Session 17 -- Strangers in a Strange Land

The party stocked up on some supplies before heading to the Cave at the World’s End. Jack realized he was getting low on ammunition for his strange arquebus, and the elves do not make black powder, so he opted to get a short bow so he would still have a ranged weapon.

As they approached the Cave at the World’s End, they saw an ancient elven monument looming beside the entrance, a weathered statue carved with symbols of protection and warning. Thin mist seeped from the dark opening, curling along the ground and carrying a faint, acidic tang that caught in their nostrils. The air around the cave felt unnaturally still, and they could barely make out a soft, unsettling squelching sound from somewhere inside. Shadows deepened as the light failed to penetrate beyond the entrance, revealing only hints of damp, narrow stone corridors beyond the small cavern that yawned its unsettling invitation.

The party opted to have Vedica lead the way through the narrow passages to look for traps.  Tiv lit her magical mace, and Ceangal lit a torch.

Shortly after entering, Vedica pointed out that she saw a large puddle of black oil on the floor.  Jack correctly identified it as a black pudding. The pudding was known to corrode wood, metal, and organic matter. It began to move toward them.

Tiv shot a sling stone at it, causing it to splash. As the big splash resolved itself, the party saw that there were now two puddings.

Vedica shot a fire arrow at it, which had some effect.

Jack then used his Horn of Blasting, after ensuring that no one was in the path of impending destruction.  The blasting force sent ripples through the puddings, tearing them apart.

...and then there were four.

Seeing what Vedica’s fire arrow did, Dwårfy lit a torch during his turn, resolving to use fire on his next turn.

Murchad, looking at his blades, was unsure what to do. Dwårfy said, “Och, yoose a torch!”  Nodding, Murchad lit one.

Tiv called to Ceangal: “Fireball!”

Ceangal cast a fireball that obliterated all four black puddings.

The party continued on a bit before coming to a fork in the path.  Murchad asked Ceangal what he remembered or what looked familiar about his trip through the cavern the first time.

Ceangal shook his head and replied: “There isn’t much to remember. These corridors are famously disorienting.  Legend has it that the corridors are constantly changing and twisting.”  Murchad looked disappointed. Seizing upon a bright spot, Ceangal added, “I can tell you that I encountered no traps or monsters.   The elves are not in here laying traps, and there are no zombies or spiders or anything like that haunting the halls. What deadly dangers are here are puddings and oozes and fungi and the like.”

Hearing that there were no traps, Vedica opted not to walk at the head of the party, and Jack stepped up to lead the way.

Heading on a bit farther, Jack spotted, at the edge of the torchlight: a large, yellow mass. The mass quivered and began moving toward the party.

Tiv fires a sling stone into the mass. The stone slices clean through, leaving the party with two ochre jellies to deal with.

Vedica shot a fire arrow into one of the puddings, damaging it with fire but also slicing it to make a third.

Jack picked his most damaging weapon and fired his gun. The deafening roar reverberated through the enclosed space. Everyone’s ears were ringing. When they regained their focus, they saw that the jelly had split again.

Dwårfy hit the wounded one with a torch, and he killed it.

Murchad similarly attacked with his torch.

The battle continued, with Ceangal firing magic missiles that didn’t seem to do much, the jellies landing some corrosive blows on party members, and Jack taking a whack with his two-handed sword (making yet another jelly).

Eventually, the party prevailed, continued, encountered a five-branched intersection, battled another ochre jelly, and found an exit.

They exited the cave on a mountainous height. Behind them were more mountains. Ahead of them, they saw a large riverside town with a harbor. In that harbor was a ship of immense size and strange construction. It was bigger than any other ship they’d ever seen, at least twice the size of the average caravel, but with only one small mast and no visible sail.  To their right, they saw a castle nestled in the crook of the river. To their left, they saw a small village in the foothills of the mountains. Beyond the river was a lower area with small villages and a large, dense forest.

