4️⃣💮 glitter and gold

sessions 35-45 | 07/26/2022-10/18/2022 | summaries in a 100 words or less!

✨synopsis

["Filler" arc DM'd by Annie to give Chris a break~]

The party visits a faire to unwind, only to get caught in the crossfire of a century-old battle between two gnomish gods-- Glittergold (luck) and Urdlen (chaos).

Trapped, along with the village, in a time loop that no one else seems to notice, the party must convince Glittergold to accept their help, while protecting the villagers from themselves, bloodthirsty beasts, and other outsiders--including horrifically violent bandits and a wanted thief.

After four repeated days of Harvestide, the party helps Glittergold break Urdlen's curse and finally enjoy a day of festivities before heading back towards Phandalin to complete their quest.

🦁 35. the lion, the witch, and the demon lords

The party enters the store--a traveling magic shop owned by the wizard Pax. Hugh decks out Droop with gear, Soren gets a circlet of disguise-as-human, and Will gets two bags of tricks. An exasperated Garaele takes Gundren and Vyerith back to town

Pax refers us to the nearby Pudding Faire in celebration of Harvestide. We learn more about our group "patrons" from Pax: Hugh's "Lady of Rot" is a demon lord named Zuggtmoy, while Graz'zt is a hedonistic demon lord known to make fiendish carnal deals.

No one is happy about this. We head off to the faire.

😽 36. snap crackle pop

The party enjoy festivities at the Pudding Faire, partaking in fair food while keeping village children (and Droop) out of trouble. We meet Grandpappy Cowslip, a wizard with three Enlarged kittens, which instantly enamor Will and Sildar.

We buy trinkets for each other at a yard sale--which, unfortunately, gets cut short by an accident involving thieves. Soren explores the human concept of gift-giving. After saving a young girl from being arrested, we get free potions from the village herbalist. Droop signs up for the annual capture-the-flag tournament.

Will purchases herbs and flowers. Sildar buys a bouquet of roses and lilacs for Soren.

🐷 37. the missing pig

A farmer beseeches the party to find his stolen prize hog, Cameron. We shop for vases from a talented potter before following the thieves' trail into the woods, where we find a young halfling being hunted by invisible creatures that only Droop and herself can see.

After a tough battle--wherein Soren calls upon Graz'zt's powers as a warlock and Droop demonstrates a barbarian rage upon seeing Hugh badly hurt--we continue tracking the pig. Will gets caught in a hunting snare, though he is unhurt.

We eventually find a camp of six rugged-looking travelers sitting around a large, roasted pig. :(

🤕 38. close calls

When WIll is unable to cure a mortally injured bandit, the rest of them attack the party viciously. The fight turns sour quickly and we barely escape and return to the faire, shaken.

\We learn that Honeypuddle's mayor was turned into a frog by a rude gnome, but Cowslip turns him back before setting off to "send the bandits packing". The group prevent a pancake fire, then enter Droop into a children's capture-the-flag-esque event, where he ends up attacking a contestant for hurting his friend.

Suddenly, the party finds themselves transported back to 7:00AM of the (seemingly) same day.

🐹 39. groundhog day

The party, quickly realizing the day reset and they are stuck in a time loop, begins to try and investigate.

They notice several things inconsistent from yesterday and follow clues into the woods, where they save a goblin from a mysteriously enlarged constrictor snake--shortly after the duo encountered a foul purple-haired gnome.

With evidence, they convince Grandpappy to go check out the threat, then follow him to discover that Granpappy and the purple-haired gnome, Urdlen, are both gods settling a personal grudge. Granpappy attempts to banish Urdlen, but is overpowered and the time once again resets.

🐗 40. in mysterious ways

Soren grows anxious at the idea of getting between gods, but the party is adamant about helping the village break their time loop. Granpappy is easily convinced of Urdlen's threat but refuses to let the group help him, storming off alone.

The group tries to gather more clues from the rest of the faire, with Sildar winning a piglet wrestling contest that goes wrong when the boar is enlarged like yesterday's snake.

The group encounters a wanted thief from Waterdeep, then encounter more magical mishaps pointing at Urdlen's mischief at the archery range.

🏹 41. pew pew

The group enters the archery contest and Droop wins. Talk about pets grows solemn when Will reveals he lost his dog in the drow raid of his past.

We encounter a girl who wins a stoneskipping competition but isn't seen because everyone becomes distracted by a group of butterflies, at which Will demonstrates excellent children skills and placates the distraught girl.

The party rescues a family of gnomes from hungry ankhegs, which we know to be associated with Urdlen, god of deep-crawlers. Sildar receives a letter from Waterdeep urging caution around drow, as the Bregan Daerthe is making a move.

👆 42. the might of gods

At Sildar's dismissal of the letter, Soren reveals he wants the Alliance to tear down Menzoberranzan.

The party protests against this genocide, and Will reveals his village was raided because they sheltered a young lost noble drow girl, who was initially racist but came around after being shown kindness. Soren softens at this until he learns this noble girl was his half-sister.

We find the missing Arabella's charred corpse at the bandits' camp; they begin setting the faire on fire in a rage. Sildar triggers a reset by destroying the pudding, but is disintegrated as a result. The day resets.

🤝 interlude: amends

The group heads back to the bandit camp to confront them. Soren apologizes for his outburst during which he told Will what the drow are inflicting on his former villagers.

Sildar, Will and Soren try to get each other to see that the horrors of their past are not their fault. Soren expresses his sins outweigh any attempt at redemption; that he's likely going to a different place from Sildar when he dies.

Sildar, perturbed by his death the previous "day", promises he'll join Soren in death. Soren in turn promises to pursue goodness and freedom even if Sildar dies.

⌛ 43. breaking the loop

Sildar attempts to distract Urdlen and his new bandits while Grandpappy charges a banishment spell, but is discovered.

A tough fight ensues between the party and the bandits, though the party is more prepared this second time and eventually manages to overcome them despite Urdlen summoning various monstrosities to aid the bandits. The party emerges victorious, which doesn't seem to concern Urdlen, who makes as if to reset time again....only for Granpappy's banishment spell to finish.

The group finds themselves once again at the start of Pudding Faire, but this time, things are clearly different. The loop is broken!

🎪 44. faire-going

Granpappy gives each party member some words of encouragement, a magic item, and disappears, leaving behind a kitty.

Finally free from the god's evil curse, the party enjoys the faire games! Between several good deeds and stopping disasters (since the party already knows the day's events well) Sildar wins a Drizzt statue for Soren, Soren demonstrates his gag reflex, we help reunite star-crossed lovers, Hugh destroys Sildar in a wrestling competition.

Sildar meets a familiar face from Waterdeep... whom we learn to be a doppelganger pretending to be Sildar's friend--discovering that not all doppelgangers are evil, after all.

🍮 45. pudding, at last

Droop makes friends with the kids, Hugh wins a pudding contest, and amidst song and dance, the Pudding Faire comes to a close.

We rest at the local inn to prepare for journeying back to Phandalin. Soren suggests a plan to deceive Nezznar that involves endangering Will; Will agrees.

The group enjoys a peaceful (but dream-filled) night; Graz'zt convinces Soren to draw on more of Graz'zt's demonic powers in order to someday tear down Menzoberranzan. Will dreams of his mother hugging him in front of a cozy fireplace. Myco urges Hugh to kill Soren and hurry to the wedding.