Hello, little ones. I'm back. For good this time.
We had to stop the wendigo. It was the only way. So with some careful planning to make sure we didn't end up running away in the middle of things, we headed for the heart of the forest.
The hobgoblin settlement was devastated. Most of the bodies we found were elderly or children, with expressions of terror on their faces, although some looked like they'd been stamped on with iron boots. It wasn't long before we found the redcaps, now living inside the hobgoblins' old hall.
I went in first to talk to them. Yes, I know they're horrible, but they're still fey, and we had quite a nice talk really. Yes, they were eating hobgoblins, and before you ask, I didn't eat any.
They told us about something that had been going around sucking people's brains out, and showed us one of its victims. It was horrible. It was obvious we were going to have to deal with this before we could take on the wendigo. Even if there wasn't the risk of surprise brain sucking in the middle of the fight, it wasn't right to leave it preying on the redcaps.
I don't know what it was. I didn't even get a good look at it. I just saw Vared fighting with something invisible. I enlarged Turgut and summoned a unicorn, as it would be able to smell where the creature was, but it didn't help much in the end. The others destroyed the creature - some kind of glabrous sloth - and I had the unicorn cast its healing magic on Vared and Aunold.
Then Aunold made a suggestion. We'd cast several spells in that fight that were still working. Should we take the fight to the wendigo now?
I climbed on the unicorn's back, after casting fly to make sure I wouldn't fall if I failed at riding, and we went into the cave. It's strange, but I felt sorry for it, seeing it lying there. So cold, and hungry, and alone. I wish there had been another way. But I'm sure that's just wishful thinking.
Aunold and I flew up to rain down fireballs while Turgut and Vared took the fight to it. It summoned some kind of earth monsters while the unicorn charged in. We had remembered its weaknesses, and between the fireballs and Turgut's axe, we were weakening it. We lost the unicorn to one of the fireballs, and the earth monsters were proving hard to damage, but I was feeling optimistic.
And then it suddenly leapt into the air, flew outside, and turned into something so monstrously huge we could see nothing but its face through the mouth of the cave. As we continued to battle the earth monsters, a sudden wave of necromancy swept across us, draining the moisture out of us. Poor Mittens. Aunold's little bird died too. Another attack like that would have killed us all.
I knew we'd hurt it badly, and I wondered if another fireball might be enough to stop it. But before I could try, Aunold flew up to it holding his staff of power and broke it over his head.
For a few moments I was blinded by the sudden flash of light. And when it cleared, the wendigo was gone. So was Aunold. When I looked back to the others I saw Turgut collapse, his obligation now complete.
We didn't fail. But that's not a price I wanted to pay.
I summoned another unicorn to heal Vared and myself, and then hugged it until it had to leave. Vared collected up all the valuables from the cave, and then we came home. Everything seems to be settling down. The hobgoblin leader lost his powers when the wendigo died, so the Gallians have defeated his army and gone home. With Turgut gone, I've been made Khan. I've asked Tonk to write some songs about Aunold and Turgut so everyone will remember what they did. And I've heard from Taint that there is chaos in the heavens but that Aunold has taken his place amongst the gods.
All I ever wanted was my home in the Greenwood. But I was born from the blood of the bear and the blood of the forest, and this is where my path has been leading me. This is where I belong.
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