Summary
Three days south, Carrowyn turned out to be freezing instead of hot, and the newspaper blamed Iskar’Thul: frost waves, an ancient roar, and giant red eyes in the sky about a week ago. At the CFN Headquarters in The Mud District, Raelor disguised himself as V to kill a story about The Prophesizers and walked out with the stone and its glossary instead. The sugar circle in the basement of The Sabertooth Tavern took us to The Laughing Root in the Feywild, where the drinks left half of us poisoned, Aven Tide hung in a painting over the fireplace, and The Lawnkeeper — faceless, throat slit, wearing the mark of The Prophesizers — was keeping the matching stone out back. A small girl wearing red did not want us leaving; she claims the Hag we killed was hers and that V is the one who put her there. Three days had passed when we got back, and Rithas, who knows her and would not say how, finally told us why he is here: a group in Iskar’Thul is siphoning power out of this plane and Shadowfell, and he means to stop them. We solved the puzzle — “under water city” — for a steel and coral key. Then Roz shifted as a joke on the night of the full moon, lost control, and hunted Theodore until Cal soothed him with Suggestion. Sharing the memory back showed them where his soul had gone while the beast had him: The Unknown’s Prison. The Piper walked in as we finished, looking straight at Theratina.
Events
- We arrive at Carrowyn
- The trip took 3 days
- We are now 3 days away from the next full moon
- During this time, we received more Sending messages telling us about the staff that was hired at The Tale’s End
- A bunch of staff including a cleaner who is “Cheap and good. Don’t ask any other questions”
At Carrowyn
- It is usually hot here, but it is so cold that we all make CON saves
- 3 damage on a failure
- It is a circular city with 5 sections:
- The north is more modest, but everyone still seems happy
- The other four sections are wealthier
- The south, with The Citadel of Carrowyn, is the wealthiest section
- It is where the King of Carrowyn lives
- Because the city is so wealthy, we know everything here will be expensive
- It is a bit of a retirement city
- We decide to head to the Arena of Carrowyn to see if there is a jeweler somewhere
- People are clearly not comfortable; likely due to the atypical cold
- We buy a newspaper and see the following headlines:
- “Frost waves coming from Iskar’Thul”
- “Ancient roar coming from Iskar’Thul”
- “People are scared about choosing between Iskar’Thul and Karvok Thuldor”
- At the very end, we read that King Valecrest is waiting for their new military to assist in the decision making… They are waiting for The Silent Fist to make a decision, who is having discussions with House of One Hand Clapping.
- The newspaper boy tells us that the cold weather has been cold for a few months
- The extreme cold only began a few days ago
- “About a week ago we saw giant red eyes in the sky, then they just went away”
- He also tells us that the newspapers are printed in “The Valley” in The Mud District, the northern, modest section of the city
- Vines growing on roofs, trees blossoming and blooming. It creates a natural beauty; it’s a gorgeous district
- We decide to go to the newspaper’s HQ in The Mud District to learn more
At the CFN Headquarters
- Before we enter, we overhear the gnomes inside
- They mention some group named The Prophesizers are going to be the new leaders
- Somehow they will replace The Silent Fist
- They are led by some good-looking woman (V?)
