Faerie Encounters

[DM_Fiery_Fist]

The Hare's Portal I

Without further ado, allow me to begin. This story arc begins on an island in Faerûn's Sea of Moving Ice, near a ring of standing stones. The standing stones are the first of the Portals of the Frozen Wastes (see here). The stones are guarded by Thurghom, who cherishes them as a sacred shrine inhabited by a great spirit. Though they are actually the relic of an ancient civilization, they are indeed occupied by a powerful creature, though it is not quite pleased with Thurghom's presence.

In my campaign (which is an online game that can be found here , I increased Thurghom to 22nd level, as the characters are very high level. However, his level is really irrelevant, as he merely serves as a means to introduce the "great spirit" of the Standing Stones.

The sinkhole in the center of the stones is actually the dwelling of a powerful faerie whose true name is Beg Eolach Moidhach (it translates to Little Knowledgeable Hare). However, he almost always goes by the name Mistear, as faeries guard their true names most carefully.

Mistear, Male Faerie Kin Lightfoot Halfling Brd20: CR 20; Small Humanoid; HD 20d6(Bard); hp 73; Init +2; Spd 25 ft.; AC:12 (Flatfooted:11 Touch:12); Atk +15/10/5 base melee, +18/13/8 base ranged; RF: +2 Bonus on Saves vs. Fear, +1 attack bonus with thrown weapons; SQ Daylight Powerlessness; AL CN; SV Fort +7, Ref +15, Will +12; STR 8, DEX 15, CON 10, INT 16, WIS 8, CHA 23.

Skills: Bluff +29, Climb +1, Disguise +8, Forgery +5, Hide +29, Jump +6, Knowledge (Fey) +26, Knowledge (Nature) +26, Knowledge (The Planes) +26, Listen +1, Move Silently +27, Perform (Sing) +29, Spellcraft +26.

Feats: Armor Proficiency (Light), Dash, Deceitful, Ethereal Sidestep, Fleet of Foot, Green Ear, Run, Shield Proficiency, Simple Weapon Proficiency, Truename (Beg Eolach Moidhach).

Spells Known (Brd 4/6/6/5/5/5/5): 0 -- Detect Crossroads, Detect Ghost, False Flavor, Know Direction, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation; 1st -- Charm Person, Cheat, Magic Mouth, Silent Image, Unseen Servant; 2nd -- Animal Messenger, Animal Trance, Blindness/Deafness, Invisibility, Suggestion; 3rd -- Charm Monster, Cure Serious Wounds, Deep Slumber, Geas, Lesser, Scrying; 4th -- Celebration, Follow the Leader, Legend Lore, Modify Memory, Shadow Conjuration; 5th -- Dream, False Vision, Gulaben`s Ecstasy, Seeming, Suggestion, Mass; 6th -- Bestow Greater Curse, Otto`s Irresistible Dance, Permanent Image, Veil.

Possessions: Boots of the Hare (Fetish), Scepter of the Hare.

Appearance: Mistear, whose true name is Beg Eolach Moidhach, appears to be a lightfoot halfling of nearly three feet in height. He has long white hair which falls to his shoulders, and he’s often chuckling and smiling, displaying brilliant teeth. He has inquisitive, curious brown eyes. He wears heavy boots lined with beautiful white fur. He carries a weathered staff in his right hand. It appears to have been crafted out of hazel, but it’s difficult to tell. It bears no other identifying marks. He wears a soft robe of the purest white wool.

Development: Mistear repays the party in kind for slaying Thurghôm. He tricks them if granted the opportunity, but he is gullible himself, and clever adventurers could easily deceive him.

Lore (Bardic Knowledge DC 35): Mistear is an enigma, for no mortal truly knows his origin. His first appearance in the annals of history occurred long ago, during the age of Jhothûn, when he came to the court of the Emperor of Jhothûn and performed. His voice was one of the best the emperor had ever heard.

