Saralas: The Feywild Chapter 12

To Little Oak

Having learned much about Wodna and about mushrooms, we thanked the unicorn and took our leave of her and the Wayward Pool. Kaira was eager to get moving again. I asked the group if we wanted to keep heading for Little Oak as we’d planned, or to check out Loomlurch first.

Baerwin thought it best to keep looking for Little Oak, hoping maybe to learn more about Loomlurch, Granny Nightshade’s stronghold. It made sense to the rest of us, though more than ever Karthos was worried about the conditions of the world mushroom. He seemed distracted after the night and the information learned from the unicorn.

“Go on Clapperclaw,” Baerwin said heartily. “Show us the way!”

We walked a while through the forest, and eventually found ourselves at another fairy ring, much like the one we had found the day before. This time though there were no little mushrooms dancing about, just the toadstools of the ring. I stopped to inspect it more closely. I could see the ring was made up of various species of mushroom, but they had all grown together by some magical means, until they intertwined above and below ground into a single entity. The ring was fairly large.

“These are all over the forest,” Clapperclaw said casually as I looked things over.

“Still not Fey enough, right Karthos?” I asked over my shoulder.

“Not nearly enough,” he replied with a laugh. “Kaira, you’re in charge now, where to?”

“Let’s go back to the carnival,” Kaira said brightly.

I sighed. “Kaira, first we’d need to find a mirror to go back. Second that doesn’t solve our problems. Third, it doesn’t help the people of this land.”

She shrugged.

“Let’s keep going to find Clapperclaw’s friends,” Baerwin said loudly.

Kaira smiled. “I didn’t want to be in charge!”

Arguing With Children

After some time walking through the forest we found ourselves entering a clearing. A small group of children were frolicking around a leafy oak tree. Painted swings dangled from the tree’s branches, and a ramshackle treehouse was perched near the top of the old tree.

“Bun, Clapperclaw, are any of these kids your friends?” I asked as we watched the scene from the shade of the forest.

They looked for a while, then shook their heads no, but kept watching curiously.

Karthos and I ventured forward and waved hello. As soon as the kids saw us they screamed and rushed into the treehouse. The door slammed shut behind them and then a child’s voice shouted “stand down or face merry hell!”

“We mean no harm,” Karthos called back.

“Not likely!” the voice shouted.

“We’re not here to enslave you and steal your souls!” Karthos yelled, entirely convincingly.

The voice, though small, was determined. “Granny Nightshade will not have us. We are free and will remain so.”

“We’re here to defeat Nightshade,” Karthos said.

“Well you’re in the wrong place,” the child called. “She’s in Loomlurch!”

“Where is Loomlurch?” he asked.

At this the the door opened a crack and a small hand snaked out, pointing towards the forest, not quite in the direction we came from.

I laughed a little at this. “We’re trying to help free our friends’ friends,” I called towards the tree, gesturing at Bun and Clapperclaw. “Do you know where others like them may be kept?”

“Loomlurch! It’s where she makes her slaves! And we are not going back! No way, no how!”

“Well, is there any secret way in that we should know about?” I asked but got no response.

“Did any of you come from the carnival?” Baerwin asked. “Were you snatched up and brought here?”

The child replied, but more slowly this time. “Maybe? It gets hard to remember and I don’t want to remember my time with Nightshade.”

“Do you know a cub, named Star?” Baerwin asked.

“What about the cub?” the voice said cautiously.

“His mother was looking for him,” Baerwin replied. Resda pulled out the toy she had from Star’s mother.

“I cannot be certain,” the boy said. “But I think that child is in Nightshade’s clutches.”

“Is any one of you named Will?” Baerwin asked.

“No…” the voice said unconvincingly.

Resda smiled at this. “But if there was a Will, could he help?”

“I’m not Will!” the boy called back.

Baerwin was growing exasperated. “They’re little children,” he said with a huff. “They won’t be able to help fight.”

“I didn’t expect they would,” I replied. “What did you think we’d find?”

“I expected tweens with more fighting skills!” He was getting worked up. “Swords, shenanigans, eager for a scrap! Not little kids!”

“I’m eleven!” the voice shouted.

Suddenly a displacer beast kitten jumped out of the window and ran down the tree up to Resda and started playing with the ball.

“OK…” the voice said, “maybe I did know where the cub was. But you can’t be trusted.”

“Well we certainly can’t take her with us right now,” Resda said slowly. “But we want to get her back to her mother.”

“Not-Will,” I said, “Could you get the cub back to the carnival if we helped you find the portal?”

“I don’t need help to find the portal,” Not-Will said. “Just stand in front of it and say the magic word!”

“What is the word?” Karthos asked.

“Just ask your boss, Skabitha Nightshade!”

The others tried to convince him we opposed her, but he wouldn’t believe us. I suppose he had a right to be skeptical, but the conversation was not going well.

