The Oldwood

Once upon a time, there was a forest where misplaced children went. Some were sent purposefully (too many mouths to feed). Some went by accident (neglectful elders). Some were runaways (they felt like misfits). The forest took them in and SWALLOWED THEM UP. The Oldwood of Avalon is an amalgam of "lost woods" that have arrived over the years, and its size has grown and shape has varied over time.

Travel through the Oldwood is difficult, as people who stray from the Road or the Rivers tend to get lost. Other paths through the Oldwood change on a whim, and once you are out of sight of the Road or a River, it is impossible to know in what direction you're headed. While the forest can turn you around, it can't teleport you, so if you leave the Road and head south along a path through the Oldwood, you can be certain of remaining south of the Road unless you cross it. Successfully navigating the paths through the Oldwood is an act of will, luck, and knowing that what you want to find is in the section of the Oldwood you are in. The forest might then give you a relatively clear path to your destination.

At the Con: Overall Summary

Despite the efforts of a nefarious conspiracy, the Oldwood has remained a part of Avalon, and its Convergence Ceremony has been radically altered. A number of adventurers noted that the old ceremony was rather brutal, and over the course of the weekend, they found a way to change it into a celebratory event involving the Elves, Grannies, Lost Children, and the trees of the Oldwood.

Moreover, a newly formed Tribunal of the Court of Lost Ones has been formed, and will begin their patrols soon!

Run 1: Caravan of Courage

Call to Action: Adventurers needed to escort a Crystal Merchant across the Oldwood. He has a special shipment bound for Crystalheart City that must be protected! Take the Yellow Brick Road to meet him in Woodsedge. It's a 4-day, 3-night journey across the Oldwood with a single safe haven at the midpoint of the trip.

PCs

Drennent - The Monk Abister - Rogue Pox - Rogue Yinquinal - Sorcerer Totor - Cleric

What happened

Our heroes took the Yellow Brick Road to Woodsedge, and were immediately greeted by the sight of the town gathered for a witch burning! As the torch was tossed onto the pyre, the crystal merchant's valet implored them to let the villagers to their business, but the party was not about to let an innocent old woman be put to death – especially with the outlandish claims that the villagers were making about her having kidnapped their children in her house and the house ran off! They saved her and got out of town quick, putting Ms. Pinsimmons (as she called herself) on the horse with Abister.

As they traveled into the wood, Ms. Pinsimmons admitted to having three children in her house - not to eat, mind you! - and that she was gravely concerned because her house had run away (she claimed that it had candy cane legs). The party noted at this point in their expedition report "Pinsimmons seems to be innocent of eating kids, might be guilty of being nuts."

Not far into the woods, they came across a Kenku couple, Cluck and Stork, who were traveling to their relatives on the other side of the Oldwood. They are expecting an egg, and want to move far enough away from the Oldwood so that their child doesn't get lost. The party, feeling generous, and over the objections of the valet, put Stork on top of the coach and Cluck on Drennent's horse.

There are several branches of the Great Forest River, and at the crossing of the Frindle River stood a champion who maintained the bridge and collected tolls from any who would cross. He was a mighty warrior, clad in full plate and carrying a greatsword, and — this is when the sixth player caught up on the expedition, playing Maximus, a Fighter in full plate and dual wielding – and the champion at the bridge did not, in fact, have a greatsword, but was dual wielding. Yinquinal offered to fight the champion, and this is when John, the Crystal Merchant, finally showed his face (having spent all the intervening time in his coach). Wineglass in hand, as his valet set up a chair for him to watch the upcoming fight, John mused at the 8 heroes Crystalheart City had sent, though the old woman and the two kenku did not seem to fit the "adventuring type". Maximus made short work of Yinquinal (nonlethal), and John offered him a job, which he accepted.

