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It’s 1390, ten years before Nightfall. The Ostara festival has brought the party along with many Amatharans to the idyllic town of Primrose. Dubhseol arrives from New Bethera by boat, his vessel sinking just before making it to harbor. Luckily, Captain Preston “Storm Lord" Voss and his assistant Sylzora take him aboard the ship “The Mistral”. Dubhseol hides his decaying wooden doll while he mingles with a crew that cause him to fantasize even more about being a captain one day.

Sonnik (later known as Mercy) feels himself compelled to come along with Lady Eglantine and his fellow orphan friend Veselona to see the Ostara speech, handing out roses to the town’s arrivals. Veselona leaves him with a set of jacks while she carries the church’s elaborate Primrose tapestry to the stage.

Prrhen is drawn by her cursed blood to a little spot in the woods where she meets the Grandmother, a figure that tells her a secret and beckons her to find out about someone related to her coven. She promises Prrhen an upside to her curse in exchange, and hands her the glass eye of one of her sisters. A worm wriggles in the center of it.

Miles and Opie arrive all the way from the Morsus Jungles with the Prowler clan, Miles holding a pouch of loamy soil given to him by his father, Opie wearing a bright jade necklace. They are berated instantly by petulant children. Opie finds the Primrose youths' combined fascination and repulsion toward their cat-like frames to be funny, while Miles takes to some verbal sparring with them.

You kids arrive at the Town Hall at the same time and see Lord Archaunbault Dalmeny, the ruler of Primrose, greet townspeople while seeming uncomfortable with the amount of fanfare. This unease becomes even worse, Dalmeny becoming wary at the arrival of a man identified as Baron Zaros. A strange girl named Sinéad plays with her bear, Callisto, and is nearly reprimanded for her behavior by guards until it is revealed she is Conor Macnas’s daughter. Speaking of whom, Conor Macnas, a New Betheran immigrant orator, gives his Ostara speech, a welcoming to travelers, an appreciation of the season’s opportunity for renewal, and perhaps most idiosyncratically, a plea for restraint even while the spirits rise with the spring blossoms. You encounter the group of kids at the playground later, who bully Sinéad, who appears to believe words themselves can harm her bear. She hears voices coming from a nearby swimming hole, and is sucked into a misty vortex. While the adults are alternately squabbling and stroking each other’s egos, you end up falling in, and you're through: splashing down into a puddle in the Wild, the Wood. Everything has shifted now, Primrose replaced utterly by a natural scene with specific details somehow fluid, based on your interiority. Miles talks to animals in a language he has just learned to help to locate Sinéad. You see Zaros passing through here, yelling to someone up ahead, “keep going, the girl’s the key”.

Somehow, time has passed strangely, Sinéad already having stopped for some tea party, her cherished bear Callisto abandoned, soaked despite a lack of water. Prrhen pockets it. Mercy tails Zaros successfully but is unable to jump on the back of his horse. Opie discovers Sinéad’s tracks, moving westward closer to the Tanagra falls. You take that path, see that Zaros’s shortcut ultimately terminates at the same place. Zaros, along with a massive, hulking red toad and a woman with leathery wings enter a mystic glowing tunnel of trees in the Wood beyond. When you arrive, the tunnel has been obscured by roots and shrubs. Opie dodges an animated tree that tries to grab him. The party end up blocked by a Treant Guardian, who now stares at you, telling you you must have the permission of an Archfey to go any further. When Miles says he has no interest in the “Dreamhouse” that lies at the end of this path, it is revealed that is precisely where Sinéad is. The party now stare at this mantis-like treant, standing in the bent poplars, giving you a task beyond comprehension.

The Treant is unblinking: “Beware of backroads, digressions, detours. Beware of going too far beyond the path.”

### 2. Stonegleam Stream

Starring: Dubhseol, Mercy, Miles, Opie, Prrhen

Mercy remembers faerie tales told in Primrose concerning humanoid trees resembling the mantis like Treant ahead of them, but they always seemed to be in service of delivering a moral, not a real presence to be concerned about. He is frightened that he will be held responsible for Sinead's disappearance. Prrhen, realizing she was given the glass eye of the Grandmother's sister, attempts to use this token as proof that she has permission from an archfey to walk the Primrose Path. She is rejected by the Treant, who says the witches have no standing in the court. The party see that the path leads to a wooded area near Tanagra Falls to the west, and a cave to the east. Instead, they decide to check out Baron Zaros's shortcut, which is a serene side road now unoccupied by anyone. The kids get creative, now knowing they have an impact on the environment they never had before (for example, Miles talking to animals and Opie tracking as if he were his clan leader). They decide to test out the magic of Callisto. Dubhseol sets his doll across from Callisto the bear and they stage a mock tea party, but the toys do not come to life, remaining inert. Prrhen wonders at the utility of her glass eye, wondering if the worm at the center has some meaning, and attempts to bash the eye with a rock. All she can manage to do is scuff the surface.

From here, the party decide to check out the cave area, finding that it exudes warmth and a sweet smell. This strikes Opie as strange, and the closer he gets to the warmth and the scents the more he's sure they are an illusion: the cave is cold and smells of dirt and fungal life, plus a putrid stench emanating from the underground river within. They enter, everyone is able to see except Dubhseol, whose sense otherwise appear heightened. Approaching him is a strange glowing bird of pure darkness. As it gets closer, he falls deeper into memory, memories of his father, memories of the ship going down, just as he gazes into the stream at a pair of rowboats. He reaches and touches the raven and finds himself melded with the creature, seeing through its eyes, drawn in by some similiar shadow. He names the creature Cumha and finds that it is always ready to perch on his shoulder. Meanwhile, Mercy investigates the cave, Mercy hearing a disturbing cackle around a corner asking "who is there". He is baffled by Cumha's appearance and doesn't have time to relate this to the party before the laughing creature begins its magic assault. Bogflit jeeringly welcomes the kids to the Feydark, joking that this is no dream, not even a nightmare, that they might not even remember this at all. They battle with Bogflit, who appears to want to sink the boats that could take them deeper in the Feydark. The party batters him with oars, Miles whips her with a vine and draws her closer, and the party force the filthy faerie to route, taking the boats now unimpeded through the sulfuric water, to a mushroom filled channel dropping at a steep 30 degree angle. They proceed farther into the earth, Miles harvesting some bioluminescent mushrooms. Dubhseol sends Cumha forward to scout the Gemstone Rift up ahead, a cavernous area with a suspended bridge. He witnesses grey skinned dwarves having an altercation with shadow goblins, who appear to be armed with kitchen implements. Relating this back to the party, Opie has heard tell of a race of benighted dwarves that have lost their way and call the Underdark their home. Armed with this knowledge, the party enters the Gemstone Rift. Opie is able to speak the Undercommon language being used between the groups, and discerns that they are having a territorial dispute. The voice of an unseen figure in the dark behind them promises blood regardless.

### 3. Gemstone Rift

Starring: Dubhseol, Mercy, Miles, Opie, Prrhen

Deeper into the Feydark, the portion of the Underdark inhabited by especially odd and colorful creatures, the party investigates the stand-off on the bridge over the Gemstone Rift. Bright gems pulse as if they are organs being fed by the earth itself. Mercy runs toward the northern section of the cavern, hiding and scoping out the situation. Opie attempts to drop down in a prone position behind a rock but kicks a bunch of crystalline stones that scatter like glass. Muckskull, a terrifying entity that is shorter than you yet appears like an elderly man with a pale red hat walks across the bridge. He makes some assumptions about you but seems intrigued: "Ah! Looks like more here to come to see Luneskip. Here to settle a score too, eh?" He looks sickly, the top of his head appears wounded, and even his hat looks pale and damaged in that spot.

Opie, who had been discovered, attempts to reason with him.

"I don't know who you are, we're just trying to find a way out" he pleads. Muckskull is insistent.

"Who do you champion?"

Opie looks at the maddened, white eyed Derro dwarves and the servile, knife wielding shadow goblins.

"I know neither of you, so I couldn't guess"

Mercy stays hidden and keeps to the shadows. Prrhen argues unsuccessfully to get Muckskull to see that they want no part of this. "One side will scare off the other," says Muckskull, as if it's a foregone conclusion. "You're offering them a kind of charity. Otherwise, I'll have to make a mess of the whole place. Be a good sport." He implores. Dubhseoul seems occupied with assessing which side might be the better choice. Meanwhile, Miles seizes on an opportunity to point out the strange spot on Muckskull's head, where even his hat seems pale. He offers to try to use his newfound magic to heal him.

Miles makes a great impression on Muckskull, who calls him an "upstanding young gentleman", and asks his name. Things take a turn when the frightening little man disconcertingly relates how healing will do no good, the creature needs fresh blood to heal, and the turf war should provide him with both plenty of that and a sense of peace. Muckskull suggests they could offer a party member instead as a blood offering.

Reluctantly, the party come around to supporting the Derro, and are warned not to be "too hands on," as "they'll be happy to batter each other". Before the fight, Muckskull rhymes a warning: "Intruders here from lands above/Stick their noses in our mud/Darkened derro champions thereof, get too close and I'll have your blood. Stay far away from me, I'm hungry"

Everyone becomes linked with individual Derro dwarves thanks to Muckskull's magic and finds themselves giving strategies to the dwarves in a drag-out battle over the rift. As the fight gets bloody, Muckskull proves his rhyme true by wading in and attacking. He kicks Sec, Sonnik's Derro, squarely in the chest, bleeding him so badly the Derro dwarf runs away. Sure enough, Muckskull leans down, soaks his hat in the blood, and appears healthier and less pale. Sonnik sees no reason to wait through the rest of the competition, charging into a glassy temple up ahead and disappearing into the dark. This action seems to upset Muckskull. Adj, Zan, and Zeer, Prrhen's, Dubhseol's, and Miles's dwarves respectively, take heavy hits, the first two falling into unconsciousness, the third told to run for his life into the chamber with Sonnik.

With only a few shadow goblins taken out, Opie's Faka fights valiantly, dropping a shadow goblin then getting tossed off the bridge. In the rift below, Opie scales the cliffside, runs with the dwarf into a mysterious zone further down the tunnel, and has Faka fight from afar, picking off Shadow Goblins while they climb into the rift, utilizing Muckskull's bloodlust to get rid of the rest. Dubhseoul supplements this by using his newfound Warlock powers, another action that Muckskull sees as a violation. Miles runs into the temple with Xeer and Sonnik, witnessing another tense scene taking place. Now, the current situation has the party nearby yet spread out: Opie stands in the Rift, Prrhen and Dubhseoul listen to Muckskull offering them passage while promising a curse to those that violated the terms of the competition, and Miles and Mercy skulk around where the length of this cavern terminates.

### 4. Fey Court Standoff

Starring: Mercy, Miles, Opie, Prrhen

After the battle and a withering glance from Muckskull, Dubhseol feels out of sorts. He nurtures his raven, and takes time to bond with this bird that seemed to arrive right at the time of his strange new powers. Miles and Sonnik are unseen in the Temple Glassglint up ahead. Opie, down in the Gemstone Rift itself, returns with Faka and tells Prrhen that following the Rift to the south leads to a flowery underground cavern with strange, churning, pink liquid, as well as an enslaved cyclops slamming a hammer into gem-studded stones. Opie checks on Faka, finding that he is full of gratitude and is helping the wounded Derro recuperate while the wounded Shadow Goblins vacate the rift. Opie asks about archfey, Faka responds that if anyone knew one, it would be Luneskip, who is a “higher up on the Unseelie court” and is just ahead in “Temple Glassglint”. Opie asks about the cyclops and is told it’s a long story, but essentially the “cyclops is under the command of an even more dangerous giant.” The Derro promises he “will spread word of what your party has done for us” now that the Gemstone Rift has been claimed. Opie asks if its safe to walk past Muckskull and gets an important piece of information: Faerie are oathbound, and can’t tell a direct lie. Muckskull must let them through. If not, he’s an “oathbreaker” and “it’s over for him”. After relating this to Prrhen, the tiefling and the feline erectus cross the Rift and enter Temple Glassglint.

Meanwhile, in the temple, things are heating up as House Ultrinnan Drow infiltrators and an elite Drow fighter named Janxae circle the blue, flying gremlin-like Luneskip, who is dressed like a ridiculous knight. “We can work this out, I gave you the truth,” begs Luneskip. Janxae disagrees, calling him a “treacherous scoundrel”, lamenting that it’s a “shame you’ll lose your life and your territory for this”. Luneskip promises he can “get you permission”. Turns out, Janxae also wants to get passed the Treant, but Luneskip only gave the group the location and not the necessary information that they’d need the name of an archfey.

At the entrance, Opie hides along with Miles, Sonnik still on the northern side of the temple, but Prrhen is caught by Luneskip, who frantically assails her: “You Seelie Court fish, you ratted us out to the Drow and now you’re here to make sure they finish the job. That way you weren’t the one who had to do it. You’re gonna tell Titania, you’re gonna tell Heathplume. You did it. You got Sinéad, you waylaid me” The Drow are tired of his prattling and don’t know what they’re talking about with Sinéad. Prrhen also says privately to the faerie that she doesn’t understand him, and when Luneskip realizes she’s telling the truth, he takes her aside and asks if she could lie for him to get him out of the standoff.

Meanwhile, Sonnik sneaks around and finds an armory at the back of the temple and picks up a pair of bladed tonfas. While Prrhen tells Janxae there is a way to get an archfey’s permission, Sonnik tries a different tactic: joining the Drow in threatening Luneskip’s life.

“All these faeries look like children, it’s hard to take them seriously. He’s probably like 150 years old, though so maybe we should hear him out” the infiltrators reason. Janxae is less interested, “I don’t know where you crawled out from, but we’re here for Luneskip”. Mercy brandishes his tonfa “As am I.”

Trying to save the situation, Prrhen grabs for the eye the Grandmother gave her, the prosthetic of one of her coven sisters. Prrhen says “I have something to show you” and reveals it. Janxae recognizes the trinket.

“Is that Malice’s eye?”

Sonnik, still practicing his scam artist chops, continues to fight for an “outcome we both desire”, to “put this fool to rest.” By this point, Janxae is swayed by the path of least resistance.

“Perhaps there is another way around here, now what is your name? Where do I need to go?” Prrhen identifies herself while Luneskip tries to suggest they’d have to go “a far way away” and takes Prrhen’s elbow to the groin. Prrhen suggests there is “a man on a horse” about who can gain entrance, and Sonnik decides to come to her aid, naming him as “Baron Zaros.”

“With a name, I can find out quite a bit” Janxae says. “If you have any business with Luneskip, have at him” she suggests to Sonnik, and leaves, with Sonnik trailing awhile until finding she actually is leaving the Feydark for the surface.

Prrhen gathers everyone around and drags Luneskip down to the ground where he’s even shorter than her. “I don’t think you understand the exact particulars of our arrangement”. Luneskip offers a potion of climbing from his armory and asks what else he can do while the party outfit themselves. “Meeting you in real life isn’t as impressive as what I pictured from what we were told about you, Luneskip,” Prrhen says. “One thing we know about you little one: you can’t lie” The party want to know everything he knows. He takes some time to look them over: A tabaxi, a half elf, a tiefling, and then to Sonnik: “and you, you look like you belong right here” he says cryptically.

Luneskip decides to tell them that a Seelie Court de facto troop leader named Heathplume must have gotten to Sinéad if he couldn’t get to her first. If anyone can get through that path now, it’s him.

Prrhen slams the glass eye on his forehead with the terrifying remark, “The eye of Malice looks upon you. So you better tell us exactly what you know, or I’ll see to it that the Grandmother Witch knows the name and pathetic description of one Luneskip”

“The arch-witch…the hags…they’re not allowed around these parts. They were barred from the court long ago. What you said worked on those stupid Drow, it doesn’t work on me, sister!”

The party pressure him and he decides to give up more: the Unseelie Court is run by someone with a name that shouldn’t be spoken, who they call the Queen of Air and Darkness. Apparently, the Seelie Court specifically wanted to lure Sinéad but the Unseelie Queen said they have no right or claim to her, and to intercept Sinéad instead. Opie tries to suss out the reasoning for Sinéad’s importance, but Luneskip says he’s only told what he needs to know and wasn’t told why.

Though Miles finds this enough, Sonnik and Prrhen threaten Luneskip again and want him to come with them. Luneskip threatens back that if they harm him, he’ll make sure they won’t leave the Feydark. Miles is horrified, apologizes for the party’s brashness, and quickly de-escalates. Luneskip puts his offer back out: “I’ll tell you where to find the Seelie, you can get Sinéad, get home, everything will be alright”. The party accepts and are told they must go the other way on the path, to the wood, through the illusion into the beauty of the Seelie court. The waterfall of giant fungi is the beginning, and from here they must climb all the way up Tanagra Falls. Heathplume’s terrace is at the apex, on a cliffside, and usually has a fire going. He remarks that if they meet Seelie fairies along the way, “they’re pretty friendly as long as you’re not going after the same goals”

Sonnik asks “What goals?”

“Sinéad, Sinéad. The girl.” Luneskip explains. Opie once again try to find any reason Sinéad would be targeted, but Luneskip seems genuinely surprised. “I’ve never seen a single adult human, let alone a child, be anything other than a smelly nuisance. It beats me.” He suggests that the Seelie might have been “told more than we were. We were told to intercept her. We failed…because I got distracted by Drow out for revenge. I told the Drow only half of what they wanted…but I’m not doing that to you right now. I’m an open book. This is different, you don’t have a dagger to my throat threatening to kill me, you have a bladed tonfa and are threatening to kill me. It’s different”

Opie starts thinking about what is actually transpiring, and brings up the idea of time, asking about how the faeries perceive it. Luneskip answers that they only know how time changes by the season, but re-entering the mortal realm means that time changes emotionally, despair can last a long time, joy can speed time up. Opie asks what this realm even is. He says that this is the Feywild, the world of faeries. Ostara has made an opening to the fey crossing, and that ”your time here will end soon enough. There are two sides to the Feywild, the wild, which is the wilderness above, and the dark, what they see around them. Sonnik reasons that since Sinéad was successfully taken, that’s good for the court, and has probably accelerated time. Luneskip agrees that that seems true,

He remarks that they’re “canny for a group of children…children right? Not faeries? You’re short. You have the smell of a child” Things start to click for Sonnik, the line about “you fit right in here” plays through his head. He also begins wondering what the world will look like when the party comes out.

Leaving the temple, Miles thanks Luneskip but says that in order to be friends with him, Luneskip must agree to no more kidnapping, and expects an eventual apology from Bogflit. Prrhen remarks “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I hope we meet again.” “I return that sentiment, entirely” Luneskip says, flashing a yellow smile. Sonnik warns Prrhen against trusting Luneskip despite his sometimes congenial attitude, and the two seem to agree on this. The party leaves with Opie saying goodbye to an overjoyed Faka, with Miles bringing an injured Xeer along with them.

In the beautiful feywild, among hedgehogs and lizards and patches of wild olive, the party take a short rest, but Xeer finds the light too bright for his eyes. Miles laments his leaving, saying “the time we had together, though short, has been burned into my soul,” while Xeer walks into a tree and then through a nettle bush on his way back to the comforting gloom of the Feydark.

Sure enough, the path leads to an area with overgrown fungi just like Luneskip said: ahead is the curly haired pixie Puddlejumper, in an acorn hat, a flower petal dress, dewing the flowers with her touch. She says “I’m never getting in trouble again. It’s enough to miss the festival—but this? This is too much”. Sonnik puts his weapons away and approaches, hearing her talk to herself about a master, asks “who is your master”. Puddlejumper says it’s Titania, and that “she’s great, she throws the best parties.” Sonnik asks what she did to be given all this work on the day of Ostara, and Puddlejumper mumbles “Got into troubles being at the wrong place and wrong time doing the stuffs I shouldn’t be doing”.

Prrhen, though feeling out of place, is taken with Puddlejumper and agrees to help the faerie look for herbs for her friend’s dragon, Shimmerspore, in exchange for passage up the waterfall. Puddlejumper rhymes:

By my puddle I linger more

For my ailing friend, my Shimmerspore

Wild Sageroot in soft soil’s stock

Genko Brush betwixt the rocks

Milkweed Seeds in a Monarch’s spot

Is what I need for Shimmerspore

The party find that the herbs can only be unearthed once found by summoning up specific feelings, and look to their memories to do so. Sonnik channels anger in pulling out Sageroot—thinking of being left at the orphanage while the landed rich pick and choose adopted field hands like cattle, remembering the day Connor took Sinéad in and all the dark subsequent ones, finding that he and Veselona where always seemingly missing something to be picked. He is miraculously able to grab the Wild Sageroot.

The happy-go-lucky Miles’s channels sadness, thinking of Sinéad’s disappearance, sadness at the innocence of children seemingly lost, how nothing will be the same after this. He then thinks of his fading mental link with Xeer, a bond he wanted to nurture more. He is able to retrieve the Gengko Brush.

Finally, Opie bypasses the need for shifting this emotional landscape by simply following the monarch butterflies to their resting place and scaling the fungi. Ever the curious cat, he tries to think of a happy memory anyway, bringing to mind the day he left with the Prowler Clan and Miles on the journey of their lives, walking and sailing all the way from Morsus to Primrose. The thought creates a bubble in the teal waters big enough for a person to enter. Puddlejumper mixes the herbs together in a mortar and pestle and gives the medicine to Prrhen, who is instructed to “give it to Shimmerspore”. The tiny faerie then summons enough bubbles for the whole party to depart in, telling them “go on and get in, enjoy your ride”

### 5. Quake Below, Storm Above

Starring: Dubhseol, Mercy, Miles, Opie, Prrhen

Having aided Puddlejumper in making a medicine for her friend’s dragon Shimmerspore, the party is treated to a bubble ride up to the next level of the waterfall, where the Tanagra seemingly flows from the hollows of a giant oak. As they rise, Puddlejumper warns of Luneskip, saying he is a man who is little and nasty and collects booty, that he is a nasty man, a booty man, who is little and nasty and a nasty little booty man. Puddlejumper lets the party know that the Heathplume’s terrace is etched into the side of the hill at the apex of the waterfall, and that Heathplume would have been the last faerie to see Sinead.

The next level sees a dangerous falling rock obstacle, with Shimmerspore the dragon lashing out due to an Unseelie confusion spell that lingers. Sundrop, a dryad that guards over the massive oak from which the Tanagra flows, aids the dragon in getting rid of the party, who they see as intruders. Though Opie and Prrhen scale the sides with the help of their feline claws and Luneskip’s climbing potion respectively, the faerie duo of Sundrop and Shimmerspore are unswayed by their diplomacy. Sonnik uses his fey misty step to quickly ascend, Dubseoul has difficulty climbing, and Miles catastrophically falls during a jump to the opposite end of the cliff, landing on a rope bridge and substantially wounding himself. Sundrop tries to drop boulders on the party, hurting Sonnik in the process. Things are getting dire when Opie successfully grabs the medicine from Prrhen and administers it to Shimmerspore, ending the confusion and convincing Sundrop that the party is not there to do further harm to a Seelie Court whose ambitions are seemingly being challenged by the opposite court. Sundrop gives the party goodberries to heal wounds, and the party ascends a staircase she causes to appear behind the oak.

Above the waterfall, a gorgeous grove full of butterflies, mushrooms, and panflute music greets the party. A gorgeous well nymph (or Crinaea) named Calipsyse emerges from the strange blue waters and takes issue with a moon nymph, Maia, ascending the steps to Heathplume’s terrace. Heathplume lives in a swank treehouse bachelor pad, a Satyr with a particularly large flute. Calipsyse, angry at the apparent betrayal, ascends after speaking briefly with Sonnik, who has begun to investigate the well due to the water’s strange resemblance to the swimming hole. Sure enough, the water is a clue to a supernatural origin: a puzzle conceals treasure at the well’s depth, and the party work together to pull up some valuable resources. The process sees Dubseoul becoming weakened by a fairy curse after one failure, then the party wondering if the yellow lever should be pulled after the first two. Sonnik asserts that it should, grabs the controls, and reveals two potions and some kind of alchemical weapon seemingly full of a light, a lesser driftglobe.

At Heathplume’s terrace, the party enters the warm abode, smelling sweet fruits and meats, and an attempted seduction turns into an argument with Calipsyse and Maia both upset that Heathplume promised each of them a theatrical delivery of a love poem, specifically the work of someone named Broknir, whose verses have largely been lost and are known to consist of three rhyming couplets. Heathplume at first thinks the party are Unseelie interlopers who have told the women about each other to brand him as an Oathbreaker and ruin his standing in the court. The record is corrected, Heathplume turning on a heel and instead begging the party to be the deliverers of a poem he only remembers the first line of, “My love for you is greater still”. The party work together to improvise a poem for the angry nymphs, coming up with

*My love for you is greater still*

*My heart's content, you'll ever fill*

*My heart for you is ever longing*

*In cheer for you, my spirit fawning*

*Nothing will ever stop my love*

*No quake below or storm above*

The nymphs are impressed and find that Heathplume has apparently not broken his oath, though they are not happy with his two-timing and decide not to spend Ostara with him after all. Heathplume, though disappointed, is mostly relieved that his skin has been saved this time. He promises to help the party in any way he can.

### 6. The Dreamhouse

In the warmth of the treehouse terrace, Heathplume exhales a sigh of relief knowing he won’t be branded as an Oathbreaker by the nymphs. He invites the party to partake in his feast and wants to help them in any way he can. Sonnik decides to take the lead and demand entrance to the Primrose Path beyond the Treant, saying he fears for Sinead. Heathplume reassures the party that the intentions of the fey court are pure, even though they are obscure to him. He mentions that Sinead’s imaginative nature will be a boon for her as she enters the Dreamhouse. Dubseoul mentions the age of Sinead and her vulnerability, but this doesn’t appear to mean much to Heathplume. Finally, while popping some especially juicy grapes, Prrhen mentions that Baron Zaros also made it through into the Feywild, and is pursuing Sinead. In addition, Prrhen notes that Drow that were pursuing Luneskip are now also a potential problem, but she never tells Heathplume it's because they were led to believe Zaros is an Archfey. This appears to instantly change Heathplume’s level of alarm, and the Satyr takes his panflute and the party down the waterfall, into the valley, near the Treant. With a G major trill, he calls out to a mysterious figure clad in a leafy cloak, the Green Knight. Riding the horse Viridis, the Knight is introduced as an Archfey. He appears to be an arbitrator between the Seelie and Unseelie Courts, and has noted that the Ostara Spring Festival has already been full of headaches because of whatever game Titania and the Queen of Air and Darkness are playing. He gives permission for the kids to enter the Primrose Path but says Heathplume is still banned from the grounds because of some kind of trouble he got into with the Archfey Oberon. The Green Knight assures that the Dreamhouse area is guarded by tree spirits that would get in the way of anyone with ill intentions.

The party takes the Primrose Path to the Dreamhouse, a purple and red circulatory tunnel of bent trees letting in just a thin misty blue light. At the very end of the tunnel, the party push a gleaming bough out of the way to reveal bright pink, confectionery bursts of trees, a radiant and beautiful grove filled with translucent waters teaming with life. But just as they appreciate a set of jovial, squat faerie statues, they spot Zaros being surrounded and delayed by a group of Wood Woads. The tree spirits tell Zaros to stand down, to leave the area. Zaros continues to tell his companions, a woman with leathery bat wings named Rana and a giant smelly toadlike monster named Vulgug to move the cold-iron flecked boulders in front of the dreamhouse. When the Wood Woads get closer, and Vulgug reveals he can’t actually touch the stones, Zaros decides he must do “everything himself”. With a flick of his fingers, everything in the Dreamhouse goes dark.

Zaros creates a ring of fire to burn the creatures while Rana casts fire spells and Vulgug hammers on the members. One Wood Woad runs in an attempt to get help, passing the party and leaving toward the Primrose Path. After this, Zaros transforms himself into a Nightwing with a terrifying breath weapon that appears to disintegrate that which it touched. The party attempt to cut Zaros off before entering the Dreamhouse, but before escaping by jumping on his horse Hamaculi, Zaros casts a spell to make a group of dark fey creepers appear, long-nosed dagger wielding attackers who toss knives at the party and explode with blinding white light when defeated. In the battle, the party use their weapons for the first time, and succeed, though Miles passes out after a particularly grievous slash from a Dark Creeper. Just then, the Green Knight arrives with both the Seelie and Unseelie faerie troops in tow, apparently having granted permission despite his earlier misgivings. The party defeat the last of the dirty, robed underlings as Sonnik runs into the Dreamhouse area. Now, the darkness around dissipates, the Feywild moving back into the strange brightness of both sunlight and moonlight. Galloping towards you is the Green Knight. “Do not give chase,” he warns. “Are you all accounted for? Is anyone wounded?” Around him race Heathplume, Sundrop and Shimmerspore, Puddlejumper, Luneskip, Muckskull, and Bogflit.

### 7. Vanishing

After defeating the dark creepers and watching Zaros move into the Dreamhouse, the party finds the Green Knight warning about pursuing any farther. In league with him are the troops representing both parts of the Fey Court, the Seelie and Unseelie. Both Heathplume and Luneskip implore you to trust their respective troops to rescue Sinead. Before the conflict escalates, the Green Knight suggests heading to the Green Chapel, a place of timelessness, where each side can state their case and an agreement can be made without endangering the court. The Unseelie Court proclaims that they need Callisto, Sinead’s bear, to locate her. With this, they’ll be able to find her and ensure and prove her safety. What they can’t do is ensure they’ll get Sinead back right away. Luneskip opines the Seelie will make claims they can’t necessarily back up. Furthermore, they promise the party recognition by their court and illustrate this with a litany of pranks they play, with a particularly disturbing example from Muckskull. They say they stand for unvarnished beauty, life as it is, brutality and all. They finally request objects of meaning from the party.

The Seelie Court offer counterpoints, claiming they will make sure the party return to Primrose as heroes, as the saviors of Sinead. They also need the bear, and also offer court recognition. Unlike the Unseelie, they say they love the beautify the world, bringing some flavor to it, Puddlejumper claiming Amathara simply “tastes stale”. Similarly, they want an object of meaning. The party secretly vote, and the Seelie celebrate as the Green Knight reveals them as the winners. The next morning, the party awake in the wood with Sinead, wrapped in a blanket. Sinead and Dubhseol both have fuzzy memories of the experience. They are discovered by a hunting group including the very bullies encountered in the playground earlier, who reveal the party have been missing for six months. Prrhen finds her parents missed her though the weight of the curse keeps space between them, Prrhen thinking of the witch’s eye she gave up. Opie and Miles find the Prowlers impressed by their survival skills, the group in despair over their inability to track them. Mercy finds Lady Eglantine sizing him up as a survivor, but finally proclaiming “eternity at last turns each man into itself”, positioning Mercy’s loss as a necessity. Dubseoul finds his mother at Captain “Storm Lord” Voss’s manor, weeping tears of joy, having been so scared Dubhseol followed the fate of his father.

Though the festival is Mean Fonaire, the autumn festivity for 1390 PA, a second Ostara of sorts is staged, this time with the party front and center at Town Hall. Afterwards, the party are debriefed at Dalmeny Manor while their caretakers are wined and dined with the other diplomats. Mercy and Miles are mostly questioned by Dalmeny and Lady Cathaea, who are both concerned with some of the details, stating a fragile peace has been established only by keeping the fey at bay. Their prescription is having visits by the spiritual leaders Eglantine and Gudoja to monitor their health while the Primula Guard stay by their side during festival days. Dalmeny states he is aging and fears matters being thrown out of balance. Prrhen gives ties the ribbon she kept from Callisto around the bear’s waist while meeting with Connor, Deidre, and Sinead, completing the ensemble and starting an unlikely correspondence. The party meet Bosco Brown, a wood-be jeweler who is a servant at the manor. Dubhseol leaves the festivities early and writes a letter, ready to depart for a life of his own making.

Mean Fomare, or rather, this resurrection of a lost Ostara, ends in the chill autumn breeze. The Missing Kids of Primrose are missing no more.

## Book One: Flowering

### 8. Gnoll Way In

Ten years after the fateful Ostara festival of 1390, Amathara is a changed place. This past winter, the prophesied end of an age has occured as Nightfall, a prolonged lunar eclipse has heralded a changing of the times. Despite this, Primrose has weathered the years successfully, albeit with an abundance of caution. It's possible this relative lull is coming to an end, however. Sinead, Conor and Deidre Macnas's daughter, is visited by fairies once more who are concerned about Baron Zaros having some link to Nightfall and a threat that hangs over Amathara. She sends a cloud of sprites to each of the Missing Kids of Primrose, who find out that Sinead is under constant watch from the Primula guard. It is believed she is having "hallucinations" again that could put her into danger. Sinead thinks Zaros has a potential grudge against the Missing Kids for their appearance on the night he stormed the dreamhouse a decade earlier. She offers quality accommodations and potential rewards for looking into the matter, while stressing her fear that if nothing is done, Zaros may be able to threaten much more than them.

The Missing meet each other as instructed, arriving by boat, by foot, or in Prrhen's case, just by walking outside of town, across the bridge, to gather at dawn. Miles, Opie, and Sonnik are all easily recognizable, though Sonnik instructs the party to refer to him now as "Mercy", without elaboration. Phrren is easy to spot though her horns and scar have grown. An old man meets them and joins in the group hug, and Miles calls him out for being a disguised Dubhseoul showing off his new capabilities, saying that the ancient looking man has aged very well. The greeting is cut short when Miles spots activity across from the bridge: two Primula guard members are face down and bleeding in the dirt. Hulking, hyena-faced gnolls stalk the area. Prrhen knows well that gnoll tribes are known in the region but they never get this close to Primrose.

The party spring into action, Mercy mist-stepping across the Tanagra and sneaking behind a hut and then up into the hills to face the gnolls from a hiding place. Dubhseoul fires a spectrally charged pistol, unearthly sounds screeching from the smoking barrel. Charged by a bloodthirsty gnoll, he shoots him in close range and devours his soul. Miles causes the south end of the bridge to be overtaken with vines and shrubs, tangling a gnoll who tries to come to his leader's rescue, as well as grappling Opie at one point, who darts around attacking gnolls coming toward the party. Prrhen takes a grievous longbow wound that sends her into hiding, but fires back eldritch blasts from around a large bush.

The final gnoll faces off against Mercy, dodging Prrhen's shots from behind a rock. Just as Opie closes in on the gnoll, the Malacoides Hunting Society arrives, composed of Rhys, Aaron, Liriel, Xago, and Eveline, the group of children the Missing met so long ago at the playground, then again as they were found in the Wood. Liriel sutures a wound on one of the fallen guards while Eveline casts a spell to heal the other one. Rhys proclaims the Malacoides victorious and calls for more guards. The nearest guards arrive, holding Sinead. They had spotted the young woman leaving their surveillance to try to meet the party at the bridge, and had stopped her. Rhys and the Malacoides take credit for the battle while Dubhseoul assert they showed up just soon enough to smell his gunpowder, saying that only Eveline and Liriel actually did anything helpful. The guards survey the scene while Sinead sneaks over to Mercy, Dubhseol creating a distraction by questioning Primrose's safety. Rhy says he smells of salt and likely spent his time at sea rather than appreciating the town. Dubhseoul tells him he smells like piss. While Opie loots the gnolls, Sinead tells Mercy, Prrhen, and Miles that they can sneak away, possibly to the Temple of Istus, to talk. Prrhen hugs Sinead, who remarks that she had read all her letters but always lamented getting to really spend time with her in person.

### 9. Boloti Problems

While looting the gnolls, Opie sees a shrine at the end of the bridge. Prrhen knows it has some religious significance, and Mercy fills them in that it is a place to give offerings to Fharlanghn, god of roads. It is said that one will have luck in future travels if they deposit some used token of the road, offered in the form of worn leather, broken pitons, hammers, and other tools of the traveler. Sinead reiterates that the Temple of Istus will be a safe place to meet to discuss her plea, but Mercy declines. Sinead wonders aloud if its because of Mercy being kicked out of the temple orphanage. Instead of going to Lady Eglantine's church, the party opt to travel to another sacred place in the town: the Monastery of the Seven Stars. Like many things with the Missing, things aren't so simple.

Sneaking around on the outskirts of town, the party see a building with an ornate sign reading "Pin and Thrum". The monastery is down the road but there is something extraordinary happening here: the building is changing colors. There are guards having a heated discussion with the shopkeepers. The Missing briefly consider sneaking past, but decide to check out the nearby Tanagra Falls. With an eagle eye, Mercy spots a set of hands emerging from under the spray of the roaring waterfall, the hands themselves arcing rainbows into the near-spring skies. Getting closer, the party is ambushed by Boloti, fey creatures in the water, odd frog-like specimens that seem to be polluting as they move, their bodies covered with a sticky, oil like substance that moves like tentacles. The Missing battle the pair of fiendish fey, finding themselves nearly outmatched by the magical abilities of these creatures. The frogs can apparently walk on water, form themselves into vortexes in the river, and even rain down huge walls of ice on the party, the latter of which catches several of them, pummeling and injuring the party and even knocking Miles and Dubhseoul unconcious. Dubhseoul has a miraculous recovery however, and plots his revenge. Mercy runs along the banks distributing tonfa strikes, Opie expertly climbs icewalls and uses them as cover, jumping onto the rocks and going toe-to-toe with a water-walking Boloti, Prrhen binds Miles's wounds, and Dub mercilessly guns down a retreating Boloti firing both his pistols into the water until the creature's body surfaces.

The whole spectacle draws the attraction of the creature that lurked beneath the waterfall, who turns out to be a beautiful naiad named Raphael who keeps the water sacred. He notes odd behavior in the Wood, creatures from the Feywild seemingly lurking in the material world more frequently, becoming bold. He says the Boloti were polluting the waters and offers to help the party in any way he can. The Missing ask if he's seen anything else suspicious and find that just before Nightfall this winter, he witnessed Zaros entering Primrose by cover of night. With him was Rana, Vulgug, plus three others: two men and a woman covered in black robes. One of the men put an offering in the shrine, something leather. The Missing thank him and ask when they can contact Raphael again if they need him, and he says he is always underneath the waterfall at dawn but otherwise, the Tanagra is his territory and he will be somewhere in the river. Mercy comes up with a plan: if Raphael is able to perform tricks of light, he could use them to distract the guards that are in the road so they can sneak Sinead to the monastery without being apprehended. Raphael does so, imposing a hypnotic pattern in the skies. With the guards distracted, the shopkeeper of the Pin-and-thrum forcibly shuts the door and the party and Sinead make it back to the monastery, resting in a study Prrhen has used over the years as a place to read and meditate.

