Day 39 (S28-30)

We saw Valentine far off, and Mayoay came to greet us. Rina gave her the honey for the bees, for which they were all very grateful.

There was a large fire with 3 stakes. Mayoy joked that if we failed the trials that we would end up there. She beckoned us toward Valentine to get ready for the trials.

it is now day 13 of the 2 weeks of diplomatic immunity (possibly day 14 depending on how we are counting. regardless, that is over now)

We arrive at the glade and see Mayoay who greeted us, Abigail and Valentine also join us. Abagail was holding what looked like a small cage covered in a cloak. Whatever is in it seems to be slightly hurting her occasionally, we can see her wincing.

We are moved toward a long table filled with witches from all the covens, with only 3 seats left at the end of the table. Rina picks the seat at the very end, with Alice and Kin on each side of her.

At the head of the table there is a very old, hag-like witch, who was called the “mother of all witches” by some of the others at the table. She asks if Rina represents the Sprite Light coven. Rina was unsure exactly what that meant, but said yes anyway. Valentine corrected her and said SHE was the one who was representing the coven, then accused Rina of purposely racing to take her seat at the end of the table.

Regardless, we all get what appear to be empty plates in front of us, and Kin just stabs into the plate with a fork while imagining a steak. And the steak appeared! Rina imagines liver, and Alice gets a steak as well. Most of the witches are vegetarian, so we were looked at a little funny.

The old witch says that the three established covens will be giving us trials to determine if we should be a part of the coven.

The first was from the Twilight coven, Mayoay being the representative to give us the trial. Her trial was that we had to play 3 rounds of “Heads up!” where we had to guess names of NPCs we knew from the world. Each round got more difficult. We did eventually get them - narrowly.

The 2nd trial was by the Daybreak coven, who was not about to let us off easy. We had to go through an obstacle course with different themes on each level. In the “Old fashion way” we had to: Get to the top of a 100ft tall tree, get across a 70ft wide fissure, get across a swamp of quicksand, and get a golden apple off a tree guarded by a large sphinx - The apple was the key to us winning. We could not use any of our magic items, and we had a 50% chance to pass or fail depending on Tarot cards we pulled. At the tree, Kin tried to see if there were any invisible branches, there were not. Alice tried to wildshape, but failed to pick up Rina and Kin as a giant bird. Her draw also compelled her to attempt to steal from Rina. Alice failed at that, and ended up going to 0hp due to her draw and exploding, knocking over the tree in the process. That did allow us to get to the “top” now that it was down. Kin decided to cast a spell that prevented Alice from going to 0hp the next time if this happens again. The next trial was bridging the gap. Kin and Alice used plant growth to make a bridge of plants across it. This worked, but due to Kin’s draw he was turned into a donkey.

After that we got to a swamp of quicksand. Kin pulled Alice onto his back, and Rina used far step to continually stay above the quicksand through the swamp - trying to help Kin move through the muck.

When we got to the end, we then saw a clearing with a giant Sphinx asleep in front of the tree. Rina plans to dimension door herself and Alice to the tree, only one of us needed to grab the apple to win. Kin tried to be a distraction, but the Sphinx saw our door opening by the tree anyway. Alice was hit by the Sphinx’s beam of fire attack, and would have gone to 0hp without Kin’s spell. But Rina was able to dive toward the apple and grab it. Getting us to the end of the trial, and transporting us back to the beginning.

The final trial was by the Sunblight coven - the Mother Witch. She told us we needed to brew a potion. There were multiple ways of cooking ingredients, preparing them, and using them within the brew.

River of the earth, boiling. Some other ingredients like pepper. Tree that hates dogs, wolfs bane. Put in pocket. Rina used her jar from the honey. Etc etc. We did not do it 100% correctly, but we got it well enough and passed the trials!

We are now officially members of the Sprite Light coven, the coven (i think?) is legitimized, and we are protected from Luminus coming after us.

Kin then went off on his own.

Valentine and Abigail approached us with the covered cage. Valentine: “We wanted to thank you for everything you have done for us, and we didn’t know how else to do it. So this is for you, we were able to bring it back from the Fey realm.” She uncovered the cage, and inside was a little Feathered pseudodragon with butterfly wings, which imprinted on Rina immediately. (Mechanically this was for Rina’s pact of the Chain respeck)

Now she gets to name it. Volvagia is the name.

After the trials we all partied. Alice got really drunk and taught a bunch of witches how to ride on broomsticks - canonically being THE reason it’s a part of witch culture.

Rina talked to Valentine and thanked her for the dragon, wanted to clear up any misunderstandings at the table from before, and told her she was impressed at all the work she’s done to bring back the fey. Valentine said the Fey seem to show up on their own, they just need to get the parameters right to get them to do so. She said they previously thought the fey came from a place called the Feywild, but it seems like they’re coming from more of an “afterlife” type of place.

Alice starts a conga line and orders shots for everyone, but Kin cured her so she wouldn't be drunk anymore. The matriarch of the witches tells Alice she wants to see the Pradhana with her End Medallion. Rina gives it to Alice, and the matriarch puts a fly spell on Alice and they both go high into the air.

Alice it put into the weight-balancing pose again, with the Medallion in one hand and nothing in the other. The medallion starts to crackle and things turn dark again. The witch then tells her “my dear, you are missing your other half” and grabs Alice’s other hand. The medallion is now quelled, and it is apparent to us that there are 2 medallions - we must look for another.

Mayoay and Kin go off together to talk alone, while Rina and Alice have a few more drinks - the matriarch giving Alice a special alcohol that you only need a couple of drops of to get hammered. Alice bumped it and got 5 drops instead of the 2 she was going to get. We all celebrated, then Alice and Rina went to bed in our tent.