Saralas: The Feywild Chapter 9

Translated from the original Elven by the historian Steve Block

The Chef

We were gathered in the dining room in Bavlorna's cottage, and at a decision point. It seemed our options were to keep exploring this floor, or to walk into Bavlorna's living room and introduce ourselves. I had the feeling that no matter what we did we'd have to talk with her eventually, but wasn't keen to start.

Resda thought maybe we should go through the smallway, and explore Bavlorna's room while trying to stay hidden. I worried though that we'd return to normal size shortly after coming out from under the furniture. Korag confirmed that he fully cleared the doorway, but he never came out from underneath whatever cabinet or cupboard the door was hidden underneath.

My goal in this house was to find Clapperclaw's head so that we could give it back to him and then travel to Thither. I'd promised to help him and Bun help their friends who were held by another one of the hags of the Hourglass Coven. I also hoped to learn more there about how Zabilna and the others of Prismeer were imprisoned. Unfortunately, finding the head might require us to talk to Bavlorna, if we couldn't find a way to sneak past her.

"I want to learn as much as I can about this cauldron the coven used to imprison Zabilna," I said.

"Well the cauldron is outside," said Korag.

"Didn't we find a little cauldron downstairs?" asked Resda.

I sighed, and then tried to explain. "All that was in the little cauldron was a piece of paper with a word on it, 'spittlespew'. I think it was a model of the cauldron outside, and that was the password to open the lid." I turned to Korag. "I'm sure that cauldron outside is Bavlorna's but the story from Sir Televar was the three sisters together used another cauldron to take over Prismeer. He said a name but I didn't recognize it and didn't get it written down. But I'm sure it wasn't Bavlorna."

Korag grimaced. He looked doubtful, but I was sure.

"Well, fine, so what next?" he asked.

"I think we should keep exploring first," said Resda. "Do you think she knows we're here?"

"I think she does," said Kaira. "This is her lair."

"Is it though? Or is it just a place where she is?" asked Korag.

"I agree with Kaira," I chimed in. "Even if she's somehow not aware we're here, it's better to assume she is. There's no downside to it. But let's explore, we can always go in if we have to."

The only way forward that didn't go into Bavlorna's living room was through the room with the still, so we headed back there, Kaira in the lead. She approached the far door, listening before she opened it.

"I hear something clanging and banging in there," she relayed. She peered closely at the door, but there was no keyhole to peek through. She opened the door a crack, quietly, and peeked through.

"There's a hallway, and bloodstains," she relayed in a hoarse whisper. "I'm going in." And she slipped through the crack. I followed and let the door close behind us.

We went down the short hall and entered a large bloodstained kitchen. There was a short, stout figure running around the kitchen making a ruckus. As we headed cautiously into the room we heard another loud bang and some swearing.

We got closer to the commotion and saw the figure was wearing a stained apron, iron boots, and a crimson cap. She was chasing a pair of vultures around, swinging wildly at them with a huge cleaver. The running, the swearing, and the clanging was her and the birds. I supposed this was the chef.

She saw us enter the kitchen and called out, "Help! Help! These vultures flew in the window and I can't get them out!"

One quick nod from Kaira, then she rushed forward and grabbed one of the vultures by the neck. I followed, grabbing the second. "What should we do with them?" I asked the chef.

"Kill them," she said, running over with her huge cleaver. She grabbed the bird from me by the neck, took it over to a cutting board, and swiftly cut off its head. She then did the same with Kaira's bird.

"What a fuckin' mess," she said. "At least there'll be a little extra meat for the pot." She looked at us keenly. "Now what are you two doing here?"

"We heard a commotion from outside, and were worried, so we came in here to try to help," Kaira said.

"So you're thieves," she declared as she started dressing the birds.

"No, of course not!" Kaira said. "We're here to help."

"I don't fuckin' care, lass," the chef said with a shake of her head. "Take what you want, just leave me out of it."

I couldn't help myself. "Out of curiosity," I said, "why don't you care if thieves are here?"

"Reckon maybe I would if she treated me better," she sighed. "Still, I'm glad to have a job. Better than working for those fuckers in town. Fucking frogs." She turned back to Kaira, fixing her with a shrewd gaze. "Now, what are you here for?"

"We're looking for a head," I said vaguely.

"What kind of head?" She turned to peer at me, tossing the dressed, almost appetizing looking birds into the stew pot.

"A stag's head," I replied.

"Oh, that's upstairs in her treasure room," she said, wiping her hands on her apron. "Good luck getting there though. Only way up is through her living room, and she's always in there." She snorted. "She getting robbed right now actually, not that I fuckin' care."

"We saw someone else was in there with her, but we didn't see any robbery," I replied.

