The Vendetta
Duskmeadow Fringe - March 30
Drake's accounts
The 30th of March
A group consisting of Drake, Hilde, Yarrow and Stone set off from Sigisfarne towards the Underground Temple. On the way, a squad of Piot Chants ambush them with a giant swarm of ants and chased Hilda into the river. They are not hostile to the rest. They play music and watch Hilde struggle and chat with the others, making friends with Stone and paying Drake respects, recognising him as the one who beat the Faerie Knight in the race.
Ultimately, three of them take off their beetle shell armour and take to the water, reaching Hilde and killing her.
The others speak to the molemen who calls themselves Piot Chants, and offer to further their mutual relations. The creatures seem open to casual discussion if the PCs were to visit them, but remind them that there is one more they hunt still.
They enter the cave and see brambles growing out of the earth, very much like Razzy’s magic.
They encounter Indigo, a fellow Sigisfarne local, who makes his bread tricking passers-by and conning honest people out of their coin.
They went inside and through the hall of statues and the false floor trap, down to the church and as they explored the interior they encountered strange centaur/insect hybrid creatures copulating who were not hostile but spoke some of the party’s language, though not well.
They tried to establish what this place was and if the creatures had seen more people like them, and were led by one of them through a corridor, to a room with a stone floor and small human hands also made of stone, poking through the floor. As they kept being led through the corridor, the creature brought them to a small room with an oubliette, with a few mummified corpses and a fine sword with a black blade and a skull on the hilt as well as 3 silver and a gambeson, and a crumbling note on parchment with only three things legible - “Big Market”, “Wall, and “Village”.
Stone went back to Sigisfarne, thinking better of continuing to crawl the depths of this place, taking the silver, gambeson and sword with him, to be divvied later among the party when they return. The rest continued onwards.
Indigo's accounts
“Villagers of Sigisfarne, today we gather to bid farewell to Hilda, our peculiar and beloved friend. At just 18, she brought the spirit of the forest to life, living not by convention but by her own mushroom-fueled whimsy.
Hilda adored the woods—barefoot and laughing among the toadstools, she whispered secrets to the fungi and found joy where few dared to look. Her strange passion for mushrooms wasn’t just a hobby; it was her soul. Whether she cooked them, studied them, or possibly dreamed in spores, they were her world.
She was unapologetically herself—a bold presence who turned every village festival into her own peculiar celebration. And while her ways sometimes baffled Sigisfarne, she made us smile, she made us wonder, and she made life a little more magical.
Now, as we lay her to rest near the glade where the mushrooms grow in golden rings, we know she’ll forever be part of the forest she loved. Farewell, Hilda, may the great beyond welcome you with endless fields of fungi.”
Hilda, the Mushroom Maiden of Sigisfarne, you will not be forgotten.
People
Locations
Folklore
Chapters
Vendetta
The group leaves Sigisfarne on a misty morning. Hilda, Drake, Stone, Yarrow and Razzy travel again to the underground temple in the Fringe.
Walking through the crops by the river, they see small tranches in the ground. Three groups of three Piot Chants approach them. The fae sings songs, which bring thousands of ants to the crops. They explain they are here to “eat” Hilda.
Hilda runs into the river. The fae chatted with the rest of the party. Stone eventually learns their Vendetta song.
One of the groups of Piot Chants takes off their clothes and armour and gets into the water upriver of Hilda. With their insect pincers, they swim towards her, and she is mortally wounded. Somehow, the water around them freezes. The icy blood is washed down the river.
The flooded cave
After a few hours, the remaining adventurers find Hilda’s body stuck on a branch in the flooded area of the river. They recover her items and secure her body out of the water’s way.
The group meets Indigo, another dweller of Sigisfarne. He also searches for the caves and wants to adventure with the others.
In the cave, they find pooled water again. This time, a thicket has grown from the left wall. It gives way to the adventures as they come close to it to avoid the deeper part of the pool.
The temple
On the first level, most remain as they left it a few weeks ago. The floor trap is closed again, and the statue of the fat person is in a different position. Like before, the group carefully opens the trap and climbs down to the cathedral.
Checking the doors and tunnels, some walls were covered by glass mosaics, now broken. Yarrow is reminded of the far lands on the east by the red tiles behind mosaics. The group decides to try the left single door, behind which they hear some heavy breathing and thuds. As they open the door, the noises stop.
The group realise they have interrupted three insect-centaurs mating. They speak a guttural idiom, but the smaller one can speak simple human language. It explains it learned it from dying adventurers in the pit. They refer to the three-eyed as hostile creatures.
In the pit, the party finds the desiccated bodies of previous adventurers. With them, a black sword, well maintained, with a skull on its pommel. They also find a few coins and a serviceable gambeson and a note with the words: “Big Market”, “Wall, and “Village”. Stone decides to leave with the findings, travelling back alone to Sigisfarne.