Story Summation

## **Prologue**

#### **Act 0, 0.0.0: Before the Kidnapping**

Before the journey began, the future members of the Unmerry Band (OG) each experienced strange phenomena during their final moments within their original timeline. This is what has been shared thus far:

Anjo Nevado: Family Reunion
Back in the year 1385, Anjo was sent on a quest to retrieve a certain artifact, a ring named the Gate of Salvation. He was redirected to his father Anjocious-Alladim Nemaradim, who he hadn't spoken to for years, and upon their reunion he met his young sister Alla Nevado for the first time. Not much else is known, other than the fact that he lost the fight in a scuffle with some cloaked intruders, before waking up in the Grove amongst his new peers.

Aureus Cor Pax: Meeting the World
Aureus came from but two decades in the past, the year 1307. In his time, his identity as the Emperor is still a secret for the populus, as the Rash War is still raging on fiercely. Advised by his right-hand man, a figure known only as Morph, Aureus left the royal palace and wandered through Caprio, where he came to face the harsh reality that is the lives of his subordinates. During said excursion, he seemingly saved Nicky from execution, which in turn rewarded him a loyal servant, albeit against his own will. A while after, he claims to have met Alec Nalbandian and Stuxven Dhennayal, as well as an unimaginably vast horde of Grim Spiders. What happened afterwards is still unknown, yet in the end both himself and Nicky (the latter having woken up somewhere else and only found later) woke up in the Grove, where Aureus found himself chained in his own handcuffs by his future ally Tarhun.

Iaria Kashvrn: Village Warden
Not much is known about Iaria-- Supposedly, she lived a rather secluded life in a small village surrounded by seemingly unending winter. She has not divulged much details about the events that transpired, other than the fact that she died multiple times, only to reawaken, stuck in some sort of time loop. As to her own words, she left her own village of Vrangrimst behind right before she too was summoned to the Grove. The year of her original timeline is unknown, as, apparently, she nor anyone else from her village even know what a 'year' is.

Tarhun Kimbatuul: Man on a Mission
Tarhun never shared much about what happened to him, partially because of mistrust, but mostly because his collar prevents him from doing so. What *is* known, however, is that he came from the very timeline everyone woke up in, simply having travelled his way to the Grove by more natural means. He wasn't able to mention much himself, but the party later found out he had left his nation behind to hunt down a man by the name of Kalyzenthar Verthisathurgiesh. On his way over to his destination, however, something seems to have gone wrong, for which he blames someone by the name of Custard, which had him end up in the Grove instead. He eventually found his way to the still sleeping party, where he secured Aureus, handcuffing him for later questioning, and went to sleep for the night as well.

Winnifred Ayer: Upstart Adventurer
From the year 1341, Winnifred was born to the Ayer Family, some of the strongest mages in Efforus. She was seemingly discontent with her life, however, and instead found magical affinity not through study, but by forming a contract with Wrenmir, the rapier she carries with her at all times. Entering the life of a common adventurer, she took up a quest in Ecuras alongside a formerly complete stranger by the name of Gurd Kingrove. It is here that she made her way to Irena's Tower, home of the witch Irena Mycota and the technological genius Cielo Espiran, alongside his hand-made friend Swing.

Not much is known about what transpired within said tower, but to Winnie's own words, she fought off various demonic critters, before *something* made her lose herself. Having witnessed her getting close to such a state themselves, along with the corroboration of Winnie herself, it is believed that she unleashed the full power of her contract without any control over it, severely injuring all within the tower before having it all crumble down upon them, herself included. After said event, she woke up in the Grove alongside everyone else, not knowing the fate of her new friends, but through the connection upheld by one of Cielo's Pages, which apparently somehow made it to the Grove as well and was found later, she learned that seemingly Cielo and Gurd survived, whereas Irena was taken by Shoof during a later conversation and Swing's fate is still unknown.

## **Book 1: The Stalk of Inevitability**

### ***Chapter 1.1: The Ochre Grove***

#### **Act 1, 1.1.1: Forced Alliances**

***15th of Mirtul, 1326***
**Session 1
10/05/2019**
Aureus is the first to wake up, alerting Tarhun as the two have a small tense conversation before Winnie rouses, pulling Tarhun's attention away from his captive. Using the opportunity, Aureus tries to make a break for it as Tarhun and Winnie end up firing at one another, a missed arrow and a piercing tongue in his shoulder respectively. Soon after, however, Anjo and Iaria awaken as well, the former bumping into Aureus and stopping him as he calms the tension down, helping everyone assess their current situation.

