Session x 108 "Hither, Thither, and Dorn"

Session 108: Hither, Thither, and Dorn

With most of The Lucky Seven inside Bavlorna’s Bathhouse, Rensig was getting to know Duke Irkland of the bullywugs of Downfall. The Duke explained that before Bavlorna had taken over things were much better in Hither—that a prince known as Flycatcher had watched over this land until Bavlorna stole his heart and ability to feel. Rensig, sympathetic, said that he would help out in the fight against the witch and those that served her.

Meanwhile, as the other members of The Lucky Seven were preparing for bed, Bucket Girl came to a decision: she would use her connection to the Machine of Lum the Mad to use its most powerful aspect and cast the wish spell to find Dorn’s lost soul. As she cast it her vision moved inwards towards the center of all realities, universes, and multiverses, to the ever spinning core of all things from which all orderly movement of the heavens originated. A plane of enormous gears thousands of miles in diameter turned with magnificent cities sprouting out of them. As her vision kept moving towards the center, she saw past what appeared to be very powerful guardians, to what appeared to be the entity Primus, the first being ever created by the Gods and now a God of time himself. Floating before him she saw a perfectly even dodecahedron spinning with energy. This she knew to be The Heart of Mechanus and instantly knew her brother was trapped within. She also realized that this was a piece of The Rod of Seven Parts, that Dorn’s connection to another piece must have been what drew him into it. Either way, it appeared a trip to the plane of Mechanus would be needed to both complete the Rod and free Dorn’s soul. While getting to Mechanus presented its own challenge, how you would claim this artifact being watched over by a virtual God and his legions of followers was a much more confounding one.

While this was happening, Bip was stealing food from the kitchen of the Bathhouse and Rhys who had grown concerned about the behavior of some of his friends after interacting with a demon lord attempted to cure them of their madness in their sleep. By the morning only Muffy’s obsession with rumors remained, and possibly something with Rasmus, but who can tell with him. Bucky awoke to some bigger surprises. Sitting beside her was an unbearably adorable creature; part duck, part turtle who the group decided to call Bobby, and a tiny cat sized sphinx who insisted on asking impossible questions and then insulting those who attempted to answer. The group called this creature Greg. Bucky theorized that these were beings summoned by the Machine and scooped up Bobby while Greg followed behind.

Ready to go to Thither, The Lucky Seven sought out Bavlorna, however she was not ready to send you off just yet. After destroying Greg for insulting her she explained that with giant elk pee staining the wood of her bathhouse and part of the ceiling of the first and second floors destroyed as a result of Rhys’ spell, not to mention Bip getting carried away in her kitchen, she demanded recompense. While she had offered a deal of either working for her for the next several decades or retrieving either a particular portrait or alternatively a unicorn horn from her sister Granny Nightshade who lived in Thither, you all offered another possibility. Two of her Lornlings had been killed in the night, and while she was reasonably sure none of you were behind it, she was vexed. You offered to solve the murder mystery, and working together you did just that. Gram was able to scry upon the mysterious assailant Bucky had seen while snooping. It was the women Bucky had seen Bavlorna taking a meeting with the day before: a grey skinned woman in all black with a large brimmed black hat. She had two smaller cloaked grey skinned beings with her and they were all in a balloon basket under a storm. Bavlorna, satisfied, gave you the means to get to Thither. As she was leaving Bucket Girl used one of her abilities from The Codex Drydalus to search for any weaknesses in the witch and found that she could be rendered incapable of casting spells if one were to run counterclockwise near her.

You took the means to get to Thither, a ticket Bavlorna gave you, and prepared to seek out a hot air balloon for a ride. However before that you found the scarecrow Clapper Claw and returned his original head to him. Thankful, he agreed to join you on your trip to Thither to act as a guide. After meeting up with Rensig again you were off.

Thither was very different, while Hither had been a swamp Thither was a beautiful primordial forest. On her trip across the border from Hither to Thither Bucky was attempting to identify The Dimensional Loop she had taken from Dorn’s body, and found that it could be used to reveal secrets in Thither, secrets relating to her unremembered earliest years and where she grew up. To that end after arriving she messaged Santa to ask Begbee how to find her former home and Begbee relayed a description of an enormous downed tree with three other trees growing directly out of it. Clapper Claw recognized this description. This was Loomlurch, the home of Granny Nightshade.