The trip to Cambervale takes several hours but is uneventful. Unfortunately, the herbs the party is looking for aren't seen during the trip.

As the group arrives in Cambervale, the village appears to be in a state of verdant chaos.
A thick, circular wall of thorny vines surrounds a group of villagers, while a pair of badgers made of the same vines patrols around them.

Rocky looks at the vine wall and creatures and says, "While not related to the Singing Tree, this doesn't seem to be normal and I do have to wonder about the timing."

Caeldrim nods and says, “We need to help out, and I do agree the timing is strange whoever is behind this may have been the one to wake up the Singing Tree.”

OOC: Not going to bother with a map on roll20 for this fight since there is no map of the village in the module. However, will still be using roll20 for initiatives, attack rolls, etc...

"Seriously?" 

Barbara draws her weapon.

OOC: Init: 3

Hunter draws his brand new crossbow. "Looks like this might not be melee friendly... but I will charge right in as soon as you need me, Barby."

Amalar says, "We've got this." and takes a ready stance, looking prepared to do more of her elemental dancing.

Mix lags behind Barby a bit, but close enough to come running if she needs something from her.

OOC
Amalar: 5 (dex 16)
Hunter: 16 (dex 16)

  Joe expects this isn't as immediately bad as it seems, but still something that will inevitably end in attempted harm and something being really petulant about people not just rolling over and letting them have their way.

  "So... there is probably something else hiding who actually trapped those people lurking around.  Unless they ran off too look for more victims to imprison while loudly shouting how in the right they are for abusing the oh so dangerous and horrible helpless townsfolk that would stand no chance against a real badger instead of a twisted mockery of one."

  Like, ninety percent of anything with a nature aesthetic is basically cosplayers convinced they are the real deal.  Maybe true power lies in pretentiousness given how hard places like the Feywild lean into that particular brand of hypocrisy.

OOC: 7 Initiative.

Barby scans the area for the caster Joe's expecting to be lurking about.

"Those things don't look like they can shoot at all, so let them face our barrage as they approach, like we did with the boar."

Doubtful Barby's plan will survive till her spot in the initiative, though.  Oh well.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:43, Fri 11 Dec 2020.

OOC: Summary post from the Roll20 session

With the group able to easily dispatch the two Giant Bramble Badgers and the Wall of Vines, the group is able to rescue the villagers. They learn that the vine creations were sent by the Bramble King who is furious that his Bramble Crown has been stolen and one of the places he is searching is the village of Cambervale. The villagers offer the group an Alchemy Jug if they can end the threat that the Bramble King currently poses.

The group learns from an Elfmarked girl named Tremika that the Bramble King must be furious since something he greatly cared about was stolen from him and that normally he's nice and kind as he saved her and once she was recovered his creatures guided her to the Cambervale. She gets the party to promise to not harm the Bramble King in exchange for knowledge of the Bramble King's lair.

In route to the Bramble King's Liar, the group meets Daesanderena, an elven woman hailing from the Summer Lands. She explains a bit of the Bramble Crown's history to the group along with several possible threats like the Weft of Shadows and Catchweed who is the leader of the Children of the Briars. She also reveals that it was a primordial being that set up the Challenge of the Fang long ago and that entity has been dealt with, but that the only way to permanently stop the challenge would be to get several deities to work together to overpower the ancient ritual that created the challenge. Daesanderena also revealed that the wolves also risk an innocent that would starve to death if the wolves lose the challenge since the challenge rots any food the innocent would eat. She also offers 150gp if the group can give her a clipping from the Bramble Crown.

After the group reaches the lair of the Bramble King, they begin talks with the plant-based fey who learns that thorny people have just murdered one of his creations that was searching the overgrown Deepwood Tower. He has promised to not send any more of his creations to Cambervale while the group tries to recover his crown and promises them something wonderful if they are able to return his crown.
The Bramble King then provides accurate directions to the overgrown tower.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 22:42, Sun 20 Dec 2020.

Also Barby has learned that The Challenge is terrible for the wolves as well.  But does the wolf pup die if the challenge ends in victory for Civilization?  Or only if time runs out first?  Likely set up to make sure that the wolves and people can never be allies.

Once the group is out of ear-shot of the Bramble King, Barbara asks her team their opinions of the situation.

"Those people the Bramble King threatened looked to be in mortal peril.  If not from the poisonous thorns, or the unnatural magical constructs created by a terrible relic, then from their own panic.  Although I was considering some leniency for the Bramble King in light of his having once sheltered an orphan, I am now convinced that not only is he far too incompetent to be trusted with keeping a dangerous relic out of the hands of evil Fae forces, he is also criminally insane and may in short order be just as bad as those who stole it.  Should we recover the crown, it would both be irresponsible and unjust for us to return it to a would-be murderer.

