#firelight tales of exandria

[firelight-tales-of-exandria]

Firelight Tales of Exandria, Ch.16 part 2 - “Harmony in Dissonance”

When last we left off, our heroes had accomplished their mission and weathered the inquisition of the Margrave’s Westruun Shield, and been awarded the prize for the bounty they undertook. Amidst painful personal revelations, and no small amount of anxiety on their parts, they achieved everything they set out to, initially, only to be faced with a moral dilemma. The Margrave requested a private meeting with the party, revealing he was aware of the Clasp’s efforts to foment dissent within Westruun’s social circles against the Margrave’s rule. To this end, the Clasp enlisted a bounty hunter to apprehend Buddy, the Gnoll hunter the party saved, to act as a scapegoat to focus the city’s paranoia and xenophobic rancor upon, using their significant social pull to call for a public trial and , if need be, execution. The Margrave requested the group’s coucil on his course of action: acquit the obviously innocent bestial outsider and risk the wrath of the Clasp’s influence boiling over into open hostility, or continue with the sham trial and condemn an innocent being to death to quell the citizens’ bloodlust.

“Our heroes staunchly rejected both options, and instead proposed a third course of action: make contact with the Clasp, reveal that they had been manipulated by their own agent and his fey co-conspirator, and convince them to work together with the Margrave to stabilize the city’s tensions. The Margrave agreed to delay the situation until sundown the following day, before his hand was forced. The party, still without a concrete plan, retired to bed, and were suddenly woken by a vividly panicked Shadow, revealing a massive creature of living darkness attacking the Garrison. The party fled the Garrison, stalked by this creature, making their way to the Sloppy Satyr, where the party, assisted by Aeden and Dren, confronted the thing. Aeden fell in battle, and Dren stayed behind to tend his wounds, as the party headed out into the night, hoping to take Gortman by surprise.”

Shadow tries to make sense of the attack and process its consequences. Dren is in shock but stable, but the homeless bystander passed away during the attack. Shadow is plagued with guilt, but their friends try to comfort them and explain that none of this was their fault.

The party, convinced that Gortman was responsible for propagating Alma’s sickness within the townsfolk without the Clasp knowing, plan to capture him and use him as a bargaining chip to get the criminal organization to parley with the Margrave.

Shadow continues to beat themselves up, wishing they could immediately leave the city without being followed. Leaf makes a brief detour inside to inform Dren about the dead vagrant. Hoping to be done with this fiasco as soon as possible, Shadow bounds off toward the Bevy & Grub across the rooftops.

Leaf: “We are going to save the city now. Please take care of Aeden.”

Dren: “If it was coming from anyone else, I would think you were joking. Good luck.”

The rest of the party slink through the dark streets, all converging on the Bevy & Grub, Gortman’s home and place of business. Examining the storefront from the outside, Shadow sees the upper windows boarded up. Song believes there may be a secret entrance in the side alley, hidden under small mountains of refuse.

Ladryssa uses her new bond with her pseudodragon to scout the street from the sky. She sees Gortman approaching the tavern from the backstreet, and the party lays an ambush for him.

While laying in wait, the party tips their hand a few seconds too early and Gortman makes a puzzlingly hasty escape. Shadow and Leaf attempt to slow him with magic, which Gortman somehow counterspells.

Shadow manages to peg Gortman with an icy beam from a nearby rooftop, as the portly barkeep ducks down a cellar door in a nearby alleyway.

The party regroups before making their own descent into the cellar. Song, wanting to make sure though wouldn’t completely lose his trail, attempts to cast Locate Object to track Gortman via a rather personal body modification he is aware of, but gets no signal.

The staircase for this cellar is surprisingly long, and deposits the group into a dark section of the Underwalk Ward, in which Cezika notices faded Clasp signs.

Leaf spies a cold, soggy scrap of clothing on the ground, but it doesn’t seem to match the material Gortman was wearing.

Making their way down the tunnel in the direction of the scrap Leaf found, the party eventually reaches a dead end. Song, refusing to believe this is a dead end, pokes around the wall that Shadow and Cezika insist doesn’t have as secret door. Instead, Song finds a trigger that dumps the whole group down a stone ramp into a dark chamber below, directly into the knives of a Clasp ambush.

Cezika: “Anybody else reminded of their thirteenth birthday, or am I alone in that?”

Ladryssa: “You are alone in that.”

Song: “I am more reminded of my eighteenth birthday.”

The group finds Gortman, waiting for them in a dark alcove. As Song reveals the Clasp as being manipulated by the magic of the hag, Alma, Gortman’s voice rapidly shifts tone as he removes his own face. In its place is a roughly-stitched, two-tone ogre mask, and his body warps and shifts into a lanky frame, draped in rough canvas and leathers, hunkered down on a battered crate.

Song: “THAT’S WHERE THE DICK PIERCING WENT!”

The masked figure, identifying himself as Spireling Gholesh,  interrogates the party about their relation to Gortman and how they know about his connection to the sickness. The party, in turn, divulges their involvement with both the Clasp storehouse investigation, and fight in the farmland, and the bounty in the Bramblewood.

The masked figure asks one of his colleagues, Spireling Oalan, to verify the party’s claims. One of the black cloaked figures doffs her hood, revealing a grizzled dwarven woman’s scarred face and cold eyes. She holds Song’s genitals hostage as she asks a few pointed questions about the supposedly curse food Gortman is responsible for.

It seems the Clasp was not entirely aware of the extend of Gortman’s duplicity, only concerned with results. As they are all piecing things together, one of the Clasp cutthroats gets bit by a rat. A ghostly hand grasps the rodent, killing it, and the Spireling orders its brain to be examined, revealing it to be infused with the corrupting black ichor.

Song and Shadow propose that the Clasp and the Margrave work together to manage the city’s affairs, but without Gortman’s confession it would be hard for the Margrave to accept any claim made by the Clasp. At this, Gholesh dismisses his cohorts, after which he retrieves Gortman’s corpse from the crate and proceeds to question it using Speak with Dead.

The Spireling agrees to meet privately with the Margrave to parley for Westruun’s future, and sends the party away with instructions to prepare for the meeting. The group, exhausted and weary, makes their way back to the Margrave’s Manor.

Making their way back to the Manor, Margrave Brandon Zimmerset rushes down to meet the party in his nightgown. The group explains their encounter with the Clasp, and when Leaf explains one identified as a Spireling, that means they are serious. The Margrave passes on orders to prepare for their arrival.

The Margrave orders for his adjutants prepare quarters for the group for the night. Shadow insists on staying behind to speak privately with the Margrave.

Shadow later seeks out Nakiya and they talk about their mutual pasts of running from forces that sought to destroy them. Nakiya vows to stay by Shadow’s side if they are threatened again, which Shadow similarly pledges.

Leaf, wishing to sleep outside, is given an escort to take them to the Garrison parade grounds. Upon arriving, the firbolg sees the Garrison undergoing recovery operations after the dark spectre’s attack. A field infirmary has been set up in the parade ground where the dead and wounded are being tended to. Leaf insists on providing whatever manner of assistance they can. They have a brief heart-to-heart with their assigned guard, who in turn remarks that Leaf isn’t nearly as scary as he was lead to believe.

++PARTY LEVEL UP – LVL. 5++

When the party wakes the next morning, they are lured by the smell of hot breakfast from the dining hall, where they find the Margrave and Captain Aubren Sylvain taking breakfast with Spireling Gholesh and Spireling Oalan. The atmosphere is tense but apparently productive, as the two opposing powers have made headway in making arrangements to diffuse the hostilities in town and keep a tighter watch on smuggling and border patrol, as well as help form a political body elected by the townsfolk to help run Westruun.

Each party member is paid 20 platinum pieces each for their services in bringing this armistice about. Cezika retains Song’s cut of the party rewards, promising to give him an allowance, but both generally agree that he cannot be trusted with money.

Song asks the Spirelings if they know anything about a murder that took place in Emon ten years ago. Gholesh explains that Clasp cells that operate in different cities are fairly autonomous, so he can’t speak of the goings-on of other cells. However, as thanks for bringing this compromise about and pre-emptive gratitude for staying out of their way in the future, Gholesh gives Song a small pouch containing 10 chits that are vouchers for complementary lodging and board for a resort called “The Wishing Well” in Kymal.

Gholesh: “Those were given to me as a favor for doing something for someone out in Kymal. Why don’t you treat yourselves to a vacation?”

Cezika: “Oh good, I’ve wanted to go to Kymal.”

Song: “That’s really very generous of you.”

Leaf: “Are there fewer buildings in Kymal?”

Gholesh: “You could say so, but they tend to be busier.”

Leaf: “Oh no...”

Before the party leaves the Manor, Captain Aubren summons a Shield arcanist to remove the Arcane Marks that were applied to the group. The arcanist in question turns out to be Renault du Gaultier, who happily removes the marks and tells the party that Buddy is due to be discharged from the dungeon that afternoon.

As the party exists the gates of the Manor, Zeal is impatiently tapping her foot outside. Shadow rushes into a hug, and all of Zeal’s well-prepared and refined anger dissipates. She takes the group to the Satyr to check in on Aeden and Dren, leaving Renault with his wand in his hand.

The Sloppy Satyr is packed with haggard, scarred Shields, trying to drink away the events of the previous night, and Dren, who has never worked a bar a day in his life and knows next to nothing about alcohol, is overjoyed to see Zeal and her friends.

Downstairs in the cellar, Aeden is having a hard time holding it together, losing his composure when the party asks if he knows who the deceased vagrant is. Dren explains that Aeden tends to the lost and forgotten of Westruun, and he knows everyone who lives here or passes through, but he has no memory of this person. Leaf consoles Aeden, saying that the wind will remember them.

Aeden teeters on the verge of a breakdown, and Shadow has to excuse themselves, wracked with guilt. Song pleads with Shadow to make them see that none of this is their fault. Shadow is attempting to reconcile their long-seated sense of guilt with their friends’ desire to stay with them. Shadow also does not wish to go to Kymal, since the darkness they had been evading had nearly found them there once. Song is less concerned with fighting a living darkness and more concerned about what running from it all this time has done to Shadow’s sense of self.

Song: “I know you don’t want to ask, but we’ll be there, and just let me know if you need anything, or if you need to talk, or if you need to not talk, or if you need me to not talk (cause that’s very important), I know I definitely need to not talk sometimes.”

With the strife in Westruun behind him, Song admits that he is trying to be more optimistic about his prospects and the group of friends he has found. Shadow says it fits Song and they agree to stay for the time being.

Song attempts to reconcile with the still miffed Zeal by plying her with puns, and she assigns him cleanup duty in the bar.

Shadow checks on Aeden, who tries to get up and work, but the party insists he rests. Dren and Leaf take the dead vagrant’s body to the Temple of the Platinum Dragon to lay him to rest, while the rest of the party helps Zeal run the bar.

Nakiya and Aeden share a moment before she rejoins the group.

Zeal is mad that Dren made her stay behind when the attack happened last night. The party tries to assure her that she can help next time there is mortal danger. Zeal tosses her towel at Cezika and tells her to watch the bar and storms out. Leaf sees Zeal barge into the Temple and drag Dren into the rectory, and waits outside through the following five minutes of shouting. Zeal asks Leaf if they are going to stick around for a couple days and to pass along a note to the rest of the party.

Leaf goes back to the Satyr. Song asks if Zeal is still mad at him and when Leaf says she isn’t he immediately becomes worried. Cezika reads her note first:

Zeal’s Note: “Please come to the Temple in two days for the Oathbinding ceremony.”

Shadow: “I love weddings.”

Song: “WHAT?!”

[stitchcasual]

Session 5 quotables!!

“Well, it could just be full of assholes.” 

“Most things are.” 

“No matter what happens today, I think I have a plan.” 

farmer, about Shadow (the tabaxi): “biggest darn polecat I ever saw on my fence.”

“make Westruun great again.” - that farmer NPC

“We’ve gone from Dungeons and Dragons to Stardew Valley” - DM, after the party considers killing this farmer and settling down on his land

“We can come back and murder him later.”

“What did you say to it?”

“I just said hello.”

“Remind me not to say hello to you anymore.”

“Silly city-folk, wolves not shenans.” - Buddy the gnoll, after Song the bard calls the situation with the wolves “shenanigans”

“You did everything you could.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Sometimes the best you can do isn’t everything you can do.”

“How far is the dumbass from me?” -  Cezika the rogue to the DM

“...You’ll have to be more specific.” - DM

“I wanna get up on its booty.”

[foxnonny]

A piece I wrote for my punkass little emo boy and resident disaster bi, Song the Bard. I’ve been fiddling with it for weeks and might do a full orchestration at some point but this is the gist (and yes, there’s lyrics) (no, I do not sing them for this track) (yes I hate the flute sample but there’s only so much you can do with midi and I was too lazy to track down a better sample for a personal project). 

If you wanna keep up with the campaign you should check out our page at @firelight-tales-of-exandria! Everyone involved in it is an absolute gem and I’m having a blast. 

[thewilytouchstone]

This, in hindsight, was oddly prophetic for tonight’s session of @firelight-tales-of-exandria

[firelight-tales-of-exandria]

Firelight Tales of Exandria, Ch.16 part 1 - “Absolving the Scapegoat”

So, I’d like to thank you all for coming, and let’s tell some stories...

“History is replete with events that can easily be traced: events caused by other events; events that, in turn, cause other events. Some: innocuous, everyday, entirely unworthy of mention. Some: having profound consequences; events that reverberate though history. At first they may seem beneath notice, little more than a drop in a still pond, but as with the pond, the waves of that drop radiate outward forming larger and larger rings of causality.

