Jorah's Homecoming

Session 58

 * Google Document (5-20-22)

We head out along the Dawn Road, which is very similar to the Rune Road in a lot of ways. It’s similarly lit by spaced out braziers that are sufficient for darkvision-havers, but Kilwin is out of luck. It’s about twenty feet wide, but feels narrower because it’s so dark. Unlike the Rune Road, there’s very few runes carved into the walls- only one every so often, which Jorah and Kilwin can figure serve as mile markers. It takes about five days to traverse. Ashara drives the carriage on the Dawn Road while Jorah sits in the carriage and tries to finish assembling his crossbow. Over the course of our journey, he manages to assemble some of the smaller parts, understand the schematics and decipher the author’s intents with some of the directions, and pulls it all together, but as he’s looking it over for mistakes, he can’t help but feel he wasn’t thorough enough with it. Reides also takes a look and gets the sense that something is off, but has no idea what it is. On the fifth day, we see a warm orange light from the end of the tunnel, brighter than anything we’ve seen in a while. Ashara immediately distrusts it and starts slowing down the carriage. Ashara disguises herself as a dwarf and borrows Kilwin’s blanket to cover her legs and make sure she doesn’t seem too long. Reides and Jorah get ready for possible action. Kilwin is pretty sure it’s just the sun. As we travel for about another hour, the light begins to soften and eventually, the party exits the tunnel. The carriage is now at the top of a fairly noticeable slope that leads down and to the west. The party can see for miles up here, and the view is illuminated by the setting sun. Reides gets misty-eyed at the sight of the ocean in the farthest parts of the view. To the right, we see a swathe of green that we assume is the Deytrwood Forest. To the left, there’s a landscape of dark brown hills. Ashara asks Jorah the way and he admits the last time he came this way, he was with his parents. He points vaguely westward and says “that way.” Most of us are very relieved to be above ground with fresh air and abundant greenery and sunlight. Ashara, however, could do without the sunlight at least.

Jorah takes another look at his augmented crossbow and realizes he’s left a safety mechanism on. He groans very loudly. Kilwin asks if he’s okay, and he says he doesn’t want to talk about it but the crossbow works now. As we travel away from the Exeter, the enchantments that Torble placed on our gear fade away. Kilwin wonders if we should check on him with Sending just to make sure he’s okay, but the rest of the party thinks he's fine and living his life, although we miss him. Kilwin does take a moment to check in with Grinlief, though. Reides asks Jorah if he’s excited to visit Hommlin. Jorah admits he is not! He left a long time ago, so he’s not sure anyone is going to recognize or remember him. He’s all grown up now! Reides and Ashara are excited to learn the deep Jorah lore and hear his embarrassing baby stories. Jorah is now reconsidering stopping in Hommlin altogether! Kilwin tells him that, in all seriousness, if anything gets overwhelming and he wants to leave, we can simply just leave and he doesn’t have to tough it out. Kilwin is pretty sure everyone else would be okay with, and Reides and Ashara agree! Jorah thinks he’ll be okay though. He does ask that we just call him Jorah, though, and leave his last name out of it. Ashara tries out the nickname Jorts. Jorah says that’s a new one, but it’s better than Wolfy! He does think we should at least stop by Hommlin to stock up on supplies, and he’ll at least check up on things. Reides is excited at the prospect of getting the ingredients for a pistachio cake, and Ashara mentions banana bread as a possible alternative if they don’t have pistachios. Reides, however, has had a bad experience with a child attempting to trick him about the nature of bananas. Now that we’re away from the Exeter, Kilwin changes into the Plate of the Ancestors. At first, it doesn’t seem to fit him at all, but it soon changes its shape to fit his form. It’s also unbelievably flashy. Kilwin feels a bit self-conscious and tries to wrap the Robe of Useful Items around it to hide it a bit. That’s also pretty flashy, so he figures he’ll buy a plain cloak at some point to cover both of them up.

Our journey is uneventful for a few days, but on the 22nd of Goldsky, when we’re about three days away from Hommlin, a large figure appears on the horizon, silhouetted by the sun behind it. Ashara immediately wants to get off the road. It’s moving closer and Kilwin identifies it as what appears to be a mass of random items. As we get closer, it becomes apparent that the items are on a cart. Ashara is getting ready to teleport past the cart, and Reides is worried, but Jorah, who took over driving after finishing his crossbow, keeps us on the road at a normal speed. Soon, he realizes he’s seen this mound of items before. Where the seat of the carriage should be is a man wearing a black coat and black top hat, with a black cat sitting in his lap. Everyone except Ashara recognizes Castle and Shadow from their time in Vila’s Watch. Jorah warns the rest of the party to guard their coin, since Castle will take it and give us random junk in return. Castle slows down to look at us and, after pulling down his glasses (tinted and similar to Ashara’s) recognizes us back! He greets us as the werewolf killers of Vila’s Watch and stops his carriage, his goods dangerously lurching over his head but somehow not falling onto him or off the cart. Jorah asks what’s up with his shop in Vila’s Watch. Castle tells us he no longer has a shop there, since he wasn’t staying with the werewolves. Kilwin feels the need to clarify for Ashara that as far as he knows, there’s only one werewolf living in Vila’s Watch right now and also no one here actually killed anyway. Ashara asks the one werewolf’s name and is relieved to hear it is not Grinlief. As far as Castle knows, Grinlief hasn’t been bitten, but he doesn’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility for him! Pepega flies up to say hi to Shadow, and Shadow stares at her intently. Jorah understands that Castle left Vila’s Watch, but wonders why he seems to be coming from the wrong direction to be leaving there. Castle points out it’s been a long time since we left Vila’s Watch! He traveled through the Exeter before it closed down and headed farther west. He found out he was banned from every ship in Atemcester, though, so he had to head back. He says it’s not the first time, whatever that may mean.

