#hamlet the archfey

[nemo-in-wonderland]

ROBYN "HIRAETH" GOODFELLOW | ARCHFEY BARDLOCK | HALF SEA ELF

Name: Robyn Goodfellow

Nickname: Hiraeth. It was her human mother’s name. She took it as her own after returning from the Feywild and uses it as her performing name to honour her memory after having lost her to the whims of time.

Title: “The Silvertongued Saltimbanco”

Alias: Puck (it was the name Oberon used for her during her time in the Feywild. Her Patron grew fond of it and that’s how she is known at the Seelie Court. She doesn’t seem to particularly appreciate it, but she knows better than to contradict either Oberon or Titania).

Age: 33 years old (albeit, she woud be over 150 years old, due to having spent approximately three years in the Feywild, at the Seelie Court, where time flows differently compared to the Material Plane. She was actually born in 1292 DR - Year of the Wandering Waves).

Birthplace: Hiraeth was born in the waters of Deepwater Harbour of Waterdeep, in the sea elf hamlet of T'Quession.

Hometown: Waterdeep, the City of Splendours

Current Residence: Before the events of Baldur’s Gate 3, Hiraeth was travelling around the planes with the Witchlight Carnival, where she performed as Trapezist and Aerial Artist. After the events of Baldur’s Gate 3 and after fulfilling her pact with Oberon, she went back home to Waterdeep with Gale.

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Race: Half-Sea Elf

Class: Archfey Warlock/ Bard

Profession/job: Saltimbanco and Trapezist.

Visual particular traits: Underneath the Fey Glamour she casts upon herself to appear as a normal Elf, Hiraeth hides the scales, fins and gills that would be a dead give away of her sea elven heritage. She is not particularly comfortable in showing them around, at least on the Material Plane. In the Feywild, she doesn’t care as much and goes around without any glamour covering her features.

Scent: Evening Primrose, Pansies, Moonflower and Honeysuckle. Hawtorn as well.

Colours/symbols associated with: The Colour of the Astral Sea; Her flute, carved by Damh himself, twin to his own, from which she never parts ways; the mist in an autumnal forest at dusk; A bush filled with blossoming pansies, in all the shades of blue, violet and pink; the dust that fall of a butterfly’s wings; the beauty of the crushing waves during a storm; the glittering of fireflies all round a meadow;

Languages: Thanks to her time spent in the Feywild and subsequently, travelling with the Witchlight Circus and her own inclination to pick up languages easily, Hiraeth can speak an incredible amount of languages. She is fluent in Sylvan, Faun, Elvish (Sea Elvish) and Common. She is also conversational in Sylph, Merman Language and Selkie and, while travelling with Azriel, Asra and Dorothea, she is learning Infernal and Druidic as well.

Accent?: She retaines no Waterdhavian accent from the small time she spent with her mother and father, before ending up in the Feywild, and her current accent is influenced by Damh’s own. So she generally speaks with a strong Sylvan accent.

Tropes they embody: “Fish out of water”, “The Charmer”, Plucky Comic Relief”, “Eternal Youth”, “The Fair Folk”, “Broken Bird”, “Manic Pixie Dream Girl”, “The Rebel”, “The Eternal Optimist”, “The Trickster”, “Hidden Depth”, “Badass Adorable”, “Beware the Nice Ones”, “Cloud Cuckoo Lander”, “Cute Bruiser”, “Deadpan Snarker”, “Bunny-Ears Lawyer”, “Didn’t think this through”, “Exact Words”, “Obfuscating Insanity”, “Eccentric Artist” “Everyone Calls Him Barkeep”, “Non Sequitur”, “Daddy’s girl”, “Fourth-Wall Observer”, “Cheshire Cat Grin”, “O.O.C. Is Serious Business”, “The Prankster”, “Fey-Driven Talents”, “Undying Loyalty”.

Personality: Charismatic, Enchanting, Imaginative, Assertive, Natural Flair for the Dramatic, Sweet as Sugar, Enthusiastic, Kind Hearted, Mischievous, Witty, Whimsical, Happy-go-lucky, Determinate, Resilient, Spontaneous, Eccentric, Fey-Touched, Thoughtful, Can be apathetic, Far too forward, lack any type of filter, uncautious, erratic, disorganized, sometimes she appears detached from reality, as if she was living in two places at the same time. It took Gale a while to realize that it can take a while before she comes back to their reality. Whenever she is “back”, all she could say is that whenever the music of the flutes starts, she has to follow.

Detailed Backstory: Hiraeth - née Robyn Goodfellow - was an Half-Sea Elf, born from the union of her human mother, Hiraeth Dantathur Goodfellow, and a Marel Sea Elf, Aeren Maenenrid, of the noble house Maenenrid, one of the founder family of Mareliar.

Her father was a respected warrior among the Aquatic Elves society, known for his prowess in battle, the merciless ferocity he displayed against the enemies of his people and his utmost devotion to the Goddess Umberlee; her mother, instead, was a kind but spunky human woman and a renowned travelling bard in Waterdeep, known for being able to compose and play the most beautiful songs, dedicated to the Goddess Selune, despite being completely blind.

They met by chance while she was touring in Cormyr with her itinerary band: she was singing in Dragonmere and he happened to listen upon her, while patrolling the shores. There was something in the way that human sang, something in the way her notes would touch part of his heart in a manner unknown even to himself. Before long, Aeren found himself absolutely smitten by her and her singing, and approached her, with all intention of getting to know her. Hiraeth Dantathur, on her end, was also incredibly curious about this suitor of hers, albeit unaware about his maritime persuasion.

Nevertheless, their love soon blossomed over time, and evolved in a forbidden relationship, for Aeren had been promised, in an arranged marriage, and betrothed to another Marel Elf, Nessa Aveantius. Aeren could not bear the thought of giving up his sweet human love, and decided - despite dreading the idea - to travel through dry land and leave the Sea of Fallen Stars behind, heading instead with Hiraeth Dantathur to her hometown, the City of Splendors, Waterdeep.

Here, they would settle down in the harbour, where Aeren would make contact with the local population of Sea Elves and offer his skills and experience as defender of the underwater hamlet of T'Quession, and not long after this, their only daughter, Robyn, was born.

Joyful and mischievous, little Robyn spent more time underwater than she did on land, swimming and diving deep in the harbour, where she would play with the children of the Sea Elves of T’Quession.

Whenever her mother would manage to catch Robyn and actually make her sit still for a little while, she would bring her to the same woods where her father, a druid and acolyte of the Feywild Gods, raised a stone circle and standing stone; there, she would teach Robyn how to play the flute in honour of Damh and Titania, Oberon ad Verenestra, and would talk for hours about all the stories her own papa would tell her about the Feywild.

Fascinated, Robyn would start to look forward to these little moments with her mother, and would start bringing small gifts of food to leave within the stone circle, as an offering to the old Sylvan Gods.

Their happy days, however, would soon come to a close, for Nessa Aveantius, Aeren’s intented, with sorrow at first and then scorn at the news that her future husband would renounce their future life for a human woman, did all in her power to find them and take back the happiness that was stolen from her.

So, one day, five years from Aeren and Hiraeth Dantathur’s arrival at Waterdeep, the assassins sent by Nessa would find the small family and enact the long awaited revenge of the scorned elf-woman.

