Waking Up

Kalea's body hangs from the branches, on display for the town to see.

Waking up is the second Episode of Saeculum Obscurum and follows the Dreamers after they awaken and meet up in the small town of Huldr', and investigate the macabre goings on within.

## Cast:

 Baronet Anselma | Witness, Suspect
 Tom the Woodsman | Informant
 The Tooth Fairy | Suspect, Villain, Victim

## Plot:

The episode opens on an overview of the village of Huldr' on the outskirts of Aachen. The adventurers trail in one person at a time over the course of a few days. The streets of Huldr' are shadowed even during the day by heavy cloud cover and smoke from the chimneys of the settlement.

Gwendolyn Snow arrives first to The Crooked Cap tavern with her fancy clothing and massive spectacles. Her posture is noble and proper, causing her to stand out from the meager villagers. Following not long after is the hulking form of The Entity, which has to stoop as it enters through the doorway of the establishment. Its head looks more like a war-helm Next is Lucius, a human-looking man with tattered clothing and a haggard appearance. His spear and shield are well-worn.

Fourth is Emelya, a slender person with white hair tied back into a messy bun, wearing a violet duster over a set of organic scaled armor. They seem to be incredibly intense, and cause a few drinks to be spilled before they make their way to the right table. Saorise is fifth as she enters in a simple disguise. The sounds of glass and metal clinking in her pack is a constant accompaniment as she makes her way to the group, nearly skipping them because the Entity is not what she expects it to look like.

Lastly Doc arrives, a cowled and masked individual with few identifying features. He carries a quarterstaff and is waved over by Gwendolyn.

The party convenes and discusses their shared Dream, and Gwendolyn brings up the fact that there is a string of disappearances and hangings that the party could investigate to acquire coin. Saoirse and Emelya reminisce briefly on their shared background at a university, Emelya admitting that she slept in the library to save money.

Gwendolyn asks the party about their combat capabilities, so the Entity demonstrates its weapon deployment system in the middle of the tavern, shocking the patrons. Gwendolyn convinces her to put the sword away, and then subtly tries to prestidigitation to clean Lucius and Saoirse.

Doc is asked by Gwendolyn if he has a full name, and he refuses to disclose any nomenclature other than Doc.

The discussion continues for a short while, Gwendolyn mentions the Herbalist and the Entity confirms its objective and leaves without another word. The party is forced to follow behind and the group notices that there are a very large number of hostile stares directed at Gwendolyn due to her elvish heritage. Emelya disguises herself somehow, morphing her ears to be rounded.

The Herbalist, however, is cheerful when she spots Gwendolyn and is introduced as Helena. Emelya notes the Hagweed in the garden and Helena is impressed, then invites the party in to discuss the events.

Helena relays that there have been mysterious deaths and disappearences over the past few years. She implies that the violence a few years ago is the likely cause for the severe racism against elves. The deaths stopped, but a few months ago a house fire was started and an 11 year old girl by the name of Brooklyn died in the blaze, and her 16 year old sister Kalea was deeply affected. Kalea had "distinctive features" that made people wary, and the townsfolk took action, believing Kalea to be a witch who had burned her sister alive in the building. Kalea was nailed to the tree while still alive and then after she died there she was hung to be prominently displayed.

The Village calmed down for a week or so after that, but tensions increased again and a man named Lambert killed an Elf who he claimed had killed his wife. And a week ago, just before Gwendolyn arrived, saw a Nymph and claimed it to be a river goddess. They witnessed it turning into water and flowing into the river. The Townsfolk got ropes, chains, and nets and managed to catch the Nymph. The body is still visible in the pond.

The Entity asks Helena to confirm who was involved, and upon hearing 'Everyone' the Entity stands and states that its 'objective is confirmed'. It is only stopped from leaving the building by Gwendolyn who claims the information may not be entirely correct and Helena begs the group to find out what is causing the aggression, claiming that it cannot be entirely natural.

She informs the party about a priestess who is new to town and uplifts the poor in her speeches. Emelya points out that Helena is probably next, and Helena acknowledges it but claims that her former friendship with the Baronet is keeping her safe.

