The Witches' Coven

Each of the young men had their own unique, but terrifying vision, once the buzzing began.

Bar saw a stranger, a beautiful elven woman being mutilated with a knife.

Lan was met with an image of his best friend, Tasha, looking terrified, and huddling in the corner of a dark cave.

Similarly, Vae saw a cave as well, one he was familiar with. It was in Firge’s Grotto, a series of caves north of the village that he had explored a little.
In his vision, he saw his mother, Selma, cowering in the cave, with a dark figure standing over her.

Lastly, Vincent saw an image of his brother, Lan, being strangled to death by none other than Prevel Cadogan, the same man who he was certain killed his biological parents.

There was no time to discuss any of these visions, as they realized they were being pursued by some sort of hideous monstrosity. It was an amalgam of body parts, fused together. The same one they saw on the road up from Wavemeet, only this time it was animated and moving towards them at speed. Luckily, their horses were swifter, and they galloped away, leaving the horror behind.

They pushed their horses hard, not wanting to slow too much, lest it catch up with them. Presently they saw the standing stone in the forest, the one they were told about in their directions. They made their way towards it, not knowing much else.

After a short time, they came to an area filled with early spring daffodils, dotted lazily about. A lovely, bucolic scene that was very abruptly ruined, as a high pitched wailing began, stunning Vae in his weakened state. The others managed to compose themselves, and realized it was one of the daffodils (they later found out these were plant creatures called DaffoShrills). 

Almost immediately, an old crone stepped out, seemingly from nowhere, and silenced the flower-creature.  She greeted them, introducing herself as Thymea Cralen, and asked them why they had sought them out.  The boys initially waffled on what they should and should not say, but eventually Bar broke down, and told the entire story, omitting nothing. Thymea, seemingly moved by this, reluctantly allowed them to enter the grove.

She directed them to a small path leading away from the grove, and told them to seek the aid of Larkin Centauri. The path was a short one, leading to a smaller grove, with a small pond in it. Next to the pond, a woman and a horse were sitting, and as the boys approached, they stood up in unison, and walked towards them. Once again, Bar bared his soul and gushed out the story of their adventure up until now, and Larkin said they would help.  The boys questioned who “They” were, and Larkin explained that they were a centaur, that had been divided into two beings by an ancient curse, but still moved about and acted as one.

This, the boys deemed, was the centaur Madam Syra had spoken of before she died.

Larkin said they could ease Vae’s pain, but not fully remove the curse without a specific reagent: A blue amanita mushroom from a nearby cave. They wasted no time in heading off in search of said cave, but on the way, they were accosted by the gruesome walking abomination that had been chasing them earlier. Interestingly, they heard no buzzing sound as it approached.  They once again began to run away, but Bar tripped and fell, and his brothers bravely stood their ground to protect him.  Swords flashed, spells crackled from Bar’s finger tips, and they eventually managed to defeat the horrible creature.  During the fight, however, two other odd characters showed up, causing extra difficulty. One of them seemed to teleport in to grab a sword that had fallen, while the other simply stood there, mouth agape.

Vincent was horrified when he realized he recognized some of the corpses that made up this undead creature. One was certainly his former captain, Solomon Harper, and he was relatively sure the rest were made up from parts of his old contingent.  What power could cause them to animate, they didn’t know, although they speculated it was the terrifying deer creature Lan had seen.

They found the cave they were looking for, and perhaps out of some sense of self-preservation, Vae managed to find the blue amanita they needed immediately, recognizing it from one of this books on foraging. They were able to make good time getting back to the grove, where Thymea once again brought them past the border.

Larkin took the mushroom, and told them the ritual would take some time, and that Vae would also need some rest. Before she began, however, the boys plied them with questions about the strange happenings in the world.  Larkin seemed aware of them, but told them that the coven rarely interfered in the outside world. They suggested to consult with some sages in some of the bigger cities, and made a point of mentioning Embervale, though it was far off.

They left Larkin and Vae, and went back to the main grove, where Vincent pulled Lan aside to finally explain what happened in Marthport, and why the sergeant was so upset with him. He told Lan about the night their parents were murdered, that he saw this same man with the scar on his arm, and that Prevel Cadogan had that same scar, even though it was covered when he interrogated them.  They decided to let all the brothers know in time.