"Well, you also didn't see her fuckin' shadow now, did you? She snipped it off and it's off rummaging around while she distracts Bavlorna with tea. Charm's her name, a darkling elder of the Moongrave clan." She barked a laugh. "They're 'friends,' and Bavlorna's so conceited she thinks everyone is under her thumb. She doesn't even suspect."

"If they're friends why is she stealing from Bavlorna?" I asked.

"Thief's gonna thief ain't she?" The chef laughed again.

"Is there any other way upstairs?" I asked.

"Nope, there's only the one way, through the living room. The stairs are in there." She looked as us again. "In case it helps, she's allergic to people running widdershins."

"Widdershins, like this?" I asked, turning counterclockwise in a circle.

"You got it. Makes her sneeze something fierce." She started shooing us out of the room. "Now get out of here before you get me in trouble."

"Wait, which door goes to Bavlorna's study?" I asked.

In answer she pointed towards a nearby hallway while she pushed us towards the way we came in. "Out! Out!"

We headed back down the hall and rejoined the others in the room with the still. Kaira briefly relayed what we learned. "So there's no way up without going through her living room," she finished.

"What if we flew?" asked Resda. "Maybe there's a window or balcony up there we can go through from down here? I could fly up and drop a rope down for you all. Or I could go invisible and try to sneak past them."

"Do you think she has true sight?" I asked. "Would she be able to see through the spell like Auril did?"

"What if we just talked to Bavlorna?" said Karthos. "We could return the book and help her catch this Charm in the act. She might even give us the head in return."

Korag scratched his head. "Or," he said slowly, "do you think the chef would be up for putting poison in that stew you mentioned?"

Surprised at this idea, I looked at him, eyes narrowed.

"I really doubt it," said Kaira with a shake of her head. "She doesn't like Bavlorna, but seemed happy enough to have the job. I don't think she'd risk it. I think we should head in and talk to her. We can return the book."

Bavlorna

That seemed like a reasonable plan to me. We headed back into the kitchen and down the hallway, and entered Bavlorna's living room through the kitchen door, Resda leading the way.

Korag's description was accurate but didn't capture the full effect. Bavlorna was hideously ugly, decrepit, and flies came out of her mouth when she opened it. She seemed unhappy to see us, sighing at our appearance in her living room. The darkling, Charm, looked nervous to see us.

"Hi," Resda said, moving a little ways into the room. "We found your book."

"My book? What book is that?" she said, squinting at Resda. "You look familiar, child. Come closer."

Resda moved closer to the hag, and Bavlorna squinted up at her, examining her closely. Then she pinched Resda's check with her decrepit claw. "Why I know you child! You're Resda, the most famous sorceress in all of the planes!"

"All of the planes!" I exclaimed, incredulous.

Bavlorna ignored the outburst. "But what book, child?"

"Your book, the one King Gullup said he found."

"Is he still king, then?" she asked. "I'm surprised."

"Well, there were some people gunning for him," I offered. "But we decided to not get involved."

"That was very wise," she nodded. "But what book exactly?"

"This book," I said, pulling out the Big Book of Bad Blood and handing it to her.

"Oh, this old thing," she said, flipping through it. She laughed. "He probably had it stolen from me."

"Yes, I thought the same," I said.

"We're looking for something else too," Kaira said, joining the conversation. She described the stag's head we sought. "We thought you might have an idea, since you are such a keen student of taxidermy."

"Oh, indeed I am. That's a rare thing in these parts. I happen to have recently come across one though." She glanced at the darkling, "Charm here sold it to me."

"Well, it's probably time for me to go," Charm said at this, standing up quickly.

Resda moved to block the door. "No, why don't you stay?"

"How did you come across it?" Kaira asked Charm.

"Oh I found it, and thought of my friend Bavlorna." She laughed nervously, and clearly wanted to leave. Korag shifted to block the way to another door.

"Can you please show it to us?" Resda asked. Charm made to leave again, but Resda put her hand out. "I insist you come with us, since you were the one to find it."

"How could I refuse the great Resda Highgrove?" said Bavlorna, standing up.

"It's so nice to meet such a distinguished lady," said Professor Skant. "These others are such brutes."

Bavlorna chuckled, looking at the orb. "That's so delightful, is there a little person in there?"

"Kind of," said Resda. "That's Professor Skant."

She wanted to buy Skant, and asked how much we'd see him for. Karthos clearly wanted to get rid of the orb, but Resda spoke again. "That's really up to Skant here, and he's become quite a dear friend."

"I thank you for the offer, kind lady," Skant said, "but I'd really like to stay with Lady Highrove."

