Ep. 135 'Twas Bryllyg

## Watch

'Twas Bryllyg | Khyber Shards #135 | D&D 5e Actual Play

—Pog

Pog, Shade, and River sit outside Greymalkin Academy, when suddenly they're attacked by jubjub birds. River is taken by the Bandersnatch, and Pog and Shade follow her through the mushroom-lined circle, right into the Feywild. In their search they come to a bog, and meet Ponderous. After some coaxing, he tells them about the Laughing Lord, and to beware the jubjub birds in the tumtum trees.

They climb through the trees. Shade has regrets when she casts Speak with Plants on them, and that results in the tumtum trees messing with them as they try to get away from the bog and the creature in it. They just manage to get away, and find themselves back with Ponderous.

## Synopsis

### Jubjub birds and River's kidnap

Pog, Shade, and River sit outside Greymalkin, watching the stars. River straightens, and the light in her eyes fades a little. She says something is there. She stands up, and walks back to the forest, looking into the grove. Pog and Shade follow. As they look to the grove, suddenly through the trees, lights like glowing eyes open. Dozens of strangely shaped, shrieking birds burst out of the trees and rush towards them. They have iridescent plumage, not that dissimilar to Kael's. They rake their claws on Pog.

*"Ow, stop, you're gorgeous!"
—Pog*
Pog hits them with a burning hands, and his echo pops up on the other side of them. Shade has this primal flash of memory from her childhood—she almost hears a voice giving instruction on survival:

*"Beware the jubjub bird."*
The moonlight on the feathers glints in Shade's eyes. She finds herself mesmerized by the shifting patterns, and becomes paralyzed for a moment. Kael leaps into the air and slashes through some of the birds. River runs through the swarm into the trees, and they start quivering as she approaches. Vines start slashing out into the swarm, bashing into them.

Pog is swinging with his ax, trying to knock out as many as he can. He falls into the feather's mesmerizing patterns, as well.

Just past where River has run to, Shade notices a glowing patch of mushrooms in the grass. There's a low growl, and suddenly something big and moving fast splits between the two of them. An almost cat-like form lunges through the air, with big, ape-like hands. It grabs River, tackles her, rolls itself over with her, and disappears. Shade, yelling, hurls lightning at the jubjub birds. Kael lunges throw the air and swipes, and the remnants of the swarm scatter.

Shade sprints to the toadstools and jumps through. Pog says, *"Oh boy, I'm gonna be in so much trou—"* and walks through.

### Into the Feywild

When they walk through, it's like stepping into a pool of water. They go down, through *something*. They feel themselves turning head down, and suddenly emerge out, and they're standing in an identical circle of toadstools, in a vast, huge twilit forest. They search for River, but find no sign of her. Kael tells them they're in the Feywild. They look for tracks, and after a while find an odd scent instead. They chase after it.

The forest goes on in all directions. The trees are huge, and old. It's not like the jungle where the trees are pressed very close together; it's easy to move through them. They're of no type they've ever seen in Eberron; richly colored, but everything remains twilight, with sparks and lights in all directions. Pog and Shade race toward, but Shade stops them just in time to not fall into a bog. Pog summons his echo, just to see if it will appear, and it stands before him. It moves across the bog towards Pog, and then sinks under the water, upon Pog's command.

Pog pulls out a rope, and suggests getting across the bog with it. Shade wraps her end, with Kael, around a tree. Pog gets Shade's help in tying it to the back of his sling. As they're doing this, Shade becomes aware of this sloshing sound as if something large is moving through the bog. She hears a strange gargled noise. She warns Pog, who gets up to about thigh level in the bog. The noise gets louder.

*"Hello! Are you burping?"
—Pog*
Further among the trees, Pog sees a long neck and a smallish head with big, bulbous yellow eyes, and a big body sloshing its way through the mire. Pog calls out to it, but Kael hisses to Shade to make him be quiet. She pulls on Pog's rope to get his attention, and shushes him. He strains to hear, and finally catches on. He hunkers down, and the yellow eyes look around, and then turn away and begin moving off through the mire again. Shade looks around for a boat; there's no boat, but about thirty yards up, there's a person sitting there, fishing. Pog clambers out of the bog so they can just ask the stranger for help.