At the monastery, Miles becomes conscious and the rest lick their wounds but are still in pain. Sinead fills them in, finding its the first time she's had safety with them since they arrived. She's apologetic about how hard it has been and assures them her father is paying for room and board at the Tanagra Inn. She explains what she recently went through, saying “I heard the voices of the fey outside my window and it was like…I was back there again. Like I was young again, that same hope, fear, vulnerability…they brought all that with what they were telling me. Court scouts noticed the dark rider, that man…Zaros at the edge of the Wood just before Nightfall. He may have been here, in Primrose…though its been a few months since then, those creatures he was in league with, the woman with her wings and the toad, were seen in the Wood just recently. Maybe, maybe Zaros had something to do with the ominous portents…the end or start of this age. The fact that they’ve seen activity just recently has them defending the very spot they took me to. I don’t know what to make of it, or even if I should trust the fey. It was the Seelie who told me this, the Seelie who promised they could contact you if I only gave my word that I’d tell you all this, but I also wonder what is going on with them for..my own reasons. I barely remember those six months, and what’s left is a soft, warm light, the path, a woman so beautiful I can barely recall anything other than her appearance…this might be a chance to find out why all this happened to us. Why that man pursued me, why he thought I was a key. Why they wanted me in the first place. If you could, if you could find out anything about Zaros or what is going on with the Seelie, so I could prove to my father and Dalmeny that what’s happening to me isn’t just a hallucination, I could rest easy. My father has had me so busy lately I barely have time to myself except the dawn, when I am permitted to pray. He has me learning the proper hand shakes, table manners, the right modes of conversation, posture, dance…”

During her speech, Mercy leaves. He goes to the bridge looking for any leather offerings, and finds long-toed poulaine shoes. Mercy takes them. Meanwhile, the rest of the Missing debate their next course of action, deciding it would be best to rest a day and heal up before the Ostara festival tomorrow. Prrhen offers to prepare a breakfast for the party the following day at the monastery, telling Sinead to meet them there during Celestian mass the next day. Mercy returns with the shoes and hears the plan. Though he is eager to get to questioning the monks, the Missing leave for the Tanagra Inn where they will rest.

### 10. Some Things You Just Gotta Let Go

Still reeling from the Boloti battle, the Missing make their way to the Tanagra River Inn through the peaceful yet busy streets of Primrose. It seems that everyone has some task, caring for hens, churning butter, brooming, carrying materials–with Ostara in a day, the town is full of life, even if it’s a little sparser than ten years earlier. Nylauna Ellisar, the hostess of the inn, lets you know everything is on Conor Macnas's tab, and expresses concern for your injuries. The concierge, Adamar Shael, introduces you to the bar. Here, the bartender Faelyn offers up an incredible brew of her own namesake and is impressed with Miles ability to throw it back. Meanwhile, Mercy sneaks into a private room where the Malacoides Hunting Society is meeting. There are owlbear heads all over the wall, and Rhys says that only those who have hunted an Owlbear and been initiated into the Malacoides are allowed into this private study. Rhys tries to insult Mercy by mentioning him being kicked out of the temple of Istus, but Mercy convinces him that it was a rumor. Rhys brings up that if anyone who can track is actually serious, they are planning on going on a hunt on the night of Ostara. Apparently, one of the men at the bar, Whisper Nerebeth, is attempting to get into the group.

Meanwhile at the bar, Prrhen sits next to a pink-haired half elf named Rilisafel who can’t stop staring. Prrhen prepares a psychotropic tincture designed to increase awareness. Miles is given his own special dose by the amateur herbologist warlock, feeling the room gently expand while Rilisafel reveals she’s from Mournfall, whose culture evidently originates in Morsus. Bonding over this, Rilisafel brings up Titania, saying she came in search of the faerie queen, thinking her enchantments could turn her life around. Miles, whose consciousness is pooling out onto the bar floor, says he met Titania, and then corrects himself, saying that he was confused and he didn’t, but that he’s heard so much about her it feels like he has met her, and that means he maybe doesn’t even need to meet her at all. Rilisafel says she understands the first part, feeling like she’s met Titania from the books she’s read, but the second part, about not needing to meet her, aggravates her. She must meet the queen. Miles, whose brain is slowly migrating to the astral plane, intones “some things you just gotta let go”.

As the psychotropic night winds to a close, Mercy asks Prrhen if she’s planning on staying at the Monastery of the Seven Stars. It turns out he wants to stay in the room reserved for her at the Tanagra Inn to keep a degree of anonymity. Prrhen agrees. In the night, Miles feels his mind in some in-between state of consciousness, watching the astral plane reveal the moon Eterna, that white disk that cancelled the sun during Nightfall. He watches it shuddering, fragmenting, and then drifts off to sleep. Opie’s dreams are of the long, winding Radiant Road, cutting for miles through the grasslands and hills, all the way to the Jack-in-the-Green and Primrose. Mercy sees Veselona in his dreams but none of his words reach her. Finally, Prrhen, curled up in the monastery, sees the Grandmother in her most explicit dream quest since that night 10 years ago. The crone smiles, her milky eyes staring into Prrhen’s soul: “Ten years Prrhen and you still haven’t visited your Grandmother!” she hisses. “I’d be offended by your manners, but you must have been so busy. I have a feeling you might find yourself in need very soon…perhaps you’ll find the time to see me…let yourself slip away Prrhen, back to the Feywild…go off the beaten path, where they have resigned me, where they have excommunicated me. To the left of the Primrose path, through the trees, find me there. You’ll remember when you see it, you visited me before…” She feels a pull, as if the woman is again wretching her from her sleep, but it is all she’s able to do: Prrhen wakes up. It is the feast day, the spring Solstice, Ostara.

Mercy makes a stop at Primrose’s blacksmith, Margrave’s Metalworks. Here, he meets Jean Margrave who notes Mercy’s fitness and suggests he might have some work for him if he’s interested. Mercy immediately wonders if it has something to do with the Malacoides, but Jean insists who he works for has even deeper pockets. He mentions bandits to the south of Primrose who have been robbing travelers, discouraging clientele at his shop and even taking some objects of particular note. He describes the valley where they are located off of the road, and says if the Missing return the stolen items he will reward them. Mercy thanks him and buys 100 shurikens.

In the morning, the party meet with Sinead at the Monastery of the Seven Stars. She seems to be having a hard time, feeling lost in her life, hinting at some recent development. She leaves through an ancient book, The Far Wanderer, likening the immortality of the author’s words to the magic-assisted immortality of Gudoja. She opines on Conor’s insistence on the power of magic being more than words, relating that words can do many of the same things that magic does and does not understand how her father, a famed orator, would disagree. The party witness the Ostara rites performed by Sister Zodah and the Prior Gudoja, an ancient human man whose existence somehow preceded Primrose’s founding nearly 800 years ago. Gudoja speaks to his followers: “On Ostara we see a rejuvenation, a chance to see with new eyes, so that we may learn. But we get ahead of ourselves. Even the eye has to first learn how to see everything new, it too must therefore be awoken from its latency before it can grasp the seen. There must be a readiness to consider even the supposed wonders as the forerunners of forthcoming realities. But with this need for foresight you will need hindsight too, you cannot allow the daily churning of butter and cleaning of the hens cage to wipe out the memories imbued in you, both ancestral and from your daily lives. Memories that I’m sure resurface when we’re amid the heroes of that day ten years prior, when the Missing of Primrose allowed themselves to go missing to find Sinead. When the Missing trained their eyes to see that alluded even the eyes of the city guard. They are here today, with friend of the monastery, Prrhen.” While he speaks, Miles sees the constellations inscribed on the monastery wall, seeing that his star map, a recent construction, mirrors the image. His accuracy in mapping the cosmos is apparently in line with the carefully honed astronomical skill of these followers of Celestian. He keeps this discovery to himself.

The Missing talk with Celestian and find out a few things about recent events and the monastery. Though Primrose was insulated from the dark happenings of Nightfall, he feels there are wolves at the door. He mentions that when Dalmeny first founded Primrose in spring hundreds of years ago, the Monastery used to span two locations, one at the far end of the Wood, and one at Primrose Sound, but that was a dark time as well. There was a struggle that resulted in the destruction of the other monastery, but he says the monks learned how to defend themselves from that event. Lately, they’ve seen similar occurrences, more animals out in the day, aggressive, taking fight or flight easily. He thinks its linked to the Nightfall prophecy. He conceives of reality as something mediated by a “veil”, one that is thinning, allowing both the unbounded pleasures of the feywild and the infinite sorrows of the Shadowfell to converge in Amathara. He worries then for both the living and the dead.

After the breakfast, the party follows the guards to the town hall to witness Conor Macnas’s Ostara festival speech. On the way, peaking through the trees, they see the lonely playground of their youth, where they vanished ten years prior. They decide to take a quick look and notice Lord Archaunbault Dalmeny, coughing and looking frail, approaching the swimming hole which is now flanked by guards and totally covered by cold iron boulders. The town patriarch tells the guards that they can enjoy the festival, that a new shift is coming in. While Dalmeny thinks he’s alone, he kneels before the rocks, tears beading up in his eyes. Then, he begins to move the rocks with his mind, considering the water. Opie asks what he’s doing, but he tries to cover for himself by saying the rocks were a mess. When pressed, he says he has a difficult time thinking of that day years ago, and feels guilt over what happened to the Missing. As he’s leaving, saying he is ill, he endeavors to call the guards back with ropes and chains to place the rocks back. Mercy decides to pretend he’s a guard and tells Dalmeny he’s on it. Investigating the swimming hole, Mercy puts his hand in the deep and is sucked promptly into the Feywild.

The party is stunned. Prrhen and Miles, both distraught, choose to follow their companion. They seek guidance first, Prrhen pulling out her Seelie sigil, and asks how to get there. Puddlejumper’s voice is heard “jump in the puddle”. Opie is more hesitant, trying to devise ways to get the party back without leaving himself. He ties ropes around the playground equipment and watches as they are inexorably sucked toward the water. Finally, he sighs and dives in.

Once in the Wild, the party is again witness to swirling, breathing environs, Primrose vanished in thickets of weeds and trees, the Tanagra becoming a mythic, crystalline spray. First, the party see Mercy shrugging off this development, saying this was all bound to happen. As the party erupt into a squabble, there is a shifting in the leaves. Emerging through that familiar terrain is a huge badger, growling and charging the party. As the party battles the creature, Opie and Mercy find their weapons ineffective. Prrhen damages it with eldritch blasts and Miles hits with Guiding Bolts and Thorn Whips, until the badger shifts into a humanoid werebadger, striking with a halberd. Opie and Mercy draw its strikes while the spellcasters slowly whittle the lycanthrope down, until it runs. Miles dives through the trees and thorn whips, pulling the creature, who has given up, in with his leafy weapon. The werebadger shifts into human form, introducing himself as Marten. They loot the assaulter, finding moonstones, gold, a Waning Crescent shaped key, and a frog ring. Miles is astonished, asking why he would ever attack them like that, while he tries on the ring, finding his legs becoming powerful and lithe, his tongue lolling out to an incredible size.

### 11. Ostara 1400

Dubhseoul finishes visiting his mother in Primrose Sound, who has been married to Captain Preston “Storm Lord” Voss. Dubhseoul is on his way to be honored at the Ostara 1400 festival at the Primrose Town Hall when he sees the rest of the Missing at the nearby playground, the fateful entrance to the Feywild. He sees Dalmeny limping past, walking back to his manor, and then to Dubhseoul’s shock, the party moves back to the swimming hole, the portal to the wild that is only open during a solstice or equinox.

The gunslinging warlock joins the party in a landscape he barely remembers, finding Miles interrogating a Werebadger named Marten. Apparently, Marten was bitten and cursed with lycanthrope, and began working for the Faerie King, Oberon, who is said to be operating out of Eterna’s Spire in Primrose after a lover’s spat with the Faerie Queen Titania. The tower is only accessible during a full moon. Oberon is supposed to give the throne of the Spring Court to a woman named Adriata, but has instead refused, causing the festival to be called off and calling into question what will become of the court. Sinead wonders if the name Adriata is right, and while Marten is uncertain, he says it’s what he was told. Marten’s job was to burrow into the Dreamhouse, which he reveals contains an entrance to the Spring Court, to spy on the proceedings and to see if Oberon’s reluctance to give up the throne and the threat of the loss of the festival is enough to make Titania take him back. Marten is a sailor in Primrose under Captain Voss, and the revelation makes Dubhseoul immediately want the Werebadger as a shipmate when he obtains his own vessel one day. The party aren’t too concerned with Marten’s plans, finding the Werebadger mostly worried he will be handed over to the Seelie Court and ultimately punished by Titania. He likes being in the Feywild since the constant full moon gives him full control over his body, something he never has in his normal life. The Missing let Marten go and head toward the Treant’s path.

Here, Prrhen recalls her dream, the instructions on how to get back to the Grandmother’s hut, which exists off the path of the Feywild, in the exiled spaces of the Wood. Sinead disguises herself with mud and torn cloth and barely looks like the same girl, calling herself Nesdia. By the Grandmother’s chickenhut, behind the bone fence, Prrhen is asked for the prosthetic eye back. The Grandmother says there are rumors the same man who attacked her sister, Malice, is back in the area. She wants Malice’s eye returned, and displays her power by showing that it was in fact her who fooled Prrhen into believing the Seelie were talking to her through her Seelie sigil. The Grandmother promises a reward for driving out the man that disturbed her coven and threatens Prrhen if she cannot obtain the eye of Malice. She says that the only person that knows more about Zaros would be Malice herself, who lives in the swamp town of Vorel’thel.

After this, the party visit the Seelie faeries, who are making the most out of an apparently canceled Ostara festival. They offer fireworks and grapes, and a sauced Heathplume says he’s glad to see them and concerned Zaros might perceive them to be in league with the Seelie. Zaros left the Dreamhouse with powerful faerie secrets, and could potentially use them to enact his own dark plans on Primrose. Sundrop shows that she still has a locked cabinet of the trinkets given to the Seelie, and that they Seelie are able to watch the party remotely by use of these trinkets. Mercy has the idea to give the shoe found at the shrine of Fharlanghn on the Primrose bridge to locate the cultist. Sundrop finds that the owner is merely a cobbler’s assistant, a young man with dark hair and dark eyes.

The Seelie cast spells to shift the party back to the material plane. The uproar in the court means the Feywild is in something of a bad mood, meaning time slowed down. It turns out the party were only missing for a fraction of a second. They attend the Ostara speech, Nicollier lamenting that Dalmeny can’t attend. Conor says it must be for an important reason, and beams at his daughter Sinead, who, now washed off and looking like herself again. Conor’s speech honors the Missing and the Malacoides, highlighting how Primrose has been insulated from the famine and war that have broken out since the dark prophecies of winter, Nightfall. He says with all the cult activity and the break-up of kingdoms like Ethergaarde, it is a time for Primrose to take stock of what they’ve accomplished, and to strengthen bonds. He then reveals that Sinead is to be married to the Emperor of Amberhelm, Adrian Kharaba. The source of Sinead’s earlier consternation now known, it is seen that she is disconcerted about the arrangement and hasn’t even met Adrian. In the audience, the party spot the man described by the Seelie, the cobbler’s assistant. They charge after him, running through the market as the man quickly makes his way to the border of the town, the farmland.

The party follow him to a dilapidated one-floor farmhouse. Outside the house are the graves of the Bernard family, and it appears they have been disturbed. The Missing sneak up to the house where they hear him shriek as he enters. Investigating, the party finds a group of hideous living dead converging on the man.

### 12. Bernard Family Farmhouse

The ghouls converge on the cobbler cultist, one biting him and instantly bringing him to the ground. Meanwhile, the Missing swarm the farmhouse, Dubseoul firing shots into the ghouls with the spectral energy granted by his patron, Opie nimbly running from undead to undead, swiping them and running off, Miles lighting them up with guiding bolts, Mercy administering Tonfa strikes, and Prrhen transforming into a ghoul to mask herself. As the fight rages on, Miles is bitten, the wound filling with a paralytic that numbs him and keeps him frozen in torpor. The cobbler’s assistant bleeds out very quickly, dying on the floor as the party finish off the ghouls. Luckily, Miles comes to, and the party make a sweep of the farmhouse. Miles uncovers some damage on the farmhouse floor, revealing some kind of violent attack with a diffuse splattering of blood. The house has been ransacked, with nothing else left. The cobbler has a key on his body that allows the basement door to be unlocked.

Within the farmhouse, the party finds undead terrors on the inside and out, literally. Skeleton warriors attack the party while skin husks, swaying in the wind and moving in strange undulating patterns attempt to envelope them. The party snap into a full on attack, unleashing havoc and taking these down even as another combatant sails through the floor itself and joins the fight. It is the Lady in White, a phantom later revealed to be Darlina Bernard, the former owner of the farmhouse. She is full of woeful lamentations as she strikes out in rage, “what did it come to? Nothing!” she screams. “All my beauty gone, spent on what?” and “You’re being used you just won’t see it!” screech out of her blurred, spectral form as she attaches to Prrhen, beginning to sap at her physical form. Luckily, she is torn off and defeated. The party discover a shrine to Istus in a lonely corner, smeared with blood and mud. In an offering dish, they find a love necklace with a broken chain apparently made between Zaros and Darlina, some kind of profane statement left in the ransacked basement. The party locate a treasure chest and attempt to use the cobbler’s key, but it doesn’t work. Mercy picks the lock and reveals gold, a sword made from warped wood, a black leather bag, and a glass wand.

They make their way down to the next floor of the farmhouse, hearing a churning sound. A strange door remains locked with a blue triangle pressure plate before it. The Missing locate Darlina’s sarcophagus—in it nothing but her bones and the rest of the chain from the pendant. They restore the necklace, thinking that perhaps they can locate Zaros using it.

Finally, the party go to investigate the churning sound, finding a third floor deep in the farmhouse, cold and dark, with a crater in the middle of the floor oozing slime. A terrible Nothic stands on its haunches by it, its evil eye opening wide and beginning to warp and destroy the life in front of it with necrotic energy.

### 13. Bung it Up

The Nothic begins to blast at the party, firing necrotic energy that tears away at their very cells. Glass shards from broken potion bottles (and one still intact one) lie at the foot of the stairs. The Missing battle the Nothic, but find that a slime mold that appears to be digesting undead body parts gushing out of the hole in the ground. It’s a rotsam, and it starts to ooze into the wall itself so that it can emerge later on the floor above, attempting to attack from behind using pseudopod slime. Miles notes the cold-iron flecked boulder at the foot of the stairs and suggests that the large hole in the ground needs to be “bunged up”. “We need to bung it up”, he assures everyone, who argue over the use of the word bung as the fight intensifies. A traveler to Ostara hears the commotion and rushes into the farmhouse, joining the battle. The man is named Bogart, a roguish lad who sneaks around the nothic and attacks each time the creature moves its eye in a new direction. With this help, Prrhen finds the time to shove the boulder into the slime.

The Missing hear the nothic issue threats in Undercommon, but are ultimately able to defeat the rotsam on the 2nd floor and the nothic on the third and turn their attention toward the remaining parts of the farmhouse. Bogart requests a cut of the treasure for his heroics. The Missing locate a potion of buoyancy that was nicely labeled in the glass shards next to the boulder. The party move to the pressure plate, a couple of them standing on the spot and finding the door opening slightly. They consider moving the boulder over to the plate, when Miles has an idea. He activates his frog ring and uses his tongue to reach in, grabbing the papers left on the table. The mere entry causes the room to explode, all of Baron Zaros’s notes burning, the inferno incinerating everything but the entries Miles was able to grab. With the remaining time left on the ring, Miles shoots his slightly singed tongue around in celebration. The notes appear to be burnt journal entries from two very different times in Baron Zaros’s life. One is from Precor 1, 1399, just the past winter. It details Zaros returning from the ruins of some place called Goldmount, where his new recruits trained with Vulgug and Rana. He says the new recruits could see what Archaunbault Dalmeny wrought in the ruins, giving him authority. He talks about the Nightfallen prophecy soon at hand, coming at the next full moon. Though the text is fragmented, he clearly mentions using an inversion of what the fey represent, a place called the Shadowfell. “On Ostara, I’ll return from the monast[…] humiliating my brother in yet another inversion of the past.”

The other note is from Fervent 22, 1391, just a year after the Missing went missing. “Today marks a celebration,” he begins. He explains he has returned from the dreamhouse, a place of “unformed desires” he ironically reached by learning about the unrequited desires of others, manipulating Malice the witch into calling in a favor with Faerie King Oberon. In his quest, he finds that Titania is luring in a half-mortal named Sinead Macnas. The faerie queen Titania is the mother of Sinead, with Conor the actual father, not just an adoptive father like Mercy was led to believe back when he was called Sonnic. Zaros, using this knowledge, visits Primrose and tails Sinead, just waiting for her to be lured into the feywild so that he too can follow. In the dreamhouse, he finds a place of “utter immanence, a swirling sea of possibility I can only liken to the warm-up of musicians at a symphony, individual instruments sounding haphazardly, mingling in truncated phrases from a score yet to be played. From these scraps I’ve recovered a dirge to play Dalmeny, to deliver to my brother as he begs for mercy. I glimpsed my own passions. I saw Valxun victorious, I saw a plague god d…ying the pitiful stasis of Primrose. All of this is to come. Now is the time to find a place to lay low, in my brothers town”. Mercy collects the scraps and the party watch as the fire spreads, burning away in the basement of the farmhouse, that apparent place where Dalmeny’s brother chose to lay low.

### 14. Into the Shadowfell

Having found Baron Zaros’s charred journal entries, Mercy suggests leveraging the information they found to Lord Dalmeny, figuring out a way the Missing can play up the potential they have in knowing of Zaros’s destructive plans that seemingly terminate on this very day. Opie suggests going to Sinead instead, since the notes concern her parentage, how she is actually the daughter of the faerie Queen Titania herself. The Missing charge out of the burning farmhouse, seeing farmer Doyle and his daughter in a far field watching the Bernard family farm go up in an inferno. Guards run with buckets of water, tossing them on the farm as it goes up like a tinderbox anyway. The Missing sneak around back, finding a copse of trees to hide body of the cobbler’s assistant-turned cultists that was apparently trained by Zaros.

Back at the festival, Primrose couldn’t look more different than these dead crops, lost loves, and burning buildings. The streets are alive with song and dance, and a giant swan float is whisking important Primrose citizens around the streets. Despite the reserved nature of Primrose, the town really seems to be celebrating their resilience, having survived the horrors of winter’s Nightfall. The party goes around the town hall and asks around if anyone has seen where Sinead has gone. A guard previously looking after her says that the Macnas’s are at Dalmeny manor with the patriarch of the town.

At the palatial Dalmeny estate, the broad-chested Amberhelmian soldier Gallus Matho lets the party in, hazing them as he leads them to Dalmeny’s chambers. Everburning candles light a plush red room where a coughing, sputtering, uncomfortable Dalmeny is given a tincture by his personal physician. Conor seems mostly worried about Dalmeny, while Deidre, his wife, has concern for Sinead, who seems morose. Dalmeny applauds the missing for joining the festival and apologizes for missing Conor’s speech. Miles sits next to Sinead and whispers a suggestion that they go somewhere private to talk. The party sneak out to a dining area.

At first, the party ask Sinead about the faerie queen Titania. Sinead says she mostly knows of her through a folk tale book that Prrhen recommended years ago, and her warm memories of Titania in the wild are brief, as if she was radiant light Sinead basked in for only a second. She confesses to fantasizing about seeing her again one day. These fantasties visibly grow as the conversation progresses and the Missing reveal the note to Sinead, who confirms that Baron Zaros wrote the note. Sinead laments that it was Zaros that learned some sort of magic in the Dreamhouse and not her, instead she is in some kind of nightmare, an arranged marriage while the demented brother of Dalmeny seemingly prepares within the shadowfell, on the outskirts of death. If he’s learned something from these realms, Sinead reasons, Zaros is capable of great destruction. After reading the part that confirms that Conor is her real father, Sinead’s thoughts gravitate to her mother instead, wondering if Deidre knows the truth. Mercy doesn’t think it would disturb her, that she must know but perhaps kept it secret. The Missing ask if Conor’s behavior belies any of these relations to the feywild, and Sinead mentions that in the intervening ten years, Medard Girault and Porthos Sadoul gave royal advising, but Conor became something of an unofficial advisor to Dalmeny, and most of his suggestions where philosophically about emotional restraint, and politically about trying to keep the fey at bay. Sinead know sees this through the prism of the letter, seeing it as Conor keeping her away from Titania for some reason. She says her father suggested many superstitious solutions to barring Primrose from the supernatural, from running water, to cold iron, to garlic sprigs, to bells and other methods. Conor claimed Nightfall didn’t touch Primrose because of the reserved passions of its citizenry, its upright stoicism. Sinead is appalled at Conor telling her what love is, willing that she be betrothed to Emperor Adrian Kharaba of Amberhelm having never met him, but in reality he’s gone off in the wild with another woman and kept secrets about her own birth, making her think she was adopted. The party say that her concerns are real and what she’s feeling makes sense. Mercy believes that the pact the Missing made with the Seelie protected Primrose. If the Seelie was protecting her, Sinead says she wants nothing more than to visit there. Sinead points out the penultimate line on the note, “On Ostara I’ll return from the monas…” The Missing re-examine this section and realize they need to visit the Monastery. This time, Mercy asks for guards. Dalmeny gladly supplies them with two conscripts and two corporals. Opie ushers the party along, and Miles says Sinead should decide how to handle her family.

At the Monastery of the Seven Stars, Gudoja says nothing is out of sorts. He wonders what makes the Missing think Baron Zaros is there. Mercy makes sure everyone is on the side, making sure he know the Missing are here in defense of the monastery. Miles says they have the document from Zaros but does not produce it. Opie asks how many monasteries there are in Primrose, and recalls a speech from Gudoja earlier that day, stating that there was a second monastery, the Monastery of the Far Wanderer that was lost in a terrible violent event on the other side of the Wood during the birth of Primrose. Gudoja suggests that he can take the party to the next floor, a planetarium of Celestian, one of the few of its kind in all of Amathara. He says Celestian is about perspective, both internal and external. There is a telescope that is supposed to look out, and a convex mirror contraption for looking in, with a triune symbol meant to refer to the past, present, and future in the middle. They say they’re working on this mirror machine. Miles sees constellations from his star map on the wall. Clamara uses her telescope to show the far end of the Wood, which is heavily cloaked in mist, impossible to see through the haze. Clamara sees Miles amazed at the room and takes Miles up on his offer to be trained there. Gudoja sees Mercy’s fitness and suggests that weapon training is possible at the temple as well. The monastery members give there well-wishes and the Missing depart for the wood.

At the outskirts, the poplar Wood is mostly normal, but as they get closer to the mist they see dead animals that are cold to the touch and buds of plants frozen and dead despite the warm weather. When they finally part the mists there is a shimmering rift between worlds, between the natural Wood and the borderlands of the afterlife, the Shadowfell. The less experienced guards decide that this is beyond their responsibilities and return to Primrose, while the duty bound Primula corporals, Antoine and Pierre, agree to stay. Rock formations that have only ever been described to the Prowlers by Shadow are seen spiralling ahead in the negative image world, one that supposedly leads to the underworld itself. On the cliffs, Opie spots a grimlock while the party set up a camp for a quick rest. When they go to jump over the cliff toward the shadowfell, another grimlock riding a giant bat glides in, harming Antoine. Pierre fails at jumping over the chasm, his sixty foot fall broken by multiple tree limbs and then a deep well of water, the guard miraculously surviving but concussed and confused. Antoine fights valiantly, hitting with spear strikes to avenge Pierre who he and everyone rational believes is dead. Opie and Mercy find the Shadowfell working against there sanity, both battling inner demons as the battle rages. Mercy runs along the rocks and finds a phase spider lurking behind one and is caught in its web. Opie runs from grimlock to grimlock slaughtering, Miles lighting up the phase spider with spells while Mercy finally breaks free and strikes with his tonfa. They make quick work of those foul creatures at the entrance to the Shadowfell, and now see the darkness in which Baron Zaros resides, knowing he is gathering strength for an attack tonight on Ostara.

### 15. The Monastery of the Far Wanderer

Dubhseoul and Prrhen rejoin the party, finding that Opie is actually excited to enter the "dark bridge" to the Shadowfell. The narrow, monochrome lane toward death itself leads to a plane that is a dark reflection of the material world, a resonance of past trauma. Moving through this long path, the party finds an area where ash is falling from the sky. Across a bridge, several large cold iron-flecked boulders block the way. The party spots Bogflit and Puddlejumper squaring off and sneak up on the confrontation, both Opie and Dubhseoul invisible. Opie reminds the party that last time they ran into the Unseelie, they apologized for Bogflit's aggression while Mercy counters that they only did so because they were at the party's mercy, and threatens to "put her down" if Bogflit attacks. Prrhen agrees, though finds Mercy's response harsh. Bogflit explains that the faeries can't get further down the shadow road with boulders in the way, and both sides want to seek out and help defeat Zaros before he poses a threat to the courts. Bogflit assures Zaros is ahead, and volunteers to help the party find him. Puddlejumper wants to go instead. Bogflit says the party has been misled by the Seelie. Puddlejumper explains that she did what she needed to do, her intentions were good. When she looks at the party she sees "herself when she was younger". Prrhen asks Puddlejumper if they sided with her, could she get the trinket back, the eye of Malice. Puddlejumper says she'll get it for Prrhen. Bogflit sweetens her deal, saying that that she can fill the party in on what's really going on with Sinead. Puddlejumper offers audience with Titania. Bogflit offers one with the Queen of Air and Darkness, and enticingly mentions that Dalmeny has a history with the Unseelie and the more they work with them the more they might understand. Opie asks why they can't both come along, both say they want to see what's happening and don't want the other court to know.

The result is a party vote. Arguing amongst themselves with half the party invisible, they come to a split vote. Bogflit and Puddlejumper start wrestling. Dubhseoul decides to change his vote to Unseelie to break the tie. Prrhen cries, and Puddlejumper remembers her advocacy but flies away in defeat. Bogflit, smelling of swamp water and rotting vegetation, smiles a rotted smile and takes them along directly to the Monastery of the Far Wanderer, the old and original place of Celestian. Here, they see a traveler hunched over, walking down the road. When calling out to him, he turns around, his jaw falling off. The courtyard is full of zombies, who lurch and moan, flailing limbs but succumbing to the sheer force of the Missing's assault. Prrhen rings the monastery bell and a voice calls from deep within the shattered monastery, a deep voice that promises to disclose the fate of the party. In the courtyard, an undead fey fires arrows before being struck down. Entering the monastery means slashing at a wall of undead hands grasping for the party. They fight through it, Opie moving all the way to the end of the monastery, resisting a strange urge to look within the orb and see his fate. He battles the Deathspeaker until the rest of the party catch up. The adventure ends with the Deathspeaker pleading that everything would be so easy, if only they would look.

### 16. The Surrender of Zaros

On the shattered cobblestones of the Monastery of the Far Wanderer, the party catch up to Opie and do battle with the Deathspeaker who implores members of the Missing to look within his crystal ball and glimpse their fate. The party fight off the urges to see this something that cannot be known, instead blasting the Deathspeaker and bringing to the cold monastery floor. They find that there is nothing left of him other than his inert corpse, his last proclamations confused babble, seemingly intermixed notions of letting Dalmeny down and now letting Zaros down. Prrhen takes the orb and the rest of the party explore the surroundings, finding that there is a dark river of blood underneath the monastery, churning and splashing. As well as this, there is a chain contraption with an attached boat hanging just beneath the monastery floor. Opie retrieves a large lever from the torso of one of the zombies, plugs it into a metal-framed hole he finds, and pulls, starting a process that clears out the blood with water instead, and starts a slow-lowering of the boat.

Champing at the bit, Mercy is the first to jump aboard the ship, with the rest of the party following, jumping from the top of the monastery into the vessel while below, a waterlogged, axe-wielding undead stalks the party, taking hits and then retreating immediately up a stony precipice ahead. At first, the party pursue, but instead choose to hide. It appears the decaying creature alerts Zaros in the next room, who lets out alternatively miserable and tenacious statements, lamenting the "broken promises" as he looks down at the corpses of Nightfallen all around him. Several dread knights pursue the party and are ambushed from the shadows, taken down while a shadowy form of Zaros, seemingly without recognition of the party, strikes out against them. The shadowy form takes significant battle damage and routes while Opie pursues, his gloomstalker magic preventing the darkvision of the enemy to see him. As the Missing approach, Zaros articulates a "last stand" and an "embrace of the end" and brings the corpses of the Nightfallen to life. In addition, Hamaculi, Zaros's horse comes back from the dead, skeletal and full of fury. The party struggle as ghouls dripping ichor paralyze Miles again, and then Dubhseoul. They are surrounded. Meanwhile, Opie has nearly destroyed the shadow demon Zaros but is forced to rejoin the fray to stop Dubhseoul from bleeding out. He drops good berries and adminsters one to his fallen ally while Mercy drops ghouls with tonfas, Bogflit fires acidic arrows, Prrhen blasts from a distance and Miles struggling to retain use of his limbs. At long last, the final ghoul is brought down.

A battered party surge toward the end of the eldritch church, once a place of worship for the astral deity Celestian. Now, atop a miserable throne, Baron Zaros glimpses the first face to come within range: Miles. The half-halfing half-elf spurs a memory from so long ago, Zaros shaking his head "No, it can't be" as the final shots bring his shadow form down to a mere scattering of darkness. Behind him, the backdrop of a surging power has vanished. In its stead, a darkened void. Pulsing blue light emits from the fringes of the darkness of death, the unknown, the very end. Zaros sees he is cornered, with his shadow self merging with his body, his legs straddling Hamaculi. He turns and jumps the horse into the underworld, slaying himself and ending the incipient threat of what was planned to be a march on Primrose. The party recover a golden ring and an eldritch book in the rubble and breath a sigh of relief, having nearly lost their lives in a forgotten place of misery. Back at Primrose, the festival goes on, the darkness having been snuffed before most could catch a glimpse of it.

## Book Two: Estivating

### 17. Botany and Bastardism

In the final hours of the spring festival, the Missing stand in the miserable, blasted temple that once served as a place of worship to Celestian, the god of the astral plane. Dubhseoul stares into the void left by Zaros, where a god was supposed to emerge but instead has become a tear into the realm of death itself. Reminded of those feelings from his near drowning, he watches Cumha float around the environs seemingly in his element. Unlike Prrhen, his patron has not visited him with direct exhortations, hopes, threats, but rather left him with feelings like this, this attraction and repulsion to a darkness that nearly consumed him. Opie, having used his nimbleness to conceal himself in the dark, emerges victorious, having slain the shadow demon visage of Zaros and driven the wounded, flesh-and-blood one to take his own life. In the somber aftermath, the party reflect, Mercy turning suspicious of Bogflit, wondering what lies the Unseelie faerie has told. Bogflit seems offended, mentioning how quickly they found where Zaros was, how he will make sure the party is granted an audience with the Queen of Air and Darkness, how Sinead, the figure seemingly at the center of this entanglement, is truly in the Feywild while a Changeling imposter is back in Primrose.

Speaking of which, back in Primrose, the supposed Changeling sits in Dalmeny Manor, the festival goes on with few knowing any threat exists. When the Missing return, they get a well-deserved respite from adventure, resting, examining their spoils, and beginning their summer together. The months pass quickly, the party shoring up some gold by selling at the market, Margrave’s, the Pin-and-Thrum, Opie meeting a bizarre cast of characters at the quasi-legal magic emporium that was apparently saved by Raphael’s hallucinatory pattern. Here, the tendrils of Amberhelm’s influence pull a little stronger, a Radiant Crusader walking in while Opie trades Baron Zaros’s thorny short sword for a magical rapier and a sack of gold, threatening the shop and finding Euky’s presence dangerous and strange. Having cavorted with a host of merchants and nobility, Opie spent his time outside of the wilderness for once, getting in the ear of the deep-pocketed for the best chance at filling his coffers, and it paid off. What this meant, however, was spending more time at Tanagra River Inn, where a sneering Rhys from the Malacoides insults the party for failing to catch big game. He mounts a taxidermy Owlbear head on the wall, proud of his conquest. Whisper Nerebeth, the woodsman that hoped to join the hunting society, apparently wet himself during the hunt and hid. While in hiding, the Malacoides claim they caught something much more interesting, something “much smaller” than an Owlbear. Next, they want to catch something “much larger”. They display contempt for the Missing even as the party try to explain that they have no way of conceiving how important their work was in the intervening time. Opie sits at the bar and brings up these hunting boasts, wondering what Rhys meant by “something smaller”.

The weeks pass in peace and tranquility, the so-called “Sinead” apparently practically under lock and key, being taught the manners and customs of Amberhelm nobility so that she can be made Empress. Mercy spends his time training, mastering new techniques, keeping in good shape, and…unravelling in his obsession with a figure from his past. One day in the market, that fire is given fuel: he runs into Amasu, a merchant who believed in him and gave him his first tonfas. Amasu asks about Veselona, causing Mercy to go down this painful and yet hopeful string of memories again, just loud enough for an adjacent owner of Primrose Kitchen, Valeriana Faelwynn, to hear the name. Mercy finds out that after Nightfall meant that fewer travelers were coming through, Valeriana was losing money and was even worried she had so many foodstuffs that they would go bad by the time she could sell them. So Valeriana took Captain Jixl’s ship in Primrose Sound to Ethergaarde, where a regicide and incipient revolution meant a critical need for food. Their, she earned a lot of gold and met a gang member turned professional, Destin Bela. Destin is the leader of the Olidammaran Thieves Guild, the Bastards, the same group that Veselona now belongs to. After becoming Destin’s lover, Valeriana hoped to return to Primrose and offer a life for her daughter not unlike Destin’s–full of excitement and lacking in any fear of destitution. She wants to build a chapter of the Bastards in Primrose, and asks Mercy to recruit for her. Mercy chooses to be the first recruit, and is offered his choice of robberies to help afford the costs of starting the guild: rob Glirm, a local drug dealer in possession of rare Dreammist, a hallucinatory jungle plant that disorients in small doses and kills in larger ones. He doesn’t like the idea of being involved in that and questions why Valeriana would want that kind of substance. The next is Laurette Entrangere, the merchant who imports cold iron and is apparently having trouble getting enough to satisfy Dalmeny. She wants to sell him counterfeit cold iron. This isn’t a big enough job for Mercy, who sees the last two targets as more interesting: robbing Lady Caethea of a Feywild made brooch, or rob Modiana, the ambassador of Amberhelm, of a crown that a man in Primrose Sound desperately wants for some reason. Mercy chooses Caethea, a fellow Eladrin, as his target. He sneaks into Dalmeny Manor during a feast. As Caethea washes up, he grabs the brooch and runs out. The medallion gets stuck in the door and he grabs it, the chain falling off. He pretends to be a party guest and sneaks out, netting gold for himself and for the guild. He becomes a Survivor ranked member of the Olidammaran Thieves Guild.

Prrhen in the meantime cultivates a garden. Learning from her time with her mother Sylvianne outside the temple of Istus, she sets her sights on rarer plants. One day, while spending some quality time with Raphael, a boyfriend who she has grown close to despite barriers of mortality and physics, she sees a nimbus dandelion growing underneath the waterfall and begins to cultivate the plant. While tending to her garden and training, Prrhen spends time in the temple of Istus. Lady Eglantine allows her into the very top of the church tower where a looms spin constant threads and a pool allows for the easy rotation of magical ingredients. Prrhen with her secret project underway, steadily begins her growth as an adventurer, or perhaps as a defense should the Grandmother’s temper falls upon her again.