We start asking about Castle’s stock. He says he has a few magic items, like a magic cheese wheel. Reides asks if he has an enduring spellbook. After asking for some explanation, Castle offers him a cookbook! Ashara asks if Castle has any clothes, but Jorah pulls her aside and advises her that he’s not going have anything that will suit her tastes, so she changes her mind. Jorah offers the iron dragon’s eye to Castle, who starts examining it with a magnifying monocle. He asks what the hell we’ve been doing. We’ve been doing a lot of things! Jorah doesn’t want to give it to Castle for Free free, but only asks for a copper in exchange. Kilwin asks if Castle has any magic items related to moving underwater, adding unconvincingly that he wants to go swimming. Castle doesn’t have many real magic items, though, since he was turned away from most of the shops in Atemcester. Apparently, a warrant was involved. Reides decides he’d like that cookbook actually. Castle reaches into his pile and comes back with the cookbook and a tiny bear trap stuck on his hand. It’s quite worn, but really just a standard cookbook, with a variety of recipes for basic meals and some desserts. It costs 10 gold, which Kilwin offers to split with Reides. Castle accepts the gold and immediately hands it to Jorah in exchange for the iron dragon eye. He doesn’t carry around pocket change! Ashara buys some gems for use in her Sending Stones enchantment. Jorah stands ready to pull Castle out as partially submerges himself in the pile, but he comes back with the gems on his own, covered in scratches. Jorah tells Castle that someday he’ll have to tell someone where he gets all this stuff. Castle cites a law of the Falassian Empire stating that actually he does not. No one else can think of anything else they’d like to buy (because Kilwin absolutely forgets about wanting a regular cloak), so we wish Castle safe travels. He tells us that it seems like we’re the ones who need those wishes, since the hardest thing he has to deal with is his pile. Jorah brings up what happened in Port Valor and says it’s not people like us being targeted out there. Castle rides off with his pile shifting around precariously, but somehow nothing falls off. We speculate about how Castle might be an archmage or a dragon in disguise or SOMETHING before continuing on our way.

The next day, we reach a fork in the road. One road goes north with nicely kept signs indicating it leads to Raven Rock and Atemcester. The other route keeps going west and a lower, older sign says it leads to Hommlin. Jorah says he doesn’t care which way we go. Kilwin would prefer to leave the choice to Jorah anyway, but Reides and Ashara think we should restock in Hommlin. It’s a fairly common detour for travelers going from the Exeter to Atemcester to stop in Hommlin for supplies, with the detour just adding an extra two days to reach Raven Rock. Ashara wonders if we should have Kain teleport to Hommlin to collect the Plate, but we think it might be safer with us anyway as long as there’s the mole in Falas’s court. Also, Kain can’t actually teleport directly to Hommlin so it’s a moot point. We travel into Aidan’s Glen. Jorah hopes he’s ready for this. Ashara and Reides start discussing Jorah’s hair and how maybe he should comb it first. Kilwin brings up again that he won’t be judged if he just wants to leave at any point! Jorah assures him that he is quite skilled at running and hiding if it comes to that. We move onward into the woods of Jorah’s birth!

Two days later, the forest opens up a bit and we begin to see some of the buildings of Hommlin. It’s a bit similar in construction to Vila’s Watch, but without the wall. The buildings are made of wood and plaster. When we arrive at the outskirts of the town, we see some people milling about and going about their business. Our first order of business is restocking. Jorah wonders if a place called Wayfarer’s is still open. He mentions that the woman who ran it had the Plague when he left and it’s been more than ten years, so he’s not sure. Jorah leads the way and we do find a building that’s larger than many of the others (but still quite small) with a faded sign reading “Wayfarer’s General Store,” with a picture of a coinpurse beneath. Jorah doesn’t want to go in first, so Kilwin and Reides enter the store first, and a bell by the door rings. Ashara offers Jorah her arm, but he says no thanks. The person behind the counter seems like she’s probably not the person Jorah was describing. She’s a half-elf with a similar complexion to Erak. She has white hair like most drow we’ve met, but her eyes are brown. She recognizes we’re not from around here! Reides compliments her bell! She says it’s convenient for when she’s working in the back and might not see someone coming in. Customers can get very snippy about it! Reides asks if she works here alone. She says that her mother used to work here, but she mostly stays at home now. Jorah recognizes the woman and starts to back out the door. Her eyes turn to him and she appears to recognize him too. Jorah decides he can’t do this, he’s out! He runs out the door and Reides calls after him, dropping his name. Jorah continues to nope out of this situation. Ashara psychically teases him about it, but he just responds that he’ll be in the carriage if we need him. The woman comments that it’s the first time he’s seen her in ten years and he runs out the door screaming. She confirms that they were friends back in the day. She admits that she can’t really blame him for leaving after what happened, but also says he ran out on his family and hasn’t even been back to visit. We realize this phrasing implies that Jorah’s family is alive. The woman says they had a rough patch, but they’re still kicking! The remaining members of the party absolutely freak out. Kilwin attempts to explain to the woman that Jorah thought they were dead, which is why he never visited. Reides says it’s wrong for us to know this when Jorah doesn’t! We rush out of the store, telling the woman we’ll be back for supplies in a bit.

