Moonlit Travels - 17/02/2022 - A Kavel Perspective

Gerhard Gathers A Group

Carpentry is going well. It’s still early days, but Tokh Mar Haraq, my instructor, finds that my proficiency in woodcarving and masonry means I am not a total novice with the tools we use in carpentry. Good.

I stopped off in the Great Hall to get some food and ran into comrade Gerhard and some others. Gerhard, my bearded, human friend who was often holding scrolls or a longbow was telling us about a task he wanted companions for. He wanted to go to the Witching Court, which is some fey place on another plane. Why? I wasn’t sure. Comrade Marto, the smaller, but slash-ier version of me was excited. He was accompanied by someone I hadn’t met before, Beets, a fairy. Also, comrade Derthaad was here too, and he had agreed to join in, and if Derthaad is on a mission, I think it’s a good mission. So, I was happy to join. But I decided to join for an additional reason; comrade Gerhard helped my bros, Tim and Sampson, so I owned him. We agreed to meet the next morning.


Witching Court Bound

In the centre of Daring Heights is Portal Plaza, where we met up. Lady Aurelia was there and opened a portal to the Mountain Palace for us. Surprisingly, Gerhard didn’t have his head buried in scrolls, like I usually see him. If anything he looked distracted.

As we stepped through the portal, everything felt heightened; the colours, even our feelings. I was told this is what to expect in the Feywild. There was an immense full moon in the sky, and Marto said that in the Feywild, the moon is permanently full. The Mountain Palace was behind us, and this immense, misty forest was in front of us. It seemed larger than the Angelbark.

Marto knew lots of things about the Feywild, and told us that the Archfey Queen Nicnevin ruled the Witching Court from the Mountain Palace, but in addition she was the ruler of all the courts of the Feywild. When he mentioned the Witching Court was the court of Hags and Witches, I got confused. In my experience hags and witches come from the Nine Hells. Me and Derthaad had to deal with a few of them several times now. But, Derthaad and Marto explained that there are more than one type of Hags and Witches.

Queen Nicniven was a giant, which is obviously very cool. Beets announced her interest in challenging the queen to a fight. I said this sounded like a big step up in competition, since I would be considered a half-giant at 7’4” tall, and full giants can range from 16ft to 26ft tall. Beets was not deterred. Marto also warned Beets to be careful about fey agreements and challenges. Apparently they are not straightforward coin transactions.

A well-dressed male drow approached us from the direction of the palace and enquired who we were. Gerhard introduced himself, and Marto explained we were from Daring Heights. When Gerhard explained he would like to speak to a Mr. Sarin, the drow man, introduced himself as Margotin and a servant of Queen Nicniven, and he would see what he could do.

Margotin led us into the palace. The palace was carved into the tunnel, much like some goliath and certainly dwarven homes - I liked it. The palace was magically lit by these crystals. There were strangely no doors to the rooms here, just curtains made from leaves, vines and moss. We were led to a waiting room, with a big stone table surrounded by chairs.


What Can You Do In A Waiting Room? Wait, Sit, Read… Arm Wrestle

With time to spare, I questioned Gerhard about what he wanted with Mr. Sarin. He was very cagey with his answer. I learnt nothing. I made it clear to him that I’d be glad to help with whatever, since he helped my bros Tim and Sampson.

Gerhard seemed to take my words in fondly, and said, “I’m guessing Tim and Sampson wouldn’t be fond of the Feywild, what with that permanent, full moon out there, hey?”

I wasn’t entirely sure, “they tell me they have the curse under control. So, I’m not sure if they wouldn’t like it here. Are there any good gyms?”

Beets interjected enthusiastically at that point, “hey let’s arm wrestle, right now!”

I kind of liked her ever keen manner, and she seemed well-built for her small frame. But I didn’t give her much of a chance - I am goliath after all.

I agreed to the challenge. We wrapped hands, starting in as equal a position as we could. The problem here is that my arms are so long, whilst hers were so short. I had to reach further forward along the table just so both of us could have our elbows on the table. But, it wasn’t as if this would make a difference to me winning or not.

The match started. I remember being surprised by how very strong Beets actually was. I barely tensed at the start, because I was in disbelief that she’d be able to move my arm. But she could. So, I put effort in, but couldn’t do more than hold my ground. Ha! Who would have thought a goliath would meet his match in an arm wrestle against a fairy?

