Malino’re Arc

Arc Summary
The party begins to plan their next moves. After hearing of a bounty on a young green dragon near Malino're and visiting Falas's Dragonslayers' Guild, they are encouraged into attempting to fight the dragon and claim its hoard. Since they'll be traveling south anyway, they also make plans to visit Malino're, the city of the wood elves, and Cowersby, Kilwin's hometown, before returning to Port Valor to confront Thorak Fireaxe. The party stumbles onto the lair of the green dragon, named Blighthorn, and after a difficult and nearly costly battle, manage to slay him.

The party fortunately arrives in Malino're during the Bloomshower Fest, the one time of the year when the city is freely open to outsiders. They enjoy some carnival games, good food, and fortunetelling, but the festivities are marred when they encounter an elf frantically searching for his sister, who was led away from the city by some of the elders and is now missing. Most of the party agrees to search for her, and they find her being held by a hag, who seems to be trying to transform her into one of their own. Although the pair of hags flee, the party rescues the elf, named Bethelia, and brings her back to her brother. Back in Malino're, they realize that the hags have been impersonating important figures in the city and, considering the ease with which they tricked Bethelia, have likely been doing so for some time. The party encounters another group of adventurers, led by an elven bard named Quilius, who blame them for Bethelia coming to harm in the first place and attempt to take over the hag problem, claiming that the party is too incompetent to handle it. Now motivated by a combination of concern for the people of Malino're and spite, the party investigates the hags' infiltration, visiting with the Council of Elders, the guard, and the druid school. Eventually, Merellien, the vice headmaster of the druid school, directs the party to a clearing filled with dead trees, which he claims green hags are attracted to. Unfortunately, an ambush awaits the party in the clearing, as Merellien was actually being impersonated by one of the hags. The party successfully fends off the ambush and rescues Quilius's party, who also fell into the hags' trap. The materials used in a sigil that was part of the trap leads the party to a nearby cave, which is filled with fiends. By the time they confront the hags, they've managed to transform an elf into the third member of their coven and created a Hag Eye. However, the hags are killed, and the surviving captives are healed and rescued. Upon returning to Malino're, Reides goes on a blind date with Wyrran, a guard he met during the party's investigation. In the morning, the party is brought before the Council of Elders who thank them for their assistance and offer to reward them with supplies for the next leg of their journey.

Session 30
In the morning at the Outer Wall, Jorah asks Reides to use Identify on Quickbrand. After being reassured that it’s not cursed and touching it won’t hurt him, Reides finds out that if Jorah attunes to the sword, it will do more damage and boost his initiative once per day. We look over the map again, and Kilwin suggests backtracking, since most of our outstanding business is near Port Valor. Jorah agrees that we should probably not just ignore Thorak and his orcs. Kilwin is also still concerned about the undead near the city. Reides groans very loudly, which Kilwin admits is a fair reaction. He doesn’t want to just leave that though! Erak really wants to fight a dragon, but Jorah hates this idea and Kilwin is a little wary too. Reides is also a little concerned about the meat chunker becoming the meat chunk. Urli overhears the conversation and asks if we’re interested in hunting a dragon, since there’s a new bounty for one. The reward for the bounty would be the dragon’s hoard. Jorah says we might not even want a dragon’s hoard, since some dragons collect people. Erak is very sad that no one else wants to fight a dragon. Urli encourages us and tells us a little more about the bounty. It’s a younger dragon in the forests near Malino’re, so Woodseekers of Malino’re want it taken care of before it can grow and become a bigger problem. Jorah notes that he might not head to Malino’re for a while. Urli’s confidence in us makes Kilwin wonder if maybe we really could fight a dragon, and Urli says that what we did at Earthbreaker Hall shows that we can, especially since it’s a young dragon and it probably hasn’t fully established its lair yet. He suggests that we check out the Dragonslayers’ Guild. Kilwin is surprised that there is a Dragonslayers’ Guild! Erak asks if there’s other bounties and there are a few smaller ones around the city, but nothing we’re particularly interested in. Jorah is absolutely terrified of dragons, but happens to know that they tend to age slowly, but only because they live a very long time and grow to be very big. We also know that Malino’re is the city of the wood elves. Reides hopes he get can get a leaf! Urli warns us that the people of Malino’re typically don’t let outsiders in, but they might if we deal with the dragon.
 * Google Document (10-26-19)

Jorah mentions that he’s still interested in buying a bottle of magmawine. Kilwin thinks this is a terrible idea, since it knocked Jorah out almost immediately, but Jorah insists it’s a great idea. Erak is also very supportive. The bottle is 100 gold, which makes Jorah wonder if Urli will sell it watered down or mixed with the rest of his firewhiskey, but Erak offers to split the cost with him. Jorah takes the bottle from Urli and it’s hot to the touch. Urli also gives us a copy of the bounty for the dragon. It includes a crude drawing of a dragon. The dragon is in the northern parts of the forest and lives near an ancient, dilapidated tower. It’s a green dragon, so Jorah is pretty sure it breathes poison, and its crimes include murdering elves and hijacking caravans, especially ones with gold or magic items. Now that we’re considering going south, Kilwin says it might be nice to visit home. Reides and Erak are intrigued. Jorah thinks we could stop by on our way back to Port Valor, since we should probably deal with the orcs next. Kilwin is looking forward to it, but worries that Grinlief might think we stood him up for drinks. Erak is pretty sure that Grinlief doesn’t really understand the concept of time. Kilwin tells him that’s mean, but Reides thinks it might be true. Kilwin asks how long it’ll take to reach Laketon, just in case we can’t get into Malino’re. Urli says it should be about 8 days to get to the tower, and 2 weeks total to reach Laketon by the main road through the forest. We could get there faster if we cut through the plains at the center of the continent, but Jorah is a lot less confident about navigating through plains than the forest and Kilwin isn’t in a particular rush. Urli suggests we go after the dragon quickly if we’re planning to, since there’s plenty of other people interested in the bounty. Jorah suggests we make a to-do list before leaving Falas if we’re really going to do this. We figure out how many rations we need to make it to Laketon (just in case) and decide that some of us should go to the Dragonslayers’ Guild to look for advice.

Urli tells us a place where we can get rations cheaper than at Whisper’s, and Reides and Slumberjack head off to pick them up while the rest of the party goes to the Dragonslayers’ Guild. It’s located on the Royal Terrace, west of the palace. It’s definitely not as grand as the palace, but still has stained glass windows depicting famous dragonslayers fighting each type of chromatic dragon. We don’t recognize any of the heroes, but can assume that the red dragon is Smoulderwing and that the green dragon might be named Poison. Inside we find a quest board, armored individuals standing guard, and a reception desk. The guild members have cloaks with the emblem of a dragon crossed with a spear, representing the eternal strife between dragons and dragonslayers. There’s also some tables with adventurers drinking, including another party who notices us looking around. A man in black armor takes a big drink of ale and asks us if we’re new blood, looking to join the guild. Kilwin whispers very loudly to the rest of the party to ask if we are, but Jorah tells the man we’re just interested in a single bounty and are looking for first-timer advice. The man says we should just slap the dragon. The man’s companion, who wears black robes and carries a book, figures out we mean the recently updated bounty on the green dragon and is a little more helpful. He tells us it was recently discovered that the dragon is named Blighthorn and that green dragons are vain. The armored man mentions a time when they told a dragon it was pretty and it didn’t eat them. The mage is annoyed with his friend, Lothain, for getting so drunk. He continues to tell us that green dragons have poison breath that can cover a fairly wide area, so we might want to spread out during the fight. He also says they don’t have any specific weak points, but ranged fighters might have an easier time, since the dragon can fly out of melee range. Lothain starts to say something but swallows his ale wrong and starts coughing, spilling his drink on himself. After Kilwin asks if he’s okay, he tells us that green dragons can breathe air or water, but not ale. The party starts contemplating trying to drown the dragon in alcohol, but Kilwin’s not sure if that would actually be true or how we would get enough alcohol to drown a dragon in. He suggests we just stick to the whacking approach if we’re going to do this. Lothain says he likes whacking things and hasn’t gotten to use his spear in a while. Jorah asks if he can’t get it up, and Lothain tells him he doesn’t like being told what he can and can’t do. The mage clarifies that Lothain just does more drinking than dragonslaying at this point. Kilwin asks if there’s anything we need to do for the bounty, and the mage tells us that we need proof that we killed it, like a fang or claw. He suggests keeping that in our Bag of Holding, since it’ll be heavy, but Kilwin lies very badly that the bag is full. They tell us not to put anything else in there then, and Kilwin says we aren’t planning to until we can make it not full! Marcyra has a hard time not laughing. Jorah suggests we stop by the apothecary to see if he stocks anything for poison resistance. Before we leave, Kilwin asks the mage for his name (Yawain) and thanks him and Lothain for their help. Yawain gives us one last word of advice that green dragons are probably smarter than anything we’ve faced so far and they like to make deals and manipulate people, so we should be ready for that. He and Lothain wish us luck and tell us to stay safe.

We stop by the apothecary and learn that he’s currently out of Potions of Poison Resistance, but he can brew one for us for 300 gold. We leave immediately.

