Cupcakes, Cupcakes and More Cupcakes

and

Justin as the DM

"**Cupcakes, Cupcakes and More Cupcakes**" is the tenth episode of Rise of the Arcane, the third season of Tales From Del'nasra

Betrayal fresh on their minds, the remainder of the Fonkey Casuals have arrived at the Witchlight Carnival to spend their remaining few hours in the Feywild in the hopes to unwind and cool their emotions.

## Episode Synopsis

#### **Previously on Tales from Del'nasra**

*"You all aided in putting out the few buildings that had caught fire in the Immolation ceremony in the fey hamlet of Thistledale, and all were ruled out of suspicion for causing the ceremony to run amok, aside from The Creep whose offering was the only one that survived the flames. The Creep was taken into questioning with Mayor Harveston and Dreamwalker Somnius with Grin and Vonkar tagging along one bound by duty, the other mentioning he was Grin’s bodyguard. The remainder of the party took up the offer to rest and relax in the nearby abandoned home.*

*The relaxation group discussed some potential trust issues in regards to the Creep and Grin, insinuating that Grin may be an unreliable narrator and things may not be as they seem. During this conversation, Doe had attempted to comfort Leek who had seemed mentally vacant ever since the fires got out of hand.*

*While this was going on, Dreamwalker Somnius and Mayor Harveston attempted to learn more about The Creep and the figure that had appeared in the flames as the Mayor mentioned that it was supposed to be Father and not whomever it was in his place. Not trusting the sole words of Grin, the Mayor said he was going to cut a hole in the bandages around The Creep’s mouth so he could speak and tell his part and defend himself.*

*Grin stressed that the bandages couldn’t be cut, and this seemed to only increase the growing unease and suspicions in the mayor and Somnius. During the interrogation, The Creep was mentally communicating with the Mayor and succeeded in persuading him that his captors were the ones to be truly suspicious of, and the Mayor made for the Creep’s bandages while Somnius cast Hold Person on Vonkar and Grin went invisible during the commotion.*

*The Creep’s bandages were cut and fell away and as they did he was finally freed and the voice of his master came to him, and with the voice and offer to unlock his potential. The Creep agreed and transformed into a colossal elemental titan, which altered the group in the house. The Creep, now transformed burrowed towards the abandoned home where the others were residing and after a short scuffle, successfully retrieved Hopper’s infused bag of holding, and the contents therein, including the luminspire you’ve been protecting before burrowing deeper underground and seemingly teleporting away.*

*Frustration boiled and bubbled up, with immediate distrust being thrown towards Grin and that they shouldn’t have been parading this clearly evil being around with the group the whole time. Realizing they still had a few hours before they could leave the Feywild due to Torger still being marked by the jabberwock, the party doubled back to the abandoned carnival in the forest and entered, watching as it transformed before their eyes into something called the Witchlight Carnival and they all entered tickets in hands and wearing cloth butterfly wings to ensure they were had entered the carnival legitimately."*

#### The Episode

The Fonkey Casuals entered the strange Witchlight Carnival that had materialized around them and with map of the carnival in hand decided that food would be their best bet before indulging in whatever else this strange place had to offer. A treant filled with garland was walking around dropping seeds that guests were trying to catch that soon opened into a variety of gifts while a squirrel danced through the branches and handed people dandelions to blow and make a wish. A few members of the group caught seeds, with Hopper and Doe becoming easily amused by everything on display, Antyr gaining a d4 to roll on any check before dawn and Vonkar's seed opened up and became a single gold piece. Everyone in the group blew out their dandelions and wished for something.

As they proceeded towards the Feasting Orchard they passed by a calliope that was being controlled by a monkey wearing a button up vest while a goblin dressed as a ladybug named Marigold shook a tin cup around to collect buttons.

Antyr and Vonkar dropped some buttons into the tin cup and were cajoled into dancing by the goblin and upon doing so were greeted with warm smiles. Passing by the calliope they saw two children playing with a displacer beast wearing butterfly wings and eventually arrived at the Feasting Orchard which was filled with a variety of clowns on stilts grabbing fruits from the nearby trees while a large table was being set up for some sort of cupcake eating contest.

Getting each of their tickets punched, every member of the Fonkey Casuals and took part in the cupcake eating contest and whomever could eat the most cupcakes in one minute would win. Everyone seemed to go at a slow and steady pace at the beginning but it soon devolved into a grotesque display of slamming what should have been an impossible amount of cupcakes down one's throat as quickly as possible. Grin was eliminated first after eating 17 cupcakes and was no longer able to consume anymore with Antyr tapping out next, followed by Torger, Doe and Hopper all tapping out. The contest came to an end after one minute with Vonkar having one after eating 100 cupcakes while Leek came in second place having not tapped out. Having one, Vonkar was given a cupcake that had the properties of a *potion of invisibility*.

Their bellies were magically emptied and they left to explore more of the carnival.

#### After the Break

As they prepared to leave the Feasting Orchard, a familiar satyr, Grundle was seen sitting in the branches of a nearby pear tree. He recited the following rhyme which gave details on how they could find the Fey Crossing here in the carnival and return to the Material Plane.

> In Hall of Illusions, shadows astray,
>
>
> Seek the mirror 'fore night gives way.
> Through hidden door, homeward bound,
>
>
>
> Ere the end's whisper, secrets unfound.
>
> Grundle's rhyme on how to find the carnival's fey crossing.

