Episode 30: Last Rites, First Course

**Episode 30: Last Rites, First Course** (1x30) - Reaching the storied home of the Applejack family, lumberjacks, carpenters and owners of one of Faritall’s finest apple orchards. Patriarch Otax Applejack long ago remarried after his first wife, an enchanted tree in human form, left her husband to return to the Sacred Grove deep in the Grimmwood. The man’s heart never mended and he was often long away, leaving his daughters at the mercy of Stepmother Elidda Peregrine-Applejack, a cruel hearted woman, as is tradition of stepmothers in certain regions of the Lands of Un. Many of their former mentors old associates have gathered to pay their final respects… unfortunately most of them are not her beloved allies, but her bitter enemies. Painful history, family secrets and dangerous people… welcome to the wake.

## Cast

### Nearlies

Josh | Xenator Brisbane
Kathy | Lavaleen Crest
Andy | Martin Sirque
Amanda | Gwendylyn Cloot
 Robbie | The Speaker
 Aaron |  Production & Sound

### NPCs

APPEARING
 Dodderfell
 Von Dark
 Otak
 Elida

## Synopsis

### Prologue

Elida Peragren felt that she had been waiting her whole life.  As a child she waited for her father to come home; waited behind a big iron lock.  The iron was to keep out the fairies that haunted Mudrack hollow, the lock to keep out more mundane threats.  She had been told that he best friend had been taken by fairies, but as she had been the prettiest girl in the village, Elida was not sure it was fairies that had taken her.

While she waited she lost herself to daydreams, daydreams where she had power, and jewelry and feasts fit for kings.  She longed to be an adult where she would be powerful, and have the fear and respect of the entire village.  On her 16th birthday, at the village fair, she stood amongst all the other girls, holding up her handkerchief for a boy to take to invite her to dance.  The numbers among her dwindled till she was the second to last chosen, and then the last, standing there alone, without a dance partner and with an arm to tired to continue to hold up.  Alone she witnessed a trio of brothers talking and pointing over at her.  With a final glance at her, one of the brothers marched over to the refreshment table and dunked his head in the pickle jar, clearly choosing that dare over asking Elida to dance.

Later that night, she examined herself in the mirror to try to see why the boys found her so unappealing. It wasn’t her looks, she decided.  She was pretty, well proportioned, symmetrical, and well kept. Finally she saw in her own gaze, something sharp and cruel. She saw the want and calculations in her eyes and realized that she wouldn’t dance with herself either.  With that, she had to admit to herself, she was wicked.

### Episode

Elida Peragren is speaking with the Nearlies by the chicken coop.  She tells them that she discovered that the reason there are no other heroes at Sarah’s wake is because there was an attack on the Sacred Inns and Taverns. Red Riders massacred the line of would-be heroes that were waiting to enter the Inn.  This attack would be occupying the Guild of Heroes, preventing their attendance.

While trying to process this, the Nearlies are still trying to figure out a way to prevent one of sentient chickens, one of Sarah’s friends from being murdered for dinner.  Lavaleen approaches Elida, indicating that a chicken would be uncomfortable for her to eat, given her own status as a swan woman.  Elida acknowledges the difficulty and states that she will arrange to have a different dish for dinner, something further from Lavaleen’s family tree.  She then leaves to prepare dinner

The Nearlies immediately decide to take the chickens with them when they leave, deciding that theft was not included in their promise to do no violence.  While the Nearlies plan, the chickens talk amongst themselves.  The Nearlies catch scraps of stories about Sarah, adventures in the forest, saving the chickens from foxes and cutting down her sister.

At the last, the Nearlies ask the chickens for more information.  It turns out that Sarah was one of a pair of twins.  Sarah took more after her father and was humanoid, and her twin sister took more after her mother and was a tree.  The sapling was planted in the back yard, and was doing fine until the mother took off to find true Selobithia.  The chickens were able to console and direct Sarah through her grief, but they didn’t know how to nurture a tree through the loss of her mother.  As a result, the fruit began to turn, and germinate strange and dangerous things, as a way of lashing out.  Eventually some villagers were injured by some of these twisted seedlings, which caused Elida embarrassment.  This perceived loss of standing resulted in Elida commanding Sarah to cut down her own sister.

