A Walk of Whimsy

and

Justin as the DM

"**A Walk of Whimsy**" is the thirtieth episode of Rise of the Arcane, the third season of Tales From Del'nasra

Learning the truth about the leylines, the Grand Restoration, divergent realities and what may lie ahead, the party wake up on a brand new morning seeing the moon having been pulled closer to Del’nasra which now lingers within the Feywild.

## Episode Synopsis

#### The Episode

The Fonkey Casuals awoke in their respective rooms of Auntie Gothel's abode to see the moon a bit closer to Del'nasra, but also each of them felt a strange itching sensation upon their most dominatnt arm as a tattoo in the shape of a great tree was inked from their wrist to their heart. Antyr, howewer had a far more nightmarish affair as a twisted version of Gothel appeared in their room and flayed their skin down to the bone, creating a scar in the shape of the party's tattoo before replacing Antyr's heart with the withered black fruit Grin left with Gothel the night before.

Gothel explained that the bargain was in place and that the members present for the tattooing would be unable to permanently pass over into the veil beyond death as long as Antyr and the withered fruit remained in their chest. Antyr explained the nature of this bargain, and Grin noticed they were icy cold to the touch and seemed to have another entity floating around in their head. It was also revealed that Antyr couldn't bleed, their blood coming out black and already coagulated.

After a hurried breakfast of fruit, the party left Gothel's abode with haste, seemingly unnerved by the tattooing process.

Gothel mentioned the party would be best to follow the path of orange blossoms that would bloom in their wake, but to avoid the other coloured blossoms as they would try to lead the party astray, but she wouldn't divulge where these blossoms would try to lead them. Arthur Wordweave seeking to get out of Gothel's abode was invited along and quickly gathered his belongings to come along with the party, including Leek, who had been recently restored to life by Gothel.

She explained their trip to find the Seelie Court would take roughly seven days to reach their domain of delight known as Midsummer, providing they didn't go astray and lose their trail. The first day of travel was uneventful, and as night fell the party noticed that the coloured blossoms they were following seemed to close up at night and lose their colour. They could also hear singing coming from a nearby lagoon where a few fey creatures were dancing away and invited the party to join them, which they declined and continued on their way, travelling for another hour before setting up camp under a large, overgrown tree.

The morning came with yet another day of the travel towards Midsummer, and this day Grin decided to get a vantage point while travelling and took off into the air to scout, but seemed to get turned around, and had somehow stumbled upon the path of yellow blossoms where they were following what looked like the Fonkey Casuals, but could never catch up. When Grin did reunite with the party they made mention that he seemed a tad smaller and in fact Grin had shrunk a few inches making him far more tinier than before.

After a few hours of additional travel they came to a large rope bridge spanning yet another ravine, and the toll box before this ravine mentioned a deep secret was the price to pay to cross it, otherwise they'd go "flying". Antyr spoke up first saying that they killed the orc in the brothel a few days prior. Upon speaking their secret, a large wooden hand reached up from the ravine and placed them gently on the opposite side, out of view of the others. Seeing this, Torger tried to race across the ravine, bypassing the toll but was intercepted by a colossus made of wood that was dwelling within the ravine.

It mentioned secrets were the toll and if they did not pay the toll they'd end up in the ravine. Grin was next, saying that "they didn't trust Antyr" and this seemed good enough for the colossus who tossed Grin to the other side, who was quickly caught by Antyr. It was revealed that the secrets were also audible to everyone in the group, no matter the distance. Hopper was next saying he "was worried about his family" which wasn't deemed a secret by the colossus who picked Hopper up and began to squeeze them. Hopper tried numerous secrets which were deemed more statements before they were eventually placed on the other side, with a few bruised and cracked ribs. Leek was placed on the opposite side without divulging a secret, and Arthur attempted to deceive the colossus but failed and was thrown into the ravine, presumably to his death.

Vonkar mentioned he was an adventurer before this, a very long time ago which was deemed a passable secret, even though people most likely already knew this, and Torger's secret was revealed about him making up the rules of the tattoo system enacted by his captors in the pit fights he used to be involved in. As everyone arrived on the other side they prepared for the next leg of their journey, and Antyr contacted Arthur with Sending and asked if they were alright with Arthur's response of "I'm alright, thanks for asking" being quite strange for someone just thrown into a ravine.

#### After the Break

Hopper quickly got to questioning Antyr about their secret and after being pushed in regards to divulging information, Antyr seemed to physically wither and weaken. They asked for the line of questioning to be dropped, citing their sudden change in appearance, which the party noted that Antyr now looked closer to their doppelganger in the underwater temple a week or so prior.

They continued their travel onwards, eventually coming to the first chunk of Del'nasra that had been merged with the Feywild. It seemed like a port city called Cala de Cuervos had melded with a piece of Gothel's domain and fused with the terrain. Buildings where fused with trees, and the ground with the party also noticing that people had merged with buildings and the Feywild terrain as well during the transition and that these people were dead, having become part of the environment themselves.

While walking through this merged chunk of city, they could hear screaming coming from nearby and upon hiding, they saw two sheep that had horrifically merged with two humans, most likely during the incident caused by Duskreaper Aelinor when he brought Del'nasra into the Feywild. The creatures seemed to be in some form of distress and agony, with Grin dispatching one of them, while the other scampered off into the jungle, bleating and screaming the entire way. The poor person/sheep was dealt with, and buried with the party deciding on seeking refuge in an old chapel, worried night would fall soon and they didn't want to lose their path of orange blossoms.

The chapel was under the effects of the Hallow spell, but the spell seemed to be weakened which allowed Grin to be in said chapel, but they felt uncomfortable and itchy the whole time. The chapel seemed dedicated to a family of rich, pale people and numerous chained coffins sat in alcoves, including a lock-box that came with a warning citing this place was cursed, and the note was signed by someone called H.L Esq, While everyone got their bearings in the chapel, looked around and relaxed, Vonkar took the lockbox outside and broke it open, causing a cold wind to rush through the chapel and lock every entrance or exit of the chapel and bar the doors and windows with thick, rusted, barbed chains while a tear to the Nine Hells opened up within the chapel, and a fiend covered in spiked chains stepped forth.

## Featured Characters

### Player Characters

* Antyr Xiloscient
* Grin
* Hopper Thimblefoot
* Torger Otrson
* Vonkar Eldsaga

### Returning

* Auntie Gothel
* Sir Arthur Wordweave
* Carnifex
* Leek
* Marquis Torgol Marrshade (as a scarecrow)
* Rattle
* Terry

### Mentioned

* Arcane's Bane
* The Archmaw
* Doe
* Duskreaper Aelinor
* Falkus Brinestone
* Flitz Tumblepots (unnamed)
* Kena Peshan
* Lionel
* Titania
* The Weaver