John then invited Pox to ride in the coach for a while, noting that Pox was a fellow Tabaxi, and perhaps possessed of the skills necessary to… and here he showed Pox the crystal that he was to give to the Elvenqueen as tribute, as well as a near-perfect duplicate. Pox said she'd think on it, and later informed the rest of the party of the situation.

The party came to the crossing of the Grindle river, and this time it was a battle of wits, in which Yinquinal triumphed!

In the middle of the night, the watchperson heard a whisper "are you, are you…?" as a path seemed to appear off the road and into the woods. Pinsimmons claimed it's the sound of the wendigo, and starts to follow the path. There were faint sounds of howling. Farther along the path, the howls resolved to cries of women and shovels scraping. Two women were digging a grave and weeping, but when they saw Pinsimmons, they turned to cries of joy. The women thought Pinsimmons had been killed by the villagers, and that the Court would return her body to be buried. They thanked the party, and asked after the Wizard, "because he promised us a part in the Convergence Ceremony." Then they faded away into the woods. Returning to camp, the party noticed three large owls in the trees, watching.

In the morning, John allowed Cluck to ride in the coach, a great honor, and out of respect for her condition.

Not long after, the party came upon a branch in the middle of the road, and readied themselves for a possible attack. When it struck, it hit the coach drivers first, and the horses continued forward and out of control. Pox leaped to control them. Smoke bombs covered the coach and surrounding area, and the players chased some bandits on the north side of the road. After a few rounds, the bandits on the north side of the road were dead or in retreat, but the bandits on the south side of the road needed to be taken care of. Fortunately(?) the group from Josh's first run arrived at just this time, blasted through the branch, and ran into the smoke-filled area and straight into Maximus – bump, bump, bump. Together, they killed/chased away the remaining bandits, but the coach had been broken into, and Cluck and Stork were unconscious. The other adventurers wanted a moment to talk to John, who was happy to be the center of attention for a while, but quickly grew bored as they asked him details about how crystal was mined at Big Roc Kandy's Mountain, as if that wasn't a problem for other people to handle. All John cared about was how the crystal was shipped around the island after it was mined! (GM note: this probably helped adventurers side with the miners)

From here it was smooth sailing to Elvenhome, except… John confided in Pox that the true crystal had been stolen by the bandits, so they would need to deliver the fake to the Elvenqueen. The party was extremely nervous about this, but the fake was accepted by the Elvenqueen's seneschal and they were shown to their quarters for the night. In the middle of the night, they were pulled from their beds by the Queen's guards and interrogated. The crystal, it seems, was critical to the Oldwood's Convergence Ceremony. The party told their truth, and so the Elvenqueen let them go to deliver the larger shipment of crystals to Crystalheart City, but she would keep John as a "guest" until her crystal was returned.

Run 2: The Lost Children

Call to Action: Adventurers needed to escort the Elvenqueen's grown children to her home in the Oldwood for the Convergence. Orë and Eruann are excited to see their mother again, and to prove their readiness!

PCs

Frungl Tucket Rupus Tucket Beeflo Bungo Rocco Van Strauss Uglybark

In the party's words:

Began a journey to take Orë and Eruann (hilarious names) to Elvenhome for the Convergence (traditional transfer of the crown and convergence of the Oldwood) Started on Yellow Brick Road, gave moonshine to the fraternal twins, until the first bridge Champion. He doesn't remember his name; Orë rushed forward for glory. Rupus beat him to the Champion, and defeated him without hurting him, totally nonviolently. [GM note: using the Gust cantrip to push him out of the dueling circle!] After the battle, the knight drank some Tucket moonshine, named himself Bertram, and left for Crystalheart City.

We then camped off the road and were lured into the wood, following a trail that took us to a decayed and eaten gingerbread house. We continued the path to a clearing to discover the lost children of the Oldwood, led by Nibs, a goblin in a kobold costume, who declared herself the Goblin King. After we convinced them to capture, and not kill the last gingerbread home (apparently they live and run around the Oldwood), they set off after stealing my pan, those brats. But it's ok, I taught them how to cook so they are my kids now. [GM note: the Tuckets completely charmed the lost children and made them readier to listen to other parties.]

