Roots and Reckonings

Exiting the vampire lair into the morning dew, the Vanguard weighed their return options. After Valerie asked about Emelyne's intercontinental journey, Emelyne joked she was shipped by boat before admitting she had accidentally tumbled through a planar rift. Craum estimated a sea voyage would take six months, prompting Valerie to examine Father Maxim’s map. Deducing it charted leylines—thin barriers between planes—they realized they could traverse another plane to return to the Prime Material. Emelyne cautioned the party to tone down their unusual behavior before meeting her strict mother in her home city of Seeker’s Rest.

Along the road, an elk burst into view, pursued by a bear. Emelyne mercifully put the elk out of its misery to let the bear and its cubs feed, drawing out a half-deer, half-humanoid guardian named Dori. Created by the god Leeaja, Dori granted them a strand of unicorn hair, which Emelyne noted could be used for alchemy, high-tier spellcasting, or sold for substantial gold. Continuing their two-day journey toward the shimmering city, they encountered burned fields from recent goblinoid raids. Emelyne and the Vanguard—minus Valerie, who only pretended to pull—helped a farmer named Jacob unstick his wagon, earning a bag of fresh apples. At the gates of Seeker’s Rest, a guard named Gorthinak accepted an apple as an entry fee while welcoming Emelyne back.

Inside, the party noted how a tree planted by the original Seekers had overgrown the keep, extending its protective barrier. As locals cast hostile glares at Ro’Zaad due to fear of the local goblinoid tribes, Valerie retaliated against a rude passerby by spitting on his shoes. Arriving at Emelyne’s family estate, Emelyne nervously removed her gloves, revealing severe scars from past magical experiments. After a servant named Lucca answered, Emelyne’s mother appeared, coldly remarking on her daughter's weight gain. Valerie offered a grand flourish, but Emelyne's mother openly disdained Ro’Zaad and Renatus while announcing there was no room for guests. Descending to the cellar to retrieve her belongings, Emelyne learned her items had been moved just three days after her disappearance. While searching, Valerie discovered a stack of Emelyne’s unopened letters to her mother and secretly stashed them in the Bag of Holding. Emelyne eventually confronted her sister, Robin, who was holding their father's magical wand. Furious that her sister had taken the heirloom, Emelyne lashed out in tears and stormed off, leaving Valerie to comfort Robin, clean her with Prestidigitation, and hand off Bitty for an upgrade.

Valerie found Emelyne weeping over her father's preserved tomb, offering comfort by reminding her that leaving home had brought them together. At dinner, Emelyne confronted her mother over the unopened letters. As her mother berated her necromantic talents, Valerie defended Emelyne, boldly declaring "we aren't friends" before kissing Emelyne right at the table. When the argument escalated to her mother attempting to cast Animate Dead on her father's corpse, Valerie cast Silence to suppress the spell. Disowned and ordered to leave, the party retaliated: Valerie spitefully ran through the house with dirty shoes, Naoki snatched two expensive wine bottles, and they booked lavish rooms at the Grinning Cat tavern—charging thousands of gold pieces in fine wine, meals, and oils to her mother's estate.

During the evening, Ro’Zaad won a game of chance, acquiring a mysterious dagger he defensively refused to show Emelyne. Examining the leyline map under the moonlight near the Statue of Astra, they discovered an ephemeral paper archways portal. After Naoki and Emelyne helped a drunken Valerie recover from vomiting, the Vanguard stepped through the rift—falling softly onto a damp, root-covered cavern floor where the ancient Weirwood revealed itself, offering answers in exchange for a price.