Session 3/18/22
General Summary
Our party meets back together in the guild hall, Silvyr getting their job signed off by the gnome at the bar. Feyrith takes a moment to look around the room at the other adventures in the guild. Seeing a table of five that a party was excitedly talking about a job that they needed to go in later in the day. The party consisted of two Wood Elves, one a ranger, another possibly a rogue, Two Firbolgs, one possibly a cleric while the other a druid, and an Eladrin, with a buckler and rapier attached to her hip. Turning his head around the room more he sees another small group. This group seemed to be a solo adventurer talking to some fans. A kind of purple tiefling with a shining breastplate with the mark of the Endless Forest the Faith of the Capital of Willowshade. With a high religion roll Feyrith knows a little bit about the religion being made up of druids and nature clerics. They follow the "sentience" of the Enchanted Forest and strive for its protection and balance. Finding the final group in the back of the room Feyrith gives them a look over and they are in bad shape. One of the scrawnier group missing their arm and a stump covered in a fresh bandage, their tank seemed to have their armor shredded till it hanged in lose scraps from their body, and the final member of the group that seemed like the ranger had both an arm and leg in a cast. Something was strange about the party for a second before Feyrith realized that the Guild forms groups of four. A party member was missing from their group and the looks of shellshock click in Feyrith's mind as he presumes they lost a party member.
Feeling the mood kind of shift Feyrith turns to Ballad and Caerso and relays to the group about the parties he saw around the room, the tables mood dropping for a minute as Feyrith explains the last parties situation. The table takes a moment of silence for a fellow fallen adventurer. With Feyrith's head bowed with respect a little black furred rat climbs up Feyrith's leg and makes it's way into his robe pocket. A rustle of paper in his pocket catches Feyrith's notice as the rat hops out of his pocket and makes its way out of the Guild Hall. A small rune shines in the fur as it bounces off the light and Feyrith recognizes Pipsqueak, one of his father's many familiars. Reaching into his pocket Feyrith pulls out a small letter with his mother's seal and addressed to him. Ballad peaks over but just sees a blank piece of paper as Feyrith scans the invisible script. Seeing the confusion on his face, Feyrith explains that their family writes messages in illusionary ink that has drops of their blood in it that grants them the ability to see the ink. Feyrith's mood quickly turns from the somber from earlier to angry as he cusses and throws the paper down. Pulling out a piece of paper and summoning his quill Feyrith writes a quick letter before asking where the post is. With a small shrug from Ballad, Feyrith storms out of the Guild Hall. Looking at Ballad and giving a quick, "See ya later." Caerso also makes his way out of the Guild hall. Shortly later Silvyr returns to the table and looks around at the empty seats before taking Feyrith's old spot and sitting next to Ballad as they catch Silvyr up on their plans for the day.
The view turns back to Feyrith as he walks around the Ninth Level looking for some kind of post area. But keeping his head looking down to not catch looks, he misses the sign leading into the Aviary a few times before a particularly loud screech catches his attention and he opens a door that leads to a room covered with feathers and bird shit. What Feyrith first mistakes to be a gargoyle moves and is actually an expressionless boy covered in bird poop and feathers having resigned to his fate. He can be seen sorting letters and sending them out of owls while receiving letters and stuffing them into seed pods that sprout dandelion fluff and float towards their intended receivers. Feyrith takes a look around the room and sees lots of different types of bird but the main ones seem to be mostly owls. But there are a few hawks for express travel and seagulls for over the sea mail. A few birds known for desert climates and even the occasional duck for assumedly swamps. Feyrith hands over his fee and letter to the boy as he casts prestidigitation to clean the boys clothes as a bird flies over head and sees the first clean place in years and takes a fresh dump on the kid. The boy's face remains expressionless having rescinded for this fate. Feeling kind of bad and not wanting to follow in the boys footsteps Feyrith makes his way out and down towards the Market district.
