# Faerie Adventure



## Nonei (Feb 28, 2010)

Hello folks,

Ever since I read about the Feywild it intrigued me. I decided to   incorporate a jaunt into a fey plane of my own creation in the current   campaign... We started last week. I have looked through a lot of boards   and have found only a little on the fey or the Feywild, so I will post   the adventure here as it happens, for those that are interested. 

Note that this was moved over from the plots and places board. Also, I did try and explain storyline as needed, as this is only a portion of a larger campaign, but please ask if I mention something you are wondering about.  Comments, suggestions, and feedback are always welcome.

We play D&D 3.5e, with very few houserules.
[sblock=House Rules]*Dying*: RAW to -9; at -10, instead of dying, the PC is 'mortally wounded' - continues to bleed (if applicable), loses 100xp/level, but can be healed/stabilized normally although they will be unconscious for 5 minutes.

*Weapons*: we use the weapon group rules from Unearthed Arcana, although we added slings to basic weapons.

*Bleeding:* If you go below 0 by bludgeoning weapons you are not bleeding.  Not quite sure where that came from, but we've played that way since I started and everyone was surprised when we realized it wasn't RAW LOL.

Hmm... I feel like I'm forgetting something but that's all I remember right now.[/sblock]

* Idea Sources*
I read the fey entries in the MM and also the section on the Feywild  from the 4e manual of planes and have drawn inspiration from them. I am  mainly, however, drawing my ideas from the old fairy tales of sinister  beauty and tricky fey, such as those found in Andrew  Lang’s colored fairy books. I also have borrowed and stolen from Raven Crowking's faerie thread and I am reading the  Complete Guide to Fey (SRD-compatible), which is  very interesting - I haven’t used much of it yet but I plan to. I intend  to keep the PCs on their toes.

[sblock=PCs]There are currently three PCs, although the third one missed Session 1 and the session just before it.  Levels listed are their levels when they  entered Faerie.

8th level Drow Paladin of Heironeous with a homebrew version of the Celestial Bloodline (ECL 11), fights with a large  sized holy longsword, sheltered/naive in many ways (the character not  the player)

10th level Hadozee (intelligent ape-like sailor from Stormwrack) druid  with a homebrew version of the Blue Dragon Bloodline(ECL 11) and a huge-sized  crocodile companion, prefers to fight with spells/bow and generally uses  his wildshape only out of combat

10th level elan psionic warrior/psion (not sure how much of each TBH),  with a homebrew version of the Blue Dragon Bloodline(so ECL 11); mainly uses  psionic powers that boost damage/attack and dualwields bastard  swords.

Note that all of the _players _are male, and all of the _characters _are female.  So if I get a bit mixed up in the he/she thing, please understand LOL.[/sblock]

*Index of posts:*
Creature/setting Information
Background Story and pre-Faerie: Background, Storyteller, and The Hag
Session 1: Entering Faere and The Well
Session 2a: The Owl, Stone House, and The Bridge
Session 2b: Rose Dragon
Session 2c: Birch Trees, a Nighttime Visit, and The Queen
Session 3: Finding the Stone - and a Piece of History
Session 4a: Sunshine and Travel, The Clearing, The Rose Dragon's Cave
Session 4b: The Battle with Rose, The Seventh Door
Session 4c: The Way Home, Epilogue


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## Nonei (Feb 28, 2010)

*Creature and Setting information by session*

*Pre-Faerie and Session 1: *
[Sblock=The hag, twilight, and the well]The hag was just a standard MM Annis Hag, and she drew the flock of birds simply through imitating their call - I figured they were used to her calling them and having something for them to eat. I used the locust swarm statistics. 

Although in Faerie it remained twilight, note that I did allow them to regain spells every 24 hours (or so). 

The well was basically straight out of Raven Crowking's thread here[/Sblock]
*Session 2: *
[sblock=The owl and the stone house]The creatures poking at the owl were members of the "horde" - members of an evil court from the Complete Guide to Fey. I don't want to post their stats as it is not open source - but basically there are several different courts, a few good, a few evil, and some neutral, and fey gain a few abilities related to the court they belong to. Their lands reflect their outlook - hence why the lands the PCs are in this session are twisted and dark.
The owl itself represents a common theme in many fairy tales - the talking animal, who, upon having their life saved, offers a feather or a bit of fur to use to call upon it for assistance in the future.

The stone house is from Raven Crowking's thread as well, here. For stats, I planned on using leopard stats for the cat (with an extra bit of bonus to attack/damage to increase the CR from 2), and for old man Ishm I would have used the half-fiend cleric example in the MM (although with different fluff - he is evil fey spellcaster, and no wings), both with the fey template from Complete Guide to Fey. A little easy on the CR, but I ran out of prep time or I would have leveled the old man a bit more.[/sblock]
[sblock=The Rose Dragon]If it had come to blows, the rose dragon was equivalent to an adult black dragon, although with a different breath weapon (I hadn't decided what) and instead of water breathing and _foul water_, he could _flesh to stone_ 1x/wk.

The Faerie game they play is mentioned as fluff in the Complete Guide to Fey, and intrigued me so much I decided to include it. The players seemed to really enjoy it.[/sblock]

[sblock=Birch Trees, a Nighttime Visit, and The Queen] The birch trees are based on another common theme in fairy tales, the lovers that are turned into trees after they die so they can spend eternity together. In this case, I had a jealous witch turning them that way while still alive. This would be a good way to have a spirit guarding a treasure buried under a tree too.

The 'tap three times with something magical' is pretty common in fairy tales as well. I created the part about requiring something of the person that cast it to undo the spell; however, the idea of something of the person remaining in a special item is consistent with fairy tales, as well as a special requirement to undo a curse of this sort.

