Welcome to Balvonier!

The town is having a large festival, it is pretty chaotic. Introduced everyone to the Red Pony Tavern. Galia and Furus (Brad) reunited with Adalia. Venus flirted with Brad and got the death stare from Galia. Belladonna immediately noticed fey traces on Galia and Juniper and was like GTFO fairy. Midna snuck in rather quietly, as did Nira. Carindrina came into town and noped the fuck into the bar when she realized how insane the square was. She ended up sitting in the secluded corner booth that is Galia/Furus’ “place” at the tavern as they live there and are regulars. Galia immediately declared that they should be friends and bought everyone drinks, inviting over both belladonna and nira who were at the bar. Midna watched from a distance, eventually joining in but not really saying anything. Galia invited everyone to stay with her family, but only Nira and Adalia accepted (and Furus but he lives there too). The bartender’s daughter offered Carindrina, Belladonna, and Venus a coupon to go next door to her aunt’s inn The Bloody Baron. The aunt is a high elf and did not exactly welcome the non-elves, and was slightly racist, though not outright mean. The rooms had clearly been split up into smaller divisions to make room for everyone in for the festival. Venus could see through the crack in the wall that Carindrina was next to her, but she was already asleep. Midna decided to travel the town and after wandering the streets the only place that was really open was The Black Poppy, which had a very large very scary dude outside. She circled back to a small park (Spruce Singer Park) and slept outside. During the night she woke up to a small blue fairy hovering above her with glowing orbs floating a little bit behind her. Deciding for peace, she restrained the fairy and managed to learn that while the fairy was under a geas and couldn’t tell her everything, if she didn’t bring Midna to the fey court, she (the fairy) would definitely be hurt, emphasizing “we don’t hurt humans” and shaking her head when asked if the fairy counted as a human. Midna extracted a promise, after some negotiation, that the fairy would return her to this exact spot once the meeting was over, and that she would be under her protection. The agreement implied Midna would come willingly and not be put to sleep, but unfortunately due to protections around the court, non-fey cannot enter without being asleep and transported across by a fey. The group minus Galia, Adalia, and Furus, wake up with thick black sacks over their head, with hands and feet tied to chairs. They can’t see anything, and they can’t touch one another, but they hear each other in the forest. Carindrina stays silent. Venus attempts to escape but is unsuccessful. Belladon manages to get one hand free, but hears footsteps approaching. SHe recognizes signs of the fey and tries to warn everyone to shut up and not tell them their names. She decides to hide the fact that one arm is loose rather than continuing to escape judging by how close the footsteps are. There are three loud, booming claps, and their hoods are lifted. They are looking upon the King and Queen of Wyrmwood Forest Court. There is some formal introductions, and Nira ingratiates herself by calling them “your majesties”. Belladonna refuses to speak, and the Queen becomes very concerned that she is deaf, so she continues to try very hard to find a language to communicate in, trying sign language and several other racial languages in an attempt to find a way to communicate. She means well but she is very otherworldly and Belladonna DOES NOT LIKE the fey after being kidnapped and held for two years by a different group of fey. Someone asks why they were kidnapped and tied up if the fey wanted their help and wouldn’t hurt them. They snap their fingers and the bindings are undone and fey come out of the woods with food and drink platters offering refreshments. Belladonna very quietly tries to tell everyone not to take anything, but Carindrina takes a goblet, though she does not drink it. Midna’s fairy friend tells her that she can eat anything that isn’t purple. They explain that two girls have gone missing, and the townsfolk are starting to be restless and blame the Fey. They explain that they love the humans in their forest (they do not distinguish between races, you are either fey or human), and would never hurt them. They want desperately to help but they have been warned by the Seer that they will die if they leave the forest to help. The Seer saw these travelers coming to town and specifically selected them for their various skills. The group asks for a minute alone, and while they are left at a distance, it is clear they aren’t really alone. Galia enters and is so excited to see her friends now that she is able to talk about this. Furus and Adalia return with pancakes for everyone and french toast for Galia. Belladonna is 0% interested in this deal, while most of the others at least want to help the kids, even if they aren’t super comfortable with the fey. The King and Queen return, and the group asks what they will be paid with, will they be safe if they don’t find the kids, etc. The Fey offer them anything they want, Nira requesting a Fey Orgy that the King seemed very happy to provide, they told Carindrina they knew the secret of her ring, and furthermore, that it had a twin, and tried to coax out of the others what they would like. They tell Belladonna they know what happened to her and they are very ashamed, but they do not tolerate that behavior from fey in their court and would love a reason to reach out and punish those that hurt her since they now have justification for an attack. She asks what will happen to the bad fey and they say that they will be dealt with and recycled into useful energy, but if she would like to kill them, they will just detain and restrain them for her to do whatever she likes, as long as she understands they must die for their crimes against humans (non-fey). The Queen realizes she actually does speak common and is very put out but also amused. They produce a very thick sheepskin cloth with iron keys on it. They tell them they have a house in the city that is completely enchanted to prevent all fey from entering the house, the key is even iron, so they cannot touch it. Belladonna asks what happens if she doesn’t agree to find the children or help the Fey. They assure her that nothing bad will happen to her as she will be under their protection while she is in town, and either way they are going to capture the fey who tortured her. She takes the key and tries to leave, dropping it when she gets about halfway to the tree line. Vines grow out of the ground as a wall in front of her then gently scoop her up and place her back with the fey. They explain that taking the key was agreeing to help, she tries to argue that she very explicitly did not agree, but the fey have a very perverse view of favors, so she realizes she is now stuck in a fey pact. They give her a very small silver bell with delicate engravings. If they ring the bell once, the fey will know they found the children, ring is three times the fey will come to their aid, but if they ring it twice, they can’t predict the outcome. The rings are all different frequencies, and that one doesn’t always call creatures with good intentions. Galia again offers to let everyone stay with her family as they are already inside the fey court and must fall asleep again to leave. Adalia stays, but the rest leave. They walk and fall asleep in the forest then wake up standing on the edge of the forest. The fairy hands Midna a map to get to the house, they go, and Venus discovers that the key was merely a carrier for a binding spell, the key is not needed to access the house, it is bound to let them in. The runes around the house make it clear that no fey can enter and that the magic is not fey in origin. There is a housekeeper making food, and they eat and go to sleep discovering their rooms are all personalized for them. Carindrina, Venus, Belladonna, and Nira have notes on their desk, Adalia has a note in her room at the Jade Tree Palace from Galia. Venus is given a dragon pendant, Belladonna is given a notebook, Adalia is given a magical bottle and water from her home city, Nira is given a small silver button. Sweet Shimmer, the sleep fairy, gives Midna a whistle.