This report covers session five of a Dolmenwood campaign refereed by the fantastic inner_blaze. Read the previous session report here. Spoilers abound. Some details may have been lost in translation.
Characters
- Brom Tolmen, 2nd level human knight (played by yours truly)
- Impudence-Hath-Victory, or “Ivy,” 2nd level elf enchanter
- Kitty Pouncemouse, 2nd level grimalkin magician
- Kungus Cobwallop, 2nd level woodgrue enchanter
Bread Men Tell No Tales
On the morning of 14 Chysting, the party inquired at Bag Manor. The black robed figure who answered the door requested that they return the next day. The party then ventured into the woods to seek out a bakery of dubious repute. After traveling west along the Horse Eye Road then following a winding, poorly-maintained path marked “bakery,” the party reached a clearing dominated by a large two-story cottage.
There, the party met Mother, the proprietor of the bakery, who graciously invited them in to enjoy beverages and pastries. Within they found a spacious common room with many cats gamboling around the rafters and many girls and young women bustling in and out, the older ones busying themselves with chores, the younger ones at play.
Brom complimented Mother on her baking and asked why she had established the bakery so far from Prigwort. She explained that she didn’t trust Prigwort’s menfolk and that even then troublemakers had been known to plague the bakery. Kungus asked if the ruffians ever made it out alive, and Mother joked that they did not. More seriously, she claimed never to hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it. Brom explained that the party operated in a similar manner. It seemed that word traveled quickly in Prigwort, as one of the older daughters had already heard about their run-in with Austache.
Ivy and Kitty discerned that the pastries were not magical. Mother informed the party that she sought Lover’s Gasp mushrooms and would reward the party for providing some. Kungus awkwardly broached the issue of the bakery’s suspiciously low flour consumption. Mother initially chided him, but Kungus and Brom managed to cajole her into admitting that she employed a secret baking technique.
The party began to get suspicious when Mother mentioned that folks in Prigowort spread rumors that she abducted children, many of whom she’d adopted. Kitty conversed with one of the bakery cats, who did not suspect Mother of anything sinister and explained that the girls lived at the bakery because they loved Mother and Mother loved them. The cat told Kitty of a man who had tried to sneak into the bakery with a knife. Mother had overpowered him and taken him out back. He had not been seen since.
The party agreed that Mother seemed benevolent enough but decided to surveil the bakery anyway, as they had an hour to spare before returning to Prigwort. They discovered an herb garden behind the bakery and a trail leading deeper into the woods. The trail terminated at a clearing dominated by a massive pool of burbling dough stirred by six human-sized gingerbread men, their faces frozen in vacuous grins. The gingerbread men seemed unbothered by the party and unable to communicate. At the edge of the clearing the party found a small dormitory—ostensibly belonging to the gingerbread men—and a toolshed. Bewildered and bemused, the party concluded that Mother’s bizarre practices did not concern them.
After an easy trek back to town, the party split up to pursue personal agendas. Brom and Kitty visited the church of Saint Waylaine and met Reverend Liane Smunk. Brom raised concerns about the dead rising throughout Dolmenwood, and the reverend confirmed that the Abbey of Saint Clewyd had been afflicted by such a calamity, warning Brom and Kitty to stay away. Protectors of the church dispatched to the abbey in service of Saint Signis had not returned.
Meanwhile, Ivy and Kungus visited The Wrinkled Meddler, Prigwort’s finest inn. Ivy paid their way in with fairy gold, though their welcome proved less than warm even after they’d procured finer garments. Still, Ivy and Kungus availed themselves of sumptuous food and private suites, all the while plotting the downfall of House Pilsten…
Read the report of session six here.
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