Every morning, afternoon, night whatever. I want you to find a mirror, a pool of water or whatever the fuck the Feywild has, I want you to look into it, and I want you to say 'The Thin Man is talented, The Thin Man is unique and The Thin Man has friends'.
- Amrys teaches the monstrous Thin Man positive affirmation.
The party came back to consciousness within the body of the Thin Man where they had been sheltered at the end of the previous session.
The Thin Man had an inner form that seemed like an endlessly dark and trippy space with a single small screen where the party could watch the world from the creatures perspective,
The Party also found they could speak to
The Thin Man from within and the creature would hear them.
The party asked the Thin Man a variety of questions as well as forging a deal with them. If the Thin Man protected the party and didn't turn on them... even when he discovered Fen made a deal with the grimoire of the deal maker...then the party would make a meal for the thin man, teach him the recipe for a meal and make him a picture of the meal as well. The Thin Man accepted these terms and proved his commitment when he was cornered by
Proto but didn't give up
Persicorum even when threatened with death if he didn't deliver. The party thanked him for this and
The Thin Man expressed that he has delivered many targets to Proto before but he liked this party and wanted their meal. Though he did then express that if the party like he can deliver them to Proto so they could kill him. The party gently declined.
After this point
The Thin Man explained the situation in the Feywild and it's bloodlust:
- When Dashilla the Dark Queen returned to the feywild with the crown of The Dread King she annihilated the archfey and warriors of the plane over and over again, in this destruction she consumed their magic and gorged on it to become strong. She built an addiction on this consumption and destroyed the forms of the fey so continually that they became the mist that fills the land.
- Proto was manipulated and twisted by Dashilla to the point he was driven to a mad and murderous bloodlust that led to him moving away from the feywild and across the planes with a violent desire to fight and butcher any enemy that interested him. That changed 50 years ago when a powerful creature of darkness, fire and with a cruel blade fought Proto but did not defeat the warforged, instead banishing him to be exiled and trapped in the Feywild so he could not go anywhere... this has driven Proto berserk ever since. The party discussed who this could have been and came to the conclusion it could possibly have been Ardeth as she was still alive, was known to be powerful and wielded a bladed weapon in the stories told about her. Persicorum then discussed possibly bringing her through to the Feywild to deal with Proto as the party were certain Ardeth wouldn't want to see her friend suffer.
- The Thin Man's final piece of information was that Dashilla's deal with The True Heroes led to her being unable to leave the Feywild and so she has been desperately looking for a way to escape and go to other planes of existence, specifically the Material Plane. In this respect, the thin man knows that Dashilla the Dark Queen has been sending her hags into the material plane to strike a deal with powerful individuals to help her escape. This attempt was rebuffed by Queen Frey but a human Inquisitor has been working with the hags on one specific deal. If the hags build an army of Aeorian monsters for the inquisitor to use against the Aist states then, in return, the inquisitor would give Dashilla the means to escape the feywild. These hags have the means to leave the feywild, so if the party were to kill the hags and take their heartstones they would be able to leave the feywild.
The thin man then brought the party back to his home, a strange and eerie mirror of
Oar's Rest, Kodo then learned that the Fey equivalent of
The Broken Oar was a deeply powerful fey inn that could supply anything as a conjuration with quick notice. Using this space, Kodo built a masterful Dragon's Breath Noodle Mint spice edition whilst Olympia completely a nice piece of art filled with positive affirmations.
As this took place, Amrys spoke to the thin man and asked the creature to complete positive affirmations of itself. This led to the thin man crying profusely and hugging Amrys as they cried in eachothers arms.
As this took place, Fen found himself hopeless and concerned without his magic and worried he was becoming a liability to his friends in the Feywild. Mimsi, Amrys and Kodo worked on making him feel better in different ways and had limited success. Meanwhile, Thordak, still exhausted and bruised from the day, took a long rest.
