Joey, the Rock Crusher (2/2/28)

The plan was simple. They would go to the market to buy the necessary unguents and poultices to reincarnate Brog. But as Ilyana began gathering a following of curious onlookers, Marty cautioned her to keep the affair small. When Ilyana refused, Marty slipped off and buried Brog’s body to protect the tower from being inundated with waves of desperate people demanding their loves ones be brought back. Ilyana was upset when she returned, but rather than tracking down Marty and demanding Brog’s body, she instead took Lexington’s.

With a small crowd watching on, Ilyana reincarnated Lexington. He came back in a dwarven body. They explained to him, as best they could what had happened, but in the end, Lex decided there was no place for him in Malwan. He left with little fanfare to seek his fortune in the mines. Giada suggested he might take a new name, something dwarven, like Joey, the Rock Crusher.

At a council meeting, Justice called for reinstatement of an obscure law conscripting all young men into military training for a year. Given several missing council members the matter was shelved until a full council was present.

While searching for the site of Ilyana’s ritual, Euwyn encountered a crowd of angry citizens who were clamoring for the removal of all non-humans from Malwan, particularly the elves. He was able to talk them down. They seemed almost shocked that the Prince didn’t agree with them.

Tensions still high, the party decided to take Edgar’s latest restored magic item, an instant fortress, and head into the woods to try to find some enchanted cotton.

Lunette & The Blight (Date 2/2/25)

Lunette awoke with startled innocence, thinking Euwyn was Narlock and wondering why so many strange men were in her bedroom. They calmed her down, showed her how her dress functioned, and used her to bypass the archon guarding the top floor. Only Ilyana seemed capable of communicating with her like a person. They gave the floor a thorough search, but other than opening the lab to Edgar for use building magic items, the effort seemed a waste. A waste, to all but Lunette, of course, who seemed quite happy to be alive. Some of her comments raised the idea that perhaps Tiaco was actually the same cat who had served as Narlock’s familiar.

Wanting nothing to do with the situation, Marty slipped off to go to church once Lunette proved to be more of a distraction than a font of knowledge. While he was working there, Kenny Ismort burst into the chapel carrying a wounded man whose body seemed to be fighting with a fast-moving contagion. Marty and Mjelde stopped disease, only to discover that it had come from an encounter with a giant boar in the forest. Kenny claimed that while they were fighting the beast, he had heard it call out Ilyana’s name. Leaving the wounded guards in Mjelde’s care, Marty and Kenny gathered the group and headed to the woods. They found the scene of the fight, but no tracks. Ilyana realized that only a druid could slip through the woods so subtly. Upon returning Malwan, the party found several infected beasts attacking the town. They fought them off, and as the boar fell, it called out Ilyana’s name one last time and transformed back into Brog, her fellow druid and former stalker.

The Lumber Deal (Date 2/2/24)

“We have to learn to work together,” Marty told the Prince. “That’s what Strom wants us to learn.” Euwyn agreed, and in that spirit the party headed into the woods once more. This time to prepare the way for Malwan to absorb the lumber consortium, sending Winter ahead to announce their approach. Things went relatively smoothly with a few hiccups along the way. Drova was pregnant, but it was discovered to be Lothar’s baby and that the two had married recently. Lothar was now leader of the consortium, but he was still kindly disposed to Malwan. Antionne was in attendance, and although he attempted to manipulate the proceedings, his ruse was discovered by Ilyana. In the end, Malwan agreed to a price freeze – absent exigent circumstances. It was a good deal, one in which no one was completely happy.

Ilyana, Winter and Hedge did their part to normalize relations by partying with locals, enjoying their rich, syrupy mead and reveling around the drum circle until the wee hours of the morning. Winter had her first sexual experience with a local named, Garova. Ilyana had fun, but couldn’t escape the feel of eyes on her from somewhere deep in the woods.

On the morning of their return, Euwyn and Marty dreamt of a shining countenance looking down upon them. They sensed it was pleased. When they opened their eyes, they found the bodies were their own.

Upon their return, the party gathered in Narlock’s secret chamber. A brief search of the doll found a tiny, concealed compartment at the base of her neck. The odd stone from Narlock’s underground lab fit it perfectly. Euwyn settled her head back to the pillow and stepped back as magic power washed over the doll uniting seams and softening curves as it passed. As the glowing cocoon faded, what remained appeared to be nothing other than a sleeping, young woman. A sharp intake filled her lungs and her eyes burst open with a start!