"Fine, fine," said Bavlorna, disappointed. "If you ever do want to sell it though keep me in mind."

She lead us to the upper rooms, Charm in tow, looking quite nervous. Bavlorna approached the door and waved her hand and the door flew open. Behind it was a shadow, rummaging through her belongings.

"What is this!?" said Bavlorna.

Karthos moved to block the staircase.

Charm made a run for another door out of the room, but Korag was ready, and stuck out his huge foot. She tripped over it, falling to the ground.

Bavlorna cast a spell to freeze Charm in place. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. She was being awfully nice at tea." She sighed again, "I suppose you've earned it at this point." She took the stag's head down and gave it to Resda.

"Thank you very much Bavlorna."

"Now, I'm going to have a long night having a very serious conversation with dear Charm, and you probably don't want to be here." She waved us out of the room.

"Let's head back to the boat," I said, and we left quite quickly the way we came.

As we left, Charm screamed for mercy behind us. "Please kill me!" she wailed. I tried to shut it out but was not successful.

"Well, she did do crimes," said Korag. Maybe so, I thought, but we were planning to do the same thing if talking didn't work.

The Darkling Balloon

We left the cottage by the trap door and headed down the stairs back to the boat. Clapperclaw was quite delighted to see his head again. He took it from Resda, then removed his gourd, lowering it to the ground. Then he carefully placed the stag's head on his shoulders. In a way it was a terrible sight, but it also kind of looked right. He was like a little wendigo.

"How did things go with Bavlorna?" he asked with his proper head.

"Oh, well enough," I said, as a screaming wail drifted down from the windows above.

We rowed back across the lake, bickering about our responsibility for the screams.

"You all conspired together to make this happen," I said. "My hands are clean."

"You were there and you didn't stop it. Your hands are not clean," said Karthos seriously.

"At least I didn't actively cause it."

"Maybe we should go back," said Resda. "That sounds horrible."

"And what about Octavian?" asked Kaira. "We never found his heart."

I sighed. Maybe we should go back. But instead we kept going forward.

We docked the boat on the shore near Gullup's throne and climbed out. Nearby we saw a balloon docked, but it wasn't like any balloon we'd ever seen before. It had an enclosed wicker basket and ropes stretching upwards like a normal balloon, but instead of a big bag of gas or hot air the ropes were harnessed to a stormcloud.

Two darklings climbed out of the balloon and walked our way. "Have you seen our boss?" they asked as they approached. "Her name is Charm, a darkling like us."

"Oh she was caught stealing from Bavlorna," Karthos explained, as another wail floated down from the cottage.

"That is not good," they said, nervously. They turned and talked rapidly to each other, ignoring us. After a while they turned back. "We are but humble merchants, we buy, sell, and trade all kinds of things."

"And steal them?" asked Karthos.

"Oh no. No, no no no no, never steal," they claimed nervously, but not convincingly. "Now, are there any things that you need?"

Clapperclaw looked at the balloon. "That's quite a nice balloon." They looked even more nervous at this.

"Shall we?" said Karthos to the rest of us.

"Shall we what?" asked Korag.

"The balloon!" hissed Karthos in a loud whisper.

"Will they just let us?" Korag asked out loud.

The darklings definitely heard this. "We absolutely will not!" they yelled, and ran for their balloon.

"You're not very subtle, are you Korag," Karthos called back as he ran after them. But they got to the balloon first and slammed the door as they jumped inside. Karthos pulled on the door but it was barred and refused to open.

"You know, one of those will run forever, as long as you keep it charged," said Clapperclaw.

"This place is messing with your morality," I said. "All of you. Except Kaira, she seems alright."

"You know, for once I agree with the elf," said Skant. "This party is terrible. Lady Highgrove you should leave them behind."

Morgort, as a mouse, squeaked something mouse-ish.

Karthos looked at the mouse, and the bullywog reappeared.

"That balloon is amazing," said Morgort. "You can travel entire kingdoms in that thing."

"It's only a crime if you get caught," said Clapperclaw.

"Like I did," Morgort sighed.

"We could go back, run anticlockwise around Bavlorna, and while she's sneezing we could free Charm." I offered. "They might give us the balloon if we free their boss. And while we're there we could look for Octavian's heart too. We kind of got her into that mess."

"No, she got herself into that. She stole." Korag seemed adamant.

"We were going to steal," I said. "I'm worried about you Korag."

He looked at me levelly. "Noted."

"We could have them fly the balloon closer and help," said Resda. "Should I go talk to them since you terrorized them?"

"We could just get the other balloon and be gone in 15 minutes," said Morgort, looking around nervously.

"They are merchants, maybe they'll make a deal," said Korag.