“A people from a foreign land arrive to find an unspoiled continent; and then, ambitious raiders from across the sea seize that land and install a new empire. An emperor, iron-fisted, rules from an unshakable throne, sending his populace into dismay and panic; and then, a single dissenting voice speaks up, rousing a chorus of others to join them to depose the tyrant.

“A thousand years of peace, ancient dangers and threats long forgotten, banished from the history and minds of those who lead their contented lives; and then, tearing through portals in the fabric of reality, winged terrors scour the land, some acting upon primal impulses to feed and destroy, others enacting long-burning vengeance, with machinations to send the world into a thousand years of darkness; and then, small bands of resistance come together, disparate peoples from all walks of life rally around a cause, spearheaded by a small, seemingly un-noteworthy group, but their deeds become a rallying cry to inspire countless others to stand up and lay claim to their own futures, to depose the tyranny of the powerful and fulfill the promise of freedom.

“A tavern, tucked away into the dark corners of a city at a crossroads, where, one by one, disparate wanderers, some seeking, some running, but all manage to come together in the most unpredictable and unassuming of fashions, coming together out of common necessity, then of newfound camaraderie, and finally out of a shared purpose to set things right; and in a single moment, a decision is made, a course of action laid out, and the consequence yet to be played out...”

“And then...”

Cezika and Song return to the room after their long talk with Zeal. Cezika proceeds to push Song onto one of the barracks beds.

Shadow, whispering to Leaf: “Courtship ritual?”

Song: “This isn’t what it looks like: I am taking a nap.”

Song takes his lute in his lap and begins tuning it, claiming that it helps him sleep. The rest of the party watches as he absently strums for a bit, before lazily settling into a mellow lullaby. Eventually, Song falls asleep, but one of his arms continues to move in a steady rhythm, as if conducting an orchestra. After a few minutes, his movements soon become erratic and spastic, and his hand comes down across on the lute strings, sending out an unearthly, discordant tone that pierces the minds of the whole party like a dagger. When the pain subsides, they all see Song slumped on the bed, motionless, not breathing, and bleeding from the eyes, nose, and ears.

Leaf rushes to Song’s side, healing him and pulling him back from death’s door, and his eyes fly open. Song seems genuinely surprised that everyone else was affected.

Song apologizes for unintentionally hurting the party. It seems he has developed abilities that allow him to possibly peek into and affect the future through his dreams (possibly inherited from his mother), but he still has no idea of how exactly it works.

Song tries to explain that he was attempting to divine the true situation of Westruun and what course of action the party should take, and that manifested in the form of a spectral concerto played by the members of the party. Song changed the key of the piece according to which forces would bring about different resolutions: the Margrave, the Clasp, and Alma the hag. The key involving the Margrave and the Clasp together produced the most satisfying tune, tremulous but stable, but the last one that Song attempted was a key without any of those three factors, producing the otherworldly feedback that hurt everyone.

Ladryssa: “What did it feel like?”

Song: “It was mathematically perfect and existentially empty.”

Shadow: “What does that mean?”

Song: “I don’t know.”

Song says, as far as he understands it, their best bet is to somehow get the Margrave and Clasp to cooperate or at least coexist if they want any hope of saving Westruun.

Ladryssa: “We want the city to still be standing.”

Leaf: “It is weird and full of buildings, but it does not deserve to go away. There are people here that I like.”

The party tries to figure out how to show the Margrave and the Clasp that there is a sickness eating away at the city, without killing people and taking out their rotted brains.

Song thinks the Clasp is making a play for the Margrave’s seat of power, possibly using Buddy, or even themselves, as scapegoats. The how and why still eludes the group.

The curiosity Song’s visions comes back into play, so he produces the sheet music he has been writing in his sleep. It is a mess of notes written in various mediums (ink, blood, etc.), and it is incomprehensible to most of  the party, but Song can hear it in his head even without studying the measures.

After Song joking about the party dying tomorrow, Shadow floats the idea of running away again, but the rest of them remain unconvinced Buddy would survive if they abandoned him. The party agrees that they can’t do this alone, and they make plans to ask Dren and Zeal for help, and possibly warn Nellywicke to leave the city.

As the party ask the guards to let them leave to talk to their friends, they are summoned early to speak with the Margrave. The party is escorted to the Margrave’s manor, up to his private office.

Margrave Brandon Zimmerset waits for the party, accompanied by his adjutant, Captain Aubren Sylvain. The party is asked to sit, and the Margrave waits impatiently for them to comply. He extends the gratitude of Westruun to the party for resolving the encroaching corruption, but regrets that the troubles for the city remain unresolved.

The Margrave explains that the competing claims on the bounty, their link to the murder at the barracks, and the mounting civil unrest with regards to the long-standing martial law of the city have raised the suspicions of the Shields. Their own investigation has concluded that the Clasp are using this situation to stoke resentment against the Margrave’s authority within the city’s populace, and are using Buddy’s reputation as an outsider within the community and his status as a suspect to drive a wedge between them.

The party reaffirms the Margrave’s suspicions about Gortman’s role in the current tension and his arrangement with the Clasp. Zimmerset explains that the murder victim from the barracks was actually the one who brought in Buddy, and suspected to have done so under contract from the Clasp. The intelligence gathered by the Shields leads the Margrave to believe that the Clasp is attempting to set up Buddy as a scapegoat the city’s discontented can project their grievances on: a non-human outsider, a part of the “law-biding society’s” fringe, once who comes from the very parts of the wilderness that were threatening the safety of the city itself.

As preposterous as this is, the influence of some of the members of this movement within the community have lobbied for Buddy’s trial to be made public. The Margrave is then presented with a dilemma: let the trial proceed as normal, revealing Buddy to be innocent and setting him free, making the Masrgrave seem weak and unwilling to mete out “justice”; doctor the trial’s evidence to find Buddy guilty and unjustly execute him for treason and murder, sating the crowd’s bloodthirst and diffusing tensions at the cost of legitimizing their insular, xenophobic agenda.

The Margrave, sworn to uphold the sanctity of the law, yet knowing the long-term ramifications of such action, asks the party’s council. The party, in turn, vehemently rejects both options and instead suggests a third course of action: make contact with the Clasp and offer to work together to have them diffuse the fervor and establish stability in the region.

At first, the Margrave is outraged, wanting to concede nothing to the criminal element that was responsible for this mess in the first place. However, through their fight with Alma, the party has reason to believe that the Clasp was being manipulated as well and if it could be proven they may be open to negotiation. Captain Aubren concedes the point, making note of the Clasp’s role in saving Emon’s people during the occupation by Thordak, the Cinder King, and their subsequent aid in rebuilding the metropolis.

Speaking of the corrupting influence of Alma’s malady, Shadow raises the question of loyalty within the ranks of the Shields, makiong mention of the Margrave’s assistant. The Margrave assures Shadow that he trusts his life to Captain Aubren. The Margrave and his aid then produce keys that, in-unison, open a secure drawer of the Margrave’s desk; and some members of the party begin to wonder to themselves the history, circumstances, and true depth of their relationship (the kind that would be found in any cheaply-printed, tawdry, copper-dreadful romance novel, drafted out of context and wholly lacking any basis in truth, yet passed around in secret among tittering youths and gossip-mongering housemarms).

The Margrave produces stacks of golds coins to pay the party’s bounty, while regrettably rescinding part of it as compensation for their obstruction of the investigation. He then counts out several other small stacks of platinum coins, while bemoaning that he cannot officially charge the party with carrying out a clandestine operation to confront the Clasp to dismiss Buddy’s trial and bring about a peaceful resolution to the unrest of the city’s agitators. Getting the hint, the party agree but are told the Margrave can only delay Buddy’s trial so long, and a sentence must be reached by sundown tomorrow.

The group are returned to their barracks pad to plan and rest for the next day. They reach a consensus that Gortman is the key, as he has been present at the meetings that rile up the town, and his bar was guarding the storehouse that housed sickness-infested foods that were being distributed about the town.

Shadow is violently awakened in the middle of the night by the magic of their pendant, as they peer out into the night to see barely-visible motes of darkness descend from the moonlight sky. One of these shadowy apparitions lands in the barracks parade grounds and the Shield guards immediately confront it, only to be batted away, their life-essence drained amidst screams of agony.

Shadow loudly rouses the rest of the party, begging for them to flee. The party bursts out of their pad, running off amidst the chaos of battle. Shadow mounts the rooftops of the barracks and makes his escape over the battlements, Cezika climbing and sprinting after him. The apparition disengages from the desiccated mass of guards to follow them, and Nakiya breaks into the abandoned quartermaster’s office to recover the party’s weapons and equipment in the confusion.

Song, Leaf, Ladryssa, and Nakiya lose sight of Shadow and Cezika, but guess that it would be logical they regroup at a place they all know and feel safe at: The Sloppy Satyr.

As Shadow flees from the Garrison, they see the withered figure of an ashen-skinned elf, intently spying the calamity from a distant rooftop. As Shadow attempts to evade their spectral pursuer, they lose sight of the elf.

The apparition flies after Shadow, despite their efforts to lose it. Making a sharp turn near the Satyr, the roiling figure of darkness stops trailing the frantic tabaxi, only to turn its attention to a drunk vagrant outside the tavern’s walls. Shadow, seeing another victim at their pursuers mercy, decides to stand their ground, attacking the apparition as it makes to suck the life from the bystander.

The spectral creature is somewhat fazed by Shadow’s magic, and as it turns its attention back to them, a streak of holy fire descends from the sky to briefly envelop the spectre. Aeden, the owner of the Sloppy Satyr, comes to the petrified vagrant’s aid, only to be enveloped in the shadowy tendril’s of the apparition’s grasp. The rest of the party arrives on the scene to see Aeden brought low by the creature. As they make ready to pepper it with whatever feeble attacks they can muster, the party sees a flash of holy light pierce the creature as Dren banishes the darkness.

Nakiya and Dren take Aeden down into his bunk in the Satyr’s cellar, as the rest of the party tends to Shadow’s shock and fear. Leaf and Nakiya minister to the haggard barkeep, as he shivers and murmurs his dead wife’s name.

Shadow relates the horrifying history of his clan’s demise at the hands of a massive being or force of living darkness, whispered only as Sin or Oblivion, and their escape with the aid of their Mother’s Mother, who gave them the amulet which alerts Shadow to its presence. Shadow also reveals that their brief contact with the force/creature had bestowed some manner of its power onto them. After Mother’s Mother gave her life to cover their escape from Syngorn, Shadow has been running ever since.

Song asks Dren if he has any insight into what this darkness actually is, but he is at a loss, only saying that it reeks of death. The priest suggests that if they wish to learn more, they should consult either the sages of the Dawnfather (a god of light and life) or the acolytes of the Matron of Ravens (the guardian of the balance of death and renewal).

Dren: “Aeden... Now I know what you’ve seen... It’s why you couldn’t run. It’s why you wouldn’t.”

The party insists on protecting Shadow, in spite of their protests and refusal of their sacrifice on their behalf; whether they choose to run or stand and fight, they will stand by their friend’s side no matter what is searching for them.

Song says, even thought they are deprived of rest and wounded, they should make the best of the situation and go searching for Gortman in the middle of the night. Nakiya reluctantly leaves Aeden’s side, and Song and Cezika ask Dren to keep Zeal safe. Preparing to hunt a misanthropic toady of a menacing thieves guild, the party sets out into the cool night air.

[firelight-tales-of-exandria]

Firelight Tales of Exandria, Ch.14 - “Wine, Women, and Song”

Thank you for coming, now let’s tell some stories...

“When last we left our heroes, Song had laid bare the circumstances of his past, which from he has spent the better part of a decade running. The rest of the party tried to reassure him that things weren’t as dire as he believes, only to be cornered in their favorite tavern by a squad of Shields interrogating Aeden, the owner of the Sloppy Satyr. The group hatched an escape plan to spirit Nakiya away, believing her to be the target of the investigation as a possible witness to murder, only to discover that it may have been Song the Shields were looking for the whole time.

“Thanks to some quick thinking and spell-slinging on the part of Shadow, the party made it out of the tavern without being detained, but was forced to temporarily split up. Leaf, Cezika, Ladryssa, and Shadow met up with Dren, the local high priest of the Platinum Dragon, to inquire about the apparent strife between he and Aeden. Dren bared the emotional scars of his past, but was comforted by the party and some potent medicinal tea. Meanwhile, Song and Nakiya escaped to the Underwalk Ward, where they patched up the tension from earlier that day. Nakiya bid Song farewell before heading back to the Garrison, leaving the Bard alone once more in the dark, desolate vaults and tunnels beneath Westruun.”

Nakiya returns to the Westruun Garrison barracks on full alert. Expecting to be detained for escaping, she is merely confined to quarters until the current situation with the murder investigation is under control.

With Leaf, Ladryssa, and Dren subdued by the TranquiliTea, Cezika and Shadow attempt to track down Zeal for a heart-to-heart while waiting for their friends to sober up.

Cezika and Shadow wander through the temple domicile for a bit, before being directed to the kitchen by the clergy. They eventually find her at work, absentmindedly lost in her chores for the day.

Cezika asks to talk in private, and Zeal eagerly blows off her duties to go drink in the courtyard garden with her friends, much to the annoyance and disapproval of her fellow Scales.

Zeal and Cezika sit under a tree while Shadow pokes about the garden. Cezika admits to reading Song’s letter to Zeal, which immediately embarrasses the tiefling who immediately hits the bottle of wine Cezika brought as a peace offering.