“I could threaten him,” Baerwin offered.

I closed my eyes and collected myself. “Please don’t threaten children,” I said with a sigh.

Baerwin was angry. “Does no one want to return to their homes and families?”

“They’re fine!” Not-Will claimed.

Baerwin started lecturing angrily, pacing in front of the tree as he did so. Finally he shouted up at the tree “if you want to go back we offer a path.” and then stomped out of the glade. I shook my head. The man clearly never had children of his own.

I tried a different tack. “Will, do you know this land is disappearing?”

“That’s ridiculous!” he yelled. “And stop calling me Will! Everything is fine!”

“What about the other children?”

He paused, and with a sigh said more quietly, “I freed as many as I could.”

“How many are there?” I asked gently.

“Dozens,” he said with a note of sadness now. “But eventually I will convince the unicorn to help me, and then we’ll go free the rest!”

“We talked to the unicorn,” Karthos said.

“That’s impossible,” he shouted back, defiant again. “You have to be a unicorn to approach the lake!”

“I was a unicorn,” Karthos explained.

The door opened and a bad unicorn costume shuffled out. Two children were manning the costume. It wasn’t convincing, but based on what we had seen probably worked to approach the Wayward Pool.

It didn’t seem like we were going to get much help here. But before we gave up I hoped to learn a little more. I tried to explain that we needed to get to Yon, and needed someone to guide us there.

“You’re out of luck, then,” Not-Will yelled down, “because only one person knows the way to Yon and he’s here. And you’re not coming in.”

We just weren’t getting anywhere. They weren’t going to trust a bunch of adults.

“Clapperclaw, can you help?” Karthos asked the scarecrow.

“I’m offended you didn’t ask before,” was all he said in response, before walking forward with Bun. He introduced himself and Bun as former slaves of Granny Nightshade, and walked forward, hands raised, saying they just wanted to talk.

The door opened to admit them, and then slammed again, leaving us alone in the clearing.

The Treehouse

We stood around for a little while while Clapperclaw and Bun were inside. Baerwin had come back after walking off before, and now stalked around the clearing, muttering something to himself. I thought I caught “could threaten them” a couple of times but I was trying to ignore him. Karthos seemed to be looking inwards, possibly related to his recent spore experience. Resda and the cub played with the ball, while Kaira practiced handstands and cartwheels.

I stood quietly, watching the door and thinking on everything still ahead of us, and the things that we had seen. We had a lot of things to do and a long ways to go, and plenty of things outside our control that we needed to stay ahead of.

After a while the door opened again and Clapperclaw gestured for us to climb up. Karthos went up first, followed by the others. Baerwin made a show of burying the haft of his glaive into the ground, maybe to show he was unarmed, maybe as a threat. As he climbed up the ladder to the treehouse the tree shifted under him and he fell, landing on his ass. The tree seemed to shake with laughter.

Inside, the floor of the treehouse was covered in blankets, cushions, and piles of straw. Baskets holding fruit such as apples, berries, and the like were scattered or hanging around. A rusty oilcan lay in one corner, looking out of place.

Bun and Clapperclaw were amongst the children, of which there were about 12. The kitten had followed along with Resda, and seemed interested in playing with Skant.

The crude unicorn costume we’d seen earlier was piled in a heap in another corner. The horn looked unusually realistic considering the crude finish of the rest. Karthos walked over to inspect the costume more closely. He looked back at me and mouthed “It’s real!”

Aloud he said, “where did you get this?”

“We found it,” Not-Will said defensively.

Karthos inspected it a bit more, then put it back.

“We need that don’t we?” I asked him.

“Do we?” He seemed surprised.

“Karthos, we need it to free Zabilna,” I looked at him with some irritation. “According to what we just learned from the unicorn earlier today.”

“Oh. Should we ask for it?”

Hearing this, Not-Will came over, flopped down, and sighed. “Clapperclaw told us you did talk to the unicorn. No surprise goody-goody wouldn’t help us. Take it I guess.”

Karthos took the horn with care and offered the wooden copy I carved in its place. “Is it guaranteed to get to the unicorn?” Not-Will asked.

“It is, we used it to meet her,” Karthos confirmed.

One of the other children picked up the oil can and handed it to me. “Will says you need to find Yon. Squire here knows the way.”

I looked the oil can over. At first, it looked like an ordinary oil can, but after a moment it became clear it was animated much the same was as Clapperclaw and Bun.

“Hello Squirt,” I said.

“Hello,” the oil can said sadly.

“You look downhearted, Squirt,” I said. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m empty. I’m no use. I have no oil!”

“I can help,” said Karthos brightly, and pulled out his alchemy jug.

The lid on the oil can opened up, and Karthos carefully filled him with oil, only spilling a little.

Squirt seemed very happy at this, and bounced over to Baerwin, leaking oil on his shoes. “I saw what you did out there,” he said to the fighter.

