Session 42

General Summary

??? In the Feyrealm (previously 19th of Wealsun, year 595) - level 15
The party battles the Huntsman's Warden and his yeth hounds, each adventurer using the last of their abilities, having had no extended rests thanks to the endless nature of days in the Feyrealm. Eventually, they get the Warden alone, but no worse for wear before the tiefling (now going by "Penitence") draws her silver sword on him and threatens him with destruction of his soul. Her intimidating rouse lands, and the Warden decides to flee, striding through the trees themselves, planning to regroup and return in greater force.
Exhausted and near their ends, the party searches for the promised portal to the Seelie Court, and eventually finds a forested grotto oddly below ground, featuring a central pond with ethereal doorways to either side -- one radiating with pleasant warmth and the perfume of blooming flowers, the other surrounded by an icy chill with glistening frost and glittering of snow immediately before it. They select the "springtime" door and step through....
into an identical grotto but bedecked with sumptuous living greenery and boughs of flowers. The counterpart to the door they stepped through, now adorned with autumnal leaves and twigs.
They climb the main staircase from below ground into the audience hall for the Seelie Court, reminiscent of the encounter they had months earlier. At the far end sits the stunningly beautiful Rhiannon, Queen of the Seelie and daylight fey, surrounded by all manner of fey creatures, small and large. They turn at the party's arrival, some laughing and other gasping in surprise. Rhiannon's expression passes through a variety from shock to anger before finally collecting herself and demanding an explanation for their intrusion into her Court.
The party makes their case that they have saves the realms from the Old Ones, sealing the Locks, and request assistance from the Court. Rhiannon, however, counters that whatever they did to "seal" the locks resulted in the towering column of void that currently pierces every layer of the Feyrealm, and presumably into the multiverse -- throwing back a curtain of vines and leaves on the balcony behind her, revealing the scar of nothing in the distance of the Springrealm to make her point. The party attempts to argue their point that if not for their actions, all would be lost, but Rhiannon will not be moved, sending Penitence in particular a searing glare, dissipating the Seelie Court with a pronouncement, "May the Huntsmen have your skins," leaving the party along in the Springrealm.
Penitence flies above the green hills and fields of flowers to look for a direction, passing the pathways to the Winterealm (and presumably the Unseelie Court) and the Autumn Twilight, to find the nearest river. After a short hike to the lovely, easy, crystalline river, they choose to float and swim their way to Aigéansidhe, being certain to keep the idea of the destination "Aigéansidhe" in mind . . . and indeed, the environment quickly changes as they float down toward a more rocky coastal appearance (despite seeing nothing but green hills as far as the eye could see when in the air).
But the hope of a quick trip is dashed when the sound of the Huntsman's horn and howl of hounds can be heard in the distance. And if the fear of that was not enough, a giant figure of a man with fins and aquatic features rises from the river and with an air of power and danger, demands to know what mortals are doing on his rivers.
The party quickly placates the archfey and explains their wish to "take back" something his sister, the ruler of Aigéansidhe, has that's theirs, being certain to focus on a thorn in her side (playing off their knowledge that the two archfey are at odds with each other). Elias laughs at them and mocks their chances at having any effect on his "evil and capricious sister." With the help of Wally's "water-based" style of performing their exploits to prove to Elias the Lord of the Rivers and Lakes that they could in fact be a pain for his sister, he agrees to send them on their way to the water realm. In a blink and with a sickening lurch, they find themselves in the middle of open water under slate gray skies. Fortunately, they still have Penitence's Water Breathing enchantment on them, and so dropped below the surface -- to find themselves floating above a stunning ocean kingdom with the brightest colors, gigantic moving vines and seaweed, and filled with all manner of aquatic fey.
They swim through to what appears to be a palatial over courtyard overseen by two impressive figures: a large, striking, and imposing human man and a hypnotically beautiful mermaid in elegant and beautiful regalia, so a part of her it is difficult to see where she ended and the ephemeral finery began. Clearly these are Princess Siobhan and her once-human husband, Antonius. Siobhan seems unphased and unsurprised by their arrival, in fact, anticipating it. She is cordial and light as as they begin conversing (very much not the "evil" creature her brother made her out to be), and Antonius is whistful as he explains that what they would need in payment for having taken care of the charges that were left with them: Long ago, when he was still mortal and king of his realm, he was killed and lost a wondrous great weapon that had been forged in concert of storm giants and the merfolk, named "Wave." This trident of great power was intended to help him fight the (original) coming of the Old Ones, but was lost. However, at the same time Malex opened the portal from the material to the Feyrealm, Antonius felt the old connection with his great weapon. In exchange for the return of the former human hostages, the party is to return from where they came retrieve the trident.
The party attempts to negotiate the return of the humans first, but Siobhan very quickly and decidedly puts an end to that discussing, her ire made manifest by the darkening of the very waters they stood and a wave of dangerous intent washing over them. The party agrees to the retrieval, after being assured that the artifact itself would be able to bring them back to Aigéansidhe and the charges, safe and sound.
During the "negotiations" with Siobhan, she let slip some cryptic comment about "even the tiefling's status in the Feyrealm." When pressed on what she meant by that, and convinced that Penitence truly is unaware of the meaning behind the reference, Siobhan explains to her that she, Penitence, is the first daughter of Asmodeus and Titiana (the Fey Queen), born to create the veil imprisoning the Old Ones. That she actually had claim to rule the Seelie Court. That Rhiannon knows this and is very likely the reason why the Huntsman was after them. And likewise, Queen Mab, Queen of the Unseelie was also looking to meet Penitence, surely for her own reasons. This new knowledge spark in Penitence a certain anticipation of future plans for the Seelie Court. . . .