The view changes again and the party sees Caerso standing outside the theater. Seeing the beautifully carved building with polished woods and beautiful plant life. A sign catches his eye as he looks over it. Noticing that sometimes have been reserved for more famous people and the like, Caerso looks at the theater with discuss. "Who organizes performances?" As he turns and leaves he makes his way downwards to the Market District. Feyrith catches a quick glimpse of Caerso before losing him into a crowd. Seeing a lot of magical plant and animal items that help fit his aesthetic Caerso spends the little money that he has to get these simple little items. As he walks down the roads of the district, Caerso hears a giggling from an alleyway. Taking a quick look around him, Caerso ducks into the alley after the voice. Taking a look around the alley, he doesn't see the source of the laughter that he heard. Taking a second to gather his bearings a knot of wood in a wall for the briefest second. As he takes a closer look at this knot his sword tingles at his waist. Looking at his sword he catches wooden fingers as two arms reach out from the wall. Spinning to face the arms, they quickly withdraw back into the wall. Caerso tries to persuade for this unknown being to come out and chat and hears the laughter again. The wall shimmers but nothing seems to crawl out. A little confused until Caerso hears footsteps leaving the alley. Running back out into the crowded streets of the Market District but losses the footprints almost immediately. Deciding to go back to shopping and ignore what he saw, Caerso sees a beautiful rapier that seemed to have been made in the image and the hands of the Lady of Roses. Vowing he would be back for the blade one day he turns on his heel and continues to shop. But it is significantly harder now that Caerso had caught the eyes of the Fae. Everywhere Caerso went he would see eyes and hear laughter. Deciding that he would need to confront these Fae if he wanted to enjoy the rest of his day. Heading to the empty Third Level around noon, Caerso waits quietly.
The view changes again and the party is back in the Guild Hall. Sylver and Ballad had been talking for a little while after the party left. The two having been spending a lot of time on the front of the cart together and preparing dinners for the group has grown an understanding with each other and Ballad seemed to enjoy the conversations that he shared with Silvyr. Silvyr brings up Ballad home and his family and if he missed them while he was adventuring. Ballad's usually very happy and stoic aura immediately dims as his smile disappears and his tail droops behind his chair.
"I have no family." Ballad says with a quiet voice. "There are friends who I have sworn to protect but any family I had has died a long time ago. As for my kingdom......... I think it would be just easier to show you." Silvyr has never seen Ballad outside of his armor. But now losing the straps on his shoulders, his breastplate lowers showing the base of his neck and upper chest. Silvyr doesn't seem to register what Ballad was trying to show him, as Silvyr reaches his hands up to Ballad's chest. Ballad gently grabs Silvyr's hand and guides it to the base of his neck. Silvyr's fingers come across a hard band of iron around the base of Ballad's neck. Ballad's words begin to make more sense as this band is brought into clearer view under Ballad's fur. Knowing that his home was the Kingdom of Fenrisia which is also known as the Slave Capital. The King himself is known to sell his own people to pay off his debts and Ballad is an unfortunate victim of bad rulership. Getting a closer look Sylver notices some very old Biomancy Runes that link their collar to Ballad's blood. Being part of a complete circle causes the runes to flow with power. Breaking this circuit causes the runes to overload and detonate, most likely taking Ballad's head with it.
"Is there a way we can...... pay off your debt?" Silvyr asks. Ballad lets out a soft sad laugh as he stares at the door not even able to look at Silvyr. Pulling down his shirt a scarred brand of the Royal Family of Fenrisia. Ballad is a noble slave and is bound for life till given his freedom. Parts start to click in Silvyr's brain as a lot more begins to make sense. With Ballad being a Royal Slave means that he showed talent at a young age and was taken in to become a strong pawn for the family. It also explains why he is walking around seemingly so freely with the Guild. They want Ballad as strong as possible since they have him under their thumb. The two share a moment of mutual loss. Silvyr with no known family members and Ballad with none to his name either. Silvyr pulls Ballad into a hug and the two embrace. a heavy weight that Ballad has been holding onto since he joined the party seems to have been lifted by their embrace. Ballad gets up kind of embarrassed but emotionally drained from their talk and makes his way to one of the guilds' beds for a nap before they have to go to their job. Silvyr lets him go and makes his way after the others to the Market District with a new goal in mind. Having nothing after waking up, Silvyr had a goal. To free Ballad.