No one truly knowing where exactly they are, let alone how to get back to civilization, a tentative alliance if born to ensure everyone's safety in the journey back. Tarhun shares that right before he found Aureus, he had spotted a tall blue-ish purple individual cloaked in grey who disappeared into a portal, before spearheading the expedition through the Grove, being the only one with a rudimentary knowledge of the biome and with honed survival skills. Setting out, however, the party soon discovers that Anjo too is an invaluable asset, as the swamp leans in on them; Anjo communicates with his siblings, discovering some kind of weird connection between himself and this land of ravenous hatred, pain and hunger, the swamp only allowing the party passage throughout given his presence among their ranks.

**Session 2
10/12/2019**
A long day's journey later, the party gets ambushed by a hunting party of Croakers. A short battle ensues, in which it becomes all too clear that the tactics and sheer numbers of the Croakers are too much for the unorganized party to handle. Luckily, Anjo manages to charm a Croaker Warrior (later discovered to be named Breg), who in turn forces a Croaker Wizard (Peddy) to put a halt to the fighting. Overpowered by the critters, the party has to find a way to amicably end their aggression, discovering their lust for metal as Peddy demands Naedutyr and Wrenmir as compensation for their lives. Iaria and Winnie refusing to give up their respective weapons of choice, Anjo manages to chime in, bringing forth his shovel. Peddy accepts the offering, swallowing it on the spot, and a truce is forged.

Both sides inquire about the other's stories, the party soon discovers the presence of the Giants, hazing the land with heat and snow as they destroy the lives within for their own gain. With somewhat forceful incentive, Peddy demands the party to join in an alliance with the Croakers, with the goal to remove these invaders from their land. Complying, the party is then led all the way to Ribbbus, where Peddy leaves them behind on the plankboard streets. As the majority finds no better solution than to take rest on top of the dirt hill in the center of the village for the rest of the night, Winnie separates herself from the group, desiring some alone-time with Wrenmir.

#### **Act 2, 1.1.2: Plummeting Cages**

***16th of Mirtul, 1326***
**Session 3
10/19/2019**
The party, barring Winnie, wakes up the next day held at gunpoint by a patrol of Croaker guards, calling for Peddy's help to defuse the situation. Peddy also mentions that the party was meant to sleep in the shed next to his house, angering Tarhun as he removes himself from the conversation to investigate the rest of the village. In doing so, he hears a mechanical whirring in the distance, following in quick pursuit of the noise only to find the swamp bearing down on him immediately. Forced to retreat and retrieve Anjo for the excursion, they all group up once more and set out to find the source of the sound, as well as their lost ally.

Winnie, on the other hand, finds herself waking up in a standing cage prison cell hanging among the treetops, with a troupe of Croaker guards patrolling the ground below. Condensing her anger and fear, she easily breaks out of her cage, only for her tongue to accidentally overshoot and tear a distant cage down as well, forcing a Page from her own timeline that had been captured as well to plummet, crying out the whir that alerted Tarhun. Dismounting from her cage, Winnie ends up a few feet above the ground, where she finds the Page trying to hide from the Croaker patrol. She lures them over in her direction, rendering them weak as newborn puppies with a few rations, yet unable to speak with them without Anjo's help she is forced to hold on until the others arrive a short while after.

The rest of the party hurrying to the scene throws caution to the wind, only to alert a pack of wolves from a nearby Mossdog tribe: the Sporebacks. Forced to hear them out, the party discovers the entirety of the Grove has been forced into a slow starvation due to the hazing of the Giants, and having to find a way out of their predicament, the leader of the pack gives them an offer: Aureus' life for theirs. Refusing to give up the young man, Anjo instead manages to persuade them into giving them another deal: a five-day lease period on all their lives, after which they must provide them with enough nourishment to compensate for their lives or be torn to shreds on the spot. Forced to comply, the Sporebacks retreat for now, allowing the party to continue on and reunite with Winnie.