Finally, Dubhseoul spends his time cavorting with the sailors at Primrose Sound, buying them drinks, sharing stories, and offering some camaraderie. The time nets him a few things, the first: some renown as a potential sailor. He successfully spreads word that he’s been aboard many ships (though not necessarily sharing the fate of them) and becomes a “deckhand” ranked seaman in Primrose Sound. Next, he runs into a sailor he hasn’t seen since the early spring in the Feywild: the werebadger Marten. Marten seems worse for the wear, appearing sleepless, bruised, his eyes heavy and bloodshot, concealing a bag he apparently just purchased. He explains that no matter what, he’s in a bad place: it has been made clear that he will be expected on an expedition on midsummer, which also happens to be the day of the next full moon, leaving his options either the loss of his mortal livelihood or the loss of his life, as he transforms, loses control, and finds his friends all hostile to him. Before he can explain further, Captain Preston “Storm Lord” Voss spots Dubsheoul and Marten and invites both of them, as well as the Missing, to a dinner at their seaside manor. Dubsheoul accepts but hustles ahead, cutting Marten off to tell him that he could put him up for a few days. Staying with Voss and off the streets might be the best for the despondent werebadger.

The days, long and bright, the winds, calm and cooling–summer flirts with Primrose, the late spring ending in halcyon days of lightness and beauty. The party reconvene, knowing they have many unanswered questions, their suspicions set on an unravelling mystery few seem privy to.

### 18. Charm School

Ruber, the month of summer’s dawning, begins in the church of Istus. Lady Eglantine and Mercy have a charged moment, Eglantine seeing Mercy face to face for the first time since his childhood. The conversation is brief, with Mercy choosing not to open up. Prrhen emerges from the top of the tower, hard at work on a project that she is quickly finding she doesn’t have the gold to complete. Prrhen makes an offer to the group to cultivate herbs and create more potions, tinctures, and remedies from what she finds in exchange for gold. The party keep it in mind, with Dubhseoul returning from the docks to offer news of Captain Preston “Storm Lord” Voss, who has invited the party to meet for dinner. The Missing ask Eglantine if Sinead has been around, but the Istus Hand of Fate says Sinead has been learning the customs and manners of the Amberhelmian elite so that she can be prepared for her marriage to Emperior Adrian Kharaba come Midsummer.

The party reconvene with Miles in the observatory of the Monastery of the Seven Stars. Here, they speak briefly with Gudoja, who takes their presence to mean they were victorious within the ruined Monastery of the Far Wanderer. On that subject, Gudoja offers to give them a fuller picture of what happened that day when they have time. The party however, are determined to gain an audience with Sinead and Gudoja agrees to go to Dalmeny Manor to set that up. Miles has spent the past few weeks relaxing and reading, pouring over old tomes within the Monastery library and meeting with Sister Clamara to discuss astronomical matters. He ends up learning that the Archer, the Chalice, and the Dragon are ancient astronomical signs that a seemingly defunct druidic circle, the Amaranths, used to use to organize their days and navigate by. Clamara tells Miles she thinks it’s possible the guild still exists in some fashion, though many members died in the Madness Wars or the expansionist efforts of Amberhelm and Thornmoor.

Miles reads the book “The Dreamhouse”, by the poet Broknir. Written in rhyming couplets, the book depicts a fungal, columned house, somewhere between nature and man, in a forgotten wood. The house is a sprawling, variable, multidimensional hub, holding the portals to the thrones of spring and summer themselves, as well as to the “Court of Stars,” a timeless place where faeries of both courts convene. The abstract, foggy descriptions in the book bring out a dreamlike feeling, constant references to “mirroring”, how while life in this imaginary place takes on mythic dimensions, its features are derivable from real-world analogues, objects and thoughts arranged and re-arranged from the waking life. In the story, a young man is lost in the place and must master concepts that seem obvious, inside vs outside, partiality vs the whole, performance versus reality, but every time the child gets closer the distinctions collapse on themselves. Since what is imagined can be made real here, the essence of magic itself is upheld with these intertwining tensions, which seems to be the purpose of the faeries, a maintenance of a balance of a wild power that sets the seasons in motion, rejuvenating every spring in a new birth, ended every winter in the death of that iteration. When the young man returns to the world he finds it a totally different place but not just because it has changed over time, but he himself is changed. He shares what he knows in small pieces, people write books and conduct plays, sing and play songs, paint pictures, tell tall tales and the magic is seen in small bits, but never in the pure intensity and heat that is seen in the Dreamhouse. He is shown as a man who emerges with wisdom, choosing not to spend too much time lost in these thoughts, allowing just glimpses, enough to improve life without being lost in the sea of abstraction, and so gives birth to art and poetics themselves. It is mentioned that Sinead read the book many times, both before and after they went Missing. Perhaps Sinead is needed for some kind of maintenance, an imbalance.

Sharing this information, Miles rejoins the party and they set off for Dalmeny manor. Here, they run across Antoine and Pierre, the guards that witnessed the outrebounds of the Shadowfell, as well as Sir Ericius, the captain of the guard. This group leaves, leaving the group to speak with Conor Macnas (who seems excited about his daugher’s wedding), Gabrielle Chappelle (the court physician), and Lord Archaunbault Dalmeny, who is currently refusing to take his medication but seems to be slowly improving, and is resting on a couch, wearing his golden ring with an engraved “L”. The party ask about Zaros, and Dalmeny says that his brother wanted to march on Primrose just like he marched on Lusertine years ago. Once, when the Fallen Plains were the Golden Plains, Dalmeny lead a city state called Lusertine while Zaros ran Goldmount. There was a great disaster, with both towns having been destroyed, and Dalmeny hoped to leave their problems in the past. Unfortunately, Zaros had other plans, his mind “lost at see”, grappling with powers outside of his comprehension. Mercy finally gives up that Zaros died by his own hand. Though it seems to hurt Dalmeny, there is a sense of relief as well. After this, the party ask to see Sinead.

Sinead, or rather, Daenis, as she’ll refer to herself later, is going through a charm school of sorts, with Lady Caethea, Eladrin noble of Primrose, and Modiana Vera, ambassador of Amberhelm, telling her how to adopt a royal posture. Gallus Matho seems to enjoy watching Sinead even though she is failing at appearing regal. When the party appear, Daenis runs up and embraces Prrhen, causing a strange combination of feelings—Prrhen feels at once happy to see her friend again yet this is the first time she knows that Sinead is really not Sinead at all. While Daenis eyes herself skeptically in the mirror, Prrhen gives a pointed glance to indicate that she understands who she really is. Mercy tries to order everyone out of the room, with Gallus Matho guffawing. Modiana decides they’ve done enough, and leads the nobles out of the room while Dubhseoul flirts with her, telling her that he’ll find her later. Modiana seems intrigued somehow. Caethea lingers on Mercy awhile telling him that he “looks, or maybe acts familiar”. When everyone is out of the room, Daenis reveals herself, her white, pallid skin, her deep dark eyes. She is a Changeling, and says she relates to Dubhseoul in how few memories she has of the Feywild. She wishes she could be back, to escape the fate of being married to someone she doesn’t know, to be thrust onto the world’s stage unwillingly. Despite her ability to shapechange she can’t fit this role. She defends the Seelie Court’s actions, saying that they did what they had to do, and reiterates that they promised them they’d “return as heroes” and make Conor and Deidre “happy, their family whole again” but never promised exactly to return Sinead herself. This was needed because of Oberon’s failure at maintaining the Spring Court, Titania wanting a new heir for the Spring throne. The party are uneasy with Sinead, but Dubhseoul suggests that it may be good to have the Empress of Amberhelm’s ear. Daenis is afraid this means she may be threatened, and the party leave the area, both sides uneasy.

In the hallway, the party see Gabrielle Chappelle waiting for them. He says that he has more information on Dalmeny, but that he isn’t safe saying it here. He gives them the location of a warehouse turned tavern on Primrose Sound, telling them to meet him there at night. When the party arrive there, the physician has more of his elixirs at the bar and is with a woman named Aleyda. Gabrielle repeats back some of the information they related, about the apparent suicide of Zaros. Gabrielle is very interested in the Missing still holding the book and the ring, and suggest they could be the ones to complete the Nightfallen’s project instead. It all starts coming together—these two are the other Nightfallen cultists seen in Primrose. Gabrielle suggests that all that lies ahead for Primrose is a loss of independence, Amberhelm taking control and slavery for everyone else. That a way out is to embrace the far larger ranks of the dead. Aleyda says the Missing are different than “the passionless husks that this village produces. That was true when you went Missing those years ago. That’s why they venerate you. They want you a harmless totem of an anomaly, pulled onto the stage every decade or so to show the people you are an exception to the reality of Primrose, an exception that grows ever into the past, harmless, an antique accumulating dust. Adventurers are zoo animals here, real music passionless modal exercises, real art pointless duplication. You have an opportunity to break out now. To be someone, for once. Zaros taught us that.” She offers an initiation to the Nightfallen. While this is happening, Prrhen and Miles are staying back and Opie is going outside from window to window, looking for advantageous positions. Finally, Opie enters, feigning interest while slowly and dramatically putting out candles. By the third one, Gabrielle sees what he’s up to and goes for his sword, Aleyda doing the same. The Nightfallen cultists say that the prophecy is not shattered, simply misinterpreted. Rana and Vulgug still live, and even the dead are within arms reach. Now, it appears they have decided to try to put the Missing in those ranks.

### 19. Dreammist at the Hideaway

Within the Hideaway, a seedy warehouse in Primrose Sound filled with bootleg spirits brewed in bathtubs, Opie puts his paw on the last lit candle, dousing it and submerging the barley-scented room in darkness. The misty drinks the physician poured for the party stand untouched on the bar, the overtures to cult initiation silenced. Gabrielle Chappelle and Aleyda go for their weapons, now seeing clearly Opie’s intention. The fight begins with Prrhen successfully charming Aleyda, convincing her to ask Gabrielle to disarm. While Gabrielle has no intention of doing so, Aleyda seems at first disengaged, not desiring the unfolding violence. Next is a terrifying short sword strike on Opie, who reels from Gabrielle Chappelle’s poisoned blade. Miles rushes up and staunches the poison, giving resistance to Opie. The Tabaxi ranger unleashes powerful blows on Dalmeny’s physician, who is wounded, feeling around in the dark, but remorselessly wading deeper into conflict nonetheless. His calf muscle is slashed open from one of Opie's swipes, causing a limp. Prrhen jumps on the bar and embeds a dagger into the emerald green studded leather. When Chappelle strikes next, he drops Opie, his hit striking true even in the darkness. He turns his attention to the druid, using Aleyda’s position to deliver a sneak attack and grievously injuring the Circle of Stars caster. Miles takes out his star map and channels the Chalice constellation, drawing the universe’s healing powers to bring Opie back into the fight and heal his own wounds. Though Miles’s recent rest and relaxation affords him a balm against Chappelle’s poison, the raining blows knock Miles unconscious. Opie and Prrhen launch an all out assault on Gabrielle, Opie tangling with the physician in a heated struggle that ends with the Tabaxi disemboweling the man, tearing him to pieces. Prrhen, taking cover behind a table, gets into melee with Aleyda, who deftly bounces across tables and makes scimitar strikes that seem to land exactly where she needs them. That is, until the Tiefling Warlock hits her with a hellish rebuke and an eldritch blast, knocking her back so Opie’s rapiers could do the rest. Stunned and scared, Aleyda lets her scimitar clang to the floor. She surrenders, telling them “you’re strong, but you never could cut it as a Nightfallen,” Opie replies “you’re right because we actually succeed in our plans”. She starts to prevaricate over the prophecy, but Opie’s already roping her up. Prrhen and Miles go through the loot, finding gold, weapons, Chappelle’s armor (with a chest hole) that Miles puts on, a poisoned sword, and the alcohol: 5 elixirs of Mordayn vapors, AKA Dreammist, the drug Glirm apparently had a hold of. The same poison was doused on Gabrielle’s sword, giving off a misty vapor. Miles knows all about the drug, a hallucinogenic Morsus Jungles herb that in very small doses creates visions comparable to the Feywild, and in high doses causes death. He bottles a few doses, Prrhen and Opie taking one apiece, while Miles surgically removes the exposed heart of Gabrielle Chappelle, jarring the specimen to feed his curiosity. Pissed but victorious, the party drag Aleyda out of the Hideaway. They’ll interrogate her right at the table of Captain Preston “Storm Lord” Voss.

### 20. Storm Lord Dinner Party

Having defeated Gabrielle Chappelle and Aleyda, the Missing take the latter, captured and roped up, to the house of Captain Preston "Storm Lord Voss", renowned sailor of Primrose's most impressive vessel, The Mistral. Before entering, Prrhen uses a microdose of then Dreammist to make Aleyda calmer and more pliable. When they walk in, Dubhseoul is busy preparing The Mistral and Fionnuala and Voss are both mystified by the inclusion of this captured harlot, Aleyda. They interrogate her, finding that Aleyda was promised fame and fortune and a way out of her troubles by Baron Zaros. She believes deeply that Zaros was prepared for the possibility that the prophecy would not be fufilled on the night of Nightfall, and thinks Zaros would be ready for the realms of death if anyone was. Opie and Mercy are especially shaken by this, Opie having considered that Zaros had run away previously, Mercy kicking himself for not realizing that the terrible void in the Monastery of the Far Wanderer was in fact a means of escape. Voss introduces his crew, Marten appears to be out of sorts, and it turns out Aaron of the Malacoides is in fact his own son. Voss reveals the reason for the party's invitation to his manor: he wants a crew for the Mistral that can truly protect Sinead. They are planning to set sail on the 16th of Ruber to visit Sable Ridge, then take a caravan down the mountains into Amberhelm. He is optimistic about the marriage to Emperor Adrian Kharaba and sees this task as a great honor. The Missing, however, are a little hesitant. He tells them to take their time, and implores them to visit Primrose Sound and see the ship for themselves at some point, meeting the crew. This is an offer made mostly to encourage Mercy that there won't be any turncoats in his crew. Further, Voss assures that the powerful elementals that made Repsor dangerous have been turned away after his victory over the Storm Lord.

The next morning, the party are feeling a little better after their drag out fight with the remaining Nightfallen in Primrose, and turn their attention to Sinead. At Dalmeny Manor, the bejewled halfing butler Bosco Brown says that Sinead is rehearsing for the wedding just outside of town on the beaches. The party follow, finding a blanket of fog obscuring the deck of a keelboat in the waters of Repsor. Miles and Opie hear shouts aboard the ship. A water elemental is plowing into the deck, and sailors are fighting to control the wheel. Launching themselves into the water, the Missing heroically begin a fight that gets much worse: a barnacle covered, poison dripping Shellycoat emerges from the waters to swipe at the ship, and when Opie gets close, a swarm of carnivorous fish cloud the waters. The sailors trying desperately to get away are mostly devoured.

### 21. Stinging Nettle

Rushing to the defense of the Missing is the rowdy warlock gun-and-hex slinger, Dubhseoul. The Missing fight off the Shellycoat, destroying the creature while Miles recovers and takes vengeance on the remaining attackers. The keelboat begins to sink in the waters with Mercy aboard as Opie and Prrhen battle it out in the foam of Repsor, taking the fight to the carnivorous fish. Opie, having badly damaged the water elemental, causes it to flee into the depths. Only one sailor makes it back to shore, but oddly, he stares ahead blankly. Mercy recognizes this look, it's not unlike his response to trauma, like when he returned to the city as a kind of celebrated freak, like when Veselona left for Ethergaarde, like what happened in Talim, like what happened in the Shadowfell. This time, however, he sees that there is more to this reaction. The sailor bursts into a greenish gas, turning into the visage of a one-eyed Malise, a witch who warns the party that they have crossed her, a valuable possession of hers given away to the fey. Prrhen is terrified by this visitation, but it appears to be only illusory, the gas spreading out into the sea air, dissipating.

The hull of the keelboat bursts open as an unseen prisoner emerges: a shadow fey ambassador by the name of Nettle. She holds a scroll case above the waves, unravelling it to read the reward for the Missing choosing Bogflit, and by extension the Unseelie Court, as their escort into the Shadowfell. Nettle is a loyal agent to the Queen of Air and Darkness, and she says the Unseelie are appreciative that Zaros, who threatened fey and man alike, has been killed while leaving open a particularly advantageous area for the court: the Shadowfell. She grants Opie, Mercy, Dubhseoul, and Miles with the title of Viscount of the Unseelie Court. Prrhen realizes she was left out and needles nettle, who says Prrhen already received an invitation to be a viscount for the Seelie, despite this not actually happening. Despite this, Nettle assures her she is still seen as friendly, given a rank below Viscount, freeman. She encourages Prrhen to lean more toward the Unseelie and offers her the chance of a future title. The shadow court ambassador promises that on the 24th of Ruber, Midsummer, the Missing will be invited to join the Unseelie when the boundary between worlds grows thin. Having been granted audience with the Queen, the party is not surprised, but finds two obstacles to the plan: the 24th is the same day "Sinead" (rather, Daenis) is to be married to the emperor, and the entrance to the shadow court is on a place called Moondrift Isle off the coast of Primrose. Nettle was going to give safe passage aboard the magic keelboat, but sadly the ship has been ruined. Nettle asks where she can stay within the town, and the Missing realize they have some decisions to make.

Meanwhile, while Prrhen and Mercy interrogate Nettle and Dubhseoul charms her with his seaworthiness, Opie and Miles detect wagon tracks in the sand. The wedding rehearsal must be just ahead, down the beach.

### 22. If This is a Delusion, It's Shared

The Missing, on the beaches of Repsor, just outside of town, contemplate their next move. Nettle apologizes for failing at defeating Malise’s goons, saying the party will have to find another way to Moondrift Isle off the coast of Primrose, as that is where the Queen of Air and Darkness will meet with them at Midsummer. Opie and Miles eye the wagon tracks in the sand, Prhhen gathers herself after the terrifying image of Malise dissipates in the salty air, and Dubhseoul cozies up to Nettle. He has something in common with the shadow fey ambassador, both having crash landed in Primrose. Despite this, Dubhseoul brags about his prowess at sea and says it will be no issue, and lets Nettle know he’d be more than happy to show the charming ambassador a place to stay and takes off, arm in arm with the horned Unseelie representative. Opie and Mercy question the fey before she leaves, asking if there is anything of note left on the ship, and Nettle tells them that the wheel of the ship is enchanted with Unseelie magic. Furthermore, she warns Prrhen that Malise’s attack on the boat is just the beginning, the witches are hunting them and something should be done. Mercy and Opie argue over what to do about recovering the wheel, Mercy originally wanting to change pants in town and return, but Opie decides to head out before the ship has totally sunk into the wine dark sea. Mercy leaves in a huff, taking off to the Tanagra River Inn while Opie deftly recovers the wheel. He brings it to shore, inspecting the lunar rune-covered device with Prrhen, who asks Opie if he knows what the enchantment is. Opie feels confident that he understands, but gets confused and begins thinking about a wheel of cheese. Prrhen realizes the jungle cat is a little out of depth here.

After this, Opie and Prrhen follow the tracks to the northern beach where they find Daenis trying on various veils, dressed in the finest wedding gown Primrose has to offer. Prrhen is disgusted with Gallus Matho, who comments on Daenis, finding her not attractive enough for Emperor Kharaba while drooling over her mother. The appearance of one half of the Missing halts what appears to be a tedious rehearsal, and Daenis nearly jumps on Prrhen before remembering that their friendship has irrevocably changed. The nobility come to the conclusion that they’ve done enough rehearsal for the day, everyone seems tired and frustrated, especially Modiana Vera, the ambassador from Amberhelm, and Caethea, the Eladrin Primrose noble. The only person who seems to be in good spirits is Dalmeny, whose eyes are bright, his ancient and slight frame seemingly recovered from what ailed him, the Lord overjoyed for the wedding. When the nobility begin packing up, Opie asks about why Daenis even feels the need to go through with all of this. Daenis says her whole life she’s done some form of what’s happening now: putting on clothes, pretending to be someone she’s not. This was her mission, regardless of whether she wanted it or not. What she needs to do is live out Sinead’s life as it was supposed to be lived without drawing attention to herself, but she is worried that something has gone wrong: instead of laying low, she is being married to the most powerful person in the region, and she is unsure of what to do. She doesn’t want to be found out for what she is, and knows it’s essential Sinead become the Spring Queen to renew the Feywild’s power before it’s too late, solidifying it as a court managed foremost by the Seelie. Opie accuses the Seelie of lying more than the Unseelie ever have, but Daenis explains that nothing was truly a lie, the day they took Sinead they said that Conor would praise the party for returning their daughter and they’d be hailed as heroes, that was true. They are heroes, and their action that day may have in a circuitous way put off a very violent end for Amathara. Prrhen experimentally mentions the Unseelie to Daenis, suggesting that the court has sent someone to greet the party. Daenis is immediately protective, warning Opie and Prrhen that the Unseelie are not to be trusted and that the most important thing is that the Unseelie are kept away from Primrose–with the information they have now, it would be easy enough to blackmail anyone inside of town.

Meanwhile, Dubhseoul takes Nettle to the edge of town, where glittering cold iron boulders hem the land. Nettle mentions something about not wanting to scuff her boots, and Dubhseoul bends down and pushes the boulder out of the way. Nettle beams with delight and enters with Dubhseoul, finding a radiant summer day in the town, the half-timbered houses of Primrose idyllic in the light, the jack-in-the-green hedges bursting with life. Even Nettle, accustomed to the beauty of the feywild, is impressed. She inquires again about where to stay, leading Dubhseoul to think she wants to shack up. He takes her to the Tanagra River Inn, running into the Malacoides’s leader Rhys in the vestibule. Rhys chastizes Dubhseoul, asking if one woman with horns isn’t enough for him. He explains Prrhen is just a friend, which Rhys runs with, jeering him for trying to court with what he sees as a potentially dangerous person. Aaron and Liriel of the Malacoides come around the corner, leering, Liriel visibly jealous of Nettle, who immediately hits it off with the rest of the Inn, charming them with her wit. In the middle of this, Mercy comes down the stairs, getting ready to leave, and argues with Dubhseoul about his planning and how quickly he’s inviting the Unseelie into their lives. He tries to lie to Nettle that he’s just going out, but Nettle sees that he’s packed his things. She undercuts him, saying that there’s no need to worry, she won’t get in the way of their friendship. Mercy storms out immediately, leaving Nettle to ask, “is he always like that?” Dubhseoul shrugs and says that Mercy is like the wind, and follows forces that can’t always be seen.

Finally, that night, Nettle pays for the most lavish room in the inn and invites Dubhseoul in with her, but while she’s getting ready the party instead reconvene. Mercy has returned, Miles has rejoined the party, and everyone shares a pint at the bar, deciding what to do. The Missing express a feeling of being manipulated, that maybe ever since the day they went missing they’ve been lied to. Mercy remarks “if this is a delusion, then it’s shared,” seemingly reckoning with the bond they’ve had together since. Ironically, the current bustle of activity between factions now splits the party up: they hatch a plan. Prrhen, having been accosted by the Grandmother and Malise and warned by Nettle of continued attacks, wants to handle the issue of her curse directly. Miles speaks up and says he’ll support her. Opie suggests that while they do that, Dubhseoul, Mercy, and him could take the Malacoides up on their repeated efforts to challenge the party to a hunt, thinking there could be more under the surface. After this, they plan what to do for midsummer: the day that both Daenis is to be married to Emperor Adrian Kharaba of Amberhelm and the party are invited to the Unseelie Court to convene with the Queen of Air and Darkness. Since they can’t do both, they decide to split up then as well, with Dubhseoul and Prrhen using their proclivities toward the darkness to meet up with the Fey Queen and sister of Titania while Opie, Miles, and Mercy take up Captain “Storm Lord” Voss’s offer to accompany Daenis to Sable Ridge and then to Amberhelm.

### 23. Malise Without Violence

The party splits up for the first time, with a week elapsing in preparation for the Missing's adventures, quests that show the party taking the reins and building their own destiny. Prrhen spends her days in the temple of Istus, dedicating some of the gold she's amassed to working on her project. While Mercy, Dubhseoul, and Opie are training to pursue the Malacoides Hunting Challenge, Prrhen is getting ready to take on her curse, hopefully getting to the heart of what has left her family frightened for and sometimes, of her. She pours over old notes, finding reference to Malise in Zaros's burnt journal pages: " Having charmed the witch Malise into calling in a favor with the faerie king Oberon, I learned of Titania’s plot to draw in a mortal, Sinead Macnas, to the Feywild. All I had to do was find the girl, a half-mortal born of Titania and Dalmeny’s precious adulterous orator, and follow her. It worked. The Wood Woads and the troops of faeries from both courts failed to stop me". This manipulation of Malise seems to have been a pivotal moment, one which, if it had never happened, Prrhen's life could never have gone the same way. She is grateful for Miles's help, yet tells the Half-halfling at the Tanagra Inn that this is an affair she wants to take on, by herself, without violence. Miles agrees that this is a mission up to her, but wants to help in any way that he can. Miles spends his time cavorting around the marketplace, wandering the Pin-and-thrum, looking for new arrivals of curios and magic items. On Ruber the 8th, the two plan to head out to Vorel'thel, the swamp city that the Grandmother, Baba Yaga, said that Malise hailed from. The great witch has intimated that Malise has lost her patience, and after the attack on the Feydark's Unseelie ambassador Nettle, this threat proves to have some teeth, even if it's missing an eye.

The two depart, choosing to go by foot rather than by ship, traversing the rolling hills and grasslands, walking the lime of the Radiant road, feeling the warm summer sun beat at their backs until the air grew heavy and thick. Staying overnight on the trail, Miles lets Prrhen play with his chipmunk, Hershel, and the Tiefling creates a charcoal drawing of the little animal. The next day, the two arrive in Vutha Fen, a swamp land that takes them to Vorel'thel. Once within the city limits, they run across the denizens of this strange place, the lizardfolk. Here, they learn of a recent revolution that took place during the aftermath of nightfall. The half-demon lizardfolk lord King Kepesk, who sacrificed Vorel’thel’s own people to Thornmoor in exchange for power and legitimacy, was driven out thanks to a courageous lizardfolk priest named Yex, who defeated many Thornmoor soldiers and distributed their firepower among the people of the village. While Yex left to Ethergaarde to fight in that city’s own struggle, Thurkear took the command in Vorel’thel and led his people to victory over Kepesk. Prrhen and Miles find themselves admiring these people and try using kindness and appreciation toward the lizardfolk despite their lack of exterior emotion. It works well, with Thurkear eventually granting them both a stay whenever they want. In addition, he says to follow the dancing lights across the marsh water to the north to find Malise’s hut.

The two spend the night in a hut that belonged to lizardfolk who had lost their lives in the revolution. In this solemn place, Prrhen reiterates that the risk she’s taking on is related to her own curse, and she wants to resolve it herself. The next morning, the well-rested duo take a boat across the waters and land, nearing the entrance of the hut by following the lights. As they near, the lights cross and move, going into various areas of the swamp. Briefly, they catch sight of Malise locking her door. She lets her cat out, a phantasmal cat that Miles uses his druidic powers to talk to. It seems the cat is loyal to Malise, and doesn’t see a life beyond the swamp. The cat says that Malise often speaks of the old days when the witches were part of the faerie court, feeling a combination of disappointment and bitterness stemming from what happened to them. Prrhen takes notice of this strange interaction as she nears the entrance to the hut, but before she can enter, the ground around her begins to sink. The earth can barely stand much weight, and underneath it are underground tunnels that have eroded everything away. The lights barreling into the swamp alert the culprit: a nearby Meenlock, a dastardly insect-like faerie that fights the duo with its powerful mandibles and ability to cause hallucinations.

The two battle it out as the earth falls away beneath them, but they get right to Malise’s door. Prrhen demands entrance, stating her name and confirming she knows what became of the witch’s eye.

The door swings open, but it’s too late: the ground falls away and the two are in the tunnels beneath, fighting as a starspawn grue hideously grins, threatening madness while a tied-up lizardfolk transforms into a meerlock. They battle until they get a rope into Malise’s hut.

Prrhen reaches out to the hag, who has transformed into a white-shawled woman. She tells Prrhen she’s surprised to see her have the courage to meet her, that what she wants isn’t just an eye: it’s the reason she lost it in the first place. She wants what happened so many years ago to be undone: she wants the banishment of the witches to be overturned. She says they were punished for correctly understanding what would happen next, and now Zaros has proven that the darkness they sought to drive out was real. She says that the gate to the Unseelie Court is in fact in Moondrift Isle, and if Prrhen makes a pact to help the Grandmother restore her place, she’ll give them directions and stop her curses. Prrhen, seeing a way out of a curse that has plagued her entire life, agrees. Malise tells them that the Isle is just off of Primrose, and leads them to the basement of the hut to give them what she has left from those Feywild days. She says there is a crystal within the island that leads to the Queen of Air and Darkness’s throne. In the basement, she hands off a painting of the Green Citadel, the hags pictured amid the Seelie and Unseelie. She gives them also two objects she curiously has found from Dalmeny: a Bronze Lusertine Crown, and a gold ring that closely resembles the one found on Zaros. Instead of a mountain, this one has an embossed “L” on it, symbolizing Lusertine, the town Dalmeny once led, when the Golden Plains was Golden, before the fall, before the madness wars, before the Primrose today where the few living survivors don’t speak of it at all. As they leave, Malise instructs Prrhen to speak to the Grandmother on the solstice, when the feywild opens up and the witch will be there once more.

### 24. Malacoides Hunting Challenge

Mercy, Dubhseoul, and Opie hear the sneering of Rhys once more, who proposes a hunting challenge on Ruber 8th to take down a rare white Owlbear. He jokes that Prrhen and Miles left out of jealousy towards Nettle, but can tell there’s some kind of real rift in the party since Mercy walked out when the faerie entered. In the intervening days, the three prepare.

At the Monastery of the Seven Stars, Prior Gudoja refers Mercy to Brother Aldos. This topaz dragonborn trains with the Eladrin fighter to develop his skills with the tonfa, the weapon he was handed so long ago by a merchant in the Primrose Market, a product of pure spontaneity. Appropriately, Aldos shows that fighting with a tonfa involves surprising your enemy with spontaneity. He learns a new grip, the tokushi-mochi, that allows Mercy disarm an opponent. Another grip, the gyakute mochi, gives Mercy the technique of to focusing his ki with reverse strike, damaging foes that might otherwise resist his attack.

Meanwhile Dubhseoul spends his days at the harbor. Seems like everyone at Primrose Sound is gearing up for midsummer’s great excursion. The crew of the Mistral trains and prepares while the other vessels take the lion’s share of the voyages. Strangely enough, though Miles and Prrhen said they left for Vorel’thel, a swamp accessible by water, no one around has seen them. Dubhseoul builds his reputation with the sailors, cheering up Marten and keeping him clean while meeting Sylzora and Jixl, the other two captains besides Voss.

During this, Opie trails the Malacoides and asks around town about them, discovering that the Malacoides are eagerly anticipating an influx of gold and not interested in letting rivals get any oxygen. The Woods is their territory, they’ve seen the Missing as a threat, people who have gone where they haven’t. This is a bigger issue than any would let on. Word is, they’d like that to come to an end during Midsummer and get a look at the Feywild themselves. They see the marriage of Sinead to Emperor Kharaba as a way to revive interest in travel to Primrose. They foresee the Emperor himself visiting and want to impress those from Amberhelm, they are all business. The Malacoides are likely to make a lot of gold and have the ear of the Emperor soon.

One way to help make sure they have the feywild covered is by capturing someone from there–Opie hears Faelynn mention what the “smaller” prey they captured really was: there was a pixie they were able to capture in a cage they constructed that they keep in their meeting area.

When the party reconvene at the Tanagra, they hatch a plan to free the faerie, waiting for an opportune moment while Alduin Lorsan is entertaining some Amberhelmian Radiant Crusaders. They break into the meeting room and find Puddlejumper, who is overjoyed to be rescued and says she will make sure to reward the Missing properly. She wants to find Prrhen. Apparently, when the party chose Bogflit’s plan over Puddlejumper’s, the pixie immediately resolved to tell the court that Prrhen’s defense of the seelie solidified her rank as Viscount, but on the way she was captured by the Malacoides and kept in a cage with an anti-magic field.

On the 8th of Ruber, the party go to the meeting place but find that the Malacoides have already left. Despite specifying “dawn”, they decided to get a head start. The party move through the beautiful, sun-kissed poplars and end up in a familiar area: the same place they once watched Vulgug and Rana follow Zaros toward the Dreamhouse. Yet this time, the strange lights and vibrant fungi are muted, turned down, back to the material world. Here they dodge a few traps set by the Malacoides and find that Whisper Nerebeth, an adventurer who keeps failing to join the crew, has been hung upside down with a bag over his head. He thanks the party for rescuing him and tags along, staying back the whole way. His incessant ramblings however, offering the party some clues as to what to look for. Opie tries to find the pellets and bones of creatures in stools, looking specifically for the deep scratches on trees that show the Owlbear’s territorial markings. The expert prowler quickly leads to the heart of the forest, and a great, phantasmal owlbear moves from the cave, seemingly translucent and enchanted by strange magic. Opie runs along the rocks, distributing deft strikes while Dubhseoul gets on high ground, firing spectral ammunition that appears to find its mark quite effectively. Mercy goes toe to toe, his recent training with his tonfa paying off. They slay the Owlbear, knowing that returning to town means a win for the party and technically, entrance into the Malacoides Hunting Society.

### 25. The Queen of Air and Darkness Part I: The Circumvention of Two Storm Lords

While Opie, Miles, and Mercy begin aboard the Mistral, Captain "Storm Lord" Voss's esteemed sailing ship, Prrhen and Dubhseoul prepare to go on an adventure that is in many ways the opposite of the rest of the Missing. Rather than public, the pursuit of Moondrift isle is very private. Rather than taking the open seas without trepidation, they are headed towards an area that even the Storm Lord stays away from. Instead of moving to the capital of Amathara's largest empire, they are moving to the private domain of the Queen of Air and Darkness, a woman whose name few dare to say.

In the morning, the pair have breakfast at the Tanagra River Inn and run into Nettle. She is happy having spent another night with Dubhseoul but there's something else--she has been called upon by the Unseelie for a separate task, and announces she will not be accompanying Prrhen or Dubhseoul to Moondrift Isle. Dubhseoul is confused by this but gets no straight answer, Prrhen reacts by lambasting the Unseelie, a woman she has never trusted in the first place. Down by the docks, the pair watch the sailors get the Mistral into ship-shape. Dubhseoul sees his own mother helping and tries to lay low, but runs into Marten while he and Prrhen scout for other ships that may give them passage. Marten seems frightened of what lies ahead--he's not sure how to negotiate making the wedding party in Amberhelm and surviving his transformation into a werebadger at the full moon. On top of this, he's withdrawing from some of the drugs he uses, appearing sweaty, pale, and thin. Voss notices the group and comes over, criticizing Marten and threatening to leave him behind while Dubhseoul speaks up for his friend. Voss thinks Prrhen is a bad influence on Dub, pointing out that his strange company has seemingly talked him out of what Voss thinks is an opportunity of a lifetime. Voss tries in vain one last time to talk Dubhseoul into coming aboard the Mistral, and Dubhseoul lets him down as easy as he can, saying that he has his own business. The Storm Lord can't believe this but leaves the two to their business. On the docks, they find the ship the "Salt Blossom", the elven captain Sylzora's ship. A decade ago she was told she would own her own when "salt blossoms" by Voss himself, and now it has come true. The warship, though slower than the Mistral, is outfitted with ballistas and a reinforced hull, and seems perfect for a voyage into unfamiliar waters. Prrhen and Dubhseoul work their charms, suggesting that sailing to a destination the Mistral won't even touch would further solidify Sylzora's prowess. This stoking of the feud works splendidly--Sylzora has a heart for adventure, and when Dubhseoul promises hundreds of gold (a very precise amount, just happening to be every coin in the pirate's purse) she jumps at the chance to move toward an island that, for her whole life, has been a blank spot on the map, a place discussed in hush tones, some land that was supposedly "cursed from the very start of Primrose". These notes, sounding suspiciously similar to the history of the Monastery of the Far Wanderer, strike a bit of foreboding into the journey.

Along the way, the party encounter favorable winds and blue skies. The short journey will take less than a day, and Sylzora, appreciating Dubhseoul's on-deck prowess, notes they may even arrive early. All that confidence in the summery air dissipates as the sky suddenly turns dark grey and opens up, torrential rain pouring into the wine-dark sea of Repsor, the place of Ancestors, the elemental beginning. The sea churns violently, and out of the mist rises a terrifying form, an elemental with a body seemingly made of the tides, wielding bolts of electricity. Dubhseoul knows instantly who it is: the entity that may have taken his father's life, the entity that may have been behind his own capsizing that put his life on the line till the Raven Queen reached out to him, the entity Voss claimed to destroy, the entity Voss took his own nickname from. In the ensuing battle, the two warlocks hurl spells, Eldritch blasts and spectral bullets into the angry Lord, sailors scrambling for cover as lightning bolts burn at the deck of the Salt Blossom. But in the end, they prevail, full-speed ahead the Salt Blossom crests the waves and circumvents the Lord, firing such a volley they cause the Storm Lord to retreat.

Grateful to be alive, and with a ship just barely holding together, the crew pull into Moondrift Isle, finding that its more of an island chain. Small tracts of land jut out this way and that, some rocky, some beachy, filled with chestnut trees and verdant growth. Dubhseoul, catching his breath, recalls Nettle's hint that the Unseelie Court is accessible through a skull. They find one land mass that looks skull-like, and throw their anchor down next to it.

### 26. Sinead's Wedding Part I: Voyage to Sable Ridge

Meanwhile, the Opie, Miles, and Mercy train aboard the Mistral, learning of their role as bodyguards aboard Voss's ship that will take the crew all the way to Sable Ridge, where a caravan will take them to Amberhelm. The Mistral in the morning bears the Primrose standard, but Gallus Matho is seen putting a second flag, the Pholtian sun and moon sigil of Amberhelm and the Radiant Crusade. The group go back to the Tanagra Inn to eat, finding they just missed Prrhen, Nettle, and Dubhseoul. Here, they find an excited Whisper Nerebeth who recalls the successful Malacoides hunting expedition. The Malacoides return to the inn, Rhys in a huff. Mercy tries to discern what he's angry about, watching Rhys pace reveals he's both resentful of the Missing for having shown them up, and is terrified and disappointed that Puddlejumper has somehow escaped. Rhys sees Opie, the Ranger he views as the biggest threat in the Missing, and tells him he's not a tracker on his level, that killing that Owlbear was a technicality, there is no body to prove they even did it. He says he therefore cannot extend membership into the Malacoides. Opie asks why he'd ever want to join them in the first place, which makes Rhys go nuclear. Rhys remarks that once Sinead is married to Adrian Kharaba, the Malacoides will be the perfect go-betweens when Amberhelmian nobles visit, that their fame and fortune will rise and the Missing will be Missing in action. Opie points out that they are the ones being trusted as bodyguards now, and Rhys sputters and leaves, on the war path to find Puddlejumper.