Jack checked the watch he had secretly been carrying to see if the sun was in the right position in the sky for his expectations. It was not aligned with the time on his watch, so the sun didn’t match his expectations from either Hibernia or his home. It was only when he looked around, trying to see if he recognized any geographical features or local flora that he realized (as did the rest of the party), that it was autumn. It had been mid-March when they entered the Feywild. It was then that he realized that they had spent some 235 hours in the Feywild, each hour must have been the equivalent of a day.

The party went into the large harbor town to resupply and try to figure out where they were.

When they entered the town, they found a bustling port city. Its streets were paved with cobblestones. The population seemed to be a mix of halflings and humans; although, that wasn’t quite right. They weren’t halflings, but they almost mistook them for halflings.

These people are a little shorter than halflings. Most of the men sported beards, not entirely unlike dwarves, but they are smaller than halflings. The humans of the town appeared to be normal humans, but their manner of dress was unlike anything they'd seen in Europe, Asia, or North Africa.

Their clothing was made of either very thin leather or textiles dyed in eye-poppingly vibrant colors. All were embellished with fringe, tassels, and intricate beadwork. They had dark complexions and universally jet-black hair which was very straight and typically worn by the women in long braids and by the men cropped short (sometimes with all or part of the head fully shaved). None of the men had beards or mustaches. Few people seem to take notice of the party, as their appearance, despite how differently from the native style they appeared, made them look rather dull and uninteresting.

On entering the town, they attempted to speak with some of the people. None of the humans could understand them, nor could they understand the humans.  Even Ceangal’s Helm of Understanding failed him.  Eventually, they did find that the short people could speak Latin and Celtic.  He told them that the short people were not Halflings but leprechauns. When Jack asked what land this was, the leprechaun told him that they were in Tír na nÓg.   The town they were in was named for the leprechaun’s most prized art form. In Celtic, the word for poetry is filíocht, and a poet is a file. This town is named for poets, and is called Fillí.

This disappointed Murchad, who knew this meant that they were in the wrong place, failing to emerge in the Shadowfell.  

Murchad asked if they could buy some healing potions. The leprechaun excitedly told him that they could, as Tír na nÓg was known for brewing strong healing potions in the form of wine and poteen. Murchad said that he was aware of this, as he had a bottle from the Vineyard of Martha.

The leprechaun told him that the magical brews were made primary in the north in Martha’s Vineyard and in the east in the Land of the Vine.   He was surprised that Murchad had a bottle, as he was obviously not from Tír na nÓg.

The party told him that they had come through the cave from the Feywild, trying to get to the Shadowfell. The leprechaun told them that he was aware of the cave and its connection to the Feywild and the Shadowfell. He also told them that there was another opening to the cave in the north at a mountain called Sliabh Glan (Clear Mountain), but that that entrance was guarded by the Scarlet Knights. The Scarlet Knights had been a contingent of the Red Branch Warriors of Irish legend, and these knights were descendants of that Order, still in existence here.

Rather than return through the cave they just exited, the party decided to head north and try to use the entrance at Sliabh Glan.

On the way out of the town, Dwårfy couldn’t help but notice the strange ship, although no one was too interested in studying it closely. The ship appeared to be made out of iron or steel. He pondered what kind of magical metal can float!  He cannot pronounce the name painted on the side or ship as it didn't seem to be a proper name or word. There were a number of small flags flying from it and two larger flags are hanging from the bow and the stern. The ship appeared to be hemmed in by a number of wooden ships blocking passage up the river as well as out to the bay in the south.

The party traveled the roads and eventually made it to the riverside castle of the Scarlet Knights where they were met by one of the knights, McEachern, wearing a red tabard with three golden lyres. He said that the cave entrance was not here, at the castle, but up at Sliabh Glan, under the Hall of Free Men.  He told them that they were not likely to get permission to use the cave, as the Scarlet Knights, like the Neheuol Elves, considered themselves the guardians of the passage and try to keep it shut.  The party opted to try for that route, anyway.