Cezika and Zeal spend a bit of time bonding over their mutual gripes about authority, fashion, and social expectations. While the other Scales would dismiss it as frivolous “girl talk”, Cezika could easily pick up on Zeal’s subtext; the young tiefling woman’s frustration with the lifestyle of her order, their attempts to stymie her individuality, and her deep-seated resentment towards having to live with her heritage.

Zeal confesses that, in spite of not knowing Song for long, his saying goodbye in such an impersonal manner shook her deeply, hitting upon deep abandonment issues.

Cezika reveals that she was abandoned too: found on a beach about the age of two or three.

Cezika: “The way that I always figured is if our parents were worth a shit they wouldn’t have abandoned us, so we are better off without them. Obviously they were terrible people.

Zeal: “Well, you didn’t need them whoever they were.”

Cezika: “Family is more than blood. Family is an ever-changing garden: sometimes plants die, new ones are grown, ones are brought in from far away, you tend to it, you treasure it, but it changes. It’s what you make of it.”

Zeal: “You know, for a second there, I thought you were going to say something pretentiously pious and attempting to be deep, like Dren does, but then you went with ‘gardening’ and then you kept my interest. So I will give you points for that.”

The girls bond over their shared disdain for bland cooking. Cezika promises to send spices from Marquet.

Cezika admits to baring her soul to the group in private and then bullying Song into sharing his. She says that in spite of the result of the letter, his intentions were honorable.

Cezika: “I don’t think [Song] knows how to be earnest with people that he actually cares about. I think he’s used to being a performer; showing a version of himself that he thinks people will accept without trusting himself that who he is is what we actually want to see. So he puts on this front. He’s trying to be who he thinks he should be-- who we want him to be. He needs to be himself. When he is honest he is quite likable, but it’s hard to lean into that sincerity.”

Zeal: “Y’know, for as much as I don’t want to give that insufferable little twink any credit... THAT I can completely relate with.”

Zeal is completely blindsided by the fact that Cezika thinks she and Song would make “ridiculously attractive babies.”

The hard truth of the life Zeal lives (a child of demonic blood, raised in a militant religious order, often sent off to fight and die against grave threats) meant that she thinks that she could never have a deep, long-term relationship.

Cezika and Shadow explain that Song is afraid the scrutiny of the Margrave’s investigation would reveal a dark secret he has been running from.

Cezika: “He’s worried about something that could be made public: the Margrave releases his identity, people who are after him find out and they come for him, and it’s a whole bunch of murder.”

Zeal: “Oh gods, I was right; he is a creeper.”

Shadow: “He is noble.”

Zeal: “He’s a noble?!”

Shadow: “What he did was a noble thing.”

Zeal: “Oh!”

Shadow unintentionally guilts Zeal into fully admitting her feelings for Song and how much that vulnerability and loss of control frightens her.

Shadow: “You are scared that you cannot control his actions?”

Zeal: “Pretty sure he’d let me control his actions if I wanted to, but...”

Cezika: “I mean, that is an entirely different conversation.”

Shadow: “I am confused.”

Zeal: “You’ll find out when you’re older.”

Shadow: “What does that mean?”

Zeal: “I don’t know, it’s just something Dren says.”

Shadow and Cezika explain that even though Song is in hiding he still refuses to leave the city. After recalling the confrontation with the Shields at the Satyr, Zeal becomes suddenly concerned. She explains that when the Shields start pulling at threads, their facade has to be iron-clad.

According to Zeal, whatever Song is running from may not be something the Shields could arrest him for unless they are absolutely sure he is guilty, but lying to the inquisitors investigating the party is absolutely a crime. As hard as it may be, she suggests they talk to Song and get him to come in to clear everything up.

Cezika offers to show Zeal Dren high on TranquiliTea, which Zeal jumps at and berates Cezika for not telling her sooner and delaying her with “personal bullshit.”

Cezika: “Sometimes it is worth going through the emotional bullshit. It hurts, but all wounds heal.”

Zeal: “...You have very pretty eyes.”

Cezika: “I know, everyone keeps telling me this.”

Cezika, Shadow, and Zeal come back to the rectory to find Dren and Leaf exploring the mystery of bees and Ladryssa is trying to talk to her pseudodragon in pidgin Draconic. Cezika, attempting to be the responsible one, tries to rouse the group to face their challenges and put their plan into action.

Cezika: “Aile, we need to get back.”

Leaf: “Noooooooo...”

Zeal promises to look after Dren (pocketing the TranquiliTea) and the group makes their way back to the Garrison.

On the way, the party notices several patrols-in-force about the city streets, as though Westruun is now on high alter, but are not stopped by any of them.

Upon reaching the barracks, the rest of the party is confined to quarters, meeting up again with Nakiya. The party tries to figure out how to salvage this situation and whether trying to convince Song to come clean is the best course of action. The group remains confined to quarters through the night and into the next day.

Shadow and Nakiya are summoned to speak before the inquiry board, under close guard. The group trying making the best of their confinement. Leaf requests time outside, and they are escorted around the parade grounds for ten hours.

After Shadow and Nakiya are escorted back, the group is delivered their meal by a Shield in a special uniform, who sits with the group and cheerily introduces himself as Warrant Officer Regnault du Gaultier, the special investigator assigned to the group.

[firelight-tales-of-exandria]

Firelight Tales of Exandria, Ch.13 - “Refugitive”

Thank you all for coming, and let’s tell some stories...

“When we last left the party, there was a palpable sense of tension in the room: Certain figures from various party members’ past resurfaced in ‘complicated fashion.’ The party had met Ghurvoon, a colleague of Cezika’s, who was in Westruun because of another past acquaintance involving the real reason the thief had moved to Tal’Dorei, and Song had discovered one of Nakiya’s stress outlets in beating

“Reconvening in a private room at the Sloppy Satyr, and as dirty laundry started being aired, a recurring motion arose once more: despite putting their trust in him, the reason for Song wishing to stay out of the investigation in their claim on the bounty seems to be raising more and more complications. It seems that exploring this part of Song’s past, that he has been so reticent to address, is on the verge of inevitability. As Ghurvoon takes his leave, journeying to the west to tug on the strings of Cezika’s past, we are left with another dangling thread...”

Song briefly leaves to change out of his flower girl outfit. After changing, but before ducking back to meet the others, he sees Aeden (the owner of the Sloppy Satyr) exchanging words with Dren Kilgannon (high priest of the Platinum Dragon temple in Westruun). Song can’t quite make out their conversation, and Dren quickly departs as he noticed them being watched.

Song tries to reach out to Aeden, but the bartender kindly dismissed his concerns, so the bard rejoins the group.

Song: “You know you could always come drink with us. I”m sure that’s a great way to run an establishment. I did work for someone who was drunk most of the time.”

Aeden: “Truth be told, not much of a drinker these days.”

After much stalling and nervous dithering, Song says he is on the run from powerful figures in the Syngorn military and tries to blow past the party’s prodding for details. His mother was a prospective Dreamweaver who had a dalliance with a passing human, leading to Song being born. The elven prejudice against half-breeds alienated Song’s mother from her family and social circle, until a young Song managed to rescue a traveling noble elf-child.

In gratitude, the noble family agreed to bring Song’s mother back into the Syngorn fold provided Song become the attache to their child, Oryen Teyr. Song then grew up as Oryen’s shadow, trying to keep the reckless elf out of the constant trouble he was looking for. Song always shouldered the blame for Oryen’s hellraising, trying in vain to prove himself of value to the family.

Song: “Everywhere we went it was, y’know, ‘Oh, look, look how merciful these generals are! They took in this half-elf bastard out of the goodness of their hearts, and how nice it is to have a little mongrel around to do anything for the family!’ And I would have. I did everything for them. And for Oryen.”

Despite the suffering and humiliation of being their personal whipping boy, Song held out hope that they would hold up their end of the bargain and send him off to a prestigious elven university; which they did, but as Oryen’s servant.

One day, while in Emon, Oryen went off to explore the dark undercity. Song refused to accompany him, fed up with his bullshit and knowing the Clasp called those tunnels home. The next day, Song heard the news that a young elf had been found beaten to death near a Clasp hideout. Fearing being tracked down by the Teyrs, Song vanished and has been on the run since.

The party tries to speak some sense to Song, saying it wasn’t his fault that someone so self-absorbed and reckless got themselves killed, but it proves extremely difficult for him.

Ladryssa vows to protect and avenge Song if the Teyrs come for him, which he quickly tries to discourage. Shadow says that since Song was not there, he doesn’t even know for certain that it was Oryen who died.

Song: “Ah-uh-whua...”

Shadow: “There are no other elves in this Emon place?”

Song: “Look, you’re starting to freak me out here. If I’ve been on the run for ten years [for nothing], I am absolutely going to shit a brick.”

Shadow: “That sounds painful.”

Shadow fails to see the link between the Teyrs and the Margrave. Song admits his paranoia isn’t healthy but it has kept him alive for a decade, and refuses to let others be put in danger for his sins. Shadow says they know much better than Song understands.

Shadow: “You are not dragging us. I take that back: I cannot speak for everyone else. You are not dragging me along. In fact, I run. I always run. I always run alone. I do not want to continue to run alone. It is an invitation.”

Nakiya: “It seems that most of us here seem to be running from something. It would make sense to start running together.”

The group hears the faint ringing of a bell hidden in the wall of the room. At first they think it was the bell that rings the time of day but are certain not that much time has passed. Cezika instead thinks it may be a signal.

Cezika: “A sign in a metaphorical sense, in terms of a code or communication method. You ring the bell so many times, so you know to drop your stash and run.”

Leaf: “If we do not understand what they are trying to tell us, why are they trying to tell us in a way we do not understand?”

Cezika: “Because some things are universal.”

Leaf: “A bell ringing four times is not universal.”

Shadow points out the sound of voices coming form outside the room, and Song says it could be Dren and Aeden arguing again, worrying Leaf.

Peeking out from the room, the party sees a small squad of Westruun Shields questioning Aeden.  Realizing Nakiya vanished from under guard while the barracks was in lockdown after a murder, the group believes they are in danger.

The group tries to come up with some form of escape plan. Song mentions they have a couple pinches of dust of disappearance, so he wants to try smuggling Nakiya out. Leaf and Shadow also mention they can turn invisible. Ladryssa says that making a distraction means only Nakiya has to be invisible.

Cezika: *out of patience* “Song, I know you are using humor as a deflection device to hide you pain, and I appreciate and acknowledge that; but please tell me you know not to snort or eat this powder.”

Song: “..........you have really pretty eyes.”

Shadow: “This is not the time!”

Cezika, Ladryssa, and Leaf loudly exit the front, through the group of troops, as Shadow and Nakiya try to invisibly navigate the tavern. Song, attempting to provide further distraction, exits the room last, drawing the attention of one of the Shields.

Two of the Shields flank Song, attempting to magically examine him. Before they have a chance to arrest him, Shadow blankets the tavern in a cloud of darkness and ushers Song out, followed by Nakiya and the rest.

Song makes a dash for the nearest passageway to the Underwalk Ward, and Nakiya (still invisible) follows after him. Shadow keeps a watch on the roof of the Satyr, making sure everyone has gotten away safely. Everyone manages to duck out just in time before a new squad of Shield arrives, and one of their spellcasters easily dispels the darkness. Shadow goes invisible once more and then follows after Leaf.

Leaf, Cezika, Ladryssa, and invisible Shadow visit the Temple of the Platinum Dragon, mostly empty but for the clergy cleaning the hall. Leaf asks Dren why we was arguing with Aeden, and the rest of the Scales make themselves scarce before Dren invites the group into his rectory for tea.

Dren quietly explains that he, his sister Adorah, and Aeden were childhood friends and all joined the Order of the Platinum Dragon long ago. They were especially close, and Aeden and Adorah actually fell in love. When a great calamity erupted across the Ozmit Sea, Aeden talked Adorah into leaving to help while Dren stayed behind, after marrying the two them. After the crisis, Aeden returned a broken man but Dren never forgave him for taking his sister off to die far from home. Aeden crawled into a bottle and wandered the world for years before returning to Westruun and building the Sloppy Satyr as a refuge for the hurt, broken, and homeless the world cast off.

When Zeal began acting upset and closed off recently, Dren approached Aeden, for the first time in years, since he knew she frequented the Satyr. Zeal reminds Dren greatly of Adorah but feels powerless to help her when she needs it most, and reached out to his estranged friend to keep an eye on her.

Dren: “I lost my sister and I drove my brother away, I don’t want to lose my-- my...”

Ladryssa: “Daughter?”

Dren apologizes for being a bad host, but Leaf reassures him that since they came to take care of him, Dren is doing exactly what he is supposed to. Moved, Dren offers Leaf a job in the clergy.

The priest reports that the Shields had come by asking about them, asking about a “Storyweaver”, and Dren did his best to protect the party, but warns against twisting or hiding the truth too much, because even if it is the right thing to do it has a bad habit of making things worse.

Trying to compose himself, Dren offers some sparse treats to the group while Ladryssa pours tea. As they toast “to family”, Dren realizes that Ladryssa accidentally brewed a pot of TranquiliTea (a peace offering from Aeden), mellowing out he, Ladryssa, and Leaf.

Leaf: *head in Cezika’s lap* “Eye-lee...”

Cezika: “Aile.” *kissing Leaf’s forehead*

Meanwhile, Song runs away from the Satyr through the Underwalk before collapsing onto the wet, dank stone. Nakiya reappears before him, nearly scaring Song to death, but reassuring him that everyone got away okay.

Song advises Nakiya to return to the Garrison before it gets much worse, since they seem to be looking for him. She offers to stay, regardless of the danger, but Song won’t risk it.