The next morning the Oldwood (the woods are kind) took us back to Elfhome to deliver the twins. We noticed a distinct similarity between the Elvenqueen's crown and the antlers worn by one of the lost children. Our teammate Beeflo got locked up for trying to lie to the Queen.

Lost Children: Jack: Old Goblin King; left the woods after puberty Nibs: New Goblin King; she's a goblin in a kobold outfit Curly: Followed Jack, now follows Nibs. Gives legitimacy to her title as Goblin King (appears to be a kobold in a goblin outfit) Bambi: Kid who's been in the lost woods the longest Tootles: Kid in a skunk outfit Matthew: "The twins": a kid in a racoon outfit, and an anthropomorphic racoon

"One of these brats stole my cast iron pan, but it's ok because they gave me a friendship bracelet." – Frungl Tucket

For future groups to know: The Elf Queen needs Hireling Hall to find the missing crystal for her convergence The lost children need help capturing the last gingerbread house An octopus is inhabiting the rivers of the Oldwood named Jimothy. He likes to swim past the bridges at night. [GM note: it's actually the Kuo-Toa who is named Jimothy. The Octopus is named Sashimi and is part of Jimothy's tribe of lost children.]

Run 3: The Candy House or The Queen's Crystal?

Call to Action: We've gotten reports about a group of feral children chasing a candy house in the Oldwood? Not sure why this is our problem, but here we are? Also: Ellerian the Elverqueen wants her crystal!

PCs

Levis Roy G Biv Baroum Okedai Greyscale

On the run

The party focused on the queen's crystal. In their words, they went to: Elvenhome and talked to Seneschal Bridge patrolled by Jimothy's tribe of lost children Witch's cottage – Lady Adderall the witch Outlaw camp

Elf convergence changes royalty every 254 years, old royal disappears. [GM note: party found this highly suspicious] Ritual needs crystal, woods, wight, royal. Royal fights wight with crystal help. The woods lead you to what you want. Elves not native to woods – moved from what is now Crystalheart City, have been performing convergences for 750+ years. Witches eat kids, grannies don't. Witches have pet spiders.

Nibs has yet to be alerted that Jimothy awaits a fight at the bridge over Brindle river. The missing crystal was sold at Frindle River branch and taken upstream.

— After talking with the Seneschal of Elvenhome, the party set off into the woods. They came upon a cottage with an old woman inside, who invited them to a meal, and asked each of them to do a separate task in a different part of the cottage. Suspicious of their host, Baroum and Okedai stayed with their host to clean out the oven while Roy, Levis, and Greyscale gathered wood. Unfortunately Greyscale stuck to the wood, because it was covered in webbing, and they had to fight off some giant spiders. Meanwhile, inside Baroum and Okedai had to contend with the witch. The party prevailed, and the witch promised to lead them to the outlaw's camp.

The witch and her spidery friends created a cordon of webbing so the outlaws couldn't escape, and several were caught in the cordon, but others disappeared down bolt holes, including one of the two leaders. The party captured the other leader, however, and interrogated him. Unfortunately, it was his partner who got inside the coach and stole the Elvenqueen's crystal, so he was no help in allaying the party's suspicions that John was somehow involved.

Run 4: Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road

Call to Action: Citizens of Woodsedge are indiscriminately burning and chopping down trees, and now the Oldwood is tearing up the Yellow Brick Road. Yeah, this is serious. Get to Woodsedge and clear this up.

