- GM’s note: A call from Drake’s son Eric for aid. Grant is missing. And the introduction of Jeph Jacques’ “Coffee of Doom” coffee shop. Check out Questionable Content – it’s a great webcomic.
- Ethan has some time to himself. Abbie has a gig. Isabelle has been away for more than a week assisting Lucien with a project. Hilda and Macavity are amusing themselves at ‘Adventure World’ – a high-tech theme park on Concordia. Ethan is left to his own devices. After a few days on the Legendary Isle, Ethan’s brain hurts about just how weird the place has become. He decides to find a nice quiet place to have some fish, chips and a beer. He finds a Door on the Stair that leads to the little fishing village of Leymouth. It reminds him of Stormhaven (GM’s note – way back in Session 48) when he spent time with Isabelle. The food is served in polystyrene tubs but the fish is divine. (GM’s note – I remember eating fish in Oban when I lived in Scotland. There was one place that was *awesome*) Ethan sits down by the docks watching the fishing trawlers come and go.
- Returning to the Stair, he heads for the Forbidden Library. However, he is interrupted by an Icon contact from Eric (Drake’s son). Ethan is surprised to hear from Eric – he was expecting a normal day (according to his routine Divinations). Eric explains that there has been a problem in his father’s holdings and his father had asked Grant to look into it. However, Grant hasn’t reported back.
- Eric explains that the world is feudal. There had been some reports of a monster in the forest and after two groups of knights had not returned, Drake asked Grant to look into it. Ethan decides to do some further research and tells Eric that he will be in touch.
- Ethan finds a nearby Door and goes to find a coffee shop. A few yards from the Door, he finds one. There seem to be a lot in this strip but Ethan walks into one called ‘Coffee of Doom’. (GM’s note – yes, for those of you who follow the Questionable Content webcomic, it’s *that* coffee shop. It turns out that both David and I enjoy Jeph’s work.)
- Passing a bulky looking humanoid robot who is sitting in a comfy armchair sniffing her tea (GM’s note – Bubbles), Ethan orders a coffee from a skinny girl behind the counter (GM’s note – Dora) and takes a seat in a booth. He doesn’t touch the coffee but it does smell good. Taking out Grant’s icon, he tries to contact Grant but there is some sort of resistance. Umbral interference.
- Ethan decides to try some further Divination and Scrying. He’s done this before in a public place but normally nobody notices. This time a strange girl (GM’s note – Emily) comes up to him and shows interest in what he is doing. She suggests corrections in the milling motes of light, actually flicks one of them (which should be impossible), which causes a reaction to the pattern. The new pattern shows a dragon. She walks off, humming, leaving Ethan rather flummoxed.
- Ethan continues scrying using Grant’s Icon as a focus. He locates the realm where Grant has gone missing. It is a feudal kingdom but the stonework looks manufactured. Men-at-arms wear armour that looks like it has been finely engineered. There is a township of a few hundred people near to Grant’s location. The people look healthy and well fed. Their clothing is machine-woven. The township is surrounded by farmland. On the horizon is a large wood which is difficult to scry upon. The forest appears to have a protector.
- Attempting to scry further draws the attention of a strong mind and Ethan finds himself confronted with a bright pair of blue reptilian eyes. “Hello little mage”, says the voice in his head.
* Image sourced from Google Images
- Ethan is well aware that the dragons consider him a Dragon Killer, so he decides to be very polite. He asks about Grant’s welfare and the two have a civilised conversation. The dragon is irritated about the number of knights who have been sent into his forest, but even more irritated by the creature that they have been sent to slay – a monster that hides in mist but dwells beneath the ground. The dragon gives permission for Ethan to deal with the situation.
- Ethan finishes scrying and finds himself facing a red-eyed humanoid with very pale skin.(GM’s note – Spookybot) He has been so focussed that he didn’t even notice the strange robot sit down. The robot wants to know Ethan’s intentions and Ethan explains that he is just ‘passing through’. The robot seems keen to make sure that Ethan doesn’t mess with ‘its patch’. Ethan promises to leave things alone. As he gets up to leave, Ethan notes that everyone in the coffee shop appears to be frozen. This strange red-eyed robot appears to have a level of control over the domain, sufficient to stop everyone in their tracks via a timestop. Ethan decides to leave and he returns to the Stair.
- Back on the Stair, Ethan pauses and then reaches for an Icon of Eric (he has many Icons). Making contact, he steps through to join Eric.
- Ethan appears to have caught Eric at an odd moment. There are three unconscious people at his feet. He explains sheepishly that they tried to jump him. This seems odd but Ethan accepts the situation. He notes that Eric hasn’t even drawn his sword.
* Image by GerryArthur on DeviantArt
- Ethan tests to see if his Sorcery works and it does. Eric tells him that this is the village of Holto, that the woods are six miles away and that he has two horses for them. Noting that Ethan is poorly armed (Ethan was out for a stroll and hasn’t brought any obvious swords or axes), Eric offers to equip him but Ethan refuses. Judging that time is off the essence, he pulls out of his Cube and finds a suitable sword (a sabre). Ethan also notes that there is no Door nearby. Eric explains that he had to ride to get here from a larger city many leagues away.
- They ride and Eric explains the history of the area – that there was a war in this area between the fey and ‘something else’. Both sides suffered losses but the war was forgotten. Recently a creature from the forest had been killing livestock but things have recently gotten worse.