Skant sighed. "No one thinks they are merchants, Korag."

"We should just steal this balloon," Karthos said.

"Borrow," Clapperclaw clarified. "Borrow."

"I'm going to talk to them," said Korag, moving towards the balloon.

I grabbed his arm, stopping him. "Korag, you could offer to trade the balloon from them for the information about Balvorna's allergy to running widdershins and a chance for them to save their boss."

"You, can come and tell them that." Korag said, pulling his arm away and moving forward again.

I jogged after him, looking at him quizzically. "You seem very negative today, Korag."

We reached the balloon, and Korag called to the darklings through the door. "What would you part with the balloon for?"

At this moment one of the darklings emerged, but not through the door. Her body was forced through the wicker of the basket like a paste, and then the shadow of a man rose from the balloon. It was Raksha. He pointed a finger, demanding to know where Min was.

"As before, we don't know," said Korag.

The shadow man hissed. "You know where Min is. Tell me. She hunts you."

"She hunts us?" said Korag in surprise.

He just looked at us.

"I do not know where Min is." Korag continued. The shadow hissed again, then rushed off to the palace. Screaming erupted from it shortly after.

Korag knocked on the door again. A very small voice replied, saying "Yes?"

"Are you OK?" Korag asked.

The door flew open, and the darkling, seeing the other one's remains, screamed and started throwing the ropes, making ready to leave.

Karthos jumped aboard immediately, and we all followed. The darkling gestured to Karthos to undo some of the ropes, and he did so quickly. A few moments later the balloon started rising quickly into the air. The village of Downfall disappeared behind us into the fog, and all we could hear was screams.

"What the heck was that?" Clapperclaw asked.

"A shadow," said Korag.

"That was not OK," said Clapperclaw with a shudder.

The darkling was shaken but could still competently operate the balloon. It was powered by magic, and required a competent pilot to operate. It was fueled by storms, fully powered, and Morgort, looking it over, was pretty sure she could operate it.

"I'm glad, that's why we kept you," I said.

"Kept me?" she said angrily. "You would have just left me to die otherwise?"

I apologized profusely. "I'm so sorry Morgort. That's not what I meant. We freed you because it was the right thing to do, but we hoped you could also help us pilot a balloon out of town and towards Thither." I closed my eyes and sighed. "Otherwise I would have looked for some other way to get you safely out of Downfall. It really isn't safe with us."

"Clearly not," said the shaken darkling pilot. "Did you see what that thing did to Trinket?"

We settled in a little as the balloon flew smoothly on. Bun laid on the ground, looking out the door. He seemed happy to be up in the balloon.

"So where too?" someone asked.

"I promised Bun we would help him find his friends, and Bun's friends are in Thither," I said.

Bun looked over and gave me a thumb's up.

Clapperclaw knew the way to Thither, but warned us that once we were there navigation could be difficult. Everyone was tired after the very long, eventful day and it's violent conclusion. We decided to try to rest on the balloon as we traveled.

"We should still set watches, in case we can't trust that one," said Korag, nodding at the darkling.

"I can hear you," the darkling said angrily.

"I'm sorry, no offense. We just don't know each other that well," said Korag.

"No offense taken," said the darkling. "It's been a day."

We settled in to rest. Bun sat by the door, pulled out a pipe, and lit it. I sat down near him, lighting my own pipe. We sat in silence together, smoke curling up and through the wicker of the basket.

(As he rested, Karthos had a bad dream, where he saw us rotting, grown into the ground, covered in mushrooms as we rotted away. Resda screamed, and inside her mouth he saw blue mushrooms. He did not relay this to us in the morning. I only learned much later.)

The Problem of Min

Overnight I meditated on my ranger skills and abilities. How could we find Min? I let go of spike growth, which I had never found an opportunity to use, and focused on the ability to locate objects I had seen before instead.

In the morning I felt refreshed, and decided to cast my new spell to find Min's daggers, though I doubted that it would do anything given its limited range. To my shock however I could feel the daggers very near me, about 8 feet away, below my feet.

"Min is hanging from the bottom of the basket!" I relayed. "And she's moving."

"What do we do with a Min when we find her?" asked Korag.

Karthos suggested subduing her and separating her from the daggers if we can. I agreed.

"How can we get the jump on her, so to speak?" I asked.

"Well, Resda and I can fly," answered Karthos. "Or we could set the balloon down and try to talk to her."

"I doubt she's in the mood to talk," said Resda.

"You hold her down, restrain her, and separate her from the daggers," Korag said like it was the simplest thing in the world.

"Careful Korag," I cautioned. "The daggers will try to make you do things."