Upon realizing the connection that Sarah had with the tree stump they were standing beside, the Nearlies eventually conclude that this is the tree that Sarah had meant when she said she wanted her ashes spread/rubbed on ‘the tree’.  Lavaleen divides the ashes among Sarah’s friends and the Nearlies have a small eulogy. After the last of her ashes are rubbed into the stump of her sister a small red seed  is created.  The Nearlies decide that they need to find Sarah’s mom and plant the seed with her.  As they put the seed in the now vacant urn, they are interrupted by the dinner bell clanging.  Unsure if they will have time after dinner to check out Sarah’s clubhouse, the Nearlies decide to take a quick look inside before heading into dinner.

Entering into the clubhouse triggers one of the years old trap Sarah had set.  This paint pie plate is easily avoided, but the group is happy to see a reminder of Sarah’s spunk.  Covering the clubhouse is drawings, clearly done by Sarah.  There are a few happy drawings around Sarah and her tree sister, but many of them seem to be overshadowed by figures representing her stepmother and sisters.  They also find some maps that Sarah had drawn to plan her escape, and some magic beans and water in a hidden compartment.  They take all of them.  Valeriana is able to determine that the beans and water seem to be connected to the deeper part of the Grimmwood.  Club house examined, the group heads up to dinner.

When they enter the dining room they find their places among the already seated guests. Gwen and Martin are seated next to the Cambien, and Lavaleen is seated next to a small individual, barely peeking over the table.  Lavaleen feels that he looks familiar but he is avoiding looking at her.  Saddath, the Queen of Spite’s envoy, gives Lavaleen a deep bow, and says that it is an honor to be joined by a member of long lost royalty. Lavaleen acknowledges his greeting but remains distracted by the little man.

Elida then enters the room, telling everyone to be seated, and three shadowy servants begin to bring in the food.  Finally an incredibly large pot is brought in and sat by Elida. It is a pie, a traditional ending to meals in the Grimmwood, but there is something off-putting about this one.

### Epilogue

There had always been wicked people in the lands of Un.  They were respected and feared, but not envied, as their lives would be painful. Still, after realizing that she was destined to be wicked, Elida actually had an easier time in life, as the hardening of her heart began.  It also made getting what she wanted easier, as she was more willing to do wicked things. She suffocated her sickly father with a pillow, she killed the boy who had dunked his head in a pickle barrel rather than dancing with her by placing a fire thistle underneath his saddle, causing him to be bucked off and killed.  She married the cruelest, oldest, and richest man in town.  She was less satisfied with this one as the old man lasted until 110 and still managed to make her pregnant with her two daughters. Elida suspected he made a deal with a devil to achieve these feats.

Elida preferred her first daughter Callintha, as she was beautiful but also stupid so she could be easily manipulated. Dellinda was also beautiful, but was clever and willful and wanted to become a Hero. Elida didn’t care for these plans so she began to give her Mazegrass tea, causing Dellinda’s mind to grow dull and slow.  When her first husband finally died, the timing was such that Otak’s wife had disappeared and by tradition, as a wicked widow, she was in line to become his second wife and stepmother to his daughters.  With her two marriages, she was now rich, which was what she wanted. But she also wanted to be powerful. She thought she could achieve that power when she met the powerfully build and fearsome Otak.  But he turned out to not be interested in her and would barely interact with her.

So Elida turned her quest for power onto Sarah, his daughter.  As her stepdaughter, Sarah was completely under her power.  She flexed that power by giving Sarah an impossible task, stating that she may not eat until she had drawn water from a well that had gone dry, and also infested with boggarts.  She is expecting at any moment to hear Sarah’s screams, either from being attacked or from falling in the well, but it never came.  Instead, impossibly, Sarah came back with a pail of water.  She had negotiated with the boggarts and some creatures in the cellar, resulting in the boggarts making rainclouds to fill the well with water.  This enraged Elida, and she was jealous of the admiration Sarah would receive, and the lack of power she felt.  She still craved power.  Then, Seddath showed up at her door, promising her that all her dreams would come true, and all she had to do was bake a pie.

## Notables

Episode 30
 Objects Acquired
 Spells Used
 Metamorph Attempts

## Quotables

Gert: She gave birth while in human form.
 Gwen: But one just didn’t come out quite right?
 Gert: Well, one came out exactly right if you wanted to have a human-tree hybrid.

## External Links

Patreon
Instagram
Twitter
 Website - Episode 30