Easily getting Winnie out of her predicament, the Page manages to convey through gestures that someone else is still up there in the cages. Winnie urges the others to try and help them out, hoping them to be another friend from her original timeline, which everyone agrees on. The Croakers proving too stupid and annoying to work with, however, Iaria grows impatient and decides to run up one of the trees herself, only to slip right at the top and plummet down towards what would surely have been certain death. The party clammers to try and catch her fall, to no avail, as instead Wrenmir is forced to take action, forcing a tongue to skewer Iaria's body up against a tree. Both women lose consciousness immediately, as they are summoned to the Land of the Merry (see Land of the Merry: Gears of Storm).

**Session 4
10/26/2019**
The three men left behind recover the unconscious bodies of their allies, discovering Iaria has become as light as a feather whereas Winnie's body has completely transformed into a black-charred mannequin. Freeing the last captive (with the help of the Croakers this time), the party meets Nicky, who instantly clings on to Aureus at every moment and forces her way in the party, much to Tarhun's chagrin. In all the chaos, however, Winnie's Page appears to have fled, left behind for dead by the party only to be found again sometime later on, hiding inside Winnie's backpack.

Without many options, the party carries their unconscious members back to Ribbbus, placing them to rest in the shed next to Peddy's house as Anjo ventures out to get help from the village's king, His Ribbins. The trio left behind guarding the bodies of the fallen are suddenly startled as both the mannequin and the weightless Iaria stand up, moving towards one another as Iaria places her hands on the mannequin's neck, choking it so hard it splinters leaving dents that don't heal. As the two men grab hold of the two zombified allies, Nicky manages to squeeze right in between, forcing them apart with a Thunderwave as Tarhun ceases the opportunity to tie up Iaria, dragging her out of the shed to distance her from Winnie. In the struggle, however, it appears Iaria lost one of her fingers (without scarring), which Tarhun pockets, using it later to pull her back to reality.

Easily persuading his lordship away from his advisors, Anjo finds out His Ribbins was not always a Croaker, instead being Kalyzenthar, a dragonborn turned Croaker after he almost drowned in one of the waters of the Great Four. Once joining the party, Kali also reveals he is Iaria's father, asking the others to keep this a secret from her for the time being, whereas Tarhun decides to hold a secret of his own as well, not revealing his whole reason for being here was to hunt down Kali himself.

#### **Act 3, 1.1.3: Flesh and Weight**

**Session 5
11/02/2019**
A short discussion later, Kali states the Elder is the only one he knows of that could save Iaria and Winnie. Thus, accompanied by Nicky, Kali, Peddy and Breg, the party sets out deeper into the swamp to look for the Elder's hideout. During their excursion, they find the land deeper within to be covered in layers of snow and ice; Anjo uncovers more pain and hatred the deeper the party travels, as well an extremely cold presence to the north and an exceptionally hot one to the south, revealing the locations of the Ice and Fire Giants' respective bases of operations.

They are forced to a halt as Winnie comes to, losing her mannequin form gradually. Lowering the two women onto the floor, Winnie starts choking, her neck starting to swell back to its original size only for it not stop, tearing the air away from her while Iaria, temporarily forgotten, regains her previous weight and more as she starts to sink deep into the swamp, which starts to close above her preparing to feast. The party decides to retaliate against Winnie's growing problem by first attempting to heal her, which only seems to stimulate the growth, and thus sees no other option than to cut open the fat. Upon doing so, a grey slimy glue-like sludge spews out like geysers, allowing her neck to slowly shrink, requiring more and wider cuts the longer the transformation continues.

It is at this time that Tarhun notices how Iaria is disappearing into the earth. Diving into the hole after her, he notices the four-fingered hand is less weighted than the rest of her body, quickly recovering the finger he pocketed and placing it back where it belongs. It instantly reattaches itself as Iaria awakens, leaping out of the pit followed by Tarhun as she quickly assesses the situation, unleashing Naedutyr upon Winnie's neck. Slashing enormous gashes within the flesh, the sludge keeps pouring out at a rapid rate, until eventually the swelling starts to subside and the wound heals up on its own, leaving behind Winnie as a sobbing mess gasping for air. As for Iaria, she comes back from the trauma as a broken soul, turning even more quiet than she had been before as suicidal thoughts grow rampant within her mind.