Aeren fought like a shark, trying to defend both Hiraeth and Robyn, but unprepared as he was, he lost Hiraeth to the assassins’ daggers before he had the chance to even embrace his own trident. Knowing Nessa and her vindictive temper , Aeren knew that the assassins’s aim was not just the woman he had loved, but also the child that they had sired together, so to forever erase the offense brought by his betrayal.

He screamed for little Robyn to run, run, run, as far and as fast as the breeze allowed her, and to never look back, for if she did, she was lost.

Robyn, covered in her mother’s own blood and absolutely terrified in her pain, fled the small cottage, trying to put as much distance between the assassins and herself. She let her feet guide her down the path, drowning in pure terror as she tried to keep the last thoughts of her mother’s life away from her mind.

Back into her mother’s glade, she found her grandfather’s circle of stone, and without looking back, she crossed through the dolmen, and kept running until her legs gave out ad she couldn’t even breathe anymore.

So terrified she was of her pursuers, that she hadn’t even noticed that the forest around her was not the wood that bordered the clearing, and without a second thought, she would find a small cavity in one of the trees nearby, climbing inside and hiding away.

She didn’t remember how long she had spent inside the tree, trembling and whimpering at every single sound, but it was not long before exhaustation would take her and she would fall into a deep, almost impenetrable sleep.

Nightmare after nightmare would followed her through her slumbering, chasing and stalking her like a pack of rabid dogs that would not let her rest, reliving the moment her mother’s eyes - blind from childhood - would truly never see life ever again; recalling her father’s blood running from the wound on his head and his distraught scream of admonishment to run for her life.

Nightmare after nightmare after nightmare that paralyzed Robyn into a spiral of horrors, until gentle music found its way within her mind and quelled some of those atrocities.

When she opened her eyes, trying to figure out where she was, she found a stranger looking at her with curiousity.

He didn’t resemble any man she ever saw in her life: small in stature, with skin the colour of the branches of the tree around her, auburn hair with golden filigree and eyes as dark as a starless night, he appeared to be around the same age as her papa, but at the same time, something about his bearing made him appear as old as the mountains she once read about in one of her mother’s book.

That man was Damh, son of Titania and Oberon and the old Patron God Robyn’s maternal family worshipped when alive.

Without any question, for he had witnessed what had happened to her, he took young Robyn with him, and brought her to the Summer Court, Titania’s domain, where she would reside for the following three years.

Damh would plead his mother to allow him to keep the child around, for her family was among the few that still worshipped him, and a great tragedy had befallen them all. Titania would agree to her son’s wish, moved to profound pity at the predicament the child had found herself into, but she had one condition for her son: to never let the mortal child wander the Summer Court whenever Oberon was around; the Green Lord was not fond of mortals, after Titania’s own tryst with a mortal man a few decades earlier, and she knew that, even if time had passed, he still resented her for it.

And so little Robyn was left under the gentle - if unorthodox- cares of Damh, who treated her with kind compassion and saw in her an acolyte and a student to whom impart the knowledge of the Feywild and of the Sylvan Gods of Old.

The sadness in Robyn’s heart lingered for a while, with her thoughts always leading her back to the Harbour of Waterdeep, where her life had started and finished at the same time. But time and reality in the Feywild was fickle, and soon her memories started to dim. As Damh would often explain to her, whenever she asked why she couldn’t answer questions about her past anymore, “ The Feywild makes you forget. The longer you linger here, child, the more of you will be lost to the Faerie”.

With forgetfulness, came a quenching of the sorrow that was strangling her heart, and each day that sorrow would relent its grip, leaving Robyn in relative peace, as she followed Damh around from one adventure to the other, exploring all the Feywild far and wild, as she slowly forgot about everything that was “before”.

But the Green Lord, who dominated over the Summer Court, couldn’t be kept oblivious for long, and a fatal day, Robyn, now a child of almost eight years of age, stumbled upon him while looking for Queen Titania and Damh.

As much as the sight of a mortal child walking his Court despite his explicit ban on allowing mortals to enter that sacred ground was enough to anger Oberon, nothing could rival the fury he felt when he discovered that his own son and wife had concealed Robyn from his knowledge.

Knowing that he couldn’t do anything to hurt either Titania nor Damh, Oberon decided to take his revenge onto the child that had dared stroll around his Court, and bound young Robyn into a pact with him: Robyn was tricked by Oberon into giving her name to him, in exchange of powers that altered reality for her victims, leaving her unable to distinguish dreams from reality. Robyn believed that she was agreeing to a harmless promise to bring joy and merriment, after so much sorrow, and to also contribute to protect beautiful dreams, but instead, she was unwittingly caught into Oberon and Titania’s quarrel, born out of Oberon’s jealousy toward the favour his wife had once shown to a mortal through dreams and visions.

Because of this, Robyn’s mind would be perpetually torn between the dream realm and reality, with no way of controlling either in the way she wanted. She would experience vivid, often terrifying dreams of her “victims”, dreams that intruded upon her consciousness, causing her to lose track of time and space and leaving her fractured, as if she her own conscience was divided from her own soul. Her perception of reality was often distorted, leading to experience hallucinations, with sudden mood swings, and uncontrollable bursts of magic that she had no way to predict. She might find herself acting out dreams in reality or slipping into a dream state without warning and her sanity would always be at constant risk as she battled the chaotic thoughts and impulses that bombarded her mind.

Unaware of all the consequences that would come from trading away her name, Robyn would then be sent once more to the Mortal Plane, now carrying the alias of "Puck", but not before Titania bestowed a blessing and a protection upon the young child, to allow her to retain, at least partially, a sense of the reality around her. It was also Titania’s blessing that would put her on the path of a young Gale Dekarios, causing the two to actually become friends.

Gale and Robyn knew each other since childhood, when Morena Dekarios welcomed her in their household for a while. They were close friends, with Robyn being enamoured of the way he practiced Magic and him being absolutely enthralled by her stories of the Feywild and also immensely happy to have someone that looked up to him and didn’t think him bizarre. They would often spend their days together, playing tags around the docks together or putting themselves in trouble, with Robyn being the culprit and instigator, most of the time, sweet Gale always ready to play with her and poor Tara trying her best to look over the two children so that they would not end up in trouble. Sometimes, whenever Gale would ask her to, Robyn would recount about all her adventures in the Feywild with Damh, and all the wondrous places she explored during her time there (something that Morena didn’t truly believe possible, but would always refrain from letting her thoughts known, so not shatter Robyn’s belief).

But, whenever she tried to recount anything connected to Oberon or anything connected to the pact she agreed to as a child, she always felt her mind grow as foggy as an early morning on the Tor that acted as a barrier between the Court of Summer and the Court of Autumn, and could feel her own mind break in two, in the “here” and “there”.

Curious about such predicament, Gale would not hesitate one moment to find his way into Blackstaff Academy and learn whatever he could on the topic, but alas his efforts, albeit commendable, would always result in nothing.

Still, stubborn as ever, Gale would not give up on his friend - on whom he had started to harbour a crush - and promised Robyn that he would find a way to retrieve all her memories.