Trying to distract himself from the oppressive gravity and stress of his current situation, Song messes around with a painted stone Aeden gave him yesterday, trying to figure out what it does. Giving up on that, Song re-disguises himself as a disgusting, ragged beggar before setting off through the Underwalk.

After walking long enough to be sure he missed his destination, Song comes across an old open chamber in the Underwalk Ward. The walls of the chamber are covered with carved names and pictograms depicting some kind of important history. It is in this chamber that Song contemplates his own history and his futures: the future he thinks he deserves, and the future he actually desires.

[firelight-tales-of-exandria]

Firelight Tales of Exandria, Ch.15 - “Nemo dat Quod non Habet”

Thank you all for coming, so let’s tell some stories...

“When we last left the party...they were having a GREAT time: Dren had bore his soul, and to salve that wound had offered up some TranquiliTea that was given to him by Aeden. A couple of the party imbibed, and had quite a mellow ride, and the other half of the group had embarked on an introspective journey. Having sorted some things out, and being given a helpful nudge by Zeal on how to salvage their current situation, the party returned to the Westruun Garrison barracks, and were confined to quarters; not arrested, but under careful guard, due to there being a recent murder nearby.

“The party has spent most of the day within their assigned room, and have been assigned a ‘personal investigator’ to look into the activities of the group and its possible involvement in the murder."

Warrant Officer Regnault du Gaultier makes himself comfortable in the barracks room with the party, setting up his Ghostwriter quill and notes, and Shadow wastes no time stalking and batting at the self-writing instrument.

Leaf contentedly meanders about the parade grounds, working their way through three shifts of escorts.

Cezika bemoans running out of wine, as Regnault peppers the group with questions, unintentionally amusing/annoying the party with his strange accent.

Shadow: “We did not know anything about this ‘mehr-dehr’.”

Regnault attempts to reassure the party that he is working in the best interests of the party, presenting a scroll bearing the signatures and seals of the Westruun Shields Judge Advocate General and Margrave Brandon Zimmerset naming him the party’s advocate. This does not fill Ladryssa with much confidence, as advocates in the Feywild must share the punishments of their clients.

Regnault’s attempts at being cordial with the party are met will cool skepticism, but he proceeds to interview the party nonetheless. The party plays a bit dumb regarding the discrepancies in their testimony before the inquiry board.

Cezika: “It would be better if you spoke plain?”

Regnault: “I am speaking plain.”

Cezika: “No, even more plain. You are speaking plain in the way a lawyer speaks plain, you need to speak plain as if...I don’t know. Be an actual person.”

Shadow: “Are lawyers not people?”

Regnault: “Very well, I will make zis as plain as I can: you have stepped in merde.”

Regnault informs the party that lying to the inquiry board, regardless of their motivations or degree of guilt, is a serious crime. Whether or not the purpose of their deception is related to the murder, it makes the party suspects. He attempts to explain the nature of the “Chair of Truth” the tribunal employs, when he notices Leaf is gone. Regnault orders the guards to bring the firbolg back in, much to their impotent despair.

Leaf: “Oh, are you the strange man with the strange accent [the guard told me about]?”

Regnault: “Leaf, I presume? Would you be so kind as to come inside?”

Leaf: “If I must.”

Regnault: “YES, you must.”

Leaf: “......okay” *squeezing past Regnault into the room* “Excuse me...”

Settling back in, Regnault smooths out his uniform, at which Shadow casts Prestidigitation to clean him. Regnault, instantly nettled, counterspells the tabaxi’s cantrip.

The party tries to explain that they were covering for Song and his past. As much as he appreciates the group’s efforts and noble intent, it does nothing to diffuse the suspicions of the inquiry board.

Cezika suggests that if Song can be convinced to turn himself in an submit to the inquiry board’s scrutiny, it could clear the party of any suspicion of the murder. Regnault uses Minor Image to illustrate the timeline of events (complete with chibi representations of the party), hoping to find some way to impart the gravity of Song’s absence during the presumed time of the murder.

The party tries once more to convey that Song was incapable of committing the crime, but Regnault says he isn’t the one the party must convince.

When Shadow suggests the identity of the murder victim could help their case, Regnault says that information is classified. Shadow then bemoans the obstinacy of the city authorities when it comes to withholding information that could help people.

Regnault: “To answer your second point: it is because those who have unsavory motives can to just as much with that information for the wrong reasons, as someone with the right motives can wield it for good.”

Shadow: “And you think we have unsavory...whatever?”

Regnault: “It is not my job to think, it is my job to defend you. But the more I know, the better I can do my job.”

Shadow: “How can you defend us if you job is not to think?”

Regnault: *grabbing his quill and pad* “Mon chat, I don’t expect you to like me. I don’t expect you to agree with me. Frankly, I don’t expect you to even cooperate with me. They never want to. But I take pride in my work--”

Shadow insists that everything they did was to help Song, but that it is Regnault’s duty to help Song. Regnault retorts that Song is the only one that can clear his name. Before he leaves, fuming and frustrated, he tells the party that the murdered halfling was the one who brought Buddy in and was the only one who could have testified as to why a simple gnoll trapper would be suspected of unleashing a magical corruption on the forest.

Shadow admits the rest of the party was right about not trusting the motivations of the cityfolk. Ladryssa voices similar frustration about the arcane marks that track them.

Leaf wonders how they are supposed to contact Song when they are not allowed to leave. Ladryssa suggests sending the pseudodragon and Shadow offers to sneak out, but they all agree those would be dangerous.

Shadow vents about how Regnault was quick to offense when no slight was intended.

Ladryssa: “I do not like him. He speaks in tongues that I do not trust.”

Shadow: “He is quick to offense when none was intended.”

Leaf: “He says funny words.”

Shadow: “I say funny words.”

Ladryssa: “Shadow speaks like an avalanche: to the point and fast. He speaks like a river, that is too slow and too muddy to be of any use.”

Shadow: “That is a fair comparison.”

Ladryssa: “I do not like people who speak like rivers.”

The party tries to wrap their heads around why the tribunal would suspect Song of murdering Buddy’s captor, but none of the scenarios they come up with satisfy them. Shadow cannot understand why everyone is so suspicious when the truth seems so plain.

Shadow asks the guards where Regnault went and asks to speak with him, and says they wish to apologize (to which the guard laughs). Shadow then asks for some time outside, which they use to run laps, alarming the guards.

The next day, Cezika is summoned to the Chamber of Judgement, but before she enters she sees Regnault approach with Song in tow. Cezika asks for tips, and Regnault tells her they can tell if the chair is affecting her with its Zone of Truth. Song is not happy about being subjected to such a sensation.

Regnault: “Think of it zis way, mon ami: it’s like being hugged by justice.”

Cezika is questioned by the inquisitorial board, as everyone else before her. Upon being dismissed and escorted out of the Manor, she sees Song being manacled and lead into the Chamber with Regnault at his side. Cezika kisses him on the forehead before Song disappears into the Chamber.

The party is grouped in their room in the barracks, when Regnault brings Song to join them. The party’s advocate says he work still isn’t done and he will continue to push for the party’s case. He also tells Leaf that the Green Men are being released tomorrow; however, they are being banished from the Bramblewood surrounding Westruun. Leaf wishes to say goodbye to them, so Regnault says he will try to make it happen, and gets a flower from Leaf as thanks.

Alone now, the party plies the bard for information on his interrogation, but Song seems deeply disturbed by what was said, or rather what couldn’t be said.

Song: “I tried giving them my real name. I tried coping to everything and somehow--”

Cezika: “It works that you cannot lie.”

Song: “I wasn’t lying.”

Cezika: “No, but you weren’t telling the truth.”

Song: “I thought I was. I told them my name, I--”

Cezika: “That isn’t your name! Song. That isn’t your name anymore. Your name is Song.”

Song: “But then I threw all of that away for nothing; I put all of you in danger for nothing. Maybe they think I’m dead, maybe, they probably just think I’m dead. ‘Cause otherwise what it means, is that, one, I’ve just been paranoid and crazy for ten years, or that they just never cared about any of it.”

Ladryssa: “You were acting with what you thought was right, given the information you had at the time.”

Song: “That doesn’t make it better. That doesn’t give me ten years of my life back. And ‘Song’ is one of seven different names. I don’t even have my own name anymore. Not according to that thing. I’m not anyone.”

Shadow: “You are our friend. You are indispensable. We would not have gone through all of this for no one.”

Song: “But there was no point! Can you not see that? If no one is after me-- if all of that was some ego trip on my end, that maybe I just wanted them to be, maybe I wanted them to give a damn for two seconds-- then I put all of you in danger for nothing and I’ve been doing all of this for nothing. And I lost ten years of my life for nothing! And I haven’t seen my mom for ten years for nothing!

Shadow: “We can fix that.”

Song: “You can’t give me those years back! You can’t give me the life that I had back!”

Leaf: “You have the future. You have the years ahead of you now. That is something.”

Song: “And now I live it as ‘Song’... this asshole... this made-up thing...”

Shadow: “You can be whoever you want to be; whatever name you want to be.”

Song: “I want to be Kelidan again!”

Shadow: “Then do so.”

Song: “According to the cuffs I can’t. Apparently that’s not true anymore.”

Leaf: “It will be if you say it is.”

Song: “I don’t know what I want. Everything I’ve known for ten years is wrong.”

Song asks to be left alone. Shadow admits to having lost his clan a long time ago, and never thought he would have one again, but is proud to have been adopted by a new clan and is proud to have Song as a part of that clan.

A pall hangs over the party, until a frantic knock is heard at the door. Brother Maynard enters the room, bursting with excitement, explaining that Zeal and Dren are meeting with the Margrave on the party’s behalf.

Brother Maynard gives back Shadow’s sample of Alma’s corrupting brew, and eagerly passes on the fruits of his research. The “corruption” is an alchemical and magical malady, transmitted through bodily fluids, that inflicts terrible physical sickness, but also dulls the victim’s mind and “refines” the energies of their soul.

Ladryssa posits that the function of the malady’s effects is the result of a coven of various hags mixing their powers together into a singular form. Ladryssa tries to remember more about Alma’s coven, but the only thing that flashes through her mind is a consuming darkness and the name “Granny.”

What Brother Maynard can’t quite figure out is why the malady dulls the victim’s mind, which doesn’t seem to do anything useful for a would-be conqueror and is unnecessary if one just wanted to destroy a population.

Shadow takes the sample back, but Maynard is just glad to have something useful to do rather than the mundane chores of the temple. He confides that he wants to learn how to write and play music, which temporarily breaks Song out of his funk to give the cleric a crash course in songwriting (which may or may not have been a mistake) and sending him on his way with some basic chords written on some barred bard paper.

Leaf continues to innocently torment the guards by being given a time limit on their outside time (and then waiting a minute before wanting back out for another hour again).

Regnault returns in the evening to tell the party the bad news of Buddy being sent to the court martial, and the good news of being awarded the bounty. However, the Margrave has requested a private meeting with the party before compensating them tomorrow.

As he leaves, Regnault talks about working on Buddy’s appeal and surreptitiously traces a symbol on the table as he leaves, which Song recognizes as the insignia of the Clasp before it disappears. The party debates on what possible connection the crime syndicate could have with an exiled Dustpaw gnoll hunter, the murder of his captor, Gortman stoking resentment against the Margrave and his martial law, and a corrupting darkness encroaching from the wilds surrounding the city.

As the party debates the myriad of possible motives and endgames, Zeal knocks at the door, asking to speak privately with Cezika and Song. The trio stay out on the parade grounds for about two hours before returning. Cezika and Song are awkwardly quiet, but the bard suggests an unusual course of action: he’s going to take a nap!

[firelight-tales-of-exandria]

Firelight Tales of Exandria, Ch.10 - “Promises”

Thank you for coming, and let’s tell some stories...

“When we last left the party, they had found the source of the growing infection within the Bramblewood; it could be traced back to a quaint, adorable, little cottage carved into a tree, where pretty, vibrant you woman invited them in for tea cakes and pudding, and where the party for absolutely no reason accused her of witchcraft and malfeasance, and it turns out she was actually as green hag. Having prior history with Ladryssa, the hag goaded the party, overlaying multiple illusions to throw them off her trail, but thanks to a little hardheadedness (and no small help from the gifts of a mysterious cowherd) the party pierced through her illusions and confronted her in the hag’s cavern lair, where she was concocting this strange brew. The party slew the hag, destroyed her brew and her fungal garden, took her head, and began making their way back, triumphantly, to Westruun.”

The party left the fungal pits burning in the caverns, which Cezika mentions because the party was supposed to leave evidence for the investigators that would come after their claim on the contract. Song says the creepy hag cottage and the head should be enough to convince anyone.

Ladryssa is uncharacteristically quiet for most of the trip back.

Cezika also mentions that group, as per the contract, must remain under observation while the contract is being investigated, which troubles Song.

Leaf wants to take a wide detour back through the forest to return the dead Green Man’s staff to his comrades. Song is apposed to going back into the dark, foreboding woods, but eventually relents.

Song: “Uh, this is not the way back to the city! What is happening? If this is a coup, I am not here for this.

Shadow: “What is a coup?” *coos like a pidgeon*

When the group arrives near where they met them last time, there is no sign of the Green Men, but signs of a struggle (blood spatter, broken foliage, tracks, etc.) suggest they were confronted and captured by other adventurers.

Shadow: “Perhaps the people from the city vented their anger on these people.

Leaf: “I am worried that might be the case.”

Song: “I don’t want to say that’s why you don’t trust people, but I will point out that that’s a good reason why you don’t trust people.”

Shadow: “They were acting on wrong information, if that is the case.”

Song: “So were we, and you don’t see us killing everyone on sight.”

Shadow: “We literally went into someone’s house and killed them.”

