Queen of the Faeries

The party meets Esmerae, the Faerie Queen.

September 20th

After an exhausting night of slaying spiders, the party rests and plans to head back to Kelethin to complete their quest. They journey for half a day, and after expecting to have arrived at the road, Ellie is convinced that they are back in the spot that they setup camp the night before. Carlos looks up and notices that the sun has not traversed the sky at all. It seems that no time has actually passed. At this point, Carlos senses that Arya and Ellie's strange behavior throughout the day was probably not intentional. Before they can work out what is going on, they are greeted by a beautiful faerie.   The world around them bleeds away like a wet paint as they are dragged into another realm; one much more vibrant. However, they can't focus their eyes on anything but the faerie in front of them as the world around them seems to be ever shifting. Nervous, Carlos introduces himself to her. She introduces herself as Esmerae, Queen of the Faeries, disappointed that Carlos did not already know who she was. She mentions that she knows of them from Maesyn, but that her race is not on the best of terms with the Elves. Despite this, they tend to leave each other alone, as long as the Elves stay out of the Lesser Faydark. She echoes the concerns of Kelolan: the undead are becoming a problem in Lesser Faydark where they presence was merely tolerated before.   Carlos retells their adventures in the Greater Faydark against Orcs and their encounters with vampires and Mayong Mistmoore himself. Esmerae seems less concerned and more curious at these developments as they seem to be an elf problem. Roswyn also mentions that the vampires took something from the elven outpost, which seemed to pique Esmerae's interest. She clearly has no fear of Vampires in general or even really Mayong, saying that he holds little power over her. Carlos boldly requests that they are due recompense for providing this information. Esmerae offers to not trap them in the fey realm. Carlos counters with a request for a bit of faerie dust, to which she agrees with Carlos's promise to not "fuck up her forest." She warns that the balance of the forest feels off, and urges them to share this information with Kelolan and his druids.   As their conversation ends, they are returned to the Greater Faydark where they left, the entire day gone. Carlos breaks his composure and expresses his panic and dealing with the Queen of the Faeries. A growing discomfort of staying in the forest permeates the group and they make way towards the road before making camp for the evening.