February 23, 2020 - In Search of Blights

We open with Archie, Horus, Mira, and Saki returning to town after their harrowing time in Caimac’s fortress, and looking to distract themselves they seek out Shautha, hoping to help her with whatever materials she may need. The group leans that she is hoping to build a few helpers and will need some form of living wood or stone to do so. From there, the party goes to ask Farral if they know of any creatures that would fit the description and where to find them. Farral suggests looking for a blight for living wood or an earth elemental for living stone. With that, the party seeks out Dovrhal to borrow his cart so they can transport any wood or stone that they find. Dovrhal is reluctant to let them take the cart, but Saki supplies a security deposit in the event that the cart is damaged.

From there, the party sets out, crossing the river and walking north along the beach. Just as they are about to go up the cliff to start exploring the woods for a blight, an air elemental descends upon the party. They cannot see the creature, so everyone has a difficult time damaging it. The creature has no issue damaging the party in return. Mira is nearly killed, but Archie bravely incapacitates the wind with laughter, and the party uses the opportunity to make a hasty retreat while Horus saves Mira from the verge of death.

Returning to the clearing with the moon lilies, the party makes camp a little distance away from the clearing. During the night, three blights attack the party. They are quickly disposed of, and then a swarm of bats attacks, but Saki miraculously kills every single bat with a single arrow. The group then continues sleeping for the night.

In the morning, the party follows the tracks of the blights back in the direction that they came from, until they reach a bog in the forest. There they find seven blights. Everyone but Archie manages to stealthily hide. The monsters notice the bard and immediately entangle him. The remaining members of the party quickly dispose of the blights, accidently catching Archie in some of the crossfire (sorry!!). Saki keeps one of the blights alive to give to Shautha as a renewable living wood resource.

Afterwards, determining that they have quite enough wood for Shautha, the group heads back to town, with Mira who suddenly remembered that she can turn in to an animal, pulling the cart as a horse. The return trip takes about a day, and they spend an uneventful night just outside of town. In the morning they return, delivering the wood to a grateful Shautha and the cart back to Dovrhal.