When we last left our heroes, they had learned quite a bit more about Brea’s Garden and had collected some of the items that would necessary to gain entry into the palace. They also had just attracted the attention of a some sort of very large and green humanoid at the edge of some trees. Said giant had just started moving towards the heroes and that is where we’ll pick up after the break.
We had a full table of regular players plus we were joined by Bridgett. I don’t know if it was just because RJ’s mom was in town to babysit or if my Korean BBQ tacos played a part in luring her out as well (we did a potluck for dinner). Regardless, she joined us and took on the role of Olive Cattree. Olive is a sprite; one who only recently arrived in Brea’s Garden and has found the whole situation to be entirely too much of a damper on having some fun…which is pretty much what she wants to do. Olive had just finished chasing some bees in the meadow when she also had her attention drawn to the heroes and the green giant approaching them.
Spoiler Alert: This session is heavily influenced and based on the adventure Beyond the Crystal Cave, both the original (UK1) for AD&D and the 4e version which was part of the D&D Encounters series.
As the giant approached, he set the heroes’ nerves at ease by shouting out a friendly greeting. A friendly discussion ensued where each party’s quests were discussed. Basal, the giant and cousin of Ragnar as the heroes had already learned, was seeking a mortal male that he must kill. The party shared that they were heading to the rose maze. Basal suggested that they take great care in traveling through the maze as it was quite dangerous, especially for one as frail as Thalimor. [Thalimor’s relative fragility was a running theme of the conversation]
A single prick from one of the thorns could leave one dead, asleep, or having lost their memory depending on the color of the rose (red, yellow, and white respectively). To make matters worse, the bushes in the garden seemed to move on their own volition, making it nigh impossible to pass through the maze with a nick.
However, Basal had a capital idea. Both had their separate quests to complete but perhaps they overlapped. He was forbidden–by his fealty to Lord Jólét–from entering the “Water Palace” without permission [a building in the middle of the nearby lake that the party had already spotted] but he needed the mortal male who had taken refuge within. The heroes needed a safe way through the maze and Basal claimed that something to aid them lay within the Water Palace as it held an armory for times of need.
During this conversation, Olive made her entrance warning the heroes that killing mortals isn’t really fun and neither is Basal.
If the heroes would simply enter the building and bring out the mortal male, Basal would share how to get the item they needed…a fey whistle that, when blown, will show the safe path to take the traveler to their destination. The party agreed to attempt to bring out the mortal but could make no promises. Believing them to be an honorable bunch, that was sufficient for Basal and he shared that the armory was within. One need only open the door while thinking of their need and an item that will aid them will be within.
This, of course, left one last thing to be determined…how to get across the lake to the Water Palace in the middle. Basal had the answer to that. He picked up Thalimor [so he wouldn’t bruise his fragile knees in the tall grasses] and carried him down to the edge of the lake. Setting him down in the lake, Thalimor found that he didn’t sink. Instead, he could see a path leading away in the water, one that couldn’t be seen from the shore. With that settled, the heroes, with Olive–who had not yet declared her fealty to Jólét following, headed for the Water Palace.
A pair of double doors gave entry to the Water Palace. Inside was a single large room with a table and chairs with a decanter of wine, some goblets, and a bowl of fruit being the only things of interest. A set of stairs led down, presumably to rooms under the surface of the lake, and ended in a door. Osric opened the door while thinking very hard about getting what was needed to get through the maze as Olive shouted out that it needed to be a fun way too!
Instead of a safe or a fun way through, Osric got a rapier’s point…in his shoulder! A man was just beyond the door and shouted that they would never take him alive! And then things got weird and confusing. This man was, of course, Romano but he also thought he was Jólét. Various cues would cause him to switch between the two. Mention of Julianna, not surprisingly, brought out Romano…a very concerned Romano who wanted to rush off to save his love immediately. Mention of the Garden, spotting Olive, and even spotting Bay [hmmm…I wonder what was up with that] brought out Jólét. A Jólét who was not overly pleased when Thalimor explaiend that they had come to find and take a fey whistle [although the explanation was a little more nuanced than that] and who indicated that Bay’s life was forfeit for his service to Her [although he never did mention who she was].
Eventually, Thalimor enchanted Romano/Jólét into a slumber so the party could continue in their search for the whistle. [Good thing that Romano/Jólét was still human enough to be affected by magical sleep, eh?] The party tied him to a chair as well.
Another stairway led down from this room and also ended in a door. Again, Osric focused on their need (while Olive yelled out about fun) and opened the door. Beyond was a small room with a shelf. A single item sat on the shelf…a wooden whistle. Osric snatched it up and the party quickly left the Water Palace, leaving Romano/Jólét behind.
