Quarries Found and Prodigals Returned

It’s been a few days since my last entry. Habits take time to cultivate I suppose. It’s also been an eventful few days. So much so that I’m not entirely sure where to begin. As it turned out our new companions were members of a Shadofellean religious sect which does not enjoy a warm welcome in these parts. They traveled with us part of the way to Never Sent before taking their leave all save an Eladrin named Atropa. I think Nymyra and I were both sad to see the wee one go.
 
Never Sent is a lovely town, provided economically destitute, despotically ruled public labor camps are to one’s liking. The Hag in charge of this particular blight on the Dawn Valley’s landscape is one Lady Redcap. She has about as winning a disposition as you’d expect from a Hag. That’s one of the things that makes this particular mega-coven such an anomaly. Traditional reasoning puts most Hag covens at three members. Two of them will never trust the other long enough to work together, more than three usually devolves into factious infighting quickly but three seems to be the sweet spot where there are just enough shifting alliances and opportunities to gang up on one another that they can usually make it work. I have NEVER seen a coven this big that was still in any way operational. That tells me that either we’ve got a VERY powerful elder Hag calling the shots that none of the other sisters feel confident enough in their own power or the trustworthiness of potential allies to challenge; or, (and this I believe to be the more likely scenario) whomever they’re allied with in the Dreaming Realm (my money is on the Dreaming Darkness) is seen as a significant enough mutual threat that it keeps the sisters from engaging in the sorts of things Hags are wont to engage in amongst their own.
 
The townsfolk are enslaved by the Coven. They have them working in shifts on dreamweave looms which, the workers are told, is essential to preserve the fragile health of the afflicted Fey Lord though this turned out not to be the case. As far as we’ve been able to ascertain the dreamweave was actually being used as a spell component to keep some sort of primal serpentine guardian beneath the town asleep. It wouldn’t surprise me to lean that the Fey Lord has some similar banners burning in his home as well but I’m getting ahead of myself.
 
We first learned of the serpent from an old druid residing in a tree near the town. Unfortunately that required us to make contact with Lady Redcap as she was the only person who could grant us access to the guardian. As it turned out she had a nightmare trapped in a chaos engine burning large swaths of the forest she and her 8 legged minions needed to harvest the dreamweave. Dispatch the Chaos Engine and she would grant us access to the guardian (I believe her thinking was that the guardian would attack first and ask questions later ridding her of two problems for the price of one. Say what you will about Hag Hubris but you can set your bloody watch by it.) On our journey to address the C.E. we encountered a creature named Zea posing as a Bugbear who, by an extraordinary stroke of luck, ended up being the daughter of our missing Firbolg Amaranth. With her help we were able to banish the nightmare back to the Dreaming Realm (ensuring a future ally to work against the Coven with us) and also that her mother appeared to be suffering from a similar sleeping malady to the Fey Lord.
 
Zea escorted the party to a secluded farm where she lives with her mother and a woman named “Gloria” who would appear to be one of the Shadar-Kai from the Blightwood Incident. I suspect she is Kirell nun Moman and not the other though I will hopefully have that confirmed before we depart this Realm. Zea is an exceptional host with a well-stocked wine cellar (Sadly Umbral Glen Vineyards was well represented though, in fairness, most consumers don’t have my particular set of issues with that particular family) though it was clear she was overwhelmed. She is also, understandably, extremely protective of her mother. I’m fairly certain Atropa used enchantment magic to help ensure her place in the room when Fen initially tried his greater restoration. Still undecided regarding what to do with that.
 
As it turned out she was under some sort of attack which necessitated us going to the Dreaming Realm to free her. Long story short she was under attack by some sort of apex Dreaming predator which I must remember to get some notes on before I depart. Not to be upstaged by something as trivial as a pitched battle between ourselves, dream creatures and dreaming warriors; Eldoris has returned to us!!!! I have only had a limited amount of time to speak with her since our departure from the Dreaming Realm. Evidently though it’s only been a matter of days for us, five years have passed for El. She had political things to see to at home she wasn’t prepared for so arranged with The Orchestra to buy herself a bit more time it would seem. Understandably there are a slew of mixed emotions. Obviously she and Nymyra had their issues to work out and Ranelmore (Daniel the Wizard not Erazmus the Thief) is Ranelmoring but fortunately is stuck back on Kericai watching from there and sending stoning repeatedly.
 
Whatever she’s been up to these past 3 days/5 years it seems to agree with her. Her look is a bit less haunted and she seems infinitely more assured of herself which is lovely to see. Still it is a bit of an adjustment. I’d never in a million years begrudge her doing what she needed to do or taking decisive action to try to protect one’s family. I won’t apologize for protecting mine her included and I’d never expect anyone else to do so. It sounds silly to write out but it’s just that…five years is a lot for most Big Folk. If the past few years have taught me anything though it’s that you should appreciate the time you have with those you love as even a long lifespan can be cut short. We’re going to need to address the Terrasque in the room that is The Orchestra soon. It’s not exactly like El is in a group where extra-planar entanglements are rarities. We’ve got a warlock, clergy of both the fighting and non-fighting varieties, a barbarian with a spirit guide, a Kalashtar who by definition come with an extra planar entity and were I to drop dead tomorrow I’d still have things to do for the powers-that-be in Shadowfell. I know it’s been five years for her but if she still things her new associate is going to somehow be a deal breaker for this party we owe it to her to make sure we dissuade her of that notion.
 
Considerably more to tell but sadly my glass nears empty, my eyes are growing heavy and Jarvyxx is sending me subtle hints it’s time to retire for the evening.