12.24 - Reunion at Faewaters

[by spookylemon]   Robin, Shloopurr, and Elfriede sail across the Dragonsbane Mountains. They hear a sound from the hold of the ship. Shloopurr goes to investigate and is nearly thrown into the sky by a thunder wave spell cast by… Sebastian’s reanimated corpse? After a few tense moment, “Sebastian” explains that he is in fact Matthias, the fallen hero of Last Rest, his soul miraculously transferred into this body. Even Elfriede and Robin, with their encyclopedic knowledge of the arcane, cannot understand how this happened. A ghostly voice laughs on the wind… perhaps in giant? But this mystery must remain unsolved for now.   Sebastian/Mattias feels drawn to his home town of Faewaters. Having recently experienced death, he wishes to see his elderly mother. The rest of the party agrees—after all their mission was to return Sebastian to Falinor.   In Faewaters, Sebastian/Matthias reunites with his ancient mother Agnes. Everyone enjoys some home-made venison stew and Sebastian/Matthias shamelessly lies to sweet little old Agnes. During the conversation, Agnes reveals that Marie-Anne, the agent of Falinor that murdered Sebastian, recently came by. The party rushes off to try to find Marie-Anne.   The party gets a tip from the locals and tracks Marie-Anne to a nearby clearing where Robin’s skiff is parked. Sebastian/Matthias confronts Marie-Anne. As the two argue, Shloopurr casts detect thoughts, and senses a hidden assassin creeping in the woods just behind it. Shloopurr warns the others just in time. Marie-Anne’s trap is foiled, and the heroes make short work of this villain and her lackeys.   Notably, the heroes kept all three hostile combatants alive. Sebastian/Matthias wants to understand why his oldest, best friend murdered him. Shloopurr wants to know why these assassins are incapable of love and empathy. Robin and Elfriede are still fixated on the metaphysics of how Sebastian/Matthias even exists.   The heroes return to Last Rest, prisoners in tow.   Songs of Glory: Robin (+2), Elfriede (+2), Shloopurr (+2), Sebastian (+2)