S1 59: Of the Far Realms and the Faewild

General Summary

In which the party discovers clues to some kind of conspiracy, but finds an unexpected magical land instead of answers.

• At the end of episode 58, the dragon went down a small vent-hole in the floor, Zalock uses Shatterspike to widen it but underestimates the fragility of the structure - which turns out to be the top of a hollow lava-bubble 100' high. The injured and fleeing dragon coils and writhes below, readying a nova attack for the adventurers as they climb down, but Zalock's efforts crack a huge section of ceiling .The scale squad manages to leap clear of the collapsing floor and watches the chunk fall all the way down into the creature's head; in its posturing and snarling it fails to see the danger until it's too late to avoid taking damage more than sufficient to kill it outright.
• Zalock dusts his hands off and inserts his sword as neatly as possible into a large pile of gold and poison-slathered works of art, anticipating the new powers to come; but rather than any kind of neat pile of gold and gems, the dragon's hoard is all over the room, as if it had exploded at some point - even wedged into the ceiling, and in every little crevice in the walls. The reasons for this are unclear, but it takes a good long while to pick through everything with any thoroughness the rest of them set about inspecting the creature's lair, which is of a strange conical shape, very wide in the back and very narrow in the opening in the front, a natural (or unnatural?) funnel that would pressurize air - or water - pushed through it from back to front.
• While picking through the scattered horde they find a number of interesting items, but perhaps most interesting are a flase, levered wall at the rear of the chamber, leading when open to another, smaller chamber filled with a roiling, sulphurous pool. The levers are natural stone on the side inside the dragon's lair, but blank metal on the side of the pool, and Mae's perceptive gaze identifies the property chop stamped into the metal, in tiny letters, as Kannet Colonial Mining. The slats are too narrow for the two slabs of beef in the party, so Xi Shi and Mae go in further to investigate; the area looks to be a natural pool but opened up and arched above to channel through the slats into the funnel on the other side, rather than remaining bottled up here and releasing its pressure elsewhere. 
• Summing it all up, it appears that Kannet built this chamber to purposely force the water into the lair and from there up the small fissure the squad used to reach the lair; but rather than continuing straight up to the surface, something closer to the surface - possibly Kannet's own drilling in their sub-basement - split the rock to create the initial 'hallway' they had used to get in, with part of the geyser forcing its way up under the temple and the other part finding the weakest point where Kannet had been drilling. Why Kannet had never reported the problem, which is likely significant, is unknown. But making a fuss would surely draw unwanted attention to whatever they had been doing down here in the first place - perhaps complicit with the dragon or perhaps in spite of it. 
• Uncertain how to proceed, Mae recalls something that Sylvanwroth had told her about the book, Alecta's Journey to the Wonder-Land, that "There is more than one wonderland." Expecting to find additional insights into what to do next in the book, Mae opens it - and Xi Shi sees her literally jump into the book itself at impossible angles. The book falls flat on the ground and, after a moment - closes itself. Though cool under pressure in combat on many occasions, this is outside of Xi Shi's scope and she grabs the book and yells at the dragonborn to join her, then berates them for being too thick to pass through the grate. She runs back into the lair with the book.
• Zalock, understandably, is very reluctant to leave while his energizing sort updates itself to a new level while immersed in the lair of the dead dragon, and for a while pleads to be left behind to 'guard their escape', meaning, to make sure nothing screws up his sword's updating. Eventually the others shame him into being a tiny bit less selfish and convince him to go, but he knows his thoughts are more on his gear than his quest.
• The wonderland that they find themselves in, inside the book, is some demiplane of the Faewild; the residents are well aware of it and do nothing to hide the fact. But it's a strange and dark place, even for the Faewild, and the warnings to avoid falling off the edge into the Fae Darkness are given with conviction even by creatures who aren't necessarily allies. They meet up first with a Harengon dressed as a fancy archer who had fallen down the same hole somehow with Mae and who seems to be able to only say the words 'thee' and 'thou'. After landing and gaining their senses for a moment, they are given a score by a group of ducks led by a Dodo with much to complain about, as he is extinct. The rabbit tries, unsuccessfully, to attack them with his bow, but then he confuses himself and Mae both regarding the proper operation of a bow and arrow. 
• Having overcome his fixation on his sword, reluctantly Zalock agrees to join the others, who are brought into the wonderlands through the book in the same way Mae was earlier, and as they land with less grace, earn lower scores. From there they make their way to a row of balconied cottages, one in decent repair but filled with the sounds of breaking dishes and a screeching baby. before they can enter, they have to deal with a monstrous creature with a snake-ish head and orangey pale body whose torso, front and back, is covered in gnashing mouths. As they approach, it is stripping plums out of a tree
• A bullywug footman in wig and livery invites them inside with a blank invitation, and Xi Shi is immediately beaned by a flying plate on her way in; but it appears that this is merely a chaotic domestic scene between a Duchess holding a screaming baby, and a cook. Mae takes the baby, who by the by turns into a baby pig, which she lets run off as that seems safer. The slow-talking cook makes soup with healing properties - perhaps the best chicken soup they've ever tasted, though the air is filled with so much pepper that they can't help sneezing. Mae helps the astoundingly ugly Duchess change clothes, a process so horrifying that Mae develops a short-term nervous tic of some kind.
• That completed, they head over a low, poorly built brick wall to reach the next cottage, which is listing to one side and utterly dilapidated. Before entering the structure itself they see a long table set up in the front garden at which the same - or perhaps a different - Harengon sits, with his ears tied flat to his head and brown hair painted over the white; and a small, bitey-looking Halfling man in an enormous hat. They complain at first that there's no room despite place settings for 12 and a huge spread of food - some of it has been sitting out a while, it appears. A sleepy, goopy voice from inside the teapot asks if anyone wants some tea, after giving assurances it has not, in fact, peed in it. The hatter warns that the tea is quite hot, perhaps unnecessarily so, but that is a decision to be made in Episode 60.

Rewards Granted

From the Dragon's hoard:

• 1600gp
• 200gp worth of gems
• Platinum coffer "from the pit of Gothmog of Sharbaraz" - and Xi Shi recognizes the name Sharbaraz as the outcast Yuan-ti whose screwing around brought the wrath of Lord Rudra (and may have had something to do with starting the old war between the Empires of Spice and Silk, and the Realm) - containing An Immovable Rod made of green Orichalc
• A sickle, which will be found to be a +2 moon sickle
• A shield, which will be found to be a +1 shield
• A morning star, which will be found to be a +2 morning star
• A gold needle, which will be found to be a tattoo of coiling grasp
• A green Orichalc needle which will be found to be a spellwrought tattoo
• The Black Javelin of Camazotl, which is a +2 javelin that turns those it kills to black glass, and returns magically to the wielder on such a strike
• The Devotee's Censer of mud, an item of some significance to Borem's Cult
• 2 x potion of Superior Healing
• 1 x Potion of Necrotic Resistance

Missions/Quests Completed

• Galenboldis the contaminated Green Dragon
• Into the Wonder-Land
• The Duchess' Soup

Character(s) interacted with

• Galenboldis (Deceased)
• Trabbis the Harengon
• The Dodo
• The Cook
• The Duchess
• Pigbaby, the baby wereboar
• The Envious Hare
• The Half-Off Hats Hatted Halfling

Report Date

18 Jul 2023

Primary Location

Marleven

Secondary Location

The Feywild