As Alfein and Orlando was wed, Grib, the mutated Goblin Pirate attacked, sending guests scattering in panic.
The mutated Goblin was clearly a danger, but the experienced heroes quickly stepped into action.
The weaponless groom used a chord from his guitar to pin the speedy mutant in place. Grib in return uses his mighty mutated hand to grapple the Shadar Kai locking the two combatants in place. He tried to chop off our hero’s head with his sharp claw, but failed to hit in the struggle.
The heroes worked confidently to bring down the mutant when three guests put on iron masks and revealed themselves to be from the Iron Masquerade.
The three cast a heavily modified Faerie Fire spell lighting up everybody in the triangular area between them… including the invisible Shatter.
While our heroes were dealing with Grib who was struggling Orlando, they were caught by surprise by the Iron Masks.
Alfein jumped to her husband’s aid to help finish the strange Goblin mutation.
Amelia and Alfein quickly dispatched two of the iron Masks. However, the third Iron Mask grabbed Shatter and tried to flee the scene.
Fortunately Fenrir was in his Lycanthrope shape and quickly caught the fleeing Iron Mask and shredded him to pieces freeing Shatter.
The fight was over.
The aftermath
The flickering light, surrounding the people who had been caught by the Fairy Fire spell, drifted towards a corner of the Chapel. Alfein, Amelia and Fenrir curiously followed the drifting light and found that they “stuck” to a Chapel wall forming what looked like the outline of a door.
Alfein tried to touch the outlined part of the wall only to find it was an illusion, her hand passed straight through!
Orlando, standing some way away from the others, leaned down to here Grib’s final words. The mutanted Goblin looked more fragile that scary now and as a tear ran down his cheek his distorted mutant voice whispered: “They promised I would get my leg back.” and as Orlando carefully pressed for more information, the dying Goblin’s final words were: “Guards” and “The archive” after which he perished.
Crowd control
Some guests have fled, some promised to fetch the Daisyguard for help and some lingered either by shock or by curiosity.
Amelia, realising the heroes were not alone, quickly stopped the guests who were running for the Daisyguards and she gathered all around the altar and said the wedding would continue the very evening once the bride and groom had had time to gathered themselves.
With the guests leaving, it was time to investigate the door.
A gateway to where?
The heroes debated whether it was sensible to leave the hidden door. What if it disappeared? Orlando examined the door, but rather than magical it felt religious.
The Cleric Amelia had a look and the door had a lingering ancient almost primeval religious vibe to it, but she could not tell if the doorway would stay open or not.
In the end the heroes decided to enter.
The road to Ever Never Garden
They stood on in an ancient, well crafted staircase leading down. Above the staircase there was an old wooden sign with barely visible letters reading:
“Never Ever Enter the Ever Never Garden.”
As they descended they reached a long dark stone tunnel above which had the last part of a broken sign saying:
“Leave…
But before they could discuss further, a huge horde of Skeletons came shambling silently down the hallway.
Amelia confidently stepped forward to cast Turn Undead, but to her surprise, the Skeletons seemed immune and instead attacked her and pinned her down.
Fenrir and Orlando ran into the fray cutting down two of the Skeletons.
But Alfein, keeping in reserve, noticed that Orlando kicked a piece of wood out of the dirt and Shatter quickly picked it up and dusted it off. It was the other part of the sign and it said:
…your Fear behind.”
Alfein, putting two and two together, walked straight into the Skeleton mass, calmly and no weapons drawn. The Undead didn’t react as if she was not there.
“Stop fighting, put your weapons down!” the bride shouted to her comrades who immediately followed her advice and the Skeletons all turned to dust as if they had never been there.
A narrow road ahead
As the party continued down the hallway, it got narrower and narrower and they started worrying they would not be able to continue especially after Alfein cast Dancing Lights down the tunnel clearly showing the tunnel narrowing to no wider than the head of a mouse.
They looked around and found a sign saying:
“Leave your D___t behind.”
To their dismay, the letters had worn off and they tried to figure out what the word might have been. In the end Orlando suggested “Doubt” and with that, they decided to keep walking down the narrow tunnel confidently, which allowed them to pass.
Light at the end of the tunnel
They now saw a staircase leading up into warm bright sunlight. Grass, weed, flowers all had grown downwards from the entrance leaving the tunnel covered in greenery.
But as they walked towards the staircase, it seemed they getting any closer.
The sign above them now said:
“Leave your Arms behind.”
Spotting rusty weapons and armour scattered under the vegetation, the party left their arms behind. Even Amelia left her treasured blessed sword hidden near the sign.
And with that, they walked up the stairs.
Joliver Dorn
They emerged amongst the most beautiful green lush hills with grass swaying in the gentle summer breeze.
The Druid Fenrir noticed plants, flowers and weed that he knew and many he didn’t and he suddenly he realised to his surprise that all the plants he knew was there! He couldn’t think of a single one he couldn’t see!
The only sign of civilisation was a simple wooden hut in the distance. A short round figure milled about, possibly cooking from the slow pillar of smoke rising from the hut.
The heroes didn’t see or sense danger so approached through the beautiful smell from the flowers.
“Welcome. now you are here.”, greeted the middle aged man they met in front of the hut.
He looked like a Halfling, but where his hair would be, was grass, weed, flowers, not as a wreath, but as his actual hair.
A butterfly flew around his head and a petal or two fell from one of the flowers as he turned his head.
Amelia introduced herself and the little man replied: “I am Joliver. Joliver Dorn. Nice to meet you.”
Orlando asked whether Joliver were in the Ever Never Garden to which he oddly replied: “I am here in the now.”
Further conversation was difficult with the friendly Joliver. He seemed to have no concept of (or interest in) the past or the future.
When asked if he was alone he replied: “No, I am with you.”
When asked if he had always lived here he replied: “I live here in the hut.”
Joliver patiently answered the heroes questions as well as he could, but it left them none the wiser, so feeling sorry for the heroes he invited them for lunch consisting of newly warmed bread, fresh honey, marmelade, warm fresh milk and cider.
Lunch turned to dinner, dinner turned to sleep, sleep turned to breakfast. And so passed the first few days, then weeks, then months, but all seemingly in the same day.
Time to return
The heroes enjoyed Joliver’s company (and hospitality) but in the end they knew they eventually had to return.
So they bid Joliver farewell and with him waving them goodbye, they went back to the staircase, through the tunnel and out through the secret door in the Chapel back in Daisygate.
“I do!”
As soon as the heroes stepped out of the secret door, things went blurry as if time had turned to water, and the heroes found themselves back at the moment in time just after Alfein and Orlando had been wedded, Amelia had given them the rings and Fenrir had given his feathers as present.
They were reliving the very same moment again as a dizzying deja vu. and as they gathered their wits while the guests were looking, they heard small metallic squeaking sounds came from the entrance. An ill-looking one-legged Goblin in a wheelchair came into the Chapel.
it was Grib! Stunned, our heroes saw the little mutilated Goblin take out the very potion that had turned him into the lethal mutant!