Pathfinders of the New World- Knights of the Cross(roads): Book One, Chapter Four, Condensed

The Savage Lands

Dramatis Personae:
Kelani, the Kitsune Druid who doesn't understand civilization

Arden, Kelani's velociraptor animal companion

Kibbik, the Kobold Paladin of Apsu who is too trusting

Gabtar, Kibbik's Goblin follower

Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue who causes more trouble than anyone knows

Maggie, the Gnome Magus who never stops talking


***** The Savage Lands

       When the Knights finally finished getting their new mining business set up, they decided it was time to head toward the Savage Lands. This was a part of the country that not many people ventured to, it was rumored to be quite dangerous- making it perfect for the Knights. There was one outpost they had heard of, and they decided to head that direction first. They packed up Kelani's wagon, bringing along her wolf puppies and dog because she couldn't bear to part from them, and set out on the trail. 

       After a few days of travel, the group encountered people who had been turned to stone. They attempted to get information from the statues, but couldn't get much more than that they were adventurers who had encountered something horrible. This put the group on alert, and they proceeded with extreme caution on their route. For several days there was no sign of whatever had been turning things to stone, but they kept seeing different animals frozen in time as solid rock. Finally, after days of travel, they finally found the source of the stone: gorgons. Gorgons are bull-like creatures that seem to be made of interlocking metal plates, and they have the ability to turn beings to stone. The group found them migrating through a valley, that they needed to cross. Kelani used a spell that allows her to travel with people through trees, and after much effort she managed to get everyone to safety. 

       The group had several encounters with the gorgons over the next several days, as they continued to make their way towards the outpost, and they always prevailed. Though their final encounter with a gorgon ended up turning Kelani to stone... Fortunately for her, they were just a day away from the outpost, and were able to get her back into her normal self in no time. 

       During their two day long rest at the outpost, the group learned of a mysterious plateau, that was believed to be a dragon lair. Thanks to Mother, I also learned that there was a piranha invasion in the lake in front of the plateau, which gave us more reasons than just potential monies to go there; I had to help the lake's ecosystem. I also learned that a chasm had appeared at random, cutting off water flow and making the lands a desert. Ralliakkan thought it was an entrance to the Underdark, and we decided to explore that later. 

       The trek to the plateau took several weeks, during which the group was constantly hounded by sand worms. After a few fights, they got into a sort of groove fighting them, to the point where it almost became an automated thing. While the worms were annoying, their scales were worth a good price, and they usually had interesting treasure in their bellies. 

       Finally, after weeks of travel, the group found themselves at the base of this plateau. Since there was no trail up it, the group decided they needed to return to Crossroads for a couple of days, get new gear, and drop off the wagons and Kelani's puppies. Kelani grew them a tree large enough to take the wagons through, and off they went. 

***** The Plateau

       When the Knights returned to the base of the plateau, Kelani summoned giant eagles for the group to fly on, and they rode them up to the cloud line, but the eagles dared not go farther. The druid could not get any help from elementals on why either. Finding themselves on their own, Kelani became an earth elemental and began to tunnel the group into the plateau. 

       After much traveling, they found a normal path within the plateau that they began to follow. As they went, a fog began rolling in, growing thicker by the minute. Kelani turned into an air elemental and surrounded the group so they could continue to breath easily. Hours went by, with the fog growing thicker and thicker by the minute, and finally the group found themselves staring at a cliff. It was pitch black out there, and they couldn't see the bottom or the other side. Kelani turned into an albatross so she could carry everyone across the cliff, but once she hit the middle, the group was hit by a sleep spell. Everyone except Maggie succumbed to it instantly, but the gnome was able to stay awake just long enough to cast Feather Fall on Kelani, so the druid wouldn't crash and possibly kill them all.

       They awoke in a forest, unaware of how much time had passed. When the Knights began to explore they met an elven woman who took them to her tree community. It was a giant tree that had somehow grown into an entire colony. The townsfolk told the group about the black dragon who ruled their realm, and of his many lesser minions who terrorized the humans in the communities, making them slaves. Of course the Knights could not resist saving a small country worth of people from their brutal enslavers; they swore they would bring the dragons down. 

       It took the Knights several weeks to methodically kill all of the dragons, but eventually they had slaughtered all of them, and were leaving the plateau with a sizable fortune. The elven woman showed them how to leave the plateau, and they returned to Crossroads, to learn that time moved slower in the plateau, and while only a few weeks had passed for them, an entire year had gone by outside. 