I also pulled the "bragging evil guy is overheard" from many fairy tales. Think of Rumplestiltskin: the only way she knew his name was that he was singing and dancing around a fire that she'd never learn his name was Rumpelstiltskin. When I have a chance, I'll try to post the exact stories I pulled ideas from.

I didn't really flesh out the queen as much as I wanted to. As far as the King making the destiny: a 20th level Twilight fey in the Complete Guide to Fey has the ability to declare a destiny. The number of people it effects dictates how long it takes to come to pass (in this case, it only affected the actions of 3 people - the party - so it 'only' took 1000 years)[/sblock]

*Session 3*:
[sblock=Finding the Stone - and a Piece of History] The Turyny were simply re-flavored ogres. The 'test' was taken from a bazillion fairy tale stories - the answer is always the simplest box LOL. 

As for the 'crux' that O'Lae suffered, that is straight from the Complete Guide to Fey and is kind of an interesting way to look at things. [/sblock]

*Session 4:*
[sblock=Sunshine and Travel, The Clearing]I had intended to let them find out in a smoother manner the previous session about the sunshine coming back but I kind of made a few mistakes in Session 3 from not feeling well. The clearing was based on the stories of faeries causing people to start dancing, and served to make a lighthearted distraction. I decided that it would cause them to want to dance (rather than be completely compelled despite not wanting to) simply to keep it lighthearted.[/sblock]
[sblock=The Rose Dragon's Cave, The Battle With Rose]I did end up using the stats for an adult black dragon, but with a breath weapon that was made of tiny abrasive thorns (a la the Sandstorm dragon which breathes out a blast of sand)[/sblock]
[sblock=The Seventh Door]The 'Seventh Door' concept is quite common in faerie tales, "don't do that or else". The full saying that I stole from is the "ancient Chinese curse" of "May you live in interesting times and may you find what you are looking for." (I have seen it represented as an "ancient Chinese curse" several places, but I have no idea if it actually is.) 

I didn't stat out the little man, but if it had come to blows, I would probably have used a reflavored gnome that was easily defeated (mostly has spell-like tricks, not much for melee). I didn't use an actual spell to compel them to open the door (I suppose it is similar to 'suggestion'); I knew that they would not open the door otherwise. 

If they had made their saves, I wouldn't have 'forced' them to open the door (in fact, I set the saves so they'd make it over half the time so it was likely that none of them would fall for it). It was an attempt to rationally re-create the impulse that is described in fairy tales in terms of "Well, I know I really shouldn't but I just have to see what's inside..." and it seemed to work OK.[/sblock]
[sblock="The Way Home, Epilogue"]Evol's background had been determined pre-game (being a drow paladin b/c of being rescued by a paladin of heironeous and raised by his parents).  I had not decided what 'evil' would befall them when they let the little man out, although I had thought of several options.  

When Evol said 'we just want to go home' that was exactly what I was hoping for (in terms of being something specific that could be intentionally twisted). She had established that she didn't know exactly where she grew up (other than in this general direction) b/c she was so young when taken - so I simply decided it happened to be inside the volcano that they were heading for, and that the evil fey had enough power to 'redirect' the teleportation.  This fit nicely in the story, in more ways than I can explain concisely here.[/sblock]


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## Nonei (Mar 1, 2010)

*Pertinent Background Information*

_Look here for more detailed Creature/Setting information by session_

Up to this point they’ve been gradually helping Bahamut and Heironeous  in a struggle to keep Tiamat banished to a pocket plane of the abyss.  This has so far included a few dragon fights of increasing difficulty at  each stage, along with many half dragons and dragonblood creatures. 

  They acquired a map from one of the half-dragons, and came into this  forest looking for ruins that were marked ‘power’ on it. They’re hoping  to find a power stone (such as they’ve encountered before) to help them.  

*The Storyteller*
The session before they enter Faerie (although they didn't know it), they came into a walled town near the edge of the forest.  The water from the spring had dried up recently, along with the game,  and most of the half beast-looking villagers thought it was caused by  faeriefolk and were now afraid to go in the woods.  They found out that the villagers were tasked to guard these power stones, but had failed at the task and several generations had been trapped in this area because of that.

  They paid a visit to an old storyteller, who regaled them with stories  of faeries, and the "rules" of fairylands based on the stories she knew.

  She told of a fey that became insulted by a town and so drank all the  water from the spring that led into the town until she was placated.  There were also stories of fey that preferred the taste of mortal’s  blood (animal or person) and a three little pigs style story except the  wolf was an old hag that could control the wind.

  She also warned them of the rules of faerie folk, namely an insult is  always repaid as an insult and a favor the same. Stay on the path. And  don’t eat faerie food – a mortal who does will find the taste of mortal  food becomes like cardboard and will crave only faerie fruits. However,  it has no sustenance and so people have been known to starve to death  this way. 

  (If it comes up, I will likely use the rules in this post of the abovementioned thread, with a will  save to be able to stomach mortal food each day until the addiction is  overcome.) 

*The Hag*
  As they entered the forest heading toward the spring, they came upon an  old human woman who approached them, limping and bleeding, carrying  saddlebags full of turnips, asking for help for her donkey who she said  was taken by green-scaled creatures. 

  The druid wanted to help, especially after talking to the donkey who was panicking and  out of sight behind a rise, even though he was very suspicious of her. But,  between her showing as evil to the paladin and the storyteller’s warning  to stay on the path, they decided not to help and the paladin actually  insulted her several times.