We turn back to Feyrith as he walks around the library. Casting a Seek phrase spell on the libraries index made short work of his research. Looking into the history of the theater, Feyrith easily finds calamity logs that the Theater has filed. There was the occasional theft and scam that was mainly the stealing of props and the selling of bad equipment, nothing crazier than these crimes could be found by Feyrith. He does find a collateral report from about 25 years ago. The Kingdom had fallen under a mass spreading virus called, The Vile Blight. A virus that was spread by crowds and a majority of the Theater's staff had fallen victim to its quick death. Before too many of the levels could have been affected the World Tree Dryad purified the Capital of Willowshade. The only logged death of the Theater happened about 40 years ago. The main lead was performing on the stage when a heavy prop snapped its rope and plummeted down, crushing the lead, instantly killing him. After a little more searching, Feyrith does not find anything else of importance. Feeling like there would be nothing else, Feyrith makes his way down to the entertainment district and decides to listen to one of the story tellers in the theater as he waits for the group to meet up.
The view shifts again as the party is back with Caerso. He has made his way up to the Third Level where all the workers have left for their lunch break. Taking a resting position, Caerso waits for the Fae to come to him. He ends up chilling for a while before a voice in his ear whispers to him.
"Boo, why are you being boring?" The voice whispers.
"Games are fun and all, but I would like to talk to you. It's been too long since I've had the company of the Fae." Caerso says looking around for any signs of Fae that are talking. A pair of wooden hands enters Caerso's view from above. A soft caress of Caerso's face and the hand returns to the wooden body descending from the ceiling. She smells her wrist like smelling a delicate perfume.
"You reek of the Fae realm." She says with a smile crossing their faces. Caerso smiles as he explains that he should have spent a long time there under the protection of the Lady of Roses. With the mention of his Lady's name the smile vanishes from her face as fear replaces it. She looks around the garden and disappears into the ceiling. Feeling like he messed up mentioning the Lady's name, a faint memory crosses his mind. The Lady of Roses was not universally feared by the Fae realm. She has many subjects below her and power of the Fae rivaled only one other. And that was the Fairy Queen. The Queen of the Fae realm and the Lady are in open rebellion against her for her place on the throne. Caerso's sword vibrates again, pulling him out of his thoughts. He persuades the dryad to come out and talk, saying that he is not here to harm and is here in peace. She makes her way partially out of a wall, ready to run at a moment's notice. She warns that the tree is the territory of the Fairy Queen. With a final warning to avoid the roots and a kiss she returns to her sisters in the wall. Looking around for any more signs of the dryads, Caerso gives up as again his sword vibrates on the side of his hip. Taking his sword out and staring at his reflection in the metal, his mind slips away as he dives into his bond with the Lady of Roses. Opening his eyes, Caerso looks out on a vast open glade. A familiar sight of the time when his life changed completely. Caerso stands in the glade that he woke up in the first time he stepped into the Fae realm. A thundering expanse rumbles as storm clouds enter Caerso's mindscape. A cutting pain stabs through his head as the storm cracks with thunder. His blade quakes in his real hands as if suffering blows itself. Using his new ring he summons a rose in his hand. Grasping it tightly and reaching deeper into the sword. His mind pushed against buffering winds as he tried to cross the expanse to his Lady. Her voice called in the distance. Another crack of thunder and searing pain crosses Caerso's mind. Roses spread out from under his steps spreading flowers from him and covering the long green grass below him. Looking behind him he sees a small sapling bending sharply in the wind. The Lady's voice echoing out, like words down a pipe, coming from the small sapling. Turning back, Caerso called onto his Lady's blessing, unlike before a form he had never taken before started to emerge. Parts of his body turned green and smooth and his parts of his face peeled away into petals. Glimpse of dryad peaked out as he used his body to shelter the small sapling. His petal cloak billows around him as petals are blown into the wind. After a little while the storms begin to die, as Caerso no longer fights against the winds. Caerso being the first to get a glimpse of his legend seed.