Realizing that the carnival's Hall of Illusions would be their way out, the party decided to visit a couple more of the carnival's attractions before making their way out. Antyr and Doe decided to take a slow, figure-eight ride around the carnival grounds on the Dragonfly Ride and in the process stopped a rampaging dragonfly which seemed to lighten the carnival's overall mood which was seemingly being impacted by Grin's current mood. Grin's mood seemed to be affecting the carnival negatively by causing rain clouds to appear, guests to become grumpy and the calliope began to play a discordant, eerie and out of tune song.

The remaining members of the group decided to visit the Mystery Mine after overhearing a child proclaim that he was excited to see his wish come true there. As they got on the ride, each of their fears were discovered by the individual operating the ride, and as they went through the ride which seemed to be a sort of mine cart ride through strange landscapes, each member of the present party had witnessed what creature they feared most having manifested. Grin watched as their mine cart was chased by a giant cat throughout someone's giant house, while Vonkar witnessed what appeared to be a ride through the Nine Hells, through a large conflict of the Blood War. A lithe, slim pit fiend had approached the mine car, while holding the head of a devil whose visage kept shifting before the ride continued. This encounter seemed to phase Vonkar who remained quiet for the remainder of the ride and staring down at his hands while Torger seemed to forcefully interrogate Grin about The Creep who continued to proclaim his lack of knowledge regarding what had occurred earlier in the day.

Next, the ride came to the very top of a drop similar to a rollercoaster before plunging deep, deep, deep into the lower depths of the Underdark and through Torger's home town of Dvergfjell, where a large beholder with mind flayer like features broke through the ice-lake the small hamlet was built upon and began eating the surrounding townsfolk. The nightmares vanished and the mine cart came through a cloud of golden sparkles where the wishes from earlier began to manifest. Due to Antyr and Doe being elsewhere, the party watched as Antyr's wish manifested as knowledge of everything in existence vanished and Doe's wish of unlimited cheesecake vanished which would have manifested in them vomiting up obscene amounts of cheesecake every dawn. For those present in the cart, their wishes were manifested and obtainable. Hopper's wish was to stop the one who killed Lord Oberon and was granted a visage of a sword made of stained glass resting at the bottom of an unknown lake.

Torger's wish to "get the upper hand" manifested as him having developed an extra hand growing out of his sternum. Leek's wish was to forget the memory where everything was burning, which was erased from his memories. Vonkar's wish was to see Grin back to being Grin and Grin's wish was for "papa" to not be mad at him. Vonkar and Grin's wish seemed to coincide with Grin exploding under Torger's hand in a flash of glitter and light causing Torger to believe he had killed Grin.

However, Grin had been briefly shifted to the Rose Court, the domain of his papa, the Archmaw. It was here that Grin saw several of the Rose Court's denizens having been turned to stone and eventually finding his papa also turned to stone with a small sword lying at the base of the statue. While Grin was examining the scene he saw movement upstairs in the strange manor house and became invisible and flew inside to investigate. He discovered Duskreaper Aelinor prowling through the house as if he was looking for something. Grin followed, with the Aelinor seemingly uncovering a room, hidden away by magic in the home that housed a series of archways each with specific names on them. The notable ones to Grin were the Ashheart, the Fungal Lich and Ogden Boon.

Aelinor stepped through the archway labelled Ashheart and vanished from view. While Grin floated there concerned on what to do, a boggle that evaded the attack on the Rose Court appeared and gave Grin an account on what had all occurred recently. Mentioning that Aelinor tried recruiting the Archmaw to the Umbral Court since his motives and activities were more aligned with how the Unseelie Court behaved, and believed he would agree as he had once served as a worshipper of the now current ruler of the Unseelie Court. However, Aelinor grew frustrated with the Archmaw's refusals, personality and everything in between and turned him and everyone residing within the Rose Court into stone.

It also appeared that due to the strange way that time flows in the Feywild, the Archmaw had been aware of the Creep's betrayal for a few weeks at this point even though it had only happened a few hours ago to Grin in his perspective. Due to this, and before he was turned to stone, the Archmaw tasked Grin should he ever return to right this mistake they all made by taking the sword he had left behind, gather allies and stop whatever The Creep was planning.

Before Grin left he was also made aware that Duskreaper Aelinor was also looking for a map of the leylines and their converge points that spanned the whole of Del'nasra, mentioning this map was stolen and it was an important part to play in what was to come. This boggle also told Grin that they had some time to figure things out as Aelinor was waiting for something called the Grand Restoration before his plans could come into play. Determined to get back to his allies, Grin was led to another archway that simply said "Think of friends". Grin, thinking of the Fonkey Casuals after forty-five days of training with his new sword arrived to meet his friends with only a few minutes having passed for them.

He told them everything he was told by the boggle and the group decided it was time to return to the Material Plane and get a handle on things. They entered the Hall of Illusions where they witnessed reflections of themselves at every stage of life and eventually passed through a mirror that had seemingly been laid out for them and arrived in the attic of someone's home back in the City of Embers while an old man began making his way upstairs, shouting out, asking who was in his attic.

## Featured Characters

### Player Characters

* Antyr Xiloscient
* Doe
* Grin
* Hopper Thimblefoot
* Leek
* Torger Otrson
* Vonkar Eldsaga

### Returning

* Duskreaper Aelinor
* Grundle

### New

* Marigold, a goblin dressed like a ladybug at the Witchlight Carnival
* An unnamed devil seen in a vision that seemed to recognize Vonkar in some capacity

### Mentioned

* The Archmaw
* The Ashheart
* The Creep
* The Fungal Lich
* Graz'zt
* Lord Oberon
* Ogden Boon
* Vel'karis Vel'tarajin (unnamed)