Episode 28: Summertime Blues

**Episode 28: Summertime Blues** *(2x28)* is the 28th episode of the Venture Maidens Favor campaign and marks the start of the Summer Arc.

## Starring

Sage Stafford as Aoife Flannery
Naseem Etemad as Fittonia 'Toni' Silvertail
Katie Budabin as Lluvyras 'Lu' Ssath
Celeste Conowitch as Dungeon Master

## Synopsis

A month has passed since we last saw the Maidens. Rook has been giving Lu her space, taking on solo hunting jobs away from the party, but she remained in letter contact with Toni. Aoife chose to spend the month of downtime working in Mistress Silk’s dress shop in Coven, using part of her time to complete two of the outfits for the upcoming Student Showcase in Chasiana. She meets up with Toni and Lu and they share dinner in the evenings. Toni, of the mind that the Changelings would be fine in Storyville, but also not wanting to leave Lu behind, decided to spend some time in Storyville, but quickly realized that they were capable of taking care of themselves. She joined Aoife in Coven and spent the rest of her time practicing with the herbalism kit her mother had sent to her to achieve some proficiency. Lu spends her time processing vegetables that she has foraged from the edge of town and training her new apprentice, Cholula. She is a seventeen year old Changeling girl that has been taken under Lu’s wing, being trained to cook. With the remainder of her time, Lu has been stealing Toni’s sword and transporting it back and forth to Chasiana to get it enchanted.

At the close of the month, they finally hear communication from Rook. They are all hanging out in the Chicken Hut when the door bangs open and the bounty hunter walks in. She tosses her overstuffed bag onto the floor and kicks her boots off. Last they had seen her, Rook had been approaching her early forties, but now she stood in front of them no older than fourteen. She walks passed them without a word and they hear the ice chest open in the kitchen followed by the sounds of gulping.

Toni casually asks what Rook has been up to lately. Rook says that she has been working and tosses a gold pouch onto a table beside Lu. The drow opens it and quickly calculates roughly eight hundred gold pieces. She congratulates Rook on her haul and the bounty hunter informs them that there was a lot of work available out there right now, and if they were ready she could sign them up for some bigger bounties that she can’t do by herself.

Aoife collects her bag and is excited to go. Lu agrees to join the hunt, but only if she and Rook could work on their communication skills in a productive manner. Rook says that she will do her best and Lu agrees to loosen her desire to control everything. Rook supposes that it might be helpful for the group for Lu to pick their next bounty, because she was good at planning. She places a stack of bounties in front of the rogue, who fights against her desires to plan everything solo, offers the choice up for the group to decide.

Usually Rook took time to find their bounties, but the fliers she presents to Lu are numerous; far more than the drow or satyr had seen at the bounty office when they had gone. Lu begins flipping through the stack, voicing that she would prefer to sort by urgency and the number of people in danger from the threat. Rook reveals that she has already sorted the time sensitive bounties to the top of the pile. Lu fans the top five on the table and one word on a flier catches their attention: Silvertail. Lu recognizes it as Toni’s last name and snatches it up and starts reading it out loud.

The flier is looking for bounty hunters to hunt down a fey of unknown origin before the wedding of Enzo Silvertail and Rayna Oleanna, which is to take place at Lily Hall during the Festival of Oxya, which is three days away. Enzo is one of Toni’s cousins, though not one that she knows well. She didn’t even know he was getting married. Lu and Toni also recognize the name Oleanna as one of the four Royal Eldrin Lineage Families.

Aoife asks if they want to head to Lily Hall early, or if they should stop in and talk to Toni’s family first. Lu guesses that Toni’s family would probably already be at the wedding, but Toni isn’t sure because they would have told her if her cousin was getting married. Aoife jokingly says that it might be a “crossbow” wedding and Toni wouldn’t be surprised if Enzo did something to that poor girl. Lu states that if they are both down with it, then what happens, happens.

Toni immediately sends a letter home, asking if anyone knew anything about the wedding or the fey, or is anyone named Whistler or from the military has come by asking about her. Lu mentally conjures a corkboard above the mantle and starts organizing the bounty fliers. Rook determines that they can reach Faelyn in a day or less once they decide to head out. Aoife asks Rook if she can get ahold of more cold iron, especially if they were going to be getting more involved in the bounty hunting business. Rook assures the satyr that she has a guy and can get them what they need.