Back on the shore of the lake, Basal was disappointed to hear that they were unable to bring out the mortal male. Thalimor explained that the man had already taken on too much of the power of Jólét and they could neither force nor persuade him to come out with them. Basal did not doubt the sincerity of the claim [although perhaps he should of 😉 ] and simply lamented that he’d have to find more hardy allies to complete the task. With that, farewells were made and the party set off for the maze.
There were three entrances into the maze and each was surrounded by roses of one of the three colors…yellow, red, or white. Olive tried to fly up above to look over the maze but some invisible force blocked her from going higher than the hedges. Isenthorne plucked a petal from a rose and just narrowly avoided getting scratched by a thorn on a branch that “dislodged” and fell as she pulled away the petal.
Osric blew the whistle and a stream of scintillating, rainbow-colored horseflies came streaming out. Most headed through the yellow rose entrance of the maze but one each flew up inches away from the faces of each party member and shook its rump in their face before buzzing off after their companions. Olive was agree to give chase as were the rest of the party, although for differing reasons.
The horseflies led the party, without incident, to a large clearing in, presumably, the center of the maze. A large sundial sat in the center. Its surface was flat and squarish. Nearly two dozen tiles sat upon the top of it. Each had a single design upon it, representing rose, oak, mistletoe, and shamrock. Some tiles had raised edges on one or two sides, some had raised half circles in a corner, and some had both. Experimentation showed that the tiles could be moved and rearranged.
An obvious puzzle, the party set to solving it. In time, they did. By arranging the tiles so that one of each pattern was included, the edges formed the frame of a door, and two of the semi-circles met to form a doorknob, they then touched one of each leaf or petal that they had brought. The plants immediately turned to silver and flowed to cover their respective design. Once the silver covered all, the maze itself and the clearing began to spin faster, faster, and ever faster until the heroes all lost consciousness.
When the party regained consciousness, they were in a small gate house. A silver gate blocked one direction but beyond could be seen the clearing in the rose maze and the maze itself. The other direction led out into another garden with a large fountain and a gleaming building beyond. Well manicured flower gardens were to either side. Small towers were in the corners of the plaza with cushioned benches within and the sound of soothing and comforting music although no source could be seen.
Stairs led up to the building, presumably the Palace, and to a pair of large silver doors. Above the doors, a message was engraved…”Enter in Peace.” Two columns flanked the doors.
As Olive chased the various bees, butterflies, and other denizens of the garden. The rest of the party took a moment to catch their breaths, have a bite to eat, and get a short rest before starting to explore more carefully.
The fountain had an engraving around the edge of its retaining wall. It read, “Fountain All Heal. Drink and health and hale gain and in contentment here remain.” Although very suspicious and concerned about the little rhyme, particularly the bit about remaining, half of the party still drank from the fountain to find their cuts and bruises and tiredness immediately gone.
They then turned their attentions to the doors. At first, they would not budge. When Magnus dropped his weapons, however, they opened easily. Others dropped all of their weapons and entered but Osric [if I recall correctly] did not leave all of his weapons behind when he went through and the columns on either side of the doors transformed into stone women and moved to the attack. Before combat could begin, Osric dropped his remaining weapons outside the door and the columns returned to their prior position and form. Olive tried to get in armed as well but to the same result and also reluctantly gave up her weapons.
This left the party unarmed, already magically depleted [I don’t think any spellcasters had any spell slots left], and potentially about to face a hag and her fiendish consort. Not a good situation to find themselves but what else could they do. So the pressed on. The entry room was large and had a table with chairs and refreshments laid out. When someone suggested partaking of said refreshments, the dangers of eating or drinking or taking gifts of the fey was pointed out and so all passed.
The first room explored on this floor was a lavishly decorated bedroom. A picture on the wall depicted Julianna and Romano. There was, however, nothing within that looked to be a gift worthy of a fey queen and the heroes’ lives [Don’t forget, that’s why they’re here after all.] The next room looked like it might have once been a similarly decorated bedroom but no longer. Blood and bits of flesh were everywhere! It looked as though someone had torn and shredded at least a couple of bodies to small bits and flung those bits everywhere. The stench was horrendous and the party quickly shut the door.
Heading up some stairs in the entry hall, the party found a large hall with numerous statues and paintings of a beautiful woman and a handsome fey, presumably Brea and Jólét. Doors off of this hall led to roof top gardens. Each garden had a tall tower in a corner with stairs leading up. With no other apparent way of reaching the next level, the party headed up the stairs in one of these towers. These led to the a door at the next level that opened onto thin air!
Another rooftop garden and a door leading into a large spire could be spotted a short distance away but twenty feet across thin air is twenty feet too far. Olive fluttered across but she could find nothing where she could anchor a rope…not that that would be much fun anyways…and there would be no way that she, at her size, carry any of the party across…and that would definitely not be fun at all!
