Session 7 - Into the Pool
General Summary
As Liber and Prince stood at the banks of the pond in this new land, the strange creature in front of them asked again "Where is your friend?". Prince introduced himself and Liber, and asked for more details of this friend, and received in reply a detailed description of Lerissa in return. Liber spoke up and explained that they had not immediately understood the question because Lerissa was described as their friend, but she was in fact their employer. He continued, asking the creature if there was some token that could be returned to Lerissa as proof of identity or purpose. The creature explained that a token wouldn't stir any memories in Lerissa's mind, but reached up to their head with a shining dagger and in a flick of their wrist removed several strands of silver hair in a bundle that they handed over to the pair. With this done, the stranger bade them farewell until they returned with Lerissa, explaining that they had no further information to share until she was in their presence.
As Lerissa and Olut held on to the ropes from the banks of the pond on the other side of the tree, they suddenly felt them go slack in their hands. A brief moment of panic was abated by the reemergence of Liber and Prince at the surface of the water, looking very wet and confused. As they waded to shore, they began explaining to the assembled group the things they had seen. Liber posited that the realm they had entered was called "the Feywilds", a strange land that he had only heard of in passing. Olut added that the land featured in many tales of adventure and that there could be great danger around any corner, and from the most unlikely of sources. It was his opinion that they should burn down the tree and block off this world's connection to the other. As he began rummaging in his pack for a tinderbox, Lerissa interrupted, asking Prince about the silver hairs in his hand. Prince explained that they were a token from the thing they met inside the Fey. While Lerissa couldn't recognize them on sight, the strange liquidity of the strands between her fingers registered as something definitely otherworldly. As Olut anxiously waited at the shore of the pond with his flint and steel in hand, Lerissa made up her mind. "If I am requested, I shall meet this creature, but I don't ask that you join me". Before she had finished her sentence, Liber had already begun speaking, promising that he would venture back into the Fey with Lerissa, if for no other reason than to sate his own curiosity about the place. Prince and Haeni were not far behind in promising their accompaniment, and as the only one left, Olut agreed to join, provided that they each stay on their guard for dangers, and no go running off alone. With this agreement, the group stepped into the water together and emerged on the other side of the Fey.
As the party emerged from the waters in the Fey, they found the stranger standing where they had left them, greeting Lerissa directly. They introduced themselves as Kyron, messenger of the "Lady of These Lands". Kyron explained that his Lady requested Lerissa's presence and that he had been tasked with bringing her to the Fey Court. They laid out a series of directions through the wilds to reach "Untold Blessings". They instructed the party to "walk until a sense of melancholy overwhelmed them, then turn toward the scent of stroma. From there, they must proceed to the laborers', and just beyond Untold Blessings lies". With these directions imparted, Kyron walked away, disappearing among the trees. As the Fey left the clearing, the party was left to ponder the situation they found themselves in. Lerissa was first to suggest heading in the direction that Kyron indicated, but Olut gathered the group before they left the clearing and reminded them once more of the dangers of the Fey, particularly in giving sentient creatures more information than strictly necessary, like names and homes. With this reminder firmly planted in each of their minds, the party left the clearing.
As they walked, they took stock of the world around them. The trees all around them stood 50' tall, and their canopies blocked out the sky above, but nevertheless, a dim glow from nowhere in particular illuminated the world around them. After what felt like the better part of an hour of travel, a tall hill stood in front of the party, strangely blanketed in a light drizzle of rain that stopped in a wall at the base of the hill. At first suspicious of the phenomenon, soon their curiosity won out, and the group marched up the hill with the hopes of getting a better lay of the lands around them. As they reached the peak and scanned the treeline around them, all they could see was a forest in every direction. As they raised their heads to get a better look at the sky, their eyes could never quite lock on to the horizon, always seeming to be just above the level of their focus. The group descended the hill back toward their original path, still unsure of their precise destination, or what they had experienced on top of the hill.
