Chapter One: Journey Into The Fey Forest

The ripple in the water had only just caught Ashwyn's attention when the tentacle shot towards her. She spun around, narrowly missing it, but when it swung back and hit her she let out a grunt. When she hit the tree pain shot through her. She sunk into the water and mud and groaned.

She recovered fairly quickly and looked over at her companions. She saw Lo and Zane being pulled into the water and Sigurd being thrown back into the trees. "Damn it!" She shouted and pushed hard against the mush beneath her to try and stand. Her hands sunk deeper and it took a lot of work to free her arms. She managed to grab hold of a nearby root and pull herself from the sucking mud to stand back on the shore. She crawled out on her hands and knees to the shore before turning back to her companions.

Sigurd rubbed the back of his head, again with the trees. He took stock of the situation, he was stuck, Ashwyn had freed herself from the mud and Lopeina was free of the tentical. Zane however was nowhere to be found and that wasn't reassuring.

Unclipping his sword from his back he stuck it in the mud and pushed down, feeling it stop he started pulling himself forward and up until he could vault himself onto more solid saturated ground. Once free he pulled his blade from the mud and moved to cover Lopiena.

Zane struggles against the tentacle holding him but his movement is restricted in the water  and he's unable to gain any purchase. He is able to push himself out of the water enough to grab another breath but then he is pulled back under the water.

He's able to reach his dagger and he slashes wildly at the creature. Unfortunately he misses and the dagger is flung from his hand. Zane's head is slammed against a rock on the bottom and he falls unconscious. Meanwhile, the dagger flies out of the water towards Sigard. It lodges into Sigurds shoulder in a gap in his armor.

[Sigurd takes 4 points of damage and now has a dagger in his shoulder. Zane is now stunned and can not move his next turn. This is what happens when you roll a critical miss on an attack and a critical hit on your screw up. Yikes!]

Underwater, Lopiena has no idea what's going on but can at least find up and out. Striking out toward the shore, she sees Sigurd and tries to get near him...but she can't heal an injury with a dagger still stuck in it. Pulling herself partially out of the water and staying in a crouch to avoid additional attack, she turns toward the creature. Having no other long distance weapon, she tries her parlor trick again, aiming at any part of the creature that's sticking out of the water.
Pointing at what she hopes is something near the head, she opens her hand fully for the biggest fire she can make. "Flame!"
(Rolled a 14)

Finally free of the muck, Ashwyn turns, still kneeling, towards the creature just in time to watch the dagger fling from the water and stab into Sigurd. Her eyes widened briefly before jerking her head back towards the creature. With her eyes she scans the water, desperately looking for where Zane might be.

She spots a part of the water that moves and she catches sight of Zane's arm. She strips her pack and her cloak, pulls her falcata from her back. She took a running start and dove into the water. It was murky in the water and difficult to see, but she swam towards the spot she had seen the movement. As she drew closer she spotted Zane's unconscious body being swung around. She swam up to him and grabbed hold of the tentacle holding him. She swung her falcata as hard as the water would allow her to attempting to slice the tentacle off.

[Ashwyn's blade slices cleanly through the tentacle, causing 8 points of damage and severing another tentacle]

Ash grabbed Zane and pushed off from the bottom, swimming back to the surface. They're heads broke the surface and Ashwyn sucked in a deep breath of air. "Sigurd! Lopeina! Someone take Zane! He's out!" She tries to push him towards the shore.

The creature rages at loosing another appendage. It swings two tentacles towards Ashwyn but misses her as she kicks away. Two other tentacles swing from the other side and head towards her again. This time they wrap around her feet and pull her under the water.

Ashwyn pushes Zane with all of her strength, hoping that someone manages to grab him before he sinks as her body gets dragged under the water.

Sigurd winced at pain of the dagger hitting him "that stupid gnome!!" Pulling the blade from his shoulder he tucked it into his belt. Lowering into a stance his body rippled for a moment and blonde fur sprang out from his skin, a tail unfurled from his behind and his hands were now claws, still firmly grasping his sword. A muzzle shot out from his face and what seemed like a flash Sigurd stood in his hybrid werewolf form. Now 7 feet tall his armor plates separated from where the front and back halves met, the material underneath stretching to allow for the extra room needed.

"Lopiena, grab Zane and get back!" He roared over the downpour.

Jamming his sword into the mud he shuffles into the water and grabs two of the flailing tentacles "I've had about enough of this!" He digs his feet in and pulls.