The party reconvenes and immediately leaves Falas for the south, since other people are clearly interested in the bounty. We travel for seven days, taking us to Bloomshower 4, until we reach the point where we need to leave the main path to reach the tower. Jorah starts trying to track the dragon, and Erak uses his Bag of Tricks to try to provide him with some backup. He pulls out a boar, a giant rat, and a giant elk. Reides deeply wants the rat to be named William or some variation of it. Jorah says we don’t want to get ambushed and knocks on a tree. Unfortunately, Jorah doesn’t find much in the way of tracks, although he does notice that there’s no large game around. The brush gets thicker and it becomes difficult to move through, and small rodents seem to be observing us and running away. Reides tries to pet a chipmunk, but it flees before he can get close to it. Jorah gets his crossbow out and ready. We find the tower, so Jorah ties up Gin away from it. Slumberjack suggests not killing the dragon and trying to befriend it. Jorah is pretty sure that won’t work, especially since we came here to kill it! Slumberjack mostly doesn’t want to die today, and Jorah admits that he’s planning on using the magmawine as a bargaining chip if this goes badly. Slumberjack tells him that if they die because of this dragon, they’re going to haunt him, his dog, and any pets he has in the future. Jorah says he wouldn’t expect anything less.

As Jorah says we should look for the dragon’s lair, since it can’t fly away there, a large shadow flies over us and Blighthorn lands on top of the tower. Erak tells his animal friends to disperse and stay safe, and Reides sends Pepega to roost in a nearby tree. Blighthorn tells us we’re in his domain and we will either submit or die. Erak offers him a ration. Jorah doesn’t think this is a good time for jokes! Blighthorn isn’t particularly impressed and seems to particularly not like elves, so he offers us some of his treasure hoard if we kill Erak. No one even considers taking the bait. Jorah places a Hunter’s Mark on the dragon, drawing his attention. Blighthorn warns Jorah not to do that. Reides tries to tell Blighthorn that his eyes are very pretty and so is his voice. Blighthorn appreciates the compliments and tells Reides he’s the only wise one here. He offers to spare Reides in exchange for his servitude. Reides doesn’t care for that offer and says he’s done way too much to submit to anyone now. The dragon flies down and lands near Erak, telling us we’re not the first to try to kill him and we won’t be the last. Jorah takes a shot and misses. Kilwin is pretty sure Erak is about to get poison breathed at him, so he runs over and casts Protection from Poison on him. Blighthorn notices the spell and walks over to Jorah and Julius. He breathes poison at them and immediately knocks both of them out. Erak gets behind him and severs the tip of his tail, and Slumberjack runs in and puts a gash in its ribs. Marcyra burns one of its wings. Kilwin manages to heal Jorah and stabilize Julius. Blighthorn attacks Erak, but only manages to claw him once. Erak inspects his wound and calls Blighthorn an ugly motherfucker. Jorah heals Julius, who is significantly less afraid of dragons than Jorah. She runs in and rips into one of Blighthorn’s tendons with surprising ferocity, bringing him to the ground. Slumberjack rips another hole in Blighthorn’s wing, and Reides starts melting some of his scales with Acid Arrow. Blighthorn bites Erak, realizes that he resists poison from Kilwin’s spell, and turns his attention to Kilwin, knocking Julius out again on the way. Blighthorn takes a slash at Kilwin, damaging his armor. Erak runs after the dragon and pokes him before trying to attack to bully him, but it doesn’t work very well. Slumberjack also follows Blighthorn. Marcyra hits him and says “Fuck you” in Draconic. Jorah misses a shot with his crossbow, but Reides manages to land his crossbow bolt. Kilwin revives Julius. Blighthorn realizes he’s surrounded and decides to go up, aiming his breath down at us. Erak manages to withstand it, but Kilwin, Slumberjack, and Julius are knocked out. As Blighthorn flies away, Reides hits him with Magic Missile, putting four new holes in his wings. Blighthorn can’t stay aloft anymore and falls to the ground, dead. Reides says you can be as pretty as you want, but it won’t help if you have a bad personality. The party gathers around its fallen members, and Reides manages to stabilize Kilwin while Erak goes through Kilwin’s backpack for the healer’s kit. Reides also successfully stabilizes Julius and Slumberjack with some help from the supplies.

Session 31
Reides frets over the unconscious members of the party, while Jorah frets over Julius specifically. Reides wants to examine Blighthorn’s corpse though, so Jorah starts to set up his tent and offers to look after Kilwin and Slumberjack. Reides pokes the dragon, and it disintegrates a little. Erak manages to harvest a sizeable piece of dragon hide, large enough for a breastplate potentially. The party also collects six scales, four teeth, and two claws from Blighthorn’s body. As the party finishes this, Blighthorn’s corpse starts to fade away and melt into the earth. After a few minutes, Blighthorn has become a large patch of moss and shrubbery. Reides collects a little bit of moss to take with him. The party also notices the sounds of the forest wildlife returning and the brambles in the surrounding forest retreating.
 * Google Document (11-9-2019)

Erak suggests exploring the tower, and Reides and Marcyra agree. Erak’s rat, boar, and elk return from their hiding places in the forest, and Erak asks them to help Jorah look after Kilwin, Slumberjack, and Julius, and to come get the rest of the party if anything happens. Erak dabs, and his animal friends attempt to dab back, but only the rat really manages to pull it off. Erak, Reides, and Marcyra examine the tower and find a crumbling stone door at the back. The mortar of the tower is also interlaced with vines. Reides attempts to listen at the door, but doesn’t hear anything. Erak suggests trying to break the door down as a group, and the three of them ram into the door together. It gives a little bit, and the party hears some stones from the wall fall and land on coins. Erak makes a second attempt at breaking down the door and succeeds. The tower isn’t badly kept on the inside, although the roof is mostly open, with some overhanging ledges where the dragon could perch. There’s a large tree in the center of the tower, entangled by vines, and an enormous pile of coins. The party is so distracted by the amount of gold that they don’t really notice anything else in the room. The pile totals 40 platinum, 1500 gold, 10000 silver, and 900 copper. After the money’s been counted, the party notices a large sword leaning against the tree, which is clearly old but not rusted, and a green cloak that reminds them of the forest. Marcyra picks up the sword just to show that she can, but doesn’t actually want it and asks if Reides wants to Identify it. She almost tries to hand it to him blade first, but ends up just putting it on the ground. Reides determines that it’s a magical +1 greatsword. Marcyra casts Detect Magic, but only finds the sword and the cloak. Erak suggests that someone put on the cloak to see what it does, but Reides just casts Identify again instead. He determines that it camouflages the wearer and improves their stealth when they have the hood up. The cloak is also of elven make. Erak suggests giving the cloak to Kilwin since he’s the worst at stealth, and Marcyra and Reides agree. Kilwin cannot defend himself.

The party leaves the tower and starts setting up camp around their unconscious companions. Erak whispers to Kilwin to ask what setting up camp sounds like, but Kilwin is unable to respond. Erak gets a little sad about it. Reides is a little concerned that Kilwin passed out on a rockier part of the clearing, so Erak gently moves him to smoother, more comfortable ground. Erak gets some seasonings from his bag and feeds them to Pepega, who really enjoys them.

An hour after the end of the fight, Kilwin wakes up. Erak screams. He looks around and asks what happened and where the dragon is. The awake party members bring him up to speed. Reides asks if he’s okay, and Kilwin admits he feels real bad but he’s pretty sure he’ll be fine. He notices that Slumberjack is also injured, but decides to let them rest for now. Kilwin is a little alarmed that the dragon’s body disappeared, and Marcyra wonders out loud how they got the dragon’s skull in the emperor’s throne room then. Erak suggests that Blighthorn was a boneless dragon, or that is has something to do with the type or age of the dragons. Kilwin wonders if removing a part from the dragon prevents that part from fading away, since the party still has the parts they harvested, but eventually reaches the point where he doesn’t want to think about that possibility in any more detail. Erak wants to find a bigger dragon to fight next time, but Kilwin thinks we should call a moratorium on dragonslaying and tells Jorah that he gets it now. Marcyra says she’s not really any more eager to fight more dragons than Erak is to fight more drow, which he concedes is somehow fair. Erak pouts a little, and Kilwin caves immediately and says maybe we can pick it up again down the road. Since the dragon’s corpse is gone, and Kilwin is under the impression that we were going right to Malino’re instead of returning to the Dragonslayers’ Guild at Falas and turning in the bounty, he suggests that we leave a note at Blighthorn’s lair explaining what happened so they don’t waste time looking for the dragon. He thinks it would be a nice thing to do! The rest of the party just kind of goes with it! Kilwin’s not really sure how to sign off, though, so Reides suggests coming up with a name for our group. After the party kicks around “Those Guys,” “The Ones You Laughed At,” “Reides and the Lads,” and “Reides Fan Club,” they decide that maybe they should sleep on it.

