Shadowbrook

 

Caleb: "There is magic in the woods. We must be careful as are eyes might be deceived by what we see." He led them in a short prayer to bolster their will and they stepped into the wood.

The wood was eerily quiet and the deeper they went a tension arose.

I see movement!

As the band grow closer to the what they hope will be a discovery they see movement.

A witch gets to the marker first and transports it away.

The witch and treemen/Gnarlings fade back into the wood.

It could have been an animal or I was mistaken.

But Zachariah, Joshua, Jethro and Uriel became fearful of shadows and the earie quiet of the wood.

The reason they were fearful.

The fear made them walk faster hoping to find something all the sooner and leave this place.

Their paced quickened

Suddenly they came to a ruined church.

What might have been wholesome stained glass had been corrupted with evil scenes.

A cauldron was in the corner along with some grimoires and the skeleton of some poor soul.

They buried the remains and had a sermon said over the grave.

They burned the books, spilled the cauldron and smashed the windows.

Zachariah blessed the ground to dispel any evil lurking within.

With the day drawing on they looked for a way out of the wood.

'Quite odd' said Eli.

'What was?' said Gideon

Eli replied, 'The lack of any opposition. I expected some creature, cultists or something to bar our way. Yet there was nothing'.

'My thoughts also' said Caleb. 'We might have to come again but for now we seem to have been found what we were looking for'.

Jethro said 'And we got some garlic in case we come across the you know what! 

'Well, my dear sisters. Confrontation isn't always necessary when dealing with underlings of the church. Let us give blessings!'

'Double, double toil and trouble,

Fire burn and cauldron bubble..............

Explanation of the withdrawing of the witch and gnarlings.

I was all set for the confrontation between the witch the gnarlings and the band when it struck me that moving the objective and withdrawing would suit the witches better.

It took the band further away from the real site and if they beat the mid test the witches would still be able to attack them. They saved plot points that would enable them gain extra die should it come to close combat. In the end it wasn't needed as Eli failed the mind test due to the scene before him seeming real.