"We should still try," he replied. "Surely the daggers have satiated their bloodlust by now."

I didn't like the idea much. "We could cut out the section of the balloon she's hanging from," I suggested.

"She has featherfall though," Resda reminded me. "She could fall safely and we'd lose track of her again. I could turn invisible and fly out to see what she's doing."

"Go for it Resda," said Karthos. "Don't get too close."

Resda made ready to fly, and as she cast her spell I suddenly found myself in the Ethereal Plane, in the Border Ethereal again. I could see the others dimly as through a fog. This was just like that time at the Black Cabin, and though I shouted they couldn't see or hear me.

"Resda, where did Saralas go?" Karthos asked, looking around.

"Wild magic, who knows," she responded, and flew outside. Rude. She didn't try to cast the second spell to become invisible, though.

I followed as best as I can, stepping easily through the wicker of the basket. Outside I saw Resda fly under the balloon, and saw Min hanging from the balloon. When Min saw Resda she hissed like a feral cat and drew one of those awful daggers. Her eyes were pitch black, and she didn't respond to anything Resda said.

I moved back into the balloon, where Bun started walking for the door. I made to grab him but my hand went right through him Karthos lunged for him too but missed, and Bun walked out the door and started falling towards the ground. I started after him, still in the Border Ethereal. Min, seeing this, let go of the balloon and dove after him.

Resda saw them both fall and searched the ground from her perch in the air, but couldn't see where they fell.

Karthos asked Morgort to stop the balloon. Clapperclaw walked to the door. "Why did he do that?" he asked. No one answered. "Why didn't anyone grab him?"

"I did," I cried, but no one could hear me.

"I'd better go looking," Karthos said, and turned into a raven. He flew off in the direction they fell, and I followed. He found an impact crater where Min appeared to have landed, and two sets of tracks leading off into the woods before disappearing. I thought I could probably track them if I wasn't stuck in the Ethereal Plane. He flew back up to Resda and squawked at her, and I followed.

Suddenly I returned to the material plane unexpectedly, hundreds of feet in the air. I started falling with a yelp. Resda dove after me, missing once before grabbing my hand, and cast flight.

"Where the hell did you come from?" She asked, then headed back to the ship without waiting for an answer. I followed.

"Thank you Resda," I said when we were safely back on the balloon. "I didn't expect that. Your wild magic sent me to the Border Ethereal and I didn't know how I would get back. I followed you and Karthos to investigate and then I suddenly found myself back here."

Karthos returned shortly after, shifting back to himself. "I found where they landed," he relayed. "But I lost the path before they got too far. I think we should all return to where I lost the path and try to follow them."

"I agree, Karthos," I said. "I think I can track them." Korag and Resda agreed, and Morgort successfully landed the balloon near Min's crater.

We found the tracks and could hear birdsong. The birds were singing our names though, which was unusual and disturbing. I tried to shut it out. I investigated the tracks and could definitely follow them.

"I can track them," I confirmed. "Can we have Morgort and the darkling hold the balloon in the air for us?"

"That darkling is going to try to kill me," Morgort said.

"I am not," said the darkling unconvincingly.

"We could have Morgort take the balloon up a ways and hold it, and have the darkling..." I paused for a moment, looking at them. "I don't even know your name!"

"It's Bauble," they said, "Trinket was my companion. We're humble merchants."

