Adventure #15 - Coming of Age

General Summary

Adventure #15 - Coming of Age 7/19/24
Players: Terri: Oriana Tealeaf Tim: Laerwynn Aly: Schmibblefritz
Synopsis: On a quiet night in The Elderflower, Oriana, Laerwynn, and Schmibblefritz sit together at a table relaxing while Pappy and Click-Clack clean up the tavern to close for the night. In time, the party notices a red-haired young woman scantily clad in leaves sipping on a drink at the bar and looking lost in thought. One by one, the party members walk up to the bar, and she introduces herself as Azalea, and tells them about her origins, her coming of age trial quest, and her interest in staying in Aberystwyth, much the same as she told Erberk, Dimple, Sylvi, and Bobblin the month before. While she shares her Elderberry tea with the party, she explains that her first attempt at finding a party to join her on her quest didn't go so well; Bobblin walked right into a dangerous bandit camp without talking to the party about it, Erberk lost an eye and almost died, fires were started in the forest from Dimple's bombs, and Azalea feels defeated that the party she chose didn't even get to the trials because of the debacle. She appreciates the previous party's willingness to help her in her quest, but Azalea vows to be much careful in choosing a party to help her next time her.
Suddenly, the front door is kicked open and Captain Azriel of The Fallen Star Shipping Co. enters the tavern with a gnome woman in his arms, who appears to be drenched in sweat and groaning in pain, while first mate Horace Tibbs follows close behind. Captain Azriel calls for help to anyone in the tavern, and the party rises to the emergency, discovering that the gnome woman is not only pregnant, but on the cusp of giving birth. Azriel hurriedly explains the context of her sudden arrival; months ago, a permanent portal was once accidentally cast into the inside wall of their cargo ship by Nart Rickman's wild magic, and seeing that it couldn't be undone, the crew boarded it up in hopes of creating a makeshift barrier between themselves and what might be on the other side. Fast-forward to this very evening, the crew heard a frantic pounding on the other side of their wooden boards accompanied by desperate pleas for help, and the crew tore away their barrier to help whoever was on the other side. The pregnant gnome woman fell through the portal and collapsed into Azriel's arms, speaking a language unknown to any of them, and appearing in dire need of medical attention. Knowing that none of the crew have any midwife skills, Azriel commanded the crew to guard the portal, while he and Horace bring the woman to town for help.
The party acts quickly; Schmibblefritz and Oriana start listing off the things they need, including hot water, towels, and blankets, and Azalea, who announces that she has delivered a number of babies in her Druid tribe, offers to facilitate the delivery. Commands are given by Oriana, Schmibblefritz, and Azalea to the surrounding men; Pappy is to keep hot water coming, Horace is to run to Bits and Bobs for a number of herbs prescribed by Azalea to ease the woman's pain, and Laerwynn helps move a large table to rest the woman on, assists Azriel with laying the woman safely on the table, and stays by her side to hold her hand. While the items are being procured, Oriana and Schmibblefritz try to communicate with the gnome woman, who is speaking the unusual language Azriel described. Oriana is able to determine that the language is a strange dialect of gnome that is hard to translate, but Schmibblefritz, critically succeeding in her understanding of language, is able to understand the woman clearly when she fearfully asks if she is still being chased and if they are safe. Schmibblefritz gives comforting words to assure her about her safety, and then covey's the woman's plight to Azriel, who rushes to the window to stand guard. Soon, the men arrive with the items they were sent for; the blankets towels are gathered, Pappy arrives with a bucket of hot water, and Horace returns out of breath with the herbs, which Azalea takes and grinds into a mash in a bowl with a spoon, and feeds it to the woman. As the bitter herbs take effect and the woman's painful expression recedes, Azalea sets up a makeshift curtain to give the woman a remote sense of privacy, and after inspection finds that the baby is ready for deliver. Azalea coaches the woman through the delivery via Schmibblefritz's translations, and after much effort a baby emerges, which Azalea wraps and inspects for health, and hands to the mother for bonding, declaring joyfully that it is a baby boy. Azalea prepares to finish up the final stages of her midwife duties, but then pauses in surprise, announces that another baby is coming, urges the woman to push again, and delivers another healthy baby, this time a baby girl. Azalea wraps this baby as well, and hands the baby to the party to hand to the mother, and then tends to her end of-delivery midwife duties. The mother looks as her babies with relief, and names the boy Aust and the girl Gala, and Schmibblefritz translates to the party. Seeing that the babies and the mother are safe, Pappy runs upstairs with Click-Clack to make a nursery out of one of the tavern rooms, and loud furniture movement and crashing sounds can he heard overhead by the party while Pappy and Click-Clack work. Schmibblefritz finds Azriel at the window watching for danger, and tells him about the gnome woman's fear of being pursued and concerns for her safety, and Azriel immediately leaves to support his crew at the portal with Horace and ensure it's security. As they leave, Pappy announces that the mother's room is ready, and the party helps the woman and her babies upstairs. The party is surprised to find a cozy nursery with two animal troughs made into makeshift bassinets, as well as all the essentials they might need for the night, and the new family settles in. With the door closed, Pappy pulls up a chair and sits just outside the door in case the young family is in need for anything, thanks the party for their good hearts, leans his chair against the wall, and tips his hat over his eyes for some sleep. The party heads back downstairs, and Azalea beams at them. Inspired by the selfless actions of the party and how well everyone worked as a team, Azalea asks the party if they will take part in her coming of age quest, and the party agrees, deciding to leave tomorrow morning for their journey.
