Back at the Witchlight Inn, Beskar constructs a helmet that provides darkvision and makes some improvements to his plate mail to make it more stealthy. There’s a portion of the Inn that has a forge. Chet helps out by providing magical tools. He also finds an alchemy lab + magical components in a tower and spends some time studying.
C’Nut prays to his goddess and relaxes in the pool of water within the walls of the Inn. He uses the video recorder that Beskar gave to him from the ship to prepare a message to Lliira.
Niaelo has set up a shrine underground in the tunnels below the Inn. The others are invited to attend a morning ritual where she makes her daily sacrifice of a minor fae to Lolth. Everyone gets covered in spiders and feels the touch of the dark goddess, a wave of malevolence and evil. Niaelo is overjoyed, Beskar and Chet try to remain stoic.
C’Nut paints the scene with a blend of artistic license and denial.
With our downtime activities over, we head out towards Dreg, the first stop on the way to the Drune Zone.
We meet Glinda the Green at a crossroads, the Court Witch for Duke Darevor. Their castle in the Lost Duchy is two days to the west. She says her liege has been cursed into old age by the Staff of Crones, a powerful artifact which is held by a Drune wizard. She’ll reward us with gold and treasure if we bring her this staff. She gives a hummingbird brooch to Chet, which he can use to contact her when the task is complete.
Niaelo thinks this woman might be lying about being a court witch and about the Lost Duchy. She might not even be human. Chet says that she’s jealous of another woman having the group’s attention.
We continue on to Dreg, which turns out to be a Germanic river town. It’s kind of touristy too. We take a swan paddle boat across the water to another fishing village, which puts us into the Drune Zone.
From there, we move up into the hills to get an overlook of the area. To the far north there’s an enormous flying creature, maybe a dragon or wyvern. The Astronomer’s Tower is that way too. The other direction, we see smoke from a settlement. The Drune Hollow.
Despite coming this far, there’s disagreement about whether to break the curse because it’s containing the fairies in the Witchwood. There’s some ambiguity about which fairies/fae are evil - Niaelo says all of them are. She thinks the enemy of our enemy is our friend, and the fairies are among the most evil creatures in the land, surpassed only by surface elves. It seems to her that the Drow and Drune could be allies.
Others say perhaps just the Winter Prince is evil. There’s some evidence that the Winter Prince fell out of favor with the other fae lords. Chet argues that we should break the curse so we’ll be heroes not only to the humans and other folk who are affected by the curse, but back in Trade Town as well. With the barrier lifted, the Witchwood could become an adventuring haven. That aside, perhaps the Drune subjugating other people for their own gain is a wrong that must be righted.
A decision about the curse remains unmade. Eager for action, C’Nut sneaks down to the village below once darkness falls. He finds a young girl who was sent to fetch water. He gives her a goodberry and asks if she knows where any old men with large sticks might be. She points out a house where one named Lothgar lives. She also says the woods are dangerous, she saw an owlbear one time.
C’Nut reports back that he’s figured out where the Staff of Crones was by interrogating an evil fae. The rest of the group is skeptical but agrees to check it out. It turns out the old man doesn’t have the staff, and in the process of sneaking around we nearly kill his equally old dog several times out of paranoia.
We continue further into the town towards the standing stones where the curse could be broken with the Song of Dawn. A wizened face appears in a large tree and gets out “INTRUDERS!” before Niaelo dispels the magic.
Slightly further down the road the face appears again and tells us he's the Drunelord, the keeper of this domain and one who knows everything that goes on in its borders. He says we’re unwitting pawns of the fae and that he has foreseen our arrival. He then has a proclamation for each of us:
Beskar: "Warlord from beyond, you bring death from the stars. Your greed for power and conquest will usher in a new era of imbalance."
Chet: "You are a grasping, petulant child who will soon be schooled in the true meaning of power."
C'Nut: "You are an innocent knave who does not see the truth before his eyes. With your song you seek to shatter our great works. You are the Drune's mortal enemy, made flesh."
Niaelo: "False elfing, deceiver! Your mind has been poisoned by self loathing that you have turned outwards. I see you approaching two paths in the wood. One path leads to the destruction of all you know. Which will you choose?"
After that, he demands that we bring him the Song of Dawn at the Standing Stones so it can be destroyed, preventing the curse from ever being lifted.
The group still can’t decide whether to side with or against the Drune, but continues on to the Standing Stones regardless. Destiny will be made there in either case. On the way, we see the Drune people gathering on the side of the road; hundreds of them. They aren’t pleased to see us but do not attack and neither do we.
At the end of the path, we come to an open area next to a temple. In the middle of the area is a pond, and in the middle of the pond, connected by two small bridges, is an island that holds the Standing Stones. Something large with tentacles slithers just beneath the water’s surface. The Drune people surround the pond, and the Drunelord appears in the flesh.
C’Nut decides to start singing the song and break the curse, despite the Drunelord’s offers of power and treasure. Hundreds of Drune cry out and a ferocious battle begins in which we’re hopelessly outnumbered. Can the rest of the group protect C’Nut for the time it takes to complete the song?
Fireballs, lightning, fire breathing bats, swathes of consuming darkness, poisonous spiders, probe droids, and a rocket launcher prove the match of the Drunelord and his magical powers, 150 followers, and hill giant. C’Nut completes the Song of Dawn and the curse is broken! The remaining Drune flee the scene. The group quickly searches among the fallen and finds the Staff of Crones at the Drunelord’s side.
Before the Drune can regroup, Chet activates the awakened Standing Stones and teleports us back to the Witchlight Inn. There we see the first stirrings of the humans and other folk waking from their century-long slumber to find a wizard, a bard, a drow, and a warrior in their midst.