“I am being chased by a terrible white dragon,” he explained after his song was finished, “and I have come seeking aid. If you shall hide me with a spell, I will serve you faithfully as a bard until the end of your kingdom.” The emperor agreed, but he warned Mistear that the spell would not work outside of Jhothûn. Soon, an ancient white dragon came to the lands of Jhothûn seeking his quarry. He met the emperor and asked him if he could search his kingdom for the bard. Since the emperor did not wish to war with the dragons, he consented, knowing that the spell would hide the minstrel.

Unfortunately, Mistear was overcome with greed—the dragon was away from his lair, and it would easy to claim his hoard. He left Jhothûn whilst the dragon searched the empire and stole many of the dragon’s most valuable treasures. He then returned to Jhothûn and betrayed the emperor by placing a few of the trinkets in the treasury.

The dragon soon returned to the emperor and told him about the theft. He asked the emperor if he could search his kingdom for the lost treasure. The emperor consented once again, believing himself to be innocent. Unfortunately, the dragon found the trinkets in the treasury, and declared war. The white dragons would eventually bring about the fall of Jhothûn.

Mistear tried to flee, but a noble qorrashi caught him. The genie cursed Mistear to be forever bound to the standing stones, that he might never leave Jhothûn again. The wish could only be broken by the command of the prince of Jhothûn.

Daylight Powerlessness (Ex): Mistear fades back to the Plane of Faerie in natural sunlight (not merely a daylight spell).

Faerie Kin (Ex): All magical and supernatural effects that specifically target the fey affect this creature as well. This creature is revealed as fey through divination spells that detect such things. Any curse cast by the creature receives a +5 racial bonus to its DC. The difficulty of any check to remove the curse is increased by the same margin.

(Mistear's stat block is rather haphazard, and I apologize if there are any errors in my calculations. He can really be of any level, and in my campaign I am actually planning to revise his stat block and grant him levels of Seeker of the Song from Complete Arcane. The Faerie Kin race is the creation of Raven Crowking, and I simply used it to make him a fey. His base statistics are those of a lightfoot halfling brd20, with a few custom spells and abilities. Mistear is based upon the snowshoe hare, which I have read to be active often at night. Therefore, Mistear does not care for the sunlight. His spells come from a wide variety of custom sources, but they really are not crucial to the game's progression and they simply serve as another resource for him to rely upon. I granted him the Ethereal Sidestep feat from Ghostwalk for free as a means to enhance flavor - it simply allows short uses of the dimension door spell, which symbolizes a rabbit's "hop". The Truename feat comes from a Dragon magazine article on truenames. If you have any questions just ask me and I'll provide some of my sources.)

Though the majority of items tossed into sinkhole are long gone, the gear of an adventuring group sacrificed by Thurghom still lies at the bottom of the sinkhole, which is approximately two hundred feet deep. The treasure consists of: an ancient suit of thunder armor, boots of the sea, a celestial mace, a pixie bone flute, a white robe of archmagi, and a staff of rapture. Concealed in the silt at the bottom of the cenote is the one of the group’s most valuable treasures: a universal key, along with boots of the lost coast.

(These items can be replaced quite easily--the characters in my campaign were very far behind the suggested wealth amounts for their level, hence the great amount of treasure. Many of these items came from WotC's Far Corners of the World supplements, as I found those to be quite unique.)

The bottom of the sinkhole actually serves as a portal to the Plane of Faerie as well. Anyone who falls into the waters of the sinkhole at twilight surfaces on the Plane of Faerie. The portal will also function for someone who carries a key granted by Mistear (the universal key found above will also activate the portal if it is taken out of the sinkhole and then dropped in again.)

Mistear materializes from the standing stones at twilight to greet the characters responsible for slaying Thurghôm. As seen in the encounters above, when dealing with fey, no good deed goes unpaid. Mistear seeks to settle his debt with those who slew Thurghom, and, if possible, trick them into owing him favors as well.
-----
My next post will further elaborate the encounter and explain how it unfolded in my own campaign. Feel free to use Mistear or any of these creations as you see fit in your own campaigns.