Raw Notes

The Chef

• We're back in the dining room and at a decision point, do we head into the room where Bavlorna is, or keep exploring around the outside. I'm fairly sure we'll have to talk with her eventually.
• Resda wonders if we should go through the smallway and see what we can see in the room, but maybe we'll return to normal size as soon as we are fully in the room.
• I think our goal is to get the head, so we can travel on to Thither and learn what we need to learn. That probably means we'll have to deal with or talk with Bavlorna in some way. The others seem to want to put it off.
• We have a long discussion about Bavlorna's cauldron and I tried to explain how I'm fairly certain that the cauldron outside is Bavlorna's, but that the cauldron used to cast the spell to take over Prismeer was an entirely different cauldron. Korag doesn't appear to have been paying attention the last few hours.
• Korag wants to know what we do next. We decide to keep going around sneakily instead of just meeting with Bavlorna. We head into the still room.
• Kaira goes to open the door, but as she approaches she hears a loud commotion on the other side, like metal rattling, clanging, and banging. She carefully peeks in, and sees a short hallway leading to a bloodstained kitchen. There is a figure moving around in the kitchen making a ruckus doing kitchen things. There is another loud bang and some swearing.
• Kaira goes in and I follow her.
• In this gore-spattered kitchen a small stout figure with a stained apron, iron boots, and a crimson cap chase a pair of vultures around. It's a chef. "Help! Help! These vultures flew in the window and I can't get them out." Kaira, hearing this, grabs one, and I grab the second.
• "What should we do with them?" I ask the chef?
• "Kill them," the chef says, and runs over with a huge cleaver. The chef grabs the bird from me by the neck and cuts off its head. The chef then does the same with Kaira's bird.
• "What a fuckin' mess," she says. "At least there'll be a little extra meat for the pot." She looks at us keenly. "Now what are you doing here?"
• "We heard a commotion from outside, and came in," says Kaira.
• "So you're thieves." She declares. Kaira tries to deny it.
• "I don't fuckin' care, lass," she says. "Take what you want, just leave me out of it."
• "Out of curiosity why don't you care if thieves are here?" I ask.
• "Maybe I would if she treated me better. Still I'm glad to have a job. Better than working for those fuckers in town. Fucking frogs."
• "What are you here for?"
• "We're looking for a head." I say, vaugely.
• "What kind of head," she peers at me sharply.
• "A stag's head." I reply.
• "Oh, that's upstairs in her treasure room. Good luck getting there though." She says.
• She also tells us "She's allergic to people running widdershins," she says. "It makes here sneeze."
• "She's getting robbed right now actually, not that I fucking care."
• "I saw someone else in there, but I didn't see any robbery." I say.
• "Well you also didn't see her fuckin' shadow, did you? She snipped it off and it's rummaging around upstairs. Charm's her name. She's a darkling elder of the moongrave clan. They're "friends", but Bavlorna's so conceited she thinks everyone is under her thumb, and a thief is going to thief."
• "Is there any other way upstairs?" I ask.
• "No, there's only the one way, through the living room. The stairs are there."
• "I suppose that would be too easy." I mutter.
• "Which door goes to Bavlorna's study?" I ask, and she points me to the hallway.
• "Now get out of here before you get me in trouble," she says, and shoos Kaira and I out.
• We head back to the still and relay what we learned to the others. We talk for a while about what to do next, including Resda flying up to see if there's another way in up there, going in to convince Bavlorna that Charm is stealing from her, trading her the book back, Resda going invisible, or similar.
• Korag suggests trying to convince the chef to poison Bavlorna. Kaira and Karthos are in favor of going in and handing the book back.

Bavlorna

• We decide to do that, and head into Bavlorna's study through the kitchen door, Resda leading the way.
• Bavlorna is ugly, as Korag relayed, and flies come out of her mouth when she opens it. She seems unhappy to see us, and sighs. Charm looks a little nervous at our arrival.
• "We found your book," Resda says.
• "My book?" she says. "You look familiar," squinting at Resda. "Come closer."
• Resda comes closer, and she squints at her closely, then pinches her cheek with a decrepit claw. "I know you, you're the most famous sorceress in all of the planes!"
• "All of the planes?!" I exclaim.
• "But what book?" she asks.
• "Your book that the King says he found"
• "Is he still king? I'm surprised"
• "Well there were some people gunning for him," I say, "But we decided to not get involved."
• "That was very wise." She says. "But what book exactly?"
• "This book," I say, and pull out the Big Book of Bad Blood
• She flips through it, says, "Oh, this old thing," and laughs. "He probably had it stolen from me."
• "We're looking for something else, too," says Kaira, describing the stag's head.
• "Oh, that's a rare thing in these parts. I happen to have recently come across one, Charm here sold it to me."
• "Well, it's probably time for me to go," says Charm, standing up.
• Resda moves to block the door, "Why don't you stay?" she says.
• "How did you come across it?" Kaira asks Charm.
• "Oh I found it, and though of my friend Bavlorna."
• Charm clearly wants to leave, and the party clearly won't let her.
• "Can you please show it to us?" Resda asks.
• "How could I refuse the great Resda Highgrove?" says Bavlorna.
• Charm tries to leave, but Resda insists that she come with.
• "It's so nice to meet such a distinguished lady," says Skant.
• Bavlorna chuckles, looking at the orb. "That's so delightful, is there a little person in there?"
• "Kind of," says Resda. "That's Professor Skant."
• She wants to buy Skant, and asks how much we'd see him for. Karthos is tempted, but Resda says it's up to Skant and he's a dear friend.
• Bavlorna leads us to the upper rooms. Charm is looking quite nervous. Bavlorna approaches the door and waves her hand, the door flying open. A shadow is revelased, rummaging through her belongings.
• "What is this?" says Bavlorna.
• Karthos blocks the staircase.
• Charm makes a run for the door to the south, but Korag is ready. She trips over his extended foot, falling to the ground.
• Bavlorna casts a spell to freeze Charm in place. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, she was being awfully nice at tea."
• She sighs again, "I suppose you've earned it at this point." She takes the stag's head down and gives it to Resda.
• "Thank you very much Bavlorna."
• "I'm going to have a long night having a serious conversation with Charm, and you probably don't want to be here."
• "Let's head back to the boat," I say, and we all leave soon.
• As we do, we hear Charm screaming for mercy behind us. "Please kill me!" she wails.
• I try to shut it out.
• "Well, she did do crimes," says Korag.

