Dread Horn Hunting

group of fighters and tamers gathered by the Shrine of Spirituality in Ilshenar. The tactics for the upcoming adventure was briefly discussed. Then the group proceeded westward towards the entranche of the Mushroom Cave. Inside the cave, a teleporter would grant those, who had accepted the quest to kill the Dread Horn in Heartwood, access to the Twisted Weald Dungeon.
While the forest gland in the entrance cave of the Twisted Weald was quite peaceful (unless you had negative karma, then pixies would go after you), the journey became increasingly dangerous when they entered the quicksand maze where only slow movement was possible. However, the dragons proved to be an effective protection against Changelings.
McBykar picked up a thorny briar on the way, which was one of the keys that would allow them to enter the secluded island of the Dread Horn.

At the end of the maze, a small cave could be found. This cavern was home to the wolf Gnaw, who eventually carried another one of the required keys: A Gnaw's Fang.

After leaving the quicksand, the dangerous part began. A huge swamp-like cave opened to the group, which reminded McBykar of the Blighted Grove. Inside of this cave, several deadly threats awaited them. Stagnant pools of brackish water, huge spider webs, and thorny obstructions created a treacherous terrain. Stepping onto the swampy waters would spawn a group of dangerous spiders attacking the careless traveler immediately.

The adventurers killed many of the Arachnid inhabitants like the spiders Lady Sabrix and Lady Lissith, as well as the extremely dangerous Changeling named Irk. Eventually they would find additional keys on the corpses. After dropping the keys into the Statue of the Fey located in the runins at the southern end of the cave, the group was able to access the island of the deadly Unicorn.

The fight against the Dread Horn was moderately dangerous compared to Lady Melisande and the Monsterous Interred Grizzle, at least in this group. The Dread Horn had the displeasing habit to pull any attacker directly next to itself and then deadly poison all those standing around it. Thus, there was a constant running and curing. After the Dread Horn was killed, McBykar found a Horn of the Dread Horn on its corpse; an item merely used for decoration, as he later found out.
The Dread Horn's island could be left via a small boat anchoring at the west bank. When entering the boat, you were teleported to an area north of Lakeshire in Ilshenar.

09/2008

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