Journey South, Part 2

As the party prepared to spend the night in Finrose's tree house, Finrose talked to them about the problems in the Fey Woods. The elven town of Elgar was being harassed by the satyrs of the woods. The satyrs were reported to be under the command of an elephant headed creature named Trikuta. Finrose suggested their best coarse of action would be to contact the elves to try to help. With an introduction from Finrose, this should be fairly easy, once the party figures out the best way to get to Elgar.

In the morning, the party packed up and headed south, in hopes of finding the ruined lighthouse. While following the game trails that followed the geography of the coastal plane, they came upon an abandoned sandstone quarry, the same rock from which Finrose's statues were carved. While investigating, a spectral creature arose from the water with a glowing, rune encrusted sword, intent on destroying the party for trespassing.

The creature turned out to be a cairn wraith, the ancient quarry master who was once responsible for the sight. In death he swore to protect the special rock of the quarry, which it turns out is especially suitable for carving of religious iconography. Once defeated, the old quarry masters sword was found to be magic, and given the name Adalstienn, meaning "noble stone" in Northman. The cold iron longsword (+1) could cast the spell "hairline factures" three times per day, an ability that would prove useful to the party soon.

Continuing south, the party came upon the abandoned town of Freyjaborg. The town was last known as a Northman city of artists, especially stone masons who carved religious statues and objects of worshop from the red limestone of the hills, from which the Redstone island received its name. Statues were scattered throughout the city, some exquisitely carved, while others were abandoned mid-creation. While most were of the Northman gods, such as Freyja, the towns namesake, others were of the Yan-ki deities and some of even stranger, unknown powers. In the center of the town were five ancient standing stones, clearly from the time of the Early Men.

Hoping to gain a better view, Anarod attempted to climb one of the large statues, only to find his first hand hold to be the body of a living creature! Three columns in all sprung to life and brutally attacked the party. The battle was fierce and it was uncertain the party would prevail. Throughout the battle, Tristan's sword was able to reduce the creatures defenses with the hairline factures spell. As they gained the upper hand, the priest Donal called upon Lugh for assistance. A nearby statue of Lugh glowed brightly and concentrated his prayer, giving the party the final push they needed to defeat the creatures.

With the creatures, caryatid columns defeated, the party moved on to the standing stones. Donal discovered that the stones were dedicated to crafting and performance. He was able to activate them by singing a beautiful religious song. Once activated, Donal discovered their purpose. Not only would the activated stones increase the towns craft and perform abilities, but the stones would allow deportation between these stones and other standing stones controlled by the same person.

As the party does not control other standing stones, for now this will be something to make note for future use. Besides teleportation, the stones can also be chained together to amplify the power of any set of standing stones.