A year after Robyn had “unofficially” joined the Dekarios household, Robyn and Gale would find their way to the Harbour, busy as they were in , able to only remember glimpses of her life before entering the Feywild, found her way to the old, small sea-side cottage her father had built for their family, and once there, she found it empty, sacked and left at the merciless whims of time.

A small tombstone laid not that farther away, and drawn by it, Robyn found where her mother’s last resting place was. The sight dislodged some of the memories she believed forgotten, with glimpses of what happened on the fatal day when the assassins from her father’s tribe came to bring ruin and devastation.

And it was more than she could bear, as those memories started to cascade without respite. But the memories were not the only thing that brought dread to her heart: the date on the small tombstone had left her bereft, for how was it possible that two hundred years had passed from that day?

She was only nine years old: how could it be?

Confused and terrorized about who she was, what she was, what she had agreed to when she gave her name to Oberon, she felt her mind fractur even more,and before she could stop herself, she started spiraling, which caused her to unleash some of the untamed powers that Oberon gave her.

It wasn’t the first time it happened, but whenever she couldnt’ bridle them in the Feywild, Damh had always been there to help stabilize herself before her outburst of magic could cause havoc.

It was not the case that time, and she ended up hurting Gale, a possibility that had always terrified her ever since she met the sweet boy.

Even more frightened now, she brought Gale back home, where Morena and Tara would tend to his wound, imploring Morena’s forgiveness for what happened, and swearing it had been an accident. The young woman would forgive Robyn, and Gale as well would be all patched up without lasting consequences, but Robyn could not forgive herself.

What would happen if she would spiral again? What would happen if she couldn’t keep her powers under control, now that Damh was not with her?

Invain was the reassurance that all was forgiven and that they would all try to find a way to help her: Robyn felt too dangerous to be around others, especially around Morena, Gale and Tara, that had treated her like one of their own, without ever asking anything from her.

That very night, despite the profound sadness she felt in leaving the people that had welcomed her in their life and gave her a semblance of normalcy, she decided to run away from the Dekarios household, and to run away from Waterdeep entirely, leaving her hometown behind in the hope that, by putting some distance between herself ad her past, she would not spiral anymore and would not cause any more accidents.

Not daring to find her way into the Feywild again for fear that more centuries would pass, she spent a few years as a urchin in Baldur’s Gate, where she would survive from people’s charity, conning the Patriars and dipping into their fat purses.

It was at 13 years of age, while she was busy performing a rather daring move to enter inside one the Patriars’ manor to steal some jewelry - Szarr, was the name - that Robyn was caught by Mr. Witch and Mr. Light, the two proprietors of the Witchlight Carnival, and impressed by the was the girl seemed almost to levitate on air, they offered her a job at their circus.

Robyn - now Hiraeth, in honour of her mother - accepted and became part of the Circus, travelling around the various Planes with the troupe, until that fated day in the year 1492 DR, where she was abducted by a Nautiloid and tadpoled.

Most treasured possession: The charms she carries around her waist: a gift from Damh from her first time she crossed the Fey Crossroad into the Feywild, she carries it with her at all times. It’s what allows her to not age (and die from it) every time she travel from the Feywild to the Material Plane. Another one is an ocarina made out of seashell that she had with her the day she was lead into the Feywild by Damh. It was the only thing that she was able to grab before doing as her father told her to and run for safety. Another possession she has, that she never parts with, is an enchanted lantern that Dorothea gifted her, when they met in Neverwinter. After hearing Hiraeth’s affliction about her “not belonging anywhere”, Dorothea enchanted a lantern for her that would lit up in her hour of needs and lead her to her true home, when in doubts.

Sexual and/or romantic situation: After sharing part of their childhood together, and after reuniting when both of them got tadpoled, Hiraeth fell in love with Gale with such profound sentiment, it finally gave her the resolve -and the hope- that she would be able to get out of her contract with Oberon and would finally be able to be whole once more.

Favourite place: The Court of Under the Stars. Once, as a child, during her residency in the Feywild, Hiraeth and Damh went adventuring together, and Damh managed to sneak them both inside, by traversing the portal that lies where the River Styx touches Yggdrasil. They shouldn’t have had access to the Plane where the Court resides, but Queen Morwel was indebted to Damh, and to return the favour, allowed for them to pass through the portals unscathered and to travel around the realm freely just that one time. Here, Hiraeth experienced something that marked her forever, when she saw the eternal twilight that enveloped The Court. She felt the same peace she felt when looking at the stars and the moon when she was a child, basking in Selune’s embrace. It left her with a sense of peace that she never experienced again.

What makes them happiest: Swimming. Oh, how she adores swimming, feeling the sensation of flying through waters deep and low alike, breaching the surface only to dive back, as a dolphin would do when playing with his brethern. After reuniting with her papa, she is learning to appreciate her Sea Elf heritage more and more, as a way for her to reconnect to that part of her past that she thought lost forever.

What makes them angriest: Hiraeth is an extremely tranquil and unfazed woman, with her head in the clouds more often than not, and it’s incredibly difficult angering her. However, there are few things that make her go absolute insane with ire, her mother’s death being the easiest to trigger her. It took her a remarkable long time to find back all her memories of her and what happened that day, and that her father was not at direct fault, but instead he was the reason that Hiraeth was able to save herself.

Another thing that makes her immensely irate, this time with herself, is how she was so easily coherced into giving away her name - and therefore, her truest self- to Oberon to become his Vassal of Chaos in both the Material Plane and the Dreamscape of Mortals. She will never be able to be called “Robyn” again, never to be able to be one and whole again, long as she doesn’t fullfill her pact with him, and she berates herself every single day for it. Over time, she has come to suspect that this is also one of the reasons why she feels like she is slowly going insane: she exists in two places at the same time, the Feywild, where her truest self exists, and the Material Plane, where she navigates around as “Puck”, an husk and servant to Oberon’s whims. She also suspects that it’s Titania and Damh’s protection that’s helping her not slip further and further away into madness.

What makes them laugh: Damh, of all people. He was always the reason she was able to be safe and sound in the Feywild for so long, as a child, whenever she was scared or lonely, and would always come up with silly ideas to make her laugh and make her forget her troubles. She suspects that he extended his benevolence to her out of guilt for what his father did to her, but she always appreciated his constant attempt to render her days lighter and filled with laughters.

Also, she *loves* to pull all sorts of pranks on people: she lives for it, and she is extremely good at it.

Biggest secret: Her biggest secret is not truly one per se, but rather her biggest shame: while she bears her mother’s name, she has no memory of her at all. As Damh himself would put it “The Feywild makes you forget, and soonern rather than later, all your memories are lost into the mist of time”. And this was exactly what happened to her. She also feels her mind doesn’t work as it should, after the long years she spent in the Feywild under Oberon’s influence and she does her best to hide this behind her eccentric behaviour, albeit, sometimes, she feels herself slipping more into insanity.

Obsession: Getting back her name and her mental sanity. She wants to be able to feel whole again, to not feel fragmented, to be able to recognize what it’s real and what it’s not, what is and not broken in half anymore. She doesn’t know if she will ever be able to obtain the latter, but she knows that only by getting back the former, she will have the confirmation to her doubts.

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Omg am dead and I finally managed to finish Hiraeth's bio FML.

