Tiny Fables Session 14: What is to Be Done in This Den of Snakes?
Players
- Cherry Summerholme, the Worm Wrangler (Greenie)
- Crocus Grant, the Sewer Guide (DD)
- Dill Halva, the Dam Builder (Dingo)
- Lavender Deerider, the Message Runner (ChaosKnight)
- Nettle “Wine-by-the-Goblet” (wild fae child)
Cornelius Dunhall (drunken hireling)
Summary
Month of Star. The Third Fair of the Tenth Week
Dill guards the entrance as Cherry and Lavender utter a prayer to the Mother over the body of Jack. Cherry covers the body with her cloak. They must find Nettle soon!
The group heads back west towards the large reading room and proceeds northward, finding the bookshelf-lined passage turning into a cavern, darker and with a strange viscous black fluid that eventually reaches their knees.
A great big drop extinguishes Cherry’s torch as their whiskers attenuate to a warming of the ambient air temperature and a faint buzzing drone ahead. The group prepares the weapons for whatever lies ahead.
The space opens into a flood cavern of sorts, perhaps an ancient underground temple or chapel? A high, carved arched ceiling, supported by stone pillars. Along the far wall, an altar with a wooden bowl carved with motifs of the Moon, seeds, and the Warden Tree, a rotting lectern beside it, all of it guarded by a swarm of bees buzzing about a wall-sized hive.
Dill’s quick thinking makes the most of the situation, as he takes out his Be Understood tablet gained from the body of the Origami Snake, trundles ahead, and begins dancing the “Bee Dance” as the swarm converges on him. Cherry and Lavender watch as Dill and the bees communicate
Dill asks if the swarm has seen anyone like him and when; the choral voice of the swarm answers they’ve seen something like them, but the swarm doesn’t understand the concept of time and struggles to explain what they’ve seen. The swarm pesters Dill, repeatedly asking if he is going to touch the hive, for if he would, that would be bad.
Dill answers yes, and asks if they can take what’s on the altar. The bees find this sufficient as long as they don’t come near the hive. This arrangement is agreed upon as Dill’s spell begins to fizzle out.
The group examines the altar and lectern, finding a lapis-lazuli lantern with a blue candle and a strange book, silver and blue cover, flecked flyleaves, entitled The Hammer of Heirodianus, written by Brother Everett Toddle.
The group gathers these strange tools, as Dill ponders if there is a difference between the Tangerine Candles and this Blue Candle. The group pushes further ahead in this cavern passage, finding a western branch that pours with humid steam, while ahead is an iron door built into the rock itself.
The door is missing a knob. Dill inserts the door knob found in the reading room, as the door glows with gently pulsating magical runes and opens into a strange room.
Within, teardrop-shaped glass orbs light the room. Clockwork devices hold the orbs and, every few minutes, gently shake them, causing them to emit pulses of various colored light. The room is bathed in prismatic, rainbow colors.
Along the eastern wall, jutting from bookshelves, is a huge machine made of clockwork and steam pumps. Incredibly complex, the machine hisses, creaks, clicks, and turns.
There is a terminal in the front-centre of the calculation engine. Tiles marked with letters a-z, numbers 0-9, and punctuation that can be pushed. All around it, reams and reams of ticker-tape that, upon Dill’s examination, seem to be highly advanced mathematical formulae barely understandable to a mouse.
A growling snarl is heard, and the group readies their weapons. The Origami Tiger pounces, but Lavender’s sling and Cherry’s spear are ready. Cherry seeks to fell the beast that took “her baby”. Both find purchase, as it jumps and swipes at Cherry. Landing upon the other side of the group, Dill’s nettle sword hacks it once more, but the creature still remains. With mouse-fury, all three surge forth, hacking the creature until it unfolds once more.
Cherry tears the paper up into small bits, and Lavender lights the pile on fire, hoping this will stop the Origami Tiger from returning.
A grey-hooded figure then no-clips from the library-shelved wall and begins to tinker with the Calculation Engine, paying no mind to the adventurers.
After some back and forth, the group finds that the Calculation Engine calculates the Great Avernian Equation, which one day will reveal some grand truth about the universe as a whole. It involves matters of the soul, the written word, entropy, and information. The calculation is far from complete.
The group attempts to find answers to the location of Nettle, but the Calculation Engine replies with “Data Confirmed”, much to the dismay of the group. As the group begins to leave, dejected, the small, weak voice of Nettle is heard.