Song: “Yeah, but we did that using our critical thinking skills, and that’s the difference.”

The group plans to clear the Green Men of wrongdoing when they return to claim the bounty.

Song decides to not join the group in claiming the bounty, proclaiming that he didn’t do enough to help the group. The rest of the party contest his claims, which Song once again tries to swerve.

Shadow: “It may not have been your intent, but the result is the same. You protected people of this group, of this circle. That is not being useless; that is being indispensable.”

Song insists that he cannot be confronted by law enforcement or nobility, nor can he be detained without an avenue of escape.

Song: “I mean, I really did have this whole story planned about this evil twin brother-- um, I had it all written down, it was going to be great...”

Shadow: “You have an evil twin brother?”

Song: “Oh, would you buy that? So, I have this evil twin brother--”

Cezika: “Song--”

Song: “--he looks exactly like me, he’s a terrible person, he’s gotten into all sorts of trouble, and if I am confused with him it could end badly for me, and that’s why I can’t see the Margrave.”

The rest of the party desperately tries to keep Song from leaving the group. He insists that if he is confronted by the Margrave, he won’t. The party keeps prying, and Song becomes increasingly agitated.

Song: “There was an incident, a while ago; and if I’m really, really lucky, they think I’m dead; and if I’m really, really unlucky, they don’t think that and I get yanked off to gods-know-where to talk to some people who are probably not very happy with me.”

Shadow: “What did you do, or what do they think you did?”

Song: “It’s more a matter of what I didn’t do.”

Shadow: “You are indispensable to us. You saved us. I will save you. It is only fair.”

Song: *placing his hands on Shadow’s shoulders, looking them directly in the eye* “Don’t ever say that to me again, got it?”

Song stands firm, saying he is going to the Sloppy Satyr to get a drink and the party can meet him when they are done. Cezika makes him promise to not skip town before meeting again, and he makes another unconvincing reassurance.

Ladryssa: “You were the first person I met when I came to this place, and I didn’t know what it would be like, if it would be safe, if I would like it here. There’s parts of my life that I’m having trouble remembering, so I don’t know if I have something like what you have, but... the person you are now is better than whoever you were, and I don’t wanna lose that person.”

Song: “Sweetheart... the person who I am now... I feel like you would have liked the person who I was a lot better. I sure did.”

Song heads off to the pub and Nakiya accompanies him, while Leaf, Cezika, Shadow, and Ladryssa head to the Freeman’s Lodge to turn in the, now melting, head. Shadow, tries to freeze the head to preserve it.

When the group arrives at the Freeman’s Lodge, they have to get in line behind several other groups seeking to files claims on the bounty. While in line, Leaf sees two Westruun Shields dragging out a slumped, injured gnoll towards the Westruun Garrison.

The Lodge clerk, beset by paperwork and pushy adventurers and mercenaries, tries to move along the party’s claim. Leaf insists that Buddy and the Green Men are innocent, while the Shields dismiss their claims and insist on following due process.

Leaf: “Why have you hurt him?”

Shield: “We haven’t done anything to it. It’s a ‘person of interest’ in an ongoing investigation. I suggest you don’t worry about it and go about your business.”

Leaf: “We have solved your investigation!”

Merc #1: *laughing* “Yeah, we solved it too, two hours ago!”

Merc #2: “Solved it this morning, meself!” *more laughing*

The party gives the clerk a rundown of the altercation with the hag, loosely explaining what she was doing and how they stopped her. However, the party does choose to embellish or omit certain details of the encounter.

The party gives the names of the six claimants as “Cezika, Leaf, Nakiya, Shadow, Ladryssa, and Storyweaver”

As evidence, they hand over the hag’s head and the location of the hag’s abode, but not the vial of goop or the sample of goop-soaked meat

When describing the encounter they don’t mention Song by name, the run-in with Bodb, or the hag’s relationship with Ladryssa

The clerk gives the party a housing voucher, instructing them to lodge at the Westruun Barracks for five days while their claim is investigated. They are free to move about the city, but are not to leave without expressed permission by the Margrave. The Shields catalogue and carry off the evidence the party submits.

Leaf presses the clerk on the whereabouts of suspects, and he says the Shields take them to the Garrison Dungeon. The firbolg complains about the treatment of prisoners, to which the clerk insists that he is only responsible for the paperwork and not how gentle other adventurers are with their targets.

Leaf: “Seeing something wrong happen in front of your eyes does not make you innocent.”

Shadow makes a beeline for the Temple of the Platinum Dragon. Leaf wants to go to the Garrison to see the Green Men and Buddy, but Cezika says it would probably make things worse. Instead they head to the Sloppy Satyr to meet up with Song and Nakiya.

At the Temple, Shadow presents the sample of the hag’s brew to Dren. The head priest calls over the temple scholar, Brother Maynard, to examine it. The eccentric acolyte asks to keep the sample, and Dren assures Shadow that they will keep it secret and do everything in their power to discover the nature of the hag’s work.

When Song and Nakiya get to the Satyr, they find many of the mercenaries and adventurers after the Margrave’s bounty have gathered at the tavern, displacing many of its normal patrons and cat-calling others (including Song and Nakiya).

Nakiya and Song share a few drinks. Song asks if the party would be better off if he left, and Nakiya says it would make everyone sad but she understands.

The two find common ground in that they are both running from something in their pasts. The tavern-owner comes by with complementary drinks (sent by the "admirers” from earlier) and shares one with them.

Tavern-owner: “I know a thing or two about running, myself.”

Song: “What are you running from then?”

Tavern-owner: “You know, that’s really thing thing, isn’t it? When you first start, you’re running from something, from someone; could be something physical, a place you gotta get away from. As the years go by, you start running from the memory: what you did, who you were. You run long enough, you don’t really run from anything anymore; you just run to run. It really boils down to one simple choice: keep running or choose to stop. Once you start running, it’s real easy to keep going, but once you stop you realize just how tired you are, and its hard to start running again. Whether that’s good or bad, that’s up to the person. The longer you run, the more tired you are...but damned if you aren’t too afraid to stop that first time, ‘cause you may never have the energy to start running again. Run for too long...and you just flat-out forget how to stop.”

Nakiya reveals she is running from someone that she hasn’t heard from in a long time.

Song: “I mean, look on the bright side: they could be dead.”

Nakiya: “I do not think that they are. They are too stubborn to die.”

Song: “I thought I knew someone like that once. Turns out: not so much.”

Song says it’s funny that he misses them sometimes, and Nakiya says he would be surprised she understands.

Song: “It was my choice, and I made it. And I am here, and I am alive, so I guess I win. Yeah, I won that one.”

Nakiya: *toasts* “To being here and alive.”

The cat-callers have turned their attention to Cezika and Ladryssa, who have just entered with Leaf. Song, having had enough, reproaches the offensive mercenary from earlier, while Nakiya kicks his chair out from another of his group.

Choosing a more direct approach to conflict resolution, Nakiya punches the loudmouth square in the jaw. While the merc tosses slurs back at the half-orc huntress, Song kicks him in the groin. Losing his balance, the offender reaches out to balance himself against Song, and, realizing his grotesque assumption of Song’s gender by the bard’s heritage, Nakiya returns the favor by knocking him unconscious.

As the mercenary’s comrades begin drawing their weapons on Song and Nakiya, the tavern-owner activates the Sloppy Satyr’s sentry statues. He ejects the mercenaries, dragging their emasculated compatriot out of the tavern (as Cezika and Shadow swipe a couple of their coin purses).

Song is displeased that he has been implicated in the case, despite not being named.

The tavern-owner, as an apology, pours a special round for the group. The alcohol has an immediate effect on everyone in the group, except Song who feels narratively blue-balled by missing out on the emotionally-uninhibiting effects.

Cezika presents the instructions for their case file to Song, who suggests everyone pretend that he died so he doesn’t have to go with them.

Song makes everyone promise that, if he is confronted and detained by authorities, nobody comes to his defense. The group vehemently objects, but Song stands firm.

Song: “I am not going to try and sit here and convince you that I’m not worth it, because, quite honestly...that is just way too depressing for all involved. I think I mentioned, the first day we met, I don’t like murderers. But if there’s one thing I hate worse than murderers, it’s cowards... and that’s me. So when I tell you that ‘I’m not worth it’, please believe me, I am not worth it. Suffice it to say, that before I met all of you, I can say I’ve had one friend. He’s dead now. I let that happen. That was my choice. That’s the sort of person I am. Please believe me when I tell you it’s not worth it.”

Shadow: “That is who you were.”

Song: “No, it’s who I became.”

Song says that if the group cannot promise to leave him behind, then he will make himself scarce in the dark corners of the city, like where they all found him.

Ladryssa: “I’ve had to say goodbye to too many people I loved. I don’t wanna say it again. But...if it means there’s a chance I don’t have to say it again...then yes, I promise.”

Shadow begrudgingly agrees, but still thinks there’s a way around this situation, offering to disguise Song while they are confined to the Barracks.

Ultimately, Song decides it is safer if the party “mourns the death of Storyweaver”, and he goes into hiding. The Tavern-owner gives Song a bundle before he leaves.

Song: “What’s all this?”

Tavern-owner: “Just a few things you’re gonna need. Trust me; I was very good at running.”

Song: “You’re a damn-good man, you know that?”

Tavern-owner: “I know you’re used to spinning yarns, but you shouldn’t tell lies.”

[firelight-tales-of-exandria]

Firelight Tales of Exandria, Ch.11 - “Dungeons and Dragons”

Thank you all for coming, and let us tell some stories...

“Our party had completed their mission and had filed their claim on the bounty at the Freeman’s Lodge. Unfortunately, several other adventuring parties had done the same, and, in order to sort everything out and get to the bottom of the matter, the Westruun Shields launched a series of investigations into each individual claim. This also meant, that the party had become “persons of interest” in the investigation, and so were “invited” to stay at the Garrison barracks for a period of five days while the voracity of their claim was being investigated. This did not sit well with a few members of the party, Song especially, who seemed particularly averse to getting involved with any sort of law enforcement or being under scrutiny from authority figures.

“As such, Song dismissed himself, saying he would meet up with the rest of the group soon, and, despite the protests and reassurances of the others, he said a tentative goodbye and departed alone into the night. This reminds the rest of the party that, despite getting along so well and having weathered dire tribulations in such a short time, they are all very much relative strangers to one another. It is here we rejoin our heroes, as Song bids them, a hopefully brief, “fare-thee-well.”

Cezika, begrudgingly, makes a point that the group should leave for the Garrison. Shadow asks if the Margrave’s word can be trusted, to which Cezika says that she doesn’t make it a habit of trusting politicians in general.

With Song having made himself scarce, the rest of the party make their way to the Westruun Garrison, but not before Cezika buys a couple bottles of "not good” wine from the Sloppy Satyr (having finally asked the owner/manager his name, Aeden Brors).

Upon reaching the sentries posted at the Garrison, a clerk is summoned to process the group. The clerk, one Sergeant Jenkins, asks each of the party their name, occupation, and place of origin.

Cezika: Cezika, “tourist”/dilettante, Ank’harel

Nakiya: Nakiya, mercenary, Cliffkeep Mountains

Leaf: Leaf, healer (?), *did not list point of origin*

Ladryssa: Ladryssa, hunter, “the woods near the mountain city with the white stones” / rural Whitestone

Shadow: Shadow of the Moon, “mehrsinaree”, Syngorn

When asked about the absence of “Storyweaver”, Cezika says they were “eaten by a bear”. She says they left his name on the claim as “penance for the dead”.

The group is then taken to a guard station and each receives an arcane mark that will allow the Shields to keep track of the party’s whereabouts as part of the investigation. They are then asked to surrender their weapons while lodging at the barracks, and are in turn given a claim ticket for their arms if they choose to leave each day.

Jenkins explains that the party will be lodged for five days, and they are to remain within the Garrison premises from dusk until after dawn each day, and may be called to provide testimony to the official inquiry council. When pressed as to why they are to be confined to quarters and tracked, the clerk explains that claimants are being guarded against foul play and tampering by other parties, making specific mention of the difference between the conduct of Westruun Shields and the freemen and mercenaries they are playing host to.

Though the party has been given two barracks units, they choose to pass a wary night sharing one unit, with Shadow and Nakiya keeping a mistrustful watch.

For the first time, the party witnesses Shadow perform some type of short ritual with a pendant of black volcanic glass/stone they wear. It briefly glints with an internal flash of power, but then falls limp once more.

Our haggard heroes are woken before dawn by reveille, and the sound of the Westruun Shields’ morning exercises. In spite of the disturbance, they finish their rest before the smells of breakfast rouse them.

++PARTY LEVEL UP – LVL. 4++

Before heading out to morning chow, a courier, Redshirt McGillicuddy #1, gives Leaf and Ladryssa a summons to the Margrave’s Manor, to the court of inquiry, later that morning. Cezika says they are all being called separately that the group’s story lines up. They all agree to omit Ladryssa’s past with the hag and that “Storyweaver” was eaten by a bear after the hag was slain.

Nakiya is delighted to discover that she can still have eggs under her new “diet”. Meanwhile, Shadow gives the cook the warm and fuzzies by asking for seconds and then thirds.

The time of Leaf’s hearing comes, and they are escorted to the judicial chamber of the Margrave’s Manor. The rest of the party finish breakfast and wait by the guarded passageway for Leaf to be done.

After Leaf returns from their inquiry, a soldier approaches them, the brother of one of the injured lumberjacks Leaf saved. The soldier overheard Leaf’s concern about the Green Men, and offers to call in a favor with the floor warden of the Garrison Dungeon to allow the firbolg to visit them briefly.