Miles visits the Monastery of the Seven Stars and Sister Clamara says that he has a unique opportunity to use his celestial knowledge to help navigate, and she'd love to hear about the constellations and his success after he returns. The group then move down to Primrose Sound to prepare to leave, Mercy running into Valeriana Faelwynn, the progenitor of the Primrose chapter of the Bastards. She is scouting the area, hoping to help fence some goods coming in from Ethergaarde. Since the nobility of Ethergaarde has been looted (slain, imprisoned, exiled, or otherwise removed of title) the spoils need to be moved, and Valeriana charges Mercy with the task of assessing some of the sailors aboard the Mistral to see if any might be good fits for the bastards. They'll need more power for the next part of their mission. Mercy likes this way of thinking and agrees. Afterwards, the party seek out Captain Preston "Storm Lord" Voss, finding he is short some crew members. He has found that some of his sailors have celebrated pre-maturely, having drank too much and will not be allowed aboard a ship with nobility in this condition. He charges the Missing with helping to find new recruits, suggesting that there are a few people who have sat in the town dungeon for small crimes and they could offer to free a couple and not even have to pay them--at least these would be guaranteed not to be drunk. The party does something differently, though: they advocate for Marten getting a spot on the Mistral, saying that he'll be in good condition so that the Werebadger can keep his lodging. Marten is privately joyous, but makes sure the party know that he will have to be chained down come the full moon or he may tear the throats out of crew members. Voss introduces the party to a woman he has just met that morning, Nettle. Nettle has apparently talked Voss into the idea of being considered as a sailor. Mercy has serious misgivings, and the three know something is up because she has abruptly changed courses, wanted to come along with the wedding party. Nevertheless, they admit to her prowess and decide its better to keep an eye on here, choosing her as second pick. Finally, they go back to the Tanagra River Inn and meet up with Puddlejumper, who has been hiding in a room upstairs, invisible. She makes herself seen, and when invited, is ecstatic to come along. When she hears Nettle will be there, she warns the party that the shadow fey is not to be trusted: she has ulterior motives. Puddlejumper assumes the identity of Artie Fischel, a broadchested sailor. She says she'll only be able to maintain the facade for an hour a day, and plans to go invisible the rest of the time.

The voyage to Sable Ridge is one of halcyon air and bright sunlight, the weather perfect and the waves seemingly ensconing the ship in speed and protection. Despite the long, arduous journey, the party do not run into any attacks, fill their nets with plenty of fish, and successfully negotiate aboard the ship. Opie sticks to the crow's nest until it gets too hot. Mercy glares at Nettle, who stays staring at Sinead (or rather, Daenis) and prevents Nettle from contact with the young woman. Nettle warns the party that Daenis on the court means Seelie influence over Amberhelm, that the group that lied to them will eagerly take power. She points out Daenis's obvious misgivings and encourages the party to tell her that she shouldn't play the role of Sinead anymore. Sure enough, Daenis discloses her misgivings to the party, wondering if the mission has gone to far, if getting into touch with mortal powers is a mistake. On the prow of the ship, late at night, Dalmeny and Miles discuss the nature of love, Dalmeny mentioning that he had learned from youth that romantic love was often foolish, but this marriage seems to be free of the irrationality of that kind of love. It has been carefully considered. Miles threads a needle, noticing a dragon constellation in the sky, deciding to neither play on Daenis's doubts or overtly encouraging the marriage. Instead, he says that he should really listen to what "Sinead" has to say. He points out that Connor and Dalmeny are excited but he hasn't really listened to the bride herself. Dalmeny agrees with this assessment and walks away with newfound respect for the druid.

Finally, the party arrive in Sable Ridge, the nobility staying at the stronghold with Magister Maxilla while the rest of sailors and the Missing are left to wander the night before the caravan departs the next day. The group keep a close eye on Nettle while taking refuge in the Meteor, a large tavern. Despite the late hour, the streets of the town are filled with lantern-lit faces of dusty miners, returning from long days of extracting cold iron ore, the meteoric substance that both composes the blades of the Radiant Crusaders and is used in the protective boulders that hem Primrose in. A great blasting furnace is suspended over the town, heaving and belching its haze onto the broken cobblestones. To the south, the beautiful radiant road reaches through the range, lighting the way toward Amberhelm. The wedding is close at hand.

### 27. The Queen of Air and Darkness Part II: Moondrift Isle and the Unseelie Court

Sylzora, the elven captain of the Salt Blossom, takes her hands off the wheel. The battered deck of the warship stands defiant against the elements, against the Storm Lord, as the summer sun radiantly beams down on the waterlogged deck. Prrhen and Dubhseoul made it to the mysterious Moondrift Isle off of Primrose, where it is said the Queen of Air and Darkness lives through a crystal gate. A plank is thrown over to the adjacent island, the one Dubhseoul remarked was shaped something like a skull.

When you set foot on the island, a charm of nuthatch sparrows takes flight from a juniper tree, their gray forms flying high above the patches of purple romulea flowers and the long tongues of the orchids that stretch ahead. Through lonely windswept grasses you walk toward the center of this first island, seeing an ornamental arch partially sunk into the soil ahead. Here is an arch, a canopy. The two wooden legs of the arch are caked in dirt, insect eaten and sun bleached, but still oddly beautiful in this harsh light, they are encrusted with sea shells and twisted with vines. The top of the arch is covered by a heavy fabric canopy. On a polished stone in front of the arch is an engraving reading M&D. Prrhen looks around the arch, admiring the flowers and scrubbing the dirt away to read the inscription.

Having not found any entrance to the Unseelie Court, the Dubhseoul and Prrhen move onto one of the largest islands, finding flattened beach grass, the bodies of small, eaten mammals, and what at first appears to be a giant skeleton. On closer inspection, it is an exoskeleton, shed and in the shape of a winged serpent. Prrhen stays at the periphery of the scene, wary of continuing. The “skull” is no skull at all, so the two choose to move onto the nearest beach.

Here, they see a great skull on the dark stone of the beach cave, an entrance into the island itself. Dubhseoul walks onto the beach and immerses his pistol in the water, giving his mind over to the Raven Queen. He has felt the surging, dark energies that sustained him that day so many years ago returning, knowing he has survived what might have killed him before, what perhaps what has killed his father. The Raven Queen, not speaking directly but rather conveying, whispering, signalling, seems to tell the man to raise his head. He does so, seeing a group of trident wielding titons emerging from the deep. The party avoid the surprise attack, battling the group while noticing a comic scene of Derro and Shadow Goblins running through the eye holes of the skull, chasing each other in pursuit of one of the Derro’s rings. Dub and Prrhen defeat the group and watch as the Derro tosses the ring into the sand. Dubsheoul picks it up, noticing mystic runes on the band.

When the party enters the Moondrift cave, two shadows greet them. They seem to respond to the party’s movement, and after they embrace the shadows, they move along, taking more friendly appearances. The peace doesn’t last long. A feydark Displacer Beast bursts through the dark, flitting in and out of sight, avoiding attacks while crushing Dubhseoul with his tentacles. He nearly kills the two, but they are able to use the shadows to discern where the beast actually is, defeating it just as Prrhen is grabbed by the horrific beast.

Ahead in the cave, the two warlocks negotiate a stand-off between Shadow Goblins and Derro. The Shadow Goblins claim the Derro stole their magic ring, and Prrhen recognizes one of them: the Derro is Xeer, a Derro they met and saved in the Feydark, one who owes Miles his life. They rely on this connection to both protect the ring and to point out Xeer’s lack of any jewelry. The Shadow Goblins decide they must have thrown the ring away, and leave to search. The Derro are told by Xeer this is the second time the Missing have saved them. Out of gratitude, they give them a safe place in the cave to stay until the solstice, when the crystal at then end of the cave goes dark and becomes a portal to the Unseelie Court. They say there is a drake made of bony exoskeleton in the cave, and they’ll have to rush past it if they want to avoid combat. The party heal and take their words to heart.

After spending days eating the meager rations in the cave, the party see the glowing crystal at the end of the cave go dark. The hour for meeting the Queen of Air and Darkness is at hand. Perhaps they will get closer to finding out what happened to them so long ago, a day Dubsheoul has no memory of, a day that seems inexorably tied to Prrhen’s curse. The two rush ahead, dodging the necrotic breath of a terrifying skeletal beast, and throw themselves into the Unseelie Court.

Emerging out of the crystal as if it were a cold pool, the party find themselves in a musty, fungal, ultraviolet underground court teaming with strange subterranean life. Beautiful shadow fey escort them through winding paths to the court itself, and they set eyes upon the various Unseelie lords, a beautiful woman made of ice, a humanoid pumpkin, howling yeth hounds, a blue goblinoid, a siding serpent, a horned, twisted version of a Satyr. But on the stone steps ahead are the three Unseelie they met that decade earlier: Luneskip, Muckskull, and Bogflit, the latter the one that gave them passage, the one who enthusiastically introduces them, reiterating that Prrhen and Dubhseoul were the ones that helped her through the Monastery of the Far Wanderer, that chose the Unseelie, that gave the Unseelie an in to the underworld, the Shadowfell, the land beyond: one with great promise and synergy for these dark-swellers. They are speaking to a deathly, gorgeous woman upon a moldy thrown: Queen Mab.

Mab apologizes for Nettle, taking responsibility and saying she sent a message to the Shadow Ambassador that she was needed elsewhere. She says that the two, as a viscount and freeman of the court (Dub and Prrhen, respectively), are invited back to the court during every solstice and equinox for giving them a foothold in the region and choosing to curb the Seelie influence. She reveals something else: what that wedding arch inscription meant, the M&D: a long-lost love for Dalmeny, one that she says has consequences that seem to still reach through the realms. She says that what happened in those days fuels the jealousy that still fills Zaros with hate, that the Baron is a hateful man, who ran his city in competition with Dalmeny and is motivated by constant envy. She is sure he’ll return, and wants the Missing’s help as mortals that could aid on the outside while the Unseelie deal with the fey realms. She then dangles two prospects in front of them in exchange for a pact: she will give Dubhseoul what he desires most: his own ship to commandeer, a mighty ship that will allow him to achieve the dreams that have followed him after so many failures and near death experiences. She promises Prrhen that she will allow the witches back into the court, resolving the angst that is tied to her curse, allowing her a release from the plague that has followed her without dealing with the Seelie run-around, a quest that seemingly has always led to more quests. It could end now, they just have to accept the pact.

Both ask how they can trust Mab, and she reminds them that the faerie are oathbound: everything said must be guaranteed, and even a queen like her would lose her station, being brought within the Green Chapel and stripped of her title, allowing her rival sister, Titania, free reign over the feywild. The Missing initially both decline, Prrhen saying no outright, that her loyalty is with puddlejumper and the Seelie, and Dubhseoul saying he supports his friend. They ask what a pact would even mean, and Mab signals for her shadow fey to bring in her next guests. Walking into the court is a beautiful, thin and wan male faerie with dragonfly wings and gleaming, emerald armor. It is King Oberon, and with him, a captured Sinead. Not Daenis, but rather, the strange, halting, speculating Sinead that is the genuine offspring of Titania and Conor Macnas. Oberon announces that while Primrose was busy with the wedding, he led his lycanthropes under a full moon to the spring court in a coup. He tells Sinead that he means her no harm, but wants to set things as they should be, resolving the feud with Titania and putting him in his rightful place. That means assuring Sinead is put somewhere she can’t get away from: her rightful place, as an Empress of Amberhelm. Queen Mab says it is the way that nature intended, that the Seelie have created an artifice to bring a mortal into the court, and that aiding Oberon would mean expanding her own influence, and by virtue, the power of anyone in the Unseelie Court. Another promise, another reason to make a pact, dangling in the face of the two Missing…All they would have to do is say where exactly the Missing are, where the wedding will be.

Prrhen reiterates her refusal, saying she would absolutely not trust Queen Mab, that she will find a way around her curse that doesn’t involve selling the Seelie out. Sinead seems impressed but still scared: she won’t ever be the Spring Queen, and all the years of machinations will come to nothing if Oberon’s place is restored. If Daenis is wed, then that opportunity to keep her in the public eye and away from the Feywild will be closed, and her path to the throne guaranteed. In the last moments, Dubhseoul surprises everyone: he assents, and tells Mab everything about the Missing’s location. He agrees to the pact, Prrhen crying out as she watches him. The three Unseelie faeries take the captured Sinead, victorious and spilling over with glee.

### 28. Sinead's Wedding Part II: Vestigal Gate

Lanterns reflect off of the rough cobblestones of Sable Ridge, their lonely beams melting in the fog, losing themselves entirely in the bay, the dark sea foam of the ocean of Repsor. The mountain town churns with a tired life even in the blackness. Captain Voss’s ship The Mistral sits in the harbor on this dark night, miners entering the village over precarious bridges, wandering through guildhouses, taverns, a company store, and there own ashy tenements while great belches of steam diffuse through the thin air from the giant overhead blast furnace. This colossal boiler blots out the moonlight, its internal bellows periodically compressing and issuing noisy sprays. Daenis, Conor, Deidre, Gallus, Modiana, Caethea, Eglantine, and Dalmeny take refuge in the Magister’s Stronghold for the night, following Magister Maxilla, a close ally and fellow soldier of Adrian Kharaba’s. The missing, the bodyguards, and the sailors, including Marten, Puddlejumper, and Nettle, are left to fend for themselves in these sable streets.

Within Sable Ridge, the party make sure Nettle is staying away from the Magister’s Stronghold, and run into Puddlejumper who is openly walking around as a young girl. She says that she’s grateful for them keeping an eye on the Unseelie, that they use a machete on jobs that “require pruning sheers”, warning that Unseelie influence in Amberhelm means the Unseelie characteristically overplaying their hand and unleashing the violence of nature, but Seelie in the court means a gentle hands. She assures them that the sacrifice Daenis is making, perhaps jumping into a love that doesn’t yet exist, will be rewarded greatly, and that sacrifice is evidence of  love itself. The life of a faerie is long after all. The party asks around about shops in the area, taking interest in the Slag Pit, a blacksmith shop that uses the cold iron the miners bring down from the mountains. They investigate the town, finding a strange, spider-like tree in a grotto, a Thresher Hall guildhouse with farming implements emblazoned on a banner next to a temple of Pholtus, Radiant Crusader guards, and poverty all around. Miners seem to quarrel endlessly with one another, the tenement block a series of dark open windows with some sort of guild rivalry brewing, one man warning that the Threshers mean doom to the town and a waste of everything they’ve worked for, and another defending the group as a way out of their lot. Miles is struck by the exchange but Mercy and Opie want to keep moving without getting embroiled, finding exits to to the Sky Iron road to Amberhelm to the south and a company store to the north, still open, where miners bring in stacks of vouchers to trade for, in one instance, a new mining pick. The Slag Pit is closed, but the group resolve to go the next morning.

At dawn, a beautiful, bright sky greets them, and both Mercy and Opie purchase cold iron blades at the Slag Pit, Mercy purchasing a set of cold iron manacles. Outside on the street, the caravan is being prepared with all the goods and supplies from the Mistral. Some of the wedding party is already getting aboard. The party notice that Daenis is with her “mother” Deidre on bench outside a tiny plot of green between two chestnut treees. Despite all the soot and ash, there are two beautiful flowers growing in a small, cultivated garden. Deidre tells “Sinead” this is Eterna’s Orchid, a flower used for noble wedding ceremonies. She hands Sinead lavender sprigs and vial of water and a set of pruning shears, telling her to cut when she’s ready and combine into the vial to create the concoction she and Adrian will sip from. She gives Daenis some privacy, and the party talk Gallus Matho into leaving the scene so they can speak to Daenis.

Daenis is glad to receive them, saying “These strange customs, everything for Emperor Adrian needs to be perfect, as he expects them, and yet I haven’t even seen him.”

“The Spring Court is a beautiful place, of emerald greens and verdant growth so full of vitality that if its soil was here instead we should see a hundred of these Orchids. It was there I learned under Titania how to behave as her daughter, before I had a chance to get to know myself. In that training, I was often successful in mimicking Sinead, finding ways to teeter and nearly fall without actually falling, how to change direction abruptly, the movement of my finger to my chin in trepidation or thought, but sometimes I would make a mistake…flash too wide a smile, move too purposefully or aggressively, and the fey would correct me. Maybe in those mistakes…that was me. Every time I wasn’t her I was something else, is that Daenis? Is my life there, in the negative? Yet all that training must be discarded now as I’ve been cajoled again to hold myself proudly, regally, but it doesn’t come back easily. Ironically I was taught to be a pauper’s daughter and have found myself in royalty again. Maybe some things are fate. Maybe Eglantine and her weavers are right, that if we could only see the pattern the suffering of unknowing would be dispelled, the spell broken, we’d know ourselves because we’d know what we were meant to be. But I haven’t seen the whole tapestry yet. There’s something yet to be weaved.”

“Dalmeny said he talked to you Miles, aboard the Mistral. He is lost in thought, memories maybe…he said something strange to me. That I have to consider what is in my heart. All those years at the Ostara festivals he and Connor spoke of the need of keeping the heart’s voice at bay, to stoically concentrate on what’s ahead of oneself. Something you said must have shaken him and perhaps he’s shaken me.” With this speech, the party assure her of their position, one that has been tested a few times now with similar results: they want her to follow her heart. With newfound resolve, Sinead prunes the flower, combines it with the lavender, and creates the potion.

The party take to the caravan after this. Storm Lord Voss mentions before leaving that sailors are to remain within the city, their accommodations to be paid for. Nettle and Puddlejumper will both try to charm Voss into the idea that the three sailors the Missing singled out (Nettle, puddlejumper, and marten) should be included as a test of their skill. “Even us? The sailors the Missing hand-picked? How can we demonstrate our skill and use to Primrose Sound without opportunity?” Nettle challenges, winking lasciviously. “Very well, but you are all boisterous for deckhands,” Voss starts cautiously. “You Marten, were nearly incapacitated by drink and drugs before leaving. Dubhseoul likely saved your life. You Nettle, made quite an initial impression but have made your presence constant above deck, leering at the crew and gawking at Sinead while helping little. You Artie, I don’t know what’s going on with you. Disappearing for hours at a time, and I’ve never seen you before. You may come along but I’m uninterested in your opinions–you have a concern about our mission, you speak to the Missing and they can decide what’s worth bringing to my limited attention. You waste my time with more requests and I’ll send you walking back to Sable Ridge. Your presence in the imperial heart of Amberhelm is a privilege, do not piss away the concordance”. Mercy is very happy to be given responsibility over his crew picks, knowing a direct line to Voss means more influence and underhanded activity from the fey.

With this, the caravan depart, the eyes of miners on the gleaming caravan as it bumps over the shattered cobblestones onto the bright white limestone of Sky Iron road, a testament ot Amberhelm’s engineering: milemarkers and side barriers making the path simple to navigate, the road smooth and reinforced. The road is identical in construction to the Radiant Road, the same one Miles took to Vorel’thel. As the caravan heads east toward Amberhelm, it curves down the Sable Mountains, the horses galloping down the slope at a fast pace, picking up speed. The sun is high in the sky, beaming radiantly on the lime and the covered wagons, the azure sky barely flecked by clouds, the beauty of midsummer truly blossoming. Now, the Missing are merely two days away from the marriage. Maxilla, the Emperor’s fellow decorated soldier, regales them with tales of Amberhelmian glory, promising the dawning of a great age as they feast on juices, greens, and mutton. “Adrian Kharaba was fated to be emperor…” he muses. “ He used to rule half of Amberhelm with his sister, but this move puts him on top with his sister and our top general just underneath as consuls..consolidating power. Simple. Smart. He was destined for this, you know? He has the same name as the man that founded Amberhelm. Of course Kharaba is a common last name…and if you’re a Kharaba and have a boy child, makes sense to just name him Adrian after the founder of the country. Either way, he’s got the same name. It’s poetic.” Miles laughs at this and Maxilla thinks its celebratory. After this, Maxilla remarks that “Adrian knows marrying Sinead means he won’t be making the same mistake as Skipta…” Mercy wonders what he means by this, asking if he thinks Sinead will stop him somehow from a soul-deep corrupting, a selling of his heart to an infernal world. “I didn’t mean that at all,” Maxilla corrects. “I meant dying without an heir. That was Skipta’s mistake.”

Along the road, they speak to a few others. Dalmeny promises a plot of land and a manor- “I was meaning to talk to you about your reward, for coming along. I know all the Missing couldn’t make it, but having you represented, having you give our crew confidence is meaningful. In fact, Amberhelmian weddings are by tradition affairs that should only occur under good signs and portents, your presence adds to the appearance of calm and luck so it has a real meaning. I spoke to Miles on the ship, and have thought of the conversation since. I know this is saying goodbye to a close friend and it can’t be easy. I’d like to make a more permanent dedication to your party within Primrose than these speeches and festivals. After this wedding, let it be known that by decree I will be allocating a plot to the Missing for the building of a manor. Though you may spend time elsewhere in Amathara we want you to know you have a home in Primrose, among the landed nobility. You will be gentry within the town, entitled to gatherings at the Town Hall and protected under law”. Mercy is excited by this prospect and didn’t previously see how much his service has meant: finding a base of operations and a front for legitimacy will suit his aims well, and appears to be an acceptance in the town he previously hasn’t experienced. Miles is unimpressed, and finds this seeming invitation to nobility one that does not suit a druid well. He asks Dalmeny to take his portion of the wealth and distribute it among the poor, who he sees as his people. Rather than being offended, Dalmeny is surprised but enthusiastic about the idea, deciding he will start a policy on behalf of Miles to help.

Caethea talks to Mercy in the caravan, the noble woman still finding curiosity in the fellow Eladrin. “I’ve noticed you watching Sinead like a hawk. You seem to be the most serious guard here. The crusaders seem like they’re more interested snooping on Dalmeny. Some of the other Missing are well…missing. I admire your dedication, though. You’re doing the right thing—if it’s just out of sense of duty, know that you’re really In the right. It’ll be good to have the added security that comes with the bond of marriage. The wedding of hearts can at once be the wedding of communities. Though life in Primrose has an idyllic surface, those sensitive enough to the flows of underground passions can tell there are threats lurking under the surface. I took it as an bad omen when the last thing I preserved from that place of unrestrained passions, that place of madness, the Feywild, was taken from me. Thieves within the town stole a broach made within the Wood, and Lord Archenbault…has told me some details of what you said of his brother. Zaros is a deeply jealous person, diseased of the soul, if he or any of his lackies still live they may create chaos, regardless of how pathetic and meaningless, it may claim lives, may destroy things of meaning. With Amberhelm as an ally, they will be steadfast to oppose any attacks on Primrose.” With this warning, Mercy ironically realizes the “omen” was caused by his own action, and assures Caethea that the Missing are capable of defending them and will make sure the wedding goes as planned.

While Caethea and Mercy talk, Marten seeks out the Prowlers, Mercy and Miles: “You know at the docks some of the old timers like Jameson Boonhall still have memory of the Prowlers…how they lurked in the Wood all those months, such a dangerous place, hoping to find you. The Malacoides took credit but they just got lucky. The Prowlers must love you. They remind me of…what I hoped I was getting into when I talked to Oberon. I caught my…disease, and knew my life would be different forever. If I ever really loved anyone else I’d have to tell them, they’d find out eventually or, pay the price before they knew. Oberon promised me a release from that, and exotic adventure and I guess I got it, but a lot of suffering came with it. The faerie king is a jealous man. If I hadn’t had gone on this voyage I think…I think he was planning something. He wants the Spring Court back at any cost. It might not mean much to you, but here, on this caravan, I have a moment’s respite from the weight of that envy, always trying to get back at Titania with our little army of were-folk, the contaminated. Thanks for taking me along…I just, please promise me you’ll find some place to hide me. That you’ll chain me up, imprison me on Midsummer. Voss and Dalmeny keep beating it into our heads that even the appearance of fair weather is important to this marriage, if I change into a rabid badger and start devouring Radiant Crusaders I don’t think the emperor will take that as a good omen” Miles and Opie decide to plan how to keep Marten contained. They decide that, while the wedding party are sleeping within the town, they will hide Marten in the vacant caravan and use Mercy’s cold iron manacles to hold him down, covering his body with a blanket or tarp. Marten agrees this is a good fix, and breathes more easily.

Finally, Captain Storm Lord Voss complains about Dub to everyone: Saying that his friendship with Prrhen seems one of bad influence, that his defense of Marten is strange and misplaced, that leaving without going on the most pivotal voyage in Amberhelm’s history means he’ll never be a captain like his father. He brags about his own accomplishments, about defeating the Storm Lord and curbing Repsor’s elementals, and relate to Miles that Dub doesn’t understand the importance of Imperial power on one’s side, that Vorel’thel is what happens when things are left independent (“They threw off their imperial yoke, though I have no love for Thornmoor I admire their efficiency, and now their swamp town is in anarchy”). Opie cuts off the ranting Voss and says that if he has anything to say to Dubhseoul, its his own business. Voss agrees, and assures the Prowlers and Mercy that they chose correctly, and will be seen as the most crucial members of the missing.

As it grows dark, the road ahead reveals twenty foot tall crenelated walls marked off a fortification in the middle of the road. Dalmeny looks ahead, nodding, “it’s the vestigal gate. A toll road. These were abandoned during Nightfall, luckily things are back to normal, we’ll get an escort into Amberhelm from here.”

When they get closer, the eagle-eyed Opie and Miles see a cloud of red-yellow miasma hanging over the gate, catch whiffs of offal, as if they had just stuck their heads in a bucket of a butcher’s waste materials, the smell of animal blood and intestine.

Dalmeny is concerned. “It’s important that everything runs smoothly. The signs and portents on a day of marriage matter greatly, our quest could be a failure if we alarm the others. Go on ahead and make sure everything is safe. The Emperor would waive any fee for our caravan, but we should give the Crusaders a gift. They deserve at least that in such a squalid place.” Dalmeny hands the party a sack of one hundred and fifty gold. He mentions that there should be provisions and possibly medicine within the area. He instructs the horses to circle back and keep a distance, explaining to the others they need to set up to accommodate such a large wedding party.

The Vestigal gates open and ahead of the party is a nearly silent scene: no crusaders appear to be on the road, the only living creature and only sound coming from a muted neigh of a warhorse. It’s hunched, unmoving. As they get closer, they see pustules on its skin, its eyes watery, half-closed. Opie uses his divine connection to nature to call out to the horse, who warns of “them” all around. Opie brings it up and Mercy suggests asking where they are. The horse says there’s even one in the ally next to them. They cautiously investigate.

Yellow-red mists surround, the party becoming instantly filled with a sense of spiritual torpor bordering on dread. Limbs feel sluggish, brains moving slowly, as if right on the edge of debilitating sickness. Though they are unimpeded in any grand sense, there is a pervasive sense that something is wrong.

Sliding across the cobblestones is a putrid, slug-like being, its body a mixture of slime dripping scales and bundles of brain-like grey matter that pulsate like a heart-beat through its diseased hide. Its mouth opens wide, almost canine like, its face a demonic, freakish vision with a gaping maw strung up with gobs of saliva. Horns and spines protrude its small, three foot tall body, it sickeningly scratches its claws on surfaces as it crawls along, gastropodic, slithering, creeping, moving along with muscular pulses along its body and tail.

More of these creatures burst through the doors of the vestigal gate, vomiting up blankets of rancid saliva. Mercy and Opie run along the tops of walls, sniping and descending, dropping them as Miles gets cornered and attacked. The druid makes it away at last, blasting at the creatures with magic. They make short work of the creatures and find that the crusaders in the area are all dead, covered in boils. They take the supplies that are still unspoiled, and see the final door in the area still closed ahead. Before scouting, Opie attempts to feed the injured horse a goodberry to restore its health. The horse gratefully chomps on it to no effect. No wounds heal, no boils close. Ahead, the smog of disease still gathers. Opie takes to the rooftops to see what waits ahead.

### 29. Sinead's Wedding Part III: Estivating

When Opie climbs the twenty foot tall walls that surround the gate, he sees ahead the stunningly beautiful Rana, flying on bat wings above the end of the Vestigal gate, hovering fifteen off the ground. Peering down, she smirks, her eyes smoldering with forbidden desire, her porcelain skin seemingly glowing. You realize she’s actually looking at a Radiant crusader, still alive but bloodied and beaten, lying on the limestone. On the ground, beneath Rana and between Rana and the Crusader is the living embodiment of disease and decay, an abomination of a humanoid, vulture, and goat. Eyeless sockets stare emptily at the Crusader as a constant cloud of putrid offal hangs off of it. Its strange horns curl cruelly behind its demonic frame, its legs goat-like hooves, its wings the dark, efficient appendage of a carrion bird.

The crusader’s armor has been bashed, the chainmail links severed and the plate cracked. He’s bleeding profusely, skin covered in painful boils.

“Please, Rana…”

“What do you want?” she asks.

“More…”

“More what?”

“You…I want you”

“If you could stand, you’d turn your back on them wouldn’t you? The empire? Amberhelm? The Radiant Crusade? Pholtus himself?”

“..y..yess…anything, your touch, your, your love”

“In that case, I’ll have you meet the god we answer to now. Incabulos wasn’t enough. Neither is your Pholtus” She walks over, caressing his cheek.

“And…and what God would put me within your reach?”

“The Shadow That Was, the Prince of Thanatos,” she says, straddling him.

“How…how do we get there”

“Resign yourself to oblivion”

“Yes, yes”

Her fingers, once immaculately manicured and polished red, elongate, blacken, becoming claws. As she sits on his hips with one deft movement she plunges those claws into his eyes, piercing his skull and entering his brain. There is a horrid cry from the crusader before a bloody cough, dark sanguine pooling all around his head.

“Welcome, welcome young Crusader. No more a radiant one, now a Crusader of Sorrow”

Opie signals to Mercy from the roof, trying to convey there is a dead man and two alive opponents. Mercy takes to the walls, trying to surreptitiously perch next to Rana, but the succubus is simply too perceptive. She spots him and calls out:

“You killed Gabriel Chappelle and Jean-Luc Montante, imprisoned Aleyda, you forced our Baron  to take drastic measures, to plunge himself into the afterlife, thinking our influence would wane but us true believers only grew more certain. In the end you’ve given Zaros, given us, the wake up call we needed to resurrect the Nightfallen, to take hold of the new age and to end Amathara. You’ve made yourselves visible before us all, a target for destruction.” She shakes her head at Mercy. “Such a waste…you really did decide to be Dalmeny’s pawn after all, selling your souls to Amberhelm. What a sad end,” She looks at the crusader she killed. “While you’re busy selling your dignity, I’ll seduce Primrose in your absence, making up for the damage you’ve done to our ranks. Maybe you’re smarter than I give you credit for, at least it seems you’ve left a few of your comrades behind. No worries, I’ll deal with them in time, too.”

“Since this is a vestigal road I suppose you should pay the price, right? For safe passage? Give one of you over and I send this creature back to the abyss. I already got what I needed, your location. There’s no need for more bloodshed. Hand one over as a fee and the gates open.”

Mercy declines, hurling himself into battle. Rana cackles, Now, meet your sad end to the demon I’ve summoned from the abyss, taste the disease that held Ethergaarde in its grip, die before your caravan–they’ll praise you as heroes before they walk over your blistered corpses to sell off their state”. Before Rana can fly off, Opie jumps over the walls and Miles bursts through the gates, surprising both demons. Rana is outflanked instantly, taking substantial hits before going ethereal and flying away. Her demon is brutally destroyed before he has a chance to disease the party, who descend on him with fury. Afterwards, the party feud briefly about clean-up. Mercy wants to behead the dead Crusader in case he comes back as undead. Opie and Miles say its unnecessary. They decide to tell someone on the outside of the wedding party, Maxilla, the truth about the massacre, deciding they need help and time to hide the bodies and assure that the wedding party remains calm and that none of the carnage is interpreted as a bad omen, thus shutting down the ceremony. Maxilla agrees and comes back, his stomach turned but doing his best in convincing the party that the vestigal gate is currently unmanned but is safe, and that he’ll take up the matter of any deserters with Adrian Kharaba upon arrival.

Gallus finds this curious, and tells the party to get themselves together. Saying that uniformity in Amberhelm will be necessary: they stand out like sore thumbs, at the wedding they should wear similar clothes so they don’t distract from the ceremony. The party tell the truth to Puddlejumper and Nettle, knowing they can’t speak of it anyway. There is one last stand-off between Nettle and Puddlejumper, Nettle saying “You already have made it clear the fate of Primrose is not your concern, why guard these secrets any longer? Let the brutal truth come out. Tell them of the omens. Tell them of Zaros. Of Daenis’s misgivings. Even one truth should be enough to end this Seelie madness.” Puddlejumper reiterates that it takes just one bad omen to ruin the marriage. “Rana is evil, and the Seelie will help you to drive her out,” she assures. “Now isn’t the time for a stand, there’s no connection between the nuptials and this attack, but the Emperor will see one. Let’s finish this without alarming the others, and worry about Rana later. The Nightfallen were defeated in Ethergaarde, defeated in the monastery of the Far Wanderer, defeated here at the vestigal gate. We’ll do it again. We’ll find where Rana is staying, their ranks are dwindling. Eliminating her will mean getting rid of their honeypot. Keep quiet.” The party consider this and end up going the way of Puddlejumper.

After moving through the Vestigal gate, they reach the end of the road. Ahead of you is the triumphal arch of Amberhelm, a magnificent entrance to the city celebrating the military triumphs of the Radiant Crusade. Corinthian columns standing on pedestals are topped with entablature. Statues of emperors are embedded into a wall that circles the town. Aquaducts carry fresh water across the tops of city walls, flowing into paths, public fountains, and surrounding farms. Great Pholtian tapestries show the sigil of the god of light, order, and inflexibility, each one with Pelor and Heironeous emblazoned on the sides of the tripartite god. Trumpets herald the arrival of Maxilla and the Primrose nobility, and the people of Amberhelm drop to a knee as the caravan arrives. The horses trot through the city. Citizens and slaves supplicate. The levels of limestone mortar buildings create jagged skylines connecting a grid of volcanic sand streets. Vaults, walls, and foundations are thick and imposing, the imperial vision of the Emperor emblazoned on seemingly every alley, every street, stucco facades, marble veneers fired brick and terracotta break up the landscape of colosseum, forum, and basilica. The caravan moves toward the center of town, across a gleaming bridge seemingly made of pure silver. Once on the bridge it’s clear that the western side of the city has yellow banners while the eastern side has grey. Here in the center, there is the great temple of Pholtus, rising imposingly to the south, and the Citadel to the north, the Amberhelmian stronghold said to be the most impenetrable building in all of the Windswept Coast, if not Amathara. Looking ahead at its portal, the party see where soon Sinead or rather, Daenis, will enter, to be married to the emperor. Once stepping down from the silver bridge to the citadel, the caravan is greeted by Regio Glaesurio legion officers, their adamantine armor gleaming in the sun.

“Tomorrow is the day. At sunrise, all those attending shall meet in the bizarre to be outfitted for the occasion in the customary colors of gold and gray. There will be a wedding, a feast, and the following day will be spent honoring religious duties. During that day you shall return to Primrose.”

Once in the town, the party meet up with Marten and cuff him, putting him in the caravan and covering him in burlap. They decide they already want to get ready, heading to the baths for hours of relaxation. They go with Daenis, who is quiet, mentally preparing. The marble walls are fifty feet high, the head of a Medusa stylized out front, its snake hair creating a fountain. Inside, all around are decorations, frescoes and flourishes made with the limestone, depictions of winged victories, victory wreaths and oak leaves, helmets, tritons, trumpets of shells, and owls. A stone tank surrounds the spring, and plumbing functions bring water to and fro. Burning coal lights the inside of the bathhouse, the flickering light reflecting off the bodies of the party and the statues. The inside is open air. There is an altar where a calf has been sacrificed for the marriage.

Hot water gushes through the baths, an orangish color to the water given off by the cold iron. Coins sit at the bottom of the water, and there is a box of notes and offerings to Pholtus in front of a mirror. Statues of Pholtus, Heironeous, and Pelor are all around. One of the attendants at the bath mentions that a little bit of personality in dress is customary, that choosing a single accessory during a noble wedding is seen as a fashionable choice with an appropriate amount of personality.

After this, the party head to the bazaar where they meet individually with tailors, “Sinead” leaving to be dressed by her “mother,” Diedre. Little do they know, as the party is dressed, something nefarious is taking place. There is a feeling of burbling unease in the city, one on the precipice of a new age. Challenged by imperial losses in Ethergaarde and Mournfall, there is a sense that this wedding and its ensuing bonds must be a success, that Emperor Adrian Kharaba must see victory in all things to solidify his power in the city.

Within the tailor’s rooms, the party notice they have short, squat tailors that are dressed in Radiant Crusader garb. Opie has a gruff-voiced one dress him, saying ”A tabaxi…hunter from Morsus. Perhaps others frightened of you sometimes? Well not today. We let people see the real you. Polish his teeth with linen and paste. Get his fangs to gleam. We’ll oil the dark fur, pat it down. Let them see the angular face, as severe as possible. Expose the vertebrate, you always land on your feet right? Let’s see the flexible spine. Clean the claws with ointments, I want them to flash. Every part of this man should look like he’s nearly ready to tear your throat out. Bones? A bone necklace? Yeah let’s go tribal, let’s go primal. Each one of these bones a reminder, eh? Maybe each bone a dead guy yeah? Each one a fresh kill of yours?” Opie works to wear more unassuming garb, taking the cleanings but leaving out the more aggressive signs.

Miles has a sneering, female-voiced tailor who regards him in awe, “What an interesting person! Can see a little of that elf-blood, Primrose has plenty of that fancy stuff! But something else? You’re awfully short, gonna need a smaller pair of trousers! You’re very au naturale, earth tones I’m thinking…nay, nay. Clothes from the earth! A garland around the head! Burlap and hemp I’m thinking…an ivy garnish? Does he even need shoes with these glorious feet…five a clock shadow on these tootsies…let’s pair down. I’d have you go nude as most natural of all but perhaps should use these open legged brown brais instead. You’re not just a force of nature though you’re a celestial navigator? Something for that cosmic perspective?” She sees Hershel emerge from his pocket. “Oh and a friend jumping out of the pocket? What’s his name? Matching brown. Get this chipmunk a tunic before I start firing arrows.” Miles goes with earth tones but decides against showing so much skin.

Mercy is dressed by a short man with a snotty voice, who says “Look at that hair…prematurely white! Must be what happens taking care of the real stressful work Dalmeny needs done while he’s busy being stoic! Even your eyebrows! Something a little unusual about you, elf. But you’re quite handsome, in your own way. Look at these muscles! So much gravity in your face, lets add some levity. A more playful headband, yesss…let’s show off those pecs, a nice v-cut in the tabard, mhmm. You give on a morose persona but there’s a lover in there isn’t there? Let’s bring that out for the wedding! Crop the hair like so….yes, yes, leather pants absolutely, this man is spilling over with desire and can’t even express it so let’s at least do it through the attire” He is alarmed by all this talk of love, and while he doesn’t agree with the revealing aspects of the clothes he does choose a bold blue.

When the party emerge from their rooms, looking not the least bit uniform and definitely a little ridiculous, the tailors walk out and transform. Muckskull had dressed Opie, Bogflit had dressed Miles, and Luneskip had dressed Mercy. The party are confused and see Nettle emerging from Daenis’s room, smiling from ear to ear, announcing that the job has been done. The party find Daenis, seemingly, getting ready with Deidre. She seems quiet and strange, Mercy noticing all the training for her to act like nobility has melted away.