***** 

       Ralliakkan made good one her promise to buy the inn the group had taken up residence in. She renamed it the Underhearth, and began working on making it a self-sustaining compound. Kelani set up plants of all kinds, and got livestock, taking over the stables as her personal palace; surrounded by what she loves. She set up an animal training, animal shelter, and veterinary business in the barn and sought out a young druid to apprentice- she'd need someone to take over while they were out adventuring. Kibbik finished his Temple of Apsu, and his following grew exponentially. The Knights decided to take a year off to set up their new businesses and new home. 

Pathfinders of the New World- Knights of the Cross(roads): Book One, Chapter Three, Condensed

The Haunted Woods

Dramatis Personae:
Kelani, the Kitsune Druid who doesn't understand civilization

Arden, Kelani's velociraptor animal companion

Kibbik, the Kobold Paladin of Apsu who is too trusting

Gabtar, Kibbik's Goblin follower

Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue who causes more trouble than anyone knows

Maggie, the Gnome Magus who never stops talking

NOTE: Anything in italics is from Kelani's point of view- anytime she refers to "Mother" she means Mother Nature

***** The Island

       The Knights got a ferry to drop them at the island in the middle of the lake- it was believed to be as haunted as the woods on the other side. The ferryman was reluctant to bring them out there, and hurried back to town as soon as the group had left his boat. 

       I spoke with the elemental who resides in this part of the country, and was told of an infestation of bugs that were destroying the trees on the island. Mother also told me of a crawdad infestation near the shore of the haunted woods; my friends were willing to help with that, it meant a crawdad fest for all of us. When we arrived at the island, I immediately inspected the trees to see what I was dealing with. It turned out to be a simple issue, and I summoned birds and bats to come feast on the smorgasbord of insects waiting for them. 

       After the druid did her duty to nature, the group began to inspect the island, and found the source of the trouble quickly. They discovered that three hags had taken up residence on the island, and they were not pleased by the Knights appearance. A grueling battle ensued, and one of the hags turned Kibbik into a frog; though the witches did not realize that even as a frog, a paladin can still smite evil- it was hilarious to watch this little frog hop up to a hag, bite her, and succeed in smiting her. Once the party finished off the hags, they found the rest of the island to be quite peaceful. They decided to head to the forest.

***** The Haunted Woods

       When the group reached the shore of the woods, Kelani called a nature spirit- or as she calls them, Mother's Voice- to inquire about their surroundings. The druid was unable to get much useful information from the spirit, just the basics of what local flora and fauna inhabited the area. She wanted to find out if there was anything unusual in the woods, but the spirit misunderstood the question. The group wandered through the woods, and eventually decided to make camp for the night.

       That night, while most of the group was sleeping, they were attacked by werewolves. After a difficult battle they finally beat the beasts, and decided to head back to Crossroads to stock up on silver sheen. Two days later the group re-entered the woods, much more prepared for what they were about to face.

       Kelani was able to get better information from Mother this time around, since she knew exactly what to ask for, and the spirit led them to the largest den. After spending the day traveling toward the werewolf den, night finally came and the wolves were up. The group met the leader, and the majority of his pack, just minutes away from their den. While everyone prepared for a difficult battle, Kibbik marched up to the leader and laid his hands on him. Using the gifts granted to him by Apsu, Kibbik removed the curse on the werewolf- making him human again; this also turned the entire pack human again, since taking out the maker reverses the curse on all he created. They sent the people down to the lake to wait for them while they investigated the rest of these woods.

       While traveling to the other two dens, the group was assaulted by will-o-wisps. That battle was one of the biggest challenges the Knights had faced yet. They discovered in the largest den a line of gold, which prompted them to start a gold mine. Most of the former wolves were hired on as miners, and the group spent the next couple of weeks setting up their new business venture.

Pathfinders of the New World- Knights of the Cross(roads): Book One, Chapter Two, Condensed

Weeding Out Trouble

Dramatis Personae:
Kelani, the Kitsune Druid who doesn't understand civilization

Arden, Kelani's velociraptor animal companion

Kibbik, the Kobold Paladin of Apsu who is too trusting

Gabtar Ratbag, Kibbik's Goblin follower

Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue who causes more trouble than anyone knows

Maggie, the Gnome Magus who never stops talking

***** The Bandits

       Shortly after our heroes arrival in Crossroads, they learned of a bounty against several groups of bandits. They needed money, and Kibbik of course felt the need to bring the law upon their heads, so the group set out to purge the forest of bandits.

