Session 46 - Keep Your Bear Flesh Away From My Mother!
15th Apr 2022 - 20:00 - 11:30
In-game timeline: Start of session: 1489DR Uktar 29. End of session: 1489DR Uktar 30
Our "Heroes" have discovered a secret door within the Moonfall Cavern. They cautiously make their way into the short tunnel which opens into another large cavern. Iwee calls ahead, not wanting to surprise, or be surprised by anything within the other cavern. There is obviously something in there - a confused voice calls out from beyond.
After some hesitant communication on both sides, it is apparent that the second cavern contains all the remaining adults from Moonfall - they are loosely chained up but it turns out this is for their own, and others', safety. There is a leader, or spokesperson, who introduces himself as Eldred Greylock, the village Elder. The party explain that the people in the next cavern seem to have been murdered, and something bad has happened back in the village. This news causes much concern and discussion amongst the villagers in the cavern and they are keen to return to the village. Eldred explains a little about the reason why they are chained up and asks for the party's help to release them.
Whilst Iwee waits by the exit of the cavern, hoping to be recognised by her parents who she has no memory of, the others proceed to unlock the villagers and they quickly filter out of the cavern, keen to return back to their village and find out what has happened to their children. As the villagers filter past, Iwee waits, nervously. After many of the people have filtered out, a pair of gnomes approach. The woman is distracted, and rushes past Iwee with not even a glance, but the man stops and stares briefly at the golden-skinned gnome. "Lily?", he asks? He grabs the woman in front of him and there follows an emotional reunion between Iwee, previously known as Lily Timbers, and her parents, Alston and Ella. They have not seen each other for more than 5 years, and Alsten and Ella thought their daughter was dead, though they always hoped otherwise. Ella faints. Derrick rushes to help and the others are concerned about his motives. Jaxii offers to slap the unconscious gnome about the face with a piece of bear flesh. Iwee wonders who the hell she is adventuring with.
After some tears, hugs and hurried explanations of the previous five years' events, the party join the villagers in returning back to the village, with some discussion on the way explaining why the villagers were in the cavern, the use of tangleweed, the risk to Iwee after she was bitten by a werewolf etc.
Upon arrival back at the village, everyone gets busy looking around, searching for their children and assessing the scene at the town hall. Eldred explains more of the background of the village to the party, and also explains why they were so worried when they were told that Lispeth was in the village - it seems Lispeth was a corrupting influence within the village some months previously and had been evicted from the village. Her return is concerning, and her apparent involvement in the abduction of the children even more so.
The party find out more about tangleweed, Lispeth, lycanthropy and Moonfall. The villagers suspect that Lispeth may have taken the children to the ruins of An-Sen in the swamps, possibly in an attempt to get them to accept the Curse, but the villagers don't know how to get there. They are even more worried at the lack of tangleweed, given that the attackers have destroyed most of their stores and they need tangleweed for the next couple of nights to prevent the Curse from taking them over. They ask if the party would be able to get more supplies from the Tangleweed Grove, since the villagers are feeling very week from the effects of taking the drug to prevent their Change over the period of the full moon. The party agree to help them out.
In the meantime, however, they decide to check out the abandoned home of the Brewers, who are the family who adopted Lispeth a couple of years ago when she first arrived at the village, an apparent orphan. The Brewers were corrupted by Lispeth and disappeared a number of months ago. At the home they spot a strange picture above the fireplace, that seems to show a dimly lit underground tunnel, but Iwee spots that the torch in the picture seems to actually be flickering. They make out a magical rune that seems to be "watermarked" behind the picture. After some discussion about this possibly being a portal of some sort, the group decide to erase the rune, which also erases the now obviously magical picture, leaving a completely blank canvas.
Iwee becomes a little distracted by some items that Eldred has in his home, originating from the founding of Moonfall. A poem by the quite well-known Tandred The Bard, seems to have some magical properties and relates the story of the founding of Moonfall by Milo Bottlebanks. A vuvuzela instrument, also once owned by Tandred, that Iwee insists on trying out seems a little magical too. Eldred also shows them an ancient artifact that Milo and his party found in the Ruins of An-Sen, over 400 years ago. It seems to be some form of puzzle, and an accompanying note from Milo states that his party was unable to solve it, and he bequeathed it to the town of Moonfall. These three items appear to be the Relics of Moonfall, and are treasured by the community.
The group rest for the night in the village, with Iwee/Lily staying with her parents, and finding out a little about her past. Talk of a once-in-a-generation "Golden Born" and their responsibilities towards an ancient relic named the Intricate Web is confusing for all concerned - her parents know little of it, other than that is is somehow connected to Lily. Iwee has a difficult night's sleep, however, with her dreams plagued with thoughts of killing and eating flesh - possibly as a result of her infected wound, though with so much going on, it could be a number of things affecting her sleep.
The following morning, the group head for the Tangleweed Grove, deciding to stick to the path near to the swamp, rather than take the possibly safer, but probably longer, path through the hills. As the mists from the swamp thicken, they send Owl Pacino up to keep lookout. They should just about be able to make the journey there and back in a full day, provided there are no deviations and detours.
Pacino's lookout proves to be fortuitous, as the owl spots some huge snakes emerging from the swamp, and manages to warn the group before they are surprised.
The battle with the four snakes is tough, however. Karoshi helps out with an early Bless spell, Iwee slows them down, but Derrick and Karoshi seem to enjoy being hugged by the snakes. Tightly. They spend a lot of time trying to break out of the tight squeeze from the snakes, especially Derrick, and get crushed quite a bit in the process. Derrick almost dies from the constant squeezing, but Karoshi manages to reach him and pass some much-needed health into him. The party use all their tricks at their disposal - breath weapons, infernal flames, bardic inspiration, owl distractions. Revitalised, Derrick comes a-swinging and manages to finish off three remaining snakes in one go with some vicious hits and an action surge. It took a while to bring the four snakes down, but the group managed to wear them down and Derrick bathes in the glory of finishing most of them off! He feels his reputation is restored, and the (friendly? petty?) rivalry with Jaxii is back on an even footing.
And so we leave our "Heroes" at the edge of a swamp, surrounded by huge, dead snakes, and keen to continue on to the Tangleweed Grove so they may be able to return to the village before dark.