The discussion continues for some time, and eventually Helena offers some medicinal supplies, with Saoirse gladly takes, and it is mentioned that the Baronet has offered a reward. Gwendolyn apparently already had bad interactions with the Baronet, but is not yet afraid for her life.

The party comes to the conclusion that they should begin by cleaning up the Nymph's body. Emelya and Doc stay behind to offer Helena condolences, and Emelya offers a possible place of safety, but Helena turns it down.

When the party arrives at the pond, they find that the Nymph's body is exuding a fey aura of life but the fey-leaning individuals notice signs of rot and decay. A guard mentions that they should talk to the Baronet before they are reported, but the party continues to investigate the body. Saoirse discovers that the body is harmed by strange iron nails, and collects those. The Entity notices a partially fossilized flower and suggests that that reaction would only have occurred if it were buried and suggests that the nymph should be buried at the edge of the pond.

Doc realizes that the strange twisted nails are identical to the one worn on Helena's necklace but keeps the knowledge to himself. Emelya remarks that the Nymph should not have appeared in this pond naturally and was likely either forced to appear here or driven from its home territory by something else. Meanwhile the Entity digs a grave on the shoreline. Emelya lays a makeshift bouquet of lily pads and flowers on the Nymph's chest before the Entity buries it.

The party makes their to see the Baronet, which is a lovely small house with hedges around the building. The Baronet Anselma is a woman in her early forties with pixies nailed to her wall. She offers the party drinks, but only the Entity takes her up on it. She gives her blessing and provides similar details to what Helena mentioned. She also mentions that people left in a huff over an affair. The Baronet confirmed that Kalea only developed her elven features within the last year or so and that she would not deny being a Witch under direct questioning. Multiple party members seemed angered by the exchange, Saoirse accidentally cutting her hand by gripping her nails too hard and Doc slipping out of the room early.

Gwendolyn asks further questions about the affair and the Baronet mentions Tom the Woodsman having shared the story. The party excuses themselves and The Entity keeps its glass of wine as it leaves. Saoirse throws the bag of nails and Doc bandages her hand.

A mob is throwing fruit at a caravan of nonhumans and the party witnesses a young woman with white hair stand up to them and stares the mob down, taking a tomato to the face before her stare disperses the crowd. The Nonhumans leave quickly and the party approaches the woman who they identify as the preacher in town, a young woman named Sarah. They grill her for a short time, learning that she doesn't carry any holy symbols and doesn't claim to be a healer. They learn that she is from the Castle Morgof area, but that she has Le Midian cufflinks. She is evasive about who she actually works for or worships, but lets the party know that she is staying in the Crooked Cap.

The party then makes their way to meet with Tom the Woodsman, who informs them that Lambert was rumored to have had the affair, but nothing was ever proven and no one else was ever implicated. Tom mentions that the Elf who purportedly killed Gwenevere—Lambert's Wife—wasn't dressed like a forest elf and that he was spotted in town and wearing normal traveling clothes. Tom says that there aren't any elves in the forest at all. Gwendolyn buys a rabbit fur.

The party then heads to check out the hanging tree where the bodies are hung. Doc examines the Elf's body and discovers that the elf's stab wounds were delivered while he was lying down. The party witnesses the Baronet delivering a bouquet of herbs to the tree, seeming to pay specific intentions towards Kalea's body. The party then sets out to interrogate Lambert.

He is resistant at first, but Gwendolyn charms him with her Fey Presence and gets him to start talking. He admits to having come in on the Elf and his wife and stabbing them both. He kept saying he didn't mean to. He also said out loud that the necklace he is wearing... the twisted nails... the same nails that Helena wears. Upon questioning he said that he received the nails from Helena, that she said it was a charm to protect from Elves and the like.

Emelya detects magic on the necklace and recognizes the magic on it as a Fey Token. They do not let the party know what they have learned immediately. Lambert says that most people in the village are wearing them. After leaving Lambert behind, Emelya lets Gwendolyn know that the bag of Tokens is dangerous and that it should be buried and that they were being observed.

