Party is at Mossgrove and decide to spend the night there, and head over to the Pond in the morning. Yinfaren again tells the group not to pick any mushrooms around the pond, as it is bad luck. Hazel is very skeptical about that. Elenion stocks up on mushrooms from the Mossgrove “kitchens”.
Brandybuck tries
to communicate with Yemoja, and feels a change in the feeling of the air, it’s
subtle, but there is a higher level of humidity in the air for a moment, which
he feels as a sign that Yemoja is watching him.
In the
morning, Hazel makes some coffee. Yin tells the group the directions to the
pond, there is a well-traveled path leading to it. They should look for blue mushrooms
which increase in density as they get closer to the pond. There’s also a large
willow tree that grows close to the pond. Additionally, there’s an offering
bowl near the lake with what seems to be the remains of dried up mushrooms of
the same kind they have as meals at Mossgrove. Elenion adds some mushrooms to
this offering bowl and sees some koi fish in the lake start to jump.
Hazel looks
around for clues of what could be causing the “bad luck” surrounding the blue
mushrooms.
Hazel casts “see
invisibility” and is overwhelmed by the presence of hundreds (possibly thousands)
of small creatures that look like fairies, who appear to be laughing at her,
and fluttering about all the members of the group. Elenion tries to play
charades with them, but they don’t understand what anyone is saying. Hazel at
least could comprehend them via spell, and determined they were not hostile
towards the group. Zannan makes an image of a dragon and tries to convey the
meaning of “where?”. The fairies respond to that by indicating the group would
have to enter the lake to reach “her”. Hazel also discovered that the blue
mushrooms are the fairies’ homes.
Hazel cast
water breathing so the group could get into the lake. As they enter the lake, some
of the fairies join them after turning themselves into koi fish. They follow
the group underwater, but only until the group reaches a point in which it gets
pretty deep. The group sees the bottom of the lake has some bioluminescent
algae, as well as magenta-coloured crystals, increasing density towards the
north. As they approach this area, they notice a tunnel descending deeper. The
group gets attacked by a group of giant pike fish.
After
defeating the fish, the group descends into the tunnel, they eventually
resurface within a cave. The cave is lined with additional magenta-coloured
crystals. A lot of the floor stones have heart-shaped rubies on them. There is
lot of animal and plant life, consisting mostly of bioluminescent algae, and small
insects and amphibians, as well as some of the same kinds of pixies that the
group saw on the surface.
After walking
for a few hours, the group reaches a large grotto with a large ruby (about 20
ft wide) in the ceiling at the centre. This ruby has a gentle glow to it. They
also see a waterfall at the opposite end of the grotto. Behind the curtain of
water, there is a gazebo-like structure entirely made of ruby.
The group
reaches the structure and notices a table and 4 chairs, all made of ruby. There
are 4 tea cups and 4 tea pots. There’s also a banner hanging behind the table
saying “welcome to my tea party, this is your first trial”. Also, each tea pot
is labeled with one of the following: “red”, “crimson”, “sanguine”, “rubeo”.
Brandybuck tries the Sanguine tea and is hit by a column of fire. Zannan and
Elenion both try the Rubeo tea. When Zannan drinks his tea, he notices a
darkness spell effect appearing near a wall 60 feet away from him. Zannan goes
towards the edge of the darkness. Elenion also tries the Red tea, and nothing
happens, as well as the Crimson tea, which makes her feel a boost of confidence. Brandybuck also tries the
Crimson tea, but doesn’t feel anything different.
Eventually an
elven-looking woman approaches the group from the tunnel just north of the
table. She is very excited that the group tried all the teas. She also shows
admiration for Elenion’s hair colour, because it is just like the colour of one
of the moons.
The group
mentions the name Novasset, but she doesn’t recognize it. She seems surprised by
the survival of other gem dragons on the surface.
Zannan
mentions Nidhogg’s name, to which the group notices a strong reaction on Nura’s
part (her facial expression shows shock). Nura explained that she and Nidhogg
had a history of a relationship that didn’t work out, and Nidhogg took revenge
on Nura by burning down Cathrill to the ground, knowing that Nura has a soft
spot for surface people.
