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Tragedy (Session #3)
After defeating the pseudonormal cockroaches, the group used all of the healing available to them to prepare for the search for a lair of the kaorti. The group spent the next few hours searching the area near the roadside. The group was divided as to how to go about the search; Kruenor and Mylo wanted to go deeper into the forest; the rest of the group wanted to go back to Riverside and rest for a day before making a decision. The companions' stubbornness caused them to decide to temporarily split up.
Mylo and Kruenor stayed in the forest, taking their search deeper and deeper into the corrupted forest.
Rory and the paladins traveled back to Riverside to restock their supplies and prepare for the search.
While wandering the blighted forest, a translucent band of flesh erupted from the foliage, snagging Mylo, and pulling him toward the waiting mouth of a giant frog with terrible teeth. As he struggled against the incessant pull of the twisted beast, Kruenor rushed toward his small friend, but by the time he reached the frog, Mylo had already been swallowed and the frog had started to hop away. Kruenor attacked the beast with his urgosh while fighting the frog, Kruenor saw the metal tip of Mylo's sickle poke through the skin of the frog's abdomen. Mylo was trying to fight his way out from inside. The frog then bit Kruenor in the thigh, so deep that it scraped against the bone. Kruenor was barely able to keep his feet after such a horrible injury. Mylo tried to cut his way out, but he lost his grip of his sickle and was unable to regain it. Instead he had to attempt to climb out through the frog's maw. Mylo struggled his way to the frog's mouth just in time to see Kruenor collapse after another bite from the frog.
Mylo pulled himself from the frog's mouth, but he could not leave his friend as a meal for the beast. Unable to put any space between himself and the frog so he could use his skiprocks, Mylo turned towards the beast and attacked it with his bare hands. After Mylo landed several strong blows, the frog's tongue shot out snagging Mylo and pulling him towards its waiting mouth. Mylo was weakened from the long battle and although he put up a valiant fight, the frog pulled him into its mouth and into oblivion.
Blaine, Kyle, and Rory stayed in the Golden Goose for two nights before they began to worry about their companions. They traveled back to the campsite and saw that the wagon that they left behind containing Kruenor and Mylo's supplies had not been disturbed since they went to town.
After searching for several hours, the group came upon the prone form of Kruenor. They checked to see if he was alive and he was. so they used a healing potion to revive him. When he awoke, the first thing he asked was "Where's Mylo?".
The realization that Mylo must have fallen against the frog caused the group to begin hunting for the beast. Not too long after they began the search, near a small pond, they found the frog. After a quick battle, the group had defeated two giant frogs, including the frog that had ingested poor Mylo. Kyle cut the frog's stomach open and removed the partially digested remains of their halfling friend so they could lay him to rest.
Just as they were going to continue searching for the kaorti lair, they were approached by Kruenor's elven friend, Gaelen Brightfeather. Gaelen told them that he had been wandering the Gray Forest for the week since he left Kruenor. As he was traveling down the road, he noticed the unnatural blight that had stricken the forest. He decided to look into it. In the time that he had been wandering the forest, he found the cave where the kaorti have been holed up. He was going to look for help when he stumbled across the party. Gaelen offered to guide the party to the lair.
A few miles away from Mylo's burial site, a large cave mouth extended into the ground. Large strips of a material similar to the kaorti suits were hanging from the ceiling covering the entire entrance so the group was unable to see within. Rory and Gaelen started towards the opening when Rory mentioned that he would be unable to see within the cave. After he mentioned that, his necklace began glowing with a dim light. The light only allowed him to see where he was going, but it was good enough that the two of them were willing to enter the lair to perform reconnaissance. The rest of the group was waiting about forty feet from the entrance.
Rory and Gaelen slowly pushed their way through the hanging strips. The strips filled the first fifteen feet before the cave opened into a pitch black corridor. As soon as they emerged from the strips, a palatable feeling of wrongness nearly overwhelmed them. They shook the feeling off, but it was still very distracting. They stopped and listened for movement when Rory's necklace began to pulse. Feeling that this was some kind of warning, Rory told Gaelen to run. The pair erupted out into the clearing so their friends rushed forward to aid them, but nothing exited the cave mouth.