The Darkling Balloon

• We head back to the boat. Clapperclaw is quite delighted to see his head again.
• He takes the head from Resda, and then takes off the gourd, lowering it to the ground. Then he carefully places the stag's head on his shoulders, and it kind of looks right. He's like a little Wendigo.
• "How did things go with Bavlorna?" he asks.
• "Oh, well enough," I say, as screaming comes down from the windows above.
• We row back across the lake, bickering about our responsibility for this.
• "Hey you all conspired together to make this happen," I say. "My hands are clean."
• "You were there, you didn't stop this. Your hands are not clean," says Karthos seriously.
• As we walk we also discuss Octavian, whos heart we did not find. Maybe we should look for it, but we're nervous to go back.
• We see a balloon docked near the throne, but it's not really a balloon but a stormcloud that has been harnessed and tied to a basket.
• Two darklings approach from out of the balloon, asking if we have seen their boss, Charm, a darkling like them.
• "Oh she was caught stealing from Bavlorna," Karthos explains.
• "That is not good, they say," then ignore us to talk among themselves.
• They turn back. "We are but humble merchants, we buy, sell and trade all kinds of things."
• "And steal them?" Karthos asks.
• "Oh no, no no no no no," they claim.
• Clapperclaw looks at the balloon, and says "that's quite a nice balloon."
• The darklings look even more nervous.
• "Shall we?" says Karthos.
• "Shall we what?" says Korag.
• "The balloon!" says Karthos.
• "Will they just let us?" Korag asks.
• "We absolutely will not!" the darklings say, and run for their balloon.
• "You're not very subtle, are you Korag," Karthos says, and runs after them. But they get to the balloon first, getting inside and slamming and barring the door.
• "You know, one of those will run forever, as long as you keep it charged," says Clapperclaw.
• "This place is messing with your morality," I say. "Except Kaira, she seems alright."
• "You know, for once I agree with the elf," says Skant. "This party is terrible. Lady Highgrove you should leave them behind."
• Morgort, as a mouse, squeaks.
• Karthos looks at the mouse, and the bullywog reappears.
• "That balloon is amazing," says Morgort. "You can go to entire kingdoms in that thing."
• "It's only a crime if you get caught," says Clapperclaw.
• Morgort sighs. "Like I did."
• We talk about what to do next.
• I suggest that we could go back, run anticlockwise, and while Bavlorna is sneezing get the darkling out. And look for the heart.
• Korag is adamant that Charm got herself into this position.
• "I'm worried about you Korag," I say.
• He looks at me levelly. "Noted."
• "We could have them fly the balloon closer and help," says Resda. "Should I go talk to them since you terrorized them?"
• "We could just get the other balloon and be gone in 15 minutes," says Morgort, looking nervously.
• "They are merchants, maybe they'll make a deal," says Korag.
• Skant sighs. "No one thinks they are merchants, Korag."
• "We should just steal this balloon." Karthos.
• "Borrow," says Clapperclaw. "Borrow."
• Korag decides he is going to talk to them.
• "Korag, you could offer to trade the balloon from them for the information about balvorna's allergy to running widdershins."
• "You, can come and tell them that." Korag says.
• I look at him quizzically. "You seem very negative today, Korag."
• We head to the balloon and Korag tries to make a deal with them. "What would you part with it for?"
• At this moment one of the darklings emerges, her body pressing forced through the wicker of the basket like a paste, and the shadow of a man rises from the balloon. It's Raksha. He points a finger, demanding to know where Min is.
• "As before, we don't know," says Korag.
• The man hisses. "You know where Min is. Tell me. She hunts you."
• "She hunts us?" says Korag.
• He just looks at us.
• "I do not know where Min is." Korag says. The shadow hisses again, then rushes off to the palace, where screaming erupts.
• Korag knocks on the door again.
• A very small voice replies, saying "yes?"
• "Are you OK?" Korag asks.
• The door flies open, and the darkling, seeing the other darkling's remains, screams and starts throwing the ropes, making ready to leave.
• Karthos jumps on immediately, and we all follow. The darkling gestures to Karthos to undo some of the ropes, and he helps. A few moments later the balloon rises quickly into the air. We see the village of Downfall disappear into the fog, and all we hear is screams.
• "What the heck was that?" Clapperclaw asks.
• "A shadow," says Korag.
• "That was not OK," says Clapperclaw.
• The darkling competently operates the balloon, visibly shaken but capable. The balloon is powered by magic, and requires a competent pilot to operate. It is fueled by storms, fully powered, and Morgort, looking it over is pretty sure she can operate it.
• I stick my foot in my mouth and have to apologize to Morgort. I didn't meant that we only kept her because she was a pilot, but more that we hoped she could help us pilot out of here, otherwise I would have looked for another way to get her safely out of Downfall, since it isn't safe with us.
• Bun is currently laying on the ground, looking out the door. He seems happy to be up in the balloon.
• Where to next?
• "I think we promised Bun we would help him find his friends, and Bun's friends are in Thither," I say.
• But looks over and gives a thumb's up.
• Clapperclaw knows the way to Thither, but once we are there navigation could be difficult.
• We talk about trying to rest on the balloon as we travel.
• "We should still set watches, in case we can't trust that one," says Korag, nodding at the darkling.
• "I can hear you," the darkling says.
• "I'm sorry, no offense. We just don't know each other that well," says Korag.
• "No offense taken."
• We settle in to rest. Bun sits by the door, pulls out a pipe, and lights it. I sit near him, lighting my own pipe.
• As he rests, Karthos has a bad dream, where he sees us rotting, grown into the ground, covered in mushrooms as we rot away. Resda screams, and inside her mouth he sees blue mushrooms. He does not relay this to us in the morning.

