Root of Evil

In The News

Sharn Inquisitive: Sul 15 Eyre - Front Page
Cardinal Quinn to Return to Thrane - Since his arrest in the attempted murder of Sharn's beloved Sadie Wolfchild and her husband Merrin Tox, Cardinal Ernest Quinn has been held in Sharn awaiting trail. Since that time Thranish diplomats have been demanding his release to the authorities of Thrane.

For some time our illustrious city held its ground, but it seems now that our King has caved in to their bullying tactics. Apparently the issue reached the throne of Thrane’s High Cardinal. He threatened outright war if Cardinal Quinn were not returned to be tried under the laws of Thrane. As troops mustered on Thrane's borders, and with our own troops busy in Droaam, the King gave into his demands.

The cardinal will be transported to Thrane immediately where he will be tried under Thranish law.

Chronicle

The air was getting oppressively hot again. Garen considered what it would be like to have bodily secretions as he observed his companions wiping copious amounts of sweat from their brows. What other tricks did the tree have in store, Garen wondered.

It had been an hour since they had just finished destroying the black monolith, and since then the tree had given them no quarter - no longer than a minute of respite before it began ceaselessly attacking them. All they wanted was to rest and recover - but the tree allowed no rest. If they stopped it would attack them with roots, or throw them to the ground. Once they had even had to fight a swarm of pulpy white giant bug larvae. Even Garen who normally did not grow weary was nearly out of infusions for the day and needed to calm his mind to prepare more.

As they descended a narrow mossy tunnel the temperature began reaching normal levels - which was definitely a bad sign.

The tunnel eventually opened out into a large chamber. In the center of the chamber was a stone pedestal - about a foot high. Atop it was a massive stone statue. It was composed of roughly hewn rock and covered in moss and druidic designs: clearly one of the original gate guardians. It stood completely motionless.

After a brief discussion it was decided that Garen and Dumont would approach the statue. Garen was curious of what magical wonders it might possess, Dumont was sure it would come to life and kill them, and he wanted to be ready.

Garen was so engrossed in the intricacies of the construct that he did not notice when the behemoth sprung to life. Dumont was ready, however, blocking its attack with his own sword.

Garen was taken out of his reverie... and that’s when he noticed them; two large insect like humanoids in either corner of the room - hidden from the site of those entering. The beasts were a disgusting browny-orange color. Umber hulks. But there was something wrong with them. They were twisted and corrupted somehow. There was no time to contemplate it. The creatures were rushing toward Dumont and Garen, slavering for the kill.

As the human and warforged readied for battle the construct in the center did something unexpected. It rushed past them, straight toward Cora, and began bashing the halfling with its gargantuan fists.

Sadie moved to engage one of the umber hulks, while Thaspar tried his hand at the stone giant. His attacks were next to useless, however.

Garen shouted, "Its immune to magic and most damage. Dumont - hit it with your sword."

Dumont smiled with glee, and roared forward. He began to hew large chunks from the golem with his adamantine greatsword.

That’s when the acid began bubbling up from the ground. The statue has been blocking a hole in the raised pedestal, and now acid was boiling over at an alarming rate.

Garen disengaged himself from his umber hulk. Something had to be done about this acid or they were all done for. He was nearly out of infusions, but he had at least one trick up his sleeve. Focusing his mind, and pulling some materials from his pouch he imagined a huge mound of rock blocking the acid.

Suddenly it was so. No more acid was entering the room, but they could hear it hissing as it ate through the barrier.

In short order the umber hulks were dispatched - leaving only the massive statue left. Dumont had been wearing the construct down - but it was simply so huge that it would take dozens of hits without falling. With a final mighty blow Dumont felled the construct - leaving only a battered cairn of stones where it had once stood.

With the monsters dispatched, all eyes turned to the stone mound in the center. The acid had seemingly retreated with a gurgling noise.

It appeared that there was no other exit from the room, and they found that the way they had come had since become a dead end. Reluctantly Garen dispelled the stone barrier, and they all peered into the pit beneath.

Climbing down the narrow space should have been easy. They had rope. They had Sadie. But things are never as easy as they seem.

Not ten seconds into the climb Sadie glanced up to hear a loud shout. There was Garen plummeting toward her. No, not just Garen, but Dumont too. And Thaspar. Sadie and Cora pressed up against the pit wall as the other three shot past them.

Sadie just rolled her eyes.

The pit was narrow, and Thaspar's hands and legs shot out to slow his fall. He hit the ground softly, but it was slick and he slipped. He could see he was sliding right toward a steaming pool of some kind. Tumbling with all his ability he hurled himself into the air and planted his feet, coming to a stop inches from the deadly pool.

Immediately after this Garen and Dumont shot right past him.