[Roll away, if it works I'm going to use action surge and attack it, 16+6 for attk and 11+4 for damage]

At Ashwyn's cry for help with Zane, Lopiena's eyes widen...she hadn't seen where he was earlier and now understood why. Quickly taking in the terrain, she realizes that the fastest way to Zane would be behind the trees out of the mud, but he clearly needs healing...and that's no cheap parlor trick. Her staff is still by the edge of the pool tangled in a mass of other driftwood, and there's a lot of mud and flailing tentacles in the way...steeling her resolve, she half swims/half crawls to her staff. About the time she reaches it Sigurd has transformed...she turns at his shout and eyes widen momentarily.
"Ohhhhh...so that's it. Not a dragon, then."
Turning back to the task on hand, she realizes there's no way she can get to Zane before he slips back beneath the water. He's too hurt to get up, and she's too far away...out of desperation she tries something new. Muttering a short incantation, she points her staff at the downed gnome and focuses her energy on his little body. "Heal!"
Not expecting it to work, she scrambles past the driftwood pile toward him. She has to get to Zane, and quickly!

(New spell: Healing Word (d4, rolled 3 ...plus spell mod?). It's also a bonus action so there might be enough movement left to get to Zane...if she can get there, she pulls him out of the water; if not, at least she's between him and the giant octopus. I'll get the hang of this eventually...)

Being hauled from the water and slammed onto the ground had shaken Ashwyn slightly. She coughed and gasped, spitting water to the ground as she recovered. Unsure of why she's suddenly out of the water she turned to survey her surroundings. Her eyes first caught the creature sitting in the shallows and she found herself shocked that it was out of the water. The reason for that became clear shortly as her eyes focused on a very tall and blonde furred werewolf just in time to see him slash at the creature.

Her eyes widened and time seemed to slow for a moment as she watched him swing his impressive weapon. She found herself needing to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat at such magnificence. She shook off her reverence as the creature began to squeal and she tightened her grip on her falcata. Her feet were still restrained and try as she might she couldn't extract herself from its grasp. So instead, she used her free hand to haul herself closer to the creature and, with a firm grip on her falcata, she stabs it into the creatures soft body.

Sigurd watched Zane get batted away and rolled his eyes. Squaring up his shoulders he took a deep breath and centered himself, his fur stood on end for a moment as he dipped into his reserves

Sigurd uses second wind, healing himself for 1d10+2 (8+2=10)

With his new burst of energy he ran forwards trying to catch the octopus before it submerged again "get back here!!" Sigurd takes a swing at the retreating mollusk

ATK: 1d20+6 (16+6=22) Dmg: 2d6+4 (rolled a 1 but great weapon fighting lets me re roll 1's and 2's so it's 5+4+4= 13) not followed by a bite attack because ATK: 6

Screaming in agony at the octopus's shriek, Lopiena almost stumbles but manages to stay upright. She's amazed that Sigurd and Ashwyn are still standing, their hearing is far superior to hers... Momentarily deafened, she focuses solely on Zane and where he landed when thrown. Fighting her way through the mud, she places her staff on his wound with trembling hands. Muttering the incantation once again, she puts everything she has into healing him...he's annoying, but doesn't deserve to die...

(using two spell slots for this one...and still not doing great, rolled 3 both times. Still a spellcasting mod (+4), right? so 6+4=10 heal?)

Ashwyn screamed as the peircing sound echoed in her brain, but she covered her ears and closed her eyes, using an old elven meditation trick to calm her mind and protect her from the worst of it. Unfortunately her eyes were still closed when the tentacle swung out at her. She gasped at the pain which turned into a groan as her side burned from the attack.

Her blade still lodged into the side of the creature, she pulls it out. Her eyes dart around the area and see her bow laying with her discarded pack some feet away. Too far to reach in time. She glances over to Lopiena and Zane and sees him beginning to wake up. Good She thinks. She turned back to the creature to watch Sigurd attack it again as the creature continues to slink back to the water. Using all of her strength she grips her falcata in one hand and pulls her dagger into her other. She launches herself back onto the creature and stabs down with both of her weapons.

Ashwyn pulled her blades from the creature as it slumped on the ground. She remained tense, waiting for it to move again, for several more moments before finally unclenching her muscles. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, calming her heart rate and soothing herself. She looked around at her surroundings. Zane and Lopiena were laying under the tree cover in the more firm part of the mud. Sigurd was standing near her and the fallen creature and she was sitting on knees, mostly sunk into the swampy mud.

She leaned over to the deeper water and ran her blades through it washing off the bulk of the octopus entrails before sticking them both back into their sheaths. With a little added strength she pulled her legs out of the mud one at a time till she could stand. Since Lo was tending to Zane, she moved over to Sigurd.

"Let me see." She reached up and touched his shoulder, though it was a stretch now that he was so much taller. She carefully inspected the place where the dagger had embedded in him. Her fingers traveled the length of the wound and something surprising happened. Her fingers glowed softly and the wound began to close. She blinked and jerked her hand away for a moment. She glanced at he fingers then back to the wound before glancing at Sigurd's face in shock. She turned back to the wound and placed her whole hand over it to see what happened. Her hand glowed again and a word echoed in her mind so she allowed it to pass through her lips.