Planning

We were making progress though. “Well Bun,” I said. “It sounds like we need to go to Loomlurch if we want to help your friends.” In response he pulled out a dagger and started practicing his stabbing.

I asked the children if they could help us with information on what was ahead, like how we might get in, how we could find the other children, and free them. They gathered in a circle, and Will reluctantly, and obviously dragging up painful memories, began to tell us about Loomlurch.

“Nightshade’s hold over the children is based on four magical anchors, which she uses to bind their souls.

“First, the Heart Gear, a master gear inside the central loom. Each child’s name is etched into it to hold them.

“Next, the Ledger of True Names. It is a huge book in which each child’s True Name is written. These two,” he pointed at Bun and Clapperclaw, “had other names once, now forgotten.”

He paused a moment, as if another painful memory intruded, then went on.

“After this is the Marrow Key, carved from the femur of the first child she ever enslaved. It is used to wind up the toys

“And last is the Dream Spindle, which collects and bind’s the children’s sleeping dreams, tethering their souls to their new toy bodies.”

I shuddered. True horror. An unforgiveable sin.

Will continued. “If you destroy all four, you break the enchantments and Nightshade’s hold on the children. They will return to their true forms. They will have their true names again.

“As for getting in, that’s easy. But getting out under Nightshade’s watch is the tricky part. As soon as she clocks what you’re doing she’ll send the others after you. They are bound to obey her.”

I didn’t like this. “I’d rather not fight the children. What could we do to avoid hurting them?”

“Not get caught,” said Karthos dryly.

Will nodded. “That would be best,” he said, “but you could try to trick her. She does have guests. Beware if she uncovers your deception though.”

“What other options are there?” I asked.

“She makes and sells toys. She doesn’t keep all her slaves.” There’s something behind Will’s face, some unseen memory. “She sells to all sorts of realms, including Hell. There is a Hell for children, after all.” He looked up. “You could start with the bazaar.”

Resda leaned back. “We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

Will nodded sagely. “Three of the four anchors you can find around Loomlurch,” Will explains, “but the fourth, the Marrow Key, is on a chain around her neck.”

I looked over at our small companions. “Bun, what happens if we succeed and you become yourself? Do you remember yourself?”

He chittered excitedly in response. Two thumbs up. It seemed he wanted to.

I looked around at my companions. Kaira seemed excited about freeing the children, as did Baerwin. In fact everyone seemed enthused to do something good. Maybe I hadn’t chosen so badly when I joined this unpredictable crew.

We started to gather ourselves and our things. I didn’t like the idea of dragging the small cub along with us. “Resda, don’t forget the cub.” I said.

She nodded, turning to the children. “Can you look after her for now and if we find a way to free the others then we can try to get her back home?”

The children looked astounded, then nodded. On said shyly, eyes wide, “are you really Lady Resda?”

She nodded. We had unleashed madness. The children got excited and started crowding her, begging for autographs, shouting and dancing. She obliged graciously. I knew the unusual fame was getting to her head but if she could make them happy I would say nothing. Instead I smiled broadly at Resda and her indulgence of the children.

When things quieted down I asked my friends what we should do next. “We could walk in and try to talk to her like we did her sister,” I suggested.

“I hate that plan,” Karthos said bluntly. “Remember how it went last time, with the torture?”

“Some of that was your fault,” I reminded him. “You trapped that woman as a ploy for us to get the head.”

“You’re not innocent, Saralas.” He shook his head at my pedantry. “I’d rather not going in trying to make friends.”

Will piped up again. “The kids have jobs, some fight, some are guards, or oil cans, or carriers, or work the lines. They do what they are told to do and are subservient to Nightshade’s will. But if they aren’t told what to do they have some autonomy. But if you start smashing the anchors and they notice she’ll send them all after you.”

“Is there anything special we should take with us?” Resda asked as we opened the door.

“Coffins,” Will replied seriously. “You’re quite likely to die.”

“I didn’t get the title of greatest sorcerer in all the realms for nothing.” Again I held my tongue.

“We could scout,” I suggested instead. “Get close and see what we can see.”

“Before we start a fight, is there anywhere else around here we should see?” Baerwin asked.

“If you met the guy in the cave and the unicorn you’ve seen most of it. Most the it’s just forest everywhere.

As we exited the treehouse, I turned back, and said “thank you Not-Will, for the hospitality, and the information.”

He laughed. “You know I’m Will, right?”

“We had noooo idea!” Kaira responded in mock astonishment.

“Grown ups are so dumb!” He laughed again. Baerwin turned and climbed down from the tree in a huff.

Scouting Loomlurch

Outside we found Korag, standing in the clearing, soaking wet.

“Wondered where you were, mate,” said Karthos genially.

“Got lost,” Korag said.

“Lost? Where?” Karthos was intrigued.

“On the way,” he replied without explaining. “What have I missed?”