Session 32
As Kilwin writes a note to late-coming dragonslayers, Erak encourages him to be very mean and insult them. Kilwin thinks that’s terrible and doesn’t know why we’d do that, but Erak says it’s what they deserve for finding the dragon so slowly! Kilwin writes a nice letter anyway. Erak suggests we use a silly fake party name to leave dumb notes so they can’t be traced back to us and then use a real one when we actually meet people. Kilwin suggests we just pick a party name and we can just change it if we don’t like it later. The party settles on the Dark Oak Companions as our name and Kilwin signs the note. His handwriting is reasonably nice! Kilwin casts Prayer of Healing to make sure everyone is in decent shape and we go to bed for the night.
 * Google Document (11-30-19)

In the morning, the party starts preparing to set out for Malino’re. Erak poses dramatically with the Cloak of Elvenkind from the dragon’s lair. Marcyra and Kilwin clap. Because Erak hasn’t attuned to the cloak, its colors shift a little but he’s still clearly visible. Kilwin says it’s a very nice cloak, and Marcyra says it goes well with his eyes. Erak is confused that it doesn’t work, since he’s sure Marcyra and Reides told him it was magic. He tries lying down on the ground and covering himself with the cloak, but because he’s not even wearing it, it just looks like a regular cloak. Kilwin is very confused. Erak explains that the cloak is very powerful and suggests that Kilwin have it, but he wants the rest of the party to be okay with that. Slumberjack suggests giving it to the rogue, but we don’t technically have one and Jorah, the one who’s closest, has mysteriously vanished. Erak thinks Kilwin should get it because we all know what he’s like and he needs all the help he can get. Marcyra, who’s been indifferent up until this point, really wants Kilwin to have the cloak now. Kilwin accepts the cloak, but also offers it to Erak, since he seems to be having a lot of fun with it. Erak says he doesn’t need it because he’s already the stealth master and does a cool backflip. Marcyra and Kilwin clap again, and Kilwin agrees to take the cloak for now, although he’ll ask if Jorah wants it when we meet up with him again.

It takes two days for the party to reach Malino’re. During the journey, Kilwin attunes to the Cloak of Elvenkind. As the party approaches the city, the forest canopy grows thicker and it gets darker, so Kilwin has to cast Light so he and Reides can see. We spot lights ahead and see a gate with two elves guarding it, who hail us. One asks if we’re here for the Bloomshower Fest. We all say yes even though none of us have heard of the Bloomshower Fest before. The guard is a little skeptical of Slumberjack, but overall believes us and welcomes us to Malino’re. While the city is usually closed to outsiders, the Bloomshower Fest is the one time every year that everyone is welcome in Malino’re. The festival is held in honor of Cyviria, more commonly called Cysebelle. He points us in the direction of the festival grounds and recommends we check out Hyalin’s fortune-telling tent if we get the chance.

The buildings in Malino’re are carved out of the trees and the furniture in them is woven from the wood itself, similar to the Temple of Cysebelle in Quadroad. The festival grounds are pretty easy to find from the lights and noise. We follow the main roads, passing houses and bridges and trees. Despite how little light can make it through the treetops, it’s not dark or dreary at all. At the festival grounds, we find tents with explosive colors and strange shapes. The air smells of cooked meat. There’s lots of elves partying and bickering with each other. One of the food tents looks very popular, since it’s surrounded by a crowd that’s applauding and dancing. We also see the fortuneteller’s tent, which is emblazoned with the symbol of a hand with an eye on it, holding two cards. There’s also a variety of festival games, and Reides loves to see it. He tries bobbing for apples first, since being able to breathe underwater means he’d probably be pretty good at it (although he needs a refresher on what an apple is). Marcyra goes to cheer him on and Erak asks if anyone wants to take bets on Reides getting an apple. One elf thinks that’s a weird thing to bet on, but he’ll take Erak up on it for 5 silver. Reides can see the apples pretty easily and gets one, but it falls out of his teeth on his way up and time is called. Marcyra consoles Reides while the elf tells Erak to pay up. Erak acts devastated but gives the elf 10 silver, much to the elf’s confusion. Erak tells him to just share a treat with a friend on him. Erak spots a strength tower and tries to get Slumberjack to try it out. After learning it’s free, Slumberjack takes a hammer and swings, but only manages to send the puck halfway up. As they start to ask if they can try it again, Erak steps in with another hammer, rages, and manages to send the puck all the way to the bell. Kilwin and Marcyra clap. The elf in charge of the strength tower tells him he’s the first person to do that all day. He wins a wood carving of Qbby, which he fastens to his chain shirt with a strip of cloth from his kilt. Erak steps back to let Slumberjack have their second try, but they don’t want to play anymore. Reides also tries his hand at the ring toss and manages to land all three rings, even with the pressure from a gathering crowd. He wins a stuffed moose, which he names Paddington. Pepega and Paddington are friends now.

The party turns their attention to the fortuneteller’s tent. We figure we’ll give it a try! A group of elves leaves the tent, awestruck and whispering among themselves about what happened inside. Inside, we’re greeted by a short elven woman with brown hair. There’s enough chairs for all of us and plenty of candlelight to see by. Hyalin tells us that she foresaw our arrival in the stars and will be reading our fortunes with her Tarokka deck. Kilwin volunteers to go first and Hyalin draws the Healer and the Missionary. The Healer indicates a giving person, but the Missionary suggests a religious bend. Kilwin thinks that’s pretty accurate! For Reides, she draws the Hooded One and the Donjon, indicating someone trapped by circumstance, concealing their identity or true motives. Reides is sweating! Slumberjack steps up and gives their name as Rilineth. Hyalin seems to imply that’s not quite true before drawing the Charlatan and the Paladin, which indicate they’re not acting in their true nature, but are fighting for a cause they deem righteous. Slumberjack says this is true. Erak (called “the buff one”) gets the Seer and the Berserker, and Hyalin suggests he has visions, but also great anger. She says she won’t press him for details though. For Marcyra, she draws the Beast and the Artifact. Hyalin says she’s afraid of something stronger than her, and has an item she relies on for comfort. Marcyra is a little freaked out! Sounds right! As Hyalin starts shuffling her deck, a card falls to the ground. She picks it up and says it’s never come up in a reading before, but it’s likely not a coincidence that it fell from the deck. The card is the Darklord. Marcyra hates to hear it! Hyalin explains that while the popular interpretation is a great evil with its eyes on the subject of the reading, that’s not very realistic for most people, so it likely indicates a person they fear greatly. She uses the fear of your boss who might fire you as an example. Kilwin points out that kind of already happened, and Hyalin offers Marcyra her condolences, but Marcyra says it was for the best. Hyalin tells us that these readings are about our pasts, and that our futures are hard to see at the moment. The weave of fate is strange, but the gods have plans for us all. None of us have any more questions (that we’re willing to ask in front of the whole party), so we thank Hyalin for the readings and ask what we owe her. Hyalin explains that everything at the Bloomshower Fest is free so that the festivities aren’t restricted to people with wealth. Everything has been paid for by the elders of Malino’re. We think that’s neat!

The party leaves the tent, but Reides sneaks back to ask Hyalin if she can use the deck to check on someone else. She says she can, but Reides will need to draw the cards himself. Reides pulls out the Wizard and Torturer. Hyalin says that the Wizard can indicate any spellcaster, while the Torturer represents a situation this person wants to escape. She asks who Reides is asking about, and he says he wanted to check on his little sister. Hyalin identifies the Wizard as the source of Reides’s sister’s unpleasant situation, but says it might just be a test she doesn’t want to study for or something innocuous like that. She suggests checking on her when he can, though. Reides wants to, but isn’t sure if he really can! Hyalin tells him that his future isn’t particularly bound by fate at the moment, so it’s up to him. Reides says he’ll keep that in mind before returning to the group.

The party checks out the food tent with a large crowd in front of it. We see the elven chefs dancing as they prepare food and doing tricks as they’re cooking. The cooking style is called mali’ok dana. Erak is completely enraptured, even after the party gets their food and leaves. He’s very impressed by their dedication to the art of cooking and their ability to bring joy to people while they work. Reides tells him that Erak’s cooking brings joy to him, and Erak is very touched! Kilwin noticed Reides returning to Hyalin’s tent, so he asks how it went. He doesn’t want to pry, but he was considering asking her for advice about something and wanted to know if Reides thought it was worth trying. Reides says he’s not sure if he regrets it or not, but that things pretty much lined up in his reading! Kilwin decides he doesn’t have to listen to the reading if it doesn’t feel right to him, so he decides to go.

Kilwin goes back to Hyalin’s tent and explains that he has a big decision coming up, even though it’s still a while away. Hyalin lets him take a card and he draws the Monk. She explains that the Monk represents a traveler, usually with a religious bent. She tells Kilwin to ignore the tankard of ale that the Monk carries, and that he primarily travels and does good. She asks if that helps Kilwin at all, and he says that it relates pretty directly! He explains that he’s supposed to return home and he’s having second thoughts about doing so. In this case, he’s the Monk. Hyalin has him draw a second card, and Kilwin pulls the Beggar. She explains that the Beggar wants for gold, but also wants for bigger experiences, and asks if he’ll get these experiences by leaving the adventuring life. She hopes Kilwin is comforted in his decision by his reading, although she says that the ultimate decision is in his hands. He thanks her for her help and leaves the tent.

Marcyra also sneaks back to the tent. In her second reading, she draws the Elementalist, which represents someone with a lot of power. Marcyra immediately relates this to the same person indicated by the Beast. She says she went on this journey because he told her to, with the goal of increasing her power. She didn’t really care about it at first, although she was a little scared she might die. Now she’s pretty sure he wouldn’t let that happen, but she’s worried that he’ll turn her into someone she doesn’t want to be. Hyalin has Marcyra draw another card about the Beast. She pulls the Torturer. Hyalin interprets this to mean that the Beast wants to inflict pain on Marcyra, although the method isn’t necessarily clear, and that he might seek to abuse Marcyra’s power for his own ends. She advises her against taking up this person on any offers they make, like doing something unethical for greater payment. Marcyra admits that he’s usually not very clear about what he actually wants, and just tells her to do this and do that and then whoops, her neighbor is dead. Hyalin is very deeply concerned! Marcyra realizes she’s said too much and very awkwardly makes her escape!

