Rafnar started concentrating for the teleportation, waving his hands and chanting. Durlin and Letheril were yelling at each other in the background, though they’d quieted down to grumbling by the time the spell was underway.
Then, right as the spell was about to complete, Letheril shouted something as Durlin grabbed him by the neck. Startled Rafnar completely - we could hear him choke on his chanting. Next thing we knew, we found ourselves in a forest we didn’t recognize. Durlin, Letheril, Spesof, Momen, and me - but no Rafnar.
The two idiots immediately started bickering again about whose fault it was. Spesof had to ask if they even recognized where we were. Turns out it was Elvinset - exactly where we wanted to go. So at least the spell got that part right before it went sideways.
Then Momen asked the obvious question: where’s the sun?
Letheril explained that Sehanine is the goddess of the moon, among other things, and Elvinset is perpetually covered in darkness as a result. Durlin called it creepy. Well, off-putting. Actually, unusual. Letheril thought we should have known this already since, you know, Sehanine Moonbow - moon, night, darkness. The whole thing.
Durlin pointed out that it’s weird to constantly have your temple covered in darkness and that they should really consider not doing the whole nighttime thing. Letheril insisted it wasn’t off-putting, it was “setting the mood.”
Durlin turned to me and asked if he could kill Letheril. I told him to go for it, but pointed out that Letheril might be able to take him out too, so maybe rock-paper-scissors would be a better outcome. Keeps everyone alive in case something goes wrong.
Spesof just wanted to get on with it and get to the temple. Durlin agreed, saying his sister was probably already concerned - they’d likely sensed our presence already. He pulled out his amulet and started pouring energy into it.
Letheril immediately stepped forward, grabbed the amulet, and pulled out his own. Insisted they should use his amulet instead. Something about the difference between heroically appearing with the leading lady’s brother versus being dragged along. Made all the difference in the world, apparently.
Durlin grabbed Letheril, called him an idiot, and they started tussling again.
That’s when we heard a scream coming from the south. Group of people - at least one woman and one man, based on Momen’s long history of hearing people scream.
I flew up on my carpet to about forty feet to get a better look. Saw an area of treetops in the distance glistening in the moonlight to the south where the scream came from. Relayed that to the team and suggested we head south. I went up to eighty feet for better scouting.
From up high, I could see the trees were covered in large cobwebs. There was basically a net of webbing at about thirty feet up, preventing anyone from crossing through it. You’d either need to go beneath the cobwebs or above them. I was already at eighty feet, so above it was.
We moved in and found ourselves in a fight with a bunch of ettercaps and some drow. The whole area was covered in webs glistening in the moonlight. I stayed up on my carpet taking shots with my bow, though my aim was off all day - had to ease up on my usual power shots because I kept missing. Maybe I need to get my bow retuned or something.
Down below, things got messy. Fire started spreading through the webbing. Momen and Ignis were dealing with ettercaps up close. Spesof was tearing through enemies. Durlin and Letheril were trying to help rescue some elf civilians who’d been caught up in this whole situation.
At one point I witnessed what might have been the world’s worst wrestling match between Durlin and an ettercap. Just sad, sad poses all around. Duel of the weaklings.
The ettercaps started scattering once we’d killed enough of them. Durlin raised his staff and cast control weather - it started raining, putting out the fire. Everything went dark again aside from Letheril’s light.
I flew down to about twenty feet - below the webbing but still airborne. Asked what happened since I’d been up top the whole time. Mentioned how all my shots were off and I had to manually lighten up a bit, making my shots less powerful.
I was basically riding my carpet like a motorcycle at this point, just sitting with my legs dangling over the front. Not even that impressive, really. And at some point I’d attached a hooded lantern to the front of it, so it really was kind of like a motorcycle with a spotlight. Maybe I should start pretending it’s a helicopter.
Letheril cast some healing magic on Spesof, though it didn’t do much given how much punishment that guy can take.
Momen asked what drow were doing around here. Letheril explained they see them sometimes - not particularly fond of “proper elves” as he put it, flicking his hair back. In the rain. Momen pointed out that drow are normally deep underground. Letheril agreed - something must have woken them up.
So we arrived at Elvinset in the dark, immediately got separated from our teleporter, and ran into a fight with ettercaps and drow before we even made it to the monastery. Just another day with the Cedar Combe Monster Bashers, really.