I am so happy to be able to post this on the day that I finished the gameplay as wel, it was so emotional.

I hope you will enjoy this!

--Nemo

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[arobinwithoutbatman]

((Alright folks, under the read more is the very long tale of what's happened so far in my dnd campaign and what happened last night

SO!

I live with my DM, have done for 5 years now and we've been best friends for about 20 years. Ish. We forget how old we were when we met. It's a long story. The entire world is homebrewed; everything from maps to culture to world history to an entire fucking pantheon. Seriously. My best friend is *incredible* and when I'm not involved in a campaign, I've been their sound board.

The party composition has changed a lot since we first started February 2022 for various reasons: -Cleric switched to Bard cause he was getting a bit bored and wanted to try something different for a while. The Cleric is still alive just currently tied up with work at his temple -Original Bard switched to Rogue because she lost her character sheet and it got flavoured that she was always a Rogue and just pretending to be a Bard -Barbarian was kicked out once he finally revealed his true toxic narcisstist colours and if he comes anywhere his ex (the Rogue player) we're calling the police -One of our Sorcerers switched to Paladin because we had no melee party members and got our asses handed to us a few sessions ago. That particular fight was meant to be difficult and unwinnable but not quite as drastic as what ended up happening. Lots of unlucky dice rolls

Current Level 10 Party composition is as follows: -Luran: Half Elf Bard, not sure what college. He's an artist, his inspiration is flicks of colourful paint that twirl very prettily around us -Love: Reborn Tiefling Sorcerer. Can't remember what her source of magic is rn. She's got all of her skin and organs and everything, she's just covered in burns -Farla: Tabaxi Rogue, Assassin specifically. She's caused so many fucking issues for us -.- Oh and she's officially in trouble with her guild for lack of loyalty and therefore potentially getting the rest of us in trouble -Xiderm: Reborn Eladrin Druid/Artificer. The tech thing is recent. He's literally a skeleton. Yes his name is a taxidermy joke. He and Love bond a lot over the death thing -Cassius: Human (I think) Paladin, Oath of Conquest. He's only been with us for a few sessions and was specifically assigned to us by our mercenary Guild Master to babysit us because we keep ending up in shit -Alice (AKA me~): Human Archfey Warlock, Pact of the Tome. I went full Alice in Wonderland because autism brain a couple years back said "This is a thing you like now" so I'm running with it. Wild Beyond The Witchlight only enabled this. My Patron is the Cheshire Cat~ I'm also currently a Dhampir! I got turned a while back and only got found out last night~

I can go into the story of the whole campaign cause that'll take up it's own post tbh but last night~

We finished our journey across the lake and continued escorting a lovely dwarf named Amelia. She's taking a project back to one of the big cities in the area; she's essentially making the world's first WarForged but it's not quite there yet, it's barely even a prototype and not even sentient. We're headed to the same place so we offered to go with her. We settled into this cosy little pub in a crack in a mountain, got a brief lesson on Dwarven culture (whether you finish the drink or not, you accept the mug that is offered to you and at least try a few sips. To so anything else is highly offensive) and settled in for the night before heading off the next morning. We stopped off at a teeny tiny hamlet cause night was falling, city is still like 3 days away. And the inn didn't really have enough rooms and beds for all of us so we sort of just... grabbed whatever space we could in the area.

Which made it difficult for me to sneak off and go find some food. Cause I got turned into a vampire in a session that happened in October and I only started seriously dropping hints in... March? Because I have heard our Druid/Artificer out of character chatting to our DM that he's sure something is going on with me and just never did anything about it in character. So yeah, I've been very quietly communicating with DM for that long for whenever I'm sneaking off at night to go find an animal to suck the blood of.

As you can imagine, I got caught. Rolled a pretty decent stealth check but Xiderm saw through it and was more concerned by the fact that I, Alice, a very proper lady and courtsean who needs sleep, was sneaking out of the inn in the middle of the night. I noticed I was being followed and tried to lose him, thought I did but we're in a mountain area. There's not a lot of wildlife around that would sate me and I went hungry the night before. Xiderm ended up catching me a couple of rodents of varying sizes but it wasn't enough to fully sate me. It'll have to do though. We had a good long talk and I was given an ultimatium: Tell the party about my condition before we reach Kethador ( the city we're headed to) or he will.

Which I've agreed to purely because that city is underground. No wildlife means no blood. Which means I start getting disadvantages after 3 days, after a week I have to kill to be sated and after 12 days I will go feral and we don't know how long we'll be there.

We also had a talk about when it happened (Player actually guessed this) and why. I chose it. When the rest of the party were getting attacked by creatures in the middle of the night, I was called by an alluring voice which turned out to be a very pretty lady vampire who offered me the choice to be turned instead of being attacked by her hoardes of brothers. I had a talk with Chesh and with her and then accepted her offer.

Anyway. Next morning we start going up the mountain pass and end up in a fight with a rock dragon. Think... Gravios from Monster Hunter. And then we ended there because we play in the evenings and some of us needed sleep and had work in the morning.))

[incorrectadventuresoftruxquilar]

You're the least supportive pretend girlfriend I've ever had.

Hamlet @ Ophelia

[magneticmage]

Man, just thinking some more about my Baldur's Gate OCs;

Rune and Lucine are Folk Heroes. He is a Moon Circle Druid after a brief brush of lycanthropy (they were misplaced for the problems below and Rune and his sister don't know that yet) when their village was attacked by an unknown plague that was actually brought on by a devil, their tiefling paladin father Riven's Cambion father, in retaliation for killing him before the twins were born, and so he could transfer the "illness"/curse to their mother, a tiefling bad named Lunara, by making a deal with her to "save" her child in exchange for her taking on the illness. It's actually caused by an artifact buried in the nearby ruins that causes whoever dies on the "illness"' soul to be shunted off to the Nine Hells to fight in the Blood War. Luckily, most of the town was "cured" when they ousted the werecreatures and their father returned from his adventures to help nurse their mother back to health while they went off in search of a longer term cure for their home. They instead got kidnapped by mind-flayers and tadpoled into shenanigans. Anyways, his sister is a cleric of Selune (Light Domain) after they were saved from an ambush of the aforementioned weres by a passing cleric of the same faith (who, amusingly enough, turned out to be an ex-flame of their dad's before he met their mother) who stopped to help them defeat the worst of the "plague" at home.

Lyr(e/a/an) Lovemoor and Saga Musehart (who occasionally goes by her stage name of Muse) grew up as a pair of criminals under the tutelage of Lyr's crime-lord and human father (his Seladrine drow mother-named Elissahanna Lovemoor-having died from pregnancy complications surrounding his stillbirth twin and his births), Wilber Musehart. Saga, however, always dreamed of grander things and so pursued an education in the finer arts and eventually became a Bard of a Lore-based College. She even managed to teach Lyr a few things about illusions and glamors and other arcane tricks to aid in their heists (Lyr's an Arcane Trickster). She graduated with honors and had a bright future ahead of her, having finally escaped her darker beginnings. That is, until her foster father demanded one last job before letting her and Lyr go off on their own. The pair were eager to cut ties with the dangerous and shady life they grew up in and so agreed. The job was a set-up as Wilber refused to let anyone leave his guild of assassins and thieves and other criminals, especially his children. He bribed the guards of their prison to blind and maim and torture-but not kill, oh that'd be such a waste of talent-Saga in order to break her spirit and finally crush the hopeful defiance she'd harbored for years. They partly succeeded before they were interrupted by a fellow criminal and Lyr's elder human half-sibling Nel Silosen. Nel helped them escape from both the prison and the city, having faked their deaths and told them to only return when they were ready to help them end their evil father. They were headed to a private house Saga had bought years ago with a portion of her earnings from her performances during her school years when they were accosted and abducted in the night.

