Searching for the Gate

After their meeting with Paelias the party headed for the nearest "village".  It turned out to be a small out of the way burgh.  Checking around the group found that they could purchase a few magical and/or mundane items and they spent some of their gold, much enhancing the good burgher's pockets.  They asked around the village if there existed an area that was shunned by the locals (like a portal which they did not mention specifically.)  A young teen aged boy pointed them towards an eerie woods to the northwest of town off of the normal road.  The party set out for this area in the mid morning.  Soon after noon they came upon a wagon in the middle of the road, no people, no horses, just a wagon.  There was also a ring of standing stones alongside the roadway here.  Demin moved forward and noticed a unicorn inside the ring of stones, while Mara move off of the road and noticed two Displacer Beasts under two rather large trees.


A battle ensued in which Demin ignored the unicorn to attack the Displacer Beasts while the rest of the party also moved to engage the Beasts.   The cast an area of dazzling lights amongst the party who were all pulled closer to.the lights, at which point the two Displacer Beasts shifted around the party attacking with their tentacles.  Pretis used Myrmidon Formation, which would allow everyone next to her to get 5 temporary hit points at her next turn but then she suggested that they all head for the circle of stones as that may be the portal to the Feywild.   The party started moving to the stones, Alhellara cast her Astral Defenders in the stone archways, and as the party moved they found that the Beasts had reach on Opportunity attacks.  Melisana moved west of the wagon and cast Written in Fire which damaged all the enemies as they did not move out of its area.  Unfortunately another Displacer Beast approached Melisana from the south and attacked with a bite. 

Soon the whole party was inside the ring of stones, none gaining Pretis' temporary hit points, and joined hands while Pretis stood on the center stone with no effect.  So back to fighting the creatures.  Although seemingly strange moving to the center of the circle proved advantageous as the unicorn and beasts were large and had to squeeze to move between the stones. Gofin cast Shadow Jack and joined the space of one of the beasts.  The battle was difficult but soon the unicorn was bloodied and a displacer beast fell, although another beast moved up from the south to attack.  Finally the unicorn fell and two Displacer Beasts headed out of the area.  The last beast continued to fight and just as it seemed to die, it straightened up again with its eyes rolled back into its head and grey mist coming out of its mouth and fingertips.  The party had seen this affect before and knew that it would fall soon.  Lythandar couldn't help but throw a magic missile at it though.  After one last attack injuring Mara and Pretis the beast fell.

The party searched the bodies and found nothing interesting, the wagon was full of some mundane trade goods and food.  Under one of the southern trees the group found the remains of two horses and some human bodies, all partially eaten.  Demin collected the unicorn horn and everyone added a few items of food and they headed further down the road towards the mysterious woods.

They soon found the woods, and eerie it was indeed, the further they marched in the sounds began to shift around, subtly at first and then with increasing intensity.  The songs of the birds and the whispers in the rustling leaves of the trees almost sounding like words.  Ahead a number of trees grew together in a single clump, as though shunning the company of the rest of the forest.  Their branches were crossed and melded overhead creating a perfect arch, wide enough for two horses side by side.

Gofin sensed magic here, the arch gently swaying even though no wind blew past the party.  The forest was clear but through the arch the trees were faintly obscured by a thin yet pervasive mist.  It was surely another location on the far side of the arch.  The party decided to step though led by Mara and they felt a sudden lurch, as if falling, but the feeling passed just as they felt themselves tense up.  The hearty adventurers found themselves around a roadway which ran through an area of thick grass.  The air was redolent with the scent of greenery.  Trees loomed overhead, with vines and heavy foliage strung between them.  Everything seemed abnormally clear: Colors were brighter, sounds sharper, and objects more real.  Especially the three huge crocodiles ridden by hags!

Scorecard:  The battle with the unicorn and Displacer Beast garnered the group 514 XP, they now have 18719 XP and need 1781 more to reach 10the level.  No magical items or gold was recovered by the group in this encounter.