Silvyr makes his way down towards the Market District but on his way runs into a Caerso having a staring contest with his sword. Feeling like this would be a bad time to talk, he continues on his way down. But before he could get too far, Caerso seems to snap out of his stupor and sees Silvyr. Running to catch up to them the two meet up on the stairs down. The two begin to talk about what Caerso was doing and Caerso begins to describe his meeting with the dryads. Silvyr explains his sense of something similar to the threads attached to Caerso and his sword, laying deep down in the ground beneath the tree. Caerso explains that the Dryads wanted him to stay away from the roots even if their work had them going close to them. Caerso babysits Silvyr while he does his shopping around the Market District. But as the day waned on, it was growing closer to their meeting time and the two decided to turn around and make their way up to the Entertainment District. The two run into Ballad with still no sign of Mycroft as he joins them on their way to the theater. Seeing Feyrith make his way out after a boring story teller with the crowd emptying for the performance.
The party gathered up again, Caerso in his best garb and Ballad out of his armor in a nice suit. Silvyr giving Ballad a friendly jab at his fashion choice while eyeing four more cuffs. Two on his wrist and two more around his ankles. The Lobby was well carved with beautiful woods waxed to shiny perfection. Everyone around them wearing lavish dresses and suits. A lot looking to be from the higher levels. The group approaches the desk where a ticket attendant was working. They showed her the job notice they took and she disappeared to a back room. She was gone for about 10 minutes before returning with a thin tall wood elf with a pointy mustache. He introduced himself as the Staff Manager and begins to take them in through the back. The group made their way around a small hallway that had viewports into the audience seating and a few into the rafter boxes where VIP patrons were already sitting and waiting for the show to begin. A few more meters and they climbed down a pair of stairs that lead behind the stage. Crew member watched them past as they pulled on ropes that moved props around the stage. Moving behind a rotating sheet that changed the background of scenes. The manager continued to guide the group around crowds of staff jumping between actors rooms as they got makeup and costumes together. Like Moses parting the seas, the staff changed their paths to avoid bumping into their boss. He opened a door in the back that lead into a simple office. Taking a seat behind a desk he catches the group on what has been happening. The main leads would simply be found inside their rooms dead after the show but before the staff came in. There would be no wounds on their bodies and no poisons detected. As far as anyone could tell they were perfectly fine one moment and dead the next. The only thing that seemed off was the fact that it was always the best they ever performed. Which didn't make sense if they were sick. So nothing points to this being a normal death. An outside perspective was needed and that's why adventurers were hired. This would be the first show that had two leads so that could mean two possible targets. One or both of these leads could be dead by the end of the night. The group agrees that they needed to talk to the leads to come up with a plan.
The group makes their way towards the lead room. Star plaques on their doors showed who was in the room. The party decides to divide and conquer Ballad and Silvyr see the Lady Willow, and Caerso and Feyrith go to see Prince James. Feyrith and Caerso make their way into the room as Feyrith ritually casts Detect Magic around the small room. Little pings of transmutation magic appear on his radar. Only one of them was in this room. It was the crown that would sit on the prince's head. While Caerso interrogated the Prince, Feyrith identified the crown. Finding out that it amplified the wearer's voice Feyrith guessed that it is the same for the other pings on his radar for the actors. Caerso hammers into the Prince James but he didn't seem too affected by gay cop, weird cop. But his bad attitude wasn't helping support his case. It was obvious that he didn't have high opinions of his other cast members and was upset that the previous lead only got the position due to the fact that he could make the beast more......... realistic. Feyrith and Caerso look at each other. "I think he's just a salty person." They mutually agree. The group turns to Lady Willow as Silvyr and Ballad make their way into the room. It doesn't take long for Silvyr to see something off. Among the Lady Willow's usual golden weave of her life, black broken threads peak out.