So far there's been a fair amount of symbolism as well. The sinkhole and the snowshoe hare faerie are strongly reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, a parallel which only grew stronger in my own campaign with the actions of the party.

After I describe a few more specifics of the encounter and will also move on to the other side of the portal, in the Plane of Faerie.

Finally, any and all comments or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated on this.

Thanks,

Josh

 

[DM_Fiery_Fist]

Boots of the Hare

These heavy boots are lined with beautiful white fur, and they greatly resemble the large hind feet of a snowshoe hare. The footwear possesses a minor quirk – the wearer’s tracks appear to be those of the aforementioned snowshoe hare, though this effect is not readily apparent. The user is permanently under the effect of a jump spell cast at ninth level. These boots belong to Mistear – they serve as his fetish (see Dragon #317 p.40 for information on truenames and fetishes).
Moderate transmutation; CL 9th; Craft Wondrous Item, jump; Price 36,000 gp; Weight 1 lb.

(These are Mistear's boots, as you can see in the stat block above.)

 

[DM_Fiery_Fist]

Scepter of the Hare

This weathered rod is crafted out of hazel. It bears few distinguishing marks, but in the hands of Mistear, it may cast baleful polymorph upon anything it touches. It serves as a quarterstaff +5 of small size.

(I didn't give a price on this object as it may randomly manifest other properties as needed. Mistear's scepter is very powerful and sort of serves an all-purpose function. As you will see later when I post the development in my own campaign, Mistear has already used it to polymorph a druid's huge-sized animal companion into a much more manageable form.)

 

[DM_Fiery_Fist]

The Hare's Portal II

In my campaign, the characters split up upon reaching the isle in the Sea of Moving Ice and two cohorts (acquired by the Leadership feat) went off to scout. Cain, a mist elf druid, and Kahlan, a weretiger ranger, along with Cain's megaraptor animal companion, actually stumbled upon Thurghom while scouting. An intense battle ensued in which the two of them barely managed to triumph over the lone druid and his polar bear companion after an extremely rough battle...both characters were quite worse for the wear when they emerged. They slew Thurghom in the early morning, and the rest of the party arrived around noon. Well, shortly after they arrived, Kahlan began experimenting with the Standing Stones. She brushed her paw across the stones and activated the portal. Undaunted, and curious as a cat, she stepped into the web of energy. Unfortunately, she chose a rather poor time, for she entered just as the arctic wind picked up (as you can see in the article, there is a 10% chance that the portal briefly flickers out when someone steps in, due to its age and the effect of the elements). I rolled an 08, so Kahlan plummeted into the icy waters of the sinkhole. Above, Cain (who was also beginning a bit of a relationship with Kahlan), saw his comrade enter the standing stones and vanish. Surprised, and fearful for her safety, he dashed in after her. The portal functioned properly, and he was whisked away to the High Ice.

Meanwhile, Kahlan splashed down into the water and made a successful Spot check, allowing her to glimpse the glint of treasure from very far below (she had a very good modifier). With her necklace of adaptation on, she swam to the bottom and began to unearth all of the various treasures that were found. Meanwhile, her comrades had seen Cain vanish, and so Tyta (a brave female fighter from Mulhorand, whose cohort is Kahlan) leapt into the portal after Cain. She told Virgil (a very old mist elf mystic theurge, whose cohort is Cain) to keep the party on this side of the portal until she returned. Virgil nodded - most of the party was off exploring the island anyway, so all he had to do was keep Suran (a lawful good monk NPC) from following Tyta through the portal. Suran was convinced by the wise elf's reasoning and waited impatiently. However, after about a minute, the portal began to flicker out. In a desperate effort, Virgil and Suran both leapt for the portal. Virgil vanished, whisked away. Suran, however, leapt as the portal flickered out, and therefore plummeted into the water, landing next to Kahlan, who had just surfaced. He used his winged boots to bring them both out of the water, and then they discussed what had just happened with their comrades. Kahlan debated for some time, then wondered if perhaps the key she found below (which was actually the universal key mentioned earlier) had something to do with it. She tossed it into the sinkhole, but nothing seemed to happen (however, this had actually opened Mistear's portal to the Plane of Faerie). Kahlan asked Suran to go and fetch her key, unaware of what had happened. The monk dived into the sinkhole, and never returned. Kahlan finally went after him, but found no trace of the key or of the monk (the portal closed after he went through).