Rook carries her bag and boots up the stairs and into her room, slamming the door closed behind her. Lu immediately turns to Toni and Aoife, asking if they thought that the reunion with Rook went well. Toni guarantees that their struggle can only make them stronger, which seems to relax the drow. Lu asks Gourdon if he can move the house and she hears his high pitched tittering laugh coming from under the sofa below her feet. A pumpkin head rolls out and asks where they want to go. Lu tells him to take them to Lilly Hall and the hall lifts up, taking off for the Mortal Realm. As they hunker down to rest, two letters slide out from under the front door.

Toni runs for the letters and finds one for her and one for Lu. The half-orc tears her letter open and reads:

Oh hey sis!

Good to hear from you! Yeah, none of us really knew about the wedding. Its pretty soon. Dad and I are coming back from Faelyn now. We were doing horse deals and stuff, but we’re headed over there right now with Uncle Lori and go see what’s up so we’ll be there in like a day. I’ve been away from camp a while, but no, nobody has been asking about you. Why? Are you famous? :P

Love,

Geo

Lu looks at the name on her letter and sees that it is from Frieda, her mom.

Hey Loopy,

I finally got a hit on that Carillon fellow you asked me to look into. It seems like he was bouncing all over the Empire looking for something, which I’m hoping was not you, but he and seemingly every other Carillon on the continent was called back to Ashtar. Since then its been total silence, not just on Whistler, but on all Carillons. All of them are totally off the radar. Myself and other interested parties are digging deeper to figure out what the hell is going on, but something big is clearly happening. Fey activity is spiking across the Empire, Eldrin military are swarming all over the place , and no one seems to know what’s really going on. I’m calling the rest of the family back until I can figure out our next move, but I get the feeling that you are probably safer than the rest of us as long as you stick with those handsome fey hunting friends of yours. It seems like people are gonna need bounty hunters more than ever in the days ahead. I’ll let you know as I hear something. Stay safe kid.

Love,

Mom

Lu asks Aoife if her family was in Ashtar, and the satyr agrees, or at least they were the last time she had heard from them. Lu suggests sending them a letter to see if maybe they had heard something, but maybe they should wait until after the wedding. They decide to finish sleeping and arrive outside of Lilly Hall between four and five in the evening. Toni, most familiar with the terrain, explains that they are to the west of Faelyn, where a lot of the nobles and merchants purchased estates and manor houses to escape the hustle and bustle of Faelyn in the summer. They step out into a warm balmy night to the song of crickets. They look out at Lilly Hall, which is a mansion that rests on a sprawling estate. A gigantic artificial lake sits just behind the property that is constantly in bloom with water lilies that float across the place.

The location, owned by the Oleanna family, is a popular destination due to the large Festival of Oxya that they put on every year for invited Eldrin nobility and middle class folks. The party parks the Chicken Hut a mile away so that nobody would stumble across it, and walked into the estate. Lily Hall could be seen from any point on the estate, with three complete stories stacked neatly on top of each other. Giant pavilions unfold into a wrap around porch that is more akin to an outdoor ballroom. Lights bounce off the the gold and white tile, lighting the entire house in a twinkling lace. The manicured lawns held gardens and a hedge maze, as well as the beautiful lake, which the main entrance to the mansion looked down upon. The lake is so large as to contain its own small island, with a gold domed structure nearly concealed by the trees.

Tons of people are arriving, some hauling wagons and equipment for the event. The bounty hunters easily blend into the crowd, which meander among large colorful tents, constructed on the lawns. They assume that this is where the guests would be staying for the next three days, nestled in palatial glamping. Rook is uncomfortable around the finery, but Lu kind of wants to find someone that works in catering to get an in for future side work. Rook is attempting to wrap her mind around the parade of horses, gilded and dressed in gold with braided manes and tails, all being led across the grounds.

Aoife guides their attention back to why they were all there. She reasons that a constable named Sten wrote the bounty notice, so they should track the constable down and find out some more information about the fey they were meant to track. They dance around the festival setup to get into the central cluster of tents. They finally see an Eldrin in a nice outfit ordering people around with a clipboard. Toni calls out to the person holding the clipboard, and the figure turns around to see who is calling them. They see a sending stone wired to the Eldrin’s ear, but are drawn into conversation when the official asks what they need.

