Memories of Friendship

Heading north past the city gates, the party discovered a new roadside shop called The Alchemists’ Skillet, run by a pink-haired gnomish baker-mage named Orla Fizzelbane. They ate magical baked goods—including pancakes granting Sylvan speech, reviving bacon, levitating pastries, and shifting fruits—while Orla complained about road conditions and noted that Beans had become the forest's protector following the previous patriarch's death. Emelyne raised the idea of recruiting Orla to manage a kitchen at their manor or tower, which they resolved to propose upon their return. Entering the Bryllyn Forest, Naoki sampled some local flora, dry-heaving from the foul taste, while Emelyne cleansed herself and cast Detect Magic. They discovered a massive, scorched clearing filled with the broken remnants of user-piloted, overheated mechanized golems being reclaimed by nature. Naoki cast Speak with Plants, though the indifferent trees could offer little context on the passage of time.

Emelyne suddenly felt a hidden dagger pressed to her neck by an invisible observer. After identifying themselves as the Veiled Vanguard seeking Beans, an aged woman named Gale revealed herself, returned Emelyne's stealthily stolen Bag of Holding, threw her a healing potion, and offered to guide them. As they traveled, Naoki planted pine cones accelerated by Druidcraft with Sanasha's help. Gale led them past spider-web warning traps toward a lake, explaining that Beans had gathered intelligent wildlife for defense—including a now-deceased, foul-mouthed butterfly. Beans emerged from a webbed cave showing signs of age. When Naoki offered to take him along as promised, the local animals protested; Gale translated that Beans was old and protecting eggs. Naoki mused on returning after their adventures to found a new Grove, while Emelyne suggested recruiting some of Beans's offspring. Emelyne and Naoki slept in silk cocoons inside the cave while the rest camped outside, with Sanasha lighting her axe to shut down an intimidating raccoon armed with a shiv.

During the night, Beans excitedly roused Naoki, while Diablo dropped from a tree to wake Percy and Sanasha. They moved into an ancient section of the forest where a muscular, boar-pelted woman with solid black eyes stood spellbound before Beans. Bowing before her, Naoki recognized her as Liaja (also known as Dorimine), the Goddess of the Wilds, who had previously appeared to the party during the bear's death and Valerie's killer's attack. Speaking with the voice of the forest, she touched Beans, transforming him into a sentient, expanded form dubbed the Lord of the Canopy—the animal lord of the crawling forests. Naoki requested permission to establish a future grove, which Beans accepted. Before departing, Dorimine advised them to watch the skies south of the city when seeking a weapon against Contras, warning that Contras would eventually make Emelyne an offer that would not be a lie. Transforming into a radiant glowing deer, she vanished along with Beans, granting the party double travel speed until sunrise.

Returning to the sanctuary, they found Gale, who revealed Beans was previously a cleric of the goddess before she grew weary of deities. Gale tasked Naoki with teaching the young raccoon her ways and handed over a set of stolen silverware to return to Orla. After Naoki created a flower bush for Beans's offspring, the party returned to Orla’s shop in a few hours. Consuming Clockwork Coffee, Mimic Flapjacks, Blink Boar Sausage, and Fae-Touched Fruit Tarts, they gained environmental comfort, initiative bonuses, sleep immunity, temporary teleportation, darkvision, and universal language fluency. Emelyne returned the stolen silver and formally hired Orla to work at the Veiled Villa; Orla happily accepted, and Sanasha provided directions and a letter for Marie.

Returning to Illnerya in record time, the party encountered Baron and Baroness Blackshire, who invited them to the Corpse Bloom Gala—an undead celebration of renewal—on the first day of spring, offering a pouch of 100 platinum pieces and mentioning their adopted daughter. After moving past them, Diablo firmly instructed Naoki never to invite the Blackshires into their home, a sentiment Sanasha reinforced by asking how he would feel if they targeted Zulkifli. Deeply offended, Naoki turned cold and refused to speak to either of them, whipping up wind in their faces.

Drawing the Shattered Scale Inverted, Furnace, and Anvil cards, the party received a portent of an impending crimson storm, prompting Sanasha to muse that the entity within the World Kiln might return. They debated the implications of a reality-bending Wish spell, considering its potential to undo reality, erase relationships, or invite divine wrath. Emelyne suggested using it to resurrect Valerie or grant them great power, while Sanasha proposed reviving the Dragon King of Draelwyrm or summoning their ultimate weapon.

Suddenly, the air went still as a massive, scorching red dragon named Thorax the Smokeweaver landed before them, sent by Contras to crush the party. Sanasha rushed in with her axe, and Thorax unleashed a blistering fire cone over the group. Emelyne cast Modify Memory, breaking through the dragon's mind to alter Contras's command from killing the Vanguard to pillaging Qyradell instead. Dazed by the modified memory, the dragon departed. Retreating into a Private Sanctum amidst nearby foliage, the party calculated that the Pyremoa dragon would take a few days to reach Qyradell, buying them time before Contras killed, cleansed, or redirected it. Naoki urged them to make haste for the relative safety of the Lammuld Wood, while an unrevealed development occurred with Emelyne.