Session 4: Well, Hello, Dolly! Report
General Summary
In this session the glorious, all-knowing and all-powerful DM forgot to turn on the recording of the zoom session, so this report is the only record of the things that happened. Sorry about that. - J
The session started on the fourth day of the club's efforts to follow the lead of the strange, somehow imbued doll, Cassie. They had apparently found their groove, making steady progress in a north-eastern direction. They encountered minor curiosities -- well-cared-for glades in the middle of the overgrown forest, an abandoned shack, several more hollow trees. At one point on the fifth day of their journey, a trio of pixies tried to steal Fynn's spellbook, but the gnome managed to hold on to it and frighten them off.
During the night between the fifth and sixth days their camp was raided by a band of mercenary woods folk led by an Inspired wearing rich, silk robes. Thanks to a timely warning from Tyding Grimm's ancestor spirit, the club was able to turn the tables on their attackers, killing them without suffering permanent losses. More curious than the mystery of being attacked in the middle of the night by an inspired and a lot of hired help, was the bag of assorted teeth (much of them goblin) that the leader, who the club believes was called Arivend Harshili. The teeth were clearly recently pulled from the mouths of some poor goblins.
The next day (the 6th) they found the shipwreck that had been hinted at before. At first the area seemed deserted, but then a young halfelf boy stepped forth, introducing himself as Dax Steele. Conversation with Dax quickly revealed that the shipwreck was the home of a tribe of feral fairies that Dax had been spending a few days with. The fairies then stepped out, with their leader, Thicket Darkbreath speaking for them. These were the Night Tooth Kin.
Thicket was very focused on hard bargaining, especially offering any sort of information to the party, and their primary currency was teeth. After a few badly worded bargains cost them some of their store of teeth (taken off the inspired raider) they were able to get a bit of information out of Thicket. They learned that Anet Harr -- or rather her body -- had been at the shipwreck about a week earlier -- in the form of a dead body that attacked the shipwreck and was destroyed by a visiting band of the fairy clan's customers. The remains were still nearby, tossed into a bramble, and the club was able to take a look.
The body was indeed the corpse of long-dead Anet, still showing the signs of her painful death by burning and a few year's worth of dry interment in a sarcophagus. There was also signs that the body had walked through the forest -- heedless of the thorns and brambles and other hazards, with clear signs that damage done by such dangers had been healed somehow. But, now that the body was inert, it was just a broken, remarkably toothless thing. (Yes, the kin had stolen Anet's teeth after her body was discarded by the band that killed her).
While trying to compare notes and find out a bit more about Dax, GamGam warned Tyding Grimm that "death" was approaching. This proved to be a remarkably intent, fast, and deadly zombie of a woodsman -- apparently having escaped from some sort of cocoon or web and now intent on reaching the shipwreck. In the fight that ensued (with the Night Tooth Kin hiding and leaving the PCs to deal with the thing), it became clear that the monster was trying to reach Fynn D'Sivas -- and once it had knocked Fynn unconscious it grabbed up the rag doll, Cassie, that Fynn has been carrying. The creature was destroyed, eventually, and its teeth were used for further bargains with the Night Tooth Kin.
The club spent the night with the Night Tooth Kin, learning a bit more from the tribe thanks to some daring gambles made by young Dax, who was proving his worth quickly. The club learned that a band of smugglers called the Badgers, in the employ of the Midwife, had been bringing loads of good to the shipwreck -- which the Kin served as a sort of escrow service for the exchange with the buyers. The buyers -- a team lead by an inspired agent -- would come and pick up the good, leave payment, and pay the Kin in teeth for their part of the process.
They also learned a bit more about Dax's own investigation. Dax had come to the Night wood on his own, trying to find out the fate of a missing teenage girl named Mya Dowen. Mya had disappeared into the forest and her parents were trying to get the authorities to take her disappearance seriously, but without luck. Dax, the overconfident and irrepressible young detective packed some rations and headed off into the forest to see if he could find out Mya's fate. The Kin had been holding out on him, hoping to use information about Mya to bargain with, but now that the whole club was there and the kin were netting a lot of teeth in the bargain, they were willing to share that Mya had been seduced by a satyr named Miklash , and probably taken back and given to the Autumn Queen as a gift.
Tyding was also able to negotiate the purchase of a half-dozen magic acorns that are the keys to passing through the hollow trees and entering the domain of the Autumn queen.
The next morning, the club (including Dax) set out to follow Cassie to the Southeast. They had a minor run-in with a patrol from a nearby valenar village called Night Lake -- the elves warned the club that they were wandering in very dangerous territory and they should make their way back to "civilization".
Then, towards the end of the day, the club discovered another hollow tree. Over the dissenting voices of Fynn and Moes, the group decided to pass through and enter the The Amber Forest, domain of the Autumn Queen. They wandered for what seemed like hours in the Maze of Falling Leaves, until they found themselves in the Garden of Twilight, where they could see the massive palace-within-an-oak tree of the Autumn Queen.
Tyding Character Sheet
Zonzi The Broken
Fynn D'Sivas
()
8 / 8 HP
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
Report Date
06 Feb 2022
Comments