After this strange episode, the party return to the Citadel and await the wedding. Once everyone is ready, Amberhelmian trumpeters herald their arrival as they enter the Citadel, a place unseen to most of the world. They stand outside the atrium, the doorway smeared with fat and decorated with wool, as Sinead, dressed by her mother, belt on her waist, flammeum bridal veil handing over long white robes, her hair in a tight crines bun, her shoes nymphides in bright yellow color, is escorted into the Citadel by three crusaders. One holding a torch, the other two supporting her arms. They follow behind and watch as Adrian receives her at the door and enters the threshold with distaff and spindle in hand. Keys to the Citadel are attached to the rope and handed to the bride by Adrian. The rest of the wedding party, including the Amberhelmian consuls, see the Missing and think they look out of place, but perceive Mercy as the apparent leader. They don’t particularly enjoy having the group around but put up with their presence as part of Sinead’s entourage.

Once in the atrium, the crusader with the torch hands it to Sinead for the fire blessing. A Pholtian high priest annoints her with water for the water blessing. Deidre hands over a bag of gold representing the dowry to Adrian who nods and takes it. They walk up the steps to the citadel and stand before the Pholtian hierophant, holding hands.

“To you Sinead, a ring of betrothal, a truth ring. May no falsity pass between us. May only the sanctifying light of love and truth illuminate our halls”

They hold hands. The hierophant, masked, looks over the procession. “This auspicious day is one of luck, Midsummer upon us, the signs and portents showing clearly the light and love of Pholtus. If you are to be wed then remain, hand in hand, and consent to the bethrothal”

“ Quando tu Gaius, edo Gaia (when and where you are gaius, I then and there am Gaius).”

The two look at each other, Adrian seeing Sinead by torchlight. They then blow the flame out together, and Sinead’s face is in the dark, along with Adrian’s. The party see him cock his head to the side, appraising. “My bride, Sinead of Primrose!” The two imbibe the orchid potion together. After consenting to the marriage they sit on stools, facing an altar, and make an offering made to Pholtus with a sumptuous white cake, a statement is made to Triadism, to the immortal Radiant god of Pholtus and his avatars Heironeous and Pelor. The cake is then eaten by both. As soon as the cake touches Sinead’s lips, cheers break out in the atrium. Everyone enters the citadel for a feast, finding the castle stronghold adorned with flowers.

After the feast, they exit the citadel with the party, moving around the perimeter toward the private chambers of the Emperor. The streets erupt in cheers, stomps, claps, noisemakers, singing reverberating through the lime and marble. The wedding party parades behind, a procession of revelers throwing nuts. Just before entering the private chambers, Sinead gives one last “Quando tu Gauis, edo Gaia”

Just before entering Connor holds Sinead in the Threshold, but then Adrian pulls her from his arms into the chambers. Holding her in his arms, he says, “Ladies and Gentlemen of Amberhelm, the immortal seat of Pholtus and the center of the Radiant Crusade, I present to you, Empress Sinead!”

After this pomp and circumstance, the party sneak away to make sure Marten is alright. They run into Dalmeny, who went to fetch some belongings he left in the caravan. The party is paranoid about what he will say, but he seems at ease. He says there was a time he was in love, long ago, but wars followed and that love is distant now. That he has never seen a ceremony like this go so successfully. He says “everything so far has brought us to this moment, this culmination of desire. As promised, a manor will be erected in your honor, land allotted to your names. You have made Primrose proud. Perhaps there was a coldness, some transactional sense, that you may feel…I don’t think you are wrong. One time I was full of romantic notions, believe it or not I risked everything for them. Risked…I lost everything for them. Perhaps one day you’ll understand in fullness my wager today, but regardless I extend to you my full support for your trust and your success.” Before they enter the caravan, he says “Be careful, there’s a vagrant who wandered in there and fell asleep. Likely drunk from the wedding wine”. The party go in immediately, finding Marten still under the burlap, tied up and subdued. But there is a second person lying in the caravan, with pallid skin, black eyes, a blank, fey face…the changeling, Daenis. She is seemingly in the throes of a deep sleep. The Missing regard each other and take in the full weight of the implication: Sinead and Daenis have been swapped. Adrian Kharaba has been married to the true Sinead, the girl that was supposed to have crystallized Seelie power, who was supposed to have take the Spring throne, the girl that was supposed to have assured the renewal of the magic at Amathara’s heartspring. The appearance of the Unseelie troop and the meaning of Nettle’s cheshire cat grin are all suddenly explained: a bloodless Unseelie coup, of some sort. But why? How?

Mercy, balling his fists, speaks an accusation; a single name, “Prrhen.”

## Book Three: Harvesting

### 30. What the Hell Is Going On

The last days of summer in Amathara wind down, taking the same meandering, victorious path as the caravan and the Mistral took back to Primrose following midsummer, taking their time, a last lap under a golden light turning sepia, a burst of enthusiasm following a sudden, gripping cold. All is not as it seems, the shapes shifting, appearances revealing themselves for mere appearances, the length of light receding and with it, the leaves of birch and poplar turning yellow and red, coming on suddenly like a debt to be paid. At the same time, the seeds that have been sewn are coming to fruition, some kept some brought to market, each one with its own price too.

In Primrose Sound, Captain Sylzora Boldwish’s warship “The Salt Blossom” arrives damaged by lightning strikes and waterlogged. The ship comes into the harbor with little fanfare, having left for the forbidden isle there is nothing to speak about, though the crew are barely concealing their glee at the bags of gold they’ve received for their gambit. Prrhen leaves Sylzora with little to go on regarding Dubhseoul, the elven captain concluding that perhaps the sailor finally met his match. The second ship coming into harbor is the Mistral, which sails into Primrose Sound to the cheering of the people of Primrose, Captain “Storm Lord” Voss bowing deeply. The wedding party disperse to Dalmeny’s Manor, with some of the sailors opting for Triamond’s tavern, and the rest, including Nettle, Puddlejumper, and the Missing, ending up at the Tanagra River Inn. That's when things take a turn.

The Tanagra River Inn is full of excitement this day, bursting with music and ale and the tales of a populace known for staying the course who have, for once, ventured far outside of it, to the heart of the empire itself. The inn is brimming with the fermented recallings of Amberhelmian lore, some true, some elevated, some pure fancy, moving those that never set eyes on it to deep curiosity and some, reverence, a mixture of the fear of that power and the pure awe of strength Amberhelm still commands in a world of mostly wilderness. Opie, Miles, and Mercy meet up with Prrhen, who can tell Mercy has something on his mind. The two sit before a fire and discuss what has happened, Mercy letting on that the Wedding, though a success in the eyes of the people, did not go as expected. The real Sinead has been swapped out by Daenis in an Unseelie plot. Prrhen readies for Mercy blaming her, but the tone is at first neutral. When Prrhen has little to say about Dubhseoul, Mercy's true feelings come out, the fighter grabbing Prrhen and assailing her, blaming her for allowing Nettle to come along with the wedding party and surmising that Prrhen was behind the betrayal. Prrhen angrily laughs off this version of events, blaming Nettle while still being vague about her fellow warlock. Nettle jumps into the confusion, encouraging the Missing to put their differences aside, saying they'll need each other with Zaros still out there.

Opie, still wondering what led to the wedding betrayal, remarks "I still don't know what the hell is going on." Prrhen comes out and lays the blame on Dubsheoul, remarking that the Queen of Air and Darkness offered their "heart's desire" for the location of the wedding party and she refused to give it. Dubhseoul, on the other hand, is missing because he gave it away. As the party quarrels, Nettle vehemently defends Dubhseoul, ending in a statement that Dubhseoul will be promoted to Marquis within the court, guaranteeing the party's protection, that he set things back to the natural way, with Sinead in the real world and Daenis out of it, and even finishes with a profession of love to the warlock. Mercy has had enough, remarking "I'm very happy for the two of you" before storming out.

The rest of the night passes with the Missing nursing some emotional and physical wounds, drinking at the bar and seeing Daenis trying to understand Conor's sadness, witnessing the bard confess that he didn't do enough for his daughter, feeling he lost her that day in the Wood, feeling as if it was his fault. Prrhen and Daenis talk, deciding to try to resume some kind of concordance, Miles joining them hoping the three can farm together in the off time. Daenis reflects on what it all meant, telling Prrhen "“All those books you had me read, the letters, the camaraderie, it was real. Maybe it started in artifice but it crossed over somehow. Just like those fairy tales with fake characters that get a hold on us somehow…I’m starting to realize how hard it is to tell the truth, when its bound up in all of this. Maybe that’s what attracted me to the Seelie, the reaching, the attempt to elevate, to see the beauty in nature and to build on it. Maybe we’re both paying for that faith, when what the Unseelie work toward is simpler, more direct. They ask not to reach but to affirm what is already there. The Seelie court want to filagree, to ornament, to modify, to construct, whereas the Unseelie want to dominate. There’s a disadvantage there for us.”

Marten thanks the party profusely for not only saving his life, but from saving him from Oberon's plot. Apparently, the faerie king has sought Titania's own sister for support, using his were-army to capture Sinead so he can take his place on the Spring Court, ensuring that his rule will be in service to Queen Mab rather than Titania. Puddlejumper, in the guise of sailor Artie Fishel, laments that the whole court is threatened by these actions, that the Unseelie will always overreach and the fragile balance that was struck so many years ago is about to collapse. Deidre Macnas leaves the bar early, finding Conor's excessive drinking and sadness misplaced and vexing in such a time of celebration. The party see Conor flagged down by a woman as they leave, who seduces the bard and walks off with him into the night.

Following this episode, the party spend some well-needed time tending to their lives, Prrhen spends her days working in the fields with Miles and Daenis, the latter taking on a softened appearance of a farmer, no longer appearing as Sinead but also masking her alarming Changeling looks. Miles greatly improves his herbalism skills, raising a patch of Nimbus Dandelions to near adulthood, bringing two to full maturity and picking them. Prrhen spends the nights on the upper floor of the Temple of Istus, completing her first masterwork “the Rod of the Pact Keeper,” a powerful warlock staff.

During this time, Opie adventures in the wood, uncovering a set of tinkerer’s tools as well as a shadowy potion. This treasure hunting proves valuable, the potion apparently harnessing the Shadowfell’s power to create a blanket of dark.

Mercy meanwhile, takes to the streets. He refers Marten, the werebadger sailor, to Valeriana Faelwynn, the founder of the Primrose chapter of the Bastards thieves guild. A boatload of Ethergaardian valuables lands at Primrose Sound and the fighter surreptitiously fences the goods, spending a large amount of gold and covering his tracks expertly just to set up the connections to make the sales happen. The results pay off: Mercy runs into no complications, emptying the entire boat of wares into the hands of citizens who do not know of the illicit provenance of these wares, making gold for himself and for the Bastards.

The Missing spend the rest of the final days of summer sorting through their goods and valuables, selling off equipment and looking around the Primrose shops. During the process, Prrhen and Opie notice they each have a magic ring: Opie holds Zaros’s golden ring found in the Shadowfell, Prrhen has Dalmeny’s ring that was taken by Malise. When they investigate these bands they find not only the sigils of Goldmount and Lusertine, the brother’s former cities that were destroyed in something called the “Madness Wars”, but also arcane scripts that create an incredible effect: if both rings are worn simultaneously and the two wearers are willing, they can trade appearances with one another.

### 31. Seduction

At the beginning of Falx, the Missing are called to Primrose Sound. The Mistral, the sailing vessel that brought Opie, Miles, and Mercy to Sable Ridge, is being fitted with a secondary flag, that of the Radiant Crusade. In addition, the capital city has sent more Radiant Crusaders and even their court jester, Tintinabulo, to Primrose. Modiana Vera and Gallus Matho invite everyone to watch and celebrate as the ship is guaranteed protection under Amberhelmian law. As the Missing join Captain “Storm Lord” Voss before the vessel, glasses of Sable Ridge Wine and mugs of Hagshot are passed around courtesy of Triamond’s Tavern. The crew are still fizzy with the excitement of the successful voyage, recounting their exploits but also, in increasing amounts proportional to the hagshot imbided, curious as to the things they missed: many of them huddle close to the Missing, wondering what the inner-sanctum of the Citadel was like in Amberhelm, that impregnable fortress at the heart of the empire. Gallus Matho loudly proclaims the majesty of Amberhelm and the sumptuous delights of the palace. As the celebration din rises to a climax, grey clouds form on the autumnal Amatharan skies. A greasy rain plays off of the tin rooftops of the Primrose Sound bootleggers, gambling halls and brothels, dotting the dark seas with a dreary pointillism. Splitting the heavens is the masthead of a shadowy frigate ship, emerging out of the oceanic haze like a phantom rising from the grave, a black raven’s head starkly dyed onto the masts. The ship looks like it had been scuttled or otherwise sunk centuries previous, its body scratched and salt encrusted, covered in doorless mollusk shells of dead barnacles like hundreds of vacant eyes. Holes in the hull, stern, helm, and masts caused from previous battles or from exposure to undersea elements seem to curl with shadowy, waxy smoke, binding the deteriorated darkwood together. Despite this, the triple-masted sloop warship glides over the waves, parting the sea like a ghostly light through shadow. Great red lanterns fill the deck with lively silhouettes, the playful outlines of fey sailors and their short horns cast upon the shrouds and sails. Six black iron cannons, three a side, hang imposingly out of the gun deck, polished, seemingly new despite the age of the rest of the vessel, their barrels laced with white-silver fey filigree. As the ship nears port, there is an uproar, sailors scrambling alternatively for cover or shouting to the unknown vessel, demanding intentions. Voss bellows over the commotion, tapping Marten, Opie, and Aaron to directly assist. The ship draws closer, and the pit in the sailor’s stomachs is replaced by a kind of anxious relief. Manning the decayed captain’s wheel is someone quite familiar to the docks: a dark haired warlock, Dubhseoul.

Opie takes to the deck while Voss, dismayed, examines the warship. Even Sylzora is floored, watching from the Salt Blossom, having thought Dubhseoul lost his life on the Moondrift Isle. The tabaxi ranger acknowledges the vessel in a terse way, triggering Dubhseoul to ask if there’s something wrong with the ship. “It’s not the ship that’s the problem, it’s how you got it,” the tabaxi roars, before turning on his heel and leaving Dubhseoul standing there, knocking a mug off the banister for good measure. Meanwhile, the party look on in amazement, with the exception of Mercy, who hides along the docks, watching from afar. Finally, Captain “Storm Lord Voss” meets Dubhseoul’s eye, saying the ship looks “familiar” and that it “almost looks like…” before trailing off. He asks what her name is, and the warlock of the Raven Queen announces it is Stormbringer. At this point, the other party members can see that Dubhseoul’s sigil for the Unseelie Court has taken on a new pattern: as Nettle had announced, he received the title of Marquis, making Dubhseoul not just the highest ranking Unseelie Court member, but the highest ranking faerie court member of any of the Missing at this point. Voss insults Dubhseoul, figuring he went off to the forbidden isle for such a find, making assumptions that the warlock did something terrible instead of accompanying him on the “most important day for Primrose”, the marriage of Sinead. Dubhseoul insults him back, starting to call him a fraud, saying he’s no Storm Lord at all. The recognition spreads across Voss’s face, the captain knowing Dubhseoul must know his secret: that he never got rid of the elemental that haunts the waters off Primrose Sound, that possibly killed Dubhseoul’s father, that nearly killed the warlock himself. But now, on the ship with the banner of the patron that saved him, Dubhseoul watches Voss shrink, the crew members around him now too distracted with wondering what this spat is about to notice the strange company Dubhseoul has brought aboard, the shadow fey crew. In the middle of the action, Voss calls Dubhseoul disloyal and Nettle breaks the ranks to vociferously defend a man she now says she loves, embracing Dubhseoul, who grabs her with one arm. When the shadow fey gets a little too amorous, Dubhseoul escorts her through the crowd.

After the Missing back away, Gallus Matho gathers them up and says Lord Dalmeny requests a meeting with them right away, and he wants Conor their too. The group walk through the streets, finding the Town Hall being busily reworked, filled with strange props with workers coming in and out. Conor is delivering a speech outdoors on the steps, one with the theme of seduction. “Through our lives we encounter turbulence, bad air, restricting our breathing, leading to disease, filling our lungs with sickness when otherwise we could draw breath easily. Every beautiful thing we have accomplished is challenged by these gusts, these natural forces, restless, always stirring…we know the way around but sometimes, sail deliberately into them. When we think of the words we use, some of the sinful ones sound appealing, like seduction. There is excitement in the word itself. It’s suggestive. But the root of the word itself means to lead astray, the root then of seduction is the enticement toward error, toward evil. It is then of no surprise that the portion of the underworld for the lustful is said to be filled with these terrible winds, this turbulence. The end of seduction, the leading of one toward evil.” He says he is grateful Sinead was married away without succumbing to the pitfalls of evil, warning the town to adapt Dalmeny’s vision of calm in the “face of these windstorms, lest they propel us into the mouth of the abyss”. Gallus makes fun of a pale and visibly upset Conor, telling him to come along to Dalmeny’s after the speech. Conor refuses, saying he has business elsewhere. Gallus is angered by his apparent disloyalty, swearing at him while leading the Missing to the town hall. Mercy, however, sneaks away, following Conor through the streets.

At Dalmeny’s manor, Tintinabulo the Amberhelmian jester has already arrived, firing jokes toward the Missing as they sit around the table. Deidre is at the palace, wondering where Conor is with growing concern while Gallus makes passes at her. Dalmeny introduces two new measures, the Ordinance of Drudgers, which increases wages for workers in primrose, and the Miles Primrose Relief Act. Since Miles wanted his portion of the manor money to go to the poor, Dalmeny institutes a new rule that allows for basic living accommodations to be provided at the monastery of the Seven Stars. Nathan Pince will be put in charge of getting those who are needy to the monastery for food, shelter, and medicine. To kickstart the program, collection money from the temple of Istus will be used and a new tax will be introduced. For the first time, Dalmeny’s two advisors agree: they hate the idea. Porthos Sadoul, the military advisor, believes this will de-incentivize conscripted soldiers since one of the previous ways out of punishment for poverty was signing up for the Primula guard. Medard Girault, the domestic advisor, believes the tax will do the opposite of getting more workers to farm unused lands: it will make their labor unaffordable and more land will fall into disuse. Dalmeny goes ahead anyway, crediting Miles and announcing that this season, they are building the Missing’s manor on the plot that used to belong to the Bernard family, the same farmhouse that once held Zaros’s lover and was burned down after the Missing visited it.

Meanwhile, Miles trails Conor, who is too distracted on horseback to notice the winter Eladrin stalking him. He finds him at the mill, in the eastern fields of cornstalks, thyme, mint, pole beans, and now, a pumpkin patch. Here, tax collector Victor Pince and wealthy court member Gwenaelle Damaret stumble through the field, adjusting their clothes and lamenting the miller’s behavior, saying Georges Rouge (later revealed as town miller) is “all fun and games till he gets in his feelings, coincidentally when he gets in his cups”. They warn Conor not to go in there because of this attitude, but Conor says he must. The door opens, and Mercy spots Rana holding it for Conor. Mercy climbs the side of the windmill, opening a side window, hopping in, and watching Rana bring him into a windy cellar. Georges the miller seems mildly disgusted at Rana for some reason, but sticks around, drinking, while Mercy gathers intel, even finding a desecrated altar to the god of the market. Finally, the Eladrin fighter leaves and catches up with the party returning after their meeting with Dalmeny. He warns them that more of Primrose’s elite are still compromised by the Nightfallen, that Rana is active at the mill. Opie is surprised at her boldness. Prrhen wonders if there’s a way to get around Georges without combat. Despite some brainstorming on this, Dubhseoul and Mercy talk the party into an all-out assault.

Opie bursts through the side window, attacking from above while the mill door is opened by the rest of the surging Missing, Mercy going all out with Tonfa strikes, Miles casting spells, Dubhseoul putting spectral bullets in the Miller, who begins foaming at the mouth, raging and sadistic. As they close in on him, they notice his hands growing into claws, red rings around his eyes, and a shadow that seems too long for a man in this light. Prrhen delivers an Eldritch blast that should have knocked the miller unconscious, but her perseveres so she hits him again. Down the miller goes, and after tying him up, cleaning up the mess, retrieving a nightfallen raven feather shawl from a bloody altar (with a goatheaded, bat-winged image scratched into it), the Missing change their minds and decided George’s demonic influence makes him nothing but a problem. They kill the man and hide his body before descending the stairs into a windy cellar.

The sound of the winds pick up, but the Missing feel none of their bite, only an ensconcing warmth. The basement is unfinished, rough, uneven stone underfoot. A storage rack has been knocked on its side, more discarded bottles flung about. The north side of the room is illuminated by a lonely lantern, the south by another standing on top of some crates like a makeshift desk. The eastern side of the room terminates in a deep hearth, its firebox inset into the stone walls of the mill itself, the path illuminated by rows of votary candles, placed in a manner more befitting an altar than a fireplace. Opie finds a lavender potion with an ovoid pink cloud hanging in it, as well as a poetry book from the great pen of Broknir, an artist Mercy recalls from his youth, when the party had to improvise a poem to save Heathplume angry nymphs. The poem is a lamentation for souls of “lech’rous and lascivious lives” who “mistake paradise” for a ‘passion’s pulse” and “will themselves to be engulfed.” Pocketing this, they walk toward the hearth and find a thin layer of flame at the end, more a curtain than a real fire. Boldly, the party enter.

When they step through the hearth, two painful feelings greet the missing: first, a scorching, biting heat, a singe on flesh, hair, and fur in Opie’s case, followed by a harsh blast of wind, bowling them over. They collapse, falling 5 feet to rocky ground in a pocket of the abyss itself, spilling out of the hearth into a volcanic nightmare visible only by a silent light, muted, an ambient lava radiation pulsing and writhing under everything, casting burnt shades on the chains, the bridges, the tall basalt mountains veined with glowing magma, endlessly compounding themselves as explosions of lahar, avalanches of hot mud and steaming water, disfigure their surfaces. Ahead, fire-branded, blackened iron overpasses bound to chains hold together the base of a claustrophobic maelstrom plane, seemingly confining an imperious, towering fortress at the center of everything, three floors in a Cyclopeon bastion, this rigid, angry lance, terminating in a wide, rounded top floor.

There is a sound of bitter moaning as warring winds swirl above the burbling magma, a numerous throng of vargouille, descend, deformed, humanoid heads with leathery bat wings flitting where their ears should lie, gliding through the abyssal winds, tendrils on their heads writhing as if some sick substitution of hair, eyes and mouths filled with a green, gaseous glow, mouths sneering, jagged teeth laid in distension, blaring maws pouring forth their pain, shrieking lamentations, moans, and blasphemies.

The Missing instantly feel their bodies bead with sweat, every pound of armor, every metal object conducting heat, while they are buffeted by restless winds, tyrannous gusts carrying the dolorous notes of these vargouille.

### 32. Rana's Temptation

The descending vargouille shriek, divebombing but barely getting close to their targets without finding themselves in the crosshairs of Opie's longbow, Miles's guiding bolts, Dubseol's spectral bullets, or Prrhen's eldritch blasts. Mercy, meanwhile, charges ahead. The frontline fighter led them to Georges and during this fight, seems champing at the bit to get to Rana and end her Nightfallen plot once and for all. The party absolutely tear into the screaming skulls, finding more and more descending from the abyssal mountain. One unwinds a winch holding the tower of Rana's stronghold up, and as the party convene on the steps the second is unwound, the volcanic rock door falling on Opie and Mercy who cough through the dust and witness what's next: A pure manifestation of hate spilling forth from the fallen basalt door, a vitriolic pit of slag and ash, mindlessly hurling itself toward destruction, it’s body nothing but chunks of scorched igneous upon veins of burning lava, a pyroclastic suggestion of a human frame grown to gargantuan proportions, 16 feet and over two thousand pounds of burning hatred.

While the party battle outside the stronghold, Mercy fights the behemoth from around a corner before slinking into the tavern, finding a basalt bridge suspended over burning magma, one held by a winch. The air is warped by the heat, causing the objects around to take on a vaporous appearance: a lantern suspended in a column shines a bright light outwards of a supernatural clarity while the rest of the room is dimly lit by the shimmering lava. Giant mirrors float, suspended by some unseen force, along the bridge. Volcanic rock walls bar one portion of the bridge and the only way up: the northern doorway. Mercy misty steps across the bridge, appearing before the salamander, which promptly constricts the Eladrin fighter with his tail, squeezing out his life while cutting him with a cruel, heated javelin. While the fighter holds on for life, the morphlings alternatively burrow and fly, making their way in to completely surround Mercy.

Meanwhile, Opie skitters up the side of the building, raining down arrows and scimitar strikes, totally unseen, using the dark to his advantage while Dubsheoul pumps the hateful creature full of bullets. Prrhen, who recently nearly came to blows with the aspiring Bastard, stares at the hulking cinderslag, then decides to run after Mercy to help him. Miles is soon on her heals, diving into the darkness of the tower. What they see when they enter shock them: ahead of Mercy is Veselona, the same girl he grew up with in the Temple of Istus, an orphan like him, the first love of the Eladrin and also the first true loss. The last time Mercy heard of the woman it was from Valeriana Faelwynn, a Primrose Sound chef and Destin's on again off again lover, a woman who reported that Valeriana herself was a high ranking member of Ethergaarde's Bastards, the Olidammaran Thieves Guild that some say are the true movers and shakers of the northern city. Since then, the theft of Caethea's broach and the fencing of Ethergaardian noble goods that Mercy has done for Valeriana were all ways to perhaps get closer to that lost love, to gain her attention. Finally, she's arrived--but Prrhen and Miles aren't so sure. Hanging over the magma, constricted by the salamander, this Veselona says that everything will be okay, he just has to stop fighting. Mercy agrees, nearly floating across the bridge toward the woman who has captivated his imagination for years. Veselona brings Mercy through a volcanic door and shuts it with a winch on the other side. Mercy has been taken by this disguised Rana, and is now trapped, with no obvious way to get through the door ahead, which has no lock or handle.

Miles and Prrhen are kept on their toes as the Morphlits and the Salamander erupt, charging toward them, ready to do away with them. Whatever Rana wants it appears she only needs one of the Missing, now the rest can be killed. Miles and Prrhen have other plans though, and drive the creatures back, while Opie and Dubhseoul finish off the cinderslag outside, Dubhseoul taking grievous blows from the heated rock. The warlock of the Raven Queen heals himself and runs in, Opie following, to help the rest of the party, and is walloped again before they finally bring down the threats, the Salamander slain and the morphlits piles of inchoate goo on the abyssal stone. Looking ahead at the floating mirrors, the blocked door, feeling the heat of the magma, seeing it lick off the surfaces and surround them, the Missing are left trying to hold it together, some of whom are badly injured. They take a short rest within the terrible tower, knowing that as the hour passes, Rana has free range to torment Mercy.

### 33. Desires Extinguished

Opie protects the Missing using his Rope Trick, escorting all of the adventurers to a lush pocket of jungle, invisible to the dungeon. For an hour, they lick their wounds and catch their breaths while the intrepid Tabaxi finds a mysterious screaming skull, old electrum pieces from the long destroyed Barony of Cephalan, and most disturbingly, a pair of Conor's riding gloves. The gloom stalker then summons the group from the rope to pursue the course further. Amidst the corpses of the mutant beasts and the coiled salamander, the Missing find themselves on a molten bridge, jumping along basalt slabs to apprehend the strange fixtures in this abyssal realm, namely a suspended lantern, fixed at an angle and shining a light so bright that it appears to tear through the fabric of reality itself, showing underlying truths in a vibrancy otherwise unknown in this twisted tower of desire. Prrhen investigates this while Opie charges ahead, catching a glance of an abhorrent image of himself in a floating mirror. His reflection doesn't move quite right, there is an uncanny effect just visible at the edges of his perception and he pulls his eyes away before risking seeing something he'd rather not. The tabaxi finds that the floating mirrors appear to be, unlike the lantern, mobile. Furthermore, he sees a spot on the volcanic rock where no dust has fallen, the exact width of the bottom of the mirror. The party, finding the molten door Rana went through to be impassable, realize they must use what is at hand to get to Rana, Mercy, and perhaps, Conor Macnas. Prrhen suggests moving one of the mirrors in front of the beam of light, and when they do so, they reduce a basalt wall to ash, revealing that the piercing light has some magic effect on the terrain. Following this revelation, the party reorganize the remaining mirrors to bounce the light off one another, carefully avoiding looking into the glass. At last, they arc the beam through the volcanic door, reducing it to smoldering ash. They climb the twisted obsidian stairs in front of them, finding Conor’s coat, boots, shirt, and finally, his breaches discarded as they spiral up the steps, leading at last to the penultimate floor of the tower, a room resembling a massive forge, the roof an unsettling, unfinished rock 30 feet above. Metal-barred windows on the four walls conceal this stone and iron workshop, a river of lava running along alloy piping all the way to a pentacle at the north side of the room, suspended 15 feet off of the ground, a molten forge churning and pumping, a massive red gem in the center of the room gleaming, slowly filling with magma.

The party glimpse a group of beasts marauding about the abyssal shop, walking amidst the pumping machinery. The three beasts are salivating, thirsting, each resembling the other in their insatiable hunger but unalike in appearance: a dark-pelted wolf slinking about the tower floor, a tiger, its eyes gleaming in the lava light, tearing across the room, its claws tapping the ground, and finally, something unlike any beast they've ever seen but nevertheless animalistic in behavior: a humanoid creature bounding apelike toward them, its bulging veins appearing to circulate above its dark and discolored flesh, burning along the top of its skin like the alloy piping delivering the magma. It couldn’t possibly make use whatever substance the veins circulate but they nevertheless pump and pulsate. As it nears, they see its protruding, reddened eyes, it’s body nude, hair bleached white and grown as long as that of a witch, its short horns curved inwards. Prrhen sees this creature much like she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror on the second floor, a twisted likeness, as if a funhouse distortion of herself. The disturbing thought leads her to wonder what is at the end of her own curse, what will happen to her life now that she chose protecting the Seelie over her own release. Though the party have cast spells and in Opie's case, utilized the darkness to make themselves invisible, the creature hears their approach. When it nears them, a foot long red forked tongue lolls out of its hungry, perverse mouth. It closes in for combat with tumbling, simian like acrobatics, swinging, vaulting, pounding its clasped hands and clawing.

Following this, the entire room is pulled into a fierce battle, the beasts turning from animal into demonic forms, cycling through bestial visages while one attempts to extend its tongue toward Dubhseoul, who blasts away with his spectral guns, knocking them back. Opie runs onto the pentacle, finding Rana in the guise of Veselona, holding Mercy and Conor to metal slabs with chains. He pockets a wicked looking whip and watches as Conor seemingly resists her charms but Mercy seems totally swayed. When Opie surprise attacks, Rana is stunned, and begins drawing life from Mercy's body, who, despite the pain, sees this leeching as necessary and good. When she takes more blows she vanishes to the vaporous ethereal plane, emerging only to shatter a red gem and call forth an immolating fire elemental that tumbles through the room, setting Prrhen on fire as she battles Pisacha and clambers toward the pentacle. Conor yells to the party to leave while they still can, that death is assured here. This sets of Rana who targets Conor's ego. "You fucked Titania to gain your powers of persuasion, didn't you! It wasn’t enough to be a bard on a stool at the Tanagra River inn, was it? She made sure you got your silver tongue!" hisses Rana from the ethereal plane. "You did the same to Broknir," Conor tells back. "Don't you say that name!" demands Rana, quaking. Conor strikes back, "I thought you were in love with Zaros now, or was it me? Or is it Mercy?" With this, Rana disrupts the stone ceiling, sending huge igneous slabs to fall from the top of the chamber, thundering down and sending the party running. As the battle rages, so too does their back and forth. "When Sinead disappeared you kept your mouth shut didn’t you! You never told anyone that you had a good idea why she went missing, why she in particular was wanted," yells Rana, who once again is unseen. A second slab of volcanic rock bursts from her dark command, shattering and falling toward you. The tower is seemingly rocking in its chains, pulled taught, the Missing feeling the sensation of being raised a bit from the ground, the steam now pouring through the tower. They hear the harsh, metallic sound of chains snapping and breaking both inside and outside of the tower. Conor says "I paid for that, I thought I lost her forever". "Well guess what, you did lose her!" Rana teases. Conor wonders what she means. As the party run from the boulders and try to single out the invisible succubus, Rana taunts "Titania wanted your daughter to take over for her fuck up husband huh? To keep the faerie courts going, to keep this pathetic magic alive, to keep the ley lines pulsing with life. But Oberon wasn’t about to let your family become royalty, was he? He knows you’re disgusting. You don’t think the faerie king himself was going to let you get away with that, do you?" The horror of her words dawns on Conor, who silently pulls at his chains as he watches the magma in the top of the tower slowly pour toward him. Meanwhile, Miles ends up in close quarters with the fire elemental, he too taking heat but extinguishing it with gallons of water called from his celestial druid origins, using his heavenly navigation to alter the elements and destroy the monstrosity. Dubhseoul blows the last Pisacha away and the party close in on Rana, who strikes repeatedly before turning herself into a Rafael, the beautiful male Naiad faerie that once helped distract the guards with a prismatic spray to allow Sinead to escape notice with the Missing. This "Rafael" beckons to Prrhen, telling her truths mixed with lies, pointing out the hellish environments and a need to cool off. Prrhen is swept off her feet, and Rana finds herself with two possessed Missing. Opie and Dubhseol, the last remaining, see through the ruse and attack Rana, who with one last extension of her arms causes a third layer of igneous rock to crumble from the third floor, this last burst detonating the tip, causing a blast of steaming lava to erupt as if the entire building were a volcano. The whole structure begins wobbling, thick clouds of smoke pouring through the interior, the walls shaking violently, the tower, having seemed poised to nearly lift off the ground is now barreling toward it, collapsing. Before she can escape, Opie strikes with his scimitar blade, the curved sword penetrating her body and transforming the watery form back to a sultry demoness, who is impaled, dying on his blade. Blood pours from Rana's mouth as the black-furred Tabaxi keeps his grip. All around, the tower begins to fall. Mercy and Prrhen's possession leaves their bodies like a great exhaling, consciousness returning to their minds, but Mercy and Conor remain locked on their stone slabs. Can the Missing escape before the abyssal pocket dimension collapses around them, ensuring an end to the band of adventurers that will likely never be seen or explained?

### 34. Later, Nerds

The abyssal stronghold unravels around the Missing as Conor thrashes in his chains, screaming at the Missing to "save themselves". Most of the party doesn't have to think twice, Prrhen misty stepping and evaporating away, Miles jumping like a frog, Dubhseoul charging for the exit, tasting the blood in his mouth. But Opie stays behind, lighting Rana's candle and seeing a similiar piercing light as the one in the lantern a floor down. He realizes he has to act quickly before he falls right into that floor, as the lava filled antechamber above leaks down, rocks falling, steam hissing, winds pushing them to and fro. Opie burns away Mercy's manacles, and the fighter shows a little of his own rare Mercy, helping to free Conor by pressing the flame to the basalt.

The floor caves in from underneath Miles, Dubhseoul and Prrhen, who go hurtling toward the lava bridge on the second level. Miles nearly topples into the magma, watching his life flash before his eyes. Mercy runs ahead and jumps into the hole, tumbling downwards and landing like an acrobat. Opie and Conor take the stairs, Opie thrusting himself over the bannister and hurting his ankle on the fall.

On the second level, steam pours forth and the floor gives out again, Mercy rolling out of the way just in time before being swept into the lava. Prrhen and Miles are left running an obstacle course, leaping upon volcanic rock and charging down the bridge before finally making it to the threshold. Meanwhile, Opie and Conor watch as the entire stronghold begins to give out above them. Another section of the bridge gives way and Conor falls into lava and is nearly killed before Opie grabs him, preventing full immersion. Conor, badly burned and injured, is pulled out of the stronghold at the last possible second, the fortress collapsing on itself and hurtling into the ground. The remaining swarms of vargouille scream and ascend the violent winds, the abyssal realm swirling, losing its shape.

Heroically, Opie emerges with Conor on the other side of the hearth, leaping through the glowing portal to find the realm closed off, the fireplace now left as just a fireplace. Conor is effusively thankful, but is immediately beset by the party's inquests, his temptation blamed for this brush with death. The Missing asks what he knows, and Conor claims he was emotional after Sinead being married away, that he considered sleeping with Rana but ultimately resisted. Rana charmed him anyhow, bidding him to return. He says he heard her speaking with the demon Vulgug during his capture, that Zaros wants them dead, that he wants them hunted until they no longer serve as an impediment to his goals. Conor says Vulgug is still in the city with Oberon in Eterna's Spire. Conor gets emotional, the full weight of Rana's words now coming to him, the bard realizing his raising of Sinead was a lie. He believes Oberon, who is said to live in the tower, must be getting Conor back for his tryst with his wife, Titania. Conor wants to know who the girl he raised really was, and where she is now. No one tells him anything. Prrhen and Dubhseoul needle him about his time in the feywild. Conor confesses he was a middling bard before he was promised his silver tongue from Titania in return for "a love that will bring new life to the courts". This phrase turned out to mean Titania wanted to conceive a child, just not with her ever-feuding husband, Oberon of the Spring Court. Titania's plot was to replace Oberon with another of her own blood, a successor. He is harangued by the Missing for his stupidity and betrayal, but Conor covers for himself saying that what he did, he did for Primrose, and moreover, the things that happened in the Feywild barely seemed real, so they didn't feel like they truly counted. Dubhseoul accuses him of being self serving, and suggests he stop defending himself.

After this dungeon, after the seduction of Conor, Miles, and Prrhen, the party find themselves still alive but with the specter of what could have happened had only a few more succumbed to Rana's charms. Opie returns to town, looking over his prized loot and meeting with Gregory Stock at the Pin-and-Thrum. Dubseoul resolves to take to Primrose Sound to do "Pirate shit." Prrhen returns to her family's home. Mercy heads to the Monastery of Seven Stars, and Miles goes back to the Tanagra Inn, hoping for rest but finding the opposite...

### 35. Eyes on Missing

With Rana dead, the Missing scatter throughout Primrose, hoping to find rest but finding true horror instead–in others, and in themselves. Dubhseoul returns to Primrose Sound as the day dawns to find that the other ships are not in port–only his Stormbringer is in harbor, and is being tended to by Nettle. The shadowfey ambassador is instructing Marten and the other faeries to clean the deck. Nettle hails the Marquis of the Unseelie court, and tells him that rumors have been swirling at the Inn, Vulgug, Baron Zaros’s foul toad-like henchman, is hunting the Missing. He came to the Tanagra River Inn and word is that he murdered someone, and that the body was taken to the monastery with a veil over its face. Nettle is frightened, saying that there are already signs there will be a crackdown on magic, on faerie folk. She suggests not waiting around for Vulgug to pick off the Missing one by one, to instead band together. She warns against pursuing Vulgug at all, arguing the party should bring Zaros’s possessions to Luneskip on the Equinox to find out Zaros’s location, then just sail into the Shadowfell and follow him to the source. Dubhseoul is exhausted and halts her, telling her he’ll need to think things through. Radiant Crusaders appear at the harbor and start eyeing the ship. Dubhseoul locks himself in the captain’s quarters for a drink.