Faenerys (her child name was Gaell) was born the secret love child of two feuding wood elven noble families, with her parents names being Helefina Elendir (mother) and Faeris Rosandoral (father). She was raised by her maiden aunt (her mother's sister and baby half-elven cousins whose human father had died in battle, Keynala Iliren and Mialas and Aeven) and given her mother's surname. She spent much of her life sheltered in seclusion and passed the years by studying the magical tomes and scrolls between proper lessons by her Archmage aunt, quickly proving herself to be a prodigy in the Abjuration School. However, one night, a pair of strangely pale and red-eyed men arrived and demanded Faenerys. Her aunt sent Fae and the twins away but a mishap landed them in a parlor room of an unknown house. Worse, one of the twins had gotten stuck in a wall and their arm needed to be amputated. The resulting screaming brought a disheveled looking old elven woman to the room. After things had calmed down and the twins had been put to sleep, Fae discovered this was her grandmother and that her father had become a vampire spawn of powerful and dangerous vampire lord, who went by the name of Roxeiros, who had been hunting down all of his lover's family to kill them in vengeance for murdering his love for her affair. Faenerys set off to find him and hopefully spare whatever was left of her family. Instead, she was abducted and spent half a century as a prisoner and plaything of Roxeiros, who kept the knowledge of her existence from her father by ensuring he was either away on missions or, much later, simply dead. Shortly after her escape, she was taken prisoner yet again and this time was tadpoled by mind-flayers.

"Sable Shades" is the alias of Risdaer Ilaeliom (given to the heavy black clothes and veils he often wears), a Lolth-sworn drow Warlock bound to an Archfey. He was a Szarkai or a rare albino drow. He was born to the leading noblewoman named Matron mother Nhildra of House Ilaeliom but was nearly sacrificed at his birth, were it not for his father, Seladril who shared his condition, volunteering to become a drider. His two older brothers, Rizal and Quilyraen, never let him forget the great loss to their family. His three eldest sisters who were all also Szarkai or albino drow, Haelkiira and Elvandia and Charris, kept them in line from outright killing him but did little to make his life any easier. To that end, he spent much of his childhood learning how to blend in and become what others expected and wanted from him, always masking his true motives and intentions to get what he needed and wanted, a Charlatan in all but name. This behavior earned him the chance to become a spy and was as much to prevent him from causing further trouble (he'd seduced both a High Priestess of Lolth named Menzonae and a rival House's heiress named Lyzrima Baenoth and let them fight over him at his matron's request, which resulted in both's deaths and nearly destabilized the city's power structure in the process due to both calling on various alliances to "win") as well as to gain valuable arcane knowledge and items and wealth on his family's behalf to use against their rivals. He obeyed and, after a few years of adjusting and adventuring to surface life, met a mysterious elven woman who wore a crown and gown made of wintery ice. His attempts to charm and seduce her failed spectacularly. It was only when he admitted that he no longer knew who he was beneath the personas and masks he wore that she acknowledged him. She promised to aid him in his journey of self-discovery in exchange for a century's worth of service. He agreed and set out. Needless to say, he was surprised when Roan stumbled on his camp during the day-and then again moments later when they were both captured by mind-flayers.

Roan Roarke was born to a pair of farmers in a small hamlet. The local noble press-ganged the young and able-bodied into an army for his own gain and Roan was forcibly conscripted in order to spare the razing of the family farm. In the military, he quickly distinguished himself as a capable tactitian and Fighter (he's a Battlemaster). While he was out on campaign, a horde of goblinoids led by horned man who called himself Velkan (whose believed to be a Cambion or other demonkin) killed and looted his hometown. Unable to enact vengeance due to his noble patron having plotted with this Velkan in exchange for powerful magics and his family buried in the ashes of his childhood home, he moved on to grow strong enough to defeat his enemies. To that end, he became a Mercenary Veteran who took on whatever job he could, his morals fighting with his practicality for a time. One time, he took a job that involved hunting down a renegade drow named Jarimar Araburden with the aid of his elven comrades, Nymlil Tarn and Rhysyldrin Baeloth (sadly both of whom later perished when the illithid ship crashed) and received word that a mysterious white elf named Sable knew his whereabouts.

~For the Companions backgrounds, here's my best guess based off their skillsets+some of my headcanons and thus it may change as we discover more of these companions~

Shadowheart is a Half-High Elf Cleric of Trickery Domain with the Urchin background.

Wyll is a Human Warlock of the Fiend Pact with the Noble background.

Astarion is a High Elf (also Vampire spawn) Rogue (gave him the Thief archetype for fic purposes) with the Noble background.

Gale is a Human Wizard (gave him the Evocation School for fic purposes) with the Sage Background.

Lae'Zel is a Githyanki Fighter (gave her the Eldritch Knight archetype for fic purposes) with a Solidier background.

[mythicnoir]

Gatekeeper Session 1-3

Decided to share some recaps I wrote on the last few sessions of the current adventure in my campaign. The writing style is a bit more casual than I usually go for, but I think it sums up stuff well.

This’ll be under a readmore, because it gets long.

Session One:

It is the Waithdyd, the fourth day of Khelek, the month of Ice, in the year 1550 Anni Zylla. On the island of Ludum, a nation torn and divided, deep within Vindred Forest, three destinies slowly intersect. Two months since the adventuring family called Thunderclan lost one member to a life of piracy and another member to a life of performance, Equaarion Tarkus the druid and Rae the elf sought out answers within Simona Village. They've heard a call for help, a unique one that piqued their interest. From here, they will encounter new allies, new enemies, and new adventure.

For the uninitiated, Ludum is an island within my campaign setting of Yalda, and it's a nation in crisis. The royal family and their Hallow Knights vanished from the capital city of Hamlet mysteriously almost a year and a half ago, and since then, the nation has been in chaos. Brigands have run of the woods, evil creatures close in on unguarded villages, and a host of ambitious nobles seek a claim on the throne. Within this chaos comes Thunderclan, a group of mercenaries.

The group was originally Equaarion Tarkus, the human druid folk hero, played by my friend Cam... Rae, the elven ranger, played by my friend Michaela... the half-elf eldritch knight pirate Salty Martine, played by my friend Cal, and the human bard Sasha Sabotage, played by my friend Jacque. But Cal and Jacque had to go and study abroad in Prague, so a newcomer has joined our D&D group, and you'll find out who that is in a second.

The heroes are all about mid-level now, which means that they've been through the shit, they've made some friends, made some enemies, seen stuff that gives them new perspective, and they’re approaching infamous status, which is pretty much what every player wants, imo.

But on with the story.

