Episode 23: Outskirts of the Grimmwood

**Episode 23:Outskirts of the Grimmwood** (1x23) - Having traversed beneath several kingdoms and hundreds of miles within Izarizel’s Tree, the Nearlies arrive at the Outskirts of the Grimmwood, a place steeped in superstition, danger and ancient evils. Every witch, were and wampire you’ve ever heard of dwells somewhere within the depths of this twilight forest, and even though their journey takes them just around this Elder Forests outskirts, they would be wise to be indoors before dark and not answer the door afterwards. But luckily they have plenty of daylight to reach Mudrack Hollow… although, with the Sun in its injured state… how long can it hold onto the sky?

### Episode

**Episode 23: Outskirts of the Grimmwood**

## Cast

### Nearlies

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

### NPCs

APPEARING
 Izarizal
 Von Dark
 Dodderfell
 Grandma Ninn
 MENTIONED
 Sarah

## Summary

The group continues along their journey, working on downtime activities as they travel. Xenator, in his traditional impatience on his quest for power, uses all of his bottled time to complete training on Forked Tongue. Izarazel then informs the Nearlies about the dangers of the Grimm Wood, and that superstitions are extremely powerful there. The group then sorts out how to hide the more unsusual looking of thier group. Von Dark settles and becoming a plush backback, and Dodderfell is given a Glamour Plum. Upon eating it, he turns into an incredibly attractive human male, which some of the group finds to be distracting.

After some inappropriate comments, the tree comes out of the ground in the Idyllic Glen outside of the Grimm Wood..  Martin immediately tries to play with a fairy and is turned invisible.  Valeriana’s Gentle Beacon is greatly intensified in the Grimm Wood.

The sun, injured as it is, is setting far more quickly than anticipated, so the group hurries along. They come across a group of travelers being attacked by wolves. They are Chemirites, and Grandma Ninn recognizes Gwen as the Nearlies come into sight.

## Synopsis

### Prologue

The Dancing shadow; Shadows see a lot, even though they are so rarely noticed.  So they see the real person, their darkest element.  Your shadow is always with you.  Unlike your loftier elements, your shadow will never leave you.

### Episode

The Nearlies return to the tree and sit down to a meal while the tree starts travelling forward once again. The Nearlies then do some downtime activities.  Gwen starts learning about recipes from Sockervesti as Sarah started the process.   Valeriana, while working on her Mug skill decides to rob Xenator.  She sends White Knight to distract him and lowers herself down from the ceiling to rob, successfully stealing a mana flower, blue fire pinecone, and his Anything Flask.  Xenator uses all of this bottled time to complete the training on Forked Tongue, letting him get an extra cast of a spell.  As it is a dragon spell, he grabs a knife from the kitchen and bifurcates his own tongue.

Izarazel then informs the Nearlies about the dangers of the Grimm Wood, and that superstitions are extremely powerful there.  They will be arriving near Mudrack Hollow, which will be their destination.  The villagers are suspicious of magic, so the Toy Soldier makes himself up to look like a stuffed backpack that Gwen can carry.  Dodderfell however, refuses to be left behind again, so they need to figure out how to hide the fact that he is a troll.  It is decided to give him a glamor plum.  Upon eating it  Dodderfell turns into an extremely attractive human man, stunning the group.  Gwen, Lavaleen, and Izarazel are extremely attracted to Dodderfell in this new form, although Valeriana remains unphased.

After some inappropriate comments, the tree comes out of the ground in the Idyllic Glen outside of the Grimm Wood.  There are a small swarm of fairies playing in the Glen.  Martin immediately tries to play with the fairy and chases after him to try to catch him. The fairy blows something in his face, and Martin is turned invisible.  It is quickly realized that Valeriana’s Gentle Beacon is greatly intensified in the Grimm Wood.

Night time is extremely dangerous in the Grimm Wood. The party should have had several hours to reach the village but the sun accelerates quickly to the horizon. Alarmed, the Nearlies pick up the pace to try to reach the village before the sun sets.  In the distance there are wolves howling and the shouting of someone.  They round the bend and see a small caravan being surrounded by wolves.  They are Chemirites, and Grandma Ninn recognizes Gwen as the Nearlies come into sight.

### Epilogue

Everyone has a shadow.  Every light casts a shade.  The story of the swan maiden is a story of a bright thing with a dark shadow. All true stories have sad endings. If it has a happy ending, that only means that the storyteller stopped before the end.  She has walked with Lavaleen all her life, she was there when he was torture, but just along with the ride, it was all Lavaleen.  But she doesn’t know if Lavaleen knows truly what she has done.  He is the son of the Queen in Glass.  When Lavaleen destroyed his eye, she shattered the Queen’s blessing on her son. His immortality is now broken.  It is only the matter of time before the Queen finds her daughter-in-law.  But whatever happens, the shadow will be there, forever stitched to your feet.

## Notables

Episode 23

 Objects Acquired

 Spells Used

 Metamorph Attempts

## Quotables

Martin: “We’ve made him too hot!”

Gwen: “No, I need to see how this unfolds.  Xenator, what about the birds and the bees?”

 Von Dark: “Control yourselves your gentlemen.  We have honor to uphold”

## External Links

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 Website - Episode 23