On their way towards the elves, the party happens upon a scene of carnage. In a clearing, orcs and goblins have been slaughtered, their innards spread around. The only clue the rangers discover is a strange cloven hoofed print in the middle of the clearing.
The next thing they find is an ancient elf ruin, with broken stones circling another clearing. Sotocus, probably bored, takes a piss on a sacred stone. Tari, annoyed, rewards him with an arrow to the... not knee.[2]
Carrying on, the adventurers reach the elven village. They are greeted by the local mayor-equivalent, an elf called Talif. He wonders at their arrival, telling them that they haven't seen any strangers for tens of years. At least he knows how to resurrect Szivem. However, his gods are unforgiving, and a life returned demands a great sacrifice. Solid agrees to give his shield; such a great artifact will provide enough magical energy.
Talif dresses up in black and red robes, and takes the adventurers to the ritual square. Szivem is lain on the altar, the shield atop her.
Chanting in a strange language, he circles the altar several times, then produces a dagger and brings it down. The shield disappears in a flash of light, and Szivem awakens: bruised and battered, but alive.
Talif himself is greatly weakened by the ritual, and so returns to the huts along with the adventurers. They are now very suspicious of whatever is going on. Especially since Solid senses desecrated objects on and around Talif.
Tari pretends to be amazed by all this and joins Talif in his hut, knowing that he is way too weakened to try anything. Once he falls asleep (an elf asleep? again, very suspicious), Tari looks around the hut, but finds nothing due to a poor perception roll.
As the night goes on, Ireth, who had been resting in trance in front of the adventurers' hut, notices movement. A couple of elves are heading towards the altar in the middle of the night. She tries to stalk them, but they notice her in turn. However, they don't react and carry on their way. One elf woman lays atop the altar, saying goodbye to her friends, who then go back to the village. Ireth approaches her, but she insists to be left alone.
In the mean time, Lilli and Sotocus wake up and follow Ireth, reaching her at the altar. It suddenly darkens and fog appears all around.
Of course, they did not bother to wake up the rest of the party sleeping in another hut. Solid awakens (the notes do not specify how or why) and wakes up Groin and Szivem. The also look for Tari and wake her and Talif.
At the same time, the fog rolls over the grounds, swallowing the altar and the woman atop it. The three adventurers there try to get away, but Sotocus fails his save and stands still, letting the fog envelop him.
I think the girls tried to pull him away, and one of them tripped in the attempt. Maybe.
The rest of the party reaches the sacrificial area, where Ireth and Lilli are sitting dumbfounded. Solid, worried for his friend (?), ties a rope around him and enters the fog willingly. After a while, the rope is cut where the fog ends.
During this session, I frequently pulled players away to the bathroom for talking in private (such as the two guys in the fog) about the happenings, and I also passed out private notes, giving the title of this session.
The rest of the party decide that it's too dangerous to enter the fog, and they go back to the village.[3]
[1] Which tastes awful, but is better than nothing.
[2] I then created a custom feat for him, awarding bonuses and penalties for having ruined genitals.
[3] Q: How many DnD players does it take to change a lightbulb? A: All of them! Never split the party.
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