Aoife produces the notice and asks if they know where Constable Sten is. The Eldrin coordinator flips through several pages on her clipboard, shuffling through a listed schedule. She informs the party that Constable Sten is not directly involved in any of the coordinated activities, but they were likely to find him in his usual spot among the tea and snacks of the east lawn visitation area. Toni asks her where the Silvertails would be located. The coordinator explains that the Silvertails had not arrived yet, but they had a large green tent reserved among the residential tents by the stables. A mistake draws the woman’s attention and she quickly rushes off to handle the trouble.

They wind their way to the east lawn of the house, which takes a while because they have to meander around workers and guests and various displays of obscene wealth. They finally arrive at one of the four balconies that overlook the area called The Lawns. Sunshades and tables line the platform with catering laid out. Several people in nice clothing meander about, but a more practically dressed dwarf sat towards the other end. Dwarves were not common within the Empire.

Aoife approaches with the flier and presumes they have found Sten. He greets them and pulls enough chairs for them to the table. They explain that they were bounty hunters that wanted to hunt down the fey plaguing the area, but they wanted to get some more information. Sten agrees, but wants to ask about their experience to ensure they are qualified to take the bounty. Aoife pushes Rook forward, explaining that while they have all done bounties, Rook had to most experience among them and would be happy to answer his questions. The satyr explains that they had been apprenticing under Rook, who had been teaching them the finer points of bounty hunting. Sten doesn’t mention it, but he looks skeptical that a 14 year old girl was their teacher. He asks what their experience with the fey was and if they had dealt with them in the Empire before. Rook answers curtly, but Aoife tells him that Toni was a soldier that was stationed outside of the Feywalk Jungle before gesturing to her own horns, indicating her familiarity with fey. Lu adds that they all technically worked at the border of the Feywalk Jungle, and that was where they had all met.

Sten warns them that this was not a typical hack-and-slash job. He needed discretion, because there was a lot happening around them and he would prefer if their duties did not interfere with the festivities. He asks if they feel they are capable of this, and Toni guarantees that they are, provided he supplies them with the same level of discretion. He asks them to walk with him around the lake. They all agree and follow him slowly down the path, using a cane to assist him along the way. They travel out of earshot before he starts opening up to them. There have been difficulties surrounding the whole event. He admits that he is a long time friend of the family, and that he once used to walk the dockside beat in Faelyn as a constable, where he saw some weird stuff and his instincts were screaming at him for everything that is happening around him.

Sten reveals that the match between Silvertail and Oleanna was an odd one, but they had done business together throughout the years, but it wasn’t a big partnership. It came as a surprise to everyone when Enzo and Rayna announced that they were getting married a few days ago. Rayna’s parents had reached out to him, and he thinks the two are a good match for each other, but things have gotten a little weird since the engagement had been announced. Localized storms had developed over the house, and servants, even Enzo himself, had been plagued by strange dreams. Servants had reporting seeing strange mist in the halls of Lily Hall. He doesn’t claim to be an expert in the fey, but with the reports that have been popping up around the Empire he would rather not risk it. He thinks the couple have a good chance of making it in the long run, but right now the families seemed ready to claw at one another.

He thinks the activity is fey related because a pattern of things had happened, which led him to telling the family of his concerns. They are not willing to accept that anything is wrong, but have given him leeway in carrying out a quiet investigation into the matter, which is why he was hiring the Maidens for the job. Toni asks if they were allowed to speak to the groom to get a better understanding and Sten tells her that if they take the job they would have the full cooperation of the family. He could arrange anything they might need, from private interviews to access wherever they need to go. He also tells them that he has called someone in to help them, who he used to work with in the old days. Lu asks if his friend had a name and Sten tells them that her name is Cassie, a tall Eldrin with auburn hair who he claims is an expert in fey. He tells them that the Silvertails will be there soon as well.

Aoife, feeling the wedding to be rushed, asks Sten if he knows why they would be pushing to get married during the festival. He supposes that it may be something seasonal. The Silvertails move in and out based on the movements of the horses they tend, and that perhaps if they want to get back before the season ends, they might be on a tight schedule. The family is also pretty religious, and consider it good luck to get married on the holiday. He hasn’t heard any nasty gossip come across his desk, but they could probably dig some up if they talk to the other guests. The group agrees to accept the job and Sten suggests that they go and get settled in to establish their cover of being guests.