At the dining tables, Slumberjack wants fuit gummy and Kilwin wants to see what else the festival has to offer, so he gets ready to start looking and promises to keep an eye out for fuit gummy. However, the party hears someone yelling for his sister. Kilwin and Reides immediately run over to see what’s happening, with Erak following close behind. An elven man is clearly distressed because his sister was led away by some of the town elders earlier and she hasn’t come back yet. Kilwin offers to help look and asks for a description. The man says his sister is about his height with brown hair and that she’s only 175 years old. The elders took her for a festival thing and apparently went to a clearing to the north of town. Kilwin asks if she would have anything on hand that he could track with Locate Object, and the elf tells him that she has a necklace that matches his, in silver instead of gold. Their parents gave them to them. Kilwin casts Locate Object and determines that the necklace isn’t within 1000 feet of him, so he, Reides, and Erak start heading north. Marcyra gets ready to follow, but Slumberjack offers to stay behind with her if she doesn’t actually want to help. Marcyra agrees and they stay behind and bond over being evil.

The search party hears nothing besides the wind in the trees, and the forest gradually grows so dark that Kilwin and Reides can’t see very well. Kilwin offers to cast Light, but Erak points out that would give our location away if things are bad. He suggests that Kilwin and Reides stick close to him, and that he’ll act as their eyes. Kilwin puts his hood up, still not convinced that the cloak works but thinking that the green color will help him blend with the forest a bit anyway. The cloak magically camouflages him, and Erak and Reides start to panic until Kilwin speaks so they know he’s still there. Kilwin is a little surprised that the cloak really does hide him! Erak can’t believe we could actually see him the whole time he was showing off the cloak. Kilwin’s Locate Object spell pings the necklace when he’s about 1000 feet away from the clearing that the elf mentioned.

At the clearing, we hear chanting in a language none of us can understand. From the bushes, we can see an elven woman lying in the grass in front of an ugly creature with green skin, black stringy hair, and boils. She sprinkles alchemical ingredients over the woman as she chants. Reides and Kilwin recognize her as a hag, a fey spellcaster who tends to be evil and form covens of three. Being in a coven makes hags more powerful. None of us can see anyone around the clearing other than the elven woman and the single hag, so either the rest of her coven is elsewhere or she doesn’t have one currently. Kilwin’s not totally convinced that this isn’t the one nice hag who does good things, but admits that the situation looks pretty cut and dry. Erak offers to run in as a distraction while Reides and Kilwin attack from cover. They spread out a little bit, and Erak emerges from the bushes and starts moving toward the hag. As Erak enters the clearing though, everyone present hears a voice ring out from the elf, telling him to hold and that the hag is healing her. Kilwin notices that the woman is injured, but can’t be sure that what the hag is doing is actually healing her. The woman’s voice says that an owlbear attacked when the elders took her here and they fled, and that the hag appeared and started helping her, to her surprise. Kilwin thinks for a moment that this really could just be a nice hag but realizes that the voice isn’t actually coming from the elf and that the hag is using some kind of mimicry. He yells it out and fires a bolt at the hag, but misses. The hag says we ruined everything and casts some kind of spell on Erak, giving him horrible nausea. Kilwin manages to whack the hag some. The hag claws at Erak. Reides casts his new spell, Lightning Bolt, and sculpts it around the elven woman. It zaps the hag very badly and some of her boils burst, getting pus on Erak and the elven woman. Erak gets ready to play support, but before the fight can go on much longer, the hag weaves a door behind her and disappears into it.

Kilwin rushes in to attend to the elven woman, while Erak offers some high-fives. Reides accepts it without a second thought and gets pus on his hand, but isn’t too bothered by it. Kilwin almost high-fives Erak, but decides it’s best to keep his hands clean for now, so he’ll high-five Erak later. He determines that the claw marks on the woman are probably from the hag. The hag also placed poultices on her, which seem to be causing boils and turning her skin greenish. Kilwin removes the poultices and heals her wounds with his magic. The elf woman asks what happened. It turns out that the hag’s impression of her was pretty much exact. We explain there was a hag and ask her what she last remembers. She explains that the elders took her to the clearing for some kind of ritual, but they transformed into fey creatures and attacked. She says her parents told her stories of hags taking away bad children and that she guesses she must have been bad. Kilwin says she probably wasn’t and sometimes things just happen! She tells him she was just making a joke. We walk her back to the festival, with Kilwin supporting her since she’s still pretty badly injured.

Back at the festival, the elf man is very happy to be reunited with his sister. She calls him a crybaby, but lovingly. We explain what happened to the man, and he’s understandably distressed that hags are at the Bloomshower Fest, trying to take people away. He points out how easy it would be to take someone from the crowd without anyone noticing until it’s too late. Kilwin asks how many elders there are, and the elves tell us there’s 15, but only two elders came to take the woman to the clearing. We figure that since there’s three hags in a coven, there’s only two hags and they’re looking for someone to transform into their third member. We also take another look at the elven woman and see that her skin is clearing up on its own, so presumably she’s going to be fine.

The search party returns to the eating area and finds Marcyra and Slumberjack. Slumberjack is passed out drunk, but Marcyra looks like she’s cheered up from earlier. We tell Marcyra that things are happening and catch up on the situation. She instantly deflates. We all figure that we should do something about the hags trying to take people though.

Session 33
Marcyra uses her magic to clean the gross boil juice off Erak. We hear voices from the crowd calling out the names Bethelia and Torbin from the direction where we left the elven siblings. We hurry over and find another group of adventurers talking to the siblings. There’s an elf wearing light leather robes with a lute strapped to his back. He’s vaguely familiar to Erak, but he’s not sure where he recognizes him from. There’s also an armored dwarf with a shield emblazoned with the symbol of Alethus, tending to Bethelia, and a robed human and a tabaxi chatting to the side. The elven bard asks Erak if he’s here to give him more of his money, and Erak just says yes and pretends he recognizes this guy. The other group is worried about Bethelia, but not really paying anyone else any mind. The elven bard turns out to be the guy Erak was betting on Reides’s apple bobbing with, and he blames us for not preventing Bethelia from getting hurt in the first place. Erak points out that we were the only ones looking. Marcyra wasn’t looking, but Kilwin says she’s with us and she’s here now. The dwarf says that the hags need to pay for this. The bard says we don’t stand a chance at finding the hags because we’re incompetent. Erak is really mad about this, and Reides asks why they’re being so rude. Without giving a satisfactory answer, the other party leaves to find the hags. Kilwin calls out after them, offering to cooperate since we have a common goal, but the tabaxi just laughs at him.
 * Google Document (1-11-19)

Torbin apologizes on the other party’s behalf and says they’re nice when you get to know them. Kilwin believes him that they’re just stressed out over what happened with Bethelia, but Erak expresses some doubts. Kilwin thinks it couldn’t hurt to have more eyes looking out for the hags, Erak is more interested in the adventure of it and wants to ignore the other group, Marcyra truly does not care what happens, and Reides wants to prove the other group wrong. Kilwin remembers that we left Slumberjack passed out at the dining tables and that maybe we shouldn’t have done that with shapeshifting hags leading people away from the festival. Kilwin suggests leaving them with the fortuneteller for safekeeping, but Reides and Marcyra point out they’ll probably hate that. Torbin offers to talk to the innkeeper and get Slumberjack set up there, as thanks for saving his sister, and we agree. Torbin and Bethelia leave to wake up Slumberjack and accompany them to the inn. Reides and Erak are a little worn out from the fight with the hag, so Kilwin and Marcyra start the search on their own. Kilwin tries to search the crowd for people scoping other people out and notices the other adventurers questioning people. Marcyra points out that the hags will probably target people with power and will try to imitate someone with influence. Kilwin thinks talking to Bethelia again would be a good idea. He and Marcyra get directions to the inn, where they find Bethelia and Torbin looking after Slumberjack.

Kilwin asks Bethelia if she has magical skill, since that might be why she was targeted. Bethelia explains that most wood elves have some degree of magic and can cast spells that keep them hidden in the wilderness. There’s also many elves who are more dedicated to practicing magic, including an entire school of druids. Bethelia has some magical training, although it’s too wide of a pool to really be helpful in the search for the hags. Marcyra asks about people with social influence who would be good covers for the hags. Bethelia suggests the elders, the captain of the rangers, and the leader of the druids. She thinks that it would be hard to deceive anyone from Malino’re, since everyone knows these authority figures very well, but she was tricked easily. She suggests that the hags have been impersonating the elders for much longer than anyone suspected. Kilwin thanks Bethelia for her help and leaves the inn with Marcyra, hoping to find the elders.

Kilwin spots a long table where a lot of older elves are gathered. Kilwin puts up his hood and tries to approach the table stealthily, in hopes of casting Detect Evil and Good discreetly. This goes about as well as it normally does. The older elves stare at him as he approaches, so he pulls his hood down and says hello. He says he wanted to look at the table and that it’s a very nice table. An elf with a long white beard introduces himself as Ninleyn. Kilwin asks if these are the villager elders, and Ninleyn explains that, while some of these elves are the elders (including himself), it’s just a gathering of the old ones. Kilwin asks permission to cast a spell here, targeting himself, but Ninleyn says he’d prefer he didn’t. Kilwin says okay and walks away from the table! Marcyra pretends she doesn’t know him and doesn’t want anyone to think she’s associated with him. Kilwin walks out of range of the table, but casts it anyway and comes back with it casted. The elders all notice him and watch him suspiciously, but the spell detects none of them as fey or anything else. Kilwin meets up with Marcyra again, and they find Erak and Reides finishing their tea break.

