Well this is nice Arvien though sarcastically. No food anywhere to be seen. Seglun took off for the cliff which she found easy to clamber up to the top. She lowered a rope which Grunyar tied off at the bottom and the whole crew, including the sailors headed up to a grassy expanse.
Hanging in the sky, floating just above the surface of the ground were hundreds, if not thousands, of glistening spheres. The ground beneath the spheres constantly changes, one moment a healthy green it changed to any color of the rainbow in the next. The spheres were of many different sizes some less than 5 feet across to 300 feet in diameter. Some tower 500 feet in the air. Some were of stagnant appearance while others a dance of shimmering light danced across the surface. One sailor moved right up to a 5 foot sphere and reached his hand out to touch it while peering inside. Varrid gasped in horror as the sailor was pulled, body and soul, into the sphere. Sylus commanded the rest of the sailors to stay at least ten feet away from any sphere.
Ralom in the meantime tried to put his hand under a sphere, when he did the light changes were seen on his skin. Baru and Drovic started forward tracking toward the mountains in the distance. The rest of the party and sailors followed wending their way around spheres until they came to the edge of the mountains, where steep cliffs were seen that allowed access around the highest mountains. As the characters moved into the area the air started to get warmer and more humid. The mountains morphed into a lush a dark forest right around the heroes and a lake suddenly appeared where a giant mountain had stood. Arvien send Zummergale up to scout the area. Baru was trying to recall where they were supposed to head. "Oh yes, an empty lot in the ghettos of the City of Nod," he finally recalled. As the group wandered down a path that headed southeast(?), the party watched as the landscape still seemed to morph to a more dry forest as they marched forward. Zummergale returned and related the ring of forest or desert or mountains around an inner city, which shimmered and changed shape as she wafted above it. She also reported wanderers or spirits populating the streets.
The forest grew exceedingly quiet as the group pushed its way through underbrush now choking the path. The insects buzzing around their heads were gone, and the unseen animals had paused their forest song. Stepping into a clearing, Seglun was surprised as a "bird" swooped at her head. Then she noticed it was not a bird -- its was a swarm of human heads! The heads had somehow gained the power of flight and were attacking.
As the party prepared for battle several other swarms appeared around them from all sides. The heads would fly right at the head of a hero and some of the party were stunned from the attack. Then the heads would bite and in some cases nauseate the hero. The battle was interesting as the heroes or sailors could be stunned or nauseated at intervals, unable to attack or damage the head swarms. But at last the battle turned to the party's favor, although a few more sailors lay dead on the floor of the forest.
After some healing was doled out by Ralom the party pushed forward, while Arvien bemoaned her dwindling list of spells. As the party moved forward the air was more chilled and they viewed a frozen lake. Seglun started leading the group around the south end of the icy expanse when they heard a great crack, as though the ice was breaking apart.
In the center of the lake, the jagged chunks of ice assembled themselves into a vaguely humanoid form. The ice monster stood nearly nine-feet tall, and his huge arms ended in sharp, icicle points. "You helped the dreamer who belonged to us," the monster bellowed with the force of the frozen north wind. "You will pay for that outrage!" The ice monster slid toward the party with murderous intent......
DM's Notes: The party earned 514 XP for the battle with nine swarms of Arcane heads.
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