The Knight, The Noble, and the Nervous Apothecary

The party, recovering from their encounter with animated props, took a break in the library. After they leveled up, they browsed the library’s collection, finding intriguing verses that hinted at a deeper lore. Despite their efforts, the secret of Skabatha remained elusive.

Their search continued south of the library, in a cluttered prop room. There, Zahala, ever observant, spotted an iron key tucked within a gilded throne and quickly secured it. A peculiar goblin doll, clutching a key in its back, and a solitary goblin perched on a pedestal, failed to pique their interest.

The adjacent room brought them face-to-face with Hurley, sporting an incomplete dragon costume. He recounted his ill-fated bargain with Endelyn: his shadow in exchange for increased likability. The deal had backfired, leaving him trapped in a three-year (and counting) performance contract, with his popularity plummeting with each passing show. Filbert, in a gesture of support, offered Hurley a blue ribbon, which he promptly tied into his hair.

Their exploration led them to a group of five performers, their faces etched with sorrow as they prepared for an upcoming play. The party’s attempt at a flute performance fell flat, prompting a swift and silent retreat. Hurley, drawing on his experience, revealed Endelyn’s penchant for macabre and tragic theatrical productions.

Venturing north of the library, they found themselves amidst a collection of hanging stage backdrops. A misstep sent Filbert tumbling into a hole. Though unharmed, he was greeted by a fleeting vision of his own tombstone before it vanished. They eventually came across a small theater, illuminated by a moon-like orb, with tree cutouts casting long shadows and a trapeze dangling from above. Zahala, ever resourceful, discovered a pair of opera glasses resting on one of the seats. Leaving the peculiar theater behind, they continued their exploration.

As they exited the hallway, a goblin jester named Stagefright materialized before them. Clutching a scepter adorned with his own likeness, which he argued with incessantly in his own voice, Stagefright declared that they would be starring in a particularly gruesome play. He planned to feed them lines from offstage, citing their lack of preparation time.

Preparing for the Play

The party, swept up in Stagefright’s theatrical machinations, found themselves in the prop room, assembling their costumes:

• Acornagorn, cast as the nervous apothecary, donned a tattered coat, an unremarkable hat, and armed himself with a bag and bandolier overflowing with vials.
• Zahala, embracing her role as the cowardly noble, adorned herself in a regal purple dress, a wig crawling with spiders, and a flowing yellow cape emblazoned with a purple dragon.
• Filbert, embodying the resurrected knight, wore a suit of armor conspicuously missing its helmet, his trusted morningstar in hand.

In addition to their costumes, they requested a few key props to enhance the performance: a giant marshmallow, a graveyard scene, and a convincing apothecary building.

With their preparations complete, they joined the other performers for a final rehearsal before being ushered onto the stage by Stagefright. The curtain rose, and Stagefright, with a dramatic flourish, announced the title of their play: “The Knight, The Noble, and the Nervous Apothecary.”

A Gruesome Performance

The play unfolded, a series of tragic events culminating in a bloodbath:

• The knight, played by Filbert, struck down Acornagorn’s apothecary, revealing himself as his long-lost son.
• Driven by madness, the knight then turned his blade on Zahala’s noble, cutting her down.
• The play reached its climax with the knight, consumed by grief and despair, taking his own life with his sword.

As the curtain fell on their grim performance, they took their bows, their macabre debut seemingly well-received. Endelyn, intrigued by their performance, summoned them to her private chambers. There, she revealed the grim fate she foresaw for them: acid baths for Zahala and Filbert, and a hanging for Acornagorn. Endelyn offered to return Filbert’s lost item in exchange for completing one of three tasks:

1. Surrender a Shadow: One of them could relinquish their shadow to Endelyn, who would sever it using her enchanted scissors.
2. Retrieve Gloam the Cat: Endelyn accused her sister, Bavlorna Blightstraw, of stealing her beloved cat, Gloam, and demanded its return from Bavlorna’s cottage in Downfall.
3. Recover a Unicorn Horn: Endelyn claimed that her other sister, Skabatha Nightshade, had recently lost a unicorn horn and insisted they retrieve it for her. She mentioned that the unicorn, though transformed into a rocking horse, still lived, serving as Skabatha’s airborne steed.

Filbert, unmoved by her offer, refused to bargain, prompting Endelyn to dismiss them. Back outside, the giant machine continued whirring, spinning relentlessly and spitting out letters one by one. Zahala, recalling their previous encounter, reminded the group that Bavlorna was dead, suggesting that retrieving the cat might be their best course of action.

As Session 4.4 drew to a close, the party found themselves driven by a renewed sense of purpose:

• To reunite Hurley with his other half, Burley.
• To bring Gleam and Gilster back together.
• To recover Filbert’s lost possession.
• And to locate and rescue the missing Zybilna.

