Act III: The Olden Days and the Next Generation
Scene iii: The Summer Cotillion
Present Party: Boris, Venus, and Sylyeras
Setting: The Winter Court in the Feywild.
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| Lars, age 19 Changeling Archfey Warlock (art by MAKKON on Tumblr) |
The party opted for a short rest, and in that time, Venus spoke with Lars a little bit more. She learned that he was a warlock of an archfey in the Winter Court. Venus asked how he got to this point. How did he become a warlock?
"Well... according my patron, she said it was because she made a trade with my mother. Me for... something better. She didn't say which it was. I grew up, and once I was about five or so... my patron said that she was going to let me outside. But that if I wanted to go outside, I needed to say yes to what she asked me to say yes to. Or I would go outside and freeze to death." He shrugged. "I said yes. And then I was a warlock. And now I don't freeze when I'm out here, even if I'm not in the right clothes."
"But your feet still get cut up by the thorns on the ground? She still asks you to do things that you don't want to?"
Lars nodded. "But I don't even really feel the thorns anymore, so it doesn't matter."
Venus offered him a health potion, but he very politely declined. She asked why they wanted Finn. What was the purpose?
"The Summer and Winter Courts have been at war since... forever, basically," Lars explained. "My patron, the Lady of Darkness, she wanted your friend. Each Winter archfey is the exact opposite of one of the Summer archfey. The Lady of Darkness is the Sunshine Lady's opposite. The Sunshine Lady takes pleasure in the joy of others. My patron takes pleasure in the suffering of others, especially when she's inflicting it. She convinced the Queen that... taking a powerful warlock away from the Summer Court would help the war efforts in the long run. It'd also weaken the Summer Court's influence on the Material Plane. The Winter Queen doesn't much care about losing soldiers for a bigger goal. She agreed. The Lady of Darkness got a new toy: your friend."
After their rest, Khuva returned and told the players what the Kumonga needed and where to find it. There were these purple berries with little yellow spots that should have just grown in to the south. They prevent anyone who consumes them from getting hypothermia or frostbite. Khuva said that if the party went and got those for the Kumonga, then they could keep some for when they found Finn. Khuva also requested twigs from the bush. Apparently, that is what the Kumonga eat.
Lars went silent for several seconds, but then came to again, and told the party that he needed to go. He assured them that he would be back, probably by the time that they finished getting the berries.
The party set out and found the berries pretty easily. They picked as many as they could. Then, Venus went to take the twigs. She managed to get one before a cold wind blew through the part of the woods they were in. The trees around them seemed to get bigger. They almost seemed to lean forward menacingly. Boris readied his weapon while Syl and Venus yelled apologies.
A young girl appeared in front of them with pale skin, long white hair, and blue eyes. They recognized her as a winter dryad, and asked if this was her bush. As it turns out, it was, and they had just stolen her pinky finger. After some explanations about how they weren't from here, the dryad seemed to soften. She was far more sympathetic. She took a couple leaves from the bush and produced more twigs from it. In return, Venus gave her a comb that could turn into a dagger and a few hair ribbons. The dryad was very pleased, and the trees around them relaxed when she called to them.
After that, they returned to the Kumonga lair. They asked one of the other spiders if Khuva was around.
They said, "Khuva is in the infirmary. Lars has just returned."
When they arrived at the infirmary, they found Khuva on the wall, talking to Lars. Lars was on a bed made of thick webs on his stomach. His back and parts of his legs had been cut open and sewn back together with spider silk.
Venus insisted that he take the potion she'd offered earlier, and after some protesting, he did take it.
When they asked him what happened, he simply answered, "It's like I said: my patron likes suffering. I suffer, she's happy."
This didn't sit right with the party, but they were still focused on finding Finn. Khuva let them know that "The Great Seer" found Finn. He's in the valley, just entering the mountains. Khuva offered to bring them there. Venus left one of her daggers behind in the Kumonga infirmary, planning to give the other one to Finn and have him teleport here, where he would be safe. Lars was well enough to travel and offered to go with them and help. Boris grabbed the skate on one of the ice skates he got from Kalicosio and expected to break it off. Instead, when he touched it, the skate turned into a boot with a cleat-like bottom.
"Kalicosio didn't tell you they did that?" Lars asked, a little surprised.
"Kalicosio told us fucking nothing and took three of my teeth," Boris replied.
"That sounds like him," Khuva sighed.
