The Screaming Forest: Ophe's Account

First day - 1 AL (after landing)

It's my first day here and I'm already growing restless, maybe it's​ thanks to being on the sea for too long or the elders have been right and there might be something more to this island... The old man, Filas, keeps babbling about a "Screaming Forest" which should be located few miles Northwest from our camp. He's one of the original settlers and apparently he has lost a few of his fellows in there, I’m up for a change of scenery so I decide to investigate further.

2 AL

It seems there are other restless souls in this camp eager to venture further inland as I’m greeted by a group of six misfits ready to follow Filas to this so called “Screaming Forest”.

With every additional hour of marching, Filas seems to be becoming more and more distracted. Slowly it becomes apparent that this is no ordinary forest, as the trees seem to be pulsating with their own life. Bartholomew says they are of magical essence and he seems like someone who knows what he is talking about.

Once we arrive at abandoned camp of the old man's group it quickly becomes apparent that I'm the best tracker of the group. With ease I find footprints few feet outside of the camp, we follow their trail and find one dead body. May the Dark Maiden guide his soul to a blissful rest.

We are not even able to investigate further as we are ambushed by some kind of plant monstrosities - small and quick saplings of sorts and bigger, much tougher creatures with tendrils. Though we manage to kill most of them in fairly quick manner and since it's already getting late we decide to make a camp here as well.

3 AL

In the morning, to our surprise, Filas is nowhere to be found. My tracking skills prove to be vastly superior once again and as the Dark Dancer guides me, I'm able to find tracks that tell us more about what transpired here during the night. After short discussion we decide to head East in search of the creatures that might have killed Filas. After a few hours of following their tracks we finally encounter them – two huge snakes, with heads almost as big as the dwarfs of our party.

As most of our group focuses on the closer one, Murdock rushes the other one – let me tell you, that dwarf has to be insane. Soon we find ourselves in rather dire situation as the snakes attack much faster than we are able to keep up with, so I decide to take my first dose of Ziran. The priestess warned me about overusing this Drow drug, as it can have severe side-effects, but I was sure that if we would hold back anything it would have been the end of us. During this fight Golin proved to be irreplaceable ally as he was able to bring Murdock from the brink of death. With the Dark Maiden on our side we emerge victorious, me and Murdock dealing the finishing blows to these creatures. The group luckily decides to take a short rest, as I’m not sure I would be able to continue with our journey in my current state. The comedown hits me hard and my vision gets all blurry.

We decide to push forward and after a while clearing appears before us. Thanks to a few incautious actions we manage to provoke retaliation from the plant creatures we’ve encountered before, which apparently live inside of these pools of sap. In the face of overwhelming force I take my second dose of Bloodfast, as humans are calling it, prepared to make my stand. If I’ll have to continue, in the upcoming days, with consuming it at this rate it won’t be a long till there is none left. Even though our group fights valiantly it slowly becomes apparent that our only option is to flee or die in this unpleasant place. I’m the last person to leave this battlefield, at least partially maintaining my dignity.

As I feel the effects of Bloodfast subsiding, I see her - silver haired woman, dancing at the edge of my vision. It must have been Her, Eilistraee, the Dark Maiden herself!

4&5 AL

We spend the next two days traveling back to the landing camp, with news of uncharted forests and dangerous creatures. I feel a new purpose to this endeavor, as the Dark Dancer herself watches over us.