In any case, the party is returned to the Material Plane, back to the very spot they used the Pearl to open the portal to the water fey realm before. The spot near to the now empty cage where the humans were held, the dark ravine the New (Old) God the kuo-toa were worshiping into existence had been rising out of . . . and littering the ocean floor the nearly picked clean corpses of the dozens of kuo-toa the party slaughtered. They were successfully able to recall the direction of the kuo-toa lair and swam their way there, eventually coming back to the undersea mountain that contained the kingdoms of the kuo-toa and bullywugs they went through before.
Re-entering the dark cave leading back to the kuo-toa, they re-emerge from a subterranean pool to see kuo-toa caverns scattered with dead kuo-toa. The corpses ranged everywhere from very recent to a couple of weeks old, some with obvious battle wounds, and other unmarred as if they dropped where they died. The fetid smell of death all around them, the party made their way back through the kuo-toa caves, continuing to find mostly dead, and a couple of cowering fish-persons terrorized at their sight. The return to the worship cavern where Wally had recalled feeling the psychic touch of "Wave," to find that a few of the emaciated kuo-toa were attempting to carve a new statue to Blibdoolpoolp, their old goddess, and one in particular engaged in meditation or prayer.
The kuo-toa are startled by their arrival, recognizing the party as the people who decimated their community. With a combination of Wally's ability to understand their spoken language, attempts at drawing pictures, and a smattering of common known by the evidently "smart one" of the kuo-toa, they finally reach an understanding that: The party means them no (current) ill will, that all that the kuo-toa used to have has been stolen by the bullywugs and the Sahuagin, the trident in particular was taken by the bullywugs, and that since their slaughtering, the kuo-toa have been constantly victimized by raids from their enemies. Penitence is able to placate the terrified kuo-toa, while the halflings find fish and Penitence enlarges them -- feeding the 30 kuo-toa that still lives. Malex then also proceeds to heal them of their wounds and restore many from illness. All of which serves to convert the somewhat off-balance and eagerly worshipful kuo-toa to a newly created religion of Malex. Malex attempts to explain that he is himself but a servant of Bahamut, but this effort farcically only reinforces the kuo-toa's newfound worship of the dragonborn cleric.
His newly fanatic converts watch over the party as they take the first long rest they have been able to enjoy in what feels like weeks (thanks to the timelessness of their experience in the Feyrealm). They then lead the party through the barricades they'd erected to try to keep out invaders, and back up through the neothelid hole to the green-slime-infested subterranean swamp that leads to the bullywug kingdom. They pass a leashed giant frog acting as warning, and nearing the bullywug entrance (next to the mimic farm they'd encountered before), Malex is unable to avoid a trap of a spiked pit that pulls in the surrounding water in vacuum. From there, Malex urges his protegee halfling to once again be the party's scout for traps and tricks.
They find, open, and descend the hole to the bullywugs and encounter another guard-frog and bullywugs hiding in the dark. A squad of bullywug soldiers lead by a veteran soldier begins to attack the party, but the refreshed and prepared adventures hit the creatures with a quick succession of fireballs, sonic attacks, and divine smites, leaving only the veteran and one soldier standing. They retreat, leading Malex once again into another trap, captured and hung by a net with the ultra-sharp chitinous blades woven into its strands. But his lone capture allowed the rest of the party to catch up with the bullywugs who quickly surrender, the veteran requesting to make a deal with the group. Malex, chagrined but holding onto his pride even as he's dangling above their heads, agrees to hear the soldier's bargain. . . . If they pose as captives, and kill the bullywug kings (thus making the veteran the new king), the party can take whatever they like including the trident that the king has secreted away. The party agrees, and is led with pretend-bound hands through the bullywug lairs. They observe that striking the deal was probably a wise move as they pass caverns with a great many bullywugs going about their business.
Once they reach the king's chamber, the party quickly sizes up the occupants, taking in the king sitting on a throne constructed from parts of a sunken ship, true as promised, a large and muscular creatures. Also a priest or shaman-like bullywug, and a handful of attentive soldiers. But not least of which, a huge pile of obvious treasure the bullywug exhibit in pride and arrogance.
The king demands the "captured" party to step forward, and the shaman seems to key in on wally, who ironically is the least convincing of the group of being a prisoner. Just as the bullywug shaman called Wally out as hiding something, the king notices the party's weapons still on them and demands their confiscation -- the party takes this moment to act and springs to action. Penitence immediately moves up alongside the throne and targets the king and his guards with a lightning bolt, Toby takes the shaman hostage with an arm around his neck and blade to his throat, Malex targets the bullywug with divine magic, and Wally snipes at them with bolts of magic and inspiring his companions. Fortunately he does so, as the king reveals his Mace of Terror, attempting to enchant fear and terror into the party, but they are just able to shrug off the effects. The shaman explodes a blast of pyrotechnics in Toby's face and attempts to flee, but Toby pins him to the ground and begins slicing the spell-slinger until he collapses.
The king, near death, runs for his side chamber, concealed by curtains made from ship sails, but is hit by a final flaming smite from Malex before he's able to slip away. The veteran soldier bullywug kept his word and stood aside for the whole battle, keeping the soldiers faithful to him from entering the fight. Once the king is dispatched, he seeks the fealty of the remaining king's guard, and fulfills his promise to the party telling them the trident is in the king's chamber. Penitence is first to move through the curtain, but keyed into something catching her eye, she instinctively backs up -- to discover she almost ran eye-first into a bladed Immovable Rod! She searches the side chamber and finds a trident-shaped sack. Opening it, it appears empty, despite having the form of the trident from the outside! She reaches in and pulls out the exquisite artifact of a weapon, which instantly becomes visible, and the sack collapses into a pouch only a few inches on a side. This is not the end of the magic, as several enchanted items are found in the king's treasure. . . .