We explained everything we had learned from Will and the other children: about Loomlurch, about the anchors, and what she did with the children, and how we were on our way to try to free them.

“Wait, do we know how to destroy the anchors?” Karthos asked.

“You just smash them to bits,” Will yelled down from the treehouse with a shake of his head. “Grownups are so dumb. Also I found that horn you took. I didn’t steal it!”

“The unicorn is looking for its mate,” Resda said in reply.

“Oh, it’s mate. I should have known that,” Will said. “There was a unicorn locked up in Loomlurch. I didn’t get his name. But I found the horn! It was on a shelf.”

Karthos seemed concerned this was the wrong horn to break the spell holding Zabilna. “Should we ask the unicorn if this is the right horn?”

“Not too considerate, Karthos,” Resda said.

“There probably aren’t many unicorns,” I added. “There’s a good chance this is the one we’re looking for, and if we free her mate maybe he can fill in the blanks.”

On this we started making our way to Loomlurch to scout things out. Arriving at the place we found ourselves before towering gates made of black iron bars. We could hear the found sounds of children, some of which seemed to be coming from the direction of the gates themselves. We approached, and I noticed that the gates seemed to breathe. Wooden hands shook on the gates, seeming to warn, or to beseech us for help.

Beyond the gates was a nightmarish hive of twisted roots and gaping holes in the form of the largest tree I had ever seen. Between us and the tree were twisted bridges made of root. One path lead into what must be the front gates of the factory. The other lead to the side, into the yard of the building.

It was misty, and I couldn’t see far. But I could hear activity all around, voices, clanking, squeaking of wheels and roars of fires. A hive of activity.

“I can fly around as a raven to look things over,” Karthos said, and at a nod he took flight.

“I hate this,” Korag said, gripping his warhammer tightly. “We need to stop this.”

I looked at our small companions, who seemed nervous to be back in this place. “We’re still bound to her,” Clapperclaw warned. “If she makes us we’ll try to stop you.” Bun shuddered.

“Bun needs to give up his dagger,” Resda said, reaching for it. But he danced out of her reach, shaking his head furiously. “Bun…” she said seriously, but he kept shaking his head. She relented.

We spent some time in front of the terrible gates, trying to make plans on how to find and destroy these things without harming the children, and without them (and Bun and Clapperclaw) trying to stop us.

“Are they still able to think for themselves?” Resda asked Clapperclaw and Bun.

Clapperclaw shrugged, and explained that they are compelled to do whatever Nightshade told them to do that day. They won’t go against their orders, but if they have not been ordered then they could do as they please.

“Could we find children without orders and have them help destroy all the things at once?” Baerwin asked.

“Or, we could find them all and then destroy them all simultaneously ourselves,” I suggested. “But we’d have to split the party.”

“Finally Lady Highgrove you could be rid of these buffoons,” Skant said unquietly.

Resda, without bothering to admonish the orb, asked Clapperclaw and Bun if they could help us find and destroy the anchors.

“We know where they are,” Clapperclaw explained. “Everyone knows where they are. The Heart is in the main loom chamber. The Ledger is in the name vault. The spindle is in the attic, and Nightshade has the key. But I doubt we can help you destroy them directly. We’re still bound.

About this time Karthos returned, and reported back what he saw. A factory, a rusty maze of decaying machinery. Six large stacks belching smoke, narrow rail tracks crossed the yard inside. Clusters of warped toys dotted the ground like monstrous sentinels, and occasional flickers of movement suggested souls trapped within.

“The whole place hums with this terrible, evil energy,” he said unhappily.

Hoot Appears

I decided we must approach the gate, but before I moved Resda suddenly turned and looked past my shoulder up into the trees. “Hoot, what are you doing here?” she called softly.

“Keeping an eye,” the owl said in reply.

“What about Wodna?” Resda asked.

“She’s quite busy,” he replied without elaborating.

“Which one?”

“There’s only one. There’s only ever been one.” he said. I thought of the times she appeared to forget things she should have known. And the time blade. How out of order were our meetings? I wondered.

“We’ve seen different variations,” she replied.

Hoot said nothing for a few moments. Then, “have the spores started?”

“Karthos woke up covered in Spores,” Resda confirmed.

“Then it’s started already,” Hoot said.

“What’s started?” she asked. But Hoot didn’t explain.

Instead he flew down from the tree and landed heavily on my shoulder. He dropped a leather bag at my feet, and leaned in closely. Softly I heard him speak. “Watch out for the druid. Things are going to start happening very quickly now.”

Without explaining further he pushed off hard and took to the air.

“What did he say, Saralas?” Resda asked.

I shook my head, and bent down to pick up the leather bag. Inside was a set of fine bracers of Netherese make, and a note in a flowery hand in dark purple ink I knew was hers. All it said was “Take these. You’ll need them.”

I tucked the note and leather bag away, and took the bracers to examine them.

“What was in the bag?” Karthos asked.