We find Jorah sitting back inside the carriage, thinking about something. Reides yells out his name and scares him. Kilwin says not to be mean to Jorah! Reides says he’s not being mean! Jorah is already holding his head. The rest of the party tells him we have news, and Kilwin says we should ease him into it. He tells Jorah that the mother of the woman at Wayfarer’s is still alive. Jorah isn’t that surprised, because he doesn’t think anything could kill Emma. Kilwin says the woman also mentioned that Jorah hadn’t been by to visit his family. Jorah realizes they’re alive. While he already seemed worried, he seems even more worried now. Kilwin is confused because he assumed this would be good news. Jorah explains that he left them for dead and he’d be shocked if they ever wanted to see him again. The rest of the party is less sure that’s the case and thinks they probably think Jorah’s dead too! Kilwin says this sounds like something that could be resolved with an honest conversation and that Jorah shouldn’t let this opportunity go. Jorah decides he’s going to apologize to Isabelle for running out of her store and at least find out if his family is still in the old house.

We return to Wayfarer’s, and Jorah sheepishly goes inside (with Kilwin hovering behind him). Isabelle says it’s been ten years, calling him “Wolfwood.” They both realize it’s been more! Jorah apologizes to her for running away and asks how she’s been. Isabelle says the end of the Plague was hard, but eventually people stopped getting it and people who had it stopped progressing. Everyone was still all there had to pick up the pieces. Jorah swallows nervously. He admits he said he was leaving to get help, but all he ever did was write a letter to see if anyone was still alive after he left and he never got a response. Isabelle says that Cassyra and Heyward have both been in and neither of them have ever said anything about a letter. Apparently, they assumed Jorah also contracted the Memory Plague and left to spare his family the sight of him dying. Jorah asks if they’re still at the old house, and Isabelle tells him that there’s no new houses for them to hole up in. Jorah tells Isabelle that he hopes she’ll enjoy arranging his funeral. He says he might come back for supplies and apologizes again for making a commotion. They both say it’s good to see each other again.

Jorah meets up with Reides and Ashara who were waiting outside. He says he’s planning to stop by his old house and, since everyone wants to go with him, he decides to just drive the carriage there. Jorah’s childhood home is a smaller house surrounded by trees. It barely has enough rooms for everyone who lived in it, along with a kitchen and living area. There’s also a dilapidated swing in one of the trees. There’s lights on inside the house. Jorah’s trying to seem stoic, but his hands are unsteady as he goes up to the door and knocks on it. The knock echoes a bit and, even though Jorah is kind of out of it, he hears some light chatter from inside stop and footsteps approach the door. An older woman with brown hair tied in a short ponytail opens the door. Jorah asks if this is the Wolfwood residence, hesitating a bit before saying “Hi, Mom.” As Jorah visibly freaks out, Cassyra pulls him into a big hug. She says it’s been a long time, and Jorah admits that he thought she was dead. He also wasn’t sure she’d remember him, even after finding out everyone survived. She assures Jorah that they’d always remember him. She mentions that Heyward has been thinking about him a lot lately. She invites him inside, noticing that he has friends. He introduces his traveling companions! Reides notices that Jorah and Cassyra have the exact same hair color. Cassyra invites the whole party for dinner, even though she wasn’t expecting guests. They’re having venison, along with edible herbs in case any of us are vegetarian. Ashara excuses herself, saying that she’s cart-sick. She psychically tells Reides that she thinks something is off and they should be on their guard. As we enter the house, Cassyra calls for Heyward, Tamlynn, and Diana.

We hear movement from all over the house, and the first Wolfwood to appear is a man with brown hair thinning at the front and a large mustache. He’s wearing an apron spattered with red flecks. His eyes widen when he sees Jorah and he rushes in for a hug too. Heyward says it’s been a long time and is visibly crying. Jorah asks how he’s been, but Heyward is more concerned about how Jorah has been, saying he looks awful. Jorah thinks he’s fine as he could be! Reides thinks Jorah really should have combed his hair. Heyward assures Jorah there’s no need to be nervous, since they’re family. He says Diana and Tamlynn will be happy to see him too. They’re Jorah’s sisters, who appear next and go in for more hugs. They both have brown hair as well. Tamlynn’s is shorter, about neck-length, while Diana wears hers in a long braid. He calls them Tam and Di. Tamlynn is wearing an apron like Heyward’s. She tells Jorah to think how they must have felt about him disappearing like that! Diana looks bored with Jorah already and tells him he’s gotten older. He says she hasn’t changed a bit and is as blunt as ever. She comments the beard is an interesting touch. He thanks her and tells her he grew it just for her. Cassyra says facial hair runs in the family, though, elbowing Heyward. She says Jorah must have a lot to say and a lot of questions he wants to ask, but Jorah says he doesn’t want to ruin dinner with it. Cassyra says she’ll prepare everything, with some help from Tamlynn.