Rae and Equaarion approach the gates of Simona Village. The rain has drenched them completely, and the guard is delaying opening the gate as he waits for a new figure to roll up.

The two heroes are eager to get inside the village walls, find warmth, and a place to sleep, but they turn to meet the figure joining them.

Standing three and a half feet tall, clad in a noblewoman's dress and walking with a long staff, ankle-deep in mud, comes the next part of their adventures. Freesia Flores is her name, and she is a halfling warlock of the archfey.

The heroes introduce themselves politely to their diminutive friend as the guard exits the gate to check them in. The players are anticipating a quick pat down and an interview, but that's not what they get.

Dunstan, the guard, needs to take a blood sample. The town has been plagued by demons and fairies in disguise in recent months, and local superstition holds that if you bleed red, you're the real deal.

The heroes are confused but comply, hoping to avoid making a big deal of it. Their blood is taken and their eyes are examined and they're asked their names and motivations. Dunstan shrugs, figures they're fine, and lets them in. Freesia immediately races off for the tavern while Rae and Equaarion help Dunstan get the gates shut through the mud and rain.

Within the Blue Vine Tavern, Rae examines the letter that summoned her and Equaarion to Simona Village in the first place. It's from a logger named Elsha, who nervously talks about the predicament the village is in. Bandits from the south calling themselves the Redhoods have set up camp outside the town. Word is they're looking for an artifact in an ancient Wengwith ruin called Tir Dyffryn. Elsha is afraid that with enough time, the Redhoods will get bored and just ransack the town, killing and stealing whatever they find.

On top of that, there's the demon problem. Demons have been spotted in the woods, upsetting the status quo of fairies and neutral beasts.

Freesia Flores, meanwhile, didn't come here for that. She came separately, she came with her own motivations. She's a warlock, she's on the search for knowledge and understanding her pact, and fairies in particular.

In time, Elsha meets up with Rae and Equaarion in the tavern, and Freesia Flores begins to sidle up, hearing word about fairies and the Black Thicket tribe, a group of druids that may know a thing or two.

As they discuss the bandit situation, Michaela, as Rae, asks, "Well, do you want us to just go into their camp and kill them all?"

But Elsha says no, they can't do that. "If you kill the Redhoods, their allies will hear of it, and take vengeance on the town, you'll only cause more problems."

The solution, Elsha posits, is for Thunderclan to go and search for the artifact themselves, stealing it from underneath the Redhood's noses.

This is appealing to Rae and Equaarion, because the artifact that's being discussed is a celestial artifact of tremendous power. This artifact alone is believed to be an egg that could transport people across dimensions.

Also, they’re playing Dungeons and Dragons and who doesn’t want to go looking for treasure?

This is appealing to Rae and Equaarion, because they're hot on the trail of Rae’s missing girlfriend. Her name was Emilia, and she was a Hallow Knight of Hamlet. After some scrying and investigation, they've realized that the Knights, including Emilia, have become trapped in another dimension.

So they are VERY interested in getting this artifact.

Meanwhile Freesia is interested because this is an opportunity for more knowledge, and the three of them are each aware that if they split up and adventure around these woods, they are most certainly dead.

So the heroes, having talked with Elsha, get the picture. There's a band of Redhoods, they gotta get away but we can't just kill them. There are demons and fairies in this neck of the woods, and our best bet for more information on the location of the artifact and the supernatural stuff going on is the Black Thicket Tribe of druids. Got it.

So the heroes thank Elsha, finish their drinks, eavesdrop a bit, and head out.

It’s a lot of information but who gives a shit, fairies and demons and bandit rings are all cool and it’s my personal philosophy when running a game that players should at least know what sort of stuff they can get up to.

The heroes exit the tavern and are about to look for the Black Thicket encampment when they see an old man in a hood and robe moving a wheelbarrow and calling out for help. Everyone in the street seems to ignore him, but the heroes approach regardless and start asking him for help because they’re oh-so-good people.

This conversation ended up being hilarious, because the man, who was Obviously evil, the halfling could see up his hood and see his pitch black eyes, kept on making absurd lies and speaking in a ridiculous old man voice. The heroes are rightfully super suspicious of this guy and as he reaches out for Rae's shoulder. She jumps back and discovers that he has black claws.

Eventually Freesia decides to use a warlock ability to make him Frightened of her, and he casts away his cloak, revealing horns and a little tail, as he sprints away. He manages to escape, but the heroes all suddenly aware of the shit the town could be in.

But from the shadows comes a voice. "You shouldn't do that in public."

This is Ragweed, the halfling elder of the Black Thicket tribe. He brings the heroes back to his encampment with the rest of his tribe and hears their concerns. Ragweed is essentially a short freckled mess of ginger hair and an eyepatch.

The Black Thicket tribe have agreed to help the Master of the Town in these trying times, defending them and serving as guardians, so they're definitely good guys, they have the interests of the villagers at heart, but they've got their own issues.

The heroes want to know more about Tir Dyffryn and this mysterious artifact. Ragweed tells them that they don't seem like they're going to run over the town and kill everyone, but he's the keeper of this secret as to where Tir Dyffryn is and he's not just going to give it up for free.

So Ragweed tells them, "My tribal brethren lost something very precious to her in a battle with demons. Maybe if you retrieve it with her, I'll trust you a little more."

This is a super classical fetch quest, it's a little gamey, but this session to me was just about simplicity and defining the new group dynamic, so I'm fine with some basic stuff.

The tribal brethren in question is Poppy, an earth genasi woman. She's friendly and sweet and has a little bit of a slow and nice friendly voice.

The heroes head out, but before they go, Rae uses her ranger abilities to sense the woods around her, and detect what kind of creatures are out there.

I describe the normal souls and presence of various civilized races, or kith, as they're called in my setting. But at the end of her abilities range I describe a pure unfathomable darkness and boiling hatred. I call it 'necrotic rot', which Michaela really hitched on to. I think she repeated it a couple times, it was pretty descriptive.

So they know they're gonna fight some demons. 

Sure enough, the heroes end up at Pwigra Pass, where Poppy tells them she lost her Codex Terragnosis, a sacred text detailing the beasts and fairies and interplanar travel of this setting.

And pretty much every single person in the party wants to see that book.

I could describe the fight that they had at Pwigra Pass in an attempt to retrieve the book, but overall it was pretty easy. They faced off against some demons. They were ram skulls with spider legs, but those spider legs could suck up into themselves and become bat wings. Freaky stuff,

Rae is a hardcore as fuck ranger that never misses and never does minimal damage.

Meanwhile Equaarion is a conjuring and shapeshifting druid. He recently got a hold of a figurine of wondrous power of a Griffon that he recently named Honeyduke, and in this fight, he detected the enemies, summoned the griffon, and jumped off of a 60-foot high bridge to be caught by the griffon. Which is fucking awesome.

Freesia Flores is the newcomer and is pretty much totally decked out with weird fairy warlock powers. So far she’s pretty much a generalist that can shore up all of the group’s weaknesses.

Anyway, they win the fight, grab this arcane book, and begin to head back to Simona Village. But more adventure awaits.

Session Two:

The characters returned to Simona Village to find that Ragweed had departed to meditate. The heroes chose to find Ragweed first before looking at the book.

