[[Day 5|<< Day 5]] | [[Day 7 - 1493-01-05|5 Hammer 1493 >>]] ## Day 6 I got turned into a human. I'm not sure what to do. It isn't fair — there should always be a way to fix things. But I should start from the beginning. A lot happened today. I was right about sleep not coming easy last night. Between the tornado, the kid, the bad dream, and finding out that time is passing quicker in Faerûn than in Prismeer, it was a lot, yesterday. Also, Gleam was up late talking to Skoll. But I didn't mind much; I wasn't getting very far with it, anyway. Gleam is anxious to get things in motion. I don't blame her — I was also anxious to get going, and I didn't even have an imprisoned sister to worry about. This "morning," I talked to Amidor about staying back to watch Feenia. He was glad to take up this "noble task." We left Amidor, Pollenella, Juniper, Feenia, the rock elemental, and two of the perytons at the cave. Me, Skoll, Nia, Gleam, Elkhorn, and the rest of the perytons headed for the stones where we had met Queen Argantle yesterday. The korreds were gearing up for some kind of ceremony when we got there. The queen asked if we wanted to dance — I didn't, really, but she roped me into it. Skoll and Elkhorn also joined in. Nia did too, albeit reluctantly. I made the best of it. After we were done, I was told that I can now command "korred hair." I'm not sure what that entails. Maybe I'll spend some time figuring it once I figure out how to turn into a fucking owl again. Anyway. Nia and Skoll did a piss-poor job with the dance. Nia ended up tripping Skoll, and he took such a bad fall that one of his antlers snapped in half. He said it would grow back — so that's good, at least. Once that little disaster was over with, Queen Argantle led us to the Brigganock Mine. She all but told us to kill them. From outside the mine, we heard the tell-tale sounds of pickaxes striking against stone. As we stepped in, however, the mine went quiet. The sounds didn't pick up again until about 10 minutes in, which is about the time that Elkhorn suddenly passed out, falling to the ground like a sack of bricks. He wouldn't wake up, so I picked him up and slung him over my shoulder. We eventually walked up to some very small guys — brigganocks, it turned out — who were pushing a wheelbarrow full of restraints. They were surprised to find us awake, and they retreated soon enough. As they were moving, it became clear that they have some kind of time magic on their side. We didn't have much time to think about it, though, because we were soon approaching a human clad in leather armor surrounded by a bunch of brigganocks. They seemed calm and confident and perfectly in control of the situation — that is, until they noticed Elkhorn. We had found another member of Valor's Call: Molliver, the rogue. The first thing we did was ask about Elkhorn. While Molliver couldn't wake them up themselves, Elkhorn would be awake in about an hour. All there was to do was wait. Having confirmed that Elkhorn wasn't doomed to an eternal sleep, I asked about the hag. It Turned out that there had been a pretty big misunderstanding: both the korreds and the brigganocks thought that the other group was working with Moongrave. In actuality, neither group was doing so — that said, the brigganocks' chief architect had been kidnapped and was being forced to make things for the hag, which is probably where the misunderstanding came from on the korreds' part. In whatever case, the conflict wouldn't end in bloodshed. Molliver conferred with her brigganock associate; they let us know that, if we could resolve the disagreement with the korreds, they'd let us through the mines and into Motherhorn. All there'd be to worry about on the way was Rivenwish Chasm, where we would likely encounter some fiery ghosts. Because why not? Once we took care of business, Nia spent a great deal of time shooting the shit with Molliver — it's not like we were busy, or anything. Molliver offhandedly mentioned killing a dragon, so Nia made me lie about my dragon-slaying past again, just because my friends enjoy being cruel to me. The worst part is that I'm pretty sure Molliver believed the story. Molliver and Nia took their time chatting, talking about accessories, firearms, and the fact that Molliver is from a planet called "Oerth." We eventually left, but not before Molliver called me odd for being a ranger who doesn't use a traditional bow, and not before Nia got Ewyn talking up a storm. It was lovely. We encountered yet another stupid thing on the way back to the korreds in the form of a wagon that was following us. When we landed, a cloaked figure parted the curtains covering the front of the wagon and presented us with a puppet show. The puppets were of us, because of course they were. In about three minutes, the puppets recapped our journey into Brigganrock Mine, all the way up until we started watching the show. Once it was over, the cloaked figure gave us an envelope, inside of which had a voucher for a private audience with Endelyn Moongrave — "no strings attached." I tried to speak with the cloaked figure as they were leaving, but the cloak collapsed, and there was nothing inside of it. At the very least, we knew that Endelyn was aware of us, which wasn't great. Elkhorn woke up as soon as the wagon was out of sight. He started calling me a knight again. We got into a whole conversation about it, for some reason, and everyone chimed in to agree that I'm knightly. It was embarrassing, to say the least. We