Feeling the mood kind of shift Feyrith turns to Ballad and Caerso and relays to the group about the parties he saw around the room, the tables mood dropping for a minute as Feyrith explains the last parties situation. The table takes a moment of silence for a fellow fallen adventurer. With Feyrith's head bowed with respect a little black furred rat climbs up Feyrith's leg and makes it's way into his robe pocket. A rustle of paper in his pocket catches Feyrith's notice as the rat hops out of his pocket and makes its way out of the Guild Hall. A small rune shines in the fur as it bounces off the light and Feyrith recognizes Pipsqueak, one of his father's many familiars. Reaching into his pocket Feyrith pulls out a small letter with his mother's seal and addressed to him. Ballad peaks over but just sees a blank piece of paper as Feyrith scans the invisible script. Seeing the confusion on his face, Feyrith explains that their family writes messages in illusionary ink that has drops of their blood in it that grants them the ability to see the ink. Feyrith's mood quickly turns from the somber from earlier to angry as he cusses and throws the paper down. Pulling out a piece of paper and summoning his quill Feyrith writes a quick letter before asking where the post is. With a small shrug from Ballad, Feyrith storms out of the Guild Hall. Looking at Ballad and giving a quick, "See ya later." Caerso also makes his way out of the Guild hall. Shortly later Silvyr returns to the table and looks around at the empty seats before taking Feyrith's old spot and sitting next to Ballad as they catch Silvyr up on their plans for the day.
The view turns back to Feyrith as he walks around the Ninth Level looking for some kind of post area. But keeping his head looking down to not catch looks, he misses the sign leading into the Aviary a few times before a particularly loud screech catches his attention and he opens a door that leads to a room covered with feathers and bird shit. What Feyrith first mistakes to be a gargoyle moves and is actually an expressionless boy covered in bird poop and feathers having resigned to his fate. He can be seen sorting letters and sending them out of owls while receiving letters and stuffing them into seed pods that sprout dandelion fluff and float towards their intended receivers. Feyrith takes a look around the room and sees lots of different types of bird but the main ones seem to be mostly owls. But there are a few hawks for express travel and seagulls for over the sea mail. A few birds known for desert climates and even the occasional duck for assumedly swamps. Feyrith hands over his fee and letter to the boy as he casts prestidigitation to clean the boys clothes as a bird flies over head and sees the first clean place in years and takes a fresh dump on the kid. The boy's face remains expressionless having rescinded for this fate. Feeling kind of bad and not wanting to follow in the boys footsteps Feyrith makes his way out and down towards the Market district.
The view changes again and the party sees Caerso standing outside the theater. Seeing the beautifully carved building with polished woods and beautiful plant life. A sign catches his eye as he looks over it. Noticing that sometimes have been reserved for more famous people and the like, Caerso looks at the theater with discuss. "Who organizes performances?" As he turns and leaves he makes his way downwards to the Market District. Feyrith catches a quick glimpse of Caerso before losing him into a crowd. Seeing a lot of magical plant and animal items that help fit his aesthetic Caerso spends the little money that he has to get these simple little items. As he walks down the roads of the district, Caerso hears a giggling from an alleyway. Taking a quick look around him, Caerso ducks into the alley after the voice. Taking a look around the alley, he doesn't see the source of the laughter that he heard. Taking a second to gather his bearings a knot of wood in a wall for the briefest second. As he takes a closer look at this knot his sword tingles at his waist. Looking at his sword he catches wooden fingers as two arms reach out from the wall. Spinning to face the arms, they quickly withdraw back into the wall. Caerso tries to persuade for this unknown being to come out and chat and hears the laughter again. The wall shimmers but nothing seems to crawl out. A little confused until Caerso hears footsteps leaving the alley. Running back out into the crowded streets of the Market District but losses the footprints almost immediately. Deciding to go back to shopping and ignore what he saw, Caerso sees a beautiful rapier that seemed to have been made in the image and the hands of the Lady of Roses. Vowing he would be back for the blade one day he turns on his heel and continues to shop. But it is significantly harder now that Caerso had caught the eyes of the Fae. Everywhere Caerso went he would see eyes and hear laughter. Deciding that he would need to confront these Fae if he wanted to enjoy the rest of his day. Heading to the empty Third Level around noon, Caerso waits quietly.
