🐹39. groundhog day

session 39 • 8/16/2022 • words

🌞 DAY 10.2 • 📅 HARVESTIDE

📌 Honeypuddle Village

⏰ Entrance to the Faire, 7:00AM

Droop, the Chronurgy Wizard!

Droop immediately apologizes to everyone for "turning back the time" because he got so mad. We are confusion until we realize Droop is a delusional little babbie and thinks he has unlocked inherent time-traveling powers within himself from being "madder than he has ever been before".

The party, understandably, paniccs over literally being sent back (or forward) in time, as it's clearly dawn. Soren, realizing that he has to relive another 3-levels-of-exhaustion day, climbs back wordlessly onto the rothe and passes out.

Sildar and Hugh have a mild disagreement over what their next course of action should be; Sildar wants to check on Grandpappy, since he never returned the day before, while Hugh wants to go and save the pig from being stolen.

We end up passing by Grandpappy's since it's on the way.

⏰ Cowslip Candies, 7:00AM

No Time to Explain, Get In the Car!

The party roll up to Grandpappy's; the kittens are in the same position as they were before, as is Grandpappy. He starts to welcome the group to the faire, but Hugh cuts him off and tells him "I know you have golden jellybeans that can heal us. Come with us!"

Grandpappy: ??????????????????

The group cites a few facts about Grandpappy, including the name of his cats, details about his candies, etc. Grandpappy states that he usually never forgets a face, but he doesn't remember having met the party before. The party tries to get him to come with them to the livestock pen to make sure that Cameron is not stolen again, but he balks at following the group, especiailly with how erratic and strange their words have been.

Hesitantly, and seeing no other choice, Sildar explains the time loop to him. Though still very doubtful and confused, Grandpappy can tell the group is genuinely concerned and earnest, and so he goes along with them to check on Cameron.

⏰ Livestock Pen, 7:30AM

The group goes to the livestock pen, where they see Farmer Butterweed fussing over Cameron. Though still doubtful, Grandpappy warns Butterweed of a potential ploy to steal his pig, and seems to cast some sort of alarm / magical spell around Cameron's pen.

The group explains the sequence of events a little more to Grandpappy. Grandpappy wonders if he came back from the supposed "bandit fight" that he embarked on yesterday, but the group explains that they don't know.

They discuss further action, with the group occasionally dropping random facts about the faire / about him to make sure that he believes them LMAO. They decide to go check on Mayor Barleydew, assuming that he got turned into a frog again at the break of dawn, just like yesterday.

⏰ Pudding Plaza, 7:30AM

So No Frog? :(

The group reaches the Pudding Plaza, but--unlike yesterday--Mayor Barleydew is very much a gnome, and welcomes the group cheerfully.

Droop greets him like an old friend. Hugh pulls Droop aside and explains to him that they have to pretend not to know everyone; Droop goes through 8 existential crises while he debates whether everything is a dream or not. Hugh tells him that if he's a dream, then he would be Droop's subconscious, and why would "your brain lie to yourself?"

Droop proceeds to decide to believe Hugh on everything ever.

Meanwhile, Mayor Barleydew is regaling the rest of the party on each of their local delicacies lmao. When Hugh and Droop return, Sildar asks Barleydew if he's seen a purple-haired gnome. Barleydew cites a teenager with badly-dyed hair, but he seems like an unlikely candidate for the powerful wizard they saw yesterday.

Glittergold Yawn

Barleydew bids the party a fun time at the faire and bustles off to greet someone else. Grandpappy is growing increasingly doubtful of the party's story, since nothing has happened according to their claims so far. However, the group makes one last plea to him--to go to the woods and scare off the bandits before they can hurt anyone.

Grandpappy sighs, and agrees to this, but states that if he comes back empty-handed, the group has to forget all about this strange fever dream and spend the rest of the day enjoying the faire. The group agrees to this.

They also saddle Grandpappy with the tasks of 1. keeping an eye out for Vanessa, whom they believe will be attacked by skulks and 2. the halfling children who might stack near a tree to get their stuck kite.

The group, worried that Grandpappy potentially dying to the bandits will reset the timeline again, asks if he has some sort of password that they can say to prove that they know him personally. Grandpappy considers this and tells them to tell him "169 makes for the prismatic glittergold yawn"

Grandpappy sets off for the woods.

⏰ Herbalist Store, 8.00AM

The party decides to pay Arabella a visit to see if they can find Josie. Lo and behold, they see the little gnome girl, just about to steal a health potion! They manage to interrupt her, after which she starts stammering and making excuses.

Will heals her with healing hands again, which amazes her. She thanks and hugs Will. Sildar saddars because last time, Josie hugged him for buying her the health pot. Still, he purchases one and gives it to Josie, so her family has one for "emergency use".

Arabella is in a significantly better mood; the group does their thing once more -- Sildar blinds the fuck out of her with the Eagle's Cloak, Will pulls out a weasel from the BoT, Droop and Hugh do hand-stands on each other (Droop falls, but everyone thinks it was on purpose for humorous effect). Soren tries to play the sheet music from yesterday at a lower octave in case Droop's ears are too sensitive; he calls it terrible again : (

Soren plays Underdark Dog Songs instead and he loves it.

The Stick Man

Will, at this point, notices a small, horned stickman figure on the cart next to the animal carvings. He calls Soren over, and the two try to subtly figure it out without alarming Arabella (or the stickman itself) but to no avail. Soren asks Hugh to use his magical awareness, but nothing is found from that either--though he briefly feels very chaotic.

