"Yes-ah! I bless this union!" ― Lou Wilson
"Shrimp are so little and they get caught in the nets and stuff! I'm not going to kiss the shrimp, Kristen! It's dead and we killed it." ― Riz Gukgak
Crustaceans & Crushes is the twelfth episode of Fantasy High: Sophomore Year, Fantasy High: Sophomore Year.
Recap[]
"To do a little recap of last session, our heroes, the Bad Kids, teen adventurers from the Aguefort Adventuring Academy, the world of Spyre's premier high school for heroes, are on the quest to retrieve the Crown of the Nightmare King, and they have just teleported from the pirate city of Leviathan to Arborly, a little village in the misty deep woods on the border of Sylvaire, the forest of the Nightmare King. They have come here after learning a tremendous amount from stolen books and research, learning about the history of the unnamed, mysterious Goddess of Mystery and Magic, the ancient goddess of Sylvaire, having learned more about Kalina, the Shadow Cat, with a very potent scrying spell, and however, not all was victorious last time, for indeed Adaine's sister, Aelwyn Abernant, stole her spell book and the Devil's Heart ruby containing Gorthalax the Insatiable, and teleported away, disappearing. Our heroes find themselves in the middle of the night in the village of Arborly, and we arrive now in the deep forest."
Synopsis[]
The massive gnomish manor among the trees is itself a tree named Holly Hill and owned by Fig's acquaintance.
Behind them in the forest there is a point where the trees merge into a unified wall covered in thorns. They realise that other trees have more humble dwelling in them.
They enter the manor using the code 1235 that Fig knew from meeting the owner. The van is not very useful in this terrain. Gorgug thinks the van could be adapted, but he would need a workshop. They hear muffled screaming and realise Gilear's clothes had got caught a wheel of the van and he got stuck in the wheelwell with an apple in his mouth. They confiscate the apple to prevent him from eating it. They give him "more fashionable" clothes and a beret and he goes into the house.
Adaine can't feel the undead elf anywhere nearby and all the local fauna seems healthy. Despite it's impressive size the tree doesn't seem particularly magical. The town as a whole has a low level magical feel. It is clear to Adaine on inspection that the briar wall used to be further away and something has brought it closer.
Fig goes out to look at the wall and Ayda follows her out. They talk about Ayda's difficulty connecting with people. Ayda offers to take Fig to see the wall closer and flies them out under an invisibility spell. They land in the crook of a tree. Ayda offers to look at the wall, she says that even if they somehow dimension doored to the other side, they would only see paths leading them out again and that it will only permit high infernal leaders decide what happens to it. The wall grows towards Ayda when she reaches out to it so she stops. When Fig reaches out it doesn't react. An attempt to burn it accomplishes very little with the heat of the fire being sapped and a only a cosmetic handprint being left behind. Fig is comfortable near the wall despite the way it aims to intimidate. Ayda reveals that she's on her 17th incarnation and has been on the Leviathan for 150 years building the library. After an exchange of contracts; they kiss. Several times. Ayda flies her back to Holly Hill and plans on teleporting to Leviathan to research the Plane Shift spell before returning.
At the house the party is in full swing and is completely chaotic.
The next day the adventurers belatedly awaken to Sandra Lynn and Gilear talking to approximately 40 wood elf rangers and a sentient fox. Fig mentions that she has permission to stay there form the owner, but this doesn't go over well. Fig realises that the fox is in charge and introduced herself to him, shaking his paw. The second in command introduces herself as Mira Silverbow and introduces the fox as Nuathera. Gilear forgets his previous promotion and introduces himself as intern, swiftly being re-promoted to assistant/advisor.
Fig says they're going into the Nightmare Forest, which causes the rangers to raise their bows. Adaine says that she's the Elven oracle and that they have to for a prophecy which gets the ranger's attention. She says that there might be other high elves trying to get in and that they need to stop them. Nuathera says that for a number of months an elven mother has been living at a tavern in Arborly and had hired Killian to assist her, but two nights ago another high elven woman arrived in a cloud of her own foul gasses an then the two elven women and Killian disappeared.
