Session #8 in the Aeternal Realm of Sylvaeon

The events of session #8 in the Aeternal Realm of Sylvaeon were perhaps a hallow victory for the party.

click for larger image

The last session ended with the encounter with the goblinoids back in their home turf and also with the mysterious "Old Man" (see previous post). The wizard, Kelvin the Curious was still wreathed in the black flames cast upon him by the Old Man. Trying to put the flames out in the snow availed naught. The black fire was not burning Kelvin's skin, but was consuming his very essence, so he called upon the aid of his Wyrd to cause them to subside.

Night now descended as the waxing crescent of the Silver Moon rose. Deciding to move on towards the North, where a few of the goblinoids had escaped to and where the Moon Well that was reported to be in peril lay, the party pressed on into the darkness. Soon a strange phenomenon that none had seen before illuminated the Northern skies. A red aurora that seemed to sometimes have the shape of a dragon from the old tales lit up the night. Smyrynel's Kite companion returned with a message that "new" Wardens would meet the party... and Sedgewick the giant snowy owl arrived shortly afterwards to confirm the message that wardens would join the party to the North.


During the night, whole families of animals were seen to move through the forest to the south, fleeing the direction that the PCs were moving towards. After a brief daytime rest, the party continued to follow the tracks in the snow of the fleeing goblinoids, who made no attempt to cover their escape, but were moving post-haste deeper into their territory. During the day as large black cloud swallowed up a flock of hundreds of crows that were also fleeing from the north. As night descended again, the red aurora was seen again and the aurora pillar was originating just up ahead of the group.

 Coming upon the Moon Well clearing the PCs heard the cries of "Lady have mercy!", as to their horror the beheld the burning sacrifice of an elf and a chanting goblinoid shaman... and to the polluted moon well which had become the center of great evil caused by the green-black menaces. Some goblinoids worked to mine slag while others heated it in a huge kettle. An eight foot tall hulk of their kind was pouring the boiling mess into a hole in the moon well ice, as another hulk tried to push down one of the giant standing stones around the moon well. Yet another standing stone near the shaman and his grim sacrifice had been turned into a totem. It has been augmented with large, bat-like wings and a red moon crescent was painted upon it in the elf's blood.


The party decided to split into three groups in order to attack the three main congregation of creatures... rushing in on horseback, they had the surprise!

Airyka and Brynn, the two sword sisters fought one of the hulks and several lesser goblinoid and had a tough melee against them. One sister was pounced on the hulk, while the other dispatched the other goblinoids, but ultimately it took them both to take down the foes together.

The male paladin, Parcifal tried to save the elf, but was blocked by the alpha Black Wolf that he had encountered once before and grudge battle between them ensued; swords and teeth flashing! Kelvin was "called out" for a wizard duel by the Shaman and it got pretty nasty after spells were exhausted - the shaman kicking the Wizard with his clawed feet, biting and trying to knife him!

Oban the Ranger and Smyranel the female elven paladin/druid rode across the frozen moon well, avoiding the horrid red aurora pillar at its center. On the other side they faced two of the black wolves, which brought down Oban's horse. The miners were entangled by Smyranel in the wintered thorn vines that snaked across the lower forest floor. Then the hulk began to pound mercilessly on Smyranel as she sliced it again and again. Oban shot arrows at the hulk to further wear it down and managed to kill one of the wolves that had caused him to have to leave his horse.

At the end of the battle, tall men with fair skin and blondish hair, dressed in heavy chain mail and furs
(quite unlike the usual Folk of the Realm) came crashing through the woods, killing goblins that were fleeing into the clearing from them.

Eventually only the alpha Black wolf and one of his pack members escaped... before the shaman was dispatched, it cackled and pointed to the sky, saying it did not matter that he lived or died because "he now comes"... the "he" being a large red light in the sky that was larger than a star.


The moon well is still tainted as the evils of the goblinoid tribe continue their course... there is a new red light in the heavens.... an unknown group of new humans has arrived on the scene... what will next week bring?

Encounters in the Wilderness

Giant Snowy Owl

Today was session #2 of the Aeternal Realm of Sylvaeon campaign. The party is made up elves and humans: two chivalric Paladins of the Order of the White Rose, a brain-addled but resourceful Mage of the Hermetic Order of Wizardry, A skillful and deadly Sword Sister and a cunning Ranger/Thief.

Being inducted as recruit Wardens in the first session, with fanfare at a celebration located in the village of Arrowmouth, the recruits received their marking as a Warden - the Glyph of the Silver Moon. This was placed upon their hand by the Druid Mellion at their swearing in ceremony.

The PCs left Arrowmouth the next day, traveling roughly Northwest, by the old road that follows the Broken Arrow River. Making camp for the night, the party built a sturdy, large lean-to shelter and a fire to protect them from the freezing Winter elements. After a bit, they heard a hooting noise in a nearby oak tree. The Huge round eyes, reflected in the firelight, were seen in the tree....