got back to the korreds and told them the story. It took some convincing — in the end, Queen Argantle was most persuaded by Elkhorn, who is basically a korred, apparently, based on how well he did during their dance. Queen Argantle asked what we needed her to do. Skoll suggested holding a meeting with everyone — before that, though, we had a cyclops to deal with, since Skoll had promised to bring Mudlump love by the end of the day. But Skoll has a plan involving Juniper. Me, Nia, Amidor, and Pollenella accompanied Skoll and Juniper to the cyclops. He turned Mudlump into an owlbear; he then proceeded to have a five minute long conversation with Mudlump and Juniper that was completely indiscernible to the rest of us. Eventually, Skoll turned Mudlump back into a cyclops. Mudlump picked up Juniper — who didn't attack him, by some miracle of the gods — and walked off. And that was that. Amidor didn't even cause trouble for us, this time. Skoll clearly wasn't feeling great about the whole thing. I think he felt like he had disappointed Juniper somehow. But as long as Mudlump feeds her, I think she'll be fine. Hopefully. We brought Amidor and Pollenella back to the cave so that they could help keep watch over Feenia. And then we headed back to Brigganock Mine with the korred leaders, Queen Argantle and Jagu. We hashed out who would be going with us to Motherhorn once we were at the mine. I didn't want anyone to die, so I advised everyone not to volunteer unless they were confident that they could survive. I didn't want a big group, either, but a big group is what I got. Molliver, Elkhorn, Queen Argantle, Jagu, and Gleam all volunteered — with me, Skoll, and Nia, that made eight. And that's not even including the perytons who would be waiting outside Endelyn's place in Motherhorn for us. We discussed what we had left to do before heading to Motherhorn. Nia suggested sending one of the perytons to check on Alagarthas, who is someone that I had been trying and failing to forget about; all he does is remind me of the passage of time in Prismeer. We headed for Motherhorn. With Molliver as our guide, we navigated through the tunnels of Brigganock Mine until we got to Rivenwish Chasm, across which spanned a hundred-foot bridge. As we started making our way across, we were in fact assailed by ghosts on fire — specifically, ghostly skulls on fire. But we avoided a fight. Somehow, Nia convinced them to just turn around and head back into the chasm. Across the bridge, there was a grotto, at the center of which was a pony with a tiny hut atop its back. We had found Obud, the oldest of the Brigganocks, who would grant us passage to Motherhorn. At first, Obud wasn't terribly happy to see us. He changed his tune pretty quickly when we provided him with sweets. Before Obud showed us the way, Molliver had a gift for each of us; they were grateful that we managed to settle the political dispute between the korreds and the brigganocks. Except it wasn't really a gift at all. They gave us each a "wish stone," which they then had us break. Three animated crystal figures came out of the stones: a crystal Jord, a crystal Selise, and a crystal Ezmerelda. I kind of wanted to die. In my time away from her, I've caught myself wishing more than once that Ezmerelda was with me — however, a life-size crystal rendition of her is not exactly what I had in mind. The worst thing is that the crystal has all of her mannerisms down to a tee, and it makes me miss her even more. I just hope that Ezmerelda never finds out about this. ~~I wonder what she's going to think of me now that I'm featherless and weird.~~ Obud showed us the way toward Motherhorn. Me, Skoll, Nia, Jagu, Queen Argantle, Molliver, Elkhorn, Gleam, Crystal Ezmerelda, Crystal Selise, and Crystal Jord continued on. We had a whole army with us, and it was entirely ridiculous. We eventually came upon the secret entrance to Motherhorn through another tunnel. On the other side, we found ourselves under Endelyn's stage in a prop room. We found a friend in short order: a marionette painted to look like a skeleton, tangled in his own strings. The marionette — Break-a-Leg — was created by Moongrave before being discarded due to his lack of an "evil streak." I freed him from his strings. After exchanging introductions with every member of our incredibly large and incredibly unnecessary number, Break-a-Leg agreed to show us around the place — but only after we dealt with the "unpleasant" and "very rude" lady outside the prop room. The lady, Charmay, turned out to be the warlock known as Skylla, who is a member of the League of Assholes. Or ex-member, rather. Charmay wasn't exactly rude or unpleasant — not to us, at least — but there was definitely something wrong with her. In any case, we were able to work out a deal with her. She was smart enough to glean that we'd be the victors in a fight against Endelyn. She agreed to look the other way. In exchange, she wants us to kill her old boss, Kelek. Her motives were clear enough; apparently, the reason why she's an *ex*-member of the League of Assholes is because she had a vision that she was going to be betrayed by them. I took a second to talk to Molliver and Elkhorn about Kelek. They had a done a good job so far with avoiding making a scene about Charmay, and I valued their opinions. They told us that Kelek's an evil dude, basically, and that they're down to stop him. So no issues there. We told Charmay that we'd deal with Kelek, and Charmay told us that she'll