Introduction
Your father, Uuowouu James, told you stories of a type of
The Redwillow Forest from whence he came. Though to many, he may not seem like much of a talker, you five were always able to pull stories out of him at bedtime, and they stuck with you throughout the years. Even your mother, Harlowe James, would sit quietly while he would tell stories, and man, was that a feat.
The mushrooms of these stories had magical properties, some letting you breathe fire and cold, some that make you taller or shorter, some that even make you faster than you could ever dream being. However, none of those ever seem to top Uuowouu’s love for the Phoenix Shroom. Appearing like a small fire, it can be grated onto foods and adds a wonderful spice to any sort of dish.
It’s your father’s birthday tomorrow, and you haven’t gotten him a present yet. Y’all were all stuck on what to get the man who seems to have everything, until you overheard him talking to your mother about the mushrooms. Apparently, some adventurers had seen Phoenix shrooms a little ways into the Redwillows under the Gossipping Willows, and he was thinking about venturing out a little into the forest to collect them. You concocted a plan: sneak out in the dead of night to avoid the guards, go get the mushrooms, and come back before sunrise to surprise your father. What could go wrong?*
The Bedtime Story
A few hours into the Redwillows south of town, when the lights of
Fletcher behind you are gone and there’s darkness ahead, there lies a cottage. It shines in the moonlight like flames, and for the moment before your eyes adjust, it is blinding. If you wait, the flames will recede, and the door will swing open, beckoning you inside. Inside, there are four friends: the green one of riddles, the yellow one of time, the invisible one of puzzles, and only then will you meet the one of treasure, who will offer you a reward. The reward I was given was the elusive phoenix shroom, only grown in deserts far out of our reach. I’d like to taste it again someday…
PCs
Summary
The party begins at the edge of the forest, late at night, ready to take on the trek into the woods. As they travel, they find there’s some strange occurrences in the forest, including: eyes glittering in the dark at them, a nature altar where the trees get ever closer behind them as they approach, and cats that appear to be watching the party from the trees. Eventually, the party reaches the cottage, glimmering like fire in the moonlight, and the door swings open, beckoning them in.
In the cottage, they go through three trials. The first is the trial of riddles, ran by Lepto, a green gastrosapien man. They each answer a riddle with the help of one another, and it evaporates into starlight as a door appears and the exit through it. The next trial is one of time, ran by the yellow gastrosapien Poma. In the room, there are many many levers and buttons to press, and a countdown begins with 60 seconds. Just before the countdown finishes, someone tries the door and it opens. Poma congratulates them, and they continue on through the door.
There they end up at the final trial, the trial of puzzles, where they meet Zopse. Well, not initially, because they end up in an empty room without a door, with runes and writings of a… dance? on the wall and giant swirling purple portal on the floor. The portal leads nowhere but an empty stone room and the writing on the wall ahead of them is broken but generally says, “Put your… in, put your left…out” and so on (yes it is the Hokey Pokey). They do the hokey pokey into the portal, and an almost completely clear gastrosapien person appears. They seem super nervous, and they admit they don’t like human interaction. The party overstays their welcome (lovingly, of course) as Zopse tries to get them to go through the glittering gold door ahead of them, and eventually they do!
In the final room of the cottage, there is a yellow gastrosapien person with a glittering gold cone-like shell named Callio. She is sitting in a runic circle, and stands to greet them. She offers them a choice: feel free to take one phoenix shroom, or to test their luck and potentially get more than one mushroom. They decide not to test it, and throughout this conversation, Callio mentions that she feels like she recognizes them. She makes the connection that they are Uuowouu’s children, and during that, they invite her and her siblings to the birthday party for Uuowouu.
Then the party leaves, heading back through the redwillows where they encounter killer bees, weird mushrooms that seem to do magic things, and a hooded figure on a stump that when touched collapses into many, many dead bees. Eventually they arrive home, trying to sneak in so they have plausible deniability, and are caught by Uuowouu who was in the living room. He thanks them for the gift, tells them he’ll try to be chill about it so their mother doesn’t know they went into the redwillows, around that time Harlowe wakes up and fawns over Schlumpy who still seems a little stung by bees.
Uuowouu starts making pancakes with the phoenix shroom, and the party begins to sleep off their restless night, eventually awakening to knocking on the door and the sound of their newfound friends at the door. It’s party time! They one-shot fades out as Uuowouu greets old friends and the party begins.
NPCs
Lepto
Lepto (he/him) (short for Leptopoma perlucida) - a green shelled, fleshy looking gastrosapien… Fond of riddles. Brother of the other gastrosapiens in the elusive Cottage of the Redwillows. He is called the green one of riddles.
Poma
Poma (they/them) (short for Pomacea bridgesi) - a yellow shelled yellow gastrosapien who seems delighted at most everything. Sibling of the other gastrosapiens in the elusive Cottage of the Redwillows. Fond of mind games and trickery. They are called the yellow one of time.
Zopse
Zopse (he/they) (short for Zospeum tholussum) - an invisible little guy who seems terrified of everyone and everything around him, but has a fondness for dancing. When they’re visible, he’s almost completely clear, shell and body and all. They are the sibling of all the gastrosapiens. He is called the invisible one of puzzles.
Callio
Callio (she/they) (short for Calliostoma annulatum) - Callio has a cone like, glittering and shiny shell, orange body, and a very pleased face. She seems delighted that people made it this far, and seems to have a very good memory despite the state of her little treasure room. They are the sibling of all the other gastrosapiens. She is called the shiny one of treasure.
Uuowouu James
Uuowouu James (he/him) - father of the party, it’s his birthday, he’s a serious dad who mostly only cracks when he is around them. He was first seen in
Arc 1: Whispers of Redwillow, where he did not speak a single moment throughout the brief glimpses of him in the arc. He’s a well known chef about town (the only professional one, actually), and he takes pride in his work. He’s also a killer bartender, but the kids wouldn’t know anything about that yet.
Harlowe James
Harlowe James (she/her) - mother of the party, very worried but loving mother who fawns over her children. She was first seen in Arc 1: Whispers of Redwillow as the waitress of the tavern, where she spoke a lot. She’s very good at making people feel at ease and wanted around town, and she’s very warm to travelers and locals alike.
Comments