We kicked off this episode by finishing up the Romeo and Juliette romance we explored last week. After getting Slimon, head of the Rollers, back to their base along with Globella and the rest of the survivers of the McRoach’s attack - the party discussed what came next. Not much was decided, but the party was rewarded handsomely for their trouble, and acquired some more Moon Dust as a thank you for saving the king.
Axe, symbol of Brom
The party headed out of the Bugeyed Swamps and stopped at a small port city on their way to the Desert. They went on a small shopping spree with their newly acquired wealth, and went back to the inn where - surprise surprise - they met Tilly!
Tilly had previously given the party a magical ladder in exchange for Moon Dust in a previous town, and she offered the same here, although with a bit more of a selection. This time around, of note were a magic spatula that caught Nessa’s eye for being able to perfectly scrape any goop off any surface, as well as Halverson’s Haversack - a bag-of-holding like object which had enough air to support life, but which closed on anyone who entered it, and which presently held 32 Squirrel Skeletons (yet unexplained). In addition, the party was introduced to an ominous ring that had been taken off a dying man which supposedly granted wishes (clip) - which Jin had to talk Solthiera down from using. Finally, the party was introduced to a strange item, called a Splicket. At first it seemed innocuous, but upon further inspection it seemed to have some sort of inner will of its own.
The party went with the Haversack, but Nessa still coveted the spatula. She tried to negotiate with Tilly, and got a taste of what was to come - the lights went dim, Tilly’s face grew dark, and negotiations began. While Nessa lacked anything compelling because of Tilly’s “No Tradesies Backsies” rule, Tilly did propose one trade: Wear a ring for her. Of course, Nessa sensed the danger in this trade, and promptly turned it down.
The party wrapped up for the night and went to bed. The next morning, they began their preparations to head out. In particular, they picked up a guide to help them through the hazardous desert - an archeologist who had been having a hard time finding travel partners to weather the harsh desert.
They set off, and while things were difficult, they did eventually make it to the desert town of Kewden.
A Book, symbol of Soltheira
There, they saw a Gondola stretching over the mountains, tempting them with quick and easy passage across the difficult terrain. Unfortunately, they found the machine nonoperational - the nearby worker explaining that the gondola had been taken down for maintenance, and every crew sent out wound up attacked and scattered before completing the job.
From here, the party got a bit of a runaround. The worker said that this happened because the big boss made a deal with a Meta Gnoll in exchange for some booze, and when they went to the boss, he said that an alpine dragon had been bogarting the site.
They decided to see with their own eyes, and, after signing some liability waivers, trekked out to the maintenance site.
There, they found several Demon Cats. After some tense RP, the party asked why they hated humans so much. It turned out - long ago, they had an item stolen from them. Details were sparse, but it seemed pretty clear that Tilly had stolen the Splicket from the demon cats, and that caused them to lose the favor of their god.
With this new found information, the party made a deal: The Demon Cats would follow them back to Kewden, and they would take some Moon Dust from them (called by the cats “pretty purr powder”) and trade Tilly for the Splicket.
Long story short, the party returned back and talked with Tilly. After some very tense negotiations, where it was made clear that Tilly’s “no takesies backsies” rule applied to the Demon Cats as well, she consented to giving the party the Splicket. But, not before Jin went outside and found out the Demon Cats that had followed them had been turned into Squirrel Skeletons.
A Knife, symbol of Nessa
The party returned with their new artifact, but, unfortunately, the remaining demon cat suspected them of killing their compatriots. Battle ensued, and the party quickly dispatched with them.
Somewhat macabre mission technically complete, they set about fixing the gondola’s tower and returned to town. The next day, the party finally set off - final destination in sight.
The party reached the heart grove and asked their questions, then returned home. We speculated about what might lie in the future for our characters, and that was that! We could include the questions and the speculation here, but it seems almost inappropriate for a story about journeys to share the end in a format like this. Nonetheless, you can catch the final scene in the VoD above.
In the end, this was a really fun system to run and series to produce. We had a lot of cool characters and moments, and a lot of interesting sights and scenes. But, ultimately, what makes a story special is that it ends, allowing us and you to move on to the another story! So, we hope you’ll take this series for the small gem it is, and join us next time for our next awesome adventure~