As the clouds parted some, partial moonlight revealed the silhouette of a large bird-like figure in the tree. The ranger, Oban,  knocked an arrow as the sword sister lit a lanterns for better illumination. The creature spoke, asking the ranger to please not shoot it as the lantern reveal a giant snowy owl in the branches of the oak. The creature introduced itself and said that it had seen their fire, so it knew they were there. Mistaking all of the adventurers as "Parcifal"s, because the male elven paladin introduced himself first, but the bird quickly learned that they all were named differently, which amused him. Smyrynel, the female elven Paladin, tried to read the birds aura, which was somewhat hidden to her for some reason, but she did see a bluish-white aura and felt no malice from the bird. After some banter, in which the snowy owl said it was sent to tell them something, but could not remember, a howling was heard in the night. This jogged the memory of the bird, who said that he now remembered that the Dark Wolves were coming to waylay the adventurers journey to the Warden outpost.

malevolent Dark Wolf

As the beasts were crossing the river to the PCs by leaping across on boulders in the water, Kelvin, the magic user put two to sleep and they fell in and drowned in the rough-flowing river. After a vicious battle, in which three wolves of the pack were slain (the Alpha almost becoming another!) the Dark Wolves were routed. The Paladins and the Ranger took some severe bites. The mage used fire to hold a wolf at bay and the sword sister, Airyka, showed her prowess, along with the other fighting types, in cutting wolves into several pieces. The pack howled off into the darkness, but as the leader left, it spoke in a foul voice, telling one of the paladins that he would slay him yet!

The owl had been hurt badly by one of the wolves, as it tried to intervene between one of the PCs that was trying to bravely help another. The paladins healed the bird a bit and it showed them a power of the Warden glyph: he instructed the hurt PCs to raise the glyph to the moonlight and beams shone to their palms from the orb. Within a short time, the PCs were completely healed of their wolf wounds. The owl took his leave, saying he had been called elsewhere to serve.

The PCs placed 2 more small watchfires around the camp and as they were doing so, they found a moderate-sized stele on the far side of the oak tree, facing the river. The elves of the group were confused, as the carved runes on it was very similar to their own, but it seemed like an ancient variant, by the looks of this weathered stone.  There was a battle scene on the stone, depicting humans and elves joined against dark wolves and goblinoids - something vaguely similar to the recent encounter, minus the goblin-creatures. The mage a took a rubbing of the stele with parchment. After searching around the stele, two ancient elven arrowheads were found. They were made of an unknown silver metal and were not tarnished after perhaps many centuries of lying upon this battlefield.

After an eventless rest of the night, the sun rose on a clear day. The temperature was just above freezing that morn. Breaking camp, the party continued on the next leg of the journey along the river road to an isolated inn on their way to the Warden wilderness outpost...

(more later)

Wolf Moon

Amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside villages. Thus, the name for this month's full Moon.

The full Wolf Moon is a time of fear for the many of the human inhabitants of Sylvaeon. But for the wolves, it is a time of magic, conflict and mystery. The Silver Moon is associated with the White Lady amongst the Folkish people of the realm and they see this full moon as a significant one for the animals of the land - especially the wolves.

The hunger of rogue wolves, as well as the packs that have no established hunting territory makes them restless. While there is usually no harm done to the humans themselves, if the Winter is particularly cruel, livestock may be predated by a pack that is experiencing particular hardship.

During the Wolf Moon, the wolves engage in behavior that will determine which packs retain their territories. This sometimes erupts into vicious combat between packs, but more often it is a test of wills.

Some rogue wolves are also formally adopted into packs at this time. Being a rogue wolf is a hard life. Whether the old pack was devastated by humans or the wolf was driven out of the pack by the Alpha matters not. The fate of a rogue wolf without a pack is a lonely and potentially deadly one. During the Wolf Moon, if a rogue has been shown favor by the pack, the ritual of formal acceptance, known only by the wolves themselves, is performed, thus bonding the rouge and the pack together.

Particularly knowledgeable individuals have reported witnessing another ritual amongst the wolves and prey herds of Sylvaeon. Established packs have been seen receiving the self-sacrifice of an elk or other animal on behalf of its herd during the Wolf Moon. If this sacrifice is accepted, the wolf pack will not predate the herd that has freely given to it for the rest of the Winter. The Rangers and Foresters that have seen this blood ritual say that the spirit of a wolf and its prey enact the same formalized hunt scene as in the sky above exactly as it happens.

 Sylvaeon Wilderness Traveler Tip
Wolves generally howl for these reasons:

    •    A rally cry for the pack to meet up
    •    A signal to let the pack know of a wolf's location
    •    A warning for outside wolves and others to stay out of a pack's territory