Reides asks how it went, and Kilwin and Marcyra agree it was bad. Kilwin briefly describes his interactions with Ninleyn and the rest of the table. He says he messed it up and acted like a weirdo. Reides and Erak try to comfort him by saying he wasn’t a weirdo, but Marcyra was actually there and confirms that he was. She also swears that there was absolutely nothing she could have done to salvage that interaction. Erak points out that now we know that no one at that table (or anyone Kilwin passed on his way back to him and Reides) is a hag in disguise, so at least got something. Kilwin still feels down on himself. Kilwin and Reides figure out, though, that the hags’ disguises shouldn’t hold up to physical inspection. If someone is a disguised hag and we touch them, we should feel through the disguise. The idea of talking to the guards gets kicked around, although Kilwin thinks he shouldn’t do it because he’s worried he’ll mess it up. Marcyra volunteers because no one wants to do it. Reides offers to shake their hands to see if they’re disguised hags. Marcyra encourages him to be the annoying person who shakes everyone’s hand and everyone hates them. Kilwin protests that he doesn’t hate that person!

We find a guard post manned by two elves. Reides takes the lead and reaches out for a handshake with the one who greets us. The elf goes for an arm clasp instead, although Reides puts his other hand on top of the elf’s hand. The hand is smooth to the touch. The elf introduces himself as Lianthorn. Reides says he wants to meet the other guard too, and Lianthorn tells him to come out and introduces him as Wyrran. Reides shakes Wyrran’s hand too, and while his grasp is less confident than Lianthorn’s, his hand is very soft and smooth. Lianthorn seems excited to talk with us, while Wyrran is shy and mutters to himself occasionally. We confirm that the guards are familiar with the hag situation, but apparently the ranger captain’s hands are tied. The leader of the druids is out of town, dealing with their responsibilities in the forest. They left about a week ago, although they often leave for weeks or months at a time on these trips, so there’s nothing really unusual about it. The person in charge of the druids in their absence is Merellien, the vice headmaster of the druid school. Lianthorn explains that the druid school is the only magical academy they have, and most druids we encounter out in the world received training from Malino’re. We decide to try to learn more about hags from Merellien. Erak suggests trying to keep a tight perimeter around Malino’re to try to prevent anyone from being lured into the woods, although Wyrran points out that the elders don’t want to endanger the festivities. It would also be difficult since many of the guards are busy keeping watch over the festival itself, and there are many places where the city and the forest meld into each other. Kilwin mentions the handshake tip, although he promises that Reides was genuinely excited to shake their hands. Lianthorn admits he doesn’t care for being tricked, but understands the circumstances. As the party leaves to look for Merellien at the druid school, Lianthorn pulls Reides aside and asks if he’d be willing to come back in a few hours and take Wyrran around, since he’s been cooped up at the guard post all day. Reides agrees! He gives Wyrran a little wave as he leaves, and Wyrran stares at the ground and blushes.

We find the druid school unguarded. The building is nature-woven into the biggest tree we’ve seen so far, and it reminds us of the Temple of Cysebelle we saw in Quadroad. When the party enters the school, they find themselves in a large atrium, where druids are hanging out and reading books. There’s also a receptionist, reading at her desk. The party approaches her and she introduces herself as Sionia, without looking up from her book. Erak offers his hand for a handshake, but she just ignores him. Reides yells “Up top!” and goes for a high-five, but she just asks why we’re here. Kilwin says we’re looking for Merellien. He fumbles the pronunciation, but offers to spell it. Sionia asks him to, and he does, even though Marcyra is pretty sure she’s just messing with him. She tells us that his appointments are full, although he just left for the festival and we should be able to find him at the elders’ table. Kilwin experiences shame. Before we leave, Erak attempts to subtly suggest that Kilwin cast Detect Evil and Good, since Sionia refused to shake hands. We ask Sionia what she’s reading, and she says it’s a treatise on the treaty between the druids of Malino’re and the dryads in the surrounding forest 500 years ago. Reides has heard of this! The original headmaster of the druid school forged peace after a long period of fighting over territories. There’s no longer formal borders between the elves and the dryads. Marcyra asks Reides if they have history books like that underwater, and Reides says they do surprisingly, although he’s also spent a decent amount of time on the surface by now and spent a lot of that in libraries. Kilwin also asks when the headmaster is expected back, but Sionia says there’s usually no schedule, and powerful druids tend to follow the wind when they travel like this.

We head toward the elders’ table. Kilwin freaks out about how bad his first interaction with the elders went, although Reides says they’ll redeem him. Reides buys a bag of strawberry candy for the hell of it and eats some. He offers it to the party, and Erak takes some. Reides also gives Kilwin a piece without prompting. Kilwin takes it and thanks him. Once we reach the table, we notice that some of the people have changed around. One of the new elves is a man with a long brown beard and slicked-back hair, wearing druidic robes. Ninleyn is still there, so Kilwin immediately approaches him and apologizes for being weird. He promises he was just trying to investigate the hag situation, especially since the elders were being impersonated. Ninleyn says it’s really not a big deal and he can tell Kilwin was acting out of care for the community, which he appreciates. He also mentions that there’s a bounty out for the hags. We tell Ninleyn that we’re looking for Merellien, and he directs us to the bearded man with the robes. Erak shakes his hand, which is already visibly knobbly and gnarled. He has a reasonably firm handshake. Merellien tells us that he doesn’t know anything specific about the hags, but he can tell us what he told the last group of adventurers who asked for his advice. He tells us that these are probably green hags, which are drawn to dead trees. He directs us to another clearing north of the clearing where we originally found the hags. There are a lot of dead trees and animals go there to die or be eaten. As far as Kilwin can tell, Merellien is telling the truth and what he’s saying lines up with what Kilwin knows about hags. Merellien also confirms that the headmaster isn’t expected back for some time, and while it might seem strange to us, the headmaster needs to be nature more often during the Era of Cysebelle. Erak asks if Kilwin is okay with magic, and Kilwin says he’ll make do with his current reserves. Everyone’s a little mad that the other adventurers got to talk to Merellien first, and Erak says we can take our time and let the hags eat them or something. He points out that they’re full of themselves, so they probably can’t back that up. Kilwin thinks they don’t deserve to die just because they were rude to us. They might need some backup. We thank Merellien for his help and leave to find the hags’ lair.

We find the clearing that Merellien described. In the clearing, there’s a freshly eaten corpse and a curious magical red light. As far as Kilwin can tell, the light is some kind of barrier and the corpse belongs to an animal. Kilwin is initially relieved that it’s not one of the adventurers, but then realizes that he can’t be sure that it isn’t the tabaxi from this distance. As Kilwin approaches the clearing (with the rest of the party following him), the corpse turns out to be a pile of smaller animal corpses and refuse and Kilwin can make out the shape of the adventurers inside the barrier, which is a spiral of arcane energy. There’s sound coming from inside the barrier, although it’s muffled. Kilwin can make out the dwarf’s armor inside, though. As we approach the clearing, Kilwin finally makes out what the other group adventurers are saying: “Trap!” A larger barrier appears and encircles the party, and the pile of refuse begins to stand up. It’s a gross flesh creature! Reides shoots it with Magic Missile, and Erak immediately starts slapping it, since he’s able to attack more often now. The creature bites Erak, and Erak coughs a bit and feels the poison from the creature’s bite, but he’s so mad that he manages to shake it off. The creature also attacks Kilwin with one of its tentacles and grapples him. Erak dodges the other tentacle. Kilwin manages to break the grapple and runs as far as he can. Reides zaps it with a lightning bolt. Erak gives Reides A Look before returning to slapping. The creature ends up following Kilwin. It tries to bite him unsuccessfully, and then grabs him and Marcyra with its tentacles. Marcyra tries to Blink out of its hold, but the spell fails. Kilwin breaks out and heals up the rest of the party, since he’s worried about Marcyra (even though she’s not really hurt, just grossed out). Erak cuts off the tentacle holding Marcyra, and the creature’s other tentacle, before bringing his sword down into the creature’s head, killing it. Everyone claps.

Both of the barriers dissipate, freeing us. The other party of adventurers is on the ground, catching their breaths, some of them nursing wounds. Kilwin approaches them to check on their wounds, but the dwarf tells him that there’s no need. He’s already healed everyone up, so they’re in no danger of dying. He recognizes Kilwin as a fellow cleric of Alethus and figures he’d want to do that. Kilwin comments that they are shield buddies. The robed human points out that the druid vice headmaster tricked both parties into this trap and was probably one of the hags this whole time. The hag probably won’t stay disguised as the vice headmaster, though, so the main advantage we have is that the hags probably think we’re all dead. He suggests studying the sigil they used to summon the otyugh to try to get some clues. Reides, Marcyra, and Kilwin all try to examine the sigil, but none of them manage to glean anything meaningful from it. The robed human says he clearly has to do everything himself. We (and the dwarf) say Come On but ultimately accept the help where we can get it. He determines that the materials used in the sigil must have come from a place with running water, like the natural caves in the area. The other party says they’ve already cleared out the cave closest to the clearing while searching for the hags. They used most of their energy and resources dealing with the traps inside, which is why they fell so easily to the otyugh. We admit we’ve been there! The elven bard, named Quilius, says that we should check out a particular cave to the west, which we’ll find if we travel about an hour or so. The dwarf offers to do what he can for us and heals Kilwin, since he was hurt the worst in the otyugh fight. Kilwin thanks him and exchanges hopes with the dwarf that Alethus may light their paths before the other party gathers their unconscious tabaxi companion and makes their way back to Malino’re.