Leaf takes Cezika with them, and the two are escorted through a few checkpoints and under one of the Garrison towers, into the dungeon. The warden leads them to a cell with two wounded Green Men and gives Leaf and Cezika five minutes to speak.

One of the Green Men is well enough to speak, but still severely injured. Leaf apologizes for their predicament, tells them of their efforts to clear their names, and expresses grief over their friend’s death and thanks them for his sacrifice. The druid is distraught, but thanks Leaf for everything they have done for them and asks Leaf to plant the dead Green Man’s staff to memorialize him.

As the warden signals for their time to be up, Leaf casts a healing word to ease the pain of the Green Men. The warden barks a warning as the spell is cast.

As Leaf and Cezika turn to leave, they hear a muffled whimper down from the end of the dungeon. Cezika tries to usher Leaf out, but the firbolg will not be deterred. In the darkest corner of the dungeon, Leaf finds Buddy, bound and muzzled amidst a cell of long-deceased prisoners. The irate, menacing floor warden threatens to throw both of them in with the gnoll unless they immediately leave.

The two meet back up with the rest of the party and lead Leaf out into the square, under the comfort of a tree. Cezika explains what happened. The party has a range of reactions: Ladryssa and Cezika try to comfort Leaf, while Nakiya walks off, looking for something to hit and not wanting to be near people.

Cezika: “The way they are being treated downstairs... They definitely think that Buddy and/or the Green Men are responsible for this.”

Leaf: “But I told them they were not.”

Cezika: “I know, aile, I know.”

Shadow: “Cezika, I think I know what you mean now; that certain people cannot be trusted.”

Cezika: “I wish I could say this was the first time I have seen things like this happen, but I would be a liar.”

The party simmers in despair and impotent rage, but they resolve to make things right. A little old lady peddles fruit nearby, which puts the group on edge, since they no longer trust little old ladies.

Cezika asks Shadow to stay with Leaf for a moment and excuses herself down an alleyway. When she returns (in a fouler mood), she is followed by a broad, looming, blue-scaled dragonborn. Shadow and Ladryssa inspect him within his personal space, as the dragonborn follows each with a different eye.

The dragonborn introduces himself as Cezika’s cousin, Ghurvoon. Leaf, Shadow, and Ladryssa are introduced, but Ghurvoon asks where the others are. The dragonborn, with a broad smile, offers to buy lilies for Shadow, which perplexes the group. Ignoring their concerns, Ghurvoon calls a nearby flower girl over, grilling her about appropriate flowers for new friends.

Ghurvoon: *sends obvious facial cues drawing attention to the flower girl*

Cezika, tired of his shit: “This is why I don’t send you letters.”

Ghurvoon: “You really learn nothing I try to teach you.”

Cezika: “I don’t pay attention to half the shit you try to teach me.”

Ghurvoon: “Well, if you did, you may not be in *this* situation.”

Cezika: *mumbles in Marqueesian* “Yell at me later. Let’s just-- 12 dasies, I think? I don’t even care anymore.”

Shadow: “I do no longer want flowers.”

As Shadow looks around to see if the guards are taking notice of them, and wary of any move the Dragonborn makes to give them flowers, Ghurvoon continues to press the flower girl.

Flower girl: “It doesn’t really sound like they want flowers, now does it?”

Ghurvoon: “Perhaps not. Perhaps, a Song or two?”

Song, disguised as the flower girl: *sweating across dimensions and astral projecting into space from anxiety* “.......ah....I...well there are places where they could go grab that, not here, as you can see, I sell flowers--”

Ghurvoon suggests to Cezika that her whole party be present for what needs to be said. Shadow points out that Ladryssa will be summoned to the inquiry soon, so Cezika suggests they all meet up at the Satyr before dark to talk.

Ghurvoon draws attention to the flower girl once more, and they start to notice she looks similar to someone they just said goodbye to, as the dragonborn disappears into the crowd. The group finally recognizes Song, and Cezika catches him up on the day’s events.

Cezika asks if Song could find where Nakiya went, and he asks her to take care, before beetling off once more.

The temple bell rings ten tolls, and guards escort Ladryssa to the doors of the Chamber of Judgement.

[firelight-tales-of-exandria]

Firelight Tales of Exandria, Ch.9 - “Auntie Maim”

Thank you all for coming, so let’s tell some stories...

“Having endured assaults from the eerie trees of the Bramblewood and sharing a meal with an odd cowherd of seemingly otherworldly origin, our heroes are beckoned once again by the mysterious lady in green as they begin their final push to discover the source of the growing corruption emanating from the forest surrounding the ominous peak of Gatshadow...”

Always wanting to start the day right, Leaf prepares a healthy, nutritious breakfast of Scavenger Pancakes from what they were able to find in the surrounding glade. Unfortunately, it tends to disagree with most of the party’s stomachs.

The rest of the party is quite wary of the lady in green, with her beckoning hands and creepy nursery rhymes, but Cezika is eager to get the job over with. Song, having nearly died twice in the short span of knowing the rest of the group, voices concerns about her outlook.

Cezika: “Okay, we need to work on your standards. You did not get arrested, you did not die, you have all your limbs: it ended well.”

Shadow, doubtful of the group’s odds of success by venturing into the unknown, they argue with Song and Cezika about finding help from Westruun before moving on. Song and Cezika try to explain that trusting strangers who may have selfish motives could end badly for the safety of the group, while Shadow argues that shared goals that serve the needs of the many, regardless of individual motives, are worth trust made in good faith.

Song: “I just am not in favor of pulling in outside help, because people are terrible, universally.”

Shadow: “Because you do not trust them.”

Song: “I mean, would you?”

Shadow: “It depends. I did not trust anyone, outside of my kind, and then I met you.”

Song: “Oh...”

 Song excuses himself from the debate, disturbed by the talk of loyalty, trust, and betrayal. Shadow refuses to accept “mistrust” as a reason for not working together with strangers for a common goal.

Shadow: “It is not you! I do not understand why people do not trust! Trust can be earned. And if people do something that is not trustworthy, then you have the ones you do trust to fall back on.”

Cezika: “Some of us have been hurt by those we were supposed to trust.”

Leaf and Ladryssa point out that they may not be able to find anyone to help them, as none of them remember how they got to this glade after last night. This seems to be good enough for Shadow, after being reassured that they few will be enough and will all go home together.

Ladryssa also tries to reassure Song, who seems vaguely perturbed by the wording, but agrees to come along.

Ladryssa: “You are the last person we are leaving behind, without people to protect you.”

Song, who has had two brushes with death within the span of three days: “I...hmm...I don’t need protecting, but that’s very sweet.”

The group heads off toward the ominous, massive, dead redwood, but instead find the glade containing the redwood to be vibrant, grassy, bursting with wildflowers, and a quaint, cute cottage has been carved from the tree’s huge trunk. The lady in green invites them inside, with a saccharine-sweet voice, to sample some of her fresh-baked goodies.

Leaf happily moves to enter the house, but Cezika and Shadow hold them back. Ladryssa inspects the garden, but nothing seems odd despite her scrutiny. Baffled, the party proceeds inside.

The inside of the tree-cottage is just as cute and homey, as the lady, who calls herself “Ariel”, dishes up a bevy of sweet pies and steaming bowls of figgy pudding. The feast of mouth-watering sweets tempts the party, with the exception of Song, Leaf, and Shadow.

Ladryssa uses her power to use the sight of others to see the sweets for the reeking, toxic slop that it is. This, unfortunately doesn’t stop Cezika from tasting it, becoming poisoned. Nakiya tries to eat as well, but she somehow can’t bring herself to eat meat of any kind. Leaf manages to neutralize the poison working its way through Cezika.

The green hag, Auntie Alma, annoyed but still amused at the frantic reaction of the party, drops the facade and reveals her true form, the wretched, broken house, and the fetid bog surrounding it.

Leaf: “I do not think she actually knows how to garden.”

Ladryssa shoots her with an eldritch blast, in the middle of her “this was my evil plot” speech, which passes through the illusory form of Alma. The hag mocks her again, taunting Ladryssa to “fulfill your mother’s dark design for you.”

Now left to ponder their next move, Ladryssa ruminates on what Alma’s motivations could be. The hag mentioned that the benefits of destroying Westruun were threefold, and Ladryssa remembers that the Feywild and Material Plane are mirrors of each other, meaning that it would be the easiest way to lay waste to a city on the other side.

Alma: “As for your pet’s questions of my motivations--

Ladryssa: “Shadow is not my pet.”

Alma: “--my goals are threefold. By eliminating the city, I gain three things at once: First off, I can reclaim the land and return it to my beautiful dark forest, and I did this with the help of those same wretched specimens from their ‘city’. Do you really think I could accomplish everything I needed to-- worming my beautiful infection into their streets and their homes all on my own? I am flattered you could think so. Plus, if I ruin that detestable eyesore, on this side of the veil, well, you know that consequences carry over as well. And thirdly, if I can deny those disgusting freaks below their true quarry, then it’s a mere bonus.”

Ladryssa finds a trapdoor in the house leading beneath the tree. Before venturing below, the party splits up the remainder of the meat Shadow saved from Bodb the night prior, but it appears to have lost whatever enchantment it once possessed. Nakiya is briefly queasy from her bite, confirming that she is now a vegetarian (after claiming to be one to Bodb).

The winding staircase leads down into a large, dark chamber with numerous tunnels opening from all sides from the domed ceiling. The chamber is filled with the echoes of voices from the city and surrounding countryside, accompanied by occasional insectoid chittering.

The echo chamber leads to another tunnel, further winding downward. Eventually this tunnel empties into a long hall, containing display alcoves full of macabre treasures and oddities.

Ladryssa questions Alma about the museum and the echo chamber. Alma says that the echo chamber lets her have eyes and ears in places nobody could find, and lets her communicate with her conspirators wherever they may be. When pressed about her sisters, Alma says she is all that is needed to take take of them.

The party begins assaulting Alma with might and magic, but she stands her ground. However, Song points out that the hag isn’t being damaged at all. The bard tries to stop Nakiya in the midst of her rage, and narrowly avoids being pummeled.

Leaf, casting detect magic, discovers the illusion of Alma was protecting another illusion of a false wall. Once more the tunnel empties into a large chamber of stone bridges and platforms, lit by phosphorescent mold with more ceiling shafts dumping into a shallow pit filled with rotting corpses that feed giant violet fungi effused with a cursed brew bubbling forth from a large cauldron, carefully tended by the real Alma.

The party makes to close the distance across the bridges, as the cauldron gives the hag cover from Shadow and Ladryssa’s ranged assault. Making their way across the span, the violet fungi lash out with their rotting tendrils, feeding back into the fuming cauldron and empowering Alma.

A large eye, embedded in the wall of the cavern, opens and attempts to curse Ladryssa. Shadow shatters the eye, wracking Alma with magical feedback. Nakiya charges in towards Alma and Cezika flanks her from another bridge, both cutting their way through the fungi.

Ladryssa shocks the hag with a witch bolt, which Alma partially redirects into a lightning bolt back across the bridge. Nakiya, seemingly by accident, avoids the brunt of the lightning bolt, but Song takes it full on and collapses. Ladryssa leans into her witch bolt and fries her childhood tormentor.

In her death throes, Alma curses at Ladryssa, mocking her relationship with her patron/parent and saying that she will be avenged.

Alma: “You’re not her child. You’ll never be her child! You’re just a tool to be used and discarded, like the rest of us. You’ll find your day. If it won’t be me or my sisters, it will be...our...Granny...”

The party heals Song, claims the hag’s pustulant head and a vial of the cursed brew, sets fire to the fungal patch in the cavern, and manage to find a few baubles in her macbre museum as they make their way out of her cavern lair (as the insectoid chatter grows nearer and increasingly frantic).

As the group leaves the decaying tree-cottage behind them they breathe in a fresh breeze blowing away the stink of the bog, before making their way towards the main road leading down from Gatshadow.

[firelight-tales-of-exandria]

Cezika, Air Genasi Rogue

(Player: tinyowlbear)

Cezika the rogue is average in build, but stands out with her pale blue hair, skin, and facial markings that are telling of her elemental heritage. Street-smart, affable, practical while on the job, laid back when not on the job, and ever the flexible person in any given situation most of the time. She hails from the far off country of Marquet, “Ank'Harel…mostly” and is currently in Westrunn on some sort of “vacation”. The nature of her vacation? Yet to be established. So far she isn’t impressed with the scenery, but is impressed with the new friends she is making along the way.

[firelight-tales-of-exandria]

Firelight Tales of Exandria, Ch.8 - “Mystery Meat”

Thank you all for coming, now let’s tell some stories...

“The party had decided to try their luck at the newly-posted bounty set up by Margrave Bradon Zimmerset, to address the growing concerns and unrest within the rural population of Westruun (specifically, those going into the Bramblewood and coming out with only parts of themselves). Several other adventurers have taken up this call as well, mounting expeditions and investigations into the Bramblewood, meeting with mixed success. One of the leads the party managed to follow up on was to investigate the whereabouts and motivations of a group of druids living in the Bramblewood, known as the Green Men, and they came across three of the Green Men having just fought off two other adventurers, supposedly wanting to take their heads as proof of expunging the corruption of the forest.

“One of the Green Men agreed to take the party deeper into the darker part of the forest, supposedly where the corrupting influence had been radiating out from. The closer they got to the foothills at the base of the colossal mountain of Gatshadow, the darker and danker the woods became. When the treeline ascended into the lower heights of the mountain, the forest indeed came alive as the lumberjacks claimed, and the party was beset by animated trees and twig blights. The escorting Green Man, unfortunately did not make it out, but having survived the attack, Ladryssa managed to rescue an injured pseudodragon which has taken a shine to her; having been upset by something else she saw in the forest, we now rejoin the party, regrouping and resting, before venturing further into the darkness of the forest around Gatshadow...”