When morning arrives, the party meets in front of the tavern and then departs. During the journey, Azalea tells the party that her coming of age trials are unique to each person; she does not know what will take place or what obstacles she will have to overcome, but only that there are multiple challenges, and that they could be deadly if the party is not careful. Azalea leads the party through the plains surrounding town and deep into the forest, which eventually becomes a dark, dense wood where the sunlight struggles to shine. Guided by her magic and Druidic instincts, Azalea at last leads the party to an ancient Druid shrine, where crystal clear water tumbles peacefully over a falls and into a wide pool illuminated with glowing bioluminescent planet life. Following a stone stair case down to the pool, the party finds a path of stepping stones through the water that leads to a mossy stone archway, which Azalea delightfully identifies as the portal to her coming of age trial. Engraved on the stone arch is a series of writings in multiple languages, which the party work together to translate as:
I can fly, but I have no wings. I can cry, but I have no eyes. Wherever I go, darkness follows me.
Laerwynn quickly deduces the answer: a cloud. However, speaking the word aloud yields no result. After much thinking, Azalea whispers the word in her Druid language to the archway (as teaching anyone outside the Druidic culture the Druid language would permanently expel them from the druids), and the archway glows as a portal manifests within it. Azalea is filled with awe at the sight, makes sure that everyone is ready to proceed, and the party steps through the portal.
On the other side, the party finds themselves in a completely different forest, much darker and denser than the one they left behind, with the floor covered with a thick layer of tangled vines, and the sounds of birds and insects can be heard. About 100 feet ahead of them, another activated stone portal sits quietly with its runes aglow. Laerwynn notices that a skeleton sits halfway between them and the next portal, covered in moss and vines, and the party draws their weapons and proceeds cautiously. As they move forward to investigate the skeleton, Laerwynn trips and falls into the vines, and the vines begin to animate, wrapping their thorny tendrils around his legs and attempt to entangle him. Schmibblefritz begins hacking the vines off of Laerwynn with her short sword while Oriana cuts away vines with her dagger, but they realize that the vines regrow shortly after and continue to reach for anyone nearby to entangle. To suppress the vines, Azalea summons her own vines to defend her companions, as Scmbibblefritz helps Laerwynn out of one last tendril, and Oriana hacks away at a dead vine. As the party gets up and runs to the portal, Schmibblefritz finds an amulet of a small gold figure around the skeletons neck, and takes it. Laerwynn and Azalea eventually make it to the next portal, but Schmibblefritz and Oriana trip and fall into the vines. Schmibblefritz she activates her new necklace in hopes that it will help her, and it does; it shrinks her down to a tiny size, which causes her to fall through the vines to the forest floor, where she can safely walk towards the portal. Seeing Oriana struggling with vines, Azalea throws her a rope from the portal platform, and pulls her to safety. Laerwynn gets on his hands and knees to search for Schimbblefritz through the vines from the platform, and her miniature body finally scrambles towards him and he helps her up. With the party together in safety, they pass through the portal.
Through the portal, the party enters another forest, this time in quiet twilight, and a large pool of water shimmers before them in the light of a full moon. As they cautiously approach the water, they find a wolf drinking peacefully on the opposite side. Hearing them approach, the wolf looks up at the party and snarls threateningly, then slowly stands on its back legs in bipedal form. Azalea announces her fears: this is a werewolf. Without warning, the werewolf charges the party, and sinks its teeth into Laerwynn's neck. Although both Laerwynn and Azalea fail in their attempts to hit the beast, Schmibblefritz succeeds. However, Schmibblefritz is still in her tiny form, and so her dagger strike is more akin to a small nail as he stabs the werewolf in the foot for minimal damage. Oriana leaps on the werewolf's back to stab it, but the werewolf continues to gore Laerwynn, causing massive bleeding from his neck wound. Azalea casts healing magic on Laerwynn, and Schmibblefritz deactivates her necklace to return to normal size, and then stabs the beast again. Oriana buries her dagger deep between the werewolf's ribs, causing it to howl in pain, disengage Laerwynn, and then attempts to flee. Azalea uses her sling to try to hit the beast, but instead hits Laerwynn in the head with a rock. Bloody and hurt, Laerwynn approaches the beast and slices it in half, and both halves fall into the pool of water. After a moment, the werewolf halves are sucked into the pool, and a new portal forms in the pool's center. Healing magic is administered to Laerwynn, and the party enters the portal.
Once through, the party finds themselves in a bright, peaceful forest clearing, with an enormous tree standing before them. Azalea exclaims that they have finally made it to the Mother Tree, and the party climbs a short rocky ledge to get to the base of it. While climbing, Oriana finds a Ring of Spider Climbing between the rocks, and Laerwynn finds an Amulet of Goodberry. Once at the base of the tree, the party finds a pedestal with humungous egg sitting atop of it, and Azalea excitedly explains that this egg holds her bird companion that she must care for and incubate once they return home. While she marvels at the egg, a seed dangling from a single vine slowly descends from the high branches of the tree in front of Azalea, and she picks it with reverence. Having finally completed the trials, having the seed of the Mother Tree in hand, and having the egg of her future bird companion, she tearfully thanks the party for their help, and that she can finally start her new life in Aberystwyth as a full fledged adult Druid. A new portal forms at the base of the tree, and after Azalea asks Laerwynn for help moving the large, heavy egg, and the party walks through the final portal, bringing them back through the portal they first started at, and then the party returns home.

Report Date

19 Jul 2024

Primary Location

Aberystwyth