Editing Efferendil (section)

==Leaving Fontainver (Again)==

We were ushered into a small room within a monastery, and met with a man dressed only in a plain brown robe. Tak fell to his knees in front of him, so I took a knee as well, but Silanna stood and watched. People were bringing in food and water around us, but the man was focused on Tak, sitting with him and asking which path he had followed. Tak spoke of our journey, which took some time, and Tak's master seemed particularly interested in the monk that looked after the tomb of Hintzu in the mountains, that Tak trained under. He also noted that we would free the water from the dam on the Cloof, and issued some instructions to ensure people were safe when the waters reached Fontainver, leaving us to eat as he did so. The real surprise, though, was that it appeared Tak had made many journeys on his quest, but had always come back to Fontainver. This time was different because I had gone with him, and he had got further than before. The master explained that when Brightbane didn't flow, neither did time, so the flow of time across the world was sporadic, unpredictable, and could even go backwards if the Brightbane flowed in the wrong direction.

We spent some time training and resting before restarting our journey. The waters of the Cloof did indeed return, so we were both resting at Fontainver and destroying the dam at the same time. The farmers were happy, at least, because they were able to expand a little and use the soil closer to the fortress. We also learned that Tak and Silanna had lost some of their memories from when they were younger, possibly because they had traveled through time many times. It sounded like we should avoid doing so too much if we wanted to keep our sense of identity!

Once we believed we were ready, we set off at first light towards the Efferendil (again). It was a couple of days before we reached the forest, and on the second day Silanna saw smoke from the trees up ahead. As soon as she saw the forest was in danger, she urged us to hurry, and I let her carry me for the sake of getting there faster. We could definitely see humanoids moving within the trees as we got closer, seemingly moving away from us... scouts keeping an eye on us, perhaps? We ran straight into the treeline, but it wasn't long before we encountered a Drow ambush. Tak was hit by an arrow, as figures emerged from behind trees ahead and to one side. Silanna was stabbed, so she dropped me and drew swords to fight, cutting a gash into one of them. Tak joined the melee, striking one, and I finished them off but was stabbed from behind. I turned and slashed my attacker, as Silanna's cloak to deflect an arrow. Tak sprinted off to engage the archer, ending up in melee with two foes. Silanna was stabbed again, and I finished off my attacker so that I could move to help her. She didn't need it, though, as she cut down the foe despite bleeding from multiple wounds. Tak knocked one foe out with a punch, abandoning his weapons temporarily. We were unopposed now, so I launched flechettes into the last foe, which struck true, and then Silanna was able to reach Tak's side and strike down the last Drow.

Tak was concerned about the state of their weapons, which did smell a bit funny, so he applied a healing ointment to all of us to draw out any poison. We conducted a quick search, but there was not much of interest on the bodies, so we hurried on towards the fire. It was about thirty minutes at best pace before we reached an area that was charred and still smoldering, with flames visible in the trees ahead of us. It absolutely stank of smoke all around, and it was obviously a large fire. I was more worried about the spiders up ahead, though! They were huge, and looked very hot - their spines glowing in the smoke... did they start the fire? I prepared for combat by cooling my weapon until it was ice cold.

The spiders rushed right at us, trying to bite with their mandibles; they were red hot as well, but we managed to fend off their initial attack. It felt like forever as we dodged and blocked, unable to get close enough to land a blow whilst keeping ourselves safe, but Silanna eventually skidded underneath one and opened it up with her swords, and I skewered another with my chilled weapon - both died and their bodies combusted, but Silanna was bitten on the shoulder and caught fire! Tak managed to find a weak spot and finish off his opponent as Silanna rolled on the ground to put the fire out. Bits of her equipment were falling off, though, so we had to spend a minute gathering some of the bits that had fallen (mostly arrows). 

We headed south towards the river to skirt around the fire, then continued on and reached the edge of the glade with the massive tree just as the gloom of evening was upon us. The forest was quite dense here, but Silanna was relieved that there wasn't any sign of fire in the vicinity. We kept going as it grew increasingly dark and saw the central clearing up ahead. There were orcs there, though - they seemed to have just arrived, coming from the river along a stream that now ran into a central pool. One shouted something rude and they started charging to attack us. Silanna carried me forward then set me down to loose arrows, killing one of them. I engaged the front line as Silanna kills another from behind me, although I was surrounded and took some heavy blows. I trusted the others to take advantage of the situation, though, and a moment later they all collapsed to the ground asleep! Silanna had used dweomer on them, but warned that it was only temporary. The remaining orcs turned and ran, so we focused on disarming the sleeping ones, and Silanna screamed at them whilst waving her swords threateningly when they woke, 'encouraging' them to leave.

Tak took a moment to commune with the water, so I touched the rock that the pool was formed from and remembered my ancestors. Silanna explored the tree, but there was nothing different about it since the last time she was here alone - none of the images she had seem moving in her vision some days ago were visible. I asked Tak if he would mind helping with my wounds, which he gladly did, although he splashed water all over my head as he did so (can't be too ungrateful though). We started to drag the bodies and weapons out of the glade, wanting to 'purify' it for Silanna to commune with, and then as it got too dark to do even that we rested. Silanna stayed inside the tree, and I rested in the roots outside with Tak watching. Night passed fairly uneventfully, but Tak did see forest animals come to drink. He apparently spoke to them, which was new, although they were just excited about the return of water to the forest, drinking from the pool. He did learn that the fires had gone out; it seemed the spiders we killed were the source and once they were gone the fire didn't spread that far. Also, the orcs had made camps on the south bank of the river, having arrived in ships, presumably from upriver.