(I really like that place :) )

Mirica picked a couple pieces rare roast beef, fresh bread and a glass of cinnamon-milk (she missed it on the road) and made herself comfortable on the grass bench just outside. "So... Ropes are good, but what do you think of the good old "bag of holding" trick? One of us is using Feather Fall, and the rest sit in the bag. It's just a few seconds, should not be a problem at all."

Jahren grins at the absolute perfection of this place, and the abundance of excellent foods.  "Few places have I seen such as this, rivaling only Fey courts and the finest halls of Kings and Queens.  Bravo Mirica.  You do realize, you now have a friend in Chen for life!"

     "Well if Jahren and Loane are covered," Fianna says, thinking aloud as she dines on a wide variety of everything, "That just leaves Chen, Toc, Mirica and Myself..."

     Fianna looks around to assure herself that she has indeed counted everyone.  "Jahren, you sure you and Loane are covered?" She calls out. "'Cause I can make Chen, Mirica and myself fly our ways safely down to the ground...  Assuming Chen is able to carry Toc we should all be set then?"

     "Chen???" Fianna suddenly calls out at the top of her voice.  "What are you eating?? You better have saved some of that for me!" In no time Fianna is running at Chen wanting to try the food before he finishes it all.

Jahren pours a beverage into a large mug and nods to to Fianna.  "We'll be ok, thank you.  Save your magic.  Surely we have a lot more to deal with in this wood."

Smirking in between sips, the bard suggests "my vote is to watch Chen climb inside this bag of holding."  He tries not to laugh.

     Fianna coveres a chuckle and shrugs. "To each their own, I suppose.  But I will trust my own magics rather than contort myself into a bag.  Bigger on the inside or not, the opening only stretches so far...  And no jokes about my waistline!"

 Mirica laughed glancing at massive shape of the dragonborn: "Chen is welcome here, of course as is his friendship. But Fianna is probably right - as useful as it is sometimes, it might feel a bit cramped inside the bag. I would gladly use your magic, Fianna. Without a single joke". She raised her glass of milk as if taking a vow.

Toc looks up from his sauted vegetables and noodles in some sort of spicy brown sauce, "And I can manage myself, and one other if we really need it, rather than Chen carrying me like an infant." 

He takes a sip from a crystal glass of elven wine and cracks a rare smile.

(OOC: I wrote a post nine hours ago, but looks like I didn't actually post it. It was a real masterpiece too (not). Chen felt so nauseated from the stomach-churning teleporting/falling/stopping that he was actually NOT hungry for the first time. I guess he found his appetite again when they reached the cabin).

Mumbling through mouthfuls, Chen objects to the idea of climbing into a bag of holding. I know of a halfling that tried that once. Forgot that he was wearing a magic haversack and was sucked into another dimension. Swallowing and wiping his mouth, Chen continues: This cloak of mine also allows me to create webs, which may be enough to slow our fall. I confess I've never tried to use it for such purpose. I would certainly welcome Fianna's offer of flying. Then, reaching for another rack of pork ribs he says: Let's not make any rushed decisions however. 

After a bit of time together in this lovely slice of heaven, and after even Chen seems to have temporarily taken his fill, the group reassembles on the beach. Not wanting to squander their 2 days lead they just tried to buy, and having spent 3 hours here already, they prepare to depart. Fianna mutters an incantation, and Mirica, herself, and Chen find themselves floating off the ground, able to fly at will.  Jahren unrolls a carpet from his pack, and he and Loane sit on it, and begin floating. Toc nods to Mirica, "Whenever you're ready." 

And with a sudden jarring shift of reality, you find the forest scene explodes around you. Toc falls, but with a wave of his hand he's falling relatively peacefully as the rest of the group hovers in the lower branches of a massive tree.  Without the sudden confusion you're all able to take a moment to look around. The trees here seem to be the same type as the ones elsewhere in Cormanthor, but the bark is a dark brown, almost black, the leaves a very dark green, and the canopy above blots out all light, not letting a sparkle through. As you all descend to the ground to meet Toc you see that the bushes, and even dirt and rocks of the forest floor are all darker shades, the shadows here dark and expansive. This forest of shadows does not seem at all welcoming. 

The rotting beams of the watch platform are scattered about the forest floor here. Though they were once nearly two feet high beams, they've rotted and broken. It's cold here in the dark forest, a menacing feeling is all around. Toc speaks in hushed tones, "This is the dark wood. A thirty thousand acre span of forest within the Cormanthor long ago corrupted by dark elves. It was once, a long time ago, the location of the Elven Court. After this city was corrupted, the Elven Court moved to Myth Drannor, the city of Song. This place is still referred to as the Elven Court by humans though who do not understand the court was our system of government, not the name of this city. For simplicity sake, we refer to it as the Old Elven Court, so as to reduce confusion. It is home to all manner of dark beasts and monsters, that find it a suitable home.  The ruins of the Old Elven Court are this way." 

Before he can leave however, you all feel a strange pull at your senses. Something very unusual, a feeling as if a fabric of reality is tickling your senses. You look to your left, and there, 50 feet in the air and perhaps 50 feet to your left, you see a sparkling tendril of glowing translucent blue wavering about in the air.  The air around it bends in strange ways as if you were looking through a drop of water. Motes of light drop from it, descending slowly to the forest floor.  (Despite many of your experiences with arcane affects, this does not trigger any memories or knowledge that you have...a mystery floating in the air...)

