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Session 37 – First Major Battles of the Desolation

After the battle with the two strange creatures at the mouth of the shaft, the party took note of their surroundings. The Desolation was not what they had expected. Rather than a barren, rocky wasteland, it was a grassy plain with some long hills and mountains away to the distant north. The temperature was mild, the air was calm and the buzz of insects and smell of grass and forest filled their nostrils. The Desolation, for all its reputation, was no different than Chaddamar itself. The party had to remind themselves that the Horde wiped this region clean each year, devouring all vegetation. They marveled at the grass beneath their feet... that the plants could regrow so quickly. It was then that they noticed the grass was moving... like thousands of tiny tongues, the grass was licking the blood from their boots and slowly devouring the bodies of the two great beasts they had just slain. Clearly, the Desolation was NOT like the lands to the south. Here, life and death were in a constant struggle.

They hoisted their packs and began the trek north. They had a very long journey ahead of them. After several hours, they began seeing tress and bushes and other larger forms of vegetation. Trees became more common and they passed small woods here and there.

After some time, Kaelig stopped suddenly and motioned for the party to get down and be quiet. He peered over into a copse of trees. The players also looked. They saw nothing out of the ordinary, a small group of trees... one of the trees near the middle did not match the others - it had black bark and was without leaves. Kaelig whispered to the party that this strange tree was a deathmauler tree and it could attack. He informed them that they must go around and be very quiet. They proceeded carefully and quietly.

Grimnoth, not designed for stealth, proceeded in his lurching mechanical fashion. Perhaps it was his heavy footfalls or the grinding of gears in his joints... in any case, stealth failed them. A shuddering creak erupted and splintering crack sounded from the woods. All heads turned. The party watched in horror as the black tree slowly leaned to one side, creaking and groaning, and then pulled its roots up from the ground. Shaking off the dirt, the tree advanced menacingly, moving awkwardly. Like some terribly spidery nightmare, the huge thing rushed up to the party much quicker than they anticipated. Dirt and rocks were flung to and fro as it whipped its roots about. It's clawed branches reached out and began snatching at the players. Blade met branch and soon the players were grappling with the strange creature. The bark was thick and the blades had trouble slicing into it. Rothgar sent fiery arrows into the upper sections of the tree catching it on fire. Callister's twin blades sang as they sliced through smaller branches. Grimnoth ripped out several branches that had wrapped about him. The others fired what spells and missiles they had. The creature battled all of them simulatenaously, seeming to see in all directions at once and wielding a hundred limbs effortlessly. But between their blades and the fire, they were doing massive damage and killing it.

Several branches flew out and entwined Kaelig who struggling futilely. In horror, the party watched as the tree devoured Kaelig entirely, pulling him into its great maw. Judging by the crack of bones and the blood curdling screams, Kaelig was being crushed. Within seconds, the screams stopped. It had devoured him whole. They managed to kill the tree creature, but not in time to save Kaelig.

After the battle with this strange tree creature, the party recovered and cast healing magic on themselves. They had been unable to save Kaelig, but their mission remained. Get to the ruins, open Death's Door and find the Talisman. And one part of the Duthelm group was already ahead of them.

The party continued on north. After a day of travel, they came upon a scattering of stone ruins in a valley. As they approached the ruins, they came across a strange thing buried partially in the ground. It was a five foot tall cone, point up, in the dirt. It was covered in a glossy, black carapace with several bulbous bumps on it. Within them, something could be seen moving. The characters wandered up to the thing and inspected it. They pulled Traskill out (the talking skull from Saramuthak's tower – yes, they took him with them) and asked him what it was. Traskill said it was a horde egg sack. The party looked closely at the tiny unhatched horde creatures moving inside.

With a rumble, the ground cracked beneath their feet and the egg sack began to move. The thing erupted out of the ground. It was much bigger than they thought. Only the tip had been shown. The egg sack, which was apparently sentient, tore it's way out of the dirt. The creature was huge with a large tear shaped body on four massive insectoid legs. It was some 20 feet tall. It had no discernable head or sensory organs.

The party worked together against this creature. The egg sack creature attacked by swinging its massive limbs. At the same time, dozens of the eggs hatched and tiny insectoid horde creatures, about the size of small dogs, dropped to the ground and joined in attacking the party.

No doubt attracted by the battle nearby, a dozen or more Desolation wights (shambling undead creatures) came out of the ruins. They also attacked. This was a major battle and the party was hard pressed. They used up a lot of arrows, magic and hit points, but finally managed to bring the egg sack creatures down. The hordelings and wights also fell.