Jorah introduces the party to his father and sisters. He says that Reides is a wizard, Kilwin is a priest, and Ashara is… someone with a story. Ashara does not appreciate this description. He tells Heyward that he’s been adventuring with them for a while, although he admits he was a bounty hunter for a while before that. Heyward says he can tell and that Jorah has a steel in his eyes that he didn’t before. Jorah thinks he was a little young to have steel in his eyes back then! He explains that when he left, he went up north and met up with Julia, who’s an old friend of Cassyra, who cared for him until he could take care of himself. Heyward asks how Julia’s been doing, and Jorah says she’s as overbearing as ever. Apparently, this description resonates with Heyward’s knowledge of Julia. Jorah also explains how he first met the party, which was apparently related to an issue with a former employer. Heyward thinks it sounds like Jorah’s been through a lot, maybe even more than the rest of the family. While Hommlin isn’t part of the Falassian Empire, the reign of Karseidon II was basically idyllic compared to what came before it. The village has been fairly peaceful since the Plague. Jorah tells Heyward that he thought everyone was dead. When Julia had him send a letter because she didn’t want him going back for no reason, he never got a response and assumed the worst. Heyward assures him that none of them ever got that letter and assumes that the merchant he gave it to changed their mind about stopping in Hommlin, since it was still the height of the Plague. By the time Jorah was able to travel though, he really didn’t want to face his family being dead. Heyward confirms that the rest of the family thought Jorah left to spare them from watching him die.

Cassyra announces that dinner is ready! She’s a much quicker cook than Heyward, but eating in the field is different. The kitchen table is piled with meat and herbs. Jorah taps into his Primordial Sense, but doesn’t detect anything amiss. The worry leaves his face and he falls back for a moment before piling a plate with food, not bothering to check it for poison. He recognizes the herbs from around Aidan’s Glen, while the meat is obviously venison, although a bit hastily cooked. Heyward is the better cook, but Cassyra’s cook is still good! Jorah stares at his plate, realizing that he now has to cope with the fact that this is real. Kilwin and Reides thank Cassyra for the food. Tamlynn slaps Jorah on the back and tells him to cheer up and eat! Cassyra invites us to stay the night, although some of us would have to sleep on the floor. Apparently Jorah’s old room is how he left it. He says he’ll sleep in the carriage though, admitting that he’s still taking all of this in. Cassyra understands that this is a weirdly stressful experience. Ashara says she wants to see the stars tonight, so she’ll sleep outside with Jorah.

Jorah asks how his sisters have been. Tamlynn had been apprenticed to her father and says it was a lot of hard work after the Plague. Essentially, Heyward and Tamlynn both had to relearn their craft (presumably butchering). Still, they managed to figure it out and Tamlynn is technically no longer an apprentice! Apparently, Cassyra keeps them well-stocked with hides and animals. Jorah mentions that he was surprised to not see Diana in Atemcester. He wonders if he left before she arrived and asks how things are going with the old wizard. She tells him that the wizard she was learning from didn’t survive the Plague, and she kind of forgot all of her magical studies. She fiddles with her braid nervously. Reides is thrilled to hear that Diana studied magic at one point and points out that he’s a wizard too! Jorah freezes up as Reides offers to show her some spells or let her take a look at his spellbook. Jorah asks Kilwin to tell his family a story about some adventure they had without him. Kilwin is a little confused by this request, but, after some prompting from Jorah, starts an extremely scattered, abbreviated account of the party’s dealing with the hags around Malino’re and also that time Reides threw a potato at a guy. He starts trailing off whenever the story touches on something a bit too heavy, though. While Kilwin is talking, Jorah tries to stealthily take a drink of firewhiskey from his waterskin. Heyward asks if Jorah is drinking some water, and Jorah says he’s just thirsty! Cassyra comments that despite all that ranger training, Jorah still isn’t very slick. He admits his ranger training has fallen a bit by the wayside and opens up a bit about what happened in Port Valor. Cassyra says we could camp or stay at the tavern if we don’t want to sleep at the Wolfwood house, but mentions that the tavern is pretty rough and tumble, so we might want to avoid it. Jorah asks if Mason, the dwarven barkeep, is still around. Cassyra says nothing could possibly kill Mason, who is apparently prone to telling tall tales. His newest one, which Jorah hasn’t heard yet, is about how he met a silver dragon who gave him an egg, although he was so drunk that he thought it was a stone. Now Mason supposedly has a dragon and supposedly saved a town.

Jorah excuses himself, saying he needs to rest because he absolutely wasn’t expecting this today. He leaves the rooms and the house. The rest of the party goes after him, although Kilwin stops to tell the Wolfwoods that this was very nice. He’s told to take care of Jorah and that Jorah wears his heart on his sleeve. When everyone is outside, Jorah is sitting in front of the house, and Ashara and Reides can see that his eyes are red and he’s been wiping his face. Neither of them say anything about it, though. Reides sits down next to him, and Jorah apologizes for how he’s been acting. The rest of the party assures him that he has nothing to apologize for. They’re happy for him and also understand his reaction. Reides asks if he messed up by mentioning magic and his spellbook to Diana, since Jorah seemed to react negatively. Jorah says Reides did nothing wrong, but he just remembers how enthusiastic Diana was about magic. He can only imagine how she must feel about not being able to remember any of it. Reides offers to try to teach her again! Jorah’s not sure that’s possible after a whole decade without practice, but Reides thinks she just seems stuck and a mental block like that can be disastrous for practicing magic. He says one of the strengths of wizards is that their magic all comes from their own efforts, so it might be really challenging, but he believes in Diana’s ability to relearn what she’s lost. Kilwin suggests letting her have the Kahzdurga wizard’s spellbook if Reides is done with it, but Reides would rather give her his old backup spellbook. He’s planning on getting a new backup at some point anyway, and when he bought his current one, he thought he’d never return to the ocean again. He didn’t bother getting a waterproof one, so it’ll probably just get destroyed when we go down there anyway. Diana would give it a better home at this point! Reides feels bad that Diana can’t use the magic she once loved and says it’s saved him in more ways than he can count. Jorah admits that Reides’s magic has saved his ass as well. He’s having trouble remembering why he hates magic so much, although he’s sure he’ll remember when we get to Atemcester.