With a loud splash they both plunged into the depths of a boiling pool of acid.

Everything was pain. Everything was agony. Every inch of Dumont's flesh burned. He struggled to right himself but he was disoriented. All he knew was pain. Forcing his searing legs to kick he summoned every ounce of his will to bring him to the surface. Gasping for air he hurled himself from the pool. He collapsed - his body still steaming and hissing.

Garen did not fare so well. Never trained in swimming, the warforged flailed fruitlessly, before loosing consciousness. Garen wondered what it would be like to die.

Garen was wrenched from the boiling acid by a familiar hand: Thaspar. The monk had pulled the warforged from his watery grave. Barely clinging to consciousness, he made liberal use of his wand of repair light damage. Once again in workable condition, he turned hit attention to the dissolving mass which was Dumont.

Deciding that Dumont should use his own healing, Garen rummaged around in the Cyran's pack until he found some potions. He fed the unconscious form a healing potion, but whether out of spite or mischievousness, he decided to feed Dumont a second potion. While Garen knew full well what a Love Potion looked like, he pretended he believed it to be just another healing potion.

As Dumont regained muddled consciousness, he opened his eyes as Cora and Sadie came running down the passage to join the others. Time will tell which he observed first, Garen mused.

Potions of spider climb were used to bypass the pool. No one was taking any chances about jumping over that acid. Especially when they were so low on resources and even the wand of infinite cure light wounds was of little use with the tree constantly harassing them.

As they continued through the ever twisting tunnels of the massive tree the air began to get more moist, and filled with the slight smell of decay. They had just finished squeezing through a very narrow (and slimy) tunnel when Sadie caught the faint sound of something buzzing.

They proceeded forward carefully with Dumont in the lead.

The buzzing grew louder and suddenly from around a bend further up the passage a swarm of repulsive creatures emerged. They were the same things they had fought earlier. They were like giant, foot long maggots, but wasp like wings emerged from the back of their pulpy bodies. The swarm buzzed forward hungrily.

For a moment everything was the buzz of insects and the whirl of steel. The swarm was huge, and the heroes were quickly getting covered in viscous pinky white pulp as they sliced through the bodies of the huge maggots.

Cora, who was covered in the repulsive gnawing creatures, decided to run out of the swarm and further down the hallway. Bursting from the disgusting swarm she charged out into a large open area. In that moment she wished she was still being bitten by the maggoty swarm.

There was a grotesque creature before her. The beast looked like an enormous beetle with a carapace made from hundreds of leaf-shaped, chitonous plates. The creatures’ black body gleamed with iridescence like the shells of some insects, but it bore eyes more like a cat’s. It was armed with long claws on each of its legs, and large mandibles extended menacingly from the mouth.

The beast charged forward, but as it did so the plates of chitin on the creature’s back slowly opened, revealing mucus-filled cavities and the writhing forms of more of the giant maggots with wasp wings. Suddenly, dozens of the foot long winged larvae began wriggling out of their pockets on the beetle-creature’s back and taking to the air.

"Um, guys... there's something in here," Cora shouted.

Garen's curiosity was aroused, so, turning invisible, he moved forward - toward Cora and the large insect.

Dumont also decided to move forward - these repulsive maggots were hardly worth his time. He turned the corner and saw the grotesque abomination. He raised his sword, roared, and charged.

Dumont wore a confused expression as he tumbled through the air. He had no way of knowing that what he had tripped over was an invisible Garen. As the world became a blur and all he could see was that he was hurtling toward massive insect. The next second he halted with a sickening crunch. But it was the crunch of insect chitin. His sword was sticking into the side of the massive creature, and he was hanging from it. The beast roared - a high pitched screech. Dumont wrenched his weapon from the creature. It glistened with yellow slime.

While everyone was occupied with the swarms of maggots, Dumont faced down the brood keeper alone - which meant there was no one to help him when the grotesque insect grabbed him in its mandibles and began to shake the life out of him.

Garen, as the nearest party member, decided that he had better save Dumont, or they were all done for. With their combined strength he managed to pry the barbarian free. When the monstrosity attacked again, it met only with Dumont’s sword.

The battle proceeded for several tense moments.

With a final blow Dumont's massive sword split the grotesque creature’s exoskeleton open, spewing yellow slime throughout the room, and sending the insect into a screeching death throws.

Within a few moments the larval swarms were dispatched, leaving the room a slimy, pulpy mess.

There was no time to clean up, however, as the tree continued it relentless assault. They had no choice but to move on.

Another hour passed as they crawled, climbed and slipped their way through the consistently narrowing passages of the insane tree. Its assaults were growing fiercer and more frequent. It seemed now that the passages were sloping downward more than before, and the sense of angry madness was growing. The walls took on a more blackish cancerous look as they descended deep into the heart of the tree.