  [sblock=Fastforward]
  After going through several battles with dragonblood creatures (MMIV),  they eventually arrived at the spring which used to run to the town, and  found that it was being diverted toward the main encampment for the  dragon and his helpers. They (correctly) deduced the lack of game in the  forest was due to the hunger of the dragonbloods and the dragon, rather  than fey, and filled in the canal to re-divert the water back to the  town. [/sblock]

  At the spring they defeat the hag along with a swarm of magpies that she  calls down.  The hag had been waiting to ambush them in return for the  insults to her and their refusal to help her donkey. As they pull the  turnips out of her saddlebags, they find out they are not actually  turnips – they are the heads of pixies that have been magically  preserved. As soon as they are pulled out of the bag, the illusion is  gone and the heads quickly age and turn to dust.

  [sblock=Fastforward again]
  They defeat the encampment that had diverted the water and travel to the  ruins, where they find the green dragon that was in charge along with a  ring of tall stones and a stone 10x10 building in the center with a  small door on the east side and a slit on the west side. The druid gets  lucky, and the dragon fails his save vs. baleful polymorph and turns  into a nice chicken (ok, raven) dinner for the crocodile.

  They talk with their mentor, a gold dragon herald of Bahamut, who  arrives shortly to talk with them as he has each time they‘ve defeated a  dragon. He tells them that the portal to the Feywild will open only for  those who can fulfill the prophecy, and if they are able to open it  they need to follow the path to the well and there they will receive  further instructions.[/sblock]

  As the sun is setting, the light comes through the window and falls on a  small stone pedestal set into the center of the building inside.

  [sblock=The prophecy]The prophecy that they have encountered states in  part:
  The last rays of sun
  Fall on Tiamat
  Scarred by a child
  Old secrets help new storms

  They also find the same prophecy written in ancient language carved onto  the pillars, although that reads ‘Secrets kept safe by the faeries” in  place of “old secrets”. [/sblock]

  After trying a few things, they remember that they have a holy symbol of  Tiamat that was gouged by a child half black dragon earlier as her way  of showing she would help them.

As they lay the holy symbol on the pedestal, energy ripples out to the  stones outside. Their surroundings don’t change, except that all but one  path closes up with growth.

_Look here for more detailed Creature/Setting information   by session_


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## Nonei (Mar 1, 2010)

*Session 1*

*Entering Faerieland* 

   They travel up the remaining path, feeling like they are being watched.  They keep catching small movements out of the corner of their eyes.  Gradually the trees become more and more twisted and gnarled, and then  are only black husks sticking up from the ground as though a fire came  through the forest. 

   They do notice that it has remained twilight for the past several hours.

   Eventually they come across a pretty little cottage, bound by a picket  fence, with a lush lawn and garden… and a well beside the house. After a  brief discussion as to whether going to the house counted as leaving  the path, they approach. The gate swings open for them and they see that  the well is capped by a stone top, with a well made intricate comb laid  on top.

*The Well*
   They struggle a bit with pushing the top off and find clean, clear water  underneath. As they gaze down into it, they see movement and a bodyless  head rises to the surface. Its hair is matted and its skin is calcified  and grotesque. It says
   Wash me, Comb me, Pleat my golden hair.
   Lay me gently on the green bank to dry.

   They successfully combed the hair of that head, and then the two that  followed, with no failures (darn it) and in return each gave them a clue  before bouncing back into the well.
   The first directed them to look under a squeaky floorboard in the house,  where they found a bag of gold and a long thin sword that looked to be  made of obsidian.

   The second head directed them to speak to the old man in the house of  stone, but do not enter no matter how he pleads, as he enjoys the good  red wine, but ask him to come to the door and do not leave until you  convince him to give the stick he keeps behind the door.

   The third I kept the same as the one in Raven Crowking's thread at the time, but ended up changing it to "If you help the creatures, they will help you in return."

_Look here for more detailed Creature/Setting information  by session_


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## Nonei (Mar 1, 2010)

*Session 2*

Here is a partial update from our second session - I will add more as I can.

As the party leaves the cottage with the well, a surge of wild magic  suddenly causes the third party member, previously 2 inches tall, to  grow back to full size. 
[sblock=Explanation]That’s how we handle when someone misses a few  sessions: a surge of wild magic causes them to shrink to 2 inches and  enter a state of suspended animation, although they are aware of  everything around them – that way we don’t have to remember who knows  what or risk a PC getting killed when the player is gone – and then when  the player returns, a surge of wild magic causes the character to grow  big again. Don’t remember where we got that from, but it works  well.[/sblock]

*The Owl*
The characters – Evol (drow paladin), Anett (hadozee druid) and Menolly  (Elan Psi warrior/psion) travel  along the path for a little ways,  feeling like they are being watched still. Before long, they hear an owl  calling out in pain.  On the other side of a grove of twisted trees, a  few little folk are dancing around, poking at the owl with sticks.  

A spirited debate about leaving the path follows, but in the end they  cautiously approach.  The little people are fat and skinny, big noses or  tiny noses – almost grotesquely disproportioned.  They flee as the  party approaches, and the owl speaks to the party in common, asking for  help.  The druid touches the owl with a cure light wounds, and in return  the owl pluck his own tail feather and hands it to him, saying:  “Because you saved me, I will help you - I know many things about this  land.  Twirl this between your fingers if you need help, and I will  come.  I can help you three times.”  

So, the owl flies off, and they make their way back to the path… which,  to their dismay, is a little farther away than where they left it.