"Moreover, I do not trust this other Fae that's eager to get a clipping from the crown.  Even if everything it told us is true, that does not mean that it can be trusted with someone who could use it to create another fell relic just because they gave us accurate information about two evil fae factions.  Or the request is a trick intended to get us to offend the Bramble King: once he notices his crown has been altered, he will become hostile and attack.  Something that I'm expecting to happen regardless of what we choose to do.  I'm not one to trust dangerous relic fragments in the hands of perfect strangers for any amount of gold.

"Even if we're all in agreement to not give a clipping to the pretty Fae, I'm torn on what is the wisest way to approach the Bramble King.  Should we claim to have attempted to recover the crown, but found that the enemy had taken so many clippings that it was in tatters before we arrived, then give The King a handful of ordinary brambles?  Should we take the crown to my kingdom's scholars to be carefully sapped of it's power?  Should we lure the King into a trap using the crown as bait?  Should we tell the King to his face that he has been judged unworthy of the crown, and he has been sentenced to a number of years of public service for his murderous act, and should he prove competent and sane at the end of his sentence his crown will be restored to him?  I realize that politically, assuming this Bramble King really is a monarch of some kind, such a measure is an act of war, but foolish is the one who would hand over a powerful weapon to an enemy already proven to use his power to harm.

"I have seen that you all are the kind of heroes who bravely face horrible monsters head-on rather than try to appease them for fear of their power.  But am I missing something in this situation?  Am I vastly overestimating our chances against the Bramble King's power and we have no recourse but to appease him now, hope that he stops being an insane, unreliable, murderous creature long enough for me to go fetch my parents' army to destroy him and his crown once and for all?  Can I live with how many villagers he will slay in the weeks it takes for me to fetch the army because he lost the damn crown again the same day it was returned to him?  No.  If I'm to fulfill my destiny as Agni's chosen, I can't just fall back on sending others to do the work of rescuing the people for me.  Even now, in asking you these questions, I must admit that I am no match for the dire decision laid before us and must rely on your collective wisdom."

Pyrus is shocked to see Barbara admit to anything less than perfect certainty.  He tries to lighten the mood by suggesting, "Wouldn't it just go to figure that after we come up with the perfect plan we find out that the baddies really did break the crown."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:13, Thu 17 Dec 2020.

Amalar says, "I appreciate you voicing your thoughts, Barby. Especially because I may have an insight into the Bramble King's behavior. Before I voice my thoughts, though, let me be clear: I agree that he is dangerous and probably should not have the crown back. Thing of it is, I believe the Bramble King is really a child who happens to appear as an adult. I don't know how he came to be the way he is, or how he got the crown, but although his acts could have hurt people or worse, I don't believe he had any idea the ramifications of his actions. He is very likely just a little boy under an odd curse of sorts, preventing him from being cared for properly. While it is just a feeling, it makes his actions make a lot of sense. To me, anyway."

Hunter frowns. This was not something he expected.

Amalar continues, "As for Daesanderena; none of us know her personally. It would be best if we simply do not approach them again if possible. And if we do, we will hopefully, by then, be able to say we don't have the crown or any shred of it."

Hunter says, "That last point brings up an important question: What if we decide to keep the crown? Do you think the crown can be trusted in the hands of capable heroes at least? I do. And yeah, I don't trust Daesanderena either. Though I do have an idea concerning the Fang Challenge, given what we heard. However, given that we don't know who is listening out in the open, I would rather write the idea down for you all once we are safely inside a room in civilization somewhere."

Caeldrim listens to the conversation going on and says, “I agree with Amalar that the Bramble King should probably be the Bramble Prince as his mind seem to be that of a child, he doesn't realize how dangerous his actions can be as he is probably underestimating what he can really do. His actions towards the orphaned girl were good. However, he is naive but sociable so it may be possible to convince him to use his powers to help the village of Cambervale. Keeping the crown for ourselves would make us oathbreakers since then the Bramble King would have grounds to attack the village. And our word as adventurers would mean less. While considering the ramifications of possible actions of others is good, we must also keep in mind how others will react to use based on what we do."

