Session 06

## Summary

### 6th of June, 352

We open our session in the Split Bell Inn with muted discussion following the arrival of the Red Hand the previous night. During the night, Sibylla disappeared again, leaving Nik, Bigby, Drizella, Merida, and Mordred to discuss their plans. Over a full breakfast of bacon and eggs, Nik reiterated his fear of magic and expressed his desire to gain control over his magic, asking Drizella for her aid in deciphering his dreams. As he spoke, he scratched his head, his eyes flashed red, and he absent-mindedly drew spell formulas.

Bigby expressed his desire to close the Thori Black case. Meanwhile, Drizella expressed that she wanted to head to Rymes and find information on a fey who called themselves the “Fairy Godmother”. Drizella divulged a little about her past, revealing that the Fairy Godmother had turned her stepsister into a princess and transformed herself and her sister into twisted versions of themselves. She mocked Mordred, asking if he would be willing to use his sword to avenge the atrocities committed against her family.

Finally, Mordred wanted to get out of Lowmarsh, away from the Red Hand and expressed a desire to make sense of visions he had been experiencing.

At this point, a well-dressed gnome in a fine coat interrupted the party and offered the group gold if they could smuggle him out of town. He seemed familiar with the party’s deeds with the People’s Committee and offered them 20 gold upfront to get him out of Lowmarsh. The gnome only handled gold, claiming to have an allergy to silver, but assured the party that they were not a fey. Nik was suspicious, but Mordred seemed convinced, though he recalled that only some fey disliked silver. Merida, with her studies in fey lore, examined the gnome more closely, concluding that they were not, in fact, a fey. Mordred offered his hand to the gnome, and as the figure’s fate flashed before his eyes, he saw a single word: “Profitable”.

The gnome offered them future work and 200 gold if they escorted him to Rymes and offered to provide them letters of introduction to Dean Marikosa of the Ersatz University. The gnome seemed reluctant to give the party his name but told them they could refer to him as Memphis Cadwallader.

After giving their names, Memphis asked Merida if she was of the Dunborch clan and claimed to have worked for her father before Merida was born. He also appeared familiar with Bigby and his work with the Hogson brothers.

Memphis gave them space to discuss the proposal, buying a round of drinks at the bar, and they discussed the possibility of escaping via Paul Good-Get's farms. At this point, a will o’ the wisp appeared - Merida’s familiar - a strange fey creature of blue flame. The gnome soon returned with a bottle of expensive sparkling wine and drank to their fruitful partnership. When Mordred refused the drink, Memphis turned the wine into water.

As they left the inn, Nik and Drizella contemplated killing the gnome, but Mordred was obstinate and would not hear any of it. Bigby knew it was impossible for someone to be allergic to silver and theorised to the group that Memphis may have been trying to escape the Hand for a reason unrelated to the town’s fey activity.

### Blunt Force Trauma

Before heading to Good-Get farms, Drizella and Mordred visited the Sage Hospice to offer Matron Simone their aid. They found the Hospice under the control of the Red Hand and were stopped at the door by a heavily armoured knight. While the knight was willing to let Drizella pass, they would not allow Mordred, a civilian, to enter the building, citing the Hand’s concerns about a secondary exit through the back of the Hospice. As Mordred was not ill, he would not be permitted inside.

Drizella fixed that. “Accidentally” dropping her mace on Mordred’s foot and breaking his toe, she urged the guard to let her pass to heal his injuries. The guard seemed suspicious, and after speaking to a nearby mage in a language neither of them understood, they let the pair pass. Drizella seemed apathetic towards Mordred’s injuries. Despite his broken toes, he appeared to soldier on for the good of the group.

Matron Simone greeted the pair, and noticing Mordred’s limp, she offered her aid and bandaged his feet. Upon learning that the pair were travelling to Rymes, Simone offered Drizella a large paper titled *A Variable Approach to Burns, Oozes, and Scratches: A Dissertation by Matron Simone*. She asked them to visit the anatomy department of the Ersatz University and deliver the papers to a half-elf by the name of Asha. She also asked them to purchase any supplies for the Hospice if they found themselves heading back through Lowmarsh.

Upon exiting the Hospice, the pair were met by the stern figure of Alexus Dunloss. Citing his own concerns for the safety of the people of Lowmarsh, he assigned the pair a personal guard (surveillance) detail, including a mage named Pyrocaster Kreen and a pair of mercenary-looking guards named Dan and Harold.

Drizella and Mordred soon arrived back at the tavern with Pyromancer Kreen, Dan, and Harold in tow. Drizella spoke of Nik’s magical abilities to Kreen, who told him to seek out the Emberhall if he wanted to join the Hand and hone his magical abilities. Drizella questioned Kreen about a fey known as the Fairy Godmother, and Kreen expressed knowledge of the being, noting that they tempted mortals with fake promises. After speaking with the Pyromancer, the group decided to split up.

### Many Misdirections

After splitting, Kreen trailed Bigby, Dan followed Mordred and Drizella to the church, and Harold stayed with Nik in the inn.