*The Stone House*
Soon they come to the house made of stone, with a large cat lounging on  its doorstep.  The cat watches them approach, flicking its tail.  They  knock on the door, and an old man’s voice entreats them to enter, but  they remember the head’s warning about not entering the house.  Instead,  the druid cautiously opens the door (without entering) and they see the  old man sitting on a chair.

He invites them in again for supper, and then pleads them to come in, as  his bones and joints are hurting him too much to stand.  But they do  not, and eventually he approaches them at the door.  He offers to trade  the stick, when they ask for it, for a pint of the good red wine.   He gives his name as Ishm.

They decline, but offer him instead the walking stick they have been  carrying for some time.  “A stick for a stick”…  he tests out the  walking stick (walking stick is homebrew: +10 feet of movement/round  while carried, and if set on end and the magic word spoken will remain  upright).  He likes this new freedom of movement, and agrees to the  trade.

As they leave, the cat watches them go, its tail flicking.

*The Bridge*
From the stone house, they are not quite sure what to do, and so they   simply continue on the path.  Eventually they arrive at a small bridge   crossing a river.  The forest on the other side of the bridge seems   fresh, green, and  healthy. Anett conveys to the others that in the  natural world this  would be  unusual; however, she has heard stories  that in the realm of the fey  their owned lands will reflect their  personality, and so this likely  means they have crossed a boundary from  one fey's rule into another.

Menolly checks under the bridge, but there is no troll - only something   glinting in the sun just out of reach.  Though tempted, they decide not   to leave the path to see what it is.  Just on the other side of the   bridge, two birch trees stretch up out of the ground - the druid, Anett,   looks at them curiously, as the other trees are all maples and oaks  (as  far as she can tell).  

*The Village*
They cautiously travel over the bridge, and soon come to a small   village.  They debate about leaving the crocodile behind while they   enter, but decide that as mortals they are probably just as unusual.    And, indeed, the village folk are much more interested in them, peering   at them cautiously from the safety of their homes.  The faeries in the   village are of various sizes and colors, but are united in their   handsome looks and gentle bearing - although, indeed, they do not seem   very happy today. 

A gentleman (if you can call him so) approaches the party and introduces   himself as the leader of the village.  Evol introduces the party, and   the village leader comments that he has not seen mortals here for 1000   mortal years.  

He states that the destiny was made that the mortals that came would be   the ones to restore to them their prince and princess which had been   turned to stone by an evil witch just before the twilight came.  Their   mother, the queen, was able to change the spell so they were birch trees   instead, but she was not powerful enough to return them to their form.    For a spell like that, an object belonging to the witch would be   required.  

On questioning, they began to realize that the staff they had bartered   for was one that the witch had owned, when she was still alive.  They   were determined to try and change the trees back, but first they wanted   to find out why the village was sad.

Each mortal year, the elder said, because of an agreement with one of   their leaders which had since passed, one of their children must be   given to the rose-colored dragon in exchange for it's protection (from   itself as well as from any other thing).  The dragon was due in about   four hours.

One of the party asks, "Do you want to be free of the dragon?" 

"Oh yes, but if we ask to be released from the agreement, then he will   flatten the town.  And we must keep our side for him to keep his.  If   you help us in this, then I will be grateful, but I cannot give you   anything in return."

The party agrees that they cannot leave and let an innocent be hurt.    They ask many things about the dragon, and find that it carries off the   children, rather than eating them there, it's as big as four men put   together, and also it enjoys a good game of wits.

They position themselves around the girl,who has been tied to a stake,   and wait for the dragon.  The village people lock their doors and for a   while it is dark and silent.  The dragon banks in a circle and lands on   the other side of the fire from the girl.

_Look here for more detailed Creature/Setting information   by session_


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## Nonei (Mar 1, 2010)

*Session 2 cont*

*The Rose Dragon*

"Well hello mortals, are you here to interfere with my agreement with the town?"

"They did not ask us to help," responded Anett, "but we cannot allow you to take an innocent."

"It is a perfectly fair agreement. This is what they agreed to many of your years ago."

The party thought for a moment.

"What can we do to convince you to release them from the contract?"
The dragon surveyed them silently.

Evol spoke up: "I am Evol, what is your name?"
The dragon smiled "You can call me Rose."
He laughed as the mortals had trouble holding back snickers. "That is a very... masculine name," remarked Menolly.

As they spoke, the dragon mentioned that he might consider dropping the contract - if they found him a finely carved statue of something new, like a dryad.  He already has 537 statues of boys and girls.
"I'm afraid that's not an option," replied Anett
"So... you carry them away and turn them to stone?" asked Evol.
"Yes," came the reply.
"Umm... how do you do that?" asked Menolly.
With an evil smile, the dragon stretched a claw out to her. "I can demonstrate, if you like."

Menolly declined.

"I haven't had a chance to match wits with mortals in 1000 years," the Rose dragon said.  "I'm eager to do it again, your minds are so.... intriguing."

The party agreed that they could play a game of wits in exchange for the dragon's agreement that if they won, he would leave the town alone.  But what equivalent could they offer in return, in case they lost? 

So the agreement was made: If the adventurers won the battle of wits, the contract would be dismissed and the dragon would leave the town alone. But if the dragon won, the party would serve him for a year and a day. 

They convinced the dragon to allow them to respond as a group, then used the feather of the owl, with the dragon's agreement, so that they could have an impartial judge.

The rules were as follows: The first person starts with something natural that is relatively simple, the next person responds with something that defeats it. They go back and forth until one person is stumped. (Note: if I do this again, I would be sure to specify: it is defeat, not necessarily destroy, and also no repeating something that was already said.)

The dragon gave an example, and then began.

