[SirFozzie]

Here's something that will be used as a handout to the party after a key battle in our next session (which may or may not be Sunday Night, as the Pats play late sunday)

Selected Entries from the Personal Journal of Eldreth Windspeed

Entry 17 (dated approximately 12 years ago)
I took my oath today as a Druid of the Deep Forest. No less a personage than Grandmaster Ellteth himself was in attendance! I could hardly believe it.. He even spoke to me after the ceremony, and I swear, I can hear his voice now..
“I sense a future for you, Druid. You will serve the wild, and in time, serve an even greater Calling..”
I wanted to ask a question, what greater calling was there then serving the Wild? But I couldn’t speak, I was.. well, I wanted to pretend like this wasn’t completely beyond my experience.. but he seemed to understand.. and had a small smile on his face.
“Yes.. you do not understand now. But that is because you are taking the first steps upon a long and meandering path. I look forward to meeting you at the end of the path, Druid.”
With that, he left the ceremony. His words.. both excite me and trouble me, and I cannot decide why it shifts back and forth.


Entry 51: (dated 1.5 years ago)
I came across some unusual tracks in the forest today, leading to a cave. If I did not know better, I would have thought they were owlbear tracks, but these were.. Subtly different. An owlbear usually trampled the underbrush as it passes through. This walked almost like one of the rangers that guard the Deep Forest’s ways. While it could not totally conceal its tracks, it took care not to disturb the path unduly. Quite.. unusual. The cave was not lived in, but had an unusual shrine inside, with the wall featuring a sigil in our native tongue honoring “Grandmother Spider”. I will keep an eye on this cave in my guardianship.. there is a mystery here, and I want to know more.


Entry 74 (dated 13 months ago)
Well.. the mystery is solved! I stumbled upon Grandmaster Ellteth’s hidden sanctuary! I followed the tracks again, and caught him as he wildshaped himself back into his elven form in the cave,. He was shocked that I had tracked him as well as I had, but I think he was pleased. He told me that he had not expected me to take this step for many years to come, but my growth had surprised him. He promised to explain it all to me at a gathering tonight…


Entry 75 (dated 2 days after the one above)
After meeting the Mistress, the Grandmaster explained that I was now a member of an ancient order, amongst our race. Our cousins in their woodland sanctuaries (Is it strange that I now refer to my family and bretheren in the Deep Wood as “Our Cousins”? Pah. My mind wanders..) have withdrawn from the world. Outside, empires rise and fall, and the land itself heals from the Great War that happened in our father’s time. The Grandmaster (or as he explained, his true title, in serving the Mistress was “Chosen Fang”) told me that he admired the other races in a way, especially the humans that so dot this land.
“They despoil the land, and are mere blips upon the stage of time, it is true. But they cram more living in their allotted span of years than our Cousins do in their centuries!”
His face grew grim..
“But the kingdoms.. they seek to remove the shadows of the forest, and that our Mistress cannot allow. As you now know, the races seek out lands that our Mistress claimed as her own before the God’s War.. and the lands that will be hers again when She rises from below. I have a new task for you, small Fang. I am sending to you to the lands bordering the so called “Barony” of Klava. I have heard that they are aggressively expanding their lands. Be silent and sharpness in the dark. Use the gifts that the Mistress has granted you. Grow powerful and feed upon them. Draw your web around them, turn them back, and great power will be yours!”

Entry 91: (2 weeks ago)
The Mistress will be pleased. I’ve fed two of their woodsmen to her creatures, and during the sacrifice, I was granted a vision.. a vision of a totem of the Mistress’s power! Once I manage to attach myself to the device, my ability to serve as one of the Mistress’s chosen instruments of vengeance and terror will be complete! The impudence of these so called “Glory” settlers will be punished, and I am an instrument of her fury! Beware, death comes on eight legs, and it is swift and as sure as the Night Below…