Reides really wants to see Jorah’s old room, but doesn’t want to go in there without Jorah, so he talks him into taking a look since he might regret it if he doesn’t. Jorah decides he may as well show us his old embarrassments. As we go back inside, we see Cassyra sitting on a sofa. She doesn’t look up from her book, but tells Jorah that they’ve left his room exactly as it was. When we look inside, we see that the room has been kept clean, with no dust or cobwebs in sight. The bed is now too small for Jorah, there’s a line of training bows resting against the wall, and there’s also a dresser filled with clothes too small for any of us to wear, except maybe Torble if he were here. Jorah looks away. The rest of us think it’s nice though! Reides finds a stack of storybooks about heroes and adventures. He picks one up to browse through it and realizes it’s a library book. Everyone is horrified, Jorah most of all. He doesn’t want to think about the overdue fines. Reides thinks the books probably just belong to Jorah at this point. He asks if Jorah likes to read these kinds of stories, and Jorah says he used to but doesn’t really have much time for pleasure reading anymore. Reides teases Jorah about being too busy because he’s the hero now, and Jorah accuses him of flattery. As wild as it would be to end up in a book like that and have kids named after him in a few hundred years, Jorah doesn’t think that’ll ever happen. Given everything we’ve been involved in lately, though, Reides and Kilwin aren’t so sure! Reides asks if Jorah kept a journal when he was younger. Jorah says he did, but he took it with him when he left Hommlin and lost it along with his entire pack somewhere along the way. It might still be out there, but it won’t be in the best condition! Jorah decides he definitely can’t sleep in here tonight, since he’ll have trouble sleeping even without that.

Reides asks if Diana would still be awake. She was 13 when Jorah last saw her, so he has no idea what her sleeping habits are now. Reides looks around for her, but only sees Cassyra. She tells him that Diana is still up, just in her room. Jorah points to Diana’s room. Reides feels weird just going into her room because he is just a strange man here, but is pressured into knocking on her door while Jorah awkwardly flanks him. She opens the door, and Reides notices that Jorah and Diana have the same gray eyes. Reides asks her if she wants to try picking up magic again. Diana makes eye contact with him, but she quickly looks away and frowns. She doesn’t think she can anymore. Reides thinks that’s nonsense! Once a mage, always a mage! He says he can smell it from her! Although Reides doesn’t know how relearning magic interacts with the Memory Plague, it’s comparable to learning a language or riding a bicycle. He tells Diana he thinks it’s worth one more try even if it’s really difficult. She says she tried for a long time and could never make a single spark again. She claims she’s not interested because she tried too much already. She turns down Reides’s offer to try one more time with him, but he still offers his old spellbook to her. Diana stares at the book for a moment and looks like she’s going to say something, but soon closes back up and says the magic isn’t there. She closes the door. Reides is sad because he really wanted to help Diana! Jorah sympathizes, but doesn’t want to force anything on Diana. Reides still wants Diana to have his old spellbook, though, so Jorah advises him to leave it with Cassyra, since she has the best chance of changing Diana’s mind. Reides admits that he could have some natural inclination for magic, but it was still really hard for him at first! Since he taught himself magic, he thinks his spells might be easier for Diana to pick up, even if they’re not as polished as spells from a wizard with formal training. They still work! Cassyra, who overheard since the walls are pretty thin, agrees to take the book, but says that while change can be good, it’s not always good. She compares it to potentially dangerous changes in the forest, like unexpected animal tracks, which she expects Jorah to understand. Cassyra thinks Diana has moved on and chosen a new path that she struggles with less. Apparently, she works at the library now. Jorah asks about the old librarian, Ormond, and apparently he’s still around. The rest of the party learns he is also bald. Ormond did have the Memory Plague, and ever since recovering, he’s had a problem with misshelving books, but he’s not someone who could really work anywhere but the library. Reides decides that instead of leaving the book, he’ll transcribe a basic spell for Diana so she doesn’t get overwhelmed if she changes her mind.

Outside, Reides spends some time transcribing Magic Missile onto some spare paper, with Jorah covering half the costs. Reides decides he wants to see the stars too that night, so Kilwin agrees to sleep in the carriage with Jorah since he thinks it would be weird to stay in the house by himself. We settle in to sleep and Reides says a prayer to the sea. He’s really glad to be able to see it again, even if there’s a cliff in the way. During the night, Kilwin notices that Jorah is tossing and turning more than usual, but decides to just let him try to sleep. Jorah has the same dream that he had a few times before, but the half at the end is cut off. He just sees the people, and when the last group reaches out to him, he wakes up, his wrist burning. Jorah thinks something is wrong, but that maybe he’s been paranoid for too long. Kilwin mentions that Jorah was tossing and turning, and Jorah admits he’s been having the same nightmare repeatedly since the Underbelly Bout. He wonders if it’s a sign that he should’ve died there, and he thinks he would’ve died there if he were alone. Kilwin points out that Jorah did not die and his friends had his back the whole time. Jorah agrees but does not seem particularly reassured. Kilwin tells Jorah that this is a weird followup to the nightmare talk, but he’s really happy for him. Jorah admits he thinks it’s too good to be true. His nightmare seems to be following him and he has it almost every night now. A parade of people pass before him, people he knows are dead because he’s seen them die, and at the end, his family appears and reaches out to him. Reides overhears this from outside the carriage, and asks Jorah how long it’s been happening. He says it’s at least been since they were underground. His Primordial Sense returned to him around the same time, which he thinks is weird. Jorah says he’s still having a hard time believing that his family is alive. Ashara and Reides admit they were both feeling a need to be guarded.