Doc goes to bury the bag and briefly touches a nail, finding that strange voices that sound like his own before finishing burying them. Emelya shares that the nails are called 'Tokens' and are distributed by powerful Fey in the wilderness. Emelya believes that due to the evidence seen so far that a hag may be behind the strange behaviors.

The Party returns to Helena and Emelya casts Detect Magic again to spy on her, discovering that the necklace she is wearing has the same magic on it, which would prevent her from using magic if she were a fey. So she is unlikely to be the hag herself. She says she made the pendants to honor an old town legend about a fey woman named the Tooth Fairy. She seems to have her mind slip away when pressured on how the Tokens were made.

As the Party leaves, The Entity suggests that Helena not be left alone, since the Tokens could have been used to observe the conversation. Lucius stays behind to guard her. The Entity then suggests that Kalea may have been somehow connected to the hag, and that the recent string of violence is a form of vengeance. Emelya says that they can summon a creature to investigate the tree while the party heads for the inn to talk to Sarah. And then Scraps emerges, a half-crow, half-cat reanimated body which remotely examines the corpse, where the party identify that Kalea did not have any of the Tokens on her, nor any sign of token-related injury.

The Party then speaks with Sarah, who admits that she is sometimes called "Sarah Moonchild", a euphemism for Aasimar. And Gwendolin nearly passes out when she tries to probe to see if Sarah has a Bloodline Aura. Apparently, Sarah is an incredibly powerful Awnsheglien. Gwendolyn then quizzes her about how long she has been in town, including learning that Sarah has only been in town for a little more than a week and that she was sent by an unnamed party.

Gwendolyn drinks and begins to unload information about her ex-husband, the Entity adds him to its list of Hostiles. Sarah politely listens to the story while Emelya goes to the other room to ritually cast Detect Magic. During the story Gwendolin mentions being critiqued in her Infernal and Sarah invites her to try some. Apparently Gwendolyn's Infernal is fine because the whole tavern dims briefly and all the other patrons begin to grab at their Fey Tokens. The hatred in the room becomes palpable. The whole room learns that Saoirse and The Entity haven't ever kissed anybody. Saoirse leaves the Tavern because it is starting to get dark and the Entity follows.

The Entity and Saoirse investigate the site of the fire and discover that the fire seems to have started from Brooklyn's body and was likely magical in origin. Saoirse decides to check the body at the hanging tree and finds that the herbs are missing. There are rapidly disappearing footprints that are pointed out and the Entity takes off into the forest, but is rapidly downed by a forest full of violent trees. The Party is surrounded and multiple people are hurt and subsequently healed, but the Entity is dragged away into the woods by a strange tree-like creature with a bone mask.

Gwendolyn uses magic to communicate with Sarah to ask for aid, and is informed that this is "their trial" in reference to the party. The group takes stock, lights some torches and proceeds into the woods. Meanwhile, the Entity awakens in a Hag's grove and repairs itself, then speaks briefly with the Tooth Fairy. The Entity guesses that the Hag is taking her vengeance after the death of Kalea, whom she says was simply a person who was kind to her. The Entity acknowledges that the Tooth Fairy has a point, but requests that those not involved in Kalea's execution be spared. The Hag denies this, and says that anyone who does not mean ill can leave. The Entity nods, and takes its leave, intercepting the party at the Lady of the Forest's cave entrance.

The Entity tries to warn the party away from meeting with the Tooth Fairy, and tells them that anyone who leaves town will be spared. Most of the party decides that they should try to parlay with the Hag anyway, despite Emelya's objections. Saoirse begs the Tooth Fairy for mercy to the townsfolk, provided that she is able to bring the people truly responsible to justice in a way that satisfies the Hag within one day. The pact is bound with a magical set of Sylvan symbols on Saoirse's arm, with the warning that if the party fails the entire town will be tortured before they die.

The party solemnly marches back towards town, trying to figure out how the hell they are going to solve this before the time limit expires.