Adventure #21 - Lamp Lighting Festival

General Summary

Adventure #21 - Lamp Lighting Festival 10/18/24
Players: Karl: Erberk Toruń, Zorka Seth: Gimp Chris: Dimple Nackle Kira: Tesh
Synopsis: During the events of the Lamp Lighting Festival, Laerwynn's first contained werewolf transformation takes place in Jebodiah's barn. Before either event, Erberk receives a letter by bird from Azaela asking if he would escort her at the Lamp Lighting Festival, saying that such a memorable event should be shared with someone special. Torn and feeling honor-bound oversee Laerwynn's transformation, he sadly declines. Additionally, Erberk seeks the divine aid from Torag, asking for a sign if there is any chance to cure Laerwynn or if he could learn to control his lycanthropy. Erberk then begins to have a vision of a silhouetted figure working the forge, casting the metals into the hot coals repeatedly and shaping it into a double-edged great axe with distinct wolf face designs on either side. To Erberk, the vision seems to suggest that after many trials and refining, there could be hope for Laerwynn to control his curse. Erberk immediately begins to forge the exact weapon he saw in his vision, and does so with precision and expertise.
An hour before sundown, Laerwynn meets Jebodiah, and the two begin the preparations to contain him in the newly contructed silver plated containment cell. As they do, both Erberk and Zorka arrive, Erberk prepared to provide physical support and Zorka ready to observe and take notes, but since these intentions weren't at all discussed with Jebodiah previously, Jebodiah assumes that they are simply there to wish Laerwynn good luck. Erberk shares encouraging words with Laerwynn, and presents him with the wolf great axe he saw in his vision, and Laerwynn gladly accepts it. Then, Jebodiah and Erberk begin to secure Laerwynn into the containment cell, fastening on his manacles and locking him in. Jebodiah thanks Erberk and Zorka for their help, then bids them farewell and to enjoy the Lamp Lighting Festival. He then grabs his heavy crossbow, sits in a chair 20 feet away from the containment cell, and asks Erberk and Zorka to lock the door on their way out. Confused, Erberk declares that he is staying, and that he should be present in case Jebodiah needs help should Laerwynn break free from the containment cell, and that Zorka's notes will be useful in helping understand Laerwynn's condition in hopes of finding a cure. Now also confused, Jebodiah sternly declines, saying that this was not part of the plan, that he doesn't want additional distractions during this time, and again asks them to leave so the townspeople don't notice so many people missing from the Lamp Lighting Festival. Angrily, Erberk's criticizes Jebodiah's plan, saying that one man sitting in a chair with one silver crossbow bolt is not sufficient protection should something go wrong, and having Erberk's help would ensure the safety of the town. This makes Jebodiah irate, and he unleashes a barrage of criticisms. He begins by tearing apart the party's original plan for using the Lamp Lighting Festival as a means of drawing out the werewolf to transform publicly, and how reckless and dangerous of an idea that was. He then criticizes Erberk's sudden doubt in the craftsmanship of his own containment cell, asserting that a "true" Paladin of Torag should be confident in the quality of their work, and that not only do Erberk's sudden doubts jeopardize the attempt to contain Laerwynn in a potentially faulty cell, but that Erberk also is disappointing Torag by not having faith in his own work. Jebodiah also slams the unnecessary need for Zorka to take notes, because according to Jebodiah, it doesn't take a wisened scholar to operate a quill and write down what one sees. He again asserts that Laerwynn doesn't need the distraction during this critical time, and that a threatened beast could make him even more dangerous. Erberk retorts at Jebodiah wanting to play hero and doesn't bend, saying that if he isn't allowed to be inside the barn during the transformation, then he will sit outside the barn until the sunrise when it's over. Jebodiah cools, saying that this bickering is getting them nowhere, and reluctantly admits that perhaps having an extra set of eyes during the transformation would be useful, but that both Zorka and Erberk would be too much; one of them needs to leave. Zorka, after hearing how dangerous this endeavor is going to be, decides to depart for the festival, and Erberk and Jebodiah settle in for the transformation.
As the sun sets, Laerwynn's transformation begins. He falls on his hands and knees as his back heaves violently, and his screams of pain turn into threatening snarls. Starting at his spine, his skin and clothes begin to tear away rapidly, and a werewolf rips out of the skin of its previous form. With the transformation complete, werewolf Laerwynn fixes his eyes on Erberk and Jebodiah, and howls in rage. Laerwynn begins to violently pull on the manacles affixed to each of his limbs, and after a while breaks one of the chains. With one chain broken, one after another begins to break, until Laerwynn is loose inside the containment cell. With nothing to hold him back, Laerwynn charges at the cell wall, and howls in pain as it makes contact with the silver bars for the first time. Despite his pain, Laerwynn's bloodlust drives him to ram the walls of each side of the cell repeatedly for two hours as he desperately seeks a weakness in the cell walls. During this time, Jebodiah calmly smokes his pipe as Erberk prays to Torag on Laerwynn's behalf. After two hours of ramming the cell walls, Laerwynn begins pacing back and forth in the cell like a literal caged animal, never breaking eye contact with Jebodiah and Erberk, and occasionally ramming the wall again. This behavior continues until sunrise, and as the sunlight begins to peer through the cracks in the barn doors, Laerwynn falls to his hands and knees as his body shrinks and convulses, painfully returning to his human form once again. After the transformation, Laerwynn lies naked and unconscious within the containment cell, and Jebodiah and Erberk open the cell door to cover and retrieve him, then carry him to a bed for rest and recovery. Erberk and Jebodiah end the ordeal with an exchange of tired smiles at the success of Laerwynn's first contained transformation.
