Session Three:
The group goes through some stereotypical haunted woods, where the eshu and Spike go wandering off the path. Spike is killed, the eshu merely mauled. Beyond the forest is a small freehold, complete with a boggan house, a baby-eating mill, and a seedy tavern. The redcap ends up repairing fences for the boggan, while the eshu and the sluagh head down to the tavern. There, the eshu gets free dinner for himself and the sluagh by regaling the unseelie locals with tales of slaying winter wolves. In the corner is a large mute troll with a loud, drunk chimerical parrot who translates his sign language. There’s some carousing, and a bar fight, and business is so good that the barkeep gives the eshu and the sluagh free rooms for the night. The rooms are moldy, slimy, abandoned, and absolutely disgusting…the sluagh couldn’t be happier. The redcap stays with the boggan. The next day, the troll, the eshu, and the sluagh go out to investigate the mill and its Miller, who eats children. The redcap spends his day repairing boggan fences. The troll, eshu, and sluagh leave the Dreaming for awhile to question children about the Miller. They investigate the mill outside of the Dreaming, where the sluagh picks up a ragged, bloodied doll and pockets it. Upon return to the Dreaming, they head up to the mill with intent to fight. They force entry and slay the Miller. The eshu gets a sword and a bag of money, the troll gets a shield and helm, and the sluagh gets a necklace of teeth. The story of their slaying gets them another free night at the tavern. The eshu buys a horse, Dmitri. We learn that the troll’s name is Beorn. The next morning, the sluagh rolls willpower and manages to avoid crying as she leaves behind the wonderfully dank and abandoned room at the tavern. The group eventually comes to a pass with a sign saying that once you start on the pass through the cliff, you cannot stop accompanied by this warning: the faster you go, the faster it will follow. The group decides to stroll through the pass in the morning, and camps just outside it. Beorn kills a small, stray deer. It takes the group two days to get through the pass, but the stamina rolls are just good enough to keep them from having to fight the pass-thing. They reach a lake, camp, and the eshu manages to kill and prepare some damn savory moose. The sluagh takes part of an antler. As a whole, the group packs up fifty pounds of moose to supplement their supplies, and the eshu tosses out the remains of the wolf haunch. The redcap and sluagh spot smoke and the group heads out. They get a ferryman to take them across the lake in exchange for ten pounds of delicious, delicious moose and a gold piece from the eshu, but not until Beorn has attacked a gazebo and chased it into the lake, where it was devoured by a monster. The ferryman asks if the group is going to see the Hag or the Face… they’re going to see the Hag. Once on the island, they find the Hag’s house. Everyone but the sluagh sees her as an attractive young woman… the sluagh sees her for what she is. The Hag finds the sluagh rude because she points this out to her companions, and even more rude when the sluagh refuses both tea and scones while the redcap and eshu eat. The Hag sends the group off to slay a herd of cows who are bringing Order to her island. The eshu, the troll, and the redcap go after them, while the sluagh remains with the Hag. When they return from slaughtering, the Hag answers their questions and instructs them to see the Face for further information. It is the heart of the mountain, exposed by water. She warns them not to go to the bone pond. Sadly, there’s an eshu in the group, so the eshu, troll, and sluagh go to the bone pond while the redcap goes to the Face. There’s a serpent at the bone pond, and the little group spends quite a while fighting it and emerge victorious with a bag full of scales and a few teeth.
Player’s Note: Will was fantastic as the Hag. So fantastic, in fact, that I’m glad that nobody thought to ask how to talk to the face, which means that I can go back to her and talk and justify my gremayre points. “North and north and north again, and deeper into dreams.” I was a little scared. She’s getting my vote as favorite NPC. I didn’t particularly care for the Miller situation, but I liked getting the morbid necklace and the doll out of it, both of which I can one day use as props. I learned to cast bunks today and they’re wonderful things. I have decided that I really like bunks.
Session Four