Rewards Granted

Bullywug Treasure:

• 4000cp, 2000sp, 550gp, 150pp (most skillfully minted and stamped with images of faces or columned buildings or ships or symbols unlike you’ve seen)
• several pieces of (moldy, tattered, or disintegrating) gold or silver inlaid clothing
• several pieces of bronze, silver, and gold goblets, plates, utensils, among steel and iron pieces as well
• a falling apart portrait with a gold-inlaid frame, of a couple in robes standing before a marble fountain
• several pieces of what was probably fine crafted furniture as well as ship’s pieces
• several rusting swords, spears, and pieces or armor
• a clearly not rusting breastplate (Mariner's Armor +1): https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/2564113-mariners-breastplate
• an ornate and possibly aquatic elven-styled Shield +3 (will make Sahuagin who see it hostile)
• the sounding bell from a ship
• the top half of a robed maiden figurehead
• an apparently empty bag sitting on a makeshift pedestal (item dropped into it appeared to disappear)
• King: Chain Armor +2
• Mace of Terror: https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/mace-of-terror
• Shaman: Wand of Pyrotechnics (will use to distract a PC. Ranged +4 to hit, target CON save DC 14 for DISAD on next ATK and ranged attackers get ADV on their next attack): https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/wand-of-pyrotechnics
• Gargroak's Stormaxe (handaxe +2): https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/2572727-stormaxe-handaxe-2

King's Private Treasure:

• Immovable Rod
• Trident (Wave) in a Bag of Sequestering: https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/2564278-bag-of-sequestering
• Small pile of exactly 100cp, 100sp, 100pp
• an all-silver ship’s deck axe, with something written in an ancient human language (Bard and Warlock can read it: “For Boatswain Quintus – Crew of the Sea Wall”), 50gp (1000gp to the right collector)
• small chest with a broken lock: 12 precious gems, 50gp each
• Heavy Crossbow +2

Also:

• large diamond (1000gp)
• potion of superior healing: 8d4 + 8
• large ingot of adamantine (1000gp)

Character(s) interacted with

• The Huntsman's Warden
• Rhiannon, Queen of the Seelie Court
• Elias, archfey Lord of Rivers and Lakes
• Princess Siobhan Alastai, ruler of Aigéansidhe
• her human consort, Antonius
• Klibibp, the latest leader of the kuo-toa and priest of Malex
• Gargroak, bullywug leader of the soldiers
• Bullywug King Kagrogok

Report Date

15 Dec 2020