Souls Campaign Session 9

Session 9: 29-08-2025

The party starts squeezed into the carnival wagon and felt themselves fly up to be taken away somewhere safe. Squished in between the carnival people were the two soldiers that helped the Witchhunters.

They landed a short distance softly in a swampy land of creeks, fields of gras and high reeds. Spilling outside the people caught their breath. Before the soldiers could make a run for it Saruske caught them both in a headlock.

Ozzy and Saruske start interrogating them and find out they're soldiers by the names of Harald and Jorrin. Harald an older warrior and Jorrin a fresh faced youth, joined the soldiers only a short time ago. They tell them about the forces of the Witchhunters numbering about 20 warriors and 2 Warsuits with the Hunt Commander Kurt "Hexenbrander" Witchbane, a terrifying cruel man who loves to kill magical creatures with fire.

Harald decided to leave the group and make it back out on his own leaving his armor and weapons behind. Jorrin lets the older man go and almost gets stabbed by one of the carnival people but Ozzy stops them. He stays close to the party and seems ashamed.

They met with Mr Witch, a Shadar-kai, who tells them the realm was invaded by these strange men with terrible weapons. The Archfey, Zybilna, that ruled over this realm has been locked away in the Palace of Heart's Desire by the hags using her magical cauldron 112 years ago. When she ruled there was no death, stealing or being discourteous to each other as she enforced her laws on the land. Time, however, runs strangely in this realm and is controlled by Mr Witch's watch including the day/night cycle.

The land they're in now is the realm of the hag Bavlorna called Hither, a great swampland filled with dangerous marshes and bogs. He knows a safe location to the south where they can rest and recuperate for a week.

A large lion-headed man by the name of Leo leads the horses around and chats with Saruske about the places they've been and the people of the carnival. He learns they're from all over the multiverse. They start traveling south towards the tower.

Half-way there Ghost and Saruske see a large cloth in the swamp. Chiki retreats into his shield and takes the people inside with them to protect them and inside Mr Witch gifts him an Astral Crystal which can expand the space of his pocket dimension. The others and Leo approach the cloth cautiously, identifying it as a balloon. Suddenly the water starts to rise and some of them get trapped in the bog but quickly the others rescue them.

Ozzy uses a form of a giant frog to swim out to the balloon and finds the fresh corpse of a Bullywug. He sees its wearing a bracelet given in the Seelie court and knows this creature has some connection to Titania. Finding nothing more he heads back.

They continue to travel south towards the tower and after a short time they see a slanted tower standing at an odd angle. Saruske scales the building with ease reaching the window on top. He hops inside and immediately the direction shifts and he feels like he's standing upright normally instead of at an angle.

Inside he sees a comfortably furnished room with cupboards, chairs, a sofa and a bed. On one of the tables there is a golden birdcage and a voice calls from within. A pink flying creature dressed in a set of plate armor and a twirly mustache introduces himself as "Sir Talavar, Knight-Errant of the Seelie Court and Envoy of the Summer Queen."

The others and carnival people enter the tower to make themselves at home. Ozzy, Ghost and Chiki make their way upstairs to meet with Saruske and see him jump down and grab a goblin covered in keys. Freeing Sir Talavar with one of the keys they learn about his mission to confront the hags and get them to release Iggwilv. He lost his squire Wigglewog after their balloon was shot by the Witchhunters.

They decide to settle down for a week in the tower and heal up before confronting the hag. Ozzy investigates the book cases and finds maps and descriptions of the area, Ghost studies alchemical books and finds a recipe for strong acid, Saruske goes around with Sir Talavar interviewing people to become his new Squire and Chiki heals the people while expanding his pocket dimension with the astral crystal.