       The first night they went after the bandits they took down an entire camp. Kibbik offered them the option to surrender to the law, but they refused his offer; they thought the little kobold was alone, and a bandit camp can easily take down a single kobold. It was a brutal fight, the bandits tried hard, and did some minor injuries to the group, but the Knights prevailed- there were no survivors. They returned to Crossroads briefly to restock their supplies before returning to the woods.

       Kibbik frequently does healing patrols, to help the injured who cannot afford to seek healers on their own; while he was doing one of these the day after the group returned to Crossroads, Kibbik met an aasimar cleric named Rhialla. He told the aasimar about their quest to purge the woods of bandits, and she decided she needed to go with the group.

       The next day they set out to finish what they had started. Kelani got information from the local fauna about where the bandits were camped out, and they learned that there were four more camps. They spent that evening methodically slaughtering bandits- only one tiny group accepted Kibbik's offer of surrender. It was a gruesome, bloody, exhausting night, and when it was finally over the woods were safe again. Rhialla parted from the group upon their return to Crossroads, and they did not see her again.

***** The Goblins

       The Knights decided their next feat would be to tackle the goblin problem in the hills, which Maggie was overly excited about- the gnome has an obsession with killing every goblin ever. Their first day of travel toward the Goblin Hills the group was attacked by a band of goblins. The party took care of them easily enough- except for one. Kibbik sensed good in this goblin, whose name was Ratbag; Kibbik told him if he devoted his life to Apsu that he would spare the goblin's life, to which he readily agreed. Kibbik renamed him Gabtar, and the group hid him in the back of Kelani's wagon to keep him away from the deranged gnome.

       While the rest of the group had been looting the goblin's bodies, removing their ears for bounties, and dealing with Gabtar, Maggie had been walking the battlefield killing any goblins that weren't quite dead, and making a mountain of dead bodies. When all of the bodies had been added to the pile, the gnome set it aflame, filling the air with a huge column of black smoke, and the acrid stench of burning goblins.

       The next day, as the group was approaching the base of the hills they learned that Maggie's smoke signal had worked. They were met by a huge goblin war party composed at least one hundred goblins, ogres, and trolls (total, not one hundred of each). That was a grueling battle, especially for Kelani, who had no trees to hide in, and Ralliakkan who is most effective when she has places to hide. Eventually the group defeated the war party, and the moment the battle was won Ralliakkan jumped on her horse and took off for Crossroads; she was furious with how difficult that battle had been for her.

       A couple of days passed before the Knights were ready to head out again, this time for the Haunted Woods. It was said that no one came out of that forest, but there were horrible noises coming from it at night. When the group arrived in the town on the opposite side of the lake from the woods, they soon learned that yet another goblin war party was coming towards them. This fight went much better for everyone.

       The guards of the town joined the fray, and this time there were plenty of shadows and trees for Ralliakkan and Kelani. This fight seemed to go on for hours, and the carnage left from it was gruesome to behold. Kelani grew a tree in the middle of the road where they had met their foes, a huge oak that was made to serve as a memorial for those who had fallen in the fight. The next morning the group went to investigate the island in the middle of the lake, and planned to go from there into the woods. 

The Life of Kelani, the Kitsune Druid

Kelani grew up in the Kryndall Grove, an isolated forest that is home to many magical races. She rarely left the forest except to visit a nearby fishing village for trade. When Kelani began showing a talent for nature magic at an early age, she joined the druids who protect the forest. She grew up learning the secrets of nature as well as how to love and revere it. The kitsune believes that nature is the only authority that matters. 

During Kelani’s training she learned about other aspects of nature that did not exist in her forest. She grew curious about hills, plains, jungles, oceans, and even this strange thing called civilization. She wanted to see these things, and understand why the others spoke of civilization with such disdain. Kelani harassed everyone who had been outside with questions about what the world beyond was like. She felt a need to see what the rest of nature held, and thought that she could not completely love nature without seeing the rest of it.

She one day encountered a velociraptor nest, full of shells of hatched eggs, except for one that was shaking, trying to hatch, to no avail. Kelani helped the young raptor out of her shell, and named the hatchling Arden, the word for forest in her tongue. Arden has not left her side since, and has become her loved companion, who fights alongside her and protects her. 