“These bracers. She said I would need them.”

“Who said that? Where did they come from?” He demanded.

I pointed at the direction Hoot had flown off, now long vanished. “From Hoot. From her.”

I squatted down to examine them more closely, eventually attuning. I knew they would help my archery. Help from her, and worry. Thank you, I thought quietly to myself.

I turned to the others. “Shall we?” I asked.

Entering Loomlurch

Suddenly, in an instant, it became nighttime, and lights and fires glowed out of the factory of Loomlurch. We heard a distant cheer from the factory. Maybe their shift had ended.

Karthos stepped away from us a good distance, then cast pass without trace. Out of nowhere, he was hit by a blast of icy cold air, and staggered. Another cone of cold!

“Baerwin what are you doing?” I asked angrily.

“It wasn’t me, I swear!” Baerwin replied, and his confused face convinced me it wasn’t his mistake this time.

I sighed, and moved forward to gently push on the gate. As I did so, all of the wooden hands began making an agitated noise. I stopped, and the hands stopped as well.

“Clapperclaw, how do we get in?” Baerwin asked. But Clapperclaw only knew how he got out, which was to jump the fence.

Korag investigated the gate more closely, and noticed a doll’s head on the ground near the base of the gate. He stooped down to look at it; a broken doll’s head, dirty on the ground. He said hello, but the head did not respond. It’s was cracked, hollow doll’s head, painted eyes chipped. But the eyes seemed to glimmer.

He picked it up, and it made a rattling noise. He looked inside, and he saw a small brass key. He tried to take it, but his hands were too large.

“Kaira,” he said, handing her the head, “can you help?” Her small hands deftly removed the key from the head, and she handed it back to him. But no flourish this time, just competent work.

I inspected the gate more closely, and among the twisted vines near the edge of the gate I found a cleverly camouflaged lock. It seemed quite fragile. Korag handed me the key and I tried carefully to open it. As the brass key slid into the lock the vines seemed to shudder in anticipation. I turned the key gently, and a faint mechanical clicking resonated through the entire gate. The wooden hands relaxed, and the tension in the air and associated warmed faded. For a moment I swear I heard the faint echo of childlike laughter. I suppressed a shudder.

I moved carefully through the gate, keeping out of sight. I noticed tripwires on the two root bridges leading into the factory and yard, and pointed them out to the others.

After a quick, quiet discussion we moved down the path to the yard, avoiding the tripwire on the bridge, and step into a grim bazaar of broken dreams. The air was thick with the smell of rust, oil, and something more unsettling. Decayed flesh mixed with the smell of rotting wood. Doll limbs, gears, scraps of fabric, and glassy eyes lined shelves around us. A low murmur of bartering voices dripped through the haze over the bazaar.

Somewhere deeper in the market I heard the clinking of chains and muffled sobs. Clapperclaw came closer. “This is where she sells us and our parts.”

Baerwin seemed shaken by the sights, sounds, and smells before him. “I thought this land was whimsical.” He sounded confused, and a little lost.

I looked around and wondered whether we could freely walk through here as potential customers, or if it would be too dangerous. I asked Clapperclaw his opinion, and he said it’s an open market, and people come from all sorts of places, buying parts, or slaves for their factories.