After regaining their composure, the party decides to continue their search for the Elder, figuring his powers could prove useful in defeating the giants and/or leaving the Grove. Right before they reach their destination however, they are halted as Winnie is beckoned by the familiar loud screeching of a Page, yet Anjo sees through the swamp's trap as he senses its ravenous desire for her to separate from the others. Convincing her this is nothing but yet another illusion, Winnie has to comply and leaves the illusionary cries behind as the party meets with the Elder.

#### **Act 4, 1.1.4: Family Before Reason**

***Mid-week PBP: The Elder informs the party on the history and current state of the Grove, the Great Four and the legend of the Queen and her faithful knight***
**Session 6
11/09/2019**
The Elder turns out to be a crazy old coot Croaker with an intense fascination for Aureus' and Winnie's corporeal forms. Arming them with new information, the Elder joins the party as they set forth on a new quest: to free Peeves Chaas in the hopes of helping out these creatures, or to find a way out of the Grove along the way, whichever happens first. As soon as they depart, however, they are halted once more as the same illusion from before tries to pull in Anjo this time, taking the voice and shape of his little sister Ally. Even though Anjo especially should have known better, his care for his family overtakes his better judgement as he deserts the party, chasing after his sister's cries for help as the swamp leans in closer on the rest of the party left behind, releasing a toxic spore that puts most of the others to sleep as they give chase.

Anjo finds his sister on a small island in the swamp, where she grabs onto his leg in fear as Giant Slugs emerge from the surrounding waters, closing in on him. With a very effective charm spell, however, the illusion of his sister lets go of him, as an unknown voice whispers in apology, later confirmed to have been Joel, the Vine Terror. The rest of the party arrives at the scene, Aureus and Iaria slowing down before falling into a deep slumber, whereas only Kali and Winnie manage to surpass the swamp's poison. Tarhun, on his part, cleverly uses his scarf to conceal the gas from invading his senses, allowing him to overcome most of its effects, whereas Nicky almost falls to the poison as well, but instead is overtaken by a barbaric rage as Aureus falls before her.

Making mince-meat of the slugs, the party soon reconvenes, Nicky finally succumbing to sleep as well. Waiting for the three felled members to reawaken, the party concludes that this is a sign Anjo is no longer seen as a friend to the swamp due to him preventing Winnie from chasing down the prior illusion, yet it still does not choose to harm him directly, instead merely keeping a closer watch on the party as a whole. While the party's attention is somewhat lacking, the unconscious bodies of their allies start to sink into the swamp, the landscape itself craving sustenance, but when noticed they are quickly ripped free from its hold and awaken shortly after. Everyone regroups with the leftover Croaker trio, which had continued on ahead instead, as the Elder reveals Joel's presence in the earlier event before the party continues on yet again.

Half a day away from their destination, however, the party is once again halted by the Sporebacks, now carrying a lump of decaying flesh in their maws, namely the leftovers of Winnie's neck growth. Satiated by the immense offering, the Mossdogs start by showing a sense of gratitude for the fulfillment of their promise, only to jump on the opportunity immediately: Winnie having shown to be able to 'grow more nourishment', as it were, they demand her to join their side. As the party does not wish to sacrifice her to the Mossdogs, the leader becomes infuriated, forcing a new ultimatum upon them-- Within ten days, the party must provide enough sustenance to take care of the Sporeback tribes' needs for a week, else they will all be torn to shreds. As a show of faith, however, Anjo is awarded with his guaranteed freedom in advance, along with any single party member he so chooses on the day of reimbursement should they not manage to fulfill their demands.

Followed by the Sporebacks from a distance from here on out, the landscape makes a sudden shift as the green swamp is separated from reality by a lifeless tundra littered with cut-down tree trunks, a ground of thick ice covered in snow. Anjo reconnects with the land, an intense cacophony of hatred and anguished pain resounds inside him, as well as a small hope pleading for the party's aid in freeing the Great Four and restoring life to their home. Removing snow on occasion to peer through the eyes unveils horrific elven and satyr faces, frozen under the ice in a slow, painful death, the visitors to the Grove at the time of the Giants' first appearance all seemingly having shared an unfortunate end. The Elder becomes less self-assured and his whimsy dissipates, leaving nothing but sorrow as he proclaims the Croakers' stupidity is not just simple madness, but more so a coping mechanism-- anyone would go insane in a place like this.