Prrhen walks back to the Dernier house, a fragmented walk, as if she’s blinking every few feet, the sun dawning red and angry over her form. When she gets home, her head aches and she stares into the mirror, seeing her face like that witch like beast she saw in Rana’s stronghold, the Pusacha. As her tongue lolls out an image of Malise appears behind her. The witch thumbs at her eye hole chanting  “I’m still missing…I’m still missing Prrhen…are you? Are you still missing?”. Prrhen loses herself in the moment, striking at the mirror, beating it with her hands until they bleed. The Derniers dart out of bed and run to check on Prrhen, Sylvaine having been scared Prrhen had been killed. She recounts the rumor that there was an attack at Tanagra, saying that Vulgug even came to their home but was persuaded away by the farmhands Prrhen had been working with (Puddlejumper, Daenis, and Rafael). Though Sylvaine’s concerned for Prrhen’s present state she’s relieved to see her alive. Prrhen demands an explanation for her curse right then and there, and her mother, seeing the blood, having nearly lost her daughter again, begins weeping, telling her she did what she thought was right for her. Lucas expounds defensively, recounting that the family were once negotiators in a mercantile class back in Talim-owned Ericyes (said to be like Primrose in those days, independent, full of opportunity). The Derniers were responsible for orchestrating raw material trades for bridges, roads, construction projects. Lucas said the days were good then, with plentiful gold and without back breaking labor. When the Madness Wars caused displacement and turmoil in the Golden Plains, Amberhelm wanted a foothold at the border, and conquered Ericyes. The old Ericyen mercantile class was dissolved, leaving the family penniless. Sylvain was pregnant. The two fled the city and encountered the Grandmother, Baba Yaga, who offered a return of their previous station in life if only she could be the Grandmother of the child they bore. They agreed and the curse was given to Prrhen. Lucas points out that Baba Yaga made good on their deal, the Dernier status was restored in what seemed to be a second chance at life in Primrose, with gold coming in regularly, land and a home that they personally owned, and even lucrative deals like the Vaitarna dam construction. The latter of which Lucas points out no longer exists, but “the gold still does”. He defends himself further, stating that Prrhen’s miraculous powers that saved Sinead came from the deal, that her ability to have the time to read and educate herself came from a freedom from the labor she would have been resigned to as a pauper. Prrhen has had enough, and plucks out her father’s eye, putting it in a jar as the house erupts in screams.

Meanwhile, Miles returns to the Tanagra Inn itself. On the way, Conor accompanies him, asking if Opie is “always that way”, Miles asks, “What way? You mean a hero?”. Conor says that’s exactly what he means, that he could have died several times but Opie put his life on the line. He says he needs to make things right now, and hopes to visit his actual daughter. They get to Tanagra and find that the tavern has been closed, with all guests still kept indoors, being questioned now by guards. There is a struggle between Sir Ericius of the Primula Guard and Gallus Matho. Ericius is being ushered out while being told that the Radiant Crusaders are taking over the investigation. Miles cuts Ericius off and hears that the victim was Alduin Lorsan, father of Dakath, who is father of Rhys of the Malacoides. Alduin who was first seen at the playground those years ago, one of the only living people who saw Primrose from the beginning to present day. He fought to protect the inn while Vulgug struck, demanding to know where the Missing were. Gallus threatens Ericius again and the guard tells Miles to speak to Dakath. Gallus takes Mile aside, asks him why Vulgug is hunting them and apparently Sinead. He brings up the Malacoides, who he is suspicious of, saying he uncovered that Rhys had brought a faerie into the town and rumor has it the faerie is now missing. He also mentions Nettle and Prrhen, saying both appear to have potential links to the Feywild. Miles is not of much help, appearing as if he knows little. Gallus suggests Miles and Opie do “Prowler things” and gives them a tip that the Margraves are offering a job in Sable Ridge for adventurers that promises excitement and gold, and would get them out of the area. After that, they’d have enough gold to settle back into Morsus or whatever life they wanted. While he rants about faerie pacts being the original sin of Primrose, Miles talks to Dakath.

Dakath is heartbroken, his father dead, and Rhys, his son, apparently missing, and also wanted for questioning. Dakath says that the Missing defeating the Malacoides at the hunting match and the subsequent loss of Puddlejumper have demoralized them, and Rhys has something to prove. He’s worried the cocky half elf is going to get himself killed, and begs Miles to tell him if he hears of his son. Dakath says he concealed one thing from Gallus: that Vulgug said that if the Missing did not appear at Eterna’s Spire by midnight on the Equinox, he would start killing again. He kept this detail secret thinking it might cause the Crusaders to round the party up when they might be of help finding his son, and that he thinks the demon would likely kill regardless of its demands, reiterating the pathetic rage of the Nightfallen. Dakath says Vulgug is extremely powerful, that he slid through the door frame, disappearing and reappearing, always getting closer, covered in stench and bugs and burning and clawing till death overtook the patriarch of the family.

At the Monastery of the Seven Stars, Mercy returns to the Celestian followers with Broknir’s book in hand and a clear head. He evaluates what has happened, the mercy Prrhen showed him, the heroism of the Missing, and the power of seduction, a power that nearly took his free life. Mercy has a breakthrough, his obsession with Veselona coming back into control, his mood becoming more temperate. What more appropriate place than the monastery, one dedicated to the control of one’s passions? Unfortunately, this calm is interrupted by the arrival of Alduin Lorsan’s body, covered by a veil. Mercy, Gudoja, Eglantine, and Caethea sit under a green self-pollinating Alder tree, Gudoja paying his respects to a man he’s known for the better half of a millennium. “Alduin was a great hunter. The first winter in Primrose was brutal. Tensions were great, the seeds died in the earth, the snow fell in great heaps. He would walk into the Wood, full of its haunting, and emerge with plenty. Those heady days are centuries ago, he became a patriarch for the Malacoides, overseeing what his son Dakath had built, the Tanagra River Inn, living long enough to see Dakath’s son Rhys truly come into his own. He cast a long shadow. Think Rhys always wanted to be something like you ended up being, Mercy. Alduin was like that for this town, once.” When Mercy brings up Vulgug, it’s clear Gudoja and Caethea have seen the creature before, Gudoja explaining  “the beast that killed Alduin…he was there all those years ago during the Battle of Primrose, the town’s bloody infancy. Rana is still out there. Nathan Pince, the man put in charge of Miles Relief Act, his father, Victor is missing. Be careful. One day I was young like you, I learned to wield the Tonfa too, learned those techniques from the Empires of Stone. But those days ended. Quite literally, I put my weapon down. Dalmeny was here earlier–he too had to step away from the world after what happened. Perhaps you’re in our stead now. If the beast hunts you, it chooses poorly. I believe that if anyone could strike this beast down, it would be you and the Missing.” Mercy examines the body and finds burn marks, the face clawed and scorched, unrecognizable, the gaping wound festering with insects. Mercy seems to be so focused and invested despite his recent battles that he impresses Caethea, who says he reminds her of herself at that age. She worries for the town, worries for possession, saying the forced loss of self control isn’t just a demonic weapon,  “it’s faeries too. I was done with their world of oaths. Everything came at a price. They tried to talk me out of changing, Oberon himself met with me. I spent two centuries in prison with the Faerie King before I was believed. I know what it’s like to not fit in, everything a negotiation. If you find anything out about what they want from you, you can talk to me”. Mercy is confused by some of her words and thinks back over their meetings. He resolves to go after his own goals in earnest, toward the real Veselona, by making inroads with the Bastards guild.

Mercy heads to Primrose Sound, where the Radiant Crusaders are nearing the ship. The fighter

interrupts Dubhseol whose body and head are aching. Having just weathered Nettle’s immediate news and ideas, he now must pause his drinking to hear Mercy’s. Mercy thinks its time to put Stormbringer to the test, to head out on the waters of Repsor and engage in some piracy. Dubhseoul perks up and they agree to a gambit. After Mercy leaves, Dubhseoul sighs in relief and almost begins to relax when the Radiant Crusaders board the ship, demanding that Dubhseoul come down to the Inn for questioning. Nettle suggests that the ship be hidden in a secret location, a harbor at the edge of the wood once used for trips to Moondrift Isle. Dubhseoul gives up on rest and agrees, remarking that the days Stormbringer will be in a legal port are coming to an end.

The party reconvenes at the Tanagra River Inn. Gallus’s goons challenge Dubhseoul to explain his connection to Nettle, saying she stated she was an ambassador, yet none of the townsfolk seem to know from where. Dub shrugs them off, telling them that they simply are ignorant of her lands, and its not surprising they don’t know. Dub makes eyes at Faelynn, the bartender, who is also being questioned, and perceives a look of curiosity and interest. Prrhen is questioned by other crusaders, who say that there is no easy way to ask, but–what land is the Tiefling from? Prrhen laughs madly at them, daring them to accuse her of being a faerie, before ultimately intimidating them away. Gallus says enough is enough, the witnesses and Missing should go home now, and grab their belongings. He orders the Crusaders to stalk the streets, saying all fiends and faeries should be killed on sight, a statement that shakes the normally unflappable Miles. He also orders a detachment of Crusaders to get any information on the Nightfallen out of Aleyda. Faelynn says she has belongings in a suite upstairs and thinks Dubhseoul does too, “Don’t you Dubhseoul?”

“No,” negs the Pirate.

Just when the elf is about to give up, Dubhseoul goes to find whatever it is up there he needs. With the equinox coming soon, an active threat, and a town full of expectations and ideas of what the Missing should do, the frayed party find themselves once again united, though perhaps only by a common threat.

### 36. Blueprints

Having weathered the questioning of the Radiant Crusade, Mercy takes a break from copying Broknir’s poems and Dubhseoul says goodbye to his latest lover, Faelynn. The two climb aboard the Stormbringer with their crew of Marten, Nettle, Valeriana (the new cook of the ship), and the Shadowfey to take to the wine-dark sea of Repsor, parting the waves in the shadowy war frigate. Dub and Mercy ask Marten about Eterna’s Spire, hearing it’s a tower as old as Primrose, one that is shunned by the people. When Oberon was kicked out of the court it became a refuge for him and his growing lycanthrope army. It was there where Oberon raised his troops to kidnap Sinead, making a deal with the Queen of Air and Darkness and leaving the Spring Throne empty. Marten relates that their are five levels to the tower, a first floor with a ballroom, a second floor that looks down over the first, a third floor with guardrooms and chambers, and a top floor no one has seen. There is also a basement that he has seen little of, though there is an entrance to the Feywild there, one that is open during the equinoxes and solstices.

On the way, the sailors pass the Mistral, the Vesper, and the Salt Blossom, all occupying the waters between Primrose and Moondrift Isle. Apparently, these ships have been taking supplies from New Bethera to Primrose for the upcoming Mean Fomaire autumn festival, but the three seem to be in formation when the Stormbringer sees them on the horizon. Choosing not to get caught up during their heist, they speed past, arriving a few days later in the waters around New Bethera. Though defenses are up on the island (the scuttlebutt is that Talimish Pirates have been raiding ships departing for Maraport and Ethergaarde for their own harvest festivals) the Stormbringer comes into port and draws attention from a Crystal Company merchant vessel. Dubhseoul effortlessly charms the opposing crew with the help of Nettle while Mercy uses his speed and cunning to move box after box of expensive tools and spices aboard the Stormbringer. When the ship gets back to town, the goods are moved quickly and easily, with Primrose citizens eagerly buying the masterwork spoils to dial up the quality of the upcoming festivities. Dubhseoul and Mercy make the largest sum of gold they’ve seen yet, beating the odds of being discovered by guards. Dubhseoul hands out vast payments to the crew, who express their loyalty and belief in this new chapter of the Bastards.

In the meantime, Prrhen trains with a lieutenant of the Primula Guard, the high elf former Amberhelmian gladiator, Flore Lecroy. Within the training area of the barracks, Prrhen is stretched to her limits learning up close combat. Though she still has work to do perfecting her goals, Prrhen finds the training a good outlet for the pain and aggression surging through her, and so does Flore, who is finding her authority increasingly questioned by Radiant Crusaders. In the evenings, Prrhen studies at the monastery, taking an interest in the subject of astral projection.

Miles spends this strange, eye of the storm time of his life walking the outskirts of the Wood, looking for rare plants. Though his efforts are fruitless, he does come upon a strange sight. One day, he finds tracks along some wild garlic. Following deeper into the poplars he emerges into a grove, a circle, a hallowed ground, all around as rain falls there is an emerald glow on the faces of a circle of Primrose citizens. Rilisafel, Drislynn, Harkle, and a man he’s never seen before are joined in a chant in druidic tongue: “immortal amarant, a flower which once In paradise, fast by the tree of life, Began to bloom; but soon for man's offense to heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows, and flowers aloft, shading the fount of life, And where the river of bliss through midst of heaven Rolls o'er elysian flowers her amber stream: With these that never fade the spirits elect Bind their resplendent locks…” the group go on until Miles interrupts, the half-elf halfling wondering what the group are up to. Drislynn, a shopkeep at the Pin-and-thrum, says they are members of the ancient Amaranth Druidic Circle, an order formed from the very dawn of Amathara. She says she’s worried for the state of Amatharan magic, that the Radiant Crusade has little patience left for powers outside their own imperial force. Rilisafel tells Miles she has taken his words to heart, that she’s stayed safe by accepting that her want to visit Titania was something she should let go. After all the rumors, and witnessing Vulgug’s attack, Rilisafel says she realizes why Conor, Dalmeny, Gudoja, and Eglantine preach the control of the passions over the raw magic of the feywild. She sees the danger inherent in getting too close. Miles listens intently and is honored when he is let in on this secret gathering, and in return tells the group of the friendly nearby village of Vorel’thel, saying that with a simple gift the locals are likely to allow them to practice their beliefs unchallenged if things truly start going downhill in Primrose for magic-users.

The other member of the Morsus Prowler clan, Opie, goes to the Pin-and-Thrum the following morning. Here, the Gregor Stock, Harkle, Drislynn, and Sauvage are being lambasted by Radiant Crusaders led by Gallus Matho. Gallus is disgusted by the alchemical ooze, Euky, and want to know where Harkle and Drislynn were the other night. Gregor defends their silence, stating that the Pin-and-thrum was set up by their own ancestors and have helped Primrose flourish, that their direct kin participated in the battle of Primrose that even made the town possible. Gallus switches subjects, bringing up that Dakath said Rhys had bought a sword from the shop, a magic blade. Gregor says it was a mild magic and that Rhys had no complaint about it, and retorts that Gallus and the Crusaders don’t seem to have as many questions about how they get their cold iron for their walls and blades. “Your days in Primrose are limited. We are tying up loose ends now.” Gallus ominously threatens. Gallus tells Opie he’s better off leaving town and making money in Sable Ridge, and leaves. Opie sells the treasures he has, making gold for the party.

Back in town, Opie gathers information in Primrose, trying to find anyone who knows anything about Vulgug who would be willing to talk. He’s able to find two sources: Gudoja, though generally not speaking about the Battle of Primrose, relates that Vulgug “is covered in a stench unlike any I’ve ever smelled, it lingers, you never forget it. He can move through mere slits, murderholes, spaces in doors, but he’s not actually invisible. He’s two dimensional. If he attacks again he becomes three dimensional but he’s especially vulnerable to that first attack, his whole body slowed. Make it count.” Opie visits the town Barracks, finding Aleyda, the pickpocket turned Nightfallen cultist. Aleyda says that Vulgug can “summon another demon but it only lasts so long” she also warns that “being such a foul, smelly beast, it makes him immune to poison, but I saw him walk through cold, fire, and lightning like it was hardly anything”. She thinks that if its true the Nightfallen have entered Eterna's Spire, it will likely be their territory before long. Vulgug is stupid and brutal, and is willing to do any level of harm to secure territory.

Finally, the party reconvene at the Tanagra River Inn and spend a night devising plans. They turn over the gold Glamour rings in their hands, the rings of Lusertine and Goldmount, of Dalmeny’s first kingdom and Zaros’s first kingdom, respectively. They think of their abilities to disguise themselves, their increasingly illicit magic, and their timeline. They are wanted on the Equinox, but know well that the door of Eterna’s Spire opens every full moon, a few days before this next dawning of autumn. They also consider handing themselves over early, pondering ways to trick whatever Nightfallen aligned agents are inside of letting them in. During this process, they seek the help of Puddlejumper. Unlike Nettle, who thinks Vulgug should be left in the dust, Puddlejumper wonders what has happened to the traitor Oberon, that a clue may be there. She says it’s impossible that Oberon willingly helped the Nightfallen, that the Nightfallen manipulated him during the Battle of Primrose and everyone suffered as a result. She thinks he must still be in there, but under threat from Vulgug. Prrhen pulls strings, reminding Puddlejumper she put off dispelling her own curse to help the Seelie Court marry Daenis to Emperor Adrian Khraba. When Puddlejumper hears the party may try to save people before more killings are made, she jumps instantly to their side, stating she could use her clairvoyance to spy within the walls of the tower. Puddlejumper also notes that "though Vulgug is big and strong he's a bootlicker", pointing out that this sergeant of the Nightfallen is at his core a sycophant. The party spend the rest of the night sketching, talking, arguing, drawing up blueprints. The time is nigh. The moon waxes.

### 37. Rana's Ruse

(AKA Two Invisibility People, A Demon, and A Druid Walk into a Bar)

The full, bright moon of Eterna shows her spectral light upon the city, seeping into the near-autumn night air, touching down on the old mill, the ruins of the Bernard Family farmhouse, pooling in its burned fields, spilling onto the metallic rooftops of Dalmeny manor, on the opalescent surface of the Pin and Thrum, shining off of the moon ornament at the apex of Eterna’s Spire, beaming down the crowded corridors of the market, the alleys of Primrose Sound. The harvest moon is so bright it’s almost electric, giving extra time for the farmers to finish their days, including those paving the way for the new Missing Manor. Eterna, in her fullness, renders the town in luminous pastels, capturing the vivid colors of fall, from the bright foliage to the atmosphere, the profiles and outlines growing softly in moon glow, apple-crisp air tinged with an element otherworldly, or perhaps, worldly but alluding to an ancient magic, from a time when Amathara was a different place. A howl fills the air, echoing through the streets.

The Missing sit in a room in the Tanagra River Inn, with Puddlejumper taking the form of Artie Fischel the sailor to get there undetected. From the room, Puddlejumper unwraps two objects: a jeweled horn and a glass eye. The latter sends shivers down Prrhen's spine. It looks quite similiar to the eye of malise, an expertly fey crafted prosthetic. But unlike Malise's, this eye has no worm wriggling with in it. It turns out these are components for Puddlejumper's clairvoyance spell. The pixie explains that she'll have a short window of time to surveil Eterna's spire, and that she can both see and hear, but not simultaneously, and only once per sense. The Missing discuss strategy and decide to hear before seeing, and use Marten's description to guide Puddlejumper's magic sensor to the second floor of the Spire, at the top of the staircase. Puddlejumper puts the jeweled horn to her ear and the component disintegrates into glitter in her hand, the sound of instruments tuning fills the room. Discordant scales run up the walls, violin strings grow tauter, a quartet of instruments caterwaul in a disharmonious warm-up. The eerie sound is punctuated by moans and scraping. A female voice is heard "No, no..." then silence. Terrified, Puddlejumper leaves the sensor going at the behest of the party, hearing a male voice saying "if you want to live, talk to him." The party identify the voice as Rhys's, but are unsure of the others. After this, the party switches to sight, the glass eye disintegrating in Puddlejumper's hand. An image of a gallery overlooking the Great Hall of the spire appears, a minstrel gallery. A quartet of fungi-covered zombies are preparing their instruments while Eveline from the Malacoides hides behind a plant. On the wall of the gallery are shields emblazoned alternatively with the sigils of Primrose and the Unseelie Court. Huge cold iron slabs block the view of wherever Rhys was speaking from. The zombies scrape across the ground when the party notice another detail: the stairs leading up to the third level have a massively muscled werewolf perched on them, seemingly looking over the slabs at whatever unseen and unheard conflict is happening there. Then, everything goes dark.

Puddlejumper realizes she has triggered Prrhen's memories with the component, and promises to find a way to get her eye back. Prrhen has an idea, reaching into her jar of alchemical embalming fluid and extracting the now petrified human eye of her father, Lucas. She suggests using the object as a replacement. Puddlejumper thinks this is perfect but is disgusted by the object, saying it looks more like something Muckskull would like. She carefully puts the eye away, and invites the missing to the Feywild for the Mean Fomaire festival. She warns that Oberon's jealousy and feuds with Titania make him dangerous, but if she had to guess, the true danger is from Baron Zaros. Prrhen tells her she wants nothing more to see her in the Feywild, and the pixie bids the party adieu.

Following this, the party arrives at Eterna's Spire, finding the portcullis open at the tower, the wolf mouth portal open, snarling. First, Prrhen makes Mercy and Opie invisible and the two sneak around, finding murderholes above the entrance and a dusty mirror. Briefly, they consider going into the basement of the dungeon, but Mercy reconsiders when he sees a thick coat of mist appearing at the bottom of the staircase. They find a side room with a door that's been nailed shut. It's filled with rats. Opie and Mercy spot a bright light up in the rafters but choose to leave the room before they made any more noise. They see Aaron of the Malacoides in an adjoining kitchen, swearing about Rhys's apparently backfired plan. Aaron's skin is sickly and grey and he has cuts all over his body. In an adjacent hallway they find exsanguinated meenlock faeries, their insect like corpses littering the stone. The Great Hall lies ahead. Mercy throws a stone to signal the party in.

Prrhen channels the magic of her patron, Baba Yaga, and transforms her appearance, taking on the seductive and demonic visage of Rana. She leads Miles forward, who Mercy has given his pair of broken manacles. Miles holds them behind his back to pretend as if he has been captured. Mercy and Opie lurk on the stairs while "Rana" calls out loudly, announcing she's made a capture. The sound of horse hooves comes from below. A creature makes its way up the staircase completely unseen. Opie and Mercy quickly move out of the way and the invisible demon, confused, listens to Rana brag about capturing Miles. "What happened to the other Missing?" When Prrhen says they're still at large, the demon believes her words but can see Mercy and Opie sneaking, figuring they are mounting a counterattack. The demon alerts "Rana" that the Missing are in fact present, warning her to take cover. A fight breaks out, the huge, invisible creature attacking again and again, biting at Mercy and even taking a mouthful of stone at one point when the fighter dodges out of the way. Opie deftly ducks under the portcullis and Mercy issues his tonfa, but find it difficult to get many hits in. Rana and Miles, not wanting to blow their cover, refrain from attacking. When the situation begins to look dire, Miles hides behind Prrhen and casts dispel magic, breaking the demon's powerful invisibility. In front of them is a nine foot tall, muscular, canine-like demon with one eye and horse hooves, the Psoglav. From here, the battle rapidly turns, the ranger and fighter lighting into the beast. In the middle of the fight, Rana abruptly announces "I have business to attend to" and takes off into the great hall. The Psoglav is slain by Mercy while Prrhen walks into the Great Hall, a huge room for entertainment, festooned with the heraldry of both the Unseelie and Primrose courts. The string quartet in the gallery jumps to life, the zombies playing a frantic tune as four shadows take to dancing. One holds out its hand to Prrhen for a dance, who says "I have no time for dancing". The shadow, dejected, shrugs its shoulders and moves along. Prrhen picks up a Seelie Key in the rubble as Mercy rushes into the room, striking at the shadow with his tonfa.

### 38. No Mercy

The mold zombie string quartet pick up a frantic pace as Prrhen and Miles climb the stairs to the second floor, peering at the balcony, seeing cold iron walls blocking the south side of the chamber, and Eveline of the Malacoides struggling to conceal herself behind a plant. Below, Opie moves unseen in the dark entrance hallway, and Mercy finds himself surrounded by shadows who are no longer dancing. Shadows who are grasping, reaching, getting closer...

Just before, only a block away, Dubhseoul is at a table in the barracks, his mother and Captain Voss at the head of the table. Flore Lecroy and Sir Ericius, Primula guard leaders, are once again pushed back as Gallus Matho and his radiant crusaders take to questioning him. Voss criticizes Dubhseoul, says the New Betheran pirate was too busy insulting him to notice that the Captain recognized the ship from an old naval book in the monastery, a ship known as *The Moondrift,* Dalmeny's ship that was supposedly sunk and destroyed during the traumatic Battle of Primrose, the event that the town appears to have forgotten, or at least tried to forget. Dubhseoul pointedly rejects the questioning, giving no information. Matho wants to know why Conor is so hard to be found, why rumors are that he is trying to leave town, why he seems so positive about the Missing. Dubhseoul argues that Matho just thinks New Betherans all stay together. He also asks about Nettle and where she and the ship are, trying to attack Dubhseoul's pride by saying the shadowfey is taking his own ship for a joyride. All attempts fail, and Gallus Matho promises to get to the bottom of the situation. Fionnula jumps to her son's support in the end, saying it appears he is not responsible for Vulgug's attack, and New Betherans tend to feud with one another anyway so if he has business with Conor, the crusaders should pick up with him. The warlock of the Raven Queen is released into the streets, dashing to Eterna's Spire.

When Dubhseoul runs in, Prrhen and Miles have reversed course, running now toward the basement, toward Vulgug. Prrhen realizes she's dressed as Rana and hurriedly covers up as she charges down the steps. Meanwhile, the shadows converge on Mercy, who feels their eerie cold, their touch from beyond the grave. The first hit saps his strength, his muscles growing lax, his body feeling weak, his skin growing pale, almost translucent...Across the room, the shadows zoom, disappearing from one spot and appearing in another, right by Mercy, surrounding, threatening. They descend on him, sapping the last of his strength, eating away at the fighter's thin body until he himself is slain, and begins fading away to the Shadowfell. Dubhseoul shouts to grab the body as the shadows pour out into the hallway. Opie strikes from his unseen spot, delivering scimitar blows and decimating some of these murderous apparitions. The string quartet stops playing music, scraping being heard from above while Dubhseoul's spectral gift rings out, the pistol killing more of the shadows.

Down the cellar steps, Prrhen is covered in mist. She begins transforming, her snout elongating, her teeth growing sharp. She sees hair sprouting up. Soon, she'll be a werewolf. Before the spell can take effect, Prrhen casts protection from good and evil, dispelling the effect. The mist passes her, moving up the steps. Prrhen goes the opposite direction as Rana, running into the cellar, then the Chapel of the Moon, finding an altar with a depiction of Eterna, the huntress, the moon goddess, with an inscription:

ETERNA

*Courts linked in paradox, tough, true grip to never falter*

*On a solstice or an equinox, come to skip upon the altar*

Prrhen does a dance on the altar as Rana, but seeing that the equinox is still a few days away, there is no effect. She hears Vulgug right through the wall, telling a screaming man he's going to "lower him now". While shouts ring out, Prrhen runs back to the staircase, but the mist has already seized Miles, who is turning into a wererat. Before his full transformation, Prrhen hits the mist with an eldritch blast, dissipating it. Miles is released, but the wild magic has mutated him, leaving him with a tail. The last of the shadows converge on Dubhseoul, sucking his strength out. Aaron, his feuding stepbrother, member of the Malacoides and Mistral sailor, joins the fight. Finding his courage, the adventurer fires a flintlock pistol, damaging the shadow while Dubhseoul finishes off the final one.

After this tragedy, this surprise attack turned fatal, the Missing realize they must regroup and go about the battle in another way. Dubhseoul conjures a spirit to grab Mercy's corpse, knowing he has little strength left to pull the fighter. The Missing dart out through the wolf's head portcullis of Eterna's Spire, knowing Vulgug's ultimatum draws nigh.

### 39. Caethea's Son

The Missing walk toward the Temple of Istus, a tower both great and drab, fateful and commonplace, holding the body of a young man that was raised within its walls. Prrhen walks thorugh the gardens she helped cultivate, seeing the process of growth she began. She clutches the staff she built under the tutelage of Eglantine, who is at the temple when the party enter. The fate priestess is busy arranging Alduin’s funeral. The moon hangs over the stained glass, its harvest amber light streaking in, filtered, its permutations of grace upon the altar.

When Gudoja, Caethea, and Eglantine see the Missing enter, and see the body, they rush ahead, as if there is something to be done. Eyes closing behind her mask, Eglantine places her hand on Mercy’s chest.

“Sonnik…” she says in her steely voice, one that resolutely resists outward emotion. “Vulgug?”

Caethea breaks down sobbing. “This, this is my fault”

“We have been speaking about Alduin, weighing the option of using the most powerful magic available for us to bring him back. Perhaps with Alduin returned, Gudoja could retrieve his ancient weapon from the feydark, and we could do battle with Vulgug just as we did centuries ago”

“Those days are over, Eglantine. Your ancestor fought well, so did Alduin, Dalmeny, and Gudoja. But we have all aged, all of us but Gudoja only have so long. Bringing Alduin back would mean bringing a frail old man to fight after he’s already died a hero. Cursing him to see what’s happened to his grandson, what’s happened to his guild, the Malacoides. Let him rest. We should…we should use the tapestry of fate to bring back someone whose fate has yet to be realized. We should use the tapestry to bring Mercy back”

“Mercy? Sonnik…if we don’t raise Alduin, we should save the tapestry in case Zaros kills Dalmeny,”

“How would that not be exactly the same? Dalmeny nearly died this year, Nightfallen in his own ranks poisoning him, weakening him”

“But you’d have us use Istus’s divine will on Mercy…are you so sure his soul is willing to return to Amathara? A place that has shown him turmoil his whole life? He came to us down the river Tanagra, his arrival in the world marking how he was disowned. He was always on the brink, getting himself into trouble maybe because of it. The teachings of Istus had little sway, it is said he was the first to dive into the Feywild, why is it you think it was he who perished while the rest of the Missing are here? He has fought to save the town before but he has demons. He’s never been the same after Veselona left. She was half of him.”

“We can make him whole.”

“How? How can you make someone who has suffered like him whole?”

“By telling him the truth. By giving him the whole tapestry of his suffering so that he can understand it. That’s what the tapestry of fate was about, right? Every blade of grass, every tree in the wood stitched delicately, but did you stop when you got to the monastery of the far wanderer? Where the blood was shed? Where the faerie and mortal worlds split apart? That wound? No, you stitched it too.”

“Then how do you stitch this? A man’s heart”

“An Eladrin’s heart. My son’s heart. Yes, Mercy is my son. I…suspected it ten years ago when we were in the manor courtyard, speaking with you after you first saved Sinead. I said that he was an Eladrin with winter’s heart, just like me. This year I grew to know Mercy even better, told him a few times how he reminded me of someone. When we last spoke, he seemed so determined, so pugnacious and temperamental, he reminded me of myself at that age…I should have said it then, what i knew. When I was imprisoned in Eterna’s Spire with Oberon, he…his magic was hard to resist. When I finally got out I knew Oberon had taken to the place, he was hiding out from Titania, hatching his schemes, knowing he’d be replaced. Titania had a changeling baby she was raising, he was jealous, bored. I’d…visit him. It seemed safe. He wasn’t really an active member of the court anymore, I thought I could use him, use his weakness. Perhaps I was the weak one. I…succumbed to his charms. 9 months later, Sonnik, Mercy, was born. Titania found out. She whisked him away…I always assumed…I always assumed she had killed him. It’s what made me take even greater strides in keeping the faerie world at bay. But through some twist of fate he was put on the river, and before he could drown or make his way down to Amberhelm, your priestesses found him here. Mercy is the product of the faerie king and I, the feywild’s most infamous traitors in one way or another”

“We need more than just the tapestry, we’ll need a gem of considerable value”

“I’ll get that for you.,”

“Your broach is gone. It was given away”

“Then I’ll sell my things, my land, my title. I’ll wake Remy and buy his most valuable gem at market. It’s time to make things right”

“Very well. We haven’t much time. He will fade to the shadowfell soon, he’ll meet Zaros in death”

Upstairs, babies are tended too, newborns cared for by the Weavers who double as midwives of the town. Eglantine warns the women in the temple that they should stay within its walls while they recuperate, the streets aren’t safe with Vulgug around.

When the party gets together for the resurrection, they see bright waves of golden light emerging. The Incolore each hold a corner of the tapestry, the woven work of the Istus midwives, who watch with bright eyes from the shadows. Caethea’s gem is placed on Mercy’s chest with a layer of gauze over it, Eglantine begins chanting, a censer burning fragrant incense rocking on a chain above. The weavers play a solemn hymn on woodwinds. The gem begins to liquify, and slowly, the red drops begin soaking into mercy’s flesh, into his heart. The tapestry of Primrose begins to unspool, threads pulling apart, the massive images of Eterna’s spire, Dalmeny’s Manor, The monastery of the seven stars, the monastery of the far wanderer, all the colors coming undone, the work becoming unstructured, individual strings burning away in holy light. A  golden halo surrounds Mercy’s body. The semi-translucence of his skin gives way to pallor, then unmistakably, his skin begins to flush, giving a warm-blooded, healthy look, the last beads of liquid dripping into his flesh. With a start, Mercy coughs, his body spasming, rising at the middle, as if his heart was pulling him upwards, strings of fate pulling him back to Amathara, back to Primrose, back to the Missing.

After Mercy is raised, he recuperates while Caethea confesses to the party.

“What I am about to tell you is something I’ve sworn to secrecy in front of Dalmeny as a condition of my escape from the tower. But you have suffered enough. I am ready for whatever consequence comes to me of telling you the truth, never again shall I hold my tongue when fate reaches out and beckons for a response. The original wound of Primrose was struck long before its creation. It was whatever separated Zaros and Dalmeny, the strife that led to the end of Lusertine and Goldmount, and eventually all seven of the Golden Plains kingsdoms, the mass violence we call the Madness Wars. The violence was recursive, with the Battle of Primrose a second salvo, in miniature. This time, a war in secret. Most who know of it, who are still alive now have lost memories or at least tried to lose them of the Battle, but Oberon knows. Dalmeny was in love with the Queen of Air and Darkness. The fey, once united, all together, lived in a primordial place, where life first started in Amathara, the court of stars. When the split between Dalmeny and Zaros happened, it somehow involved Titania and Mab as well, they fought just as the brothers did, and the court of stars was largely abandoned. Dalmeny escaped to the windswept coast with the survivors of Lusertine and found Primrose and sought to marry Queen Mab on Moondrift Isle, taking the Moondrift, his ship, back to Primrose. But the ship was attacked, machinations of his brother, Zaros, who had taken his survivors of Goldmount and dehumanized them, working with an archmage named Valxun to break them into malleable cultists. The day of the wedding, Mab was set-up, and blamed her lover: Dalmeny was branded as an oathbreaker, and ended up fighting the very woman he loved in this Battle of Primrose in the Monastery of the Far Wanderer. I broke from the ranks as a traitor to help Dalmeny, while Broknir, his poet and defender, broke from his to seek fey power. Many monks were killed, the monastery was destroyed, and when the dust settled, Zaros and his Nightfallen were pushed back and made a treatise with Dalmeny, and the battleground became a cursed place in the wood, a crossing to the Shadowfell itself. Primrose started in this darkness, a refuge from a world that had taken Dalmeny’s kingdom and nearly deprived him of his second, he learned that the passion of love had led to these bloody places. The fey learned the opposite lesson, of the coldness of humanity, its ugliness, its two-facedness, its oathbreaking, its essential lack of beauty. In a way, it re-solidified the relationship between Mab and Titania–though they’ll always struggle against each other they imposed limits, worked with the primordial embodiment of the wood itself, the Green Knight, to establish the green chapel to resolve disputes between the Feydark and the Feywild. They created the Dreamhouse, a place of pure creative energy that bound together the fey crossings to act as a portal, so that all fey goings-on could be accessed by the archfey. They built the spring court in the wood to renew this magic every year, the magic that sustains every witch and wizard in Amathara. Oberon was supposed to protect that. He didn’t.

Zaros had no intention of keeping to the treatise. He waited for years for his revenge, Valxun died and he raised him as a lich. He and Valxun took destructive courses, Valxun creating disease and the harbinger of Nightfall, summoning a devil in Ethergaarde before being slain by a group of adventurers. Zaros knew he needed more powerful magic, a more powerful summoning. He wanted what Dalmeny could never have, the power of the fey court itself, the ley lines of magic running in everything. He contacted the hags that had fallen out with the fey, manipulated them to get to Oberon. I was..I was there when he came to the tower. He used Malice’s favor, as he was oathbound, and told Zaros of Sinead.. When the deed was done and his charm wore off, Malice fought him in the tower, he cut her eye out. I think it was all.. What Zaros wanted was to get in the dreamhouse. He knew great magic was contained within, that he could cut Dalmeny off from any fey defense and take the magic himself. You stopped him, so he went down a course even worse than anyone imagined..he took to the dark opposite of the fey realms. Where the feywild has an ecstatic life to them, a more-than-life quality, a burbling over of passion, he went to the shadowfell, a place of trauma, coldness, death, the afterlife, the underworld. A place only accessed by the deepest of underdark chambers and places of immense emotional turmoil. He is undoubtedly suffering now, blaming you, you stopped him from having his pawn, from having Sinead as a key to that world. He likely figures that those years ago you weren’t there on accident, you were Dalmeny’s child soldiers. Dalmeny would never have such a thing, but to Zaros the concept is sadly not foreign. The strange thing is, no one knows what the original wound was that started all of this, and Dalmeny never mentioned it."

With this, Caethea promises to aid the party and wishes them well. Opie stalks the streets while Mercy recovers, looking at Eterna's Spire, hoping to find a place to stage an ambush for when Vulgug emerges on Mean Fomaire, the autumn festival. When he does this, he sees Rhys emerging from the tower, the Thirsting Thorn sword of Zaros at his side (the one Opie sold to the pin and thrum), a dead meanlock in his arms, and violence in his eyes. Rhys points at the tabaxi and says "I know who you are, I know who the Missing are. And Oberon? He won't be bothering anyone again". He vows to speak to Gallus Matho. Opie scans the area outside the tower and formulates an attack.

After two days of recovery, Mercy is woozy but in better spirits and the party are rejuvenated. They stage an ambush outside the spire, and when Vulgug emerges the fight instantly erupts into chaos, with waves of stench, insects, and two-dimensional tricks coming the party's way. Prrhen is nearly knocked out but sacrifices her robe to knock the beast backward, using her warlock powers to push him even farther while Opie comes at him with flailing scimitars. After this, the party end up forcing Vulgug into two dimensions, with Prrhen outlining him in faerie fire. He charges ahead, passed Mercy, badyly wounded, into the tower.

### 40. Vulgug Slain

The party chase Vulgug into Eterna's tower, pursuing the toadlike demon by instinct alone. Mercy and Opie luck out, finding the toad in the cellar, lashing out with fiery strikes and teeth and claws, bellowing for Rana. Mercy keeps mostly to the stairs while Opie takes the fight to the beast, shrugging off flame strikes and dodging attacks while backing him closer and closer to his torture chamber. Above, Prrhen and Miles are cut off by a group of wererats and a werebat that try in vain to push them out of the twoer, falling victim to starform strikes from the druid and eldritch blasts from the warlock. At long last, the first floor lycanthropes and the cellar demon are slain, Vulgug's corpse burning away into a foul smelling goo, his soul tossed into the relentless seas of the abyss. The party do a quick investigation, finding a torture chamber with three pits, one filled with spikes, one with electrified water, and one with a sentient goo. In the middle one, they find the half-dissolved body of Victor Pince, the tax collector, currently being devoured. Victor Pince was last spotted leaving the Mill with Gwenelle Dameret after a rowdy night with Rana and Georges Rouges. The screams Prrhen heard when she was in the Chapel of the Moon must have belonged to Victor, but now it's too late.

