Freedom?

## Summary

Yeetus Mcleetus wanders into a large room with six mirrors and a note in the middle of the room. It reads 'Stand before the mirrors and face your fears for that which helps us most first causes many tears.' Alexander Jefferson sighs and chooses the mirror closest to him. Matthew curiously takes the face of Calliope Hollow before going in front of his mirror. As they look into the mirrors, their human selves are reflected in them. Matthew's reflection shows himself. However the reflections act weird as in their eyes are nothing but black pits. They reach out through the mirrors and everyone but Emily Binks steps back. The reflection grabs Emily and begins pulling her in. Cyrus Ferdinand quickly flies over and pulls her out. All of the reflections step out of their mirrors.

Emily tries to attack herself but her human form dodges. Emily then bites her and is successful but her other self attacks back with both attacks landing. Matthew uses an eldtrich blast on his copy but it misses and Matthew's copy strikes back with a similar blast. Thankfully Matthew had the incentive to use counterspell. Cyrus goes to use his longsword while badmouthing his hair style. His reflection dips back into the mirror and Cyrus calls it cheating. Matthew sees it as Cyrus admitting a flaw about himself and that caused his reflection to fall back. Matthew tries it by calling himself an &$$hole and it works. Cyrus is dumbfounded but inspires Emily anyways.

Alexander follows Cyrus and Matthew's lead and walks up to his double. He mentions how he's afraid and how he blames himself for what happened to a little girl who was suspected of being a witch. He mentions how he's afraid that he'll make a mistake like that again. Alexander's reflection cries and slips back into the mirror. Hazel looks at her reflection and calls herself a coward letting her parents tell her what they wanted her to do. Hazel promises to tell her parents what she wants. Douglas talks about how he doesn't like the dark place he was in and now wanted his friends to keep him warm.

Emily raises her claw and punches the wall nearby. She admits how stupid she is and how she wanted to be right. She also mentioned how she was just a kid and how she can have fun like everyone else. She also admits that it's okay to rely on others. Her reflection tries to pat her on the shoulder but can't as she goes back into the mirror. A key then falls from the ceiling as Emily asks Hazel for healing. Cyrus opens the door with the key that fell.

The group finds pentaface at the end of the maze. He uses his happy and scared faces to congratulate them. Hazel asks for the spell and pentaface gives it to her. It turned out they just needed to ask him for the spell. Emily and Cyrus are incredibly frustrated with Emily banging her head against Alexander's hard back. Pentaface then tells them to leave with his angry face through the sliding door.

Gulliver is grateful that the group has the final spell and leads them quickly to the main square. On the way there, Alexander asks Matthew to look over the scroll. With Douglas' help, he learns that it is the spell they were looking for. Gulliver leaves the children at the entrance in hopes of distracting Thalia Hollow and Melomene Hollow. Gulliver calls them brave and hopes to never forget them.

As the party arrives in the square, they find Calliope Hollow working on the potion. She asks for the ingredients while remarking that barely anyone survived the funhouse. She hands everyone a clear potion to allow them to keep their memories. Everyone likes the potion as Calliope hands everyone some bubbling liquid while mentioning they need to do it one at a time so she can cast the spell over them at the same time. Alexander's Stoney skin falls off along with his wings revealing his human form. Matthew's extra legs fall off from his back as he gets some human legs. Douglas' gills close up as the scales on his skin fall away. Half of Chester's legs fall off as a bushy tail grows back. Emily's fur falls away and her nose returns to normal. Cyrus has tissue, muscles and skin grow back on his arms but he's more happy for his legs.

Before Hazel can drink up, Thalia and Melomene appear both unhappy with what's been happening. Melomene grabs Calliope saying that she's been a thorn in her side since she came into existence. Thalia mentions that their father won't be happy as Melomene rises up with Calliope. Melomene then throws Calliope into the stands. Alexander and Emily try to rush over and help Calliope but are held in place by Thalia's magic. The sisters aren't happy with most of them being human again so Thalia grabs Hazel with her black tendrils. They mention that Raphael would have some use for her. Douglas demands that they give back Hazel and shoots out black tentacles. Melomene gets one of the tentacles to wrap around Hazel's neck.

As day breaks, the world begins distorting around the group. The humans find the ground about to give way beneath them. The children wake up in the picnic grounds. Emily panics that they should go back but Cyrus soon hears Alexander's horse, Oliver. Soon the children's parents arrive. The Binks are curious as to why Emily is panicking while the Jeffersons are disappointed in Alexander. Rachel, the maiden who runs the orphanage, doesn't believe the children's claims. Hazel's father, the local pastor, asks where his daughter is. Alexander says that they were attacked by some people and they took Hazel away. Hazel's father asks for identification and Alexander describes Thalia and Melomene's appearance. Cyrus' parents hug him, nearly choking him.

The people of Salem spent two weeks searching for Hazel, Thalia and Melomene. They were nowhere to be found. The people of Salem said that she was likely taken away and eaten by a beast of the woods. Hazel's parents were inconsolable. Salem's Children tried to tell their story to anyone who would listen but no one believed them. Alexander left to fight in the army but was too traumatized by the experience to fight. Emily's demeanor became cold and only her friends could lift her emotions up. Cyrus tried to keep everyone's spirits up by performing but his depression kicked in and caused his performances to worsen and he eventually became a drunk. Matthew continued to study the dark and the occult much to his mentor's surprise. Douglas took it the hardest refusing to talk to anyone but those close to him (even then it was only three words a day). He even had to be threatened to be force fed before eating normally. What they all had in common were the night terrors.

As it became winter, the children's spirits weren't lifted, even with Christmas around the corner. The children partook in a weekly ritual in lighting candles for Hazel in the clearing where they caught wind of the carnival. Everyone is silent aside from Matthew who lights a log on fire using his candle hoping it helps. As Alexander gets some more twigs, he notices some rustling from the bushes. It's from a rabbit holding parchment in it's mouth. The parchment reads, "My little monsters, Your friend is still alive and they're keeping her in the Fortress of Deva. The gateway opens next Hallow's Eve. Come and find us. C Hollow." A sliver of hope is born in the group. Matthew remembers that the Fortress of Deva is in the wilds of Transylvania and asks if anyone has heard of Vlad the Impaler. Alexander decides that they'll need to work for the next ten months to get enough money to get to Transylvania. Everyone agrees and they weren't going to rely on wishes anymore. This was going to be their last restful night as they were going to train, study and get ready for the trial that was to come.

*Till next year, my little monsters*

## Notable Events

* Emily Binks is nearly pulled into a mirror but Cyrus Ferdinand saves her
* The party faces their human 'selves' by accepting something bad about themselves
* Hazel gets the final spell
* Everyone drinks the memory potion
* Everyone but Hazel returns to normal and leaves the carnival
* The children are reunited with their parents
* The campaign ends