Chapter 7: The Realm of Summer

## Day 10: The Problem with Plants...

At midnight of the heroes ninth day in the Feywild, the heroes were awoken by a horrid smell. Timber took the form of a bat, and found three Bloombeasts coming their way. With vine, thorn, tentacle, Pelor's light, and quite a bit of chopping, the heroes cut their way through. Eventually, Timber finished off the last one with a powerful incantation of blight, their moment in the spotlight only slightly dampened by them falling out of the tree and nearly braining themselves.

## Day 11: ... Is They Can Be Quite Prickly

Resting the lick their many wounds, the party set off late the next morning, with Sivelle complaining that she didn't know that part of the woods particularly well. Still, she navigated it deftly enough, and eventually the heroes came upon a dozen rather distressed Elves. Timber summoned a Dandy-Lion, but the Elves weren't a threat, having only narrowly escaped with their lives when the tress that they had long been living within had attacked.

> *"We're all that made it out of the town, unfortunately."*
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>

   Their leader, Tialha Laerelth, reported that they were a collection of Druids and Wizards who studied the magic of that place, installed there by Doctor Myriarti to study why the Living Light there acted strangely. However, they had been driven out when plant monsters had suddenly attacked. Tialha provided them with four amulets that reeked of Conjuration Magic, a red teardrop suspended in each. When everyone but Timber used one, they were teleported into the middle of a Teleportation Circle. Unfortunately, said Teleportation Circle had been infested with thorny vines, leading to a rather uncomfortable landing. It was a treehouse town, and as Timber caught up with the group in the form of a hawk, the rest set to work exploring. Timber talked with the trees, and learned that they were not pleased with the two-legged creatures. They made their displeasure known by attacking Luren, dropping some sort of plant ooze on the hapless wizard's head. Vines and oozes attacked, nearly killing both Puck, Sivelle and Luren. Eventually, Luren's Transmutation Magic and Timber's blight prevailed. After (barely) surviving numerous plant ambushes, the heroes were eventually able to learn that the plants thought the "the creatures who walk on two legs" poisoned the water, and weren't any good at discerning one two-legged creature from another. To explain, the heroes would need to meet with the Great Protector of the Forest, a tree above all other trees.

    They traveled half a day to the East, being attacked several times by hostile plant life, but Timber was eventually able to talk them down. Talking with the Great Protector, they learned that strange creatures with no face, covered in blue tattoos, were responsible for dumping barrels full of corruption into the lake. Grank looked into the mind of the Great Protector, and saw an image of what Sivelle would name the Rystrad. She explained that it was less a race, and more "a sentence, born as a brand by those courtiers who have run afoul of the Court's Laws." After dumping the toxins, the cursed fey had wandered Northeast and then turned South.

The heroes decided to help clean the lake, with Luren conducting a number of elemental experiments, and Grank helpfully vomiting up another toad monster. Luren discovered that the source of the corruption was Evocation magic associated with the Living Light. Worse, it moves, trying to crawl up the barrels like some sort of disease. Learning this, the Highest Priest used Pelor's Light to purify it, and succeeds in cleaning up the lake. Grank used Boyahg to contact Tialha, notifying them of the heroes' success, and were told the location of a buried chest as a reward, containing a Ring of Feather Fall and a Bag of Holding. Timber conducted a ritual to help heal the forest, earning the gratitude and the protections of the Great Protector.

The heroes attempted to rest, but were awoken by the sound of hunting horns, fog, and the howling of wolves. It was the Wild Hunt, led by Gwynn The Night Huntress, who declared.

> *"This prey is ours!"*
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>

However, the Great Protector took umbridge with the claim, having just placed the heroes under their protection earlier that evening. They informed the Night Huntress of their claim, and the leader of the Wild Hunt nodded in acknowledgement, disappearing into the fog. Sivelle informed them that the Feywild was spreading into the Margreve, and that the veil between worlds there was thin.

## Day 12: But A Puck-Cocoon...

With the Wild Hunt heading North, the heroes were finally able to sleep, waking the next day and preparing to head in the direction of Castle Aldermere. Timber took a moment to plant an Acorn of Rebirth twenty paces South of the Magic Pool, and then they set forth. They found some strange creatures that allowed them make magical pictures, and spent some time taking photographs.

As they drew near the Court, Sivelle told the heroes that after this journey, her time in their employ was over. She led them through tall grass, and then a field of green mushrooms. She demonstrated that the fungi exploded into green spores when disturbed. Grank vomited up a floating eyeball to get the smaller of them over the obstacle, while the rest tried to tiptoe through the mushrooms. Puck was not his normal graceful self, and got a face full of spores, metamorphizing into a giant cocoon. Luren lifted it with their magic, and they loaded the Puck-cocoon onto Timber's back, with the Druid Wildshaped into a massive Elk.

Approaching the keep, they somehow managed to be ambushed by Ettins riding flying Elephants. How they managed to be ambushed is anyone's guess. Luren got rather stomped, but a combination of exploding Flumphs and the Highest Priest's bad touch managed to death them to death, with only a single flying Elephant escaping.