Meanwhile, Cain, Tyta, and Virgil found themselves in the cavern below the High Ice. However, things had changed, and a group of four elite agents of the City of Shade had slain the Red Worm and occupied the cavern. They actually managed to negotiate a bit of a truce, and the three heroes agreed to wait for nine hours or so until the shades could alter their memory and send them to a city in the North.

Back at the standing stones, Rizel (a female true necromancer from the far east) had cast analyze portal on the standing stones. She glimpsed the destination in the High Ice and decided to teleport there, leaving her comrades behind. After a few failed attempts (due to the effects of faerzress, the magical radiation that permeates the Underdark), she reached her comrades. Rizel was less cooperative than her allies, but Virgil finally convinced her to have a seat.

Twilight fell at the Standing Stones, and Mistear emerged from the portal to thank the party for slaying Thurghom. He offered them a favor in return, and after a brief discussion, Kahlan asked him where Suran had gone to. Mistear realized that Suran had entered the Plane of Faerie, and explained this to Kahlan. After a brief decision, she decided that she wanted to enter the Plane of Faerie to search for Suran.

One of her comrades, a halfling bard by the name of Kesef (a staunch ally of Tyta), decided to ask Mistear if he could meet up with Tyta. Mistear told him that if he traveled through the Land of Faerie, he could eventually reach his comrade. Mistear explained three rules of the Plane of Faerie (again, much of this has been inspired by Raven Crowking):

Even the most gracious of creatures can prove fell to the greedy or rude. Tongues and manners should be minded here, for the Good People are not all Good, nor even all People. Gifts and insults must be repaid in kind.

To taste the fruits of the Faerie Realm is to court disaster.

Stay on the path – the path will always go where one needs to go, though it will take its own time in getting there.

After hearing this, Kesef became concerned, and tried to outwit Mistear. After a long and convuleted bit of banter between the two, Mistear taught the primal music to Kesef (this is for the Seeker of the Song prestige class from Complete Arcane, it was used as a means of character development for Kesef), but Mistear managed to trick the halfling (who had a rather low wisdom score) into agreeing that he would actually owe Mistear two favors.

Mistear then gave a tiny apple to Kahlan (this was a portal key for the Hare's Portal), and explained to her once again that the path would take them where they needed to go. He told them that when the path forked, Kahlan and those seeking Suran should go right, whilst Kesef and those following him in search of Tyta should go left. He then hopped into the sinkhole, and the others leapt in as well.
---------------------------------------
This is how the events unfolded in my campaign. My next post will cover the Plane of Faerie and our heroes' experience with the White Duck.

 

[qstor]

Great stuff here!! I'm glad someone pointed out this thread.

Has the faerie ring material been developed?

Some of the russian fey were given official versions in Frostburn.

Mike

 

[moritheil]

Interesting stuff. Has anyone read E. McCoy's "name me or I will bind you" fey encounters?

 

[Raven Crowking]

Removed

 

[DM_Fiery_Fist]

The White Duck I

Wayfarers who pass through the hare’s portal surface amidst tendrils of mist in a pool of water. They are surrounded by evergreen such as spruces, cedars, pines, and firs; all drenched in snow. Twilight is perpetual here. Pools of water cloaked in mist are scattered throughout the landscape. A well worn path winds through the trees. Following it one direction eventually reaches the point where it is covered with snow. In the other direction, the sound of a babbling brook can be heard from far away. Those who make a successful Spot check (DC 25) glimpse tiny winged faeries (the evergreen cousins of petals) flitting amongst the boughs of the trees.

