The Rovers soon understood the uneasy stance the pips seemed to have towards Gladys.
Gladys appeared to be a female stone giant wearing an impressive array of heavy armor and weaponry, though after conversing with her, her physical appearance was certainly the least impressive thing about her. In vague words she warned The Rovers of the dangers that lay in wait for them as well as the need for introspection, as individuals and as a group. The Feywild, she said, was going to test them in ways they previously had not experienced, and possibly not even imagined, and their success or failure, potentially even their lives and the fate of the world, would hinge upon their ability to discern fact from fiction and friend from foe.
Feeling as though her words were falling on deaf ears, Gladys unleashed a terrible display of manipulative power, forcing The Rovers to fight amongst themselves as Urs and Aengus squared off against Vara and Desmond. Alarmed at the fact that Urs and Aengus had jumped them, and not wanting to fight their friends, Desmond brought Urs and Aengus back to sanity and the group turned their ire on Gladys. She was not attempting to kill them, she said, merely giving a more immediate warning of what they were surely walking into. Scoffing at the certainty with which she spoke, The Rovers challenged how she could know what would await them. By way of twisting words and evasive answers, Gladys hinted at the fact that many powerful beings, true number unknown, both in the Feywild and abroad were well aware of their quest and the implications of its fulfillment.
Satisfied that she had attempting to warn The Rovers, and seemingly resigned to the fact that they would most likely get themselves killed, Gladys revealed that the path to the Feywild was through a grapevine that would appear as night turned to day and moved on to places unknown. Since night was almost upon them, The Rovers chose to bed down near the appointed place and await the appointed time, however their rest would not go uninterrupted. As the night progressed, the blood spilled during their short in-fighting transformed into twisted, vicious halfling-adjacent creatures known as Redcaps who attacked the party. While the redcaps were easily repelled, half of the party found themselves unable to complete a long rest, meaning The Rovers’ journey to the Feywild was beginning in a most Rovers-like fashion.
Upon passing through the grapevine, a truly majestic landscape revealed itself. Fields, trees, an orange-ish lake, even the land itself seemed to be alive and able to respond to their presence. As they cautiously – other than Urs – made their way forward, a gargantuan bear rushed the party, however a fight was avoided thanks to the quick thinking or Urs (yes, you read that right). While 3/4 of The Rovers cowered in a fetal position, Urs spoke eloquently and confidently with the bear in Sylvan, learning of a great city somewhere nearby and parting ways with plans for a fishing date.
Moving on from the bear, as the party moved deeper into the Feywild, they attempted to construct a map so that they’d have some idea of how to return to the portal which had brought them to the Feywild. The maps were very aesthetically pleasing but functionally completely useless. As the last of their feeble efforts was finishing, Desmond noticed dolphins (IN A RIVER????) repeatedly leaping out of the lake the party had spotted when they first arrived which seemed to be beckoning them come closer. Not ones to avoid potentially obvious traps, The Rovers marched on towards the water, noticing that an envoy of giant turtles seemed to be ushering them on and closing off any escape route. As they got closer to the water, a coral reef began to extend from the water (BUT WE AREN’T BY AN OCEAN?????) and surround the turtles, closing off any avenue of potential escape. At this, even the thickheaded Rovers realized that danger seemed imminent and hurried through the quickly closing gap back the way they came, leaving the foreboding ring of coral and turtles and finding themselves once again free of any immediately impending doom. Except Urs. Urs was entranced watching the awe inspiring display of nature and held his ground, soon finding himself isolated at the water’s edge.
Desmond’s absence at the water’s edge was quickly noticed, and lamented, by the dolphins, who explained to Urs that this entire production had been done for Desmond’s benefit and to facilitate a meeting between a being in the lake and Desmond. Urs, never one to back down from a bad idea, decided he would mount the dolphins and attend this meeting in Desmond’s stead. After a majestic trip towards the depths of the lake, Urs found himself conversing with a friendly disembodied voice. The Voice expressed confusion at Urs being there as opposed to Desmond but, nonetheless, attempted to have a meaningful conversation with Urs. Though the attempt was valiant, in the end the voice realized the conversation was going nowhere and requested a brief meeting with the crystal-imprisoned-Tobias. Afterwards, the voice asked Urs to urge Desmond to come meet with him, and sent Urs on his way.
Urs came shooting out of the water, performing an awe inspiring cannonball, and found that the rest of The Rovers had come to find out what had happened to him. Upon reuniting, Urs explained what he had experienced and, upon being assured by Urs that the voice was very nice, Desmond decided to accept the invitation for a meeting. Once he made his way down to the bottom of the lake, Desmond found that the entity residing there was known as The Deep and seemed to have a large amount of knowledge regarding Desmond’s past and his potential future. The Deep teased to Desmond that he may have originated at a far off, mystical place called Shambhalah. Overwhelmed by the revelations and information provided by The Deep, Desmond made his way back to the surface unsure where to go next and what his future might hold.