As they rested, many of the party experienced dreams and visions:
- Olympia found herself singing under a spotlight in front of a crowd that she saw the shining eyes of but no definitive features. As Olympia sang she noticed the crowd sang along with her, but constantly seemed to sing a beat ahead, as though knowing the notes and words before she said them. Olympia also noticed that the songbook she was singing from was building the lines before her eyes and was identical to the spellbook she purchased from Bazzle Strum-Strum, as Olympia woke up, she found the book filled with new songs, wizard style spells.
- Thordak had a vision of the Utrunks fighting pits and a flag of the horde. As he picked it up, he tied the flag around his waist and watched as it caught fire and burned across his body in a gorgeous radiant light, as the flag burned, he felt his father, his mother, his grandmother and the rest of Persicorum watching him as he decided to commit himself to being a light for others and to fight for them... not for revenge.
- Fen had a paranoid vision of the fey mask he summoned mockign him and calling him weak as he felt powerless and alone... robbed of his magical power whilst in the feywild. This is the space in which he also learnt of the curse associated with his attempt at a summoned Aist mage mask.
- Amrys experienced visions of people of power he knew in his life, Helmed Crown generals, religious leaders, Inquisitors, Ammon Coaguled, Queen Frey and Dashilla the Dark Queen. He felt their manipulations, their corruption and their lust for power and blood and... in the heat of that rage, Amrys felt a new oath build within him, an oath that he would destroy those that harm the masses for their own benefit and gain as Amrys gained his aura of hate feature.
Kodo and Mimsi had restful nights of sleep and grew more powerful with the rest of the party.
When the party woke, they made a decision and made a deal with
The Thin Man. In exchange for a supply of magic to see them through their adventure, a limb returned to Thordak, a weapon for those that needed one and directions to a coven of Dashilla's hags to take the heartstones from,
Persicorum would give the Thin Man the Grimoire of the Dealmaker to consume and destroy. Though Fen held reservations about this and the potential ramifications in breaking his deal with the book.
The Thin man transported the party back to the library where they used the book to transport them to
Ellena Swarov to rescue their employer whilst Amrys and Thordak stayed with
The Thin Man and exchanged stories, banter and secret handshakes.
The rest of Persicorum found Ellena exhausted and still damaged from the fight with the Aeorians, as though she had been unable to move from this spot since they were in the Feywild, Ellena watched as in the distance a scene took place between a young version of herself and a young version of
Nirya Moonbrook where they seemed to have a tense and quiet discussion. The party got to Ellena and Kodo tried to get a response from her but found that she was entirely non responsive at that moment and so he simply carried her limp body away. As he carried her the party saw the Ellena in the vision drop to her knees and grabbed Nirya who angrily back handed the woman and declared 'You are weak and unnecessary, you will never hunt with me again!' the party left at that point.
As they returned, they left with the grimoire in tow and, the moment they walked through the doors of the library, the thin man pounced and consumed the book as it screamed promises of revenge. Once done, Fen found his deal with the grimoire remained for now and he seemed to have tricked the book.
As soon as the Thin Man was finished with the grimoire he gifted Olympia, Fen and Amrys a supply of magic that allowed them to use spells but also turned their eyes black and changed the colour of their veins so they took on slight aspects of the thin man. The thin man also gave Thordak a black greatsword and a black shadowy prosthetic to replace his missing arm.
Finally, the Thin Man confessed how he felt Amrys was a kindred spirit and a unique kindness and so he offered Amrys the chance to make a pact with him. The Thin Man would take half of Amrys' soul and give him half back... giving Amrys more abilities and meaning the thin man was always with him in some manner. But also giving some negatives to Amrys' sanity and soul.
Amrys, citing his changing mindset and feelings, accepted the pact with the thin man and gained a darker and slightly more bewitching fey look as well as permanently changing one of his eyes black.
At that point, the Thin Man marked the path the party needed to take to get to the Hags, kept Ellena safe within his form and advised the party to move VERY quickyl as they are still being tracked by
Proto. So, the party looked across their number and started moving towards the Hags.
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