Captains log, star date Unknown, 2425 - Chapter 3 - Session 5 - Rumble in the Jungle

We made our way back to the lodge to rest for the night.
The next morning we take our information back to Elder Vane and Kale. They seemed worried rightfully so. The forest is primed to attack and we need to be ready. I got to work reverse engineering the nail bomb we found so I would have a cold iron option against more fae creatures we might run into. Klackers went to check out their hospital situation but it looked more like a school nurses' office. Amani noted that the townsfolk were very on edge prepping their homes and area for an attack at anytime. Odra and Bruin noted that the surveyors didn't leave but the opposite, they brought in heavy machinery to excavate. Odra knocked on my room while I was tinkering to tell me that her and Bruin were going to check out the syndicate surveyors actions to see what they were up to. Bruin and Amani had run off ahead before we could group up. What could possibly go wrong . . . ugh. We quickly hurried after them into the treeline. As we go deeper into the woods the wind sounds like an unnatural whisper, the trees lean in on us and the path ahead look twisted and warped. We slow down and Odra tries to track their movements through the wood. Something was messing with the leyline Odra and Z'ed could feel it heavily on their arcane energies. We found caltrops scattered around in an attempted to ward off any fae that might encroach upon this area. We found Amani and Bruin arguing by a tree about if they should wait for us or not. Seems Bruin won and they hadn't run in yet thank gods. Odra was able to lead us through the caltrops without anyone stepping on a single one. We come upon the syndicate drilling into the site as the commander was already ready for us having heard us from a ways away. Odra ran straight up to the drill and tried to smack it but it was alot sturdier than she had anticipated. Out of the brush came another syndicate peon who threw a dagger at her as she took a hit from the commander at the drill. Musta hit her harder than she thought it would as she became a little scared after the strike from him. Z'ed started throwing some lightning from behind us and struck the drill dead on damaging it quite a bit. Another one came up out of nowhere and stabbed Z'ed from behind. Amani threw some spells around herself attacking the one that attacked Z'ed and surrounding them with thralls. Bruin charged forward to assist Odra and bit the hell out of the commander. Klackers moved over to Z'ed and started bonking things with his whacking stick. Another attacker came out of the shadows and stabbed Amani in the gut. odra kept trying to take out the drill this time hitting it squarely. I whipped up an extra powerful alchemist fire and lit up one of the attackers in a blaze of glory. The commander tried to strike out at Odra to keep her from damaging the drill but Bruin stepped in to block some of the attack. Z'ed struck the drill again with a mighty lightning strike and it exploded into twisted metal shards but there was something pulsing under where the drill was. Unfortunately while they were all targeting the drill the attackers surrounded Amani and she was in a bad situation. Luckily she was able to dip out of there and get some distance between her and her attackers. Klackers moved to intercept Amani's pursuers whacking them over the head with his stick. Z'ed got stabbed and tried to cast a spell in response but got throat punched interrupting her casting. Odra shoved away the one I lit on fire and stepped away from the commander at the drill location giving her space to dig out a healing potion from her bag. I got ran up and stabbed me giving me a nasty open wound pouring blood but was able to back away over to Amani and administer her an elixir of life. Good thing as at that moment the commander ran up on Amani and slashed at her. Amani cut up and bloodied seemed invigorated by the pain and she looked more agile and quick. She then cast a spell conjuring fear itself in the eyes of the commander and their ally. Bruin swiped at one of the attackers and they fell limp and lifeless to the forest floor. Amani just couldn't catch a break as she got stabbed again almost taking her out of the fight. Odra shot gunned the potion she retrieved. One attacker tried to close the gap on me but Odra cut him down before they could get to me. I lit up the commander like the one before him so now he was burning like a bonfire in the fall. He did not appreciate that as they charged me swinging wildly. Lucky for my green ass they missed every swing. Amani quickened Bruin turning her into a blur of fur allowing him to dash to Amani's attacker and started mauling them finishing with a massive suplex but wiffed it on the suplex. Klackers administered some field medicine to patch up Amani as best he could. Then started swinging his beat stick around more. The commander got sliced the hell up by Odra as he used what little strength he had left swinging at her with all his might failing spectacularly. The other one had a vendetta against Z'ed and ran up to her stabbing and slicing her to ribbons. Blood flying everywhere. Amani took it personally and created a thrall that started beating down on them before exploding into shards of bone but that proved ineffective against their armor. Bruin came and played clean up just crushing them from behind leaving only the commander left standing. Klackers tried to finished them off but wasn't able to bring them down. He was able to do some quick medicine on Odra to heal her wounds a bit. Odra was able to finish him off and bring this epic fight to a bloody violent close. We were victorious but a little worse for wear across the group. In the aftermath the silence was broken. Swirling color and light tore above the leyline where the digging was happening and it was expanding quickly. We had no time to take a breath. From one danger to another.
Odra quickly identified a reading on what was left of the drilling equipment and realized there were null rods positioned around the area that we could use to control the breach. I was able to get to one and was successful at rearranging it. I could feel the breach pulling at us trying to pull us into it. Amani tried to investigate the breach but got too close and was sucked into slamming into the stone and falling to the ground unconscious. Bruin tried to use her connection to nature to sooth the stone pouring some primal energy into it. He then made his way to help Amani. Klackers got over to Amani to aid her more effectively than Bruin was doing. Amani woke up to whiskey bear breath over her mouth trying to revive her. Odra pouring some of her primal draconic energy into the fissure was able to seal it off. Out of the healed fissure a woman lay babbling some nonsense about a hollow queen and "she knows". Who the hell is this now woman and what the hell is the Hollow Queen? In the captains bag around the site we found a map with the Hollow Queens Throne marked on it and some other syndicate activities marked. This will prove invaluable in our next steps!