10.8.22 - Relax, Research, and Repay

We made our way to The Teakettle where one of Madame Fiona’s many daughters greeted us. She wanted to know all about what we have been up to and offered us our old rooms for however long we would like to have them. Then, over brunch, we began discussing what needed to be taken care of. First, She-Rah pulled out her handaxe, which Ember told us was no longer able “of-returning” because of some ooze’s magical effects. This seemed like a problem, so we decided we could go research it later. Also, we were reviewing everything we already knew about when we were meeting with the orcs for Shieldmeet.

After our meal, we went to the local library to find out what we could. She-Rah wanted to do some research about the treaty the orcs and hunters of the Thar had before her parents were in charge, but she and Ember wandered off to a separate corner and Cannon and I could hear a discussion about orcs, dragons, and tyrants. We were looking for information about the city and Castle Vathar, especially any blueprints we could find. The only information we could find was that the builder was a dwarf named Cragjaw Stonecutter. Mr. Stonecutter seemed to have been employed by many of the more paranoid people and had a specialty in secret passages. It also seemed likely that he was still alive, and in his third century of life. Once we regrouped with She-Rah, we went back to The Teakettle for a good night's rest.

In the morning, we had our breakfast before going to meet Rhys at the castle. When we got there, she told us all about how she had visited her druid grove before she pulled the smallest griffin I have ever seen out of her bag, named Habib. She also told us about her new elephant friend, Haunch Baulgora, who now looks over her grove. Then Rhys sent a message to the Green Hag to ask her to meet with us one more time to talk about Elisande.

The hag sent a response telling us that if we must come visit that we should. We went in like we were going to our usual meeting place and all the markers were there on the trail, but when we came to a clearing it was not at the pool, but instead at a lovely cottage surrounded by clumps of mushrooms everywhere. Rhys gave her a little bundle of plants and bugs to excuse our interruption which made the hag very happy. She asked us to deal with a major fungi incursion coming from the north that had overtaken one of the main faerie circles to the north and the guardian worms of that circle had been slain. It seemed Vlad had been growing and using the area for his needs completely disregarding nature’s need for balance. If we could take care of her issue, she would take care of Elisande and help her choose a different path of hagdom if she wanted it. Then, she told us we had better be on our way if we wanted to make it there by the end of the next day.

We set out from her grove, following She-Rha, and we traveled for a while before we came across a cart path. She-Rah spent a few minutes talking to one of the trees nearby before she told us that there was a fae presence at the end of the path and the path seemed to lead towards the undead and mushrooms we were looking for. So, we followed the path to a large pool surrounded by various fruit trees with a cart and a sleeping dwarf next to it. As we approached, some roots came to life and began dragging us towards the pool, which wasn’t a pool at all, but a giant plant creature that ate the dwarf as soon as it had revealed itself. Several of us were swallowed, but we managed to slay the creature, and I was able to retrieve some shiny magical goo from inside of it. The dwarf told us her name was Varna Hogbarrel, and she was bringing ale and mead to the green elves. She told us that she had been coming from her brewery of Hanseeth that was within the castle run by Vlad. When we asked, she told us that he seemed to be gathering forces within the city, but she did not know much else because she mostly stuck to her business.

Continuing on, we found that the further we went the more mushrooms there were and the bigger they got. Some of the trees started to look like they had eyes, but it was really these mushrooms that had doors and windows on them that were hanging on the trees. Then, these little pixies started to appear and turned us into critters because they thought we were slavers. It turns out, this is where all of the pixies Rhys summons come from and they didn’t like that they never got paid to turn us into things before. Rhys pulled out some honey and some ale that we had and then they were much happier. They yelled at us to make sure that the next time they are summoned they get paid or else they might not show up anymore. We found a spot to rest for the night nearby, and during my watch I could see they were having a lot of fun with the goodies they had been given. In the morning, we helped them clean up a little bit from their night of revelry before we continued on.

The further into the forest we went, the more mushrooms there were. We came upon the corpses of the giant worms which is when I noticed that we had been followed by a shadowy figure who stepped out to reveal themselves as we entered the clearing. They stepped forward to attack us, completely catching us off guard, so we prepared for a fight.