With the sun creeping below the horizon, Shadow suggests the party find a place to camp. Nakiya says that there should be clearing in the forest further up the mountain if they wanted to camp, because it would long be dark before they got back to the city.

The group ventures further up the mountain, but the woods become denser and the safer paths between them become more winding and narrow. Nakiya leads the party on a serpentine path, but the route inevitably begins spacing the party out.

As the party tries to regroup once more, they lose track of Shadow and Cezika. Ladryssa has a hunch about the forest is magic (since it came alive and attacked them earlier, as well).

The party calls out to Shadow, but they don’t see or hear the rest of the group. Shadow finds themself alone, and as the sun begins dipping below the horizon they smell smoke and cooking meat from the north.

Cezika is also alone in the forest, after holding back a branch for Leaf. When she doesn’t see Leaf there, she rounds the tree but nobody is there and neither is the branch. The boggy, dense air from the forest is no longer there, but it is replaced by meat cooking from the south. Stealthily, she investigates.

Leaf speaks to the trees to ask what is going on. The trees respond in typical tree fashion.

Song tries to cast message but he receives no reply either.

As the sun finally winks out through the trees, Shadow picks out a secondary glow, like a campfire, along with some faint humming.

Cezika sees the forest open up into a small, circular clearing, sheltering a campfire, a man, and two large animals.

Shadow sees a man with a beard and mussy red hair beckoning him toward the campfire. The two steers with him moo at the Tabaxi. Shadow asks who the man is, and gets a cryptic reply.

Shadow: “Do you know what is going on in the forest? You are not safe here.”

Man: “’Safe.’ *scoff* Who’s safe? Who’s safe anywhere?”

Shadow: “Many people...?”

Man: “Aw, everyone thinks they’re safe someplace, then something happens to them and ‘Oh, how did this happen? I thought I would be so safe!’ Believe me, you’re as safe out in the wilds in the jaws of a beastie as you are on your mother’s teat.”

Shadow asks if the man has seen anyone else, and he flicks his thumb over towards Cezika, who is still in hiding in the opposite direction Shadow came from.

The man says people call him Bodb, and he asks for Shadow’s name in return, to which they reply “Moon.”

Shadow continues questioning Bodb, who continues to give nebulous answers. Cezika sits by the fire, but Shadow remains standing, hands behind their back.

Song receives no reply to his message spell, but does get a brief whiff of smoke from nowhere. Whispers and phantom giggling on the wind are starting to make Song hate the woods.

“I don’t wanna deal with this bullshit!” says Song, as the smell of fresh cow manure tickles his nose. “That’s not funny!” he shouts to the woods.

Nakiya says that there’s nothing they can do for their missing members now, and suggests they come back in the morning. Leaf rejects that notion on the spot.

Leaf: “I will not leave Cezika. Maybe we just need to get lost again, because when I got lost I found her, so if we get lost we will find them.”

Chaining their arms together, the scarecrow, tin man, lion, and the country girl with her pet Song, Nakiya, Leaf, Ladryssa, and her pseudodragon, trek through the dark forest.

Bodb offers Shadow and Cezika some meat carved from the spit, which they reject.

The pair tries to pry information about Bodb’s origin and goal, but he remains elusive.

Shadow starts to dismiss themself, saying they are looking for their friends, and Bodb asks what they look like. Cerzika describes them and Bodb motions toward the treeline of the clearing and the other four stumble into the campsite.

Ladryssa and Song are suspicious of Bodb, but neither are quite sure why.

Leaf, meanwhile, makes friends with the white cow (Finn).

Bodb offers a slice of fresh meat to Ladryssa, who "politely” declines, irritating Bodb.

Bodb: “Why is everyone so distrustful of me meat? No one’s ever taken umbrage to me meat before. Me meat is very popular in certain circles! You take good care of it, you marinate it properly, you slice it right, you make it nice and hot and very appetizing; and yet, when you decide to pass it around, no one wants to partake of yer meat!”

Song: “Bodb, I hate to tell you, but some people just aren’t into the sausage party, y’know.”

Bodb: “Not again! Once more, I am surrounded by people-- people I am trying to make friends with-- and I’m the only one enjoying me meat.”

When Bodb denies being responsible for bringing everyone to the campfire, Shadow refuses to take it as an answer.

Ladryssa asks Bodb if she can touch him, which he begrudgingly allows. After a moment, the rest of the group sees Ladryssa visibly shaken by whatever she had done. She says that she was able to see through Bodb’s eyes, and the campsite was a moonlit glade and the surrounding forest was a fetid bog.

He offers Nakiya a slice, to which responds by saying she’s a vegetarian.

“Bodb: “If you’re absolutely sure that you don’t eat meat, I’d agree to it.”

Nakiya: “I am certain I don’t want any.”

Bodb instead offers the slice to Leaf. Leaf accepts it and happily eats it. The rest of the group is wildly distrustful of the nature of Bodb’s meat.

Shadow: “What kind of magic are you using, if I may be so bold?”

Bodb: “Not that you were interested before, by this, my friend, is the magic of spices. Got a little sage on there, little bit of cinnamon, the honey is the key: the honey makes it tender.”

Shadow: “You brought everyone here. I am only curious because I also use some form of magic. I am not quite sure how, exactly, and I am curious to learn. Are willing to teach?”

Bodb: “Not entirely sure I can teach you anything you’d be willing to learn, but I can impart what knowledge I have.”

Song: “That would be helpful.”

Bodb: “Aright, so the first thing you need to do is make sure you get the proper cut. Not every part of the cow is gonna give you the same kind of meat, so you wanna make sure you getting the meat from the right part of the cow. From there you need to check its marbling, see what its fat content is versus the actual meat itself...”

Cezika: *soul leaves her body*

Song offers a “dumb suggestion”, saying they should rest at the campsite for the night. Bodb offers the space to them, but bemoans the distrustful nature of the people he meets. He speak on “following a star” as a person’s guide, and the party picks out a star in the night sky and makes note of it.

The party makes up a night watch schedule, but Bodb says he is going to sleep as well. Shadow says that if Bodb is willing to trust the party to keep watch, they are willing to partake of his meat, and tears a small piece off to eat and pockets the rest.

Song: “Careful, Shadow. That could be a mis-steak.”

Bodb then offers some to Song, who eats it after trading him some dried jerky.

Shadow and Cezika take the first watch, spotting shadowy forms in the darkness around the camp. When they try to wake others to change watch shifts, the two of them also fall asleep.

Upon waking, the party find themselves in an open meadow further up the mountain. Bodb and his cows are gone, but the party is safe and refreshed. Nearby, a massive tree looms over the grove nearby, nestled against the mountainside.

Song asks Ladryssa if she has a name for the pseudodragon. Ladryssa asks the creature what it calls itself, but all she gets back is a notion of confusion.

Shadow pulls Ladryssa aside for a private conversation. When they return, Ladryssa seems lost in thought.

Leaf points to the big, dead-looking, nightmarish, huge, mangled, and bare-bones redwood.

The group hears sweet humming coming from the direction of the tree, as the green lady from yesterday sings and disappears, but not before beckoning them to follow.

Leaf: “We need to eat breakfast first, but then we will come out and play.”

[firelight-tales-of-exandria]

Firelight Tales of Exandria, Ch.7 - “Tiny Friends”

Thank you all for coming, and let’s tell some stories…

“When we last left the party, they had squared their debts and were embarking on an investigation of the strange sickness growing within the Bramblewood. Unfortunately, before they could question any of the local clergy about the cleansing of diseases, they discovered that the local Lumberjack’s Guild had been viciously attacked during their latest excursion into the deepest parts of the forest.

An angry mob had formed and marched on the Freeman’s Lodge, where the malcontent of the lumberjacks, farmers, and various other citizens had given rise to talk of direct action against their mounting troubles, and even whispers of a coup against the Margrave himself. Due to some sly choices by members of the party, such talk was undermined just in time as Margrave Brandon Zimmerset arrived to address the grievances of the assembly personally. In none so gentle terms, the Margrave reassured the populace of his determination and posted a bounty of 1000 gold pieces to any individual or group that could end the rising corruption in the Bramblewood, sparking a rush of adventurers to head out into the dark forest.”

Nakiya and Song grab a copy of the official bounty contract from the clerks at the Freeman’s Lodge. Unfortunately, this contract was far more ponderous and complicated than their previous job, with three pages of fine print crammed onto a single sheet.

Traveling back to the Temple Ward, and the Temple of the Platinum Dragon, the party meets back up with Leaf, who has been busy ministering to the wounded lumberjacks.

The family of one of the lumberjacks comes to see him, and his daughter takes a shine to the firbolg, following them from patient to patient.

Cezika examines the Margrave’s bounty and eases the party’s concerns by explaining that most of the fine print is bureaucratic nonsense, with two exceptions: those seeking to claim the bounty must provide physical evidence, and claimants must submit to a one week investigation to verify the corruption has been eliminated.

The party discusses the best course of action, deciding to try and meet up with Buddy despite not knowing if he will show at the meeting place.

The lumberjack whose family had visited warns Leaf that they shouldn’t go into the deep parts of the forest. He says that a circle of druids, known as the Green Men, have long been stymieing the efforts of the lumberjacks, hindering their advance into the woods. He had never known the Green Men to be overly violent before, but times may have changed.

When Leaf asks the lumberjack where his family lives, and he regrettably informs them that they may not have enough money to keep their home and may have to find new employment, the firbolg empties their pockets of gold to help. At first refusing to accept such a generous offer, the lumberjack relents and his child, Emma (the one who made friends earlier), gives Leaf her doll, Sally.

Emma: *hugs Leaf’s fuzzy head* “Tank you, beao fwiend!”

Players: *explode in sobbing*

As the party begins to head out, Song notices a despondent Zeal nearby, decompressing from the rigors of healing so many wounded. She asks Song if he knew how Dren, the head priest, can deal with so much pain and suffering and still put on a brave front; how he can bear the overwhelming feeling of powerlessness in the face of such misery and not surrender to his anger. Song tells her that a person just has to learn to live with the things they cannot change and do all they can to change what is in their power.

Zeal has an intimate, vulnerable moment with Song, and as he kisses her cheek Shadow appears and kisses Zeal’s other cheek.

Shadow: “I am sorry. Was that a courtship ritual?”

The party heads to the crossroads west of the city to find several groups of adventurers, mercenaries, and merchants setting up a staging area and makeshift market.

Nellywicke is there as well, hoping to offload some of her various knickknacks and back-stock. She sells the party some healing potions, a smattering of survival gear, and an instant-setup & collapsible multi-room canvas tent featuring her latest invention: interlocking metal teeth sewn into the seams of the tent, letting one secure its entrances and make the internal space customizable.

Song: “I like the sound it makes.”

Nellywicke: “Me too, isn’t it fun?”

Song: “Yeah, it is. You know what you should call it? A “vhuipper”!

With no sign of Buddy, Nakiya and Shadow lead the party into the forest, searching for some sign of the corruption. Eventually they begin to encounter parts of the wood where the trees are growing gnarled and the pervasive scent of autumn decay is starkly out-of-place with the summer season.

The party, sneaking through the foliage, comes upon the aftermath of a battle between some forest-dwellers and a pair of would-be assassins. Nakiya makes ready for battle, but a misplaced step by Leaf signals the Green Men to their presence so the party attempts diplomacy first.

Song can somehow communicate with them despite not understanding their foreign druidic language. Finding some common ground with Sylvan, Song, Leaf, and Ladryssa discover that the Green Men’s long-standing feud with the lumberjacks has now made them a target in the city’s attempt to root out the corruption of the Bramblewood.

One of the Green Men attempts to give Ladryssa a rudimentary education in the “Great Cycle” and how truly insidious the growing sickness of the forest is: not only threatening the safety and future of Westruun but ceasing the very cycle of life, death, and renewal nature depends on.

Despite his warnings, one of the Green Men agrees to take the party into the darkest part of the woods, near the base of Gatshadow, where the sickness appears to have originated. Sadly, the Green Man is crushed by an animated tree and the party is beset by twig blights.

Thwarting the attack by the very forest itself, the party tries to stop Ladryssa from hastily scaling the forest path up towards Gatshadow. In her moment of hesitation, Ladryssa is alerted to the presence of a trapped and wounded pseudodragon she narrowly missed in her attack on the animated tree. She and Leaf begin nursing the creature, which seems to have adopted the party, back to health.

As the group rests before pressing onward, Ladryssa spots the ephemeral form of a beautiful green woman striding through the dark wood. Ladryssa is suddenly struck by the dreamlike memory of being frightened by this woman and her sisters, chilling her to her core.

[firelight-tales-of-exandria]

Firelight Tales of Exandria, Ch.5 - “Rustic Hospitality”

Thank you all for coming, and let’s tell some stories...

“We we last left the party, they had accomplished their mission of ‘acquiring shinies’ and had managed to find a method of paying for said shinies by finding a job at the Freeman’s Lodge, posted by the very tired, very haggard leader of the Farmer’s Union. Apparently, livestock on several farms, for about two weeks, have been coming up either missing or mutilated and the farmland itself has been ransacked and ruined, rendering it almost sterile. The Farmer’s Union has been trying to find the cause, and they haven’t made any real headway. Several members have differing theories about what it could possibly be: some say it is rampaging, ravenous animals; one of the popular theories is that it is a plot or conspiracy by a local gnoll hunter; no one is quite certain what is going on, only that the livestock are being killed, the farmland is being ruined, and they have no way to track or trap or discover who/what is doing this.