Raw Notes

• We are at the wayward pool talking to the unicorn
• Kaira wants to move onwards
• Do we want to go towards Little Oak as planned, or check out Loomlurch?
• Clapperclaw was generally pointing us towards Little Oak.
• Baerwin thinks we should keep going on in that way
• It makes sense, though Karthos worries more now than before about the conditions of the World Mushroom
• “Go on Clapperclaw,” Baerwin says. “Show us the way!”
• We come to another fairy ring, but this time there are no little mushroom.
• I inspect the fairy ring. It is made up of toadstools arranged in a ring, of varying species, but have all grown together by some magical means. Their roots extend between them, like they are a single entity. The ring is fairly large.
• It is much like the last one. “These are all over the forest,” Clapperclaw says.
• “Let’s go back to the carnival,” Resda says.
• “Kaira, we’d need a mirror. Also that does not solve our problems, or help the people of this land.” I say.
• “Let’s keep going to find Clapperclaw’s friends,” Baerwin says.
• We come into a clearly. Up ahead a small group of children frolic around a leafy oak tree. Painted swings dangle from the tree’s branches. On top of the tree is a ramshackle treehouse.
• I ask Bun and Clapperclaw if any of these kids are their friends, but they shake their head no, watching curiously.
• Karthos and I walk forward and wave hello. As soon as the kids see us they scream and rush into the treehouse. The door slams shut, and someone shouts “stand down or face merry hell!”
• “We mean no harm!” Karthos says.
• “Not likely!” the voice shouts back.
• “We’re not here to enslave you and steal your souls!” Karthos calls back.
• “Granny Nightshade will not have us. We are free and will remain so.”
• “We’re here to defeat Nightshade,” Karthos says.
• “Well you’re in the wrong place. She’s in Loomlurch!”
• “Where is Loomlurch?” he asks.
• The door opens and a small hand snakes out, and points to the south.
• I say we’re trying to help free our friends’ friends, pointing at Bun and Clapperclaw. We’re looking for information on where they might be kept.
• The children say that Loomlurch is where Nightshade makes her slaves, and they are not going back. No Way, No How.
• “Is there any secret way in that we should know about?” I ask.
• “Did any of you come from the carnival?” Baerwin asks. “Were you snatched up and brought here?”
• The voice slows, and says “maybe? It gets hard to remember and I don’t want to remember my time with Nightshade.”
• “Do you know a cub, named Star?” Baerwin asks.
• “What about the cub?” the voice says, cautiously.
• “His mother was looking for him,” Baerwin replies. Resda pulls out the toy.
• “I cannot be certain,” the boy says. “But I think that child is in Nightshade’s clutches.”
• “Is any one of you named Will?” Baerwin asks.
• “No….” the voice says, unconvincingly.
• Resda smiles. “If there was a Will”
• “They’re little children,” Baerwin says. “They won’t be able to help fight.”
• “I didn’t expect that,” I say.
• “I expected tweens with more fighting skills.”
• “I’m eleven!” the voice shouts.
• Suddenly a displacer beast kitten jumps out of the window and runs down the tree, up to Resda and starts playing with the ball.
• “OK…” the voice says, “maybe I did know where the cub was. But you can’t be trusted.”
• “Well we certainly can’t take her with us right now,” Resda says slowly.
• “Not Will,” I say, “Could you get the cub back to the carnival if we helped you find the portal?”
• “I don’t need help to find the portal,” the kid says. Just stand in front of it and say the magic word!
• “What is the word?” Karthos asks.
• “Just ask your Boss, Skabitha Nightshade!”
• The others try to convince him we are opposed to her, but he doesn’t believe us.
• “I could threaten him,” Baerwin offers.
• “Please don’t threaten children,” I say with a sigh.
• Baerwin starts getting agitated. “Does no one want to return to their homes and families?”
• Will claims they are fine.
• Baerwin starts lecturing, loudly, saying “if you want to go back we offer a path.” and then stomps out of the glade.
• “Will, do you know this land is disappearing?” I ask.
• “That’s ridiculous,” he says. “And stop calling me Will. Everything is fine.”
• “What about the other children.” I ask.
• He pauses, sighs, “I freed as many as I could?”
• “How many are there?” I ask.
• “Dozens. Eventually I will convince the unicorn to help me, and then we will free the rest.”
• “We talked to the unicorn,” Karthos says.
• “That’s impossible, you have to be a unicorn to approach the lake!”
• “I was a unicorn,” Karthos says.
• The door opens and a bad unicorn costume walks out. Two children are manning the costume.
• I say we need to get to Yon, and need someone to guide us there.
• “You’re out of luck, then, because only one person knows the way to Yon and he’s here.
• “Clapperclaw, can you help?” Karthos asks.
• “I’m offended you didn’t ask before.”
• Clapperclaw walks forward, and he introduces himself and Bun as former slaves of Granny Nightshade. They walk forward, hands raised, and say they just want to talk.
• Clapperclaw and Bun go up to the treehouse, leaving us behind. The door slams again.
• After a while the door opens again and Clapperclaw gestures for us to climb up.
• We climb up and enter the treehouse, Baerwin burying the haft of his glaive into the ground. As Baerwin is climbing, the treant shifts slightly and Baerwin falls.
• The floor of the treehouse is covered in blankets, cushions, and piles of straw. Baskets hold fruit such as apples, berries, and the like. A rusty oilcan lies in one corner, looking out of place. In another corner is a crude unicorn costume. The horn looks unusual.
• Bun and Clapperclaw are amongst the children, of which there are about 12. The kitten has followed along with Resda, and seems interested in playing with Skant.