Thalimor reached out and felt the gap just beyond the door and found that it was solid. There appeared that there might be an invisible path leading across. As he stepped out, however, a breeze picked up and the thought of being blown off the path set his nerves on end. So, instead, the party went back down to the prior level to search for another way up. None could be found and so the invisible bridge was attempted.
Although a breezy walk, the wind never picked up to be a threat and all were able to cross with no problem. Largely ignoring the rooftop garden here, the party headed directly for the door into the large spire. The door opened easily and within was a large chamber some sixty feet across and open to the top of the spire some one-hundred feet above. A large glass case was the only object in the room. Within it, an elderly woman and a handsome, young fey lay in an embrace, seemingly sleeping. A massive diamond, nearly the size of a human’s head, rested in a mounting on the top of the case. Definitely a gift worthy of a fey queen!
Thalimor tapped on the case in the hopes that might wake Lord Jólét but there was no response. Although some concerns were expressed about what might happen if they took the diamond, what choice did they really have. It was pretty clear that this was exactly what Danu wanted them to acquire for her in exchange for their lives. So, as the rest tensely looked on, Thalimor lifted the diamond from its mounting and the glass case immediately shattered.
The eyes of the fey who had been in the case, presumably Lord Jólét, opened and he shouted out an anguished, “No!” Bay began to laugh evilly and was standing behind everyone else with the hag standing next to him with her arm around him! Bay turned and passionately kissed the hideous creature. Their embrace was interrupted as a trident was thrust through the hag such that it even stabbed into Bay!
Danu stood behind the hag and leaned forward to whisper, “He’s mine!” The fey queen smiled coldly at Bay and the rest of the party. As Jólét angrily yelled out, “What have you done!” Danu suggested that they all run. She slashed through the air with her trident and a shimmering rift opened up. A dock, the same dock, could be seen through the opening. She turned and stepped through with the party hot on her heels.
Once on the dock, no island could be seen anywhere. The landing boot sat moored at the opposite end of the deck and the small purple-haired “man” stepped out from his “gatehouse” and gave the party two thumbs up. Once settled in the boat, where the two sailors and Wineric were waiting, the party realized that the dock had disappeared. Danu suggested that all be quiet as a ship was approaching.
One was…a ship that flew the colors of pirates. It passed just a few feet away from the landing boat. The ship’s wake rocked the smaller boat and Wineric tumbled overboard. She yelled out for Bay to help but that only succeeded in drawing the attention of the pirates. Bay, bound by his oath to not interfere in Wineric’s fate, angrily sat watching, helpless. The others looked at each other wondering if they could interfere but none did, fearing that they woudl attract the attention of the pirates or offend their savior (or both). As they pirates fished Wineric out of the water, she cried out for Bay’s help again. Danu leaned over and asked Bay which hurt worse, watching the woman being taken by pirates or this as she pushed her finger into the wound the trident tine had left in his abdomen. Bay did not answer and Danu hoped that this experience had taught him to be an obedient servant.
With that, she turned to ask if the party had anything for her. Thalimor gave her the diamond. Such a gift, Danu claimed, was simply too great and she gave Thalimor a golden ring as thanks. The party then heard gulls screeching and the sounds of a dock. As they turned to look, they could see a large rocky point and a fairly busy dock beyond, hopefully Stansig Point and the town of Wolverton. When they looked back, Danu and Olive were both gone.
[And that is where we ended the night.
It was, as Miles noted, a pretty abrupt ending. There are also numerous threads left hanging but the party has arrived at Wolverton. What ramifications might come back to haunt the party? What are they going to do with no weapons (remember they left them all at the entrance to the palace)? What about the bloodstones that Rosaline the nymph gave them as protection against the hag? Is the hag, Sycorax, actually dead? What is going to be Lord Jólét’s reaction to the actions of the party, actions that he clearly was not happy with? What might the removal of the diamond have meant for Julianna and Romano? Might it have killed them? What about Brea…has her soul now departed? What of the hag’s consort? Where was he and might he seek revenge on those that he might deem responsible for his lover’s death? Why did Danu want the diamond in the first place?
And, perhaps most importantly, now that the party has reached the Lonely Coast, what are they going to do? 😉
And now the craft beer part of the night…
We did a potluck for dinner with some yummy food including some spicy food so we started off with a couple of HopSlams. Already a hit with most of us but not all (like Muse), it paired nicely with the food. Thomas made a British Lemon Tart type desert and so I broke out Founder’s Blushing Monk to share with that and to make it up to Muse for starting with HopSlams. I think the Monk was a hit with everyone. We ended the beers with a 2010 Cantillon Lou Pepe Kriek which I believe was a hit with everyone too.