Ashara decides to use Detect Thoughts to confirm that the Wolfwoods are truly alive and also try to figure out what’s going on. She only detects one living person in range of the spell, and they quickly leave its radius. She’s pretty sure this means they’re actually dead. Kilwin insists that they’re just too far away inside the house. Inside the house, it becomes apparent that no one is there, alive or dead. All of the bedroom doors except Jorah’s are wide open, as is the back door of the house. Apparently, a hasty retreat has been made from every room. Jorah’s nervousness immediately transforms into anger. Reides casts Mage Armor to be safe. He sends Pepega out to look for any signs of the Wolfwoods, but she has trouble with how thick the forest is. Jorah, however, manages to locate a trail. He can’t locate anything with his Primordial Sense, but follows the tracks, with the rest of the party following him. Eventually, the tracks turn around and head back toward the town. Jorah does not appreciate being messed with like this! With the rest of the party’s help, he manages to follow the trail back to Wayfarer’s. The store’s front door is also hanging open. Jorah goes in first and at first, he sees no one. Then, he hears a raspy gasp from the floor behind the counter. He peeks around the side and sees an older woman with brown eyes and blonde-gray hair, laying on the floor. She’s grasping at her arm in pain and says that they took her. Jorah recognizes Emma and asks where they took her. Emma doesn’t seem to recognize him, so Jorah just says he’s a ghost. Kilwin heals her arm, and Jorah determines that she seems to have taken a bad fall and twisted it. Emma tells Jorah that the Wolfwoods took Isabelle and ran out the back door. Jorah asks if she'll be okay by herself, and Emma encourages him to go. Ashara gives her her extra knife, though, just in case. The party heads out the back door of Wayfarer’s, and Jorah begins to search for a new set of tracks.

Session 59

 * Google Document (6-3-22)

Jorah easily finds the trail again and follows it to the north side of town and into the woods, where it sharply breaks to the left. He makes out five sets of humanoid tracks, although one seems to be half-walking and half-being dragged with the others, presumably Isabelle. Jorah doesn’t spot any blood anywhere, but it could have soaked into the ground or he could just be missing it. The tracks seem to be leading to the west and then to the south, working around the outskirts of the town to reach Aidan’s Glen to the south. Along the trail, Jorah finds snapped branches where the group pushed through some brush and a shoe on the ground that he doesn’t recognize. We all assume it’s Isabelle’s, but none of us have any spells that would let us use it to track the owner. Jorah starts keeping an eye out for small animals, like squirrels and glen sparrows. Around the southern side of town, Jorah does manage to find a squirrel that hasn’t been scared off. He tries out Speak with Animals! He greets the squirrel, who begins to chitter in a way that only Jorah can understand. Jorah asks the squirrel if it saw anything, and it says it saw a group of brown-haired humans dragging someone by the shoulders, heading south toward the Glen. Jorah asks if it’s seen them before, and it says it has seen the humans a few times, heading toward Aidan’s Glen. Jorah offers the squirrel some food if it will go ahead and scout for him, but it sniffs and notes that he has no food. It’s got Jorah there! Still, the squirrel climbs a nearby tree and looks around. As Jorah passes under its branch, it tells him to be careful, nodding toward the Glen. It tells him that there’s beasts with the faces of men and men who act like beasts. Jorah’s not sure what that means, but doesn’t like the sound of it! He also realizes that he’s been talking to a squirrel with zero explanation to the rest of the party for the past minute or so. He promises them that this is a trick his mom taught him ages ago and he is not crazy.

The party heads deeper into the Glen, with Jorah leading the way. He feels something lightly drop on the top of his head and looks up as rain starts dripping on his face. Jorah pulls the hood of Tyrian’s old cloak up. The rain starts to disturb the ground and Jorah worries he lost the tracks. The party wanders into a clearing and Jorah finds some evidence of Isabelle dragging along, trying to slow her own kidnapping. Soon, we hear a roll of thunder that, for some reason, doesn’t abate. As we realize that’s not normal, the source of the thundering arrives in the clearing and several centaurs burst through the trees. They begin to speak to us in a language that none of us understand. Their apparent leader, who wears some light furs around his top half and has an unstyled mohawk, picks up on our lack of comprehension and switches to Elvish, which Kilwin and Ashara can understand. He advises us to turn back, although we’re not the first group he’s seen in the forest today. He says that the forest has become dangerous. Kilwin and Ashara press him for more details, and the centaur leader tells us that the barrier between the Material Plane and the Feywild has grown weak in Aidan’s Glen and unsavory fey elements have creeped into this forest. Ashara asks what kind of elements, but the centaurs have managed to avoid as many of them as they could, so they can’t tell us much. Ashara asks how they know these elements are even there then, but the centaurs tell her that they observed tracks and other signs of their passage. They’ve also observed that their dreams haven’t been normal while sleeping here. The centaur leader says one of us seems to be perfectly capable of guiding us away from some of these bad fey. Kilwin points to Jorah! The centaur agrees that’s who he meant. Jorah asks for a translation of this conversation now that he’s obviously being discussed, and Kilwin gives him and Reides a quick rundown. Jorah is surprised that the Feywild like from the stories has anything to do with this. Kilwin asks the centaur leader if the fey could be affecting the Wolfwoods’ actions somehow, and the centaur admits that basically anything is possible with the fey. The centaurs saw the Wolfwoods head farther southeast, deeper into Aidan’s Glen, although they think this was unwise of them. We ask if we’re going in different directions, and the centaur leader confirms that they’re heading north to the Detyrwood. They want to leave this forest because it’s tainted due to the strange effects seeping in from the Feywild and creatures disturbing the forest’s ecosystem, disrupting the food chain. Ashara offers one of her rations as thanks for the centaurs’ help, but they refuse it because they prefer to do their own hunting. We wish them luck and a nice new home, and the centaurs bow to us and proceed on their way.

