Rodania S2E02 Summary: The Fading Path Begins
Campaign: Restoration of Rodania
Date: Growfest, 995
Setting: Eastward Estate to the Duskwood
Main Characters:
- Jornan Eastward – Halfling Paladin, Baron of Eastward, driven by duty and vengeance.
- Ciaranna Lyndis – Half-Elf Bard, exiled heir seeking to reclaim her legacy.
- Darius Quarterling – Half-Halfling, Half-Dwarf Rogue and spymaster.
- Eldrous Pith – High Elf Necromancer, adherent to the Ghoul Lord.
- Roland Varro – Human Mercenary, recently recruited as a sellsword.
- Tharuk Stoneveil – Goliath warrior of the Moving Mountain Clan, sworn to Ciaranna.
The episode begins in the remains of the Eastward Estate as the party prepares to venture toward the cursed Duskwood. A new ally, Roland Varro, arrives—an indebted mercenary with ties to the Marque Trade Consortium. Darius hires him into service, and Roland immediately notes the haunted state of the estate and the strange webs being burned from the trees.
Meanwhile, Ciaranna formally receives a protector in Tharuk Stoneveil, a young Goliath warrior who pledges himself not in fealty, but in personal trial. In a poignant exchange, he kneels before her, vowing to prove himself worthy—not of serving her as queen, but of standing beside her in her struggle. Ciaranna responds with her own words of mutual trust, lightly touching his shoulder with her rapier in a symbolic gesture.
After morning preparations, the party departs for the Duskwood, following increasingly eerie signs: strange fog, illusions in the trees, and whispers on the wind. Along the way, they discover the corpses of both refugees and Dragonborn soldiers—gray-skinned, hollow-eyed, and drained of life. A ranger’s journal nearby warns of psychic decay and voices that grow louder the longer one stays. The party realizes the forest is a corruptive force.
Just as tensions rise, a group of Dragonborn ambushers strike from the fog. The party responds swiftly: Roland joins the fray with brute strength, Tharuk protects Ciaranna and delivers powerful counterattacks, and Drack Drakeshield—a Dragonborn barbarian—emerges unexpectedly to fight on their side, reclaiming his stolen weapon from the enemy’s corpse.
The combat is swift and brutal. Ciaranna uses her bardic gifts to inspire allies and shield them with magical glamour, while Eldrous and Darius investigate arcane signs of the forest’s corruption. The battle ends with their enemies defeated and the party further shaken by the realization: they cannot leave the Duskwood the way they came. The path behind them has shifted. Whatever lies ahead must be faced directly.
The party continues their mission deep within the swamps, only to be ambushed by a group of lizardfolk led by Zathrix, a dragonborn traitor. Before negotiations can even begin, Drack Drakeshield abruptly charges Zathrix and kills him, triggering a chaotic battle. Roland finds himself overwhelmed and bloodied by multiple lizardfolk, while Darius and Jornan leap into action to turn the tide. Ciaranna offers ranged support, mocking and distracting the enemy while providing bardic help. Eldrous unleashes necromantic power, casting Tasha's Caustic Brew and weakening several foes.
Suddenly, eerie lights—Will-o’-Wisps—appear and begin possessing corpses, including Zathrix's body, creating a zombie and escalating the fight. Syriana, the group’s new mercenary, is nearly killed multiple times but survives through a mix of lucky rolls, healing spells, and protection from Tharuk, her bodyguard. She unleashes spells like Vicious Mockery and Sanctuary to stay alive while supporting the group.
The Wisps prove deadly, downing Tharuk and wounding several others. The party, despite being split and under pressure, begins to rally. Roland resists the Wisps’ shock attacks and holds the frontline. Darius coordinates devastating strikes, while Jornan cuts through enemies with radiant smites and stylish swordplay. Drack unleashes furious rage and brute strength, killing a reanimated zombie only for it to explode violently—damaging friend and foe alike.
Amid the chaos, the party gradually brings down the undead and Wisps through sheer coordination and grit. Ciaranna continues to disrupt foes with magical and mundane distractions. Eldrous delivers a precise Magic Missile barrage to finish off a Wisp, while the team scrambles to survive the icy breath weapon of a reawakened Zathrix—now undead and even more dangerous.
Despite heavy injuries, the group endures, defeats the spectral lights, and regains control of the battlefield. The party stands bloodied but triumphant.
After the intense battle, the party takes a short rest within the corrupted heart of the Duskwood. Kelgrim Deeproot, a spiritual guide traveling with them, speaks of a powerful imbalance within the Hollow Weald—a haunted grove where spirits linger. He reveals that three spirits are bound to the land by tragedy, but a fourth is an imposter: a false specter anchoring the forest’s corruption.
As the party presses into the Hollow Weald, they encounter an unnatural clearing filled with mist, shifting trees, and lingering whispers. Within the fog stand four spirits: a hunter, a soldier, a noble, and a priest. Each repeats phrases that hint at their pasts—but only three are truly victims of the forest. One is a deceiver.
Using the enchanted lantern they carry, the party listens to each specter. The soldier clings to a belief they were winning a long-lost battle. The hunter speaks of being stalked. The noble mourns a lover who never came. The priest, however, questions their own identity and memory.
After tense discussion, the party concludes that the priest is the imposter—speaking not from trauma but disorientation, echoing words of belief without conviction. With Kelgrim’s help, they perform a ritual to sever the imposter’s tie to the grove. The false spirit screams as it is banished, and a heavy weight lifts from the forest.
The Hollow Weald shifts. The oppressive mist withdraws slightly, revealing a deeper path forward. The spirits are finally at rest, and the forest, while still dangerous, no longer resists them. The party knows they have only begun to uncover the deeper rot at the heart of the Duskwood, but they have earned their first true victory over the curse that lingers here.
As the party reaches the Grove of Echoes, Kelgrim begins a purification ritual at the grove’s heart—a place thick with whispering voices and sickly green sap oozing from a massive tree. But the forest doesn’t yield easily. The party must defend Kelgrim as ghostly apparitions rise from the mist in waves.
Phase by phase, the party holds the line. Jornan and Drack cut down spirits as they form, Ciaranna provides magical buffs and mockery, and Eldrous summons undead allies to reinforce their ranks. Tharuk anchors the frontline, his protective stance keeping others safe. Even Corvus, Eldrous’s familiar, provides assistance.
Over five grueling rounds, the group fights off wave after wave of apparitions and Will-o’-Wisps, preserving Kelgrim’s concentration. Clever use of positioning, summoned skeletons, and defensive tactics help the party hold out as the ritual continues, but time runs short. The battle reaches a tense midpoint as the session ends, with Kelgrim still channeling energy and the outcome uncertain.
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