Home Again, Home Again

HArlan is still gripping a woodsmans axe. 
 Tala runs to him and garbs hime. He opens his eyes and realises his sister is here. He starts to cough up blood, but says told you Id find you. Salus prforms first aid on harlan, she realises his woundsa are terrible but somehow he has survived. he's in severe shock but oddly strong, She fees a faint blue light running along his veins. She heals him and he feels much improved. He finally let's go of the axe. A runs to Tala. HArlan looks to all of us and thanks us. He asks what he can do for us. Guru asks what happened. Harlan says the roots came from below, up throught the ground far too many anywhere. A asks where this happens Harlan says thatwatchtower and says it started with the pulse. He looks really scared and says like the world's heartbeat. Guru asks who else was here. H says Jon, elias and merrin didn't make it. H says they were take . Aeths says Taken where. H says they went staight down like somethine underground. Guru looks rounds but sees nothing. 
 A reminds them of the pit near the sled and H says that's where they were taken. A talks to Tala and asks why she ran out of the house 
 Aeths and Seb see harlans left hand twitch, almost rhtymically. as though he's matching something beneath the ground, it feels alive but alian to us. Doesn't seem like possession. Guru loos for a magical link with his tremor, something is in Harlan, he perceives an incredibly brief flicker within him. It flickers briefly then fades. It stays the same as we leave the area. Guru mnitors using sustain magic, doesn't behave like a spell, Guru can id the school, the pulse originates in his chest but seems to answer to something seems far away . 
 Harlan doesn't know how he got there but he felt something take him under ground, then next thing he knows is that he was here. 
 Guru is worried that he is transforming and is worried about taking him back to the town. There is also a small lodge by the watchtower 
 Guru looks for Magic on Tala and sees nothing. No aura or pulsing info or anything. Guru looks in the lodge. 
 A asks why Tala ran out from her house, what scared her so much. Also she said she heard voices, what were they 
 She can't rmeber leavingg the house next thing she rmebers is the door being kiccked in. A gently asks about the voices T looks to the old forest but says she isn't sure but she thought it was Harlan, then she heard voices of a woman and child crying for hlep. She can't hear anyhting now. A asks what the last thing Tala remembers - it's being put to bed by her mum.  
 a looks at Tala's feet, but she seems to be phyically ffine. Her clothes seems only faintly damaged but there are no signs of her being taken under ground. A watches Tala but sees nothing more tah a frail scared, little girl. 
 Guru looks in the hut, it's been knocked about a bit. The damage looks sudden. Guru finds a flint and steel, 2 torches, 50ft hemp rope, small kettle, dried venison (4 ratons) 2 waterskins ( water could be stale) a wooden axe. And 3 minor healing potions, one is cracked and not usable. Aslo fins a footlocker under a broken bunk, it's locked. He drags it outside and uses the axe to open it. G and Aeths open if and find: 
 2 quilted armourds ( DEX MOD 3) 1 leather armour, heavy winter cloak with moonrest insignia, small pouch with copper and silver 12 silver 34 copper and a sealed wax packed labedl toEldr Saelin if we do not return. 
 After one quick look round the site we prep to leave the wind drops instantly and the snow starts to fall silent. All bird song drops. Harlan stop speaking, looks towards the deep forest. Without warning there's a thrum, which is more of a sensation, we feel the pulse under our boots. SOmething huge has moved under the earth Harlan's eyes widen as he screams "No" another Thrum burst out. Ha makes  a dash for Guru, he feels miuch stornger than he should be he cries "its here" and the blue veins ripplar across his body.  
 A again adresses the forest again. SAyas we have found our own, it looks like one of ours is also one of yours, can we leave in peace? This isn't coming from the forest it's coming from below. Harlan regains himslef for the moment. He looks at Tala and muttrs her name, he kneels beside her ans says ",...... as he coughs more blood up. "he says don't follow the ........... then looks down as he says its's waking. The ground under Harlan explode s up with black roots and they rip Harlan apart pushing his body into the frozen air. A tries to protect Tala from seeing this.  He hangs suspended in the air, his body convulses and his hand start to claw at his stomacje and chest at first his blood runs red, then turns black. Salus tries to hit him with a divine lance. Guru also embraces Tala. The divine lane is topped by the roots, but they recoil violently. Tala tries to reach Harlan, we try to pull her back. She cried "Please don't" and  for one moment everything stops. Harlan reagins focus. He says "sorry, please save my sister" He looks at peace, but the roots ontinue to hold him aloft, but the draw him deep into the darkness. 