As the group gathers on the beach once again, Jahren unfurls his carpet, stashing the tan cloth he uses to disguise the otherwise vibrant item back in a pocket on the side of his backpack.  Sparkling gold threading is expertly woven together with deep blues and reds to form an eye catching magical creation.  Holding the top edge of the carpet and letting the rest hang, the half-elf looks at Loane and says "better hold on" with joy in his eyes.  He says to her with a whisper "Flying is my guilty pleasure, I'll admit.  This was a gift from a Djinni in exchange for freeing him.  Selfishly I've never wanted to give it up!"  

Jahren takes Loane on a spiraling ride down towards the forrest floor once they are returned to their original positions.  His joy of flying and sharing it with a new friend is quickly swept away, however, as the cold, deadly feel of the forrest consumes them.

Seeing the strange, floating tendril Jahren swiftly stashes his carpet once again and pulls out his shield from under its cloth sheath for the first time.  Guarding himself and anyone nearby with the shield raised, he studies the strange phenomenon.

At the suggestion, Loane grips the edge of the magnificent carpet in both hands. "You'll have to share that tale sometime. A trapped Dijinni isn't something that's stumbled across easily, except for in tales."

"Quite different from sailing." she mumbles as they land. Pieces of hair are tucked back into her braid as she looks around the area. A hand goes to her rapier, the grip on it tightening at the tendril. She says to Toc, "That doesn't seem like anything that Drow corruption can do."

Toc squints up at the tendril, his face puzzled. In a near whisper he says, "No...I would think not....it looks as if the very fabric of reality is torn...."

Chen feels a little tinge of regret at perhaps overdoing the snack at the cabin. The opportunity to fly doesn't come often, but with a stomach full he doesn't wish to risk any unpleasant consequences of being so bouyant, so he descends as gracefully as he can to the ground with the others.

Seeing the rift, the first thought in Chen's mind is: "Did someone put something they shouldn't have inside a bag of holding?" Chen walks closer to the rift to take a better look. When he's within 20' he picks up an acorn and throws it toward the blue thread.

     Fianna doesn't so much fly as she controls her descent to the forest floor.  She smiles at the obvious pleasure others take in the act and thinks maybe it's become too common for her if she's lost the joy in such freedom...  Still, she can enjoy their joy at the thing even if she has lost it herself.

     She is reluctant to spend too much time examining the forest.  The changes, the corruption pain her in her very essence.  To see such a wrongness take hold and overcome natures own beauty is just heart wrenching.  So instead she keeps an eye upon her companions as they too safely come to the ground and gather themselves together for what is to come. She takes in the majesty of the magical items Jahren has been so carefully concealing.  She understands his caution but it is a shame that such things need to be kept hidden.  

     But something was wrong...  She could feel it.  This place wasn't just corrupted, it was something Other...  Slowly Fianna looked around to see if she could get a visual of what she was sensing.  Before she could spot the tendril she saw Chen picking up an acorn and aiming it.  Fianna turned to see what he was aiming at.

     "I don't know if that's such a goo..." Fianna trails off, seeing her words of caution come too late - The acorn is thrown.

      Fianna turns towards the tendril and takes a defensive stance, readying herself for...  well, anything.    

Mirica was almost happy to leave her paradise - the place hold to many memories, that were too fresh as well. Presence of others helped, but still - too soon.

Slow descend to the forest floor was a good distraction, though, and despite the darkness and "wrongness" of the place, still pleasant. But when sensation of slow free fall was gone, the obvious cursed nature of the place made her shudder. She touched the tree trunk, trying to listen, to get the feeling if the tree is truly still alive or if it become a shadowy abomination, as everything here.

Quiet exclamations of others distracted her from "communing with nature" and she too was staring in surprise at the crack of reality itself. "Where can it lead?" She did not really expected an answer but watched Chen's experiment with a great curiosity - whatever was on the other side, that something was about to get stoned.

The group watches with anticipating as Chen moves his girth through the bushes to get a closer look.  As he does so, the tear seems to capture all of his attention as he looks up at it, the motes sparkling down filling his eyes.  It doesn't look like a portal. You've all seen plenty fo those.  It looks more like...a fragment of reality has been cut free in that spot and is wavering about strangely in an unfelt wind. 

He get's within 20 feet of the thing's spot, though it's still nearly 50 feet above him in the air.  He winds up and tosses an acorn he fetches off the ground.  It's a good throw and the acorn sales through the strange effect with no visible result, simply passing through the spot without stopping and landing in the bushes a short way away.

     "Huh," Fianna says.

     "Huh," She says a few minutes layer, still with nothing constructive to add...

Jahren glances between FinFin and the rift ever so briefly a couple of times, but thinks better of saying anything.  Fianna seems to treat FinFin as more than just a magical tool to be sacrificed at her convenience, which he can appreciate.

Mirica was the first one by the acorn on the other side - she wanted to see if the seed indeed looks fine. She returned to the group with the acorn on her palm: "Anyone sees something abnormal? Have to admit, I am half-tempted to get closer and touch it myself."

The question was - how to get there?

The acorn appeared untouched.  Mirica, with a fly spell cast upon her....is still feeling light on her feet.