Session 34
As the party gets ready to head west to the cave Quilius mentioned, they hear footsteps coming up the path behind them. They are very excited and relieved to see Slumberjack approaching them, bringing Pepega back to Reides. They tell Reides she was a delight to look after and offer their owl-sitting services whenever Reides wants. Reides is glad Pepega had a nice time! We fill Slumberjack in on the current hag situation and head for the cave.
 * Google Document (1-25-20)

At the cave entrance, the ground dips and we hear the sound of running water from inside. There’s footprints near the entrance to the cave, but it’s difficult to tell how old they are. Erak and Slumberjack take the lead with their darkvision, Reides and Marcyra hide in the middle, and Kilwin guards the rear while casting Light so he and Reides can see. Slumberjack sneaks through the first room of the cave, where everything is covered in vines. There’s water flowing northward on the east side of the room and place where the path abruptly drops off 15 feet at the north end of the room. Slumberjack is examining the drop as the rest of the party enters the room, not bothering to be stealthy. The vines begin to writhe and and one curls around Erak’s leg. He cuts the vine off, but the rest of the vines rise up and attack. Erak is immediately constricted. The plant turns out to resist fire and cold, so Marcyra and Reides are distressed. Sacred Flame hits, though! Erak breaks out of the vines, which turn their attention to Marcyra. She’s badly hurt! She manages to squirm out and hides in the hallway behind Kilwin. Reides hits the vines with harpoon and follows her. Erak slashes the vines apart until the plant stops moving. We hear worrisome cackling that we think is from deeper in the cave but still sounds like it’s coming from behind us. We hate to hear it! While Kilwin heals Marcyra, Reides examines the vines. It looks like a regular plant, but more muscular. It has one main vine with smaller vines coming off it, and its sap is very watery. Erak licks the vine and discovers it tastes very good. He also spots some small fruits forming on the vines, but they aren’t ripe yet. Reides wants to pick some, but Kilwin and Marcyra are opposed to trying to eat the plant that just tried to kill us, and Erak objects to picking fruit that isn’t ripe yet. Only Slumberjack supports Reides. Erak remembers saying he’d buy Kilwin a cow and wonders what happened with that. Kilwin says the cow was never actually bought but that’s perfectly fine. Reides admits he’s never seen a cow, and Kilwin offers to show him cows when they visit Cowersby, and Marcyra questions how he’s never seen one. Reides asks Marcyra if she’s ever seen a hippocampus. She hasn’t, and Reides says that’s how.

The flowing water looks like it’s shallow enough to wade through, but not without difficulty. We decide that the drop-off in the path would be safer to navigate after Erak uses his grappling hook to give the party a way to rappel down and climb back up when we’re ready to leave. At the bottom of the drop-off, there’s some water, but not nearly as much as the flowing water we passed by. There’s three doorways leading out of the hall the party finds themselves in, two of which have suits of armor standing on each side of them. As Erak leads the way into the hall, he smells something awful and rotting coming from the first, unguarded doorway. He waits for the rest of the party to climb down the rope and points out the smell and that he thinks the suits of armor are suspicious. Kilwin thinks they look normal, though. The smell from the room gets worse as we get closer to it. Erak looks in the room that the smell is coming from. He can’t see too far in, but he hears a crunching sound coming from deeper inside and manages to identify the smell as rotting meat. He backs out because he hates and we debate whether we want to try to ignore whatever’s in there or take care of it so it won’t attack us later. Kilwin tries to sneak back into the room to see if he can get a better look. As he approaches the source of smell (with Light still on), the smell gets so bad that Kilwin has to resist the urge to vomit. The crunching sound stops and Kilwin hears footsteps approaching him. He tries to run back out of the room, but before he gets very far, a seven-foot-tall creature appears. Its body resembles a ghoul’s, but it has a rotting ram’s head and its face is covered in pustules. The party hears a voice in their minds, calling for more food. Reides goes into the room and he absolutely hates to see it. Kilwin thinks this guy just isn’t right! Unfortunately, the creature seems to have a high cold tolerance. It hates to take radiant damage, though! Erak manages to get close to it, and it whips poison at him. Erak coughs and feels very sick for a moment but manages to shrug it off. Kilwin hits it with another blast of holy light, which brightens its body and engulfs it before it falls to the ground, dead. In the next room where the creature was, we find a large pile of discarded corpses, which the creature was feeding on. Kilwin says a prayer for them, but there’s not much we can really do for them, so we return to the hallway.

Reides uses Mage Hand to poke each of the suits of armor, saying boop every time. None of them react, though. Kilwin is about to try the second door, but there’s a large mirror with a keyhole and no handle, instead of a regular door. That spooks him, and Marcyra is reluctant to try picking the lock, so he moves to the third door, which is open. As he approaches the doorway, though, the suits of armor reach out their arms to block his path. He asks if he can go through, and the armor gets ready to attack. Kilwin tries to hit one with his mace, but doesn’t do a good job, and gets gently slapped by armor in return. Reides dodges some blows. Marcyra tries a new spell and lights her dagger on fire, but she doesn’t manage to stab the suit of armor in front of her. Reides hits one hard enough to disrupt the magic holding it together, and it clatters to the ground. One of the armors hits Marcyra very hard, but Reides destroys that one too. Kilwin manages to get another and Marcyra melts the last one a bit. Kilwin heals everyone up! Erak contemplates breaking the mirror to see what happens, but Kilwin thinks it’s a bad idea, so we decide to go through the third door and look for a key in the meantime. The third door leads to an empty room with a door and a set of stairs leading down on the north side, and another passageway leading from the southwest corner of the room. At the bottom of the stairs, there’s a room with a fire in it. Kilwin thinks we may have found the hags! Erak goes down the stairs and sees that the fire is roughly in the shape of a wolf. As he tries to stealthily scout out the next room, a piece of the animated armor that had attached itself to Erak’s belt falls off and clatters down the stairs. The fire disperses to reveal a hellhound. Kilwin wants to see the dog until he actually sees it and does not like it. Marcyra says hello to it and calls it a good doggy in Infernal and is surprised when it seems to understand her. She asks if he’s going to be a good boy! The hellhound snarls and she realizes that he will not. The hellhound runs up the stairs and bites Erak, which blocks passage into the chamber. Slumberjack shrugs because they can’t get at the hellhound to attack it at all. Marcyra lands a hit on the hellhound, but it turns out to be completely immune to fire, so she can’t really do much and backs away. The hellhound breathes a cone of fire at the remaining party members. Erak and Reides manage to avoid the worst of the flames, but Kilwin just gets blasted. Erak grabs the hellhound and manages to throw it farther into the room, which allows Slumberjack to join in on the action and behead it.

Reides examines the room for signs of the hags and finds a summoning circle placed where the hellhound was originally standing. The materials used in the circle match the ones used in the summoning circle for the otyugh we fought earlier. It seems like the hellhound was bound to this room, and they’re usually summoned as guards. We figure we’re getting close! The party is generally very beat up, so most of the party wants to take a short rest. Kilwin is worried that the hags might have captured someone while we were searching for them and that we can still save that person if we press on immediately, but Erak manages to talk him out of it. Erak suggests going back to the room with the armor since we’ve cleared the surrounding rooms, but Kilwin asks if he really wants to rest in the room with the big creepy mirror, so we stay in the hellhound room. Erak uses his Bag of Tricks to summon some animal friends: a giant badger, a boar, and a giant elk, which is very giant! It takes up roughly half the room and looks very uncomfortable. Kilwin immediately loves the elk and wants to pet it. It looks very uncomfortable and Kilwin worries it’s because he’s petting it, but he manages to discern that it’s just uncomfortable because it’s way too big for this room and also won’t be able to fit through the doors. It doesn’t seem to mind being pet, though. Everyone feels very bad! Kilwin tells the elk that he hopes to meet it again under better circumstances, and it seems to nod. Erak apologizes for summoning it into such an uncomfortable place and feeds it two of his non-meat rations, which he tries to improve by seasoning.