Caeldrim doesn't bother to admit that he wishes he knew more about the situation, right now there is not the time to try to research such things as he continues, “Furthermore, if the Bramble Crown is what Daesanderena claimed, and I have no reason to doubt her, then if we recover it, odds are it will try to do everything it can to be reunited with the Bramble King. If we tried to keep it from him, he'd no doubt figure out a way to steal it from us by using the very forest itself since he is a plant-like Fey plus theft out of fear isn't very civilized. As for the clippings Daesanderena wants, I say we reserve judgment on that until we get the crown back to the Bramble King and ask his opinion on the matter, if he voluntarily gives us a clipping then I see no issue with giving it to Daesanderena. I'm more worried about the Weft of Shadow having pawns use the crown and if they can steal it from its rightful owner, then stealing it from us would be child's play for them. Thus we can't keep it. However, a lot depends on if the Bramble King, he seems to have good intentions when not influenced by rage and grief to throw a tantrum like a child. Perhaps the recovery of the crown would calm him down and he could be convinced to help the village in penance for his previous actions or out of mutual benefit. The village could use his strength to protect it and the area, and in turn, the village would help guide him to ensure he doesn't become as cruel and evil as Barbara fears he already is. The problem with a childish mind is that he may be immune to that poison and thus unaware of how harmful it could be to normal people. I am not justifying his actions, he should have had his minions approach the village and inquire about aid in recovering the crown but a child's mind doesn't think like that. Not yet anyway. If we can get him to interact with the village in a positive manner, and get him to see how civilized adults act he would eventually learn.”

Rocky ponders the options the group faces as it follows the directions given by the Bramble King as he states his opinion, "Fey live millennia or longer as they don't die of old age, and the Bramble King is approximately 200 years old so he is a child by Fey standards. But to deny the Bramble King his crown will likely force him down a dark path and endanger those in the area. Perhaps the Weft of Shadow chose now to have pawns steal the crown knowing how the Bramble King would blindly lash out which would create further distractions for the Weft of Shadow to do other misdeeds without being noticed. Right now we should focus on denying the crown to those who stole it and then decide what to do afterward, after all the crown itself is supposed to be sentient so ignoring its wishes would be foolish. But I do agree with Caeldrim, given how it was stolen from the Bramble King, there is no way we could prevent it from being stolen from us. And I don't know anyone we can give it to that could protect it from theft more than the Bramble King himself since odds are whatever trick they used on him once hopefully wouldn't work a second time. If it would, then we need to learn that trick so we could if needed remove the crown from his possession. Unfortunately, the destruction of the crown is probably beyond both the power either we or those who stole it have available. So we shouldn't even bother with that route. Personally, I'd rather fulfill my promises. I hope that if we return the crown the Bramble King would prove to be a valuable ally. After all his abilities could go a long way if we could get him to help with the Challenge of the Fang. If only we could break the cycle of the challenge by exploiting a loophole to where no one loses. To do that we would need a magic item to let the wolf innocent not starve to death and to keep the Would-Be-King of Wolves from harming civilization's innocent in exchange for keeping the wolf innocent alive. Perhaps if both the Wild and Civilization worked in harmony, the ritual would end under its own power without needing external influence. After all, if the wild and civilization become one in harmony, then the challenge of the fang would no longer make a difference."

The one problem Rocky doesn't mention is that he has no clue how to get Nature and Civilization as a whole to work in harmony so such a hypothetical solution is only a pipedream for now.

"I mean, even ignoring keeping words or not or who is more responsible or less... We should probably confirm if the crown itself isn't why the Bramble King thinks poison thorns on everything is how you ask people questions.  Because 'sentient' magical items are almost always horrible, especially the ones convinced they are doing things for a good cause."

He shrugs, "As for Daesanderena, the only reason to do anything for her is the likelihood of them dropping all pretenses of maturity and throwing a big baby tantrum by throwing the feywild at us while screeching 'I'm an important adult!'.  Because she can't possibly be so ignorant to think offering us a tiny handful of gold is worth dealing with even the weakest of magical items, let alone a piece of a sentient one.  At best it is a pretense so she can cry 'oh, such greedy mortals spurning my generous offer' if we refuse her for any reason. More likely they are doing it because they are used to getting away with rubbing 'or else I'll throw an entire plane of existence at you if I don't get my way!' in people's faces. with a side of 'But I'm not as bad as those other guuuuys!'"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:50, Mon 21 Dec 2020.

Barbara chews on her friends' words for a moment, then decides it best to share her thoughts on what they said.

  "Until you swear fealty to me, I have no right to make promises for this group.  So I was very careful with the words I used when speaking with the Bramble King.  I made no oath, nor even a declaration of intending to give him his crown.  I simply told him, 'We intend to recover it.'  Nothing more.  I deliberately left out saying anything about if we would return it to him, or when, much less without compensation or condition, so as not to bind us to any hint of being obligated to do so.  So have no fear of being labeled an oath breaker.

  "Sounds like we all are in agreement that the Bramble King is immature.  A child by his people's standards.  And if we keep the crown from him, he'll fly into a rage, and we'll be forced to kill him.  Or worse, he survives and becomes a long-lived villain, recovering the crown on his own because of the nature of such magic items.  I'm not in the business of killing children, so I'd really rather avoid that scenario.  Hmm...  Wouldn't the crown's treachery apply also to the current holder of the crown?  Can we not rest assured that even should we fail to recover it, it's very nature will see to it that the Weft of Shadows are harassed incessantly and inevitably lose it?  Assuming they really are the ones responsible.

