The Mischief Night Masque of the Rani

 

The Wolf's Head that replaced the doors to the Impossible Fortress' throne room this passed Mischief Night as drawn by PakPak's player Rob A.

Mischief Night once again had come to Orm. Two years after a celebration went mysteriously wrong, the people of Orm were ready to return of to partaking in the pre-spiritual holiday revieres of the night traditionally entails. The homes of Orm were decorated with carved beets casting a dim glow from their candles. Wood for the bonfire near the Monument of the Old Gods was stacked high while the sacrificial animals for its fires were being selected. And, yes, Ormens donned their traditional papier-mâché masks and deep-hooded robes to costume themselves as spirits and demons.

A select few of Orm's adventuring community received messages from the near-by Impossible Fortress. Each sealed with the manticore symbol of that fortification's ruler: the Rani. These missives noted how each of them had caught notice of the court of the Rani. Instead of enjoying Mischief Night on the streets of Orm, they were invited to join a secretive costumed masquerade within the halls of the Impossible Fortress. The following adventurers accepted their invitations and dressed in the accompanying costumes: 

• Armeen (Level 3 Cleric fo Danu): as a dragon-rider whose lower half was disguised as the dragon
• Bludoon (Level 1 Dwarf): as a green-faced devil
• Copra Kaan (Level 6 Vatspawn Antaur): as a dragon himself
• Fancy Jean-Yves Beauvollier (Level 6 Bard): as the famed hero Spell Captain Trom Prefacti
• Freedom (sapient cat): no costume, just snuck into the Impossible Fortress
• Journeyman Crannoc (Level 5 Magic-User): in just the fanciest of dress with a small domino mask
• PakPak (Level 5 Kobold): as a dryad in a tree struck by his recently retrieved magic hand axe
• Phasmo (Level 4 Magic-User): as a space wizard

At twilight, they joined the procession of costumed guests earning access to the evenings festivities by presenting their invitations to the guards at the Impossible Fortress' gate. Armeen encountered some trouble gaining entry as someone else saying they were Armeen of the Twin-Rivers. Between his possession of an authentic invitation and the vouching of another guest, Copra Kaan, Armeen successfully proceeded in but under the watchful eye of the Fortress' guards.

After presenting their invitations once again to the Rani's steward, the dwarf Merdinus costumed as a stone statue, they were lead to the dining hall by the guard Serjeant Xos who was costumed as a Orman prisoner. The mixed company of adventurers from the Drinking Crow and the Burning Witch were seated next to:

• Esifar- Cleric of Danu and leader of the Illustrious Company of Khourau dressed as a squid
• Exile XII- Golden vat spawn member of the Illustrious Company of Khourau dressed as a "human"
• Geoph the Gnome- former 111th Company member and aspiring publisher dressed loosely as a forest nymph-type
• Whiskers Redbeard- Guildmaster of the 111th Company dressed as

In addition, Armeen was forced to share their setting with a second Armeen. This Armeen was decidedly the body Armeen used to inhabit with a golden nose covering the tip Armeen lost in a recent bar fight. Armeen started to confront this imposter aggressively but his hand was stead by Serjeant Xos. The guard told Armeen that violence at the dinner would result in severe reprocussions but that there be time for such things to be resolved later in the evening.

Crannoc, harboring suspicions that this Armeen could be one of those dark reflections adventurers have encountered, engaged this second Armeen in conversation. Quickly, it became apparent that this second Armeen was attempting to collect funds for a network of pyramid-shaped shrines that would offer the wisdom of the pair of sphinxes that reside at Orm's Shrine of Danu. The others at the table engaged themselves with their other, less suspicious, dinner companions. Armeen succeeded in convincing follow member of the faith of Danu, Esifar, that the second Armeen is an imposter. Fancy, staying in character as Trom Prefacti, and Copra discussed Exile XII's home of Kouz and Copra's missing arm. PakPak and Phasmo talked with Whiskers about the members of the 111th Company, the dangers of employment as hirelings, and how the Rani's interest in taxing adventurers has maybe left PakPak with an opening to fulfill an equipment gap the Rani is leaving unaddressed. Bludoon pitched a dungeon cookbook project to Geoph.

After the meal had ended, the guests were lead into the throne room. In a balcony up above stood four forms: the Rani and her three wards. The Rani, pallid in color, was costumed in a dark velvet gown with black fur accents and a narrow lupe-like mask. Her eldest ward, Morwaine, was costumed in a garish mockery of the common-folk of Orm. The second-eldest ward, Glamora, donned a scandalous dress styled in inspiration of a Impossible Fortress guard. The youngest ward and sometimes-patorn to adventurers, Valoris, wore an altered gown of the Imperial Mother. The Rani addressed the crowd promising them a night where they would live free of the rules of common society. This Mischief Night, they would all live free as they should.

At that moment, the autumnal wind forced the throne room's doors open casting a gloaming light throughout the hall. The dark form of Lady Blackmarsh stood at the threshold while spirits and small fey being flitted about the room. Her curse filled the throne room. The Rani and those of the Impossible Fortress did nothing to prevent the sacred copse of trees from burning following the wrecking of the Purple Rose and the raid on Orm by the Night Raiders (called by themselves the Worthy Dead). For this shirking of treaty obligations between human-kind and fey, Lady Blackmarsh invoked her right-by-treaty to perform a mischief upon the Impossible Fortress as punishment. The Rani and her court would spend their night with their true natures revealed to all.

What came next, one would have to pry from one of the Impossible Fortress' guests. A vale of secrecy hangs over the events of the masquerade. Something that is known, though, is that the septet of adventurers from the Burning Witch and the Drinking Crow were not among the guests that left the Impossible Fortress the following morning. Over the course of the subsequent, they one by one were sent leaving the Burnt Copse of Trees near the center of Orm still in their costumes.

How did each adventure return to Orm? Check out this post here.

Treasure

• A fancy axe worth 100gp claimed by Bludoon
• A full set of silverware worth 1500gp
• A golden chandelier worth 2000gp 
• Sack containing six portions of the Rani's Chef's Magical Dried Soup (one portion doubles natural healing for a day or the whole sack can be used as an ingredient in the Cooking Downtime granting advantage on the 2d6 roll).

Experience Points

• 3600xp from treasure
• Wolf-Man guards defeated 9 x 19xp

Player Character Cut

• 500gp ea. if PakPak uses a downtime to have Meag, the Apprentice Smith, melt down the silver and gold. Otherwise, they party must try to unload the items in the black market run by the Crooked Hand.
• 538xp ea.

Write-ups, art, or maps shared as play recaps earn PC Level x 100xp.