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The party, now victorious over the illusory prison that was Madame Gigi’s inn, guides the inn’s surviving victims into the tunnels beneath the island, hoping to relocate them to the central island where they may find refuge and hopefully thrive amongst the already established settlement there. They briefly encounter Rain, who oddly insists at every turn that the group is going in the wrong direction. She does so despite both our heroes’ sense of direction and the magic parchment’s guidance ensuring them that they are following the correct path.
Only minutes from the Zigfried’s manor, the party notices a slight discrepancy in the tunnels’ structure versus their recollection, but press on… only to be attacked by monsters who had disguised themselves as cave formations! The party (minus Rome-Bee) is lassoed by a roper and Garthor is bitten, before he and Vessariel have their heads enveloped by darkmantles. The sudden onslaught downs Garthor before Wisteria and Vessariel break free of the roper’s grasp. Meanwhile, the crowd of refugees the party had been guiding panics, and they attempt to flee the way they came. Rome-Bee manages to keep a few in front of them, and grabs one, handing them one of their daggers before attempting to hurl an entire, whole-ass person at the roper. Unfortunately this individual is both heavier and more unwieldy than your average raccoon (which Rome-Bee is more accustomed to hucking), and falls to the ground only a few feet closer to the roper. Wisteria revives Garthor, who’s knee-jerk reaction is to thunderwave the absolute shit out of whatever is in front of him. Luckily this includes only the darkmantle on his head, which is concussed into oblivion, and the roper, which is heavily damaged and pushed back into the cave wall. The sheer volume of this spell causes all nearby parties to be temporarily deafened, and the roper is too stunned to grapple anyone else. Vessariel flies into a rage, ripping the darkmantle off her head, cleaving it almost in half with her axe, and kicking what’s left so hard that it flies apart. Garthor gets a good hit in with his steel chair and then another with his handcrafted wooden chair, finishing off the roper once and for all.
Both Vessariel and Wisteria simultaneously call out in an attempt to stop the refugees from fleeing, utilizing a sort of good-cop-bad-cop method (or, more accurately, a nice-snake-furious-elf method). The rabble halts but is not immediately soothed, and Vessariel storms over to them for some scolding and assignment of roles based on levels of cowardice. The group rallies and continues on their way as Garthor pops out of the dead roper like some kind of disgusting birthday cake. Wisteria examines the exploded monster corpse to assess edibility but finds only wriggling larvae that she promptly squishes. Quickly the party finds themselves at the entrance to Zigfried’s manor, meeting Rain a final time and receiving another string of nonsensical claims from her.
The party proceeds immediately through the secret cellar door, upstairs and into the main floor of the manor, where an ecstatic Zigfried and Varkle welcome them and begin inundating them with questions. As the refugees begin to filter in though, Alain is immediately concerned. When Vessariel produces the corpse of Madam Gigi, all three of the manor’s residents are taken aback, and Alain asks politely yet firmly that the hag corpse be taken outside. With corpse in hand, along with Garthor and Rome-Bee, Vessariel leads a procession of old folks into town. Gelnferry, nervous that the townies may frown upon a Satyr, sheepishly asks to stay behind at the manor. Wisteria remains as well, in order to collapse on the floor, drink tea, and word-vomit everything she and the party experienced during the last few weeks. (Weeks? Yes weeks! The magic of the Inn made sure time just flew by 😉.)
Arriving in town, Vessariel introduces the newcomers, and we enter our usual routine: indoctrinating initiates, a procession for prayer, shark-seeking, and a resultant cookout with rest and revelry. This last step is delayed only by a brief announcement from Vessariel, who uses the hag’s corpse as visual aid to deliver a lesson on the fate of one who uses magic to manipulate and deceive. She then orders the body burned before feasting can commence, then finds the town’s carpenter and uses the magic parchment to show him plans for quick-build housing for the newcomers. While the town makes merry, Garthor returns to the manor to suggest Wisteria take the crystal heart fragment to the statue of Oriana under the well. Wisteria agrees, the two of them head to the backyard and rappel down the well into the cavern beneath, where Rain is waiting, still claiming falsehoods. She climbs onto the statue herself, then seems to enter into a trance, carving a shallow vertical line from its eye to its chin with the tip of her body finger. She then cryptically mutters about how the statue’s continued presence is surprising considering “what happened” before finally whispering that “she died that day”.