The view changes again and the party is back in the Guild Hall. Sylver and Ballad had been talking for a little while after the party left. The two having been spending a lot of time on the front of the cart together and preparing dinners for the group has grown an understanding with each other and Ballad seemed to enjoy the conversations that he shared with Silvyr. Silvyr brings up Ballad home and his family and if he missed them while he was adventuring. Ballad's usually very happy and stoic aura immediately dims as his smile disappears and his tail droops behind his chair.
"I have no family." Ballad says with a quiet voice. "There are friends who I have sworn to protect but any family I had has died a long time ago. As for my kingdom......... I think it would be just easier to show you." Silvyr has never seen Ballad outside of his armor. But now losing the straps on his shoulders, his breastplate lowers showing the base of his neck and upper chest. Silvyr doesn't seem to register what Ballad was trying to show him, as Silvyr reaches his hands up to Ballad's chest. Ballad gently grabs Silvyr's hand and guides it to the base of his neck. Silvyr's fingers come across a hard band of iron around the base of Ballad's neck. Ballad's words begin to make more sense as this band is brought into clearer view under Ballad's fur. Knowing that his home was the Kingdom of Fenrisia which is also known as the Slave Capital. The King himself is known to sell his own people to pay off his debts and Ballad is an unfortunate victim of bad rulership. Getting a closer look Sylver notices some very old Biomancy Runes that link their collar to Ballad's blood. Being part of a complete circle causes the runes to flow with power. Breaking this circuit causes the runes to overload and detonate, most likely taking Ballad's head with it.
"Is there a way we can...... pay off your debt?" Silvyr asks. Ballad lets out a soft sad laugh as he stares at the door not even able to look at Silvyr. Pulling down his shirt a scarred brand of the Royal Family of Fenrisia. Ballad is a noble slave and is bound for life till given his freedom. Parts start to click in Silvyr's brain as a lot more begins to make sense. With Ballad being a Royal Slave means that he showed talent at a young age and was taken in to become a strong pawn for the family. It also explains why he is walking around seemingly so freely with the Guild. They want Ballad as strong as possible since they have him under their thumb. The two share a moment of mutual loss. Silvyr with no known family members and Ballad with none to his name either. Silvyr pulls Ballad into a hug and the two embrace. a heavy weight that Ballad has been holding onto since he joined the party seems to have been lifted by their embrace. Ballad gets up kind of embarrassed but emotionally drained from their talk and makes his way to one of the guilds' beds for a nap before they have to go to their job. Silvyr lets him go and makes his way after the others to the Market District with a new goal in mind. Having nothing after waking up, Silvyr had a goal. To free Ballad.
We turn back to Feyrith as he walks around the library. Casting a Seek phrase spell on the libraries index made short work of his research. Looking into the history of the theater, Feyrith easily finds calamity logs that the Theater has filed. There was the occasional theft and scam that was mainly the stealing of props and the selling of bad equipment, nothing crazier than these crimes could be found by Feyrith. He does find a collateral report from about 25 years ago. The Kingdom had fallen under a mass spreading virus called, The Vile Blight. A virus that was spread by crowds and a majority of the Theater's staff had fallen victim to its quick death. Before too many of the levels could have been affected the World Tree Dryad purified the Capital of Willowshade. The only logged death of the Theater happened about 40 years ago. The main lead was performing on the stage when a heavy prop snapped its rope and plummeted down, crushing the lead, instantly killing him. After a little more searching, Feyrith does not find anything else of importance. Feeling like there would be nothing else, Feyrith makes his way down to the entertainment district and decides to listen to one of the story tellers in the theater as he waits for the group to meet up.