An attendant leads the Maidens to their tent in the Residential Area. They are placed in a tent not too far from the green tent they know will house the Silvertails, and though their tent is not as grand it is still stylish and comfortable with the ground covered by rugs. After the attendant leaves, Toni tells the group that it would probably be best if they kept her relationship to the wedding party on the downlow because she doesn’t want anyone to assume that she is interfering with the investigation or wedding. Lu asks what her plan is once her family arrives and try to hug her. Toni says that she is just going to wait out in their tent for them to arrive so she could inform them of the situation so that there is no confusion. She tells her friends that she will meet up with them in a couple of hours so that they could question Enzo as a team. Aoife says that she will be around seeing what whispers she can pick up since the constable couldn’t provide them with anything juicy to work with. Lu asks Toni if she has ever heard of a fey sticking their nose in a marriage before and Rook tells her that fey love weddings, and with everything happening there was clearly something weird going on.

Lu and Aoife hang back in their tent to wait for the fey expert, Cassie. The bard takes this opportunity to set out a couple of outfits for the coming days so that she can better ingratiate herself with the other guests and get the information they needed. Finally they hear someone calling to them from outside the tent, and they invite the disembodied voice in. They were expecting to see an Eldrin, like Sten had said, but Cassie does not look like a typical Eldrin. She has the graceful features and height of an elf and her eyes are a shocking shade of blue, which offsets her auburn hair, barely hiding that her ears were slightly pointed. Cassie’s hair is pulled back in a high ponytail and she is dressed in colorful travelling clothes with a large case strapped to her back and multiple scroll cases hanging from the entire ensemble. It is hard to guess her age, but the Maidens put her somewhere between twenty and thirty years old.

Cassie introduces herself and asks if anyone else was joining them. She was under the impression that there would be more than the two girls there and Aoife explains that Rook had gone to get food and Toni had gone to liaise with one of the families, but she and Lu would be happy to fill them in once they got back. Cassie is pleased to meet them, saying that she didn’t see many satyr or drow in the Empire these days. Lu jokingly says that there is always one adventuring party made out of odds and ends. Cassie laughs because people usually see that she is half elven and half Eldrin and don’t know what to say. Lu thinks that Cassie looks great, so she shouldn’t worry about her heritage. Cassie tells Lu that she isn’t too bad herself and Aoife almost squeals at the flirting.

Cassie had been filled in by Sten, but is hoping the Maidens had more information to go off of. They admit that they don’t but with everything else happening with the localized weather and odd dreams, and the proximity to influence this wedding houses, it was likely a fey was involved somehow, but they are not sure to what end or in what capacity. They were hoping Cassie could illuminate the situation for them. Cassie asks them what they need from her and how involved they want her to be in the investigation and Lu requests any guesses on what they should prepare heading into the hunt so that they could have it prepared ahead of time.

With the reports of dreams, Lu guesses that the Sleeping Court might be involved, though none of them had ever interacted with a member of that court before. Cassie is impressed that the Maidens know about the Courts and Aoife admits that they had been to Coven and seen some things. Cassie is astonished that they have been to Coven and has so many questions for them. She can’t believe its real and asks if it is really run by witches. Lu explains that the witches have a protective situation around Coven so it isn’t as dangerous as the rest of the Wildes are. Aoife tells Cassie that she once went to a baby shower of one of the witches, which blows Cassie’s mind. She was not aware that witches even had babies and is looking forward to talking to them at length once their work was finished. Cassie asks if they mind if she bunks in their tent and Lu sets about gathering spare blankets and pillows to make her comfortable.

Cassie starts setting up her space and is pulling book after book from a Bag of Holding. She slams one large heavy tome title The Grimoire of Fey onto the table, and then she pulls some papers from the scroll cases, which she says is a paper that she once wrote on the Sleeping Court, since they suspect their involvement. Unlike the rest of her belongings, she sets the carrying case on her back gently onto the floor and slides it gingerly under the cot. She then explains that the job will work best if they bring her back any clues or leads they find and she could try and narrow down what they were looking for. She admits to being in a few scrapes before, so if they needed her help in the field she could, though she preferred the books, but she was flexible in a lot of ways. She smiles at Lu upon saying this and the drow is sent into a flustered spiral, heading out of the tent to go find Rook and bring back food.