As they continued on through the forest, Liber felt a sharp pain in his calf, and let out a shout alerting the party to danger. They each grabbed their weapons and held them aloft. In another instant, Haeni this time cried out as a pain shot up his leg. As Prince spun to look he spotted a tiny dagger, barely larger than a needle, sticking out of Haeni's leg with a piece of birchbark tied to the hilt. He reached down and pulled the knife from Haeni's leg, and read on the birchbark a hastily scrawled message "Turn Back". As he read the note to the group, Liber reached down and pulled a similar knife from his leg, breaking his gaze from the treeline just long enough to read another note which read "Deceivers". As Prince shouted into the trees a single creature emerged, a tiny fey, wavering around the edges of his silhouette as if vibrating. Everyone froze, ready to attack if need be, as Prince spoke again. "What do these notes mean?" he asked, raising the tiny dagger into the air. The creature replied quickly, in broken Common "Protect from deception. Trust only yourselves", before darting back into the trees in the blink of an eye. Keeping their eyes on the trees around them, the party debated their next course of action. Despite the ominous warnings, they decided to continue on their journey to Untold Blessings, having no other alternatives. Though they didn't know who to trust, at least Kyron hadn't stabbed them yet, and so they proceeded on their way.
After what felt like an eternity walking through the forests, the party's spirits began to wane, each beginning to doubt the validity of their course. The land around them began to reflect their internal struggles, as a blanket of snow began to coat the ground around them, even as the tree canopy above provided no line of sight to the clouds above. Slowly, each began to consider turning back, questioning why they had ever come to this accursed place. They had been so eager to learn about this strange new world, but what had it gotten them? Lost in the middle of the woods, tortured by its inhabitants, trapped in a makeshift shelter for what felt like millennia. Their master had promised them that they would discover great and powerful magics, and what had become of that? A living death, their body warped by time into an unrecognizable beast.
Haeni was first to recognize that these thoughts invading his mind were not his own, and as he looked around the party, he saw that they were each near collapsing in despair. Acting quickly, he reached out to each person in turn, and gently lifted their spirits, pointing out a cabin through the snow, perhaps a respite from the storm. As the group shook off their despair, they trudged toward the cabin, still hearing the thoughts in the back of their minds, strengthening in voice as they neared the front door. Prince stepped to the door and kicked it open, coming face-to-face with a strange and terrible beast, hunched and emaciated, with a single bulbous eye in the middle of its face. Prince felt the creature probe his mind but resolved to shrug the intrusion off as he charged into the room with his sword held high. The creature lashed back, and after several frantic seconds, Liber stepped up and as dolorous bells rang through the cabin, the creature dropped dead where it stood. As it fell, Liber heard a whisper in the back of his mind, a soft "Thank you" that faded away as quickly as it had appeared.
As the group rested and searched the cabin around them, they found a trio of minor magical items. Liber picked up an amulet that glowed dimly and felt its heat warm his core. Olut picked up a gourd shell with a hole bored into the side, and as he peered in, visions of dancing skeletons filled his brain for several seconds. Haeni claimed the Metal Eye Mask, and as he put it on, his vision was transported to a point hundreds of feet above. From this vantage, Haeni could see the edge of the forest nearby, where the trees were gradually replaced by giant fungi. As he relayed this discovery to the group, they debated if they should investigate the disruption to the endless trees that they had so far been experiencing. As Liber dug through his memories, it occurred to him that he has recognized the term "stroma" from an apothecary's manual read long ago, and it wasn't until Haeni mentioned mushrooms that he was able to connect the two in his head. He explained to the rest of the party that a stroma was a collection of fungal tissue and that if they wanted to continue following Kyron's directions, that would be their best bet.
As the party left the cabin and headed on to the fungal forest, they made great time, and before long had passed from the canopy of trees and into the mushrooms standing nearly as tall. Olut lagged behind the group to inspect some fungal growths and harvest a few for his collection. The party stopped for a moment in the bounds of the mycelium, and Haeni refit his metal mask, trying to get a lay of the land from his eagle-eye view. At the same time, both he and Liber spotted movement in the distance what looked to be moving fungus. Liber told Olut to stop harvesting his mushrooms, and Olut obeyed, eying the surrounding area for signs of a threat. Haeni removed his mask and began to play a song to charm the creatures into coming forth, but for one reason or another, there was no further movement in any direction. After several minutes of scanning the nearby area, the party continued quietly, proceeding through the mossy ground.
After another few minutes journey unaccosted, the party found themselves in the midst of a clearing, certainly not a natural occurrence, as metal tools lay near the woody stumps of what had at one point been tall mushroom stalks. The ground around was trampled by symmetric boot prints, and large ruts were dug into the ground, all leading from the site into the distance through a plain dotted with trees. At these first signs of civilization in what felt like days of walking, the party agreed to follow these tracks to see where they might lead.