The view shifts again as the party is back with Caerso. He has made his way up to the Third Level where all the workers have left for their lunch break. Taking a resting position, Caerso waits for the Fae to come to him. He ends up chilling for a while before a voice in his ear whispers to him.
"Boo, why are you being boring?" The voice whispers.
"Games are fun and all, but I would like to talk to you. It's been too long since I've had the company of the Fae." Caerso says looking around for any signs of Fae that are talking. A pair of wooden hands enters Caerso's view from above. A soft caress of Caerso's face and the hand returns to the wooden body descending from the ceiling. She smells her wrist like smelling a delicate perfume.
"You reek of the Fae realm." She says with a smile crossing their faces. Caerso smiles as he explains that he should have spent a long time there under the protection of the Lady of Roses. With the mention of his Lady's name the smile vanishes from her face as fear replaces it. She looks around the garden and disappears into the ceiling. Feeling like he messed up mentioning the Lady's name, a faint memory crosses his mind. The Lady of Roses was not universally feared by the Fae realm. She has many subjects below her and power of the Fae rivaled only one other. And that was the Fairy Queen. The Queen of the Fae realm and the Lady are in open rebellion against her for her place on the throne. Caerso's sword vibrates again, pulling him out of his thoughts. He persuades the dryad to come out and talk, saying that he is not here to harm and is here in peace. She makes her way partially out of a wall, ready to run at a moment's notice. She warns that the tree is the territory of the Fairy Queen. With a final warning to avoid the roots and a kiss she returns to her sisters in the wall. Looking around for any more signs of the dryads, Caerso gives up as again his sword vibrates on the side of his hip. Taking his sword out and staring at his reflection in the metal, his mind slips away as he dives into his bond with the Lady of Roses. Opening his eyes, Caerso looks out on a vast open glade. A familiar sight of the time when his life changed completely. Caerso stands in the glade that he woke up in the first time he stepped into the Fae realm. A thundering expanse rumbles as storm clouds enter Caerso's mindscape. A cutting pain stabs through his head as the storm cracks with thunder. His blade quakes in his real hands as if suffering blows itself. Using his new ring he summons a rose in his hand. Grasping it tightly and reaching deeper into the sword. His mind pushed against buffering winds as he tried to cross the expanse to his Lady. Her voice called in the distance. Another crack of thunder and searing pain crosses Caerso's mind. Roses spread out from under his steps spreading flowers from him and covering the long green grass below him. Looking behind him he sees a small sapling bending sharply in the wind. The Lady's voice echoing out, like words down a pipe, coming from the small sapling. Turning back, Caerso called onto his Lady's blessing, unlike before a form he had never taken before started to emerge. Parts of his body turned green and smooth and his parts of his face peeled away into petals. Glimpse of dryad peaked out as he used his body to shelter the small sapling. His petal cloak billows around him as petals are blown into the wind. After a little while the storms begin to die, as Caerso no longer fights against the winds. Caerso being the first to get a glimpse of his legend seed.
Silvyr makes his way down towards the Market District but on his way runs into a Caerso having a staring contest with his sword. Feeling like this would be a bad time to talk, he continues on his way down. But before he could get too far, Caerso seems to snap out of his stupor and sees Silvyr. Running to catch up to them the two meet up on the stairs down. The two begin to talk about what Caerso was doing and Caerso begins to describe his meeting with the dryads. Silvyr explains his sense of something similar to the threads attached to Caerso and his sword, laying deep down in the ground beneath the tree. Caerso explains that the Dryads wanted him to stay away from the roots even if their work had them going close to them. Caerso babysits Silvyr while he does his shopping around the Market District. But as the day waned on, it was growing closer to their meeting time and the two decided to turn around and make their way up to the Entertainment District. The two run into Ballad with still no sign of Mycroft as he joins them on their way to the theater. Seeing Feyrith make his way out after a boring story teller with the crowd emptying for the performance.