The Problem of Min

• Overnight I meditate to learn to locate objects I have seen.
• In the morning I feel refreshed. I decide to cast the spell, doubting that it will do anything.
• To my shock I feel the daggers about 8 feet away, below my feet. Min is hanging from the bottom of the basket!
• I relay this to the others. The daggers are moving. She is probably coming.
• "What do we do with a Min when we find her?"
• Karthos suggests subduing her and separating her from the daggers if we can. I agree.
• "How can we get the jump on her, so to speak," I say.
• "Well, Resda and I can fly," says Karthos. "Or we could set the balloon down and try to talk to her."
• "I doubt she's in the mood to talk," says Resda.
• "You hold her down, restrain her, and separate her from the daggers," Korag says.
• "The daggers will try to make you do things," I caution.
• "We should still try, surely the daggers have satiated their bloodlust by now."
• "We could cut out the section of the balloon she's hanging from," I suggest.
• "She has featherfall though," Resda reminds me. "I could turn invisible and fly out to see what she's doing."
• "Go for it Resda," says Karthos. "Don't get too close."
• Resda makes to fly, and suddenly I find myself in the ethereal plane, in the Border Ethereal. I can see the others dimly.
• "Resda, where did Saralas go?" Karthos asks.
• "Wild magic, who knows." She responds, and flies outside.
• I follow as best as I can. She flies under the balloon, and sees Min hanging from the balloon. When she sees Resda, she hisses and draws a dagger. Her eyes are pitch black, as black as she's ever seen. Bun starts walking for the door. I make to grab him but my hand goes right through him. He falls out the door and falls. Min, seeing this, lets go of the balloon and dives after him.
• Resda searches but cannot see where they fell.
• Karthos asks Morgort to stop the balloon. Clapperclaw walks to the door. "Why did he do that?" he asks. No one has an answer. "Why didn't anyone grab him?"
• "I did," I cry, but no one can hear me.
• Karthos turns into a raven and flies off to find them. He finds an impact crater where Min appears to have landed, and two sets of tracks leading off into the woods before disappearing. He flies back up to Resda and squawks at her.
• I followed them through the air to investigate, and suddenly I return to the material plane unexpectedly. I start falling. Resda makes for me, missing once before grabbing my hand, and casting flight. She heads back to the ship, and I follow.
• "Thank you Resda, I didn't expect that."
• Karthos returns, and shifts back to himself, he relays what he found, but that he lost the path.
• "I think we should return to where you lost the path and try to follow them," says Karthos. I agree, as do Korag and Resda.
• Morgort successfully pilots the balloon and lands. We find the tracks, and hear birdsong. The birds are singing our names, which is disturbing.
• I investigate the tracks and I can follow them. I suggest we do so. "Can we have Morgort and the darkling hold the balloon for us?"
• "That darkling is going to try to kill me," Morgort says.
• "I am not," says the darkling unconvincingly.
• "We could have Morgort take the balloon up a ways and hold it, and have the darkling..." I pause for a moment, looking at them. "I don't even know your name!"
• "It's Bauble," they say, "Trinket was my companion. We're humble merchants."