#### **Act 5, 1.1.5: Illusions atop the Pond**

**Session 7
11/16/2019**
Deeper within the devastation, the party is alerted by a pillar of fire appearing for a moment in the far distance, right on top of the Pond of Youth. Making haste, the party finds a strange scene, where a small less-equipped Frost Giant is engaged with a larger well-armored Fire Giantess atop the frozen Pond, a group of three adventurers at their feet as well as the Giantess egging on the smaller Giant, taunting him to continue fighting. As the party approaches, the giants fail to notice their presence as the adventurers encourage them to join in and help keep the fight going. Unsure of what to do, the party does not lend their aid, and the adventurers tell them to change their mind or get lost as they get back to aggravating the fight at hand.

Anjo suspects foul play, uncovering a layer of ice in an attempt to connect deeper with the earth below. This time, he is greeted by three voices, giggling in a mad sense of joy as the fight reaches climax. A loud banging on the ice pulls the party’s attention, as each of them looks over to see a hand reaching out towards them, a different shape based on the observer's sexual desires. In case of Anjo, the hand appears to be skeletal, him as an aplantean having no such desires and therefore seeing the shape as its true form, the Rusalka identity of Peeves. Later, Peeves confirms that the three voices were Jay-Jay-Jay, the Vine Terror trio surrounding the Pond of Youth and defending it against the invaders. As it turns out, they created the illusions of the adventurers and the Fire Giantess to lure in the Frost Giant, forcing him into a rage-induced fighting frenzy in an attempt to have him break the ice atop the Pond for them.

The party sensing something amiss, albeit without any clear idea of the truth behind the matter, concludes not to involve themselves directly with the fight, instead opting to attempt to break through the ice, freeing Peeves and using their aid to their advantage. All manners of firepower are opted, yet none of them prove results, the party instead choosing to motivate Winnie into cracking the ice with her tongue, proving her potential for being the Queen of Croaker legend. A first regular pale blue tongue barely creates a crack, soon followed by a unique secondary attack, her tongue taking on a rose-red barbed shape as the ice breaks open completely.

As the Pond's ice breaks, the illusions and the Frost Giant fall into the water, the weight of the latter adversary displacing the water with such force a tsunami of ice-cold water and large ice shards washes over the party. Most of the party manages to hold their ground, avoiding the onslaught altogether or powering through, except for Aureus and Winnie, who are instead swept away by the torrent, as well as Breg and Peddy. Luckily for both, they are respectively saved by Nicky and the Elder, as they pull in their allies and guard them from the onslaught. Once the waves subside, the party finds all Croakers except for Kali missing, and Peeves does not arise from the waters on his own. Instead, they also discover Aureus and Nicky to be unmoving, turning them over to find two large ice shards connecting both their chests and stomachs with one another. In the meantime, while the rest of the party tries to save Peeves, both the fallen allies are summoned to the Land of the Merry (see Land of the Merry: The Confessional).

Anjo and Tarhun start to treat Aureus' and Nicky's wounds, freeing them from their entangled positions as their wounds heal over just fine, both quickly regaining breath, yet not consciousness. The wound on Aureus' chest remains open however, unveiling some kind of battery inside his chest. As the duo attempts to inspect the battery, they are halted by an invisible object in front of it, beating a soothing rhythm. Using paint, the shape of Aureus' heart becomes visible, and the two of them immediately start removing the paint, trying to avoid any possible poisoning. Iaria and Winnie use the time to try and head into the Pond to save Peeves, hoping he might be able to help, yet are temporarily unable to as the water is still too cold to traverse, yet slowly heating up. From within, however, the forms of their respective sexual interests beckon them inside, however, before the illusions sink deeper into the Pond.

As the men manage to clear the paint, they reach inside Aureus' chest in an attempt to remove the battery. Tarhun gets stung by something inside, however, and suddenly turns around and tries to drown himself into the Pond, the parasitic poison of a monster controlling his will. As Iaria and Winnie manage to hold him back, Anjo succeeds to pull the battery out, only for a swarm of Grim Spiders to crawl out of Aureus' chest soon after. The party is forced to back off, Tarhun already under the adversaries' control, Nicky's unconscious body and an overpowered Anjo following suit, and as the only ones left behind Iaria and Winnie find no choice but to dive into the Pond anyway. Luckily, by then it had heated up enough to dive deeper, and the Spiders apparently afraid to follow, both women go searching for Peeves as a last-ditch effort.

