Double or Nothing

This is a recap of the third session of the current Krevborna campaign.

 

Characters

Dario Diego Durant, swashbuckling swordsman

Doctor Anastasia Nadya Strahov, a gun-priest who says strange thing about blood

Ulu, the party's urska mom

Varro, a young snow elf bearing a magical sword

Morwenna, a carrion-eating harpy

 

Events

When we last left our heroes, they had lost a contest of arms with Lady Devanya's champions aboard The Vulpine, and now Dario's life was forfeit. 

The group posed an offer to Lady Devanya: a double or nothing wager. She responded that if the group could entertain the majority of her party guests, she would give them Raenessa's ring. If they failed, she would take Dario as a plaything and select another member of the group to serve at her whim for the rest of their life.

The characters then began the task of wandering this strange fey party, looking for guests to entertain. 

(Johanna was pulled aside by the musicians in the ballroom and asked to join them--her player was absent for this session.)

One of the first rooms they explored was full of obscuring steam--everything was dank and dripping. The room housed a large, warm swimming pool currently occupied by a mermaid, a nereid, and a rusalka who splashed at them after their initial offer to join them in the pool was ignored. Everyone went in, except for Morwenna, who despises being wet. Ulu cannonballed her way in. What these three water fey wanted was stories; nothing else would entertain them. Dario recounted the tale of daring that had brought them to The Vulpine; Anastasia told a harrowing story of her own origins in a corrupt orphanage; Ulu spoke of mythic love. Thoroughly moved by the stories, the three fey let the group go on their way. 

In another room, they found a tea party in progress. The folk gathered around the table were a collection of raccoon-like creatures who were busy pouring tea from a samovar and passing around plates of little sandwiches. What these creatures wanted was gossip--which ended with the supposition that Dario, Johanna, and Sabrine could be engaged in a bizarre love triangle. (The Rue sisters and Commander Kaul were also gossiped about, satisfying the raccoon people.)

Deeper in the The Vulpine's uncanny twists and turns, the group found a gaggle of swanmays playing a violent version of croquet--actually, what they were doing was hitting wooden balls at a trio of human men who were buried up to their necks in the green. Morwenna was all too happy to smash a ball into the face of a man pleading for help; Varro joined in as well. This scene degenerated into a competition between Dario and Varro to see if they could launch balls at each others faces to make the other flinch. They both flinched, in fact, and both came away bruised--much to Ulu's disappointment. The swanmays, however, were extremely excited by the violence and wouldn't have minded if Varro and Dario injured each other further. 

They discovered a small chamber had nothing but a long-limbed "man" in a loincloth chained to the wall. For some reason, this creature could not speak, but he carved messages into his forearm with his very sharp nails. He wanted to be released and given clothing so he could leave the party on the The Vulpine. Morwenna was able to pick the lock on his manacles, even though the keyhole kept shifting and moving, and the group created a makeshift outfit. Ulu attempted to keep the creature from leaving the chamber, but was easily thrown aside--no small feat, given her size. 

The creature made his way to the feasting hall, and the party instantly heard the sounds of violence--furniture being overturned, screams, glass breaking. They were about to investigate that further, but were approached by Sabrine, who was there to summon them before Lady Devanya.

Lady Devanya explained that they had held up their end of the bargain and sufficiently entertained her guests; she gave them Raenessa's ring and, having no desire to remain at The Vulpine any longer, quickly retrieved their equipment and left the river boat behind.

Back in the cave in the Felken Woods, they found Raenessa with all her belongings packed. Once given her ring, she shucked the hag body like an ill-fitting garment and emerged as a gray-skinned cave elf. On the way out, they asked her what she would do now. She dropped to her knees, said she desired to repent of the things she had done, and offered to serve the Charnel Hounds for ten years and a day. They accepted her offer, installing her as their resident alchemist in the Kaul House's basement.