I was very impressed with Beets, and told her so. She insisted on going again. She was twitching a little in the corner of her mouth. She looked excited, but it felt like she had passed the point of excitement and was bordering on fanatic. No worries though, I was happy to both humour her, and try again for my own pride.

Round two. Again a stalemate, but only for the beginning of the match. It turns out that Beets also understands the power of quickened, focussed breathing, or in other words, Barbarian Rage. We both raged to try and press an advantage, but still we were unable to shift the other's arm from the centre. With both of us raging, we just ensured the stalemate continued whilst applying more strength into our grips and digging into the centre of the stone table. But then, the twitching corner of Beets’ mouth began to foam and her eyes expressed more than the rage I’m familiar with, and suddenly it was as if her strength had increased as my hand began to be pushed down. Unbelievable! She brought forth some untapped strength and crashed my hand into the table with such force that the stone table broke straight down the middle. She cheered herself while flexing under what looked like extreme rage. Very impressive, if not a little scary.

I composed myself from my own rage, whilst also acknowledging the feeling I had of a wounded pride. But I didn’t dwell on that feeling long - what good would that do me? Instead I focused on what was good:

“You are truly strong, Beets. Very good! I’ll be honest, I really thought I’d win. Congratulations.”

The others, I felt, were not focussing on what was good. There was much complaining about the state of the stone table, and the foaming of the mouth. Derthaad felt the attitude and foaming were indicative of the same curse that Sorrel had been under. Marto insisted it wasn’t and there’s really nothing wrong here. I supported this view, “of course nothing is wrong. She’s just tremendously strong.”

I righted the two broken table halves, and the others moved smaller side tables underneath the two halves to support the table upright, so I could let go of them . Derthaad was inspecting the table for some reason and seemed to be performing the somatic component to a spell. What was he going to do? Cast a psychic or lightning based spell on it? Psychic magic won’t do anything to stone, and lightning will make the table worse. I took my eye off of him, while I continued talking to Marto and Beets.

Undoubtedly, Beets was strong. I insisted that she come train at Kavel’s Corner some time. Derthaad insisted she go get herself checked out to be safe. I said, “yeah sure do that, but come train with me first. Also, Beets, if you can beat a half-giant in an arm wrestling contest, maybe you can fight Queen Nicnevin?”

At that moment an alarmingly handsome drow man dressed only in a poncho walked into the waiting room. This was Sarin.


Sarin And Gerhard’s Story

Gerhard introduced us all to Sarin, as we all took a seat. Sarin asked how he could be of assistance, and Gerhard, without restraining himself to a cagey response this time, explained why he had come here.

Gerhard was an archaeologist. A bookish type like Glint. He was excavating a ruin with his friend Henri, on behalf of a village that stumbled upon the ruins. Neither of them could understand the script they found on the carved stones set out in a circle, with two columns acting as an entrance. Neither understood the shards of crystals they had found. Maybe it was a result of something one of them did, but a tear in reality appeared that realigned the crystals with a silvery energy. Henri was sucked into the tear, along with surrounding debris. Gerhard was lucky to escape. Gerhard has had no way of knowing what happened to Henri, and if he is safe. Gerhard had come here to ask Sarin for help, because when last he saw Sarin, Sarin spoke of ruins similar to the one he and Henri were excavating. Gerhard also had a reminder of the event, as he gained a silver streak on his arm, matching the silver energy of the tear.

We all felt for Gerhard in the moment. Sarin sat next to him, took his hands, and said that although he was preparing for the Night of Darkness tonight, he promised to help as much as he could.

The Night of Darkness was a rare event in the Feywild. It is always a full moon here, but very rarely a lunar eclipse happens, and that night is both feared and celebrated. Something funny happens to the magic in the Feywild during an eclipse, for the short time that it lasts.



Sarin said he would come with us to the edge of the forest, and give us directions to the ruins. It was evening, so he also sent for some torches made with the same light emitting crystals on the palace walls, which he gave to us. I mentioned that we had an incident in the waiting room that led to the broken stone table, and that as a mason, I would be very willing to fix it, when we come back from exploring the ruins.
Derthaad interjected, “Kavel. I fixed it already, look.”

I did look. The stone table was indeed fixed. I couldn’t see the crack at all. I looked back at Derthaad, “Comrade Derthaad, you have very good masonry skills.”


