Mini 2: The Quest of Toys Report
General Summary
30th of Emmanir 1524 Continued At 11pm the group briefly discusses how they might deal with the problem. Isabelle reminds the group they are not to fight the Shrieks and Blades. They want to try and sneak to get a better idea before approaching the creature. Galanith says the Creeping Cold was undead and it is likely this other nightmare is also undead. Leolen tries to sneak upstairs, but is instantly caught by the creature. The creature is a shadowy form humanoid form that is surrounded by twirling blades. It shrieks loudly at Leolen who says he has come to talk but the creature pays him no mind as it approaches him aggressively. Hearing the louder shrieking Isabelle runs upstairs and using thaumaturgy to boom her voice to ask what it wants. Killi runs upstairs and hesitates when she sees the creatures. Kaida follows Isabelle. Balthazar and Galanith run to the bottom of the stairs, ready for action. Balthazar casts Mage Armour on himself. Leo tries to stop the blades with his mage hand. Which he does manage to catch the blade but the other blades swing around, knocking into it and mage hand can't hold it anymore. The Shrieking figure in the centre of the blades screams at Isabelle as if trying to show her who is the loudest in the room. This fills Isabelle with fear to the point where she can't move and is badly hurt by the scream. Kaida is caught up in this and disappears, leaving behind a hat. The Blades around the figure try and hurt Leolen and Killi but misses. It's in this moment that everyone but Galanith and Isabelle realise that this situation cannot be solved peacefully. Killi can see how dangerous this creature is and casts Mage Armour on herself. As she does so her magic surges and everyone around her except the shadow figure is hit with necrotic energy. Galanith calls upon the light of Avani in Elvish and channels it towards the Shrieks and Blades, hurting it with the divine light. Balthazar is convinced that the blades are the problem. As a result he aims a second circle Magic Missile at the blades, damaging them greatly. Hoping the creature is distracted, Leolen sneaks up behind the creature and slashes at the blades as they whiz past him. His strikes are precise in their actions and as a result the blades clatter to the ground as the energy leaves them. The creature turns to Leolen and reaches out to touch him. The life drains out of him as he collapses down to the ground dead. With her fear fading, Isabelle lets out a scream of her own as a blue dragon spirit comes out of her chest and forms next to her into a more solid figure. Killi cries out Leolen's name as he collapses and she fires off a Fire Bolt at the creature. Galanith and Balthazar back Killi with a guilding and fire bolt but they miss. Killi's life flashes before her eyes as the creature as the creature reaches out through her mage armour to touch her. The life drains out of her and she collapses. Isabelle cast Zephyr Strike on herself, asking for Erik's blessing to fight like the wind. She starts to blur back and forth very quickly. She runs up to attack the creature with a bit of extra damage before running back without being attacked. From the bottom of the stairs Galanith sees Killi has gone down. She uses healing word to give the tiefling a bit of healing before using Sacred Flame on the Shrieking figure but it resists. Balthazar fires off another Magic Missile as powerful as the one he did before. The Shrieking figure floats down the stairs to try and drain Galanith's life but can't get through Avani's protection. Isabelle runs up for another attack with Kaida finishing it off with a bite attack. As soon as it fades, everyone runs upstairs to see Leolen's lifeless body. Killi is destort at the sight of her friend's lifeless body. Galanith runs over to look over the body after casting healing word and it having no effect. However, Isabelle notices a small green glow. She turns him over and examines him to find green moss growing over his chest where his heart is. They briefly discuss it and decide to take him to the companions. Isabelle puts the hat that fell on the ground on the dragon's head, taking a moment to softly speak with it and it changes back into the form of a large cat. Balthazar hurries ahead to tell the toys about what has happened while Galanith carries the body. Mr Tiddles is almost gleeful in the failure of the party to resolve his quest peacefully. Balthazar declares the quests don't matter in this moment with their companion injured. The cat laughs and is scolded by Snoogie for their behaviour. The party explains what happened and the cat declares the party to be failures and brutes. The other dolls shush him and are much more empathetic to the party's situation. The Master Wizard toy tries on many hats before he finds one to think more clearly about the situation. He declares the moss to look familiar before checking the room of the girl. The Lady of the house has the same moss over her own heart. They hypothesis that if they wake the lady, they might wake Leolen. The cat reminds the toys the party has not proven themselves. However, the other toys cannot find it in their hearts to condemn the life of another due to their stubbornness. Snoogie calls for a vote to decide if they should allow the adventurers to take the lady without finishing all the quests.
- Puff abstains from the vote. He still wants his quest to be done but doesn't want to condemn a life of someone else because of their pain.
- Sir Frithkin declares they need to help the fallen warrior.
