Day 20 (continued)
The caravan proceeds south. Nothing untoward happens en route to Durendal. On approach, during evening, Theren notices lots of lights in the village. The drivers want to rest the horses for the night and begin again in the morning. Gage thinks the lights are familiar. They remind him of something from his past.
The party leaves the wagons on the outskirts and heads into the town. Lavender checks that they are OK to leave and is told that the wagons will be cloaked in a spell.
Theren wants to see the lights as he is intrigued by them. Gage feels unsettled and tells Lavender. She suggests ignoring the lights and going to get some rest. Theren approaches a market stall within the lighted area. It is a fantastical market place – canopies, colours shifting in them, jugglers and entertainers everywhere. Theren examines the wares of a seller on the fringe of the celebration – there are some amazing weapons. The seller is an unnaturally beautiful person, with high cheekbones, pointed ears and a thin jawline.
Theren stares in awe at the seller – he is very attracted to them, despite their androgyny. He stammers that he’s interested in staves. The seller presents a pale wooden staff with a clouded white gem at the top. Gage knows that this wood is very rare. Theren gleans that this staff is a wizard’s staff – it may even give a few spells. He holds it and realises that this staff would require attunement. He hands it back and says that it would be out of his price range.
The seller discusses that it’s for trade, rather than sale – they are interested in Runcible but Theren states that he cannot part with his dragon.
Gage asks about favours in trade. The seller has a favour to ask, but the party are unsure if they could complete it before sunrise when they must leave – they also state that it must not interfere with their duties.
Nearby, a harengon looks at them, briefly shakes his head and promptly turns into an almiraj and hops off.
The favour is to spread a little mischief – Theren is unconvinced by this.
Gage asks about the staff’s name but the seller replies that the name is revealed only to the attuner. Theren asks what mischief means. The seller mentions tripping someone up or pulling out a chair. Theren hates bullies and so moves backwards away from the stall and refuses the deal.
He makes a beeline for a stall with esoteric arcane items. The seller is gnomish but not a gnome – an orrery hangs above his head and lots of magical items litter the stall. A piece of golden rock draws his attention.
The seller identifies it as magical gold and wants either an eye or two fingernails for it. Theren backs away – he’s a bit weirded out now by this market.
They head to a tavern – a woman is shouting and crying as they walk past. Gage asks what the problem is. The woman replies that her daughter Merisa has gone missing in the market. Theren asks if she has anything of Merisa’s and she hands them a cloak. Runcible sniffs it and flies off.
They head back into the market, following Runcible. They push through the crowd. Gage looks around and sees a vendor that is talking to lots of children. Theren puts Merisa’s cloak on Gage as they approach the stall. The vendor resembles a goblin and is enticing the children towards him to have a go on the stall. A child reaches into a bucket and pulls out a novelty dragon egg. Lavender strolls over to the vendor and asks for assistance. The vendor is mildly intimidated.
Lavender describes the girl. Theren knows from the reply that the vendor has seen her and knows more than he’s telling. He indicates this subtly to Lavender. She asks again and the goblin begins to quiver slightly. He says that Merisa came by earlier but could not pay, so he took a favour instead. The goblin cannot say what the favour was but says that she’s in the garden – the fairy garden.
Lavender lifts him high above her head and threatens him if he doesn’t take them to the girl now. She puts him down and he waddles off.
Back just south of Midward, Temerity has been meditating all day. He thinks back to when he acquired the choker. He thinks further back to his childhood. He had few friends as a child, except for animals. It is a feeling he hasn’t dealt with in a while – a familiar feeling, but he’d rather it were not. He wonders if his animals only stay with him because they see the real him, rather than the mask he wears. He knows he will not solve anything until he deals with the problem of the choker. Once night falls, he sets off down the main road towards Durendal.
Back in the city, they follow the goblin, who leads them to a small clearing just outside the village with a circle of daisies. Theren knows this is a fey entrance but cannot tell what type. Lavender steps into the daisy ring and she feels herself shunted through a doorway. She stumbles out. The world looks similar to where they were, but in high-contrast colours. Theren, Anaphel and Gage step in after her.
Unbeknownst to them, the harengon, Thumpy has followed them through the portal.
They see gates near some topiary bushes. Theren sends Runcible up into the air – he sees a maze, then a garden with a fountain, then more topiary – the area beyond the gates keeps changing form. Theren knows this is a pocket dimension for storing children. Gage marks the entrance and the party heads through the gates.
Runcible goes through the gates first and sees a two-section garden – the first is a big empty lawn, the second section is behind a hedge. Theren tells the party this. They walk through the gate and hear a terrifying screech. Four menacing dogs appear out of thin air, with three beautiful dryads and two angry short, squat red things – redcaps.