As they pressed on strange maddened whispers were growing in their mind - clawing at their own thoughts to get purchase. The deeper they went, the more frequent the voices became.

The passage eventually opened into a very large chamber. The entire area was composed of a mass of twisted roots, which writhed and twitched with their own mind. The room twisted down in a conical shape, and at the very bottom was a gate. The roots themselves twisted together around a circular black portal. The portal surface was primarily black and lifeless but it flickered, and there were glimpses of something beyond.

The voices in their minds intensified dramatically. As Sadie looked upon the gate she could hear thoughts in her mind. Mad thoughts. Angry thoughts. Evil thoughts. They were like her own thoughts - taking over her mind. Yet they were foreign. The madness was nearly overwhelming. The clamor of thoughts and shouts made her own thoughts hard to keep straight.

Garen decided he wanted to investigate the gate. Tying a rope about his waist the warforged headed down into the pit of twitching roots. As he did so several things happened.

First the voices increased in both volume and intensity to become a screaming mob in Garen’s mind. It was virtually impossible to keep his own thoughts straight from those being forced into his mind.

Second the roots forming the floor began to twist and slide over one another, making it nearly impossible to stand. Garen quickly found himself prone.

Third an insanely powerful wind began to rip through the chamber. Within moments it was maelstrom of hurricane strength.

Finally, a cluster of roots began grouping together, twisting to form a tree. But not just any tree, it was a miniature version of the tree they were in. Though, in this case, miniature meant 20 feet across. Roaring, which sounded like hundreds of trees splintering, the tree monster grabbed the stunned warforged in one branch, and violently smashed him with another, sending him flying back toward his companions.

But there was something more. A mad power was in that attack. Garen felt his senses deadening, and his personality draining. Even his powerful intellect seemed sapped.

Any thoughts of escape were quickly dashed as they found their entrance has been twisted shut. Either they or the tree were going to have to die.

Garen was genuinely scared. He wasn't even able to get up on the writhing floor. Dumont had since joined him on the ground - though Sadie, Thaspar, and Cora were still able to keep their feet. He was nearly out of infusions for the day, and he knew that his friends were low on all their resources as well. Not to mention that Garen could barely think through the voices screaming in his mind. And thinking was what Garen was good at. He shuddered to consider what was going on in Sadie’s mind. Or worse yet, Dumont's

Garen didn't need to wait long to find out. Soon Sadie was screaming with fear and running away from the tree at top speed. She began clawing furiously trying to find a way to escape - her eyes wide with terror.

In the mean time Thaspar made his way up to the tree. The creature dealt him a fierce blow and sent him sprawling to the ground, and dealing the same stupefying attack it had done to Garen. But Thaspar's force of personality was not as strong as the warforged. He slipped into unconsciousness.

Dumont crawled over the writhing roots as best he could, getting in range to attack the beast.

Cora, judging that the wind has not quite reached the point where ranged combat would be impossible, launched a dart at the tree. The wind was not kind to the projectile, but her target was so large that it was nearly impossible to miss. Connecting her soul to the tree’s for a moment, she drew out a measure of its power and made it her own. She now had access to a couple of its magical attacks.

Garen, seeing that one of their best fighters had fallen unconscious moved up to help. Invisible now, he pulled out his wand of lesser restoration and made his way over to the fallen elf.

Just as the warforged had reached his fallen companion, the tree let out a massive groan and a wave of boiling evil blackness rolled out from it in all directions. As the wave passed over them, each felt the evil draining their very strength, and all were left stupefied for a moment.

The tree wasted no time, however, rushing over to the cluster of stunned heroes lying on the writhing ground, stomping and trampling over them. They were left bruised and battered.

Coming out of the stun, Cora found herself fending off a batch of roots which had sprung up around her and the mirror images she had created. Soon three of her doubles were destroyed.

Sadie was suddenly awestruck by the gate. A chorus of voices in her mind whispered, "Destroy the gate, Sadie. You must destroy it."

"I must destroy it," she said limply.

Drawing her daggers she advanced. Nearby Dumont was under the same compulsion.

Garen gave Thaspar two quick blasts from his wand. The first recovered some of the damage the tree's attack had done to his personality. He was still clearly functioning at below human levels when his first words were - "I like turtles!"

Garen figured that intellect was of lesser important to what Thaspar had to do, so he used his second blast to relieve the strength drain on the elf. Then he gave the command - "Go! Kill the tree."

Thaspar smiled absently - "Ha! Me tree!"

Sadie summoned up every ounce of her will and managed to overthrow the thoughts demanding control of her mind. Shaking her head she changed her trajectory to attack the tree rather than the gate. Luckily Dumont was able to do the same.

