Journal Entry: 6/26/24
Above them, beyond the mushroom canopy and the mist, the edge of the stump was barely visible. The sound of bugs and a small babbling brook echoed faintly, accompanied by the smell of burning. A mushroom released its spores into the air casually. The trunks of mushrooms surrounded the party, all still battered from the fight with the frogmen. They decided to rest, each taking a two-hour watch. The night remained uneventful.
Taylor informed them that they needed to reach the heart of the world tree, believed to be at the lowest point inside the stump. Thousands of types of mold and mushrooms surrounded them, with small glowing blue mushrooms providing a bit of light. Daniel cast “Show The Way” by clearing a spot on the ground, pouring a design with powder, and lighting it. The smoke drifted in the direction of the heart. Each member had a small mote of smoke pointing north towards a red glow in the distance.
As they trekked through the mushroom forest, Daniel foraged and found some mushrooms that acted as antidotes and anti-plague. Kate scouted along the path, giving everyone a plus one to initiative. Alec noticed the smoke in the air thickening, starting to smell more like a campfire. An hour passed, and the smoke grew denser, the red glow illuminating it further. Kate moved through the smoke, seeing a line of something alive glowing and moving below the hill. A fire burned, with the mushroom forest regrowing as fast as it burned. The party decided to sneak forward down the hill.
Kate, moving silently like a ghost, and Taylor, transformed into a wasp, scouted ahead. Above the smoke, they saw a line of constant burning, with fires moving back and forth like creatures. Alec climbed a larger mushroom for a better vantage point, while Daniel and Sean watched from the hill’s edge. Suddenly, a seven-foot-tall scarecrow-like face appeared, burning from the inside. It opened its mouth, flames exploding out, reaching for Kate. She retreated, firing an arrow that sizzled blue through the air but hit nothing.
Daniel cast buffs on Sean as an explosion of fire and wood erupted. Daniel’s flame-proof armor protected him from the worst, but Kate was lightly burned and hit by splinters. Taylor, still hidden as a wasp, saw two more of the burning tree men. Alec dropped from the mushroom, bringing his sword down onto the nearest fire creature, cutting through it but doing no damage. He raised his shield in defense. Taylor, recognizing these fey creatures as forest spirits bound to the fire, returned to his human form, sensing their weakness to fire.
Sean slammed an axe into one, knocking off part of its body. Kate shot another three times, one arrow piercing its eye, causing a jet of flame. Daniel cast a wall of fire, engulfing all three enemies. One moved out of the wall to attack Alec, who chopped off its arm. The creature swung again, missing, but the others hit Alec for 42 damage. He switched to his new flaming scimitar, missing one but hitting the other. Taylor’s drake used fire breath, but the creatures dodged.
Through the smoke, a voice yelled, “Leave them be! Come to my voice and they will not follow!” With Alec nearly dead, they all ran towards the voice, the creatures following until they suddenly stopped. The original creature stared after them, holding where its arm used to be. They turned to see a cliffside covered in moss, with similar fey creatures but with fewer burns.
“Strangers,” the one who called out to them said, looking down. One shoulder smoldered, but the rest was whole. “Why are you here?”
Taylor explained their mission to reinvigorate the heart of the world tree. The fey creatures conferred among themselves before turning back. “Follow us, we will take you there.”
They began to follow up the path, Daniel healing Alec as they moved on.