Heroes and Heroines Live Action Roleplay (Larp/LRP)

22 Grusaba, 8978 Ta

Source: Martinez

By Emptiness Abducted

Our mission was to search for Lt General Sir Redvers Penn Norcott from the Emerald Empire who was conducting business in the Thornspine Forest, and to find him or details of what happened to him.  Our colourful party of 12 travelled by sea to the general area and then travelled the 10 or days overland by foot into the Thornspire Forest.

As we progressed we noticed that the our sense of taste for food was diminishing.  We were attacked by forest creatures and encountered the odd colourful mushroom that had varying effects on the party, summary later.

We encountered some local people that allowed us to stay, for a small fee.  As a favour to them, as part of our agreed ‘fee’ we rescued their leader’s sister and brother who we discovered had been caught by a spider. The locals explained that they they used some of the mushroom caps to make potions, and that they had direct effects as well.  They had brewed some grog they referred to as ‘lightening juice’ that had slightly random effects on those imbibing.  It made me somewhat paranoid for a short while.

The following day, as we searched the trail for the Lt Gen we encountered several more angry animals, as well as other locals who tried to inhibit our progress.  We discovered from these groups that there was some kind of ritual they were gathering ingredients for so they could lure away some kind of bogus spirit from Avaloth to a virtually deserted area of Blackwood.

We also come across a lawyer the that Lt Gen had employed to help with his business dealings in the area.  The lawyer had been kept prisoner effectively within a set of wards by the locals, he posed no threat to them, but they did not want him wandering around.  He only knew that the Lt Gen had headed towards a cave in search for ingredients.

[As a side note for the guide only:  One of the concoctions he had brewed was a tea that gave you some kind of vision.  I tried it - and I had a profound vision of my duty to rid Idenia of as many undead as possible - in retribution for those undead that wiped out my home village years ago.  A side effect of the tea is that my own power slowly leaked away until I was unconscious.  On reflection I am not sure if a bless might have stopped that effect.]

We found the cave that the Lt Gen had gone into.  It was a very tight squeeze to get into, only allowing 1 person at a time after going through 30ft of twisting tight cave tunnel.  We were immediately attacked by some undead that we dealt with. We found evidence of bones and limbs that had been eaten (clearly not by the undead) - apparently someone recognised humanoid tooth marks.  We figured that the Lt Gen and anyone with him had come to some kind of gruesome end there.

As we headed back to our lodgings it was clear from further encounters with locals that they were well advanced in the ritual to lure the bogus spirit away.  We rapidly advanced with the aim of disturbing the ritual and killing those performing it - though as they fought us they said that we would not stop it anyway!  One of the messages we interrupted indicated that the spirit was embodied in a Wendigo. 

Whilst we recuperated at our lodgings we were disturbed by magical creatures that just kept coming in a continuous stream.  We followed the stream of magical creatures back to its source and found a mage that was summoning these creatures - so we rid the area of that menace, using the last of the elixir that we had.

Unfortunately, either we had not disturbed the ritual early enough or something else - we were then attacked by the bogus spirit embodied in the Wendigo.  It was not undead, but something else - linked to cannibalism we believe, striking with strong power based damage.  We did manage to destroy the creature, although two of the party died as we did not have sufficient elixirs.  It was clear from the trappings of the creature that it was the Lt Gen we had been seeking, the spirit had taken control of him forcing him to eat his colleagues and after weeks started to terrorise the area.  The ritual was aimed at luring the creature away from heavily populated areas.  At this point we had succeeded in our base mission and were able to go home (after resting overnight as it was very late).  Our sense of taste returned immediately after slaying the creature.

The following morning, as we were leaving our lodgings, we were waylaid by more villagers who initially wanted to stop us leaving.  They said that the spirit was not completely destroyed, only its temporary physical host, and that it would take months for it to find another host.  They were going to lure the spirit away from Avaloth and the higher population density there.  They said that to destroy the spirit would require waiting for it to embody and create a more powerful version of its presence and destroy the spirit completely.  It was unclear if further specific rituals were required to achieve this.

As the spirit was not undead, we were not in protectorate lands, we had completed our mission, and we had sufficient demonstrable evidence about the spirit, how long it took to embody the Lt Gen then we decided we were not in a position to interfere with this local matter.  We did offer that the Protectorate would look in our libraries for details about such spirits, Wendigo and how to destroy them completely (not just their temporary physical presence).  The protectorate should follow up on this and send a more seasoned party to deal with this issue.  It would help build relationships with the Thornspire Forest area as well as looking at further trade opportunities for the flora and fauna resources in the area. We ensured the that locals who gave us board and lodging left the area and offered them sanctuary.