The group dashes back into the room, digging through the piles of ticker-tape, and finds the weak Nettle beside a strange monocle, a purse of 800 pips, and a faintly pulsating whispershell. Lavender examines the whispershell, an enchanted shell cell-phone of sorts.
It’s covered in Fae Runes, as Lavender presses random buttons; eventually, finding one button plays a recording between Royal Advisor Tylwig and the Lady Twiggler plotting to overthrow the sitting Prince Sylvester now that they’ve captured the true heir to the throne, Wine-by-the-Goblet, or known to the mouse as Nettle!
The group has to get out of here, thinking to take this information to the Merfolk as the group’s anger at the Fae is at its boiling point!
The group backtracks to the reading room, resting as Nettle asks Cherry where Jack is and weakly plays with the silver flask that Dill possesses. Cherry promises to tell Nettle after they get out of here.
Month of Star. The Fourth Fair of the Tenth Week
Whereupon, reaching the bottom of the staircase, the group spends the entirety of the twilight day ascending the staircase once more, reaching the top by the evening, exhausted but alive.
Month of Star. The Fifth Fair of the Tenth Week
The group rests and makes its way back through the silver mirror liquid to the imperial topaz bathroom of Lady Twiggler. They leave with Crocus, finding a crisp and clear winter morning from the Twiggler apartment.
It is still early for the Fae as they descend into a central plaza at the foot of Lady Twiggler’s debating of their next course of action
- Should they take this information to the Merfolk?
- Should they contact Sergeant Niels and Captain Aphid about the Royal Advisor’s coup plot?
- Maybe they should reach out to Dr. Connla, whom they met at the Tip of the Hat Winter Cotillion?
- Perhaps directly to the Prince themself!?
The group decides to head directly to the Prince, as the Merfolk are too far away; they are unsure where the loyalties of the Fae Guard lie, and don’t know where Dr. Connla lives. Heading directly to the Fae Palace seems the safest bet.
Upon their dash to the Palace, they bump into Milton, “Silver-and-Quicksilver”, whom they met some four weeks ago at the Château Maurice1, who is hurriedly on a task to procure “berries and cream for the Prince, as he is in a vexing mood this morning”.
The group speaks of the coup plot, playing the whisper-shell message of Milton’s uncle's deeds as they faint. Awakening, Milton says they can sneak them into the Fae Palace past the guards and hide them in his apartment.
As they sneak to the Fae Palace, they run into another servant on another task to gather honey and vanilla for the Prince too. The group reaches Milton’s apartment within the Palace grounds and debates what is to be done in this nest of snakes.
Aftermath
Treasure Found:
- The Hammer of Heirodianus by Brother Everett Toddle
- Lapis-lazuli lantern with blue candle: as Electric Lantern, Recharges as Light Spell
- Purse of 800 pips
- Fae Monocle: Shows Invisible Things and Ghosts, Recharges as Invisibility Spell
- Whispershell Implicating Tylwig and Lady Twiggler to Overthrow Prince Sylvester
Foes Encountered:
- The Origami Tiger (defeated and burned)
- A Grey Librarian (talked with and learned of the Great Avernian Calculation)
Rumors:
- Tylwig and Lady Twiggler Intend to Overthrow Prince Sylvester
- Tylwig Drove Away Lord Necartrius’s Wife and Child to Install Prince Sylvester Upon the Fae Throne
- The Great Avernian Calculation, which one day will reveal some grand truth about the universe as a whole. It involves matters of the soul, the written word, entropy, and information. The calculation is far from complete.
Deaths:
- N/A
XP Awarded:
- 325 xp per player
- 500 pips split for the Glass Violin = 125xp
- 800 pips split for the purse = 200xp
Notes
- Most of the actual plot of Tiny Fables has fallen away as the game has morphed into a plot revolving around the Fae Coup.
- I’ve still been running faction events in the background, but most of the player actions have been oriented around Fae hijinks
- The Grey Librarian inclusion didn’t really add anything beyond some lore that is likely inactionable, but I included it to see what would happen from Stygian Library
- I’m curious to see how the players plot their next moves, as I encouraged them to discuss their next steps for the next session so we could hop right into the game
- Cherry finally leveled up! Fourteen sessions in, and we finally have a player reach Level 2!
Milton aids the nephew of the Royal Advisor Tylwig who was supposed to become a knight to appease his uncle by slaying the “fire-breathing fiend” at the Château Maurice. Milton is a butterfly-winged fae wearing a thimble for a helm, carrying a rapier. They have golden hair with feline eyes. Adorned in frills and lace, with a lilting voice and lithe frame.↩