• You started the session in the library, having been hurt pretty badly by the animated props below the stage.
• After a short rest and a leveling up, you searched the books and found the following passages:
  • All I’ve wrought shall come undone
    When the moon blots out the sun.
  • The sweet treachery we three have wrought—
    Would Iggwilv forgive us? Ha! I think not.
  • Time was our ally, standing beside us,
    Giving us that which Mummy denied us.
    But now, I feel its hands turn cold
    And see its second sight unfold:
    The hourglass broken, the sisters three
    Meeting our hellish destiny.
    Bav and Skab will never know
    That Time has always been our foe.
• You searched for the secret about Skabatha but did not discover it
• You then searched a prop room to the south of the library, where Zahala found an iron key that she pocketed in a gilded throne. There was also a small goblin doll with a key in its back in a cradle, which you left alone, and a goblin sitting on a pedestal.
• In the next room, you found Hurley, wearing a dragon costume without the head or tail. He explained that he bargained with Endelyn, giving her his shadow in return for being more likable. But it seems like it did not work, and he has been working off his other part of the bargain—three years (which it turns out are quite a bit longer than he thought) of performing. But he keeps getting more and more disliked the longer he performs, and the magic mirror confirms this.
• Filbert encouraged him and gifted him with a blue ribbon, which he tied in his hair.
• In the next room, you found five performers weeping and preparing for a play, where you launched into a flute performance that did not come off well. You left without speaking with any of the performers.
• Hurley told you that Endelyn prefers gruesome and tragic stories on her stage.
• You explored north of the library, where scene backdrops are hung. Filbert fell in a hole (lol, it didn’t hurt him) and he saw a gravestone with his name on it, but then it disappeared.
• In the next room, you discovered a small theater with a moon-like orb lighting it, 3 feet across. Tree cutouts cast shadows, and a trapeze was hanging from the ceiling.
• Zahala discovered some opera glasses on one of the chairs.
• Without doing anything else, the party left this small theater behind.
• Upon exiting from the hallway, a goblin in a jester costume announced himself as Stagefright. He was carrying a scepter with an effigy of himself on it, which he speaks with sometimes. He announced that you were all going to be in a particularly gruesome and horrible play, which he had the script to, but you would not have time to learn the lines, so he would feed them to you from offstage.
• You went to a prop room and got dressed in various props:
  • Acornagorn in a ratty coat and a not very useful hat and a bag filled with vials that also had a bandolier on it where some vials could be kept. He was playing a nervous apothecary.
  • Zahala in a deep purple dress, a wig covered in spiders, and a yellow cape with a purple dragon on it. She was playing a cowardly noble.
  • Filbert in a suit of armor with no head and holding a Morningstar. He was playing a knight who was raised from the dead.
• You also asked for a giant marshmallow, a graveyard scene, and a building that could be an apothecary to be placed on stage.
• You then were invited to make last preparations in the room where the other performers were preparing as well.
• Stagefright came and got you and put you on stage behind the curtain. He stepped out and announced the play: The Knight, The Noble, and the Nervous Apothecary.
• You performed.
  • The apothecary died first, having been struck down by the knight, who claimed to be his son.
  • The noble died next, also struck down by the knight.
  • And then the knight stabbed himself with a sword.
  • Taking your bows, Endelyn agreed to speak to you in her private chambers.
• In her chambers, she revealed your bitter ends: acid for Zahala and Filbert, hanging for Acornagorn.
• She told you she would be happy to return Filbert’s item for one of three things:
• Shadow. If a character agrees to give up their shadow, Endelyn uses her scissors of shadow snipping to snip it off.
• Gloam the Cat. Endelyn accuses her sister, Bavlorna Blightstraw, of stealing her cat, Gloam. Endelyn wants the characters to travel to Bavlorna’s cottage in Downfall, find her cat, and return it to her.
• Unicorn Horn. Endelyn claims that her sister Skabatha recently lost a unicorn horn, and Endelyn wants the character to find the horn and bring it to her. Endelyn mentions in passing that the unicorn whose horn was lost is still alive, although transformed into a rocking horse that Skabatha Nightshade uses as a flying mount.
• Filbert told her he would not parlay with her, and she dismissed you outside, in view of the giant ornery, spinning and spitting out single letters at a time.
• Zahala reminded the party that Bavlorna is dead, and perhaps retrieving the cat in order to get his lost item would not be too difficult.

You are motivated to:

• Reunite Hurley and Burley
• Reunite Gleam and Gilster
• Retrieve Filbert’s lost item
• Find and rescue Zybilna