Prologue: To Boldly Go Where People Have Not Been in a Good Long While!

"Ay, we all had to trust each other more than i'd normally be good with, but it paid off." - Carlos admits - "Speaking of which, how does it go from here to your endgame? There's only so much i could learn."

With a strain against every awkward bone in his body, Hunter manages to greet Allinandra with "Hello."

"Inside the grove, I said some things you may have overheard. Sorry. I said some stuff you didn't hear, that I won't repeat."

Allinandra stays silent as she orders her thoughts. She begins with Hunter. "I apologize for what I called you earlier. If you can forgive me, I'll forget everything you said and we'll have a clean slate as far as I'm concerned."

She turns to address Katheryn, "I'm glad she still thinks positive thoughts about me at all after the way things have gone. And still go. I hope she doesn't hate me. There are already enough people who rightly do." She looks at Liam, who regards her in stony silence. "Before we talk of the future I think we need to address the past."

"Understatement of the century," says Liam, trying to keep his anger in check. "Dianne is dead and your mother lives. Ludmilla and everyone else almost joined her. If it weren't for these heroes how much worse would it have been? Who really won here? What was even the point?"

Allinandra closes her eyes and visibly flinches at each of Liam's pointed observations and questions. "I've made a huge mess of this whole thing but you're wrong about one thing. My mother is dead. Whatever that thing is that is wearing her face is not she."

Carlos slouches wearily, supporting his weight on his hammer as if it were a walking stick - "Sounds like as good a place to start as any."

Kathryn listens attentively to what Allinandra has to share, but the revelation that the Nesme they met isn't the real one surprises her. She ponders something for a short moment, and confusion then spreads on her face. "Wait," she says. "Why haven't you told Eni about this? She sounds surprised too."

"Thank you."

"This is all partially my fault as well," Hunter adds, averting his gaze from Allinandra.

He looks at her again to ask something. "Are you implying that she isn't the person you once knew? Not that she never was the person you thought her to be?"

"I believe it is someone else. After you went back in she turned on Ludmilla most viciously, kicking and hitting her with her staff. As I prepared to strike her down with the Sword of the White Well, I saw two beings. One was my mother, overlaid upon another, an illusion to be sure. But worse the thing below the mask was like nothing I had ever seen before. It looked like a mass of beetles in the rough shape of a humanoid. I dared not strike at such a disadvantage and with no back up. I've been improvising ever since."

Zeiss:

"I see. That's why you didn't tell Eni beforehand; you just learned about it yourself." All of a sudden, Kathryn redirects her gaze towards the ground, as if she is pondering a serious question. After a few seconds, she meets Allinandra's gaze and speaks up again.

"Eni says that the creature you are describing sounds like a ‘lamia’..." The way she furrows her brow indicates that she is concentrating on what the Eladrin is telling her via the necklace. "It's some sort of magical being that enters a dead fey, eats their organs, reanimates the body and tries to devour other humanoids for their memories and power. They can make themselves look like humans and elves; maybe like what you just described..." The white-haired woman now realizes how harsh this description of Nesme's corpse was, and she can't help herself but quickly add, "Sorry."

Hearing Kathryn tell Allinandra what it was that wore her mother's literal face did away with the impression that it was only an illusion, which still makes his skin crawl thinking about insect swarms pretending to be human. Perhaps it was always the lamia plotting to end the curse for its own aims

"Disgusting! That's way worse than what we saw inside the grove. You're lucky to have thought ahead and made a pact with the Lady of the Well. Have you...always suspected?"

Carlos listens, tapping on the handle of his hammer. He considers what's been said, then asks - "¿So how do you kill a Lamia? ¿Does hitting it really hard work, or do you have to do some mojo?"

Allinandra is silent for a few moments. She takes a deep breath, visibly pushing whatever it is she's feeling away. "No, I had no idea. She was a hard woman, to know or love. But she was getting reckless. Uncaring. Obsessed. It was so bad she was making deals with hags and other evil fey. I guess it cost her, in the end. But I don't know how you fight such a thing. I guess we'd need to smash all the beetles. But we have no idea what it wants or what it's capable of. If it can also use magic we may only get one shot at it. What we really need is information."

Zeiss:

Rory:

Carlos sighs - "I suppose fire would be too easy..."

Kathryn tilts her head. "Eni says that her father was recruited by some adventurers to kill a lamia... but she doesn't know how they did it." She sighs. "She thinks that the sword is what made you see Nesme's true nature."

"Hmm." Hunter puts his bow away and shrugs his shoulders. "The High Septarch might help us. His tower's been standing since before the orc raid happened a century ago. If Eyton's curse is lifted while she holds sway over the Harken druid circle, with allies in the Woodsinger clan...okay, this is bad. She wants to take over Fallcrest. We need to go tell the Lord Warden right away."

"And we might learn more about those adventurers while we're in town. Kat, can you ask Eninahes who her father was?"

"Uh, yeah," replies Kathryn. For a few seconds, she stays silent, her gaze not focusing on anything in particular, and then suddenly, she locks her eyes with Hunter's. "Ser Quarion Sunstar, the Valiant."

"Wait, hold on," says Kathryn. "Whatever ‘Nesme’ is planning, it won't happen overnight. She's not smart enough for that. And Fallcrest is at least a week away. Ludmilla can't travel in her condition, even if we put her in the cart. We should give her at the very least a day to rest. Assuming she wants to come with us."

She looks at the old ranger.

Ludmilla looks tired. Standing here is clearly taking a lot out of her. None of it reaches her punchy spirit though.
"Ha! Looking to bury me already, girl? But aye, I'll go. Wouldn't miss it," says Ludmilla. "But I need be reporting these events to old Baron Stockmer in Harkenwold. The Rangers should know. You lot can rest there if ye be needing it."

Jojo, arms akimbo, says, "We have a load of goods to trade in Harkenwold as well. It will be a good excuse to rest before we push on to Fallcrest. Don't worry Hunter, I'm sure we have time."

Carlos sighs - "¿Harkenwold it is, then?" - then looks to Allinandra - "¿You can hold the fort for a while, while we look for a way?"

"I'll keep an eye on her and try to mitigate her damage. With Liam's help I should be able to stay in touch." She looks hopefully to Liam.

He stares at her in stony silence before finally sighing. "You still owe Dianne and this Circle an apology for your actions today. But you can't do that if we are all dead to this thing. So yes, I'll help you. I have a few ideas of who we can trust to help."

"I'll get Dianne's finger back and stop this threat. I swear it, Liam."

"Yeah, yeah," Liam waves it off but something does feel lighter about him now. "We still need to get my people back."

"I'll mark the village on a map for you before I go."

Carlos looks back and forth between the two of them, but ultimately decides to stay silent and trust the unlikely duo.

Kathryn puts her hands on her waist and says, "Don't forget to visit Eni before you go." Something else catches her attention. She looks at her companions, and adds, "Uh, Eni also wants to reward us..."

The young fighter had completely forgot about that.

"¿Uh? Oh, right." - The other young fighter had completely forgotten about that too.

"We woke up early this morning and took an 8-hour nap before we even ate lunch," he retorts crossly. "I won't be resting for a good long while, even if I tried. But Harkenwold it is."

"Reward us? For what?"

"Well, now that I think about it, she did say she would reward us if we figured out what Allinandra was planning." She scratches her head. "I was planning to go see her anyway once all of this was done."

She takes a look at the corpses of their enemies and promptly begins to loot them. Once all the gear has been collected and put on the cart, she goes towards the grove with the intention of meeting Eni again.