that lived in the Hexenwald not too far away and they would know where the druid spring was. Kjel was poisoned but he thought that the Raven sister could possibly help nurse him back. Belinda and Perko said that an older woman and her wolves drove off the goblins. The next part, perhaps from my near death experience, seemed a little surreal. In thinking back there are five sisters with one perhaps being the mother, or perhaps a coven? They all wanted something from us but it felt like they weren’t open to being reasoned with. We spoke with all the sisters except who we think with a high degree of confidence is the one “making” the undead goblins. When we finally met the older woman, who went by Mother Mab, she said if we kill Zora the alchemist and remove Emmaline the necromancer she would reward us with the knowledge of where the druid's spring is. I tried reasoning with the sister named Astrid, a very neutral witch, I tried my damnedest to get her to see our point but she wouldn’t have it. I consider myself pretty even keeled as I can recall the elders constantly telling me “Words before steel, Verik”. My words were flaccid and sedentary. I think I’m ready for steel before words. Mother Mab was impressed with our knowledge of Perko's sign language which I think carried weight and she introduced us to a sorcerer named Dola who might be an elf or perhaps a human I am unsure. Never killed a witch before....

Dola, Half-Elven Sorcerer

"Dola was born in the human village of Rhyd West, being one of only a few mixed race children he was often shunned, resulting in a propensity for spending time with animals instead of other children. He developed magical aptitude at a young age and was trained by a local sorcerer in the basic arcane arts. His thirst for knowledge and lore grew, and rumors of a powerful coven in a nearby forest eventually drew him away from his home and deep into the forests. A chance encounter with a wounded wolf that needed tending ingratiated him to the leader of this coven, who silently agreed to train him in her dark arts. Over the years he's learned to survive in the wilds, befriending animals and occasionally assisting the other witches in the area, though being a male he was never admitted into their sisterhood. Now Mother Mab, having taught all that she is willing to teach, finds an opportunity to be rid of the man by sending him off with a group of adventurers."