Episode 20, "Love Entwined"

Feeling rested, the heroes trudge their way up-river to investigate the golden shimmering lake Serah. With absolutely idyllic ambient air temperatures, humidity, lighting, flora, fauna, and water quality, the lake and its surroundings immediately lulls the party into heavenly daze. Doc finds himself strangely alone in the group being the only one even remotely curious about the middle-aged man tending some flowers near a shack at the far side of the lake and goes to investigate. Meanwhile, Doc's comrades excitedly strip down to their skivvies and take a dip in the magical lake.

In a stunning turn of events, Doc discovers that the gardener is none other than Peter! His long-lost friend since believed to have been executed at the hands of Draven and Slabtown some time ago. Peter seems happy as can be, surrounded by nature and kept company by a wide assortment of bunnies, deer, birds, and other assorted forest animals. Peter is equally shocked at Doc's sudden arrival and invites the lot over for an early dinner.

While swimming in the lake, Vyreth gets hit by the desire to swim all the way out to the center where a large, ancient knotted tree sits idly bye atop a small, lush island. Once at the island, realizing there's nothing special to see here, Vyreth joins the rest of the non-Doc crew in a nice afternoon nap and wakes up after an hour or so lying on his back with a beautiful dryad standing over him smiling. The dryad introduces herself as Elmsea but gives Vyreth fairly little in the way of useful information. He begins swimming back to shore as Peter beckons everyone inside for linner and, to his surprise, the dryad walks the entire way beside him, on top of the water.

The lot sit down for some tasty home-cooked food inside Peter's cabin and the conversation turns serious... For Doc, anyhow. Doc starts digging into the nature of Peter's liberation from Slabtown (which Peter seems to have forgotten all about) as well as his "love" for Elmsea and Peter acts blissfully ignorant. According to Peter, he was out for a stroll in the forest and that's where he met Elmsea, the love of his life. Plain and simple. Fhasys seems more than happy for Peter and Elmsea and comes down somewhat harshly on Doc for questioning the whole thing. The others sit by quietly and focus on their food.

Finally, Doc hits his tolerance for delusion, brandishes his golden Apollo medallion and uses his powers to try and dispell the fey's influence over his friend. Elmsea quickly backs away from the table and leaves cursing Peter's friends under her breath. As they continue their debate as to the true nature of love everlasting, the ground begins to tremble. Heading outside to see about the commotion, Doc finds himself standing alone with Peter facing a gigantic treant slowly pushing its way across the lake toward the cabin. Elmsea chews out Doc for disturbing their love and questioning things, and suggests they return to the safety of the cabin before things get "out of hand". Doc acquiesces. Oddly, the trio return to the cabin to find the table empty and Doc's friends nowhere in sight.

The rest of the party (actually) wakes up at the river campsite in the middle of the afternoon sun wondering where the hell Doc got off to. Assuming that he already made is way to the lake, the stragglers begin the 3 hour walk. Upon arriving at the lake, they once again witness the magical scene before them. This time, however, Vyreth has his wits about him enough to reflexively cast dispel magic--cutting a 120' sphere out of the illusion surrounding them and pissing off the forest spirits deeply. In the wake of his spell, all of his mates also vanish from sight! Vyreth stands dumbfounded for a moment until Doc comes running out of the cabin to meet him.

Comparing notes, Doc and Vyreth sense that something's not right here despite Peter and Elmsea's continual gushing about love everlasting. Doc gives Peter more than enough chances to free himself of Elmsea's spell, including brandishing the pan pipes they'd shared as children, but Peter is too heavily influenced to leave voluntarily. Elmsea, furious at this point, urges the lot to leave them be in peace. Doc and Vyreth seriously consider the offer...

Fhasys, Talos and Bigzid wake up once more staring at the late-afternoon sun some ways up river, but not quite at the lake, wondering what the hell is going on. They'd just been heading North to find Doc when they blacked out and now Vyreth is gone as well! Continuing their walk, the entire party reunites just South of lake Serah to compare notes and share minds-blown. Apparently, the magic of an adept dryad proved too much for the wits of the party. Quite a day. Doc leaves the lake with mixed feelings, on one hand wishing Peter was more reality-focused and sober, but on the other simply happy to know that Peter is alive and well.

The heroes turn their attention back to Quanlo.

Episode 19, "A Willing Sacrifice"

The ruins of Enra proved a colossal disappointment for the heroes, especially for Talos who for once felt like he'd found his higher purpose. As the hideous, black, winged vulture-like creature summoned by the acolytes of Enra made its way through the newly formed rift, Fhasys looked around nervously for support and decided picking off the chanting acolytes one by one would be the best plan of action. The acolytes at first proved to be quite squishy targets, but once a couple had fallen the rest turned their attention toward the crossbow wielding rogue. Meanwhile, back at the stone platform, Vyreth had a stroke of genius and dispelled the curse holding Talos' mind hostage. As the curse's effects fell away, Talos took in the "true" scene around him. The creature eventually found its way through the rift, unfurled its huge black wings and took to the sky with a loud shriek... clearly upset about losing its prey to reality. The creature kicked up a vile cloud of toxic spores as its opening move, rendering Talos and Doc violently ill. Staving off waves of nausea and struggling to stay on his feet, Talos focused on the task at hand and started slinging spells. Unfortunately, after a few rounds Talos was overcome by sickness and collapsed into the demon's arms. The remaining heroes managed to dispatch the doppleganger, acolytes, and demon after an intense fight and regrouped to lick their wounds. Fhasys, getting a boost from Doc, took a moment to peer into the now closing portal and saw a bleak wasteland littered with twisted dead trees home to many more creatures like the one who tried to eat Talos. She (wisely) decided against jumping through.

Deciding to attempt a long rest in the heart of the forest, the party dug in for the night. During the last half of their slumber, a marauding troll exploded through the surrounding thicket and attacked. The heroes had had enough with the ruins and decided to head back toward the shimmering lake they'd passed by earlier. They stood around for a moment trying to get their bearings, found the path they'd arrived on, and began their return trip.

Soon, they arrived at the river leading north to the lake and again decided to pitch camp, hoping to recoup that final 4 hours the troll had so rudely stolen the night before. Once again, they were ambushed in the night... this time by another pair of displacer beasts. One beast tried to get the jump on Fhasys but couldn't manage to beat her keen senses. The other came from the forest to the north and handily pounced on Vyreth, digging its claws into his back. Combat ensued.

Once the fight had ended, the heroes came to the realization that the Ragneron forest wasn't a cozy place to camp. They gathered their gear and prepared for the trek upstream.