The party leaves Binrus the giant in peace to continue his crystal crafting. The final inventory from the kobold eradication:
Scarlet librum, a repository of knowledge that will reveal the location of the enemy when activated with the correct key in the correct location, held by Allana
Potion of resistance to fire, held by Allana
Potion of poison disguised as a potion of healing, held by Theren
Potion of invisibility, held by Haerelben
Moonbow, a healing boon, touch extender, and revealer of glamours, held tightly by Haerelben
Decanter of endless water, held by Theren
Following a winding path through the hills toward Scarlet Moon Hall, Allana sees shepherds grazing their cattle ahead. She and Phil the Elder exchange hails and well-mets along with the obligatory assurances that neither party intends to bloodshed the other, not immediately anyway.
Before long the shepherds are whinging about the loss of their cattle to, yikes, a feeding giant. Party members simultaneously, universally, and emphatically deny knowing anything at all about cow-eating giants. All the same, Allana offers gold sufficient to compensate for the two consumed cows and the likely future loss of, she counts, six more in exchange for some information regarding Scarlet Moon Hall.
Scarlet Moon Hall? These wholesome shepherds don’t truck with the kind of rabble traveling to Scarlet Moon Hall. They revel all night burning things when they ought to worry more and get jobs, the lot of them. Phil suggests the party would do well to avoid Scarlet Moon Hall.
A seemingly offhand comment about a house fire in the Hamlet of Hillthorn, the human village these shepherds call home, piques alabaster-mask-wearing Theren’s interest for its similarities to the ancestral vision of his clockwork goldfish. Young Dilbert, suspected of starting said house fire, was observed leaving the house by reliable observer Lance. The anecdote is probably unrelated to everything else, but Theren makes a mental note of it.
The adventurers depart with a warm standing invitation to the hamlet of their new fast friends.
The afternoon wanes after a day of walking, made increasingly difficult by the amount of looted stone masks and flying body suits that the party drags with them everywhere. Ahead, campsites dot the hillside rising to a square building at the peak, Scarlet Moon Hall. Scrub brush and heavy haze cover the landscape making the encampments difficult to discern. A large, central bonfire of a wicker giant burns. The party follows a trail up to the nearest encampment where Theren and Allana can just make out four robed figures, armored lightly if at all, chanting around their fire, “Ohio oheyo lolo hoho lolo hilo acha acha oooooooo *sniff* *ear flap*.” Three large elk loiter in camp.
Theridan approaches and initiates pleasantries. The conversation lapses into druidic jive talk, the way it goes when druids converge. Theridan ushers in the others, smoothing over any initial awkwardness caused by Theren lurking in the bushes with his alabaster mask. Haerelben and Allana persuade Theren to unmask and join the conversation with their hosts, Mahoon, Iniri, Virigo, and Fariya. The druids share their roasted rabbits, cratatoes (looks like a crabapple, tastes like a tomato, much better than tombapples), mossy mushrooms, rabbit beans (looks like a coffee bean, tastes like something else) and brandy. Jumpy Theren forages for himself and eats the abundant dark fruits which contain certain medicinal properties that will later become apparent.
Allana subtly extracts what little information the camping druids know about the Rite of the Wicker Giant, fortuitously scheduled for the full moon tomorrow and evidently designed to restore the balance of nature. The square tower is home to Elizar, possibly the leader of the Scarlet Moon druids, and his acolytes. SMH druids have circulated through the camp to appoint lucky participants for the rite, but all may attend.
It becomes apparent to the party that although the wicker giant has been aflame for quite some time, it is not actually being consumed by the fire.
The party pardon themselves to explore other campsites of the seven total that they observed walking up. They select a campsite directly uphill from them and forage some wild onions and cratatoes on their way for sharing. Meega shows up the elfy nature types when she kicks open and collects an especially attractive but inedible geode.
Theren stops abundantly eating plums when he recalls their laxative effect.
At the next camp, four hairy men lounge around their fire. They sound impatient for the rite to begin and are generally cantankerous, glowering and whittling. Wiglaf, Storol, Farrrrz, and Quen like their rabbits raw, their veggies in the ground, and their merry visitors please to be moving along now. Lurking Theren distracts them as a rabbit barker to cover the party’s withdrawal. Meega distracts Theren from this endeavor by grappling him and dragging him away. Allana charmingly diffuses the situation while also readying eldritch blast, and her doubts are justified when a pair of werewolves crash out of the haze.