Jorah reflects on what he knows about the fey from stories he’s heard and read. They vary wildly but generally operate by making deals with people. While the fey are beholden to any deals they make, they’re generally very careful about wording to ensure they get the upper hand in any agreements. Jorah asks Kilwin how much he knows about the fey, and it turns out that Kilwin has roughly the same working knowledge of them (as does Reides). He knows that he’s encountered several fey creatures before such as the hags of Malino’re and the quickling on the road from Quadroad to Vila’s Watch. He’s also aware that there are fey who can change their appearances and, although he tells Jorah that he thinks that could still be his real family influenced by the fey in Aidan’s Glen, Jorah is more inclined to think they’re imposters at this point, although Kilwin can’t understand why they’d spend so long impersonating Jorah’s family. Jorah is pretty sure it’s normal to not understand the fey, though. Jorah advises Kilwin to be careful about what he says around the fey, since Kilwin has a tendency to say a bit too much. Kilwin says he’ll try his best! Jorah asks if Reides and Ashara are getting cold feet before moving on, but they aren’t. Jorah is a little disappointed because he was hoping someone else was! Reides thinks Jorah deserves some answers about what’s been going on here.

Jorah finds the trail again where the centaurs pointed him to, but before we get very far, Kilwin hears a rustling and clunking in the trees. He points it out to the rest of the party and we stop and look around, spotting flashes of red moving through the trees around us. Two small guys emerge into the clearing wearing red hooded caps, brown tunics, and large iron boots. They’re also carrying sickles. One of them says to the other that she (whoever she is) would want them to kill us. The other suggests, very loudly, that they should kill us even if she wouldn’t want it! It turns out that there are five redcaps in total, and another one rushes out of the trees to attack Reides, although he manages to block all the sickle swipes with Shield. The redcap starts swearing up a storm. The next one runs to Kilwin, although his new plate armor catches all of the attacks. The redcap is, for now, excited by the challenge. Another runs at Jorah and jumps up to kick at him with his iron boots, but Jorah gets out of the way. The redcap lands on his feet, threatening to get Jorah. A fourth redcap takes a similar jump at Ashara, connecting and knocking her prone and doing a lot of damage. Kilwin manages to successfully cast Toll the Dead. Jorah and Ashara hear a bell ringing as one of the redcaps clutches his head and screams and coughs up blood. Jorah is a bit concerned! The last redcap tries to kick Reides down, but Reides manages to get out of the way. One of the redcaps is very enthusiastically attacking Reides, dispersing the illusory Reideses that Reides had summoned. The redcap who attacked Kilwin decides that Kilwin is no fun and runs over to attack Jorah instead. Reides casts Fireball on everyone, killing the most injured redcap outright and severely burning the others. Unfortunately, this creates a consensus among the redcaps to take out Reides first. Kilwin crushes one into the ground with Spiritual Weapon, but then suggests leaving one redcap alive to see if it will tell us anything about what’s going on. Jorah decapitates another redcap, but one of the survivors lays into Reides, commenting that his blood is so pretty and knocking him unconscious. The redcap keeps attacking Reides’s unconscious form, trying to go for the kill, but whiffs. Kilwin runs in to heal Reides as Jorah kills the redcap who almost kills Reides. He pokes his sickle at Reides one last time before expiring. The last redcap runs over to Kilwin, blaming him for taking their kill. Kilwin manages to knock him unconscious, bopping him upside the head.

As Kilwin attends to Reides and Ashara’s wounds, Jorah manacles the unconscious redcap. He’s not sure he’s gonna talk, though, even if we manage to wake him up. Reides slaps the redcap a few times and Kilwin pours a bit of water on his face to try to revive him, but all we get is a mumble about hating the smell of burned redcap. We’re pretty sure we don’t have time to wait around for him to wake up. Kilwin offers to carry him with us if we want to try learning anything from him, but Jorah points out that he has weapons. Jorah takes a look at the redcap’s boots to see if he can get them off. They have springs in the back to help with those powerful jumps, but unclasp at the top. The redcap’s feet are really gross and have black sharpened toenails. Even though the redcap is disarmed, Jorah doesn’t think he’ll talk so there’s no point in taking him with us. He plans to tie the redcap to a tree and leave him behind, but Ashara objects. While Jorah doesn’t think the redcap’s chances of survival are very high, Ashara doesn’t want him encountering anyone else and trying to kill them. She says she’ll do it herself if Jorah doesn’t have the guts, so Jorah shoots a crossbow bolt into the redcap’s head instead. Since we don’t have time to rest, Reides drinks a potion.

Jorah continues following the tracks with the rest of the party behind him. They lead toward an actual path that leads deeper into Aidan’s Glen. As the rain lets up, Jorah almost loses the trail for a bit, but finds it again. It leads to a fork in the road and then takes the path to the left. Jorah and Kilwin hear some faint voices in that direction, raised in argument. Jorah sneaks ahead by himself and sees a small clearing up an incline. He sees Isabelle sitting in the dirt, bound in hastily tied ropes and surrounded by four humanoid creatures, blue except for their blank white eyes, with no hair and long arms. Jorah returns to the rest of the party looking shocked and describes what he saw. He also says he’s not in a good state of mind to talk to these people right now, so he asks that someone else do the negotiating. Ashara is willing to step up, although she recognizes she can get a little volatile so she asks Kilwin to advise her through a mental link. She also uses Mask of Many Faces to change her eye color, so she’s not recognized as a drow in case her glasses get knocked off.