After the hour passes uneventfully, we’ve finished tending to our wounds, and Erak tells the badger and boar to cuddle up with the elk to keep it company and hopefully make it slightly less uncomfortable. Erak enters the next room and immediately sees a pile of dead and unconscious elves, in various states of transformation into hags. He also sees a trio of hags, who thank the party for letting them take their time in completing their coven and creating a Hag Eye. They invite the party into the room, and one of them shows off an amulet that looks like an eyeball on a chain. Erak and Kilwin (who is very mad) rush in to attack. Marcyra tries to hit the hags with a fireball, but one of them disrupts the spell. Marcyra hates it! One of the hags casts a spell that sends Erak into a twisted and hellish version of his hunting dream. Reides manages to shoot that hag with Harpoon, though, and almost immediately breaks her concentration. A hag tries to send Reides into a nightmare and he sees the image of a prison door, but he resists the spell. Kilwin gets poisoned, and another hag turns Erak into a frog. Everyone panics, but Reides realizes the spell is Polymorph and, while it’s not something he can cast yet, it can be broken if someone hits Erak. Reides runs up and smacks Erak’s frog form, turning him back into a man. Erak ribbits from the ground as Reides runs back to the other side of the room. Kilwin and Reides get completely wrecked by a lightning bolt, as one of the hags boasts of unlimited power. Slumberjack runs over to Kilwin to heal him, and gets slashed by the hag they were engaging in the process. One of the hags gives Kilwin visions of his friends lying in pools of their own blood, but resists the pull of the nightmare. Eventually, Erak manages to cleave one of the hags down, breaking up the coven. A shattering sound comes from the pocket of the leftmost hag as the Hag Eye breaks. Erak, who had been plunged into another nightmare, is immediately freed from it. Reides zaps a hag with his own lightning bolt, now that the hags can’t use Counterspell anymore. One of the hags attempts to use Vicious Mockery on Kilwin and tells him that Alethus won’t save him. He says that she’ll actually save them all, but manages not to get distracted from the hag that the party is focused on. After Kilwin smacks that hag, she dies from residual damage from Reides’s Acid Arrow. The last hag turns invisible. Reides steps away from the doorway to cast Thunderwave. There’s a loud boom, but nothing appears. Kilwin steps over to block the doorway, even though there’s a giant elk on the other side of the doorway that the hag would have to get past. He tries to hit two different spots, but doesn’t manage to turn up the hag. Erak casts Faerie Fire but doesn’t reveal the hag either. He then walks toward the south end of the room with his hand outstretched, until he feels a figure standing near the wall. He found her! We try to whack her, but it’s hard because she’s invisible. She manages to break free from the circle that the party forms around her, but she seems to track mud with her. Reides knows he can get her with Thunderwave, but is worried because he can’t sculpt the spell around the entire party. Erak says it’s fine to hit him with it and encourages him to just do it before he loses his nerve. Erak gets electrocuted and slammed against the wall, and the hag appears next to him, also thrown against the wall. Still sparking with electricity, Erak slams his sword against the wall, decapitating the hag.

Session 35
With the hags defeated, Kilwin turns his attention to the pile of partially transformed elves. He determines that he can save some of the elves, but there’s some he can only make more comfortable while they’re dying. He casts Prayer of Healing, reviving as many of the elves as he can. Their skin is green and they have boils, but their symptoms are quickly starting to fade. They’re still very disoriented and can’t talk yet, but seem to understand that the party is trying to help them. Kilwin suggests that we go back to Malino’re and get proper medical attention for the elves, and asks the elves if they can walk. Some can, and they help the others who can’t get moving. The party also notices that the vice headmaster of the druid school is among the dead elves. The party discusses coming back to the cave later and potentially escorting some elves back to take care of the dead, but one of the elves puts their hand on Kilwin’s shoulder, shakes their head, points to the bodies, and claps their chest, indicating that they’ll take care of the bodies themselves. On our way out, the party apologizes to the giant elk for leaving it behind. The giant elk regally accepts our apologies, and the elves are very confused as to why there’s a legendary creature in this cave.
 * Google Document (2-1-20)

We make it back to Malino’re safely, and guards sprint up to us to start administering aid to the injured elves. Lianthorn is with the guards and tells us he’s glad we made it back, especially after what he heard about Quilius’s group. He tells Reides that Wyrran is probably especially glad that he’s safe. He says Reides doesn’t have to take him out tonight, although Reides says he promised and wants to do it now. Lianthorn mentions he might want to clean up a bit first. He asks us to tell him what happened on our way to the inn, so Kilwin mostly fills him in. Lianthorn says it’s good that we were able to save anyone. Kilwin is still a little down that we couldn’t save more people, although Marcyra admits she wasn’t expecting us to be able to save anyone and even Reides admits we were a little too optimistic to think we could save anyone. Lianthorn tells us that the reward will probably be small, but that the elders are truly grateful.

At the inn, we get some elven soup with wine or water, whichever we prefer. We’re all singed, although the static has dispersed from everyone who got zapped at least. Marcyra, who has already magically cleaned herself, offers to help Reides get ready for his date. Reides says he’s not sure it’s really a date, but Kilwin is pretty sure it is! Marcyra says that if even Kilwin thinks it’s a date, it almost definitely is, but tries to reassure Reides that it could still be casual. The innkeeper shows Reides to a washroom where he manages to make himself presentable again. After a bit of waiting, Lianthorn comes back to the inn, dragging Wyrran along. Wyrran has changed out of his guard armor into nicer clothes, including a sleeveless vest that shows off his arms. Lianthorn drags Wyrran next to Reides and gives him a hearty slap on the back. Wyrran briefly makes eye contact with Reides, and Reides notices that Wyrran is bright red before Wyrran hurriedly looks away. Wyrran asks how the hag-slaying went, and Reides says it was okay, although he got zapped. Wyrran is immediately deeply concerned and starts examining Reides for injuries, even though Reides says he’ll be fine. Wyrran gets very embarrassed and lets go of Reides’s arm once he realizes he’s holding it. He offers Reides a bandage, though, since he carries them around to tend to injuries on the job, and Reides gratefully accepts it. Lianthorn announces that he’s heading back to the guardpost and tells Wyrran not to stay out too late. Wyrran is mortified!

Wyrran apologizes to Reides for Lianthorn’s overenthusiasm. Reides thinks he seems like a boisterous guy and isn’t too bothered! Reides says they seem close and asks if they’re childhood friends or something. Wyrran says that he and Lianthorn have been friends for a long time, definitely before they went to the academy. Wyrran clarifies that “the academy” is really not anything impressive. Reides thinks it’s nice that Wyrran has someone looking out for him, although he tells Wyrran that he thinks he can take care of himself too. Wyrran explains that the guardpost is like a little family and while it’s hard helping people and you can’t save everyone, he finds worth in the work he does and the people you do manage to save are important. They have a saying, “For those we have lost, for those we can still yet save.” Reides thinks that’s very nice! Meanwhile, Marcyra is listening intently and Kilwin is doing a very bad job of pretending to not pay attention. Reides offers to buy Wyrran a drink, but Wyrran says he’s kind of a lightweight so he’d rather not. Marcyra is still watching Reides and Wyrran intently, and Wyrran looks at her nervously. Reides convinces Wyrran to accept a single drink, and insists on buying, even though Wyrran says he should buy the drinks because Reides dealt with the hags. Wyrran gives in, though, and lets Reides pick out a drink for him, since he doesn’t know much about alcohol. Reides picks out a local spiced ale for Wyrran and gets one for himself too. It gets imported to Port Valor, so he’s had it before and knows it’s not too strong, so he thinks Wyrran will be able to handle it. The innkeeper tells Reides that it’s on the house, since he’s getting Wyrran out of the guardpost. As Reides and Wyrran head out, Kilwin tells them to have fun and be responsible, but Reides says no promises. Kilwin is alarmed! Marcyra teases Wyrran a little, but admits she’s just being mean. Reides says that’s how she shows affection, which shuts Marcyra up immediately.

Reides and Wyrran walk through the festival grounds, passing people selling arts and crafts, including some sculptures. Reides is really interested! He asks if a lot of people come to the Bloomshower Fest, but Wyrran says a lot of people can’t make it out because it’s hard to navigate the forest. Reides says they’re lazy, but Wyrran points out that the forest is hard for people without darkvision to navigate. Reides admits he doesn’t have darkvision and Wyrran panics and offers to guide him around if it gets too dark for him. Reides is fine right now, but says Wyrran can guide him anyway. Wyrran asks if they can get some roasted nuts, and Reides excitedly agrees. The nuts are relatively cheap, so Wyrran insists on covering it. They share a bag and while they’re very salty, they’re also very good. Reides says they’re the best nuts he’s ever had! Wyrran asks if there’s anything that Reides wants to do and mentions the games. Reides gets excited and mentions that he won the ring toss game. Wyrran is impressed! Wyrran tells Reides about a new game with an enchanted hook that picks up prizes, and Reides wants to try it out.

On their way to the games, Reides and Wyrran pass an elf singing a ballad. Reides thinks it’s pretty, but doesn’t understand any of it. Wyrran loves this song and explains that it’s about the war between the dryads and druids. The subject shifts to the druid school for a bit and Reides complains that the secretary wouldn’t shake his hand or high-five him. Wyrran asks what a high-five is, and Reides holds up his hand and asks Wyrran to gently smack it to demonstrate. Wyrran is too worried that he’ll accidentally hurt Reides and asks him to do the smacking. Wyrran holds his hand up and Reides just holds it, explaining that Wyrran was too scared of the smack so he wouldn’t do it. Wyrran is extremely red and asks what this is. Reides calls it the Reides Special, and Wyrran says he likes it. His hand gets too clammy pretty quickly, though, so he lets go. Wyrran asks Reides where he’s from, and Reides says he’s from underwater, specifically the ocean, pointing out his gills. Wyrran says he assumed Reides was from the sea, but didn’t want to presume, although he mentions salt in the air. Reides thinks this is extremely funny. Wyrran asks if he’s ever been sailing, and Reides says he’s done a little but mostly he swam. Reides thinks boats are weird and he prefers swimming, but he’s only been on one boat, so his experience might not be representative. Wyrran mentions that there’s a few ponds around if Reides wants to go swimming. Reides loves this idea. Wyrran takes Reides’s hand without thinking about it and starts to panic about being too forward. Reides likes it though. Wyrran calls himself a nervous wreck, but Reides says it’s charming. Wyrran admits he feels a bit better holding Reides’s hand.