The path wanders amongst the trunks of the trees until finally forking at the base of a large larch. The left branch seems wild and overgrown, while the right branch looks to have been traversed more recently.

(I will cover the left hand path later. The White Duck encounter occurred along the right hand path.)

The right hand path wanders amongst the trunks of the trees until finally coming to a bridge which spans to another island containing a beautiful garden. The bridge is guarded by a giant knight in emerald plate mail. He carries a great axe and steps out onto the bridge to confront any who would pass. He offers passage, but only if the bravest delivers three strikes to his neck, which he returns in a year and a day. The third strike decapitates him, but he lifts his head and steps off of the bridge.

(As you can see, I borrowed Raven Crowking's Green Knight encounter and modified it very slightly for my own campaign. It went over very well with my players, who loved the surprise twist at the ending whem he stepped off the bridge.)

The very stream which runs beneath the bridge babbles amongst the flowers and plants of the garden. There is quite the commotion when the wanderers arrive… a white duck is being chased around the garden by an aged woman with long white hair, clad in white robes of fur, who carried two gleaming daggers (I used the statistics of a marzanna from Frostburn, as they fit her very well with only very slight modifications. The aged woman is meant to symbolize the arctic fox, as will be hinted at later on by the white duck.) A stately castle can be seen further along the path, which comes to its gate. As they approach, they can hear the duck calling out in a human female’s voice:

"Quack-quack, my sons,
Quack-quack, my beloved ones,
In want I reared you,
With tears I suckled you,
You slept--I lay sleepless.
You ate--I went hungry.”

When the aged woman spots the wanderers, she cries out to them: "Ho there, all! Drive the duck out of the yard!" The duck begins to wing for the castle. Children’s voices can be heard crying out from within:

"We cannot sleep for the thoughts that chill us;
We dare not sleep, for they mean to kill us--
Fires are being kindled,
Kettles are being hung,
Knives are being sharpened!"

The duck cries out in response:

“Quack-quack, my sons.
Quack-quack, my beloved ones!”

“The witch it was that put you to sleep,
The witch it was with her wicked ways,
For a fox is she and a deadly one...
From you she took your father own,
Your father own and my own dear spouse;
She drowned us all in the river swift,
She turned us all into white-winged ducks,
And herself she lives like a princess true!"

The characters are now faced with the white duck and with the aged woman. The "arctic fox faerie" frantically urges them to drive the duck away or kill it, while the duck begs for their assistance and generally causes quite the commotion. The white duck comes to the wanderers if they are friendly to her. She beseeches them to save her children, two of whom the aged woman has put to sleep inside the castle (the third is the one that calls out). The characters must save the ducklings, which the aged woman wishes to kill and eat. During the fight, the lord of the castle (Lord Drake) descends into the kitchen from a staircase, shouting about the commotion.

The death of the aged woman ends the spell—the two sleeping ducklings awaken from the dark spell, the duck becomes a beautiful maiden, and the lord of the castle becomes a man in his prime. The beautiful maiden thanks the heroes who saved her. She introduces herself as Lady Mergina, wife of Lord Drake, and offers a favor in gratitude, as does Lord Drake.

Mergina heard the tiny fey seen amongst the evergreens speaking of a champion of the sun who was captured by the Morozko, a powerful wizard whom Mergina knows to serve Kashchej the Deathless.
----------
As you can see, this encounter was only broadly sketched out in my notes. My next post will cover how my players responded to the White Duck and will also reveal the next leg of the plotline: the Morozko.

The White Duck was based upon an old Russian fairy tale about a young princess who is turned into a white duck while her husband is on a quest. You can find the story here.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Removed

 

[Raven Crowking]

Complete Guide to Fey (Goodman Games)

Removed