Nik distracted Harold with a game of cards while Merida set off to investigate the passage out of the city at Good-Get farms. Sending her wisp to investigate the tunnel, she found nothing out of the ordinary. She returned to the Split Bell Inn, where Memphis appeared with a tall, hooded man by the name of Savvan, whom he insisted the party allow to accompany them out of the city. Merida insisted on Savvan showing their face and took them to an alleyway away from prying eyes. They appeared to be an ordinary human man and claimed to be in debt to the Crooked Men in the town.

Satisfied, Merida led them both to the tunnel.

Drizella and Mordred headed to the Immaculate Church of the Goodly Father’s Left Wedding Band. The church was busy with worshippers. Mordred tried to slip away while Drizella tried to distract Dan, devoutly praying to the The Faceless Soldier at front of the church. As she prayed, she subtly cast torturous trauma, causing Dan intense internal organ damage. The man screamed in agony and attracted a large crowd, allowing Drizella to slip out unnoticed. Also having left the church, Mordred felt something watching him, though he was sure he was not followed. Some presence seemed to be keeping a watchful eye on him. He headed towards the tunnel.

Meanwhile, Bigby continued to follow leads on the Thori Black case, and upon speaking to some workers at Burton’s Lumberyard, he learned that a similar cocoon had been discovered in one of their storage sheds two days prior. The workers had burned the cocoon, believing it to be from an insect. He also discovered that the wooden dwarven runes they had discovered in the Big Box were an antiquated cipher. When he presented Thori’s ledger to Alexus, he recognised that Thori had been diverting funds to the Crooked Men and had been paying a stipend of money to a colleague referred to only as “M”. Alexus thanked Bigby for his services and as a token of trust, allowed him to leave without Kreen. Before the investigator left, Alexus let him in on the true nature of the Red Hand’s mission in Lowmarsh. According to Alexus, the shapechanger was an abomination with the ability to calculate the date of the next Sunderance. He expressed fear of such information falling into the wrong hands, particularly the hands of other fey. He also returned the ledger to Bigby.

Nik soon left Harold, five gold richer, slipping away from the tavern and heading to Good-Get Farms.

Most of the party - save Bigby and Nik - had reconvened at the tunnel by this point, and they scrutinised Savvan. Memphis claimed that they were simply trying to get out of town, and were paying the gnome in return for his services. Mordred and Memphis spoke, and after the boy showed his cloak, Memphis claimed he was a “bit of a weaver himself” and had made his own coat himself. He also described his Avalon crest-emblazoned buttons as a “gift from [his] lady”. Merida presumed Memphis to be referring to Queen Maeve, also known by the epithet, “the Silver Lady”. Merida caused Savvan some distress when she asked why they were so far from home. Savvan claimed to be heading to the Ersatz University to continue their studies. They refused to elaborate further on the subject of their studies, but claimed there were many who wanted the information they had.

When Nik and Bigby returned, Memphis was chewing on some wheat, impatient to be moving. Mordred read Savvan’s fate, and saw the words “Frying-Pan”. With their business in Lowmarsh concluded, the party left the comfort of city walls behind and ventured into the Greenwoods.

Day turned to dusk, and the creatures around them began to appear twisted and unfathomably large. As they passed through the woods towards the forest path, they saw many strange sights, including a procession of figures heading southwest - one with bristles on its back and one with a beak and a pair of wings.

### Mum's the Word

They emerged into a clearing where someone had felled a great tree. On the tree's base, runes were carved into the oak, and a young, emaciated woman was tied to the tree. Mordred recognised the runes as Aklo, some kind of powerful divination spell trying to take advantage of the upcoming Parallax. He also noted illusionary magic disguising a hag as a young woman. Mordred warned the party that there was a hag, and the woman rose, contorting strangely before rebuking Mordred for spoiling her surprise.

The party were faced with the hag and a number of earthen wisps. After an admonishing slap from Drizella, the Hag turned to Mordred and asked what they were doing in the woods. Mordred responded in Aklo. The Hag seemed surprised, asking who had taught Mordred the tongue. When he responded that it was his “mother,” she asked for her name. With a message, Mordred told the Hag his mother’s name.

Upon hearing the name, the Hag dismissed their wisp companions and fled up the nearest tree. As the Hag fled, Mordred heard in his head, “I would not speak with the spawn of the Begot Queen”.

The party were concerned by Mordred’s dark tongue, but when pressed, Mordred refused to tell the party his mother's name.

Further down the road, the party heard distant voices. When Merida sent her new wisp familiar to investigate, the familiar drew the attention of the strangers, and the party were approached by four Red Hand members. The group’s leader, a pyromancer, questioned the party, who couldn’t talk their way out of their Red Hand catalogue marks. While Mordred offered the pyromancer some silver, a slip of the tongue, in which he referred to “glade folk,” aroused the Hand’s suspicion, who drew their swords on the party, believing the group to be harbouring fey.

A tense fight ensued in which Drizella almost fell. After knocking out one of the Red Hand pyromancers, Savvan cast an unusually powerful sleep spell and took out the remaining guards. Mordred ensured that none of the soldiers were dying.

The session ends with our band of five venturing further into the Greenwoods towards the magical city of Rymes.