Ashara plans to say that we just want to negotiate for Isabelle’s safe return, but Kilwin, remembering our earlier discussion about fey and their contracts, thinks it might be best to not bring up negotiation upfront. Ashara steps into the clearing with the rest of us and announces our presence. While the other group tells us to stay back, Ashara says we just want Isabelle to be safe. They seem to consult with each other telepathically before offering to leave Isabelle unharmed as long as we let them escape. At Kilwin’s urging, Ashara asks if they’re willing to answer some questions first, and they agree although they say they might not answer everything. Upon being asked, they confirm that the real Wolfwoods died a long time ago, from the Memory Plague. Reides takes Jorah’s hand. Jorah breaks away and steps a bit closer, pointing his crossbow at the other group. He asks who the fuck they think they are. Ashara tries to talk him down while Isabelle looks at him pleadingly in fear. The shapechangers explain that they arrived in Hommlin near the end, when the Wolfwoods were still alive but alone in the house, dying of the Plague. They’re able to read surface level thoughts, so they were able to glean information about their personalities and knew they were a family. They thought they could take the Wolfwoods’ places without harming anyone else, although they didn’t know how to perform the skills that the Wolfwoods had. They used the Memory Plague as a cover to learn them for the first time. They also knew that someone might come back. Since their identities have been compromised now, they need to leave Hommlin anyway. The shapechanger who’s doing most of the talking starts to explain something else, but says never mind. They’re not going into the Feywild because they’re not fey. Kilwin asks if it’s okay to ask what the shapechangers actually are, but they explain that they’re whatever they need to be to survive. They’re not like the people in the party. To demonstrate, one of them steps forward and shapeshifts into a perfect copy of Kilwin. Ashara asks if they can change into her parents, since she hasn’t seen them in so long. They’ve never met her parents, though, so they can’t.

Kilwin realizes we got super ahead of ourselves here and asks why the shapechangers took Isabelle. They explain that they realized their cover was blown and weren’t sure what we’d do if we caught up with them, so they took her hostage for their safety. They say they were especially afraid of Jorah’s rage. Jorah counters that he wouldn’t be this mad if he hadn’t believed in it for a moment. He admits we have bigger problems than them and is willing to let them go, since at least they won’t pretend to be his dead people anymore. They admit that others of their kind are more forceful about taking identities, but they prefer to do it as peacefully as possible.

Jorah warns the shapechangers about the fey intruders in Aidan’s Glen. They say that the fey have been here longer than we know and what happened 15 years ago was not a coincidence. They also claim there’s no such thing as the Memory Plague. They warn us that she awakens every 15 years and, while she worked through memories last time, this time she’s working through dreams. We ask who she is!! She is the beast at the center of the glen. She eats memories and, if we continue along the other fork in the path, we’ll meet her. The shapechanger warns us that it may not be a pleasant meeting and, while she’s grown complacent over the years, she’ll defend that complacency at any cost. She was also the one who told the shapechangers to take the place of people she was killing. Before they go, Jorah also warns the shapechangers that something is going on in Atemcester, although he refuses to give details. We tell them that we’ve heard bad things about the badlands to the south and that the Exeter might still be closed also. We also ask their names. The one who’s been doing most of the talking says that for the past 15 years, their name has been Cassyra Wolfwood. Now, they’ll need to find a new name. The shapechangers go on their way, although the one who had been Cassyra lingers a bit to apologize to Jorah one last time before sprinting off.

We rush up to Isabelle who’s tied up and gagged still. Jorah still doesn’t have a dagger, so Kilwin pulls one off the Robe of Useful Items and gives it to him. While this is happening, Ashara cuts Isabelle’s bonds. She’s clearly shaken, but seems unharmed. Jorah asks if Isabelle thinks she can make her way back to the village. She realizes that he wants to stay a bit longer, and Jorah admits he wants to go after the entity that caused all of this. He needs to return the favor! Isabelle tells him to be careful and says she thinks she can make her own way back. She does ask if he really wants to do this, though. He figures he at least wants to find out what she is, even if he can’t kill her. He says he’s one of those wandering idiots who do this kind of thing now! Isabelle says it sounds like he’s been a wandering idiot for a very long time. Jorah concedes that this is true. Isabelle tells him to give her hell for her. She took part of Isabelle’s mother away from her and took Jorah’s entire family from him. She tells Jorah to take that pain and give it back tenfold, placing her hand on Jorah’s shoulder. We try to find a weapon to let Isabelle have for her journey back, but most of us don’t have extras and Jorah doesn’t want to give up his dagger immediately after finally getting one. Kilwin takes the other dagger patch off the Robe of Useful Items and gives it to Isabelle. She asks his name and he assures her that he’ll try to get Jorah back in one piece. She says if we manage that, she’d love to hear the story and might be willing to give us a discount at the store. Once Isabelle leaves and is out of earshot, Jorah says that any of us can go with her if we’d rather not do this. Kilwin was very serious about bringing him back though! Ashara says she can’t let him have all the glory, and Reides has no intention of leaving either. We head back to the main path together and start traveling toward the center of the glen.