### Ponderous

The stranger is sitting on the bank, knees pulled up and hunched over. As they approach, he turns and tilts the brim of the hat towards them. Pog introduces them, and the person claims himself to be Ponderous. Pog asks him if he's seen "a giant monster roll through with a young girl while they were rolling around like roly-poly." Ponderous says there are an awful lot of monsters in these parts. Pog asks to get past, and Ponderous says he can walk around. Pog specifies the fastest ways, and Ponderous suggests going through the trees, from branch to branch, up through the trees. Shade asks about the smell, and Ponderous says a Bandersnatch came through a while ago. With more prompting from Shade, he describes it as "big and fast, with an odd scent to it." It went out across the toves, heading towards the Laughing Lord's domain. He's surprised when Shade asks who that is; she looks like one of the queen's folk, so he thought she was from here. She admits that it's not been for a very, very long time. Ponderous shares how the Forest Queen rules the Feywild, the space between lands; the inside those lands, various archfey lords and ladies and queens and kings rule their domains within. Ponderous doesn't know if the Laughing Lord is nice, but he knows he thinks he's funny.

Thinking it would take way too long to get more information out of him, Pog asks if he has a ladder to climb the trees. Ponderous doesn't, but warns them that the tumtum trees can be treacherous. There are certainly jubjub birds in the tumtum trees. Every child knows to beware them.

### Through the Tumtum trees

As they start climbing, Pog apologizes to the trees, assuring it that they're just going after their friend, and that Shade has many plant friends. Realizing what a great idea it is, Shade casts Speak with Plants on the trees. They very easily scramble up the tree. There's a groaning sound, and a knot on the trunk of the tree in front of her opens as an eye. She asks if the tree has seen a bandersnatch; yes, the tree confirms one came through its branches. It suggests jumping from branch to branch for optimal travel. Pog wants to move along, and Shade is scared that it will now be harder to move through the trees, based on the laughter coming from the eye when she asked for safe travels. The branch she's on suddenly just flops against the tree, but she manages to hang on.

They set out, and Shade is very nimbly doging from branch to branch. Pog and Kael have a harder time with it. The branches flip up in front of them, or twist away, or do any other thing to mess with them as they go. The long-necked creature below them pays them more attention. It rears up and puts its almost dragon-like legs with long, hooked claws into the tree. Its head reaches up through the branches towards them. The branch that Shade and Kael are running on gradually bends down, bringing them closer to the creature. Two beams of flame burst out of the eyes towards them.

Affected by the creature's strange warblings, Shade stops and sits in thought. The creature's claws as the head works its way up, closer to Shade. Pog summons his echo right next to her. It reaches down and grabs her, and Pog swaps places with her. The creature's eyes don't seem to have any focus, but its head whips towards Pog, biting into him. Shade shoots an arrow at it, distracting it for a moment. Kael tells them they have to run; they can't fight this. He takes off, with Shade's permission.

They're able to bound across the branches and onto solid ground. Standing there looking around, they see Ponderous, sitting on the bank, fishing. He turns and says, *"Bryllyg day, to you."*

## Locations

* The Feywild
* Greymalkin Academy

## Spells

* **Pog**
	+ Burning Hands
* **Shade**
	+ Produce Flame
	+ Speak with Plants

## Quotes

"Ari's been gone for ten minutes, and we lost River."
*—Colin 0:16:06*

"Do we walk along a bog?"
"I've never had one before."
"Do we smell the bog?"
*—Shade and Pog*

"Bryllyg day to you."
"And also with you."
*—Ponderous and Pog 0:37:58*

"You talk very slowly."
*—Shade to Ponderous 0:41:42*

"We could probably get more Ponderous information, but it will take us until tomorrow."
*—Pog 0:43:09*

"Thank you all so much for watching me torture Casey and Colin."
*—Philip 1:02:37*