04.10.22 - Reunited Families

After everyone had woken up, we went to the bar for our first breakfast before we went to meet with Mr. Snapping Branch and Jerome’s dad. We were very early so we decided we should explore the town before going to Belcassel. On our way out, a warthog dude and his koblod buddies tried to steal Jerome. They managed to get him out the door where there was a flying snake dude. The whispers told me that Jerome saw that the snake dude was named Kevin and he had stolen all our gold pouches and had hidden them on the roof across the street.

We took care of Kevin and his friends without any issues before we sent Jerome to find all our things before we took their wagon and Pox with us while we finished exploring the town. Jerome found a cool robe he gave to Klaub and some broken talons-mans that let us make secret messages for each other. After he handed those out, we went into a place called the Mundane Foundry, and inside there was a purple and blue lizard person named Atticus the Armorer. Mr. Armorer was very nice and he had all kinds of armor, even shiny ones! He told us if we wanted to find other important things for adventurers we should go to the Griffon’s Saddlebag. In that store, there was a skinny lizard person, who told us they had invented the tortleneck sweaters in that very place, but they were all too big for me and Klaub said he didn’t want one.

When we were done there, it was time to go to Belcassel to find Jerome’s dad and Shadow Mother. As we got closer, it didn’t look the way I remembered it, now it looked more like the cat part of Tannin with all kinds of places to climb, but maybe underneath that it kinda looks the same. We could see that the area was guarded by tabaxi who all nodded respectfully as Jerome as we walked by until a little cat person came running up out of nowhere and hugged Jerome. He said his name was Burning Branch and he had really missed Jerome. Burning took us to the front gate where another cat person, named Squeaking Branch, greeted us and took us in to meet with everyone. They told us that Shadow Mother had arrived a few weeks ago to look over the cockatrices, and they had never had anyone manage them with such ease before him.

Squeaking led us through the castle until we reached a large dining room where there was a much bigger version of Burning sitting at the head of the table and an older man wearing a fancy green cloak sitting next to him. Jerome ran to the  man and gave him a hug before we all sat down at the table and had a delicious second breakfast. Everything seems normal, but after breakfast Burning took us to Jerome’s room and Jerome told us his dad and his sister were acting weird. He said they must not be his real family because his dad and sister were never this nice to him before. We climbed out of his room to go find where Shadow Mother was taking care of the cockatrices.

Burning led us to a very nice cave not far from the castle. Inside, there were lots of very nice nests and it was painted with glowing plants. The whispers told me they were lichen, which must be true because I liked them very much. In the middle of the cave was a stone which Shadow Mother was sitting on. Jerome gave Shadow Mother his letter. The whispers told me they both had memories shown to them: Jerome saw his time growing up here at the keep with his loving family and playing with Burning while Shadow Mother was shown his adventures with the other shadows leading up to leaving us in the wagon. They both seemed to have all their memories after they were done remembering, so we went back to the castle. When we returned to the dining room, Jerome recognized his family and decided he wanted to stay with them and leave the adventuring for when he gets older. Mr. Branch offered us a choice of magical items or pets for bringing Jerome back to them.