Their allies on the surface barrage them with magics and arrows, as Iaria, still wearing her armor, grabs hold of Winnie and forces the both of them to plummet to the Pond's floor rapidly. Once down there, they both find their respective sexual interest alongside Peddy, the Elder and the Frost Giant, all tied up and constricted by algae at the bottom. Winnie tries to free her entangled friend, the form of Gurd, but only ends up entangled as well, until Iaria frees both Winnie and her female acquaintance, Aoife, allowing Winnie to bring this shapeshifting person to the surface. Iaria, however, lags behind due to the weight of her gear, and at the end of her might she starts to sink to the bottom once more.

The man gasps for air and thanks Winnie for saving him, quickly surveying their surroundings and the situation at hand before warning Winnie to cover her ears. He unleashes a high-pitched pained shriek across the tundra, causing all Grim Spiders to quake on the spot before falling to the ground, utterly lifeless. The man dives down again to retrieve Iaria, saving her from death, whereas Anjo and Tarhun come to, Nicky simply falling unconscious the same way she was before.

Saving Iaria, the figure in the water, which ends up being Peeves' Rusalka form, gives only a short introduction, diving in once more, hindered by a short attention span. Recovering from the onslaught, the party finds the battery missing, only to discover later on that the Page had stolen it before returning to Winnie's backpack and starts using it from there on out to keep itself running. Anjo and Tarhun manage to delicately put Aureus’ heart back in place, and shortly after he too starts breathing once more, his wounds healing themselves as the party allows for him to come to on his own.

Simultaneously, the man from earlier sets something in motion, as suddenly the air around the party heats up, causing all snow and ice to melt, revealing a sea of corpses, previously rotting away under the ice. In a matter of seconds, the swamp flourishes once more, as all corpses start to sink into the earth, swallowed whole to become food for the land. Peeves leaps out of the water, taking on his Dryad form as he rips off an arm from one of the corpses and starts eating it, allowing himself and the party to converse and answer many questions from both sides.

#### **Act 6, 1.1.6: Waterside Chat ft. Peeves**

***Mid-week PBP: Peeves informs the party about his family, the Four Waters they're currently entrapped in and the events that transpired during the invasion from his perspective***
**Session 8
11/23/2019**
While conversing with Peeves, Nicky is first to awaken, lashing out yet stopped by Peeves before Aureus comes to as well, calming her. Aureus shares his experience in the Land of the Merry in great detail, also bringing two objects with him from his adventure: a flask of alcohol he obtained within, stated by Anjo to just be a strong, non-enchanted ale, and a set of five figurines nabbed from crates filled with them, which seemingly represent people in Iaria's timeline.

Kali nabs one of the figurines after Aureus hands it to Iaria for inspection, namely the one later identified to be himself back from Iaria's timeline. He tries to run off with it, yet Peeves intercepts him with the help of Jay-Jay-Jay, the two having a heated private discussion after which Peeves throws Kali back into the Pond in anger, stating the figurine is now gone and everyone should just forget about it. Additionally, while investigating the figurines, Tarhun casts Detect Magic, not only identifying the magics within the figurines, but also a strong transformative essence on the nearby three Croakers, insinuating that mayhaps Kali is not the only one who had been transformed into the froggy forms they carry now. Later on, Iaria will ask Aureus to hand over one of the figurines, as she crushes it into a pulp within her hand.

The party regroups once more, everyone gathering their belongings and clothing themselves once more while Aureus pockets the mysterious trinkets safely. Now armed with a generally vast understanding concerning the state of the Grove, the party opts to help Peeves and the Croakers out in fending off the invading Giants and restoring the land back to its former purity. Peeves guiding them northwards, to the nearest of the Four Waters (that being the northern Pool of Wisdom, entrapping his mother Ai Thingale) as the first step on their quest, decides to make a little detour first, offering the party a trial for his boon as one of the Great Four.

#### **Act 7, 1.1.7: Trial of Youth and Rash Persecution**

Offering the feathered bracelet with his boon, Peves states he is surprised that Winnie is the one to take him up on his offer, but happily obliges since the insanity is, in his words, what keeps you going in hard times. On the way over, the swamp notably relents a little, sensing his presence among the party and thus offering them respite. Arriving before an open area amidst the swamp, Peeves summons a Vine Wisp to his side named Wizz, conducting the trial with her help: Winnie is meant to catch up to Wizz and pin her to the ground long enough to show her skill and agility.