PCs

Audrey Temnotrast Chuckles Gannok Myria Callion

On the run

In their own words: Ellerian's crystal, needed for the Oldwood Convergence ritual, is missing. We recap previous information and try to take the Yellow Brick Road to Woodsedge, but the road isn't working. Callion creates a teleportation circle and takes us to a bridge along the road. Once there, we encountered a number of zombified miners migrating from the north to the south. Behind them, chaos roils. Callion summons a golem using a portion of the Road and uses it to clear a path for our party forward. As we push forward, we find behind the zombies a barrel of explosives that gravely wounds our fighter, Gannok. When the dust settles, the party is in a war zone! Trees on the edge of the road are attacking villagers form a nearby town who are trying to chop and burn them down. They had been riled up by other members of Hireling Hall. Those same members were breaking the yellow brick road! Callion tried to stop them but the other party remained steadfast claiming they were helping the gnomes of Big Roc Kandy's Mountain aggressively negotiate a workers' rights dispute. Chuckles and Temnotrast immediately join the other party. Spells are flung (none particularly harmful) but Callion tries to cease the violence by proclaiming they are the Great Wizard. Arguing ensues and the other party continues to rip up bricks much to Callion's chagrin - to them the yellow brick road is a holy symbol of Avalon's unity. Some of the party tries negotiating with the road razers but are unable to convince them to stop before the other party completes their quota of road destruction. Chuckles leaves with their new party and we rush to attend to more pressing conflicts.

Callion stays to begin repairs on the road.

[GM note: Josh and I realized our regions were going to clash and decided to experiment with a little "fog of war"-style PvP where we texted each other over Discord what our parties were doing. Then food arrived in HH, and we set up our players at adjoining tables, and our players would tell us what they were doing, and we'd look at each other, and take turns describing the action until the players realized they were facing fellow adventurers and stopped fighting. Well, at least this stopped the physical fight and led to a lively discussion that led to Callion dropping that he was the Wizard!]

Our heroes rush forward to quell a fight between trees of the Oldwood and the citizens of Woodsedge. Temnotrast puts out the spreading fire while Audrey speaking sincerely and with preternatural gravitas and industrious use of a hologram display by virtue of a well-described minor illusion convinces the villagers to lay down their weapons. Audrey experiences a battlefield conversion becoming a follower of Danu. [GM note: this was very well done.]

Temnotrast communicates with the trees with the help of Gannok, earning enough respect for the three of them to be invited to the old elm tree of legend The Hanging Tree. There a trio of owls retails the myth of the convergence for the Oldwood:

[GM note: there had been interactions with the owls before, but they had not been fully explored. With three players, it was a perfect time to start to create a new Tribunal.]

Elvenhome

We believe the elven queen is responsible for stealing her own crystals so that she won't have to die in the ritual of convergence. We question her liberally and she quickly divulges exceptionally useful information. She tells us she is dead set on the ritual being completed. We question her about the names of her children who carry names suggesting they are not intended to ever become Royal successors. She informs us she had a first child she had lost to the old wood. She refers to them as Bambi which we correlated to the previous parties interactions with the lost children of the woods. We offer to have other adventurers from Hireling Hall take her to meet her child. She is ecstatic

Quest: take the elf queen to her long lost child in the Oldwood Realizing we are no closer to finding the crystal we return to square one and interrogate the bandit and the merchant currently being held by the elves. The bandit is super chill and answers our questions honestly. His answers point towards the merchant or another actor being responsible. Questioning the merchant, with the help of Truth forcing magic, we determine they are responsible for stealing the crystal and that it is now in the hands of their associates currently outside the first Elvin King's tomb. We then have a lively discussion about the nature of criminal justice amongst ourselves.

Quest: Go to the wight's tomb and retrieve the crystal and continue the ritual of convergence

Extra quest: devise a way to perform the ritual without the need to resurrect and ritually kill the first elven King

Run 5: Bambi, King of the Oldwood?

Call to Action: The prior expedition suggested that we reunite the Elvenqueen with her lost son

PCs

Phynian Silverbeard (Twilight Cleric) Averet Ironshade (Vengeance Paladin) Aahz (Dragonblood Sorcerer)

On the Run

In their own words: Went to the Oldwood, met the AquaLads at the first bridge. Told them we would issue their challenge to Nibs' group if they let us through.