Dragon: I am the bramble, that scratches you
Party: We are the fire, that eats the brambles

D: I am the rain, that douses the fire
P: We are the desert that soaks up the rain

D: I am the wind that blows the sand off the desert
_The party discusses various options briefly, then remember fairy tales told to them as children about the four winds trapped in a bottle_
P: We are the bottle that traps the wind

D: I am the rock that smashes the bottle
P: We are the ocean that turns the rock to sand

D: I am the moon that pulls the ocean to its whim
P: We are the earth that restrains the moon

D: I am the dwarves, that pierce the earth with mines
P: ...
_-Dwarves are easy to defeat
-Yes, but what should we choose?
-I know!
_P: We are the* rose colored dragon*, that eats the dwarves

D: I... I am Ishm's cat, who is the only one who knows the secret of defeating me
P: We are time, which eventually defeats all

D: ...

The Rose colored dragon concedes defeat, and flies off in a huff.

They untie the girl, and the rest of the village comes out and thanks them as well.  The party makes sure to thank the owl as well even though they ended up not needing him.

(more to come from Session 2)

_Look here for more detailed Creature/Setting information   by session_


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## Nonei (Mar 2, 2010)

*Session 2 cont*

*The Birch Trees*
The party leaves the village and travels back down the path to the bridge with the birch trees.  They debate for a little about what exactly to do with the witch's staff, but figure they might as well try tapping.  On the third tap, the birch trees shrink and swirl down into a prince and a princess.  They thank the party profusely for rescuing them.  The party asks the princess about the power stone they are looking for, but she isn't aware of it.  She does, however, invite them to her castle, as her mother the queen knows much more about happenings in Faerie.

Princess Amalda asks them where they are headed next, and they mention they are going to speak to Ishm's cat.

"Oh!" She exclaims.  "He was sitting under my branches just the other day, bragging to one of his friends about how he knows how to defeat the Rose Dragon.  But his friend didn't believe him."

"What did he say?" asked Evol.

"He said that Rose's strength lies in a cave in the mountain near his lair.  Inside that cave is a bear, inside the bear is a boar, inside the boar is a dog, and inside the dog is a sparrow.  The sparrow holds the rose dragon's power."

The party and the prince and princess travel down the path toward the queen's castle until the party gets tired.  The prince and princess, eager to get home, continue on and the party sets up on the path to rest.

*Nighttime Visit*
As the other two sleep, Anett looks around, then watches as a glow travels across the sky.  Soon she realizes that the lights are horses flying toward them, with manes and tails ablaze.  She calls to the others as three nightmares swoop down with their riders.

The riders swoop past them, landing several blows on Anett, whose fur becomes matted with blood.  The others wake quickly and jump up to intercept the nightmares.   Now protected a bit by her friends, Anett begins casting and the twilit skies cloud over and lightening flashes (call lightning).  The nightmares land a few solid blows with blade and hoof, and the air fills with cinders and ashes.  Two of the mares land near the party and the third swings around for another fly by.  

Within a few minutes, the party is bleeding heavily but the foes are laying on the ground.  Exhausted, they heal as much as possible then sink back into their bedrolls to rest.

When they wake, they bundle their things in the still-twilight, and continue on the road to the queen's palace.  They pass some tress that seem to have chittering underneath, but when they pause a hedgehog scurries out and scolds them for waking the rootbabies. She carries one in her arms, a germinating seed in her arms that is flailing its limb-shaped roots.  They apologize and continue on.

Soon they reach the queen's castle, and are welcomed regally.  They are ushered to luxurious guest rooms, and given hot baths and their armor is cleaned for them.  As they exit the baths, they find that beautiful gowns have been laid out for them.

*The Queen*
They aren't quite gown people, but they decided for the queen they would wear them.  As they put them on, they realized that they could alter the form and color of the gown.  Anett chose a simple purple gown, Menolly a simple black gown, and Evol a black gown with threads of silver in the shape of spider webs.

They then were called to the meeting with the queen and prince and princess.  As they start to ask about the stone that they seek but the queen informs them she knows exactly what they are looking for.

Just after the witch changed the prince and princess into stone, a half-canine mortal creature (one of the race from the town outside the forest) appeared in their realm, and requested to hide his stone here for safekeeping.  Convinced that they were assisting the survival of the mortal realm, they closed all the portals.  Disconnected from the mortal realm, they have been in twilight ever since.

The King, who has since faded away (as fey sometimes do), then made a destiny: in 1,001 years, the next mortals who enter the portal will change the prince and princess back to their natural forms and be the ones mentioned in the prophecy.

Unfortunately, as soon as the uninviteds (evil fey) realized that those who fulfilled the prophecy were here, they gave notice that they would attempt to capture the stone.  Despite being under strict guard, the stone had disappeared the night before.

The queen had given the uninviteds notice of a retaliation in 24 hours time, and her seer, Jamilla, would try to locate the stone.  On that note, the feasting began.  Two of the party did eat and drink on the reassurance from the queen that it was mortal food.

_Look here for more detailed Creature/Setting information    by session_


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## Nonei (Mar 7, 2010)

*Session 3*

[sblock=Note]Session 3 was very short, only played for an hour instead of our usual 5 as I wasn't feeling well.[/sblock]
The next morning, Menolly shrunk back down to two inches and was tucked safely away in a backpack.  

*Finding the Stone - and a Piece of History*
The gowns were gone, but the party's armor and clothing was well mended and shiny clean.  Anett and Evol met with the queen in a side chamber.  Jamilla was unable to determine the exact location of the stone; however she found generally where it was, and it had not yet reached the main castle of the uninviteds.  She had spoken to Skrogg, the Turyny that guarded the gate, and as long as the party answered the question he would let them pass without a fight.  Jamilla would teleport them to a spot near the entrance.