## Day 13: ... Becomes a Beautiful Butterpuck

Loading the cocoon back up on Elk-Timber, they continued heading in the direction of Castle Aldermere. Luren attempted to dispel the magic on the book they carried, but no one cast it on Puck. A thick fog blew in, obscuring the land about them, and by mid day a beautiful Butterpuck was born. The closer they got the to keep, the greyer everything became, until they finally made it to a long abandoned garden. Within it were statues of various Archfey, many known to the heroes, but several not. The Highest Priest found a book titled...

>
> *"Death Is Not The Final Stage Written by Lord Halford Fairfax, Human Necromancer, sanctioned by the priesthood of Old Stone"*
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...as well as a green bottle upon which were written the words.

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> *"When does a Fey become a God?"*
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Apparitions of Archfey appeared through the fog, and a mix of powers known and some unknown. Moving into the inner Courtyard, they found three thrones made of solid platinum, each adorned with the faces of dozens of fey. The middle throne was clearly for the Monarch. Their investigations were interrupted by strange Frog creatures which consumed the memories of those they attacked, filling their victim's minds with hallucinations. Timber lost their mastery of nature, Grank was swarmed by hallucinatory Goblins who tried to strip his Booyahg away, Puck was lost in shadow, and the Highest Priest was charmed by the statues. Eventually, Timber drew on his magic to sense where the flowers they needed were located, sensing them 500 feet to the South, and 50 feet down. Assailed by further glamor, charms, and general confusion, the heroes eventually realized that the giant frog thing they saw emerging from the water to the North must be Keighton. Luren attempted to apologize to Keighton, and after asking them why they stayed, learned that it was

> *"To remember what those have already forgotten."*
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The psychic assault only slightly let up, so Grank and Luren found a hole and dropped down it. The rest of the party quite literally dropped down into a pitch black room. The Highest Priest summoned Pelor's Light, and found a pedestal upon which sat an ancient and decaying book, meeting minutes discussing "the living light situation." It contained names of may Archfey Known and Unknown.

Continuing South, the heroes found a massive door set with four gemstones. Grank's mind was filled with visions, and after losing an eyeball to a false start realized he needed to press the....

* **O**pal
* **P**earl
* **E**meral
* **N**epherite

... in order to get it to OPEN.

Inside, they discovered a massive garden, as well as an obsessive gardener, Bilgomes Fol.

> *"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY GARDEN?"*
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>

Rather than picking a fight, the heroes offered various services to aid the consummate Gardener, with Luren offering the temporary services of their water elemental to water the flowers, and Puck offering up a song. Sadly, neither water nor the power of music helped them, because what they were looking for was blood. Luckily, moose have a lot of blood, and so Timber transformed into just such a creature to nourish the plants. Puck serenaded the flowers with a song.

> *"Welcome to the jungle!*
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> *We got lots of shade!*
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> *Not your standard grass, yo,*
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> *different kind of blade!*
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> *You can be a gardener,*
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>  *tending to the plants.*
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> *Watching for those teeth though,*
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> *look out for yo' hands!*
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> *Don't take your job lightly.*
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> *Shift into good use.*
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> *Make magic happen.*
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> *Turn into a m-m-m-m-m-MOOSE! (moose! moose!)"*
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>

    Noticing that they preferred blood to music, Grank vomited up a regenerating frog, which delighted the Gardener to such an extent that they offered to trade for it. The Toad's services were traded for one month, and in return Grank received information on the trouble ahead and a bag of Wonderous Kernels. Cedpar snuck into the back rooms, finding a nearly infinite number of trinkets, but Luren's attempts to do the same were rebuffed because they weren't invisible. Grank managed to sneak in, snagging a tiny book of fairytales.

Listening to Bilgomes Fol's advice, they took the rightmost of the two doors, finding themselves at the outskirts of a pond filled with the flowers they sought. A tall humanoid, arms and hair long and grasping tendrils, attacked, stunning the heroes with an explosion of pollen. The creature, a Lalyiette, was a being of pure magic. It possessed Grank, turning the Goblin's Booyahg against his companions, sending forth dark tentacles to crush and squish them. Timber focused not on the fight, but instead on the flowers, speaking with them and convincing them to come with him to see the wider world. Luren poached the possessed Grank with a summoned army of Steam Mephits, and though they healed him past the point of death, they placed the Ring of Apparent Death on him to ensure that he stayed down. As the Lalyiette pulled itself free of the "dead" Grank, the heroes grabbed the traveling stone that Thomas Thistlewind had provided them to return when they had possession of the Flowers of Aldermere, and teleported away.

They appeared within the middle of the Goblin Market, being observed by the strange Half-Elf with the Pseudodragon familiar they'd seen the first time they'd met Thomas. The Courtier disappeared with Timber in a whisper of magic, leaving the rest to find Thomas and hand over the Flower of Aldermere, settling Luren's debt. They located Timber at the entrance to the Market, and stepped through a Teleportation Circle to what Mia assured them was the Realm of Autumn.