Eldritch Grove

We started this session with the end of combat between the party and the Gnoll Deathknight and worshiper of the Dragon Below. The Deathmage had used her kukri to draw a door frame out of black energy and had stepped through it. With poisonous gas flowing into the building and Khyber Dragonshard in hand they all jumped recklessly through the portal. Derek and Korth were the only ones able to stay conscious during this time. They found themselves traveling through the Ethereal Plane, falling through a wormhole of grey stardust peering into the vast starscape of Siberys beyond. Korth was able to peer farther into the landscape and saw a very odd sight: a huge airship flying on a trail of golden particles being besieged by pirates riding red dragons. Before more could be seen or discerned the party fell into a bright turquoise quasar and found themselves in a dimly lit basement. 

Not entirely sure where they were the party realized all of their wounds had been healed (later it was revealed they had spent almost 24 hours in the Ethereal Plane without realizing) but the Deathmage had been waiting for them. Ethelred attempted to keep her pinned in place with a large mass of thorny vines but she simply cast misty step out of the way. Eventually she was felled by Grapé's hand and they busted their way out of the dimly lit basement. They found themselves in a decrepit, cobweb and moss laden home that looks like it was once the summer home of a rich family. Held above what was once the fireplace was a pristine looking staff. It was a tall black wooden staff with accents of what looked like polished bone, and a polished skull with its mouth permanently agape on top. They found it was a magic item that produced a solid blade of darkness out of the skull's mouth when the command word was spoken (basically a greataxe on command). The cold shadow dealt extra necrotic damage to living creatures so Derek took it to replace his mundane axe. 

They realized that they were in a sort of gated community a half-mile from the city proper and were on the coast. All of these houses were abandoned due to the semi-crumbling economy of Passage so the gnolls must have used it as a home-base. After a few hours they were able to scrounge up a few expensive silver forks that they then sold in passage for 6 GP. After selling those and eating some food they returned to their inn near the docks to retrieve their travel packs. Waiting in the shadows was Caoven; wielding a small hammer and green-colored chisel. He informed them that in his espionage at House Cannith he had found documents exposing the location of the Genesis Forge. While he is appreciative that they were able to find this Dragonshard they will only take time to find another; they must strike at the forge itself to prevent the Last War from being ignited.

He pays them for the job they already had completed; Caoven is a man of his word. With this information and a map for the party he pays them 75 GP (and 25 when they get back) to travel to the location of the forge which is deep in the Eldritch Groves (a large forest in the south of Aundair). That's why he traveled from Fairhaven; because it would have been counter-productive to travel back to Fairhaven then to Passage, then to the Eldritch Groves. Accepting their mission Caoven ushers a warning about the forest; it is called the Eldritch Grove because the border between Eberron and Lammnia the Twilight forest is very thin. Lammnia the Twilight Forest is a magical plane of unspoilt wilderness without civilization, and this magic influences this particular area of the world to be overgrown and wild. 

Then Caoven goes about destroying the Khyber Dragonshard they retrieved. Using the green-tinted chisel, which Caoven described as "blessed by an Angel of Balinor" he broke the shard in half with an inhuman clang. It flared with red light but then simply fell apart into small pieces of normal glass. Using prestidigitation he scooped them up and placed them in a pouch to either dispose of or use as the lens of a new arcane focus. Before departing he also gave them a small fist-sized clay pot that was locked with chains. He told them that this was an incredibly powerful alchemical explosive he had concocted that would only trigger when exposed to extreme heat. If they had already gotten the forge up and running all they would have to do is throw the pot in and run away; if they had not they would need to set a fuse or use a fire spell of some sort. With this he melted backwards into the shadows and disappeared. 

Perturbed by this seeming turn of events they set out strait from Passage to what Caoven referred to as the "Forbidden Forge". According to the map it would take them 4 days of walking to get there so they prepared and bought themselves rations for the trip and headed out. The weather was fair enough but the winds only blew the hot air around instead of providing cool winds. While resting at a campsite at noon on the second day Ethelred was delighted to see a small rabbit running through their campsite. When he attempted to speak with him all he heardand  was "GOOD GOD RUN FOR YOUR LIVES" from the rabbit. Erupting from the earth near their campsite was a huge monstrosity that stood almost 18 feet high at the shoulder. It was a Bulette; a strange cross between an armadillo and a snapping turtle that acted as a literal land shark.

The fight was short since the Bulette threw itself at the party regardless of the wounds it incurred. The new magic weapon that Derek acquired was incredibly useful in culling the huge creature. At one point it withdrew from the party and threw its body down on the party. Everyone threw themselves out from the crushing weight while Korth attempted to catch the Bulette and throw it. It didn't work out and he was crushed alongside Williams. After they were retrieved when it died Ethelred salvaged some skin from the Bulette to make a cloak from. For the rest of the trip Ethelred works on separating the pieces of skin into strips and tanning them together. 

Later they were able to sleep without any interruption. As they ventured deeper into the virgin woods the plants got so thick that Korth and Derek had to take turns cutting through heavy foliage and bramble. Ethelred was upset by this but understood its importance to their mission so he kept his eyes averted. Unbeknownst to the party they opened up a hitherto-secret glade in the forest that was 30 feet in diameter. At the back were three black granite statues depicted two elves and a centaur bowing down to the sky, naked for all to see. Ethelred realized this was a secret site of worship for the god Balinor  and its inhabitants would probably be very upset at their intrusion. Sure enough three centaurs soon arrived to attack the resting party. Two bore large pikes made from wood and stone while another slung arrows. Fervent in their defense of their sacred statues they only relented when Derek hacked them apart in a frenzy of blood and necrosis.

Ethelred was very unhappy that they had broken the sacred secrecy of these Centaur's religious site and needed a while to recuperate (even though he took no wounds). Soon after they returned to their journey and got plenty of sleep with impunity. As the party gathered their things and moved on some of them noticed the snapping of twigAs, heavy breathing in bushes and the shifting of movement in the distance. As they kept going nothing attacked them (so far) but seemed to simply...watch. Finally they crested over a hill and saw a large singular mountain in the distance where the map says that the Forbidden Forge lays. As they took a break the skulking shadows revealed themselves to be a pair of owlbears that descended on the party. With a flourish and a battlecry Derek managed to scare one off after dealing a seemingly mortal wound to its neck. The other viciously attacked the source of fear instead of running, but instead of being felled Ethelred hit it hard in the head with his shillelagh to knock it unconscious. Korth wants to simply kill the owlbear while Ethelred wants to cast animal friendship to turn it into a friend for a short time.