Though they asked, the queen declined to give the party any knowledge of the question or answer out of respect for the laws of the fey.  She then stated,  "Do not overvalue yourself.  Sometimes the simplest packages contain the greatest gift."  The party took a little offense to that, but thanked the queen and let Jamilla know they were ready.

They found themselves in an unfamiliar part of the dark twisted wood.  Jamilla indicated toward a small hillock, and then teleported away.  The party cautiously moved forward and saw a large stone wall set into the hillside, with an 8-foot-tall creature standing outside that was just about that broad as well.  

He squinted at them and then said, "There are three chests here.  One contains the key to open the door.  Which chest do you pick?"

He tapped on the wall and revealed an inset with three chests: one copper, one silver, one gold.

[sblock=Note]If I were going to do this again, I would probably use wooden chests: a rough wooden box, a sturdy well made box, and a polished and intricately carved box.  That fits better with the Faerie/natural IMO.  It was also a little too obvious which to pick: there needed to be more of an interruption between the queen's statement and the test; perhaps a battle when they arrived.[/sblock]

After a brief discussion they chose the copper one, which revealed a small smooth oval stone.  Skrogg stepped aside and revealed an impression in the rock wall.  They placed the stone in the impression and it slid back to reveal a passageway.

Evol made sure the hallway was clear, and they entered.  The wall slid closed behind them, and Anett switched on her watchlamp that rests on her shoulder.  As they quietly discuss which way to go, Anett feels a tap on her shoulder.

She turns to see a translucent hand that beckons to her and then moves off down the corridor, waiting at the next corner.  Evol sees nothing.  They agree to follow the hand, but as they approach the next corner, they hear movement down the crossing corridor.  This corner is torchlit.

They stop where they are, weapons drawn.   The sound stops just shy of the crossing and they hear the steps retreat.  Anett puts out her light, and Evol peeks around the corner.  Two Turyny are strolling away down the corridor, apparently oblivious to the party.  They wait for them to turn the corner, and then follow the hand down the hallway through turns and passageways.  Then, as they approach a hallway, the hand disappears.

Anett relays this to Evol, and they cautiously move down the indicated hallway.  Soon, down a hallway to the right, they see flashes of light coming from a room and hear wails of agony.

They see in the room a humanoid folded over, with lightning flashing over him and occasionally streaking out, although it doesn't seem to harm them.  Evol looks at his aura, as paladins are wont to do, and sees it drop from moderate to faint as he looks up at them.  He seems relieved to see them.

"I'm glad you're here, I concentrated on the hand for as long as I could.  I have the stone for you."  And he holds out a hand, in it is a teardrop-shaped red gem - the stone they are looking for.  In the flashes of light, they see that he appears to be half-canine, like the villagers outside the forest.

As they hesitate in taking the stone, he seems to be getting weaker and weaker.  "Please, take it before I fade away!"

Evol takes the stone from him, and he sits up weakly.  The lightening fades, and in the torchlight they can see that while he is definitely of the race of people from the village outside the forest, he also has fey touches.

"When I realized that it would take so long for the promised ones to come, I became discouraged.  One of the uninviteds came to me and offered to help me become fey in exchange for many things, and so I came to this area.  I heard that the mortals had come after so many years, and regretted my decision.  I helped to steal the stone back, knowing you would come and get it.  I suppose that was selfish; it was the only way I could be sure to do a good deed at the right time."

The party spoke for a time with O'Lae (for that was his name) about what had happened, and the party learned that any time a fey goes against the True Cycle, which is the cycle of the world, or their court's cycle, they go through a crux - a painful withering of power - until they restore the cycle.  When a fey wishes to abandon their current cycle (court) they must suffer until they are at their weakest before doing a good (or evil) deed and starting over again in the new court.  Not every fey who suffers a crux survives it.

O'Lae led them to a room in the complex that took them to a storage room in the basement of the Queen's Castle.  They made their way up the stairs and despite a few curious looks, were able to speak to the queen again.  She welcomes O'Lae back into her court cautiously, and gave Evol and Anett access to the guest rooms again so they could rest.

And that is where we left off.

_Look here for more detailed Creature/Setting information    by session_


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## Nonei (Mar 7, 2010)

Looks like I'm getting a number of hits but no replies yet.  Anyone finding this interesting or helpful?  I would love suggestions or critique!  I'm having some difficulty with having the Faerie part of the adventure be too linear; I will try to break that next week.


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## Michael Silverbane (Mar 9, 2010)

I've found the SH highly entertaining and inspirational, though I don't have any specific comments thus far.

I may try to shanghai my players into a trip through faerie in the X-Crawl campaign I'm planning.  That'll certainly serve to shake up the pace for a bit.


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## Nonei (Mar 9, 2010)

Thanks for the reply   Glad you're enjoying it.  Once we're done - in one or two more sessions - I'll write up a few things I would do differently if I could start over.  I'm relatively satisfied so far, but I certainly wish I'd planned it out farther in advance so I could drop more hints.  Hopefully that will be helpful as well .


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## Nonei (Mar 17, 2010)

*Session 4*

*Sunshine and Travel*
When Evol and Anett woke up that morning, they found that Menolly was her normal size again.  They all gathered their things, and went for one more meeting with the queen.

The queen saw them off graciously, and directed them to the portal that will lead them home - along the mountains, past the Rose Dragon's lair, and towards the mountain with the flat top.  She also took care to mention to avoid entering the seventh door within the dragon's lair 'or evil will befall you.'