- They claim they are also stumped by some puzzle
- Raelor uses the Hat of Disguise to turn himself into V
- He asks them to not print the story about The Prophesizers
- They agree to wait a week
- He then asks them about the puzzle
- They claim to be unable to solve it because they are unwelcome at The Laughing Root, which is supposedly in the Feywild
- There is some missing piece to the puzzle there
- Raelor convinces them that we will finish the puzzle for them
- They hand him a small stone and a mysterious note
At The Sabertooth Tavern
- It is empty but seems very inviting, smelling of cinnamon
- It makes sense it is empty; it’s still early
- The sign at the front says:
Circle full of sugar Pocket full of dough Pat on a head And in you go
- Behind the counter is a half-orc playing with his pet bird
- Yharov talks to him
- His bird’s name is Bird
- His name is Sir Cornelius V
- He mistakenly mentions that people don’t often eat “on this side of the tavern”
- He’s reluctant to say more
- While Sir Cornelius cooks, Yharov sneaks away down the stairs
- He finds a padlock at the door
- Behind the door, he notices a sign which says “remember, the answer is outside”
- Beside it are a few sets of interesting items:
- Brooms that are not made for sweeping
- Vials containing indescribable contents
- Jars with things that appear to be moving
- He returns and asks Roz to Dispel Magic the Alarm spell he found on the door
- Before doing this, we notice a circle of sugar on the ground by the door
- Below it seems to be something that may have disappeared
- Raelor grabs some dough and tries the instructions from the sign out front
- Yharov follows
- The rest investigate further
- Rithas does not want to go in
- He stays back with Theratina
In the Feywild
- The description of The Laughing Root on the inside is:
From the outside, it looks chaotic—roots twisting out of the ground to form walls, glowing fungi marking the entrance, and music spilling out into the streets. Inside is loud, wild, and full of life. Performers dance across hanging vines, illusion magic paints stories across the ceiling, and laughter echoes constantly. Drinks here are unpredictable—some fizz, some smoke, some change color mid-sip. It’s a place to celebrate, forget, and lose yourself for a while.
- We are given a menu and are told to sit wherever we would like
- When we sit, the wall begins rubbing Roz’s back
- We take out a small stone and it makes a clinking noise
- We all order food and drinks
- Raelor asks if we can walk out back after we eat
- The server claims The Lawnkeeper is back there and “prefers them intoxicated”
- He supposedly recently acquired a special, unique stone
- Theodore sees Aven Tide in a painting over the fireplace
- Yharov asks the server who the painting is of
- “A friend. A dear friend.”
- They claim they haven’t seen her in a little while, although time here passes strangely
- Before going outside, the server tries to get us to drink
- We all go outside
- Everything inside magically goes silent
- Everyone inside is gone
- We can only hear the crackling of the fireplace
- A disgusting, scary man appears
- He has no face
- He has a slit throat that is oozing black blood
- On his back is a marking of The Prophesizers
- Right behind him is a stone that clearly fits a small stone
- We can now see that the entrance to the tavern has another small circle
- It is our means of escape
- We take the matching stone and go to leave
- a small girl wearing red stops us
- She does not want us leaving yet
- She points out that our bread is missing
- She clearly knows us, and knows a lot about us
- She claims the Hag we killed was “hers”
- She says V is the one who put her here
- She claims she can tell us all about her
- We don’t want to make a deal with her
- Yharov gets back with more bread and we all leave
Back at The Sabertooth Tavern
- It has been 3 days
- It is the night of the full moon
- Rithas and Theratina are upset we’ve been gone so long
- We ask Rithas about small girl wearing red
- He definitely knows her, but is elusive about it
- Supposedly she helped him get to this plane
- He gives us some of his backstory
- In Iskar’Thul, there are a group of people siphoning power from both this plane and Shadowfell
- Probably, he conjectures, they are siphoning from the Feywild, too
- He is here to stop them
- It is only about 6pm, so we have some time before Roz and Yharov go crazy
- We decide to use it to try to solve the puzzle
- Yharov notices a latch with a dial inside
- There is also another slot which will open when we get the entry correct
- The slot takes 14 letters
- We get the answer correct: “under water city”
- We obtain a steel and coral key (it is blue steel with some dabloons hanging off it, and the keychain says “51st street house 9”)
The full moon
- Roz and Yharov begin getting irritable
- Eventually they both roll WIS saves
- They both nat 20!!!
- Some time later, as a joke, Roz turns into his weretiger form
- This triggers the full moon effect, making him lose control
- We are forced to fight and try to restrain him
- Roz uses Moon-Torn Rage, causing him to hunt Theodore relentlessly
- Cal is able to soothe him with Suggestion
- Roz comes out of his form, confused and apologetic
- He wants to understand what happened so Cal shares their memory
- It unintentionally becomes a bidirectional sharing
- During this process, Cal sees where Roz’s soul was temporarily transported to during this time: The Unknown’s Prison
- Clearly the power that Roz had here was beyond that of a typical lycanthrope
- As the session ends, The Piper enters the bar
- He is looking directly at Theratina