• Karthos walks over to inspect the unicorn costume. The unicorn horn looks oddly like a horn, rather than a copy. Karthos is pretty sure this is a real unicorn horn.
• “Where did they get this?” he asks.
• “We found it,” Not-Will says defensively.
• Karthos inspects it a bit, then puts it back.
• “We need that don’t we?” I ask.
• “Do we?” Karthos asks.
• “We need it to free Zabilna, according to what we just learned from the unicorn.”
• Not-Will flops down and sighs. “Clapperclaw told us you did talk to her. No surprise goody-goody wouldn’t help. Take it I guess.”
• Karthos takes the horn and offers the one I carved in its place. “Is it guaranteed to get to the unicorn?” Not-Will asks.
• One of the children picks up the oil can, and hands it to me. “Squirt knows the way to get to Yon.”
• At first Squirt looks like an ordinary oil can, but we realize after a moment it is animated.
• “Hello Squirt,” I say.
• “Hello,” the oil can says. He’s downcast, and tells us he is empty of oil
• “I can help,” says Karthos brightly, pulling out his alchemy jug.
• The lid on the oil can opens up, and Karthos carefully fills him with oil, only spilling a little.
• Squirt seems very happy at this, bouncing over to Baerwin and leaking oil on his shoes.
• “Well Bun,” I say. “It sounds like we need to go to Loomlurch if we want to help your friends.” He pulls out a dagger and practices his stabbing.
• I ask the children how we might get in and find the other slaves and free them.
• The children gather in a circle and Will reluctantly, with some pain, provides information.
• Nightshade’s hold over each child is based on four magical anchors
  • The heart gear, a master gear inside the central loom with each child’s name etched into it
  • Ledger of true names, a huge book in which each child’s real name is written
  • The marrow key, carved from the femur of the first child she ever enslaved, used to wind the toys
  • And the dream spindle, which collects and bind’s the children’s sleeping dreams, tethering their souls to their toy bodies.
• If we were to destroy all four, the enchantments would be shattered, and the children would return to their true forms.
• Getting in is easy enough. But getting out under Nightshade’s watch is the tricky part. As soon as she realizes what we are doing she will send the children to fight us.
• “I would rather not fight the children, what could we do to avoid hurting them?”
• “We could not get caught.” Karthos offers
• “That would be best. You could try to trick her, she does have guests. But beware if she uncovers your deception.” Will says.
• Granny nightshade makes and sells toys. She sells to various evil realms, including to hell. There is a hell for Children, after all.
• “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Resda says.
• “Three of the four anchors you can find around Loomlurch,” Will explains, “but the fourth, the Marrow Key, is on a chain around her neck.”
• “Bun, what happens if we succeed and you become yourself? Do you remember yourself?”
• He chitters excitedly, giving two thumbs up.
• Kaira seems excited about this, as does Baerwin. In fact everyone seems enthused to do something good.
• When the kids find out who Resda is they get excited. They want autographs, and Resda obliges.
• I smile at Resda and her indulgence of the children.
• So what should we do. I suggest that we go in and try to talk with Granny Nightshade and find our way around that way.
• Karthos isn’t keen, reminding us of what happened last time. Last time we got what we needed when Karthos helped trap the thief…
• The children have various jobs, fighters, guards, oil cans.
• Baerwin is eager to go free the children. Everyone seems to agree.
• “Is there anything special we should take with us?” Resda asks.
• “Coffins,” he says. “You’re quite likely to die.”
• “I didn’t get the title of greatest sorcerer in all the realms for nothing.” She says.
• “We could scout,” I suggest. “Get close and see what we can see.”
• Baerwin asks if there are other places we should see here, but Not-Will says it’s just forest in every direction.
• “Thank you Not-Will,” I say, “and for the information.”
• He laughs. “You know I’m Will, right?”
• “We had nooooo idea, Kaira says.”
• “Grown-ups are so dumb,” he says with a laugh. Baerwin exits in a huff.
• Outside the treant we find Korag, who is soaked.
• “Wait, do we know how to destroy the anchors?” Karthos asks.
• “You just smash them to bits,” Will says with a shake of his head. “Grownups are so dumb.”
• We catch Korag up on what happened.
• Will insists that he found the horn, he didn’t steal it.
• “The unicorn is looking for its mate,” Resda says.
• “Oh, it’s mate. I should have known that.” He explains that there is a unicorn locked up in Loomlurch. But he found the unicorn horn up on a shelf.
• There probably aren’t many unicorns, there’s a good chance this is the one we’re looking for.
• We start making our way to Loomlurch to scout things out.
• Towering gates loom ahead. Black iron bars. We hear the sounds of children faintly. We approach the iron gates, which seem to breathe. Wooden hands shake on the gates, seeming to warn us or to beseech us for help.
• Beyond is a nightmarish hive of twisted roots and gaping holes, in the form of the largest tree we have ever seen.
• Through the gates we can see twisted bridges made of root. One path leads into what must be the front gates of the factory. The other leads to the side, into the yard of the building.
• I can’t see too far in the mist, but I hear activity around, voices, clanging, and so on.
• Karthos offers to scout around the factory as a raven, but Resda is concerned that he would have to fly low, and would be obvious.