Evol thanked her, and asked what needed to be done to end the twilight in the realm.  The queen looked at her in surprise: "Have you not been outside?  The sun has been shining for several hours!  The night began to fall as soon as you held the power stone in your hand." 

Evol murmered her relief (as too much more time in this chaotic land would be very taxing on a Paladin), and the others were happy as well.

They set off in the sun - too bright for Evol's eyes - and travel along the path toward the mountains.  Soon, however, the path wanders off to the left and so they decide to continue straight ahead.  Some of the trees start to look a bit... different.  Perhaps more vivid, more lively if possible.  They spot a Satyr or two a distance through the trees, and small animals abound.


*The Clearing*
Just as the land returns to twilight, they come across a small clearing in the woods and decide to make camp.  Anett takes first watch, and the others lay in the soft grass, looking up at the most stars they've ever seen.  Even though there is no moon, there is enough light from the stars to see forms and figures.

Anett is surprised to see a few lights floating through the woods, coming into the clearing.  Soon there are more of them at the edge of the clearing, and she hears lively dancing music that almost demands a happy jig.  In fact, both of her sleeping friends jump up, awake, with a smile and begin to dance!  They ask her to join them, but she declines.

"I've heard stories of faerie music, I don't really want to be stuck here dancing for 100 years!"  She shakes Menolly, who continues to dance, and then goes over to Evol and shakes her.  Evol reluctantly stops dancing as she feels the pull fade, while Anett tries to bring Menolly out of it again.  They stand there debating what to do for a short time, when Evol begins to get a far-away look in her eyes and starts swaying to the music.

Menolly backs up to the edge of the clearing - "I'm getting out of here!"  Anett shakes Evol one more time and they leave the clearing together.  Outside the clearing, they watch the lights move around and hear the music but it no longer seems to have the same pull.  Then they realize... they left all their gear in the clearing.

A fast and furious debate ends with the realization that Anett had never been affected by the music, and the decision is made that she will venture in and gather the remaining items.  Two trips and no dancing later, they are plus two backpacks and their weapons.  A soft layer of pixie dust puffs up into the air and makes them sneeze, but they seem to have no other ill effect.

They lay down just outside the clearing, and attempt to finish their night.  As dawn breaks for the second time in over a thousand years, the lights and music fade off into the woods.


*The Rose Dragon's Cave*
They rise, and stretch, and realize that the flat top mountain is in a slightly different place than when they went to sleep.  But, no matter... they aim for it as they trek across rolling hills and begin to climb on a path along the edge of a tall mountain - Rose's mountain.

A dark mouth of a cave, too small for a dragon, leads off the path into the mountain ahead.  Cautiously, they approach it, and hear a roar from within.  Anett is positive it sounds like a bear and they hurry past, wanting to avoid a battle with an innocent creature.

And then, they see the Rose Dragon's cave.  The mouth of the cave is 20 feet wide, and 20 feet high, and leads into the mountain.  They pause a few feet into the mouth of the cave to discuss a plan. 

Should they negotiate?  Should they get physical?  Should they try and best him at a game again? Should they even try to rescue the children that had been turned to stone - is it worth the risk?

Finally Menolly blinked with realization.  "You know, we're discussing all this _inside _the mouth of his cave.  He's probably listening to every word we're saying."

As one, they turn and look deeper into the cave.  About 50 feet back, a shaft of sunlight pierces down from above and falls on the Rose dragon, who is lying comfortably in the middle of the room, watching them.

"Hello, mortals.  It is good to see you again."  He rises up, stretches, and smiles down at them.

They come forward into the room, and they see carefully arranged hundreds of perfect statues of fairy children, many smiling and laughing, others frozen in a scream of horror.  A stone dryad peers from around a rock, and several stone pixies have been carefully hung from the high ceiling.

Menolly mutters, "If it gets physical in here, we'll have to be careful with that big dragon tail lashing around."

Rose swings his head to look at her with a little chuckle.  "You're planning on getting physical?"

"Well...  not necessarily." Then, to the others, "So, what's our plan?"


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## Nonei (Apr 3, 2010)

Ok, I'm sorry I have taken so long to update this. But, I am here now, so here we go:

*The Battle with Rose*
The party discusses a few options, but are very reluctant to agree to anything that would include them serving an evil dragon. Menolly suggests an archery contest, but backs off when Rose readily agrees. Evol, the paladin, declines Rose's suggestion to see who can make the best lie - she isn't very good at lying.

Rose, bored with the hemming and hawing, begins talking about his favorite statue - his first one. It brings many pleasant memories... He indicates the statue with a claw. It is a small boy, maybe the equivalent of 6 years old, with a scream of terror frozen on his face.

Rose leans over to the party and suggests he's been getting tired of having all these statues around, and perhaps he'll just start tossing them over the edge of the cliff to watch them explode into powder below.

The party is still hesitant - they want to battle him but they don't want to kill him, for fear that won't be enough to break the spell. So Rose offers to have a battle to the... um... unconsciousness. He even agrees to not use his breath weapon. If the party wins, he will undo the spell on the children. 

The party convinces him to agree that if he wins, they will speak of his embarrassing loss in the previous game to nobody.

Rose marks a 40-foot area in the entrance to the cave that the battle will be in. The party has a little trouble at first breaking through his thick hide, and by the end of the fight they are quite bloody - but the dragon is laying unconscious.

Rose keeps his word, and turns all of the children back into flesh. The older children immediately gather the younger ones and head back home, and the party continues on.


*The Seventh Door*
Just outside the mouth of Rose's cave, the path drops off a steep cliff 100 feet down. Anett, the Hadozee, jumps off, spreading her arms so her arm flaps can help her glide to the bottom, and Evol jumps after her, her ring slowing her descent so she floats safely to the ground. Menolly glares down from the top of the cliff at them, and pulls out her rope and grappling hook.

