Kingmaker: Ep. 14 – Gongaii

The party was summoned from their fort by a breathless messenger from Labrod. Hogrim and Borsh, torn and half-mad, raved that the crew felled a pristine birch—moonlight made wood—and the forest turned against them. Corran offered what Labrod could: three healing tinctures and the village’s swiftest horse, if the heroes would brave the Gnarlwood. Izzy woke each night from a drowning-bog dream tied to Kell-Singer’s broken blade, but the company pressed on, choosing the eastern arch where a Sylvan warning cautioned against flame beneath watchful lights.

Deeper in, they found a pit bridged by a birch trunk, a woodcutter—Otrik—bound across it while two amber sludges studded with rusted tools inched toward him, sawing the log. Izzy demanded the man renounce his woodcutting and protect the forest; he swore, and the party made good. Ashla crawled the spar across, got smothered in syrupy resin, and hammered the ooze to pulp while Tacho cut Otrik free and Izzy’s touch withered the other. They claimed two thumb-sized amber stones and pushed on to a stone-ringed glade where swirling, hungry motes drank their torchlight. A puzzle of carvings—Elven Oath, March to War, Field of Blood, Broken Hammer, Fallen Warrior—offered a song if answered rightly, but a wrong touch burst the lights into cinders and left the grove in chill darkness.

Southwest, a wooden stag with a birchwood heart staggered forward and collapsed into branches. Cradling the still-beating heart, the party returned to the uprooted birch’s stump, bones tangled in its roots; they replanted the heart and reburyed the dead. Pressure lifted, lanternlight warmed, and a half-formed elven spirit breathed one word—Sondë, moonlight. In an alcove, thorned roots guarded a sheathed short sword. Izzy bled for grasping until they spoke the spirit’s word; the thorns withdrew, and the company claimed a moonlit elven blade. Outside, a panicked foreman was guided home, Labrod paid with their fastest horse, and Izzy’s furious curse soured the town against him. Tacho, moved by older vows, took Melanie the nymph’s berry and vanished into her waters—while a new songstress, Yulia, rode to their fort with news and stories for the road ahead.

OUTLINE:

Summons from Labrod and Warnings at the Hedge

• Messenger from Labrod reported loggers cut a pristine birch; thorns and a moonlit ghost drove them mad; many trapped.
• Korin promised three healing tinctures and the village’s fastest horse for rescuing the crew.
• Izzy continued suffering a recurring bog-drowning dream tied to Kell-Singer’s broken blade.
• Party entered the Gnarlwood via the east arch past a Sylvan warning not to bring flame beneath watchful lights.

The Pit, the Oozes, and Otrik’s Vow

• Found a 20‑foot pit bridged by a birch log with Otrik lashed across; amber tool‑filled oozes sawed the timber.
• Izzy forced a vow from Otrik to abandon woodcutting and protect the forest.
• Ashla crawled the spar, fought while coated in resin, and battered one ooze apart; Tacho cut Otrik free; Izzy’s touch destroyed the second.
• Recovered two thumb‑sized amber stones; a new path opened and Otrik fled toward safety.

Circle of Stones and the Burned Lights

• Discovered a hill-ring of five carved stones with handprints and titles: Elven Oath, March to War, Field of Blood, Broken Hammer, Fallen Warrior; basin read, Begin with vow, not blood.
• Mote swarms brightened and snuffed fire; correct touches started a song; wrong orders detonated the motes into embers and plunged the grove into darkness.
• A panicked logging foreman burst in from the west; calmed by familiar names, he was given a torch and sent out toward Labrod.

The Wooden Stag, the Birch Heart, and the Word Sondë

• Met a stag of roots and wood with a ticking birch‑barked heart; it collapsed into branches.
• Replanted the heart at the uprooted birch stump and reburied bones wrapped in roots; the oppressive air lifted and lanternlight warmed.
• A half‑formed elven spirit whispered Sondë—moonlight.
• In a southern alcove, thorned roots guarded a sheathed short sword; thorns slashed Izzy for grasping until speaking Sondë made them withdraw; the party claimed the elven blade.

Aftermath: Rewards, Reproach, and a Farewell

• Brambles parted back to the entrance; a route to safety found for the remaining crew.
• LeBroad paid the promised horse; villagers soured after Izzy’s shouted curse in the square.
• Tacho brought winter boughs to Melanie’s pool, accepted her berry, and departed to live with the nymph.
• Back at the fort, Yulia arrived with a troupe, offering songs and rumors to guide future quests; Ashla began training for short swords, and Yohei sought card-reading lore.

NPCs:

• Aspfang: The fort’s blunt-spoken blacksmith with a sharp eye for odd iron. She named the elven blade’s gifts and its danger to those who wear the moon’s curse.
• Elven Spirit of the Grove: A fading guardian tied to the great birch whose half-formed voice breathed a single key—Sondë—once its heart was restored.
• Enfaun: Cleric of Tamath in Labrod who provided healing tinctures with a suspicious eye toward strange gods and stranger miracles.
• Hogrim and Borsh: Woodcutter brothers torn by the thorns who stumbled back to town raving of a moonlit ghost and a withering forest.
• Corran: Headman of Labrod who put up what the village could—tinctures and a swift horse—to save his people, then bristled when warned too sharply about the forest’s limits.
• Logging Foreman: Wild-eyed crew chief who mistook the party for spirits until sent stumbling east with fire and hope.
• Melanie: A water nymph of deep pools and deeper promises. She pressed a red berry into Tacho’s hand and welcomed him beneath the surface forever.
• Otrik: A hapless woodcutter twice saved by the party—once from a river’s enchantment and this time from a resinous death. Swore to protect the forest when the pit’s saw began to bite.
• Sprite Flock: Pale, sparrow-sized barkwings whose wood-on-wood fluttering attended the birch’s wound and dispersed when the heart was replanted.