As Lerissa and Olut held on to the ropes from the banks of the pond on the other side of the tree, they suddenly felt them go slack in their hands. A brief moment of panic was abated by the reemergence of Liber and Prince at the surface of the water, looking very wet and confused. As they waded to shore, they began explaining to the assembled group the things they had seen. Liber posited that the realm they had entered was called "the Feywilds", a strange land that he had only heard of in passing. Olut added that the land featured in many tales of adventure and that there could be great danger around any corner, and from the most unlikely of sources. It was his opinion that they should burn down the tree and block off this world's connection to the other. As he began rummaging in his pack for a tinderbox, Lerissa interrupted, asking Prince about the silver hairs in his hand. Prince explained that they were a token from the thing they met inside the Fey. While Lerissa couldn't recognize them on sight, the strange liquidity of the strands between her fingers registered as something definitely otherworldly. As Olut anxiously waited at the shore of the pond with his flint and steel in hand, Lerissa made up her mind. "If I am requested, I shall meet this creature, but I don't ask that you join me". Before she had finished her sentence, Liber had already begun speaking, promising that he would venture back into the Fey with Lerissa, if for no other reason than to sate his own curiosity about the place. Prince and Haeni were not far behind in promising their accompaniment, and as the only one left, Olut agreed to join, provided that they each stay on their guard for dangers, and no go running off alone. With this agreement, the group stepped into the water together and emerged on the other side of the Fey.
As the party emerged from the waters in the Fey, they found the stranger standing where they had left them, greeting Lerissa directly. They introduced themselves as Kyron, messenger of the "Lady of These Lands". Kyron explained that his Lady requested Lerissa's presence and that he had been tasked with bringing her to the Fey Court. They laid out a series of directions through the wilds to reach "Untold Blessings". They instructed the party to "walk until a sense of melancholy overwhelmed them, then turn toward the scent of stroma. From there, they must proceed to the laborers', and just beyond Untold Blessings lies". With these directions imparted, Kyron walked away, disappearing among the trees. As the Fey left the clearing, the party was left to ponder the situation they found themselves in. Lerissa was first to suggest heading in the direction that Kyron indicated, but Olut gathered the group before they left the clearing and reminded them once more of the dangers of the Fey, particularly in giving sentient creatures more information than strictly necessary, like names and homes. With this reminder firmly planted in each of their minds, the party left the clearing.
As they walked, they took stock of the world around them. The trees all around them stood 50' tall, and their canopies blocked out the sky above, but nevertheless, a dim glow from nowhere in particular illuminated the world around them. After what felt like the better part of an hour of travel, a tall hill stood in front of the party, strangely blanketed in a light drizzle of rain that stopped in a wall at the base of the hill. At first suspicious of the phenomenon, soon their curiosity won out, and the group marched up the hill with the hopes of getting a better lay of the lands around them. As they reached the peak and scanned the treeline around them, all they could see was a forest in every direction. As they raised their heads to get a better look at the sky, their eyes could never quite lock on to the horizon, always seeming to be just above the level of their focus. The group descended the hill back toward their original path, still unsure of their precise destination, or what they had experienced on top of the hill.
As they continued on through the forest, Liber felt a sharp pain in his calf, and let out a shout alerting the party to danger. They each grabbed their weapons and held them aloft. In another instant, Haeni this time cried out as a pain shot up his leg. As Prince spun to look he spotted a tiny dagger, barely larger than a needle, sticking out of Haeni's leg with a piece of birchbark tied to the hilt. He reached down and pulled the knife from Haeni's leg, and read on the birchbark a hastily scrawled message "Turn Back". As he read the note to the group, Liber reached down and pulled a similar knife from his leg, breaking his gaze from the treeline just long enough to read another note which read "Deceivers". As Prince shouted into the trees a single creature emerged, a tiny fey, wavering around the edges of his silhouette as if vibrating. Everyone froze, ready to attack if need be, as Prince spoke again. "What do these notes mean?" he asked, raising the tiny dagger into the air. The creature replied quickly, in broken Common "Protect from deception. Trust only yourselves", before darting back into the trees in the blink of an eye. Keeping their eyes on the trees around them, the party debated their next course of action. Despite the ominous warnings, they decided to continue on their journey to Untold Blessings, having no other alternatives. Though they didn't know who to trust, at least Kyron hadn't stabbed them yet, and so they proceeded on their way.