Once they are all at the bottom, Menolly notices a somewhat hidden opening in the face of the cliff. They move in to investigate and find a five foot wide tunnel, with doors all along the left side. They decide this is the place that the queen was speaking of, and begin to leave when Menolly hears a faint cry for help from down the tunnel and feels compelled to go in.

The others don't hear the cry, but agree to follow her. There are seven doors in total, but they aren't sure which door is #1, as the path continues and winds up, apparently to Rose's lair - did they enter at the end or the beginning?

So, they open Door #4 - the one in the middle - and find that it is full of piles of copper coins. They open the doors two either way (#2 and #6) and find piles of gold coins, and piles of red gems. As they are standing outside the door furthest from the entrance, debating on whether to open it or the one closest to the entrance, Menolly hears the cry for help from inside that door. This time, Evol hears it too, and gets the overwhelming urge to help whoever is making the cry.

She reaches to open the door, but it is locked. So, she puts her boot to it, and it bashes open. A little man walks out of the room and looks at them.

"Thank you, kind mortals, for rescuing me. May you find what you are looking for."

Anett mutters under her breath "I have heard that is a curse."

He begins to walk down the hallway, and Evol and Menolly feel their compulsions fade. A quick glance in the room reveals it full of piles of platinum, but no other creatures.

"Hey, wait!" "Come back here!"

The little man stops and turns around at their calls. He slowly walks backward toward the entrance as they talk, but Menolly uses her ring to create a forcewall behind him. He stands with his hand touching the forcewall as they grill him, and answers them with nervousness and apparent honesty. And glowing as evil to the Paladin.

Yes, he was put there as punishment. He had stolen the staff from the witch originally. Yes, he had compelled them to open the door. As they were talking he found the opportunity to ask, "So, what _is _it you are looking for?"

Evol snaps at him, "We are just looking for a way home!"

(more to come)


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## Nonei (Apr 16, 2010)

*Session 4 (cont)*

*The Way Home*

After a fierce debate, the party decides to let the little man leave in peace, since he hasn't harmed them directly in any way (at least as far as they can tell).  The rest of the day goes smoothly, and soon they are settling down for the night.

Each person's sleep is disturbed by a vivid dream...  As they walk through the trees, a bolt of lightning shoots into the ground about 200 feet away to the side, and as they look that way, they see that it hit the ground just in front of a spot where two trees have entwined their branches above, forming an arc.  As they gaze through the arc, an 8-pointed blue and white star twinkles at them from the sky beyond.

They wake refreshed in the morning, and discuss the shared dream and its meaning.  They did recognize the star as the symbol of Bahamut, and as they journey through the woods towards the mountain with a flat top, they debate whether the lightning is an encouragement from Heironeous... or a warning.  

Soon, sure enough, they  see the trees that look just like they did in the dream. Anett decides to plunge ahead and walk under the arch... and disappears.  The other two follow suit... and they find themselves in pitch black, with only Evol - as a drow - able to see.

Evol is silent for several moments, before confirming that it appears safe in response to Menolly's whispered question.  The human and the Hadozee light their lights and find themselves in a smallish room carved of stone, and a wooden door in one end.  Around them lie the bits and pieces of a child's room, destroyed long ago.  Bed, chairs, toybox... even a few toys that are immediately recognizable as something a drow would give to their child.  All along the walls are paintings and murals of twisted stories.

Anett whispers, "Where are we?"

Evol responds, "This is my room...  from before.  I'm back home, although I do not think of it that way any longer."

As they walk through the deserted drow village, they can see blood stains still on the ground, and Evol relates the slaughter of her village, and her parents, by the paladins of Heironeous when she was very young.  They rescued the children from a life of evil, and she had been raised by the parents of one.

....................................................................

And here ends their trek into Faerie. 

Epilogue (and fast summary of the last 2 1/2 sessions of the campaign): They find out that Evol's old home was inside the mountain they were headed for - the portal inexplicably placed them there (heh heh) instead of on top of the mountain.  They did run into more drow, who had been preserving the area of the slaughter to try and raise their ancestors as an army so were pretty ticked at the party...  

The party made it into the castle inside the volcano (the flat-topped mountain) where the portal to Tiamat's prison was, found out the only way to destroy Tiamat was to let her out (so they did), battled an aspect of Tiamat (while Bahamat and Heironeous kept the real one and Graz'zt busy), managed not to fall in the lava, and saved the day.  Woo hoo!

I will try to post more on the numbers and how I feel like I did.  I would love feedback - good and bad!! - this was definitely a learning experience for me!


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## Nonei (Apr 19, 2010)

Ok, I updated the Creature and Setting information by Session.  Let me know if there is additional information that you'd like to know.

_Disclaimer: most of this thread I typed fairly fast, so I apologize in advance if it's confusing..._

Thoughts: This adventure went fairly well, although it ended up being a "go in here and get the item you need and get out safely"... I would have liked it better if they had been able to get information or knowledge specfic to the fey that would have helped them, because then the setting itself would have been more important.

It would have been improved if I had tried more to link the different aspects of faerie together into a more cohesive storyline.  Since it's a 'foreign land' and the normal 'rules' didn't apply, it would have gone smoother if I had thought of 3-4 "rules" that they could discover for themsleves and had them apply to a greater effect.  They didn't really know what they should do for some of the time and were waiting for NPCs to tell them, so those parts didn't work very well.

Hopefully that will help anyone that tries to do an adventure int he future


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