- There is a strong leeching chill when Ethan and Eric reach the edge of the woods. Something is sucking all of the heat out of this area. Using Wayfinding to hunt down Grant, they proceed deeper into the forest. The ground is wet and gets worse as they go further. Now that he is inside the forest, Ethan again uses scrying to look further ahead. There is darkness ahead. Ethan spots some brute-like guardians that look like walking collections of plants with a single eye of quartz. Beyond the guardians there is a marshy section where the trees are dead and there is something reeking of Umbra beneath the surface. Ethan is certain that Grant is down there, using Umbra to defend himself.
- Ethan is apprehensive about facing this opponent. If this enemy has beaten Grant, how will he overcome it? Ethan doesn’t like facing an opponent who may be stronger than him without having a plan. Nevertheless, he presses on with Eric – he is worried that any further delay could be costly to Grant.
- At last they reach the dead marsh where the trees are skeletons of their former glory. Rising up out of the marsh comes a mummified thing which rises out of a web of weed. The thing clearly controls much of the vegetation in this section of the forest. Ethan attempts to communicate with it but the gaunt thing only screams back at him. It is clearly undead and unnatural. It does not belong in this place.
- Ethan asks Eric to cover him, and Ethan settles down at the edge of the clearing to use Eidolon to purify the forest. As Ethan does this, the guardians move to attack. Eric fends them off whilst Ethan weaves a net of Eidolon-empowered sorcery to restore the natural balance and purge the creature. The water churns. The guardians crash through the trees in an attempt to reach Ethan but Eric holds them, and fells two of them by shattering the quartz orb that seems to serve as their eye/brain.
- Submerged knights slowly come to the surface as the ‘swamp thing’ releases its grip in order to focus its efforts on withstanding Ethan’s assault. Grant breaks through the surface and gasps for breath. Then suddenly the ‘thing’ simply breaks like an eggshell and is purged. Nature reasserts itself. The water is shallower once more. Many of the bodies that have come to the surface are dead but a handful of knights are alive…. barely. Sun breaks through the canopy and the first sounds of birdsong can be heard.
- Ethan feels an Eidolon presence on the other side of the clearing. Released from its prison, a tiny fey-thing radiating Eidolon goes to work restoring small patches of grass and tufts of heather. It is obvious that this small creature will be working for some time to undo the damage done to this place.
- A total of eight knights are saved from a watery grave. The weeds have to be picked out of their armour and clothing. Ethan heals those who can be healed. Before departing, Ethan asks the diminutive fey whether he requires any further ‘service’ to repair the forest. The fey laughs and thanks the ‘Lord of Gossamer’ (recognizing him) for his work. He offers Ethan a boon in return, which Ethan thinks upon and then refuses, much to the faerie’s surprise. At first the fey is shocked and then he beams at Ethan for refusing the favour. The fey comments that it is most unusual for a mortal to refuse such a favour – he will remember Ethan.
- The small posse begin the long march back to Holto with the worst amongst them on the horses. Ethan does not say much during the return journey. Grant is quite messed up by his experience and Ethan prefers to keep an eye on him. Eric talks with the surviving knights on the return.
- Upon arrival, the knights are offered a place to rest and recuperate. Grant elects to rest and he quickly falls asleep. The local knight, Sir Gerwyn, organises a feast at short notice to celebrate and thank the Lords of Gossamer. Ethan is a little embarrassed but he elects to stay as it would be disrespectful to leave. He is a reserved but polite guest. Ethan shows some interest in their culture. He listens to the songs and watches the locals dancing with interest. The wine is good, but weak. Sir Gerwyn talks to Ethan for a bit, but Ethan downplays his role in the adventure and suggests that Eric is the hero of the hour. This misdirection works and Ethan fades into the backdrop, listening and drinking quietly. After a while, he contacts Macavity via Icon. Macavity admits that he is staying with Abbie for a few days and Hilda is with him. Ethan asks if Macavity would like to join him and Macavity demurs until Ethan tells him that there is plenty of food available.
- Macavity joins in the festivities and eats far too much. The festivities extend late into the night and Ethan tires of the drunken revelry so he heads to a bed at the local inn that has been set aside for him. Macavity eventually staggers to bed and falls asleep with a belly full of food at the end of the bed. Ethan decides that this place is safe enough to fall asleep in and he nods off.
- In the middle of the night Ethan is awoken by what he thinks is Macavity but instead there is a small two-foot high dragon perched on the end of the bed, peering at him. Ethan tenses, expecting a fight, but the dragon quickly reassures him, thanking him for removing the unpleasant presence from his domain. He apologises that his hoard is too small for him to offer anything of real value to compensate him but he will remember what Ethan has done for him. Ethan is extremely tense, expecting the dragon to say ‘but’ and try to kill him. He is only half listening to the dragon as he is more focused on how close his weapon is. The dragon seems to sense this and bids Ethan good-night, noting that he was not expecting a dragonslayer to come to his aid. The dragon launches itself towards the window and takes off into the night. (GM’s note – yes, this dragon is a young-un, hence its hoard is small)
- Ethan quickly bolts the window shut. He was sure that it was shut and he should have been alerted by approaching danger well before the dragon opened the window. The thought that the creature had come so close to him without him being aware fills him with dread.
- Then suddenly he wonders where Macavity is. He almost panics but finds Macavity asleep on the heat rocks that pass for heating in this realm.
- Ethan can’t get back to sleep after the middle-of-the-night intrusion. He settles down to perform Divination activities to confirm that there will be no further interruptions or threats to this village in the near future. Even though the Divinations give him comfort, he still doesn’t go back to sleep. Instead he reorganises what is in his Cube while Macavity snores softly.
- Grant feels much better the following morning. The two friends leave Holto without further incident.
- GM’s note: And next, we have this year’s Christmas Special which I’ll complete tomorrow night and have posted up on Christmas Day!
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