Arabella notices and figures that a kid vandalized her cart; she's annoyed about it.

On the way to the woods, the group passes by the livestock pens, and finds that Cameron is alive, well, and has in fact won the livestock competition.

⏰ Pottery Kiln, 8.30AM

The party decides to head over to the halfling stack / woods to save Josie. As they pass the pottery kiln, they find that it's been overturned and that all of Janphar's pots have been smashed. Janphar herself is presently sobbing hopelessly, and tries to turn the party away because she has "nothing left".

Naturally, Sildar and Hugh give her money. Will uses his mending ring to fix the kiln, and the party--minus Soren, who hands back but eventually joins in--helps right the oven again. She's bewildered at their kindness, and starts crying. Will lends her the mending ring, and tells her that she can use it to slowly fix all her pots; and that though the party is busy at the moment, they would be back to purchase more.

Upon questioning, Janphar explains that "two tallfolk, one with an eyepatch" were arguing near her stall when one of them let out a scream and "forceful wave" that shattered all her pots at once, before they escaped back into the woods.

⏰ Threepenny Woods: Snek Encounter, 9.00AM

The party heads into the woods after setting up some crates to prevent the halfling stack. They find Josie's goblin acquaintance--screaming while being strangled by a massive constrictor snake. As the party tries to free her, she begs them not to hurt the snake. Will casts Speak with Animals to learn that the snake is just as confused about everything as the goblin is, and pleads for help.

Soren tries to reduce the snake with Enlarge/Reduce, but fails due to his exhaustion. Will, Hugh and Sildar attempts to wrangle the snake off of the goblin; after several tries, Sildar manages to wrest it off. Will relaxes with the snake while the group fusses over the goblin, who introduces herself as Drierot, an adult goblin who lives in a small cave nearby with her pet snake, Steevahn.

Drierot expresses distaste for the raiding tribes that live around Phandalin (especially the Cragmaw Tribe), but quickly warms to Droop, even adopting him as her son after he reveals that he never knew his mother.

Drierot tells the group that she passed by a "purple-haired angry gnome" who told her to "have a terrible day" before leaving cackling, shortly before Steevahn lost control and turned big. As she says this, Steevahn shrinks rapidly back into a tiny littol ball python. Will loses it.

Soren trades Droop for his paper bird back with some gravy bits, which Droop happily obliges with. Soren sends the paper bird towards Vanessa, whom they still worry is getting chased down by skulks. However, the bird flies back towards the Faire.

Drierot expresses anxiety about attending the faire in case they have mean attitudes towards goblins; the group offers to escort her.

⏰ Cowslip Candies, 10:00AM

The group discusses the inn at the village; Soren flirts with Sildo about sharing a room, Sildar says "boy you need to fucking sleep". Will, who heard the Whole Thing, tells Soren in passing that "yea u need rest"

The party makes it back to the faire, where they see the halfling kids from the halfling stack, safely and happily playing with their kite. Drierot gets enamored by them and asks to join in; they happily include her in their games, and the party proceeds to Grandpappy's Candy Stall.

He is there, with Vanessa, now more inclined to believe the party because he did find her being attacked by skulks, like the party predicted. He listens to the party's story more carefully before hurrying off to the Pudding Plaza to check on the mayor, who got turned into a frog the day before.

The party pat pats the cats and Vanessa cons WIll into using "magic" on her because she's "very very badly hurt :(" Will casts Druidcraft on her instead, before the party makes their way to the plaza... where the mayor is now a frog.

Mrs. Barleydew, distraught, tells the party that the same purple gnome came out of the woods, made a whole lot of trouble, and then turned the mayor into a frog with the taunt, "let's get this over with, fatty!"

Fully believing the party now, Grandpappy attempts to undo the mayor's transformation, but finds that today, he is unable to undo the magic. Clearly miffed, he storms into the woods to confront the gnome; the party attempts to stop him due to the potential danger out there, but he assures the party he'll be fine and hobbles away with his little stick.

⏰ Standup Comedian, 11:00

The party, after a brief discussion, decides to follow Grandpappy to make sure he's OK. As they try to trail him stealthily, we pass by a comedian who is telling terrible jokes. Eventually, one of the audience screams that they can't take it anymore, and throws a ripe tomato at her, nailing her right in the face.

She cries and runs into the forest. Hugh clambers onto the stage and chides the crowd for their reaction to her, bribing them with a gold each to everyone who cheers for her to come back. Eventually, she comes back sadly. Sildar leaves some money in her cup, and Soren, seeing this, prestidigitates her clean.

As they leave, she says "may Glittergold, the God of Luck, bless you!"

⏰ Threepenny Wood: Clearing, 11:30

Eventually, the party finds Grandpappy confronting the purple gnome in a small, peaceful grove a mile into the woods. The purple gnome is screaming threats at him, stating that he's an archmage named Patcher Moldwarp, and that he coud turn Grandpappy into a slug.

Grandpappy takes these insults in stride before calmly reminding the gnome that "Mystra made it very clear what sort of things we shouldn't be doing", stunning the gnome who demands to know who he is.

Grandpappy namedrops the gnome as "Urdlen", and banishes him from Honeypuddle, beginning to cast the spell. Urdlen sneers at his attempt and, in a powerful display of magic, turns Grandpappy to obsidian. He taunts the petrified Grandpappy before the world slows around the party and they find themselves, once again, standing at the entrance of Honeypuddle at 7:00AM.