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Session 12 is done and done!
We left off with the party recouping with a short rest, after dealing with logger camp 2 of 3. After some discussion, Bartholomule headed to camp 3, down by the river, while the party (and beat up hog-tied logger man) headed towards the guild hall.
The deforestation around the guild hall was gut-wrenching - stumps of large, old growth trees withering, the foliage around them upturned from all the movement of the loggers past. It was evident that the loggers increased their logging. But the mills weren't running, and the unprocessed logs still remained stacked to their sides. It was eerily silent, with a soft glow of cinders in the distance, near the guild hall.
Fearing a large ambush from behind the stumps, like what happened in camp 1, the party went to retrieve Bartholomule at camp 3.
Camp 3 was closest to the forest, where it met the river's edge. There was smoke and the smell of fire in the distance, and as they got closer, the party could tell that camp 3 was ablaze.
But also, the edge of the forest seemed to be growing at an alarming rate, almost in grapple with the fire. Strangling vines extended along the ground from the forest's edge, entrapping some of the party and Bartholomule himself, who was calling for help in mid-struggle.
Revna / Baby managed to free everyone, as Visenya used her druidic knowledge to try and understand what was happening. The forest was lashing out.
They returned to the field of stumps, and as they hopped between stumps for cover, moving forward, they saw dead logger bodies, some burned, others mangled, often both.
When they passed the first mill (laying the now sleeping logger captive down against its wall, with a note), Visenya began putting everything together - the increased logging, the forest lashing out: somehow, the heart of this forest, a massive, soulbinding life-tree, must have been hurt.
They reached the guild hall, hastily boarded up, with wines digging into its roof. A line of cinder, being constantly fed by, presuming, loggers, feeding the fire in several ways. But the forest edge was pushing back. The cinder-keepers frantically patching breeches, paid no heed to the party.
Revna smashed into the guild hall, which was being torn and and covered in vines.
A voice, speaking common but with a suppressed elvish accent, was yelling.
The party knew who this is - not personally, but from what they learned while negotiating in Merrickshire. This was Rolf Axewield, of renounced elvish heritage. Zelcerys responded back in Elvish, with got an angry response.
After searching around (why do I like doors so much?) and seeing several "vine spears" that seemed to be overtaking and decomposing people, they found a room with Donderlon.
He was unconscious and overtaken by vine spears, with Rolf, the muscle-bound elf, angerly hacking away at the vines (occasionally plucking his own that were starting to attack him).
Visenya, communing with Silvanus, heard nothing but rage - communing with Donderlon was more fruitful. They learned that he was welcomed by the loggers, and talking with Rolf. Also, that a few days ago, the forest began spreading and attacking.
Much like how the blights attacked the party - which defended itself after taking some wounds. Baby, mid battle, created a spiritual sanctuary for Donderlon, with Juk'Bx healing him, bringing him from unconscious to a semi-catatonic state.
This is where the party left off - in a guild hall being consumed by the forest, just barely helping their friend from death, and with accepting (at least for now) Rolf; as a, flawed man, but not a villian.