  "Frustrating that destroying the crown is probably impossible.  I hadn't considered that it is the reason for the Bramble King's insanity, so we need to be very careful how we handle it.  Thank you for making that point.

  "In any case, I do like the idea of recruiting the Bramble King.  Assuming we can persuade him to give up his evil ways, that most certainly is preferable to slaying him.  I shouldn't have jumped to the conclusion that negotiation was impossible simply on the example of the Singing Tree.  This should remain our first thought no matter how many times it fails with Fae.

  "I'm happy to hear that I'm not the only one who distrusts Daesanderena enough to deny her request.  But even so, I would like to hear why you trust her, Caeldrim.  I'll be happier to have reasons to set aside our suspicions."

Caeldrim looks to Barbara and explains, “It's not so much that I trust her, it's that I have realized she has nothing to gain by betraying us or lying to us at this point. She knew our names before she appeared to us which indicates she did research on us. She is clearly more powerful than we are right now unless someone here can open portals to places and I'm not aware of it. It's one thing to know about existing portals and using them but she opened a portal to us using the trees of the Margreve, thus the Margreve has to tolerate her and let her open that portal. What could she possibly gain by lying to us? There is no way she can't get minions to do things for her, just like how the Weft of Shadows gets minions to do things for him. If she is as powerful as she appears to be, she does not need to lie to us to get what she wants as she'd just have her loyal minions acquire it for her themselves. Besides, I only said we should consider giving her the clipping after we discuss it with the Bramble King, he would know if such a clipping would be dangerous or if it would be benign. If it would prove to be anything other than benign then we shouldn't give the clipping, if it is harmless and the Bramble King would give us one freely, why not let her have it. Perhaps through the clipping, she'd be able to work with the Bramble King to prevent this from happening again or at least teach him to act more mature, assuming such maturity isn't restored by giving him back the crown. After all, how do we know if the Bramble King's immature mind isn't due to the separation from the crown? Something to ponder for later since it is moot if we can't even recover the crown.”

  "I'm getting the feeling we are in the middle of trying to interrupt the 'and then he went evil while considering it to be doing nature's will' step with the Bramble King's life."

  He turns back to Caeldrim, and says "Ancient beings who hide from those they play games with in another plane often don't have a 'reason' beyond boredom, and pointing to someone worse than they are as a distraction."  He shrugs,   "Of course, most of us won't be around to see whatever problems a finally grown new crown could cause.  Hopefully nobody is cursing our name for going along with it to solve our problems right now."

Amalar says, "Trust or no, we should still find the crown. Are we in agreement that we will be returning it to the Bramble King at the very least?"

Hunter says, "Once we know for sure what the crown can do, we'll be able to give a more educated threat assessment of what we're up against. Cael reminds me, though... the girl who asked us not to hurt the bramble king... she said he was kind. That was before the crown was taken. I can't help think this is a rare case where the magic item was part of his benevolence and that having that ripped from him may be the very cause of his reckless acts, but having the crown restored will make him good."

Barby considers points made and nods.  "Yes.  Once we recover the crown, hopefully we'll be able to find out exactly what it's role was in the King's going mad.  Then we can decide what to do next."

"If you all need a volunteer to test it out on, I'll do it," Pyrus offers, "I'm probably the weakest one here, so getting mind controlled to throw a tantrum won't be a big deal if its me."

(( Sorry for the long delay.  Reasons.  ))

OOC: Summary post for last session in Roll20

Upon entering the Tower the group is able to defuse a stone halberd alarm trap built into a statue and discover a secret door to a room with an open roof that had a Forest Drake named Zariss. The Children of the Briar had tricked Zariss into guarding a fake Bramble Crown which angered the Forest Drake enough that Zariss has decided to help the group out in recovering the real Bramble Crown.

Afterwards, the group came to an intersection in the overgrown tower where to the left is a cistern now inhabited by a Water Wierd that Amalar spoke with due to knowing Aquan from her Microelemental familiar taking the form of a Water Microelemental. The Water Weird wants to be left alone and warned the group to find another way deeper into the tower.

Along the eastern path from the intersection was a dark room with two Shadows that had created a shadow copy of the Bramble Crown. One of the two tried to fend off the group to buy time for the other to flee with the shadow copy of the Bramble Crown on its head. But the group with Zariss' help managed to defeat both shadows before the second could flee, even if the first shadow did get a good hit in on Hunter, which Caeldrim promptly healed with his herbal abilities.

Finally, the group explored the northern room and found some notes detailing the last days prior to the fall of the tower and found a piece of jewelry (worth 25gp).