- Mr Tiddles is against it.
- Big Ted believes the group to have a good sense of humour and worthy.
- Waffles is hard to understand but the party are assured he has voted for them.
- Master Wizard has said if they can convince the fey queen then they have his vote.
- Snoogie agrees they should be allowed to try.
Leolen felt so confident with his strike against the blades as they clattered to the ground, but then the Shrieking figure reached for him. As it touched him, all the life drained out of him. The warmth from the room below with the fire couldn't be felt as he was chilled to the bone. As he fell he felt himself hit the ground but yet he still had the sensation of falling. He floated in darkness for a time. Until eventually he finds a little green island. It is slowly eroding away in the darkness. But it has lots of bright lights with a tea party happening on the island. There is a younger version of the girl Leolen has seen sleeping upstairs. The toys Leolen had met are lifeless as she continues to talk to them have this little tea party. However, every 30 seconds or so everything turns red and Leolen hears screaming, shrieking and he sees splatters of blood. Then everything goes back to being a peaceful tea party again. Leolen notices the cat toy is missing. He takes a moment to wait for another flash and really focus on it to try and work out what is happening. He sees flashes of swords, aspects of the manor, a battle. He feels like the girl is suppressing this. Throughout the flashes he gets the sense that this is from the perspective of the girl and her memories. The girl seems to have minor reactions to the flashes like dropping a cup or stopping mid sentence but otherwise and continue. Leolen approaches. The girl looks up and smiles, asking if he has come to join her for tea. He spies a little amulet around the girl's neck that is a green emerald set in iron that glows faintly. Leolen asks her about the necklace. The girl remembers a friend gave it to them but her memory of who that friend is gone. He wants to look at it and while she goes to take it off, but a flash happens and suddenly she is reminded she shouldn't take it off. The flashes continue and Leolen gets the sense that this battle is happening in the manor he died. There are elves attacking, her parents are killed and the wizard/guards are trying to protect her. However, it is very disjointed and he can feel her pushing it down. Leolen talks her through it being okay that she remembers the painful things. He shares his story. He knows what it's like to be afraid. You can't let it control you and you can't keep running away. He tells her the story of being hunted and the flashes start to change to memories from Leolen's past. He shares the friendship that Killi and he share that have really made him stronger and to help him get through a lot of the hard times. Brienda remembers she had a friend who was strong and powerful who was hurt by someone. She had to go to the Fey Queen to save her. When asked where this friend is the girl touches the necklace. Leolen fears that this girl is something else, but all signs point to this isn't a creature that has taken the place of a human. He saw a flash of a faint image of a hand on Brienda's shoulder out the corner of his eye but when he went to look properly it was gone. Leolen asks to see this friend and Brienda takes his hand. He gets a flash of a beautiful dryad at the pond where the tree with the axe was. The tree looks happy and healthy. The dryad then vanishes and the scene of the tree and pond turns sad and angry. Leolen suspects that a fey might be contained inside the necklace. He convinces the girl it is time to help her friend and he promises not to take the necklace or her friend away from her. He pinky swears that he won't and with that the ground rapidly starts to erode and break apart. However there is no panic felt by this or dread. Leolen hears a difference voice in his ear. "Please look after her."
Leolen wakes up in the forge/library area. Waffles is very excited he is awake. Puff tells Leolen where he is and Waffles is licking Leolen's face. He gets up tells the toys they should go find his friends. As they head off, they run into his friends that were just coming down to see him. He explains his dream to the group and says that the necklace is very important. It might contain a fey and is protecting the girl. They start to head upstairs to talk things over. They talk about the cat. It was missing from the dream and the cat had set them up for failure with their quest. The resolve to ask about the history with the cat. They suspect that the cat is the reason other people who had tried to help the toys had died or turned on them. They head upstairs to have a short rest and discuss things.
Rewards Granted
Seasonal Knights - Amulet of Health and a Wind Sword LEVEL 4 GRANTED
Missions/Quests Completed
Toy Quests
| Toy | Quest | Complete? |
|---|---|---|
| Snoogie | Defeat the creeping cold | Yes |
| Sir Frithkin | Take on the ogre in the stables with the night. Mr Tiddles has suggested they do so at toy size. | |
| Puff | Retrieve the egg of his clutchmate from the Shadow World before the portal becomes hard to pass through | |
| Wuffles | Play! | Yes |
| Big Ted | Retrieve an axe from a tree out back by the pond. | Yes |
| Mr Tiddles | Remove the Shrieks and Blades Nightmare from the house without violence. | No but Yes? |
| Master Wizard | Negotiate with the fey queen for a brew to wake the Mistress. | Yes |