ITEMS:

• Amber Nodules: Two thumb-sized lumps of hardened sap salvaged from slain oozes, each with a fossil glow of the grove’s labor within.
• Boggard Priest’s Helm: A grisly trophy shaped from a great serpent’s skull—more spectacle than sorcery, but it carries a story’s weight.
• Healing Tinctures: Three vials from Enfon’s stores to mend what thorns and fear unmake.
• Kell-Singer (broken cold iron longsword): A snapped blade of cold iron once carried by Grungo. Its presence dogs Izzy’s dreams, as if the sword still seeks a hand and a purpose in the bog’s hush.
• Sondë’s Short Sword (elven +1 mithril short sword): A fine elven blade with a mirrored edge that can shine with moonlight once per day. Its light stirs dangerous change in those bound to the full moon.
• Winning Ticket (swift horse): Labrod‘s fastest mount, sleek and eager to run. A promise paid in full for lives brought home.

LOCATIONS:

• Alcove of Thorns: A root-cradle guarded by living vines whose thorns withdrew at a whispered Sondë to reveal an elven short sword.
• Circle of Stones: A low, grassy ring of knee‑high markers inscribed in Sylvan around a basin that counseled, Begin with vow, not blood.
• Labrod: A frontier village that lives by axe and river. Grateful for rescues, prickly about lectures, and now the source of a very fast horse.
• Melanie’s Pool: Mirror-dark water cupped by winter green, where a red berry can remake a life.
• Pit of the Amber Oozes: A slick, root-lined shaft bridged by a birch spar where oozes armed with rusted tools tried to saw a captive and his lifeline in two.
• The Gnarlwood Grove: A brambled cyst of hedge and mist where light behaves oddly and roots remember every oath and trespass.
• The Reclaimed Fort: The party’s growing stronghold, now with a forge’s ring and a bard’s laughter shaping rumor into roads.
• Uprooted Birch Stump: The torn heart of the grove with bones snarled in roots and a place waiting for a ticking, birch-barked heart to be returned.

FACTIONS:

• Clergy of Yamath: Labrod’s humble faithful tending the body as much as the soul, skeptical of stranger gods’ bargains.
• Cult of Tsathoggua: Whispers in the dark and faith that bites back—Izzy’s patronage runs hot and cold as the bog.
• Grove Spirits of the Gnarlwood: Old vows in bark and bone, bound to the great birch and soothed by songs and right order.
• Labrod Village: A hard-used community of cutters and farmers trying to carve safety from the treeline; generous in need, wary of outsiders’ sermons.
• Melanie’s Court: The quiet, glimmering realm beneath the pool’s skin where promises are berries and time moves like water.
• Yulia’s Troupe: A wagon of strings, stories, and quick eyes for rumor—arrived to turn the fort into a crossroads of news.

QUESTS:

• Heal the Grove’s Heart: Discover what the felled birch unbalanced and restore it, if it can be restored at all.
• Kell-Singer’s Omen: Izzy’s recurring bog dream and the broken cold iron blade point toward a darker revelation in the marshes.
• Master a New Blade: Train to wield the elven short sword properly so its light serves rather than endangers.
• Mend Fences with Labrod: After harsh words and a failed curse in the square, the party must find a way to repair relations—or accept a hostile town on their border.
• Moonlit Ghost and Blade: Follow tales of an elven shade with a sword of moonlight; learn its word and its will.
• Read the Cards, Read the Roads: Yohei seeks to learn cartomancy to turn chance into guidance for the company’s travels.
• Rescue the Woodcutters of Labrod: Enter the Gnarlwood, find the missing loggers, and bring them out alive despite thorns, oozes, and panic.
• Songs for the Road: Recruit reliable rumor-mongers to the fort to steer the party toward fruitful leads and away from dead ends.

PLAYER CHARACTERS

• Ashla: A stalwart warrior who favors a shield and crushing blows. She crawled a slick birch spar over a black pit, was engulfed by resinous ooze, and smashed it apart to save a man destined for a grim end. With the moonlit elven short sword recovered, she has set her sights on mastering blades the grove itself yielded.
• Izzy: A fervent devotee of Tsathoggua burdened by a chilling dream: his own moss-covered corpse sinking as a green hand lays Kell-Singer’s broken blade upon his chest. In the grove he demanded vows from the doomed, replanted a forest’s heart, and tried to curse a town—only to be blinded by the patron he serves. He now carries both a warning and a grudge.
• Tacho: A hard-bitten hunter with a giant’s strength and a poacher’s pragmatism. He sprinted the log to cut Otrik free and later left steel and road behind for Melanie’s deep water, swallowing a red berry to join the nymph forever. His path now runs beneath the surface, far from torchlight and coin.
• Yohei: A fey‑touched wanderer fluent in Sylvan and quick with courtesy. He soothed spirits with song, recognized the grove’s language, and honored living thorns until the right word opened their grip. Back at the fort, he brought in Yulia’s troupe to turn rumor and melody into maps for what comes next.