When the party investigate the lycanthropes, they find that these slain moon-beasts originated in the boarded-up room at the top of the cellar stairs. They investigate the bright light in the rafters, finding a hidden room. When they enter, they see a glass wall at the far end. Behind the wall is a shelf with two potions, one labeled “Greater Restoration” one “Etherealness”. Behind the shelf is what appears to be a well. On the glass wall itself, in the center, is a triangle of 120 keyholes surrounded by beautiful decorative engravings. There are four clamps fastening the triangle to the glass wall.

### 41. Meán Fómhair

Having defeated the Hezrou demon Vulgug, the sergeant of Baron Zaros's Nightfallen, the Missing conclude the tower should be their playground now. They find little on the corpses of their foes, but do examine the torture chamber in the dungeon of the tower, finding the half-dissolved body of tax collector Victor Pince in the bottom of a pit. The noble, father of Nathan Pince of the Monastery of Celestian, last seen outside of the Mill on the night the party went after Rana, is being devoured by a sentient slime. The party find electrified waters and spikes in the other pits along with winches used to suspend bodies over the torture devices. Prrhen remembers the shouts of a man and the sound of the winch the last time she was in the dungeon: when she attempted to skip upon Eterna's altar. This time, the party concludes the altar should work as a way into the Feywild, as it is Meán Fómhair, the autumn equinox. Mercy and Prrhen are the first to skip upon the altar, and feel a cold rush as a swirl of psychedelic colors envelop them. They vanish from sight.

Meanwhile, Opie and Dubhseoul do a little investigating of their own, Dubhseoul going back up the stairs to examine the puzzle, finding that he can unlock one of four latches on Eterna's Triangle. His other attempt fails, and the door in front of the well, behind the glass wall, gets closer to the floor. He hears commotion downstairs and rushes into the basement to find a classic cat and mouse scenario, with Opie rushing through rooms as a temporarily blinded cockatrice desperately tries to regain its sight to turn Opie into a statue. It nearly succeeds, but the two are able to dice and shoot the bird into a pile of feathers. Following this, they take a look for more keys, decided the Seelie Key must not be the only key the triangle requires. They're right: but they find it in a room with Xago, the half-orc brawler of the Malacoides. Xago is remorseful, mentioning the downfall of his party while the Missing have risen in stature. He tosses a coin into the well behind him and transforms into a huge werewolf, battling the two Missing until they put the dog down. Another ancestral victory for the tabaxi, and a close-call for Dubhseoul who takes a bite but fights off disease.

Following this, the party enter through the altar, a two-way portal to the phantasmagoric Green Chapel. The battle that enveloped Primrose all those years ago led to the sanctification of this ground, a place to keep the faerie courts in peace and prevent the outbreak of further war. Here, a desperate diplomatic struggle is taking place. The Spring Court, the source of Amathara's arcane magic and natural renewal, stands open, and neither side can agree on a rightful heir. The Seelie Troupe led by Heathplume argue they spent years raising an heir and she was stolen from them, while the Unseelie say it's their own fault, that they fell victim to natural struggle and Dubhseoul's Marquis status proves even some of the Missing, their link to the material world, are in agreement. The Seelie counter with giving Prrhen marquis status along with the eye of Malise, Prrhen's token. Not able to resolve their dispute, the Green Knight assures them it won't matter if external threats prevent the courts from putting any heir up, so the faeries turn to the true struggle at hand: whether Amberhelm or Zaros will prove to be the greater threat. The Unseelie see Zaros as an already-defeated coward with defeated allies whose group already lost at Nightfall, and use this as an excuse for their manipulation of Sinead. Kidnapping her, they worked out a deal and made her oathbound to the Unseelie, getting information on the group. They assure that the marriage to Sinead is just the beginning of eventual annexation of Primrose, which will mean domination of the region. They have a disgust toward magic and blame Amatharic magic for the perversion of Skipta, a lord in the north who turned Nightfallen. They say Sinead has leaked them military secrets, and with a training ground back in their possession they can disrupt Amberhelm and preserve the needed neutrality of Primrose. They beg the party to help them eradicate a fallen fairy who has taken the area, apparently a poet, a defector from Dalmeny who still has a legendary weapon Prior Gudoja dropped while battling him back.

The Seelie on the other hand, say all of this won't matter if Zaros goes through the underworld, the Shadowfell, the realms of death and completes a summoning that will effectively end all of Amathara. His all-consuming hate has grown to the point of utter nihilism. They ask the party to give Luneskip a possession of Zaros's, so the fairy can track Zaros down and see what he's doing. They also want representation of their troupe if Nettle is within Primrose. Prrhen asks for a whole troup but ends up with Puddlejumper, who gladly endeavors to balance the scales. The party agree to give Luneskip Zaros's journal, and Luneskip succeeds on his scry attempt, using the Shadowfell lands taken by Bogflit to track Zaros to the bleak Underdark city of Al-Draghazar, a place of drow and shadow elves. They see Zaros gathering components, indeed attempting a summoning. Shaken by the Seelie's correct pick, the fairies see the twin threats facing them more clearly. The Missing talk amongst themselves, they bring up Oberon's failure to secure the throne and wonder about what he knows. They agree to clear the training ground for the Unseelie, then remerge in Amathara for a better look at Eterna's Spire before heading on to fight Zaros directly.

## Book Four: Abeying

### 42. Broknir the Formorian

The Missing depart for the Stonegleam Stream. On the way, Prrhen catches a glimpse into the copse of trees where Baba Yaga's hut was, but there is only darkness. A chill comes over her. They take the boat to the Gemstone Rift, where they see the Temple Glassglint ahead, the base of operations for Luneskip's Unseelie troop. They follow the rift instead, toward the phosphorescent pinks of the formorian ground, the strange glowing habitat Opie saw in his youth when he went off the beaten path. It was here that he saw cyclops slaves laboring away, and still, to this day, it is a place of these one-eyed giant servitors, breaking rocks and grunting. The Missing run into Xeer, the Derro they have twice saved, who warn of a deformed giant who stays hidden ahead, one of malicious intent that rules over the cyclops. The party thank Xeer and depart for the formorian ground, crossing the strange pinkish pond over a felled tree. The cyclops spring into action, running until their manacles reach the end of their chains, tossing boulders and swinging clubs. The Missing fire spectral bullets and spells, swords swirling, killing one cyclops while the other fights on. When Mercy crosses over, a deformed giant with bulbous, tumorous growths and a twisted frame springs into action, his huge body somehow agile and stealthy. He tries to stare down the party, yelling rhyming couplets at them as they fight. This is Broknir, a giant who turned against Dalmeny, against the fey, and found himself cursed and ruined, the powers of beauty that made his body and word beautiful reversed and corrupted. Broknir fights to the bitter end and swears as his Cyclops slave gives up the fight, but the warped poet is ultimately slain. The cavern seems to have strange stairlike stalactites, perhaps a clue as to what the Unseelie want with this "training ground" they so desperately want. They uncover Broknir's treasure trove, which contains two love potions,as well as something hinted at earlier: the weapons Gudoja lost fighting Broknir all those years ago: the pair of Tonfa known as Cosma & Tonitruum, the Tonfa of the Far Wanderer. Finally, there is a poem of rhyming couplets (the fabled lost poem that Heathplume claimed to have to woo nymphs),

*My love for you is greater still*

*Then a thousand flowered fields all filled*

*With Atroa’s blossoms, her eagle flying*

*Restoring light with each hunt’s diving*

*Likewise, our love, what I pursue*

*Springs back to life, renewed and bloomed*

The party also find a key to the manacle of the living cyclops, who is unconscious. They decide just to leave the key next to the giant, figuring that he can escape if he's smart enough. Back at the Green Chapel, the party is cheered on by the faeries, with the Unseelie promising to use the Formorian ground to disrupt the Amberhelm troops that are occupying Primrose, potentially threatening both the faeries and the party.

### 43. Into the Shadowfell Part II: Void Dragon Lair

There is a rush of cool air as the Missing press against the marble in the green chapel. They appear once more in Eterna’s Spire. The whole area feels colder than before, a chill that immediately reaches them. They feel a sort of empty-headedness after the experience of the Feywild, as if recovering off a large dose of dreammist. The ground, however, feels more solid beneath them.

When they walk outside, the cold explains itself. Three months have passed since they entered Eterna’s Tower. It’s Precor the 15th, an autumn so late it might as well be winter, a cold snap that sees the soil paths frozen, the deciduous trees bare, lines of snow etching the half-timbered homes like ghostly outlines, the crystallized streets reflecting the torchlight of radiant crusaders, who push through the snowbanks in their plate mail, causing citizens to hurriedly be on their way whenever they encounter them. One curious exception to these scattering citizens is a number of elfin shadowfey, running to and fro, disguised in Yule costumes and festooning the market area for the upcoming winter festival. Dubhseoul is able to recognize these are Unseelie faeries, disguised and apparently flooding the town after the successful defeat of Broknir. How this defeat translated in the fey getting into the city, however, remains unknown. Radiant Crusaders approach and are cut off by two of them.

“Get moving, these are curfew hours. Modiana Vera’s request” A shadowfey cuts off the guard before he can inspect the party.

“Modiana Vera, isn’t this Dalmeny’s Town?”

While the shadowfey argue, the party take evasive action, moving along, ushered away by other fey who assure them that Moonstone beach still holds Stormbringer in a hidden harbor, the crew ready for departure. The shadowfey warn them:

“Get to the ship, Gallus Matho wants to find you. Whatever Rhys said about you was enough to put some gold on your heads. He says he want to question you, but…”

The party spend no time risking their heads in Primrose. They move to the beach. The snowfields of the wood are dotted by the long thin hind-prints of hares, the dots of deer, the claw marks of gnolls. As they get deeper and deeper into the wood, the trees get thicker, the bare branches cast spindly shadows, a curious number of dead animals with no visible injuries lie in the scant shade of bare poplar and oak that stretch upon them like bony fingers. Only 10 miles ahead is the monastery of the Far Wanderer, the site of Primrose’s original wound, a wound that has been torn open by Zaros, leading to the underworld itself. They have arrived at the Wood’s Moonstone Beach, a lonely pebble strewn shore now frosted, small dunes covered in ice. A ruined structure holds the crew of the stormbringer, hands over an open fire, roasting berries, nuts, and whatever food they could gather. Tied down by stakes is the ghostly frigate Stormbringer, the warship that once took Dalmeny toward Moondrift Isle for his own botched wedding, one ending in blood and a division that would mark Primrose for the rest of the days. Now, it glows faintly, swaying in the coastal water. Nettle emerges from the quarters on the deck, her curved eyes opening as widely as they can.

She introduces the party to two new crew members who hope to gain access to the underworld as well, knowing the ship is going into the shadowfell. These are Leeta, a Druid of the wood, and Bogart, a thief they once bargained with long ago when they investigated Baron Zaros's farmhouse. The party set sail, Dubhseoul behind the captain's wheel of Stormbringer once more, taking them through the wine dark waters of Repsor. They move ahead to a void in the flooded temple, the Monastery of the Far Wanderer. Years ago this place was a solitary outpost of humanity in an unforgiving wilderness, now it is a flooded ruin. The blackness ahead cancels all light, all ambience and illumination fail in the face of the emptiness of this gaping maw, the nothing, the unanswered question, death. Whatever Zaros saw compelled him to come here, to the very end. Maybe it is the Missing's too. But perhaps, this is a new beginning.

Dubhseoul navigates Stormbringer into the mouth of the River Styx when suddenly, all goes awry. Everything around seems like a dark reflection of the above world, as if a sad memory. The sky is pure black with sparkling constellations, the archer and chalice visible to the east and west respectively, and right overhead is the shape of the dragon. The wheel stops turning in Dubhseoul's hands, the deck heaves, the sails pull upward, the starboard side of Storm bringer abruptly angles up, out of the water the Missing can feel themselves pulled higher, higher, then tossed from the ship, floating into something resembling cosmic waters, the ebb and flow of galaxies, their stomachs tying in knots, the galaxy becoming visible to the Missing in all its awe and fear and wonder…they've never felt smaller. Force presses against them yet they feel weightless, disoriented, floating, drifting.

Emerging from the cosmic foam, they find yourself on an unearthly beach, swelling pinks and blues contribute to an astral haze, a cold, cloud-like section of the shadowfell that has intersected with the astral plane. There are swirling clouds of gas and dust blowing the party ahead as if they are waves. The sky above is glittered with sparkling stars against the void of space, glowing bands of asteroids stretching in the background. In the foreground there is a verdant planet, it takes you a moment to realize it is Amathara, a beautiful and fragile ball in the blackness, visible behind a swirling vibrant cosmic storm. Everything is bathed in a warm glow from an astral lighthouse. It thrums as well, the light giving off a pulse that they somehow feel in their heads. This vibrance is the antithesis of the waters they have sailed upon previously.

Casting cruel, arrogant looks ahead of you are a group of alien humanoids, tall, slender, with rough, leathery, yellowish skin, bright black eyes, and angular skulls. Githyanki. Headed by a psionicist named Fistra, the psychic, silver-sword wielding outsiders battle the party on the beaches. Every few seconds the lighthouse light thrums and another party member loses gravity, pulled upward to slabs of cold iron, out of sight. The ranks of Gith are thinned as Miles, who was previously pulled up, is tossed one hundred feet down, his body slamming against the beach, unconscious. Opie and Dubhseoul, who remain at the scene, fight off the rest of the outsiders while administering aid. They defeat the last of the Gith before being pulled up into the cold iron Void fortress themselves.

Rising quickly through the air, one by one, the party land on a grid of floating iron cubes one hundred feet above the beach. Alien vegetation has somehow thrived on this south section, green, sea-weed like life standing waist high. Toward the north, there is nothing but the gleam of dark iron, and the strange, glowing slime green of an astral cube, giving off an ominous, mechanical hum. Here, they watch a great serpent rise above the monoliths, a dragon seemingly dotted with stars, its body a black hole, a void, a space, its breath alternating between crushing gravitational force and stellar fire. The creature is able to quickly dispatch Mercy, knocking him unconscious while tossing Miles off the side.

### 44. Valosoroth Slain

A piercing section of space itself, a great black sphere, explodes around Prrhen. She valiantly fights off the cold and crushing force, surviving the burst. Opie, still on the astral beach, uses his powerful nature devotion to heal Miles, who is instantly pulled back to the grid again. The dragon rears its fearsome head, teleporting around and lashing out, taking in its grip an amethyst lodestone that appears to give it additional powers of gravitational control. Prrhen attempts to banish the dragon to another plane, but Valosoroth shakes off the magical influence. Prrhen runs around the iron grid, searching for any place to take cover from the Void dragon. Miles takes his starry form, transforming into a Chalice constellation and healing himself with his word. Valosoroth hunts Prrhen around the grid, finding her and lashing out with teeth and claws until he drops Prrhen unconscious for the first time, the witch-cursed tiefling crumbling onto the cold iron, now stained with blood. Valosoroth circles around, swooping down at Miles, scratching him but not felling the halfling half elf. He inverts gravity around the druid, pulling him up into the air again. Cumha, Dubhseoul, and Opie ride the gravitational waves and they pulled to the fortress. Dubhseoul lands and immediately fires two shots with his spectral gift, knocking the void dragon back. The only one within reach is Miles, who is mauled again by the dragon, who tosses Miles's body to the ground. Three Missing now lie unconscious.

Opie faces down the glittering monstrosity, this emptiness...where did it come from? Why here? Guarding the very place Zaros escaped through. Opie feels an intense cold on his fur as he dives in, slicing and dicing, his blade strikes true, finding purchase in the black hole of its body. The wyrm delivers a chilling burst onto Opie, harming him while opening up a rift in space, using it to get out of range. Valosoroth sails into the air and uses gravity to pull Opie and Dubhseoul upwards, slamming their bodies into each other before hurling them back down. Dubhseoul, wounded, sees the dragon thirty five feet above the fortress, too far out of range to get a good shot. He tries anyway, seeing Valosoroth deftly dodge the shots. Doom begins to dawn on the Missing. Just before all is lost, Opie draws on the powers of the Prowlers, the wilderness, the hidden places, and heals Prrhen, Miles, and Mercy, peeling them off the ground, bringing them to their feet. Though severely wounded, the party jumps back into the fray. Prrhen fires eldritch blasts at the Dragon, who bats the energy away. Valosoroth pulls Dubhseoul fifty feet off the ground, dangling him over iron. Miles begins to get pulled higher but rolls away, using his frog ring to throw his tongue through the cubes and land it on Prrhen, healing her.

Mercy tries to get a good look at the dragon. It's the first time he's been conscious for quite some time, he reaches for Cosma & Tonitruum, hoping to charge them with lightning for a strike. However, the dragon flies too high above. He drops his tonfa and pulls out a bow, firing at the serpent. He watches his arrow miss, floating into space. He runs for cover, flattening himself against a cube. Valosoroth drops Dubhseoul fifty feet to the ground, badly wounding the hero. The serpent winds back, building energy in hopes to unleash a breath attack to finally destroy the Missing. It dive bombs, swinging a claw for Dubhseoul, who ducks it. He brings the other claw around which Dubhseoul jumps over. Finally, its toothy maw comes down on the Warlock of the Raven Queen but Dubhseoul throws himself backwards, the beast's jaw clanging shut on nothing but space. Then, the dragon unleashes the cold of space, hoping to freeze Dubhseoul's bones. Dubhseoul pulls his limbs in tightly, harnessing his warmth, feeling close to losing consciousness in the blizzard but miraculously surviving. Staring up into the mouth of this terrible beast, Dubhseoul fires a spectral gift shot directly into the head of Valosoroth. When the beast reels, he shoots him again. One final shot is blocked when Valosoroth brings a wounded wing to armor itself. Dubhseoul shouts "Opie, bring me his soul!", mocking the death that should have just faced him. He dances around the dragon, bobbing and weaving to get out of the cold, thinking he looks heroic but from afar, the Missing see his movements as frantic.

While the dragon is busy chasing down Dubhseoul, Opie slices into its side with an enchanted scimitar. The dragon, now flanked by Missing, opens up a dimensional rift, an explosion of cold and gravity knocks Opie prone and defeats Dubhseoul, dissipating his hex and curse and finally felling the warlock. Valosoroth uses the rift to dash backwards, teleporting out of range of the Tabaxi. Running along the alien vegetation on a far platform, Prrhen fires two eldritch blasts, taking the dragon by surprise and badly wounding the retreating dragon. Miles runs as fast as he can, just getting close enough to unleash lightning through the astral plane, striking Valosoroth. Immediately, the twice-felled halfling retreats to hide behind Opie. While Valosoroth's maw fills with energy, Mercy scrambles over to a nearby platform. He closes one eye and unleashes two arrows at once, slaying the Valosoroth, the Void Dragon. The loyal Cumha sits by Dubhseoul's side while the party tend to him. Hershel emerges hopefully from Miles's pocket. The gatekeeper has been destroyed. Now, the final chase.

### 45. Katabasis: The Dread Waters of the River Styx

The missing recuperate amidst the vacuum of the astral plane, an eerie quiet all around. Miles tends to Dubhseoul’s wounds, healing him as Cumha looks on. There is a sublime feeling of victory amidst the smallness of your forms in comparison to the infinite around you, stretching onwards, Amathara looking like a dream, spinning far below. The void dragon lies on the cold iron ahead, its body a tapestry of stars. Miles, looking upon it sees a facsimile of the cosmos on its very hide, the familiar shapes of the dragon, the chalice, and the archer visible in the star formations. These glimmering figures grow dimmer and dimmer, its body’s scant color receding into a deep void. It drops the amethyst stone that was curled up in a claw. Miles casts detect magic and senses not only magic within the stone, but in the place just beyond…

Ahead is a station on this floating mass of iron, interlocking cubes of starry obsidian mounted on a point. Its surface is lit by the reflection of the cosmos, a lime green energy surging through a few open spaces in its strange geometry. Barely visible behind the green light is a gleaming, metallic inside.

The Missing enter the astral cube, a sterile, stellar room with vents recycling air. Machinelike hums reverberate through the metal base. The green light gives way to this artificiality, this technology from another world. Against the walls are switches, glowing faintly green. There are two to the south, two to the north. There are three doors against the western wall. Dubhseoul suggests pulling the red lever, and the party fights over who will pull it. Prrhen refuses. Opie suggests that Miles pulls it, alluding to his luck in such manners. As they bicker, Dubhseoul walks across the metal floor and grabs it. The compartment opens revealing a set of keys with constellation signs of the Chalice, Archer, and Dragon on them. Mercy, seeing the star forms, says Miles is the best man for this job. “Ok don’t know that much about keys, but ill take them” quips the druid. Dubhseoul grabs the other red switch and a plaque is revealed with three clues, only one of them true. Opie, the ever-treasure hungry Tabaxi, wants to grab a yellow switch, but mercy tells him to wait. Dubhseoul reads the plaque,  realizing the dragon paradox, mercy comes to the same opinion, both thinking “the dragon keeps you lost in space” has to be the only true clue, meaning, as Dubhseoul points out, the Chalice key is the way out.

Opie finally gets to pull a yellow switch, revealing treasure and an unmarked potion, one Prrhen identifies as a memory philter, a potent item containing a sacrificed part of someone’s past. This particular one is a potion of friendship, containing a happy memory. “I have no happy memories” says Prrhen morosely. The Missing discuss parceling the treasure, Mercy suggesting “let’s calm, boys” Miles pointing out “only the boys chill. Prrhen doesn’t have to chill”. Meanwhile, the halfling is trying on a skullcap of deep wisdom that bleeds perpetually, which goes well with his part halfling, part gnome faced, damaged armor from the murdered Gabrielle Chapelle, his frog tongue, and his rat tail. No one has ever looked like Miles. “Thank god,” thinks Dubhseoul, who puts the chalice key in the lock after the second treasure room is looted.

Inside, agreen button is pressed by Miles, who can’t believe this isn’t a trap. “We got it right” Mercy explains. The room first fills with green light, then the angles of the interlocking cubes begin receding, layers pulling into each other with great mechanical noise, the metal base minimizing itself, slowly rotating, the walls that separate the party from the outside finally going vertical, pulled into the ground by unseen machinic mechanisms while the party remain on flat ground. Finally, the walls are gone, and the Missing are back outside, under the stars. In fact, they have the best view of the stars yet, panoramic, the constellations hang above in unprecedented fullness, it even seems like Miles can see farther than he did even with Gudoja’s scope. Looking to the heavens, he sees a milky chain of ethereal lights, forming a kind of majestic cap, a half circle. The cap is dotted with perfectly round configurations resembling polka dots. On the bottom of the cap is a rectangular formation of stars appearing to be a stem on the cap. This isn’t the only sight or feeling, however. Below, the lighthouse begins to pulse stronger and stronger beams of light–as a warning? A message, what? The iron cubes begin to slowly lower, gravity reversing, pulling the cold iron fortress to the astral sands five feet at a time until it touches down on the beach. The party can see the lighthouse blaring the strongest light yet, and some shape piercing the swelling pinks and blues, the astral haze, a dark shape, a hull, Stormbringer appears on the glittering water, Nettle at the Helm, guiding the crew to pull the ropes taut, sailing on the cosmos toward you.

“Thank the queen, you survived” Nettles gasps, overjoyed, her eyes tearing. “Was there any doubt,” Dubhseoul swaggers before embracing her and sloppily making out with the beautiful shadowfey ambassador.

“Never thought I’d be happy to see her face” muses Mercy. “No respect, no appreciation,” Dubhseoul manages between kisses.

Puddlejumper flits above deck, making her way to Prrhen, at first babbling inherently then ending with, “I just thought..I was so scared”

Prrhen hugs puddlejumper. “There are your happy memories,” says Mercy, sagely.

Before setting off, the party assign and take roles on the ship, Dubhseoul assuming captain again, with Nettle settling back into a Quartermaster position. Opie, ever the watchful one on the crow’s nest, takes navigator. Miles eyes his healing herbs and rehearses his curing spells, becoming the ship’s medical purser. Marten remains bosun, dealing with the rigging and sails. Valeriana Faelwynn begins cooking a meal for the returning heroes. Puddlejumper, ever charismatic, is given a position as steward. Cantra, a shadowfey, is bosun’s mate. The rest of the shadowfey take deckhand and cannon positions. Prrhen suggests that she’ll draw, begin aboard as a passenger. Dubhseoul assures her no one is forced to work aboard his ship. Mercy is then given watch leader, and promptly interprets his position as depriving anyone of just being a passenger. Prrhen semi-reluctantly takes a body guard position while promising she won’t actually guard Dubhseoul.

The frigate sets sail, the brilliant stars light the way on the astral foam, Stormbringer taking the headwinds and moving beyond Valosoroth’s isle. Coasting across the violet, astral waters, the watch as light gradually recedes.

The boat begins pitching downward until the party realizes the waves they are riding are headed to a confluence, a drop in elevation and light, going deeper, farther down, headed toward a darkness blacker than the darkest obsidian. The ship shudders as it begins vaulting down over the waves. The party works through the hazardous waters with incredible success, keeping the ship in ship-shape, with only some provisions damaged during the tumultuous sailing.

As they go deeper into the shadowfell the last vestiges of life give away. No longer are there the reflections of the mortal world, but rather stark and vacant places, reflections of loss and tragedy. They cross through a great dam, its stone crest shattered into a thousand rocks, a broken edifice, two towers as a reminder of what once was. Etched into one in heroic script is the word “VAITARNA”, its elaborate print an irony in the face of its devastation. They pass on, darker and darker waters still, the faint reflections of light even fainter than those of the Underdark, of those of the Feydark. On from here they enter the River Styx, with souls surging into death, the last barrier of mortality. The skeletal and phantasmal forms have lost their discerning features, they drive like salmon, reaching as they push through these cold waters that splash the ship. The water is so murky it appears sanguine. The air is filled with hatred and loathing. The worst aspects of the party’s personalities perk up, all their failings flashing through their heads, everything they never experienced weighing on their shoulders as they near a skiff on the river. There, ahead, are souls yet to lose their form. Familiar souls. Are you losing your minds? Is this real? It looks so familiar to Mercy, who has been here before…It’s too much to bear. He feels his sanity unravelling. Ahead are the Malacoides on the skiff of Charon, who throws a honeyed morsel to Cerberus. Dubhseoul can’t believe they crossed multiple planes only to run back into the town bullies, now deceased save for Rhys, Aaron, and Liriel.

On these stygian shores, Charon, an old man under a hood with eyes like orbs of flame

convoys the dead–though aged, his movements seem hardy and green.

“Woe unto you, ye souls depraved! Hope nevermore to look upon the heavens. I come to lead you to the other shore. To the eternal shades in heat and frost. And thou, that yonder standest living soul, withdraw thee from these people, who are dead! By other ways, by other ports, though to the shore shalt come, not here, for passage, though your vessel great, you have no offering.”

Dubhseoul leans over the gunwale, “You mistake me, I’m a loyal servant of the Raven Queen as are you, each soul I sent came with two coins to you”. This seems to cause the being to consider.

“Whoever you are who come to our river in arms, tell me, even from there, why you come, and check your step. This is the land of Shadows, of Sleep and drowsy Night; living bodies I may not carry in the Stygian boat. And in truth it brought me no joy that I just this fortnight took a young woman on her journey over the lake, and allowed passage of a terrible Baron. More life here is but markings of an end to life itself, when the line between life and death blurs so”

“This is just an errand” Dubhseoul explains.

“We seek the baron,” Mercy chances, and Charon seems to perk up even more. It turns out Baron Zaros came through, threatening Charon. Zaros gave up one of his own memories to bribe Valsoroth into flying him over the river through Everlost onto Al-Draghazar after Charon’s refusal.

Dubhseoul asks what they can offer, and Charon explains that either gold or memories are necessary for crossing the river safely. Opie brings up the idea of giving Zaros’s memory, but Prrhen believes Charon likely wants a new memory. Dubhseoul steps forward “My memory, you can have” the party question him, but the warlock says it is his ship, his responsibility. Mercy cuts him off before Charon takes his head in his hands.

“You can take my memory of Veselona” Mercy declares, willing to give up the love he’s chased for years. Valeriana Faelwynn comes forward, trying to talk Mercy down, saying Veselona came through to trade resources while the party was away for months in Eterna's Spire. She claims the master bandit Veselona wanted to see Mercy, and was currently taking advantage of the chaos in Al-Draghazar. Mercy says they’ve been “just” missing each other for ten years.

“If you don’t want me to worry, this is the best thing I can do” he assures her. He looks down at Cosma and Tonitruum. “These weapons belong to a man I must walk in the shadow of, and in time, I must become their rightful owner. This is a forward payment of a man whose footprints I must follow. Veselona’s memory keeps me tethered to my old self”

Charon places hands on either side of Mercy’s head. Mercy feels a cold sensation as energy pours from his skull, caught in a net as if the dusky demi-god was fishing, memories dissipating, a vacuum left in Mercy’s mind, a perplexing blankness, a loss no others the party knows, save Zaros, can comprehend. Mercy feels his sanity slipping even farther.

Charon gives the party coins that grant them safety and grants his support to his fellow Raven Queen follower.

Dubhseoul bows, “Thank you.”

“Zaros threatened me as he came through. This was a poor choice of his. I will not tell of your departure, just as I shield others who are here for their reasons. Be careful of these shifting shores, this river changes as times move on. It can’t be completely reliable. Your map may not  lead to same place twice. You may make your departure.” With that, Charon bows.

“All glory to the queen, brother.” Dubhseoul responds, then instructs Valeriana to bring the strongest booze, Sable Ridge wine, to Mercy, who from this moment forward will always feel something missing, who, if he ever sets eyes on his long lost love again, will meet her as a stranger, yet be conscious that he was the architect of his own sorrow. When the bottle is placed next to the tonfa fighter, Mercy refuses, choosing to focus on what he’s embarking toward, following the footsteps of a man that sacrificed his own desire nearly a millennium ago for the survival of others.

### 46. Stygian Everlost

The Missing depart across the benighted waves of Styx aboard Stormbringer, trembling violently over the dusky waters, terror bathing them with sweat, to a land of tears and blasts of wind, fulminated in vermilion light, overmastering their senses. They nearly drift asleep from the excessive stimulation, but are roused to heavy thunder in an abysmal valley dolorous, gathering thunder of infinite ululations. They descend into this blind world, this abyss. The anguish of the people who are below here betray the terror that awaits those who would trade their soul to demons. The effect is palpable, Dubhseoul begins to hear whispers from his patron, the Raven Queen, and takes to his quarters in a fever. Opie steps up to the captain role, uncertainly pawing the wheel, then reasoning: this is the sort of adventure made for a Gloomstalker. Training in darkness, headed toward the unknown, this is exactly what the Tabaxi ranger grew up wanting to do as a Prowler. He grabs the wheel, promoting Miles to navigator, watching him use his prowess of mapping picked up from his celestial link. Though underground, Miles finds orientation, and his plot is true, striking out the correct way down the river as Opie somewhat unexpectedly masterfully guides Dalmeny’s doomed ship down the river with great aplomb. The pallid darkness of Styx gives way to a churning violence as they enter one of the 666 layers of the Abyss. Skulls pile in Thanatos as they move deeper and deeper. The bosun werebadger Marten gives Opie compliments while nervously eyeing Miles.

In Oblivion’s End, they navigate Styx while an endless, bone meal desert reveals sporadic, deathly scenes. In Death’s Reach, monstrosities surge amid ruins, Marilith slithering on iridescent tails. Opie reminds everyone to stay in the boat, heeding the words of Charon. The crew eye their coins and keep to the mission. Marten gives more glances to Miles who finally understands: the lycanthropy wants a hit of dreammist, lamenting as the dolorous landscape unfolds that he needs “just a little bit of heaven.” Though Miles and Mercy realize Marten is struggling, Miles slips him a dose of dreammist. Pupils dilating, Marten sees the landscape fade into a more fantastic scape, reminiscent of the feydark, but this unreality only calls to mind the horror of what real life is: this is an in-between space, a shadow, between light and dark, styx, between life and death. As feydark hallucinations run through his head he can’t help but think of Sinead, whose duties doom her yet raise her up, whose “love” and “marriage” gave her a kingdom but are really a sham. Cut on the rocks of these contradictions, Prrhen drives it home, mentioning these thoughts might come more naturally to him as a lycanthrope, someone who changes between beast and man. This quiets Marten, who expresses his sadness for Sinead and sits with his churning emotions for this part of the trip, so to speak.

Next, the party make it to the Halls of the Risen Grave, a balor-flanked throne area Opie reminds that no one is supposed to look upon. Prrhen remembers that when the rest of the party began struggling to hold onto their sanity when entering Styx, she felt nothing. The voidskin cloak over her face makes her feel protected. She looks directly at the throne and sees the god Orcus himself, thirty feet tall, with goat-like head and legs, the horns of a ram rather than a goat. His arms are human, but vast bat winds sprout from his back, his long, snaky tail tipped with a poisonous head. The foul and corpulent demon has a desiccated, nearly skeletal face. He reeks of diseased air, the only thing the rest of the party notice. There is a visceral disturbance in his very existence, how he inhabits some line between life and death. His eyes glow in the gloom, the rest of his form a shadow. Prrhen remarks that he’s so ashen, he looks as if he’s made of stone.

In Orcusgate, the party struggle to recall what they were supposed to remember as they enter a demonic tunnel, throes of ghouls throninging toward a deceased claw for worship. They are chased by a giant skeleton as large as their ship, composed of the bashed pieces of other skeletons. A Nabassu demon takes off in pursuit, but Puddlejumper heads it off, charming the demon and reversing its course. The whole crew work amazingly, sailing full speed ahead until they breach the tunnel, with no damage to the ship, navigating around each and every rock.

Finally, the party hear a roaring ahead, and a great boulder splits the river from an adjacent tributary. A foul barge’s sails are visible over the rock, and Opie quickly activates the ship’s shadowing ability, cloaking Stormbringer. The enemy comes into focus, a terrible beast of a ship, seemingly brimming with its own unlife, with a sphinx-like head and a hull made of stitched up flesh. Ghouls mighty and meek prowl the deck but don’t see Stormbringer. Both ships come up on a waterfall up ahead, and Opie gives the sign: the cannons unleash. Spells and arrows fly from Stormbringer, slaying ghoul after ghoul. Opie successfully flings the ship sideways, slowing its progress toward the waterfall and allowing for an extra cannon shot. Mercy capitalizes on the moment: as Prrhen blasts the denizens of the Death Barque and Miles calls lightning down on the ranks, he signals and lets loose a broadside, blasting the ship with everything they have. The barque begins sinking as it flies forward at a faster velocity than the flagging Stormbringer. The waterfall roars up ahead. Down below, the great droning sound pulls Dubhseoul out of his dream vision. His hand goes to spectral gift. Ahead: a fifteen foot drop onto rocks. Can the Missing, who so valiantly fought the ghouls, weather this landscape?

### 47. Bring the Storm

The Missing watch as the deathbarque, that unliving barge of sutured, leathery flesh, is vanquished. The terrible deck is full of both animated and murdered ghouls, it takes on water through the cannonball-ridden holes in its stitched-up hull before plunging down the waterfall ahead. The stygian waters cascade down from the top of this steep cliff, and as Stormbringer hurtles sideways toward it, the crew can see the dark bluish, murky waters as the river continues fifteen feet below, the waterfall churning up thick mist. The sound of the waterfall is a low, ominous rumble echoing through the caverns and tunnels, the cliffs tall and jagged, covered in bones, towering over the river, casting deep shadows. The great sound rouses Dubhseoul from his reverie, the fevered whispers of his patron evaporating as he takes to the deck. The competent substitute, Opie, rushes to occupy the navigator role as Miles resolves to give medical attention to anyone who needs it: but it turns out that this day in the shadowplane, the Missing will put on yet another decisive victory that leaves them in impeccable condition, all things considered.

Dubhseoul grabs the star wheel and pulls, Nettle barking orders at the crew to pull the ropes taught, preparing the mast to work against the fall ahead. The ship turns perfectly, taking the drop in such a way that it lands elegantly, righted, straight, safely on the river below, missing the wreckage of the deathbarque. Some of the ghouls are smashed on the rocks but many survive the fall, flowing with the current and working their ragged flesh toward dry land. The Missing have other ideas.

dark clouds hang over this storm, never parting, nothing but wet stone surrounding.

Ahead the air is charged with electricity, all around is the threat of impending doom. There is a deep darkness, the river falls once more, ten feet below into a maelstrom, with shrieking winds whipping up under the shadowed, clouded, slactite-coverd, thunderous cavern ceiling, its speed enough to down any bird of flight. The gusts of wind sway and shake, tearing mushrooms and branches from cliffsides, stalactites flying like spears into the maelstrom, stalagmites pulled like splinters, vaulting into the sky. There is an eerie, yellow green hue that is interrupted by intense white bursts of lightning, illuminating the deathly cavern, followed on its heels by deafening thunder that echoes through the rocky spine of the underworld. The storm is ever intensifying, rain a torrential downpour. The wind is whipped into a frenzy, lashing against the ship, trying to break in through the portholes. It’s hard to see anything too clearly in the mist, but the most violent aspect cannot be missed: A whirlpool comprises the whole region between here and Al’Draghazar, which can be barely seen ahead, whose distant phospherescent fungi and violet torches look eerie in the dark sea spray. The whirlpool violently swirls like a cauldron set on a great fire, sucking dark water down, belching, threatening the destruction the ship. Overhead, the spray falls down the tops of rocks, the party can look down through the swirling eddy and see glimpses of sea rocks hurtling around, forming a swirling pattern, dark and sandy. Ashy terror seizes the crew, the fear of death on all of them.

It's not enough to dissuade the Missing. Dubhseoul sees in the storm a great likeness to the one described to him in his youth by the survivors of the cataclysm that claimed his father's life. Back then, Dubhseoul wondered if the words were an exaggeration meant to exalt his father, to suggest that any storm strong enough to take him must have been caused by a creature of mythic proportions. Now Dubhseoul sees the reality before him and knows his duty. He calls for the crew to go below deck as the rain beats the hull, cruising steadily into the waters, attempting to work with the corkscrew of the whirlpool, with a plan to at last vault the sandy, rocky sediment that the waters are dragging in a spiral pattern. There isn't a word of dissent among the crew, who have witnessed nothing but miraculous victories so far, the escape from Moondrift Isle, the stealing of Amberhelm's thunder at Primrose port, the thievery of great sums of gold and commodities from New Bethera, the successful hiding of the ship at Moonstone Beach, the escape from the demons of Everlost, the destruction of the deathbarque, the survival of the waterfall. They are ready.

