Summary
A confused Tabaxi named Eisuke turned up at the bar of The Tail’s End claiming to be from 190 years in the future, and on Cal’s word the party took him along to chase a job board posting about “land mermaids” south of Myrrh’s Hollow. After buying mounts from Jameson, they found The Crazy One on the road, driven to years-long madness by a siren’s song. He begged them to kill him and gave them a brass key to his home; Cal’s attempt to leave him a kind memory first went badly wrong and ruptured his brain. That night a bird with human eyes scratched “TURN BACK” into the dirt, and in the morning Reginald Cornfield traded them three Travelling Tavern tickets and warned that the Blue Cross Bridge was blocked. The barricade turned out to be the siren’s lair. They killed it and cut The Earrings of Control from its ears, only for V to appear demanding them, claiming she had captured Theratina and killed Diana. Sealing the earrings in the notebook with a sleeping face on its cover revealed The Necklace of Life as the next artifact.
Events
At The Tail’s End
- When we awake, we see a confused-looking Tabaxi at the bar
- They are a bout 4 feet tall, two tails, red eyes, plum colored fur, with a full head of hair
- His name is Eisuke
- We interrogate Eisuke a bit
- Cal vouches for Eisuke and we trust their judgement
- Eisuke joins us for the day
- We introduce him to Theratina
- She wants to stay; she’s writing a song with Barbara
- We decide to go after the land mermaids (Kill the Land Mermaid)
- We don’t know where to find the mermaids, so we go to the job board
At the job board
- When we arrive, we go inside
- We see the same guy we saw when we turned in the dragon and Hag (05-Shopping Spree > At The Citadel)
- He directs us to Myrrh’s Hollow
- Supposedly the issue is south of it
- He is confused why we are even taking this quest
- Supposedly only one person has even seen the mermaids
- They are on the road from here to Myrrh’s Hollow
- “We call him The Crazy One”
- We decide to go after him
- In order to do that, we decide to go buy horses
At the stables of Vel Rau’dan
- An older gentlemen greets us
- His name is Jameson
- He says we can either rent or buy a horse
- They also have donkeys, moose, unicorns, etc
- A mustang horse with saddle is only 27 gold
- Raelor buys one
- There are other breeds of horses
- Cal buys one for 29g (with saddle)
- A moose is 30 gold with saddle
- A unicorn is 120 gold with saddle
- Yharov buys a black one
- We decide to go after The Crazy One
On the road to Myrrh’s Hollow
- The road is smooth
- Eventually we reach a small pond
- We see The Crazy One
- He is splashing the reflection of himself
- When he sees us, he runs to the other side of the pond to create distance
- He looks manic
- Cal uses Detect Thoughts
- His mind is full of “run, hide, run, hide”
- Roz uses Message to try to calm him
- “You guys can’t be here. Please run. Don’t listen to it; don’t let it listen to you. Please run.”
- We realize he has madness because he heard the siren’s song
- He mentions how everyone heard it
- His son supposedly killed his daughter
- Through a successful history check, we realize this madness will last for years
- He asks us to kill him
- After some deliberation, we decide it might be the most humane
- Raelor asks if theres anything we can do to honor him
- “My home; find it.”
- He gives us a brass key
- Cal does another d100 roll to try to implant a nice memory
- She rolls a 4
- “The wizards, they…” and he falls to the ground
- In his pocket, Raelor finds a letter
- His address is on the back south of Myrrh’s Hollow
- It is full of blood and mud so we can’t read
- Theodore uses Prestidigitation to try to clean the letter
- Only a few letters are legible
- It mentions there is a war coming and that they need to run
- Roz uses Mold Earth to bury The Crazy One
- Cal hangs behind momentarily to say some words
- We continue down the road
Setting up camp
- Some time later, evening comes and we need to set up camp
- Roz casts Leomund’s Tiny Hut
- Theodore uses Alarm to help
- Cal keeps first watch
- A bird flies towards her and lands on her shoulder
- It has very human eyes
- Cal asks “Who are you?”
- It drags its beak through the dirt to write “TURN BACK”
- Cal tries to use Detect Thoughts
- The bird flies away
- Roz keeps the next watch
- The siren music starts playing in the far distance
- He succeeds his saving throw and goes in the hut
- Raelor takes the third watch
- Theodore is an early riser and joins him while he studies his book
- We see a small caravan of soldiers beginning to walk south
- 20-ish, all with different colors
- They all are elfs
- We go meet them
- One man gestures them ahead while he talks to us
- His name is Reginald Cornfield
- They supposedly have been wandering 4 days
- They’re going to The Twin Veins to try to help stop the upcoming fights
- He warns us that the Blue Cross Bridge is blocked off
- Evidently something must be constructed or guarded
- Raelor as a gesture of goodwill gives him the Copper Dragon horn
- In return, Reginald gives us three Travelling Tavern tickets
- We part ways and as we get back, everyone is waking up
- We decide to go to the Blue Cross Bridge, despite the fact that it is guarded
- The other bridge would add 3 days of travel
- NOTE: 8 days until the next full moon
At the Blue Cross Bridge
- As we arrive, we see a group of travelers who seem to be unable to cross
- There are an array of guards blocking the way
- A drow nearby asks us about wanting to get across
- They are from Myrrh’s Hollow South and want to return home
- Supposedly it has been barricaded for about a week
- Cal tries to use Suggestion to get the guards to let us through
- It works; we have an hour with them gone
- There is unfortunately also a 50ft high, 10ft deep barricade on the bridge
- Raelor notices a rope that opens it like a door
- He opens it
- The siren is inside; evidently the barricade was its lair
- We all make wisdom saving throws from its music
- The citizens around us all fail
- We all pass
Killing the land mermaid
- We fight and defeat the land mermaid
- It is wearing Two Circular Earrings
- During the fight, Theodore and Roz are charmed into fighting each other
- After defeating it we cut out The Earrings of Control
A conversation with V
- While doing so, V shows up
- She casts Mass Suggestion, forcing most of us to kneel
- She wants The Earrings Of Control
- She claims she has captured Theratina and is “experimenting” on her
- She implies that she killed Diana
- She also tells us to “enjoy” our Travelling Tavern tickets
- Theodore tries (unsuccessfully) to tackle her off the bridge
- She eventually leaves, claiming she will follow up with Cal soon
Investigating the lair
- We investigate the land mermaid’s lair
- It’s clear that it evolved multiple times to get to this point
- Everything is covered in slime except for a dead cat
- We are able to deduce that some man lived under this bridge and it is what turned into the land mermaid thing
- We also bury the bodies of the civilians that died during our fight
- They were charmed into jumping off the bridge
The notebook with a sleeping face on its cover update
- We put The Earrings Of Control in the book
- “Earrings designed to control and dominate anyone in range. The more powerful the user, the more powerful and vast the control can be.”
- The next thing that appears on the page is The Necklace of Life
- A necklace with a cross on it
Onwards to Myrrh’s Hollow south
- We decide to continue towards Myrrh’s Hollow
- Eisuke disappears as we cross the bridge
- As it gets dark, we stop and make camp
- Roz creates another Leomund’s Tiny Hut
- We all feel uncertain
- We don’t know if V is telling the truth about anyway
- Our session ends here