As soon as we were teleported back to the material plane, we noticed things were different quickly. We found ourselves back in Glade's Edge but all the guards now wore the orange and white colors of Woodberry. Wulf had asked the first person he could find what hear it was, and was told it was 21ADC, a full year had past here too. Wildworks had been boarded up, Wulf's mom and friend had been taken by the Woodberry guards . We even found out that Falanton was destroyed about 9 months ago.
It seemed like an odd time for this, but the walking fuzzball decided to get his hair styled and change outfits. Sometimes I find his actions confusing.
But with Wulf in his new digs, we gathered outside of town to camp and plan. The group decided to get to know each other a little more:
- Atheya was born in a brothel and her mother abandoned her in a forest. She grew up mostly on her own and has been out adventuring for the last couple years.
- Wulf though he was an orphan, but "some other shit" happened. He grew up with his parents in Glade's Edge.
- Corvus grew up in a trading village that burned down (he never said how). He was a carpenter before he found his sword Wrathe and then traveled with a carnival. Following some rumors he heard about his sisters location, he came to the Grove.
- I also shared a little bit about my past and what I saw in that awful mirror.
- Finally York showed his face. I think we all felt a little let down when he just looked like a normal, but weary, human. He grew up in Zanidonia and his father was a swordsman that trained him from an early age. When he became of age he went traveling and ended up in the Grove. He did share the real reason for the helmet and I decided not to press.
The group talked about what to do next. Atheya, Corvus, and myself wanted to go to Woodberry and see if we can get a hold of that Von character or gather more intelligence. Wulf and York wanted to go see Mira in Falaton. Since I felt like I had made a mistake going into that yellow portal against the Walking Carpet's objections, I decided to retract my vote and go where he wanted to go.
The following morning, the Illithid showed up and in his creepy voice said "Good! I had heard you found your way back, and did so well at the area, growing strong, it is good to hear your praises." He was not there in reality, but rather was just a mental projection. When we asked what he wanted he said "I need my protégé back, you can deliver him to Woodberry, kneel before me and I will let you live!" Much to my surprise, Wulf blurted out that he can expect us in 2 weeks. For a moment, I was not sure if he is turning me in or not now.
The Master then said "Good, I have all the time in the world. But not everyone does." Then he showed a image of Mira, Silt, Amber, Nathee, & Piper all chained to a wall. "You know what, two weeks sounds good, every two weeks I shall eat one of their brains. Take all the time you want."
He followed it up with "I know your intention was to offer your services to me, I am not interested in that, you have already betrayed me once. All I want is Nirruk, deliver him and you can walk away; I will also give you back your love ones." To which Wulf just turned to me and said "sorry". I had begun to fully trust him and the rest of the party but I am not sure how to take that. He may have been saying that to try to fool the Master, but I am going to be on my toes as we approach Woodberry.
I retorted to the master that the didn't keep his bargain with my parents so will likely not keep this bargain. Then the conversation when south with the Illithid threatening us and Atheya demanding a better deal and trying to find out if the Master will take someone else other then me. It got ugly.
The Master started to look impatient and eventually about 100 soldiers came out of the forest and surrounded the group, the Master called out to them "Take the Gith, kill the rest!" And then he vanished. The battle that ensued was epic and all the party members fought bravely and we were eventually victorious... well kind of. It seemed by the time we got to the last few we noticed that they were practically killing themselves on our weapons like they were thinking death was preferable to control by the Master. I understand that sentiment.
In the fight we managed to kill all of them except one, Wulf's friend Silt's little brother. Wulf couldn't kill him so just knocked him out and took his uniform.
The following morning, some other people came around our camp and just stared at us. They were obviously under the Master's control. We took the hint and more innocents would suffer if we did not make our way to Woodberry to we started heading that way.
Throughout the entire journey we were followed by similar people under the masters control. Corvus was worried about the Master tracking me through my focus so he destroyed it and gave me one of his own.
On the second day of the journey, we were attacked by the smartest displacer beasts I have ever heard of. None of my psychic magic seemed to influence them. Eventually the group dispatched one and the other ran away. The following night it came back and tried to ambush the group only to die as well.
Atheya finished some potions she was working on and I managed to compete 2 Crawler Poisons.
On the end of the 3rd day when the group was just about to camp for the night, about 10 people were around our camp and appeared to be under the Master's sway. One of them pulled a knife to his throat and killed himself. Wulf ran to heal and save him but the group took the message and decided to head to town even though we were near exhaustion.
The crowd under the Master's sway walked with us and kept growing. York looked exhausted, even though all he did was lounge around that day while Atheya and I toiled over our creations. Eventually we arrived at the south gate and battlements of Woodberry. There were people on either side of the road, possibly a hundred deep, lining the path. We entered the city and found 1,000s more clogging the streets to the town but leaving us an open path to the Master's tower. I handed York one of the poisons I made, I thought with this many onlookers that being sneakily was pointless. Wulf gave me the Lesser Potion of Blue Exaltium and as we approached the tower, both Wulf and Atheya drank their potions of Psychic resistance.
Once we entered the tower foyer, the door slammed shut behind us on its own and there was only one way to go.... up the large circular staircase to the higher levels as we heard the Master say "Good!"
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