put in a good word for us with the Baba Yaga. Hopefully it's a good enough word that it outweighs us killing two of her daughters. Charmay looked the other way. We freed the brigganock in the room — Golmo, the chief architect — and sent him back on his way toward the mine. Then, Break-a-Leg led us to the hag. Endelyn Moongrave looks fucked up, even for a hag. We found her reclined in a chair in her theater box. We were hidden; we could've got the jump on her. But we didn't. We announced our presence, because it always feels messed up when we come in swinging, even when we're aiming to kill. I'm not sure if we made the right call. She made a fey deal that she wouldn't harm anyone anymore, but I still feel uneasy about it all. The hag was expecting us, whatever the case. She told us that she has already seen the ends of our lives — and while they will end in tragedy, she assured us, they wouldn't end there. After that lovely part of the conversation was over, we worked out the terms of what would become the fey deal between Skoll and Endelyn. On Endenlyn's side, she agreed to refrain from harming people, to stay away from Zybilna, and to tell us how to free Zybilna. In return, we'd let her leave Prismeer with her life, and we'd request that Zybilna not harm her. No one was particularly thrilled about the outcome, but the idea of killing her also didn't feel right. To top it all off, Endelyn requested that we allow her one last performance. I don't know why I agreed — curiosity, maybe. The performance was another puppet show. It featured puppets of Ezmerelda, Skoll, Nia, and all my other friends; it also featured a human woman that Endelyn claimed was supposed to be me. I thought that it was bullshit at the time. The show was depressing. It showed each of the puppets dying — the human woman first, followed by one after another until Skoll's puppet was the only one left. Skoll and Nia were very quiet afterward. In addition to being unsettled, I was also confused; beyond that, though, I was tired of all of this horseshit. After some idiotic stalling, Endelyn told us how to free Zybilna: we'd have to touch her with a unicorn horn and speak her true name, Natasha. We let Endelyn go. Downstairs, away from the theater box, Molliver essentially said that me, Skoll, and Nia need therapy. I don't really know all of what therapy entails, but I'm not sure that I disagree. Before we continued on, we sent Queen Argantle, Jagu, and Break-a-Leg back to the Brigganock Mine. We knew that we might face further resistance, but we also knew that we had no need for a dozen people to face that resistance. We swept through the place, looking for Hurly, Gleam's sister, Gleam's shadow, and Feenia's parents. We found Hurly sulking in a dressing room. Turns out he quit the Witchlight Carnival and came to Motherhorn willingly so that he could learn how to be more popular and likable. It didn't quite work, though, and he kind of just wanted to head back home. We had good news for him, because he was officially out of a job with Endelyn. We told him that we'd be back for him after we were done clearing out the place; he agreed to wait. After that, there was the room with the masks. Charm was there. As we walked in, she pulled a lever, and there was a flash of light. Charm presented me, Skoll, and Nia with masks that looked exactly like our faces. She informed us that she had to remove part of our souls to make them. According to Charm, she wasn't initially trying to target us specifically; she had thought we were members of Endelyn's "expendable" goblin workforce. Despite this, she wasn't willing to return the bits of our souls without something of a show first. Nia threated to kill her, but she raised a good point: without her, we'd have no idea how to get the pieces of our souls back. There were a bunch of faceless puppets strung up in the room. Charm took one down and attached the masks to it. It took on Skoll's face, first. Skoll's own disappeared; all that was left was blank skin, which was creepy as hell — and then we fought it. It was a long fight and it hit us hard. Throughout, it cycled through each of our faces. Eventually — after it had turned into a fucked up amalgamation of the three of us — we were able to strike it down once and for all. Charm honored her end of the deal. She told us to put the masks on. We did, and we got our faces back — with some modifications. Charm's explanation was that things likely got "mixed up" when the puppet used all of the masks at the same time. Skoll's eyes were yellow, and he had two feathers sticking out of his hair. Nia had talon-like fingers. And I had somehow been turned into a human. Charm said that she couldn't fix it and that she didn't think it could be fixed at all. Nia tried persuading her with a blade to her throat, but she didn't budge. We ended up leaving Charm in Motherhorn. Skoll made a fey deal with her — she'd try her best to figure out how to change me back until we returned to her. On our end, we wouldn't kill her, even if she couldn't find anything. Nia tried to be evasive with the terms of not killing her, but we eventually agreed that we wouldn't touch her. I have no desire to kill Charm. I just want this fixed. People needed to be healed after the fight with the puppet, so I healed them. My hands were shaking and my head was empty. I didn't know what to think. I still don't, even now. No one knew what to say to me. I was glad for the their relative silence; I wasn't feeling the most