 Guru picks up Tala. A says "you have taken back your own". The roots drag Harlan into the ground, it's about a minute before he is envolped and is no more. The clearing falls silent again ans snow falls, the ground trembles like slow bretah. The forest exhales and deep within the forest something answers, deep and seems to be from every direction at one. Again the blue light begins to pulse agian, racing away live veins fromt he clearing in every direction. A small narrow wound remains  in the soild, the black roots weave around themselves and we see a blue light pulsing throught thme. Aeth sees the pulse resemle magical engery but though living tissue. Salus sees it is like arteris , so seem to reseble human blood. She seems it seems to resemle no know faith. the energy seems more lbiological. the roots are not like a tree roots seems more like a nervous stsem. Aeths notices the roots are not still, they move very slightly like shallow breathing. Guru's detct magic .... shows the entire clearing its radiating primal and occult  energey as well as an unknown energy. Tala is crying and muttering he promissed he'd bring everyone home. She falls quiet and whispers its listening because its stopped making noise. A also hears this. 
 We head back towards the town. About 100 yds out we hear a deep low note, ancient. The treess seem to carry to sound, the mournful call almost like a long horncall. Guru feels Tala freeze instantly and she turns to the forest gaps " no not from the old grow, not one goes inthere any more" . We floow the path back feeling oddly unfamiliar, the silence in the forest in over whelming. Seb glance bacl to the watch tower, for a brief heartbeat the tower seem shiger than before. Seb wonders if he's seeing things.  We go past the sled, and keep heading back. back at the previus sie of a root attack the remaining thick black roots seem to give under our boots as though alive. We continue back. 
 We are close to moonrest haven and we hear a distant ringing of a bell 1-2-3 pause then repeated. It's obvs Moonrest. Tala starts to panic as she hears elder saelin's emergency bell. She says it "hasn;t finished".  We leave the forest and follow the hunter's path, we see on e of the hunter marked stone s has cracked and the roots are runnin through the stone. 
 The bell continues to ring as we get closer. The woods dsatn dsilent watching in the distance. 
 Closer yet we, the gates are open and all faces on the pallades turn towrds us. We are greeted by Bran as we enter through the gates. He asks "whre's Harlan?" Aeths replies he was taken by the eveil in the forest. He bows his head towards Tala. The news spreads - parents pull their kids towards them ES and 2 council member run to us. She alredy knows but asks "no-one else" She sighs and say "then the forest has claimed them" Tala is still quite determined, but run to ES and collapes in fron tof her "She sobs" I'm sorry it's all because of me> Harlan tried to save " Me ES place s ahandon her shoulder. 
 The bell stop rining, but the silence feels heavy. Yselle runs up to us ans atarts to examine us, she sees the black marks and asks if any of it came back with your " A says not that I know of . Y whispers this isn't over. A whispers to Y "Tala said that too" Es says " best we go somewher quiter" we head to the LOnh House with Y. ES asks for a debriea A will tell everything she knows. One starts to pray at the transformation. At the mention of the horn sound from the woods one of the older council memeber  mutters "haven't herad that since I was a boy. ES says "enough for tonight, we will mourn those that have not returned. Noone will enter the whispering woods" You have done more than we have asked. ES asks all the other coucil memeber to leave,, "she says she's never had to bury a man the forest refused to give back" she asks Y is she can tell anything from what's on our clothes. Guru hands over the sealed packege. She reads the few lines legible as it's been soaked in blood. "She says knows the handwriting, and opens it carefully. She quitely reds "the puls e beneath the old pines is not an anilmal.  if the bell r=ings again burn the lower paths. She says "This was writtin by Garrick one of the the leaders at the watcht tower, not a man to panic. If he wrote this then he truly believes there's no coming back " the lower paths have not been used for years, burning them would meant cutting off anyone who is still out there. 
 She asks us - befre I condem half this islan to the flames is there anything that can be doen. Y runs her finger over the blood and says, This was not written after the attack who wrote this had time and knew something was coming.