The heroes visited Ragweed, in a meditation spot he fancied in an abandoned tower, and had an insightful conversation about Wildshape. It was really about Equaarion. Just about his aims, how he felt that adventuring was the natural choice for him. 

It’s the age old compulsion for adventure, the feeling that there’s nothing for you but the road and the desire to seek more.

Ragweed is a good man and while he's a bit eccentric, he really does love the world and wants to protect the life within it. So Ragweed shares with the heroes the location of Tir Dyffryn and the Angel Egg, this mysterious celestial artifact that may allow the heroes passage to the realm of Concord, where the heroes believe they will find Emilia. Ragweed warns them of the dangers, pointing out that the Wengwith heavily trapped and guarded their buildings with constructs. Instead, Ragweed asks them to stay in the village and help out. The elven ranger Rae knows, even as close as she is to Emilia, that she cannot abandon these people in their time of need, and solemnly nods.

Rae heard a voice call out in Wengwith, asking whether they were friendly. After a brief deliberation, Rae invited the voice up. The group discovered he was a tiefling clad in all sorts of trinkets and fine robes and jewelry, but as soon as the tiefling saw their map, Equaarion got antsy and said that they needed to kill him -- in Common, which Chem couldn't understand. Freesia says that's absurd and barbaric and they don't need to do that. I'm feeling like between Sasha and Freesia, the charismatic ladies are always going to be the voices of reason in Thunderclan.

Eventually the heroes had a weird conversation with Chem of Longquest about his travels, the dangers of the woods, and a strange obsidian idol Chem of Longquest had in the shape of a bat before they decided to head back, whereupon Equaarion heard a slithering liquid-like sound coming from outside of the tower. Rae moved to inspect the sound, bow drawn, and Chem of Longquest strokes the obsidian idol, tosses it to the center of the tower, and punches Rae in the head.

It's initiative, and already the heroes have problems. The black idol is in the center of the tower and it starts leaking out black gas that deals poison damage to the heroes. Chem of Longquest begins using his spider-climbing magic item to attach himself to the inside of the wall and get a good vantage point on the heroes.

They manage to deal some damage to him, but soon enough a shadow demon answering to Chem slithers in and the situation gets more complicated than the heroes would like. Equaarion orders Honeyduke, the griffon, to carry the idol out of the tower, but the poison cloud still lingers for two rounds. The heroes break out of the tower and into the open meadow, followed by the shadow demon.

The heroes struggle, and Rae goes down, but Honeyduke carries her to safety and Ragweed's healing word brings her back up. Freesia and Equaarion battle the shadow demon while Chem of Longquest hides out of sight, uncovering its many resistances and immunities before Rae puts the final nail in the coffin and kills the demon. Freesia charges back into the tower and with two swift eldritch blasts knocks Chem unconscious.

The interrogation of Chem begins. The heroes strip him down and tie him up, only to find that he is a demon worshipper and a bit of an edgy creep. He's forthcoming about information. He serves She-Who-Walks-Away-Alone, the Crimson Bat, a demon slain by Prince Laurence that now slumbers and regains her 'flame' beneath the Tomb of the Ancients -- the undead city of Necropolis. Chem also says, very plainly, that "my master answers to the one you call King."

The heroes look at one another. King Ezra? What's going on? Could these be the answers everyone is searching for? Chem states that Ezra abandoned his family to seek greater power with demons and dragonkind in order to further advance his own nation. Meanwhile, according to Chem, Queen Rosaria's hubris dragged the Hallow Knights of Hamlet into a harrowing nightmare (Knightmare), in a bid for her children to become more powerful.

This is big news, and it only makes sense for a demon worshipper to be clued into these sorts of things. But these answers are only revealing new questions. When did this schism happen? Where is Ezra? Who's the bad guy in this situation? We know more about what Ezra's up to and this is in line with what Agrippa or Rend said a long time ago, but all this news about Rosaria is very opinion-based and unclear. Was she trying to cure her son Ludwig's sickliness or ascend them to Godhood? What's going on?

In the end this is a huge moment for the heroes, but they still are wondering why Chem of Longquest is so forthright with all this information. And the answer is very simple. Chem of Longquest points out that this information is meaningless to him because in the end, the strong will rule, and he believes that his mistress, the Crimson Bat, is the most powerful. So these secrets are really meaningless to him. Meanwhile, why isn't he afraid of Rae holding a bow and arrow up to his head? Simple, he's in service to a demon queen. Death is also meaningless to him. He states very plainly, "Upon my death I will rejoin the Abyss, and I will be taken through the Wheel and reborn." Which is at least partly true. Freesia basically raises an eyebrow at this and correctly observes that while he's right about eventually being reincarnated... the rest seems like religious belief.

Rae says, "Give me one reason I shouldn't kill you."

And Chem replies, "Only your own weakness."

And the arrow is loosed, Chem of Longquest is killed.

The heroes and Ragweed agree to return to Simona Village to rest up and look at the book in the morning. The heroes are a little shaken by all this information, but rest will do them good. The heroes rest in separate rooms, Equaarion and Rae in one and Freesia in another, and in the morning they examine the Codex Terragnosis with Poppy.

The heroes learned all sorts of things about the other planes of existence, fairies and their origins, angels and their search for the true meaning of life, the universe, and everything, and a ton of beasts, including the Aguila Thunderbird, a legendary storm phoenix.

After geeking out over books, though it's mostly nerd warlock Freesia geeking, they decide, based on Poppy's advice, to tell the Master of the village, Pickford Pine, about them clearing Pwigra Pass. So they go, and they have a really pleasant conversation, mostly thanks to the heroes having a good reputation all around, but also definitely thanks to Freesia being super charismatic and very honest about everything. She didn't sugarcoat why she was in town, no pretenses to coming just to help with the struggle, which actually made Pickford Pine happy. He's a no-nonsense kind of guy, he's 34, married with two kids, he's a master of a small village and a proficient hunter, so he just says, "You adventurers have a good reputation in this forest, so as long as you're not making friends with the bandits, then I won't have you arrested and run out of town."

He offers them a gold ingot as a reward for clearing out the demons at Pwigra Pass and tells them that there's more where that came from if they manage to keep things peaceful in town and use that goodwill to improve relationships between the Black Thicket Tribe and the villagers. If that happens, and the village is unified and strong together, then Pine is less worried about the Redhoods ransacking the town, and Thunderclan will be good people in his eyes.

So the heroes decide to formulate a plan, a creative solution to the problems plaguing Simona Village, that doesn't involve bloodshed and drawing the attention of the Redhoods allies. And also hopefully doesn't get them run out of town.

Equaarion observes that he's both a druid and a civilian in many senses, and his reputation as a folk hero may allow him to serve as the bridge between those two peoples and to solidify that and maybe strengthen the town through peace and diplomacy.

Meanwhile, Freesia is wondering whether the Redhoods could be tricked into believing that Tir Dyffryn and the artifact isn't anywhere near Vindred, and get them to depart the village and give the townspeople time to prepare and defend themselves, or maybe just permanently mislead the Redhoods.

Rae, meanwhile, just wants to find her girlfriend, but her heart knows that sometimes what you want and the right thing is not always the same.