The most effective combatants against the monstrosity were Thaspar and Dumont. Sadie's daggers did little damage on their own - though the holy dagger was causing some pain. Thaspar’s fists were more cut out to break wood, and Dumont's adamantine blade carved through the creature with ease.

The scariest part, however, was that with each blow, the real tree they were in would rock violently, as if it too had been struck.

Just then the wind started to subside. Cora took the opportunity immediately to throw a dart filled with alchemist’s fire directly at the tree. The behemoth groaned and burst into flames. Soon the chamber itself followed suit.

Thaspar, inspired by Cora’s attack, decided to use of on his newly manifested tattoos. His dragon tattoo flashed red, he opened his mouth, and spewed a stream of fire over the tree.

Garen could see that fire was a good source of damage against the beast, so casting his last infusion to alter his axe's energy to fire he advanced.

In the mean time Thaspar, Dumont, and Sadie hit the tree with everything they had. Dumont from the ground, since he couldn't get up on the writhing roots. But the mad thoughts were every screaming in their mind.

Suddenly Sadie stopped attacking and began to mumble, "The gate... the gate... destroy it?"

Here eyes lit up and her head turned to face the gate. She roared and ran toward it daggers raised. "Sadie noooooo....." Garen shouted.

The shifter ran right past Cora (who was now healing Dumont) and straight to the gate. Her dagger arced down onto the roots which kept the plane of Daelkyr sealed away. There was a flash of darkness and a horrible screeching sound like the wail of a dying madman. Then the smell of burnt fur.

Sadie was lying across the room from the gate. She wasn’t moving, and smoke rose from her body.

At that moment the tree unleashed a second wave of draining evil darkness.

It was more than fortunate that mere seconds later the tree finally broke apart under the assault of Thaspar and Dumont. Cracking from root to tip it exploded into a shower of splinters. More amazingly though, so did everything around them. The real tree burst open, in a spectacular display or ripping roots, flying splinters and cracking wood.

*****

"Help! Someone help me! I can't move!"

Dumont quickly uncovered Cora. She was lying motionless in the pile of the debris. The last wave of evil power had drained the last of her strength and now she was unable to move.

Garen played the role of healer, curing the damage they had taken from the trees attacks. Sadie proved to be ok - in a sense. The wand of lesser restoration had brought her back to herself.

Everyone else climbed their way out of the massive pile of wood that had once been the tree. The clearing was now simply a depression filled with splinters of wood, with the gate to Daelkyr standing naked in its midst.

*****

A few days later the party made ready to return to Sharn. They had constructed what protection they could for the gate. Garen had provided a thick shell of steel reinforced stone. They had then covered the entire construction with the splinters to make it look as natural as possible. It had been a slow process, with the minds of Daelkyr constantly invading their own. Every few minutes Sadie would move to attack someone - then look confused and continue her work.

Ulweiss and Uaamat soon joined them. Uaamat was furious that Ulweiss had told her that the heroes already had the rod to seal the gate, but they clearly did not - and the now the gate was more vulnerable than ever. She implored the party to retrieve the rod and return as quickly as possible.

Ulweiss was just glad that Thaspar was alive.

The next thing on the agenda was getting the rod to seal the gate. The rod stored in the most secure depths of Kundarak Tower.

Timeline

• Sul 8 Eyre - Inside the Tree
• Mol 9 Eyre - Hiding the aftermath

Heroic Actions

• Dumont tripped over an invisible Garen and impaled the Broodkeeper on his sword

Heroic Quotes

• "What I need is a potion of Cure Dignity" - Dumont

Adventure Names

Session 2

• Bryan - It Was Like That When We Got Here

Legends & Lore

The druids of the Eldeen reaches are roughly divided into five druidic sects: the Wardens of the Wood, the Ashbound, the Children of Winter, the Gatekeepers, and the Greensingers. Each sect has unique goals, traditions, and beliefs. The Gatekeepers seek to protect the natural world from unnatural horrors, while the Children of Winter believe that nature will soon scour the world with plague and disaster.

Statistics

Session 1
Date Played: June 9, 2007
Session Length: 10 hours
Experience Gained: ~4000/character
Foes Vanquished: Greater Stone Golem, 2 Truly Horrid Umber Hulks, 4 Brood Larvae Swarm, 1 Broodkeeper
Characters Falling Into Boiling Acid: 2
Critical Failures Rolled To Escape Boiling Acid: 1

Session 2
Date Played: July 15, 2007
Session Length: 4 hours
Experience Gained: 2700/character
Foes Vanquished: Root of Evil

Some parts of this adventure were extracted from the adventure "Root of Evil" by Robert Lazzaretti, published in Dragon # 122. Ironically there is not much in this chronicle that was taken from that adventure, though this chronicle shares the same name. "The Tree" contains most of the material published in that adventure.