A Jaunt in the Misty Forest To Find Some Ruins

Before we left, Sarin checked if there was anything else he could do for us. Beets asked for an appointment with Queen Nicnevin. He said he would see what he could do. He then expressed to us not to deviate off the path in the forest. Follow the path straight out to a clearing, then find the next path after a clearing with some mountains in the background and we should find the ruins simply enough. Deviating off the path will mean getting lost in the forest’s mist. The forest was rich with magic. The mist was magically disorientating and designed as a line of defence against invading armies.

As we started our journey, I put my hands on Gerhard’s shoulders from behind him and shook him like Sampson would do to me, when I was getting ready to beat my personal best on the squat rack, and said, “come on comrade! Let’s go get your friend Henri!”

The first part of our walk to the ruins was very straightforward, simply following the path. The second half required us to orientate a path that wasn’t clearly laid out, as it was in the first forest. Everyone was busy looking for clues as to which direction to go. Beets could fly, so she took to the sky to get a birds eye view. Gerhard looked for humanoid tracks, Marto looked for signs of animals. I found a fallen tree and hurled it into the direction where we seemed to be intending to go. We could not see the wildlife, but we could hear plenty of critters evacuating the surrounding area where the log eventually landed. Derthaad managed to find the right path for us thanks to my superb caber toss, which helped uncover the right path by knocking away some of the fallen leaves that were covering up the way.


The Ruins

The eclipse was getting closer. The night sky seemed to be getting darker. We came across a large stone on its side. The stone had been carved into a six foot column with an inscription on it, but now it lay flat. This was an immovable object - if you were not me. I righted the stone column single-handedly, back into its original position. My feat of strength gave my more intelligent comrades a better look at all the inscriptions, but even Derthaad aided by magic couldn’t understand them. But, Gerhard could at least confirm they were similar to the ones he and Henri came across. Marto and Gerhard took some etchings.

There were more columns further along. Most were aligned in a circle. Two appeared to act as an entrance, and the light from our crystal torches were diminishing. Something was happening with the forest mist too, it was being drawn into the centre of the columns. Derthaard cast his Light spell on his horns, as the light from the diminishing torches was also being sucked into the centre of the site, as the moon became increasingly eclipsed.

A silvery tear in the very air appeared at the centre of the columns. The tear grew bigger and opened wide enough to walk through. I’ve seen a shadowy version of this. Another plane or place would be found if you were to travel through the tear. Gerhard was very eager indeed to discover what was on the other side, for without warning he bolted straight through the tear.


Chasing Gerhard

As Gerhard disappeared into the silver outlined tear in space, we could swear we all caught a glimpse of a silver staircase. But it vanished, and we could no longer make out if anything else was beyond the tear.

Marto and Beets followed comrade Gerhard in. Derthaad gave me his rope, which I combined with my own and tied around one of the stone columns. The rest of the rope was coming into the portal with us. I wasn’t sure what assurances I had that the portal couldn’t close because of this tether back to the Witching Court, but it seemed like a good choice. Derthaad reminded me that Sarin said the eclipse would last between ten to fifteen minutes, and then we followed our comrades in.


Silver Portals Go To The Moon

We found Gerhard on the other side of the tear. We also found that we were on the moon of the Feywild. This was easy to verify, because we could see the planet of the Feywild where you would normally have seen the moon. The Feywild oddly looked very similar to the maps I had seen of Toril. But, then one of the others told me that the marble in the sky was Toril and we were on Toril’s moon, not the Feywilds. I was also told that even if Selune is the moonmaiden, it didn’t mean that she lived on the moon. So, what I would be telling Sorrel later when I saw her, would now be less interesting to her, but still she should be fascinated as a cleric of Selune - right?

Behind us and the silvery portal, was a mountain, which had a door. Somebody lived here on the moon. I must admit, I thought I was about to be proven correct that Selune did in fact live here, but when the door opened, a much larger hand than mine appeared around the edge of the door. It was red, and belonged to a pit fiend. This did not seem like it could be Selune at all. We were all a little on edge, until the pit fiend smiled and waved at us, “Fellow travellers! Welcome to the moon!”

This was Copernicus, he introduced himself as warden to this outpost, along with Lamel, a water genasi who had some tea on the stove. We were invited in for tea.

Marto volunteered to stay behind and keep an eye on the portal. I handed him the rope tethered to the other side. The rest of us went in for tea and an explanation.