Once Lu leaves, Cassie turns to Aoife and asks if the drow is seeing anyone. Aoife admits that she has been trying to push her friend into the arms of literally anybody but Lu was uptight and a bit of a closed book. She tells Cassie that if she is interested, she would need to give it time. Trying to get to know the satyr, Cassie asks Aoife if she is from the Wildes. The bard shakes her head and explains that she grew up in the Valley of Yalanthanil. When she set out for the first time, she had never even left the Valley before. She wound up at one of the camps along the border and found her skills in mending things proved useful in keeping her fed and dry. She tells Cassie that is where she met the other girls, and they had all gotten swept up in a fey attack and met Rook. Aoife warns Cassie that she would find Rook fascinating, but knows that Rook is going to hate Cassie’s bookish nature. Aoife says that they have followed Rook around and it has led to some interesting connections resulting in her working in a dress shop in Coven. She tells Cassie that they had all been working at their own goals while still being able to go on bounty hunts, and the whole experience has been interesting to say the least.

Cassie asks about Toni, not having an opportunity to meet the third member of the team yet. Aoife explains that Toni is the sword swinging member of their team, with a level head, great sense of humor, and it didn’t hurt she was cute. Cassie thinks she may have found her dream job, but hopes she could still contribute and not be distracted by the group’s good looks. With that, Cassie decides to go and try hunting down her own blankets because Lu had looked too frazzled to remember to get them, but tells Aoife she would be around. Before the Half-elf has a chance to scamper off, Aoife produces one of her sketchbooks with things she has drawn while in the Wildes and offers it to her. Cassie opens it thoughtfully and takes several minutes to go through a few pages before thanking the satyr for the primary source she has gifted.

Meanwhile, Lu finds herself in the center of the venue and beelines for the kitchens. Trying to make herself known to the chef, she tastes one of the sandwiches and recommends adding pureed chives to make the rest of the flavors pop. The chef she was speaking to looks affronted, but another chef says he has been saying the exact same thing.

Toni waits for an hour or so before the tent flaps open and she watches her dad walk in, his head nearly grazing the top of the tent. He looks at her with surprise before picking her up and crushing her against his chest. He asks what she is doing there and Toni tells him that she is there for a bounty hunting mission. Something is going on and she asks when they found out about Enzo and the wedding. Her dad guesses they found out around the same time she had because it was all happening so fast. He sits at one of the tables, telling his daughter that Gio and her Uncle Lori were stabling the horses and would be along soon. He has been apprenticing Gio, letting her know that her brother had a head for business, but he didn’t have much sense out in the world like Toni did. They were in town finishing a deal with Lori when they got the news that Enzo was getting married. They had assumed that after Geo’s last marriage had fallen apart, he would have been burned on the whole thing, but apparently not.

Toni is confused because Enzo is only seventeen and her dad explains that there was supposed to be an arranged marriage between Enzo and the other Oleanna girl, Mina. She was the current bride’s sister, but had died about a year ago before the wedding could take place. Toni is baffled how there are so many people present for such a last minute event and her dad supposes that it was just how everything played out with the Festival of Oxya happening at the same time. Lori had not been involved at all as the Oleanna’s had wordlessly paid for the entire affair themselves. He tells Toni that her mother is upset she couldn’t be there, but he doubts Lori or himself would even be there had they not already been in Faelyn. Enzo had sent them a letter to tell them about the wedding, but he doesn’t know if his nephew even knew they were in Faelyn because he had drifted away from his family over the last few years.

Toni fills her dad in on the weirdness surrounding the couple since they announced their engagement. She tells him that she was here with a bounty hunting party because they think a fey is involved somehow. She asks him to keep their relation secret for now so she can continue to investigate without any obstacles. He agrees and tells her his sword was hers if she needed him. They share a heartfelt father daughter moment and Toni can see that his beard had grown grayer than the last time she had seen him. He crushes her in another hug, happy to see her again.

This is where our tale comes to an end, until next time! Venture Away!

## Featured Characters

### Player Characters

* Aoife Flannery
* Fittonia 'Toni' Silvertail
* Lluvyras 'Lu' Ssath