Went to the mostly eaten gingerbread house. Picked up tracks and followed them through woods. Saw a gingerbread house and followed it through woods, but could not sneak up on it. Decided to let house go and camped the trail to wait for Nibs' group to show up. They didn't want to accept the challenge of the AquaLads, so we called them chicken. [GM note: this worked]

Groups met on neutral ground and devolved into a wrestling / slap fight. We got bored and told them we were taking over the Oldwood. Fought 6 on 3. They almost beat the snot out of us, but we managed to negotiate a truce. [GM note: I told the party after round 2, "You can see from their expressions and body language that this isn't going how they expected. Immediate response from party, "This isn't going how we expected!" Players didn't know that Lost Children have resistance to damage from adults…]

Convinced children to let Bambi see his mother (the Elf Queen) by calling them chicken [GM note: this didn't work] and explaining the ritual which allowed them to not grow up [GM note: this did].

Bambi and his mother and siblings met at neutral ground. Spent time explaining lost children to Elf Queen so she could communicate with the children. [GM note: this was really nicely done, gently explaining the situation to the Queen so that she would be prepared and could make the most of this time] Spent time explaining ritual to children so they would be interested in it.

Run 6: The Barrow Wight

Call to Action: Adventurers needed to drag an undead king's corpse to the Oldwood's convergence ceremony. You didn't say "Not It" fast enough; yes YOU, you're going.

PCs

Arathorn Ervaris, Elf Rogue Audrey Greene, Human Warlock Choom, Loxodon Cleric of Ratri Enklimatias Polemou, Half-Elf Warlock Jaglas Vonfeldt, Triton Fighter Mavry Nixta, Tabaxi Barbarian nox, Treeling Druid

On the run

Our heroes' first mission was to retrieve the Elvenqueen's crystal in time for the convergence. They met with her and her children at the Hanging Tree. They explained their parts; after defeating the Wight, the Queen would sing:

Are you, are you Coming to the tree? They strung up a man They say who murdered three.

… the twins would sing:

Are you, are you Coming to the tree? Wear a necklace of hope, Side by side with me.

… but they weren't sure where the First Elvenking's tomb was, except that it was north, towards Lake Katan. Then the Grannies showed up, wanting to be part of the ceremony with their own verse. They transformed into wolves and ran about the woods to help find the tomb. The party set out and encountered the Lost Children, who had finally captured the gingerbread house. They had written their own verse to the chant for the Convergence Ceremony, and were headed for the hanging tree:

Are you, are you Coming to the tree? With the lost children And all their candy.

The Grannies found the tomb, and led the party to it. There were five tombs, four of which had a corpse. The party surmised that each corpse was a former ruler of Elvenhome, and the fifth tomb was for Elerrian. One corpse had the Queen's crystal embedded in its chest, and they decided this was Thrymbambuil, the first Elvenking of the Oldwood. The corpses were silent until touched, and then they attacked. Each exuded an aura that did necromantic harm to all within its radius, but Choom activated Ratri's disco ball to ameliorate the effects. Two crystal golems, flanked by zombies, approach from the side. Audrey cast Evard's black tentacles, only for it to be consumed by one of the crystal golems, as if it had been cast into the crystal (like a crystal mage). The spell was then released back at her and Enklimatias, though with a round to prepare, they managed to avoid the worst effects. The party recalibrated their approach to the battle, and eventually prevailed, though upon his defeat, the crystal embedded in Thrymbambuil's chest disintegrated itself and his corpse.

With the crystal and the Wight destroyed, the party returned to the Hanging Tree and suggested changing the lyrics to the Queen's part. She lived, there was a big party, and maybe the Oldwood would be different?

Are you, are you Coming to the tree? It's a long time to forgive a man They say who murdered three.

PrinceCon 47 Summaries & Run Recaps:

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