Taking on the violent waters, Dubhseoul maintains a steady clip, increasing in speed as he enters the corkscrewing flotsam, ordering those below deck to stack the ship to maintain equilibrium as they negotiate the periphery of the spiral, watching the dread waters in the middle sucked into the vortex. They succeed, pushing ahead, getting closer and closer to the outer borders. Another strong pull of the wheel and they fight off the winds, increasing speed to attempt the impossible: jumping the floating wreckage. Stormbringer crests a wave, leaping up out of the waters as the sails are pulled back. It lands with a sickening thud on the gravel, tilting and swaying in the storm. Once again, Dubhseoul has run aground, this time in conditions that eerily resemble those that took his father's life. Thinking fast, he orders the crew to change positions to try to tilt the boat back into the waters. Miles helps by casting spells for favorable movement, while Prrhen, seeing the dire circumstances, volunteers to plunge herself into the waters, using the amethyst gem to raise the ship up. The crew begin to see that the plan is both solid and a potential of the sacrifice of Prrhen, and as they ponder the dark possibility Dubhseoul and Opie argue they should try to push the ship the old fashioned way first. Adjusting their weight and the sails, Dubhseoul makes one last order and...the ship lands. Past the flotsam. Past the wreckage. Past the storm. The ship sails to the other side of Styx, winding into the violet light of Al'Draghazar that opens around them, equal parts Dark Elf city state and masoleum. Surprised to be alive, the crew cheers then mostly paces in anxious silence as they contemplate how close they came to death. Miles breaks the tension, noticing something strange about the unfolding city: the central river, the island in the center, the walled circle and seperated districts: Al'Draghazar is a mirror image of Amberhelm. In Amberhelm, there was a wedding. What will there be here?

### 48. Al-Draghazar, the Deep City

Stormbringer drags its battered hull across this length of Styx, to a central harbor in Al-Draghazar. A mesa like mound of rock rises to dominate the landscape, rather like a cork in the bottle neck of the entrance, a monolith that rises all the way to the roof of the underworld cave: the Black Tower. The drow maintain a strong guard post at this point, immediately requiring the captain to account for his arrival at this stronghold. Drow with hungry looks in their eyes maraud the harbor, leading Nettle to propose that the Missing go to the Black Tower while they stay on the ship as a deterrent to any thieves or saboteurs. Miles meanwhile, is paying attention to what seems to be an anomaly: two river halfling, Wilyas Ferbrook and Happy Fillbec, helping to tie Stormbringer to the moorings. Striking up a conversation, they find that Happy has spent a life time on the river Styx, and comes from a family of hardy constitution. It’s visible in his strong frame and his apparent fearlessness even as the city boasts spider temples, massive crypts, and horrors beyond the comprehension of any surface dweller. Delighted to hear from a fellow halfling (even part halfling), Happy offers to help the Missing after they check in.

In the tower, the party are instructed to speak to Jabbuk Divolg, a man surrounded by well-armed drow guards (Kyorl) who works at hefty ledgers, frantically keeping records. He asks where the party is from, and where they are headed to. As the conversation unravels, Dubhseoul mentions the pursuit of Zaros, and Jabbuk is willing to divulge that the Baron had recently come into town. He’s surprised they were able to make it past the whirlpool, knowing that the Baron had bribed a dragon named Valosoroth for passage and defense against anyone who would follow. Apparently, the Baron had been shaking things up in town, with Jabbuk saying he had run afoul of the town’s rules, the Drow losing track of him. This is supplemented by the recitation of an important law in the city: the wearing of a cloak that glows a brilliant lime green infravisually that allows for outsiders to be branded as such. He instructs that being caught without a House Medallion (an insider) or a cloak (a legal outsider) is punished with immediate death in the streets. The party don their cloaks and return to the harbor.

From here, Happy gives some urgent information to the party, stressing that the market place, Ritzeld’Shuk, is the safest area in town, with commerce going on without much violence. He instructs to stay clear from the Cloisters of the Outer Void, as it is a place where the ghouls have been beaten back to. He also warns about an area of the underground city that is miraculously snow covered, a “lost city”, whose inhabitants fade into memory. Otherwise, he says the city is a place where competing noble Houses compete in a cutthroat game of conquest, and if they stay out of the game they should be fine. The Missing decide to take a well-needed break and stock up on equipment. Happy takes the party on a boat to Ritzeld’Shuk where Mercy buys a Piwafwi (Drow cloak of elvenkind) while Prrhen takes the outfitter Zheltnya’s advise and bathes in the warm underground waters, surrounded by marble. The rest of the party follow along, relaxing and nursing wounds. Dubhseoul buys Armor of the Black River and Styx Boots, a combination that will allow him to navigate the Stygian river so quickly that he can arrive at any connected destination within 8 hours. During this acquisition, they spend so much gold that the Duergar blacksmith Balrak suggests the party visit the Temple of Abbathor, saying the temple looks like a treasure chest and is a high point of the city for him. He also suggests the inn the Vidrinith, which he says is a lively place to dine and sleep versus the threadbare inn at Ritzeld’Shuk. The party also wanders into a shipwright’s hovel, where a Merrenoloth boat man is paid to begin work on Stormbringer, installing a smuggler’s cabin and reshaping the hull to allow for more maneuverability. After the whirlpool, the Missing are pulling out all the stops.

This brief break from the action has an aura of dread hanging over it. Somewhere within the city, Zaros made his presence known. He sought this underworld place for a specific purpose. Maybe someone knows something. Will the party be able to find it in time, and will they do so without trapping themselves in the web of intrigue that the Drow eagerly weave?

### 49. The Desecration of House Vae

After outfitting themselves and bathing, the Missing buy a map of the town and pour over it, resolving to act on the next hint they received: the Temple of Abbathor. They enter what does appear to be a giant treasure chest to find that it is an immense, elevated forge inside. Below, slaves toil to churn out underworld arms and armor while the temple priest, Galfen Greyfist, receives the party and extols the word of Abbathor, a deity he believes will steer dwarves in the correct direction, away from the loss that has occurred on the surface (referencing a large dwarven clan nearly eradicated and exploited in Thornmoor). The party are ginger with handling this gruff yet open personality, and learn that the Derro (a group the party have endeared themselves to) are quite possible dwarves that have completely lost their minds to madness inflicted by mindflayers. Nevertheless, word of their Derro deeds has traveled and the Duergar is willing to give a little scuttlebutt, mentioning that one of the lesser Drow Houses, House Vae, has been eerily quiet in recent days. He reports a strong and strange ghoul presence. Why is this strange? House Vae’s patron deity is Kiaransalee, Lolth’s daughter who battered back the Demon Lord Orcus and successfully pushed rampaging ghouls to the Cloisters of the Outer Void. He says that some of the “city blocks” of Al’Draghazar are merely tombs, and they have been a bulwark in preventing random street deaths. Plus, the ghouls are known to spread their sickness to others. The hordes of ghouls wandering that corner of the city has put the Duergar ill at ease, as they aren’t far from there and conduct business with House Vae.

With that, the party conclude they are still in relatively good health, and make it across town to dismal and haunted streets, a northern outskirts, House Vae looking not unlike a huge mausoleum. They enter from the western side, finding a slimy substance on the doors. They enter to find worms dropping from the ceiling on threads, worms squirming on the cobblestones, worms invading corpses of dead House Vae guards. While Mercy and Prrhen run toward a pantry in the south looking for clues, the rest of the party get further into the temple, moving east to a stone wing of the church where two dark figures stare at them. In a flash, the figures get closer. At first they look like shadows, then, it becomes clear there is a ghoulish aspect to them, the smell of the dead upon them, their skin desiccated, full of holes. When they are flanking Dubhseoul their full horror is seen, their skin alive with greenish worms, writhing and animating them. The worms leap at Dub, Miles, and Opie, the three fighting them off as Prrhen and Mercy uncover a torn, cryptic note and make their way into a desecrated prayer room. Where once was a place to worship the daughter of Lolth is now a chained statue of Orcus, surrounded by mushroom and corpse eating, bloated, corpulent ghouls that pursue the two on the bodies of other dead, riding the ghoul like a steed, its arms and legs hideously elongated as if pulled by a torture rack. They are backed into hallways, slicing and casting hexes as Mercy vomits profusely from the scent and Prrhen is bitten and infected with Darakhul fever, the illness that eventually claims ones life and transforms them into a ghoul.

To the north, Opie takes advantage of the darkness to invisibly slice one of the Spawns to death, the other one letting loose a worm that burrows into Dubhseoul’s flesh. What has happened to House Vae, and will the Missing suffer the same fate, dying ignominiously in a dark temple only to be transformed into that which took their lives?

### 50. Blood Orgy

Dubhseoul pulls the worm from himself, using Miles’s glow from a guiding bolt to fire bullets into the remaining spawn. Before long, the remaining spawn is destroyed. The three uncover another fragment of the torn note here, mentioning conditions of an “inner sanctum”. It’s not enough to go on, and they pursue the Miles and Prrhen instead, catching up to find them fighting off a remaining ghoul. When they are reinforced, the massive, fleshy ghoul rides the back of its vessel up a spiral staircase, jumping a balcony into the Holy of Holies, the center of the church. The drow church’s polished obsidian stone seals a cold within the nave as if it were a tomb. The air carries the stench of decay as moaning echoes drifts above the transepts, all the way to the stained glass diamond in the roof. Over the shattered pews, the party make out a pile of writhing ghouls desiccating a drow corpse, engaged in a blood orgy. Their skin is a sickly shade of grey, their eyes glowing with eerie light. Two of them are especially feverish, toppling over the others with blood stained mouths, the two others have an aspect of fading away, as if partially swallowed by the shadowfell. Together, they emit a cacophony of inhuman sounds, moans and groans echoing through the temple. The Missing battle the ghouls, killing one by one while a large door at the end of the room reads “Inner Sanctum”, the praying hands of Kianserlee etched into the door but defiled by blood and bile.

When the last ghoul is slain, Opie turns away with a vicious bite. The tabaxi ranger has contracted ghoul fever as well. The Missing decide to rest. Dubhseoul disguises the ruined pews, making the Orcus-tainted temple instead resemble a pleasant, rolling meadow with rocks concealing the exits. They climb Opie’s rope to the pocket dimension that looks like Morsus, a roaring waterfall soothing them as Imrae, the high priestess, leaves the sanctum with her ghoulish thrall Kalanrysn as well as two drow ghasts. Having heard the combat, she’s fully prepared, but can find nothing in the perplexingly disguised room. Imrae decides to send Kalanrysn to patch things up with Vespyr, a personality they feuded with in life but who has now a common stake after being transformed with them by the Nightfallen. Mercy decides to tail the drow, finding Nightfallen cultists stalking the halls. All hell breaks loose, the night’s rest interrupted by an all out struggle, Baron Zaros’s Procurers, a group of bloody cultists, the scimitar swinging Vespyr, and a giant spider all strike.

The first body to fall is Imrae’s favored one, Kalanrysn, who takes a shuriken to the throat. Miles attempts to talk the spider into friendship but the attempt fails, the spider eventually routed into the northern chambers after a flurry of blows from Mercy. Opie darts in and out of action, taking down Vespyr as Prrhen’s blasts explode in the vestry and Dubhseoul’s gun misfires, taking off one of his own fingers. In the end, and besides the spider, only Vespyr is left remaining. She explains that it’s already too late, Baron Zaros got what he wanted in Al-Draghazar and now it’s simply time for history to take place. She is slain after this, the party following the surviving spider as it moves into the church, joining the survivors: Imrae and the ghasts. Imrae is quaking with rage at Kalanrysn’s failure. The party is left amidst the horrid Orcus statuary, Prrhen and Opie’s blood diseased, Dubhseoul’s finger missing, Mercy’s sanity barely holding on.

### 51. Missing Memories

Mercy and Opie investigate the temple a bit, watching the spider’s actions as the rest of the party use invisibility, hallucinatory terrain, and their combat training to stealthily exit the temple of Orcus, sneaking out to find the temple of Abbathor. On the way, Mercy has yet another hallucination, his own mother, Caethea telling him she did what she thought she had to do, but is wracked by guilt, feeling she couldn’t protect him. He was reduced to shadow within Eterna’s Spire, sent to Styx, then revived, and is here again. Mercy shakes it off, wondering why she would interrupt him now, when he’s closing in on Zaros. The Missing charge forward to the treasure box temple of Abbathor, telling the dark dwark Greyfist what has happened: House Vae has fallen, the Nightfallen, a group headed now by Baron Zaros, has taken what used to be a church that kept the undead at bay and transformed it into a walking graveyard. With the power of Orcus behind him, Baron Zaros is now feared to have thrown off an important mechanism within the town, causing Al-Draghazar to be endangered by roving ghouls. The Duergar resolve to tell House Ultrinnan, the most powerful Drow house (and one with open diplomatic ties to House Vae). This way, they can brace for what’s to come. While the Duergar are more concerned with what’s happening below the surface, the Missing fear what’s to come above it: what sinister power has Zaros unleashed, and how?

The party resolve to meet up at the vaunted Vindrinath, a bustling underworld tavern full of dancers, music, and strange stygian meals. A woman with a katana and concealed daggers walks across the bar floor, her mouth hidden in her assassin’s garb. It dawns on the party who this is when she approaches Dubhseoul, recognizing him as one of Primrose’s premier members of the Olidammaran Thieves Guild, saying she heard about his exploits and was hoping to meet with him and Mercy, but it was during their long stay in Eterna’s Spire. While the conversation goes on, the woman, Veselona, sees Mercy walking over and gasps. She rushes over, hoping for an embrace but sees Mercy moving defensively. She apologizes, thinking he has taken offense that she hasn’t visited him, trying to explain she waited with Stormbringer’s crew but departed before she had a chance to see him. When Mercy seems perplexed and defensive, she brings up everything he’s done for the Olidammaran Thieves Guild, desperately trying to get him to understand that what he did mattered, that she saw it as them working on the same project even if they weren’t together. Alarmed, Mercy asks Dubhseoul why this woman knows so much about him, wondering if she’s dangerous. Dubhseoul takes him aside, trying to explain that Mercy gave up something important for safe passage down the river: his love, an unrequited one, now before him, open, seeking a return. Mercy tries to tell her that she doesn’t know her but the misunderstanding continues, Veselona trying to say she’s the same girl and that she could catch him up, that during the days in the temple of Istus her only joy was Mercy. Orphans together, fighters who built organizations, both are like each other in ways that others could never understand. Mercy tries to explain he doesn’t remember and Veselona tries to jog his memory, saying she thinks of him when it rains, remembering the days that Lady Eglantine sent them inside the temple to do housework when it was pouring outside, how they had a secret spot within the temple they would meet and spend time together. When there isn’t a glimmer of recognition, Veselona leaves, making sure the party knows their efforts are still recognized. Heart broken, the normally cold assassin leaves, encountering a loss not unlike the one Mercy has already taken.

While this transpires, Miles is on the chase for diamond dust to cast restoration spells to cure Opie and Prrhen of their Darakhul fever. He strikes up a conversation with a Moonmouth and Callisto, a shadowfey woman and a bearfolk druid respectively. Both are pouring over a book and mention that they have many materials, and are willing to sell diamonds to Miles if he can crush them. During the transaction, he catches more of their conversation, slowly realizing they are talking about another woman who traveled to the underworld recently, a woman previously mentioned by unnamed by Charron. A woman they raised together. Daenis. Perking up, Miles reveals that the party are the Missing, the group from Primrose that grew up around her while Sinead was raised in the feywild. The two fae parents open up about Daenis, saying she came to Al-Draghazar due to struggle in Primrose, that she wanted to take matters into her own hands. She asked them about the Fortress of Memories, the palace of the Raven Queen, grilling them about that and the neighborhood outside of that, the snowy Lost City. They told her it was a dangerous place, one where people are reduced to shadow before long, lost as memories. They tried to dissuade her from further investigations but the next morning, Daenis was gone. While they speak, Prrhen tosses over the name “Callisto” in her head, it sounds so familiar. She finally places it: it was the name of Sinead’s bear. The one trinket that never actually made it into Seelie possession, the first clue that “Sinead” was actually Daenis, an oversight of the fae. Prrhen reels, wondering in secret to the rest of the Missing if this is a sign Daenis has done something terrible, something to Sinead. She even wonders if the priestess Imrae is tied into what could be a double-cross.

With broken hearts, questioned loyalties, diseases, missing fingers, rat tails, and dwindling sanity, the Missing go over their options. They decide a rest in the inn is badly needed. Some stock up in Ritzeld’Shuk, the marketplace. But their big decision is whether to pursue the High Priestess Imrae or go straight toward Daenis. They choose the latter, preparing to embark to the Lost City, the part of Al-Draghazar the Missing have been warned about twice now.

### 52. The Lost City

Before the rest of the party awaken, Mercy stalks the streets of Al-Draghazar. He heads to the crypt like city block outside House Ultrinnan and its imposing Black Widow-shaped stronghold. Though he doesn’t come in time to see the Duergar heading to tell Valsharess Nipinva, the queen of the Drow,  he does see a familiar face leave the House: Janxae, the Drow that nearly killed Luneskip for misleading her. The Wood's Unseelie troup leader claimed he would get her into the Dreamhouse in exhange for Temple Glassglint, the beautiful feydark gathering place. Luneskip got what he wanted but concealed his intentions with shifty language, imparting a metaphorical dream rather than the very physical dreamhouse Janxae thought she was bargaining for. That’s a memory Mercy still has—10 years ago, as a child, trading strategies and taking an unlikely diplomatic approach alongside an aggressive Prrhen in a combination that somehow worked. With a little carrot and a little whip, they talked Janxae into pursuing Zaros in the wrong direction while the party saved Daenis at the Dreamhouse.

Mercy stalks Janxae and her detachment of House Ultrinnan Drow enforcers to House Vae. He walks through a tent, listening to Janxae telling her troops to not get involved with any unnecessary street combat. Pursuing House Vae is the object. Mercy follows, watching ghouls maul drow citizens on the streets as the Ultrinnan agents move coldly past, only stopping to neutralize a hostile Nightfallen procurer before entering the temple of Kianserlee, House Vae’s headquarters. Following closely behind, Mercy watches Janxae look on in horror as Imrae emerges from the shadows, her pallid flesh and dead eyes visible as an abyssal energy burns in her ghoulish soul. She looks upon the statue of Orcus that seems to writhe in its chains, as if alive, or unalive. Though diseased and ghoulish, Imrae is full of gusto, assured that she had been wrong all along, that Zaros has taught her the true path, that of the goat-headed demon, the lord of the undead, the blood lord, the Shadow that Was. Having worked her whole life to keep the undead back, she had never asked what there was to gain for letting that guard down. Alarmed, Janxae asks about where the Baron is now, getting a similar response the party got from Vespyr: that he is fulfilling the prophecy now, accomplishing what the earlier Nightfallen cultists could never do and unleashing unending night on Amathara, sweeping violence that will bring them to prominence. Janxae, hoping to leave with her life, wonders what Imrae wants and she appears to cut Janxae a deal: round up the group of adventurers who have slain Vespyr, Kalanrysn, and the procurers so she can have them sacrificed to Orcus. The Ultrinnan take in the information and seemingly agree to it, even mentioning they have encountered the Missing once before and harbor ill will toward them. Mercy leaves before he can be spotted, wondering if Janxae meant what she said in earnest.

Returning to the Vindrinath, Mercy finds the rest of the Missing getting ready to venture into a part of an already dangerous town that even its scheming citizens avoid. They cross through the crypt like streets, the obsessive, grid-like order of the town a mirror of Amberhelm, but where there was sky there is only darkness. This lack of sky doesn’t stop what’s ahead: a bizarre neighborhood that is somehow covered in snow, the fortress of memories rising ghostly behind it, a suggestion, as if a distant memory. They approach the Raven Queen’s quarters and watch the stone crypts and mausoleums of Al-Draghazar give way to this lost neighborhood full of houses made of stone and dug into the earth, with narrow cobblestone streets in between. The snow has accumulated in drifts against the sides of the buildings giving them the strange aspect of burrowing animals, the snow itself seemingly drifting from the stalactite covered vault of the city.

The neighborhood is dark, shadows flitting down alleys as a rays of violet light are seen down a path ahead. The shadows stretch and twist, as if they have a life of their own. The silence is broken only by the Missing trudging through the snow. Mercy and Opie begin to scout ahead as the rest stay back, crossing an icy bridge only to see a shadowy boatman covering his eyes from a violet lantern. A frozen waterfall reveals dreadful wights who are now lurching, breaking out of the ice, and coming for the party. Their chilly, waterlogged white flesh is upon the Missing, who battle the Wights in two directions as a group down-river walk this frozen stygian battlefield to attempt the mindless destruction of the party. They are beaten back, Prrhen nearly firing an Eldritch blast at the boatman before being warned by Opie that the man is just pointing at something unseen under the waterfall.

The party moves along further, finding the neighborhood is not completely abandoned. The tabaxi Ranger Opie catches a glimpse of shadowy movement from the corner of his eye, seeing long-nosed, dirty-garbed Dark Creepers running into an ally, the same beings from their first ever fight, the henchmen of Baron Zaros. Forgetting their propensity for exploding upon death, Opie slices one clean through. There is a brilliant flash of light, blinding those around and causing the injury of an adjacent creeper and the immediate death of another creeper, who then explodes and kills the last injured one. When that final Dark Creeper explodes, the third in the chain reaction, it harms and blinds a shadow drake who was hidden the whole time, immersed in pure shadow. Rearing its terrifying head, the beast lashes out sightlessly. Over the rooftops of the vacant buildings, rattling the icy glass windows, are the pounding steps of something else over the Lost City, which has come alive in the assault. In the distance, the fortress of memories stands pristine and silent, austere, a curiously mystical backdrop to the now unfolding violence.

### 53. Keeper of Ravens

As soon as the shadow drakes rears back, its eyes blinded by Opie's assault on the surrounding Darklings (and their subsequent bright explosions), it begins to churn a dark energy within its mouth, preparing to clear out everything around it. Before it can release the blast, Prrhen deftly maneuvers toward it through the artificial snow, a snow of loss, of memory, banishing the creature through the power of Baba Yaga, immersing it in an astral existence. In the few minutes ahead, this will prove to be a decisive factor, Prrhen defensively running through allies, keeping her spell going while all the noise alerts the horrors around.

Scuttling through the alleyways are insectoid Mezzoloth, clicking their mandibles and deflecting attacks with their chitonous shells. They pierce with tridents and poison with cloudkill spells, their demonic presence immediately supplanted by two further figures: a Dark Voice, a powerful Darkling, one capable of frightening and harming those around with whispers of death, and the Nycaloth, a flying demon whose replicate selves and invisibility make it both a defensive and offensive hell. Striking down at the party with its axe, the Nycaloth claims victory over the Raven Queen, saluting Orcus and his apparent earthly channeler, Baron Zaros. This demonic horde battles with the party in the streets, intent on ending the Missing just as they close in on their ultimate enemy. While Mercy dispatches demons with thunderous strikes from his legendary tonfa, Dubhseoul blasts a chitonous cretin with Spectral Gift, angrily eating his soul as he draws more attacks. Prrhen keeps her distance, knowing that the shadow drake's presence would mean the end of the party. She uses her eldritch blast in tandem with archer strikes from Miles's starry form. The group slowly whittle down the enemy but find themselves running out of energy just as they need it: they feel themselves challenged to an even greater extent in this section of the shadowfell, their physical forms growing wary, their bodies in danger of being reduced to shadowy forms, perhaps to live a sad life as the gambler that Miles beat, who runs through the streets to safety. They remind themselves of their vivacity, their liveliness, and stave off the darkness, leaving the shadow to the shadowfell and the living to themselves. Dubhseoul watches as the ravens that were perched on a triumphal arch congregate, combining to form a woman, the Keeper of Ravens, a divine emissary of the Raven Queen who helps them to battle and tries to lead the way out of this forsaken section of Al-Draghazar.

As the fight heats up, the Nycaloth loses the final one of its replicants, now going toe to toe with the party, swinging a massive axe and striking everything in sight. In the distance, infra-lanterns light up in points, headed toward this forgotten place, over a dozen of them, bright and beaming. They get closer as the party huddles in, giving the demonic warrior everything they have, the tabaxi ranger Opie delivering the final blow that drops the massive demon into one of the dead-eyed dark houses, collapsing the edifice in piles of straw and masonry. As the points of light grow more numerous and closer, the Keeper of Ravens runs over the cobbles. "This way!" she cries out. Ahead is the great stronghold of the Raven Queen: the Fortress of Memories. In a life seemingly filled with the ghosts of the past, what revelations remain ahead? Where has Daenis gone to? And is the Nycaloth and the High Priestess Imrae correct, that Zaros's prophecy has already come to pass?

### 54. The Fortress of Memories

In the lost neighborhood of Al-Draghazar, a region of the Shadowfell in the underworld somehow beset by falling snow, the Missing follow the Keeper of Ravens to a northern street where a fey Knight of Shadows stands guard before the gate to the Raven Queen. The Knight of Shadows explains that Baron Zaros and a coterie of Nightfallen cultists have penetrated the Fortress of Memories. A back-up of Black Wing warriors was called to handle the threat, with the Knight instructed to block the gate. The Knight is growing concerned as hours pass without any word from the Black Wings, with sounds of combat heard within the Fortress itself. Mercy sizes up the Knight and sees him to be telling the truth. All the while, Janxae and her House Ultrinnan enforcers make headway through the city, their infra-lanterns lighting the way as they race through the snow, pursuing the Missing in a bid to possibly appease Imrae, the High Priestess who was left alive at House Vae, a now-converted temple to Orcus. While the party notice the Drow gaining on them, Dubhseoul displays his loyalty to the Raven Queen and the Knight stands away. The gates swing open, and Prrhen's spell ends. The Shadow Drake bursts into action in the middle of the neighborhood, called back from its place in the astral plane to take up battle once more, but now the Missing are...well, Missing, and the Drake takes on the Dark Elves instead. Janxae attempts to get to the Knight of Shadows who covers for the party as they inspect what can be seen of the fortress. The glassy building is austere, with few signs of outward struggle.

Making their way toward the Raven Queen, the Missing wind along a snow-covered path. They crunch through the snow, wind whipping through their hair, tugging at their green infra-vision cloaks to avoid the bone chilling cold. The path stretches out, twisting and turning through the snowy landscape. The trees that line the way are bare and gnarled, branches creaking. The skyless dome of Al-Draghazar seems to shed endless snow from the heights here. As they walk, the fortress of memories looms into view, its spires rising up into the sky. There’s a faerie tale aspect to them, but a haunting sadness. As they get closer it becomes clear the fortress itself is made of ice. Them press on, determined to reach the Raven Queen and what secrets lie ahead. The wind somehow picks up, howling around them, filling the air with whispers of the dead. Unsorted desires, pleas, mantras, swirling around the Missing. They reach the fortress, and enter.

Within the Raven Queen's icy castle, there is a tasteful yet stark decor, staircases leading up either side of an atrium with a central door that is pushed open to reveal a stand off. Ravenfolk, shadow elves, and haunted humans comprise an elite group of Raven Queen aligned Black Wings that are frozen by one of Zaros's spells. The Raven Queen herself is frozen on the throne, Baron Zaros extracting a memory philter as he joyously celebrates the coming end to his troubles, the conquering of Primrose, and from there, the conversion of Amathara to a domain of Orcus, a place where the dead are called under his command, a realm of infinite power that Dalmeny could never have envisioned. In his arms is the pale-skinned, golden haired, waifish Daenis, or is it Sinead? She is guarded on the other side by a vulture like creature, hunched and glowing with mystical strength, Vulturnus. Opie the tabaxi invisible in the dark, sneaks further in as the cultists congregate. The Missing hang around nervously, wondering at what to do as Zaros works on completing his teleportation circle.

The party jumps into action, Opie charging ahead and summoning a fey spirit, a Satyr that clomps across the stone floor drawing attention as he invisibly severs the heads of cultists. Dubhseoul emerges from shadow, grabbing Sinead or Daenis, who is badly injured. The fight erupts, Zaros casting his spell, telling everyone it's time to finally make good on the prophecy. As the party battle cultists, Miles helps the injured fey girl by transforming her into a wooly mammoth and watching her slam her tusks into the throng. Appearing behind a column is the other girl, Sinead or Daenis, showing both of the pair are in the same place. As the teleportation circle begins to close, the party members make a quick decision. The girl in the wings, announcing that she is Sinead, warns that Zaros is too prepared to take head on, and that he only needs a few hours to conquer the city. There is no way to make it across Styx in time to save Primrose. Dubhseoul decides to act quickly, jumping in the circle, followed by the rest of the crew, the girl calling herself Sinead, and the mammoth that is apparently Daenis. As they depart, the Black Wings surge around their queen, attending to the deity who is still reeling from the spell Zaros cast on her to extract whatever it was he was after.

On the other side, the party battle Vulturnus in the hallways of a place that seems eerily familiar. It is dark, with wooden halls and high ceilings. There is a sudden sound of great applause through the walls as they arrive. Why does the terrain seem like somewhere the party has been before? Is it the smell? The poplar bark of the walls? Now the Missing find themselves in the final gauntlet. Foregoing a run back to Stormbringer, they have decided to take on Zaros without even a rest, without even their dedicated crew. There is no time, at least now, for talk, with both the Seelie daughter of Conor Macnas and Titania and the Unseelie Changeling daughter of Moonmouth and Callisto holding secrets of these last moments that cannot come out, not now, while they race, the copper taste of blood in their mouths. Now is the moment of truth, the fate of Primrose, and perhaps Amathara, hangs in the balance. Prepare yourselves.

### 55. Ostara 1401

Opie rolls through the teleportation circle, emerging on the other side in a crowded hallway with a wooden floor and high stone walls. Up ahead is the legion of Nightfallen cultists, their faces white with pan-cake make-up, blood drawn across their eyes like warpaint. Opie notices he’s hemmed in by the mass of Nightfallen, seeing one of the cultists tentacled hands emerging around a corner while Dubhseoul fires terrifying spectral shots. Opie tries to vault over the cultist ahead but he blocks the way. The tabaxi ranger reorients himself and attacks around the corner, but his draw-back slices Miles open, leaving him with a grievous bleeding wound. Desperately, Opie calls to his Satyr who *fey steps* from his spot farther down the hall, goring one cultist with his horns and charming another with his faerie magic.

Down the hall are the metal footfalls of Radiant crusaders and sagitarri, the troops of Amberhelm. One of them emits an exaggerated “huh?” at Zaros and the mass of cultists, who are moving further out of sight. On the other side of the wall comes a booming voice, reedy and excited. “Welcome everyone to the Ostara festival of 1401! And now, please rise and stand for Amberhelm’s great Gallus Matho, Modiana Vera, and our special guests, the Margraves and Rhys from the Malacoides! Now, we will begin out presentation tonight, what we’ve all been waiting for!”

A near-death Prrhen scowls at the voice and casts Vampiric Touch hoping to heal her wounds. She charges it up, but misses the landing and the spell fizzles out. Mercy, bobbing and weaving with his twin tonfa, scans the hall and begins to get worried, seeing the momentum of the fight shifting obviously toward Zaros. He doesn’t have long to think: the partial amnesiac presses himself against a wall as a mammoth barrels through, bowling a cultist over and stomping him. The woman who appears to be a badly wounded Sinead tries to capitalize, but when she casts her spell it backfires and a globe of acid explodes in her hands and renders her unconscious. Mercy hopes the stomping of the mammoth will alert others to the scene, but through the walls is a thunderous applause that all but drowns out the sound. He’s had enough, yelling,  “Grab Sinead, make sure Prrhen is safe, and run away! We’ll figure out another way!” Prrhen, wan and bleeding, cries “Whose gonna grab me!” while Dubhseoul draws on the Raven Queen’s power and summons a skeletal undead who instantly tears away at a cultist. While the skeleton pierces the cultist’s flesh, Dubhseoul hexes another with a curse. Mercy feints with Tonitruum, throwing a Cultist off while he hits him with Cosma in the other hand, knocking him back. The Eladrin fighter moves to escape: “Mammoth, make noise up the hall, travel back to us!” he yells, hoping for any chance of distraction. Miles, who channels his Chalice constellation greatly heals Prrhen, performing his most able medical help yet. Miles then staunches his own wounds inflicted from Opie’s blade. A cultist next to Miles hopes for revenge, tentacles extending in wispy smoke around his fist, but the Nightfallen overextends and tears a ligament in his leg. The remaining cultists who have not yet moved ahead with Zaros descend with clubs and phantasmal strikes, clanking off Dubhseoul’s Stygian armor. The charmed cultist, who sees a Satyr dancing in front of him, a mammoth to one side of him, and a skeleton tearing into a companion on the other, is out of his mind. He cradles his head in his arms, seeing the make-up come off on his hands. He tugs at his cloak, his whole life feeling faintly unfamiliar, as if he no longer understands what led him to this point. A cultist further down the hallway shrieks at him, “You idiot! Come down the hall, Zaros is on the stage now!” “Yeah you idiot,” agrees Dubhseoul as he continues to kill the cultist’s friends with a gun. Vulturnus, taking stock of the situation, joins the shrieking cultist and moves down the hall out of sight.

Through the wall, whatever presentation was being announced begins.

“We’ve done it, we’ve killed the traitor, Sigmund Hearst” comes one voice.

“Excellent,” says another. “And here is your reward”

A third voice with a Thornmoorish accent is heard, “Vee desire more zan gold! As von initiate of Vee Jas, zere are things beyond zee death Sigmund has been consigned to”

“What is it, your desire?”

A lizard-like voice answers “It’s more…spiritual than anything else”

Mercy yells at Prrhen to follow as he darts down the hall, but Prrhen stabs a cultist instead. The woman appearing as Sinead is bleeding out heavily on the cold stone. The mammoth, meanwhile, pounds on the ground as Mercy instructed, causing stones and dust to fall from the ceiling. There’s a hush on the other side of the wall  and nervous chatter from the audience at this disruption.

Dubhseoul’s skeleton tears a cultist down, then the warlock shoots another point blank and sends the soul to the Raven Queen, pulling him back instantly as a specter. He nearly blasts away at the charmed cultist but notices that the Nightfallen no longer has any interest in fighting. Instead, he gets into an advantageous position. Mercy grabs the wounded Sinead/Daenis and rushes down the hall, Miles casting healing word, channeling power of the cosmos to grant her consciousness. The beautiful fey woman, coming to in Mercy's arms, opens her eyes. “Did we win?” she asks Mercy, head on his shoulder. “Not yet,” Mercy replies. “But we haven’t lost.” Miles changes his constellation to that of the archer, preparing in case of further attack.

Through the walls, the Missing hear the presentation continue.

“As your Lord Skipta, I beseech you to tell me Azrael…”

“We want our vision brought to fruition.”

“A vision beyond life and death?”

“Yes, and it must be sown with arcane magic”

The ‘Skipta’ voice rejoins incredulously, “Arcane magic…that of the heretics?”

The Thornmoorish one replies, “You shall see vhat we mean, zee power to speak to zee gods, zee power to build automatons like zose of Thornmoor. Your concerns of heresy shall disappear wif zee proof of our deeds”

‘Skipta’, reeling, responds “You ask me to abandon the radiant path? Amberhelm? The empire? Triadism? Pholtus HIMSELF?”

“Precisely,” comes the ‘Azrael’ voice. “With Namatius Elysium as the patron of the Bastards guild, we cannot fail”

As the words reverberate through the halls, Sinead jumps out of Azrael’s arms and runs to the end of the hallway. “By the Gods…” she says, recognizing the atrium. “We’re in the town hall, in Primrose!” Dubhseoul runs around the corner and sees he’s indeed backstage, behind a great velvet curtain. He sees zombies ahead and nearly bolts, but realizes they are actors in costume.  One of the zombie actors, seeing the robed Nightfallen running through the curtain grumble, “Who are these guys, they don’t have a role!” Another replies to him, “I don’t know, Alisdair keeps changing everything, I can’t keep track!” Dubhseoul decides to run back around.

Azrael feverishly climbs the inner wall of the Town Hall, perching over the banister in the packed theater, seeing at first a huge shield guardian named Stompy on stage, then the rest of the historical play’s characters. Visibly panting, bleeding, and sweating, and most importantly, knowing how he looks and how he is recognized, Mercy bellows “Everyone in the audience needs to evacuate the premises immediately!”

“Stop right there!” yells a Radiant Sagitarrius, bow drawn and leveled at the Eladrin. “Under whose authority?” Meanwhile, Miles is dashing down the hallway toward the atrium. Opie sprints past him, very quickly making up the distance till he’s ahead of everyone. Gallus, on the other side of the theater in the box reserved for royalty, sees Mercy and grabs his sword. Lord Dalmeny, next to him, sees his moment and begins to direct traffic, knowing the Eladrin is in the right. At first, there’s a moment of the audience feeling perplexed, but any delay vanishes with what comes next: Baron Zaros appears on stage out of thin air, canceling an invisibility spell. They crowd screams as Zaros threatens: “You knew this day would come! I promised it would, Archaunbault! You could have been in on it, but you fell for a fantasy. Now we’ll see just what’s underneath this trap door” He looks to his right, seeing an actor dressed up as Valxun, a lich he once worked closely with, a Lich who once nearly guided Ethergaarde toward Nightfallen control. Nearly. Zaros grabs the actor's throat and pulls the the life out of him with dark magic. The actor wilts and dies. Zaros drops the body, his eyes glowing with energy. “And now, to the underneath. Showtime.” He Imbibes a memory philter, the same one extracted from the Raven Queen in the Fortress of Memories, and operates the trap door. The Amberhelmian playwright Alisdair climbs in the stage from the pit, yelling at Zaros “What is the meaning of this? You are NOT part of my play!” Mercy, wasting no time, vaults over the banister, pursued by guards. Opie runs through the vestibule,  Mercy using the step of the wind and his training to mislead Radiant Crusaders as he makes his way to the door. Miles takes on the sign of the dragon, and takes to the air. The party decide to egress to the Monastery of the Seven Stars, Dubhseoul using his two undead to fight off guards while Dalmeny urges the crowd to listen to Mercy “He speaks the truth!” Dalmeny calls. Gallus Matho, desperately trying to keep up with Mercy, threatens the Lord. “Shut up you old fool! You don’t need to live another day, we could replace you now!”

Out on the streets, a celestial event has rendered Primrose in a gothic light: Amathara passes between Omnum-Veris and Teshaltar, the suns on one end, and Eterna on the other, a shadow on the moon. There is a blood red hue, a refraction, a scattering of rays that starts dim and gets deeper, the sky full of this ominous glow. The sight is offset by something the Missing haven’t felt in quite some time: warmth. In the evil radiance of the eclipse, there are petals falling from the dogwood, poplars alive with bird song. It is spring. There is no time to enjoy this escape from the underworld yet. The birds scatter just as the rays as the throng of Primrose citizens and armed crusaders pulse through the streets. Out in front of all of them, running toward the monastery is fleet footed Opie, next is Miles ensconced in a geometric constellation of a dragon, floating toward it, after that, Mercy zig-zagging behind a building to lose the contingent of guards as he makes his way to Gudoja, and finally, Sinead finding her stride again, next to a barreling invisible mammoth and Prrhen and Dubhseol, sprinting the last length of the dirt road as Dubhseoul’s undead keep the last of the guards at bay. Breathless, lungs burning, limbs heavy and sluggish, the party make it through the Monastery doors, to sanctuary.