After what felt like an eternity walking through the forests, the party's spirits began to wane, each beginning to doubt the validity of their course. The land around them began to reflect their internal struggles, as a blanket of snow began to coat the ground around them, even as the tree canopy above provided no line of sight to the clouds above. Slowly, each began to consider turning back, questioning why they had ever come to this accursed place. They had been so eager to learn about this strange new world, but what had it gotten them? Lost in the middle of the woods, tortured by its inhabitants, trapped in a makeshift shelter for what felt like millennia. Their master had promised them that they would discover great and powerful magics, and what had become of that? A living death, their body warped by time into an unrecognizable beast.
Haeni was first to recognize that these thoughts invading his mind were not his own, and as he looked around the party, he saw that they were each near collapsing in despair. Acting quickly, he reached out to each person in turn, and gently lifted their spirits, pointing out a cabin through the snow, perhaps a respite from the storm. As the group shook off their despair, they trudged toward the cabin, still hearing the thoughts in the back of their minds, strengthening in voice as they neared the front door. Prince stepped to the door and kicked it open, coming face-to-face with a strange and terrible beast, hunched and emaciated, with a single bulbous eye in the middle of its face. Prince felt the creature probe his mind but resolved to shrug the intrusion off as he charged into the room with his sword held high. The creature lashed back, and after several frantic seconds, Liber stepped up and as dolorous bells rang through the cabin, the creature dropped dead where it stood. As it fell, Liber heard a whisper in the back of his mind, a soft "Thank you" that faded away as quickly as it had appeared.
As the group rested and searched the cabin around them, they found a trio of minor magical items. Liber picked up an amulet that glowed dimly and felt its heat warm his core. Olut picked up a gourd shell with a hole bored into the side, and as he peered in, visions of dancing skeletons filled his brain for several seconds. Haeni claimed the Metal Eye Mask, and as he put it on, his vision was transported to a point hundreds of feet above. From this vantage, Haeni could see the edge of the forest nearby, where the trees were gradually replaced by giant fungi. As he relayed this discovery to the group, they debated if they should investigate the disruption to the endless trees that they had so far been experiencing. As Liber dug through his memories, it occurred to him that he has recognized the term "stroma" from an apothecary's manual read long ago, and it wasn't until Haeni mentioned mushrooms that he was able to connect the two in his head. He explained to the rest of the party that a stroma was a collection of fungal tissue and that if they wanted to continue following Kyron's directions, that would be their best bet.
As the party left the cabin and headed on to the fungal forest, they made great time, and before long had passed from the canopy of trees and into the mushrooms standing nearly as tall. Olut lagged behind the group to inspect some fungal growths and harvest a few for his collection. The party stopped for a moment in the bounds of the mycelium, and Haeni refit his metal mask, trying to get a lay of the land from his eagle-eye view. At the same time, both he and Liber spotted movement in the distance what looked to be moving fungus. Liber told Olut to stop harvesting his mushrooms, and Olut obeyed, eying the surrounding area for signs of a threat. Haeni removed his mask and began to play a song to charm the creatures into coming forth, but for one reason or another, there was no further movement in any direction. After several minutes of scanning the nearby area, the party continued quietly, proceeding through the mossy ground.
After another few minutes journey unaccosted, the party found themselves in the midst of a clearing, certainly not a natural occurrence, as metal tools lay near the woody stumps of what had at one point been tall mushroom stalks. The ground around was trampled by symmetric boot prints, and large ruts were dug into the ground, all leading from the site into the distance through a plain dotted with trees. At these first signs of civilization in what felt like days of walking, the party agreed to follow these tracks to see where they might lead.
Rewards Granted
- Metal Eye Mask (Haeni) - Wearing this mask obscures your normal vision, but allows you to see from above, sort of like an orbital satellite's view. At sea level, you can see an area 200' in diameter, centered on the mask.
- Amulet of Hope (Liber?) - Shines as bright as a candle, but only when there are no other light sources. Light points back towards freedom, vaguely. Hums reassuringly when clutched, and warms your hand.
- Skeleton Gourd (Olut) - This gourd has a peephole. Anyone holding the gourd up to their face and looking into the peephole will be paralyzed while their brain is filled with visions of dancing skeletons.
Report Date
29 Mar 2021
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