Lars was forced to wear the boots for now at least, and they left to get Finn. It wasn't too long of a trek and they did fine with Khuva leading the way. When they found Finn, he was surrounded by Redcaps - awful fey creatures that killed and ate other humanoids and fey. The party fought them off, and Venus was able to give Finn her dagger and he teleported away.
They met up back at the Kumonga Lair, and had a tearful reunion. Finn was freezing and suffering from hypothermia and frostbite, but it wasn't anything that warmth and magic berries couldn't cure. The party took a long rest, happy to have Finn back.
The next morning and with Finn back to them, the party turned their attention to helping Lars, who was quite surprised that the party would bother. They learned a few other things about Lars in their endeavors.
- Lars could not leave the Winter Court on his own. The only time he did was when the Winter Court attacked Summer, and he was only able to do that because his patron was there.
- If Lars was to break his pact, his immunity to the extreme cold of the Winter Court would break. Lars believes that if that was to happen, he'd freeze immediately, based on the exposure that he's had for so many years. He'd die.
Many ideas were thrown out over the course of an hour and a half in real time. The party even contacted Lady Sunshine, hoping that she could help. If Lars was to swap patrons with someone from Summer, there would need to be an equal trade: person for person. Finn told them that was likely. Lady Sunshine confirmed it.
Sylyeras is a warlock of Cthulhu. Once, earlier in the campaign, the party had accidentally killed a small child who had been charmed and had an illusion over her to look like the bad guy they were chasing. Sylyeras had prayed to Cthulhu (rolled a Nat 20), and she was brought back to life. She stays with Syl on his ship and her name is Vishara; she goes by "Vy." She says she is six years old. Sylyeras also learned that he'd effectively turned her into a warlock for another being of Cthulhu's family - his daughter Cthylla. Sylyeras was hoping that Cthulhu could do something similar with Lars.
He prayed.
~~~~~
Sylyeras was summoned to Cthulhu's demiplane. He fell back, and suddenly was floating in water. He stood, soaking wet, and marched to the glowing green eyes in a black void. He hadn't been here in a long time. When Syl explained the situation, Cthulhu gave him a choice.
"Pick the girl who you saved or the boy you have told me of."
Sylyeras, not wanting Vy to die, tried to find another way to help Lars. Cthulhu would not offer Lars to another of his kin unless Sylyeras promised Cthulhu something in return.
"I want your son."
"My unborn son?" Syl checked. "The son I physically cannot give to you?"
"Not yet. I want him when he breathes."
"Want him how?"
"I want him as I have you."
"Well... why can't you just take Lars then? You'd have two warlocks."
"Because I want this piece of you. You and your kin... You are my saviors."
Sylyeras's vision faded, and he began to sink into the water again.
~~~~~
With the news that Sylyeras's plan hadn't exactly worked, the party kept brainstorming. Sylyeras also called Ariel with his Sending Stone ring, to warn her. She was happy that Syl hadn't said yes. They'd talk more about what this meant when he got back.
The party even called Kalicosio, asking him what he was and offering gold and platinum for his answers (once they realized they could, and that he ate gold and platinum.) He had a similar answer to Lady Sunshine, but according to him, it was all about a prophecy - older than time.
Lars, apparently, fit a piece of this prophecy at the current time. So did Finn.
Boris offered Kalicosio ten platinum for the prophecy and Kalicosio - unblinking, still grinning - replied, "For this... I would accept 50 innocent humanoid souls or your life ten times over. If you can put an amount of platinum equal to that on the table... then I would accept it."
Instead they asked if anyone in this room could take Lars's place in the prophecy, conceivably.
Kalicosio ate the platinum, and said, "One."
Unblinking, still grinning, his head turned to Sylyeras. Apparently he was the only other option, being the only other creature here who was considered even remotely fey-kin as a half-elf. However, Syl wasn't sure how Cthulhu would react - especially given the conversation they just had. He feared for Vy and his son.
At the moment, there wasn't much they could do, the party decided. They'd need more help, but they resolved to get Lars out of this.
"But..." Lars said, "if you can't, then-"
"We will," Venus insisted.
"But if you can't-"
"We will," Boris declared.
"You don't deserve this," Venus told him. "You didn't ask for this, and you were too young to know what you were saying yes to. This isn't your fault, and we're going to help you."
~~~~~
ART CREDITS
https://makkon.tumblr.com/post/188553058118/recent-commission-playable-character-of-a
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