The party gathered up again, Caerso in his best garb and Ballad out of his armor in a nice suit. Silvyr giving Ballad a friendly jab at his fashion choice while eyeing four more cuffs. Two on his wrist and two more around his ankles. The Lobby was well carved with beautiful woods waxed to shiny perfection. Everyone around them wearing lavish dresses and suits. A lot looking to be from the higher levels. The group approaches the desk where a ticket attendant was working. They showed her the job notice they took and she disappeared to a back room. She was gone for about 10 minutes before returning with a thin tall wood elf with a pointy mustache. He introduced himself as the Staff Manager and begins to take them in through the back. The group made their way around a small hallway that had viewports into the audience seating and a few into the rafter boxes where VIP patrons were already sitting and waiting for the show to begin. A few more meters and they climbed down a pair of stairs that lead behind the stage. Crew member watched them past as they pulled on ropes that moved props around the stage. Moving behind a rotating sheet that changed the background of scenes. The manager continued to guide the group around crowds of staff jumping between actors rooms as they got makeup and costumes together. Like Moses parting the seas, the staff changed their paths to avoid bumping into their boss. He opened a door in the back that lead into a simple office. Taking a seat behind a desk he catches the group on what has been happening. The main leads would simply be found inside their rooms dead after the show but before the staff came in. There would be no wounds on their bodies and no poisons detected. As far as anyone could tell they were perfectly fine one moment and dead the next. The only thing that seemed off was the fact that it was always the best they ever performed. Which didn't make sense if they were sick. So nothing points to this being a normal death. An outside perspective was needed and that's why adventurers were hired. This would be the first show that had two leads so that could mean two possible targets. One or both of these leads could be dead by the end of the night. The group agrees that they needed to talk to the leads to come up with a plan.
The group makes their way towards the lead room. Star plaques on their doors showed who was in the room. The party decides to divide and conquer Ballad and Silvyr see the Lady Willow, and Caerso and Feyrith go to see Prince James. Feyrith and Caerso make their way into the room as Feyrith ritually casts Detect Magic around the small room. Little pings of transmutation magic appear on his radar. Only one of them was in this room. It was the crown that would sit on the prince's head. While Caerso interrogated the Prince, Feyrith identified the crown. Finding out that it amplified the wearer's voice Feyrith guessed that it is the same for the other pings on his radar for the actors. Caerso hammers into the Prince James but he didn't seem too affected by gay cop, weird cop. But his bad attitude wasn't helping support his case. It was obvious that he didn't have high opinions of his other cast members and was upset that the previous lead only got the position due to the fact that he could make the beast more......... realistic. Feyrith and Caerso look at each other. "I think he's just a salty person." They mutually agree. The group turns to Lady Willow as Silvyr and Ballad make their way into the room. It doesn't take long for Silvyr to see something off. Among the Lady Willow's usual golden weave of her life, black broken threads peak out.
Rewards Granted
50 gp from Feyrith's mom
Character(s) interacted with
Ballad: Silvyr
Dryads of Willowshade: Caerso
Librarian of Willowshade Library: Feyrith
Guild Courier Boy: Feyrith
Staff Manager of Theater
Female Lead, Lady Willow
Male Lead, Prince James
Back stage staff
Dryads of Willowshade: Caerso
Librarian of Willowshade Library: Feyrith
Guild Courier Boy: Feyrith
Staff Manager of Theater
Female Lead, Lady Willow
Male Lead, Prince James
Back stage staff
Report Date
18 Mar 2022
Primary Location
Related Characters
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