Rewinding back to the evening before, the commencement of the Lamp Lighting Festival takes place an hour before sundown, and the festivities are in full swing. Back at A Gnome's Solution, Dimple makes preparations to test and observe a sample of Laerwynn's blood to see if any changes take place during the time of the transformation, and decides to briefly enjoy the festivities before his work begins, leaving his employees to standby in the laboratory. Dimple runs into Zorka and his human wife Hannah on his way to the festival, and they discuss Laerwynn's transformation to come. Azalea sees them walking by and asks if she can join them, sadly admitting that her plans for spending the festival with someone else fell through, and they gladly welcome her. As they walk, they find Felix Xander sitting on a bench and looking absolutely exhausted, and although he's excited to see everything light up for the first time, he's much too tired to partake in the activities and chooses to rest on the bench and watch instead. When they arrive at the heart of the festival, they find Tesh has set up a booth with baked goods of all kinds, free for anyone in attendance. Gimp patrols the festival, and after seeing his companions, he joins them at Tesh's booth, and they all enjoy delicious baked goods together. Pappy joins them joyfully, and encourages them to enjoy the many carnival games, informing them that the prizes are a random selection of magical items. Knowing that Bobblin is sitting at the dunk tank, the party starts there first, and repeatedly drops him into the water tank and earning interesting magical items. The party enjoys other games as well, including a test of strength (Dimple jumps from the branches of a tree with the mallet to add momentum to his strike), a target shooting game, and a new classic "Pin The Tail on the Pappy", where there party tries to pin a tail on Pappy's booty after being spun around and blindfolded. With a smattering of new magic items, the party goes to the center of the festival and waits for the sun to set. Zorka's wife Hannah returns home to bring back their new items and baked goods, and Dimple bids the party farewell as he begins to walk back to his laboratory.
Just as Dimple starts to depart, all the new lampposts start to glow with dark red fire, and three thin, lanky wolf-like creatures with dark red fur and fiery red eyes materialize from the posts. The crowd begins to run in panic, and the party begins to defend their town. Dimple throws a bomb at one and dousing it in flame, but the fiery attack seems to have no effect on them. Gimp and Tesh use their brute force to attack the creatures while they receive nasty bites and cones of fire breath from them, and Zorka fires his crossbow at the creatures. Azalea uses her newly acquired Snapleaf to turn invisible and assist the party. While the party slowly dispatches the evil creatures, they noticed Felix walking towards the fortune telling booth in a trance-like state, and after a moment begins to walk away with a sack filled with something. The party question Felix about his unusual activity, and he responds in a voice that is not his own, saying he's taking what belongs to him and then attacks with a Fireball spell. Realizing that Felix is under some kind of mind control, the party attempt to subdue him without killing him, and Azalea safely catches him with an Entangle spell, causing vines to writhe out of the ground and ensnare him. While the possessed Felix struggles to break free of the vines, the party watches the bag float out of Felix's hands and travel in midair towards them, and it's revealed that Azalea snatched the bag whilst invisible and brought it to the party for inspection. Inside the bag, the party find a motionless Sylvi, awake but in a paralyzed state. As the Entangle Spell fades and Felix turns to run, Gimp overruns him, knocking him to the ground. As he turns on his back towards the party, Felix comes to his senses, but is confused and afraid about where he is and why he is on the ground. The party explain the events of during his possession, and Felix apologizes profusely and weeps for what he has done under possession. During this time, the magical street lamps flicker on normally for the first time, casting an enchanting glow across the streets of Aberystwyth, and the townspeople timidly come out into the open after the commotion to see. Seeing that the danger is over, Pappy encourages the townspeople with a speech of unity and bravery, inspiring everyone to enjoy the remainder of the Lamp Lighting Festival. Sylvi is then brought to Lady Lenora's Church of Sarenae to heal her paralysis, and Felix is taken in by the town guard for questioning.
Afterwards, Dimple returns to A Gnome's Solution, disappointed that his missed the opportunity to watch Laerwynn's blood sample during the rise of the full moon. Luckily, his employees took careful observation and noted the following things:
The human-form blood doesn’t show change outside of the body during the time of transformation.
When taken during the transformation, the wolf-form blood sample looks different from the human-form sample. Upon research, it literally looks like unique a mix of wolf and human blood.
The wolf-form sample reverts back to a human-form sample when the full moon event is over.
Wolfsbane has the same effect on both human-from and wolf-form blood samples.

Report Date

18 Oct 2024

Primary Location

Aberystwyth