"Heal." She said softly. The glowing intensified and when she shifted her hand the wound had sealed itself.

[Sigurd gains 5 points of healing]

She looks at her hand in shock. "I...didn't know I could do that." She muttered, still blown away by her apparently new ability. She looked up at him. "Are you okay?" It was then that she realized her hand was still resting on his chest and she was standing very close to Sigurd. She had been so focused on her new ability that she didn't notice when she had drawn even closer to him. She blushed and took a step back, her feet making audible sucking sounds as she pulled them from the mud and sunk them back in during her movement. She turned away from him, avoiding his gaze, and instead headed back to shore where her discarded items were.

Meanwhile Zane was blinking his eyes away from the rain still falling on his upturned face. He shook his head and turned, trying to take in his surroundings. His eyes focused on Lopiena and he smiled doppily. "Ahh, Lopiena." He said, his body relaxing in recognition. "Thank goodness....you know I had the strangest dream of a horrible beast..." His eyes traveled the length of the field. When they landed on Sigurd they widened again.

"Ahhh!!! It's the beast!!" He screamed, pointing in shock before promptly passing out from shock.

Lopiena smiles as Zane starts to wake up...it's always good to see someone saved from death...but can only roll her eyes at his reaction.  Shaking her head and too weary to try picking him up, she rolls him on one side so the pouring rain doesn't get in his mouth to drown him.  With the help of her staff, she slowly rises out of the mud and turns toward Ashwyn and Sigurd.  
"Thank you both for saving my life...again.  And Sigurd..." she bows respectfully, keeping her gaze even to not pose a challenge, but not lowering them as prey, either.  "Thank you for honoring me with your true form.  I am...truly honored."  She grins ruefully, knowing she's repeating herself but too tired to come up with anything better.  She starts walking toward Ashwyn to heal her injuries, but after a few steps sinks to her knees in the mud.  Trying to rise using her staff only sinks the staff into the mud, and struggling only makes it worse...
"I'm sorry...I can't...I'm sorry...I'm not as strong as you."  Kneeling in the mud with rain pouring down, she slumps against her staff.  "Is it ok if we...rest here for a bit?"

Sigurd picks up one of the severed tentacles turns to look at Zane before biting into it and tossing it to the ground again. Still in his hybrid form he stalks through the mud with some difficulty before approaching Ashwyn and Lopiena "no need to honor me" he said softly. Noting her exhaustion he picks Lopiena up and holds her under his arm and shoulders Ashwyn before making his way with them back to more stable land. As he walked by the gnome he bared his teeth slightly "good work gnome. The only fight you successfully won today was against death. And you had help."

Setting the girls down on some wet grass he gave a furious shake flicking off water and blood before reverting back to his human form. Looking at where his dagger wound was he turned to Ashwyn and gave her a gentle smile "much appreciated" as he stepped away he messed up Lopiena's hair and walked a bit from them.

Lopiena smiles at him, barely flinching when showered with mud, water, and blood. "Thank you. Again. You must be getting tired of hearing that by now." Closing her eyes, she leans against a tree and listens to the falling rain.

Ashwyn had just picked up her pack and bow when she felt Sigurd lifting her.

"Wha- Hey!" She gasped as she was slung over his shoulder. She made a weak attempt at struggling before finally giving up. It was bad enough that she had been caught in her silly reverence earlier and now she was pressed up against his muscular form. She tried desperately to ignore his rippling muscles beneath her body and the surprisingly soft fur under her fingers as she held onto him....and failed miserably.

By the time he set her and Lopiena down her cheeks were brightly flushed and she prayed to whatever god that could hear her that the darkness and rain hid it from view.

As he began to shake the water and muck from himself, she held up a hand to protect her face while turning away slightly. Despite her embarrassment, she couldn't help but laugh. And when he smiled at her she felt her knees weaken. As he turned to walk away she shook her head.

What is WRONG with you?? She asked herself before shouldering her pack and wrapping her cloak back around herself.

----

It took a few more moments before Zane had recovered again after the rain steadily pelted him. He blinked and looked around.

"Huh? Where am I?" He asked, finally turning and catching sight of Sigurd, in his human form, Ashwyn and Lopiena. "Oh...its you all." He said. He sat up and then looked down at himself, covered in mud. "Good gods...what on earth happened to me?" He looked up to them, seeing them looking bloodied and covered in mud. "What happened to you??" He reached up to rub his head. "I feel as though I have missed something..." He said softly.

Lopiena laughed ruefully at Zane's comments. "You had a bad dream, Zane. And the rest of us were frolicking in the daisies." Turning, she finally removes her soaked and muddy cloak and pack. Brushing off as much muck as possible, she opens the pack and pulls out the last of the mangled, sodden rolls and starts lapping up the remains. Food is food, and too precious to waste.