shifty louts

Tiny Fables Session 11 - Troubles on Heartache Lake

Players

Summary

The Month of Star. The Second Fair of the Ninth Week

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On the overcast afternoon, the SS Depression launches into the shimmering, frigid waters of Heartache Lake, sailing toward Abernathy the Snapping Turtle’s lair in search of answers for the mysterious woman who has captured the heart of the Fae Prince Sylvester. 

The group decides to head towards the water lilies, hoping to avoid the bees who occupy the Rotting Log. 

The paddling there takes the day, but as evening falls, the group makes it to the tall pink flowers with thorny stems growing out of the lake. Rainbows in mist. Sound of trickling water. Purified water flows from the top like a fountain, forming a pool in its petals before trickling down. 

Bees are seen taking Pollen Pearls formed in the basin of Water Lilies back to the Rotting Log in the distance.

The group lashes themselves to a thorny stem thanks to Nettle’s slingshot and Cherry’s spear.

The Month of Star. The Third Fair of the Ninth Week

The next day brings a bitterly cold wind that cuts through to the bone along the still, murky waters of the Heartache Lake. The group paddles towards the Rotting Log, hoping to use it to avoid the whipping winds.

Smell of algae and decay. Constant low buzz from inside. Bees fly in and out of the log regularly. The log is half submerged in water. Its hollowed core creates a domed tunnel over the water’s surface. It's covered in soft moss and mushrooms.

The cold is painful. The group decides, as night falls, to risk staying inside the rotting log to avoid the weather. Within is warmer. The sounds of water droplets and the hum of the slumbering bees are a dangerous lullaby. A gob of honey drops from the ceiling onto Jack, but the group doesn’t risk lighting a torch to not alarm the bees.

The Month of Star. The Fourth Fair of the Ninth Week

In the early morning dawn, Crocus is awoken by a Fae, covered in honey, with ragged, cropped hair, star-shaped pupils, and a chequered harlequin pattern suit. They ask for help, a distraction to escape the angered bees, but Crocus knocks them out with a swift slap of their staff and goes back to sleep, dragging the Fae into the boat, so they don’t drown. The Fae seems to have been carrying jars of honey.

The group is awoken as bees crawl all over their boat, the unconscious Fae, and themselves. The bees seem interested, perhaps happy, at this new company as the group awakens to find the biting cold wind continuing outside. Cherry and Jack and Dill feed and pet the bees to their own delight.

The early dawn light shows the interior of the Rotting Log for the first time. Pill bugs crawl over merfolk carvings on the walls. A beehive on the ceiling near the center of the log. Bees guard the nest. Sticky honey oozes down the walls. A glinting Fae Crown is stuck in beeswax and honey.

Jack decides to explore the outside of the Rotting Log, hoping to forage for mushrooms, while Cherry studies the Merfolk Idol that Nettle gave her and compares it to the pictographs. Stories, myths, and legends from Merfolk History. An anglerfish is brought treasures. Scenes of past war of Merfolk and Fae. 

Jack finds the mushrooms inedible, but an acorn instead. Behind it, a treasure chest. Alert Cherry, the two go back and break open the chest, finding a cache of 200pips and a cloak that shimmers like a Rainbow Trout. Reflective and beautiful. 

As the group discusses their finds, the Fae awakens and asks what happened. Crocus asks them what they were doing. The Fae, Too So Begotten or Maerwinna, was tasked to find honey for the upcoming Winter Cotillion, but can't remember how they ended up here. Sensing their short-term amnesia, Crocus says they fell into the water, and they helped them from drowning. 

Maerwinna awards Crocus with a Peacock Feather whose “eye” intermittently blinks, said to ward away hostile foes. With that, Maerwinna gathers up the honey, promising to speak of their heroism in the court of Prince Sylvester and leaves promptly.

The group rests the evening, avoiding the weather once more as the bees seem content.

The Month of Star. The Fifth Fair of the Ninth Week

The next morning’s weather turns worse; a squalling snowstorm prevents the group from traveling, and the ground decides to continue to hide in the log, hoping the weather turns for the better the next day. 

In the evening, the stench of rotting fruit and spoiled milk is detected once more. Two strange, blue lights appear below the murky waters. A dark figure arises from the waters and stares at the group. The mice ready their weapons as the thing descends back into the water and rams their boat underneath. 

The group risks the snowstorm, hoping to avoid the creature, and paddles into the thickets of the Water Lilies, which seems to work, but now exposed to the elements, the group decides to paddle through the evening and into the early morning to the Fae Village to get out of the snowstorm.

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Month of Star. The Sixth Fair of the Ninth Week 

As the low winter sun appears, the snowstorm turns to sleet as they see the Fae Village. Buildings made of repurposed clay and porcelain vases that are held high above the lake on wood stilts. Silver wire wraps around them in ornamental spirals. 

Announcements for tonight’s Winter Cotillion and its theme are adorned all over the village.

The Cold Stroke of Midnight!

They seek out the first door they find, as they find Nettle clearly upset at returning to the Fae Village for some unknown reason!

Aftermath

Treasure Found:

Foes Encountered:

Rumors:

Deaths:

XP Awarded:

Notes

#tiny-fables