A comment by Garthor snaps her back to reality and with another flurry of denials Rain descends the statue and skitters into the tunnels. Zigfried calls down from the surface that Alain had made a discovery regarding the symbol that appears when the party utilizes the magic parchment, and finding the statue unresponsive to the crystal heart piece, Wisteria and Garthor return to the surface. Wisteria asks Garthor to retrieve Vessariel and in a moment of clarity (and impressive leg stamina), he heads back into town to do just that. As he arrives, passing some adorably unruly children along the way, Vessariel is discussing the docking of said children’s food rations to “encourage” more enthusiastic worship. Garthor promptly forgets his mission, and removes his wooden chair so he may sit and enjoy shark stew. Unfortunately, the chair’s joinery was somewhat strained when it was used to deliver the finishing blow to a stalagmite monster, and the act of placing it upon the ground causes it to collapse unceremoniously. Completely unbothered, Garthor again borrows Vessariel’s axe to craft a replacement. Meanwhile, Rome-Bee has been educating the village’s inhabitants about how to improve their farming, to pleasant success, as it seems several of the newcomers are both sharp and horticulturally inclined enough to put the information to good use.
Back at the manor, Alain shows Wisteria his findings. Specifically he highlights an illustration depicting a “platonic ideal” of a mage, which was possibly based off of a real individual who arrived on the island long ago and preached the gospel of Oriana before she had ever been heard of before. The illustration depicts the mage wearing a tabard displaying the same goat-head symbol that appears when the magic parchment receives blood, but is otherwise undescriptive. Wisteria receives this information then collapses in exhaustion.
Back in the village, Garthor uses the parchment to research better chair techniques, which jogs his memory and leads him to relay to Vessariel the fact that Alain has information regarding the parchment itself. After grabbing one last helping of shark stew and leaving some instructions for tomorrow’s worship, Garthor and Vessariel head back to the manor. Unfortunately, Garthor leaves his felled tree behind, meaning the craftsman-wrestler needs to acquire another source of timber. The telltale sound of axe upon wood quickens Alain’s pulse as he is exchanging information with Vessariel. Alain rushes through their conversation and dashes to the door, only to see a tree crashing down upon the manor’s front porch. He braces for impact, only to see the tree’s trajectory alter at the last moment as it barely misses the porch and Alain himself. Dazed, his eyes follow the length of the tree to where Garthor has his arms wrapped around the base, having redirected the tree’s fall. Garthor strikes a pose and begins to craft his new chair as Alain returns inside, stunned beyond words. In the sitting room, Zigfried, Vessariel, and Gelnferry are brainstorming how to translate the adventurers’ escapades into the realm’s next big musical epic.
Back at the village, Rome-Bee wanders aimlessly until they arrive at the coast. As they watch the sky begin to darken with the coming evening, they notice a movement in the water, as something large with pale translucent skin quickly approaches the shore. The body of the Aboleth lurches onto the sand dead, and behind it looms the cartoonishly elongated form of the clown-merchant the party had met in Haythwidge before departing the mainland. The clown inquires after the location of the party, wishing to sell them magic items, and Rome-Bee guides them through the town and to the manor (passing a few VIOLENTLY horrified townsfolk along the way).
When the two arrive at the manor, the clown draws no attention from Garthor, but immediately raises the hackles of everyone else there. Wisteria concusses herself rather than deal with the clown’s presence, and Vessariel and Rome-Bee are the only ones to approach, attempting to remove the clown’s music box from their grasp and investigating their physical form. The clown’s antics and inconsistencies defy logic, and Vessariel becomes increasingly nervous until Garthor is forced to join the conversation. He purchases a silver spoon which the clown claims “makes all food taste delicious” for the price of “five gold and a language”. As Garthor hands the clown the gold, he feels something pulled from deep within him as a faint wisp of green light passes from him to the clown. Vessariel faints. Rome-Bee purchases a mysterious scroll for one gold and 5 feet of movement speed (the same effect is observed at the exchanging of gold). The clown, who at Garthor’s behest at last introduces themself as Ladro the Magnificent (“or something like that”), bids the party farewell and thanks them for allowing them to make a sale. They part on fairly friendly terms, with Ladro bee-lining it eastward.
As the party regroups and calms down, Garthor returns to his chairmaking and Rome-Bee unrolls the scroll they purchased. An image of a dragon springs to life and moves from the parchment to Rome-Bee’s skin, increasing their strength while simultaneously doubling their food and rest requirements. Wisteria and Vessariel regain consciousness and all retire save for Garthor, who finishes his chair before turning in for the night. Late in the evening, just before heading to bed, Zigfried approaches Vessariel, who he has begun to trust and regard as a contemporary in the realm of music. He recounts that he had a bout of sleepwalking the previous night, and awoke standing in front of the tapestry Wisteria had woven depicting a single candle. He was absentmindedly singing lyrics and music he presumes he had written in a dream, and hastily recorded what he could remember.
He states that the lyrics and melody are haunting to him, and seem to speak of love and loss. He recites:
In the villa of Ormen, in the villa of Ormen
Stands a solitary candle, ah-ah, ah-ah
In the center of it all, in the center of it all
Your eyes
On the day of execution, on the day of execution
Only women kneel and smile, ah-ah, ah-ah
At the center of it all, at the center of it all
Your eyes, your eyes