Session Five Summary: Fey and Fiends
The group enters the forest and feel as though they’re being watched. They wander through and are stopped by a unicorn, who demands to know their intent in the forest. They tell him what happened in the town and that they’re trying to get to Neverwinter to see what’s going on and get leads on Alithra, and he chills. He says his name is Sam, and he won’t harm them so long as they do no harm to the forest or creatures within. He also informs them that he was sent to the forest by Alithra herself, to help protect it from all the horrible things going on. Specifically, he’s helping to protect the dryad living there.
Sam takes everyone to meet the dryad, a thick-limbed, huge dryad with fall coloration and golden eyes. Sam introduces the party and assures the dryad that they won’t harm her, yet she’s still cautious. Her name is Derwa, and her tree is a gorgeous oak that produces acorns that give one health when eaten. Derwa offers the party some of the acorns to take with them. Sam casts protection on the party that will shield them from the view of all evil creatures and beings for a limited time span while they search Neverwinter. Using a necklace Aal found on the beach in the second session, she transforms herself into a plesiosaurus in a river that Sam assures them leads into the city, and everyone hops on her back and they head to Neverwinter.
Even approaching the city, they can see how bad off it is. Smoke in the sky, buildings aflame, demons and fiends flying about. Once they’re past the walls, they see a rift that split the city apart and is pouring demons and fiends into the sky. The party notices a building shimmering in the same glow of protection that Sam put on them and head towards that, hopping up on a dock, getting Aal back to normal, and heading inside. The building has been untouched by the fires that ravage the city and within they find a portrait of Alithra, confirming it was indeed the robed woman in the town of Shamwow, as well as a Talisman of Pure Good that Dreya claims for her own. They spend a bit of time searching around and as they leave, the glow of protection fades. The roof of the house ignites from the other homes in the row, and they’re quickly spotted by a huge demon covered in chains.
The chain devil proves to be a terrible foe, forcing them to relive their worst fears and doing some significant damage physically and psychologically. Giles sees her dead lover Willow burning, Dreya sees her missing sister dead and bloody, Umong sees her grandmother dead, and Aaliya sees her long-lost pirate friends destroyed. Once Dreya overcomes the illusion, she uses the new Talisman to cast the demon into the pits of hell in a flash. Thoroughly disturbed and shaken, the party manages to sneak into a boat and avoid any further conflict, sailing out of the city.
They make it back to where they left Sam and Derwa and ask for help to both calm down and to find Alithra. Aaliyah passes out at some point, and Sam casts calm emotions on everyone else, lifting their spirits significantly. Umong hangs out in the boat with Aaliyah, and Giles and Dreya have a talk about Giles’ dead lover Willow as they both sit on Derwa’s beefy dryad lap. One thing leads to another and Giles, Dreya, and Derwa go off and have a wild threesome.
Once everyone is good and calm, Sam and Derwa suggest they speak with Grandpa Arahkor, an ancient treant in The High Forest to the west. Everyone hops back in the boat, Aaliyah wakes up, and they head up the river to the west as far as it’ll go before hitting land and walking to the town of Longsaddle.
As they walk up the dirt road to the small town, they see a large golden palanquin with flowing silk panels flanked by several tieflings wearing masks and robes. Dreya is very excited to see tieflings out and about, hoping maybe they might know something of her sister. They all move out of the way, except for Aal, who stares at the palanquin from the middle of the road. A voice booms out, ordering her to move, and she refuses. She ends up being charmed, and is forced to enter the palanquin. Umong runs after her and is horrified to find her cruel ex girlfriend Amari within, now in full control of Aal. With a few sharp words, Amari manipulates Umong into staying in the palanquin with her. The tieflings pick them up and begin to move once more, and Dreya panics, igniting the silk of the palanquin after unmasking one of the tieflings and finding a strange symbol on her head.
Everyone begins to fight but Aal turns on Giles and begins to choke her and Amari gathers the six tieflings, forms a circle of held hands and they teleport away, but not before their masks drop off and Dreya realizes one of them is her sister, obviously under some controlling spell. Aal goes back to normal, Dreya passes out, and they move into town to find a hospital.
The doctor is a nice little country man and helps nurse the party back to health, giving calming potions and patching up all of their wounds. Aaliyah goes to wander the town alone, angry and looking to release some anger. She happens upon a barn where an orc woman is churning butter, and the woman offers her a job helping her. Aal seduces the butter orc and they make sweet, buttery love, but the orc is REALLY bad at it, unfortunately, so Aal leaves more frustrated than she was when she arrived.
Giles and Dreya bond some more and become closer while in the hospital, and they invite Umong to the local hot springs to bathe and destress. Umong anxiously agrees, and they all go and have a soak. Giles attempts to speak with and apologize to Umong for being a racist little shit, but Umong is uncomfortable as they’re all naked, and she gets up and leaves.