Theridan transforms into a huge snake just in time to block Storol while Allana blasts Wiglaf back. Farrrrz and Quen flank around, hidden by the haze, and attack Haerelben and Meega. Fighting through his plum-induced discomfort, Theren uses the Decanter of Endless Water to geyser at Farrrrz while excoriating him for being a bad boy. Meega, Theridan, and Allana all receive bites from the werewolves which could infect them with lycanthropy. Snake Theridan kills Wiglaf mid-lunge as he goes for Allana. Allana throws a hex on Farrrrz and slays him with an eldritch blast. Snake Theridan kills grappled Storol while Theren water cannons Quen, weakened by Allana’s hex, prone so that Meega can hack him down.
The fighting attracts the attention of a robed druid and three guardsmen who run up commanding a halt to hostilities. Lytin, the robed druid, demands to know the meaning of this violent outrage to which the party pleads self-defense. Lytin’s examination of Meega’s perforated arms validates their claim of werewolf attack. Her suspicions replaced by gratitude, Lytin invites the party back to her camp after the aggressors’ bodies are burned in their fire.
In Lytin’s camp, the adventurers notice that two of her companions are now absent leaving only Biart. Lytin shows particular interest in the party’s ability and willingness to fight, very strange considering the pointedly peaceful nature of the gathering, werewolves notwithstanding.
Two official Scarlet Moon druids emerge from the haze and exchange introductions as Aylbrith and Ingulf. Theren unexpectedly adopts a nom de guerre of Jeffry McBob. Aylbrith remarks on the commotion earlier for which Jeffry McBob makes an amusing apology referencing the plum incident.
Aylbrith examines Meega’s arms and offers a salve to prevent the lycanthropy which she and Theridan and Allana accept. Theridan, possessed of a druidic interest in curatives, inquires of Aylbrith the mixture: cratatoes, wolfsbane, soap berries. Theridan finds that formula dubious.
Allana’s necklace, Jerry, attracts Aylbrith’s unwanted attention. Allana persuades him it’s a family heirloom and she would be uncomfortable removing it for his examination. Aylbrith and Ingulf make their excuses and depart.
The party now finds Lytin’s camp less welcoming for some reason. Taking the hint, the party returns to the first camp where the werewolf incident is related to Mahoon, Iniri, Virigo, and Fariya. When Theridan reveals his suspicion that the “cure” might actually make the lycanthropy worse, they suggest consulting the folks one camp over. What could it hurt to ask?
In the next camp the party unhappily finds Aylbrith and Ingulf again with a bear tethered to a stake. Allana confronts them about the nonsense cure and besides, what kind of druid puts a bear on a leash anyway? Aylbrith replies, because fireball. Allana’s hexacious eldritch blast, Polar Bear Theridan’s bites, and Theren’s rapid crossbowing turn Aylbrith inside out in no time. Haerelben capitalizes on the brutality to suggest Ingulf surrender and answer questions truthfully, lest he meet the same fate.
Ingulf claims to be a Scarlet Moon druid and reminds his captors that fire cleanses all, which is a pretty culty thing to say as he throws himself into the fire. Theren douses the fire with the decanter which ought to have caused Ingulf to reconsider the power of fire, but instead he doubles down, rolling into the bear’s gruesome embrace. In his anguish, Ingulf laments that Imix has abandoned him. The bear finishes what the fire started and Ingulf is cleansed by bear.
Polar Bear Theridan chats briefly with the bear before liberating him. A cultic symbol and a two column list are retrieved from Aylbrith and Ingulf.
| Flames Wiglaf Storol Farrrrz Quen |
Tinders Virigo Mahoon Fariya Iniri Gariena The Gnats Allana Meega Jeffry McBob Theridan Haerelben |
Mahoon, Iniri, Virigo, and Fariya run over to investigate the fireball and act outraged by the scene. Iniri dusts around some powder of truthiness and Haerelben recounts the events following their initial meeting: arrive at festival, make some friends, take onions to hairy guys, get attacked by werewolves, receive reverse cure from SMH hosts, get fireballed by same, get accused of antisocial behavior, get dusted in the face.
Maybe they are convinced, maybe not. Maybe they are evil and Haerelben gave away the plot. One thing is certain: when the adventurers return the next morning from an all nighter curse removal session, all four are gone.