The dryad on the right moves next to Lavender; the dryad in front moves next to Anaphel and the left dryad closes in towards the party. The two dryads by the party cast spells against Lavender and Anaphel – Lavender takes damage but Anaphel is missed. Gage hears the dryads begin to sing to him but he shakes off the spell. He tries to hide but cannot manage it. He attacks the dryad by Lavender with his shortbow, shooting an arrow deep into the dryad’s shoulder. Lavender turns to the dryad attacking her and slashes with her greatsword. The dryad explodes in a swarm of buzzing insects. Lavender follows through with her sword and slashes the dryad attacking Anaphel, causing it to shriek. The redcap on the right moves towards the party and leaps at Lavender, kicking her in the hip, but she takes the hit; the redcap on the left moves to Gage, snarls and slashes him with a barbed sickle, hitting a major artery. The blinkhound on the far right teleports straight to Theren, menacing and slobbering but fails to hit him; the blinkhound on the near right teleports to Lavender and attacks, but her armour absorbs most of the damage; the blinkhound on the near left teleports to Anaphel but cannot hit them; the blinkhound on the far left teleports to Gage and does minimal damage, due to him being made of stone. Theren uses shatter against the two blinkhounds and the redcap on the right, but it does minimal damage. Anaphel uses toll the dead on the left redcap, hurting it.
The dryad on the left chants and thick vines sprout from the ground surrounding the party – Theren is completely restrained; the other dryad whacks Anaphel but misses completely. Gage disengages from the conflict, retreats behind the gate pillar and fires an arrow at the blinkhound that had attacked him – the arrow strikes it in the rump, making it howl in pain. Lavender slashes at the dryad by Anaphel, causing it to explode in a shower of ice crystals. She follows through to slash at the blinkhound in front of her, stabbing her sword down its mouth and freezing it before pushing it off her blade. The redcap by Lavender lashes out at her and causes minimal damage; Theren is caused immense damage by the other redcap and falls to the ground. The two blinkhounds attack Theren on the ground, mauling him until he passes out; the final blinkhound attacks Anaphel but misses. Theren is bleeding out on the floor. Anaphel uses toll the dead against the redcap beside them – it grunts in pain.
The final remaining dryad sings to Lavender, but her rage deflects the song. Gage stealths himself behind the pillar and shoots at the blinkhound at the rear of the party, hitting him in the side and making him keel over dead – he moves to hide behind the fresh corpse. Lavender stabs at the redcap beside her, making it grunt in pain, but it does not waver. The redcaps both decide to attack Lavender, causing minimal damage - one tries to grapple with her, but her rage overcomes it. The two remaining blinkhounds attack Anaphel and Lavender, causing minimal damage. Theren in his dying delirium sees himself back in his village – only 8 years old – he can hear shouts of other children (as he runs as fast as he can away from them) echoing around him – he runs into an old barn and sees piles and piles of straw – a voice sounds from inside telling him he shouldn’t be here yet. Anaphel attacks the blinkhound beside them with toll the dead and damages it.
The remaining dryad tries to charm Anaphel but fails completely. Gage shoots his bow at the redcap on the left, causing it significant damage, but it remains standing strong – he tries to stealth again but fails. Lavender swings at the redcap on the right, slashing it with immense force, but it remains standing strong too. The redcaps respond by grappling with Lavender, causing lots of damage. The blinkhounds attack Lavender and Anaphel, causing almost no damage to Lavender but hurting Anaphel. Anaphel uses toll the dead against the left redcap and it shrivels into nothingness.
The dryad moves over to Anaphel and attacks, causing them quite a bit of damage. Gage fires at the final redcap, hitting it so hard that the arrow knocks its corpse back towards the hedge on the opposite side of the lawn. Lavender places her hand on Anaphel and heals them. The blinkhounds attack – one at Anaphel that misses and one at Lavender, which causes minimal damage. Theren is on the verge of death and hears the voice growing louder, telling him it’s not his time and payment has not been received – his father shouts his name, looking for him – he asks what the payment is – the voice says that he must find out quickly. Anaphel attacks the blinkhound by them with their rapier, lopping its head off with sheer brute force.
The dryad moves to attack Lavender, causing minimal damage. Gage shoots the dryad, causing it some damage. Lavender swings at the dryad, freezing it – she shoves it off her blade and it falls to the ground. She follows through and swings at the final blinkhound, stabbing her sword down its throat and wrenching it up through its brain. Anaphel tries to stabilise Theren – he slowly begins to breathe more steadily again.
Lavender looks around the lawn area…