The Perilous Trek

May 22, 2026

Armed with new-found purpose, the party starts their trek north towards Mount Hotenaw. One convenient fact is that Lachlan ’s old monastery happens to be on the way to the peak, providing the party a place of reprieve on this strenuous journey. And as such, Lachlan also happens to know a good path up to the monastery.

The party starts walking through the open fields surrounding Neverwinter, which slowly turns into a less worn path through a dense patch of forest. Tired from a day’s trek, the party settles down to camp. The atmosphere in these woods does not feel particularly friendly though, so they decide to keep watch one at a time over the night. The less sleep dependent members settle on an order: Lachlan , Talon , then Thalia for the last 4 hours. The uneasy feelings don’t stop during the night, with weird noises coming from the dark, noises that one would not normally hear in a forest.

Things take a turn, when during Thalia ’s watch, a loud noise starts approaching, sounding as if something is being dragged. Thankfully, during his shift, Talon let the fire die out, so the adventurers are still shrouded in darkness. On the other hand, it is quite chilly. Some of them would say it’s even freezing. Nevermind that. Thalia wakes Kaimi and Sillidious since they are the ones who got the most rest so far. Sillidious is not exactly happy about this new circumstance, complaining about the audacity of the creature that caused this unbearable noise. Emboldened by the Gods-know-what, he urges the ‘deliquent’ (as he put it) to come and face him. The sound intensifies still and it is reminiscent of a river or a creek perhaps.

Sillidious uses his divine sense to feel the aura of this new threat. An aura of unsettling undeath fills the air. Kaimi detects the same sort of magic in the air, in the soil, everywhere. The danger is imminent. Suddenly, from between the trees, the party makes out a gnarl of roots pushing its way forward. Upon closer look, it is a whole entire tree dragging itself towards the camp, with roots reminiscent of tentacles.

The adveturers move out of the way in an attempt to hide. It would be silly to stay in the path of the tree… Sillidious attempt a Command spell, but it has no effect. The tree advances and climbs over the remnants of the fire. Smaller roots moving like some sort of antennae are squirming, looking for something. They turn towards Sillidious … ‘Blasphemy!’ he shouts, grabbing his sword and charging full speed towards the creature. A big battle commences, but our party manages to defeat the threat.

Wanting more clarity on what just happened, Kaimi casts Identify and finds the remains of some form of pre-blight. Due to this, plants come alive by unnatural means and it is clear that the now decomposing tree was victim of this blight. In a display of botanical dedication that no one had requested, Sillidious attempts to help by ‘pulling out his holy tongue’ (Again, his words. This author takes no ownership of such phrasings) and licking the tree…The tree, apparently unaccustomed to such intimacy, emitted a low, aggrieved moan, as though violated in ways this forest has not witnessed before. The verdict? It tasted something akin to moldy bread and Sillidious now wanted to clean his mouth from the stench.

With the threat now eradicated, the party goes back to an uneasy sleep and woke in the morning to a almost completely decomposed tree. They packed up their camp and proceeded forwards on their journey. A bit up the mountain, they find a bridge crossing an estuary. Soft mist curls upward from the surface of the hot water. And of course, Sillidious tries to lick the boiling water to purge the still vile taste of last night’s botanical exploration. Safe to say, this does not really turn out well for him either…But the trouble does not end here. Another gnarl of vines and bushes attack the party out of nowhere. After the last battle, the adventurers deal quickly with this but the mystery intensifies and they know these creatures will keep coming their way.

Looking ahead, a new sight presents itself. Lava. Lots of lava sprouting through a big crack in the mountain. Uh oh!