The crane machines are made from vines holding the hooks, which open and close with magic, and they’re filled with lots of plushes. Someone yells in frustration and leaves their machine, so Wyrran points out that it’s open! Reides asks if Wyrran wants to try, but Wyrran admits he’s really bad at it, so Reides gives it a try. He immediately wins a plushie of a small green creature with elven ears and big black eyes, wearing a little brown robe. Reides is instantly smitten! He asks Wyrran what he should name it and they settle on Yodito, which means “small green” in Elvish. Reides says that Yodito is his son now, and Wyrran comments that he never thought dads were especially cute before now. Reides thinks Wyrran should win something too, so Wyrran tries the game and comes close, but drops the prize too early. He’s very distressed, so Reides whacks the machine, which makes Wyrran more distressed because now he’s worried that Reides will break it and the elders will be mad. Reides gives it a second try and picks up a stuffed monkey. The crane very slowly moves back to the chute, eventually dropping the monkey right on the edge of the chute. Reides is very upset until the monkey falls off the edge, down the chute. He turns back to Wyrran, who is drenched in sweat and has completely messed up his hair. Reides gives the monkey to Wyrran, and Wyrran asks him to name it something in Primordial as a counterpart to Yodito. Reides names the monkey Winston, which means “wise one.” Wyrran says Winston looks like a very wise monkey and it almost looks like he’s wearing glasses. Winston doesn’t actually look like he’s wearing glasses, but Reides isn’t familiar with the concept, so he doesn’t really know.

Wyrran wants to get something for Reides to remember him by, since he knows Reides will be back on the road soon enough, and asks him what he likes. Reides says he likes most trinkets, so he’d rather have something that Wyrran likes so he can learn more about the surface. Wyrran considers getting Reides a book, since he thinks Reides would like that, but has another idea that he dismisses because he’s worried it might break while Reides is on the road. Wyrran really likes the glassblowing at the festival and wants to get Reides a glass trinket. Reides says he’ll find a way to keep it safe. They head back to the glassblowing station and Wyrran gets a glass bow for Reides, since Wyrran’s an archer and he wants something Reides can remember him by. Wyrran is also starting to seem more confident. He wants to stop by Hyalin’s tent to get her to bless it for Reides, but Reides is a little nervous about going back there! She read Reides. Wyrran laughs at the pun, and Reides tells him he should laugh more because he has a nice one. Wyrran admits he doesn’t laugh much around the other guards, but Reides says he should laugh at them because they’re stupid, but fun stupid. Wyrran respects that Reides doesn’t want to see Hyalin again and offers to go by himself, but Reides says he’ll come and hopefully have a better experience this time.

At Hyalin’s tent, Reides and Wyrran pass another group of elves, gossiping about their fortunes. Inside, Hyalin recognizes them both and Wyrran asks her to give the bow a blessing to keep Reides safe, but only with the good blessings. Hyalin very suggestively refers to Reides as Wyrran’s “friend” and takes the bow to the back, where she does some magic. She hands it back and tells Reides and Wyrran that the stars will guide them. As they leave the tent, Reides notices that the bow is glowing now. Wyrran says that Hyalin is really nice (Reides agrees even though he still thinks she’s unsettling) and that they’re actually distantly related. Wyrran admits that a lot of people take interest and gossip about his romantic prospects. Reides thinks this means Wyrran is popular, but Wyrran chalks it up to pity. He still thinks he’s lucky to have everyone though, and lucky to have Reides for the night. He immediately panics and swears he didn’t mean it like that. Wyrran offers to walk Reides back to the inn since it’s getting late, but Reides points out that it’s only 8 o’clock and they haven’t gone swimming yet. Wyrran thinks it’s a weird time to go swimming, but knows a relatively secluded pond where they can go. Wyrran is worried that Reides won’t be able to see, but Reides casts Light, which surprises Wyrran because he didn’t realize Reides could do magic. Wyrran wants to touch it, so Reides recasts the spell in Wyrran’s hands. Wyrran is captivated and immediately starts playing with the light. He bends down and notices an ant on the ground and starts talking to it. Reides loves this.

Reides and Wyrran make their way to the pond. It’s surrounded by benches and chairs woven out of plants, and there’s a gap in the canopy that lets the moonlight illuminate the area. The water is very calm and has some pond grass it in. Reides immediately dunks his head in. Wyrran just stands there, concerned, until Reides comes back up. They talk about how tritons talk underwater, and Reides says they just talk normally. Wyrran’s not sure how they can hear anything and suggests testing something out. Reides puts his head back underwater and Wyrran says something to see if Reides can understand him. Reides quite clearly hears Wyrran say that he thinks Reides is cute. When Reides comes back up and Wyrran says he probably couldn’t hear him, Reides just says that he thinks Wyrran is cute too. Wyrran puts his head in the pond and seems to be saying something, but when Reides sticks his head in to hear, he realizes Wyrran is just screaming. Reides apologizes for scaring him, but calls Wyrran bold for saying that to begin with. Wyrran swears he just thought Reides wouldn’t hear him, but Reides manages to calm him down. Wyrran and Reides both get ready to go swimming. Wyrran makes a neat pile for his clothes, while Reides kind of dumps his armor next to it. Wyrran asks about triton swimming styles and asks Reides to demonstrate, so Reides swims a few laps around him very quickly. Wyrran is really impressed, but Reides says there’s definitely tritons who swim faster, since he’s more of a bookish type. Wyrran admits that’s the impression he got! Wyrran asks Reides more about his home. Reides says that it’s nice underwater, although some weird stuff happened, but that wasn’t really the sea’s fault. Wyrran asks if Reides wants to talk about it, but Reides says it’s complicated. His home is a nice place, but his situation was unique and there were a lot of boundaries set for him, which made him feel suffocated. He feels like he can’t go home, but he does miss the sea. Wyrran asks if he would go back if his home situation was different, but Reides admits he can’t imagine his home without the things that made it terrible. Wyrran admits it’s a pipe dream, but he still wants to see Reides’s home, even though he’s pretty sure he can’t go underwater. Reides thinks there’s probably ways around that though. What Wyrran really wants, though, is for Reides to be happy. Reides says he’s very happy in the moment, and that’s what’s important. Wyrran splashes Reides, and Reides retaliates. Once they calm down, they spend some time floating peacefully together. Wyrran thanks Reides for the night, but Reides says he should be thanking Wyrran for taking him around and that he needed this. Yodito and Winston are sitting next to each other on the shore.

On their way back to the inn, Wyrran apologizes for taking Reides away from his friends for so long. Reides says it’s fine and that Kilwin will look after everyone. He describes him as the guy with the beard who’s responsible and the protective type. Wyrran says that Kilwin gives that impression and reminds him of Brumi, the dwarven cleric from Quilius’s party. Reides thinks that Kilwin and Brumi should be friends. At the inn’s doorstep, Reides says he might see Wyrran again before he leaves Malino’re, but that he understands if Wyrran would rather avoid saying goodbye. Wyrran says he appreciates goodbyes and wants to see Reides again before he goes. He turns away to leave, but Reides starts to act offended. When Wyrran turns back to see what’s wrong, Reides pulls him closer and gives him a small peck on the lips. Wyrran is extremely flustered, but stops Reides for one more thing, pulling him into a deeper, longer kiss, which Reides returns. When Wyrran leaves, he’s redder than ever, but smiling goofily. Once he thinks he’s out of Reides’s eyesight, he jumps in the air and walks back to the guardpost while gazing at Winston.

While Reides was out, Kilwin didn’t leave the inn because he was worried that he would cross paths with Reides and Wyrran, and it would seem like he was trying to chaperone them. Marcyra also stayed behind, getting tipsy with a far-off look in her eyes. Kilwin is in the process of chaperoning her instead when Reides returns, looking very satisfied and a little smug. Marcyra claps and Reides takes a little bow. Kilwin asks if he had fun, and Reides said he had a lot! Marcyra high-fives him. He shows everyone Yodito (who is universally loved) and the glass bow, which everyone thinks is very nice. Reides worries that it’ll break, so he wraps it up in the cape he bought before seeing the emperor. Kilwin offers to fix it with Mending if it does break. Before the party turns in for the night, Reides resumes the process of backing up his spellbook and Marcyra writes a letter to Victor.

In the morning, a somewhat disheveled messenger arrives at the inn to bring us before the Council of Elders so they can thank us for dealing with the hags. Normally, they would meet us at the festival grounds, but it’s a special occasion worthy of opening the council chamber. In the chamber, two of the council’s seats are left empty and Ninleyn sits at the center. He thanks us for saving a lot of people and offers to take care of our food and lodging costs for the rest of our stay in Malino’re. He says that the council will need to evaluate what’s been corrupted by the hags. He also asks why we came to Malino’re. Kilwin explains that we came south to slay Blighthorn and stopped in Malino’re to restock our supplies before we head for Laketon. Ninleyn offers to cover the cost of our supplies too. We say thank you! Marcyra and Kilwin head into the festival’s market. Marcyra finds a merchant heading to Port Valor and pays them to deliver her letter to Victor. Kilwin finds a jeweler’s tent and asks if he can buy a diamond. The jeweler is initially confused as to why he just wants a diamond until he realizes that Kilwin is a cleric shopping for spell components. He offers Kilwin the diamond at a discount, as thanks for his role in stopping the hags. Kilwin is taken aback, but accepts the generosity. The party stocks up on rations and Reides gets a few more crossbow bolts. The party starts discussing heading back to the hags’ cave, but they decide to delay a decision until Erak wakes up, since he’s sleeping in.