Wilde-Life, Currentcies, and Lessons

Metaphysical / Paranormal event

The Iron Wolves delve into the Bramble Thicket.  Lyle's offhanded hopes of some faerie shenanigans proves to me more than he wished for.  The Iron Wolves make it to the Alderidge Academy to research and purchase power... which also proves more than they wished for...

The Iron Wolves left Galley View the morning after their croc-hunt. With the goal of the Alderidge Academy, the companions chose a slow direct course to get there. Lyle would guide the party overland to the Bramble Thickett during the first day with the last handful of miles being saved for an easy stroll the next morning. Upon entering the thicket and revealing the gorgeous interior hidden by the gnarled outer boundary, Lyle welcome the companions into his home. He showed them around the near grounds and gathered his old friends, the animals to him. He queried about the possibility of some pixie shenanigans but none would happen now. It simply forshadowed what was to come. Lyle gathered a herd of deer into the party's chosen grove and bedded down for the night. This was the first night camping in quite a long time. Not since the companions first adventures had they gone without building nor ship for cover.
  The companions woke in the morning to the cracking of timber and the falling of a tree in the distance. Sending out Atohi, Lyle saw some beavers making their spring dam. Easily adjusting the party's course to see the critters, the trio of beavers clamoured for Lyle to help them. With no rush on the party's time, Lyle used his magic to flood the river banks and better get some of the larger logs swept into the current and into position. With Lyle's help, the dam was done swiftly.
  As the companions turned to go, the weather turned faster. Trees bent and dust was thrown up. A supernatural twister sparking with an internal charge tore out of the treeline. The supernatural phenomenon then turned harshly to direct it's wrath on the dam itself. Wanting to save his work and his flock, the shepherd turned his magic on the twister. The companions charged forth to aid and soon a full battle had commenced. Kain flew through the air willingly and not. An electrical elemental separated from the twister to double the number of known enemies. As the battle surged, the twister slowly moved down the length of the dam to toss it's pieces awry.
  When the companions assuredly had the upper hand, the beavers stopped their swimming flee to climb upon a rock on the shore to form a peanut gallery. They began to chant about someone being in trouble. As the wind galed, a trumpet cut through to announce a third outsider: a vine covered, fertile mammoth, clearly a fey entity. The vine mammoth joined the companions to beat down the elementals and cause them to disperse. As the mammoth pulled a fallen tree back into place to stopper the one leak in the dam, the beavers continued their jeers of someone being in trouble... but now all of the Iron Wolves could understand them...
  Bursting into glitter, the beavers returned to their spritely forms. It came to be known that the Vine Mammoth was a servant of the Petal Mane and the Fertile Court, a Seelie Court of biotic nature. The pixies had just tricked Lyle into cutting off a flow of spring stream, of a current. When the winds and elements came to correct it, he had stood against the ideals of the Court of Currents and with the Fertile court. The Vine Mammoth pressed that Lyle would do well in his court but the man could only serve one. Finding himself between a rock and hard place, Lyle shut down. He shrunk into a bird form and simply flew away to think. To think about the truth of the statement but also the pact he had made and what he own the Dancer on Currents for saving his friend.
  Left on their own, the rest of the companions dealt with the pixies until they realized Lyle was not coming back. Knowing that this was his home, they did not waste any more time. He knew their destination. The companions finished their journey to Alderidge Academy by the time Lyle caught back up to them.
  Once there, the companions spoke of purchasing items but that was not their first focus. Seeking admittance for study, Daniel's previous subscriptions aided in entrance though the others needed a chaperon. Oddly, the only faculty capable of doing this was the current Curator, a human businessman-of-a-wizard named Roland Mattison. After some schmoozing, he guided the Iron Wolves through an absolutely empty grounds to an empty library for study. It became known that the Academy was currently receiving a guest lecture from the Dominus Porta and everyone, student and staff, was in attendance. After consideration, the party decided that trying to sneak in the back to listen to the end of the lecture politely was not an option with Lyle.
  The companions finished out their day at the Academy in the library. Daniel powered through an extensive workload to get done a new spell while the others looked into specific topics.
  Zeran's time was spent looking to the Gorgon and related subjects of the Ulgos, and Hythonia. He learned of the mixed icongraphy of taking similar visage as the mythic idol of the Ulgos jungle cult and the naming of the aberrant iron bulls that her minotaur cultists made in her name. Despite this, there were differences in how the assassin attacked. The medusoid creatures required eye-contact with their victim while the bulls used a toxic gas that provided the petrifying effect. This assassin, based on the evidence of Gregor's lost arm and the tower Lyle had identified in the Phaloxil fight, require neither of those practical tools for their petrifications. This assassin was using ideas and symbols, but did not operate like the monsters themselves.
  Kain's time was spent looking for some means of preventing the petrification preemptively. Some kind of potions, spell, or the like. While only theorized due to the danger of experimentation, he was able to track down a tactic to at least attempt. Petrification was typically a slow process. If it could be stopped at the impediment stage, it might be prevent in escalating to petrification. Something like an Oil of Slipperiness might be able to absorb the effect and flake off itself and prevent the petrification from going deeper. Gregor's research double down on this thread with theories of an incantation to keep their movements free could possibly prevent petrification following the same logic. Otherwise, the party would need access to greatly restorative magic to undo such a condition which would be hard to obtain.
  Lyle's time was spent in looking into the Petal Mane. Lyle learned more of the Fertile Courts opposition to the Court of Currents. This opposition was greater than just biotic and abiotic nature. The leaders of the courts have been entwined in the pasted. In instant realization, Lyle new that he was a mortal pawn in an archfey lover's quarrel.
    As the day wound down, Daniel had a brief aside with Curator Mattison. Upon return, the wizard made it known that they wanted to take time away from adventuring. They had deliberately separated them self from the Phaloxil military because they were not the rough and tumble type. While the companions had done great things together, Daniel simply needed a break. They had done all they needed to do and now even had the funds to properly join the academy like they had always wanted to.