How will these plans be enacted? Will the heroes run into trouble? Will they uncover more secrets about the Royal Family soon? Will I ever remember to make a concentration check without being reminded? Probably not.

Little Moments from this Session:

Freesia being adorable just constantly with a little fear of animals and being super haughty and highbrow about everything, while still having this insatiable thirst for knowledge. But she's a warlock. So of course.

Equaarion saying some really deep shit about his character and his motivations for becoming an adventurer. Equaarion basically became a hero and learned to be at peace with nature not for any desire for power or because it was his tribal identity, but simply because it was the right thing for him, purely as an individual.

Rae reminding everyone that while she's absolutely a badass that will kill at a moment's notice, her character is fundamentally motivated by love.

Session Three:

Last session one of our players was forced to be late so we opened with just Freesia and Rae planning. Equaarion had gone off into the woods to 'meditate', which (comically) nobody believed.

The two of them rolled over possibilities in their minds for how to trick the Redhoods into leaving Simona Village alone. They poured over a number of possibilities and ended up deciding that the best solution was to forge a map that indicated Tir Dyffryn was elsewhere in the woods, leading the Redhoods astray just long enough for Thunderclan to scoop up the artifact and get out of dodge.

Wandering a bit, they found Elsha and talked details and specifics with her. Apparently Elsha isn't too popular around the town, what with her trying and failing to sneak up on the Redhoods and possibly drawing their ire even more. Thunderclan (or at least the two lesbians) did get some more pertinent information though: the trade route to the east that has been patrolled by bandits since the crown left.

...It's a strangely cold day outside.

They decided that it'd probably be best if they tried seeking out somebody who could actually help them with authentic mapping skills. The two of them don't have proficiency with cartographer's tools or anything of the sort, so they were just wandering back to Rae's room when Rae hears a noise on the other side of the door. Marble footsteps and ocean waves.

It's Chess.

Chess, the black and white dragonborn wizard and scientist, professor of the Brigmore Institute at the Academy up north. He's surprised to see Freesia, whom he's never met before. As she moves to shake his hand, his hand passes through hers. "I'm not actually here," he says. Project Image, a high level spell. Pretty useful.

This is one of those things that wizards just do in fantasy. They show up for weird reasons out of nowhere, have cryptic things to say, and disappear after sending their love.

Chess is here to check on Thunderclan, tell them that their old partner Salty Martine sends her regards, and fails at concealing a bit of secret information from Freesia: the immortal warlord Vander Coil has returned from the World Below to rejoin Chess and his husband Set on their mission to restore independence to Ludum.

Chess and Freesia basically stare each other down and pick apart everything the other says. So by the end of the conversation, these two genius scholars have pretty much totally figured the other out. Chess is a revolutionary and a bit of a prick, Freesia is a witch. The basics.

After Chess gives them some advice about Wengwith ruins and fails to conceal important information, he disappears without a goodbye.

The adventurers agree that Ragweed is the best bet for making a good convincing map, and they pawn it off to him as Equaarion arrives.

They notice a small druid boy, about a teenager, shivering neurotically. His name is Osvyn, he's mute, and a little asocial. Equaarion is kind enough to summon a black bear to keep him company in his discomfort, though.

Equaarion is prickly and stubborn, but these are the moments that endear him to everyone.

The temperature in town is steadily dropping.

The plan is formed: They're going to wait for the town to be occupied at a local temple tonight, then they'll sneak off and drop the map near the Redhood's camp. They do this by summoning a giant eagle and having it leave the map, like a fairy omen. Ludum, and anybody who's spend serious time in Vindred, is aware that fairies often do weird stuff like that, but it's pretty weird one way or the other. But the heroes don't want to leave it up to chance, so Equaarion turns into a cat and dashes toward the Redhood camp to see their reaction.

Ludens know that cats are supernatural creatures, and that hurting them is horrible luck, so they greet Cat-rion and allow him to dash around the camp, figuring him feral. He explores a bit and gets a good look at the leader of the Redhoods - a drow woman, but he doesn't get her name.

The group heads back to the town, where Osvyn is panicking outside the temple. After some debate, the heroes open the doors -- cold to the touch. The inside of the temple is freezing, all the visitors are shivering and yawning.

Osvyn bursts through the doors to the temple and begins barking and panicking, trying to push people out of the door. There's a violent burst of snow and ice and a creature appears in the center of the temple.

It wheezes, "Deshperim..."

Freesia casts mage armor. Equaarion turns into a dinosaur. Rae is guiding the villagers out of the temple.

The villagers are screaming, crying. "The druids have brought the Abyss upon us all!"

Maybe the whole 'improving relationships' thing has a ways to go.

The battle is an uphill climb from the get-go. (But honestly, have I ever run a serious combat that’s been perfectly straightforward and not at all immediately harrowing?) The demon's weakness to fire is clear immediately, and the heroes are pumping tons of damage into it. But the snow and pure aura of despair the demon gives off makes all melee attacks at disadvantage. Equaarion has to drop his dinosaur form and switch to conjuring fire. Freesia casts Blink and begins phasing in and out of reality, popping off fire bolts whenever she can.

But the demon launches a lightning bolt into the crowd, and five villagers go down. The demon begins to fly away.

Oh fuck, right?

Equaarion immediately runs to the villagers, where Ragweed and Osvyn are trying to help them get up. Freesia follows the demon and sees the cellar door of the temple flung open, a trail of ice leading within.

Rae, recalling the cold of the Deep that struck her down months ago in the Bullroarer's Ritual Room, barely has the strength to go on.

Equaarion saves the lives of five villagers, a task they'll never forget, and chases after the rest of the party, who have descended into the cellar to find a rift in the stonework leading to inky blackness.

The two of them are transfixed by the rift. Freesia makes her save thanks to her Lucky feature as a halfling, but Rae, corrupted within by the Abyss, falls into the darkness.

Equaarion drops down. Freesia is panicking.

But Equaarion would never abandon his friends.

He summons Honeyduke, grabs Freesia off the ground, and they all dive into the rift.

They fall for minutes, and land in snow.

They are at the top of a tower, ruined, overlooking what appears to be thousands of structures all collapsed on top of one another. Below that, a black and endless sea. There is no light in this horrendously cold place.

In the distance, a giant red bat shrieks into the perpetual night, and flies through a portal. The party has followed the demon to its home... the entropy of the waking world, that which all shall fall to in time. The very base of the Abyss. The source of Rae's trauma.

Welcome to the Deep.

[incorrectadventuresoftruxquilar]

Hamlet: You know, you say... you say people are phony here, but I think people come here to re-invent themselves. That's why I think you're here. To reinvent yourself.

Ophelia: Why would I mess with perfection?

[incorrectadventuresoftruxquilar]

Ophelia: Great. Now you've gotten me kicked out of a funeral. Just add it to the list. Kicked out of Petsmart, kicked out of Santa's Village, kicked out of the Salvation Army...

Hamlet: Dishonorably discharged!

[incorrectadventuresoftruxquilar]

Everyone stop what you're doing and pay attention only to me!

Hamlet

[incorrectadventuresoftruxquilar]

Hamlet: I'm not an animal. I mean sure, I'll kidnap a woman and force her to work for me. But after that, I'm all about a woman's rights. I'm a modern 13th century man. (Galavant)

Hamlet