receptive to conversation. But we had work to do. While we were interrogating her, Charm had told us that destroying a shadow should return it to its owner. So, when we found the room full of shadows, I attacked. They were easy to kill — especially in the mood I was in — but they had a mean touch. Nia was completely drained of her energy. We had to wait for about an hour while Nia rested. I spent most of the time zoned out and patting Skoll, who had turned into a sheep. But Gleam got her shadow back. That's what's important. Gleam asked if I was okay to keep going. Again: we had work to do, and there's no time in Prismeer to do anything but continue. We swept the place, informing Endelyn's former employees about their termination as we went. No one seemed to be particularly bothered that they were out a job. We found Glister soon enough. The sisters were both appreciative; Gleam said that she'd owe us for the rest of her life. I don't think she owes us shit, but it was a nice sentiment. We sent Gleam and Glister back to the secret entrance with instructions to grab Hurly on their way out. After freeing the rest of Endelyn's prisoners, all that was left to do was find Feenia's parents. Feenia's parents — Zolt and Specklenose — were working at the cranes, just like Feenia said they would be. They were happy to hear that we had found and helped Feenia. The two encourages us talk to a few of the actors at the theater. When we talked to them, we found out that they aren't from the feywild. In fact, they aren't even from Toril — they're from the planets Krynn, Eberron, and Oerth. They don't know how to get home. We told them that we'd talk to Zybilna about it — but honestly, I don't have my hopes up. I'm still worried that she's going to be pissed at us for killing two of her sisters. After making that promise, we participated in something of a cultural exchange. They started talking about trains, because — if Ezmerelda is any indication — everyone who knows what a train is loves to talk about trains. Nia wanted to make sure that we didn't miss anything, so we continued to search the place. We didn't find much; all it did was make me realize how much I usually rely on my wings. More than a few times, I found myself trying and failing to fly — it was humiliating. We regrouped with Gleam and discussed how to get her and her company back to the Witchlight Carnival. Gleam proposed that there might be a teleportation mirror in Motherhorn, just as there had been in Loomlurch. Sure enough, we remembered seeing a mirror in one of the rooms that we searched through. We returned so that Nia could study the mirror; she concluded that it would in fact teleport them to the Witchlight Carnival. We saw Gleam, Glister, and Hurly off. Gleam invited us to visit her at the Witchlight Carnival sometime; while it was hard to focus on anything other than the obvious, I thought the idea was nice, so I agreed. The perytons took us all back to the cave. In addition to me, Skoll, and Nia, there was Feenia's parents, the crystal trio, and Elkhorn and Molliver. On the way, the perytons updated us on Alagarthas: the beacons were lit, and he was gone, so it probably worked. Good for him, I guess. It's too bad that his kingdom will probably be unrecognizably different than how he left it in 1366. Back at the cave, Amidor didn't believe that I was actually me. Skoll and Nia had to convince him that I had been "vetted." I was enraged and felt nearly hysterical, but I think that I managed to seem calm for the most part. Feenia was glad to see her parents and her parents were glad to see her. It was another quick send-off. but I'm glad we didn't run into trouble with that one. I don't know what we would've done otherwise. At that point, the consensus was that we should rest. But as exhausted as I was, I didn't want to stop for the day. I didn't really want time to think about everything. My new appearance isn't the only thing that has been troubling my mind. We found out our friends have been traveling the planes in an effort to find us; Hati told us as much when Skoll summoned him tonight. Apparently, Ireena and Selise recently showed up in Hati's domain. Ezmerelda and Rictavio weren't with them, which means they're probably cycling through domains of dread like I expected, because I don't think they'd just sit in place in Valentia. To make matters worse, Hati said that Ireena and Selise planned to attempt to traverse other domains of the feywild to get to us. We sent Hati off to find them and relay a message: stay put, and we'll be back soon. Hati asked if he should pass along news about my "condition." I told him no, just in case I can get it fixed before we make it back. There are still a few things that have me hoping. There's Charm's research and there's the water in the Wayward Pool that cures curses. And, if all else fails, I can ask Zybilna to change me back. It might be within her power — she's an archfey, after all. The worst thing is not being able to fly. I feel heavier, and naked, and strange, but nothing is more panic-inducing than being rooted to the ground. But like I said: there still may be a way to fix this. Until then, I'll just have to deal with it, I guess, and try not to freak myself out too much. --- ## Page Tags/Properties **Tags:** #Journal **Category:** [[Journals and Writings.base|Journals and Writings]] **Character:** [[Krue d'Avenir|Krue]] **Campaign:** [[Wild Beyond the Witchlight]] **Date ([[Calendar of Harptos|Harptos]]):** 01/01/1493