• Karthos turns into a raven and takes flight. From high above he sees the factory, a rusty maze of decaying machinery. Smoke comes from six stacks, and narrow rail tracks cross the yard. Clusters of warped toys dot the ground like monstrous sentinels. Occasional flickers of movement suggest souls trapped within. The entire factory hums with a low evil energy.
• Korag is very unhappy at these sights and seems set on wading in to fight Nightshade and put a stop to this.
• Bun and Clapperclaw warn that in this place they would be under her influence again.
• “But needs to give up his dagger,” Resda says. But he doesn’t really want to.
• We try to make plans on how to find and destroy these things without all the children, and Bun and Clapperclaw, trying to stop us.
• Resda asks Clapperclaw and Bun if the children are still able to think for themselves. Clapperclaw shrugs, but explains that they are compelled to do whatever Nightshade told them to do that day. They won’t go against their orders, but if they have not been ordered they could do as they please.
• “Could we find children without orders and have them help destroy all the things at once?”
• “Or, we could find them all and then destroy them all simultaneously ourselves. But we’d have to split the party.”
• “Finally Lady Highgrove you could be rid of these buffoons,” Skant says.
• Resda asks Clapperclaw and Bun could help us find and destroy the anchors.
• Clapperclaw explains that they know where they all are. Everyone knows where they are. He proceeds to explain.
  • The heart is in the main loom chamber
  • The ledger is in the name vault
  • The spindle is in the attic
  • The key is with Nightshade.
• Karthos returns and tells us all that he saw.
• Resda notices Hoot in a nearby tree. “Hoot, what are you doing here?” she asks.
• “Keeping an eye,” he says.
• Resda asks about Wodna.
• “She’s quite busy,” he says.
• “Which one?”
• “There’s only one. There’s only ever been one.” he says.
• “We’ve seen different variations,” she replies.
• Hoot says nothing. “Have the spores started?”
• “Karthos woke up covered in Spores,” Resda confirms.
• “Then it’s started already,” Hoot says.
• “What’s started?” she asks. But Hoot doesn’t explain.
• Hoot flies down from the tree, and lands on my shoulder. And drops a leather bag at my feet.
• “Watch out for the druid. Things are gonna start happening very quickly now,” he says, and flies away. The others do not hear.
• I pick up the bag and look in it. It contains bracers of archery, of fine netherese make. And a note in a flowery hand in dark purple ink, saying “Take these. You’ll need them.”
• I tuck the note away, and take the bracers.
• “What was in the bag?” Karthos asked.
• “These bracers of archery,” I say.
• “What did the note say?” he asks.
• “That I might need them.”
• “Who did those come from?”
• “I think you know,” I said, gesturing in the direction Hoot had flown off in
• Suddenly it becomes nighttime. In an instant it goes dark, and lights and fires glow. There is a cheer from the factory. Maybe their shift has ended.
• Karthos steps away, then casts pass without trace.
• Suddenly, out of nowhere, Karthos is hit by a cone of cold blast.
• “Baerwin what are you doing?” I ask angrily.
• “It wasn’t me, I swear!” Baerwin replies.
• I gently push on the gate. As I do so, all of the wooden hands begin making an agitated noise. I stop, and the hand stop as well.
• “Clapperclaw, how do we get in?” Baerwin asks. But Clapperclaw only knows how he got out, which was to jump the fence.
• Korag investigates the gate more closely, noticing a doll’s head on the ground near the base of the gate. He stoops down to look at it. A broken doll’s head, dirty on the ground. He says hello, but the head does not respond. It’s a cracked, hollow doll’s head, painted eyes chipped. But the eyes seem to glimmer.
• He picks it up, and it makes a rattling noise. He looks inside, and he sees there is a small brass key inside, which he attempts to retrieve, but his hands are large.
• He hands it to Kaira and asks her to help. Her small hands deftly remove the key from the head, and she hands the key to Korag.
• I look and find a cleverly camouflaged lock in twisted vines on the edge of the gate. The mechanism looks quite fragile. I take the key and carefully try to open the lock. As the cold brass key slides into the lock, the vines seem to shudder in anticpate. A faint mechanical clicking resonates through the gate, and the wooden hands seem to relax. The tension in the air lightens slightly, and the faint warmth in the air fades. The hands relax. For a moment I think I hear the faint echo of childlike laughter.
• I move carefully, sneakily through the gate. I notice tripwires on the bridges, and point them out to the others.
• We decide to take the path to the yard, as Clapperclaw says the factory works day and night. We move quietly down the path. Crossing the creaking south bridge we step into the parts market. A grim bazaar of broken dreams. The air is thick with the smell of rust, oil, and something more unsettling. Decaying flesh mixing with the smell of rotting wood. Doll limbs, gears, scraps of fabric, and glassy eyes line shelves. A low murmur of bartering voices drip through the haze.
• Somewhere deeper in the market, a clinking of chains and muffled sobs. Clapperclaw draws close. “This is where she sells us and our parts.”
• Baerwin seems shaken by the sights, sounds, and smells before him. It’s like an existential crisis.
• I look around and wonder whether we could freely walk through here as potential customers, or if it would be too dangerous.
• I ask Clapperclaw his opinion. He says it’s an open market, and people come from all sorts of places, buying parts, or slaves for their factories.
• I look around for where the attic might be, which Clapperclaw says is up. We are at the side of the large tree, there are some windows to the interior.