Inside, it was a pristine white. We were in a living room, waiting for Lamel. Gerhard explained how he was looking for his lost friend Henri. Copernicus mentioned Henri could be anywhere if he travelled the staircase. Copernicus was overjoyed to hear we saw the staircase. Gerhard said he saw it for much longer than the blink of an eye we saw it for.

Lamel brought the tea. Both her and Copernicus were excited to explain the staircase to us, when they learnt we had no idea about it. They said it was the ultimate way of travelling the multiverse - I guessed this meant the different planes. There are apparently an infinite number of places. This was a bit disappointing to Gerhard, since it meant Henri could be anywhere. He showed our new friends a sketch he had made of Henri. Lamel recognised the face and description Gerhard gave and said she believes she passed Henri in the Beastlands some time ago. This was good, it gave Gerhard hope and told us that Henri could be alive.

Explaining the staircase some more, our new friends showed us what they called the ‘Call’. For both of them, their Call was different. Copernicus had a silver dagger, Lamel had an ornate silver flower on the top of her staff. The Call helps them find cracks in the planes. Gerhard showed our traveller friends his silver mark on his arm. Once again, they were overjoyed as they showed him theirs; Copernicus had a silver mark on his wings, Lamel just above the knee. These marks meant, as they put it, you were selected by the staircase to be a traveller. They mentioned they had another Call, and went to find it. They were going to give it to Gerhard.

With this pause, I took a cup of tea and a biscuit to Marto. It seemed fair, he was missing out, and I did my best to explain everything he’d missed out.

“Gerhard has been selected,” I said, as I gave Marto the tea and biscuit.

“Selected for what?” Marto asked.

“Travelling through silver portals, I think. The others will explain later.”

Marto urged me to remind the others that we only had about five minutes left, the portal was shrinking.

When I came back to the room with the others, Lamel was pouring a silver liquid into Gerhard’s hands. Apparently the Call would shape itself to the personality of the chosen. I was waiting for the silver liquid to form into a scroll. The silver liquid vibrated as it morphed around. The shape it was forming was very long, more the length of Gerhard’s longbow than a scroll. This was going to be a very long scroll. The liquid stopped vibrating, and began to settle. Ah - it was a silver longbow in the end and not a silver scroll. To be fair, Gerhard is both a very good archer as well as an obsessive reader.

Marto used the Message spell to urge us that it was time to leave. On our way out, Copernicus gave us all some trinkets as a passing gift. Copernicus and Lamel came out with us to see us off through the portal. Just in the nick of time we all got through as the portal sealed itself behind us and disappeared. The crystals on our torches were shining light again, and the moon was once again visible, the eclipse had passed.


Back At The Mountain Palace

Sarin was intrigued by our account of what happened. Gerhard was grateful for his help. Sarin reminded us that time worked differently here in the Feywild, and that when we got back to Kantas, it would seem like more time had passed. What I was hearing is that I had missed a workout. We needed to get back immediately, but, it turned out Sarin had arranged for Beets to meet Queen Nicnevin - it was on.


Queen Nicnevin

We were taken to an immense domed room with the hugest of crystal’s emitting light from the top of the dome to the entire room. This was a throne room, and on the throne was Queen Nicnevin, and she must have been around twenty-something feet tall. She was much taller than me. A full giant. Magnificent! And if Beets beats her in a fight, I will have witnessed the unbelievable.

But, gone was the excitable fairy from before. Beets was stumbling with her words. She began mentioning some problem or other and eventually got round to challenging Queen Nicnevin, though it was a pretty weak challenge.

Queen Nicnevin was very amused. She lent over from her throne and touched Beets’ forehead with her giant finger. Beets’ strength seemed to fade, as her head and shoulders appeared to be very heavy for her. Queen Nicnevin touched Beets’ forehead again soon after, and Beets regained her composure. Well, she regained her strength, her composure was not the same as before. This was a good lesson for Beets. I’m glad I didn’t try to initiate a lifting challenge. I’m really strong, but maybe I’ve learnt that full giant is out of my weight category.


Visit The Mountain Palace Gift Shop On Your Way Out

Marto bought a spellbook before we left the Mountain Palace. I got to witness a deal in the Feywild. Marto agreed to pay for the spellbook by trading his carpentry skills for 2 weeks up until the next full moon in Daring Heights would be seen. This all sounded like nonsense to me, but when I asked Marto about some basic carpentry stuff I had learnt, he looked very confused. I guess I’ll check up on him in a couple of weeks.