New World Recap #9: Day 34-36 - Here Stood My Dreaming Tree

Ogg mourns the loss of his comrades - only one of the six neanderthal to accompany him is still alive, and only just at that. The man's gray flesh betrays illness and his limbs are too weak to carry himself, much less his gear. Each member of the band looks him over, but the malady is too confusing to diagnose. Rest, for the moment, is the best curative.

The group rests and many are plagued with nightmares.

Lion-sails-the-sea helps Ogg make the other bodies ready for burial, then prays over a small fire of sage to consecrate the area. Once the ritual is completed, the body parts of the slain creature sizzle and pop as if placed on a fire.

Pkuma finds a small longbow and a quiver of arrows tucked between the tree roots and the wall of the chamber.

Broken Clay examines the murals and finds that the same script that wrapped around the base of the touchstone. He breaks out his writing materials and copies the script that wraps around the room. After some work he deciphers the glyphs into what he believes says "All things, all places, all thoughts lead here. From here spring all things, all places, all thoughts. All this begets the Wilderness." The inscription is carved over each mural repeating the words save the last, uniquely identifying each mural with one of the following descriptors:

Jenga examines one of the portals and determines without going through it that it leads to the land of the dead.

"How do you know that?" asks Pkuma

"The same way I know we're currently in the spirit world. The magic just feels different." she replies.

Feeling secure in the warm glow of the magical tree and the protection afforded by the consecration, Grey Bear makes his way back outside the cavern with Melvi and Siqua. Standing just outside the entrance to the cave the trio awaken the skeletal bison once more. Siqua uses his calming spells and Grey Bear beings to talk to the protectors through his magic.

"Why are you here?" he asks.

"We are the protectors of the tree" the four skeletons answer in one voice. "It is our duty to watch over the dying lands and preserve the balance between the worlds. Our brothers perished bringing change to the world and we honor their sacrifice with our undying bodies."

• "What is this tree?" "This tree is the embodiment of the great spirit - the connection of all things."
• "What was the creature inside?" "It is not connected to the tree - it is not part of this world."
• "Can we ride you?" "No."
• "How can we stop the dead from rising?" "The dead live in the land of the dead. Something is driving their bodies through a connection to their souls. Much like us."
• "Can you call Thunderbird for us?" "No."
• "Can we walk out of here without you trying to kill us?" "If you leave peaceably without harming the shrine."
• "We killed that creature and seems like we restored that tree - that lets us do a little harm, right?" "No. You should put those dried flowers back... We like them." 
• "Can we get to the Land of the Dead / Freezing Chamber of my nightmares" "Yes, Yes. The Tree will take you these places."
• "Where can we get some phat loot cause that was a difficult encounter?" "You have access to a tree that can take you almost anywhere in the three planes. Don't push it." 

Lion wants to know the next plan. He and his two remaining gnolls can't get home on their own, so they're stuck with you, but he thinks "Wilderness" will link back to the touchstone Thunderbird carried away. He's ready to take his chances and get back to home turf - he owes nothing to the neanderthal and doesn't want to risk what could be a several year long trek to wipe out all of the zombies going back to the neanderthal home territory. "Not our problem. We need to hit the road. I've prayed on this and the clearest sign is you're not getting another airlift anytime soon. I prefer the devil I kinda know versus facing down another one of those beasts again in the hopes we find another touchstone and figure out how to use it. This can't be the source - the neanderthal would have solved it by now if it were."

Melvi, grand champion of intimidating logic, convinces Lion Sails the Sea to not only not kill Ogg and rampage through the Neanderthal camp, but to stay with the party until they can all get back home.

The group spends the next two days investigating the portals.

• The Sun (Red, South) gate leads to a high, arid plain with mountains ranging on the west. The stars indicate this is in the southern hemisphere.
• The Wilderness (Blue, West) portal leads to a damp, chilly ravine shrouded in evergreen trees. The stars indicate this is in the Northern hemisphere.
• The Sky (Yellow, East) portal leads to a wide open beach with white sands. The stars indicate this is near the equator.
• The Stone (White, North) portal leads to the high, frigid top of a mountain with stepped cuts into the surface. It appears to be a quarry. The frigid weather and volume of clouds obscures the stars.
• The Darkness (Red, South) portal leads to an underground tunnel. Upon some exploration, the narrow tunnel leads up, and is made of finely hewn black granite. 
• The Moon (Blue, West) portal sends off a particularly familiar magic to Jenga – it clearly leads to the land of the dead. The group investigates, and confirms that the portal does lead to Mictlan, the city of the dead.
• The Water (Yellow, East) portal leads to another beach, yet this one is a shrouded cove – stone circles around the cove blocking any surface access to the beach. In the center of the cove is what appears to be a deep, dark, blue hole. This seems to equatorial by the position of the stars.
• The Ice (White, North) portal leads to a shady, frigid land. Several miles off is the trunk of a great tree its branches reaching so high into the sky they cover the heavens. They reach down to the horizon, which seems to be exactly where the group marched out from. At the base of the trunk, among the roots sticking up from the heavy snow, the group spots someone that quickly disappears under the roots of the tree. No sky is available to determine which hemisphere.

The group decides to explore the "darkness" portal more. The tunnel continues on, occasionally turning to stairs but always leading up. After about 30 minutes of walking, the stone is covered in dust and dirt. Eventually, the tunnel ends. Lefty, the intrepid engineer, assesses the situation and proclaims it the result of a landslide back-filling the corridor. With some elbow grease and some magical manipulation, the group excavates the rest of the tunnel and finds an opening high on a mountainside overlooking lush tropical jungle. Pkuma recognizes the flora and something very close to home, and the group filters out into the bright equatorial sun. Standing on the steep slope, the group is surveying their position when Pkuma slips in the mud. The tiny ripple of the pygmy’s foot in the wet soil creates a reaction within the saturated earth and the group looks on in horror as acres of land liquefy beneath them and flow down the mountain overrunning the trees and fauna below. After several minutes, the landslide slows and just beneath them lays a large black carving. From their positions, they seem to be standing on the shoulders of some kind of tremendous sculpture. The group decides that, while interesting, is probably not the place that Thunderbird has sent them, and trek back into the darkness to find the portal.

Having explored their options, the group formulates a plan. Given that the undead troubles plaguing the Neanderthals stem from the north and that there was something at the base of the tree, the group makes plans to further explore the “Ice” portal. However as the cold quickly sapped the strength of explorers and seemed to be a hazard to their survival, the group needs to prepare for the environment.

During the exploration, the remaining Neanderthal trooper dies of his illness.

A plan is made to head back to Neanderthal camp and tell the chieftain that the undead are stopped. The group gathers it belongings together, scoops up remains of the freakish creature and leave the cave.