“So, the party has taken on the job of investigating and bringing back some evidence of who or whatever has been attacking these farms, and (if at all possible) to stop it.  Some of the party, who are a bit more headstrong, have immediately headed out north, into the Bramblewood, to track down one of the possible culprits. So we join the party, on their way out of town, and into the dark, thick treeline of the Bramblewood...”

Nakiya begins by looking for tracks on the forest path, hoping to pick up some sign of Buddy, the gnoll hunter. Being familiar with the area, she knows that the two main paths through the Bramblewood head to either the Murdoon Mines or up towards the ominous mountain of Gatshadow,  but because they are so well-traveled she can’t get a bead on any discernible tracks.

With no lead on Buddy, Song makes an educated guess about instead investigating the farms to the north that are being victimized.

As the party ventures northward, they begin to encounter the farmsteads that have been ruined by these attacks. The land is pockmarked with patches of upturned soil and scattered, deep furrows of earth. Animal carcasses litter the fields, their bones picked clean (probably by scavengers). Oddly enough, the farm cottages and houses seem to not have been attacked or ruined; only the land and animals.

Song: “You know, that really what I don’t understand about any of this; because, like, looting farms and stuff, that’s par for the course, but they’re making it completely unusable, so it looks like someone’s kinda pissed off, you know?”

Cezika: “Like they’re trying to get the land out from under the farmers?”

Song: “I don’t know if it even goes that far, it just looks really ‘angry’.”

Cezika: “Well it could be just full of assholes.”

Song: “Well, that’s true. Most things are.”

Nakiya inspects the farm for tracks, trying to get a picture of what happened. She finds livestock prints, but also canine prints going and coming from the treeline to the west. However, the prints and furrows don’t seem to run parallel. The prints trail into the woods, but the furrows stop before the treeline.

The party decides to investigate other farms to see what similarities there are between attacks.

Off to the east, they find a farm that hasn’t been attacked yet, lined by a stone wall. Ladryssa and Shadow perch on the fence to get a better look around, drawing crossbow fire from the resident farmer. The farmer, angrily and possessively trying to defend his land hurls bolts and insults at the party, offering no assistance. After being frozen in his tracks by Shadow, he directs the party to a farm further north, sending them off with more slurs and veiled threats.

Song: “Y’know, Cezika, I might just reverse my policy on murders for that one.”

Heading off to the farm pointed out to them, the party finds a very-recently ransacked farm being picked-over by carrion birds and a pack of wolves. The carcasses on this farm are still fresh, including one humanoid silhouette.

The wolves notice the party and some of them begin to circle the party at a distance. Leaf tries to parley with the pack leader, pleading for them to return to hunt in the forest, but the wolves’ hunger overrides their reason and the pack closes in.

The party fights off the wolves, regrettably killing most of them, with the last wolf being skewered by an arrow shot from the forest by the gnoll hunter, Buddy. Nakiya tries to calm Buddy, who is visibly agitated at the party’s appearance, but when they explain they are investigating the farm attacks he excitedly leads them back.

Buddy goes to one of the wolf corpses, showing them how frail, thin, and sickly the wolf pack is. The wolves are all malnourished, which should be impossible given how plentiful prey should be in the forest this time of year.

Ladryssa: “Where do these wolves normally hunt? Is there a specific ground?”

Buddy: “Deep, deep in the woods. Wolves hunt near base of Gatshadow. But Gatshadow darker. Gatshadow deeper now. Sickness. Sickness!”

Investigating the farm the wolves were scavenging, the party finds more of those same furrows and soil mounds, but these animal carcasses are still fresh. There is also a dead farmer tossed among the hay bales near the farm cottage. The wounds the farm victims sustained were a mixture of deep bite marks and melted flesh, with very little damage coming from wolf bites.

Ladryssa asks Buddy what he thinks did this to the farm. He gives a name in gnoll-speak, but the party doesn’t understand. When they ask him to clarify, he will give a charade-like performance to describe the culprit. (It goes about as well as you would expect.)

The party turns to find Zeal, armored and brandishing her weaponry. Song angrily demands the tiefling explain why she is there and after Buddy. Zeal produces a contract from the Freeman’s Lodge, bearing the Farmer’s Union seal, asking for Buddy to be apprehended, dead or alive. Buddy bolts for the treeline, and Zeal wraps him in glowing, spectral chains.

Cezika: “This is why I have trust issues with tieflings.”

Nakiya holds Zeal in place demanding an explanation, Shadow holds Buddy to the ground, trying to calm him, and Ladryssa heads off to the woods to immediately investigate the burrow trails, only to be stopped by Song.

Buddy, seemingly unprovoked, begins freaking out, and Shadow gets the sudden impulse to run. Zeal agrees to let Buddy go, and as she does, two ankhegs burst out between the party and the edge of the Bramblewood.

Song interposes himself between an ankheg and Ladryssa, partially shielding her from its acid spray. Attempting to counterattack, the giant vermin gets the drop on him and its bite renders him unconscious. Zeal rushes to his side and Leaf casts a spell to keep him from immediately dying for the time being.

Cezika uses her acrobatic training to scale the back of one of the ankhegs, crushing its head in with her scimitar while Ladryssa blasts the rest of it off.

Nakiya distracts the remaining ankheg while Leaf channels their divine power into one of the creatures, rendering it vulnerable to Shadow’s magic. The two of them batter the remaining ankheg with radiant attacks, killing it.

Ladryssa pops the head off one of the ankhegs as a trophy to prove they were responsible for the farm attacks.

Ladryssa: “Can we carry the head back into town to prove it was these things and not rats?”

Leaf tries to heal Buddy’s wound, but it still appears infected with some type of malady.

Zeal trades Song the group’s contract back for hers, which she promptly tears up.

Buddy mentions the “sickness” once more, asking for the ankheg head, extracting the ruined, shriveled, blackened, warped brain. Ladryssa is visibly disturbed by this revelation, as Buddy once more points toward Gatshadow, speaking of a “sickness.” He tells the party to return to the safety of the city, and once he finds the source of the sickness they should meet him at the crossroads heading up to Gatshadow.

Leaf briefly pauses at the now-empty farmhouse, before rejoining the party, as they make their way back to Westruun as the sun sets.

[firelight-tales-of-exandria]

Firelight Tales of Exandria, Ch.6 - “The Cure is Murder”

Thank you all for coming, and let us tell some stories...

“The party had taken on the job of investigating the farms on the outskirts of the Bramblewood. Investigating a few, they found telltale signs of ruined land, half-eaten livestock, and territorial farmers. They did manage to find, atone farm, a group of starving wolves, that were scavenging a newly-sacked farm and, unfortunately in their hunger, they deemed it a big enough risk and attempted to include the party in the cycle of life. Our heroes took umbrage to that, and either killed or drove off the wolf pack, after which they investigated this farm and discovered, with the aid of the gnoll hunter, Buddy, that the perpetrators of these attacks were a pair of ankhegs that had come from the Bramblewood itself.

“After dispatching them, with the unforeseen help of Zeal, the party examined the ankhegs and Buddy, through some ominous allusions, informed the party that something within the Bramblewood, appearing to emanate from Gatshadow, has been corrupting and sickening the wildlife and the forest itself. Retrieving a trophy from one of the ankhegs, the group made their way back to Westruun.”

Song directs the party back to the Freeman’s Lodge, so they can drop off the ankheg head.

Being nighttime, the Lodge is mostly empty, but there is a clerk doing busywork at the reception desk. The group drops off the head to complete their bounty, and the subsequent paperwork proceeds to bore Ladryssa and Shadow, who busy themselves with the curiosities about the Lodge.

Worried the various stuffed trophies strewn about the Lodge would upset Leaf, especially after the sad business with the wolves, Cezika offers to wait with them outside.

Song makes some allusions to the head having some kind of disease, making the clerk uncomfortable. Finally he finishes his paperwork and imparts the group’s payment and receipt.

Song asks Cezika to be the party’s accountant, which the rogue obviously thinks is a fantastic idea, proceeding to divvy up the bounty among the party.

Zeal apologizes for the circumstances of their meeting earlier. Song invites her to join them for a brew as thanks for saving his life, but the tiefling regrettably excuses herself. Song kisses her hand, “like a gentleman”, thanking her again. Zeal gives him a wink.

Returning to the “Sloppy Satyr” inn & tavern, the group forgoes paying for their own communal room in favor of sharing a bed in one of the single rooms. Song orders some nighttime refreshments and Nakiya brings some pillows and blankets from her room to make the shared room cozy.

Cezika and Song have a quick tête-à-tête about her native language (Marquesian). 

Ladryssa elaborates on her concerns from the farm.  She explains that she comes from the Feywild and the enemies of her patron/adoptive mother created a magical wasting disease that renders its victims paranoid, belligerent, and highly vulnerable to suggestion.

Song: “Y’know, please take this as a compliment, but so many things about you make so much more sense now that I know where you are from.”

Ladryssa: “Thank you?”

Cezika: “Yes, it was a compliment, it is okay.” *head pat*

Ladryssa’s memories are vague on the details of the pandemic, but she remembers that those who were infected were simply executed to prevent its further spread. That's probably not the best solution in this case.

Song asks if Ladryssa can contact her patron/mother to get more info on the malady, and she regrettably says that’s not how her connection works.

Now that Ladryssa is putting the pieces of how the Feywild works versus how the Material Plane (”The Realm of Consequence”) works, she is beginning to understand why her upbringing was so delicate (the lifestyle of the Fey would largely have been lethal for young Ladryssa, and her “mother” would have been pissed if she was hurt).

The group decides that talking to the clergy about cleansing the disease would be the best first step.

Cezika braids Ladryssa’s hair while Shadow watches, enraptured.

Song: “Well would you look at that, Ladryssa: you’ve got two mothers now.”

Ladryssa: “I have three!”

Cezika: “I used to do this for my cousins. It helps with stressful days before bed.”

Song: “How many cousins have you got?”

Cezika: “........I’ve lost count.”

As the group mellows out before sleep, Song plays the lullaby he does from time to time. Nakiya returns from her room with a flute and joins in the tune.

Song wakes in the middle of the night, disturbed by something, holding his heirloom amulet, but falls back asleep

++PARTY LEVEL UP – LVL. 3++

Leaf and Shadow spend another night outdoors and wake with the dawn, while the rest of the group have a slumber party in the room together.

The door to the room having been left unlocked, Shadow slinks into the room. When Cezika wakes up she gets a face full of Shadow.

With the rest of the party being startled awake by Shadow, they are further confused as Song begins speaking in tongues. Cezika recognizes one such language as Primordial. Song, unable to control which language comes out, can’t explain either, but soon gets the hang of it.

Shadow is curious as to why Song keeps fiddling with his pendant. Song explains it was a keepsake from his mother.

Shadow: “You keep grasping it. Can you sense it too?”

Song: “Sense what? Did you have any dreams last night? Not saying I did...”

Shadow is concerned about Song’s well-being, since those from his tribe who started speaking in tongues “lost their sense of themselves”.

To lighten the mood, Song asks the party what color his hair should be next. Shadow asks if he can make it look like theirs. Half an hour later, Song comes out with his hair in the same streaked salt-and-pepper pattern as Shadow’s fur, after which Shadow braids Song’s hair, under Cezika’s instruction.

Cezika and Shadow stop by Nellywicke’s shop to square up their debt for the necklace she gave them. The gnome jokingly says she didn’t think they would even return, let alone actually pay for it. Shadow thanks her again for the necklace, kissing her on the cheek.

Nellywicke: “Sometimes the brightest lights come from the deepest shadows.”

Nellywicke asks what the next step for the party is, and they mention investigating an illness. She remarks that something big is going on at the Temple Ward that morning, so other people may be ill as well, immediately alarming the group, who sprint off.

The Temple square is full of people, with each of the large temples crammed full with injured lumberjacks. Heading off to the Temple of the Platinum Dragon, the group finds Dren, Zeal, and the other Scales frantically performing first aid and surgery on pews full of injured. Leaf offers their aid, and Dren enlists them in an emergency surgery while the others wait outside.

Song spots a small mob, whipped up into a frenzy heading off to the Freeman’s Lodge. Song, Nakiya, Ladryssa, and Shadow try to get into the Lodge, with varying success, while Cezika tries to keep a lookout outside.

The leader of the Lumberjack’s Guild is trying to keep some semblance of order, keeping the fervor of the mob down. Various lumberjacks and the families of those wounded and killed, shout out about how the forest came alive to attack them. Others shout out how the Margrave refuses to lend the support of the Westruun Shields to protect excursions into the Bramblewood.

Song, getting crammed into a far corner of the Lodge, recognizes one of the dissenting voices as Gortman, who is calling for political reform of the city leadership and deposing of the Margrave and his military dictatorship. The mob begins working itself up into a frenzy, but Song manages to surreptitiously calm the crowd before they call for blood en masse.

Cezika, outside, melds into the crowd as Margrave Brandon Zimmerset makes his way into the Freeman’s Lodge, flanked by his personal guard. The Margrave immediately quiets the mob, addressing their grievances directly. He explains that attacks on trade caravans across the Dividing Plains threaten the stability and economic lifeblood of Westruun, and are spreading the might of the Shields too thin to help with domestic concerns. He firmly “reassures” the citizens that he always has their best interest at heart and warns that any steps taken toward “political reform” will be met with swift action.

The Margrave, on the spot, declares an open bounty of one thousand gold pieces to whomever eliminates the cause of the recent troubles within the Bramblewood, sending those adventurers present scurrying out of the Freeman’s Lodge.