The moment the start of the trial is declared, the earth shoots up in pillars, irsing and falling at varying heights as the party steps on them while the Wisp flies overhead. Peeves removes Nicky and the Croakers from the party, allowing the others to aid Winnie in the chase, as they all make short work of the matter, Iaria easily catching up and pulling her back as Tarhun manages to bring her down, allowing Winnie to catch up and take over instead to win the trial.

However, right at the end of the trial, Nicky screams in anger, unleashing a flash of blue energy behind them as Ar'Mony starts to recount her criminal charges to her. As half the party starts to back out of the trial to investigate and help out, Winnie ends it, freezing time right at the end of it. Peeves runs up to her and explains the situation, using the time freeze to get everyone to the scene, but releasing it prematurely by concluding the gifting of the boon at but a word. Nicky has already been downed, however, Tarhun reading the criminal findings right before Ar'mony unsummons the verdict: treason, desertion, vandalism and disobedience, to be punished by forceful participation in the Last Crux.

Noticing Tarhun with the rest of the party, Ar'Mony concludes wordlessly that he must be allying with Mainlanders, instantly summoning a new verdict on which she notes down his criminal act of treason, verdict and punishment to be filled in later. Nonetheless, Tarhun rebuts by showing his own verdict paper for Kalyzenthar to her, as she instead shares that his mother Mijira desperately needs him, telling him to hurry as she grabs a hold of Nicky and teleports away with her instantly.

Left behind to gather themselves, the party questions Tarhun about the two tieflings, yet he is forced to talk around the issue as his collar starts beeping. Instead, Anjo chooses to inspect the device, and with a simple Detect Magic spell finds a lot more than he originally expected: he spots a strong magic nature on Wrenmir, somewhat leaning towards Evocation, to which Wrenmir reacts in pain. Aureus on his part also exhudes 'something', but Anjo is unable to place it, sensing an immensely strong condensed Abjuration energy around both Iaria and Tarhun's facial features. A somewhat similar power as Wrenmir's Evocation also seems to linger around Iaria as well.

Most importantly, however, Tarhun's collar, first seemingly inept of any magics, suddenly starts emanating a strong magical power as Anjo somehow lucks into catching hold of a Scrying spell. From within the collar, he hears an unknown feminine voice speak in Abyssal, a tongue he himself does not know, but he does pick up two words in common:'Gavel's Eye'.

#### **Act 8, 1.1.8: The Big Friendly Giant**

**Session 9
12/07/2019**
WIP

**Session 10
12/14/2019**
**Session 11
12/21/2019**
**Session 12
12/28/2019**
**Session 13
01/04/2020**
**Session 14
01/11/2020**
**Session 15
02/01/2020**
**Session 16
02/08/2020**
**Session 17
02/15/2020**
**Session 18
02/22/2020**
**Session 19
03/14/2020**
**Session 20
06/13/2020**
**Session 21
08/01/2020**
**Session 22
08/08/2020**
**Session 23
08/15/2020**
**Session 24
08/22/2020**
**Session 25
09/05/2020**
**Session 26
09/12/2020**
**Session 27
09/26/2020**
**Session 28
10/03/2020**
**Session 29
10/24/2020**
**Session 30
11/07/2020**
**Session 31
11/14/2020**
**Session 32
12/12/2020**
**Session 33
12/19/2020**
**Session 34
01/09/2021**
**Session 35
01/16/2021**
**Session 36
01/23/2021**
**Session 37
01/30/2021**
**Session 38
02/13/2021**
**Session 39
02/20/2021**
**Session 40
02/27/2021**
**Session 41
03/06/2021**
**Session 42
04/10/2021**
**Session 43
04/17/2021**
**Session 44
06/05/2021**
**Session 45
06/12/2021**
**Session 46
06/19/2021**
**Session 47
06/26/2021**
**Session 48
07/03/2021**
**Session 49
08/07/2021**
**Session 50
08/14/2021**
**Session 51
09/04/2021**
**Session 52
09/11/2021**
**Session 53
09/18/2021**
**Session 54
09/25/2021**
**Session 55
10/02/2021**
**Session 56
10/09/2021**
**Session 57
10/16/2021**
**Session 58
10/23/2021**
**Session 59
10/30/2021**