Loot, Loud Goats, and a Lady tree
Barnabas
As the dust settled in Thither and we accustomed ourselves to this realm, I felt a strange sense much like when I used the Pixie Dust and was able to fly again briefly. The vision I saw earlier must have been correct; this was where I would find my ability to fly again, we just needed to deal with Skabatha first.
Right to business then. And thanks to Nib and his helpful curse, we were all much better equipped for the showdown with THIS hag. Nib spun me some exceptional Adamantium Plate Armor which I immediately modified into Barny’s Battle Buffer 2.0 (trademark, arcane armor - no judging, I’m an artificer not a name-ificer). The guild would be impressed.
The others all gathered other gifts from Nib and we all feel much better equipped for some Hag Hunting.
We regrouped with Sir Mugwort and the crew and compared notes. Mugwort and her trainees agreed to work to repair the balloon; I suggested they visit Nib as well, we shall see if they do and make wise choices as well. Perhaps one will ask for a Magical Hag Hunting Pitchfork or torch. Those would be useful.
Clapperclaw informed us we had been attacked by the fearsome Jabberwock. This creature is relentless and does not rest until it kills whatever has attracted it’s attention. Fortunately, it had seemed to decide the balloon was it’s victim. We shall likely have to deal with this fiend in the future when we want to leave Thither.
Nib not only gave us fabulous items as gifts, he also gifted us with valuable information.
Skabatha rules this realm from Loomlurch. Her lair contains a workshop where she puts enslaved children to work making nightmare toys. Some of the children, led by Will of the Feywild had rebelled and escaped. Will and his band had managed to find sanctuary with a mighty treeant named Little Oak who lived to the northeast somewhere.
We decided to track down Will and Little Oak and see if we could acquire allies for our upcoming Hag Purge. As we set off with this excellent plan, my confidence rose and I could almost feel the wind beneath my wings again.
After some time traveling, we came upon a strange sight - a large tree that appeared to be sickly surrounded by 3 loud bleating goats. The goats had strange red caps on their heads and had rusty sickles at their feet. We decided to investigate. As we approached the tree, we were hailed by 3 pixies named Amerilus, Kaluna, and Zenia. They explained the strange scene before us.
The goats were three obnoxious red caps who had been throwing rocks at the pixies house. The pixies had polymorphed them to goats to get them to cut it out but the spell was not permanent and the pixies were getting tired of having to watch the goats and polymorph the redcaps into goats so they would be left alone.
PB applied his usual direct approach to the problem. He started gathering the sickles and readied his axe to do some goat (and if necessary red cap) removal. As soon as he picked up the first sickle the goats attacked. We quickly dispatched them and as soon as they were defeated, they transformed back into whiny red caps. They demanded their sickles. PB refused and retreated into his shell. When the red caps realized PB was NOT giving them their sickles, they pouted and ran away (but not before Melina nearly decapitated one particularly loud whiner).
The Pixies rewarded us with a most wonderous gift - more pixie dust! I can fly again (for a moment). Melina gifted them a lollipop and was also rewarded with pixie dust.
The Pixies also warned us that Skabatha grows red caps in her garden and also has mechanical soldiers. We will have to be on our guard.
We proceeded onwards and found a fork in the road. We initially took the path less traveled but found many large talon-like tracks. The tracks were as big as we were, and we backtracked and headed down the other path. We did not fancy a fight with the Jabberwock or whatever this was just yet.
We entered a section of forest that had been cruelly raised and as we walked into the clearing the woods came alive with angry trees and shrubbery!
PB was able to convince a very angry dryad named Metalyff that we were friends to nature. Good thing too, I’m sure turning these trees into toothpicks would have taken time and energy better reserved for Skabatha the flight stealing fiend.
Skabatha had clearly continued her cowardly destructive acts - the large tree in the clearing had been Metalyff’s tree and Skabatha had chopped it down. This would cause Metalyff to slowly wither away and die like her tree. We promised to bring justice to Skabatha and ensured her we would take vengeance for her. I promised we would find an exceptionally painful end for Skabatha. She certainly must be the worst of the sisters.
Metalyff gave us her thanks as well as 3 sycamore seeds. We will have to consider what to do with these.