About a year ago, a group of adventurers entered her forest and were attacked by a group of moody werewolves. Kelani came on them shortly after the fight, and found one of them was badly injured. She offered to heal him and, after some confusion about her also being a humanoid animal and not trying to eat them, did so. Kelani began peppering them with questions about what they were, where they came from, and what their homelands were like. Eventually they offered to take her with them to show her the wonders they had been telling her of. Her family and grove tried to convince her to stay, but her curiosity won and she left.

Kelani decided to come to the New World after spending some time in a port city and seeing imprisoned animals coming in on the ships, as new "exotic" pets. She felt that Mother (Nature) was calling her to cross the ocean and come to the New World to champion for the animals against this travesty.

Even after spending so much time in civilization, Kelani still doesn't understand it, or the bewildered looks she receives for being a multi-tailed bipedal fox wearing leaves and being escorted by a velociraptor. In an attempt to understand cities better, the kitsune has equated them to bee hives, because that is the closest analogy she sees to how cities function. Her companions have tried to alter this perception, but the druid refuses to see cities in any other way. She is still more comfortable sleeping in a bed of leaves under the stars, and still refuses to sleep indoors in a bed; it just doesn't feel natural to her. 

Pathfinders of the New World- Knights of the Cross(roads): Book One, Chapter One, Condensed

The Island

Dramatis Personae:
Kelani, the Kitsune Druid who doesn't understand civilization

Arden, Kelani's velociraptor animal companion

Kibbik, the Kobold Paladin of Apsu who is too trusting

Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue who causes more trouble than anyone knows

Maggie, the Gnome Magus who never stops talking

       Our heroes met aboard a ship sailing to the New World. While they saw each other, none had really spoken much during the two week trip. The skies had been clear and glorious for the trip thus far, allowing their vessel to make excellent time. One day, the sky began to darken. Everyone aboard sensed a storm was coming. Kelani tried to help the ship, but she was not quite strong enough yet to command a tempest of this magnitude. After what felt like hours, the ship crashed on a small island.

       The ship needed repairs badly, and the group volunteered to do some of the grunt work for the captain if it meant they could resume their journey soon. The party was told to find a new mast for the ship, and to do that, they needed to find a way up a cliff, where the trees were larger. After much searching, the group found a section of cliff where there appeared to be enough hand holds for them to get up safely.

       Kelani turned into a parrot and began to fly up the cliff with the rope and stake needed to allow the others to climb. About halfway up the cliff, something began flying towards Kelani, acting like it was going to eat her. She had never seen a harpie before, and thought it was just a normal predator- so she spoke to it, baffling it momentarily. More harpies joined the first one, and Kelani dove back to the safety of the trees. The group realized they would need to find a new way up the cliff.

       During their search, the group found a small cave, and hiding behind the rock in it was a chest that had a treasure map. They decided to follow the map after they had found a new mast. Ralliakkan was restless, and attempted to climb back up the cliff on her own- only to be hypnotized by a harpie and forced to walk off the cliff. She was fine, just in a coma for the next few days.

       Eventually they found a way up the cliff that didn't involved the harpies, and the group (sans Ralliakkan) began going toward the larger trees. Random animals kept attempting to eat different members of the party, partly because the gnome wouldn't shut up and that attracted attention, but Kelani was able to calm the animals and send them on their way.

       Finally the group found a large group of trees, but they were covered in spider webs... the entire section of the forest was coated in webbing. They were assaulted by evil giant spiders constantly during their trek through this part of the forest. The group did manage to get away from them, and brought the mast back to the captain.

       Since the druid found the spiders puzzling, the group returned to that section of the woods to investigate. They stumbled upon an abandoned tree village- one similar to those in Kelani's forest. It had been deserted for a long time, and was falling apart in many spots. Within the houses they found shadows... animated shadows, who attacked. The fight was strenuous, and Kibbik required a bit of healing when it was finished, but they were victorious; and rewarded with some interesting items.

       Later the group followed their treasure map, and found more wonderful items- this had turned into a very profitable crash. They had a few encounters with the harpies, but since they now knew what to expect, the beasts posed little threat to them. Ralliakkan came out of her coma quickly enough, and was able to rejoin the group on their hunting while they waited for repairs to be completed on the ship.

*******

The rest of the journey to the New World was peaceful, and the group was happy to finally arrive in Crossroads, the port city their ship was stopping at. Somehow during the course of events on the island, they had started to become friends, and all gladly shared a room at the inn in town.