As they approached the large mead hall of the Scarlet Knights, they found it on high alert. They could see it hung with banners that they presumed to represent each knight, as they saw the red and gold tabard of McEachern.  The party was stopped at the front door, and, when they pressed their case, the knights on guard decided that they must be connected to some kind of infiltrators they caught. They disarmed the whole party (except for Tiv, who was able to conceal her sling) and escorted them inside, presumably to meet Seabac Rua, the Master of the Order.

As they were led down the long hallway, they could hear a contentious conversation or argument coming from one of the chambers beyond. One booming voice alternated between Celtic and Latin, shouting questions like "Who are you?" "Who sent you?" "What do you want with Tír na nÓg?"  The other half was in a language most of the party didn't recognize, but Jack did, and Ceangal was able to make out what was being said using his Helm of Understanding. “I said I didn’t understand you! I still don’t understand you!  Saying it louder and slower isn’t going to help!  We are just trying to get our ship moving so we can get home!”

This absolutely amazed Jack, as he had long ago given up finding another speaker of his native tongue: English.

When the party was finally shown into the room, they saw a knight berating a man wearing no armor. The other man was wearing a light blue shirt, dark blue pants, and a small, white hat.

Jack walked right up to the man and said, “Hi, I’m Jack Flynn, and I’m from North Carolina. Who might you be?”

The man, half taken aback and half relieved, turned to him and said, “You speak English!?  I’m Andy Stokowski.”  He then named a place that didn’t mean anything to Jack. It was evident from the way he said it, that Andy expected Jack to recognize it, so Jack pressed him further.

“Is that west of the Appalachians?”

“Yeah,” said Andy, “by a lot!”

“Is it near the Great Lakes?”

Andy laughed. “Yeah, it’s right on Lake Michigan.”

Jack looked Andy up and down. He was dressed very strangely. He added, “When I entered this strange land, it was the year 1776. What year was it for you?”

Stokowski asked, “You mean that is the current the year for you?”

Jack replied, “Yes. I was traveling by ship and we were caught up in some kind of freak occurrence that landed us here.”

Andy Stokowski laughed again. “Well, Freak of 1776, I bring you salutations from the Freak of 1943.”

As Jack continued to try to figure out where Andy’s home city was, Andy grew impatient. “While I’m appreciating this geography lesson, I’ve got other members of my crew around here somewhere, and I don’t think these guys have caught them yet.”

Jack asked, “Do you have any really good weapons on your ship like my musket?”

Andy replied, “Yeah, we’ve got a shit-ton, but they’re on my ship, which ain’t here, up in these mountains. Did you see any other guys from my crew?”

“You’re the first one I’ve seen from my world since my ship has crossed into this world.”

The knights had had enough of so much communication they couldn’t understand. Realizing this, Jack blurts out, in Latin, “They are from the future of my world!”

The head knight, totally exasperated, threw his hands up and said, “Lock them all up. Just lock them all up for now. Comb the grounds for other intruders.

At this, Murchad uses his ring of invisibility. When the others see him do that, Vedica and Dwårfy do the same, Jack activates his amulet of invisibility, and Tiv flipped up the hood of her cloak of elven hijinks, leaving Ceangal and Andy standing there alone. Ceangal cast mirror image, and another image of himself appeared nearby.

The knights, knowing magic when they see it, closed the chamber doors, seized Andy, Ceangal, and Ceangal’s image (which promptly disappeared), and began leading them away. The rest of the party followed the three guards bringing Ceangal and Andy to the dungeon while the rest of the knights tried to locate them back in the chamber. 

Halfway to the dungeon, the party waylaid the three guards and knocked them out, taking their weapons.

They are now set to reclaim their weapons, find Andy’s crewmates, and get back to the strange ship in Fillí.