Gorgug asked why the elves went to the tinkerer's hall before leaving. Nuathera says that many gnomes live in the forest after Grafmy Rootdrinker, a gnomish druid gave his life to reclaim Arborly. Nuathera was his familiar. The elves probably went to the tinkerer's hall for spell components as gnomes often use many of the same materials as wizards and sorcerers. He thinks Gorgug will be welcome if he wants to visit them. Gorgug warns them that the elves may be trying to bring the Nightmare King back. Nuathera offers the towns resources to help and mentions the shrine of thorns, the remnants of the shrine to the forgotten god.
Adaine scries her mother: she is in a forest so dark and twisted that it is almost subterranean. Her mother is in an elven travelling cloak with nasty scars on her, she's not sure what curse damaged her. She is with Aelwyn and a wood elf that isn't wearing boots or a shirt and is leaving behind bloody footprints. His eyes are glowing, having previously bled into his beard, his throat is cut and his sternum broken, with a fire burning in his open chest and a glowing gem embedded in him. The scrying only last for a second before it was dispelled by Aelwyn, acting too quickly to have noticed it herself.
Kristen spots Kalina who steps out and tells them that it's a good job they can't go through the briar wall, because if they managed it she'd kill them, starting with Tracker. She says that the only reason they're not dead because they've never been in her way. When asked what she wants she tells them that she wants them to stay out of the forest and disappears. Kristen makes a not very inspiring inspiring speech. Riz realises that he didn't see Kalina despite looking in the right direction and that she left no physical trace of her presence, just as there was no sign of her interacting with physical objects in the photo. They don't think she actually has a physical presence at all. They don't think she can have that deep a connection to their minds if she has to interrogate them rather than just pluck the answers out of their minds.
Sandra Lynn offers to drop Tracker, Kristen and Fig off at the shrine, Tracker refuses to stay behind in the safety of the van.
Gorgug. Ragh and Fabian arrive at the Tinker's hall. Gorgug introduces himself and the gnomes emerge and are intimidated by their presence. When they find out that he repaired the Hangman they're impressed and are very impressed by the Solace technology the adventurers have on them. They tell him that Killian only wanted basics like candles and inks. The technology that the gnomes have in their shop is so far behind Solace that Gorgug is comfortable with all of it, unlike some of his parents more intricate contraptions.
At the tavern, they bribe the bartender into letting them into Arianwen's room and find it splattered with blood and covered in arcane scrawlings
Sandra Lynn drops Tracker, Kristen and Fig off at the shrine, Tracker releases motes of moonlight to light their way as they enter the darkness of the shrine. Tracker finds herself repelled by the shrine as she tries to walk through the door. On the wall of the shrine is a mural of a robed woman holding a book, by a small dwelling. She carries a broomstick and has a black cat across her shoulders. Fig's charred handprint is on wall of briars that has penetrated the shrine. When she applies burning hands again the fire spreads to form a burning doorway. A woman in armour walks through the doorway from a red wasteland, she has been flayed everywhere but her face. When she identifies Fig she introduces herself as Vraz the Mean and serves papers on Fig.
Locations[]
Featured Characters[]
The Bad Kids[]
New[]
Returning[]
- The Hangvan
- Gilear Faeth
- Sandra Lynn Faeth
- Baxter
- Ragh Barkrock
- Tracker O'Shaughnessey
- Ayda Aguefort
- The Hangman
- Boggy the Froggy
- Kalina
Mentioned[]
- Grover Tillythatch
- Hallariel Seacaster
- Aelwyn Abernant
- The Nightmare King
- Jawbone O'Shaughnessey
- Galicaea
- The Unnamed Goddess
- Gorthalax the Insatiable
- Arianwen Abernant
- Killian
- Grafmy Rootdrinker
- Landrin Lier
- Pok Gukgak
Clips[]
Quotes[]
"I think...you're perfect the way that you are." ― Fig Faeth to Ayda Aguefort
"Just so you know, I've never done this as myself before." ― Fig to Ayda before kissing her for the first time
"More lobster! You're not lobster enough!" ― Ragh Barkrock to Tracker during the shrimp party
"I'm a little shrimp! I'm a little shrimp!" ― Fabian Seacaster during the shrimp party